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Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge- Week 2 (NOURISH) Recap

15 February, 2014 13 Comments

Week two of Lorna Jane and Sweat Pink’s “Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge” is already complete! I really can’t believe how quickly time has gone by.

During the first week, participants focused on “Move,” with a variety of physical challenges. This week our Nourish challenges were:

Monday– Go Meatless. Try vegetarian or vegan meals.
Tuesday– Take Your Lunch to Work Today. Choose a recipe from movenourishbelieve.com to inspire your packed lunch.
Wednesday– Write it Down. Keep a food journal today.
Thursday– Smoothie Day. Make a healthy smoothie.
Friday– Go Raw Today. Choose a recipe from Movenourishbelieve.com and go raw.

Here’s my photo recap of the week:

Meatless Monday was actually really easy for me. I don’t eat a lot of meat, for both health and budget reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s plenty of nutritional benefits from lean meats and fish, but it’s easy for me to go overboard. We had quinoa burgers, potato/veggie stir fry, lentils, yogurt, and fruit.

As a Stay-At-Home-Mom, every day is a take your lunch to work day. Coincidentally, it was another meatless meal on Tuesday! We had mini veggie pizzas.

Wednesday I just filled out MyFitnessPal is usual. Again, that was part of my normal routine. Easy peasy!

On Thursday I made a delicious, healthy smoothie for Baby J and I as an after-dinner treat. I used plain Greek yogurt, honey, frozen berries, bananas, whole milk, and natural peanut butter. Packed full of nutrition and filling.

Friday wrapped up the week with raw foods. I had plenty of fresh carrots, celery, chick peas, arugula, almonds, peanuts, apples, and cucumbers to go around. Fiber’s always a good thing, right? 🙂

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for more photos of the challenge! And feel free to visit my latest Fitness Friday post. Every week I link up with other bloggers to share and motivate each other on our fitness and/or weight loss journeys. If you’re a blogger, you’re welcome to link up with us. If not a blogger, please feel free to share your goals and successes in the comments section of each Fitness Friday post.

Have a happy weekend!

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Fitness Friday: 2/14/14

14 February, 2014 18 Comments

It’s Fitness Friday! I’m not even sure I want to link up with my usual groups this week, because it was kind of a FAIL. I’ve been eating too much junk, and I also went almost all week without working out. I probably gained some fat back! It’s probably because I had a great stats update last Friday. When I’ve made good progress, I sometimes slack off for a bit. It doesn’t make sense, but that’s what I do. I had excuses all week for not running outside (too cold, too wet). And my reasons for not going to the base gym? Timing never worked out/bad traffic/etc. Lots of excuses.

I did do some crunches here in there, and I did a light cardio DVD for about 20 minutes a couple days ago.

There’s a little good news too. When I lifted weights yesterday, I was able to do more reps and heavier weights than previous weeks! This mama’s getting some muscles! Just imagine how much progress I’d make if I’m ever actually consistent!

Today was the first day I ran all week, so I pushed myself. It was TOUGH! Today was the warmest day all week (upper 40s), but the wind was biting and strong. I put 10.24 miles in, but that was walk/jog intervals. After the first 2 miles I realized that I could walk against the wind almost as fast as I was jogging, and without being nearly so exhausted. There was a stretch…probably a mile long…where the wind either wasn’t blowing strong, or it was helping push me and the jogging stroller forward, so I ended up jogging that stretch every lap and walking the really windy areas.

My average pace was 12:32, and you can see my splits below. It really wasn’t bad at all! I’m not sure why mile 3 was so slow. I did fumble around with my phone a bit, looking for the pause button Run Keeper, so perhaps that’s why. I had to pause to get my son his water bottle and snack. Maybe today’s run was enough motivation to kick me in the pants, so I’ll actually not be lazy next week!

Since I ran over 10 miles today, I did meet my Winter Miles Challenge for the week. I’m hoping to get a quick, easy 2 miles in tomorrow morning, and then take Sunday off. I’m also still doing well with Lorna Jane and Sweat Pink’s Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge. I’ll post a weekly recap tomorrow.

Baby J and I after our run. We usually stop at the playground afterwards, so he can get some energy out too.

How was your week? Any big plans for this weekend?

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Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge! Week 1 (MOVE) Recap

8 February, 2014 7 Comments

This past week I participated in Lorna Jane and Sweat Pink’s “Move, Nourish, and Believe” challenge. Running from February 3 to 21, the challenge encourages us to stay with our goals even in these cold winter months! Every weekday throughout the month, there’s a specific challenge for myself and the other participants. After we’ve conquered our daily challenges, we post a photo to Twitter and/or Instagram showing our successes.

You can still join the challenge for motivation; however, in order to be in the running for a $1,000 Lorna Jane shopping spree, you have to participate in every daily photo challenge.

Week One Challenges- Move:

Monday– Sweat it out! Show your favorite way to sweat.
Tuesday– Change it up! Select a workout from movenourishbelieve.com/category/move and show us your post-sweat session selfie.
Wednesday– Let’s get planking! Plank for at least five minutes today (splitting the time up is fine).
Thursday– Buddy up! Work out with a friend today.
Friday– Fave Friday! Show us your five fitness favorites- exercises, people, whatever gets you moving and motivated.

My favorite way to sweat- jogging with my son!

Five things that motivate me to get fit- 1. Tripping over my running shoes in the morning. 2. My family. 3. My adjustable dumbells (these things are awesome). 4. Jogging with my son. 5. Those jeans that are still too small.

I’m looking forward to Week Two when we focus on NOURISH! Follow me on Twitter and Instagram to keep abreast with the challenge. Post your Twitter or Instagram profile below in the comments, and I’ll follow you back! You can also take a look at my personal fitness blog, ThisMamaRuns.com where I document my half-marathon training and more.