Lucy Crazy Eyes from stephanie howell on Vimeo.
Whole Life Challenge | Week 0- Thoughts Before I Begin
So I am now three days away from starting the Whole Life Challenge.
I plan to blog about my experience and I thought this week was a good place to start. I want to talk about my fears, my expectations, and my thoughts in general.
What is the WLC? The Whole Life Challenge is an eight week challenge that works by identifying the areas that almost everyone wants to change, and then making a daily game out of creating new habits in each of those areas. The game is designed around the five key areas that every person can identify with. Relying on their more than forty years of combined personal coaching experience, the founders created a system of play focused on implementing new habits in each of the five key areas.
What are the different components?
1. Diet (similar to Whole 30) 2. Exercise(10 min a day) 3. Water Intake (take 1/3 of your body weight and drink 1 ounce per pound)4. Stretching (10 minutes) 5. Supplements (I’m taking fish oil) 6. Lifestyle (this changes weekly- sleep,meditation,etc) 7.Daily Reflection
Each component is worth a certain amount of points. You lose points for breaking the rules.
So. Yeah. I’m pretty nervous but also really, truly excited to experience these eight weeks.
Saturday is the first day.
What am I scared about? No bread, pasta, sugar, dairy, cheese, milk. ESPECIALLY the cheese. I love cheese. Drinking my coffee black. I will miss gelato soooo much.
What am I most excited about? Changing my life. Does that sound dramatic? Maybe. But it’s true. I’m tired of being tired. I’m tired of my back hurting and my stomach aching and I’m tired of being out of breath. I’m tired of not feeling strong. I’m tired of making bad choices because they are the easy choices. I’m tired of making excuses and I’m tired of not feeling good about myself.
What’s my plan? Exercise every day. CrossFit, Body Pump, Yoga, Swimming, Walking, Running, Elliptical, Hiking. Backup Plan at home= 30 Day Shred, TurboFire.
I’m on week four of almost daily exercise and y’all- I feel GOOD. And strong. And I’m happier. I can’t wait to add in the nutrition piece.
My plan is to make good choices and to make changes. I know that I will mess up and slip up and I’m okay with that. I’m not aiming for perfection.
My plan is to do prep every Sunday. Eggs boiled, Chicken baked. Vegetables and fruit chopped and sliced. I am going to buy a small freezer so that I can make and prep meals as well.
What level am I doing? Lifestyle/intermediate. One glass of wine a day? SOLD.
What am I stocking up on? Recipes and ideas. I have a Pinterest board HERE. I am going to make my own sriracha sauce and some other seasonings. I intend to try to make my own Lara bars. We’ll see…
I’m stocking up on almond and cashew butters, Lara bars, and quinoa. Coconut oil, almond and coconut flours, almond and coconut milks. Raw cacao powder, a big water bottle, coconut flakes, and dates are all in my cupboard.
Each week I will visit a farmer’s market or local shop and load up on fresh fruit and veggies. I have to teach myself to like sweet potatoes. VOM. Hahaha!
What about my family? Jimmy supports me 100 percent and is joining me in the challenge. I’m so excited to see the impact this makes on my family. For the record, I will not remove dairy, etc. from the house. My girls will still have these things, but dinners are for everyone. I make it, you eat it. No other choices. 🙂
This Friday I take the workout assessment. I will compare my times/scores before and after the challenge. I had my photos taken (in my sports bra-EEEK) and measurements taken on Monday. It was a scary experience for me but I really believe the end results will make it worthwhile.
It’s eight weeks. I can do anything for eight weeks. After the challenge is over I want to decide what components to keep.
Let’s be honest. Life is too short to not have pasta, or pizza, or gelato. Life’s too short to not taste the wine. But I need to cut down on these things. I’m not taking care of myself and it’s time for that to change.
I am determined to become stronger than my strongest excuse.
Let’s do this!
xoxo
S
truth.
Last week when I was traveling home from CHA I had a four hour layover in Chicago.
I found this on a mirror in the ladies room and I had to snap a photo.
Who knew an airport bathroom could be so deep?
Isn’t that the truth?
You know what’s funny? I am so hard on myself. Why do I allow myself to speak to me that way?
I wouldn’t take it from friends. Jimmy would never speak to me that way.
So why is it okay for me to tear myself down? To have unrealistic expectations for myself?
It’s not okay. And something I’ve struggled with my entire life. I used to have the worst self-confidence ever. And it’s gotten SO much better over the years.
But it’s always a work in progress. Being kind to myself. Being gentle. Encouraging myself. Not expecting myself to be perfect.
Seeing the real me in the mirror. The one who is perfectly imperfect just the way she is.
Learning to laugh at myself and not take myself so seriously.
Remembering that I only get to do this once and I want to do it right.
That’s my lifelong challenge.
I constantly strive to teach my daughters to love and accept themselves. And I’m teaching myself at the same time.
Sometimes it just takes a bathroom mirror to give me that gentle reminder. 🙂
Who would have thunk it?
xoxo
34–>35
In the year I was 34, I…started to run, started working a part time job, moved to Rhode Island, quit all my design teams, saw Baltimore for the first time, made a new group of friends and several best friends, threw a last minute party with a good friend, said goodbye to my best friend and then welcomed him home from Afghanistan, became a mother of four WALKING children, got together with a group of friends and rode a huge bicycle with a bar down the middle, met my favorite author, participated in my first charity race, saw Roman Holiday on the big screen, took all four children to the beach by myself, saw a beautiful and young friend say goodbye to her beautiful and young husband, realized who I was and was not creatively, celebrated 9 years of marriage, saw my very first Savannah St. Patrick's Day parade, got the shortest haircut I've ever had, dyed my hair red, dyed it back to brunette, visited Charleston for the first time, started Project Life, quit Project Life, visited St. Augustine, visited Hilton Head, visited Jacksonville, visited Sea World and Orlando, planned and threw a rainbow themed party for Sadie, perfected the art of saying no thank you, had my feelings hurt by someone and realized the power of words, said goodybe to the best group of friends i've ever had, really fell in love with Savannah, planned and threw my very first cookie exchange, watched a Baylor Bear win the Heisman, attended the Ranger Ball with Jimmy, spent my first 2 nights away from my children, sent my first child off to kindergarten, watched my babies turn one, my eldest turn six, and my second born turn four,got better at getting in the photos and not just taking them, saw a Savannah Philharmonic Sept. 11 concert, saw a coin in an x-ray of Sadie's stomach,started taking care of myself agin.
In the year I am 35,I will…run a 5k, teach myself to sew (yes,this was on last year's list),attend CHA, teach a scrapbooking class at a LSS, visit NYC at least 5 times, celebrate my 10 year anniversary, try a yoga class, finally teach that BPC scrapbooking class, eat more lobster, visit Boston, visit Maine, visit Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, continue feeling creatively free and only say yes to things that are authentic and that are me, exercise regularly with my family, go to a concert, have online friends come to visit, NOT SEND MY HUSBAND TO AFGHANISTAN AT ALL, learn too cook some new meals, have lots of date nights, make time for one-on-one time with the girls, put myself out there and not be scared to ask for my heart's desires, visit the MME headquarters in Utah, do CrossFit with J, take lots of classes at the YMCA, meet Leigh and Kelly in person for the first time, potty train two babies, embrace imperfection, read more, have a big family Thanksgiving, have FUN!
I am blessed to be given another year. I am grateful for the gift of each day. Bring it on, 35!
xoxo
check!
i've wanted red hair forever and now i can officially check that off my bucket list.
my friend jen did it…she's coming over this weekend to add some golden/caramel highlights. YAY!
i say life's too short to not experiment with your hair. i wore mine up every day and hated it anyway…so here's to red!
working again…check.
dye my hair…check.
what next? something wonderful, i just know it!
happy happy weekend.
xxo
s