get fit. get healthy. week 3.

happy st. patty's day (again)!

it's time again to sum up the past week of my fitness challenge. i have to admit that the week ended with me really struggling. i know i need to get over this 2nd/3rd week so that my new lifestyle really sticks (they say you form new habits in about 6 weeks)... but for some reason towards the end i watched myself trying so hard to self-sabotage my plans.

so now as i write this i once again have to take a step back... i had one bad day. tuesday. it was rough for a couple of reasons, but i got into a bad mood, started telling myself i couldn't do this, wasn't seeing results (so dumb because i totally am)... the reality is that i need to lighten up.

what i love about this challenge and participating in sharing it is that i'm really forced to take a look at the week as a whole... not stay bogged down in the failures of a single day (or even a couple of days) but to see the curve of my week and know that i really did make good progress and am working hard. and to learn from it...

get ready for a long post friends because i might have a lot to say in some of this week's responses!

get fit. get healthy. week 3.
height: 5'6"

weight: 156/154... 2 pounds this week!

your fitness challenge(s) for the week: this week i'm moving my program up to the "challenging" level. i did all of my extra workouts at "challenging" level on a whim to see how i would do and was so proud of myself for getting through them. i'd also like to continue doing my extra calorie burn on 4/6 of my workout days... the other days i'd like to start working in some sit up/crunch workouts via the 200situps program.

your food challenge for the week: this week i want to refocus my water intake. on my slip up days i started in with the diet coke again and could really feel the difference (i felt hungry all the time even though i'd eaten!) also... vegetables! my goal is to work in 5 vegetables that have been absent from my menu for too long. no more standards (green beans, corn, onion, carrots, broccoli) it's time to get some new stuff in there!

how well did it go: my challenges for last week were to get in 5 extra workouts and work on healthier lunches... i did pretty well on the fitness side. i got my 5 extra workouts in no problem... and some of those extras were really big ones to offset some of my diet slip ups. healthier lunches are still a problem. i'm finding that making wraps is working a lot better for me than full sandwiches with tons of bread. i'm hoping to get out to some markets tomorrow (weather permitting) to see what kind of produce is available to make my wraps and salads better tasting and healthier. we had to go to the grocery store super late this past sunday and the pickings were pretty slim.

failures and slip-ups: well i did a big no no and let some stress take over on tuesday and i succumbed to the old pressure of using food to make me "feel" better. unfortunately because of how WRONG stopping off for that immediate gratification fast food meal (that took up 90% of my daily calorie goal) actually felt, i spiraled into a bad bad negative attitude that took me the rest of the day (and a few moments on wednesday) to get over. after that sad sad lunch i had to force myself to do my workout and i bitched and complained the whole time. it's a machine and i was literally talking back to it like a bratty teenager... i even said the forbidden "i can't" several times. that was such a disappointment to myself because i was saying i couldn't do things that i was totally doing just the day before when i was so motivated and proud of my returning strength.

i'm much better now, and i'm glad i had the experience and was able to talk to joe about it so that he could understand how much i need his support even though he's super busy at work. this is a tough time in my program and i'm committed to getting through it... i'm blessed to have a new community to turn to and a husband who is so proud of me for trying to get my body and our family's lifestyle back on track.

weekly challenge wisdom: "Use perceived failures and misfortunes as a catalyst to push you toward bigger and better things." - Jillian Michaels

advice to fellow GET FIT members: find your support system! and don't be afraid to tell someone you need them, or ask for help if they aren't giving you want you need. chances are they don't even know it and NO ONE is a mind reader!

arm-length self-portrait: the week 3 assignment was a couples valentines day selfie... well obviously valentines day is long gone, and there really isn't an opportunity for joe and i to take a photo in the five sleeping hours that he's been home each day this week... so instead here is a photo of little miss and i after our st. patty's day trip to go see daddy at work.



i'm not totally in love with the quality of the photos we took in the mirror today. this was the first time i'd tried taking them with her in awhile and she's gotten much wigglier (is that a word??) since then. very hard to get a 9 month old and myself in focus with a 50mm fixed lens, poor lighting, while not looking through the viewfinder. but we look happy and we always have fun talking to each other in the mirror before bathtime. (maybe tomorrow i'll post some of the outtakes for fun!)

here's one i took with my point and shoot...


again due to a wiggly baby i'm pretty sure the focus picked up the books. it's been such a long time since i worked on self-photography. i'm glad that this challenge includes a prompt to get back into it!

i hope everyone had a great st. patty's day! i know me and my little leprechaun did. i'm super excited that tomorrow is promising to be 70 degrees out... it may call for another trip into the city to try a different park since i had no clue that bryant park was still basically a big pile of dirt. for sure we are heading to the union square greenmarket... i sure hope that's open!

love.