Reflections on my November Countdown Challenge
So if you're keeping up-to-date with my fat-to-fit blog you know I set myself some challenges for November, which we are now coming to the end of. I've been monitoring my progress using MyFitnessPal, Garmin Connect and Instagram alongside the sub-page here on my web-blog . How did it go? you might ask. Well to be honest it had it's good and bad moments, and given me plenty of food for thought (no pun intended) lets break it down by goal:
10,000 steps per day
Didn't hit my goal every day but hit it around 60% of the time, I found I struggled a bit when I got back from a long weekend away in the UK, I was a bit wiped out and also had a bit of a cold. Plan going forward: In December I will aim for an average of 10,000 per day, over the week this will allow me to make up for a slightly lazier day on other days.
90 minutes of strength training per week
I normally love my strength training but have really struggled through November, I managed to get about 40 minutes in most weeks, I think this was down to trying to achieve too many things at once. Plan going forward: In December I will aim for 60 mins per week and break that down into either 2 x 60 minute workouts or 3 x 20 minute workouts.
8 glasses of water per day
Not something I previously struggled, even before starting this weight loss journey until October, I normally get around 3 litres of water per day, but in October I seemed to be only getting about half that and I was run down on top of that which didn't help with hydration. I did great with my water intake in November, so I would like to keep it up. Plan going forward: In December I will aim to get at least 8 glasses of water per day, but most likely will get around 1 litre of water & a Diet Coke at work and drink a 1.5 litre bottle at home along with a herbal tea before bed. Just want to continue to monitoring it.
7 hours of sleep per night
I have done really well with my sleep last month, the only day I didn't achieve this was whilst travelling, I have felt much better rested and a bit more energetic as a result, continuing to take Magnesium supplements has been very beneficial in gaining deeper sleep. Plan going forward: In December I will aim to continue this and perhaps also try to get to bed a little earlier.
60 minutes of sofa time watching TV Monday - Friday
TV is something I watch a lot of, I love to watch lots of different shows, however, in a bid to be more active in the evenings after work, I have been trying to limit that to 60 minutes per evening unless I am watching whilst doing other activities (such as cooking, ironing, exercising), this worked well, I missed a couple of days but all but one of these days were whilst travelling on my annual leave so I would consider them more akin to a weekend. The one day I did skip out on my challenge I was watching a film. Plan going forward: In December I will aim for 90 mins per night average, to allow for the odd occasion when I want to watch a film, or if I want to watch 2 episodes of something one night and only 1 the next, I think this will be far more sustainable and something I could keep up long term.
5 minutes of yoga/stretching per day
In the first 3 weeks I did quite well at achieving this goal, but again it's something I struggled with when I got out of my normal routine Plan going forward: In December I will aim for 3 yoga/stretching sessions minimum. I will likely try to coincide these with my C25K runs which will also be 3 times per week.
40 minutes of electronic free relaxation per night
I have done very well with this and definitely think it's helped my sleep routine, I have added a blue light filter to my phone (Twilight on Android) and have subscribed to Kindle Unlimited (I have an old kindle which is not backlit so doesn't disturb sleep) Plan going forward: I have dropped this from my goals for December as I am confident that I will keep this up without needing to monitor it and that the blue light filter will help even if I am tempted to sneak a peek at my phone.
3 Meals on Weekdays
In October I got into the habit of skipping breakfast in favour of leaving more calories for snacks, now this isn't to say skipping breakfast is bad, meal frequencies are a personal preference, it just doesn't work for me on a work day, I feel far more satisfied when I have my bowl of Weetabix and fruit around 10am than if I were to have a more calorific lunch or extra snacks. I've made a good effort to follow through on this in November and although I have struggled overall with my calorie allowance, my meals are back on the right track. Plan going forward: I am dropping this goal from December as I don't think I need to monitor it further to achieve it. I will focus more elsewhere.
2 Meals on Weekends
Just as breakfast helps me on weekdays, 16:8 intermittent fasting helps me on weekends by giving me more calories to play around with for drinks or more indulgent food. I have really enjoyed my weekend brunches. Plan going forward: As per 3 meals on weekdays.
1650 - 1750 Average Calorie Count
Failed epically on this front, I didn't have lot of discipline and life had other plans, at the beginning of November I was blighted by a chest infection and my appetite was through the roof whilst I was trying to fight it off, then I got my monthly carb cravings prior to shark week (I usually eat a couple of days at maintenance and even out a little over the week) then it was time to head to the UK for my best friend's birthday and the intention was always to take a diet break that weekend, I did remain at Maintenance for those days, so although I gained weight that was water weight from different macros, alcohol and air travel and has since disappeared back from whence it came. Plan going forward: In December I will focus more on my calorie count, I will also try to get a lot more protein in my diet as I know this satiates me more than Carbs & Fats. I achieved around 100g of protein per day across November, something I will continue to gradually increase by bulking out meals with more nutritionally dense items to give myself more room for higher protein intake items like meat, eggs, shakes & bars. I will be aiming for 115g minimum per day in December. My longer term aim is to eventually get to around 150g Protein per day as I increase my strength training intensity to improve muscle retention.
Overall I have found the countdown challenge a very useful process, whilst I didn't achieve everything I wanted to achieve. I got a good insight into what is sustainable for me long term and what I can change to continue to improve my Health & Fitness as we move on towards 2018. I also love data and this gave me lots to analyse and react to. I am looking forward to getting started on December's goals already and will add another page to the website for it in the coming days.