Mindfulness May (Fitness & Emotional Health Challenge)

in #health6 years ago (edited)

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I read this post: Fitness Challenge Motivation Monday by @coachjj and that, along with the Ashley Black Fasciablaster "heartbutt" challenge that I'm doing And my intermittent fasting group challenge of being more mindful... I'm just feeling really inspired and thinking that all the signs are pointing to me getting my shit together and shaking things up this month!!! :)

For this month, I'm going to focus instead on mindfulness INSTEAD. On NOT watching the numbers like a hawk (other than the fasting/feasting hours) and instead I'm going to pay attention to how I feel. I am going to track the numbers at the beginning of the month and again at the end of the month.

To be clear, I don't feel like I am giving up on anything, but more that I have done the same thing for a year now and it's time for me to grow and change my routine and my habits. I want to delve more into the emotional side of things and the physical fitness side of things now that I feel like I have a handle on the food side of things. This is just a short term change in my routine to hopefully help me figure out where I want to go next with my goals!

Measurements:

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Here are my before photos and measurements. I've been tracking these things pretty consistently for a year, along with weighing daily and counting calories.

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After tracking calories religiously for a year, I have a pretty good idea as to what my daily calorie limit allows. I don't need to track every single thing. After my year end melt down, I think it would be VERY healthy for me to reset mentally and emotionally and take those numbers out of the equation and give my mental health some extra attention. Instead of weighing daily and counting calories, I'm going to eat what makes me feel good and I'm going to do intermittent fasting as a way to keep my calories pretty much where they need to be.

I've made GREAT progress over the last year and now it's time to work on my goals from a different angle.

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Emotional Stuff:

Right now, I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable. I'm not feeling "fat" or whatever, but after the two week bingeing/feeling horrible emotionally and dealing with the perimenopausal emotional trainwreck, I have just been feeling out of control in so many ways.

My relationship with my husband is a struggle lately. He's dealing with depression as well and just... well, that's an entirely new post, but it has really affected my emotional self and my ability to stay focused on other things. We've been together for 24 years and it's just been really hard lately.

This "Mindfulness Challenge" has come at the perfect time. I need to refocus and find my mojo, my reason and my clarity again. I'm a bit nervous about not weighing myself daily... more than a little bit, but I think it is something that I NEED to do. I need to learn to trust myself and taking this one month to do that seems healthy.

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TRACKING GOALS:

  • Intermittent Fasting (minimum 16:8, aiming for 18:6 daily. One or two 36 hour+ fasts this month if it feels right.
  • Heartbutt challenge (fasciablasting 2-3x weekly, glute workouts specifically 2-3 times a week)
  • Exercise 5 Days a week (Gym, Home workouts, Yoga, heartbutt exercises)
  • Journaling through the mental/emotional process (daily notes, blogging on the topic once a week)

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The Why

My Why seems to be evolving as I go. At first I wanted to lose weight, because I was sick of being fat and feeling uncomfortable in my skin. Now I've accomplished that and I want to start working on my fitness. Honestly, I'm not sure of the "why" and thus my issues with sticking with any program. I can't seem to wrap my brain around the next step now that I've lost a good portion of the weight I wanted to lose. I want to be stronger, I want to be fitter physically... but honestly? My emotional health is currently taking such a beating that I am having trouble focusing on physical fitness except maybe as an escape from dealing with emotional stuff. I guess maybe that is my WHY for now? And I think that's perfectly okay.

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Intentions:

I am going to journal, even just a few sentences each day. I want to track how the day went for me, fitness, food and fasting wise. I will take notes about the hard days and the easy days as well as probably typing up some of the emotional stuff. I'm sure I'll be working through some of these things on my Wednesday posts as well as my "Therapy Thursday" posts.

I've made some pages for my bullet journal specifically for May to track the few things I want to keep in mind and I'll be journaling online and on my blog.

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You can see some of my other "Weightloss Wednesday Posts here:

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And some of my more recent posts:

Weekend Freewrite: To Change Our Fate

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Sunday Funnies: When Cats Get Bored, Letters from a Boat Cat

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Mommy Monday: Puppet Making, Part 4 (Making Poseable Hands)

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Try Something NEW Tuesday: I did a Rap Karaoke Video!

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Fiction: Short Writing Challenge "A Dog's Story"

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Sharing Our Steemit Work Space: My Steemit Office

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Photos & graphics are mine except where they are linked to their source
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I think focusing on mindfulness is a great move. I began meditating about 6 months ago and it has transformed my life, including my fitness and nutrition.

I used to be a scale addict too. Every time I was in the bathroom, I stepped on the scale. It was way out of control. Jan 2017, I made a New Years resolution to not step on the scale and it was so freeing that I continued. I’ve maybe weighed myself 3 times since then for certain challenges I was in that required it, but I’m no longer a slave to it.

I am also over the age of 40 and an intermittent faster (18:6). It’s the only thing that’s worked for me long term. I took some time off it just to see how I did; I maintained mostly. I just started back this week and can already tell a difference. Happy to connect with someone on a similar path.

I thought I already replied to this! I'm so sorry. I thought out my reply, but I think I was on my phone and I hate trying to type out things on there.

I refused to count calories or even weigh myself for years because I gained a TON of weight and nothing was working, so I just quit everything. I finally did it this past year and it actually was a fantastic thing for me. It very much helped me see my body's patterns for retaining weight... and for letting it go. It helped me see that having a 'bad' day of eating a lot did NOT make me "fail" and so I didn't need to beat myself up and quit. It was something that I very much needed in my life.

After a year of it, I definitely needed to step back for a bit. I may go back to it after this month, or maybe not. I feel more comfortable in my skin, so it's just not as necessary, since I can actually visually assess myself (I haven't been able to look in the mirror for the previous 5-6 years at ALL). So it was healing for me and I'm really glad I did it, but I feel like I was starting to just get stuck on it recently.

Intermittent fasting is something that comes so naturally to me and it doesn't seem to be so rigid like some other types of "diets" or "WOE"

I'm really glad to have found someone in a similar place as well! Thanks for the comment and the support! I have actually worked out every day this week (well, one day it was just ten minutes, but I set a goal of 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week to start with and today I did an hour... so I'm still good!)

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