No Excuses November

If you follow me on social media you likely saw that I had given myself a No Excuses November challenge. I often like to give myself monthly challenges that I know will push me towards my bigger goals.

For example, in September I challenged myself to No Shopping September. For this fashionista it was HARD. It meant no buying any clothes, shoes or accessories. I was successful, but it wasn't much fun. Totally necessary though. It showed me how often I was buying things that I didn't necessarily need or love. The purchases had become almost mindless. I will be doing this again in January. With all of the bloggers and such on Instagram showing me their cute duds daily it puts items in front of my face that I would have likely never seen before which was trigger far more shopping on my part. This has me thinking that maybe one of my upcoming challenges should be a social media audit......

For November I challenged myself to "close the rings" on my Apple Watch every single day. I was focused on the following parameters:

-Move: 600 calories

-Exercise: 30 minutes

-Stand: 12 hours

-Steps: 10,000

If you track your activity you already know that getting in 600 "move" calories takes effort. I was also challenging myself to 30 minutes of some type of exercise each day. That meant no true rest days for the entire month. And 10k steps. There were plenty of times that I was on the treadmill at 9-10pm getting those last steps in.

But I did it! I closed all my rings for 39 days straight.

I won't lie though, it was hard. Mostly on my body. My body was crying for rest. My joints were hurting and I was sore a lot. On the days my body was feeling particularly fatigued I would break up walks throughout the day to hit my goals. I would hop on the treadmill for 10 minutes, then later head outside for a quick 20 minute walk.

Mentally it was tough too. There were a few nights that Sam and I had date night, and I was a couple of glasses of wine in and I had to hit the treadmill to get hit my move goal. I REFUSED to not hit this goal.

I'm glad I did this though because it was such a strong reminder of how mentally tough I have become. I had some days in November were I was not feeling so great, but I refused to let that stop me. I liked seeing the visual affirmation of accomplishing this goal both physically and mentally.

Now this challenge is not for everyone. I am a firm believer in the importance of resting your body which I intend to re-incorporate for the month of December.

So what's my plan for my December challenge to self? I will be adding a minimum of a 1 mile run to each of my strength training workouts with the exception of leg day. I know this doesn't sound like much, but I LOATHE running and want to incorporate a bit more cardio into my routine. This will be tough for me because while I enjoy working out, I do NOT enjoy running. I've even tried to love it before....it just ain't my thang. I am also participating in Detox December with my husband and some of my clients. I will not be drinking for the remainder of December until Christmas Eve.

Do you give yourself mini challenges like this to focus on? If so, I would love to hear what they are so I can gather some fresh ideas for 2019! It's almost here!