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