On August 1, someone at work thought it would be fun/funny to start a company wide fitness challenge. In a baptist building. Where there’s cake more days than not. (WHY.) So, I think just to save themselves, they put up a cash prize. And if I’m being honest that was the big hook for me getting involved. $$$. Everyone that wanted to participate put up $25 and weighed in. On the last day of the challenge, October 31, we’ll all weigh in again and whoever loses the most weight percentage wise wins the $$$!
Remember on my Facebook page (why don’t you like it?!) when I said I was starting to transition to an all natural, toxin-free lifestyle (post to come on that, too!)? There’s no excuse for me not to do this challenge. I think it’d look a smidge hypocritical if I’m chowing on Chick Fila in the break room watching my coworkers suffer but hey I’m wearing all natural/toxin-free skincare can you tell. It literally will not kill me. I (probably) will not die from trying to eat better and exercise.
Coincidentally, the day I found out about the fitness challenge one of my dental hygienists turned friend (hi, Jennifer!) posted she was starting the Whole 30 challenge the same day our fitness challenge started. I’m a skeptic so I read up on wtf Whole 30 even is, decided it didn’t sound like a cult, and joined her. The hardest thing about this challenge? No alcohol. Or butter. Or sugar. KILL ME. (No, no. Don’t. I put this upon myself and not drinking will not kill me. Right? I mean, the sugar withdrawals might do a serious number on my psyche, though.) My goal is not to transition to a Whole 30 lifestyle 100%, although that might work for some of you, it’s more of a reset for me. A test of what’s left of my will power, if you will. I’ve never been one to go out of my way to be challenged, but I’ve found myself this year asking for hard stuff to be handed to me. (Don’t ever do that, btw. Because it happens.) The only reason I can think of to not do this is because it will be hard. (But Whole 30 kinda busted that theory out of the water.) AND I QUOTE:
“It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You’ve done harder things than this, and you have no excuse not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.”
*Gulp* Besides, who couldn’t benefit from a little challenge?
WHAT IS WHOLE 30?
I’m the wrong person to be asking since I literally just read about it four days ago, but I’ll try to sum it up. Whole 30 is a 30 day challenge where dairy, sugar (real or artificial), beans and legumes, alcohol (even in cooking), MSG and all grains are banned. You can eat whatever you want–inside those parameters. (Jennifer made ranch!) The point is not, however, to cheat the system and make Whole 30 approved pancakes or ice cream. (Don’t get them started on pancakes. Geez.) The point is to rid your body of junk and to teach it to live almost like a caveman, if cavemen had almond milk. Whole 30 will never hold a gun to your head and force you to eat anything. (It’s an inanimate website. It can’t.) It simply gives you a list of yeses and a list of nos. Abide by them. You’re an adult, for God’s sake. No cheating, no weigh-ins, no slips for 30 days. If you want to read more from the website itself, I’d start here, then go here, and end up here. If you’re serious, just read the whole thing!
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
I once did a juice cleanse for five days (but ate dinner!) and got dozens of weird looks and comments that sounded like, “why are you doing that,” “that’s so stupid,” “you’re an idiot,” “you look ridiculous,” “I’d be so hungry. I can’t understand why you’d want to do that,” “why are you licking the counter where I just made a sandwich,” so God knows I’m not doing it for the attention. My goal for years growing up with insanely low self-esteem was to lose weight. I’m talking the entirety of my teenage/early 20s. That damn BMI scale screwed up my brain and I always thought I needed to lose 20 pounds. (I didn’t.) After I got divorced and finally found some self worth, I decided I liked myself! (WHAT A CONCEPT!) Like, loved myself for the first time in 22 years. It was pretty awesome. Then I moved to Dallas and started a list of restaurants I had to try, and while (most) everything I’ve eaten has been utterly delicious, I’d like to maybe save some money and cook more at home. And hey, maybe eat a little better too while I’m at it. Oh, and probably do that workout DVD that literally has six layers of dust on it because I haven’t touched it since I moved. I just want to be a better steward of this kick-ass body while I’ve got it.
THE PARAMETERS:
- Fully complete Whole 30 with no cheat days or resets
- Exercise at LEAST three times a week, preferably five
- Only water and black coffee
- NO sugar
- NO alcohol
- NO grains
- NO dairy
- NO beans or legumes
- NO artificial anything
- ONLY what is on the approved list and what I make from it
- Ignore the haters
- No weigh-ins for 30 days
THE GOALS:
- To challenge myself and win
- To lose one jean size (losing weight isn’t my ultimate goal, but it’s a welcomed side effect)
- To develop a habit of working out consistently
- To treat dis body good, girl, and mean it
So here’s to me! Here’s to treating my body better and ultimately feeling better. Here’s to the next 30 days.
Today is August 8, day 8 of 92 of the fitness challenge and day 7 of 30 of Whole 30. Be sure to follow me on Snapchat (@melodyrich) where I’ll be documenting all my meals!
xx
*eats my food that has all of these things piled on top of it, shamefully*
thanks for getting out that post! haha. it is the 9th. a little too late to make it true to the calendar month but i think that i am going to do this. or something like it. maybe not as strict just because that tends to get a little bit harder when i run out of groceries and have to rely on whatever restaurant near work will feed me during my night shift, but the quality of my actual meals that i pack has gotten better over the last few months. even though what’s currently sitting next to me isn’t the best (i’m now putting the other half in the fridge to not stare at me), i’ve been doing better.
i have set out some goals for myself:
last week was eating a little better – because i fell off.
second week (this week) is doing that + adding back in exercise.
i’ve been feeling so *off* lately, that I need to really just treat my body right again. I was doing good until my vacation. Currrrse you!
hahahahaha! Vacations are the WORST in that way, but you can do it! Once you realize that this isn’t the hardest thing in your life you’ll ever do, the weight gets a lot lighter. That and not being hard on yourself when you slip up! Like me. With The Chip Incident. 😀
YOU CAN TOTALLY DO IT! And then we can complain when it’s hard or when we mess up, haha.
Ahhhhh okay okay. I think I may do this. Or do what I can. I did just drop a bunch of healthy snack recs in our suggestions box at work, so maybe i’ll get some of those :3