Fitting in Fitness: Mindfulness May (Fitness & Emotional Health Cha...

I wrote last week about my May Mindfulness Challenge The short version being that after a year of focusing on calories and weight, I've lost 65 pounds and need to step back from the numbers for a while. I don't mean to 'fall off the wagon' so to speak, but I need to take a breather from weighing and counting every. single. day.

This month is about finding my fitness routine. Creating new healthy habits and focusing on intermittent fasting and EXERCISING MOST DAYS.

(oh, and of course fasciablasting regularly, because that's what inspired me to start in the first place, and it has been a fantastic experience for me!)

I've been struggling for the last year to find my fitness mojo. I love lifting heavy, but I am rubbish without a partner. My daughter @abyni and I work together well, because she gets me out of the house to go TO the gym and once we're there, I'm great at pushing us to new levels. I mean, I HATE leaving the house, but if I do? I am going to make it count!

Abyni has been in school and way too exhausted for workouts most week days, my BFF/workout partner was having a week of chaos, so I needed to find other ways to motivate myself for the 'off days'.

This week I watched my grandsons for an evening and decided to take that time to get some exercise in.

I took the boys and our dog, Tiberius on a 30 minute walk! *This might not seem like much, but I really dislike walking as exercise, so it was a big deal for me to take the initiative to do it when I had a fussy 4 year old to convince in the first place and it would have been much easier to just stay home!

Then when we got back, I used their swingset (that my awesome husband @serapium built for them last year!) to get in some exercise. I only have one photo that the 4 year old took for me, but I was using the rings to do inverted rows. Then I used the slide to do hip thrusts.

It is really hard to take photos of yourself working out!

We only made it to the gym twice this week, but I got in some of my favorite workouts while we were there. Most of them I've already posted about before Short Full Body Workout and Another Short Full Body Workout if you're curious, but I did a couple of new things.

ANNNNND... I took one day and did a full out 30 minute flexibility/stretching routine. Something that my body desperately needs that I also dislike doing. I don't enjoy getting started, I should say, but MANNNNNN, it felt SO GOOD to stretch and I slept like a dream that night!

I am also participating in the Heartbutt Challenge in my fasciablaster group, so I am putting a lot of effort into my posture and my booty gains. Losing 65 pounds meant that my butt went away and I miss it!

ANNNNND... I've been tracking my intermittent fasting, fasciablasting and exercise in my Bullet Journal to help keep myself accountable as well!

My doodling page and calendar page for tracking things daily.

Intermittent Fasting page, tracking the hours for fasting and feasting.

A place to journal my thoughts each day, even just a few notes on how the day made me feel. (I need to get better about that)

This is kind of like my visual tracker. My goal is to do 30 minutes of exercise at least 6 days a week AND focus on some sort of 'self care', focus on relaxing/me stuff that is NOT online/electronic based. Including my fasciablasting time.

I know I have several different pages of tracking the same thing, but I'm kind of doing it as more of an experiment to see which way I like tracking things. I love doodling and drawing, so I kind of like the variety for the moment. I'm hoping to continue tracking one thing or another over the next months and maybe this will help me decide what method to take.

Final Thoughts

I guess I'm pretty happy with my first week. I have only had a few times of having a BIT of stress over wondering if my weight is fluctuating or something, but really, I'm comfortable. I need to stop eating so much sugar, but otherwise I'm doing well. I feel like I'm focusing my energy on other things, and that is a GOOD THING.

I have been really motivated to exercise every single day and that is Brand New as well as the fact that I'm really truly Enjoying the Workouts! Really the main point of this whole month was to find ways to exercise that didn't feel like a chore and to start to develop new habits and I feel like I'm doing that. I'm taking or making opportunities to workout. For instance, choosing to take Tiberius and go for a walk while my daughter is at her appointment, instead of taking a book to sit and read. I feel pretty good about it all!

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