What Did YOU Do This Summer???

 

 

 

 

 

Classes begin for me next week and if the recent influx of emails about school-related activities hasn’t served as a reminder, the weather change, traffic and fall/winter attire in department stores surely do.

When I think back on my summer, I can say that I am pleased with how it has gone thus far. Although I spent time catching up with friends and family, getting some rest and traveling, I also spent a great deal of time focusing on my personal health and wellness. I got up to speed on any appointments I’d missed during the semester, tried some new things – including acupuncture – and challenged myself physically with new workouts. I was introduced to some new fitness communities and affirmed the activities that I love. The photo grid above represents a large part of my journey – running 5ks for the first time in my life! I ran my first in March and the last one captured was in June.

Over the last few weeks I have run in to people who I haven’t seen in a while. A few of them have commented “you like great – what did you do,” but some seem disappointed when my answer is simply “exercise and change my eating habits.” Yesterday as I thought about this more – and the slight possibility of encountering a similar situation when I return to school next week – I realized that I actually did do more. In an effort to take better care of myself and shed some excess lbs I:

– Focused on wellness vs. just loosing weight

– Continually work on eliminating toxic people from my life

– Cleaned up my diet – for me this meant not only returning to a vegan diet, but substantially limiting processed vegetarian options

– Found exercises I like and stuck with them; this includes group fitness, dancing, hot yoga, spin, and an occasional 5k run/walk

– Set a series of short and long-term goals: goals for the day, the week, the month, 3 months and 6 months

– Found a community of people who not only support my new lifestyle, but practice it as well

– Revisited things that worked, including rejoining Weight Watchers last week

So yes, I did do a little more than just go to the gym and workout 🙂 🙂 🙂