Just Do It June - Update #1

Jenny:

I taught my mom to take some selfies ;)

Oh hello friends. Here's something awesome: My mom (and cousins) came to visit me from California! :D YAY!
Another awesome thing: we all went out to ice cream today and I didn't get any!

OK...so let's be honest, this has NOT been an easy challenge. But here's how I'm doing:

2/5 Days worked out.
Portions: GREAT (until tonight)
Water intake: Needs Improvement
Sugar: Average (scale of 1-10 I'm at 8)

Here's the dealio...I might be sharing TMI, but without my Fiber One Bars I get a little back up, if you know what I mean. I swear by them (as Courtney says), but they have chocolate in them :(

I tried going without them the first two days and it was NO BUENO, so I've had one each day since. Other than that, I can't say I've done too bad. I try to read EVERY label and "just say no" when things aren't meeting the criteria. I even said no to some sugar free popsicles because they used Splenda.

So I feel good.

Here's what I'm noticing:
I'm less and less hungry and crave sugar less and less with time.
I have more energy (go figure) and I'm not "crashing".
I don't eat as many calories because my food options are smaller and make me want to keep my portions small.

Overall, so far so good...except I need to exercise more, but with my mom in town, that was my excuse ;)

Also, my loving husband saw I was bummed to say goodbye to my mama, so he got me some Italian food and I ate WAY too much. Luckily, I felt it and stopped, but about 30 minutes later I got my watermelon out and went to town. I guess I was hungry today!

That's all for me. I hope you're all having a great day!

Be happy and healthy!

xoxo Jenny


Courtney:

I think the reason I'm not losing weight anymore is because I'm stressed. And I'm not sleeping enough. Not to make excuses for myself and word-dump on the blog, but seriously, I picked a heck of a time to start a new eating and workout regiment.

Just the motivation I needed!

Working 12+ hours per day, 2 online science classes that I don't understand and will determine when I graduate, temple rep over the YSA conference for the entire summer, random Sunday school teacher and RS teacher, also planning my brother's wedding reception for June and trying to spend time with my sister before she leaves to serve an 18 month mission for the LDS church in July. On top of all that, I have to plan healthy eating habits and spend 1 or 2 hours at the gym (plus showering afterwards). Needless to say, I'm a little bit frazzled these days. I get home from work or the gym completely exhausted, and have to stay up till all hours of the night doing homework, then get up early for work the next day. It's a never ending cycle, and it's going to be the death of me. I didn't realize I had taken on so much this summer till it was too late. Now I'm just going to have to suck it up till the fall. So if you could just pray that I don't fail these classes, cause that will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

But I'd say I'm doing pretty good so far on the June challenge, considering... everything.

- I've worked out every day since Monday.
- The only portion I haven't been controlling is my salads, they are out of control and I love it! :)
- Water intake is strong and steady at 8+ glasses per day.
- The sugar thing is kicking my trash. I haven't been doing very well at avoiding it, or even taking the time to check if the things I'm eating have sugar  :/ *derp*

Example A - good day!

Example B - bad day

Though I have had a little breakthrough of my own, not directly in correlation with our monthly challenge. I've been counting calories for over a month now. And I love the MyFitnessPal app, if for no other reason that showing me what kind of crap I've been eating, and how I can eat everything better in moderation. I'm slowly learning what's best for me and my body. Here are some of the pie charts from the MFP app, and I just love seeing what has my ratio is every day. It makes me more cautious and aware, and I don't really count the calories so much anymore, as I do the nutrition of what I'm taking in. So I'm not stopping here, I'm definitely going to be staying on top of this challenge and finding the right ratio for me, but MFP/counting calories is not going to be me for the rest of eternity, it's just a means to an end, until I get to a point where I'm knowledgeable and in control enough to not use it as a crutch anymore. Somewhere in the future, down the road, I will get there! :)

If you're new to our blog, introduce yourself and share some of your stories, successes or secrets! We're excited to get to know all of our friends and followers here :) hope you all have a great weekend ahead!

<3 Courtney