Weighing-in Wednesday :: Elf4Health & #mycommitment

Remember when I mentioned Elf4Health?  Last week we started round 2, and I was assigned my new elf partner.  She's another Emily, and I just immediately liked her!  She just recently made the commitment to "get skinny" & make a positive change in her life.  Emily posts awesome recipes & eats a lot like I do.

I'm going to breeze right past week two, and focus on last week's challenges.

Monday - Track your water intake and drink your body weight.  If you're a teacher, you know the difficulty in this.  I have very few bathroom breaks throughout the day, and the ones I have can be sporadic (not at specific times each day).

After working out that morning, I started my day with a pint of water to down my vitamins.  I've tried to continue this habit in order to ensure I take my vitamins daily.

At work, I started my day with 32oz. mixed with Emergen-C (I can not afford to get sick before vacation), although I prefer my water sans flavoring normally.  I ended up downing two of these within the work day and finishing getting in my water at home.  The additional water left me feeling much more full, but I definitely had to go to the bathroom way too many times.

Tuesday - Clean out your fridge & pantry.  This was going to be a crazy busy day with a training and event with D after work.  I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time.  I had some extra time after working out to throw away a few old things in the pantry that had been there for way too long.

Wednesday - Eat 3 servings of vegetables by 2pm.  I'm usually really good about this, loading about 2-3 servings in my smoothies for breakfast.  Unfortunately, we started running out of greens & I didn't have much time for a smoothie.  Didn't quite accomplish this...

Thursday - Buy coffee for the person behind you in line.  I'm not a typical coffee buyer.  I make my own at home before work (yay saving money!).  I did hit up Starbucks on my lunch break to surprise my co-teacher with a Gingerbread Latte.  This was really a great feeling!  I'm so happy I did it.

Friday - Work out with a buddy.  Nope.  D and I had to hit the road Friday am for a holiday party in Georgia (um, hello 5.5 hour drive).  I count it as a success that I even worked out at all.  I'm almost done with Ripped in 30.

Weekend - Donate to a charity.  D and I sponsored a child through the angel tree at my school.  I love doing this every year!

It's about time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions.  I briefly mentioned I'm signing up for Commitment Day in Raleigh.  I would definitely encourage you to check out what Commitment Day is all about.  It's a movement that I am really excited to be participating.  I've already determined what #mycommitment for 2013 is going to be.

#mycommitment is to be more selfless.  I think this is going to be a way to make 2013 the year for me.  2012 has been an amazing year of change for me.  Keep an eye out for more on my Commitment Day goal!  I'm really excited about what's to come!

Elf4Health.

Last week I mentioned I was participating in this awesome Elf4Health challenge.

The low down is that every two weeks (through January 6) I'm paired with an "elf."  There are daily challenges, and my elf is there to keep me motivated and hold me accountable.  I'm really happy to have gotten paired with Emily.  She knows all about teaching & the struggles you face being healthy while teaching.  Emily also just ran her first half marathon which makes me super happy!  Her blog is full of health and fitness tips & info, which I love.

Here is a recap of last week's challenges & how I stacked up.

Monday - Meatless Monday.  This wasn't too hard for me since I eat meatless most days, but I tried extra hard to make it a good one.

I started my morning with a smoothie (which is pretty typical these days).  My smoothies always consist of more veggies than fruit.  Lunch with a Whole Foods salad topped with protein-heavy egg salad & cashews.  I stocked up on WF's Super Food salad & a side dish of butternut squash with almonds & cranberries.  The main was a homemade black bean burger topped with guac & a dippy egg.  Rocked it.

Tuesday - Send a card to a friend.  It was definitely nice to be able to pull out a card and hand write a note.

I chose to send my card to Olivia who is such a style muse for me.  Girl is rocking her running game (and is signed up for her first half marathon this summer) and planning a wedding at the same time!

Wednesday - Try a new workout today.  Failed.  I had grand plans to hit a new spin class at the gym.  I overslept didn't get out of the bed.  BUT after getting home from a long day I had planned to not even do Ripped in 30.  I did end up doing it even if it was at 9pm (and after overindulging on some guac & chips).  So personal win overall.

Thursday -  Get up 15 minutes early to meditate and reflect.  Fail again.  No excuse for that one.  Although I did do yoga on Wednesday am.

Friday - Eat the rainbow.  

This is about as far as my rainbow got.  I hadn't gone grocery shopping & was working with what I already had.  My breakfast was pretty colorful!  My usual am smoothie + black coffee + a boiled egg.  I could have done better but ended up eating lunch at school & out to eat for dinner since we had a friend in town.

Weekend - Fill a bag with clothes to donate.  My preemptive New Years goal for January is to clean out my closet & get rid of stuff that doesn't even fit.  I have so much now that I can't wear that I don't know what I have that I can wear.   I figured I would get a head start on January and tackle one portion of my stuff.

All of my clothes are spread out between our master bedroom & our guest bedroom.  I tackled part of the guest bedroom on Saturday.  From just my tupperware shelves & shit that was thrown in the closet & on the chair, I collected two bags worth (plus a third that I plan to take to my sisters in Georgia).  I'm kind of scared that I had been hoarding this stuff for so long...and not to mention that I still had a lot that I kept!  It feels good having that stuff organized.  I know when January comes, it is going to be the best feeling getting rid of so much stuff.

I feel like this upcoming week is going to be a bit more of a challenge, but I want to one-up myself!  I'm looking forward to being healthy in new ways!