whole30

I am sick. Like actually sick with the flu. I never have the flu. Seriously, it has been a while. How did I happen to get this? People will say, "Well everyone is sick these days!" "Were you around that one person?" "Oh well something is going around...... "

No. 

This may be a factor, but lets be honest here. I ATE and UNEXCERSIED and STRESSED and UNSLEPT my way here. 

It was a lovely weekend in Portland with a bunch of my besties - just a couple weeks ago. I was GORGING myself again, thinking, whatever - it is the holiday season... and BOOM. I come home sicker than ever. 

My gut, its like it finally said "I'm outta here" and my appetite left. Dairy was hurting so good. Sweets were just all too amazing and the abundances of cookies at work were making me nauseous but excited.

Now, this didn’t just all happen at once. It has been building for a year now. Thinking, "nah this can't hurt. You only live once! I am young! I can work it off Monday. It won't matter. It won't do anything. What’s a little pain....”?

STOP IT. 

So, enough is enough. Taking out cookies or just stopping fast food isn't working for me. I have fallen into a groove of convenience and forgotten about healthy choices. I have lost my sense of direction - I used to pick HEALTH over food pleasure. Now I am not saying I will not enjoy food (because GOOD FOOD is something I enjoy EMENSLY), I have just decided to eat for sustenance and not consistently for pleasure. 

I am not into dieting. I am not into RULES or NO NO NO NO NO..... but something about this WHOLE30 craze got to me. I am like " you can't have WHAT?! And you feel like what when done???!!"

I am amazed that so many people, and many with diseases and illnesses, are being cured! And all they are doing is simply changing what they put into their body. How INCREDIBLE. If all it took for me to feel 100% on the inside and also feel amazing on the outside was simply cutting out all of the convenience and junk, then COUNT ME IN. Easy. 

SO with all that in mind, I have decided to take the Whole30 challenge. It is something I have never done before; something I believe is going to be one of my biggest challenges of my life. I am going to use food to heal my body and strengthen me for the future to come. 

Starting January 1st, I will be blogging everyday, keeping myself in check but also keeping whoever wants to listen informed on what is happening with my body, emotions, feelings etc. What really happens to someone who is so saturated in not-so-good-food-choices decided to cut it out and start anew? 

The book. The plan. The new life. 

No weighing. No measuring. Focusing on health rather than weight. To just feel better. That's really what I want - complete health - to feel good in every situation. So follow along! I promise you won't be bored. I can already sense this is going to be a rough road. But if I am able to change the way I look at food - as being a life giver than a boredom solver, I can't lose. 

so the update is....

November 9th, sitting in my office at home. iTunes on in the background - shuffle mode. Lights dim. House clean. Rain coming down. New flannel shirt and old sweats. Sitting here, thinking about what changed. What happened to make me derail. I mean, I am at a stand still. This runner girl RAN and RAN for weeks, months... and then she stopped. Life happens, right? Isn't that the correct answer to tell those that ask "are you still running?" I am... sort of. Not like I was.

Tonight, I told myself all day I was going to come home, get changed and do 45 minutes of yoga practice. But I got home, and saw the TV and said ..... NAW. And sat down. Tired from the workday, tired from the weekend before. Tired. Am I really that tired? Stomach growls, telling me... we eat here on the couch, remember? So I get a small snack, thinking, I'll eat dinner later.... to only overeat again. AGAIN.

I can't be the only one. Who gets sucked into the tiredness of life, the lie of TV being restful and rejuvenating. Skipping through channels, I wanted too throw the remote and watch the glass shatter.... really... THIS took my time away from my health!?

Okay so I am rambling... but I know I am only saying what a lot of us are thinking.. what a lot of us are doing. The only way I feel I can change is to abandon social media, TV, crap.... CRAP. I mean the only thing going on today on Facebook was people arguing over a cup color.... SERIOUSLY? This took 30 minutes of my hour lunch! What am I doing???

Reality Check this evening... what have I flooded my life with? Why do I stay up past my bedtime surfing Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram only to refresh 10 minutes later to see if anything new happened?? Come on MEGAN.

So I am going to take a hiatus. I just need to take a week or two to clear my head. To try and focus on health, fitness, and maybe finishing a couple good books. Sorry for the non-running/health related post. I just had to get this out.. to those who might be listening. Or maybe just to me. A wake up call to me... I just needed to get it out on something. To see it. To feel it. To embrace it.

its been a while... and much has happened

hey hey!

I could spend an hour updating you all on my fitness. but let me just sum it up. this year has been a blur and my health has been on the back burner. HOWEVER, I have 19 days till my 10K. Have I prepped? sure... a little. Am I nervous? NAH.

My goal for my 27th year of life is to UPDATE and take control again. Start over with my health, make it a top priority. keep it a focus. Starting now.

The SUN is Rising

So, yeah. I did it. CHALLENGE COMPLETE. January's challenge was to complete a headstand by the end of the month. Half-way through, I had slacked on running, slacked on anything really. Too tired and so Unmotivated. Not to blame the weather, but goodness, cold and dark are so uninviting.

But with the encouragement of a wonderful best friend and a loving husband, I did it. Thinking I was too "big" or "heavy" to do it - NOT. I was able to headstand, and not a just a second. I held it - nervous and scared of hurting myself. But as Anna danced around trying to snap the best "evidence photo," I calmed a little. And then gracefully landed back on my feet. CRAVING more.

I am SO proud of myself. Breaking the MOLD. Accomplishing things I never thought I could. 

NEXT CHALLENGE: February is to do YOGA everyday on top of starting my training for a HALF MARATHON! Omg.... can I do it all!?

I am hoping to get at least 10 minutes of Yoga in a day - a time to recenter, pray, and release stress from my ever-growing schedule. To bring me back, transition me from sleep to work or from work to sleep. Hah! Something I feel that will benefit me GREATLY. I will also be trying out this challenge at the same time:

So some of these poses - I totally CAN'T do. Like not a "I am just wimping out..." it is a really "Can't physiacally do those with only one month of practice." Some of those moves take YEARS of dedication. Ask my good friend Anna Gardner. She knows yo. So I will be altering the positions - ones that will match my strength and flexibility now. 

OH AND - totally going to do a HALF MARATHON this summer. Yeah - I have quite a bit of practice to do. But I CAN do this. 

Until my next post - hopefully a couple a week - or at least ONE a week. I am bad at this, I'll get better. Hah!

It's been a while...

Okay so, I am still alive – just off the wall BUSY. BUT – I can see it, I can see the routine a-brewing!

Hah – I have been MIA, looks like for a month now. I miss this blog – I am going to make an effort these next couple months to blog MORE. I am still working, still exercising, still breathing!

Here is what is going on in the world of Megan:

1. New JOB.
2. New Commute/hours
3. New Year
4. Back to school
5. New schedule and soon to be routine!

I am not going to go into details because it is a LONG story – but basically I have turned my life UPSIDEDOWN this last month! Changed everything up and am starting new. Because of this, I have found no time to blog while I maneuver my way through this new routine. I am getting the hang of it – changing my 30 minute commute each way to an hour commute each way – eating out one extra hour that I had at home. BUT – I am still finding time in this cold weather to work out!

CHALLENGE UPDATE. So for this month, I let you all know that I was going to be attempting a headstand by the end of January. And, I have done ONE headstand so far. I don’t have a photo because as soon as my legs touched the wall in the headstand position, I sent them right back to the ground. SCARY. I haven’t done something like that since I was about 5-7 years old, where I had no weight on me to crash down. I kicked and kicked and finally, with my besties help, got my legs straight. I had no clue how much arm and ab strength went into this posture. How much balance and calmness. I was freaked. And as soon as I was up, the words spilled from my mouth “I can’t.” CAN’T is a word I rarely use. It defeats me – tells me I am not able. I am perfectly able to do anything with the right amount of practice. 

SO by the end of this month (by this weekend) there will be a photo, me SMILING and in a headstand! I CAN do this. Even if it is for just a moment, I CAN.

This last weekend, Anna and I went on a run/walk – about 7 miles in total! Included a HUGE hill (up and down) and a fun gaunt through an old abandoned golf course! Photos below.

Something I learned at a Women's conference this past weekend, something I am going to remember everyday.

CHEERS!