Bonne Année

Think about this for a second: Y2K was 15 years ago. That legitimately blows my mind. Let's all just take a moment to ponder that.

Anyways, moving on, it's 2015 and the start of a new year! As the French would say Bonne Année! (All January long, I might add...) We rang in the new year at our church with animations, lots of food and some bubbly. (Not very unique but definitely a tried and true formula...) 

Since January is the month for retrospection, I thought it very fitting to do a little reflection myself about what I want out of the next year of my life. And yes, I even decided to hop onto the bandwagon of--dare I say it--goal setting. Yep, you heard it--I am embracing being one of 'them' this January. So without further ado, here are my three goals for 2015:

1. More, more, mooore life in my life. Sound redundant? What I mean is I want more God, more skype chats, more happy living, more rolling on the floor with Livia, more blessing others, more laughs, more date nights, more moments that count and less computer, less zoning, less TV, less complaining, less go-it-ing on my own, less waiting until I'm running on empty to refill my tank. 

2. Giving up a perfect standard that is always just on the horizon and embracing all encompassing, all-powerful, grace. Grace for me, grace for others.  

3. Getting fitter than I was pre-baby. Call me crazy, but I think it would just be the bees' knees to be in better shape after having a baby than I was in the first place. Currently I am only 2-3 kilos (about 5 pounds) away from my pre-baby weight so I consider this completely legit. I'm on the high end of the BMI healthy range index and I'd love it if I could slip on down to the mid-range. (Don't worry, I'd stop there as my body frame won't permit me to go much lower than that) 

           And what better way to do just that than with gambling? Just kidding--but there is betting involved. Betting on myself that is! Starting January 5th I'm going to be joining the DietBet 4 week challenge. The way it works is you put 30 dollars into the pot and have 4 weeks to lose 4% of your body weight. Ambitious, but still within a healthy weight-loss range. At the end, whoever manages to successfully lose the 4% splits the money in the pot with the others. Not too shabby, huh? If everyone succeeds then all you lose are a few pounds, not the money you put in originally. Okay, now who's with me? You know you want to... 

Well there you have them! I hope you all had a fantabulous (but safe!) New Years! Happy 2015! 

Week 5

Yep, that about sums it up... But don't you wish there was some little health fairy out there telling you exactly when that day would be when you're supposed to take it off? Of course, maybe the wait would discourage any of us (weight loss superheros exempt of course) from even getting our butts off the couch and trying if we knew how long it would take in the first place! 

I'm not proud to say that week 5 hasn't been all that great. Yes, I did the workouts--but not all in a row (aka everyday) and with a bit of unhealthy eating thrown in there for kicks as well. Getting back and focused again after two weeks of vacation has been harder than I anticipated and instead of losing that kilo and a half (about 3 pounds) that I gained, I took on another two tenths of one this past week... Erggh... double erggh. 

Two tenths you might say (or a kilo and a half for that matter) is not the end of the world and I agree with you. It's more losing the momentum that was going for me before that is the hard part. But I knew this would be hard when I started and I'd like to finish strong. So I'm throwing myself back in the game with my last week, week 6. 

ps. I'm currently already halfway through week 6 and am happy to report that I weighed in yesterday and have lost half a kilo (1 pound). Almost done! 

Week Four

I'm going to have to make this kind of short because my parents are here visiting me! They decided to fly all the way over the pond to see this place called Franceland for themselves :) I'll update you a little later on some of the highlights of the trip and our random adventures but for now I'll just share a quick fitness update. 

Week four was h.a.r.d. Adding to the time constraints and challenging schedule, was now my whiny little voice saying "I'm bored" and "What, he wants me to do inferno how many times??" I had definitely hit that mid program slump. But that, my friends, is the beauty of a kick-your-butt-boot-camp program. You stick to it just because you feel like you have to. Because all those little printed out workout circles are like little bosses telling you what to do everyday. So you suck it up, remind yourself why you started this personal torture program in the first place and get your sweat on. For weeks five and six (the final two!) I've decided to move to until after my parents leave (because sightseeing and Inferno get tricky to do at the same time). Instead I'm trying to just maintain (or maybe more realistically not gain too much back!) with every other day exercise while still enjoying vacation. 

Week Three

Well, I've officially made it through week three--yay me! Actually, week three left me feeling pretty darn good, especially after all the fiascoes of the previous week. The biggest challenge has actually been trying to find time to fit an hour workout into my already hectic schedule--which is a little surprising considering I thought it would be more a problem of getting my butt off the couch than finding time. Occasionally it's been hit or miss with my schedule (plus I'm an apartment dweller so there are limited times when I can workout) but I'm trying to accept almost perfection :) Now if only week four can go so well... haha, something tells me that with double inferno workouts in a row it might be a bit more a of challenge than this past week...

Week Two

While week one of my 6 week slim down challenge was awesome, leaving me feeling energized and ready to tackle this thing, week two has been a real doozy. It started off with twin vertigo episodes Sunday and Monday nights that left my head reeling and my sleep too scared to come back to bed. I counted my blessings when I realized that one of those days was my prescribed day of rest and so ultimately I was only losing one workout from my week. Wednesday rolled around; I felt great and so I went back at it at full speed. By Thursday I wasn't feeling so great again and this time I wasn't sure how to come at this whole working out thing. I was stuck right in the middle between sick and healthy. I decided I was being a wuss and all my body needed was a little attitude to show those germs where to go. And I sure told them...right through my workout that is until about an hour afterwards when I was puking up just about everything I'd eaten in the past 24 hours. I've been sick with a stomach flu ever since (i.e. the past 5 days).

But I'm not giving up yet. After just a week and some hit and miss workouts during week two I was already starting to feel and see (yes, see!) a difference. So although these germs kicked my butt in round one, I am determined to get the last word in just as soon as I'm back in full health again (I'm hoping to start back up again Thursday). I'll let you all know how it goes!