Reflections: Weeks 1-4 of the NSHAPE challenge

How's it going?

It's a good thing that I'm NOT doing the 75 Hard, because I would've had to start over every day. It would've been discouraging and demoralizing, and we're not about that life here.

The short answer is, some things were easy, and some things were not. Some days were good, and some days were not. When you take into consideration the fact that I'm working with some chronic conditions and three kids (two of whom are toddlers), my victory is that I haven't quit completely. There were things I had to let slide at times, but I did the best I could with what I had.

It was obvious immediately that I needed to simplify my criteria--I gave myself too many things that required a lot of tracking or that were very specific, and I did not set myself up for success. Some might say that this is giving up or not being "mentally tough," but remember the quote about the definition of insanity being "doing the same thing again and again while expecting different results"? Well, maybe I'm not mentally tough, but I'm also not insane. I think it's important to give yourself grace, and to do what works for you, because I'm in this for the long haul and I want to build lasting, sustainable habits.

So here's what I'm trying for the next four weeks:

Nutrition- No eating after 8:30pm, and consume creatine daily

The no-eating rule is because when I eat too late, I don't feel so great. And creatine because I want to maintain and build muscle. I'm still going to keep my protein count in mind, but I'm going to worry about that more in the meal planning part of my process rather than the tracking part, and I don't want it to be a hard-and-fast rule, because some days I just DON'T want to put all my energy into thinking about food.

Sleep- Still aiming for 7 hours. 

I've been dealing with some terrible insomnia lately.

Hydration- Aiming for 64oz.

There's not a big difference between 64 and 72, but at the moment, 64 feels more doable.

Activity- "All or something"; no more than one day off at a time

As a busy and also frequently sick person, sometimes all I can manage is 10 or 15 minutes. And that's better nothing. But I'm capping my rest days at one at a time meaning, so I'm not putting myself on a downward spiral of missing days and days. 10 or 15 minutes every other day sounds better to me than an hour of intense exercise and then not working out for a whole week.

Personal enrichment- Lit lunches: Read a book during my lunch break (and other mealtimes) instead of scrolling social media

It seems like a better use of my time, right?

Emotional well-being- Daily journaling or rapid logging

Bullet points are okay!!!

I don't know if this reads as simpler, but to me it is: I'm not having to track meals, I'm not having to make sure that my workouts are a specific length, nor do I have to count how many I've done. I don't have to track minutes that I'm reading or whatever. They're a lot of "Done or not?" sorts of things, and that's kind of what my brain needs right now.

Here's to weeks 5-8!

Affirmation from the I Am app

PS- I'm an OrangeTheory member, and they're doing a challenge that I think sounds really good (still better than the 75 Hard!). I might try to do this on my own, in my own way, folded into my own challenge, since a lot of their criteria line up with mine. (Also, I have an Elite membership, and I don't really want to pay for extra classes just to do this challenge when I KNOW that going to 2 classes a week is perfectly enough for me at my current fitness level.)