Mischieviousmum does the 100 day challenge!

Its day three and boy have the last two days been challenging!

I am one of those people who lives her life by flying by the seat of my pants.  I tend to react to situations that arise rather than respond – something I really want to change.   I have written many times about my plans for world domination, well, my goal to simplify my life and make time to relax and read, but sometimes its very hard to climb out of any rut.     This is partly why I made the decision to start a 100 day challenge.   The other part was that I felt inspired by a few of my friends who made the decision to also do a 100 day challenge, and then I got thinking about Channel 7’s, the ‘Bringing back Sexy’ program, and how each week we see an Australian change their lives in 4 months.   100 days is a little over three months, but I figure that by the time we get to the 100 days, our  lifestyle will have changed considerably – old habits out, new healthy habits well and truly in.   Seeing positive results is a motivator for the majority of us.

One aspect of the Bringing Back Sexy program that I really like is that Cam the trainer talks about the importance of a goal or a reward – something to work towards.   Health is obviously the ultimate reward, but getting healthy for something in particular is a great motivating tool.   I have decided that I would love my reward to be a 3 night weekend away  – at  the Ramada Couran Cove Resort (South Stradbroke Island).   Talk about bliss!  🙂

Its time I gave myself a good kick up the bum, and a time frame.  100 days is do able, they say it takes 21 days to change a habit, so I have decided to put this theory to the test.   100 days to improve health, get organised, and change my habits.

So after a couple of days of flying by the seat of my pants and crashing and burning, I made the decision that today was going to be different.    The great thing about a new day is that is fresh and uncorrupted, until you get out of bed, that is.

I’m feeling inspired and rather motivated.

What do I want to get out of a 100 day challenge?

Well here it is.

1.  I want us as a family to be more active.  We live on the beautiful Sunshine Coast and between school, homework, housework and what not, we don’t tend to enjoy the beaches enough.   So my goal is to achieve at least 45 minutes of exercise per day, preferably with the kids.  I would like to think we can fit it in before the morning school routine, but at this stage, I need to work on that issue.   Today I am taking the kids straight after school to Currimundi.  We are going to walk on the beach and then come home to get homework, assignments and dinner done.    I have been reading about how important it is for us from a health point of view to walk bare feet on grass and the sand.   Some calling it earthing, some call it grounding, but both groups of people have written significant research about how great it is for our overall health and wellbeing – I’m keen to give it ago!

2.   I want to also challenge my bed time routine.   I need to commit to a 10pm bedtime.   This may seem late to some, but I have gotten myself into a bad habit of going to bed anywhere from 11.30 to after 12 am.   I’ll ween myself back to 9.30pm gradually.  I need to make myself learn that I need more sleep and that its actually good for me.   Its far easier to keep sugar cravings at bay when one has had decent sleep.     There are so many health benefits for getting enough sleep.  It seems simple, but the more sleep I get at night, means the better I will be during the day, and this can only be good for everyone.  Happy wife = happy life = happy mum.   Good for everyone I think! 🙂

3. Gratitude journal.   A while back I was elected by a friend to do the facebook gratitude challenge (listing 5 things per day for a week).  I enjoyed this and it made me think about those things that I could be thankful for.   I am going to keep this one private, but I want to add it to my 100 day challenge, because I feel that it will benefit me and us as a family.

4.  Decluttering and getting organised at home.  For awhile now, I have been trying to get my home in order (decluttering) – and while I have made improvements, I feel that it will be a positive step to add this to my 100 day challenge.   It makes sense to me from a wholistic point of view to make some changes and improvements to our home at this time.

5.  For any health kick, it seems that planning in advance is a really good idea.   Flying by the seat of your pants with regard to ‘whats for dinner’, and grocery shopping, is usually the worst idea in the world.   Planning in advance means that you know what you need, and you budget accordingly.    No plan means you should probably just throw your budget out the window because you end up buying things you don’t want or need.   Bad decisions are based on not planning – talk about a waste of time and energy.    Golden rule: Shop with your plan.   Always.  No excuses!

How do you grocery shop?

Some people shop for an entire fortnight at a time, others shop weekly, and others again shop for three or four days at a time.    I have been in the latter category.   The upside is that you are always buying fresh and what you need, the downside was that I felt as though I was always in the shops and I always spent a little more than I wanted to.  Especially when the kids were with me.  Bringing children grocery shopping, in my opinion, is always going to be a bad decision.   Always.   Its amazing the list of things they need when they enter a shopping centre.  Its amazing how all of a sudden hunger and thirst strikes them down as you go through the doors.

A while back I put together a 15 week meal plan.   I figured at the time I would have a copy in my bag, and a copy in the car, but I kind of lost my way with it after a little while.  I have however found the file on my computer, tweaked it and now I am going to use it!  For the next 100 days or so I don’t have to think about what we are going to have for dinner.  The great thing with this plan is that I can make notes of birthdays and be prepared for possible issues arising.  I can also make bulk meals to freeze for those nights where the days didn’t go to plan (for example, either I’m unwell, the kids are unwell, or one of the girls have a project due and need extensive help).

The thing with meal planning, is that you have to also take into consideration healthy snacks, breakfasts and lunches.   Its not so easy when your limiting wheat and gluten in your diet, but planning makes it easier to deal with as you have already given it thought – you just have to make it work.  The hard part of planning is already done.

Health is about portion control.  So this means you can get more out of meals such as Spaghetti (gluten free/wheat free pasta) bol, which can be cooked in bulk and frozen.  Meat sauces are packed with vegetables so its more vegetable than meat, however, the sugar content cant be quite high in tomato based sauces so its important to not serve these too often, and when you do – portion control!    I find the best meals are those where I can make a massive salad and then add some type of meat source  (meat must be a grass/grain no hormones fed animals).

Its been great to pull myself together today and find a way to make this 100 day challenge actually doable.   It had to align itself with the Keep it simple idea, because lets face it – I know I won’t do it if its hard.     Today might be day #3 but all is not lost.   The plan is in place, I have my meal plan worked out, and I am ready.  I no longer feel as though I have to make this work by pulling out a magic trick.

I am hoping this link opens.

Mischievious Mum100daychallenge

If you are interested feel free to print out the form and fill it out.   I hope it makes your life easier.  The numbers in each of the boxes do not represent the date – it represents the day number of the challenge.

Happy 100 days to you!