Shelly: Week 4 & 5

Total Weight Lost: 10.8 pounds through 9/12/11.
Week 1 Miles: 56
Week 2 Miles: 80

Week 3 Miles: 62

Week 4 Miles: 63

Week 5 Miles: 47

Total Miles Ridden: 308 

I truly can’t believe that next week will mark the half way point for this session of WFMH.  It seems like it just started.  So much has happened in the last five weeks, and time has flown.  Since my last journal, I have been out of town in Washington, DC speaking at the US House of Representatives in support of HR2746, which is a drug parity bill that would benefit cancer patients.  Being away from home, staying in a hotel and eating in restaurants makes this more difficult during the challenge, but is definitely something that is part of life so it’s good to learn some strategies for staying healthy away from home.  I haven’t actually been to a weigh in since I got back, so it remains to be seen how well my strategies worked, but I’ll let you know next time.  It’s been two weeks since I’ve been to a weigh in, so I’m definitely interested in seeing what the scale says tonight.

Here is a brief rundown of how things went:

Exercise:  The absolute first thing I saw after getting off the metro from the airport in DC was a bank of rental bikes.  I was so excited!  There were places EVERYWHERE that you could rent and return rental bikes.  I spent some time riding, although it was a little intimidating to ride in DC traffic since I’m not used to that sort of thing.  I did ride about 21 miles while I was out there, and it was a super fun experience.  I had my son with me, and he didn’t ride, but he spent one afternoon in Manassas, VA visiting his grandmother so I took advantage of some of that time to bike around with my camera taking pictures of some of the monuments.  For the most part, my time there was very busy, so I didn’t have a ton of time for organized workouts.  DC involves A LOT of walking in general though, so I just tried to make a thoughtful effort to use the stairs, avoid taxis, walk wherever possible and use the metro stations when I couldn’t walk the whole way.  The metro is actually a bit of a workout, since there are a lot of stairs involved and you spend some amount of time walking between stations.

Nutrition:  This was more difficult away from home.  I didn’t have a lot of control over where I would be eating, so I just did my best to make good choices.  I ate a lot of fruit and vegetables whenever possible, and I also ate a few things that probably weren’t that good for me.  Honestly, I just tried to keep the least healthy options to a minimum, and fill up as much as possible when there were fruits and vegetables available.  I completely eliminated food logging while I was gone.  I’m not sure if this was the best choice, but it was too stressful and time consuming to try and figure out how to log what I ate and try to remember it all day.  The trip was pretty emotional overall, and speaking in Congress is pretty intimidating, so I tried to eliminate additional anxiety where I could.  As much as possible, I just looked at each meal as a separate entity, and made the best choices I could out of what was available.

Extras:  This week was incredibly emotional.  The trip to Washington was very important to me, and I needed to focus my energy there.  I did the best I could to make healthy choices and I feel good about how it went.  Overall, I feel like making good decisions about exercise and food is becoming a more natural part of my everyday life.  It doesn’t feel so much like a competition any more, and I think that’s the point.  I hope that by the time this is over it just becomes a part of who I am, and I feel like I’m starting to get there.

Shelly: Week 3

Total Weight Lost: 10.8 pounds
Week 1 Miles: 56
Week 2 Miles: 80

Week 3 Miles: 62
Total Miles Ridden: 198 

We’re a little more than three weeks into the WFMH challenge, and it feels like time is flying!  I know I told you that you would be getting a video regarding my bike riding goal this week, but it turns out that won’t be until next week.  I know you’re sad, but think of how much better it will be after all that build up J

Here is a brief rundown of how things have been going since my last journal:

Exercise:  I feel like I’m exercising A LOT.  There’s boot camp on Tuesday evening, and also on Monday, Wednesday & Friday mornings.  I ride bicycle either outside or on a spin bike at least four times a week.  I’ve been incorporating morning running because I want to be prepared for the WFMH 5K.  It feels like I’m spending a lot of time on physical activity.  I lost 1.8 pounds this week, and I’m really glad for that, but honestly it feels like I’m working a lot harder than that. I think for me this is the week where everything is starting to seem a little harder.  It isn’t ‘new’ any more, and it’s sinking in that this is a lifestyle change.  I feel pretty tired overall, and honestly a little overwhelmed.  On a more positive note, I did visit the Lincoln Running Company for new shoes, and I can honestly say that having the right shoes makes running so much easier and more enjoyable.  Now that shin splints are a thing of the past, running in the mornings after boot camp doesn’t seem like torture.

Nutrition:  This is the first week that nutrition has been easier than exercise.  Woo hoo!  I feel like I’m really developing some skills and knowledge here.  I’m making actual recipes, using my crock pot, eating different foods every day…  It feels completely different than week one, and it feels GOOD!

Extras:  This week has been tiring and stressful.  I’m struggling to keep up with everything and prepare for an important trip.  I’m worried about keeping up with the exercise and eating while in Washington DC next week, and I’m worried about doing well in the competition aspect if I have a bad week.  I think I might be worrying too much, and I figured that there would be a period of time in this challenge that things felt more difficult, so I guess the best thing to do is ‘keep on keeping on’...

Shelly: Week Two

Total Weight Lost: 9 pounds
Week 1 Miles: 56
Week 2 Miles: 80
Total Miles Ridden: 136 

I’m on day 18 of the WFMH challenge, and honestly…this is a lot more fun than I expected!  It’s been more than a week since my last entry was written, but we decided to change it up a bit.  I’ll be doing a write-up each week AFTER the weigh in, so you can see my progress each week.  This should be fun for everyone, and extra motivational for me since my “numbers” will be included J  In addition to pounds lost, I will be including another number:  miles ridden.  This is part of a goal that holds really special meaning for me.  Stay tuned next week for a video check in that explains that in more detail.

Here is a brief rundown of how things have been going since my last journal:

Exercise:  Mike Bevard at Capital City Boot Camps did not disappoint with the first boot camp after the Labor Day holiday.  I’ve been going to boot camp for some time before the WFMH challenge started, and I’ve got to say – I think last Tuesday’s class was the hardest yet.  In boot camp speak, we definitely “got after it”…  Seriously, if you want to get in shape, and you live in the Lincoln area, give Mike a call.  He will work you harder than you thought you were capable of, and it feels amazing when you’re done.  Outside of our weekly boot camp, I’ve been working on different and/or fun ways to incorporate calorie burning in my daily life.  As much as I like riding my bike, walking, etc. sometimes it can get boring or repetitive.  Also, I’ve been wearing a Bodybugg during this challenge, and it’s super fun to see how many calories different things burn.  To that end, I’ve spent some time at the park with a (borrowed) small child, swimming in the pool at my apartment complex, and parking REALLY far away when I have to go somewhere.  I feel really good about the amount of exercise I’m getting, but wearing a Bodybugg is really eye opening.  If I were ‘guessing’ on this and couldn’t see the actual number of calories burned, I know that I would be overestimating.  For me, metrics are a key piece of being successful at this.

Nutrition:  I said last week that Nutrition had been harder than exercise, and I stand by that statement!  I feel like I had a breakthrough this week though.  First of all, on Sunday at the grocery store, three things happened:  1) didn’t take very long, 2) wasn’t any more expensive than pre-challenge, and 3) nothing in my cart contained white flour or added sugar.  This felt like a huge victory!  Also, another sign of a breakthrough:  I have a menu for the week that does not have me eating the same thing for lunch every day.  Yay!  Karen Kuzma, the registered dietiyian at midtown Hy-Vee, is totally the reason for all this progress.  In addition to cleaning out my kitchen, she also took all of the WFMH participants on a tour of the grocery store and gave us TONS of useful information.  I expected the tour to be “eat this, not that” style, but it really wasn’t.  It was more comprehensive, and extremely informative.  I would definitely recommend something like this if you’re serious about changing your life permanently. 

Bonus:  This really has been a lot more fun than I expected.  I feel like I’m making new friends, which is sometimes hard to do in a city when you’re an adult.  This part is awesome!  Also, and I can’t stress this enough, cutting white flour and added sugar from my diet has made a huge impact on how alert I feel at any given time.  I just don’t have that mid-afternoon feeling of needing a nap anymore, and I LOVE that.  It did take a few days to get past wanting to eat highly refined/processed white bread products, since I had been eating like that for so long, but after the first week it really wasn’t an issue any more.

Overall, I’m super excited to see where this is going.  I’m having a lot of fun, and I feel like I’m really making progress.  Follow along next week to find out more about my bike riding goal, and why it means so much to me.

Shelly: Week One

Monday, August 29th

I can’t believe it’s only been seven days since the Wealth for my Health challenge started!  It’s been great meeting all of the other participants and finding out a little bit about them.  Overall, the first week was not bad.  It was much less intimidating than I thought it would be.  I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting, but what I found was a group of people that have been nothing short of inviting, informative, and best of all – non-judgmental.

Here is a brief rundown of how the week went for me:

Exercise:  I expected that the boot camp workouts would be challenging, and they were.  I have been to Capitol City Boot Camps many times prior to this challenge, and I already knew that Mike Bevard would have a great plan for helping us all get into the best physical shape possible.  In addition to boot camp, I’ve been riding my bike every day.  I do feel like I have a hard time knowing how much exercise is ‘enough’ each day or each week, in part because this is not only a lifestyle overhaul but also a competition.  I don’t want to create a routine for the purposes of this challenge that is ultimately unsustainable as a lifestyle, but at the same time I really want to do well in the competition aspect.  It’s all about balance, and I guess it’s safe to say that I’m still working on that part.

Nutrition:  Nutrition has actually been harder for me than exercise.  As you can see from the kitchen overhaul information posted, quite a bit of the staples in my cupboards were not healthy.  I feel like it is a struggle at times to figure out how much to eat, what to eat and still have variety in my diet, and also to figure out the balance between eating as healthy as possible and maintaining a budget I can live with.  I expect this part will get easier with time, so I’m not too worried yet.  One thing I did learn quickly though – for me, the biggest obstacle to eating well is a lack of planning.  I have definitely become much more organized in my grocery shopping and meal planning. 

Bonus:  This challenge has forced me to plan ahead in some areas that I previously did not, and as an added bonus my life feels more organized and less chaotic, which I love.  Also, going to boot camp early in the morning and riding my bike at night has pretty much eliminated any insomnia I was experiencing.  I am still not getting enough sleep at night, and I’m working on that, but insomnia rarely kept me awake at night this week which was awesome.

 Overall, it’s been a great start.  I’m really looking forward to the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned to see how it goes.

-Shelly

Total Weight Lost: 5.6 pounds