I made a vow to myself when I started as a regular blogger on The Daily Spark that I would be honest and not ask people to do anything I wasn't asking of myself. I can't expect people to do what I say if I do not walk the talk. So what am I doing this month?
1. I started a 4 week break the sugar challenge with my Twilight Challenge team on Spark People. Today was day one and my goal is to be aware of where sugar is getting into my diet and find alternatives that I can cope with. If I checked everything right, I've had 7 grams of sugar/sucralose today. I didn't realize that my protein powder has sucralose in it, and my dried peanut butter that I use in my shake has sugar in it. I also found sugar in my whole wheat bread. I'm reporting in daily on my team message board, and right now I have one teammate who is checking in with me. Anybody know of a good sugar free protein powder?
2. I started the Spring Into Shape Challenge also checking in with several Twilight Challenge team members. I did the Cardio Kick Boxing video for the day (10 minutes) and I added in 22 minutes of my own cardio. Day one goal met.
3. I'm trying to find new ways this month to incorporate movement into my daily life. I rode my bike to church and back today for roughly a 3 mile round trip. Fortunately I go to a very laid back church and showing up in jeans riding a bike is no big deal! I also walked to and from the restaurant where the ladies had their once a month luncheon for a total of a little more than half a mile round trip. That worked out to be my 22 minutes of cardio. (biking and walking)
4. I don't like to go out to eat very often because I just find it difficult to manage calories. I ordered spinach enchiladas and asked the server to pack up half of my meal in a to go box before he brought it out. I carried that home and gave it to my daughter. She and I have spent most of the last month eating vegetarian.
I'm planning on 5k number 5 later this month and am looking at The Trill of the Grill 5k on April 21st. This would be a new race for me. I'm keeping my monthly goal of 1,500 fitness minutes. In March I took a full week off from working out. It was an unplanned rest but I was trying to listen to my body and felt like I needed some recovery time.
So the vegetarian thing - wasn't planning on that at all. My youngest daughter saw a film at high school about how meat gets into our food system. Just her describing it was enough to gross me out and she wanted to make the switch. When we do have meat which is about once a week, we're trying to buy organic, local from Whole Foods. I like that store because I feel like they do the research for me. It's more expensive per pound, but since we are only eating it once a week it seems worth it.
Over the weekend I had a great opportunity to Put up or Shut up because my daughter and I traveled to a band competition. I took the time to pack an ice chest with food for the two of us - I was grateful for that when we were there. The snacks available to the girls on Friday was chips, and oreos. Breakfast options were honey buns and sugary fiber bars. I sat on my bunk with plain greek yogurt and fresh fruit that I had packed and was grateful that I didn't have either not eating or unhealthy eating. On Friday night my daughter and I had apples, and a fruit/nut mix trail mix that I put together. It also felt good to help support her in her healthy eating because she is really trying to learn how to do that in an environment where it isn't always easy.
Here's my stuff packed to go - took my foam roller called The Grid by TP Therapy - needed that after a night of sleeping on a bunk bed that I think was older than me!
The fun thing was that Rachael's band won their competition. They beat out 5 other bands in their division.
My husband and son bought a juicer while I was out of town. I may be trying to figure out a new base for some vegetable soup with that or juicing a few veggies to go into a shake that I might not necessarily want to eat plain. Anyone use a juicer and have some good recipes?
Here are a couple of posters that I found on Pinterest that I'm going to focus on this month:
Share your April goals with me!
