Rob - Beating the S*#t Out of the January Blahs

Hi everybody,


So it's been a few months since my last post and I must admit that this past Fall and Holiday season, while very relaxing and great family time, has been one of those off the wagon times in my life. I had fallen right back into some of those bad habits and frankly, I went a bit nutty on the food/drink over the Christmas break. I think I actually had cookies and Baileys for breakfast one day. Seriously. But what can you do? My philosophy has always been there's no point in beating yourself up over things you can't change. I must admit though, that I am a bit disappointed in putting on a bunch of the weight that I had worked so hard last year to take off.


However, towards the tail end of my descent into a sugar and alcohol oblivion, a few things did keep me from going completely over the edge. First off, we had committed to running the Resolution Run on New Year's Eve so I had to keep exercising no matter how many parties we attended or junk food was in the house. Also, on the exercise front, I started playing hockey again this fall after probably 18 years away from the rink and for those of you who played as a kid but have given it up, I highly recommend taking it up again. Hockey is one amazing workout and frankly is just a f*#king awesome sport. Further, I have been toying with the idea of running a half marathon in May and possibly a full marathon in Fall so I think on some level that may have stopped me from taking that 4th helping of dessert on some nights depending on the number of beers consumed. Finally Laura decided to start a serious 30 day cleanse on January 2nd and get totally back onto the Isagenix program which we had so much success with this past year and convinced me to get back on track.


I set some goals for myself and on January 2nd, after full day recovery on January 1st, we hitting ground running so to speak. Well, it's Sunday morning, January 8th and I'm almost a week onto my 30 day cleanse. In part due to some "gentle" encouragement from Laura and in part becuase I have felt a little guilty about not posting a blog for such a long time after my much anticipated debut, I've decided that I'm going to commit to writing at least one blog each week. I will provide you all with an update, good or bad, each Sunday plus maybe a few other tidbits. I'm thinking that making this committment will help keep me motivated and on track so here we go:


30 Day Resolution Cleanse Goals


1. Stick to the Isagenix program:


So far, I have been fairly strict and have stuck to the program except for a couple of 35 calorie yogurts for dessert and a bite of cheese yesterday. I have tried to limit the snacking to IsaSnacks, IsaDelights or 6-10 raw almonds and other than some Skinny Sticks (if you have not tried these, they are a low calorie replacement to chips!!) last night, so far so good.


2. Lose 25-30lbs during the cleanse:


Now I will say that I am probably not typical and when I stepped on the scale before starting this cleanse i was openly shocked at how much weight I had put on during my season booze and suger. (I had lost about 98lbs but ended up putting more than 40lbs back on.


However, as of this moring, I was down a little over 18lbs! I am pleasantly surprised with how quickly the excess weight seems to be coming off. I fully expect this to slow down next week but that's okay and I encourage everybody who is still carrying around the Christmas spare tire to just get started on something. Isagenix has worked fantastic for me and I would recommend it to anyone, especially those who haven't really dieted before but any type of healthy eating and regular exercise is going to help.


3. Exercise every day for the entire 30 day cleanse:


Speaking of exercise, I decided that rest days just don't work for me and I was going to be hardcore and do something every single day. Funny enough, I was watching those commercials about your kids needing an hour's worth of exercise each day and it got me thinking that i probably need the same thing.


Total success on this one! I have managed to get some form of good exercise in every day although I will say that yoga on my cleanse day was a bit tougher than I thought it would be and I have not gotten out running as much as I had hoped but it is winter and I do live in Canada so I can't complain too much and it looks like we are going to have good weather this week so I'm hopeful I can get out at least two days.


4. Do at least 50 push ups by the end of the 30 day cleanse.


For some reason I thought this one was going to be easy but I suspect this might be the toughest goal that I set for myself. I have done push ups every morning this past week as a way to start the day and have gone from 15 to 23 this morning but 50 still seems as long way off. However, I still have 23.5 days left on this cleanse and I am committed to kicking the s*#t out of this one. I'll let you know how many I'm up to next week.


I also set a few goals for 2012 and I'll just list them this week but perhaps next week, my blog will be "Kicking the S*#t out of 2012"


2012 Goals

1. Run my first half marathon in May (I've signed up!!) and begin training for a full marathon in October.


2. Do 100 push ups with stopping.


3. Trim down my BMI to a respectable rate and finally have a flat stomach.


4. Feal great and spend lot of quality time with my wife, kids, family and friends.


Well, I think that's it for now. I'm going to remember that January in Ottawa can be amazing if I make the time to do the things that make me and my family happy/healthy. I wish all of you the best for 2012 and I want to hear about all the successes that people are having with resoutions.