Last 90 Days Challenge
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Today is the 13th day, or day 78, of the last 90 days of 2019. I started the Last 90 Days after being encouraged by a few friends who are also doing it. These friends have also read Rachel Hollis’ books, Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing. The Premise of the Last 90 Days is that, “It takes 21 days to create a habit, or 90 days to change your life.”
The Last 90 Days is based upon the last 90 days of the current calendar year, with the goals of your last 90 days being: The Five to Thrive
1. Get up an hour earlier than you normally do and use the time for yourself
2. Workout for at least thirty minutes every day
3. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day
4. Give up one food category you know you shouldn’t be eating
5. Write down ten things you’re grateful for every single day
So why are these goals important?
As stated by The Hollis Co.:
- Because the last three months tend to be the most stressful of the entire year and if you don't have a plan, you'll resort to negative behavior.
- Because the last three months of the year are typically when you interact with extended family, and if that family is stressful at best or toxic at worst and don't have a plan to deal with them, you'll become the worst version of yourself around them.
- Because the last three months of the year are typically when we make the worst decisions regarding our health. We eat more, drink more and move less. If you don't have a plan, you'll reach for bad coping mechanisms
So how am I doing, you ask?
1. Get up an hour earlier than you normally do and use the time for yourself
I haven’t gotten up an hour early every single day, but maybe about half. This one has been a bit challenging for me as I was traveling for work the past week. My roommate, though awesome, was someone I barely knew, so I didn’t want to be the horrible person making noise way earlier than necessary. On the days that I have gotten up early though, I have spent time writing in my journal, praying, working out, and a few times even just sitting on the couch, in the dark, mentally preparing for the day ahead.
2. Workout for at least thirty minutes every day
I also haven’t worked out every single day. For me, I am looking at this as more of being active each day instead of working out. If I go for a walk after supper with my husband, or walk the halls on my lunch break, I think it definitely still counts. Although I know for sure there are two days where I haven’t gotten any activity, I have tried to make up for it by getting extra minutes in on other days. So far, for the first 13 days, I have 582 minutes of activity, which averages to be about 45 minutes of activity a day. Now, I could be down on myself for the two days I skipped, but instead, I am proud of myself for being activity enough on other days to carry the weight.
3. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day
PSA- This one might be a bit of TMI if I am being honest…
This one I have done pretty darn good at, if I do say so myself! At first I was really worried. Being a teaching, and not having a chance to use the restroom for three hours at a time made this seem like a daunting and impossible task, but I have found a few ways to make this work. I do have a small bladder, meaning about 20-30 minutes after drinking something I will need to use the restroom, so the first thing I do in the morning is I try to get my first 16 ounces in. This way, I can either use the restroom before leaving for work, or right when I get to work. Now that I have gotten two cups of water in, I let myself have my morning coffee, and I also fill my water bottle which is around 20 ounces. We have students in the morning from 8:00-10:00am, but I can usually sneak away to use the restroom either between a class or once the para arrives. My goal is to finish my water bottle by lunch, and then refill it for the afternoon, which means I should be at around 36 ounces of water by noon. The afternoon is a bit trickier because I have a three-hour span with students, and no para, so I don’t typically drink many liquids during this time, maybe half my water bottle if I can. This means by the end of the school day I am around 46 ounces. When possible, I do my best to finish my water bottle before leaving for the day, which puts me at around 56 ounces, meaning I only have to drink about one more full glass of water at home for supper, before going to sleep and starting back over again!
4. Give up one food category you know you shouldn’t be eating
{ C A N D Y } Yes, it’s true, candy is my weakness! Every day, no matter what I have for lunch, you can find me snooping around for a piece of candy. Chocolate, sweet, sour, you name it, I want it. I knew candy would be a hard one for me to give up, and within the first few days I forgot multiple times, but luckily remembered before actually indulging. This past Saturday at a wedding though, was a different story. The couple had placed bowls of Sixlets and taffy around the tables, and I honestly didn’t think anything of it as I enjoyed a few of each… until we were driving home and my husband said, “I was surprised you were eating that candy, but you’re a strong, independent woman, and you don’t need no man telling you what to do.” As he is laughing, I am just putting the pieces together that I had been eating candy without it even crossing my mind that I had given it up. Anyway, again, I can’t be too hard on myself, because one session of eating candy out of the past 13 days is still quite a success in my opinion!
5. Write down ten things you’re grateful for every single day.
I really do enjoy this one each day, but with traveling, I didn’t physically write in my journal each morning. Instead, I typed it on my phone, to be transferred to my journal at a later date. For this one, I think the biggest thing is just focusing on the good. We all have those days where things don’t seem to be going our way, yet we still have so much we need to be thankful for. Sometimes it might be your faith, family, safe travels, being healthy, but other days it might be a shovel to get out of your driveway, coffee to survive the day, or warm cookies out of the oven.
Although it has only been two weeks, I am truly enjoying this journey. Not only has it been a great way to connect with my friends and have them help me stay accountable, but I truly do feel like I am going to be the best version of me for the start of 2020!