Monday, January 13, 2014

Wake up call!

So here it is.. Day 1 of my 24 Day Challenge. 

I forgot how excited I got to do these things!! I woke up, threw on my tightest clothes for my before pictures and measurements, and laid out every product that I needed to take today. I previewed my before pictures, and thats when all of my excitement crashed and burned. 

                 

I thought to myself, "Wow Jess, you really let yourself go over the holidays.." Here you have it: a fluffier, exhausted version of myself.  After my self esteem was destroyed, I had to drink that fiber drink. I'm a texture person, and there is just no getting around this drink. Picture this: my scrunched up face, my plugged nose... Gulp one.. Gulp two.. Gulp three.. Phew, I didn't puke.. Day 1 Success. OK, Its not THAT bad. In fact, I love doing the cleanse portion of the challenge. Its so worth it. Whats not worth it is all that junk I devoured over break

In hindsight, I have no idea why I took a 4 week vacation from being healthy. I had a 4 week break from school for the holidays, and I literally stopped caring about myself for some unknown reason. I BARELY worked out, I didn't take any of the products I normally did, and I ate food that literally made me ILL. Yes. Physically ill. I was nauseous, tired, and had headaches almost every single day. It never occured to me that I was eating complete garbage for meals. Cookies, ohhhh the cookies! And take out food, ughh. I want to puke just thinking about it!

The last few days of my Christmas break, I decided to watch some Netflix. I clicked on "Hungry For Change" and in that moment, I realized SO much. It finally occured to me that what I was consuming was making me sick. After that, I watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." Again- FLOORED. I hope everyone in the world watches these. I'm still speechless! Clint told me months ago to watch these, and I heard him, but never listened. I guess I should listen to him more often.. whoopsies. 

I hope more people have a similar wake up call like I did. Yeah, I only took a 4 week break, but those 4 weeks had physical effects on my body.

Today not only was the beginning of my 3rd semester in PA School, but it was also Day 1 of my 24 Day Challenge. I know I'll be successful because I planned AHEAD for this challenge. In fact, I have 2 other classmates/amazing friends that are joining me. We've meal prepped for the entire week, and even mapped out our workouts! We clearly aren't Type A.... ;) ANYHOW. Together we meal planned with clean, minimally processed, healthy food. This planning isn't ending in 24 days. Ohhh no! I'll be doing this forever I hope! 

If you're interested in learning how to meal plan, we first went and searched for recipes on Pinterest. Since we are away from home for about 9+ hours a day, we needed meals that could be prepared ahead of time, frozen, and cooked in a crockpot later. With the help of this handy dandy website: http://organizerbyday.blogspot.com/2013/11/20-crockpot-meals-under-20.html?m=1,  we successfully found meals that worked! We wrote out our grocery list, added any useful electronic coupons to our Kroger Card to save us money, and went to the store. After purchasing the entire produce section (but really....), we went home, prepared the meals, and stowed them in the freezer. 

For exercise: we are planning on doing a mix of running (prepping for half marathon!) and interval workouts. Oh yeah, and we have to work out at 6 in the morning because we have no other time. I keep reminding myself; "You've got to want it. It'll be worth it!" 

So there you have it: 3 insanely busy Physician Assistant students who are able to eat healthy and work out despite our hectic schedules.

Bored? Try todays circuit workout from http://dailyhiit.com:
50 seconds on, 10 seconds off
-walk out pushups
-jump lunge burpees
-dead lift row + bicep curl 
-4 mountain climbers + pushup 

We did 10 rounds for a total of 40 minutes! 

Before I go, I just wanted to close by saying that I'm working out and eating clean to FEEL a certain way, not to be some specific weight. I will probably be close to 138 lbs when I'm done with this challenge, but thats because its my proper metabolic weight. I've been that weight for years! My body, however, will FEEL better in 24 days. My fat will transform back into muscle, and I will have more energy. A scale is just a number. It wont ever define me. 

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