It's time for a change, and I'm finally ready to make that change. Time for a change in attitude and time for a change in habits.
I try to eat healthy and get a workout in on a daily basis, but for the past couple of months, I've been on a downward spiral. I haven't completely felt like myself for the past few months, and I think that's why I've been doing poorly with food and exercise.
It started out simple enough; I'd just grab a bag of chips to go with the salsa that we had leftover from our meal. Or I would buy a tub of ice cream, "for the kids." If you know our family, then you know that we don't normally have junk food around the house. I don't buy chips or cookies. They are a special occasion treat. Our fridge is usually stocked with fruits and veggies, not cheese and dips.
And then there's the exercise. I was doing pretty good with working out, either at the gym or at home. I would try to get a workout in at least 4 times a week. But then I missed a day, and then two days, until eventually I was happy if I'd really work out 2 times a week. I just didn't have the energy or motivation.
Like I said, I didn't feel like myself, which caused me to gain weight. And that weight gain caused me to get down on myself. And when I got down on myself, I would justify that it was okay to have a bag of chips or another soda (I usually only have 1 can a day and no coffee). But it wasn't okay and deep down, I knew that.
A few weeks ago, I decided to make a change. I gave up drinking soda and just drank water (with a tiny squirt of Mio Lemonade; my husband claims he couldn't even taste it but I could) or milk. And yesterday I started my 24-Day Challenge through Advocare with the help of my husband and friends. I'm lucky to have Adam doing this with me so that we can encourage each other and hold each other accountable at the end of the day. He's also the one I go to when I need to vent about how I have to go potty every hour because of all the water!
I'm not here to advocate a product, but I am here to share my story. I had been thinking of doing the challenge but needed my husband's buy in to make it a reality (we talk before spending money on extras). My good friend Emily helped convince Adam of all the good things with the Challenge and we were off to the races. As soon as we decided to do the 24-Day Challenge, we knew that it was all or nothing. So we bought the products and then reached out to our friend Brandi for some advice. She has been a tremendous help, both before and now during the challenge.
We started prepping by making our daily bags. We have 24 bags total, and in each one, we have everything we need for that day (minus the food).
We made a trip to Sam's Club to buy some fruits and veggies in bulk so that we could get everything prepped and ready to go. We portioned out chicken and fish so that we stayed within our allowed levels. I'm not going to lie, it was a lot of work. But it was work that we needed to do to help make it easier in the long run.
I try to eat healthy and get a workout in on a daily basis, but for the past couple of months, I've been on a downward spiral. I haven't completely felt like myself for the past few months, and I think that's why I've been doing poorly with food and exercise.
It started out simple enough; I'd just grab a bag of chips to go with the salsa that we had leftover from our meal. Or I would buy a tub of ice cream, "for the kids." If you know our family, then you know that we don't normally have junk food around the house. I don't buy chips or cookies. They are a special occasion treat. Our fridge is usually stocked with fruits and veggies, not cheese and dips.
And then there's the exercise. I was doing pretty good with working out, either at the gym or at home. I would try to get a workout in at least 4 times a week. But then I missed a day, and then two days, until eventually I was happy if I'd really work out 2 times a week. I just didn't have the energy or motivation.
Like I said, I didn't feel like myself, which caused me to gain weight. And that weight gain caused me to get down on myself. And when I got down on myself, I would justify that it was okay to have a bag of chips or another soda (I usually only have 1 can a day and no coffee). But it wasn't okay and deep down, I knew that.
A few weeks ago, I decided to make a change. I gave up drinking soda and just drank water (with a tiny squirt of Mio Lemonade; my husband claims he couldn't even taste it but I could) or milk. And yesterday I started my 24-Day Challenge through Advocare with the help of my husband and friends. I'm lucky to have Adam doing this with me so that we can encourage each other and hold each other accountable at the end of the day. He's also the one I go to when I need to vent about how I have to go potty every hour because of all the water!
I'm not here to advocate a product, but I am here to share my story. I had been thinking of doing the challenge but needed my husband's buy in to make it a reality (we talk before spending money on extras). My good friend Emily helped convince Adam of all the good things with the Challenge and we were off to the races. As soon as we decided to do the 24-Day Challenge, we knew that it was all or nothing. So we bought the products and then reached out to our friend Brandi for some advice. She has been a tremendous help, both before and now during the challenge.
We started prepping by making our daily bags. We have 24 bags total, and in each one, we have everything we need for that day (minus the food).
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| Days 1-10 on the Left and 11-24 on the Right |
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| Portioning out fruits and chicken/salmon |
Then there's working out. I am lucky to have Brandi and her husband Shane as good friends and coaches. They post daily workouts and, while tough, they are great to do. And having a workout laid out for you that you can do at home, is a really good thing. I am not as quick getting them done as I want to be, but I know that will come with time.
We are only on Day 2, so we have lots to go. But I am confident. It's time for a change, and time for a lasting change. I'm not saying that I will never drink a Dr. Pepper or eat chips and salsa ever again because that would be completely unrealistic. But, the second I see myself starting to go back into that downward spiral, I'm going to work to be better at pulling myself out of it. I'm going to talk to someone if I need to, and I'm not going to get so down on myself that I'm putting my health and happiness in jeopardy.
A couple of months back, I wrote about how I don't use the 'F' word, and I still don't. I have the support of my husband and my kids. I tell them that it's time for mommy to get healthy again, and they are on board. My daughter came to our home gym (aka the garage) with me yesterday and worked out with me. She also found the toys that we'd "thrown away" because she couldn't clean her playroom up while we were out there, but that's a whole other story. She helps me with food prep and gets to pick my fruit snack. At Target today, she helped pick out which blender bottle I should get and which food storage item to get. We went with a 3 compartment Ziploc one that has space for our salad, chicken, and snack!
It's time for a change, but not just any change. It's time for a healthy change!
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