Following the Path

It’s day two of following the path I’m carving out for 2023. My sinuses are still bothering me, so I called my run to a mile. Obviously, it wasn’t the best run I’ve ever done, but I still got it done. Afterward, I killed Sweat’s HIIT beginner week four leg week. Tonight, I’ll round out the workouts with day two of the Everyday Yoga 21-day yoga challenge. So far, my I’m off to a stellar start in maintaining my salubrious habits.

In keeping with my 2023 path, I finally got my closet cleaned. I still have two tubs to go through, but that can be done during the work week at my desk. While going through a couple of other tubs, I found all our relocation stuff with Progressive. Additionally, I found a bunch of Progressive paperwork, which I clearly don’t need. After all, I haven’t worked at Progressive since 2009. There were also some great books in there including mad libs and a would you rather book.

When we were at IKEA last week, I bought myself two shoe cabinets for the closet. It gives the closet a much cleaner look. Moreover, it was the perfect opportunity to go through my shoes and practice the art of letting go. Incredibly, I found a boot and a sneaker without a mate. My best guess is that I had already donated their mates. Fortunately, the hubby built both shoe cabinets yesterday. Consequently, once the closet was ready, I moved both cabinets into their respective places.

Don’t mind the excessive number of leggings in the background….

The question asked on the bloganuary challenge today was how are you brave. So how am I brave? I willingly ride in a car with stinky teenage hockey players that just finished playing their game after a Chipotle burrito lunch. Seriously though over the past year, I haven’t shrunk from the responsibility of protecting my children. I’ve faced tremendous adversity quietly while maintaining appearances for the betterment of my family. I don’t know what 2023 will bring, but no matter what it throws at me I’m ready.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Week four Sweat Beginner HIIT leg day. Ran one mile, and walked one. Day Two of the Everyday Yoga Shop/Practyce 21-day yoga challenge.
  • Book: Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song: Let It Go from Disney’s Frozen

Intentions

Intentions sometimes get a bad rap i.e. he had the best of intentions, but….. Nevertheless, intentions are a powerful tool for creating the life you want. It can start small like setting an intention for your yoga practice or workout. Or it can be as large as setting intentions for the new year. As we start 2023, I looked back at the intentions I set for last year as inspiration for this year’s focus.

Last year the biggest intention I set was to reclaim my health by losing the thyroid weight. As I approached the ebbing months of my 42nd year, I felt a new sense of urgency regarding my health. While my family has been blessed with longevity on some sides, it’s been cursed with premature cardiac issues (plumbing not electricity). Consequently, I sat on the doorstep of high cholesterol and pre-diabetes, I knew a big change was in order.

In late January, I joined Calibrate after reviewing my options with my endocrinologist and primary care physician. Calibrate is a bit different than other weight loss programs in that it’s medically supervised and a full-year program. The first step is completing the lab work and establishing a baseline. It’s during this phase they also qualify patients for GLP-1 usage. Due to my family history in combination with thyroid disease and troubling blood sugar and cholesterol trends, I qualified for the medication.

Calibrate is great because it focuses on reclaiming your health by using resetting your metabolism through behavioral and dietary changes. Over the last year, I’ve made major improvements to my sleep hygiene. Additionally, I’ve made major shifts in my diet. Thankfully, the Calibrate program was the kick I needed to stop using poisonous artificial sweeteners. Moreover, I’ve hit become more intentional about what I eat and when. For example, I’ve started eating fruit seasonally. This also brings a nice variety to my diet. Lastly, the program reinforced that my workout routine was a point.

So what do I want to achieve this year?

I want to maintain my weight and health as I taper off the medication. Thankfully, the doctors designed the Calibrate program, so that their patients to come off the medication. By sticking to the programs, the changes in our biology should help us maintain the lower set point (aka our new weight). Naturally, I’ll need to maintain the healthy habits I created in order to maintain the weight loss.

Now that the enchanting holiday season is over, it’s almost time to go back to work and school. This, of course, is the lamest part of the holiday season. Nonetheless, I find myself excited to embark on my goals and intentions for 2023. 2022 blew chunks in so many ways. For me, 2023 will be a year of redemption and reclaiming the life I want to live. To that note, I’ve listed my goals below.

Goals for 2023

  • Maintain thyroid weight
  • Get back to top 10% at work
  • Run 5k
  • Run 10k
  • Blog regularly i.e 6 out of 7 days per week
  • Organize and de-clutter my closets
  • Practice yoga daily
  • Read daily
  • Complete Sweat HIIT programs
  • Complete Every Day Yoga Shop 21 Day yoga challenge

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Ran 2 miles and completed day 1 of the yoga challenge
  • Book: Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
  • Blog: almost done
  • Today’s song: Metallica’s Until It Sleeps performed by Apocalyptica