Healthy Living Day 14: Review & Your Best Health Ahead

This is Day 14 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 It’s now Day 14 of our 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge! While this is the last task for the challenge, it’s NOT the last post for the challenge as I’ll be posting a round-up post tomorrow to gather feedback. So, don’t bid your goodbyes yet. Now, let’s hop on to today’s task!

Challenge Tasks to Date

My Day 13 in Pictures

Here’s a recap of my Day 13 in pictures:

First meal: Veggie patty and banana! (Combining pictures from before as I forgot to take a picture)

Dinner: Wholemeal pasta (cooked by Ken), bacon bits and chickpeas! I went to the supermarket to buy the wholemeal pasta so that I would have some healthier food in the house I can eat in case I run out of my sandwiches/soups/salads!

Supper: Apple and guava soup, grapes, and tea! I really love the soup and grapes (very juicy). I ended up not finishing the tea. Not that it wasn’t nice; I just stop eating/drinking when I’m full or half-way full, as part of conscious eating.

For yesterday’s task on creating a healthy living guidebook, I’ve already started doing this since 2007 (or even earlier). Over the years, I’ve condensed my guidebook significantly as I’ve integrated majority of my ideal healthy living practices into my life (and mind) and hence didn’t need to track many of the things I used to. (For example, I tracked my calories daily in 2008 when I was working on losing weight, but today I’m at my ideal weight and I subconsciously know the calorie content of each food, so I don’t do it anymore.)

Yesterday, I refreshed my healthy living guidebook with areas I’m focusing on right now. It currently has

My healthy living guidelines, or what I call “commandments” (including the ones I’ve been working on in the challenge, like removing fried/oily food, exercising regularly, eating a salad daily and every other day). These commandments are based on priority areas to me now as well as principles to help bust my past common healthy living pitfalls.
My favorite list of fruits and vegetables of different colors of the color wheel
My grocery list to replenish my supplies every Friday
Healthy places to buy my meals from
Nutritional information of foods that I’m currently eating weekly (We worked on this in Day 3’s task)

Here’s a topline screenshot of my guidebook (in Excel, my preferred format for all my guidebooks):

Some sections of my healthy living guidebook: My Healthy Living Commandments, Fruits list (to remind myself to eat fruits of all colors), Grocery List, and Healthier Food Outlets to get food from.

My calorie and nutritional list to help me get calorie on the calorie and fat content of each food

As this moment the simplicity of my guidebook is great in helping me to focus on key areas, and I plan to build on my guidebook as I embark on my new phase of healthier living. :D

Reviewing my 14HLC goals, they are

Exercise at least three times a week – My third exercise for this week will be later on Day 14!
Cut out deep fried / oily food from my diet – Check!
Eat salads more regularly, ideally once a day if I can – No salad today (Day 13) but that’s because I ended up sleeping earlier than usual. I was planning to have a salad as my last meal before I sleep. But it’s

Check out other participants’ amazing food logs and progress updates in Day 13’s comments section!

With that, let’s move to Day 14 and our last task, which is…

Day 14: Review & Your Best Health Ahead

So… this is it. :) After two weeks of healthy living since the year started, we’ve now reached the end of our Healthy Living Challenge. As with all PE challenges, everything has to come to a close, and it’s time to gather what we’ve learned and synthesize them into meaningful steps for our journey ahead.

How have you done? Are you happy with what you have accomplished in the past two weeks of the challenge? Did you complete your tasks as planned with each day? If no, why not? What can you learn from your progress in the past two weeks?

Today’s task is for YOU to review YOUR progress, catch up on the challenge tasks so far, and create your healthy living plan moving ahead.

Step 1: Catch Up on the Challenge Tasks

Have you completed the tasks for Days 1–13? If not, catch up on them today!

Step 2: Review Your Challenge Performance

Think about the past two weeks since you started the challenge. Then, answer the following:

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your own performance in the areas of your (a) diet and (b) fitness? Why?
What goals did you set for yourself for the challenge? How have you performed in them? Why?
Were there any obstacles preventing you from sticking to your healthy living plan? If yes, what were they? How can you overcome them moving forward?

Step 3: Set Your Healthy Living Plan Moving Forward!

Now the challenge is coming to a close, it’s time to create your healthy living plan as you move ahead.

What are your key goals for your health and fitness moving forward? Review your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan and add on/revise your tasks/goals as needed. If your goals are the same, stick with what you’ve written.
What are your key action steps to ensure that you’ll 100% achieve these goals? Look back at what you’ve done/learned from the past two weeks, especially the answers you wrote for the tasks on Day 7 (Week 1 Review), Day 9 (Healthy Living Pitfalls), and Day 11 (Food Struggles). Identify the steps that will help you to achieve success in your healthy living plan in the long term. Then, start acting on them!

Next, Follow Your Plan for Day 14 (Take Pictures Too!)

What tasks have you set for Day 14 of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan? Do them today!

Take pictures of your healthy meals — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and mid-day snacks if any — and share them in the comments section. :D After all, a picture tells a thousand words, and when you share photos of your healthy meals, it inspires others to eat healthily and gives them ideas on what healthy food they can have too!

Post your initial comment sharing your results for today’s challenge task, then add on throughout the day as you have your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and/or if you’re doing any workouts. Attach photos of your meals by clicking the image icon on the bottom left of every comment box. As you add on to your comment thread, be sure to click on the reply button directly below your original comment so that you reply to your own thread (as opposed to starting a new thread).

Share Your Results (and Photos!)

Share in the comments section!

Your reflections for the challenge
Your healthy living plan moving ahead
Your progress with your healthy living plan today
Pictures of your meals
Pictures of your workout (if any)

Do check out the other participants’ comments too and share a word of encouragement or two. We’re all in this together, so let’s support each other as a group! :)

PS: Since I always post my day’s progress in the subsequent day’s recap, my progress for today (Day 14) will be posted in the comments section of today’s task (as I always do) and shared in tomorrow’s roundup. I’ll also be collating my thoughts for the entire challenge in tomorrow’s roundup as well.

After you’re done, proceed to Healthy Living Challenge Roundup: Reflection, Feedback, and Moving Forward!

(Images: Women running, Orange, notebook, measuring tape)