Tag Archives: motivation

Shelley’s May 3 Top Ten

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Hello! It’s Friday, May 3, 2019. I haven’t written anything since February I think. So I’m just going to hit the highlights…

BIGGEST HIGHLIGHT – My A1c is below 5.7 and I NO LONGER HAVE PREDIABETES!!

  1. I didn’t run the Shamrock Shuffle at the beginning of March and I’m still mad at myself. I got behind in my training, and then it was bitterly cold on race day. My bad hip doesn’t do we at all in really cold weather, so I opted out. #wimpy
  2. I DID compete in fancy shawl at Buffalo Run Powwow in Miami, OK and I felt pretty good. 🙂 #goalaccomplished
  3. I am now an After-Hours Crisis Screener (in addition to my WRAP Therapist job) and credentialed at our local hospital. Extra clinical hours, additional experience, and supplemental pay. #winning
  4. My social work license is up for renewal this month and I am 3 Ethics CEUs short of my required hours. #help
  5. I’m presently experiencing my 1st allergy attack of 2019 and my right nostril won’t stop running. #soggytissue #WHYjusttherightside
  6. Constant debate of whether I want relief from allergy symptoms with Zyrtec, or do I want to function like a normal being – alert, awake,upright, coherent – and take an antihistamine that doesn’t work as well? #decisions
  7. I already forgot what I was going to write for #7
  8. I have some kinda crazy inflammation, blemish-looking, itchy spots on my forehead that won’t go away. #WhatISthat
  9. The constant rainy and cloudy weather has me using a Verilux lamp at my desk – thank you to my boss for loaning it to me. Helps stimulate Vitamin D production to alleviate symptoms of seasonal depression. #mentalhealthawarenessmonth
  10. I want to go home…yet here I sit….blogging….and procrastinating on some documentation I need to do. #sendhelp #seriously

Ok, back to my notes.

Training Updates And Galloway 5K review

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Hello! I have a little less than 2 weeks left of the 8-week wellness challenge and also a little less than 2 weeks until the Shamrock Shuffle 5K!! I have not missed my 2 sessions per week of weight training, and I felt an improvement in my dancing on February 9, when I danced fancy shawl at the Welcome Back Powwow. I can officially last a whole song without my legs giving out. Last year at the end of the season, I was still only good for 3 starts before my legs went. I felt good enough to exhibition with the young girls and discovered I need to work back up to 2 songs. Lol. The legs went about halfway through, but in my defense, it was a very fast song. 😀

The 5K training is a little different story. I haven’t been able to get 3 workouts per week in consistently. My weight training is my priority, and my plan was to run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. However, I’ve been really sore from the weight training sessions, and so Wednesdays have turned into another rest day. And making my training time a priority on Fridays or Saturdays have been challenging for me. I’ve been able to get 2 running workouts in consistently, and then doing a dance practice or walking my doggies when I can’t make it up to the indoor track. Twice the weather has been nice enough for me to run outside around my neighborhood, but running on concrete is tough on the joints so I try not to do that too much. I stay away from treadmills too because it puts an extra strain on my bad hip. So I do what I can, but I am running behind in the 7-week training app schedule. I’m sticking with what I can do though…not giving up. My goal is to run the entire 5K, but if I have to walk some to keep me from getting injured, then so be it. I’ll be honest, I’m gonna be mad if I have to walk. Lol.

I’m not quite sold yet on the Galloway app. It gives you many training options. You can select the type of interval you want to run, but I guess I’m not used to having that many choices. Lol. I’ve used the Couch-to-5K app and I really liked the scheduled build-up in longer running intervals. With the Galloway App, I have to pick my own intervals, which is good I guess, but I didn’t realize I had options to choose from until I plunked around on the app for a bit. I’m not sure I like him talking through my intervals either. You can synch a playlist with the app, but the app will change the speed of your songs and I didn’t care for the sped up version of “River Deep, Mountain High”. The jury is still out, so to speak.

And I derailed myself from my keto WOE for over a week….I’ve got a good plan in place to address emotional or stress eating, but I still need to find a way to stay with my eating plan while in the midst of times of obsessive beading or sewing. When I’m on a deadline or I just REALLY want to get something done because I’m excited about it, my eating goes right out the window. I’ve created a habit over the years where I’ve paired long crafting sessions with “crafting snacks”….meaning sugary or high carb snacks…..I want and need to create a different association between food and crafting.

So there’s my updates!! Still trying to keep myself accountable and getting back on track instead of chucking it all and staying off track. I have a 5K to run and I am going to shawl dance on March 30!!!! Keeping my enthusiasm alive!!!!

Ketogenic Diet Witness

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keto diet blog pic

Here is the blog post I’ve wanted to write for months. I wrote about Intermittent Fasting (IF), giving up artificial sweeteners, gut health, and how effective those things were for me. What I hadn’t written about to-date, is my first experience with the Ketogenic Diet, and now my return to it.

Back in May 2018, after I competed in a shawl dance competition for the first time for an entire powwow, I decided to give the keto diet a whirl. I was getting ready to begin another wellness challenge, and I noticed the benefits of IF and giving up the Splenda on my joints and eliminating my sugar cravings. I follow Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Eric Berg on social media, and I read Dr. Fung’s book, as well as the book pictured above. What intrigued me the most was not the weight loss, but the anti-inflammatory benefits of the diet, and being pre-diabetic still, the positive impact it would have on my labs/bloodwork. I got my labs done and found my A1c had come down another point from a high of 6.1 to 5.9. I have yet to check it again, but I have plans to in May 2019.

When I started keto in May 2018, I experienced what people call the “keto flu”, which is actually withdrawal symptoms from carbohydrates. I made a homemade electrolyte drink that my sister-friend Makyla sent to me and that helped alleviate the flu-like symptoms. Once I got through that, prepping my  lunches was fairly easy because I was lowering my carb intake for a few months prior. I did not do the high fat thing very well….I didn’t use it as an excuse to eat fatty meat and bacon, etc. But I did lost about 5 lbs in my first week. I checked my ketones regularly and knew I was in ketosis. Overall, the keto diet contributed to me losing 22 lbs from my highest weight at the beginning of 2018. The biggest benefits for me were that it gave me good energy all day long, and I didn’t have many food cravings. It also reduced the inflammation in my bad hip enough to where I ran my first 5K in years one month in. I danced jingle dress all summer and even got to the point where I was able to compete in fancy shawl and a few more powwows. I was feeling like my old self. It was very difficult to maintain at powwows, but it is difficult to maintain any healthy way of eating when you are on the road and away from your own kitchen, so that’s not really an excuse.

But I fell off over the summer, and I fell off further in the fall and early winter of 2018. I gained all my weight back because I wasn’t managing my work stress. I was very sporadic with my workouts with Travis and I felt tired all the time. The plus side is I got my crafting mojo back and that felt great!!! I made some beautiful things for my husband and kids and other close friends. I volunteered in my community and continued to attend my Al-Anon meetings and do my step-work with my sponsor. So it definitely wasn’t all bad. I look at it now as a time where I deepened my learning and deepened my work on my personal healing, and how that will help me balance and manage the stress from the challenges that will always be a part of life.

I wrote about joining the wellness challenge the beginning of January. And I started back on keto January 6. I was able to get back into ketosis within 3 days with no sleep issues and no keto flu. And I lost 5.8 lbs my first week back. I haven’t missed a day of training with Travis and I’m working my 5K training plan. We have had some really yucky weather here in KS for the past few weeks, but being in ketosis and reducing the inflammation has made it to where my joints don’t ache at all when the barometric pressure drops. I have so much energy, which is amazing because I’ve had alot of demands on my schedule and personal resources. I’ve been able to meet the demands on my time and energy and feel good about it.

The biggest difference for me is my approach and mindset. I truly believe that keto is working for me because I’ve embraced this Way of Eating (WOE). I’m committed to eating non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and good sources of protein. I’ve read over Whole 30 blogs and articles and one thing that struck me was how the Whole 30 diet does not have any recipes for “whole 30 brownies” or any other substitutes for the sweet and crunchy foods we have a type of dependence on. They said that trying to find substitutes for sweets and starchy goodness while on Whole 30 was like “sex with your pants on”. Lol. That’s where I was on the wrong track before. I wanted the benefits of keto without giving up the foods that were making me sick in the first place. My sister tried to explain this very thing to me a few years ago, but it didn’t click with me then. It has clicked with me now with resonance. I no longer look for recipes for fake sweets like muffins or cakes that use almond flour and a lot of artificial sweetener. Same with coffee drinks and other sources of sugar that I craved before. This time around, the ketogenic WOE is a complete mind-shift. I’m not focused on weight-loss, I’m focused on pain-management and energy. I don’t weigh myself with any regularity because I’m focused on managing the day to day things I want to do to treat my body with respect and reverence. I feel stronger, I can see the definition in my legs returning. And I did a fancy shawl dance practice yesterday and my legs felt great!!!!!

So there’s my keto testament. It’s not for everybody, so I won’t be a member of the “keto-police”, but I am happy to share what it’s done for me.

 

 

 

Gut Health and Healing From A Cellular Level

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Some of the lifestyle changes I’m in the process making are about my health, and not necessarily about losing weight. I want my body to heal and to become strong from the inside out. I want to heal at a cellular level, if that helps explain my mindset. My desire to make positive change feels that deep. I’m making changes for healing my body, my mind and my spirit.

I’m not about making huge sweeping changes and being obsessive about cutting out types of foods. Except for artificial sweetener. That’s gone for good. I am absolutely loving being without artificial sweeteners. It’s 3 weeks now since I gave it up. I continue to not have sugar cravings. When I do eat something sweet, it’s a deliberate decision. Not one based on stress or other emotions. I am finding though that I am indulging in sweets very little. It’s really nice not to feel like I’m fighting cravings all the time. That was getting so frustrating. It was like a weight hanging around my neck that I couldn’t shake. That weight is gone and so is any guilt about indulging occasionally. The cravings being gone gives me some space in my head to think about whether I really want something, and also has helped my creativity in coming up with sweet treats made from real food when I want to indulge.

I’ve also been asking questions via FB messenger of a former coworker, a dietician, about artificial sweeteners. She told me how some artificial sweeteners can change the Ph in your gut, and may kill gut bacteria. Losing gut bacteria may lead to some gut permeability and then inflammation. In my case, inflammation leads to increased hip pain, but I also learned that it’s a big risk factor for heart disease and chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, and possibly lupus and RA.

So then I had to look up “gut permeability” and found out it’s called “leaky gut syndrome”. I’d heard of it before but had no clue what it was. What I read wasn’t fun. But it made sense to me. That’s a whole ‘nother blog post because it’s very science-y. But it made me realize how quitting artificial sweeteners is the beginning of the healing process for my gut.

I remain surprised and grateful for the huge difference I’ve felt in my hip pain since giving up artificial sweetener. And if it’s related to healing my gut, then I want more of that. I’ve began drinking kombucha since last fall, and this weekend I’m going to give bone broth a whirl. Plain Greek yogurt is always in my fridge, as well as fruits, veggies, and healthy fats like avocados and nuts.

Friends and family, you have no idea how thankful I feel to finally start feeling better. I have a spring in my step for the first time in a long time. My mood has improved. And I appreciate the taste of food so much more than before. The changes feel good. And there are more changes we’ve been making that I will write about soon. Drop a comment below if you have had similar experiences. I would love to hear your stories.

Restaurants, Cookies and Ticks – Day 3

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Eating out is a wonderful excuse for me to throw myself off the wellness wagon. The rationale is always “well, I don’t eat out much so I’m going to just order what I really want.” Today that didn’t happen (yay!). I met my sister, 2 of my sister-in-laws and husband-in-law, for lunch and I made a very healthy choice (tri-athlete omelet from First Watch). It does help greatly to go out to eat with like-minded, health-conscious people. (Tip: always order first…and order healthy. The person who orders first sets the tone for the whole group’s food choices). If no one is ordering junk then you don’t feel like you’re missing out. 

Day 3 brought better time management and food prep. When I got home from work I got my daughters and our dog Mickey out for a nice long walk. I worried it was going to rain and we had an orchestra concert to go to this evening. I’m glad I got our exercise in and we ended up walking over 3 miles. Mickey sure loves our walks and we had a pretty view today. What I didn’t love was pulling a tick off his neck this evening. Yuck. My poor Mickey. I checked him all over for ticks and he looked kinda sad at the thought of having more on him. Lol. Now I’m going to go to bed wondering if I have any on me….

Then the orchestra concert was the last one of the school year and we were asked to bring cookies for a reception following the concert. Hy-Vee has thee best chocolate chip cookies and M&M cookies. I ate one M&M cookie and thought I was good. Then my husband very thoughtfully brought me a cup of coffee and another cookie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Usually eating one cookie sets me off and I’ll eat 4 or 5. Not today, you tempting cookies…not today. I was good at 2 and logged them (the bar code to give nutrition info WORKED on the box!). 

I had enough leftover chicken to make another delicious spinach, fruit and chicken salad. So even though I went over my carb count, I ate several servings of fruit and veggies and I stayed within my calorie goal for the day. #winning 

I’m calling today a success because it was fraught with peril. Lol. Seriously…there were so many points during the day where I would have willingly thrown myself off the wagon. But I didn’t. I think that having it on my mind that I’m going to report on my day here in this blog helps as well. Accountability. Better find you some. It helps. 

#NoExcuses 

Day 1

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This morning I overslept (too much Mother’s Day celebrating), and almost made an excuse to postpone Day 1 until Tuesday. However, I persevered and accomplished what I wanted to do for my 1st day with no excuses. I made my smoothie for breakfast, lunch was a hodgepodge of raw non-starchy veggies, a protein bar, water, and half a cup of raspberries. I made myself a taco salad after work, with no tortilla chips (we didn’t have any in the house or I might have gone off).

I treated myself at dinner and made this beautiful chicken, romaine, spinach, strawberry, grape, and candied pecan salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I’ve determined that I’m a binge vegetable eater. Sometimes they sound and taste so good that I eat several servings of them every day. Other days I can’t even look at them. 😑

After I ate I sat on the couch relaxing with my big puppy and we both almost fell asleep. I managed to get us up and out for our walk. 3 miles, with some easy jogging here and there. 

I drank 10 glasses of water today. I stayed within my carb-counting limit…1 carb serving for breakfast, lunch, snack, and 2 carb servings for dinner. I have plenty of calories left for a slice of peanut butter toast and a cup of a hot almond milk drink that I make with cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, vanilla, and Stevia. That should send me right off to sleep. 

I did it. I made it through today with no excuses. Lol. Day 1 DONE!! #noexcuses #day1 #fitmom #letsdoodistomorrow 

No More Excuses

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I’ll be honest. I am an awesome, one of the best really, “excuse-makers”.

I can find a reason (read: excuse) for anything. I believe I honed this skill in my early college years where I earned a plethora of “W” (withdraw) and “I” (Incomplete) grades that still show on all my transcripts. I’ve used this skill to account for slacking on schoolwork, graduate papers, studying, housework, balancing my checkbook, sewing, beading, doctor’s visits (such as my annual mammogram), eating healthy, and working out. I’ve gotten by because I can usually pull something together at the last minute. I know my life is much simpler when I force myself out of my excuse-making tendencies, but that doesn’t keep me from making excuses consistently in order to enable my mindset. 🙂

This is a wellness blog. Yet my blogging is sporadic because I’ve come up with some of the best excuses for either not blogging consistently, or not practicing wellness habits consistently. Some of them were very valid at the time….I’ve had good honest reasons why I’ve fallen off the wellness wagon time and time again. But once those reasons or issues have been addressed and I still am not back on the wagon again…then they become an excuse.

So…in an effort to be brutally honest with myself….here are my best “reasons” for the past few years for not feeling like I was capable of practicing healthy habits. 2012 I remember as my last best year for wellness….I was running 5K races consistently and I felt great about myself. So let’s start there.

  1. Hip Osteoarthritis – this was a biggie. The OA diagnosis and the inevitable total hip replacement was huge. Mentally and emotionally it was tough…having to face the prospect on never shawl dancing again or running again. Then the actual hip pain made it hard to workout, and even harder to want to work out.
  2. Depression – this stemmed from the OA diagnosis, the unknown of total hip replacement surgery, not finding a good coping mechanism besides running, surgery recovery, marital issues, a pre-diabetes diagnosis, and job dissatisfaction. I often felt alone and lonely in my depression, which made motivation scarce and just about non-existent.
  3. Career Change – I wanted to get out of community health administration, and out of the 100 mile round-trip daily commute, and go back into clinical social work at a local agency. I needed to job search, study for my licensure exam, and get out of my comfort zone to follow my passion. That was all extremely stressful and daunting and I didn’t know if I could do it.

Those are the major ones. Every single one of them I allowed to take precious time away from me and what I wanted to do take care of me and my family. I was able to find a million excuses for not treating my body and my spirit well out of all of those 3 big categories. All 3 categories all fed off each other as well and just made things seem bigger and bigger and bigger, until I was overwhelmed on the regular.

So here is where I’m at now and where the excuses end.

  1. Hip OA – I’ve had one hip replaced and know exactly what to expect with my 2nd surgery. My recover was, upon reflection, fairly easy due to my age and my physical strength prior to surgery. My right hip has no more pain and normal range of motion. I got clearance to begin training to shawl dance last June, and I actually danced in a fancy shawl special at KU powwow last month. My left hip is still bad but I know with weight loss and supplements, and possibly a cortisone shot, I can put off surgery for another year or so. My arches hurt from the excess weight, but I have good shoes with arch supports for work and working out.
  2. Depression – I’ve been managing the symptoms with anti-depressant meds. I feel much more positive and self-sufficient than last year at this time. I am getting ready to start tapering off my meds now that things that overwhelmed me have settled down. We got a dog and he is the best thing for mental health. He is awesome and brings so much joy to us. My marriage is much better due to praying together daily. I am finding walking very enjoyable, especially with my big puppy. My sleep has improved and I don’t feel the food cravings often associated with a depressed mood. I went on a social media fast and that was an eye-opener…how the negativity on social media can permeate your brain and your mood. My now-elevated mood helps me feel motivated. I downloaded “The Secret Daily Teachings” app on my phone and it always has good positive words that I read every morning.
  3. Career Change – I successfully passed my master social worker licensure exam. I found an awesome job as a therapist at a local community mental health center. I work in a middle school so I work school hours. My job is 3.5 miles from my home. I love this work…the kids are awesome and so are the staff here. I worked through any internal difficulties I was having at my old job and I was able to leave on good terms….which felt amazing.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my husband and kids gave me gifts all designed to get me healthy and strong again….new runners, new running tops, phone armband. I can’t use time as an excuse because I am home shortly after my kids get home. So I have time to cook earlier, time to get housework done, and time to walk or do something with my kids. I truly have no more excuses. I’m sure I can find some, since I’ve gotten so good at it over the years. I need to use my powers for good and not idleness. Lol. I should turn it around and make excuses TO BE HEALTHY for once.


So TODAY is the day of “No More Excuses”. It’s Day 1. I got my baseline info for Day 1 in the form of weighing myself and taking a picture. 🙂 I overslept this morning and ALMOST caved and said “Day 1 can start tomorrow.” Hahahaha. But I didn’t. That’s a good sign. See, I could have easily used that as an excuse to delay Day 1 but I did not.

I made myself take a few minutes for breakfast instead of running out the door since I was running late. My vanilla strawberry smoothie with cashew milk, vanilla Weight Watchers smoothie mix and 1 cup of fresh strawberries was only 1 carbohydrate serving.  My plan today is either to walk Mickey or ride the new bike my dad got me for my birthday (lack of a bike was a prior excuse to not exercise when my joints were hurting). I have a place to workout at the Sports Pavilion if the weather is bad. They have a nice indoor track and good cardio equipment.

I need to make myself accountable, so I will do my best to jot something here each day. I want to document this new journey. This is more for me than for you, but if you get something positive out of it as well, then that’s a bonus.

Here we go. Day 1. I’ll write later how it goes. #Letsdoodis

 

Social Media-less

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I’m sitting here at 6:23am drinking coffee with my cute big puppy snoozing at my side. No TV, no laptop, and no phone apps, save this app that I am writing this blog entry from.

I am finally taking the plunge and going for my social work licensure. I graduated with my MSW almost 13 years ago and never sat for the LMSW exam. I had big plans to sit for it immediately following graduation, but instead my daughter was born 5 days after I graduated. I just never seemed to find a way to carve out time to study. And to be honest, it wasn’t a priority. My priority was my daughter and figuring out how to return to work when I just wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Lol.

Fast-forward 13 years: I submitted my application and all my fees in January. My application was approved and I now have a temporary license to practice. The only things left to do are to prepare and to schedule my test date. I am feeling very good about my motivation and my progress. This has long been a goal of mine, with my long-term goal being earning my upper-level licensure, the LSCSW (Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker).

I have several things motivating me to take these next steps. I was an Indian Health Services Health Professions Scholarship recipient for the last year of my MSW, so I owe a service obligation of 2 years. I am not eligible to do my service obligation, my “pay-back”, until I earn my LSCSW. In addition, my first social work area of interest was always clinical work. I am excited at the chance to do clinical work, to do what I’ve always wanted to do…to do the work I went to graduate school for.

In order to help myself prepare and properly motivate myself to study, I deactivated my FaceBook and my Twitter accounts. I’ve been without social media for over a week now. Going without my daily routine of scroll, like, share, comment, post, has actually been quite wonderful.

I’m finding the benefits of being social media-less go far beyond having less distraction in order to study. My days feel more full of meaningful stuff. I feel more connected to everyone and everything. My husband says I’m more active, I’m up and around doing things instead of veg’d out on the couch with my phone in my face. My sleep has improved. I’ve always enjoyed my time with my children, but it feels different. I feel more “present”. And not having the distraction of daily screen time has been quite motivating. I’m on a decluttering mission in my house. I’ve actually worked in my yard and refurbished my patio furniture. My little family had a spontaneous cookout over our fire pit last weekend. No one was looking at our phones and it was so much fun. My family doesn’t have to compete with my phone for my attention. My mornings are off to a better start and my evenings are much more relaxing. Which makes the vibe in my home better for everyone.

I am truly enjoying being without social media. Not sure how my blog will fare without the visibility of the Book of Faces or Twitter. But I basically write for me. Lol. So hopefully I will find myself with more time to write along with the other stuff I am making time for on my social media fast.

Better Mornings

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My favorite time of day used to be first thing in the morning. I would wake up with my coffee already made (the inventor of the programmable coffee maker deserves a Noble prize), sit on the couch and read the morning paper. It was a nice, quiet, relaxed start to each day. Then my local morning paper became too much money for too little news, and smart phones and social media really took off. My morning paper gradually gave way to laying in bed and checking my FaceBook (and then Twitter, and THEN Instagram, and then there’s SnapChat….you get my drift), and went directly to drinking/gulping coffee while I cooked breakfast for my kids. My new habits invariably left me running late and not in the best mood depending on what was trending on social media…bad news=bad mood.

Lately I have been deliberate about NOT checking my phone right before I go to sleep, and NOT checking it as soon as I wake up either. This week I started waking up 45 minutes before I have to start getting ready for work. And I’ve been drinking my coffee and reading. I finished my new favorite book “Love Warrior” and I’ve started reading the blog “Momastery” by the book’s author, Glennon Doyle Melton. My days this week have gotten off to a much better start. So much so that I actually cooked chocolate chip pancakes for my kids this morning (I used to do this all the time and have been slacking as of late).

Everyone was in a good mood this morning and got out the door on time. I even had time to re-do my 10-year old’s bun 3 times before it looked right to her. Today is going to be good day.

The optimism today could be my efforts to return to my morning habits. It could be I’m getting better sleep. It could be the absence of eye-strain from not checking my phone screen and reading in the dark at 6:00am. And it could just be the chocolate chip pancakes. I think chocolate chip pancakes make any day better.

8-Week Wellness Challenge

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First of all, I want to say right off the bat that I have succeeded at losing 17 lbs since my highest weight post-total hip replacement surgery!! That means I lost the 15 lbs I gained post-surgery, plus an additional 2 lbs. I have 5 more lbs to go to hit my 1st major goal. My youngest told me today, “Mom, you’re getting skinny.” Lol. Even though “skinny” isn’t my goal, regaining my health is, it was still nice to hear that someone noticed some progress.

My eating and workouts kind of went up and down over the summer, as those who powwow understand the disruption of routines, driving for hours, dancing all weekend, not always having access to the healthiest of foods, packing a cooler, etc. The healthy habits could have been better, they could have been much worse. I concentrated this summer on not beating myself up over slip-ups and just trying to get back on as soon as I can.

My sister got me in the habit of walking for 45 minutes every morning at work. When she isn’t at work, she texts me to ask me if I went out for my walk yet. Lol. That got me going on the consistent activity. But today I want to write about a wellness challenge that has really motivated me.

Tracy is a woman I went to graduate school with and we both earned our MSWs at the same time. Our kids go to the same school, have played on the same teams, and she is friends with one of my nieces. She encouraged me after learning about my hip osteoarthritis back in 2012 to take her cycling class (which, by the way, was a killer workout) to give my joints a break from running, and she has conquered her own health challenges and surgeries. She is inspiring.

My sister-in-law invited me to participate in an 8-week wellness challenge that Tracy was organizing. She had participated the 1st time Tracy did the challenge and encouraged me and my sister to join. The details of the challenge and the structure really intrigued me, which are explained below.

For 8-weeks, each person can earn a point per day in the following areas: 1) Journaling/tracking food intake and following a safe, healthy and nutritious eating plan of our choice, 2) drinking half your body weight in ounces of water, 3) exercising (and she leaves it to us to determine what we think is a workout, there is no minimum number of minutes required to earn this point) – and with exercise one can only earn a maximum of 5 points per week to encourage rest days, 4) getting at least 7 hours of sleep per night. We all took a picture of our scale with our starting weight and sent it to Tracy, and at the end of the 8 weeks we will take a picture of our scale with our ending weight. We can earn 1 point for each percentage of total body weight we lose. For example, if someone starts out weighing 200 lbs, they would earn 1 point for every 2 lbs they lost by the end of the challenge. We have sheets were we can record our points daily. One can earn a maximum of 26 points each week, and then additional points at the end with our final weigh-in. The people who did this challenge the first time don’t mess around. The previous winner didn’t miss ANY of their weekly points and lost weight. There is a $25 buy-in which is given to the winners at the end of 8 weeks. And she set up a FaceBook page for the members of the challenge so we always get little reminders, or encouragement, or ideas for meals and snacks.

I am used to keeping a food journal, and when properly motivated I can exercise 5 days per week. I was really intrigued with the sleep requirement. My sleep routine has been non-existent for almost a year and I’ve never given it much deliberate thought. I go to bed early when I am exhausted or I push myself and don’t get rest. There is no consistency.

We just finished up Week 2 of the challenge. I think I’ve missed only 1 sleep point each week so far when my schedule was a little off on that day. I have been tracking my food faithfully and paying attention to my calorie goals. I even track my “free days” or free meals. There is nothing like seeing that you ate a DQ Blizzard, or 4 slices of pizza from Rudy’s to make you more conscious of your food choices. I make my water intake daily. I’ve earned 5 exercise points per week. I started using MapMyWalk and synched it to my MyFitnessPal so it automatically posts my workouts and calorie expenditure to my food log. Although I began the challenge intending to do the Metabolism Miracle, my actual eating has turned into more of a carb counting routine. I keep my breakfasts and lunches to anywhere between 5-15 grams of carbs or less, I eat many vegetables, take my vitamins, and if I feel like eating some popcorn or a small handful of chips, or 2 soft tortillas in the evenings, I do it. I usually keep dinners to 2 carb servings or less. And guess what…..my weight seems to be just dropping off!! I believe it’s because the structure of this challenge encourages several healthy habits, not just food and exercise. I think it’s the sleep requirement that’s made the difference with me as well as being mindful of my carb intake and not restricting myself as much as before. My energy is evening out more each day…I don’t have as many dips and my energy lasts longer. And I feel smaller already.

So if you haven’t guessed it at this point, Tracy is amazing!!! This was so needed at this point and time and I’m having fun AND improving my health. Thank you again for organizing this!!