A New Challenge and some updates

On August 1st I am taking on this arm challenge.

It crossed my timeline on Facebook twice in one day so I decided to check it out. Then I posted it to Perkis People and invited my fitness buddies to join in. Needless to say, they did and that just makes it all the more fun. I know what you are thinking. "I wonder what her definition of "FUN" is?" Hey, whatever keeps us smiling and moving is fun in my book.

As I began to look at the challenge a little closer I began to think I must be crazy. But this is where the group comes in and keeps it 'fun'. Misery loves company (that's another group I know but the thought applies here). With others in the group doing the challenge we can laugh and applaud our attempts together. I've also challenged Carmen, Todd, Dave and the boys to join in to keep me going during our upcoming vacation. So far, Carmen is the only one to commit. I think we can drag the boys along simply by telling them they do not want Mom and Granpaula to do more than they do. :)

No one will be more surprised than me if I actually get to the full complement of push-ups, dips, curls and air punches by August 31st. But any number I accomplish is more than I'm doing now so it's still a win. And since I am not working out toward an event goal I've decided to add a squat and plank challenge to this calendar. Without the pressure of an event to train for, I can take the chance of straining something because I can afford to rest if that happens. Of course I don't want to do that so I'll be careful but I have nothing to lose for trying. :) With an event on the schedule I would have had an 'excuse' not to try.

An update on eating healthy:
Yesterday marked 8 weeks. The second 4 were much less strict than the first 4. Having said that I still did an excellent job of sticking with the concept of the plan - Protein, Veggies & Fruit with no grains or processed foods. I backed away from my plan to avoid the same food in the same day or for the same meal two days in a row. The primary reason is to avoid spoilage. I'm basically preparing menus for one. Dave is not a huge fruit and vegetable eater. He eats them but is not really on board to having them at every meal. So preparing for one in those areas becomes a real challenge if I want to maintain the variety level I initially committed too and avoid waste. I've had ice cream and M&M's over these 4 weeks too but sparingly. All in all, in 8 weeks I've come a long way of eliminating processed foods from my intake.

It was difficult to turn away from the Crème Brule French Toast that was on the menu at breakfast yesterday. A group of us went out after putting in some trail miles. I stuck to the omelet instead and truthfully it was very satisfying and filling. I was satisfied until diner. The French Toast delight would have left me wanting more in a few hours.

I'm looking forward now to finding out how this will work with running and biking and increasing my activity levels in general. One of the benefits of eating this way is having your body to use fat rather than sugar/carbs for fuel. This is very beneficial for endurance.

I did not eat breakfast before our group run yesterday and I felt fine. This result is not significant at this point though. I only went 4.4 miles and I've never run without having breakfast first so I have nothing to compare this too. I am curious to see how far I can go before feeling the need to fuel. Then I have to decide what to use for fuel on longer outings. One step at a time. ;)

Thanks for staying with me.