January Challenge Update 2

Full week #2 is coming to an end and the time is right for an update. I continue to say, so far, so good. Mostly.

I took yesterday off of pull ups between a cold and a sore mouth, but am still on track for getting in those 500 pull ups by the end of the month with 270 already under my belt. And, I should be back in the groove today with the cold being but a mild thing now (I even went for a short run this morning) and my mouth being much, much less sore today (whew).

As for food, I've stuck religiously to my food plan...except for a little bit yesterday, which I'll get to in a minute. I'm still happy with oatmeal for breakfast, although, sometimes I'd like a smoothie instead.

I'm okay with lunch...the salad part is going well. I've found that a blended salad is usually my salad of choice at lunch and gives a lot of variety both day to day in in regards to being different from the dinner salad. While I still like the TexMex, I'd like more variety and I'd like to be able to finish off leftovers sometimes. And, frankly, I'm a little tired of seeing every day, even though I like it well enough.

I'm making it through to dinner pretty well, usually. One day this week I had such a large blended salad that I wasn't hungry for the TexMex and I was really dragging by dinner. Of course, that was also on Wednesday, which is when my cold started (although, at first, I thought it was just first day of my period stuff) and was the worst night with a raging sore throat (pretty much gone by morning), so maybe it had more to due with that then being hungry.

I haven't had much trouble with the dessert only on Saturday thing. I think I'll keep this up even after January. With the fruit and/or popcorn option, I don't feel deprived and I really think this helps me to eat better stuff.

Now, yesterday was a bit of a challenge regarding the challenge. I had to be at the dentist at 8:40, although, usually, we don't eat breakfast until 10:00 (after exercise and chores). And then, my mouth was numb for a long time and sore all day. Mostly, though, I feel like I handled this pretty well.

The night before, I did steel cut oats and apples in the crockpot. I didn't love how they turned out. The oatmeal was all clumpy, but it was okay to eat and definitely on plan. Then, after brushing again, it was off to the dentist. I rode my bike and went grocery shopping after, overloading the Bob and the panniers on the way home, I might add, and, by the time I got home and unloaded and put groceries away, I was pretty whipped and feeling pretty sorry for myself with the whole mouth thing, so I took to the couch for about an hour.

Davan offered to get her own lunch and get lunch for me, as well, which she is more than capable of doing, but I wanted her to have specific things that needed using up and I really needed a blended salad for myself because I didn't think I could chew. So, I got up and got lunch. I made my drink with a whole head of bok choy, two bananas, some fresh ginger, the juice of a lime and water. I put in two bananas where I usually only use one because I figured, given the state of my mouth, that this was going to be all I had for lunch. It was a lot of drink, but I still felt hungry after. I considered making a soup, but decided to stick to the plan and just chew carefully on the other side. That was slow, but worked and I felt much better after eating - both in terms of energy and in my mouth (I think using it a little was beneficial).

Anthony came home early from work and took Davan to Do Jump, so I spent a little more time on the couch. We decided to eat dinner late all together, after Do Jump, but I was feeling hungry again around 5:00. I decided, and this was the not on plan part, to have a fruit snack. I figured, with the late dinner, I wouldn't have fruit after, so before was okay. I blended frozen banana and frozen blueberries with a little water for a little soft serve and, boy, was that good.

Then, as it turned out, I still wanted something sweet after dinner (my hour long dinner 'cause it took so freaking long to chew), so I had a clementine. Ah well. I did pretty well, all considering, I think.

I'm giving thought to what I want to do for next month, but haven't come up with anything concrete yet. My thoughts gone to such things as:

1) Trying a high raw diet (raw until dinner on weekdays), but I'm not sure if it'll work for me, as I feel I'd need to eat those nuts and avocados to feel satisfied and I'm not a fan of high fat eating.

2) Buying only produce for the whole month and doing without anything else we should run out of. This would be difficult next month, though, as I have three high school friends coming for a long weekend.

3) Going low salt for the month. I very rarely use table salt (a little in baking here and there, but only a smidge then), but we do use copious amounts of Braggs Liquid Aminos. Again, this might be difficult with the company.

4) Something continued along the lines of the pull ups. Maybe a certain number of crunches? Maybe keeping up the pull ups, too?

5) Playing the piano (I'm a very, very beginner) for X minutes over the course of the month.

6) Limiting computer time.

7) Getting going with sprouting. I have some supplies. It's just a matter of doing it.

One thing I've been giving a little thought to this morning, though, is the whole idea of concentrating more on what you do want than on what you don't want. For example, instead of thinking "less computer time" think "more piano/workout/book/Davan/Anthony/cooking/whatever time." So, maybe I'll try to incorporate that idea into my challenge. I've got a couple of weeks left to think about it.