Latest Peep Honeysuckle Life

Posts Tagged ‘30 days’

Feb
18th

Snow Ball

Posted in: my journal | No Comments »

I spent an hour browsing the self help section at Barnes and Noble. Looking for the book that will solve this restlessness I feel. This feeling of potential. Of not wanting to miss out on the opportunities I’ve been given. In the end, I buy another journal. One of four that I’ve purchased in the past two weeks. It’s a blank slate, a chance for profound wisdom or boring rececitations of daily activities.

Frank has been questioning me on my almost compulsive journal purchasing. I answer “It’s not the journal itself, it’s what it represents.” Reality is that I am not a successful journal keeper. Most of my thoughts of the past five years have been captured digitally through photographs and blog entries. I delete years of my life, wanting a new slate, and then realize that I actually liked the broken scribbled out slate better than the new one. The paper journals symbolize something more, a chance at an epic life. A chance to record our journey.

While I’m figuring this out, I’m enjoying the snow (yes! snow!) and cold weather in Birmingham. Fleece and puffy vests have been worn. Coffee has been consumed in large quantities. Snuggling has occurred in the midnight hours and cold mornings have been enjoyed from the bed. An unexpected blessing, this cold weather.

Dec
2nd

30 Days of Working Out

Posted in: thirty days | 2 Comments »
Last week marked the end of my 30 Day Fitness Goal. Let me say first that I rocked it. We faithfully worked out, only missing one day out of 30 days. Each workout went over my requirement, sometimes by 30 minutes. I lost over seven inches in total, two and a half of them on my waist. My arms, face and waist were noticeably slimmer. The best part? Frank also worked out EVERY DAY with me. There was not one day he didn’t go to the gym, so the end result is a healthier and better looking us, instead of just me. It’s fantastic.
How did we do it? A few days before the goal started, Rachel Hunt from Extreme Fit Training sent over a few workouts that were super intense. I’m talking, three circuits of 20-30 minutes. Full out activity. Most of them were so intense I had a hard time not staggering out of the gym. Add in extreme Nicaraguan heat, and an open air gym, and you have a lot of sweat but no tears. She periodically checked in with me over the month, sending workouts as she completed them and encouraging me.  I received a total of 20 workouts, at a cost of $75. On the days the gym was closed, I used one of my workout DVDs instead.
We decided not to let this momentum go, so we’re continuing to workout a minimum of 30 minutes, Monday thru Friday. This is the minimum suggestions from the experts. I’m hoping to get at least 60 minutes on good days. Today was a little rushed, but I went all out for the 35 minutes at the gym. I know I’ll see even more results.
I didn’t see the results I wanted in my weight, which was mostly because I was building up so much muscle and didn’t change my eating habits. My goal for the next 30 Days is to eat healthier, which will turn into weight loss. This can be ambiguous, so I’ve broken it down to these trackable goals:
  • Track my food and exercise daily on Sparkpeople
  • Exercise true portion control
  • Absolutely no Cokes, Frescas, Tang, or any other sugary drink
  • Eat at least one lean protein every day
  • Focus on vegetables and fruits
  • No fried foods but especially no french fries (my weakness)
  • Read one health related article or blog post every day

I’m not really sticking to a calorie goal, and I’m not cutting out “fun foods” like pizza or pasta completely. When I do consume those foods, I need to be aware of what I am eating and consume about half of what I normally would. I also need to make sure I’m getting enough protein, which is something I never have enough of. The point of this isn’t to crash diet, it’s to reset my system and find a way to have a healthy diet.

I hope to lose anywhere from 5-10 lbs. The upper limit would be my hope, while I think I would be satisfied with five solid lbs of fat gone.

Nov
9th

30 Days Fitness Update

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For the past three weeks, I have been sweating it out at the gym. And I do mean sweating it out. Rachel has me on this insane workout regimen that has me working harder than I have ever worked before.

It’s paying off.

I can see a difference in my overall body, even if my weight isn’t dropping. Frank has definitely noticed, as well as another person who mentioned it last week. Which is why I’ve decided to extend this goal to six weeks instead of four. I want to regain the level of fitness I had in my early 20’s. I don’t want to look in the mirror and be unhappy with my body anymore. And I want to be healthy.

Granted, I’m not eating better which has as much to do with being healthy as my fitness level. I think this will be a future 30 day subject, as soon as I can come up with a definable goal. “Eating better” just doesn’t cut it. I work well with clearly defined goals that are easy to measure.

So what is the Nicaraguan gym experience like? To be honest, it’s a lot better than the UAB gym we used while living in Birmingham. It’s smaller, but it’s open air. The treadmills look out onto a garden where a turtle roams, mowing the grass with his beak. Fresh towels and purified water are always at the entrance. And the gym owner works morning and greets us with a smile.

Sep
16th

No News is Good News, right?

Posted in: my daily life | No Comments »

I decided to go without CNN.com, TMZ.com, NYTimes.com and all other news outlets for a while. I made it all day yesterday and today, but I didn’t decide to replace the time I spend on those sites with journaling until today. Keep in mind that I normally spend about an hour or two on those sites every day. I have an ongoing fascination with news and celebrity news.

I wanted to see what my life would be like without that stuff. Since we moved to Granada, my focus has already turned way more local. As in, Calle Santa Lucia local. I can’t read the news in Spanish, we only have one channel on our television, and I didn’t realize what was going on in the world until my sister emailed me to ask if I had heard of a certain town in Nicaragua. The reason? A volcano had erupted.

I’m sitting on the edge of the walkway that looks out into our courtyard, while a friend from El Puente stains our big tables and my roommates plan their lesson for tonight’s episode of Vida Joven. Today has been a pretty uplifting day. Yesterday was extremely boring. By the end of it I had to beg Frank to take me around the city and out to dinner. We ended up catching several innings of the Braves/Mets game in an American owned bar. The loud sound of the game hooked us like little fishes as we walked down to the lake. It was a little taste of America and it felt great. But today, it has been straight Nicaragua.

The day started with me sleeping in. I woke up at seven, and planned until seven fifteen to skip the Wednesday morning Bible study. I only really need to go on Friday (our small group meets after the Bible study), and I skipped last week. I laid in bed for a few minutes, until I rehashed yesterday’s events in my head. I wanted to avoid the boredom that I experienced, so I asked Frank to wait on me while I brushed my teeth, slapped some clothes on, pulled my hair back and ran out the door.

It was worth it. Frank had coffee waiting on me, and we chased shade down the street. Charles is back, finally, and was clearly very happy to be here. It was exciting to see him. I’ve suffered through my impatience at getting started, and have had a hard time understanding how El Puente works. I’m learning the team dynamic, and have passed a lot of time being judgmental and impatient. Having the base leaders back will be very very good for me. My sin of impatience was made clear before Charles even started the lesson:

Php 4:6-7  do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Studying Phillippians always makes me think of my Pat, our mentor, struggling through this text on Sunday mornings.  God asked him to teach, and he was never comfortable in that role. But I remember the excitement in his voice as he went through this verse. He struggles, like a lot of people, with excessive worrying. And you could tell he really wanted to let God take over those worries.

This lesson of throwing my worries on him was made even clearer during lunch, as I had a chance to connect to Sarah. She has a lot of really cool ideas, all involving hand made crafts. She asked if I wanted to come help them make bracelets from jicaro pods. She also showed me a bracelet made from recycled paper and beads, and talked about her future plans for this business. I’m really excited to be learning from her. She not only has branding and graphic design service, but has degrees in fine art and amazing taste in interior design. Do I sound excited enough?

After lunch, Frank and I sat in the meditation garden in our courtyard. By meditation garden, I mean I swung in the hammock chair while Frank squatted on the sidewalk. For some reason, both we and Oneada and Jenner gravitate towards this spot for heavy duty conversations about God and life. I realized as I was talking to Frank how much I love his face, and God revealed another way I have been holding back my worries from him. I constantly worry about staying faithful to Frank, for some odd reason. I’m convinced I don’t have it in me to be a faithful wife. I’ve never been one to think I’m above any sin, especially sexual sins. It’s hard for me to share these concerns with Frank because I know it must hurt to have me worry about that. But as I read those verses again, I know I can give it to God and that because Christ is in me, I can be faithful.

So a list of things I worried about just today:

  • Pulling the God card out. I’ve talked more about my spiritual walk in this post (that I know non-Christians read) more than most of my life. I worry about my friends thinking I’m crazy.
  • Letting down Charles. Ridiculous, right?
  • Being too friendly with the guys here. They are crazy about sex and flirting down here. I worry about getting myself into a situation where I’ve been too friendly. I’m more comfortable with guys because I was raised with so many of them, and I hope that my friendliness shows to be comradarie, rather than flirting.