Seeing the Silver Lining

To put it bluntly, these last couple weeks have been weird. Going from living life normally, finding out about a pandemic, then drastically altering our way of life threw us all in a funk last week.

Being told we needed to limit our outings. Schools closing. Churches closing. Then restaurants, salons and other businesses. And finally earlier this week, being told it’s not just a recommendation, but an order, stay home!

To borrow a line from Olaf, “This will all make sense when I am older…” I don’t know if that’s entirely true in this case, because this doesn’t entirely make sense to me. Nothing like this has happened in my lifetime and I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything. But I sure wonder what my kids are thinking. My 6 year old is saying things like “since the corona virus came” and “when the corona virus goes away”. (She really does listen! 😉) My 4 year old just wants to know when sissy is going back to school and when daddy is going back to work. Blissfully unaware of most of the chaos around them, but gleefully enjoying this time as a family.

Isn’t that something? It took a pandemic to make us focus on our families. People everywhere are being confined to their houses, forced to spend time with the people they love. While these are certainly uncertain times, I have to admit, I’m seeing a lot of good things coming out of it!

*Families are spending more time together. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many pictures of family activities on Facebook. Our time with the kids is spent focusing so much more on them because we don’t have the distractions of work and other places to go, and I’m finding they are blossoming. In our home, we have been able to spend one on one time with the kids like we haven’t been able to before. We’ve truly been given the gift of time. (When else have all 5 of us been home together for an extended period of time?!)

*Families are getting outside. I’ve seen more people walking through our neighborhood than ever before! Thankfully it’s starting to warm up here.

*Speaking of neighborhoods, ours is coming together like never before. Even though we can’t physically get together, our neighborhood has arranged weekly scavenger hunts by decorating our windows with shamrocks, stars, flowers and Easter eggs. We’ve also done chalk art and teddy bear hunts.

* Churches are live streaming their services, enabling them to reach people who might not otherwise get to church. The church is given this opportunity to truly be the church body, not a building.

*Communities are offering support to one another. Need toilet paper? I have some extra rolls. People are offering to get groceries or run essential errands for others who can’t, or shouldn’t, get out. People are making an extra effort to support our local businesses (some are closed now with the lockdown) and restaurants.

*Our school district has a food bus that comes to our neighborhood 3 days a week during this shutdown time. Each kid gets a bag with a couple breakfasts and lunches in it. The bags have different foods than what we typically have at home and my kids have started looking forward to bus days! It’s definitely a highlight for them.

*People stuck at home are looking for ways to help. I’ve seen so many of my talented friends showing the masks that they are making to donate to our healthcare workers.

*Our time apart is making us reach out in “new” ways. My aunt FaceTimed me for the first time ever! I talked on the phone with a friend instead of just texting. I’ve even seen people playing games with family via Skype or Zoom.

As a society, we have been forced to slow down and focus on what matters. Let’s enjoy and treasure this time. And let’s make sure it doesn’t take a mandatory quarantine to bring us all together again!

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No finish line

So what happens when you complete a 3, 6, or 9 week program? You celebrate that you’ve finished the program, and if you’re anything like me, you go right back to your old habits.  Which often means gaining back some or all of the weight you just celebrated losing, and the cycle continues.

Now it’s time to change that mindset.  With health and fitness, there is no finish line.  You set a goal, work toward it, meet it, and then set another goal.  Here’s the thing though, your goal might constantly be changing.

When you start, your goal might be to lose 5, 10, or 15+ pounds.  Once you meet that goal, your next goal might be to meal prep 6 days a week.  Then you might set a goal to run a 5k.  Then you might set a goal to deadlift your weight.  Who knows?

The thing is: you should always have a goal in mind, so that you have something to work toward.  Without a clear goal, it’s way too easy to slip off track.  And guess what, if you slip off track, give yourself some grace and then get right back on.  That’s the thing about a healthy lifestyle, you can slip up, but then just keep right on going!

Shift Shop Results

When we talk about workout programs and the success that we see, it is usually measured by how much weight or inches we lost. Those losses are certainly things to celebrate, but often there are things even greater that we achieve through completing a workout program.

For the past three weeks I have been following the Shift Shop work out and nutrition program. I had my final weigh in yesterday morning and was pleased to have lost 5.8 pounds and 4″. While I’m celebrating those victories, there’s so much more that I gained through this program.

Here are a few:
*Clearer skin–clean up your food, clean up your skin! My skin had been pretty good for a while but is even better now and much more evenly toned.
*More energy–no napping on the couch at 2pm or wishing I had a pop to give me a burst of caffeine at work!
*Caffeine cravings gone–I had a headache for the first couple days but it’s been smooth sailing since then!
*Less/no cravings–I’m not tempted by the cookies out at work, or the kid’s treats, or even chips at the Mexican restaurant 😉 I’m learning to listen to what my body really wants and needs and give it those things
*New habits set–it takes 21 days to make a habit and I really have! My meals are basically set and I know what food groups I’m having at each meal. I don’t miss all those carbs I was eating before!

This program really shifted my mindset, especially nutrition-wise! I wasn’t perfect, but I learned a lot about myself and my body. I retrained my mind, and now I’m seeing those results in my body too. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it!

Progress

Sometimes it feels like I’m not making any progress, and other times it feels like I’m taking 2 steps backwards.  The past couple weeks have been difficult to get my regular workouts in.  I’ve been doing the best I can and trying to get all my steps in each day, at the bare minimum.  Today I was able to get in some good strength training time.  I did some weights using the bosu ball for stability work, hammer curls, deadlifts, tricep kicks, bosu ball pushups (10 on my toes!), and some core work.  I finally felt like I was making progress again because a few months ago I struggled to do the core leg lifts and today I did them without any issues!  (I’m not sure the real name of the move but it’s when you lay on your back and raise and lower your legs slowly.)  It might be at a snail’s pace lately, but it’s progress! 😉