March Refocus

March I am focusing on four main areas of my health, hoping that this will help reduce my overall stress and improve my energy levels. Also, my skin has been acting up so I’m thinking it will help figure out whats going on there.

I’m working on drinking 84 oz of water each day, sleeping approximately 5-6 sleep cycles (about 8 hours) each night, moving daily and clean eating.  Between apps and “tricking” myself (ie: leaving the debit card at home) I’ve been doing okay with this.

How exactly am I going to accomplish these though?  I had to sit down and think through what the reasons I was doing this are and what I can do to prevent myself from sabotaging me.

Water:
I bought a pretty new glass water bottle that I love, and bring EVERYWHERE with me, its 21 oz, so I drink 4 a day. It seems attainable that way.
Lemons! I have those on hand at all times, some days I don’t mind just plain water, others it needs to be kicked up a notch. Not included in the water count, I also drink a glass of hot water with lemon and ginger in it each morning.
I’ve cut out any other liquids like coffee, pop and juice. There’s two reasons behind this- the first is its easier to drink my water without filling up on coffee. The second is to be able to sleep at the earlier bedtime now, I’m cutting caffeine.
The last thing that I’m doing to help is I’ve downloaded this app called Waterlogged. I have 6 daily reminders set (7 AM, 10:30 AM, 1 PM, 4:30 PM, 7:30 PM and 9 PM) just in case I am so lost in what I’m doing I forget to drink, that’s whats been happening the past week.

Sleep:
I have two apps that I use for this one. The first is called Sleepytime. That’s how I determined what time I go to bed at. Ideally I’m in bed by 9:30 PM. Some days, thats harder than others for sure! The second app is called SleepCycle. I use this one to monitor sleep quality, and have a 45 minute window where it can wake me based on when I’m sleeping lighter. The latest I’m up by is 6:30 AM.
The other thing I’m still in the process of doing is learning to prep ahead of time. For example, picking out my outfits or making the girls’ lunches. This one I haven’t quite figured out how to fit into my schedule but doesn’t seem to be too much of a struggled.

Moving Daily:
What I mean by this is going for a walk Monday-Friday, and getting in my morning Pilates-Yoga Fusion workouts. I schedule these for 9:30 Monday-Saturday and allow Sunday to be a rest day. If I get a workout in this day, that’s great! And if not, I’m not going to worry about it. Sunday’s tend to be a bit more hectic with being at work all day, then trying to get the girls ready for the school week.  These changes have to be sustainable so progress not perfection right?
I’m also in an online accountability group that I try and post in daily. That’s not as consistent yet as I’d like, but the workouts have been pretty consistent! I missed one so far but am just continuing on.

Clean Eating:
The easiest thing I’ve found for this is just leaving my debit card at home. Can’t buy McDonald or anything without it haha!
I’m working on doing a daily meal plan, and prepping as much as I can ahead of time, cutting fruits and veggies, having it all washed and ready to go. I pack food with me for work and the busy days that have me out of the house most of the day.
I also include with this my daily superfood shake, its what I drink when I first wake up. That way, I’m not hangry while we’re rushing for school, and I can eat a more balanced breakfast when I’m done my workout. So far its been working great!
This has actually evolved though, from no fast food to a full on elimination diet. I seem to be having a weird reaction to something, and after ruling out the normal suspects, I’ve decided to go this route. I could go to the naturopath and get a blood panel done for allergy testing, but with the price tag on that being about $300, I’m going to see if I can figure it out on my own. More to come on how I plan on doing that.