challenge

Mindful Eating Challenge

Years ago I started doing the No-Sugar February Challenge. It has evolved into the Mindful Eating Challenge. That means if giving up sugar isn’t really beneficial for you—maybe you aren’t the addict I am—you can choose a challenge that fits your needs for the shortest month of the year.

Challenge Suggestions (pick one or all):

Give up sugar (or whatever your vice is).

Make sure you aren’t distracted while eating. Take time to stop and eat. That means no eating in front of the television, Facebook, or while doing the crossword.

Try not to overeat at meals.

Try to include more veggies (perhaps even a veggie at every meal).

Use an app or excel spreadsheet to record everything you eat and watch calories in vs. out.

Try to drink more water, reduce caffeine or cut out beverages with calories.

Select a program like the Whole30, Paleo, vegan or some other food related lifestyle you’ve been interested in experimenting with.

Take a picture of all your food and text it to a friend.

Details:

We started a Facebook group if knowing you aren’t alone is helpful. It’s the Mindful Eating Challenge group with lettuce leaves as its profile picture. The challenge starts […]

Mindful Eating ChallengeMaggie Downie2018-02-14T15:56:37-05:00

Move More

Just me trying to get my feet behind my head and stay relaxed at the same time.

I love to move. I’m always looking for ways to move more throughout the day. This month on a whim I’ve been doing an Instagram challenge to try a different, assigned yoga pose every day. Some of the moves feel great. Other days I look at the way I’m supposed to contort myself and I just laugh. I haven’t been able to get my feet behind my head since I was six months old.

Most days I play with movement. I have some monkey bars and I experiment with what I can do with them. I try to feel what my clients say they feel on certain exercises. While taking a walk, I check to see if my butt is involved in each step. When I breathe, I experiment with where I can send my breath. When watching television, I roll around on Yoga Tune Up balls. Movement is a game for me. Discovering what, where and when can I fit movement into my day makes me happy. I enjoy the challenge.

To some degree this […]

Move MoreMaggie Downie2018-05-04T09:57:18-04:00

Month of Mindful Eating

Every once in a while I get a hankering to do a food challenge. Typically every February I challenge myself not to consume sugar. I pick February because it’s the shortest month of the year. But after the amount of ice cream I consumed this summer, I’d rather not wait until February for a challenge. For most of the month of September, starting on Tuesday, September 5^th (after Labor Day Weekend), I’ll be doing a Month of Mindful Eating. Anyone want to join me?

This challenge is a little open ended. You can pick what Mindful Eating means for you. Maybe you grab chips or chocolate without even noticing and after you regret it and you want to cut those trigger foods out. Maybe you need to be accountable for what you eat so it would help to snap a picture and share each meal with a friend. Perhaps you could reduce alcohol or soda intake. For me, I’m going to try portion control and moderation because that is what I struggle with the most. To keep me honest, I’m going to record my foods in my Fitbit App so I can […]

Month of Mindful EatingMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:24:43-05:00

22 Push-up Challenge

The 22 push-up challenge has been encouraging people to do 22 push-ups a day for a month to raise awareness about veteran suicides. My brother-in-law sent me the challenge months ago. I didn’t do it because I wasn’t feeling well. Turns out I had Lyme disease. But I did finally get around to creating a list of over 22 ways you can do a push up so that anyone doing the challenge can add some variety. Remember, never pick a version if it hurts in a bad way or seems to aggravate your body. Here goes:

The Basics

On your toes:
On your knees:
In tabletop

Gentler Versions for Individuals who need to go lighter on the wrists and shoulders

Wall
Wall Toss
Flex Band Lying on Back

Playing with Speed

You can slow down on the way […]

22 Push-up ChallengeMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:34:37-05:00

Conquer the Full Roll Up

The Full Roll Up is one of the Pilates exercises that frustrates people the most. So many people struggle with this movement. They get discouraged and blame their abs. Sure, your abs might be a part of the problem. They may need to get stronger to do the exercise, but they also might just need to learn how to fire properly—meaning they could do it if they understood what they were supposed to do. Most of us weren’t taught how to do a sit up or ab exercises properly. Many of us use other muscles like hip flexors or the muscles in the neck to try to pull ourselves up to a seated position. Your abs might be strong enough, but they’ve never had to do the work before, why should they start now? And it’s not just about your abs. Tightness in your back could be getting in your way. So, how do we break it all down so you can conquer the full roll up?
First, cut yourself some slack. Yes, it’s true, you might not be able to do this exercise right now, but that does not mean you […]

Conquer the Full Roll UpMaggie Downie2018-02-14T17:41:48-05:00