July 11th marked exactly 6 months since Spence and I officially started our “health overhaul.” January 11th was the first time we pressed play on Hammer & Chisel and really had no idea what we were getting into. 6 months ago we were trying to figure out what it means to meal plan, what these color coded containers we were supposed to use were, what life would be like without eating cookies and ice cream regularly, and how we were possibly going to survive eating carrots and celery as a snack. Fast forward 6 months and although we do still crave sweets on occasion, would love to crack a beer open at dinner, and a frozen pizza is easier to prepare than some of our healthier meals, eating healthy has become a lot easier. It was a slow process at first, but over time we have come to enjoy eating healthy and can feel a significant difference when we don’t. For example, I immediately can tell a difference in my body and cravings when I miss Shakeology during the day. We have also learned to cook numerous healthy meals, are getting better at meal prepping, and have worked out no less than 6 days per week for 6 months.
Specific healthy behaviors aside, we have also noticed physical and mental changes. Weight loss, inches loss, muscle gain, more strength, more energy, and I can only speak for myself, but I have definitely noticed significant improvement in my mental health as well!
Today in one of my coaching groups, we were talking about our “why.” Why we started our health and fitness journey, why we decided to share our journey, and why we decided to become coaches to help others. It made me reflect on my reasoning for signing up to do Hammer & Chisel in the first place. I remember recovering from my ankle injury and just wanting to work out, but not being able to (at least to the degree I wanted to). I remember being exhausted and stressed from school and letting my health take a back burner to reading, research, class, etc. I remember my “quality time” with Spence being us in the same room while I was sitting on my laptop doing work. I remember staying up until midnight or 1 AM to finish work, and getting up by 6 to get a head start on my day. So when I think about my “why” I think of these things:
- Wanting to improve both my physical and mental health, and actually focus on my well-being, rather than just school.
- Wanting to spend more quality time with Spence doing something we both enjoy, rather than letting school and work get in the way.
- Wanting to motivate and inspire others to take care of their own physical and mental health, make them realize that their goals are in reach, that you can learn good habits at any point in your life, and that you don’t need to go to the gym and work out hours on end to get results.
- Wanting to adopt good behaviors now, so that Spence and I can pass these behaviors on to our future children.
I am happy to say that in the past 6 months, I believe I have accomplished all these things (well not fully reason 4, but the adopting good behaviors part, yes – nobody get overly excited now) and I can’t wait to see what the next 6 months brings us. We already plan to do the 21 Day Fix Extreme (let me know if anyone wants to join!), followed by Body Beast, get better at meal prepping, and expand the meals we cook, but I am sure we will have more goals along the way.
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