The Take Yourself Seriously 60-Day Challenge

Today's the day we start the Take Yourself Seriously 60-Day Challenge.

The rules are simple:

1. Choose three things that will make you a healthier person--physically, emotionally, spiritually--and do them for this 60-day period, from now through April 26.

2. If it's the kind of thing you do every day (like drinking enough water), do it every day. If it's the kind of thing you do less often (like exercising three times a week, or seeing a therapist once a week) do it at that frequency.

3. If you don't do it one day, rub some dirt on it and keep going. The important thing is hanging in there through the end, not doing it perfectly every day.

4. If you realize one of the things you picked just isn't going to work for your life, pick something else and switch. There's no point in dragging yourself through something that doesn't make sense just because you posted here that you would. This is for you, not for the internets at large.

5. Post your three things here today. Every day I'll post a little check-in post, where you can keep a record of what you did the day before. If you want to post, post. If you don't, don't. Once a week I'll post a longer post to discuss how it's going.

6. No judging other people's three things, but if you have info that could help them, please post it.

7. Have fun!

Now for my three things:

1. Asleep between 10 and 10:30 on weeknights.

2. Eat five servings of vegetables a day. Part of a bigger plan to eat better in general, but 5 vegetables is doable.

3. Coffee: I've been thinking about it, and really I just want to be more mindful of what I eat/drink. So no more free coffee at work. If I drink coffee it's going to be fair trade or really delicious in some other way. And that afternoon "it's three o'clock so let's have coffee"? Nope--green tea. I hate green tea. I think I'm going to be drinking a lot of green tea.

Comments

[michaela]

I've been pondering my three things since you posted this... that in itself has been a great exercise! So here's what I came up with:

1. Establish a home yoga practice (in addition to continuing to go to a yoga class at least once a week). This means doing yoga at home 3x week.

2. Acknowledge when I am not getting any writing done and walk AWAY from the computer. I have a terrible habit of not-writing by aimlessly surfing the web, to create the illusion that I'm working. This made a little sense when I was working on staff somewhere. But I'm a freelancer - no one cares when my work gets done, as long as it does! So if I'm stuck or blocked, I will get out of my chair and DO something - wash dishes, go for a walk, throw a ball for the (sadly neglected) dog. And then try again with the work afterwards.

3. Wash my face every night. I rarely wear makeup so I tend to let myself on the hook on this one. No more!

[paola]

Here are my three. (2 of the 3 will definitely be difficult for me, the 3rd is in just to make me feel I can do it if I don't mange to keep the other 2 going)

1. initiate sex at least once a week. Every Wednesday I will decide in advance the day I will initiate sex that week. This so I don't continue to say, no not tonight I'm too tired.

2. Work on my abs daily ( perhaps even only 10 crunches, but something)

3. read something everyday, preferably something from a book, but even the newspaper, a 'decent' magazine.

[Alma]

My three

1)Yoga daily - 15 minutes t0 get the kinks out
2)More water
3)Mutli vit + Omega 3s

Green tea tip: it's very easy to steep green teas too long which results in that nasty bitter taste from overdeveloped tannins - some are ready after just 2 minutes steeping (I've never found any regular green teas that can take more than 3 minutes). Also do NOT use boiling water (same tannin issue) - aim for water around 170 degrees. (Technically the idea is boil the water than let it cool - pour it into your cold cup/pot , then add your tea after a few minutes.) If you use a loose leaf tea, you want a heaping teaspoon of the green stuff, usually. Or you could try some of the decaf. green tea blends (Good E@rth makes some pretty nice ones) that seem to have better tolerance on the steeping/temperature window.

[melissa]

*Drink 64 oz of water every day.
*Exercise 3x a week (even if it is only 15 minutes.
*Be more patient and understanding with my husband - giving HIM my best self, not my coworkers.

[andrea]

Okay here we go:

-work out 3x a week
-initiate, or at least agree to sex once a week (ugh, do i HAVE to?!)
-if I'm not doing something on the computer (I work from home), do something else.

[Another Erin]

My three:

1. Work up to (and maintain) weekly running mileage of 35-45 mpw.

2. Live less exclusively on carbs (yes, I know that's vague - in concrete terms I think that means substituting something like yogurt for one of my three!!! daily bagels).

3. Go to church 2x/month with goal of finding a congregation I'm comfortable with.

[Amy H]

Thanks for doing this Moxie!

My 3 things:

1. Exercise 4-5 times a week (no kids or hubby so no excuse to not do it)

2. Eat better and drink more water by following the Weight Watchers plan. This plan is not for everyone, but it works well for me when I actually follow it.

3. Read more books especially non-fiction. I have been lax on this since I have been watching all of the seasons of the Gilmore Girls on dvd from netflix.

[heather]

my three:

1. cut down/cut out refined sugars
2. exercise 3 times a week
3. quit the splenda in my morning tea

green tea tip: i can't stand most green teas, but the green tea starbucks carries (tazo brand) is fabulous. you can buy a box of it there and i'm sure other places carry it as well.

[dcfullest]

1. Drink two liters of water.
2. Do some yoga everyday.
3. Clean the kitchen daily. This will lead to me wanting to cook more.
4. Do not intentionally eat trans-fats and HFCS.

[Cat]

Ok. I'm going to:

1. Go to bed by 11pm weeknights
2. Cut down on the Diet Coke (it seems like since I decided to quit it I've been CRAVING it!)
3. Exercise 3-5 times per week

[Mykal]

More green tea suggestions. I love green tea. I will not drink cut leaf tea, b/c it brews up a more bitter cup. Which means I'm never using tea bags, b/c those are almost always cut leaf tea. If you do have to use cut leaf I would recommend brewing for 1 minute or less, otherwise it tastes like dirt. Most green teas also need less hot water (not boiling) to brew up nicely.

I'd recommend finding a tea shop and getting some loose leaf. Chinese food sections usually have pretty good selections and are pretty cheap. Or for something more interesting(but harder to find, Japanese style)try getting a sencha(middle of the road daily tea), or if you want something more interesting there are things like genmaicha, with roasted rice in it, or hojicha, which is roasted tea(dark smokey flavor).

I wish I could brew you a pot! I've convinced a lot of my friends green tea is way better than they thought, with some well brewed tea.

[Catharina]

What perfect timing! I basically just decided to change a couple of things last weekend, so this is a great motivator for me. Thanks!

My three things:

1) Integrate exercise into my daily life. Take my bike to classes, do crunches in the morning, walk to appointments, go running when the weather is nice.

2) Eat healthier. The food I generally eat is basically ok, I just tend to eat too much (because I loooove food...), so I want to try and always enjoy the serving I have and not already be looking forward to the second helping and stop when I'm full, not stuffed. And work on will-power concerning sweets!

3) Cut back on internet-time. This is going to be the hardest, I think, since I use the computer a lot to write papers and do research, reading blogs is just so tempting and can be extremely time-consuming.

[rudyinparis]

Here are mine:

1. Take a multivitamin. I started doing this last weekend and, dang, those things are hard to choke down.

2. Walk the dog 3x a week.

My orginal 3rd thing was going to be cutting out the sugar habit I've developed in the afternoons at work. I've changed my mind, though, as I became aware that I was going to quickly feel that I was punishing myself, and I don't think that's the point of the challenge! So I will try to be more mindful of my sugar intake and my 3rd goal will instead be a reward, not punishment:

3. Have sex at least twice a week.

[jkcknits]

Here are my three:

1. Commit myself to the training program for the 60 mile breast cancer walk that I am doing in August. Minimum of 3 miles day at least 4 times a week.

2. Eat at least 2 more servings of veggies a day.

3. Be more present with my husband in the evenings - it is way too easy to come home and both be on our computers all night instead of interacting with each other.

[Cecily T]

Well, two of these things are from my 1001 things list, so they are in progress already, but I need to step it up on them. Like others, I find myself using the internet as a 'relaxing break' and it eats into my time. I have a nap-challenged 7.5 month old.

1. Exercise 5x a week. I do okay with my yoga (Namaste on FitTV, love it!, it's easy and not too long), and have started reconstructing my PP abs with MTV Pilates. But I want to commit even on days when I don't get a 'nap break' for exercising to just do 10 pushup and 10 crunches or something.

2. Practice the piano 3x a week. I like to do it, but I usually end up making excuses 'not while the baby is sleeping' and 'not while the baby is awake' b/c she might need me and I don't want to be interrupted. Lame of me, so I need to knock it off.

3. Only eat sweets from 1:00 - 3:00 and 6:00 - 9:00. I know that sounds like a lot of time to pig out, but I'm a grazer, and so I often grab a piece of chocolate on my way through the kitchen. The eventual goal will be to get myself down to just 1-2 pieces of chocolate a day. I have 6 lbs to lose yet, and they need to start coming off!

[Becca]

1. Don't yell at my kids. Don't yell at my kids. Don't yell at my kids.

2. Take at least a 15 minute walk. Every day.

3. Asleep by 10:00 p.m.

[Leah]

Ok, I think I have my 3.

1.) Jog with the jogging stroller at least Mon/Wed/Fri

2.) Give up HFCS as much as possible. I'm not going to go insane about it like I did a few years ago, if it's in an otherwise healthy loaf of bread low on the ingredient list, I won't worry, but no more pop/ice cream/crappy candy bars, etc.

3.) Take my Omega 3s and vitamins and brush my teeth before I go to bed. I have a bad habit of being too tired and then waking up feeling gross the next day.

[Claire]

1. Do T-Tapp 3x per week and take at least one long walk each weekend.

2. Go to bed by 10 or 10:30 every night. And not on the couch while my husband watches TV.

3. Go to church 2x per month.

I'm 8 weeks pregnant, and feel like I'm doing okay on diet, water, and vitamins. But not on exercise & sleep. And we have to get back into the habit of going to our church before the baby.

[Katy]

Okay, I know the first one is more of a "category" but this way I have different things I can do to fulfill it each day (of course, if I can do all of them, that will be great).

1. Take better care of my skin and body: wash my face each night, use moisturizer, take my vitamins/fish oil, eat more veggies.

2. Incorporate more exercise into my week - take BJ and the dog to the park instead of playing in the back yard.

3. Be more productive: get up earlier, surf the net less.

Good luck to all!

[Lisa]

Two of my three are quite concrete; the third is more overarching and perhaps too broad but it's been my mantra of late:

1. Go back to daily vitamins. I was so good about this during pregnancy and have totally slacked off, but since I'm still nursing and not eating very healthfully, I really need to replenish those stores!

2. Have a fruit or a vegetable with every meal.

3. Where I am physically present, be mentally present. This means not multitasking my way throughout the day, ultimately feeling like I just half-assed my way through most activities.

Gotto go find some fruit now....

[Blythe]

1. Take a multivitamin every day. Why is this so difficult?

2. Eat 5 servings of veggies every day. I'm going to make a chart. Maybe I'll even give myself gold stars.

3. STEP AWAY FROM THE INTERNET after I've checked my email in the morning, and stay away until afternoon naptime.

[Alexa]

1 Some yoga 3 times a week to work on flexibility and help out my sore back.
2 More fruits and veggies everyday.
3 Be more productive at work and stop spending so much time online.

[Tracy]

1. Drink at least 8 glasses a day (I know, it's not the number that counts, but if I can mark it on my calendar, it's easier for me to do it)
2. Weather permitting, take one walk a day with my son. (we can go to Target if the weather does not permit!)
3. Quit smoking. Ugh.

[Kate]

1 Exercise 5x a week
2 Cut down on refined sugar
3 Less time online/more time focusing on the baby

[Kate]

1. Floss my teeth every day.
2. Eat a decent, relatively balanced breakfast every day (cereal & fruit; yogurt & whole grain english muffin, etc) to avoid eating crappy stuff and/or being crabby by mid-morning.
3. Be a more attentive food label reader. Cut way back on HFCS and sat/trans fats. Attempt to completely eliminate artificial colors and flavors.

I am pretty low brow when it comes to green tea--I use it in bags but steep quickly. I do, however, like the flavored ones from Celestial Seasonings. I love peppermint herbal tea, so I drink the (decaf) mint green. They have a lot of other flavors, most of which I haven't tried because caffeine keeps the nursling awake!

[H-Bomb]

I'm starting yoga class again tonight, and would like to go at least once per week.

Get up earlier so I have time to walk to work, or am able to leave exactly at 5 so I can walk to pickup from daycare. Either way- 30 mins of walking at least (and hopefully twice!) per weekday.

#3 is kind of split between eating 5 veggies per day (plus I just started daily Omega-3s), and sex at least once every TWO weeks (my poor husband!).

[Bobbie]

1. Begin triathlon training program (for Sept triathlon) -- running at least 4 times a week, getting on bike whenever weather permits, and swimming at least twice a week.

2. Volunteer once a week with an organization involved in some aspect of community building.

3. Spend the majority of my son's nap reading or writing, NOT aimlessly searching the web!

[Sarah V.]

OK (deep breath) I'm gonna go for it.

My three things:

1. Stop the mindless because-the-food-is-there snacking. Fine if I really want something, but I need to start thinking very carefully about whether I really want it or not.

2. Get back into doing my ten-minute six-day-a-week exercise routine.

3. Aim to be in bed by 11.00 unless there's a good reason why not. (I'm lax enough on what constitutes a 'good reason' that I'll probably be in bed later than this more often than not - what I'm trying to do here is stop the times when I'm just mindlessly surfing the 'Net rather than get up & go to bed.)

[Moxie]

Yeah, in culinary school we had about three hours of instruction time on green tea. It's amazing how much better green tea tastes when you brew it at the paper temp (if you're heating water in an open pot it's the point at which the water starts to shiver) and only steep for 1-2 minutes, tops. (Hmm, green tea is kind of like sweet corn, I'm thinking.)

But even brewed well, I still don't like it. File it away with raisins and scallops in the "even when I've had it done really well I still don't like the taste" file.

My babysitter (down a pants size from T-Tapp, BTW) suggested just getting white tea instead. I may be forced into that.

Also, @Becca, it's really hard to do a negative goal! Maybe pick something to do *instead* of yelling at your kids, and commit to that instead. Like "When I feel like yelling at the kids, do one round of yoga breathing" or "When I start to feel the urge to yell, make everyone do 10 jumping jacks" or "sing a round of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" or "When I feel like yelling, sing it to them like I'm Amy Winehouse instead" or something like that.

[meggiemoo]

1. T-Tapp 3 to 4 times a week

2. In bed by 10:00 every night

3. Sex every other day (only because we're trying to conceive...don't think I'm throwing down the gauntlet or anything) :o)

[cagey]

My three things:
1) Cut out all soda (I have done this for Lent already, but am going to cruise on through April with it)

2) No beef (I do not eat/cook beef at home, but have been splurging way too much while eating out. The exceptions to this rule will be the occasional haleem, nihari or steak/goat cheese fajita. Which I rarely eat anyway.)

3)Exercising for 30 minutes, 4 times a week.

[Julie]

My 3 are:
1) 64+ oz water daily. I've been doing this for a week already and, while I am spending a lot of time in the bathroom, feel a lot cleaner.

2) Attempt Theresa Tapp's God-Made/Man Made diet. I've been wanting to do it for a while and here is a good chance to try, fail, try again and possibly succeed. For me it's less about losing weight and more about eating healthier. In the last 6 months I've had 6 friends diagnosed with cancer. I think Moxie is right that we are slowly poisoning ourselves. While I can't afford to go totally organic, I want to eat things with as little processing as possible. It's just not a coincidence in my opinion.

3) 4 workouts a week plus brushing.

[kristie]

1. Do 20 minutes of some kind of exercise every day, even if it is just walking.

2. Daily Bible reading and prayer time.

3. In bed by 11pm.

[Katie]

My Three:
1. Take Fish Oil every day. I actually started this last week when you originally posted about the Challenge and so far so good. I know the benefits so I just have to decide if burping disgusting fish oil all day is worth it long-term.
2. Switch out my afternoon soda for green tea, and my morning coffee for black tea.
3. Avoid all foods with high fructose corn syrup (see afternoon soda).
I think it is interesting that several people have posted that they would have sex once a week. I totally understand. Did we ever think having kids would be THIS hard on our sex lives?

[janel]

Here we go:
1) Quit drinking coffee out of habit. Get back to a place where I perhaps have it a couple of times a week, and really enjoy it when I do.

2) Renew my commitment to eating a diet free of refined sugar. I did this for 4+ years before my son was born. After the birth, I fell of the wagon, and have been hopping on and off ever since. My son turned one yesterday (happy birthday moxie and miles), so I don't think I have the new baby excuse anymore.

3) Spend at least 10 minutes a day cleaning, with an overall goal of reducing the weight of my belongings by at least 100 pounds by the end of the challenge. (I won't actually weigh the stuff I get rid of, just eyeball it.)

Good luck everybody!

[cs white]

Okay, here are my three:

1) T-Tapp at least 3x/week
2) Drink at least a thermos-full of water at work per day
3) Put sunscreen (at least on my face) everyday!

Thanks for the challenge, Moxie!

[swampy]

I've been needing to make some changes, thanks for the inspiration.

1. Stop grazing all day. Eat only at defined meal and snack times. I work from home 3 days a week and its really hard not to run into the kitchen when things get frustrating.

2. Replace second cup of coffee/splenda with green tea with local honey. Thanks for the idea. I like green tea so this isn't a problem for me. Hopefully will also reduce allergy symptoms this spring.

3. Exercise 4-5 times a week.

4. Not really a habit but by the end of 60 days I'd like to have my 3 year old sleeping in her own bed for most of the night. She started going to sleep in our bed 6 months ago and I let her because it made bedtime so much easier (we can just put her down and walk away if she is in our bed). But everyone will sleep better if this stops.

[kate]

ok

1. exercise 3 times a week

2. clean at least 1 room in the house every day

3. eat more fruit/veggies and continue to take omega 3's

[caramama]

Everyone's lists are so great!!! You all rock!

I've gone back and forth on my three, but in the end I'm sticking with what I posted last week:

1. Do yoga 3 times a week.
2. Cut back on overall high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) intake by reading all labels when possible and avoiding things with HFCS in them.
3. Eating organic foods especially fruits, trying to buy things that are grown on local farms.

Moxie - You went to culinary school? I didn't know I could like you more, and then you throw in that! And thanks for this challenge. It's really a great idea.

Taking vitamins - I do this and fish oil every day, but I was horrible at it when I started. What worked for me was keeping them out on the table so I would see them while eating dinner and taking them then. Also, getting my husband to help me remember was a key factor. With two people trying to remember, it was more likely one of us would (and he's got the better memory for things like that).

More sex - I have some good tips for this, but I'll have to think about how to phrase some of them. Maybe I'll post on my blog and/or on tomorrow's post here about how we are doing.

[bazmom]

My three:
1. Exercise at least 3x/week.
2. I'm a healthy eater, but eat too large portions sometimes, so I will eat only enough for 1 person.
3. Only think positive thoughts.

Thanks for doing this Moxie.

[caramama]

That is, tomorrow's post here which Moxie said she is going to post so we can keep track of how we are doing on the challenge. Not "how we are doing" as in my personal sex life. I might be willing to share those details, but you have to buy me a cup of coffee first. ;-)

[Lisa]

1. Go to bed before 11pm on weeknights.
2. Lift weights once per week (in addition to running 3-4 times per week)
3. Don't eat after 8pm.

[rudyinparis]

Hi Tracy,

I saw that your 3rd goal is to quit smoking. I quit--for good--this last September. I'm not going to subject this community to everything I have to say on the topic, but I did want to say that nowadays there are tons of resources for information and even more importantly, in my view, support groups online. And I used the patch and was very happy with it. If you want to talk more about this goal I can be reached at rudyinparis[at]usa.net and I'd be happy to listen. Either way, I offer you my most sincere and heartfelt best wishes.

[pnuts mama]

i can't wait to read everyone's when it's (hopefully- sigh) naptime later!

here's mine:

1. drink at least two glasses of milk everyday- i love milk, and i need it for this pregnancy, but i'm not drinking it enough. and start the damn fish oil already.

2. have sex at least twice a week. i would imagine this would combine nicely with "getting to bed earlier"- since it's easier to have sex with my husband when we are in the same room, and both awake.

3. work on writing my dissertation EVERYDAY during naptime. which seems to be waning, and lets be honest, will be impossible once baby bean arrives. again, will coincide nicely with cutting back on useless internet time (not this site!)

good luck, everyone!!!

[Malarkey]

1. Less obsessive internet/email time. Hard to quantify this, but the idea is just to not check email every 10 minutes, especially when baby is awake. My maternity leave ends soon and I want to be present for the remaining time I have at home with my son. Besides, I rarely find an exciting email waiting for me.

2. Lift weights 1x a week

3. Read 1 night a week instead of watching movies or shows with my husband. Admittedly a nice thing to do, but we both need to use the evenings a little more to get some work done (we're professors so reading = work)

[Maria]

Oh, this is such good timing for me. I really really need some structure for taking better care of myself!

My three are:

1. No more Pepsi at home

2. Bed by 10:30 (this is going to be the hardest one)

3. SOME form of mindful exercise each day - as Paola said, even if it's a few crunches or stretches to start. I am hoping that I'll be able to inch this up through the 60 days, but for an attainable goal, this'll do to get going I think.

Thank you Moxie!

[Buffy]

1. Write something non-work related every day (I'm a teacher and I write lots of assignments, lesson plans, blah blah blah, but I need to write more of my own stuff)

2. Drink 64 oz. of water every day

3. Walk or do other aerobic exercise 3-4 times per week

Oh, and there are fish oil pills that are advertised as "odorless," that are supposed to not cause fish burps. My husband takes them to lower his cholesterol and hasn't had any problems. You can get them at Target, and I'm sure other places too.

[jessica]

Moxie, re: green tea:

Try and drink Japanese sencha instead of Chinese green tea. (Japanese steam the leaves instead of roast them, its healthier)

Do not steep your green tea for more than a minute- it'll get bitter.

You can also try Jasmine tea...Chinese but SOOOOOO GOOD!!!! (and it smells heavenly. Don't add anything to it, and again, don't steep for more than a minute. I get three cups of tea from one green teabag.)

[Sarah]

I love the 5 veggies per day challenge, but logistically, HOW is it possible to eat that much veggies? I need a sample menu for a day to get the idea. But I like it, and I'm going to try and do it.

Daily exercise in some way, even if it's just stretching or doing crunches. I feel like a post-partum mess of a person. Before the baby, I was an in-shape, svelte, kind of gal. Now, with staying home and living in very cold weather, I am turning into a blob. Seriously. The baby just loves to play with the poochy rolls on my belly. (Wah!)

And finally, try to have some sex. (It still hurts, by the way, 8 months later, but I keep thinking I just need to have more--or at least some-- so it won't hurt). Or at least, snuggle more with my hubby.

What a super great idea this is!

[Parisienne Mais Presque]

1) Start running again. I was a running addict before my pregnancy, but I've let this one slide since. My husband would like to lose some weight, so we're both starting again and will motivate each other. The goal is to be in shape for a 7k race in May.

2) To bed by 11. My new year's resolution was 10, but I think it was a bit optimistic... lately it's been more like 11:30, 12 or worse, and then just after I finally fall asleep, the baby wakes up. Ugh.

3) Eat fresh fruits or vegetables with breakfast and lunch.