It’s Day 4 of the 28 Day Challenge. 1/7th of the way complete. Everyday I ask myself “Why are you doing this?”

Simple answer is I need to lose the weight back that I have gained since my back injury put me out of Boot Camp on a regular basis. I tried returning a few times and though it felt good mentally to be there with my friends and support group, physically I think the workout is still to taxing on my healing back. Not to mention the car accident a week ago that has re-aggravated my back and now neck. Sigh.

But I don’t let these things get me down. I decide to take an alternate route to reach my goals. I am 5 months away form my 30th birthday and not quite yet to my goal of being ‘the healthiest I have ever been in my life.’ Close, but not quite there. I am hoping the 28 Day Challenge will give me the boost I need to start 2011 off right and continue to work hard throughout the remainder of my 20’s.

I told my trainer Kyle I started 2010 off strong and wanted to end it with a bang and he presented me with the following 28 Day Challenge:

The Challenge
· Cut out all processed foods. Eat real food for 28 days
· Cut out all added sugar and artificial sugars
· Cut out all dairy
· Cut out all grains, even whole grains
· Cut out White Potatoes
· Cut out all protein powders, pre packed snacks, protein bars
· Be active 45 minutes per day
· Cut out all Negative thoughts and replace by Positive thoughts
· Cut out all Caffeine, Nicotine, Alcohol or Other Bad Habits
· Keep a daily Food Journal and Personal Journal
· NO CHEATING. 1 BITE or 1 SIP is considered cheating.

So far, no caffeine or alcohol is hardest. Plus, doesn’t knowing you “can’t” have something automatically make you “want” it even more???

The Challenge is all about breaking habits, even ones you didn’t realize you had. I knew I had become a coffee drinker over the past year or so since the girls were born. It began out of desperation to stay awake, create more energy through the endless days and nights of breastfeeding twins and simultaneously chasing around a 1 year old. Then my cappuccino habit escalated to full blown coffee addiction. Fancy iced drinks from Starbucks and McDonald’s became expensive, so I started doctoring up my own from home. Yummy they tasted good and provided the much needed caffeine.

Before I even knew it, we had a pot of coffee on pretty much 24/7. It wasn’t unusual for us to drain a pot in the evening and start a fresh one. When an unlimited supply of coffee began not doing the trick, I strayed to caffeine pills here and there. Wow, now I really am becoming more and more like my mom! Her feet don’t hit the floor before she’s popping a pill.

So far in the Challenge, I’ve realized other coffee habits. When out shopping, I always get a coffee. When it’s cold, I always stop and buy a coffee. If I am out running errands alone, I treat myself to a coffee. Interesting.

So far, the food part of it hasn’t been that bad. I did a similar diet to this at the beginning of the year when I lost 20 lbs in the first phase of Boot Camp. The most common response when people read the list of things we are eliminating is ‘So what CAN you eat?’ and there’s actually a long list of really good fresh foods, it just takes planning.

But right now, I still feel like it sucks. Not drinking sucks, though I did go to a birthday party over the weekend with another person doing the Challenge and had a really good time sober, so it is possible. But I would have much rather been drinking whiskey and coke with my husband or taking Apple Rum shots! Does that make me a bad person? An alcoholic? Guess it depends who you’re asking!

The point of this whole thing is to learn about yourself and eliminate negativity from your life. I am curious to see what else I learn in the process, as well as continue to drop the pounds. I am STILL fighting the last stubborn remnants of my baby weight, but I also have a ways to go once I reach that goal. I was within 7 lbs away just a mere few months ago before that damn back injury, but now I feel like I am fighting to lose the same weight over and over again. Story of my life.

By my birthday my husband said we’ll get me down to my ‘fighting weight’ but the sad thing is I don’t even know what that is. I have been overweight so long, yo-yoing back and forth my whole life that even when I was at my lightest weight wise, I was terribly sick from malnutrition and all the other horrible things I was putting my body through.

At least I know this time A) I can lose weight and B) The way in which I lose it is beneficial not detrimental to my body and self. A good friend always says ‘this is the only body you have.’ It feels good to treat it better, no matter what my evil ego says to contradict that.