Thanks to all of you who joined me in the “febYOUary”  challenge this month! I told you before that I was wanting to do the challenge because I was curious about a few things in my life. Here are some notes I made!

febYOUary: an 18 day guide to connecting YOU with your health: www.claresmith.me

1.) I eat WAY too much sugar!

You know how you KNOW something, but you just need to see it down on paper to really believe it? Well, that was me. Of course it didn’t help that I started this during Valentine’s week, but who am I kidding. I know what I eat and I know enough that I needed to cut back.

2.) I drank more water on days I worked out early morning.

You may think that this is a no brainer since I am probably more thirsty since I’m exercising, BUT, I still exercised other days and it was still harder for me to get the water in the later in the day I exercised. I get what I need every day for the most part so I don’t need to do any major change, but I thought it was an interesting observation.

3.) My eating got sloppier towards the end of the night

I start out each day pretty good. I have a well thought out breakfast, snack, and even lunch. It’s after lunch where things go crazy. I’m not sure if it’s because my day gets crazier and i pay less attention, or because Im not as planned about it. My guess is it’s a mix of both.

4.) Food journaling is hard for me because of all the homemade food I make/eat

I eat a lot. And often during the day. I also make most everything I eat out of scratch, so it was really hard to figure out what to enter for the soup I made one night and the stir fry another. So that got exhausting and it was really hard for me to keep it accurate.

5.) I take lots of little bites here and there.

Having 2 kids doesn’t really help this (as you moms out there know!) This is one area that I tell moms to be careful of because you can have an extra 100+ calories added to your day without even realizing it. So trying to account for 2 bites of mac & cheese, or an apple slice, or one fruit gummy was hard. 🙂

You may note that I didn’t have anything up there about weeks 2 and 3–our personality and spiritual assessment. Why? Because I feel that I am constantly reviewing/assessing those areas and its what spurs me to write what I write here on the site! So I don’t have any new “ah ha” moments now—but I guarantee more will come!

Now that I have a better idea of what my day looks like, I can make a better plan. Wanna know what I’m doing?

1.) Sugar Detox!

I’ve been a tad bit sloppy (to put it lightly) with my sugar amounts. So because of it, I’m only having it on Wednesdays and Sundays. (This doens’t include my chocoalte protein shakes, nut butters, or sugar found naturally in fruit) But all those tiny butterfinger hearts, fruit snacks, bites of cookie here and there—outta here. Since I am a 0-60 girl (Personality assessment!) I can’t seem to control “bites” so I’m better off not going there. I’ve been on this for a week now and it’s going well. Feel much more controlled now!

2.) Inserting my 6am workouts 1 or 2x per week

I used to be a die hard 6am workout gal. I did it for 7 years when I worked full time outside of the home and now that I’ve been inside the home working for 7 years, it’s hit or miss. My husband took a new job this year and has to leave pretty early so I can only get in about 45 minutes, which is a bummer, but I’m finding that it still is good for me. It jump starts my day and I’m off to drinking and eating with focus. It’s a positive thing for my mental state! 🙂

3.) I’ve given myself a 12 hour cut-off at night.

To eat. This always works well for me (not everyone) but because I definitely get all my calories I need in the day, most calorires that I consume after dinner are just boredom or craving calories. (I would think differently about this if I really needed to eat!) So I work well with hard stops. It doesn’t play mental games with me (It may for some of you) so knowing I need to close the kitchen around 7 is good for me. And no–it doesn’t mean I can stuff in 4 oreos at 6:58!

4.) I’m becoming a night tea drinker.

But the the 12 hour fast doesn’t mean that I still don’t’ want something! I have been inserting a cup of hot tea every night. Does 2 things. 1.) Gives me something to look forward to 2.) Fills the need to “eat” Plus I’m sure there has to be something healthy in there!

If you missed out on this and want to go through the assessment, then here is the info with the free printables!

Introduction

Week 1: Physical

Week 2: Personality

Week 3: Spiritual

If you participated in this, I would love to get your feedback. Leave what you learned in the comments below, or write a post about it if you have a blog!