Healthy Living Challenge Re-Cap

Do you remember THIS post three months ago?  If you remember, I joined a healthy living challenge to do the following things each day:

1) Eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies
2) Drink 8 glasses of water
3) Exercise for 20 minutes
4) No eating after 8 o'clock
5) No sweets

Well, we made it through our health challenge and, believe it or not, team Em/Cas and team Nellie/Telsha tied!  Honest to goodness.  So we will all be making dinner together and going out for a night of *window* shopping.  Most importantly, we all won by disciplining ourselves to become more healthy women.

This challenge noticeably changed my life in many ways.  First, it made me aware of how much crap I was putting into my body and how much better I feel without all the junk food.  The hardest part for me at first was not eating after 8 o'clock.  I would always start getting the munchies around then, but whatever you eat after that time doesn't come off before bed and usually isn't very healthy.  I lost a point now and then to my sweet tooth, but it didn't give me the same satisfaction anymore and more often I end up feeling pretty gross after I have eaten candy or baked goods.

I was also extremely pleased to see my post-birth belly shrink considerably during the challenge and Burke has said on numerous occasions that the cottage cheese on my legs and boo-tay has all but disappeared!  Keep in mind, even after running a half marathon last year, I still had cottage cheese because I was still eating poorly.  What you eat truly makes a difference folks.  Oh, and remember those new skinny jeans I bought?  Yeah, they are following off my rear now and baggy around the thighs where they fit snugly before. If you have had a hard time loosing weight in the past, I would *HIGHLY* recommend taking this challenge up for a minimum of 3 months and enjoy the results of a more health-conscious life.


P.S. My friend Shannon and I are starting a new challenge TODAY!  It is basically the same thing, except that it is a challenge to become more healthy both body and spirit.  If you are interested, we are following THIS blog - Eight Weeks to a Better You.  We are both too cheap to actually buy into the program, we are just going to follow the rules (except that I'm just doing "no sweets" rather than no sugar and white flower - that's a little much for me) for 8 weeks.  I'd love to hear if you decide to do it and how it works for you!