How is that Water Challenge Treating Me?

So .. as I discussed in a previous post I am taking a 30 day water challenge. You may ask .. how is it going?

The first couple of days were miserable .. at one point I wanted to move my laptop into the bathroom to save myself the walking. The bonus in this? I easily hit my daily quota in steps walking back and forth again, and again, and again, and …

Things I’ve Learned …

• Don’t drink massive amounts of water before you are going to be in a situation where you cannot go to the bathroom. Thankfully I ‘thought’ about this and tapered before I had to teach classes at the gym. That would have been miserable!
• When you drink water more consistently that ice water really keeps your body temperature lower. I switched to luke warm water pretty quick
• After a couple of days I started to drink it more consistently on my own (I was having an app buzz me every hour to drink water) .. it definitely feels both that my body needs it and wants it

Things I’ve Noticed …

• For some reason my system feels cleaner, head to toe. I really don’t know how to explain it but I feel like I’m flushing myself out constantly.
• I’m not as hungry as often as I thought I was … that is in part because we sometimes mix up signals of hunger and thirst and well, I’m definitely never thirsty! 🙂
• My skin feels better .. I noticed today that some of my dark circles seem a bit better (and it’s not because I’m getting enough sleep at night because that is one of my issues..)
• I am more alert during the work day, which is great because right now my job is slooooow

Are they related? I don’t know but they are different, and positive.

I’ll post another update on this soon but I’m pretty sure that 30 days will end up being a permanent change!

Happy day and thanks for reading!

I have tons of playlists on Spotify, by BPMs, by moves (i.e. seated flats, standing climbs, etc). Feel free to follow me as I am constantly adding to my playlists 🙂

Christina

Feel free to follow me on social media!

Follow @joschmoblo

Follow @_findingfitness – my blog’s twitter

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Holding Yourself Accountable

This is one of those topics that people either love, or hate.

Holding ourselves accountable, holding ourselves to standards.

Why should we? Well, I suspect that the opinion varies but these are at least my thoughts on the subject. I / We deserve to have standards and expectations for what I do, how I act, what decisions I make, etc.

This keeps us strong, physically, mentally, morally, and so on.

It doesn’t have to be a 24 / 7 fight or effort but we need to stand our ground often enough that the end result works in our favor.

I like to think of it like this .. make one better decision at a time. Focus on each decision and less about the ‘big picture.’ If you do that often enough then one day you will look up and see that you’ve made progress without it feeling overwhelming!

At the same time, when things don’t go our way it’s important to be a realist and take responsibility for our ‘share in it.’ No, that doughnut did not force it’s way into our mouth .. and no one made you super size those fries. We have to ‘own it’ then figure out what it will take to not repeat it again.

Here is the deal… we are human and unfortunately not perfect. We’re going to make mistakes .. again and again. When it happens .. well, there is no point in beating ourselves up something that is now in the past. So, instead pick yourself up, dust the dirt off, and get back on track.

So .. our plan is this .. try to stay on track more often than not. Try to limit those detours but still forgive ourselves when they happen. Own up to what happened to cause them, decide how to avoid them again, and move on 🙂

Happy day and thanks for reading!

I have tons of playlists on Spotify, by BPMs, by moves (i.e. seated flats, standing climbs, etc). Feel free to follow me as I am constantly adding to my playlists 🙂

Christina

Feel free to follow me on social media!

Follow @joschmoblo

Follow @_findingfitness – my blog’s twitter

This is Good For Our Health – Taking a 30 Day Water Challenge

At times, I am fantastic at drinking water. If you count the water in my coffee then most days I’m great. Other days I really don’t drink enough. Part of it is that whole out of sight, out of mind aspect.

Water bottle in hand, ready to take this 30 day water challenge!

So .. I have decided to take a 30 day water challenge. That sounds easy, right? You would think so! For the next 30 days I’m going to make it a point to drink at least my quota of water .. and let’s see how life is when I’m done.

How much water? Well, I was doing a bit of research and there really is no straight answer .. so I’m going to go based on what the Mayo Clinic has posted…

For females they recommend 74.4 ounces, and they say …

• Short exercise sessions (but where you still sweat) increases that number by 1.5 to 2.5 cups (or 12 to 20 ounces). If it lasts longer than an hour (this is me a few times a week) it requires more (although they don’t specify how much).
• During the extended exercise sessions they advise to drink sports drinks containing sodium to help replenish the sodium lost.
• They also advise to continue drinking after exercising (<< — this is never a problem!)

Ok .. so I’m going to wrap my brain around this for a minute .. but I’m doing this! Let’s see what happens and feel free to join me if you are up for it!

Why drink more water?

• It helps your complexion .. I know this because on consecutive days where I don’t drink enough water my complexion goes South. If for no other reason I’m doing this for my skin 🙂
• Cravings control .. did you know that sometimes when we think we are hungry our body is actually just thirsty? Yep .. I used to think it was just because I was looking for an excuse to eat
• It could give you that energy you need .. one of many signs of dehydration is becoming tired. This could cure that
• It keeps your muscles hydrated .. when we sweat during workouts we are losing water from our muscles so definitely make sure you drink just enough to stay ahead of the extreme muscle fatigue
• It keeps your internal systems moving along .. our body is made up of 60% water .. drinking keeps everything internally moving ahead

I’m sure there are a bunch of reasons but instead of looking them up I’m just going to find out for myself! See you on the other side 🙂

Thanks for reading!

I have tons of playlists on Spotify, by BPMs, by moves (i.e. seated flats, standing climbs, etc). Feel free to follow me as I am constantly adding to my playlists 🙂

Christina

Feel free to follow me on social media!

Follow @joschmoblo

Follow @_findingfitness – my blog’s twitter

 

Be Better Tomorrow, Next Week, Next Month Than We Are Today

Sometimes we become too content with our place in life that we stop challenging ourselves to do better. We get exhausted at the thought because we always set ‘huge’ goals, sometimes with unrealistic expectations.

I want to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks or I want to be the next President.

Thinking a little high, eh?

Instead of trying to conquer the world in one big gesture we need to think smaller, simpler. Think possible. Whatever it is that you want to accomplish in life start tomorrow. Start small. Be a better person tomorrow .. next week .. next month.

If it’s to have less stress at work pick one thing tomorrow that you just take a deep breath over.

If it’s to lose weight make a small, healthy eating change tomorrow.

Maybe you go from not exercising at all to promising you will give it 20 minutes.

Small positive changes are good for the body and soul!

Maybe you come home and spend 10 less minutes on the computer and 10 more on the couch snuggling with your kids.

We have spent years walking down the path that we are currently standing in. If we want to make that change and make it last we need to realize that it’s going to take time, desire, and dedication to start walking on a new trail.

Keep it realistic. Make small changes. It won’t be as scary and you’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish.

Make little changes every day then look back a month from now and celebrate how far you have come!

Thanks for reading!

Feel free to follow me on social media!

Follow @joschmoblo

Follow @_findingfitness – my blog’s twitter