Challenges

The last time I updated my fitness challenge on here was on Day 6. Today is Day 12 and I'm still plugging along, and haven't missed a day yet (though I had a couple of close calls). Here's my report:

Day 7: 45-minute lunch walk
Day 8: 50-minute lunch walk
Day 9: 30-minute walk (busy day at work with a lunch meeting, but I managed to sneak out for a bit mid-afternoon)
Day 10: 35-minute walk partway home in the freezing rain as the Nor'easter rolled in.
Day 11: 3-mile walk home from work

Today (ie, Day 12) I talked Jason into doing a walk/jog with me down the path this morning. It's so nice to have someone to go with, though I know my short stubby legs are holding him back. He's very sweet to run with me. He also pushed me to do 3 extra minutes of running, which was great.

Well, the running wasn't great, but the fact that we did it was. The running kind of sucked, if I'm going to be honest.

Anyway, I'm almost halfway through the fitness challenge and I'm going strong. The extra hours of daylight over the last couple of weeks have definitely helped. This coming week is the week I need to step it up a notch. Masters swimming starts Tuesday, and I'm going to make a better effort to get up in the mornings and go for a run, or do some strength training. I may still go for a lunch walk most days, but I think that needs to be on the side, rather than being my main exercise.

As for the low-carb, I've been fudging a bit here and there. For instance, I bought some Newman's dark chocolate caramel cups and I allowed myself to eat them over three days this week (there are 3 caramel cups per package). We're going over to some friends' house tonight where the husband, who is from Spain, is making us paella. Yum! I'm not turning that down, despite the carbs.

I definitely think I'm sticking to a good 80/20 balance, like Mark at Mark's Daily Apple espouses. Basically the idea is to eat on plan (whatever your plan is) 80% of the time, allowing for some fudging the other 20%. Sounds reasonable, right? I think I could even claim 85/15 for this month, honestly and I'm pleased with that.