90 Day Challenge - Part A

Have you ever felt so compelled and inspired by someone's journey that you can't stop thinking about how you can follow in their footsteps? I feel that way often. I follow quite a few influencers, and every time they are doing something I am always thinking to myself "that could be me." -- and this is so all encompassing. I feel this way when someone posts about health, wellness or fitness, blowing diet culture out of the water and just eating clean, all the pretty fashion and lifestyle bloggers' photos of their 'Gram worthy shots {even the ones they say are real, still half of them are staged, this I know don't worry}, or even all of the online products they are selling. I can't say I haven't thought about selling *any.and.all.of.them* -- because that could totally be me! 

All joking aside, there is one person in particular that I have taken an interest in following. She is also a big time CEO and I just adore her personality, drive, and passion: Cassey Ho of Blogilates. She recently posted that she is challenging herself to a 90 day journey, publicly, which is so huge. Read her first post here, but ultimately she decided that finding herself at the heaviest she has ever been, she is taking back her life. 

In reading her first blog post, that she posted after Day 1/90, I truly felt so inspired. Someone who literally does fitness for her living fell off track because LIFE got in the way. Like, wow. These people really are human. And that gives me so much hope for the rest of us. Well, at least for me. 

So while I am not at my heaviest,* it is pushing me feel compelled to do my own 90 day challenge. There is never a "good time" to start, and especially as we are getting into the Fall, the days are getting shorter, the temperatures will begin to drop, and the holidays are quickly approaching it is increasingly harder to focus on eating well and exercise... but I am drawing a line and just jumping over it with both feet forward.

I will get through this coming long weekend {we are leaving tomorrow for a quick weekend trip}, then I want to make sure I have a game plan. I want something that is achievable but also going to put me out of my comfort zone. I want to make sure I am creating accountability for myself. I want to have a meal plan set up for myself. I want to make some rules. I want to set goals. All in all, I really want this to be real and and to help me feel super accomplished when I am done.

So far, here is what I have come up with. It's not much.. I definitely need to do some soul searching and planning, but I want to get it out there ASAP so that I can't back out.

Here is my timeline:

September 2 (start)

October 1 (Day 30)

October 31 (Day 60)

November 30 (Day 90)

Here are the numbers I will track:

Here is the very brief outline of my Rules:

1. Goals: to reduce overall inches and weight. To increase strength and mobility, muscle definition. To improve overall health and well being. 
2. Diet: TBD
3. Water intake: 75 oz daily
4. Exercise commitment: TBD {number of workouts per week, length of time, time of day}
5. Tracking: I will track my food, workouts and overall feelings daily. I will monitor my weight and BF% weekly, and do my measurements every 30 days. I will post progress photos every 30 days. 
6. Daily changes/commitments that I need to make to be successful in achieving my goals: TBD
7. Rewards: TBD
8. Other: TBD

Tools I'm currently using to track:

Cassey wrote about this in her initial blog post, and I love it. I think it's very important to note the things you will use to help make you successful and to monitor your results. 

• Watch: Garmin vivoactive3 Music to track workouts, heartrate, calorie burn etc. 
• MyFitnessPal Premium to track food {links to Garmin, links to my personal trainer's training app}
• Fitindex smart scale and app to track weight, body comp measurements including BF% and BMI 
• If I add any tools to my arsenal as I am planning my 90 days, I will add them to my follow up Part B post. 

So, there we have it. I want to say TYSM to Cassey for being so open, honest, and HUMAN about her journey. It can't be easy living in the public's eye, and I know she has gotten a lot of backlash for being so public with this challenge. For what it's worth, I think it's an amazing thing she is doing. I hope it inspires more individuals than just myself, because we need a little more of this in our lives. So anyway, thanks Cassey. I hope you don't mind that I'm total fan-girl copying you right now :) 

*I have actually hit the lowest scale weight that I have seen as an adult. I'm teetering within 2 lbs of it, though, and realize that I am starting to feel lax and don't want to take my foot off the pedal. I feel like this is the exact time I need something like this!