Monday, January 11, 2010

Ten in 2010 Challenge


Over on The Recipe Girl blog is a challenge to get fit (or fitter) in 10 weeks. After my friend Heather, (her food blog is a fav) told me about it, I signed on too. Like so many people I've made a New Years resolution to eat better, get more exercise and just live healthier and also like so many I find it's easier with a little encouragement from others. Some of the great things about the Ten in 2010 challenge is the flexibility to set your own goals, the choice to share your struggles and triumphs (or not) and the opportunity to network with other people who want to make a healthy difference in their lives.

In case you are interested and as a little reminder to myself here are my goals for the Ten in 2010 challenge.

1. Eat healthier
2. Expand my vegetarian cooking
3. Practice yoga 3-4 times a week
4. Stretch and lift arm weights daily
5. Give up alcohol for 6 weeks and then drink less throughout the year
6. Detox on a regular basis
7. Maintain a daily food and exercise diary
8. Take a regular array of vitamins
9. Drink more water
10. No late night eating

If you are wondering how I'm doing since I started on January 1, pretty darn good if I do say so.

1. I'm a healthy eater to begin with, being a vegetarian helps but I am cutting back on my weaknesses like chips and salsa, salty snacks and unbalanced meals. I've swapped eating out at Italian restaurants (the bread gets me every time) and instead chosen Japanese and Korean restaurants for sushi and banchan (Korean side dishes like kimchi and namul).
2. I've cooked 2-3 new recipes a week including a cauliflower soup, tortilla soup, a new spinach salad and various vegetable dishes.
3. I'm practicing Hatha and Yin yoga by following a 45 minutes routine by instructor Patti Asad and a group class in a friend's basement.
4. Stretching daily and lifting 5 lb arm weights has been a breeze. I spend 15-20 minutes a day doing this while watching tv in the evenings.
5. Ya this one is tough, especially socially. I've been to a party and dinners out and have declined all alcohol. I miss a glass of wine or a cold beer on the weekends but am enjoying trying new teas like roasted barley tea.
6. I'm planning my 1st detox of the year for the 4th weekend in January.
7. This has been easy, I use the Lose It app on my iTouch. This great app is easy to use and has a terrific library of searchable foods and exercises.
8. Daily I take a multi vitamin, fish oil and vitamin C
9. Drinking more water has been easy with the great variety of stainless steel bottles I have. Also adding lemon or sliced cucumber is delicious and helps get more than 6 glass a day down.
10. I don't touch anything except water after 8 pm. This has been easy so far because I don't crave things after dinner but I think it will get harder on the weekends especially if I'm not going out until later in the evening.

If you are interested in joining the Ten in 2010 challenge than visit The Recipe Girl's blog and sign up. Whether you do or not, I'm interested to know what your healthy New Years Resolutions are and how you're doing.

1 comment:

LillSis said...

Sounds like you had a great start! Good luck with the challenge. Yoga class three times a week is one of my goals. I feel so much better when I can maintain this in addition to my other exercise.