Step 4~ Add Variety

Beginning day 10, having lost TEN pounds feels amazing!! I'm also relieved that the hardcore days are temporarily done. For step 4, I'm going back to my baseline of exercise & figuring out how to add variety to my diet, exercise plan & because I have so much extra energy...even my life!

I've decided to add a cleaning project and writing assignment to everyday as well as my exercises. I have a lot of work to do & now finally feel as though I have the energy to handle everything.

So, I hope that the next 3 days are full of creativity and I come up with some new exciting, delicious & energetic ideas to add to this already amazing challenge!

Wish me luck ;)

Step 3- Double up/Double down

The idea of this step is simple.. double up the good & reduce the bad. Yeah, that means whatever exercises you've been doing for the past 3 days, is now DOUBLED!

So, today... I ran 2 miles this morning, followed by 40 sit-up/crunch combos, 60 kickbacks, 20 squats, 40 jumping jacks & 20 minutes of yoga & that was just my morning routine (roughly 45 minutes total) that doesn't include my afternoon walk & the evening exercises that I do with Madi.

I, also, drank my coffee and tea without sugar & increased my intake of emergen-C & chia squeeze to 2 packs a day. I reduced smoking cigarettes by half my norm & even skipped my afternoon nap with Briley to double my walking time.

This step is hardcore! However, don't worry... like every step in this challenge, it only lasts 3 days! After these 3 hardcore days, we will return to our baseline, analyze our progress & work on adding variety to our diet & exercise plan.

If I have to be honest, in my sleepy haze of morning with no sugar in my coffee... I was not looking forward to 'double up/double down'... I accidentally bumped into the scale while making breakfast & decided to weigh myself early, out of curiosity. I was so excited to see the scale read 139.4!!! I didn't expect to lose any real weight until after step 3, so to see that I've already dropped 5lbs in 6 days was all the motivation I needed to get to work!!

I have to admit ... I feel wonderful today! All this exercise & eating healthy has left me with so much energy!!! The most important difference between this diet & most is that it's created by me, for me. I spent time analyzing my habits, patterns & routines. I created a baseline of exercise that I was comfortable with and slowly increased that baseline. Now, I'm pushing through my comfort zone & reducing the bad & increasing the good.

I'm so proud of myself! I know it's only 0.6 under140lbs .. but it's been way too long since I've seen a 3 after that 1 on the scale! Usually, it's between 145&150 & I know this is just the beginning!! I can't wait to see the final results of all this hard work at the end of the challenge.

Stay tuned... ;)

Kumquat

If you can look past the crazy name.. this mini orange (that you eat in entirety..yes, Rhine & all) is bittersweet & full of vitamins!! This Challenge has turned me into a grocery store snob. I looked everywhere for these sour energy packed fruits...

I'm sure you can imagine the look on the produce guys face when I asked him for kumquat!! I had to thoroughly explain that I wasn't joking and it was, indeed, a real fruit. Anyway, I finally found them at Wegmans. Hopefully, you find them closer to home than me! I live in wv now & had to do most of my grocery shopping in md to get all the 'good supplements' for my Challenge because, although the customer service in my area is amazingly wonderful: the new age, healthy stuff is limited. Luckily, I live only 20 minutes from Everything else important!

One last side note/warning: Do not let your children (or yourself) try this fruit in the car on the way home from the store. They 1) need to be thoroughly washed to get that chemically fertilizer taste off & 2) need to be left on the counter in the fruit bowl for a few hours b/c they are a little intense when cold & most importantly 3) for little kids, they need to be cut in half because they are super juicy. If you try to bite into them without the entire thing in your mouth, you will violently splash anyone within a 5ft radius with citrus juice... oh, that reminds me.. I've got to go clean my windshield... ;) ok, enjoy!!

Day 6 & My Baseline Summary

Well, I'm going to enjoy the last day of my baseline and as predicted, it has actually become quite easy by this 3rd day. I'm a tab-bit nervous about the next Step, but also really excited because it is the Step where everything gets very serious!! Please remember this is MY baseline and I was already very active to begin with and still was not losing the extra pounds I wanted so my baseline will be different than yours. That's what's so unique about my challenge. You are the creator and you determine what you can handle and then I will help push us forward from there. So, please.. when you're creating your baseline... be easy on yourself & make it realistic b/c it's getting ready to really crank up over the next few days/steps & please be honest about your 'bad' habits as well or we can't do anything to change them. Don't worry, there are NO-NO's in my challenge because I don't believe in cutting anything out of your diet completely. However, if you know certain foods, drinks or habits are your downfall... then let's work on getting them decreased to a level of moderation and not a daily bad habit.

My baseline - My day 6

THE GOOD

Supplements
~1 vitamin C packet/drink mix
~ 1 Chia Seeds Squeeze,
~ B-12
~ H.S.N. Vitamin
~ Probiotic

Exercise
~Morning Run (1mile/10-12minutes)
~Morning (20 sit-ups, 10 crunches, 30 kick backs, 10 lunges, 20 jumping jacks)
~Afternoon Walk (3miles/60minutes)
~Evening (20 sit-ups, 10 crunches, 30 kick backs, 10 lunges, 20 jumping jacks, 10 push-ups)
~Before bed (10 minutes of relaxing yoga)

THE BAD

1 soda with dinner
Candy while I'm running or walking
Afternoon nap (1 hour)
Tea & Coffee w/ sugar

Step 2- Create Baseline

Over the course of days 4,5, &6 of the diet we're going to create a baseline of workout routine. Basically, on your own.. find out what exercises you'd like you complete everyday (walk, jog or run or better a small combo of all 3 throughout the day) How many sit-ups, push-ups, squats, etc are you willing to do every morning and every night? I urge you be careful with this baseline and make sure it is just that.. the base!! Because, the next step is going to be to double that baseline. So, after you have established your baseline.. make sure you are sticking to the routine every single one of those 3 days.

Along with the exercise baseline, we will also be eating better over these 3 days. Hopefully your fridge and cabinets are filled with the healthy choices from step 1. Make sure you are following the basic rules of the diet (eat w/i 30 minutes of waking and eat small meals every 2 hours to keep your metabolism going strong) If you have not seen that fast/quick weight loss as of yet.. worry not .. (diets that provide quick 5lb drops in the first few days usually have you gain back double as soon as the diet is complete). We will be weighing ourselves at the beginning of each step and from step 1 to step 2, I've lost 3 lbs. The real work & loss will be coming up in step 3.. the "double up/double down" challenge. So, enjoy the next three days of creating your comfort zone because I'm getting ready to bust right through it!!

Step 1-Take inventory

Over the course of the first 3 days of this diet, I took inventory of the current way I have been eating, sleeping and working out. I wrote down everything, I cleaned my fridge and I shopped for groceries and supplements of a higher caliber.. some of which I've showed you already, but if the diet is a success, I will certainly share in more detail. The most important part of this step is to thoroughly find out what you've already been doing (both good and bad). In a super small nut shell, I've explained this step below.


Taking Inventory

Losing weight is a simple enough equation, right? If you want to lose weight, you eat less and move more. Using this common sense, I'm going to challenge you to not only do just that, but do it in a way that lasts forever. There is no point in doing a 'crash diet' to simply go back to your normal routines and gain back double the weight a month later. So, with this challenge.. you will take 7 steps (3 days each) slowly and carefully making improvements to YOUR own personal plan. If you follow along each step openly and honestly, I promise you will learn & improve along the way. You will not 'lose 5lbs in the first week'. However, you will determine your own personal goals and steadily and surely meet those goals by the end of the 21 days.

The first step is taking inventory.
This includes 4 simple questions. What/How do you currently eat?? What supplements do you use? How/When do you exercise?? What are your downfalls/known bad habits that hold you back??

My inventory (again in a super small nut shell) is written below.

1. Food~ I had the realization that I LOVE to cook and I love food in general. I'm Italian and my sense of worth as a mother and wife comes, so greatly, from preparing my family a dinner that they enjoy, each and every night. So, I'm determined to find a way to continue cooking delicious meals for my family, but turning them into healthy options. 

2. Supplements~ As I've stated before, my little sister is doing the Advocare 24 day challenge & when I found out that it costs 199 dollars, I was floored!! I am determined to find supplements that are pretty much the same (the vitamins, shakes, etc) but at a much lower cost and more accessible to everyone. What I used prior to the challenge?? Chewy vitamins... lost of them.. all day, everyday... obviously, I need to do some research and determine the benefit/risk of candy vitamins as opposed to pills or drink mixes. 

3. Exercise~ Well, this is the one category that I'm not ashamed to discuss, because I think of myself as a pretty active person. I run, almost everyday & if not, at least take a walk of some sort. So, why then am I still so unsatisfied with the shape of my body? My legs are fabulous, strong and muscular. However, my belly is ... well, a mom belly & everywhere else is just ... loose, I guess is the word?? I'd like to start incorporating a variety of exercises to my every day routine along with the improvement to my actual diet. 

4. Bad Habits~ Soda, candy, napping, candy, candy and more candy!! Seriously, I have a consuming candy addiction!! If I didn't run everyday, I'd probably be 300lbs!! I know I need to cut back on my candy intake, but I don't believe in giving anything up for good, especially something that you love?? Truth?? You won't stick to a diet that completely excludes anything that you love. So, there are No No's in this diet.. yes, I repeat.. I believe everything in moderation is acceptable and in fact, even necessary for a well-balanced diet. Any diet that excludes an entire food group is especially BAD news!!! However, that's an entirely different chapter. My bad habits are candy, soda and a long daily nap.. I hope to slowly and successfully wean myself from needing all 3 everyday.