The Year of the Body: 60-Day Fitness Challenge

I'm four days into a fitness challenge.

What?!

When I was writing my goals for "The Year Of The Body," I knew that my workout program of choice normally had a 60-Day challenge at the end of January every year.  So I wrote that down in my goals for the year.  And then I found out that it actually started January 10th this year.  The week before my due date, I e-mailed several trainers and asked them if I should even sign up for the challenge, knowing that I couldn't give it "my all" since it would be so close to delivering a baby.

The trainers all agreed that they would love to see me join the challenge as an inspiration to other women, to be able to show results of what this workout can do for a woman who is looking for a gentle postpartum exercise regimen.  So I decided officially on the start day of the challenge that, yes, I would participate.

Let me state that taking my "before" pictures just days after giving birth was NOT my cup of tea.
And that those "before" pictures will not be gracing the walls of the internet's photo gallery any time in my life.

As part of this 60-day challenge, my plan of action is:

• Completing 30 workouts.  The two workouts I've chosen in particular are the "gentlest" of the seven or eight I own.  One is 15 minutes long, and the other is 30 minutes of walking workout.
• Drinking 96 ounces of water daily.
• Dry brushing my skin twice daily. 

I don't anticipate this blog becoming a fitness journal of sorts, but I did want to mention it for vulnerability's sake.  I have NEVER done anything like this before.  So far, I've completed two workouts, which has me on course.

While I'm on the topic of the Year of the Body, I'll throw out some more of the things that we're heading into this year.

Michael is planning to go completely decaf (or half-caff if we're at someone's house) this year.  He also is planning on having a big salad before every dinner, in order to fill up on fibrous veggies and greens before he eats our "main meal."  He'll be getting a fitness tracker; he is just trying to decide between two different brands right now.

We both are experimenting a lot more with homeopathic remedies, including the use of essential oils.  I started experimenting with them two years ago, but I was not completely comfortable using them during the courses of my pregnancies.  Along with these, we are beginning some vitamins and supplements. (Vitamin D, notably....hello, Minnesota winters.)

I am endeavoring to have at least one smoothie each day, filled with fruits/veggies/good-for-you stuff.

We're not embracing a "diet" at all.  We have no specific "weight loss" goals.  We just know what we need to do to be healthy, and this year we're intending to actually do it.

Later on this year, maybe in the later summer, I intend to do a personal 60-Day challenge when I can complete the workouts to the level that I would like.  I'll retake "before" photos then, and we'll see if I feel comfortable sharing those or not.    

2015: The Year of the Body

Remember how I announced that 2015 was going to be the Year of the Body? 

I'd actually prefer that you didn't.  Because that could save me some vulnerability and more awkward openness than I'm comfortable with right now.  

I told you I'd flesh it out a little bit in a future post.  I guess I've got a bit of time on my hands now.

I got all technical and made a purpose statement for 2015.  Because I can do that.

My intention for 2015 is to wholeheartedly embrace health, fellowship, and sacrificial servanthood as a way to glorify God in my body, in the body of Christ, and in the manner that Christ's body was broken for others. 

Sounds like fun, huh?  Especially that sacrificial servanthood part?

I know my propensity for over-verbalization when it comes to ideals and goals, so I'm going to keep it brief and bullet-pointed.

• Body: Health.  We've been hit so very hard this last year with more illnesses than ever before. This year we'll reclaim our health through various means.  A quote from Sally Clarkson is inspiring me:  "We need women to do the work now, so that they have something to talk about later."  I know what I need to do for optimal health.  I just need to do the work and quit researching obsessively.  I've got some fun things lined up and am really excited about helping Michael accomplish some of his health goals for the year as well.
• Body: Fellowship.  This year, I plan to intentionally interact with those that are placed in my path.  I plan to not only interact, but speak into and lean into the lives around me so that I can be a blessing to others.  We really took a year off after changing neighborhoods and churches and just let ourselves be tended to and nourished...and now it's time for us (me) to start ministering to others in my church and in our neighborhood.      
• Body: Sacrificial Servanthood.  This is the one where things could get awkward and messy.  Basically speaking, being a mom is hard.  Being mom to a child with a traumatic background is even more difficult.  I've been contemplating the story of how the shepherd left the 99 sheep to go search after 1 lamb, and that's what we both separately have decided to do this year.  I need to focus in deep and intentionally on my one lamb (while not avoiding the others) in order to win his heart back.  When he first came home we embraced some popular conservative parenting philosophies regarding discipline and ended up with a child who obeyed out of fear of consequence rather than a child who obeyed out of love for his parents.  (We fortunately made a shift before our second little "lamb" came home, and he does not struggle with this as much.)  This year will be a year of relentless pursuit.  Where the sacrifice comes in is parenting him in this way will require a sacrifice of time, "breaks" that feel justified as a mom, a sacrifice in saying what I want to say when I want to say it and how I want to say it, and a sacrifice in looking like a "good parent."     

So, 2015: The Year of the Body, I'm (almost) ready for you.