Week 4 Results and My Perfect Week

Well, honestly, last week kind of killed me! My hormones were in full swing and I used that as an excuse, to my shame. But I don't want to dwell on
the past! That's what can get me down, and I'm just going to keep moving forward! But also, my weight fluctuates so much throughout the week, and that is normal as well. I had actually hit the 5 pound weight loss goal last week, but it has gone up some since then. I am still at a loss of about 2.5 pounds, and the Superbowl party we went to last night didn't help! But my goal for this week is to have a perfect week! To stop making excuses and to plan for all my containers to be used each day. The containers are from the 21 Day Fix and it tells me how many of each container to eat each day.
So to catch some people up on what I do each day, I am doing T25 for my workouts, which has Shaun T as the trainer. I go through 5 weeks of the Alpha round, and I am in my fifth week this week. Then, I move on to the Beta round for 5 weeks. I am thinking about doing the 21 Day fix after that (meaning the workouts along with the nutrition portion) and then moving onto the new 21 Day Fix Extreme after that! It comes out today, and I'm really excited to get it here in a few weeks!
So, for each day, this is what the 21 Day Fix allows me to eat:

4 Green containers (vegetables)
3 Purple containers (fruit)
4 Red containers (protein, and Shakeology counts as one red container)
1 Orange container (Nuts, seeds, Fix dressings)
1 Blue container (Healthy Fats)
4 teaspoons (nut butters, oils to cook with)

So, as you can see, the 21 Day Fix eating is clean eating. No processed foods, no sugar, no junk. But they do allow for 3 "cheat" drinks each week and 3 "cheat" snacks each week. So you can have wine or almond milk or juice for cheat drinks and chocolate chips or chocolate covered raisins or other things for your cheat snacks. It tells you all about it in the guide! I love that it allows for cheats and doesn't expect you to be completely perfect for 3 weeks! It is so effective that most people who do it just continue rounds of it because they love how it's simple, it's effective, and you don't have to count calories!!
So this week, I am committing to a perfect week. Hopefully, no cheats, except for what the Fix allows me. We even have pizza day tomorrow at our homeschool co-op, but I am going to have what the Fix allows me to have for pizza, and leave it at that. I don't need 3 pieces!
So stay tuned for next week's results and see if I stuck to a perfect week!

And as always, message me for help with your health and fitness. I have my next Fitness Challenge group starting on Monday, February 23! I would love to help you get started on your Fitness journey! Also, check out my page on Facebook, Steph's Healthy Journey!! Click Like and Get Notifications to see me in your news feed! I feature healthy recipes, motivation, and keep you in the loop about special promotions, new workout programs, and how I can help you!!
If you want to take the next step and contact me, then fill out my form here and I will get in contact with you and talk about how you can start your Fitness Journey with me at your side, cheering you on, and with other people keeping you accountable in one of my Challenge groups!

Early Riser Mom?

Awhile back, I wrote about the Maximize Your Mornings Challenge over at Inspired to Action. It was basically a Challenge that I read about that challenged moms to get up before their kids in the morning to spend precious, quiet time with God, get some kind of workout in, and start to plan their day. There was some awesome accountability on Twitter, opportunities to study the same things in the morning, and just that mom camaraderie of being intentional together to make our health and relationship with God a priority. Over the years, I have gone back and forth between getting up early and sleeping in. But I must say, when I get up early, I have a head-start on my day, and when I sleep in, the day seems to run me.
With all my responsibilities these days, I really need to get up before my kids, spend quiet time with God (the key word being quiet), get my workout in, and know what I need to get done that day. It seems so simple, and yet the concept is so profound. I want this to be a new habit this year. To consistently get up early. Not just now and then. Not just 2-3 times per week. But that my norm would be to set that alarm for 5:20 or earlier, and be disciplined enough to get going. On the Maximize Your Mornings Challenge, they even encourage moms to not hit the snooze button. To be disciplined enough to just get out of bed when the alarm goes off. Is it possible?
I think being a stay-at-home mom affords me the opportunity for many freedoms in how to run my day. I am in charge. I am in charge of so many things. I am in charge of the house, finances, homeschooling my children, our CC community, my Beachbody business, the menu for the day (so essentially, the health of my family!), and so many more little things. It gets busy. I think when things get busy and overwhelming, the tendency can be to get lazy. To sleep in. To stay up late to "relax" but then struggle to get up in the morning. And these bad habits may be contributing to my "depression" and "anxiety" that have plagued me this last semester. I put quotes around these words to sort of label my feelings but not necessarily diagnose a super serious version of these things.
So, as a New Year's Resolution of sorts, I want to commit to getting up early. And in doing that, to put my relationship with God and my health as 2 of my first priorities in my day. I get up, spend time with God (usually doing my Bible Study that is over the book of Galatians) and then do my workout for the day. I seem to be more motivated to get up when I know I am not working out right away. I get to drink my coffee and pre-workout formula, and just relax in God's Word in the quiet of my house! That kind of motivates me to get up!!
The key to making this a reality is to plan the night before. If I don't lay out my pre-workout formula, coffee, Bible Study, workout clothes, tennis shoes, workout dvds, and water bottle the night before, then chances are I'm not going to get up at 5:20 and dig around for those things.
I have to plan. I have to plan to succeed. And THAT is what I plan to do.

How do you start your mornings?