DAY 230 Spring Challenge - Our First Update!

Hello Journal & Friends,

I blinked... the week was gone!! What happened?? It's been a wild ride of emotions this week for me. Up, down, up, down. A roller coaster, for sure.

Okay, on to...

 The Spring Challenge, Week 1 Update. 

Here is a Summary  of The Spring Challenge... it's not too late to join! If you join by April 1st, you will even still be eligible for the prize drawing at the end. :-)

My Spring Challenge goals:

1. Every day for the next 13 weeks, do some kind of Exercise.

2. Every day for the next 13 weeks, drink a Greenie.

3. Check in every Saturday.

4. Tell one thing each week that I like about myself.

5. Save up to buy myself a fun Reward at the end.

My Exercise:

This went harder than I thought it would be... I am not in the habit yet! So, I made out a little chart to follow. No thinkin' about it, or which exercise to do... just glance at the chart, and DO it.

That has helped.

But one of the "down" dips on the emotional roller coaster this week was facing the fact that it's going to take a LOT longer than I had hoped to be able to use my Mini-Clubbells properly.

I've watched the DVD, and am reading the book now. There is a lot more to it than I had realized. I like so much about them, yet have a long way to go. I finally realized that instead of giving in to self-pity, I can use the feelings as MOTIVATION. 

My sweet husband is making me a padded workout bench, and has agreed to set it up in our living room.  I am not able to get up and down from the floor yet, so this will give a safe place to do my stretching routine. 

What does that have to do with the Mini-Clubbells?? To do proper form, which is the basis of using them without injury, I need to get my legs to straighten out all the way. I haven't been consistent with my leg stretching... my excuse was I had no place to effectively do it.  Well, I am MOTIVATED now, and found a solution: the bench. Realistically, it will take months of consistent stretching. So until then, I plan to be very careful and modify how I use the Mini-bells.

My Greenies: 

Yes, got it done. Barely. One day I forgot until about 8pm... I had to give up my evening snack, to "pay" for it, caloriewise.  Another evening, I totally forgot until AFTER I was out of calories. I thought about it, and figured it was more important to get in the nutrition AND the habit, than fret over the 100 calories. So, I'm still not in the habit, yet. 

One thing I like about myself:

I had no idea this one would be SO hard!! Now that I've been thinking about it, I recommend trying this to EVERYONE... it's very revealing. 

Okay, on to my answer for this week:

I have a built-in spell-checker in my head. 99% of the time, I know when a word is spelled wrong. I may not know the RIGHT way to spell it, but I almost always know when it's wrong. I used to edit a newsletter, and this came in handy. That's when I first realized it about myself. 

I always did excellent on spelling tests in school... it must've been from reading a lot growing up?? I did NOT do well on grammar... but I always nailed spelling, no problemo. Not sure if this would qualify as a "talent". Maybe more a side-effect of being detail-oriented... or a perfectionist tendency. Either way, I like it. :-)

So if you see something misspelled on my blog, it's probably because I was in a hurry and it's a typo... ha ha ha... now everyone will be out to catch me. ;-)

 For my Reward: I decided to decorate a glass bear-shaped jar. Each week I will add $5 to it during the challenge, to buy my reward at the end.

I hope everyone had a great first Spring Challenge week... I look forward to reading your progress reports. Remember, we want progress, not perfection.


PS: It would great if everyone left a LINK to their update here (you do the actual update on your own blog, IF you have a wt loss blog; otherwise here is fine), so we could all cheer each other on!

From Dr Phil's book: "Food behavior and exercise behavior are highly interactive... you feel better so you want to do better."

My verse for today: "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power."

My quote for today: "If you want to reach a goal, you must 'see the reaching' in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal." --Zig Ziglar