It’s almost over

2017.

It’s ending.

It happens every year, doesn’t it? The end comes SO FAST. Before you even know it, you’re rushing headlong into New Years…and realizing you didn’t finish the year that ended nearly as strongly as you planned. Because we start the year GUNG HO, don’t we? Great plans. Big dreams. All the AWESOME.

Every year I plan to live intentionally…to face the last days and weeks with as much focus as that with which I began. I HATE the idea of having to start over. But it happens every year. EVERY YEAR. It never fails. I swear to myself that I won’t let the fall bog me down with stress. I make promises that I’ll LOSE weight over the holidays, not gain it. I make deals with myself–I’ll get all the Christmas shopping done by Cyber Monday, and I’ll make a gift for each of my nieces and nephews, and I’ll check off all my holiday activities (cards, thank you’s, photo albums, Gingerbread Houses and Christmas cookies) well before they HAVE to be done.

I honestly have never had any of those things happen.

Not even once.

What is it about our lives that makes us think they’re going to get easier as we get older? It’s just a lie. It never gets easier, does it?

Maybe when I’m 100.

But until then, I’ve got to live like…I know what I’m doing, right? So. It’s 26 days until Christmas. I’m making my lists.

Shopping Lists.
Grocery Lists.
Goals lists.
Business Checklists.
Follow-up Cake Lists.
Holiday Checklists.

My life is really, REALLY full right now. I feel like I’m on the verge of something. Like I’m being prepared for something I can’t see coming right now. Like all this freaking stress is taking me somewhere.

So I’m planning for it.

Are you planning your life right now, or are you letting it happen to you? What can you do about it??

 

Ultimate Reset, Day 1.

I promised I would post my before photos. Day One is a humbling day for me.

Eight months ago, I felt like I had turned a corner. I cleaned up my nutrition, stopped giving up before I started, lost about 10 pounds, felt AMAZING. Worked out every day, felt like my body was no longer betraying me. Hashimotos Hypothyroid has made my body my enemy for a few years. I keep working. Keep battling. And in January, I felt like I was winning the battle.

This summer, with stress and frustration and simply not enough time to prep and stay focused with my nutrition (despite a nearly perfect workout regimen), I feel the effects of that. Acutely. This is where I’m starting. Six pounds up from what I had lost.

Nope. This is not my happy face.

I’m working on it.

Day one of the Reset looked a little nuts–did most of my shopping for the week, did some prep work with a few of the recipes (baked my sweet potatoes, the lentils, the quinoa, the miso soup), but started the day off with a sinus headache. Because I’ve cut all caffeine with this proces (which may or may not be permanent), I think what I could have possibly headed off with a cup of coffee just stuck around and intensified throughout the day. I wound up flat on my back by 3, lights off, ice pack on my forehead, magnesium citrate and peppermint oil to help. I’ve been able to function until about right now…it’s 8:15, and I’m thinking about bed.

A little extra sleep might not be a bad idea.

In all, I felt like I had a lot of food. I found myself THINKING about food all day…I knew I had work to do to prepare it, so it was on my mind…which meant I felt hungry when maybe I wasn’t. Pretty proud of myself for sticking to the plan when I could have grabbed a snack. That may seem like a small thing, but in my world, justifying a hand full of chips or a marshmallow as I throw one in the cereal treat bowl to make a sculpture…that’s just part of my routine. THAT’s a habit I want to break.

This morning’s workout was  Bee’s Yoga for Release–part of the plan for the Ultimate Reset on Beachbody on Demand. It was…meh. I get the point of it. It’s very difficult for me to not push myself in a workout, even when I know I need to be chilling out. I plan to try to stick to it, but…I may need to branch out. Gently. 😉

Looking forward to sleep. Looking forward to tomorrow’s meals. One thing about this plan? It’s delicious. No question about that.

I really know what to do.

I’ve been off track. Off kilter. Just…off.

I know something’s wrong. I told my doctor, we’ve run blood tests, we’re talking about everything that has to do with hormones and absorption and adrenals and thyroid and blah blah blah.

The reality is that it’s time to buckle down. It’s time to eliminate the things I know do me absolutely no good (sugar. alcohol. many grains.), re-introduce the things that do (fruits. vegetables. water. clean foods.). Give my body a chance to rest and reset.

So. I know what to do, and I’m doing it.

It’s looking like Beachbody’s Ultimate Reset this time around.

(You knew it would be Beachbody, right?) Straight forward nutrition. Intentional breathing and light movement and serious attention to the details of my nutrition and how I think about food and my body. 21 days of no excuses.

I’m sitting here drinking my last glass of merlot. I just prepped my breakfasts for the next 3 days (I make things a few days at a time because there are 5 people in this house and we eat a lot. We need a second refrigerator. Not kidding.). Tomorrow, before I make cakes and build flowers, I will grocery shop for the week, and I will not be adding junk to the house. Period.

My intention is to post daily through this process, to make observations and generalizations and just to be honest with my progress. I would love to lose a few pounds. I would love to sleep amazingly. I would love to feel better–my digestion is off and I know that’s about my nutrition. I would love to just literally be able to say I stuck to the plan 100% by the end of three weeks.

Three weeks is a long time.

And the pictures I take tomorrow morning will likely humble me.

But here I am. And I will post those pictures. And the girls in my challenge group will be posting in our facebook group. And if any of this looks interesting along the way, well…drop me a note. 😉

What to Do When You’re Discouraged

My sweet friend, Lauren, yesterday had a bit of a 30-day breakdown. She’s been doing PiYo now–her very first home workout program–for 30 days. She saw some serious results in her first two weeks, then some minor results in week 3, then in week 4…nothing. Not a thing. Here’s what she had to say:

“I’ve plateaued… Like for over a week, plateaued… I’m eating as healthy as I can…and I’m PiYo-ing every day, and drinking way more water than I ever have… Discouraged doesn’t even begin to explain where I am… Yeah, I am more flexible, and while my stomach looks smaller, my measurements aren’t changing… Having a hard time pushing play tonight…”

I totally feel her pain. I do. I think anybody who has worked out consistently has felt this pain at some point along the way. And what’s more discouraging than not seeing any results over a long period of time, and KNOWING how hard you’re working to change your life and your body?? I don’t know about you, but it makes a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a movie night on the couch with late-night pizza delivery pretty appealing. Pushing play? Counting grams of protein? No thanks.

But. Almost always there’s something in the big picture that’s not quite right. If you’re being totally honest about pushing play every day, and completely truthful about your nutrition being dead on…and those are huge things to admit, even to yourself…then it’s time to dig a little deeper. I am, by no means, an expert on fitness or nutrition, but I’ve had a little experience (and I’m a little bit of a nerd where reading up on this stuff is concerned…and I know some really smart people). Here’s what I had to say to Lauren. And I’d say the same to you. (And then I’d remind you that building muscle means better fat-burning potential, even if you can’t see the muscle. And then I’d ask you if you’ve ever noticed that someone with a six-pack doesn’t necessarily have a smaller waist size than somebody without one…but…I’d rather have the six-pack. 🙂 )

Anyway, here is my response (And read the article at the end. It’s good stuff. And says it way better than I can.):

“OK. First. Stop. Breathe.

Are you breathing?

Now. Listen. You are on Day 30. One month into a fitness routine. You are expecting a heck of a lot of your poor body in one month’s time. One week of no change in your weight/measurements could very well mean that…well, yesterday you oversalted yourself. Or you’re ovulating. Or something didn’t work itself out quite right in your body. Or you’re stressed (oh, your body does NOT like stress!!). Or your muscles are catching onto this whole thing and are either 1) inflamed (swollen, holding onto fluid, rebuilding), or 2) expanding. Which is HIGHLY possible. Muscle gain happens with this program because you’re building muscle by tearing it down (remember how sore you are???). You don’t always lose MORE fat than the muscle you gain!

Additionally, in the first 30 days of almost any program, I always gain weight. Always. My body has become a well-oiled machine where changing up fitness routines goes–it has a routine. First, it balks at me, like, “HOLY HECK that was new!!” and takes a little time to adjust to the new thing I’m throwing at it. Then I feel like I’m going to die a little bit because it catches on…then it REALLY gets it. Like, “Oh, yeah. I remember,” kind of getting it. The one thing my coach said to me that stays in my brain always are these three words: TRUST THE PROGRAM. Do you think they spend millions of dollars marketing and developing these programs because they don’t work if you do them as they’re written? HECK NO!! They know what they’re doing. Go look at some of the before and after pictures if you need proof. They are real people. Real results.

Don’t give up. Don’t beat yourself up. Push Play. Every day. Keep doing the right things that you know you should be doing and don’t stray from them because you’re discouraged. Trust. The. Program. This is a marathon, friend. Not a sprint. And changing your life takes time. Even if you only lose 5 pounds in the course of 8 weeks…it’s five pounds you wouldn’t have lost (and lots of beautiful, fat burning muscle you wouldn’t have developed) if you hadn’t done anything, right?

Breathe some more.

And go read this: Ask The Expert Why Do You Gain Weight When You Start Working Out ”

Discouragement happens. Don’t let it derail you. Let it motivate you to be consistent. Weed out the junk. Get through the program. Take your before measurements and pictures and be consistent. Then take your afters…and be amazed.

Day 1, Refresh

My goals for this 3-Day Refresh program are pretty specific. Sort of. I really want to pay more attention to what I eat and why. I really want to spend time focused on food as fuel. I would love to be a couple of pounds lighter on Day 4, but realize that quick-lost weight is not always permanently-lost weight. I want to jolt my body back into overall nutrition and health. I’d like to shake up my metabolism a little bit. I’d like to FEEL like I’m doing the right things for my body for 3 days straight.

That all sounds like the same thing, doesn’t it? But it’s truth.

I’m not doing this thinking I’ll lose 10 pounds and 10 inches and walk away from it a completely different person. Not at all. But I think when we realize that we are off track, spending a few days proving to yourself what you can do when you make up your mind to do it can change your overall direction.

Day One looked exactly like this:

-Get out of bed. Drink 8 oz. of water. Go about normal morning activities (including 2 dozen cupcakes), do PiYo Sweat (37 minutes of Pilates/Yoga, and trust me, it’s aptly named).
-Drink 8 oz. of water, brew cup of decaf., do rest of normal morning activities, Weigh in and do Day 1 Measurements (oy), awaken my three cherubs, shower, await arrival of small person (the toddler I babysit).
-Feed small person, drink decaf and 8 more oz. of water, eat 1/2 an apple, drink 1 serving vegan chocolate Shakeology, clean up kitchen (again), converse with cherubs, hand cupcakes to client, run upstairs to change for a bike ride, put the small person to bed, zoom to my dad’s house with bike in van, ready to hit the road.
-Bike 32 miles, drink 24 oz. of water en route.  *Realize stomach is grumbling*
-Zoom home to find the cherubs feeding the unhappy small person. Drink 1 serving Vanilla Fresh, 8 oz. water, other half of the morning’s apple, a peeled cucumber from the garden, and a teaspoon of coconut oil. Yep, just swallowed it down. And I was full. And tired. And so was the small person.
-Catch up on computer work, clean the kitchen (again), crash on the couch…drink 1 serving fiber sweep.
-Some more computer work, read a chapter of Go Pro, eat afternoon snack of 20 snap peas (fresh from the garden!) and a serving of almonds (instead of the recommended almond butter…because…32 mile bike ride)
-Prep dinner for family (THAT was hard.), eat dinner…1 serving vanilla fresh, 1 c. broccoli, 1/2 cup chopped carrots, 1/2 cup summer squash boiled in a cup of water until tender crisp, tossed with 1 tbsp. olive oil and salt.
-Clean up from dinner, crash on the couch, converse with cherubs, decide bedtime will happen at 9:15…go to bed at 9:15.

General observations:

I was hungry when it was mealtime. And I think my hunger stemmed more from the fact that I was *thinking* about my next meal all day. Every moment. I think had I not been so conscious of this, I wouldn’t have felt nearly as hungry.

I drank more water on Day 1 than I think I’ve ever drunk in one day in my entire life. But I never felt waterlogged. I did, however, run to the restroom all day. I didn’t wake up in the night (this is interesting…as I always do).

I got a headache around 2pm. I blame lack of caffeine (I’m used to about 2 cups of espresso in the mornings…) and mild dehydration (from the ride, I’m guessing). It lasted into the evening, and definitely kept me from falling asleep…frankly, I should have gotten up for some ibuprofen, but was so dead that I lacked the motivation to move from the bed.

The hardest part of my whole day in Day 1 was preparing a meal for my family that smelled delicious…and I couldn’t eat.

Specific observations:

Shakeology made only with water is sweeter than Shakeology made with almond milk or full dairy (and less thick). Instead of 10 oz. of water, I go for 14. It cuts down on some of that sweet…and makes it last a little longer (I have to psych myself out sometimes). I’ll bet it would be thicker if I mixed it in my blender with ice cubes.

Vanilla fresh has 20 grams of protein. In my opinion this makes it completely different from the Ultimate Reset…I feel I get more actual nourishment using the Vanilla Fresh than I did at any point during the reset. Also, it tastes pretty darn good. It’s not a vanilla milkshake, people. It’s crazy nutrition.

The Fiber Sweep…well, it’s lemony. And if you drink it as described (8 oz. of water, drink immediately)…it would probably be…fine. I went with 4 oz. of ice water, mixed with a fork until just combined, and chugged. Gone in 5 seconds or less. It’s really not that big of a deal. But if you let it sit…oh, man. Don’t let it sit. It’s made with flax, chia and psyllium husks. If you put any of those into a glass of water, they swell up and get slimy. Don’t let that happen to you. Drink it fast. Down it. The aftertaste is lemon and stevia. And…a little bit of healthy.

No problem.

Bring on Day 2.

 

 

3 days.

That’s all my current challenge is going to take. Just three days. And they’re going to look something like this:

 (click the picture to check out the program)

I’m just coming to the end of my latest workout program (PiYo, by Beachbody and Chalene Johnson–hooray for week seven!!), and before I head into fall and begin Focus T25 (and as I end wedding/graduation/summer party season), I thought I’d give this a shot. The hardest part of true fitness and health for me is my actual, consistent nutrition. This is three days.

Three days.

Completely organized nutrition with exceptional supplements (in the form of shakeology, vanilla fresh, and a fiber sweep), a clearly detailed meal plan, and serious water intake. A shock to the system to remind me that food is fuel. Not just something to fill my mouth, then my gut.

Fuel.

Super nutrition with real food, revitalized energy with a 3-day wake up call to break a cycle of bad habits. It won’t tax my organs or crash my metabolism. Just a refresh.

My before pictures leave a lot to be desired. If I get brave at the end of this, I’ll post them.

Let’s go.

Follow Through

I’m pretty good at getting started. Like when I decide I’m going to start a hobby.

Let’s take crochet, for example. Yes, I crochet (no, I’m not 80 years old. But my grandma did teach me.). I’ve been doing it on and off for about…30 years.

Mostly off.

The beginning of the process really inspires me: searching for just the right pattern, thinking of the perfect person to whom I’ll give the project when it’s done (usually a new baby), finding exquisite yarn in a beautiful shade at the perfect weight. Learning the new stitches for the design is exhilarating in those first few rows, and I feel the most amazing sense of accomplishment as it starts to come together.

That’s about the time when I realize just how LONG it will take to crochet the WHOLE PROJECT.

Those first 10 rows come together in no time. But it hits me that the project is actually 150 rows long. And I remember that what was “no time” was actually 2 hours.

Did you just do the math? (because if you didn’t, that’s 30 hours, folks. And if you want to think in reality, if I crochet an hour a night, 5 nights a week, we’re looking at 6 weeks of crochet on the same project…if I never miss one appointment with that hook. And I can guarantee I’ll miss several.)

I don’t really want to tell you how many crochet projects I have started which sit partially done in my house. Suffice it to say…I have a tote in my basement devoted to them. With skeins of yarn, hooks, knitting needles, patterns, even an unfinished quilt that just needs binding. The problem isn’t the beginning. The problem is the follow-through.

I wish this only happened with crafty things. I could totally be ok with unfinished crafts if they were the only things left unfinished in my life. But, of course, it goes way beyond crafts. I start cleaning out my cupboards and make it about halfway around my kitchen before dinner prep begins. I start cleaning out the refrigerator, and the baby wakes up from his nap. I start an email to a friend and remember I need to start the cake for the weekend, so it sits in my drafts folder for a week. I start a new workout program…and I wake up with a head cold. I focus in on my nutrition and…we celebrate Thanksgiving.

Can you relate?

If you can, I’m glad you’re here. I said it yesterday, but I’ll say it again: Welcome. Welcome to my fresh start.

Two weeks ago, I started PiYo. (click link for more info in video form)

If you know me at all, you know I love to work out. I do it every day, mostly, and it is probably something that keeps me sane. I’ve done the gamut of programs, from P90X to Insanity, ChaLEAN Extreme to T25 and so on. PiYo is completely different. It’s a low-impact, high-intensity workout program that uses Pilates- and yoga-inspired moves to sculpt long, lean muscles and burn fat. Trainer Chalene Johnson created the program to help her get an intensely defined, long and lean physique, and Beachbody put it on dvd.

I am never going to be long, but I would really, really like to be lean again.

I discovered about a year and a half ago that my thyroid was broken. I am working through the process of figuring out what my 40-year-old body needs now, and how to do things the way it needs me to do them…I am not the person I was ten years ago. I am slowly accepting that. PiYo is my next step in that process. I have started many fitness plans in the middle of this mess…and I have not fully completed a single one of them. Discouragement is a killer…but I will never know if one of those plans would have actually WORKED had I finished it. I’m pretty good at finishing fitness programs in general…but not seeing visible results in the past year has rocked. my. world. This changes now.

When I started PiYo, I also started drinking Shakeology every. single. day. for breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day, without a doubt. I plan to continue this indefinitely. I have felt a change in the way I physically feel, a difference in the way I think about what I eat the rest of the day, and it is a quick reminder first thing in the morning of what I’m aiming toward.

This is still my start.

My plan is to follow through.

This start comes at the same time as my start in the business of Beachbody. I choose this as more than a tool to earn a little extra income for my family (though, how could that ever be a bad thing??). I choose this because the health and happiness of the people I love and with whom I come into contact is incredibly important to me. I would love to have you join me as I work toward my fitness goals. I’d love to help you move toward achieving yours. I promise I won’t jump down your throat on facebook, or go on and on begging you to buy something or sign up or become a coach. I promise. But I may jump up and down a little bit when I hit my goals.

I’d love to jump up and down with you as you hit yours too.

Feel free to like my page on Facebook: SweetSpot – Mindy Hayes and follow me on Instagram @sweetspotwell …

 

 

Getting Started

I know this is true. The trick is always…starting. Today. Right now.

So.

Hi.

Two weeks ago, I renewed my commitment to End the Trend of Obesity, One Friend at a Time. Beachbody and the programs and nutrition plans I have followed and supported for the past four years make this commitment an opportunity for me…and for you…to change lives. To enrich lives…even the lives of my already-fit friends. If you’re here, welcome. Thanks for stopping by. I hope this blog will inspire you to do even more in your life. To get on board. To make a plan today.

Not tomorrow.

Have a friend who might want to jump on board with you? Feel free to share (and like it yourself) my Facebook page and this blog.

Happy Monday.

 

-mindy