Fit Family Challenge Days 6-9

I am not going to lie.  I have had moments in these past few days where any one of the above excuses could have worked.  I am PROUD to say that I have been pushing through.  The whole family has been.  It's actually been kind of inspirational.  It helped that the girls already had pre-planned activities, but they have been god about making sure the hubs and I made time for ourselves too.

So, since last we met, this is what I have been up to:
Day 6: walking
Day 7: swimming and walking (mini me crushed 2.25 miles with me on our walk)
Day 8: rest
Day 9: walk

Now I know what you might be thinking...um, hello, did you see Day 8?  Yes, I did.  i lived it.  But after an hour of lap swimming and a 2.25 mile walk, I was starting ton get some pain back in  my hip and didn't want to totally derail my ART therapy from the day before too so I opted to rest...just aiming for my step goal.

This has been a pretty great week.  I have been monitoring the food much more closely and making time for myself, as well as fit time for the family.  I think it may be starting to stick for the kids too.  They are learning that just because they have soccer everyday or dance they can still do other activity as well.  I mean, on day 7...we all swam together as a family for an hour, taking turns doing laps and swimming around with mini.  And THEN we all had other activities after that as well.    It was not so long ago that the kids would comeback at us with something like "But I had gym today" or "I should really save my energy for practice."  Even THEY are cutting back on the excuses as they see the benefits they are getting.

My oldest...is down almost 15 pounds and looks stronger then I ever remember.  We are taking advantage of this weekends Tax-free holiday here in Ohio to buy her all new jeans for school.  I was so proud when she stated that she needed a size bigger in her skinny jeans to fit over her "muscular thighs."  And mini me...she is crushing things in acro that two months ago she didn't' have the strength to do, the swimming is really making a difference in our arm strength.

So today starts day 10, just over a month to go before vacation and the hubs and I have a swim date planned for tonight while the girls are at dance/soccer.  If it's just the two of us we can just focus on doing laps and building our strength and lung capacity.  I mean, whew, I have an all new respect for swimmers.  It's hard.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Fit Family Challenge and a new twist

I found this picture online courtesy of Poppy over at Facing40 and thought, how perfect that this shows up on my radar right now.  Ultimately, this is my goal.. I have two daughters, one that is a full fledged teen going into high school in a few short weeks and one that truly is my little sponge.  Dad and I can say LOTS of things, but a s mother...as a woman, I am the person their sweet and crazy little estrogen filled minds will look to first.  This is why I try and keep myself accountable.  I want to be healthy for me of course...to feel good and be comfortable in the skin I'm in...but I also want to be a good example to my girls (that and the added bonus that the healthier I am, the longer I can make them crazy in these lives of ours) LOL.

I am VERY proud to say that we are five days into the Fit Family Challenge in our house and we are still going strong.  Even the pup has been getting more exercise as we have been taking her on our hikes and letting her swim in the river.  Here is a recap of what we have done so far:

Day 1: Swimming in the pool
Day 2: Swimming in the pool
Day 3: 2.75 mile bike ride (Mini me was feeling rough by the end of this one)
Day 4: Swimming in the pool
Day 5: Hike in the woods

Now some of these days had overlapping things...we hiked a few days actually, but yesterday that was our main exercise.  I feel like whatever is our main source of focus with exercise is what we will track.  It makes me feel pretty good seeing how well we are doing, and this is NOT counting that fact that I have been pretty good with my step goals too. 

I have been so proud of us that I forgot part of the other side of this coin, and that is where my new "twist" comes in.  As a woman getting closer each year to the big 4-0, I have seen this change in my metabolism.  It is not the rapid fire friend of my 20's, not even the still chugging along friend of my early 30's.  It has gotten slower, and to me it feels like it has gotten S--L--O--W--E--R.  This is hard when you have been pretty blessed in this arena for the better part of a 15 years.  My metabolism has always been there to keep my happy despite what I achieved in the exercise arena.  Well, no more I say.  This brings me to the new "twist" I am adding to my version of our fit family challenge.

I am generally pretty good about tracking my food on MFP.  But lately I have gotten into the habit of allowing the hard work I do with my workouts allow me more food.  Like if my goal is 1400 cals/day, and I burn 300 working out...I have gotten into the habit of allowing myself 1700 for the day.  And where this is OK, I know, it's not helping me remove those last few pounds I want to remove.  And when getting on the scale I also am taking into account that with the renewed dedication to working out I have to allow for some influx with muscle rebuild, I still need to be better about the choices I am making and the indulgences I am allowing. 

Today I start fresh with MFP and I am aiming to eat the allotted calories for me each day.  No more, no less (well not too many less...I need the fuel to workout out).  I am committed to doing this for a week and see how I feel and how successful I am.

If you have any great family fitness ideas, please share them!  I love swimming and getting some laps in, but I need a little variety as well.  And with soccer this week for the big kid and dance camp for the little, finding time to get to the pool will be tricky for me. 

Family Challenge Day 1

My hubby is still in recovery mode from his back surgery.  We had hoped that by the end of the 90 day window from the surgeon he would be back to 100%, that is not quite the case.  When he was in the worst part of his pain, he had lots of numbness from where his disc was pressing on the nerve that ran down his leg into his foot.  He had pain, numbness and at times had to walk with a cane.  For someone with a VERY physical job, this was hard...add in our two very active children and it was near impossible.

So now we are cleared by the doc, he can go back to doing everything he did before the surgery...but he still has this numbness from time to time and residual pain.  It's so hard for me to watch him be in pain and suffer...so what to do?  Well, last night we were sitting in our family room after dinner and he looks at me and says, "Lets see how healthy we can be from now until vacation."  Now, we have had these little challenges before, but there is more at stake this time.  I know he is worried about begin able to walk around Disney for a few days with how he is currently feeling.  With that in mind, there was no need to pause, I knew this would be good.  "Ok, lets do it!"

So here we are on day one...we have 42 days until we leave and I think that maybe by doing SOMEthing everyday it will help build strength back up in his muscles that was lost during his pre-surgical time and hopefully (fingers and toes crossed) re-strengthening this will help with his pain. 

This little challenge is a two-fold one for me though.  I have decided to help get myself back in the habit of sitting here with YOU more to blog each day of the challenge as well.  What the what?!?!  Yep, I'm going to do my best to sit down at least for a few minutes everyday and keep you up-to-date on how we are doing as well as keep my self honest and accountable about how we are doing. 

How does that sound?  What I am most excited about with this one is our inclusion of the kiddos too!  It really is a full family challenge, and to me that makes it the best!  So, what do we have planned for day one?  Swimming. 

My big girl had a soccer showcase this past weekend on the other side of the state so we all packed up and headed down.  She stayed with her team in one hotel and Mom, dad and lil sis stayed elsewhere.  Sher is going to be a freshman and we were literally just down the way from her so if she needed anything we were right there...but we tried to give her the freedom of being with the coaches, team and team managers.  We know we have to loosen the strings some now that she is in high school.

Anywho...if you know me then you know that I generally don't swim.  It seems tat whenever we have access to a pool the water is always far colder than I would like, so I just don't do it.  Well...after 4 hours in the car and sitting through 3 hours of games in 90+ degree heat, I was game for he hotel pool.  It was magical.  The water felt perfect.  We got in and swam around for the better part of 45 minutes before getting dressed and going out to dinner (a nice anniversary steak dinner to top of the night for us and some delish looking ribs for Mini Me). 

The next morning Mini wanted to swim again...with how well behaved and patient she has been so far sitting and cheering on her big sis through the heat...how could we say no?!? My first thought too was, "well we were SO hot yesterday that is why the water felt so good, today I'm sire will be no dice."  Much to my surprise the water felt even BETTER the next morning.  So Mini Me hopped in while Dadoo hit the hot tub for a few...then we had a nice family swim, ending with Momma getting a few minutes in the hot tub.  This renewed my faith in swimming a bit.  Top that off with the hubs stating both the first night and next morning how good it felt on his leg to be in the pool and how that relief actually carried out into the day for him.  Swimming is going to be a BIG part of this challenge. 

So here we go, time to "dive in!"

Summer Sneak Ins

There comes a point every summer when I go to button a pair of shorts and laugh sadly as they pull a bit.  I have to laugh because what else can I do.  Since we were young girls we had the idea of summer perfection drilled into our heads right?!?!  I mean, think about all of the magazines on the stands around March promising to get you that "Beach Ready Body" by summer.  All those tag lines "it's not too late," "8 weeks to go," "6 week crunch," etc.  I laugh because I find more motivation to workout when I am buried in my comfy flannel pj pants and hoodies in the dead of winter then I do in the summer.  Now don't get me wrong, I do what I can when I can...but summer is hard for us.

We are blessed with the fact that my husband's schedules allows for him to be home during the day with the girls in the summer, and he goes in and works basically afternoon shift once I get home.  We both get lots of QT with the kids, we save on no daycare or camp costs, but it makes it hard to find that "me" time for working out.  I try to sneak things in when I can...like little bear has been my assistant dog walker and when I have the pup on the leash I can't pick her up and carry her...she has to walk the whole thing.  It's just over half a mile, not too much...but for a 3 year old I think it is pretty good.  The pup and I have been doing it every morning for the past two weeks...and have been going for  2nd walk in the evenings a few times too.  I also talked them into doing the Call Me Maybe squat challenge, but I want to finds more things that we can do together.  I don't worry as much about my big girl because she does horse back riding once a week and plays soccer on two teams.  She also swims a TON in the summer (which helps make up for the month off from soccer).  Little Bear is moving up to a new dance class this year...a full hour once a week of ballet and tap combined.  I'm SO excited, and she says she is going to try soccer again...we shall see.  Dadoo and I are also planning to put her in swim lessons this year, and all of these things are great but I want to find something, some sort of physical activity that we can do together...or all 4 of us as a family once our schedules go back to school times. 

 

What are some things that you do as a family or couple or in a group that you recommend?