30 Day Challenge

Hello! Wow, this is the first time I have logged into my blog for 8-months! Sorry about that.  A lot have changes have happened in my life over the past 8 months, and sadly, survival became a priority.  Blogging, among other things that I enjoy, like exercise, eating healthy, and cooking have fallen to the side. I cooked to feed Avery and myself, not for a love of cooking.  I also became a bit of an emotional eater - my sin - potato chips and pizza (none of which were paleo by any means).  My focus, and as it should be, was on making sure Avery was moving forward with life as the happy little girl that she is.

Its now summer vacation, and I have a little bit more time for myself.  Over the past 3 weeks I have worked out with more consistency than I have over the past 8 months.  I have found a little piece of myself, and it feels really really good.  The next things I need to do are:  a)keep it going b) get my diet back on track c) enjoy cooking and experimenting with food d) share my love with all of you!

Once you get side-tracked it makes it so difficult to get back on the wagon, so I decided to start a 30-Day Challenge for myself, and I invite you to join me! It is starting tomorrow, and I do apologize for the late notice!

So what is this 30-Day Challenge all about?  Its about exercise, clean eating, positive thinking, and sleeping! What are the rules: you must exercise, eat clean, think positively, and sleep well for 30 days!

Exercise:
You must do some physical exercise every single day.  I realize that everyone needs a rest days, but you can choose active rest.  Active rest would include going for a walk or doing some yoga for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Clean Eating:
This will vary person to person depending on your goals.  If you want to lose weight, I would suggest a Paleo diet.  If that is a little extreme for you, I would suggest cutting out highly processed foods, and refined sugars.  If there are ingredients you cannot say, don't eat it.  French fries should only list 2 ingredients, potato and oil.

Thinking Positive:
At the end of each day try to write down 3 things that you are thankful for, or 3 things that have brought a smile to your face throughout the day.  You would be surprised how far it can go!

Sleeping:
In order to be the best version of ourselves possible we need sleep. Adults require 7-8hrs per night.  If you are not sleeping enough it can interfere with your weight loss goals, and we all know how cranky we get when we are tired.  If you know you have to be up at 6am, get yourself ready and into bed for 9:30.

Wine:
Its summer, we all like to have a glass of wine, myself included.  I will not take that away from you.  If you want a glass of wine you need to do 1hr of VIGOROUS or INTENSE exercise.  That could include things like running, or Crossfit.  You can add your exercise up to earn your glass of wine. That means you could do 20 minutes of intense exercise for 3 days to earn that glass.  If you know your going to a party, you might want to up your game.  This is a challenge, so I couldn't;t make it too easy!

I've chosen to start this challenge at a very difficult point in my summer.  I am starting a course tomorrow that has me at the UofA from 9-4:30 everyday, which will mean waking up early to work out! Yikes!  It will also challenge me to take food with me and be prepared each day.

So.... who is in with me????????

Let me know if you are up for the CHALLENGE.  I will try to update my blog daily with my progress through this challenge :-)

Happy Days!
JoJo