Yes! Minus 1,9 kilo the first month! 🙂

I’ve now passed 1/3 of my 100 days healthy challenge. My results so far is first and foremost a lighter body weight! For the first time in many years Im now below 65 kilos, and that happened on the 31st of January that I could measure 64,5 kilos on my balance.

Eating lean and green – calorie reduction quite easy if you focus

I’ve been eating very lean and green, and i’ve kept myself from most starch, been very easy on all rice, pastas and noodles. The difficult part is when having meals with friends and colleagues, to make sure there are plenty of veggies available, eat lighter meat and not the heavy fried stuff. For breakfast I have been focusing on berry or vegetable smoothies, without any milk or banana. For lunch I’ve settled mostly for a lighter salad, mostly chicken salads. Dinner has been meals with salads, vegetables, and mostly a piece of chicken or fish / seafood. My craving for anything sweet or savoury at night has been tamed with fruits and also various teas. During this period I have been traveling a lot and the biggest challenge is when eating either in restaurants or in airports or onboard a flight to secure a healthier option. I have managed to pace myself when there have been lesser of a healthy option to make sure that Im not going back to the previous eating habits. During my first 30 days I was traveling for business more than 18 days. I managed to eat healthy omelette and vegetables at breakfast.

No alcohol – not so easy to be 100% dry

Did not manage entire month, and had 3 days with some alcohol. The good news is that I had only one evening with more than 3 glasses of wine, and two other occasions with only 1 glass of white wine or champagne. In a social setting its truly difficult to not have a drink or glass of wine in your hand. I managed to keep it very modest, have plenty of water or sparkling water next to my wine, and only sip and enjoy the taste and not for the drink. I also ordered my first cocktail when out with friends for a nice sunset rooftop bar. It was a nice low fat drink, looked as pretty as any other fancy cocktail. I have decided to continue with a modest alcohol intake, but would for the social setting not be able to be 100% dry. I believe that 1 or 2 glasses would not make any harm.

30 minutes active per day – very difficult – no routine – my next focus

So far I have managed to be lesser active and exercise far less than I planned. This will be my true challenge for the next 30 days. I have nevertheless had my first 1 hour run during these first 30 days, but I had two rounds of nasty cold and was really physically not feeling well at all. Maybe I needed more rest, but this affected my energy level and my physical part of the 100 days challenge. I have managed to go for running when traveling, and not made traveling an excuse. That was good for me, but the plan to exercise regularly 3-4 days per week, and to be active for 30 minutes per day is still very hard. So now I’ve been only managing perhaps 1-2 times per week. This will be what I will focus on for February and March. I did not start up new Yoga and pilates classes as planned, and I have made up excuses because of having a cold. But now feeling better and this will be my challenge for the next period in my 100 days challenge.

Food logging, step counts, sleep and exercise 

I have logged most of my foods and eating habits and that has helped my choices as well as knowledge about leaner calories, nutrients and I have actually changed some of my eating habits. I can see clear changes when Im focused on lean food and the weight reduction from week to week. So food has a very big impact if you want to reduce your waist. I have managed to get into a few more pieces in my wardrobe. The challenge with food logging is prepared food. I have therefore tried to logg the ingredients and items in the dishes and added for example 2 table spoons of olive oil, sesame oil or other sauces to secure that I have a good overview what I eat. I have used MyFitnessPal, but its very hard to estimate accurate calorie counts. I have also prepared my own food, and stayed with clean food and vegetable options.

The running and activity level has all been logged with Jawbone UP2, and I have been securing that I go to bed at decent hour to secure energy and sufficient sleep. To faster get to sleep I have been reading books (not all the time!) rather than browsing social media and my smartphone.

All in all – a good start and I feel better already!

I’m dedicated for the next 30 days to be more active and also more fit!  Starting off with a run now!

Please share your own challenges and how you manage to stay active and get into a good routine for training and exercising!