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SPRING FITNESS CHALLENGE: The Results

TRY

First & foremost, I apologize that this post is 7 days late and that I bombed out on Weeks 7 & 8. You won’t find any excuses here. I take full responsibility for the fact that I messed up. I let myself down & more importantly, I let my fellow challenge participants down.

Ugh, this sounds like one of those ridiculous affair apologies from the likes of Tiger Woods/Arnold Schwarzenegger/Anthony Weiner/etc. That’s not what this is! I actually AM sorry and well, I didn’t have an affair! Except maybe with food… but… anyway! 😐

One Rainy Week
Apology out of the way, here’s what happened.

Rain

Obviously everything unraveled during Week 7. (Before I go any further let me repeat, this is not an excuse. It’s what happened and why I failed.)

The crux of my entire Fitness Challenge were my morning power walks/hikes. They were my primary source of physical activity and the catalyst that put me in game-mode every day. I was up with the sunrise & out the door. I was seeing results, feeling great, and getting fit!

Then came Week 7. See that picture up above? Yes, the one with just about 7 straight days of rain. That was Week 7.

Every morning my alarm went off. I was ready to go. Then I looked out the window and BAM! Storm clouds, dark, & wet. I buckled.

I was sad, angry, and disappointed. I rolled over in bed, silenced my alarm, and slept in. Day, after day, after day.

There was so much that I could have done. I could have thrown my work clothes into a bag, put on my sweats, and headed to the gym for an early-morning workout. I could have picked up my free weights and done some arm work, squats, and push-ups. I could have done a million things, but I didn’t. Instead, I rolled over. Every morning. For 7 days. And then 8 days, 9 days, 10 days…

Yea. Eventually the sun came out again, but it wasn’t enough to pull me out of my rut. Slowly the 4.5 pounds that I had lost over the course of the challenge started to creep back on. That threw me over the edge and I spiraled. I just gave up.

Right Now
Now here I am, six days after what should have been the end of the challenge and my big reveal. Instead, the challenge end date (June 1) has passed and I’ve got nothing. Or do I…

The Bright Side
Oh, come on, you knew it was going to come to this. You guys know better than to think that I’d leave it like that! 😉 Although I am disappointed, there is still a great big bright side to all of this. I learned SO MUCH over the course of the 6 weeks that I did participate in the challenge.

You guys shared tons of incredibly useful information with me—from recipes, to exercises, to fitness & nutrition advice. I am infinitely wiser as a result of your support & encouragement! I also tried things that I’ve never tried before like Intermittent Daily Fasting (IDF) during Week 2, which was a great jump start to my program and something I will definitely do again for short periods of time (a few days here & there). IDF really altered my eating patterns in a positive way—teaching me to eat when my body needs nutrition and not just because the clock says it’s time.

The most exciting positive change that came from the challenge has been my switch back to 99% vegetarianism/pescetarianism! I am so excited about this. I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time, but kept putting it off. After the chicken fiasco in Week 6, it was the obvious choice.

For as much as it has been a challenge, and for all of the disappointment, I am still incredibly grateful that I did this!

Moving Forward
I do not harbor regret. I have faith that everything happens for a reason. This is no exception. It didn’t turn out how I had planned, but then, life rarely does.

fitness challenge results

I am not backing down and I am not giving up. The Spring Fitness Challenge was a baby step in my journey toward optimal health & wellness. Five years ago I set out on a journey to change my life. I overcame anxiety & depression. I lost seventy pounds. Nothing can take those victories away from me — and nothing will stop me from continuing on my path!

While this is the BITTERsweet end for the Spring Fitness Challenge, it is only the beginning of my Life Fitness Challenge. And yes—I will be blogging about it, too. 😀 So keep your eyes open for posts tagged Fitness because they are a-comin’ and you can bet that you’ll be seeing more accountability pictures, fitness tips, recipes, and more from this gal!

Thanks for joining me on the journey.

In love & light,
Dena

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    Letting Go of the Past: Forgiveness

    Last week, I finished listening to Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now. It had been on my “to-read” list for years, when by a stroke of fate a dear friend offered to lend me her audio copy. I plan to do a full review of the book in the coming weeks but for now I want to focus on one important element—forgiveness of the past.

    Recently I started thinking about the first twenty-five years of my life. In The Power of Now, we learn that to live in the future or the past is to suffer. The only way to exist in true harmony is to live in the now. After all, the past is not real, the future is not real. The past and the future only exist in our minds. The only thing that is truly and completely real, is the now.

    The challenge with this, however, is that until we can accept, understand, and move on from the conditioning of the past, we can not experience true freedom. And in order to truly accomplish this, we must experience true forgiveness of the past—forgiving others & ourselves completely.

    As I reflected upon these truths, I realized that I have been holding on to a tremendous amount of pain from my own personal history. There is so much past that continues to haunt me and impact me in the now. One of the greatest sources of pain revolves around my former lifestyle.

    I spent so much of my life caught up in a false sense of self. I spent incredible amounts of money on material possessions that I now perceive as worthless (clothes, jewelry, useless electronics, etc.) For some reason, I fell into the marketing. I bought it—all of it. (You can read more about my journey into financial prison and my subsequent journey out in previous posts.)

    But that’s not really the point, the point is that I ended up here. I can sit around and feel sorry for myself, angry that so much of my life was wasted, frustrated that I’ve only paid off a fraction (albeit a substantial fraction) of my debts so far; but if I did all of that where would it get me? It wouldn’t get me anywhere except maybe on a private jet to my own personal pity party. No thank you.

    Instead of wallowing, I am grateful. Grateful that I have come this far. Grateful that I’ have learned these lessons and changed the direction of my life by the age of 25 (soon-to-be 26). Grateful to be surrounded by a community of people that support me and believe in me. Grateful to have discovered my life’s true purpose and passion. Grateful to be doing what I love (even if only part of the time). Grateful to be safe, secure, healthy, strong, and beautiful.

    As I move through these emotions of gratitude for what I have now and what I am now, I find that the pain of my history slips away. I believe that I am finally on a path toward true forgiveness of the past. The reality is that it happened. I made mistakes, like all fallible human beings do. However, without making those mistakes, I may never have come to this place, to this now.

    The past grants us wisdom & grace. The memories that haunt us the most, are usually the memories that taught us the greatest lessons. Forgiveness will come from acceptance. So, the trick to true forgiveness is true acceptance. Once we can accept our past unconditionally, we can live fully in the now.

    I am making my way on this journey slowly. For most of my life, I focused almost entirely on the past—heart breaks, mistakes, errors in judgment, loss, failures, and so on—but that was a tragic mistake. What I now know is that the past is gone, the only thing that matters is now. And likewise, the future is a distant place that exists only in my mind. The only thing that matters is right now.

    Transforming the way that I think has been a challenging process, but I have come a tremendous distance already and I will keep on pushing forward, always.

    Now I ask you, reader, what pieces of your past are you holding on to? Are you willing to accept those pieces unconditionally so that you may truly forgive and live in harmony & light? Will you join me on this journey?

4 Comments

  1. luv the story an reflectuin aesthetic…your knack for narratives w/integrity have power to inspire we the proud imperfctionists
    m

    Reply

  2. Glad to see you’re back on track. It’s a funny thing about “challenges”, if you miss the target, it tends to be frustrating and sometimes a reason to give up on the quest. For example, when you successfully complete an 8 week challenge, what’s next?? It’s almost a letdown whether your challenge is successful or not.

    Now you have the right idea, it is indeed a life challenge to stay fit, healthy and happy. When you approach it over a life plan, it’s actually easier to do since little setbacks are just so small relative to the life plan. Sure, once in a while you want to challenge yourself with a special fitness plan for a week or two, but, just think of it as part of the long range plan and don’t worry about nailing it 100%.

    Welcome back!

    Reply

    1. @ Lou – Thank you so very much & thanks for all of your support, encouragement, and advice throughout the challenge. YOU really made my experience so much better. I love your theory about the life plan — so incredibly wise. I’m happy to be back!

      Reply

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