1st Day of 8 Weeks to a Better You

 I decided to write about my first day on this blog so if anyone's interested in joining the challenge, they can see how I'm doing it.  Even if you just want to do it on your own without officially joining, it's a pretty well balanced plan and can help you reach your health and fitness goals.

Here's how I did today on the 10 different goals:

Exercise 45 minutes -- No problem.  I've been trying some new (to me) workouts by Dove Rose.  She has 4 hour long workouts called Dove's Bodies, consisting of a variety of light weight/high rep work, cardio, yoga, and body weight strength work.  I absolutely love them  Today I did workout 4 for the first time and loved all the leg work on the step.  Stuff I'd never done before (and you know I've done a TON of workouts).  I'm sure I'll write a whole post about Dove's Bodies once I've done all of them.  (3 down, 1 to go!)

7 Hours of Sleep -- Only got 6 1/2 last night, but I was able to take a nap (two actually -- had a detox headache this afternoon) and made up for it plenty.

Drink 64 oz. water -- Sooooo not a problem.  I found that my Kleen water bottle holds 24 oz and I drank one full bottle when I woke up before I even began my workout, 1 1/2 during my workout and the third 1/2 after my workout.   I've had more water here and there throughout the day, but the 64 oz. was met quite early in the day.

No Sugar -- They define this as added sugar, not sugar contained in whole foods.  They also said you can include white flour.  I'm including all flours.  (Or should I say I'm EXCLUDING all flours).  Wheat flour seems to trigger my appetite just as much as white flour and sugar and it causes me to be bloated.  I don't get the same way with cracked wheat or sprouted, so I'll keep those. I'm actually okay with wheat pasta too, so I'll keep that.   I did fine with this goal today.  Was happy to be away from the stuff!  I had a little this weekend amidst my daughter's birthday party.  Dastardly little gummi bears!

No Soda, Junk Food, Fast Food  -- Not a problem.  Soda isn't a problem for me.  Not counting the gummi bear mishap this weekend, I've been working on getting away from health food store versions of junk food these past few weeks anyway (Kettle Chips and the like, Clif bars in all their varieties, soy ice cream, Paul Newman cookies, etc.)  Fast Food hasn't been a temptation in years, unless you count pizza, which I should.  For some reason it occasionally beckons me, but when I remember what dairy does to me, I'm okay.  I have been making my own veggie pizza lately, but that has wheat in the crust, so I'll just have pasta and veggies or hey, why not a big salad (oh how I've gotten away from making salads) if others are having pizza. 

2 Fruit, 2 Veggies (at the very least!) -- Like the water, I have fruit from the start each day, those 2 fruits will be checked off mighty early throughout this challenge, that's for sure.  I had my veggies in green smoothies in the morning, at night, and in soup at dinner time.

Stop eating at 8:00 p.m. -- This was tricky.  I used to hardly eat much after about 6:00 p.m.  These past several months, I've been eating all the way up until I go to bed around 11:00.  So I'll have to be careful about this so I don't slip.  I actually set the buzzer on my stove tonight 15 minutes before 8:00 for 10 minutes so I'd get a last chance to eat something if I wanted to (finished off a green smoothie).

Write in journal (or blog) -- Someone asked today if blogging counted as journaling and it does.  So this is it!

Read Scriptures or other uplifting material for 15 minutes -- I read the words of Isaiah this afternoon and an uplifting article from the Ensign magazine this morning.  Always nice.

Act of Service/Kindness -- I went Visiting Teaching this morning with a friend.  We visited another friend and helped her with a challenge she's going through right now as a mother.  I think we all learned from it.  We're all learning as we go with our teenagers.  A wonderful time of life to have teens, yet also a crucial one as we guide them along. 

I think I'm going to go do some yoga before I go to bed.  I just want to make sure I get to bed early enough tonight that I don't have to take a nap if there's no time for it (or if I don't feel the need for it).

TTFN!