One Month Fitness Challenge

Today, Tuesday, November 1st, is the first day of my one month fitness challenge. Essentially, each Tuesday, I’ll add a photo of my progress and I’ll give a recap of what exercises I did the past week, how much water I drank, and how I’m feeling.

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FRIENDLY REMINDER

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Please remember that this is simply me, sharing my life with you, my reader. I’m not trying to say that everyone has to work out. I’m not saying that you can’t work out. I’m simply sharing my fitness progress with you for the month of November.

Tuesday, Nov. 1st

Tuesday’s are my day off from school, so I lounged around my apartment before I finally did a forty minute yoga flow. This flow, which I found on The Journey Junkie‘s Youtube Channel, is designed to help the flexibility in your hips and back. My lower back has been feeling tight and sore lately so I thought this would be a great flow to do today. These are also my “before” photos. While it’s important to learn to love yourself, there are aspects that I am able to improve while still being healthy.

Tuesday, Nov. 8th

For this week, I took the photos on Wednesday (the day I’m writing this) because of the craziness of the presidential election.

Okay so, I’m really surprised and delighted that in just one week, I’m already seeing a change in my body. AND! all I’ve done is drink more water and green tea (about 70-75oz a day in total), cut back on junk food/college food (i.e. pizza, burritos, etc.), and pick up a more rigorous workout schedule (aka, I’ve been doing yoga almost every single day).

Now, for the naysayers who don’t think yoga is a workout (*cough cough* Mom *cough cough*), please take a moment to look at my yoga board on Pinterest. There is a reason that yogis look so good; one, because yoga is more of a lifestyle than just exercise, and two, because yoga is the ultimate total-body/body-weight-workout. If you want to learn more about yoga as a lifestyle, start here with this article by The Journey Junkie. Another article to try is this one from 2007, in the Yoga Journal.

Tuesday, Nov. 15

This past week I really fell off of the bandwagon. I haven’t been keeping up with my yoga (I have done some to stretch), I’ve been drinking more beer and wine (being twenty-one made me do it). But! I have been eating better; more fruits and veggies instead of simple carbs. Although, the alcohol is not helping with the simple carbs… And Thanksgiving is right around the corner (*my brain cringes as my heart and stomach run off into the sunset*)

Wednesday, Dec. 7

The last week of this challenge was a bit of a challenge in itself, what with Thanksgiving and then the stress of realizing how quickly the end of this semester is approaching. I haven’t been practicing yoga unless my muscles have been tight or I’ve felt overly stressed out. I have been binge eating carbs too, which definitely hasn’t helped. But! the silver lining seems to be that by drinking the recommended (or even more on some days) amount of water, you can continue to flush your system, keeping your body on track. Even though I didn’t stick to my plan as closely as I wanted to, I was still able to lose a couple of pounds. Imagine how much progress I would have made if I had continued to exercise each day!

And, even if I didn’t accomplish all that I had hoped to, I can still see quite a bit of progress in these photos! All in all, and regardless of the results, I’m still proud of myself for even feeling comfortable enough to share these photos. I guess this is just another way to remind myself that everyday is an opportunity to SLAY!