#110 Challenge Update

It's been awhile since I addressed how I'm doing on the two challenges going on over at 12 Months of Health, Fitness, and Fun. I think that finding the challenge back in late December was probably the best thing that could have happened to me at the time. Knowing I've got other people to check in on and other people popping by to see how I'm doing is a different kind of motivation. The challenge has made me feel accountable for my actions, but not in a scary "Don't mess up!" sort of way, in a comforting "if you fall the landing will be mostly soft" kind of way.

My challenge for February was to get less than 50% of my calories from carbs each day.I looked back through my FitDay log and it appears I've gone over 50% seven times, but never by more then 5%. I'm calling this good. It's incredibly hard to eat fruits without kicking your carbs up and basically impossible to eat a sandwich unless you buy that super expensive (and super stingy) law-carb bread. The only reason I chose this as my challenge for February was to make my self more aware of how my calories broke down. I'm really good about keeping my calories low, so targeting a specific part of my calories was just another way to refine my eating.

On a sort of related note, this afternoon I tried those fancy Fiber One bars that everyone is crazy over. While I'll agree that it is completely tasty, I felt like I was eating a rice crispie square, I don't think it's hearty enough to actually curb any kind of hunger I'm feeling. If you've got a craving for chocolate or something chewy this bar is definitely the way to go, but certainly not if you're looking for some hunger satisfaction.

Anyways, back to challenge stuff. The second challenge, starting just a few days ago was to start getting up at 8 AM in order to better utilize my time during the day. The first morning was really rough, but I got through it because I had an eye doctor's appointment and an oil change scheduled. The second day was a little easier, and because I had no errands I was able to get to the gym around 9:00 and o my run surrounded by the kind, unpretentious senior citizens that populate the treadmills in the mid-morning. This morning I decided that since it was Sunday I would give myself a little break and get up at nine. Sadly, my attempt at cheating was foiled as Chandler (my cat) apparently was under the impression that we get up at 8:00 now and was jumping all over my head.

So the challenges are going well in that they're both serving their purpose of keeping my aware and active. With February just a few days away from being over I've got my mind working on what I want to do for the month of March. I have to keep in mind that I've got a trip coming up, so that'll have to play into it somehow. It seems like I'm cheating myself of a good challenge if I make my mission to just keep on doing what I'm doing so I'll have to think of a way to step it up a notch.