SITWI Begins and 5X5X5 Challenge

This month I realized that being on a healthy eating schedule and working out regularly makes me better at all other areas of life. I'm a happier, mostly stress-free person - and a harder worker. I got promoted last week, and then thought about when I really got on my 'SEO game' - it was Spring last year when I made it my mission to go the extra mile, above and beyond for my clients. Is it a coincidence that is the same time I started eating much healthier and exercising 5 days a week? No. The benefits of this healthy lifestyle - while plentiful - have extended far beyond the physical for me. I'm just having a year where I feel like I'm acing life, you know? I've never felt that way before. Pretty cool.

Month one of our Slim it to Win it challenge at work (the second one for me). I've been asked to be on a panel about sustainable weight loss, so others can ask questions about how I 'did it' (or in my eyes, continuing to work towards a healthy goal). Who would've ever though I would be asked to be on a panel for healthy, sustainable weight loss? It boggles my mind. I lost a reasonable amount of weight this month - 4lbs so far. I hit a really big milestone in March, though. For the first time since high-school, I'm under 200lbs (actually well under right now). The even better thing about this, though, is that I've been under 200 before, but NEVER as strong as I am right now.

Total, I'm 75lbs down Here's what that looks like:

 Now, you're probably wondering what the 5X5X5 challenge is. I had already signed up for four 5Ks in May (the Maple Street 5K running series) and then I found another that peaked my interest ColorSmacked is a 5K that you dress in white and have colored powder thrown at you throughout the run. So, I've challenged myself to complete five 5Ks in the fifth month of this year (5X5X5). I'm planning on doing this on top of my workout routine too, which should make it extra challenging.

More exciting things coming up! A friend of mine convinced me to finally do a cleanse. This is something I've been considering for a long time because although I am a pretty 'clean' eater right now, I lived off crap food for a long time. When I has lost weight in highschool, bringing me to a 'healthy weight', I was living of package meals like Lean Cuisine and breakfast shakes, flavored like Strawberry or Chocolate. This three week intensive cleanse will flush out any toxic build up out of my system that has built up in the last 28 years. I'll have to quit coffee and booze for three weeks and for the first week my food intake will mostly be organic fruit/veggies, lentils and wild rice. After the three weeks you can start to taper other foods back in to your diet like meat, gluten and dairy. This allows you to evaluate how they effect your body. I am half completely scared and half really excited for this journey. I'll start this process when back from San Diego in April. I'm pretty lucky to have a buddy that will be doing it with me, though!

Looking forward to many more fantastic experiences on this journey...