30 Days

About once a week I am invited to join some sort of challenge, most of which are the 30 Day variety. So far, none have really been conducive to my lifestyle or physical needs. Cleanse? Not with my workout schedule, no thank you. Paleo? I wish I could, but I know from experience that if I eliminate carbs that drastically from my diet, I turn into a bumbling, brainless, homicidal maniac. I like life outside of cells, so I simply can't walk that path. ABs? Run a 10k? 50 push ups in a minute? You get the idea. It seems that almost anything can be accomplished if you dedicate 30 days time to it.

In my most humble of opinions, accomplishing anything in a mere 30 days is probably a bit of a stretch, but I do believe that dedicating to something for that long is highly beneficial. It creates a habit. If you are a writer and you dedicate yourself to writing one chapter every day for 30 days, chances are you will have a hefty volume for editing at the end of that time. And maybe even a completed novel. (Learning anything yet, Christina?!) If you dedicate 30 days to working out consistently, with a smart plan in place, you will see marked results at the end of the allotted time. If you dedicate yourself to a particular eating plan for 30 days, you will see weight loss. (Unless it's the chocolate cookie/cake/fudge plan. Oddly, that doesn't work so well!) Dedicated budgeting and money saving. Dedicated learning. Whatever it is, if you decide to give it 100% of your effort for the allotted time, there will be measurable results at the end.

I also like that there is an end in sight. Let's face it, if you are staring at a really huge long term goal, staying motivated to reach it can be difficult. When the end is so far away that you can no longer see it, taking rest stops becomes very enticing. However, when you are climbing a mountain and you can see the crest just ahead, it's much easier to put your head down and power up the last steps, no matter how tired you are.

Today I begin Christina's personal 30 day challenge. I will eat clean every day for the next 30, even with a trip to Florida coming up in 2 weeks. Here's the real kicker ... the real challenge, for me. I will blog every day of the challenge and within the body of that blog, I will include an account of the foods I ate that day. This way, friends and readers can hold me accountable for this 30 day challenge. (It should be noted that when I write "eat clean" I am not talking Paleo clean, but Body Builder clean. Grains are a part of my healthy world.)

In a little over 6 weeks I have my Kettlebell exhibition tournament. Getting my workouts in is not going to be a problem, so I am not adding that into the challenge. Keeping it at just my food and my blogging will be plenty. Maybe the next challenge can be physical.

I have two goals I hope to accomplish in this challenge. The first is to get back into the habit of being accountable for what I eat. I need to keep things super clean for a while to get my body back into peak functioning form. My second goal is to hopefully nudge some of these more stubborn pounds off. Eating foods that my body can use efficiently causes it to store much less .. and that during those heavy workouts, the body will set about burning off the fat stores it already has.I'm not putting a final number on the end of the 30 days, because when you have plateaued as long as I have, that's just discouraging. But if I can stay true to my challenge, accountable for every bite, I should see real results just in time for the Arnold. And that will be reward enough for me!

“Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” ~General George S. Patton~