Happy New Year!

I got my 2014 off to a great start! For the first time, I rang in the new year in church.  It was an awesome experience and not at all what I had expected it to be.  The Pastor and ministers were very casual in their dress and didn't have on their robes.  There was an opportunity for the congregation to share their testimony of how they made it through the year.  The stories shared were very moving. I didn't share a testimony, but if you read this blog, you can read all about how I've made it! 

In the morning, I visited a new gym, The Inner Athlete to meet the trainer whose 30 day challenge I joined.  I definately want to sign up because staying fit is an on going goal of mine.  It's imperative that I continue to commit to living a healthy lifestyle.

Here's to getting spiritually and physically fit in the New Year!

Commitment To Self

Prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday, I reached out to a few fitness friends because I was in need of an intervention.  I had been struggling with exercising and admitted out loud that I am in fact, a stress eater.  Things at work have been increasingly stressful and the nights in the office were getting longer and longer.  Thus, making it extremely difficult to exercise.  I've always said to myself that I feel so much better when I am working out and taking care of me, yet I hadn't been.

With the help of my fitness friends, I joined a 17- day re-energizing challenge which began November 11th - November 27th and included early morning bootcamp classes.  I also signed up for Saturday HIIT classes, also in the early mornings.  I was excited about both and even took a tip from my bff's book, by marking my calendar for each day I exercised. 

At the end of the 17-day challenge, I must admit, I was quite proud of me!  I had a calendar filled with exercise marks.  The visual was a great reminder that even in the midst of a busy day at work, I managed to commit to myself the time needed for fitness activities.

My 17-day fitness calendar

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  And another challenge began, November 30th.  This is with a Facebook group, 30 days of workouts for 30 minutes.  Many of my friends on Facebook belong to a gym, The Inner Athlete and I saw the trainers message to the ladies and decided to join in.  When I commented on a post, I was immediately added to the group and the challenge began!.  Let me just say, I thought the 17-day challenge was tough.  Hmph!  This 30 days for 30 minutes is tough, too!  Again, when working long hours, the last thing I want to do is workout.  My bed sounds so much better! 

With the start of the holiday season, I am glad that I consciously and subconsciously made the commitment to myself to stay active.  My goal with all of this is to maintain my current weight and comfortability in my clothes.  If shed a few pounds and/or move a bit of them around, I will not be mad!

Off to get my Day 11 of 30 in!!