This is Day 0 of the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge held in Jan 2015 where we work on improving our diet and fitness for 14 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Hi everyone!! :D At this moment of writing, it’s Dec 30 and two days before the new year. We are two days away from the start of the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge, and it’s now time to do our pre-work. Are you ready?? Because I sure am!! Now, let’s get started! :D
2015 Healthy Living Challenge: Have You Signed Up Yet???
If you’ve yet to officially sign up for the challenge, please do so first here: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/healthy-living-challenge/. As of this writing, we already have over 60 100 220 official participants! Signing up is compulsory to receive the daily tasks and participate in the challenge tasks!
Now, some of you must be wondering: Why sign up? How not just passively read the tasks and do them in my own time?
Well, four reasons
- When you sign up, you pledge your intent to live healthily to the world. This is important as it sets your mind and heart in the right direction, and sends an open signal to the universe to send the right energy and opportunities your way.
- When you sign up, you become more committed as well. Let’s be honest — not signing up gives us an excuse to be half-*ssed about the challenge and to drop off when the going gets tough. Because when we don’t sign up, there’s no obligation to follow through, which then creates an easy exit path to eat junk food or skip our exercises when temptation arises.
On the other hand, signing up takes courage and accountability. Many participants of our past healthy living challenges continue to tell me about the benefits they’ve gotten from the past challenges even today, and that’s because they first decided to sign up. The same can happen to you! - When you sign up, you become a part of a community of highly motivated and like-minded individuals who share the common goal as you: to live a healthier life not just in 2015, but beyond. By being a part of this community, you also get support from these amazing smart, positive, and talented individuals. Many people pay just to get the same thing in paid membership clubs and Weight Watchers!
- When you sign up, you take the first action towards healthy living. While posting a comment isn’t going to help you lose 10kg / 22lbs and get six packs overnight, it is the first step towards the right direction. Four years ago, I was a part of the Jan 2011 run of the Healthy Living Challenge, where I ate a very healthy high-raw diet during the 21 days. It’s already been so many years but I still remember how I was busy buying greens and making my own salads during those few weeks, and how healthy it felt to be eating all these fresh fruits and vegetables then! Today, I naturally gravitate to greens, fruits, and fruit juices and they are a staple in my diet — and these came from first planting the seeds in the past. :) The question to you is: are you ready to plant the seeds for your healthy life, starting today? :)
No more excuses. No more avoiding healthy living goals. Do you know that losing weight was the number one most popular new year’s resolutions in 2014, and majority of people (as high as 73%) fail in their resolutions? But guess what — it’ll be different for all of you here because you have myself and the PE community to support you in your healthy living goals in the next 14 days. Through this challenge, my aim is to help all of you instill positive, healthy living habits — healthy habits that will stick in the long haul.
Get started by signing up here (100% free): Join 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge!
Once you sign up, you’re ready for Day 0’s task. And today, we are going to…
Day 0: Create Your Healthy Living Plan!
(Image)
As we prepare ourselves for the 14 days ahead, the very first task I’d like you guys to do is to create your plan for the next 14 days, from Jan 1 to Jan 14. First, download the “14-Day Healthy Living Plan” worksheet that I’ve created for you (right click, then click “Save as…” to save onto your computer hard disk):
- Download: 14-Day Healthy Living Plan in DOC format (for typing into the document)
- Download: 14-Day Healthy Living Plan in PDF format (for printing)
Step 1: Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness (5 min)
For the next few minutes, close your eyes. Imagine you’re living your ideal life. Your ideal life whereby your diet and health is a 10/10, your physique and fitness level is a 10/10, and your lifestyle is a 10/10 as well.
In your ideal life, what is your health/fitness like? What is your diet each day? How much will you weigh? How regularly will you exercise? Will you have six-pack abs? What kind of habits will you have cultivated/quit? Write them down in the worksheet!
In my ideal life, I eat healthily. Every day, my diet will have a good proportion of carbs, protein, and fats, and it meets my daily caloric and nutritional needs. I will not consume any fried food and I will have very low quantities of processed food. I do not eat out of stress or anxiety (i.e. emotional eating), but rather, have a completely neutral and wholesome relationship with food, consuming only as and when I need to, to achieve the maximum nutritional needs of my body.
Health stats-wise,
- I wish to have a body fat percentage of 20%. As body fat percentage is very tricky to measure, it may help to use a visual guide instead. I found these pictures from Nerd Fitness helpful:
Reference pictures of how a man looks like with different body fat percentages
Reference pictures of how a woman looks like with different body fat percentages
- I want to have healthy cholesterol levels, as measured by these factors: high HDL (healthy/good cholesterol), low triglycerides, and a good HDL:LDL ratio of < 3.5. (LDL is typically termed “bad” cholesterol, though LDL comes in big and small sizes, and the real bad LDL are the ones with small particles.)
- Weight-wise, I’m currently at my ideal weight (and it’s been a decade-long journey getting here!), so moving forward I want to focus on being lean and fit.
Fitness-wise, I’ll be exercising every other day, for three times a week.
(Check out the healthy habits list at the end of the 21 Days To Cultivate Life Transforming Habits and 45 Tips To Live a Healthier Life articles for more ideas on healthy living habits!)
Step 2: Set your goals for the next 14 days! (5 min)
The 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge is meant to get you started towards your ideal healthy life. Hence, unlike my usual goal-setting exercises on PE, I don’t want you to set some massive sky-high goal like to lose 20 kg / 44 lbs or 20% body fat in 14 days (only to come crashing down later on as you’ve not built the right foundation towards healthy living).
Rather, I want you to set practical, foundational goals for these 14 days, to get you moving towards your long-term healthy-living goals. We’re not aiming for fast and massive results here, but to create positive, sustainable change.
So, think about the next 14 days, from 1 Jan to 14 Jan. What do you want to achieve by the end of this 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge? What key milestones, be it weight, diet, or fitness, do you wish to complete? These will be the goals that YOU set for YOURSELF to aid you in living a healthier life in the long haul, and they should be a subset of your ideal health/fitness goals from Step 1.
Here are some examples of goals to set:
- Weight goal:
- To lose 2 kg/ 4.4 lbs (so 1 kg / 2.2 lbs a week)
- Diet goals:
- To cut out red meat
- To cut out refined carbohydrates
- To have a no-caffeine experiment
- To quit drinking soda
- To eat more fruits and vegetables daily
- To eat less fried food and less processed food
- To try a pescetarian diet for 14 days
- To eat more plant-based food for 14 days
- To stop emotional eating
- Fitness goals:
- To exercise X times/week
- To do X push ups / day
For me, my goals are:
- Exercise at least three times a week
- Cut out deep fried / oily food from my diet. While I’m now eating a largely clean diet with healthy sandwiches, soups, and at times salads, there are times — maybe once or twice a week — when I consume fried food such as chips or fries because there are no other food options where I live. (The ubiquity of unhealthy food options in our society today is astounding.) Needless to say, it ain’t good!
- Eat salads more regularly (ideally once a day if I can)
Step 3: List your key action steps for success! (10 min)
Based on your goals from Step 2, what are your key action steps to realize them?
For example, if your goal is to lose 2 kg / 4.4 lbs, your key actions may be
- Exercise three times a week, for 30 minutes each time
- Manage calorie intake to 1,500 calories every day
- Consume healthy diet with more fruits, salads, and sandwiches
For me, my action steps are:
- Jog every Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday evening (have scheduled into my calendar). I’ll be listening to podcasts while jogging to make the jogs more interesting.
- Take away my lunch and dinner at one go when I’m out for lunch. (I’m often left with unhealthy food options at night because I didn’t plan for my dinner. Taking away both meals at one go will ensure that I’ll have a healthy lunch and dinner. I’ve already shortlisted a list of healthy eateries that I always get my food from, to create regularity.)
- Stock up on two days’ worth of salads, or make them myself.
- Stock up on healthy food at home (have scheduled appointment to go grocery shopping tomorrow with my husband).
Step 4: Create your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan! (10 min)
Now, based on your goals and action steps, map out your healthy living plan from 1 Jan to 14 Jan using the 14-day calendar in the worksheet!
For example,
- If you want to lose 2 kg / 4.4 lbs and one of your action steps is to exercise three times a week, then you may want to list “Exercise for 30 minutes” on the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays of the plan.
- If your goal is to eat salads daily (like me), then you may want to include “Lunch: Salad” as an action item for the 14 days.
- If your goal is to cut out refined carbohydrates, then you may want to write “No refined carbohydrates” as an action item for the 14 days.
Some days may be blank and it’s okay. The point is to create a day-to-day plan to get clarity on what to do every day!
Final Step: Pin up your Healthy Living Plan worksheet! (5 min)
Once you’re done, print out the worksheet (if you’re using soft copy). Then, pin this worksheet up on your noticeboard (if you work from home) or put it in your folder (if you work at an office) so that you can carry it with you wherever you go!
This is going to be your action plan for the next 14 days! :D Starting from Jan 1 to 14, your task will be to follow what you have listed for that day (along with the daily tasks that I’ll be posting on PE daily). When you complete an item, cross it off. By the end of the 14 days, you should ideally have a chart full of (or nearly full of) items that are crossed off! :D
Take note of the tasks that require time commitment (such as to exercise for X minutes or to eat a specific diet that requires preparation). Set aside the time in your calendar (Google Calendar, MS Outlook, etc.) on those days for those tasks.
Share Your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan!
What is your ideal health/fitness? What are your health/fitness goals for the next 14 days? What are your action steps for success? What does your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan look like? Share them with everyone here!
If you like, take a photograph or a screenshot of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan and share it as part of your comment! (You can attach images by clicking the image attachment button at the bottom left of the comment box.)
After you’re done, proceed to Healthy Living Day 1: Drink 8 Glasses of Water!
(Image: Women running, Jan 1st 2015)
![Good Carbs vs. Bad Carbs [Infographic]](https://personalexcellence.co/files/infographic-good-bad-carbs-400x1100.gif)
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I’m sorry I’m late! My time prior to New Year’s ’til now has been a whirlwind of last-minute plans with loved ones and preparing to get back into the normal work routine. I’ll do my best to catch up!
My ideal health/fitness:
I will have around 18-20% body fat, depending on how it actually affects me. Based on the images posted, I’d like to be near 18%. I would exercise probably about three times a week, maybe 5, along with some yoga either in between or in addition to the exercise I do. I would like to eat mainly unprocessed food, and create delicious meals/snacks that appeal even to people like myself who LOVE their processed snacks. I would also be well-hydrated.
My Goals for the Challenge:
1) Use my FitBit gifted to me at Christmas to keep track of how much I move each day. Also try to keep track of food and water intake (via the FitBit dashboard), but I mainly want to get into the habit of clipping it on every day.
2) Eat a healthy breakfast/lunch every day for work.
3) Make a healthy dinner at least once a week.
4) Use 30-Day Challenge exercise apps (I have one for abs, butt, sit-ups, and planks)
5) Continue my morning yoga stretches, and try to stretch after doing the challenges.
Action Plans:
1) Prepare as much of my lunches as I can in advance; I can make rice ahead and freeze portions of it on Sunday, and pack up a lot of my meal the night before.
2) Continue doing some yoga when I wake up; I have also been doing some crunches in the morning as well, but now I haven’t in lieu of doing the challenges.
4) Wear my Fit Bit, and track my meals on its website.
5) Use the 30-Day apps when I get home from work, before I take a shower.
Luckily, so far I’m on track with these goals; I didn’t start the 30-day challenges on the first of the month, but today will be the 3rd day so at least they’re begun (I wouldn’t be able to finish them during the course of the challenge anyway!). I prepared rice on Sunday, where I also cooked a meal and tried out my slow-cooker for the first time.
For my breakfasts and lunches (which I eat at work), I’ve been eating a Greek yogurt for breakfast, a granola bar as a mid-morning snack (these are processed but I think for where I am right now in my journey, they are “healthy enough”), a mix salad with spinach, rice, and some strawberries, blackberries, and baby carrots. Today I actually opted to fill what is usually my rice portion with the mixed salad greens, and I’m surprised to find I’m actually not that hungry without it (still snacking on the fruits, actually!). I also have clementines and an extra granola bar, in case I do get hungry for something a little more solid.
I’ve worn my FitBit tracker every day (since before the new year, actually), though I haven’t quite made updating my food/water intake a priority…I’m not sure it’s all that important to me to track it versus making a valid effort to improve what I eat on the whole.
Here’s to continuing the trend! =)
Just read this Calae, Great stuff! Hope however you benefited from the HLC keeps moving in the right direction! Happy New Year!
How I view my life through health, fitness and lifestyle? I would like to view my everyday diet to be filled with fruits and vegetables, lesser to no red meat, lesser to no more junk foods and drinks, lesser oily foods. I like to add fish and egg to my diet and chicken meat to my diet. I would like to have regular exercise maybe simple Zumba and aerobics at home 3-5 times a week 30 minutes per session. I would also like to join a sport, running or
swimming or badminton. In this sense, I see myself having a lifestyle filled with balance between myself and my
work. I like to have a balance between eating healthy to working out my body to relaxing my mind to calming my
emotions.
Goals:
To eat more fruits and vegetables.
Not to eat red meat.
Not to eat junk food and drink soft drinks.
To drink lots of water.
To exercise for 30 minutes a day 3-5 times a week.
To start jogging for 10 minutes 2 times a week.
To relax and enjoy what I am eating and doing.
My plan is run three to five times a week, strength train 3 times a week.,try ome different cardio a week. I want to meditate at least 15 mins a day. I want to eat clean, reduce sugar intake, and not eat foods with addutives .
My Ideal Vision for Health & Fitness:
– Be healthy mentally & physically
– Exercise regularly
– Have a stable ideal weight
– Have well balanced nutritious diet
My Goals for Next 14 Days:
– Lose 2 Kg
– Adopt a healthier lifestyle
Key Action Steps for Success:
– Daily wake up at 6 am & do some breathing exercises
– Meditate daily
– Do 30 – 45 minutes cardio workout, 5 times a week
– Do stretching exercises & yoga, 5 times a week
– Prepare a well balanced diet plan and follow it
– Avoid oily & junk foods
My 14-day healthy living plan
My vision is to enjoy vibrant health, which includes having the energy to do what i love to do. I would like to stand and walk tall,and feel comfortable in my body. I see myself glowing with a radiance that shines from within, as well as glowing from physically feeling good. Feeling vibrant and energetic allows me to live my best life for myself as well as being more available to others.
Goals include eating healthy meals and having a healthy outlook, which includes avoiding negative thinking about myself or anyone else! Be more loving in my outlook to myself and others. I don’t have a specific weight in mind, but I do have in my mind’s eye that the ideal weight for me is when i feel comfortable whether sitting or standing or being active. That excess weight does not hold me back from doing the things I would like to do! Laughter and having fun and doing things with friends is also very important. Having supportive friends is essential.
Action steps that I take are: Have the foods that I need available to me, keep my water bottle filled and by my side, Eat small to moderate meals that are primarily veggie based, with complex carbs like quinoa and brown rice. When I eat protein, it will be poultry, fish, eggs. Fruits in moderation, 2 to 3 servings daily. Main beverage, water, 2 quarts per day. Smoothies and veggie juice are in my plan. My plan is avoid sugar altogether.
Get at least 6-8 hours of sleep, floss, meditate and journal at least a little every day. Read something uplifting every day. Make gratitude lists. Think and speak from a place of gratitude.
Taking care of my skin and hair are part of my healthy living plan too. Swimming is important also and to move in the water as often as I go to the ocean, hopefully 2-3x per week. Visualizing is a powerful technique, so visualization of my vibrantly glowing tall and free self, comfortable and happy to be me, is really important. Imagine often what it would FEEL like to move about freely and easily, with strength and vitality.
Slow change is steady change. I am willing to embrace that it is indeed time to get lined up and squared away, loving myself enough to be aware of what taking good care of myself means, and then following through in ways that bring about the changes i need to make.
Just began the 14 – Day Healthy Challenge. Completed Day 0 and now working on Day 1 that I’m sure I will complete before bedtime. Thanks for the challenge Celes, it’s great to be able to experience it with others. That’s motivation in itself ;-)
1) Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness (10 min)
In my vision for health I drink adequate amount of water for my body weight daily. I exercise a minimum of 4 times per week. I consistently make daily healthy choices for a healthy lifestyle that includes diet and exercise. My weight is always between 135 – 140 lbs. I am limber, flexible, strong and toned. Full of energy and quick and light on my feet. My skin, hair, teeth/gums, nails and bones are all healthy and strong. Physically I am fit and all of my health test show normal;-)
2) Set your goals for the next 14 days! (5 min)
Weight Loss Goals
• Lose between 5 -7 lbs within 14 days
Diet Goals
• Limit sweets, processed and fried foods
• Increase daily water intake to match body weight and activities
• Include raw fruits in vegetables in daily diet
• Eat more often and eat smaller portions
Exercise Goals
• Stretch daily
• Alternate strength, toning, and cardio exercises 4 days a week
3) List your key action steps for success! (10 min)
• “Slim and 6″ stretching exercises every morning
• Cardio and weights with Denise Austin yoga Tuesday and Thursday.
• Cardio yoga with Denise Austin and ‘Work Your Body” on Saturday and Sunday.
• Plan meals in advance
• Stay prepared with healthy foods for all meals including snacks!
1. Vision
– I have healthy, flexible, somewhat lean muscles on my body and feel full of energy to live my life every day.
– I have a good posture that boosts not only my appearance but also my confidence and adds to my feeling of living a healthy life.
2. Goals
– Diet – one protein-based meal per day (preferably breakfast), one vegetable salad per day, fewer sweets, no emotional eating
– Drink – 8 glasses of water per day, max. one glass of wine every other day, max. one coffee per day
– Exercise – 3 times per week
– Sleep – before midnight
– Meditate – only 2 minutes per day!
3. Action
– Buy eggs, nuts, beans and vegetables and a fresh bottle of water to refill at work
– Eating out will be tricky so prepare for it
– Prepare my exercise clothes the day before
– Download a 2 min song for meditation
I’ve handwritten my plan and my handwriting is awful, so I won’t upload images of them or you’ll be deciphering my writing for days!
My ideal vision:
– Weight stable at around 7st 7lbs (I’m 5′ 1″)
– Diet of healthy, nutrition-dense lean meat and poultry, fish, veg, salad, fruit, nuts and whole grains
– Exercising at least three times per week
– Little/no processed food or fizzy drinks
– I’m healthy, fit and well
My goals for the next 14 days:
– Have a healthy breakfast each day of porridge with fruit
– Eat veg, salad or fruit with or in every meal
– Cut down on processed, nutritionally-void foods like crisps, biscuits, cake and fizzy drinks (preferably cut them out altogether)
– Eat more fish
– Run at least three times a week, including attending running club weekly
– Get more sleep
– Lose the 2lbs I’ve put on over the holiday period
Key action steps for success
– Commit to attending running club every Wednesday
– Don’t buy any junk food!
– Meal plan and shop wisely with nutrition in mind
– Prepare a healthy packed lunch for work the night before
– Prepare a large basic salad at the start of each week to keep in the fridge, so I have healthy salad to hand
– Go to bed early at least twice a week
Thanks for running this challenge, I think it’s just the kick-start that I need! :-)
1) Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness:
In my ideal scenario I:
– practice yoga everyday,
– do breathing exercises every day
– do a litle bit of running after work,
– play volleyball 1-2x a week and lots more in the summer,
– wake up rested,
– have enough energy,
– eat breakfast, abundant snack, abundant lunch and sth. little for dinner,
– prepare my own healthy deserts and sweets,
– eat simple and home made and grown healthy food,
– drink enough water,
– have a stable ideal weight,
– have a 18% body fat,
– love my body and listen to it.
My new habits would be: meal planning, buying groceries in advance (making shopping list), have my bottle of water always with me, carrots instead of chocolate, persistante effort.
2) Set your goals for the next 14 days:
– make a meal menu and make a shopping list,
– go to grocery store,
– also buy nuts,
– doing yoga 2x per week,
– it is cold outside, so I will not run yet, but I could go for a short walk,
– I have some chocolate in the kitchen and I will try to eat it as less as possible :)
– drink 2 glasses of water more than usual.
3) List your key action steps for success:
– make a meal menu and make a shopping list,
– go to grocery store,
– also buy nuts,
– find CD with Yoga practice,
– prepare yoga mat a night before,
– make sure bottle of water is always full,
– fill up the calendar with my plan and action steps.
The next 14 days my goals are nutritional: Juice every morning, then plant based diet. No sugar or any processed foods. Intention: To improve healthy and energy levels. Happy I found you and your blog, young lady.
Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness:
– High raw, vegan diet that is balanced nutritionally.
– 100% organic home grown produce grown with <3
– Daily yoga
– Drinking 8 cups of chloride and fluoride-free water
– One fruit or green smoothie a day
– 9-10% body fat
Set your goals for the next 14 days!
Weight goal:
– To lose 2 kg
Diet goal:
– Cut out refined carbohydrates
– Consume more fruits and veggies
– To stop eggs and dairy for 14 days
– To stop emotional eating
– To have 8 cups of water daily
– To drink 100% chloride and fluoride-free water
Fitness goals:
– To do yoga daily
Other goals:
– To grow my own herbs
– To sprout my own seeds and beans
Key action steps:
1. To practice yoga every day (Lesson starts on 3rd Jan =D)
2. To have one fruit or green smoothie a day
3. To have 3 servings of fruit a day
4. Stock up on fruits and veggie every 3 days
5. Seek advice on which water filter to purchase
6. Purchase a water filter
7. Purchase beans and materials for sprouting
8. Find out from friends or the internet on how people sprout
9. Purchase seeds, soil media and materials for growing herbs (mint and basil)
10. Water my baby plant <3
Calendar plan as attached
Your idea to plant your own seeds sounds great! :) I wouldn’t have thought about it. Thank you for sharing!
Keeping it simple.
Vision: To feel good, eat good food, maintain peace of mind, and accept myself as I am.
Goals: 1. To avoid added sugar and deserts for 14 days, with the exception of my breakfast protein bar that has a very small amount of sugar. 2. To strive for peace of mind every day. 3. To embrace who I am.
Steps: Avoid sugar daily, remind myself constantly that peace of mind is critical to my health, invite peace into my mind and my soul, smile more.
Hi Susan, avoiding added sugar and desserts sounds like a great idea! Participant Madalina (below) is also sharing the same goal. I like that you’re also setting other wellness goals related to the heart and mind, such as to strive for a peace of mind every day! :)
(PS: I notice you haven’t posted a signup message in the announcement post. I recommend to do that just to officially pledge your intent to join the challenge and get rolling!)
I signed up. Thanks for the reminder.
I started the day saying to myself: I love my life. I am so grateful to have another day of life to live.
Some days I don’t love my life, but I find when I start the day saying it, I have more days where I do love my life. Plus I realize that I have the power to make it true. If I want to love my life, all I have to do is decide that I love it.
Step 1: Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness
Mostly what I’m doing now (drinking a litre of water daily, planning meals every week, walking to places), but also eat at least a few servings of fruit per day and do yoga at least weekly. Add more flax to foods randomly to make up for the usually low omega3 levels in vegans.
Step 2: Set your goals for the next 14 days!
Eat more fruit and get back to yoga.
Step 3: List your key action steps for success!
Assemble a fruit bowl every morning to have on my desk.
Buy a yoga mat and find a yoga training to attend (I went to yoga while at uni so now I have to find a new option). I put this off for a while after my motorbike accident, which sprained my ankle. Now it’s long overdue.
Step 4: Create your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan!
Done in Google calendar.
My ideal vision is of me being active and eating less of the healthy foods that I am eating now and not eating unhealthy foods, either not at all or only very rarely. I have “being active” in my vision but there’s no specific activity involved. My body often hurts — joints and muscles both, and that makes me not want to exercise, even though over time it would help prevent the aches and pains. Ideally I would be walking more and doing stretches. In fact, my vision can almost be set out in terms of the actions that I need to take to get there!
Daily eat salad and fruit, and drink tea.
Daily walk at least half a mile, and do stretches at least once a day.
Daily drink enough water to stay hydrated.
Hydration is very important! In my ideal vision, I’m drinking water. The quantity of water I need varies depending on how active I am and the temperature and other factors.
I have interstitial cystitis, and lots of foods trigger that problem. If you don’t know what that is, well, it feels like having a bladder infection! There’s a special diet for it and it eliminates a lot of fruits and vegetables! It allows dairy, but dairy causes problems too.
I have to be careful to balance protein with carbs because when I get too much protein, it affects both energy and mood, and not in a good way.
My feet were injured quite a long time ago and my feet are still absurdly sensitive and they hurt a lot. I can’t wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row, for some reason. Some days a pair of shoes will be too loose and other days too tight (and it’s not because of sodium) and some days they’re not too tight or too loose but just don’t feel comfortable. Sadly, I do have to wear shoes to support my feet and ankles since that injury. I used to be a barefoot girl.
Goals:
To be pain-free.
To use what I know, which includes knowing how much water I need, and about balancing protein with carbs.
To drink the right amount of water daily.
To walk half a mile every morning.
To stretch every morning and every night.
To learn to roller-skate.
To eat right.
Actions:
1. When I get up, do stretches.
2. At noon, go for a walk before eating.
3. Make a list of food that I can eat and plan some menus that will include fruit and salad and will balance proteins and carbs.
4. Buy the right things at the grocery store.
5. To carry a water bottle with me.
6. To take my medication every day, and to set it up every week in one of those pill sorters that hold a week’s worth of pills.
7. Learning to roller-skate has long been a desire of mine, and there have always been obstacles. I won’t be able to do it during the time of the challenge but I want it on here to keep it in front of me as a goal. An action I can take now is to not schedule anything for the evening that the classes are held.
1) Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness
In my ideal life, I eat only to nourish my body and not to appease emotions. My diet is based mostly on vegetables and fruits, and I rarely eat processed products. I keep sugar to a minimum and I never eat fried food. Fitness-wise, I exercise five times a week. My body is toned and strong, making me feel confident, energized, and powerful.
2) Set your goals for the next 14 days!
-to reduce sugar intake
-to reduce intake of fried foods/eliminate fried foods altogether
-to eat more fruits and (raw) vegetables daily
-to exercise 5 times a week
-to eat less processed food-like products
3) List your key action steps for success!
-eat 3 times a day
-eat only one slice of bread with each meal
-replace processed snacks with fruits/raw vegetables
-exercise 30 minutes for 5 times a week (strength and cardio)
-stock up on healthy food (fruits, vegetables, dairy products, lean meat)
As for the table with the two week plan, I filled in the boxes with some of the action steps since this is what I have to do daily in order to achieve my goals.
Mine is really simple. Maintain a raw till 4 style diet for as long as I can to give my fractured leg, and more importantly, my foot, the best chance of healing quicker. From a bicycle injury. I already did this when I first came out of hospital after the operation on my leg, and it worked really well. Both my doctor and physio were really surprised at how well my leg had healed in the first 2 weeks. But after about a month, I fell a bit off track and found myself eating processed food, and more fattier foods than I should have been eating, like vegan nachos, vegan sausages etc.
So my goal here is to get myself back on track, eating only fruit throughout the day, and big salads at night, or simple meals with rice, potatoes, vegies etc. More green juice too. But no foods containing oil or too much salt. As well as continuing with the exercises my physio has given me to do.
The biggest difficulty will be making sure there’s enough fruit in the house, so I’ll need to convince my wife to keep me well stocked. As I can’t really carry big bags of groceries with crutches.
Using this challenge as a way to keep myself accountable :)
Hi Glenn! How much fruit do you eat on raw til 4? I’ve heard of it but all I seem to find is “30 bananas a day”, the thought of which makes me hate bananas already. I can manage two maximum! Also isn’t it really expensive? :o
Hi Jade, probably not as much as I should be eating. Although I have a big jar of freshly squeezed orange juice most mornings. Around 800ml to 1 litre. Then for lunch a big bowl of chopped fruit. Whatever we have here, which right now is mangoes, kiwi fruit and a few other things.
With bananas, if you’ve got a good blender, you can blend about 12 with water, and they’ll be easier to consume as a drink. I actually did banana island (eating only bananas) for about a week earlier this year. I did manage 30 a day for a few days, but most were blended, and some were dried too.
You’ll know your not getting enough calories, if you don’t have much energy or start craving junk food.
Do you live in a warm country then? Mangoes are really expensive in the UK and there’s no way to grow them yourself. I’ve never tried blended banana-water but doesn’t sound too appetising :P
1. Vision – I want my fitness/build of 18 years ago!
2. Goals – lose 10kg, and be fit enough to swim 40 standard laps
3. Actions – consume 20% lesser food/drinks than usual, swim increasing laps on 2/5/8/11/14th days of the challenge
Do you want us to simply post our word doc here or simply the 14 day plan or exactly what info are you looking for us to post? Please/thanks.
Share everything (as mentioned at the end of the post)! :) You may want to copy/paste the information for the first three steps, then attach the image for the 14-day plan. OR, you can attach screenshots of the first three steps AND the 14-day plan. Whichever you prefer!
Here we are. Two picts that should capture everything.
When I have lined thru something, that means it’s been done.
These look small. I’ll post then see if they are readable. If not, I’ll copy/paste.
Oh I LOVE THIS!!! Your plan looks amazing and is pretty much an exemplary example of how a standard 14HLC plan should look like! In fact, some of the tasks you’ve written (drinking water, fruits/vegetables) are exactly what we’ll be doing in the challenge too, so there’s going to be synergy for sure! (For those who can’t see, you can click on the thumbnail for the full-size picture.)
Thanks, Celestine. New to this with you, so wasn’t quite sure but have worked with nutritionists and build plans similar. So glad I found you and that this is how you are kicking off 2015!! Blessings, Ola
This is so weird but I want to gain weight :) I’m super underweight. I want to reach 100 but it’s SO hard with my fast metabolism. I despise meat , almost a vegetarian which doesn’t help out but I think I can plan out a protein based diet with vegetarian alternatives such as peanut butter, etc. and lifting weights.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to be skinny but phisically it’s painful if I heat with something, I’m weaker than the usual person when lifting heavy things and my body just hurts all over. It’s not healthy to be this skinny and I eat a lot but mostly vegetables which is why I’m like this. Currently I weight 89 but I shift from lowering to 84 then rises again. It’s so frustrating. If anybody has advice for me feel free to let me know to plan out a diet well. :)
I won’t get into this challenge hoping I’ll gain weight but I’ll try anyways with a diet linked with my beliefs. I only risk winning by trying. ^_^
PS: Thank you for this Challenge Celes!!
Hi Fufu, you do have a unique problem that most people don’t have! I don’t think there’s any problem with wanting to gain weight and I think the most important is that you’re at a healthy weight and have a healthy body that gives you vibrant energy. Have you ever consulted a nutritionist about safe and healthy methods to gain weight and maintain the higher weight?
Never consulted one but I have been told twice(middle school and recently this December 2014 to stay hydrated and to eat enough green vegetables, prunes, apple, some types of fish and liver to keep my platelets levels up since I’ve gotten sick twice from low white blood cells in the platelets.That diet is already a part of my daily rutine and that’s why in part I eat a lot of veggies. I don’t know if this is related with my weight (having few nutrients or something?)
I finished planning out! :)
My main goals are:
1-Pass 90 in my weight, (I’ve never passed 90) and ideally reach 100 and be fit in the 19% area.
Daiky tasks:
Lift #8 and #5 weights, one day yes, one day no to allow the muscles to recover.
Not miss or skip any of my meals and have a variety of 3 sources of high protein based food and 1 source of green vegetables per meal (mixed with a balanced diet) plus add 2 snacks per day with 1 source of protein and 1 source of green vegetabes or fruit.
Very important: at least 1 fruit per day and try to evade juices to have full nutrients from the raw fruit which I sometimes forget to eat.
Slowly add the daily tasks to my daily routine. I’m trying to start this simple and more of a challenge to start a habit than to achieve something right now since I know how fast my metabolism is but if I manage this habit then naturally it will lead to increasing weight in a healthy way. I’m also trying to start simple because on the last health challenge I tried out I failed because I overpacked.myself initially and I’ve noticed the simpler I do something the higher my success rate.
ldksl
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