Challenges

Well, this was a challenging week indeed! I started my water challenge, and I also decided to take it up a notch with Turbo Fire and switch from the Prep Schedule to the full schedule - starting yesterday. I'm sure I've mentioned before I was born with a hole in my heart - an Atrial Septum Defect. I lived with it until I was 16 and started noticing despite the fact that I was in many sports and conditioning just as hard as everyone else I started getting easily winded. I was also sick a lot with bronchitis. I started noticing heart palpitations as well. Because I had lived with it so long the hole had actually continued to grow and I also have some irreversible damage to my lungs due to the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood mixing in the atria since they really didn't have a wall between them anymore! My hole was the size of a half dollar when they operated on me in July of '98. I was one month away from turning 17. Though my heart is repaired I do still have the lung damage, intermittent palpitations, and overall it takes me a little longer to build up to cardio intensive workouts. Some people find it hard to believe when they look at my physical condition because they just assume working out must be easy for me. The truth is it's never EASY for me. I have to really listen to my body and modify cardio workouts when necessary in hopes that one day it WILL be EASY for me again. That's a long road, though! My heart has seen MAJOR improvement even physically! My left atrium used to be almost the size of the rest of my heart and has decreased significantly, which is usually unheard of! I still have a different "normal" than other people (which would be a long explanation of the way your "waves" look on EKGs and such), but for MY normal things are looking excellent! I always love when our bodies do things the doctors say they won't like my heart shrinking some. I know God is good! :)



 

So I've actually been wanting to commit to the whole Turbo Fire program for a while now (the meal plan that comes with it is absolutely amazing, too!), but I always felt a nagging that "I wasn't ready." That is why I decided to start with the Prep Schedule first - to gauge how "ready" I was. I was feeling really good, and I decided that if I can commit to the full program and need to modify that's OK! It's ALWAYS OK to modify when necessary rather than push yourself beyond where you should be. You can really hurt yourself and set yourself back by not listening to your body! I guess maybe because I was born with a heart condition and have Fibromyalgia I'm very careful to listen to my body. Don't get me wrong - I am stubborn! There is no doubt about that! Just ask my husband! haha ;) I know, though, that if I don't listen to my body, though, I can really set myself back, and my goal is to keep pushing forward! So today was my first HIIT workout, and it was the 15 min workout. It was tough for me! The first 3 drills I did well, but I ended up having to modify the rest, but you know what? I'm proud of my effort, and I'm excited for this new journey! I may have to modify for 2 weeks, a month, or more, but I'm going to keep going, and I will progressively have to modify less and less and will build up the cardio endurance that I truly NEED. So I'm glad I decided to take the leap, and I'm excited to share my journey! I know there will be ups and downs, but that's why I love to share because through my honesty you will see we ALL have ups and downs and it's not always easy! In fact, sometimes it's REALLY hard, and that's when we come together and encourage each other! :)

As for the water challenge, it's been interesting so far. I really thought if I'm not drinking other beverages I will surely drink more water. Unfortunately, that hasn't always been the case, and I still have to remind myself to drink water. One day I only had 16oz all day until I realized I only had that much and needed to drink more! So, the discipline of drinking MORE water isn't really kicking in yet and I'm actually feeling a little "blah" because now I'm also not having other beverages to add a little hydration! So I realize what needs to be done so now I'm doing it! I'm keeping more careful track of my water intake, which is definitely important, too, since I'm doing such a cardio intensive workout! So I hit a few bumps in the beginning because of this, but again, it was a learning experience, so now I can push forward! Today I got MORE than my 64 oz, so I'm definitely doing better! I have a couple of other friends taking the challenge with me, so I'll be checking in with them on Monday to see how they're doing as well! I know it's Easter so a lot of people have family gatherings, which may prove to be challenging! We will just be celebrating here at home with our little family, so I won't have that temptation, but it's been a busy week nonetheless, so I most definitely need to do a check-in with my fellow challenge participants!

I hope you have a blessed Easter!!

A new challenge

Are you up for a challenge? It's a totally different challenge, and it will probably sound easy. I know for me it WON'T be easy, but I'm going for it! I heard this challenge on the radio and it really made me think! What a great idea! You may already do this or have done it. I never have, and I admit I'm kind of nervous!

OK, OK, so what's the challenge? For the entire month of April I'm going to commit to drinking water as my only beverage - nothing else. Meal replacement shakes or other whole food supplements in drink form won't be counted as beverages, of course: things like juice, coffee, soda, tea, lemonade, etc will be off limits.

So why did this intrigue me? For one, I'm sure I've said this before, but I don't like drinking water - at all. I do it because it's necessary and beneficial, but I have been finding lately I'm not drinking enough because I'm always drinking something else! Water is so important to helping our bodies function correctly and getting all the nasty stuff out! Our bodies need water and need constant replenishment! A lot of people who started increasing their water intake due to a similar challenge felt better, had more energy, and had improvements in their skin!

Did you know that 8 cups (64 ounces) per day is the bare minimum recommendation? Ideally you should be drinking half of your body weight in ounces. For example: if you weigh 160lbs you should be drinking 80 ounces of water daily. Now if your weight puts you below the 64oz recommendation you're not off the hook! Haha Like I said - that is the minimum! One thing that I recommend (and need to start implementing again) is getting a water bottle and filling it up x amount of times (whatever your ideal is) so you know if you're drinking enough.

Drinking ONLY water for a month will definitely be challenging for me, personally, and I hope you will consider joining me on this challenge and keeping each other accountable! So, are you in? If so, let's start pumping each other up now so when April 1st rolls around we'll be ready to go! We will start an accountability group now to discuss a plan of action to avoid temptations! I'm excited to see what changes I will notice during the challenge, and my goal is to become more disciplined with my water intake so even after the challenge is over I will have the deep rooted habit of drinking plenty of water daily! All it takes to develop new habits is to start something new and commit to it for a length of time to where it's just a natural part of your life. So I am taking that step April 1st. Will you be joining me?

* Please do not confuse this challenge with consuming water alone as in a fast! I'm a breastfeeding mom and require an EXTRA 500 calories/ day, during which I would never consider a complete fast! When I say drink water only I am referring to drinking water as my only BEVERAGE. I wanted to make sure that point is clear! :-) *