30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 30

Today we do nothing.  Wow that sounds so wierd for the last day of a fitness challenge, but today we were supposed to reflect on our journey.  Think about what this challenge meant to us and how we did with it.  For me, I am sad that it is over.  It helped to motivate me to get up and get moving with exercising.  I have known since I was young that your body grows accustomed to the things you normally do, but quite often I found myself saying that what I normally do should be exercise enough.  Yes it might be exercise enough for someone who doesn't do these things, but I do them daily so I need to go above and beyond what I do daily.

I plan on sticking to a regimen for exercising.  I will continue to stretch and try to tone.  My main problem area is my stomach and I really need to get that taken care of.  I have excess skin and a bit more plumpness(ok ok fat) than I'd like which needs to go!!  I still haven't weighed myself, so I can't tell you whether I reached a goal weight or not, but I hope I did!  Even if I didn't I think this challenge was fun and definitely helped me to get back into exercising.

I hope that I get to participate in something like this again and soon!!  So if you know of another exercise challenge coming up don't hesitate to let me know!! Pin It Now!

30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 29

Active Challenge:  Accumulate at least 10 minutes of extra walking today.  Ok, so I do this pretty much everyday.   I don't get to sit much until the kids are in bed and then I'm normally still up and doing stuff.  My extra 10 minutes came in while working gates so my husband could move hay into some of the animals.  This also turned into a race that I couldn't win as the tractor in question is our garden tractor and is without brakes at the moment.   So going downhill I had to try to beat the tractor to the gates.  I was running like the mountain lions had come off the hill to eat me!!!

Exercise Challenge: 
Part one:  Cardio endurance workout:  Besides doing my running away from a mountain line practice, I also managed to do a layered workout with running.  We've done these before where you go at a standard speed, then speed up and go back to base, then speed up, etc.  I logged in 3 miles doing this!  Halfway back to my prepregnancy running!
Part two:  Ab workout for at least 10 minutes.  I can't say for sure that I did this, but I did do an ab workout.  I did 50 sit ups, 50 side sit ups per side(so 100 total) and then 50 reverse situps.  I must confess that these were done in 50's but at different times of the day, not all at once.

Flexibility Challenge:  Lower body stretching.  I did toe touches and some other stretches.  I also did squats and lunges just for holding to stretch out the legs.  And being as today was Sunday I also got in my bounce the baby on your feet up into the air workout done!

Nutritional Challenge:  Change one snack to make it healthier.  Well as I've shown before we dont' really do a lot of unhealthy snacks.  Meals today were:  breakfast(totally unhealthy but so good) bacon and fried eggs(hey it was Father's Day), no first snack due to church, lunch was pork loin grilled with baked beans, potato salad, and 3 bean salad--we ate with my parents, so I had to be very careful what I ate, for dessert my grandmum had made pies but I brought fresh watermelon for us--, no afternoon snack as it was a late lunch, and for supper we had a salad with a side of watermelon(yeap whole thing gone now) cantalope and fresh cut up at home pineapple!  Love fresh pineapple.  But now I must confess that hubby and I just got done enjoying root beer floats. . . . the redeeming factor would be frozen yoghurt instead of ice cream and that the root beer was made with the sodastream and was the real sugar so no HCFS in it!  Does that make it better? 

Mind/Body Challenge:  meditation again.  I don't meditate, but I do spend the Sunday School time when I am in the nursery with our little girls to pray.  I've had several things to pray for lately so that was an hour well spent. 

Don't forget to check out how Kandi over at Gluten Free For Jen did today(praying she wakes up migraine free in the morning) and you can find my previous posts below. Note though that tomorrow is our last day!

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8 Day 23
Day 9 Day 24
Day 10 Day 25
Day 11 Day 26
Day 12 Day 27
Day 13 Day 28
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 28

Active Challenge:  To take a break every 30 minutes while watching television to do some exercises.  We don't watch a lot of television so I can honestly say we didn't watch any today!  So I did not have to take a break from that.  I did take some breaks from my cleaning and do some of the exercises. 

Exercise Challenge:  A two parter again today:

Part One: Take 20-30 minutes for some light-medium cardio exercise with any activity of your choice.   I did this today by doing a lot of walking.  Oh and lets not forget the whole pushing a cart with 2 babies inside of it and 4 kids hanging onto it with one hand while rolling a tire to my van with the other!  Yeap I am THAT talented! 

Part Two: Spend 20-30 minutes doing lower body exercises for the Hips Butt & Thighs.  I did a series of reverse crunches, lunges, squats, and jumping rope.  I also did some stair climbing.

Flexibility Challenge:  This focused on stretching out the lower body that we just worked.  I did a lot of toe touching in different angles, far reaching, etc.

Nutritional Challenge:  We were supposed to take a snack calorie quiz to test our knowledge of snack food.   THen we had to do this:

1. Make a list of the snacks mentioned that are part of your diet.
2. Write down the calories for each snack.
3. For any snacks that had more calories than you thought, write down some alternative choices.
4. Keep this handy for tomorrow's challenge.  

Ok, well I don't normally do much snacking except for fruit and veggies and occassionally pretzels.  Today was a bit different because we did a lot of running around due to my husband having a blown tire on his hay trailer while he was trying to move hay.  So I do have to admit that I had a Snickers today because it was one of the only things in the automotive section at wal-mart that I could eat.  Yeap bad me. Slapping hand.  Tomorrow I will go back to eating my good fruits and veggies.

Mind/Body Challenge:  Take at least 5 minutes to listen to your favorite songs.  Honestly, my favorite has always been and always will be country.  But I don't listen to that in the van with my kids because there are sometimes words and such that I don't want my kids hearing.  So today the kids picked that we listened to Veggie Tales Oh Veggie Where Art Thou cd which is pretty cute.  If you've never heard of it before google it.  Veggie Tales are a Christian cartoon and this cd has old timey songs on it.

We are almost done!  Two more days to go!  Check out my previous posts and make sure to swing over to check up on what Kandi is up to too!

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8 Day 23
Day 9 Day 24
Day 10 Day 25
Day 11 Day 26
Day 12 Day 27
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15 Pin It Now!

30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 27

Active Challenge:  Sit on an exercise ball for 5-10 minutes three times during the day.  I did not do this as I do not have an exercise ball.  I also did not sit much during the day.  I did sit for 2 hours(in 1 hour increments) due to driving though.

Exercise Challenge:  This is what we were supposed to do:

1. Begin with a 5-10 minute warm up at an easy pace.
2. For 30 seconds: Increase the intensity (speed, incline or both) until you're working at around Level 8 or 9 on the Perceived Exertion Scale.
3. For 1 minute: Lower the intensity back down to a Level 4 or 5.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 six times (total time: 9 minutes)
5. For 3 minutes: Exercise at a medium pace (Level 5-6)
6. For 1 minute: Increase the intensity (speed, incline or both) until you're working at around Level 7-8.
7. For 1 minute: Lower the intensity back down to a Level 4 or 5.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 six times (total time: 12 minutes)
9. For 3 minutes: Exercise at a medium pace (Level 5-6)
10. Cool down for 3-5 minutes of light activity. 

I did this in the morning for a total of one hour.

Flexibility Challenge:  This involved several yoga moves.  I don't do yoga, but I did stretch before and after my workout.

Nutritional Challenge:  Below was our challenge with what I did following each step.

Make your lunch healthier today by choosing one of the following options:

• Try different types of lettuce in your salad rather than just iceberg lettuce (think dark, leafy greens) ---- I don't eat iceberg at all.  I love romaine, spinach, kale, and an herb blend
• Add at least one serving of fruit to your meal ---fruit is one thing we always have an abundance of in our house
• Use a lettuce leaf instead of bread for your sandwich ----done this, we love to do this
• Have soup or salad before your meal ---I like to start my meal with my salad
• If you eat out, have a healthy appetizer instead of a full entree ---I did have the opportunity to eat out, but it wasn't a place that is gluten free friendly so I just had a berry chiller(yum) and a yoghurt once I got home
• Use unsweetened almond milk instead of cow's milk in your coffee or anytime-----love almond milk!!
• Have a protein shake with whey protein, coconut milk and a banana--I don't do protein shakes and refuse to use whey protein
• Cut down on sugar for a whole day...eliminate anything that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup (notice it's in everything!!)---- we've already cut HFCS out of our diet so this is easy.  I also bake with honey or demerara
• Eat double the amount of veges you would have normally....notice if you are more full---we eat a lot of veggies and fruits in our house so I didn't notice a difference

Mind/Body Challenge:  Spend 5 minutes totally relaxing and releasing the tension from your neck. . . yeap that so didn't happen!

And that was my wonderful Day 27!  You can find my previous days below and don't forget to check out Kandi's Post over at Gluten Free For Jen. 

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8 Day 23
Day 9 Day 24
Day 10 Day 25
Day 11 Day 26
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15 Pin It Now!

30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 26

Active Challenge:  Do at least 10 minutes of extra walking today.  Well this was a definite.  I ran up and down our hill to the stud pen about 4 times yesterday plus I walked up the bluff to bring home the goats who got let out of their pen by the horses.

Exercise Challenge:
Part 1:  Do 2 complete circuits of the low impact cardio workout.  They provided us with a long list of different excersises we needed to do.  With a few minor adjustments to make them work with the equipment I have, I was able to do them.

Part 2:  Perform the exercises detailed in the intermediate workout.  Again I was able to do these with some minor adjustments so that they would work with what I had available here in the house.

Flexibility Challenge:  This was a total stretch with resistance bands.  I do happen to have a set of resistance bands from when I was pregnant with one of the monkeys.  So I used those to complete their list of stretches.

Nutritional Challenge:  This one wanted us to take time after one meal to write down what we ate, how much we ate, how we felt, fullness, etc.  Well I didnt' do that.  I didn't have the time.  I can tell you what I did eat though!  For breakfast I had yoghurt, for first snack we hadoranges, for lunch we had leftover sutlers beans, for second snack we had apples, and for supper it was just whatever could be scrounged out of the fridge.

Mind/Body Challenge:  Schedule a 5-minute (or more) block of time today and spend that time doing any of the following:

• Listen to your favorite song
• Watching the sunrise or sunset
• Reading your favorite book, website or blog
• Stretching
• Resting
• Doodling
• Breathing
• Playing with your pet

This is meant for a time of relaxing.  Well, I did read a book while I was trying to nurse Fionna to sleep so hopefully that counts.  Nursing is relaxing in itself due to the hormones it produces and I love to read!

Make sure to hop on over to see what Kandi was up to at Gluten Free For Jen and check out my previous days below!

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8 Day 23
Day 9 Day 24
Day 10 Day 25
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge- Day 25

Good morning!  How is your morning?  While this post is about my fitness challenge for yesterday I must state that I've already walked a mile up and down a bluff this morning!

Ok down to business.

Active Challenge: Accumulate at least 15 minutes of standing or walking during the day.  Alright, I had to laugh at this.  I might accumulate that much time not standing or walking on an easy day.  Yeap I definitely made this challenge several times over!

Exercise Challenge:  Spend at least 10 minutes working your abs.  Check!  I did several situps and cross crunches.  My abs are the main area that I would like to firm up so I work those daily.  Unfortunately, I still have not noticed much of  a change, but still persevering.  They gave us several exercises to try, but they all involved a ball which I don't have.  Oh for extra money to buy one!  Oh well.  I also did some reverse crunches.  I also ran a mile in just under 6 minutes!  So excited.  I used to be able to run a mile in under 5 minutes so I'm getting there!

Flexibility Challenge:  They gave us some yoga exercises to do.  I did about 20 minutes of stretching in the morning and 20 minutes of stretching in the evening instead. 

Nutrition Challenge:  Use a smaller plate or bowl for at least one meal today.  I used a smaller glass plate for supper.  Here are our meals.  Breakfast was yoghurt with strawberries, snack was apples, lunch was ham and cheese sandwiches(on lettuce not bread) with a few sweet potato crisps and carrot sticks, snack was pretzels and grapes, supper was steaks on the grill with garlic corn and baked beans.

Mind/Body Challenge:  This was a bit funny to me as a stay at home mome.  If you get tired in the afternoon do one of the following to wake yourself up: 

Take a short walk

Drink a cup of unsweetened tea

Chew on anything with spearmint (mints, gum, etc.)

Have a tall glass of flavored sparkling water

Walk up and down some stairs

Go outside and take some deep breaths

Work a crossword or other kind of puzzle

Take your dog for an extra walk

I do get a bit tired in the afternoon, but yesterday was laundry day so I was running up and down the hill in our yard and the flat part hanging up clothes.  Yeap I definitely kept myself awake!

Don't forget to check out my previous days below--only 5 more to go!  Also jump on over and see what Kandi has been up to at Gluten Free For Jen.

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8 Day 23
Day 9 Day 24
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 24

Oh my we are almost done.  What am I going to do once this is over?  I'm thinking I'm going to have to try to schedule into my schedule half an hour in the morning and half an hour at night to exercise.

Active Challenge:  This was the ol set an alarm to go off every hour again.  Nope didn't do that because I don't sit for that long at all.  In fact yesterday I was cleaning out some rooms so I definitely was not sitting at all.

Exercise Challenge:  Spend 30-60 minutes doing strength training for the whole body.  They gave us a series of exercises to do for this.  Here are the ones I did:  bench press(on the floor with a 10 lb bag of flour), back extensions, hammer curls, deadlifts, lunges, squats, bicycle, and sit ups.

Flexibility Challenge:  Stretch out the whole body.  Yeap did that.  I love getting a good stretch in.  I'm thinking this will become part of our gym class during school so that the kids get some good stretching in too.

Nutrition Challenge:  Get at least one fruit in with each meal/snack.  Ok so here is what we had:  breakfast was plain yoghurt(I added cherries and hemp seeds to mine, kids had strawberries in theirs), snack #1 was pretzels and grapes(my kids love to shove the grapes onto the pretzels and eat them that way), lunch was sutlers beans with a mixed fruit salad, snack #2 was apples, and supper was pizza with lettuce salad and oranges.

Mind/Body Challenge:  Three minute meditations.  I did not do this.  I did spend 3 extra minutes or more in prayer for a dear friend who had a heart attack and is in the hospital.  If you're a praying person and wish to pray for her as well that would be great.  She had to have three stints put in.  I am still praying for her throughout today and wishing I was closer so I could go see her and offer up my support.  She has been there to support me so much I want to return the favor.

And that was my day.  You can check out the rest of my days below.  Also don't forget to check out what Kandi did for the day over at Gluten Free For Jen.

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8 Day 23
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 23

Active Challenge:  They gave us a list of stretches and told us to choose one to do before bed.  I did mine in the afternoon which is probably a good thing because Fionna wouldn't let me put her down to go to bed last night.  Everytime I did she woke up.

Exercise Challenge:  Do at least a 30 minute cardio workout, pushing yourself to go harder/faster/higher at least 3 times during the workout.  Well last night I had to walk all the way up the steep side of the bluff to bring my goats down.  It took me an hour to get up there get them and bring them back down.  Well, that hour does include milking too so maybe only 40 minutes of active walking.  If you've ever climbed a steep bluff you know it is a good workout!

Flexibility Challenge:  Do lower body exercises.  I did lunges, squats, leg lifts, and a few others.  I'm hoping that before we're done with this challenge I will have gotten my legs toned back to where they once were.

Nutritional Challenge:  So I honestly laughed when I read this one.  Take one of the three following steps to slow down one meal today.  Hahahahaha, my meals are slow already!  I'm always having to get up and get something else or help one of the kids that I'm the last done and it's cold when I am!

Mind/Body Challenge:  Go to bed 10 minutes early tonight and complete the following relaxations.  Well this did not happen.  I did go to bed early but only because my little one was waking up everytime I put her down, so I ended up laying down to bed with her.

Make sure to check out my previous days below and run over  to see what Kandi has been up to!

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7 Day 22
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge day 22

Active Challenge:  Do 20 extra minutes of walking today.  Well, that one was easy.  We do a lot of walking around here so it was pretty simple for me.  One little walk with the kids and it was done!

Exercise Challenge: 
Part 1:  Perform lower body exercises.  They gave us a list of ones we could do.  I did the squats, lunge, and leg lift.  I also did my baby leg lifts where I sit and lift the babies who are giggling on my feet.
Part 2:  They wanted us to work on our abs.  They gave us a few exercises to do.  I did not do the ones with the weights.  I did do the side leg lifts and some crunches on my own.

Flexibility Challenge:  Lower leg stretches.  They gave us a list of leg stretches to do.  I did most of them.  It's kind of hard to find time to do all the stretches when I'm still doing some on my own and I have all the child help I do.

Nutrition Challenge:  Eat at least one serving of veggies with each meal.  Well I did not get the veggies in with breakfast.  As it was Sunday we had pancakes for breakfast.  We did not have a morning snack due to fixing fence.  Lunch was sausages, fresh fruit and veggies(apple, grapes, oranges, carrots, celery, green peppers, and cucumbers).  Afternoon snack was leftovers of the fruit and veggies.  Supper consisted of bacon and eggs with veggies sticked up and fruit slices.

Mind/Body Challenge:   Choose three strength training exercises and do them slowly concentrating on how your muscles are feeling.  I did not do this.  I really just did not have time for that one.

If you've enjoyed this post make sure to check out all my others below.  I can't believe we're almost done with this 30 day challenge!  Make sure to hop on over and check out Kandi's post at Gluten Free For Jen.

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5 Day 20
Day 6 Day 21
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge day 21

Active Challenge:  sit on an exercise ball for 5-10 minutes.  Well I really can say I did not sit much at all yesterday.  My day started out with husband leaving at 5am for a WWII reenactment and the kids actually sleeping in until 7.  Then a phone call at 7:30 saying my goats were out.  So a walk to the cemetary and back to get the goats penned back up.

Exercise Challenge: 
Part 1:  Do 20 minutes of low-medium intensity cardio exercise.  Got that done while getting the goats.  Took us 30 minutes to go there, get them, and lead them home.  So by 8:30 in the morning I was covered!
Part 2:  To do some upper body exercises.  Well, pulling a goat with one arm and pushing a double stroller with the other should count I think.  Otherwise, all I did for arms was carrying laundry up the stairs and hanging it out on the clothesline.  I put two loads in each basket x 12 loads = 6 baskets so six trips up and down the stairs!

Flexibility Challenge:  Lower body stretches.  I did several of these twice yesterday so we're good there.  I need to work more on stretching out my legs to help get back in shape running wise.

Nutritional Challenge:  Make a list of junk foods you eat on a regular basis and find substitutes for at least one.  Well, we don't eat a lot of junk food.  If we do chips they are baked(we love baked tostitos scoops for salsas), we don't do a lot of sodas(when I do I drink a Zevia so no calories or artificial sugars), and we really don't do a lot of sugars.  We do have a bag of m and ms in my freezer that get dipped into occassionally.  I also have 2 different kinds of frozen yogurt in the freezer for when we want an ice cream treat.  We can't do regular ice cream often due to lactose intolerance in several of us.

Meals:  Breakfast- smoothie, morning snack-apples and grapes, lunch-meatballs with lettuce salad, kiwi, and milk, afternoon snack- oranges and strawberries, supper- leftovers(meatballs, lasagna, fettucine alfredo) plus lettuce salad and a few leftover garlic knots(will post recipe this week-super yummy turning hot roll dough into a garlic knot and it was gluten free of course)!

Mind/Body Challenge:  Choose one chore that you've been putting off and spend 5-10 minutes doing it.  The only chore that I can think of that might get put off is hanging clothes up in the closet.  That is something that takes more time than I normally have and only seems to get done once a week.  So I spent a few minutes doing that.  I got the boys done and then had to start supper.

And that was my day yesterday.  Check out my previous days before and make sure to run over and check out Kandi's post at Gluten Free For Jen, she's much better at keeping on top of getting these posts up than me!

Day 1      Day 16
Day 2      Day 17
Day 3      Day 18
Day 4      Day 19
Day 5      Day 20
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15 Pin It Now!

30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 20

Wow, day 20 has come and gone.  Only 10 more days in this challenge!

Active Challenge:  Take the stairs.  Take the stairs when you could use an elevator, etc.  Well, I didn't go anywhere that I had a choice of using or not using stairs.  I did however, go up and down ours for 10 minutes which was their suggested time.

Exercise Challenge:  Interval Training:  Here is what they asked us to do.

1. Begin with a 5-10 minute warm up at an easy pace.
2. For 30 seconds: Increase the intensity (speed, incline or both) until you're working at around Level 8 or 9 on the Perceived Exertion Scale. This is a very high intensity that should leave you breathless. If you're not comfortable at this level, just work as hard as you can.
3. For 1 minute: Lower the intensity back down to a Level 4 or 5.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 six times (total time: 9 minutes)
5. For 3 minutes: Exercise at a medium pace (Level 5-6)
6. For 1 minute: Increase the intensity (speed, incline or both) until you're working at around Level 7-8.
7. For 1 minute: Lower the intensity back down to a Level 4 or 5.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 six times (total time: 12 minutes)
9. For 3 minutes: Exercise at a medium pace (Level 5-6)
10. Cool down for 3-5 minutes of light activity.

I'm not sure that I got my levels exactly where they wanted, but I did do this today!

Flexibility Challenge:   2 Parts today: 
1) stretch for at least 5 minutes after your cardio workout--I stretched for 5 minutes before and after
2)  do some Yoga exercises.   I didn't do those because I don't do yoga.

Nutritional challenge:  For each meal we were supposed to eat the most nutrient dense foods first.  So for breakfast I had a bowl of hot cereal(Bob's Red Mill gluten and wheat free 10 grain cereal).  Lunch was scrambled eggs(I added onion, green pepper, and salsa to mine).  Supper we had barbecue chicken done in the crock pot, potato salad or lettuce salad, and strawberries.

Mind/Body Challenge:  Spend at least 2 minutes belly breathing.  I did do this.  It made me even more tired, lol, it was unfortunately done while laying in bed right before going to sleep.

Don't forget to check out Kandi's post at Gluten Free For Jen.  Also look up the past days for more exercise ideas.

Day 1 Day 16
Day 2 Day 17
Day 3 Day 18
Day 4 Day 19
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15 Pin It Now!

30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 19

Wow it really doesn't seem like we're this far into the challenge!

Active Challenge:  Set an alarm to go off every hour.  Take a few minutes to do a simplified sun salutation stretch.  Ok, so I didn't do the alarm.  Like I've said before I'm not normally a sitting down type person.  My kids don't let me sit for long at all and it's very rare that I sit for an entire hour.  So, what I did was just try to remember to do the stretch, and every time I thought of it I did it!

Exercise Challenge:  Do at least 30 minutes of light-medium cardio exercise.  I went on a brisk walk with the kids trying to find the goats.  Up and down the hills trying to push a stroller in our pasture.  Yeap I think this counts.

Flexibility Challenge:  Perform a series of stretches twice a day.  I did stretch twice during the day, and actually managed to do all the stretches they listed. 

Nutrition Challenge:  Think of one person you know who eats healthy and ask them a question.  Well I have to say unless my kids count I did not do this one.  I did not do any personal talking.  The only person I talked to was my husband.  That being said we actually ate cold cereal for breakfast, apples and grapes for snack #1, fettucine with alfredo sauce and small salad for lunch, snack of pretzels and strawberries, and then supper was lasagna with a salad.

Mind/Body Challenge:  One minute vaca.  Yeap never even found time to dream of what I'd like to do if I could do anything.

Make sure to head over to see what Kandi at Gluten Free For Jen.  And you can see what we've been doing on previous days below.

Day 1               Day 16
Day 2               Day 17
Day 3               Day 18
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15

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30 Day Fitness Challenge -Day 18

Active Challenge:  Set an alarm to go off every hour, take a few minutes to stand up, stretch, walk around, etc.  Ok, so I did not set an alarm to do this.  But I would say I did it considering yesterday was laundry day so I was not sitting down until after the kids were in bed.

Exercise Challenge:  Total Body Workout

Warm up with 5 minutes of light cardio, or warm-up versions of each exercise.

Beginners: Start with no weight for 1 set of 14 to 16 reps, or try a beginner workout.

Intermediate/Advanced: Do 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps with enough weight so that you can only complete the desired number of reps.

I decided to try the exercises with my 5 lb weight.  It gave me a good workout and I was able to complete the sets.  THere were a few of the exercises I couldn't do because they required a ball or other equipment that I don't have.

Flexibility Challenge:  Total Body Stretch.  I am really  liking how stretching has made me feel  better.  This is definitely something that I will continue doing.

Nutrition Challenge:  slowing down.  For one meal or snack take the time to chew really slowly or put the fork down between each bite.  Umm, has anyone ever known a mom who could do this with a meal?  I put my fork down a lot while I'm running around get more for kids or catching cups/plates from falling to the floor.

Mind/Body Challenge:  Choose any 3 strength training exercises and do them very slowly focusing on the muscles as you work them.  I did this with my daily situps.  I was only able to do about 3/4 of the number I normally do because it definitely gave my muscles more of a work out!

You can check out my previous days below.  Also make sure to hop on over and see how Kandi is doing at Gluten Free For Jen!

Day 1             Day 16

Day 2             Day 17

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

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30 Day Fitness Challenge Day 17

Active Challenge:  To do yoga in the morning and evening.  I don't do yoga.  I was also very sick with a 101.3 degree temperature yesterday.  I did not do anything.

Exercise Challenge:  Do 35-50 minutes of steady state medium intensity cardio.  Yeap didn't do this either.  With a pounding headache, temp, and other things not feeling well I really didn't do too much yesterday.

Flexibility Challenge:  I did do some stretching.  I didn't do anything major just a few stretches to try and help myself feel better. 

Nutrition Challenge:  Reduce your portion sizes for at least one meal.  I did this one.  Not intentionally mind you, but I just didn't feel like eating.  Breakfast was nothing, lunch was half a sandwich, and supper was non existent.

Mind/Body Challenge:  Lay on the floor or bed in corpse pose and totally relax your body.  Did not do that, but I did lay down for awhile once my husband got home with a blanket over my head so I could try to rest.

And that was my day.  Not very exciting I know, but I don't get sick very often.  When I do it's best to do as little as possible.  Make sure to check out Kandi's post over at Gluten Free For Jen to see what she did yesterday.

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30 Day Fitness Challenge -Day 16

Active Challenge:  While watching TV get up every 30 minutes and perform a list of exercises.  First, I don't watch TV.  Second, we really don't have television.  We have a television and we have a DVD player, but no cable or satellite, or anything even close to that.  We do have Netflix and a collection of the kids favorite movies, but even with those we maybe watch a movie once or twice a week.  The television did not go on at all yesterday.  I did do about half of the exercises, but lacked the motivation to do the rest.

Exercise Challenge:  Lower body:  I did squats and lunges.  I did not use weights, but did do these both until my legs ached.  Yes they are still a bit achy today so I guess I was successful in lower body.  I also did an exercise not listed but highly efficient.  You sit in a chair, place a child on each foot(two babies-weighing 20 pounds each) and slowly lift your foot and the baby clinging to your leg and giggling off the floor.  Repeat until you feel like your legs will feel off, baby keeps giggling and saying more so you take a short break and start again!!!

Flexibility Challenge:  Stretching.  I did two sets of stretching yesterday for about 10 minutes each.

Nutrion Challenge:  Measure what you eat.  Honestly, I did not have time to do that!  I ate approximately a cup of cereal with no milk for breakfast, about 1/2 cup of potato salad for lunch, and then ate about 1/2 cup of sutlers beans for supper.  Wasn't feeling the greatest.

Mind/Body Challenge:  This involved total relaxation and honestly I can never achieve that.  The only time I have ever just let my body go and totally relaxed was during labor.  Wierd I know, but God and I worked out some things while I was in labor with each of the kids so I could do it without pain meds.  I didn't even really have a time to myself last night, so didn't really meet this one.

Make sure to check out Kandi's post over at Gluten Free For Jen and see how her day went.

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