Today’s entry will be a summary of the challenge so far.
The NerdFitness Rebellion‘s 6-Week challenge is going…. well, I’d love to say “fairly well,” but it’s not going fairly well at all. About the best I can say is that I’m keeping up with my 6-week challenge in that I haven’t actually stopped tracking my goals yet. That being said, I leapt out the gate with all of the zest and pizzaz of a newly inspired rebel… but managed to just complete 28 out of 37 of my goals. And, they’re not that hard! To recap, here’s what I’m focused on for 6 weeks:
First up – Emotional Well Being
1. Positive Body Affirmations – Daily
2. Mental Prep for Labor/Delivery–reduce stress and anxiety by learning about it. – 20 Minutes Daily
3. Practice being confident and sassy – fake it until you make it
– 1 Act of Sass Daily
Week 3 – 48% Completion – FAIL
Next – Physical Wellness!
1. Short (15 Minute) Walk – Daily
2. Physical Prep for Labor/Delivery–Make sure I’m up for the challenge by completing recommended exercises from the Mayo Clinic’s Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. – Every Other Day
3. Strength Training for when Baby Girl arrives! Babies come with a lot of gear, and a lot of trips up and down stairs… Time to get the practice in now by completing full body (modified) work outs that will include the following exercises at a minimum of every-other day.
Side Quest: Level Up the House!
I really want to have a proper nursery for Baby Girl, but we also need a proper guest room for our out of town visitors. My friends are coming to town within 2 weeks for my baby shower (ee!) and then my in-laws will be in town shortly after Baby Girl is born. My side quest to level up the house will be to relocate the office to the basement and to convert the office to a proper guest room. This will involve tearing out a desk that is built in to the room, patching and painting the wall, and moving large heavy furniture from the office to the basement and from the current guest room to the current office. It’s a big bite to take out of our plans, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get it done before Baby Girl makes her debut. It’s on the list, though
Let’s go.
Weeks 1 and 2, I only missed 1 day of positive affirmations. I realized I’d been leaning on the SAME affirmations, though, so it kind of fell apart in week 3. I need to be progressing and find more than 1 thing that I like about myself in order for the affirmations to make any sort of difference in my self esteem.
Week 1, I was really good about the 20 minutes of reading daily… Well, then I finished the book and had a hard time finding material that I actually WANTED to read about for child care/labor/delivery. I just received “What to Expect The First Year 3rd Edition,” though, so that’ll take the place of the guide and I should be back on track for week 4.
Acts of Sass were going really well 🙂 WORKING, too. Well… then Baby Girl got all uppity and kind of took the wind out of my sails. It’s kind of hard to be fun and flirty in 3rd trimester 😛 I like the goal, though, so I will still aim for it.
15 Minute Walks? HA! I started off terribly with it–only 3 walks in week 1, 4 walks in week 2, and 3 walks in week 3… People keep giving me permission to blame hormones, swelling, discomfort… but really, 15 minutes? I should be able to do 15 minutes… Setting my sights for a better week 4.
Labor Exercises.. again, I say, HA! I started off week 1 with only 3 days accomplished, did much better with all 4 in week 2, but only 2 in week 3. Yeah, I’ve had some issues, but I should still be focused on getting ready for that day. Pelvic tilts, trunk twists, superman, calf/cat… these will all help ease some of the discomfort I’m in AND get me ready for the big day. Yet another area to improve in week 4.
Strength Training – went right out the window. I had the best of intentions, and then I had Braxton Hicks, and cramping, and nerves of… wet noodles. I’ve changed up the goal to be focused on Nutrition, instead, and I’m aiming for freggies for each meal and 1/2 snacks from here on out. Diet is 80% of my battle, right, so it’ll still help.
House Level Up – Thanks to our friends, this is basically done 🙂 Now it’s just a matter of getting things put away and organized. It’s not so much big construction any more so much as putting on the finishing touches 🙂 Goals for this include wrapping up the nursery, cleaning out the car, getting the car seat installed, washing the cloth diapers and getting them organized, etc. My living room looks like Babies R Us exploded in it, and I’m sure it’d feel better if everything had a place to be put away.
So, here’s my current score card:
- Positive Affirmations: 17/21
- 20 Mins Reading: 15/21
- Act of Sass: 14/21
- 15 Min Walks: 10/18*
- Labor Exercises: 9/11*
- Strength Training/Freggie Goals: 3/8*
- House Level Up: 11/18*
- Overall score: 79/118 – 67% – D+
*Opportunities adjusted to reflect restrictions due to maternity + availability.
Completing this challenge, though, and staying aware of my habits is going to be one of the first times I will have actually seen something like this through to the finish. I’ve participated in challenges before, but I tend to lose steam about halfway through. Not this time, though! I’m going to finish strong and see if I can raise my cumulative score to at least a B 🙂 The goals I’ve set for myself, after all, are not THAT hard to accomplish. It all boils down to time management, essentially.
MegsFitness 