I’ve decided to take part in the No Excuses Challenge, which starts today. After Christmas my daily clean eating & exercising habits became a little lax. It’s time for me to get back into a good consistent routine and this challenge will be a good start to many healthy months to come!
Here are my goals:
With this challenge I will provide some guidelines but please note, I’m not a trainer and I’m not a nutritionist, but I am person who is passionate about health and fitness and I have worked hard to get to where I am.
How you design this challenge is in your hands. I will provide you with some suggestions and examples to help guide you but ultimately you will be the person setting your goals for the next 30 days. You don’t have to prove anything to me or other readers, you just need to prove to yourself that you are capable of doing what you set out to do, because you are. Mistakes, missed meals or workouts, unplanned cheats or temptations might happen. And if it does, don’t focus on the bump in the road, focus on getting over that bump and right back on track. Each meal, workout, hour of sleep, and each day is a new opportunity to learn from your mistakes. It’s an opportunity to reflect on each situation and to devise a plan for success when you get your second chance. There’s always another opportunity for change and become a better version of yourself. Only you know the direction you want to go in and only you know where you’re currently standing.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS 30 DAY CHALLENGE:
- Get your sweat on for 30-120 minutes a day for 4-6 days a week (you can use your own program or something you found in a magazine. But whatever you choose, it needs to be consistent for the next 4 weeks).
- Every Sunday schedule in your workouts for the week
- Eat a clean meal every 2-3 hours (5-7 meals a day) (check out Tosca Reno’s EAT CLEAN DIET book, Oxygen magazine, my recipes/meals’ pages, or the Clean Eating magazine for some guidelines)
- Eat protein with 3-7 of your meals
- Cut out all added salt
- Cut out all added sugar
- Cut out all white flour
- Get 7-9 hours of sleep every day
- Drink 1-2 glasses of water with each meal
- Drink 1-5 cups of decaf green or white tea a day
- Avoid drinking alcohol if possible
- Drink coffee before your workout if you need an extra boost (avoid energy drinks)
- Prepare all your meals the night before
- Schedule in 0-2 cheat meals a week (FYI: cheat “meal” does not equal a day)
- If you plan on cheating also plan on what you will be having before the day
- Say “No thank you” to treats that are unplanned
- Eat your last meal 1-3 hours before bed
- Take your measurements in the AM (on Monday, January 30th or Tuesday, January 31st) and again when the challenge ends. Measurements can include: photos in a bikini, using a measuring tape to measure your body (e.g., thighs, chest etc.), the scale, body fat %, try on a tigher pair of jeans etc. This is up to you but I don’t recommend you just use the scale! It is not the best indicator of your hard work.
- Try your best
- Give it your all
- Ditch your excuses, it’s only 30 days - you’ll live
RULES FOR THE CHALLENGE!!!
RULE #1: If you are joining this challenge you will need to make a post on your blog stating what your goals are for the next 30 days (feel free to “steal” the NO EXCUSES picture and repost it on your blog).
For example:
- I will cook all my meals and bring my lunch to work every day
- I will drink 500ml before I arrive at work every day
- I will not drink alcohol during the next 30 days
- I will workout 5 days a week for 60 minutes
- I will have one cheat meal on ____________ and it will be 2 pieces of pizza from ____________.
- I will go to bed by 9:00PM Sun-Thur
RULE #2: You will need to post at least once a week (if not several times a week) how your challenge is going.
RULE #3: You MUST be honest. Honesty is key to change. If you mess up, reflect on it, get back to it, and do better the next time.
RULE #4: You need to TAG your challenge posts with #noexcuseschallenge so myself or any reader can see how you’re doing. Remember, we are all here together on the same journey towards health. No judgement.
RULE #5: Measure yourself at the end of your 30 days (in the same fashion you measured yourself originally) and make a post about your results. This could include your measurements, how your clothes fit, how your body or mind feel, personal realizations, etc.
RULE #6: Have fun and enjoy your journey!
(via healthylivingforyou)
Why? My calculus and physics finals will be all over with & Wednesday at noon marks the beginning of Christmas break!
I haven’t been a very active blogger lately, but don’t you worry, I’ll be posting much more once I’m no longer swamped with finals.
P.S. I reached the 15 pound weight loss mark since the beginning of my journey this week!! The 15 pound mark also means that I’m at the halfway point between my highest weight and my goal weight! This is huge, I haven’t been this small in years! Staying positive, eating healthy and exercising has done wonders for me. I can’t wait to see further progress in the months to come. :)
EVERY RE-BLOG GENERATED 5 CENT OF DONATION TO CHARITY: WATER
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Thank you, Richard.Please reblog this.
This Christmas just give a child some clean water.
COME ON GUYS! We constantly reblog butt naked hoes…lets do something good to help others.
Reblogged this 3 times already I think.
(via healthy-girl)
Pear tarts by Nikole on Oh Joy.
(via realfoodology)
I can hardly wait to get finals over with! I wrote one this morning and still have 3 to go. I’m off to bed now, I’ll probably wake up tomorrow at 4 am to get in some last minute studying before my final tomorrow morning… seriously, when will I learn to stop procrastinating?
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s workout. Finals have seriously gotten in the way of my regular workout routine… tomorrow I’m not going to let that happen!
Good night everyone and good luck to those of you who also have finals this week, only a few more days until the holidays begin. <3
diet industry revolution? ;)
Dumb-Bell Cutlery from from Cheeky.com
This morning I dragged myself out of my bed to work out. At 5:45 I always end up having a constant battle with myself. “Should I get up out this nice, warm, cozy bed? Or should I just sleep and extra hour… Ah, that does sounds nice. No Katrina, you can do this. Just five more minutes? If you don’t get up now you’ll be late.” And so on.
Today I managed to do it! I did a half hour of NTC and a half hour of HIIT on the elliptical. Of course, I felt great afterwards. I guess the only workouts you regret are the ones you don’t do. I’ll just have to keep telling myself that for a little self-motivation in the early morning. :)
I hope you guys all have a wonderful Friday. For those of you in the states I hope you find some great deals shopping!!
Sorry for my lack of posts lately! School has been very busy… Labs, midterms assignments and finals have been taking up my life for the past couple of weeks.
I’ve been eating as healthily as possible and working out as much as I can. Sometimes it’s hard to find time in a day… seriously, days need to be longer! But I’m making it happen.
I think the stress of school has really stalled my weight loss. Even though I’m eating & exercising well the scale just won’t budge. I’ve been maintaining my weight within a 3 lb range for the past 3 months, it’s frustrating! I feel like I can see a difference in the mirror, so maybe I’m just gaining more muscle from the workouts? I don’t know. I’m stumped as to what is going on… could this possibly be a dreaded plateau?
Today’s intake:
Breakfast:
- Large flake whole grain quaker oats (1/2 cup),
- almonds (1/2 serving)
Snack:
- 1/2 cup of baby carrots
- 3/4 cup of strawberries
Lunch:
- 60 g Tuna w/ 1 tbsp of mayonnaise on
- 2 slices of Ezekiel bread
Dinner:
- 2 organic eggs
- 0% plain Greek yogurt (3/4 cup) w/added strawberries (1/2 cup)
- small clementine
Total: approximately 1200 calories
Today is the first day that I’ve ever posted my intake, if you see anything that might be stalling my weight loss please let me know! Or if you could offer any advice I’d really appreciate it. :) I usually up my intake on days that I workout (usually 1400-1600 calories), today I took a rest day.