Wow, I cannot believe that March is almost over! I need an organized Monday like whoa right now.
Unfortunately Spring Break is over 
I had a really great spring break. I was able to get a lot of blog work, exercising and shopping (for Spring clothes!) done. I also spent time with family and friends, which is always nice. I didn’t do any homework until last night and I totally slacked on my goals of cleaning my car and purging old clothes – but I’m not too worried about it.
Honestly, I didn’t realize how ready I am for this semester to be over until this past week. This semester has been really rough on me with the different schedules each week for my lab rotations and the fact that we missed an entire week of class due to the snow storms. Our calendars are STILL off and I don’t always know exactly when my next exams or deadlines are going to be. I don’t think I realized that I am actually kind of stressed out about school right now until I was able to forget about it for a week. I feel like a mad woman today knowing that I have to get back in the grind.
Also looming over my head is the fact that I have to study for and take the GRE before the end of June. They are changing the format of the GRE in July and I would like to take the current GRE, rather than risk studying for the newly formatted test for which no one has created proven test prep materials. I’ll be a very happy camper once this semester is over so I can focus on the GRE, take the test, then move on to summer school and the rest of my life!
Because I’m still finding struggle with completing my weekly goals that are life oriented since school has started – I’ve decided this next week to only focus on my health goals. This is also because this week and next are both going to be insane. I have a midterm, an exam and an assignment due this week. In my personal life – I started physical therapy for my hip today (more below), I have a friend in town that I’m seeing tonight, I have a wedding this weekend and family coming into town this weekend as well. Then the next week I have a huge test. It’s going to be a crazy next 8-9 days – for sure.
I’ll post my health goals for this week below but I wanted to throw up a quick update on physical therapy and then my March Challenge.
Physical Therapy
This morning I had my first PT appointment. It went really well actually. The PT said I definitely have some flexibility issues in my hip and a slight lack of strength in my left (hurt) compared to my right hip. There also may be a little bit of an issue in my lower back that she is going on focus on as well. She couldn’t identify any reason for the pain right away. My right hip is slightly lower than my left hip and the outer left side of my spine is slightly turned out – so those are issues she is hoping to fix to see if there is any change.
For right now she is not having me change my workout schedule. I am stretching 1-2 times at home per day with some targeted leg and hip stretches she gave me. I’m also going to attend PT twice a week for right now! I’m really grateful to be continuing on with my current workout schedule. I have a 5K on April 2nd I’m going to run and that will be an indicator if the therapy is working. Depending on that race, I may start running more in April per her instructions. I guess we will see!
I was really nervous about going but I’m glad that I did. I did not feel comfortable with the prospect of starting half marathon training without getting this hip issue taken care of first.
(source)
March Challenge
My March challenge is going excellent. As of my workout yesterday, I have finished 17 of the 30 workouts and I’ve accumulated 1,135 fitness minutes so far this month! I’ve gone up at least 10 pounds (in some cases 15) from where I started on all my heavy lift exercises except biceps.
I didn’t mention in the first post, but the original reward for finishing this challenge was a new food processor, which I am in desperate need of because mine is on it’s last leg. To obtain this reward, I need to finish 26 of the 30 workouts because I have four “free” days.
After the first week of the challenge I was feeling really discouraged. I was expressing to Matt this discouragement when he offered a solution. For every one of the “free” days I didn’t use, I would get another reward. Together we brainstormed rewards that would motivate me and came up with the following:
1 Free day left/27 workouts completed: special date night of my choice
2 free days left/28 workouts: $25 to spend at Old Navy (plus the above)
3 free days left/29 workouts: New purse from target (plus above)
4 free days left/ all 30 workouts done: Weekend trip with him (plus all of above)
So If I complete all 30 workouts I get all four of these extra rewards PLUS a new food processor. What up!
I’ll be totally honest when I say this is not a normal incentive schedule for me. Normally I don’t reward myself with anything. And this incentive schedule is not something that could/would be kept up in the future. Since this is the first time I’ve done a challenge like this and it’s really pushed me out of my normal exercise attitude and routine – these extra incentives have made all the difference. And that was totally his intention when he offered them to me. This month is all about setting the strength training habit into place and giving my metabolism a jump start with really vigorous workouts. This isn’t normal for me (usually I don’t push myself very hard at all!) and I need all the help to do this that I can. Because of these new rewards, I haven’t skipped a workout yet and I don’t plan to at all.
Honestly, I LOVE having my workouts for the entire month already scheduled. I know that wouldn’t work for some people, but since I’m an ultimate planner and always thinking ahead – not having to think about my workouts is amazing. It doesn’t give me the opportunity to skip a workout or give myself an easier week based on how I feel at that moment. And I love the idea of doing a different challenge each month. It gives my workouts purpose, meaning and it motivates me to complete them. Going to spin both Saturday and Sunday is really hard sometimes, but I know I only have to do it two more times and then I’m done! If I had to do it infinitely with no end in sight, I would definitely skip these workouts.
I really believe this is one reason that having a consistent workout schedule has been so hard for me in the past. I’ve always strived to come up with a plan that I follow each week – but I never want to switch it up. Forcing myself to make a new routine every 4 weeks is going to be the key difference I think and should keep me on a stable schedule that is going to make weight loss so much easier!
I definitely believe I will be keeping these challenges in the future and setting up a new one each month. I’m hoping this is really going to show me some results in a few weeks!
March Week 4 goals
Here are my health goals for the week:
1. Exercise 6 times:
Monday: Heavy lift (+ PT)
Wednesday: Body works at 4:30
Thursday: PT + spin at 6:45 pm
Friday: Heavy lift
Saturday: Spin at 9:15 am
Sunday: Spin at 9:15 am
2. Complete my PT stretches 2x per day
3. Meal Plan: this week is all about the quick, easy meals to throw together since I’m sooo short on time!
4. Take all my supplements: I recently started taking both a probiotic pill and an omega 3 supplement every day. I also take vitamin C (emergen-C) packets when I feel a little under the weather and sometimes a calcium supplement if I didn’t have enough calcium that day (I track it loosely in my head each day). I want to make sure I’m taking all four of these supplements this week and next since I’m going to be so swamped. Getting sick is not possible right now.
That’s about it! I have a few blogs already posted for this week and I’m going to try to get a few more up for Thursday and Friday this week.
So tell me – do fitness challenges work for you? and what are your goals this week?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey girl heyyyyy
Two quick questions about supplements: 1) What do you think about emergen-c on a personal level? I.e. I don’t care about (or rather, my interest lies not in) how much C is in it, whether it has sketch ingredients, etc. but rather how they affect your health/well-being when you are feeling under the weather. I tried one ONCE and it made me want to gag, but some things I happily take if I know they are doing really good things for me. Also Emergen-C is kind of pricey. So…do you think it makes a difference in sickness prevention/boosting your immune system/boosting energy? And Omega-3s….do you know of a good vegetarian omega-3 supplement? I always see the fish ones which I can’t do.
Your reward system looks great and I am excited for you! I don’t do rewards only because I just end up buying myself what I want anyways. If things get desperate I just guilt myself into exercising more. Example? I have three alarms on my phone for 7:01, 7:02, and 7:03 which I don’t use every day but they say GET UP YOU HAVE SH*T TO DO, PLUS YOU ARE GETTING FAT GO DO SOME CORE FUSION, AND YOU HAVE A TESTTTT!!!!!
Hahaha I know that sounds awful but hey it works! At some point my life will slow down enough to get a regular routine going but for now it is more a combination of sneaking things in whenever possible, eating better and less to compensate, and moving more in my daily activities.
xoxo
I knew the second I posted something about supplements I was going to get questions
I will write a blog post about the supplements I take and why either this week or next. But for now, let me answer your questions.
In general, I know nothing about the brands of supplements on the market. The only thing I feel like I’m well versed in now is the brand of Omega 3 supplement I take because of the information on their website and that I learned in the store. I was originally looking for a vegan or vegetarian supplement for omega 3s, but truthfully – to receive the great benefits from omega 3s that are possible, you will likely have to take a fish supplement. There are some supplements made from algae, but they only have one of the types of omega 3s that you need. I’ll post more about this later.
In regards to emergen-C – I love it. And I’ve loved it for years and years. I probably will never stop taking it unless someone tells me something truly heinous about it. I love it because I hate to swallow pills. It’s super easy and convenient to take and the taste totally grows on you. I love the raspberry flavor the best! I also love it because I feel the effects almost immediately. Because your body doesn’t have to break down a pill, the vitamins are absorbed very quickly and put to use in the body. I don’t think it’s really that pricey. You can get it here for about $8-9 a box. If you are taking one packet a day, that’s a whole month! That’s really nothing. I now take it when I’m feeling sick, under the weather, allergy-ish or just beat down and it generally prevents any looming illness if I take one in the morning and one at night. I used to take one every morning when I worked full time and it definitely made me feel better after taking it.
Do I think that emergen-c is better than a vitamin C pill? For me it is, but if you don’t mind a pill go you’ll get the same immunity benefits (most likely) from a pill. I think the emergen-C will give you more “energy” than a standard vitamin C pill because it’s an instant boost and it has several other vitamins, electrolytes and antioxidants in it. But it’s not “energy” compared to a 5 hour energy for example. I personally only take it for the vitamin C and not specifically for the other vitamins, but they all work together to make you feel awesome. So that’s another plus if you are looking for a multi-vitamin like thing. I have no idea the comparison of the amounts of other vitamins vs. a true multi vitamin – but that’s something you could look into.
Does that help? I have three different flavors right now I can send you to try if you want.
That helps a ton! I will suck it up and buy a box — lately I haven’t had time for a full night’s sleep, much less working out like I should, etc. Though I HAVE been eating a little better.