G'day!
Am pleased to announce my 29 day challenge as a SUCCESS all round, - very good feeling!!!
What I achieved was:
* 29 consecutive days clear of ALL alcohol
* I SMASHED my training goal every week of a minimum of 3 intense cardio workouts of 30 plus mins each and 2 resistance workouts of 30 plus mins each. Smashed those by a good bit actually and am really appreciating the efforts of my resistance training.
* Remained 'sugarfree' for the 29 consecutive days. By 'sugarfree' I mean that no 'confectionary' items were consumed such as chocolate, lollies, cake, biscuits, fudge, icecream, sorbet, packaged fruit juices, soft drink. I DID eat homemade 'healthy' carrot cake, well portioned, (no sugar, but oats, egg whites, carrots, a few dates) and 'healthy' homemade date and walnut loaf, (very well portioned and only a very small amount of dates would have been in each serve, - again oats instead of flour, egg whites, no sugar). I did generally have 1-2 serves of fruit per day, (1 serve was always berries heated in my oats at brekkie!)
* No 'diet' soft drink either!
* No binges!
* Other than when I caught up with a mate who made a pie for lunch, I had no pastry or deep fried food.
RESULTS:
* Improved fitness levels all round, - strength and cardio
* I weighed in on day 4, again on day 27, - between those dates had a 3.5kg drop. I didn't take measurments otherwise, still lardy for my liking but can feel there has been fat loss.
* Sleep patterns seem to be better without alcohol. Still tired and grumpy with alarm awakenings but at least not hungover! Sometimes I still needed/wanted a coffee to feel alert in the mornings, but was secretly pleased I couldn't blame it on alcohol consumption, - still maybe lack of time in bed. I have been averaging 6-6.5 hours in bed per night recently, - still not quite enough but a little better than it used to be! Weekends I often average 7- sometimes 10 hours till I wake naturally!
* Feeling pleased as I achieved what I set out to, and aim to transfer that to whatever I do.
CHALLENGES:
* The hardest was not substituting one 'less desirable' habit for another, - not something I have managed to keep up for a good length of time, - since maybe my early 20's anyway.
* A couple of times I had the 'urge' for a sugar/and/or food 'binge', - told myself, 'it will pass', and didn't relent. Urges 'did' pass. They only arose if I skipped 'training' for a day that I did intend to train, (although I did blast all my pre-challenge training goals). The day after my mate made us the big lunch, - I had a big urge as I had a small 'idea' I would accomplish a 50k bikeride early Sun morning but it didn't eventuate, then I had that 'bigger lunch'. It took a bit of concentration not to 'give in' to a binge that evening!
* Not giving into a few urges for an alcoholic drink was a challenge, - particularly Friday and Saturday arvos and evenings but everyday to a degree! Probably the first couple of weeks for that were the absolute toughest!
THIS WEEKEND:
* I attempted to prep and clean the house for the return of my best mate/housemate who comes home tonight. She owns and built the home from scratch.
* Pics on the posts below were of my hair after my 'salon' visit on Friday after work, ended up getting chunky gold highlights and a dark brown, (without red tones) base colour.
* 10.4km outside run done late yesterday arvo/evening
* I DROVE, (hate driving new places) out to Yahava Koffee in the Swan Valley, for a nicely made skinny flat white, to view the valley, and I picked up a bottle of classic white and also a bottle of sparkling from one of the local vineyards there, (something I have not done in my time in Perth till now)!
* I had not made a firm decision on whether I would/wouldn't but late this arvo I opened a bottle of chilled sparkling, plonked a strawberry inside and am enjoying a glass, - with no firm decisions NOT to, - I relent so I see! Tastes good.
UP AND COMING:
* Hmmm, I have quite a bit more fitness to gain and fat to lose so want to keep pushing myself, will keep to my baseline goals but I do want to keep up training at least 5 days a week, and continue to make grounds with resistance efforts, hopefully manage pullups/chin ups someday! Still am shooting to make new PB's eventually on my run times, fit size 10's tone, (get under 25% BF, perhaps 20%BF), - I have a love/hate relationship with the discipline of it all!
* I plan to stay bingefree for good no matter what!
* I strive to keep 'mainly' sugarfree. I won't bring sugary sweet stuff into house, it will not be part of my 'day to day' consumption. If I take a 'dessert' to a party it will be maybe a fresh fruit/cheese platter or one of the sugarfree desserts with a higher protein source. I will still permit the occasional controlled portion of sugary stuff if at a dinner party or if it's an occasional social desire with others but it is the stay the exception, not the norm. If the urges to 'binge' presents itself after that I have to be ready to IGNORE haha!
* I plan to stay away from 'diet' soft drinks, - I did give them up for about 2 years not that long ago!
* Hmmmm, alcohol! Part of me thinks it could be easier to keep completely away from it and deal with it. But I enjoy it too! On the other hand it is classified as a drug! It doesn't go well with sporting objectives! At this stage I have made the decision to steer clear of it weeknights, (Mon to Thurs), - only reasons to have one or two is a major social function. Friday to Sunday, - I certainly don't want to be drinking every night, - or too much! I still want to keep up high training goals over the weekend so if I have anymore than about 3 standard drinks in a sitting, it is to be no more than one weekend night a week, and I still need to be careful and diligent not to have TOO much.
So there has it! Only 6 more weeks of work. Then hopefully Thailand. (There have been dramas with my Thailand trip. I booked a tour with Kumuka back in Feb this year but I have been informed Kumuka has gone bust! My tour has been cancelled. I found another GAP tour that sounds good I could do with the same dates but there are dramas with getting refunds from Kumuka, travel agents getting back to me and more!) Original travel agent who I dealt with has been transferred to an unaccessible office to me so I am dealing with it through phone/email.
Will keep you updated with my doings :-)
Pip
No comments:
Post a Comment