Fit For Fall

I am starting a new challenge called 22 minute Hard Corps starting on Monday!  This challenge is similar to the 21 Day Fix Extreme where there are daily workouts, a meal plan, and shakeology.  Tomorrow I will be taking my before or "goodbye" pictures.  Summer was fantastic with A LOT of weddings and a trip to Europe!  I may have a bit more cushion post summer than pre summer.  While I like to look at it as a sign of a great summer, I would like to fit into all of my cute winter pants and sweaters :)

Get ready!

So for the next 8 weeks, I Stephanie Ann, pledge to do my daily workout, drink my daily shakeology, drink my daily 2.4 L of water, and follow my meal plan.

Phew.  Luckily the workouts are only 22 minutes long!  They will be super intense though!  Excited and nervous to start this next challenge and happy to have a few challengers taking the plunge with me.

☆ Stephanie Ann

22 Minute Hard Corps Challenge!!

I have had a thoroughly wonderful summer full of weddings, gardening, and enjoying the sunshine. Glasses of champagne, wedding cake, cocktail hour, evening beers, a trip to Europe, ice cream cones, skipping workouts to travel... Yep, I have definitely had quite the enjoyable summer! :)

Now that the weather is turning and the days are getting shorter, I am ready to jump back into my daily workout routine and really get my nutrition on point. My goal is to build good solid habits in time for the holidays! My next workout challenge will be focusing on portion control AND doing a 22 minute workout every day.

I would LOVE it if anyone would like to join me on this adventure and take the challenge of an 8 week long fitness and health journey! Do you want to be ready for the darker days and cold temperatures? Do you want to have built positive habits and daily routines before the winter blues hit? Do you dread the holidays and the decisions around food that you will have to make? Do you want to be well on your way to your New Year's resolution months before you officially make one? I know I do!

Winter, being cold and dark, is the most difficult season for me to be consistent with my health but also the most IMPORTANT for this to happen. I find it is super easy to let my physical health slide in the winter. My excuses run rampant! This year I plan to go all out this FALL in preparation for the lack of sunlight and warm temps that show up come December! I want to be ready for the holidays not stuck playing catch up afterwards.

If you are the type of person who also finds that winter can be a dark and dismal place, join me this FALL and take matters into your own hands. Let's be grateful for the pleasures of summer and use fall as a fresh new beginning. If you already feel like you are in a good space health wise but want to try something new, I'd also love for you to join the challenge as well!

Comment or message me for more details!

Note: The pics are from my 21 Day Challenge. This challenge will be 8 weeks long instead of 3 so I am SUPER EXCITED to see even more impressive results!!! :D

Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.

Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.  

I wish I could truly convey to you how these eleven words make me feel.  Sadly, I often find words and the English language can only bring us so far when it comes to describing thoughts and emotions.  I am using this as my Monday Motivation even though it is not your typical "Woohoo! Conquer the day!" message.  

Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.  

Beautiful.  I read that and I can just feel my bare feet against warm sand, feel the grains compacting and sliding underneath the soles of my feet.  Savoring every moment of contact between my foot and the earth below it.  It is such a simple phrase yet much of its meaning has been lost in modern day materialism and popular culture.  

Walk is if you are kissing the earth with your feet.  

The thoughts coming to my mind go beyond walking and into the philosophical.  Live as if you are embracing the world with your entire being.  It reminds me to get off of autopilot and take notice of what I am doing.  What I am feeling.  What I am taking in with my five senses.  

Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet.  

I want every step I take to be a kiss between my feet and the earth.  I want every action I take to be an embrace between my soul and the world.  I do not want to miss any of it because I am simply going through the motions.  I want to live not just survive.  I want it all.

☆ Stephanie Ann

Stop beating yourself up.

My homework for the week is to stop beating myself up over things I do or do not get done during my day.  We can categorize our "To Do" list into three categories...

1. What we want to do: These are generally the "fun" activities through out our day.  Reading a book, taking a nap, watching some tv, wandering the internet, eating some ice cream, going out to dance/party etc.
2. What we should do:  These activities will vary from person to person based on their own outlooks of what they view as important or necessary.  For me things I "should" do include exercising the dogs, studying for personal training certification, cleaning the house, meal prep, planning the garden.
3. What we need to do:  These are the activities that we NEED to do in order to survive.  They can be simplified down to the bare minimum tasks that MUST be accomplished each day.  These tasks include things like eating, going to the bathroom, getting enough sleep, personal hygiene, and going to work.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

I find that my "should" do and "need to" do categories often overlap ending up with many "should" items in the "need to" category.  When I then don't have enough time or do not accomplish these items I beat myself up about it!  One way to look at the distinctions is to look at an example such as cleaning.  What things do we need to keep clean, should we keep clean, and want to keep clean.  Things we NEED to keep clean include ourselves (personal hygiene) and our cooking areas (we don't want to end up with food poisoning).  If we neglect to keep these items clean our personal health and the well being of our family members can become jeopardized.  

Other household chores may not be as pivotal to our personal health, we can survive a few days without vacuuming (if you have allergies this may not be the best example), we aren't going to die if we don't do that load of laundry today.  Often these cleaning items are things we feel we "should" be getting done and sometimes slip into the category of "need to" get done.  It is important especially for me when my depression is the worst to recognize that it is OKAY to sometimes skip these or go a few extra days between them.  My world isn't going to end because the laundry is folded but not put away.  A lot of times when I don't do the "should" list items when I plan them out or "on time", I chastise myself for being lazy, for avoiding, for procrastinating.  If I don't do them again the next day, the self talk gets worse and worse as the days go by.  As that self talk gets worse, my motivation and my will to do those tasks gets smaller and smaller until they seem DAUNTING.  If I can hit the reset button on this cycle by recognizing some days won't be perfect and I won't get everything done, my mindset will be in a better place.  With my mindset in a better place, even with depression, getting those "should" items accomplished doesn't seem quite so impossible.  

The want items in terms of cleaning are a little harder to imagine but could include wanting to get a manicure, wanting to bring your car through the car wash so it is shiny and clean, wanting to hire someone to come do your cleaning for you, wanting to get your eyebrows done.  I'm not saying that we should avoid our wants at all.  I know that I need to incorporate the occasional want into my day to balance out accomplishing all of the needs.  If I need to play mental games with myself to accomplish some of my "need to" do list with a reward from my "want to" do list.  Awesome.  One example of this that doesn't have to do with cleaning but is currently something I am aiming for is if I follow my workout routine perfectly for 21 days, I am going to go get a massage! :)  Massages cost money, it will definitely be a treat but it gives me that extra motivation to really work towards my goal of committing to my workout routine.  

So, as I work on not mentally beating myself up this week over the smaller day to day things, I encourage you to also take a step back and notice if you are being especially hard on yourself in areas of your life where you could cut yourself some slack.  I'm making an effort to acknowledge when I successfully complete a task, even if it seems insignificant.  I want you to do the same.  One of the best ways to raise your self-confidence and self-esteem is through accomplishment.  If we can put the same amount of mind power into congratulating ourselves on what we DO rather than on what we fail to do, we are going to be in a better space mentally.  I know this is true, I've felt it before.  It is just a matter of forcing myself to recognize those small accomplishments, guiding my thoughts away from the negative reinforcement back to positive reinforcement.  Being mindful of my self talk.  Accepting my own limitations.  Smiling and living in the moment.

☆ Stephanie Ann

Fitness Facts Friday - What Exactly is a Muscle?

The right bicep muscle.

To start of Fitness Facts Friday, I've decided to explain what a muscle is.  As in, what is it made of, what does its structure look like, and how does it help me move my body.

Have you ever heard of fractals?  You know the pattern in a pattern in a pattern?  Like a fern or the Mandelbrot set?

Examples of Fractals.

Well a muscle reminds me a lot of a fractal in that if you zoom in on a muscle starting at the naked eye, the structure seems to repeat itself.  First with a bundle of muscle fibers, then with the muscle fiber itself which is a bundle of myofibrils.  Within the myofibrils live Actin and Myosin chains which interact to cause muscle contractions, aka when your muscle shortens itself or "flexes".  (I'm not going to get into the specifics of muscle contraction in this post)

Diagram of the structure of a muscle.

When your brain sends a signal to your muscle to contract it is actually sending a signal to each muscle fiber!  Depending on how many muscle fibers are called into action the force created by the muscle can be carefully controlled.  The main molecule that make up a muscle is protein!  Hence why when we eat meat, we are eating a lot of protein.  Essentially most meat that we consume are the muscles of other organisms.  Muscles attach to the bones of the body via tendons.  Let's talk about the bicep to really get an idea of how a muscle connects to the bones and how that enables use to move our skeleton.  Here is the anatomical view of the bicep:

The anatomy of the bicep.

As you can see the upper part of the bicep muscle attaches via tendons to the shoulder while the lower portion of the bicep muscle attaches to the lower arm, below the elbow.  When the muscle contracts, or shortens, the elbow acts as a pivot point and the lower arm is brought closer to the upper arm.  Take your arm right now and hold it out straight in front of you with your palm facing upwards.  If you want to lift your hand to touch your face, you are contracting your bicep muscle, the more you contract it, the closer your hand is to your face.  Pretty awesome stuff!  Of course the bicep is not the only muscle in the human body, in fact there are between 640-850 muscles in the human body!  Amazing!  These muscles range in type from voluntary (the skeletal muscles we use to walk around) to involuntary (the visceral muscles which control your inner organs) and cardiac (your heart).

Diagram of the muscles in the human body.

The main type of muscle that I want to focus on are the voluntary or skeletal muscles.  You know, the ones that help use pick those weights up and put them back down.  Some muscles have a counterpart muscle that acts in opposition to it.  An example of this is the hamstring and quads (blue/purple in the diagram above).  When the hamstring is flexed, the quads are stretched and when the quads are flexed, the hamstring is flexed.  Think of these opposing muscles as balancing one another to make sure our skeleton is not pulled to far in any one direction.  

The exercises that we do to get "in shape" can either use multiple muscle groups at once or focus on one muscle group at a time.  The diagram below lists the muscle group and several exercises that are associated with those muscles.  Next time you are sore and you are wondering what on earth you were doing that made that specific muscle hurt so bad, check out this infographic and try and figure out which exercise it was!  For example, my quads get sore if I do a lot of squats.  I hope you have enjoyed this mini lesson on what a muscle is!

☆ Stephanie Ann

Workout - Deck of Cards

All you need to do this workout is a little creativity and a deck of cards!  At my house, we have no shortage on decks of cards! 

So many options!

The first thing you will do is assign an exercise to each suit in the deck.  I like to choose at least 1 upper body exercise, 1 lower body exercise, and 1 core exercise.  For the fourth suit I pick an exercise that targets multiple muscle groups, burpees for example.  To make this super easy for you I've listed several exercises for each category!

Clubs (upper body)

• Push ups
• Tricep Dips
• Dumbbell Curls
• Dumbbell Row (includes the back in this one)
• Inverted Push ups
• Dumbbell Bench Press
• Dumbbell Fly

Diamonds (lower body)

• Squat Jumps
• Squats
• 1 Legged Squats
• Sumo Squats
• Calf Raises
• Hamstring Curl with a stability ball
• Mountain Climbers
• Squat Tuck Jumps

Hearts (core)

• Stomach Dippers
• Leg Raises
• Plank Jacks
• Side Plank Dips
• Side Crunches
• Russian Twist
• Stability Ball Crunches

Spades (multiple muscle groups)

• Burpees (with a push up!)
• Football runs with a drop down onto your stomach
• Burpees (with knee raises, no push up)
• Inchworm with a squat each time your feet touch your hands

Doing the Workout

To do the workout, pick one exercise from each category and you will do this exercise every time you flip a card of that suit.  Feel free to assign exercises not listed above when you are doing this yourself!

Clubs=Push ups

Diamonds=Squat Jumps

Hearts=Side Plank Dips

Spades=Burpees with knee raises.  

For reps you will do whatever the value of the card is.  For example if you flip the 7 of Hearts, you would be doing 7 Side Plank Dips on each side for that card.  Then flip the next card, let's call it the Jack of Spades, do 11 Burpees with knee raises.  Continue to flip cards and do the equivalent exercises and reps until you have done all 52 cards!  Super simple and super effective!  And you never know what is coming so you can't psych yourself out.  

If you want to make this harder on yourself add 10 reps to the value of each card.  This way an Ace becomes 11, a 2 becomes 12, a 3 becomes 13... a Jack becomes 21, a Queen becomes 22, and a King becomes 23.  You can also go through the deck more than once if you feel so inclined!  

☆ Stephanie Ann

Fitness Facts Friday

Hello all!

Welcome to what will become known as Fitness Facts Friday!  As part of my journey into the world of fitness and fitness coaching, I am studying to become certified as a personal trainer.  There are several reasons why I want to be certified as a personal trainer including but not limited to:

1. Increasing my knowledge of how the body works and how to maximize its capabilities
2. Have an official certification for my business 
3. Be able to apply the knowledge I learn to help others!

What will Fitness Facts Friday be?

An opportunity for me to share some of what I am learning through my studies with you!

I'm hoping to answer some questions people have about fitness and exercise along with giving some base knowledge.  Topics covered will include but won't be limited to:

• What exactly is a muscle?
• Why am I sore?  What is this lactic acid thing everyone always talks about?
• Will this exercise make my butt look big?
• How much protein do I really need?
• Using physics to maximize results
• Why do I have to eat well to see results?  Can't I just exercise?
• What benefits come from lifting weights?
• What benefits come from aerobic exercise?
• AND SO MUCH MORE!

I'm super excited to get this up and going next week :)  Make sure you check back next Friday to see what fun fitness fact I talk about first!  If you have any questions or want to know more about a specific topic, comment and I will look into it!  And remember:

☆ Stephanie Ann

21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge - Review

This past Sunday I finished my first 21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge.  The 21 days were up faster than I was anticipating even though it seemed like some of the days lasted forever.  Did I like it? Yes.  Would I do it again? Yes.  Was I perfect every single day? No.  Did I see positive results? Yes.

I'm starting a challenge group if you are interested in joining!

The Workouts

The first week the workouts seriously kicked my butt and left me feeling quite sore!  Which is a GOOD thing because that meant my body was waking up and finally being used again in a way that pushed me to my limits.  The first week I used mainly my light weights (3 lbs) or no weights at all in most of the workouts.  True to form they were all right 30 minutes long which is a very doable amount of time.  Long enough that you definitely feel it but short enough that you can really push yourself.  

Feeling accomplished after doing the cardio fix workout!

The second and third week of the program I was less sore after the workouts and I slowly began to use more weight ending with always using at least my light weights and sometimes my heavy weights (10 lbs).  The easiest workout for me was the 10 min hardcore because I LOVE having a strong core and have some leftover strength from years of gymnastics and pole vaulting.  That being said the hardest workout for me was definitely the cardio fix extreme because I was not in very good aerobic shape to begin.  I did improve from week 1 to week 3 in this workout and though it is hard I feel SUPER ACCOMPLISHED afterwards.

My light (3lbs) and heavy (10lbs) weights.

There was a minimal amount of equipment that I needed to do my workouts some of which I already had.  I used a yoga mat, light weights (3lbs each), heavy weights (10lbs each), and a resistance band.  If you are into saving $$ wherever possible I found the local thrift store was a good place to pick up some cheap weights and resistance bands.  If you want to be deluxe you can also order them or go to the store.  

I did a swim workout today and noticed that I felt stronger than last time I swam which was before the 21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge.  Awesome!

The Meal Plan

The simplified meal plan that came with 7 different color coded containers made knowing what to eat super easy!  My cravings for chocolate and baked goods made the application of the meal plan much harder.  I found that if I prepped my food once a week and had it ready to grab and go when I ran out the house I was much more likely to stick with the meal plan.  Initially I thought it didn't seem like that much food to eat but there were days where I actually fell short on what I was supposed to eat. 

An assortment of meals and meal prep from the 21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge.

The meal plan also got me to branch outside of my routine meals and explore different taste combinations.  Including the Shakeology as a breakfast most days instead of my typical 400-500 calorie muffin gave me more energy in the morning and just made me feel healthier because I knew it was good for me.  I was skeptic of the shake at first but will definitely be continuing to drink it every day!  The cost of eating a ton of fruits and vegetables wasn't too bad because all of the meal prep really cut down on my quick food purchases throughout the week.  Ross was on board for eating super healthy with me as well but didn't do any limiting on quantity that he ate.  It really helped that he was on board and super encouraging! :)

One thing that did fall through for me was my tracking.  :(  Did not stick with it through out the entire 21 days.  I did really well the first 7 days and kind of fizzled out after that.  I will be working on keeping better track next time I do a challenge!

The Results 

Overall I lost 4lbs going from 153 to 149 and 3.5 total inches going from 180 to 176.5 inches (measurements taken include waist, chest, hips, right arm, left arm, right thigh, and left thigh).

Below are my before and after photos with the before photo being on the left.  I can see a difference in how I look.  The most noticeable difference is that I feel STRONGER and have more MOTIVATION to get outside the house and do things like go for HIKES or SWIM.  My skin has improved as well and is much clearer than normal!  Not going to complain about that perk at all!

Left: 153lbs, Day 0     Right: 149lbs, Day 21

Left: 153lbs, Day 0     Right: 149lbs, Day 21

What's Next?

The next challenge that I plan on tackling is the new workout from Beach Body called 22 Minute Hard Corps which is a boot camp style workout that lasts for 60 days!  The meal plan that it follows is essentially the same as for the 21 Day Fix Extreme so I will be ahead of the game on that!

☆ Stephanie Ann

Recipe - Beet, Arugula, and Endive Salad

It is winter in Vermont which means that beets are one of the few vegetables that are considered in season!  I like to try to incorporate local veggies whenever possible though it does get tricky in the middle of the winter.

The blue berries really rounded this salad off nicely.

Beets are super healthy for you because they are full of the following nutrients!

Beets, sliced, cooked 1.00 cup 170.00 grams Calories: 75 GI: med
Nutrient	Amount	DRI/DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
folate	136.00 mcg	34	8.2	excellent
manganese	0.55 mg	28	6.6	very good
potassium	518.50 mg	15	3.6	very good
copper	0.13 mg	14	3.5	very good
fiber	3.40 g	14	3.3	good
magnesium	39.10 mg	10	2.4	good
phosphorus	64.60 mg	9	2.2	good
vitamin C	6.12 mg	8	2.0	good
iron	1.34 mg	7	1.8	good
vitamin B6	0.11 mg	6	1.6

via the world's healthiest foods

Ingredients

• 1-2 Medium Sized Beets
• 1 Endive
• Arugula
• Spring Mix Salad Greens
• Blue Berries
• Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Prep

1.  Clean and peel the beets.  I suggest doing this over the sink because they will turn everything red.  Once peeled, quarter beets and then thinly slice and set aside.
2.  Remove the core from the endive and separate leaves from one another.  Thinly slice leaves horizontally and set aside with the beets.
3.  Combine the arugula and spring salad greens to a proportion that you enjoy.  For example I love arugula so my ratio of arugula to salad greens is closer to 3:1 than say someone who isn't a huge fan of arugula.  Their ratio may be closer to 1:3 arugula to spring greens.  Slightly chop the greens.  You can include the beet greens here.  (I used them in a separate dish)
4.  In a large glass bowl combine balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil at a 2:1 ratio and season with salt and pepper.  I tend to dress my salads lightly using just enough dressing to barely coat all of the ingredients.
5.  Add the beets, endive, and arugula/greens to the dressing and toss.
6.  Using your green container, divide the salad into as many full green containers as possible.  I was able to divide mine into 3 separate green containers, putting each into their own tupperware dish.
7.   Using the purple container, fill it half way with blueberries.  Add to the tupperware dishes already containing your salad.

Container Amounts Per Tupperware Dish

• 1 Green
• 1/2 Purple
• 1 tsp

**Easily and scrumptiously pairs with smoked lox to add 1/2 a Red to your meal.

Some of my meal prepping for the week including my beet, endive and arugula salad.  I also used my beets in my green bean stir fry and roasted some to go with my roasted butternut squash!

☆ Stephanie Ann

Recipe - Cucumber, Avocado, Strawberry, Cilantro Salad

Okay this recipe is one of my favorites!  Super duper easy to make, very flavorful, and I'm still excited to eat it after multiple days of having it as one of my small meals!  A little taste of summer year round.  ❤

Cucumber, Avocado, Strawberry, Cilantro Salad

Ingredients

• Strawberries (fresh strawberries will taste the best and their juice will mix with the lime juice)
• Cucumbers
• Avocado
• Red Onion
• Cilantro
• Lime Juice (or a fresh lime)
• Cumin
• Dill
• Himalayan Rock Salt
• Pepper

Prep

1. Slice strawberries and cucumbers.  To make multiple days worth I simply slice a purple container full of strawberries and a green container full of cucumbers and throw it straight into my storage tupperware.  Rinse and repeat for how many days I want.  I find a standard strawberry package you would find at the grocery store is enough for about 3 purple containers and one long english cucumber is about right for 3 green containers.
2. Quarter an avocado.  Cube and add 1/4 of the avocado to each of your storage tupperware contaienrs.  I find that 1/4 of an avocado is a good approximation for 1 blue container.
3. Dice the red onion.  Depending on how much you like raw onion will depend on how much you add to each day.  I generally do a heaping tablespoon worth of red onion into each of my containers figuring that much nicely fills in the air gaps left by the space between my cucumber slices in my green container.
4. Separate the cilantro leaves from the stems.  This is an herb so if you LOVE cilantro heap it on, if it isn't your fav limit how much you put onto your salad.
5. Slice a lime in half and squeeze the lime juice equally into your three containers.  (Hint: The rest of the lime works well as a water flavor enhancer!)
6. Add cumin, dill (fresh if you can), salt, and pepper to flavor!

Container amounts per tupperware dish

• 1 Green
• 1 Blue
• 1 Purple

**Easily paired with 2 hard boiled eggs, baked fish, chicken breast, or shakeology to add 1 Red to your meal!**

Here I've paired it with my Vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeology!

☆ Stephanie Ann

Depression, Emotional Eating and Meal Plans

Seven Layer Bars

It took a seven layer bar to get me out of bed today.  At noon.  Part of my struggle with depression is wanting to stay in bed when life feels too overwhelming.  I tried to convince myself a number of times to get up and going with my day:

• "You get to have your chocolate shakeo!" 
• "The dogs would love a walk outside" 
• "You can do this"
• "Staying in bed won't make this go away"
• "It's sunny out" 

None of these were enough though.  I wasn't excited about a freezing cold shake, I definitely didn't want to leave the warmth of my bed to walk the dogs, you can do this turned into no I can't, staying in bed won't make it any worse, it's sunny out but it is still cold.  The powers of negative self-talk when fighting depression can be incredible.  It wasn't until I gave myself permission to stray from my meal plan and go have a seven layer bar that I was able to drag my butt out of bed.

So what was it about that sweet treat that got me going?  I'm an emotional eater.  Sweets give me a sugar rush and make me feel better.  They make me feel better quickly.  That sugar rush is enough to get me a burst of energy to actually start my day.  Enough energy to make the healthy breakfast (today it was a pear, almonds, a rice cake with almond butter, and a coffee).  Once I've got that healthy breakfast in me I'm *usually* able to have a somewhat productive day and not crawl back under the covers where I can wander off into dream land.

I'm an emotional eater, I struggle with depression, and I'm doing the 21 Day Fix Extreme Program which includes a relatively restrictive meal plan.  How am I going to balance this?  When I'm doing well, like the first week of the program, eating healthy comes a lot easier and doesn't feel overwhelming.  I still have my cravings for sweets but I can push through them.  When I'm doing less well, like today, eating healthy feels like climbing Mount Everest and all I really want to do is hang out at base camp and drink hot cocoa.

"And then me will conquer that moment!"

I've spent the last hour or so trying to figure out how I can eat as healthy as possible while allowing myself treats when I need them to get going.  I think the first thing I have to do is accept that yes, I'm not going to be perfect with this meal plan the first time I do it and that is okay.  Change takes time.  Change of one aspect of my life is also not done in isolation from the rest of my life.  Physical, mental, and spiritual health are all linked together and influence one another.  Long term, increasing my physical health will ideally help my mental health and give me more energy to tackle the world and battle my depression.  Short term, if a seven layer bar will get me out of bed at noon when nothing else will, I will be enjoying that seven layer bar thank you very much.  Right now, the give and take, the compromise I am making with my healthy eating (my physical health) in those moments is worth the small boost I get in my emotional health (my mental health).  What I am hoping for is that, as my body gets used to eating much healthier and as these new healthy lifestyle habits really start to form I will have more good days where eating healthy comes easy than not so good days where eating healthy becomes a scary monster.

Balance is everything.  Not judging my own struggles and choices, accepting them for what they are and also accepting I can change them over time, will only help me be successful.  If I constantly deny having a meal plan is hard for me, I won't be able to face which parts of it are hard, or why those parts are hard.  I won't be able to work through those challenges and won't be able to successfully change my habits.  Along with this is taking credit for all of my meal plan victories both big and small.  On days when my depression is less intense and following the meal plan feels easy it is a huge victory!  On days when my depression is intense and I manage to get in all of my protein, veggies, and fruits plus some sweet extras, that is a huge victory as well!

I may have had some sweets and strayed from the meal plan but I DID eat my veggies, fruits and proteins.  I DID give my body good nutrients through these healthy foods.  I DID have my shakeology with all of its amazing health benefits.  And that is awesome, because I could have stayed in bed all day.  I could have not had that healthy breakfast after the seven layer bar.  I could have never taken on the 21 Day Fix Extreme challenge.  But I did.  And that my friends is something worth celebrating.

"Every person has three aspects:  the physical self, the mental self and the spiritual self.

The physical self is the easiest one for others to perceive.

It is about the health and fitness of your body.

When you are at your optimum in this area of life, you find that you can easily maintain your idea weight,  you rarely get sick, and you possess abundant energy.

The second aspect is your mental self.

It is about your mind and your work.

When you are at your optimum in this area of life, you find your work is challenging and satisfying, you are able to make use of your creativity and skills, and you are steadily advancing in your career.

The third aspect is your spiritual self. 

It is about your inner-most being and your concern with other souls.

When you are at your optimum in this area of life, you find that you are blessed with great friends in your life, and you are deeply immersed in a loving relationship with your soul mate."

taken from The Tao of Joy Every Day by Derek Lin

artwork - Transformation by Diane Fergurson

☆ Stephanie Ann

21DFX Week 1 Review and Falling Off the Wagon

Wow!  One week done, two more weeks to go!  I'm sure you have noticed that for each day I am posting a photo of my tracking journal which includes, when and what I ate (note the color coded container reference after each meal), and some notes on how I felt/what went well/etc throughout the day.

If you look at them you will notice that Monday (1) went well, Tuesday (2) went well, Wednesday (3) went well, Thursday (4) went well, and then came Friday.  Not so well.  I had run out of a lot of my prepped food, woke up late and sprinted out the door, and then traveled down to Boston and had my first eating out experience of my 21DFX Challenge.

Not my finest hour.  

Oh MY!  I gave into my somewhat constant DONUT craving (they were free for the taking at work... busted).  It would have helped if I had brought prepped meals to work with me and hadn't been as hungry when I saw those free donuts but alas, I did not.  And you know what?  That is okay!  I'm not perfect and it is NOT the end of the world that I ate a donut, and half a scone.  I went out to eat in Boston and chose a relatively healthy meal of a grilled chicken sandwich with avocado, swiss cheese, and bacon along with a side of chips.  What I didn't get while out to eat was a beer or soda or dessert so I'm counting my eating out experience as a win!  After that I headed to the Big Air Competition at Fenway Park and froze my butt off watching some AMAZINGLY talented athletes fly through the air on skis!

Talk about inspiration and motivation!

Saturday morning it was back out to eat and needless to say, by this point I was barely holding onto the meal plan wagon.  I went with an omelette rather than the waffle with chocolate chips.  I may have spoiled myself but I knew that Sunday was Valentine's Day and I was going to spoil myself then with a little champagne and steak!  I skipped my workout on Sunday due to having taught 6 hours of snowboarding lessons out in temperatures below 5 degrees F and I was exhausted!  Needless to say, the steak, champagne, and chocolates enjoyed by all on V-Day were delicious.

Definitely off the wagon.  Time to reset, reprep, and get back to work!

Why'd you fall off the wagon Mom???!!!?

Welcome Monday:  

• Got in two workouts, Dirty 30 and Yoga 
• Drank adequate amounts of water
• Followed my meal plan
• Went to bed on time

Just because I fell off the wagon didn't mean I could not chase it down, do some make-up work, and hop right back on!  

 
☆ Stephanie Ann

Day 8 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 8 - Tracking Journal Entry

Day 7 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 7 - Tracking Journal Entry

Day 6 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 6 - Tracking Journal Entry

Day 4 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 4 - Tracking Journal Entry

Day 3 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 3 - Tracking Journal Entry

Day 2 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 2 - Tracking Journal Entry

Day 5 - 21 Day Fix Extreme

Day 5 - Tracking Journal Entry

In Progress

Please note that this blog is a work in progress and will be a more complete site/blog within the next month!!

Thank you!

☆ Stephanie Ann