A Year of 30 Day Challenges = A Healthier Me

Last year I wrote this post about 30 Day Challenges and my thoughts on how I would use them to help me become healthier in 2014.  If you aren't familiar with 30 Day Challenges, you might want to go back and read that.  A short, but really good, TED talk is included in the post.  Over the past few years, I've used these challenges to motivate me in lots of ways, but this past year the focus was on my health.  

Trying to shed a few pounds, eat better and move more have become a new normal way of life.  The older I get, the harder it seems to be.  Even if the scales don't move, the weight seems to redistribute itself in weird ways, that I don't like very much.  Now, I'm not obsessed with body image, but I know that when I'm not carrying extra weight around, I feel better and have more energy.  I also believe that learning to have self mastery over the body is a spiritual discipline.  My body is a temple that houses my spirit, so I have a responsibility to take care of it in the best way that I can.  But bottom line is, it's still hard. 

The 30 Day Challenges helped motivate me though, and I don't think I realized how much, until I looked back at the entire year.  It's that baby steps approach that I love so much.  Doing a little bit, over time, adds up to a lot.  I listed each month's challenge in the sidebar and sometimes I would post about my progress, but mostly I just let those goals hang out there as a reminder to myself.  Here's a quick recap of each month.

January- Use the Fast Metabolism Diet to shed some holiday weight.  This was a healthy eating plan that freed me from addictions to sugar, dairy, and most carbs.  I lost 15 pounds and felt great.  At the end of the month I wrote this post about the experience. 

February - Join the Y, start pilates class.  After years of being a solo exerciser, I thought it might be fun to take some classes, do something new.  I joined the Y and started going to pilates.  I didn't  like pilates, at all.  It was too hard and just frustrated me.  So, I started going to yoga instead and found it to be just what I needed.   Almost a year later, I can speak the "down dog" language.  Many times I still have sore muscles for days after a class.  Yoga is not easy, but I can tell it's good for my body.   After a few months of yoga, it occurred to me that I wasn't having any back pain, something that I had struggled with intermittently, since my back surgery.  This was an unexpected result that was a real blessing. 

March -Make and drink healthy smoothies.  Here was a challenge that I could get into.   I searched for new recipes and pulled out the blender.  I tried and tried to like green smoothies, but I just couldn't.  Turns out I like to chew my greens more than I like to drink them.  But I do love a good fruit and yogurt smoothie.  

April - Take extra steps by parking in the farthest parking spot.

This is a simple thing that adds up.  Instead of scouring the lot for the closest parking spot, park at the back and walk a little more.  Sometimes I would forget, but now it's an ingrained habit.  I still do this.

May- Begin training for a 5K.   This is something I've had on my bucket list for awhile now.  Don't ask me why I want to do this.  I have no idea.  I'm not an athlete, never have been.  I just want to say that I've done it.  This seemed like as good a time as any to get started.  I used a couch to 5K app on my phone and it worked out well for about a month.  I realized it wasn't my friend when it told me I should be able to run for twenty minutes and I could barely make it for ten.  I knew if I pushed myself too hard, I would just quit.  So I deleted the app and ran on my own schedule.  I'm still working on this.  It's taking me much longer than I thought it would.  But slow and steady will win this race.  

June- Get eight hours of sleep each night.  I loved this challenge. But I think I've decided that seven hours is about right for me.  I don't need eight hours of sleep every night.

July- Eat from the garden.   Maybe I was getting a little easy on myself at this point.  I mean really, how hard is it to eat wonderful garden food?   I love nothing more than a dinner that I've grown myself.  I'd like to have a good tomato right about now.

August- Try to walk 10,000 steps a day with my Fitbit.   I love my Fitbit.  It helps me to be more active.  Getting in 10,000 steps a day takes effort.  I don't sit a lot during the day, but I can't usually get in 10,000 steps without intentionally choosing to do some extra walking.  On the days that I train for the 5k, I can do it.  On yoga days, I don't always make it.  Having that wristband vibrate and light up to indicate that I've met my goal still makes me smile every time.  I have friends who use a Fitbit and it's fun to encourage each other.

September- Yoga twice a week, continue training for 5K .  My ideal exercise week is to train on M,W, F and Sat. and take yoga on Tues and Thurs.  It doesn't always work out, but that's what I shoot for.  Having this as a challenge helped me to establish a routine and get in the habit of being at the Y at certain times.  Now I don't have to think about what I do on each day.  I'm in the habit.  I just have to make myself get up, get dressed and out the door.  Sometimes thats harder than the exercise.

October - Strength training twice a week  Since I was at the Y to take my yoga class, I figured I should go a little early and work out on the weight machines.   After all, I was paying to use them, but not taking advantage of it.  When I joined the Y in February, I went to a few training sessions.  My trainer told me then, that to be strong and healthy, I needed to work on four things; strength, balance, stretching and aerobic activity.  I wasn't interested in building muscle, just trying to be a little stronger.  I want to be able to easily lift that carry on bag over my head to put it in the overhead bin! 

November - Continue to work on 5k training  It had been seven months since I started this running thing.  I needed to stay focused on my goal.  At this point I was up to running 2 miles at a time, but not to my goal of 3.  I was starting to get a little discouraged at how long this was taking me, so I had to give this my full attention.  I found a running podcast that I enjoyed and tried to stay motivated.

December- Stick to the exercise plan through the holidays.  I always abandon exercise in the month of December.  I tell myself I'm not going to, because it will help me eliminate the stress that comes with the season, but then I get busy and it's the first thing to go.   But not this year, because I was making it my 30 Day Challenge.  I did well until Dec. 12th, and then I got sick.  And was sick for the next two weeks.  Oh well, I tried.

I know that I am healthier now than I was a year ago.  I challenged myself to something new each month and then moved on.  Some of the challenges "stuck" and became habits.  This is what I love about a 30 Day Challenge.  I can do most anything for 30 days.  Knowing that I only have to do it for 30 days means there is light at the end of the tunnel.  But the great thing is that after 30 days, sometimes that challenge isn't so much of a challenge anymore.  I love that.