Week 5 of 15 Review

Another week done. After reading last weeks review someone asked me how I could reframe those feelings of failure and focus on the progress. I don't have an answer. I can notice when I am doing it. I have been working this year on switching my language from "I'm a failure" to "I feel like I've failed". It it a start and it is a long journey. 

What I Am Doing?

• Drink 4 "little mermaid" cups worth of water (about a half gallon)
• Do an XBX workout
• 8000 Steps
• Meet the Noom food budget without going over the red foods
• Read two pages from a physical book
• On Mondays take a progress photo and post an update on this blog.

Week Five Review

This week had moments. Most days I hit all five goals but some days I did not. I started strong but waned as the week progressed. I wrestled with all-or-nothing thinking (I'm over 10 cal on my red goal, so I might as well have cookies....) My watch did a reset and I lost two days of step data. Even though I know I had made my goals not seeing the external "reward" of the correct numbers in the app really discouraged me and set today up to be very negative. I was in a deep rut most of today, wondering if there was even a point to continue. 

As we were driving home from the city tonight a Bible verse I memorized years ago started repeating in my mind, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7). This passage is not about health challenges but I started to realize I am only in a rut not at the end of the journey. I want to finish this weekly challenge well and that will only happen if I stay the course. 

Another realization is that I do better when I use a daily tracker. If I do not make a small chart for the daily goals each week. I struggle. I did not make one for this past week and it really showed me how important the tracker is for me. I getting positive vibes when I check something off my daily list.

For this week's progress photo I decided to wear the same shirt as the before photo from October 18th. With how dark my head was today, I wasn't expecting there to be a noticeable change. I was pleasantly surprised.

Looking Ahead:

There is a part of me that wants to keep the challenge the exact same for the next five weeks. This new week was off to an emotionally rocky start and I'm not perfect at the goals I've already set. Is adding new or adapting the challenges just moving the goal posts for me to continue to feel like a failure? Or is this a strategic choice to help keep myself from getting bored or plateauing?

I have decided to add reading the daily Noom lessons and increasing the step goal to 9k are the new challenges for weeks six to ten. This should be interesting.