A weeks Worth of challenges!

Hi everyone! Welcome back! I know it's been a whole week since I wrote about the challenge, but life happened and launched a bunch of stuff at me.  I'm trying to take my own advice and go easy on myself. I was able to keep up this most of the challenges, here is the past week's challenges: 

• Day 13 - Set your goals for the week 
• Day 14 - No snacking after dinner
• Day 15 - 10 Walking Lunges/10 Squats/10 Push-ups - 5 times through!
• Day 16 - Keep a food journal
• Day 17 - Find your BMR and know your daily calorie goals
• Day 18 - Eat 3 veggies and 2 fruits
• Day 19 - Walk 2 Miles

Are you writing down your goals?

Instead of focusing on the different challenges day by day I just want to talk about a couple of the most important ones that I thought I have thrown your way. Probably the single most important challenge I asked of you was day 13 - set your goals for the week. The second most impactful challenge (in my view) was day 16 - keep a food journal.

You'll often hear from me that most people have a pretty good idea of what they need to do, (eat better, move more, reduce stress, get good sleep), but there is something about the power of a pen or pencil against paper. When we write things down, our goals become more concrete. 

Recording what you've eaten in a food journal holds us just a little more accountable to ourselves...do we really want to write down that we've had 12 homemade cookies? Writing things down, good or bad, allows us to reflect what we've put (or didn't put) in our bodies.. We also can get a better idea of portions, snacking and habits that we may need to tweak.

I'm looking forward to pushing through the next few days to wrap up all of the "stuff" that needs to be done so I can enjoy a well deserved wonderful holiday with my family. I'll try and keep up better with posting about the challenge if you promise to do your best keeping up with me!

Be healthy, be well,

Meredith

www.primalwellnesscoach.com

Days 10, 11 and 12 of our December Primal Wellness Challenge!

Our quote today before our workout!
Enjoy every moment.

Hi everyone! It's been a few days since I posted but I wanted to catch up and see how everyone was doing! I knew as we dug into the month of little bit further I wouldn't be posting as often, so today I'll cover day 10, 11 and 12. 

Day 10 was get 25 grams of fiber in (35 grams for men). I can honestly say that this was a challenge for me, I wound up at about 22 grams.  I had oatmeal and berries for breakfast, chicken with a California blend vegetable medley for lunch and linguine with an avocado pesto type sauce. It was AWESOME and once again prepared by the every wonderful husband of mine,  Harry Cohn. 

Day 11, yesterday, was 100 jumping jacks. I ended up doing these all at once at the end of my day work day...it was a great pep-me-up just before my husband's Christmas party and much needed! 

Today's challenge was/is to take the farthest parking spot. I stopped at the mall on my way home from my fitness class today and I parked out pretty far! It was a easy choice to make because we are having such awesome weather in the Northeast and I really wanted to enjoy every bit of it! 

I hope you are all going easy on yourself and treating yourself with extra care. December can get so stressful and expectations are so high for the holidays. Please remember to put yourself first and fill up that cup! Keep your eye out for tomorrow's challenge! Talk soon.

Be healthy, be well,

Meredith

www.primalwellnesscoach.com

Days 8 and 9 of our Primal Wellness Challenge!

Looking for Bilbo Baggins

AHHH!!! Are you going as crazy as I am this month? Here's a little comic relief to help get you through. I recently came across this short little door that made me feel so tall and I made my 17 year old son take this picture (I'm just about 4'11" for those that don't' know me)...we have to find the humor in everyday life or we'll go crazy!

That being said, I have a funny story to share...I didn't meet our day 8 challenge. I ran out of the house yesterday and totally forgot to grab the green tea that was in my cabinet. I did double up today...I worked on my sit-ups and managed to get 2 cups of green tea in. I'm not beating myself up, I'm working hard, playing hard and maintaining a good balance.

I hope you too are finding a good balance, going easy on yourselves this month and doing the best you can. Can't wait to tackle (to the best of my ability) our next challenge!

Till next time!
Be healthy, be well,
Meredith
www.primalwellnesscoach.com

Primal Wellness Challenge Day 6 and 7!

View of 9/11 Memorial/Freedom Tower

Hi Everyone! I'm pretty happy knowing that as busy as I have been over the past several days, I still was able to keep up with our challenge. This makes me so happy because I was a little nervous when I created this challenge. I thought perhaps that it would have been "just one more thing" to think about during the month of December...or maybe the challenges would be too time consuming or too much pressure. Now I realize that these tasks are super simple and very easy to incorporate into my (and hopefully your) day! I'm feeling pretty good and I hope you are too.

Here's our view from our hotel room in NYC. It's a glimpse of the 9/11 Memorial and Freedom Tower. What a weekend!

Day 6 and 7 were pretty easy for me. Day 6 asked for us to schedule at least 3 workouts this week! I'm lucky enough to teach 3 fitness classes during the week and although I stop from time to time to correct form and teach, I always get a good enough workout in to break a sweat!

Day 7, today, asked for us to get at least 4 servings of veggies in. I packed 3 cups of greens into my morning smoothie and then had some mixed veggies with my leftover tuna steak for lunch and a large green salad with dinner. I know I exceeded this challenge!

Keep giving it your best, what you can't do today, try again tomorrow. Don't give up if you haven't been able to keep up...just keep trying. I'm here with you and cheering for you!

Thanks for following along!

Be healthy, be well,
Meredith
www.primalwellnesscoach.com

Day 3 of our Primal Wellness Challenge

Happy December 3rd everyone! Today's challenge was to avoid any processed foods, specifically don't eat anything out of a bag, box or can...unless it had 3 ingredients or less. I have to say that this was a tough one for me today! You might be interested to know that even though I wrote all of these challenges, they were written a while back and I have been getting the scheduled emails at 5 a.m. along with everyone else.  I've been just as surprised as you are when the challenge comes. 

It's a good thing I have plenty of fresh fruit on hand along with mixed nuts, chopped veggies (like celery and carrots) and I was just lucky enough to have leftover homemade turkey soup from the Thanksgiving holiday! 

Dinner was compliments of my awesome husband and was a homemade shepherd's pie type casserole made with all natural ingredients! 

Tomorrow is Friday and we head to New York City for a overnight trip, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll have to fit in over the next 2 days. Keep up the great work and please feel free to comment on your progress, your challenges or any of the challenges that have come your way.

Be healthy, be well,

Meredith

Day 2 of our December Primal Wellness Challenge!

Hi guys and gals! Today's challenge was to do five minutes (total) of planks! I have to be honest with you, I only did two minutes before I taught my fitness class tonight. Here I am in my studio before my awesome class arrived getting some more time in! I had our class do 3 minutes of regular planks and then we did a few advanced moves! We all met the challenge. 

Planks are a great move to do in front of your TV at night! They are a great move to strengthen your whole for core!  A good rule of thumb that I like to use is that if you can do a plank for more than a minute, it's time to up your game. Some advance plank moves are 

1. Tap your toes out from side to side while holding your plank
2. Rotate your body by raising one arm to the sky, opening up to the side, then lower down and repeat on the other side
3. Raise your self from an elbow plank up to a straight arm plank and then lower yourself back down.

I've had a lot of good feedback so far on the challenge, I know its a month long and we are just getting started but hang in there and do your best! Comment if you want to let me know how you are doing!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's challenge!

Meredith

Day 1 of our December Primal Wellness Challenge - Drink Your Water!

Alright, don't think you got off easy today, there is a lot more to come! Some of our upcoming challenges may be extremely difficult to meet depending on your schedule or your fitness level...I want to remind you that our daily challenges are not to add one more thing to your already too full to do list, and they are not meant to stress you out...if you can't meet a challenge, go back to day 1 and redo it! Easy Peasy! This challenge is to help keep YOU a priority this month.

That being said and as promised, I'm following along with my challenge and will be reporting throughout the month on my own progress! Today's challenge was pretty easy for me to meet. Although I had a few rules around drinking water, these are rules I usually follow on a consistent basis. Here's a photo of my water bottle with a 1/4 lemon in it! Every time I refilled my cup, the lemon added more flavor. I think the key is to put in a big hunk vs. a small slice. 

Another trick that I recently learned is to slice up lemons and put them in the freezer! They will last for a super long time and if you are like me and don't use some of your fresh lemons before they go bad, well, this solves that problem too...just remember to slice them BEFORE they turn.

If you are not part of our challenge this month, I'll keep it open through the end of the week...otherwise, follow along here and you'll just be a day behind.

Thanks for being here!

Be healthy, be well,

Meredith

Taking Care of Ourselves!

Hi there! How was your week? We had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, fun and FOOD! We have a lot to be thankful for this year and we celebrated our abundance...with an abundance!

If you are like me, you may be feeling some of the effects of the holidays already. Although I don't believe in depriving myself of anything, I sometimes have a hard time being "moderate", especially when it comes to salty and/or ooey gooey treats!

I also know that we have a trip to NYC, at least 3 holiday parties, a cookie swap and of course Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day celebrations on the horizon. In addition to all of the wonderful celebrations going on, there is so much to do. So much that I have lists of lists going!

Is it going to get worse before it gets better? NO! Not this year...this year I plan on balancing out all of the festivities by taking care of myself every day! I would like to invite you to join me in the December 2015 Primal Wellness Challenge. Those who sign up will receive a daily email with a nutrition, fitness or personal wellness challenge. This is a free program, no strings attached.

Let's do this together and get through one of the busiest times of the year by taking care of ourselves just as much as we take care of others. If you are interested in joining us, please visit my website at www.primalwellnesscoach.com to sign up!

Here's to a festive, joyous and balanced holiday season.

Cheers and good health,
Meredith
www.primalwellnesscoach.com