"Project One Five"

This project belongs to another person, a person who wanted to prepare himself in every possible way for his upcoming marathon.  I, too, am training for a marathon, but more than that I want to become a healthier individual in every possible way.  I am using a sparkfriend’s plan of action, entitled “Project One Five”.  I find his concept thorough, captivating, and thought-provoking.  100 Days, 500 Actions.  100 days with five things to think about per day.  I love that he is open and shares and I hope to do the same with you.  I am a firm believer that there are four strands of life that make up each of us: Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual.  Each of these must be nurtured in order to be a well-rounded and satisfied human being… whatever your definition of each of those might be.

Today is March 25, 2012.  My actions will start tomorrow, using today to prepare for the upcoming journey that is about to commence.  I am ready to try something new, making changes along the way that will help lead to becoming a healthier (and happier) individual.

A note: I won't be doing my actions in the same order as his.  Many of his actions come about during his daily living.  Some of my actions will be my own and some will be based on his.  Some of his have already reminded me of things I need to do, so I will take inspiration from him.  But I don't believe this is about forcing anything or making it happen just because.  There is purpose to this and I need to respect that.  The purpose is for me to learn and explore MYSELF, not do it for someone else or on someone else's schedule.  And therein lies one of the lessons I will need to work on daily as I move forward in this.

Check out his site at: The "Real" Project One Five

FNF: W1D4

Ok, so today is technically day four if we were on a normal schedule this week - which I'm going to say we are.

Fridays will be the weekly questions - including requesting a plan (and yes, every single week will include a plan). Take the weekend to think about your answers, let it sink in. Then I'd recommend actually answering the questions. Either as a comment, blog, or personal journal posting. Don't just think about it, state it, make it known on paper - even if only to yourself.

Mondays-Wednesdays will be daily questions. Ones to support the weekly "theme". I needed to find some way of making each week cohesive, so themes it is, even if it does feel like a high school prom.

Thursdays are for check-in. It is on Thursday that I hope you have the expectation of yourself to be absolutely and utterly honest.

Why this funky schedule? Because Friday's questions are sometimes going to be hard and I figure a weekend would be nice to think about it. Plus, I know a TON of people aren't as active on spark on the weekends, including myself, so let's get real here. But your Friday plans should ALWAYS include the weekends!!! I don't care if you do "cheat" meals or rest days or what, PLAN for it! You can have 3,000 calories in one meal for all I care (although I sincerely hope you don't because I'd like to see you not have a food coma), just plan for it. Are you sensing my one single goal for all of you yet? PLAN. You can put as much into this whole process of FNF as you want - you'll get out what you put in. But if there's one single thing I hope for - it's planning.

So this week is "Starting Out". Here is where we think about where we're at and begin with our goals.

So today's question: What are your excuses?

I don't want to know how you combat the excuses, if you do. Simply, what are they? And don't just name one. If you have 100, write them ALL down. Black and white. It's time to own up to the excuses. And excuses for what you ask? Anything! Bad nutrition? Not working out? Not flossing everyday? Not reading your spiritual guide? Taking the elevator instead of stairs? Whatever! What are your excuses? ESPECIALLY think about your excuses in conjunction to your goals you listed for the next 18 weeks.

Take tonight to think on it. If you can spout them off quick as can be, go for it!

Or if you're like me and you have those wily excuses, including five billion forms of "But you deserve it...", then take the time to think about all the faces of the same excuse.

FNF: Week 1

Normally this will be done on Fridays... this is just the start, so I'm a tiny bit off. But have no fear! I'll have us back on it this coming week.

1/6-1/12

What do you hope to gain in the next 18 weeks? Think about what I call the four components of life (others call them differently or number them otherwise): body, mental, emotional, spiritual. What do you want for each of these to get fitter?

What is your starting point? This can be anything from a number on the scale, measurements, before pictures, cholesterol count, yellow teeth, I don’t care! Pick one or a few somethings of your choice and these will be your “starting” point. I put quotes around that because this isn’t about starting over or anything of the sort. It’s simply the starting point for this particular challenge.

Last, but not least, make a plan for the week. This could be a workout plan, nutrition plan, mix of both… or even if you’re rolling along on those plans, think about if there are going to be any trip-ups this week (do you have a business meal meeting? Dinner with friends? Happy Hour function?) and plan for those. Again, I won’t dictate what will work for you, but just that planning is key throughout this. So pick something(s) to plan and make it happen! I personally like to make things pretty and anal and convoluted because that makes me happy (and I’m stuck in bed), so feel free to do that too!

I'm going to post my answers tomorrow, as well as an update on how this bad boy is going to run on my end - this includes both a weekly and daily component, so woohoo!

FNF: Update

I'm going to post the weekly questions later on today. I've had a couple of requests to consider a daily something or other, so I'm going to take that into consideration before I post today. I like the suggestion, I just want to make sure I have the details worked out! The folks who have already joined in are some of my most consistent in my challenges and have helped broaden my own horizon - so I'm looking forward to making this a stronger challenge for all of us, not just me! This is giving me the opportunity to get creative and I like that. So thank you for all of your suggestions, because they help give me the chance to step outside of my box and go beyond my own expectations.

So questions to come!

Oh and I suppose I should note - I'm on eastern standard time in the US. So when I say this afternoon, that might be tomorrow for some of you!

I'm even more ridiculously excited.

Fitter, Not Fatter Challenge Details

There's a new challenge in town!

18 Weeks

Every week there will be a set of questions to answer. You can answer them in a blog or in a personal notebook. This is entirely up to you. I do recommend letting people know your weekly plans though. Follow through is key here. This is not about how much you lose, but how much you gain. Gain in the ability to complete a task knowing that you put your all into it. Gain the knowledge that you can work hard and live healthy (if you aren’t already) for 18 weeks – so why not more?! Gain friendships and hopefully a deeper understanding of your own goals and why you’re on this journey.

This particular challenge is not going to ask you to run like a maniac or bang out 100 push-ups in one sitting. If you choose to do those things, fantastic! But it won’t be asked of you. What this challenge will be about will be figuring out what you need from your healthy life and how to get it, all while being consistent in living that life. I know not everyone needs this kind of help, but it’s what I need and figure if you want to join me on this particular journey, rock on. If you don’t and just want to check out and check in how I’m doing, that’s fantastic too. If you want to join in late, go for it. I realized through my last challenge, I’m fully capable of somehow being consistent, so why haven’t I been with my health? Well, let’s find out! I don’t know the answer and I hope to by the end of this.

I was asked why this challenge is so long. And the answer is purely selfish. Because I need it to be. I apparently don’t do small streaks. I’m terrible at waking up each day and saying, “I’m going to do 10 minutes of exercise today” if it isn’t already scheduled. I live for planning, but I think I’ve always made it too short or too hard or too easy. I’ve never managed to find the balance. So I want to use this 18 weeks as an exploration. What works? What doesn’t? What did I do each week that was great? What REALLY did not go well? These lessons take time and I believe that I don’t listen to the lessons well enough, nor do I connect them. So I’m going to use this as a means by which to essentially connect the dots. I was going to do 12 weeks, but I don’t have anything to work for in 12 weeks. I like having a destination so to speak. So my destination is my own graduation.

Do I have a clue how EXACTLY the next 18 weeks are going to play out? NOPE! Am I going to put a lot of thought and heart into it, so not only I get something out of it? YUP! It may not always make a ton of sense, but this is my first time at this kind of rodeo, so, you know, go with the flow. I’m working off of the YEARS of health and fitness and motivational articles I’ve read and kind of piecemealing them all together to make one big party of fun. Plus, whatever I think I need to ask myself and answer, which means you’ll get asked it too!

So yeah, a little nutty, a little off the rocker, but I think it’ll be fun. At the very least a journey. One showing me, myself, and I that I am capable of treating my health with the same kind of consistency I treat my blogging. I never said I was normal…

Here’s how it’s going to roll. Every Friday I’ll post some questions. I’ll put the questions up front, my answers down below, so if you do decide to join in, you don’t have to listen to my jibber jabber if you don’t want to listen. It’s really that “simple”. It’s up to you how much thought you want to put into it and doing it by the next Thursday, if you join in the party.

I think that about covers it. Feel free to message me if you have questions or suggestions. Both will be read and answered!!!

P.s. if you decide to actually commit to the 18 weeks, spark message me! I may or may not make this into a legit deal if anybody actually wants to do be as insane as me...

P.p.s. I'll update the page soon... I swear...

Mom - Read This!

See?  This is why I should be a perpetual student!  I could be just like Einstein!!!

Giving Back

Disclaimer: this is NOT an anti-gain train blog.  Although, this might be something you want to think about doing.

This morning I was packing and whatnot (yes, at the last minute), cleaning my place up (it's mostly clean... there's walking room...), and thinking about my health/weight loss this year.  We're coming up on the end of 2011 and I've made some healthy changes, yes, but overall, I'm still just not hitting the mark.  There have been some massive changes this year.  I'm finally done with school, I've been in and out of work, I broke up with a man I had thought I might marry, I took a few blows to the ego and self-confidence somewhere in there, and I made new friends and created stronger friendships with the ones I have.

One thing I haven't done this year is volunteer.  I have spent the bulk of my life volunteering for a multitude of reasons.  I let the fact that I had essentially two full time jobs stop me from giving back.  I'm doing my best to realize I'm human and can't do it all, so therefore not to be disappointed in myself.  It's only semi working :P.

This being said, while thinking about all of this, I was cleaning up my kitchen and putting away cans of soup (P.s. I seriously need to clean out the cupboards).  And then I had this really cool idea - well I think it's cool anyways.  It's based on the idea of giving back and I'm jumping off of a WeightWatchers program (for a period of a week or two every year, they have a drive where members are encouraged to donate the amount of food per pound loss - or just donate period!).

I'm going to weigh myself on January 1, 2012.  I'm going to weigh myself again on December 20, 2012.  Clearly, there will be weighing in between those two dates, but for the purposes of this idea - these are the two dates that matter.  For every pound lost, whether it's five or 50, I am going to donate that amount of food to a homeless shelter in the area.  This is, of course, assuming I, myself, am not homeless at that point in time.  This is not a point in saying I have a goal of how much weight I have to lose, because that's not what matters here.  The two numbers.  Right there in black and white.

This is not to say I can't do other forms of volunteering throughout the year or donations of some sort.  This is simply to say that we often forget where we "start" and connecting giving back and losing could be a fun way to mark that journey.  We all know it's hard to lose pounds - we wouldn't be here if it wasn't.  But for as hard as it is for us, there are a lot of people who have it harder or worse of than we do (and this is coming from the girl who sometimes doesn't know where the money to buy food is going to come from).

So, feel free to join me.  You can either do it yourself, or email me (mytrainermorgan@gmail.com) and I'll keep your weight in my special file and check in on you on December 20th of next year, reminding you where you "started", as in started the year.  Maybe you don't have a lot of weight to lose or you're in maintenance.  If you still want to join in, email me your literal starting weight and your "ending" weight.  Whatever amount of weight loss you maintain, donate that! 

Feel free to jump on in this with me.  I've already set a calendar date for December 20, 2012 to weigh in and calculate :).