Gear Up for the Week!

Ahh Sunday -- the last day of the weekend, the day before the busy week begins again ... so tempting to just stay curled up in bed and relax.

Ya right. That's not how Sunday works for me. As tempting as the above scenario sounds, my busy Sunday routine has actually become something I enjoy. It's mainly because I can actually get things prepared for the upcoming week in a relaxed manner. I know that once the week begins, things come up. I run out of time. I get thrown off track. I get flustered ... add to that being unprepared with my menu/meals for the weak and you'll soon find me dialing for a takeaway ... and if that happens on a Monday, it can definitely be hard to stop that trend for the rest of the week.

Instead, I've made Sunday my prep day. It definitely takes up time, and it is a lot of work, but once the week starts I'm always thankful that I took a few hours on Sunday to set myself up for a successful week ahead.

My Sundays are:
8:30 a.m. light breakfast + menu planning for the week
10:30 a.m. Jiu-Jitsu
1:30 p.m. grocery shopping for the week
2:00 p.m. lunch
3:30 p.m. food prep

I'm usually done with my food prep by 6:00 p.m., after which I can just relax and be happy that my meals for the upcoming work week are sorted.

Things I usually prepare on a Sunday - all the recipes below are gluten-free, sugar-free, preservative-free!

Banana muffins
Granola to have with organic Greek yogurt
Quinoa and chicken salad (recipe coming soon)
Lemon 'cake' (recipe coming soon)

Although I don't prepare my dinners for the week in advance, having my menu set before I head to the supermarket ensures I buy exactly what I need for my meals for the week. Nothing extra!

My Goals

As I gear up for the end of the Whole Life Challenge and the beginning of the 100 Days to Summer Lifestyle Challenge, it's time for me to reassess my goals and set new ones.

My goal for the 8 week Whole Life Challenge was to focus more on lowering my body fat percentage vs. losing a certain number of kilos. I wanted to lose 4% of my body fat - I didn't hit that goal, but I'm happy to say that I lost 3.5% in addition to 4.5 kilos (10 lbs). You can read more about my reflections on the challenge here.

As we work up to the summer, my goal is to continue working on lowering my body fat percentage. Of course I still need to lose weight, but I what's more important to me is that I'm not back to my strength level as I was before. This past year and half has been tough on my strength training. Even now, I've been getting back into my routine gradually. I need to be more aggressive with my focus in the weight room.

The hardest thing for me has been about finding balance. Between either teaching or training Jiu-Jitsu every evening and doing all my other work/errands, it's been hard to squeeze in another hour or two at the gym on a regular basis, particularly without compromising my performance and affecting my energy levels.

Still, I know it's possible. I just have to keep focusing and working diligently -- and most importantly being more efficient with not just my workouts but my everyday tasks as well.

My overall goal is to lose weight and be healthier -- but for this challenge, my SMART goals are:

Long-term

1) Drop 6% body fat
2) Complete the C25K program (providing my knee doesn't hurt; if my knee hurts, then I'll just work on basic HIIT training)

Daily basis

3) Drink 4L of water
4) Minimum of 5,000 steps a day
5) Daily stretching for at least 10 minutes

It's so tempting to add more to the list. After all, 100 days is a long time, but I have to remember to be realistic. If I can achieve these goals by the start of summer, I'll definitely be happy!

It's time to get to work! 

Why Water

The first main focus of the 100 Day Lifestyle challenge is to check our fluid intake. The overall goal of this challenge is to make small adjustments each day/week that will help us lead a healthier lifestyle. It's about finding out how many healthy habits you can incorporate without feeling like you've 'given up everything.'

For the first 10 days of the challenge, the idea is to focus on your fluid consumption. It comes in 2 parts:

1) Increase your water intake. Your goal is to work up to drinking your minimum requirement of water on a daily basis. (You can use this link to help you figure out how much water you should be drinking: http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm.) If you can start drinking your minimum requirement from Day 1, that's great.

2) Decrease your intake of other liquids - particularly alcohol and soda, but also coffee, tea, and juice. This decrease can come gradually. For example, if you have 3 cups of coffee a day, try to make one of those 1/2 a cup of coffee. Instead of drinking 2 sodas, maybe just have 1. The choice is yours. It's important to remember that not all beverages are the same in terms of nutrient value and benefit/harm to the body. Drinking beverages such as tea and coffee aren't necessarily bad for you. However, once you start adding milk and sugar and other flavored shots to your beverage, the beverage decreases in nutrition value.

It's all about finding a balance. In the beginning, don't take the changes to such an extreme where you feel like you can't sustain them. This challenge is about finding a healthy balance that works for you - for your body type, for your health, for your lifestyle.

Although I mentioned that this is the focus for the first 10 days, the goal is to really keep up this lifestyle practice throughout the challenge (and your life) as much as possible. For right now though, let's just try to focus on staying on point through the first 10 days.

We've probably heard it all before - drink more water, water is good for you, water is important - but does everyone realize exactly why it's so important? Here are a few facts about why water is such an essential nutrient for our body:

-  More than 2/3 of a human's body weight is made up of water. This is why humans can survive for weeks without any food, but can barely survive past one week without any water.

-  Each day we lose 2-3 L of water through natural body processes such as urination, sweating, and breathing. Since our body relies on water to function properly (e.g. for proper digestion), it is important to stay hydrated in order to compensate for the loss.

- When we add exercise to the mix, we can lose an additional 1-2 L of water per hour of exercise. Therefore, it's especially important to stay hydrated. Plus, water delivers oxygen to the muscles and this helps the body perform more efficiently. A 5% reduction of water in the body decreases muscle strength and endurance.

- Mild dehydration is one of the most common causes of daytime fatigue.

- Water helps eliminate toxins from our bodies (through perspiration and urination and by aiding with bowel movements, which ensures that toxins are quickly and regularly removed from our body).

SMART Goals

I don't know who originally came up with the concept of SMART goals, but it is definitely a great acronym and system for goal setting.

It's all well and good to have broad goals such as - I want to lose weight, I fit into X size of jeans, I want to be healthy. However, unless you break down those goals and come up with a realistic, achievable method of how to reach your target, the task will be really difficult.

So the big question is, what do you want to achieve by the beginning of summer?

1) Your goal in terms of this challenge can be anything. It can be to be at a certain weight, to fit into a specific clothing size, to do X number of push ups, to drop a certain percentage of fat -- whatever. It's your goal. You choose what's important to you. Whatever it is you choose - be specific.

2) Make sure your goal is measurable. Just saying you want to be healthy is not measurable enough. Think about what healthy means to you - does it mean drinking a certain amount of water, bringing your cholesterol down to a certain level? You need to be able to measure your achievement by the end of the challenge.

3) Be realistic with your goal. I may want to lose another 20 pounds, but I have to ask myself, can I really achieve that in 100 days in a way that is healthy and sustainable? When setting your goal, be realistic. Consider your circumstances before writing your goal down. Whatever you do, make sure your goal is achievable. Set yourself up for success!

4) Your goal(s) for this challenge should be relevant to what you are trying to achieve overall. Since this is a short challenge, what you set out to achieve should correspond to the overarching long-term goals you have for yourself. Knowing that you are doing something to help you accomplish what you've seen as your bigger picture will make it easier to stay focused and motivated.

5) I've already set the final criteria for this challenge which is to work within a specific time frame. When setting your goals think about all the components in relation to what you can achieve in the next 100 days. It's not a lot of time, yet it's also enough time to be able to accomplish something.

So, setting your SMART goal is your first challenge. When you've come up with your goal(s), write it down and keep it visible.

Start planning!

New Challenge - 100 Days Until Summer

For the past 7 weeks I've been doing the Whole Life Challenge. I've done the challenge a number of times and I've found that it really suits my lifestyle. The challenge runs 8 weeks at a time 2-3 times a year. The tricky part has always been trying to navigate those weeks/months in between the challenge. 

When you've got a structure in place and a set routine, things get a lot easier. Take away that structure, and things begin to kind of fall apart. One indulgence turns into two into three into an endless uncontrollable spiral. 

Ok, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the bottom line is, without a plan, without a structure, and without a support system, it can be hard to stay on track. 

So, starting from Thursday, March 12th -- giving us 100 days until the 1st day of summer -- I'll be hosting a challenge. 

This challenge is based on the 50 Day lifestyle challenge that I did before. You can read the details in this post. 

The goal of this challenge -- to live a healthy lifestyle. It's not about restrictions. It's not about rigorous rules. It's about making thoughtful choices that lead to your overall wellbeing. 

The basic guidelines will be the same throughout the challenge: 

1) Drink water

2) Eat thoughtfully

3) Choose your celebrations

4) Move regularly

5) Track and reflect daily 

The ultimate goal is to be happy - happy with the choices you're making, happy with the direction you're heading, happy with the progress you're making, happy with the life you're living. 

In addition to the 5 basic guidelines, I'll be adding a weekly challenge - just one thing to focus on for 7-10 days. I think making a lot of changes at once can be overwhelming, but if we just focus on making one small change at a time, it can lead to positive results. 

The challenge is open to anyone. Please do join my Facebook page for the challenge called 'It's a Lifestyle'. I'll be posting links to articles, general information mosts, and hopefully things to motivate the group. If you have difficulty joining the group, please email me at plumpetalsfit@gmail.com and I'll add you via email. You can also follow my page: PlumPetals Fit for regular posts and details. 

Summer will be here before we know it - let's start working from now! 

Living a Good Life

I've been distraught lately - I wish it was about something mundane or fixable, but it's a bit deeper than that. I've always been quite a sensitive person but more recently, with all the bad news around the world, my sensitivity has heightened and I've just felt quite overwhelmed by the state of our humanity - or lack of.

I know this sounds very existential and lofty, but it really has been having an impact on me -- I find it unfortunate that there are so many articles, blog posts, and videos urging people to be more accepting and kind to others. In 2015 do we really need to be told over and over again? How has our progress and advance in 'intelligence' and technology led is to a point where we are urging and pleading with people to be more understanding? It upsets me a great deal.

I started blogging as a way for me to track my progress with the hope that maybe it'll be interesting, informative, and even helpful to someone else along the way. It was with the hope of reaching other people and connecting with them - knowing that they are not alone in their struggles and worries - that I started sharing more personal details about myself and my struggles. It wasn't easy, but I felt it was important.

I feel like I have finally reached a point of balance in terms of my food and fitness. My eating and exercise are down to a routine. I know what works for me (my body, my metabolism, my lifestyle) and all I need is to be disciplined and focus so that I can continue to work towards reaching my ultimate goals. Since I have that part of my life sorted out, I think it's time to look at the bigger picture.

Teaching in general and now working with others to help improve their fitness and teaching the Bullyproof program to kids and Jiu-Jitsu, a form of self-defense, to adults, I have begun to see the bigger picture.

So much of what we teach the children is about confidence and standing up for themselves. More importantly, it's been about looking out for one another, being a good, kind person, and learning how to share and be accepting.

When I talk to kids about these concepts, they clearly know right from wrong. They lean towards kindness and acceptance, towards fun and laughter.

It makes me wonder - where along our journey towards adulthood do we forget these things?

I don't know what can be done on a large scale, but I truly believe that at the very least, we can do our own part to be good and spread goodness.

It is with all of this in mind that I am starting the next chapter in my story. Now that the healthy food and exercise habits are in place, I am focusing on improving my overall quality of life. This quality has nothing to do with materialistic things. Rather, it is about making the most of each day.

Much of this change already started for me when I moved to London. I knew that it would be a huge change for me - living a life so different from what I was used to. However, from the moment the move was decided, I also made a commitment to myself to be nothing but completely positive about the changes. While I won't deny that living in Kuwait was enjoyable, I can honestly say - I don't miss it. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to live in Kuwait … and now I'm thankful that I am living here.

Choosing to live in the now and be appreciative of all I have has kept my spirit light and happy. Instead of fretting about things I don't have anymore, I am thankful for all that I do have. Instead of living in the past, I am living in the moment. I still plan a bit for the future, but I have decided not to be anxious about it. I've tried the stressed/anxiety route. It didn't get me anywhere. The problems were still there.

Instead, I am focusing on living purely, enjoying every moment, and taking the time to live in the present. That doesn't mean I'm happy-go-lucky all the time. Trust me, I'm not. That's actually where the new challenge is going to be for me.

I don't want to let my emotions overwhelm me. Instead, I want to focus on more fundamental elements of living a good life - breathing deeply, watching my posture, smiling more, being more charitable, being kind, making decisions that I feel positive about, being brave, and so on. I feel like it's taken me a long time to come this this point in my life. I don't think I was ready for it before. I was too filled with anxiety and fear … but now I'm ready.

happy 

with hands up ready to tackle or embrace life - whatever the situation calls for

Prioritizing

I used to be one of those people who waited for the start of the week or my birthday or the start of a new month/year to start something new. It took me a while to realize if I wanted something, I had to start working towards it from that moment. If I knew my goal/desire/objective wasn't going to change, then why wait? What was I achieving by stalling? Even though I do believe that having a plan is essential to helping you achieve your goals, I came to realize (the hard way) that I was often using the planning stage as a way to procrastinate. I'd tell myself, first I've got to do X, then Y, then Z ... and then something else would come up and I'd get distracted and tell myself - ok, I'll restart on the 1st of the month. The cycle would continue.

Though I firmly believe in starting to work towards your goals immediately, I still find the start of a new month to be a time to reevaluate how the past month has gone. Reevaluation is important, because the last thing I want to do is waste time doing something that is not helping me reach my goals. Too often I have found myself sticking to my plan - a plan which looked good on paper, but was either difficult to implement or sustain or just wasn't helping me get the results I wanted. Taking a moment to take stock is important. Sometimes I find my plan is working just fine and I can continue on the track I've been on. Other times, revamping is necessary.

So today, on March 1st, I'm taking a bit of time to regroup and set new plans in motion. With all the travel and chaos of the 1st two months of year, I feel it's necessary. After returning from Bangladesh, I hit the ground running - and that was a great way to start. However, I felt like I lacked a bit of structure. It's time to get some structure back. There's a lot I want to achieve between now and July -- I have to make sure that I'm 100% on task (leaving room for some flexibility of course, as I wrote about yesterday).

In order to do this, however, I have to figure out exactly what I want.

Funnily enough, the basic components of living a healthy lifestyle are easy now. I mean, I've been trying to lose weight and get healthy for a few years now. I don't need a book to tell me what's healthy to eat and what's not. Same thing with exercise. I know I need to be efficient with my workouts and choose exercises that are effective (weight lifting + HIIT = magical combo for me).

That's the easy, basic stuff. Now I'm ready to start looking deeper. More on that tomorrow ...