Let's Do this! - 2019 Challenge - Be the best you can be!

I had all my knitting friends over for Knit Club today. I use to hold knit club every month, but last year when work was so crazy I completely stopped having club. It was so nice to get everyone together again for a visit.

Because I knew I was having everyone here for most of the day today I wanted to get my workout completed before everyone arrived. That meant that I had to have a shorter workout then I normally do on Saturday. But because I also got all my weekly chores done before everyone arrive that leaves me with the rest of the weekend and a clean house. So I will probably do my long run tomorrow (at least 6 miles).

@loonyhiker - It is so true that you can’t out run your mouth. I agree, some days when I workout I feel like I can eat more junk because I worked out. But I know that will never work in the long run.

@kimmie373 - sorry to hear you have been under the weather, but glad to hear you are feeling better and are getting back to working out and watching what you eat. When I am sick I eat whatever I like. There is no reason to make yourself suffer any more than you really have to.

Wow, February got away from me, sorry I haven’t posted in a couple of days. I have been working out every day and closing my rings on my Apple Watch.

February Wrap Up:
I lost a total of 3.5 lbs, an inch off my bust, and 1.25” off my hips. I also added additional measurements that I wasn’t taking before for a better idea of how well I am doing.

Sure I lost less than a pound a week in February, but honestly with the 2.25” lost I am still super happy about this. Plus,I haven’t been very strict on my diet and I know if I step up my diet I will easily drop weight faster, but at the same time I want to be happy about what I am eating and don’t want to deprive myself.

I have been thinking about doing the Whole 30 diet in March, for nothing more than to step up my weight loss. However, what I am afraid of is that as soon as I go back my normal way of eating I will just put the weight back on. It is slightly unlikely since I am working out so much. But the one thing I don’t want to have happen is for me to loss motivation, and I think if I lost a bunch of weight only to put it right back on again I think that would de-motivate me.

@loonyhiker - I hope your conference goes well. It sounds like you have really given it a lot of thought on how you are going to stay on track while you are there. Planning ahead is the best way to stick to it.

@kimmie373 - Badge collecting does exactly the same thing for me. I love to close my rings and get those rewards each week and month. And when I have the ability to beat my best it feels so good to see my progress. Congratulations on finding your motivation. Eating better is the most difficult part for me as well.

Every month my Apple Watch gives me a challenge. January was fairly easy, it was only to close my stand goal 30 out of 31 days. As long as I was conscious of when I needed to get up and move around that was very easy to do. February was a bit harder, I had to close all 3 activity rings 24 out of 28 days in February. I achieved both of these Challenges.

The March challenge is a bit harder. It is to burn 24,500 calories during the month. That is an average of 790 calories a day. Currently my Move calorie goal for the day is 460, which I really need to increase at least a bit. However, I did average 791 and 796 calories a day in January and February respectively.

So I know it is possible, but it makes me nervous because I have been pushing myself for the last two months, and I expect at some point I am going to lose some motivation and I will back off on my workouts a bit. I have already had at least one day in February, where I just didn’t feel like working out, and did just enough to close my rings that day.

With this challenge I think I will push just a bit harder than if I didn’t have this challenge.

What challenges you, or encourages you to push a bit harder than you would without the challenge?

@BackinSoFL - there will always be days, weeks, and months where we don’t make much progress, but as long as you are still moving in the right direction, or at the very least standing still then you are still healthier than you were before. I hope March bring much more progress for you.

@loonyhiker - sorry to hear about your weight gain, although it sounds like you might be right that it is just water retention. I am sure you will lose that in the next day or so.

I am still keeping up on my workouts, but diet is still a bit too much relaxed. I am going to do some meal planing before I go to the grocery store later this week so that I can get ingredients for some healthy meals that I can prepare this weekend and have all next week. I know I need to eat more veggies and less carbs.

@loonyhiker - Awesome, so happy to hear that.

I have been about the same for 2 weeks now. Going up a little then back down a little. I have been thinking more about structuring my diet a bit more rather than just focusing on moderation. I might start tracking my intake on MFP to see if I am anywhere close to where I think I am on calorie intake.