Eat Right. Sleep Tight.

I really learned my lesson yesterday about fueling my body with the right foods! Wednesday night, Brendan and I went to bed with the intentions of both getting our gym sessions in early…unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We can only blame ourselves for going to bed at midnight Wednesday which then led to hitting snooze several times Thursday morning. Needless to say, neither one of us got to the gym when we wanted to. In fact, I wasn’t able to go at all. I had all intentions of at least doing a quick workout at home last night…

Food =  fuel. It can be social, it can be enjoyable, but mostly, it is used to fuel your body with nutrients, vitamins and ENERGY! I learned yesterday how coffee can only do so much when you are eating like crap. I ate really well for the first half of the week and I think my body was loving it especially with my harder workouts lately. Between less sleep and crappy food choices, I felt like my body completely shut down yesterday. Not only did my stomach and head hate me, but I was sluggishly moving from one desk to the other at work while trying to peel my eyelids open so I didn’t collapse on the keyboard.

For the past several months, my body has been used to being fueled approximately every 3-4 hours. Even if I am not spot on with healthy meals, I am still eating small snacks or meals often to keep my metabolism going and hopefully making it run faster. Once again, yesterday failed me. I ate at 12:30 and then didn’t have another snack until about 6:30 and my snack choice was far from healthy. On top of that, my water intake was WEAK. They say to stay properly hydrated, one needs about 8 – 8oz glasses of water a day aka 64ounces. I recently purchased 2 – 64oz (half gallon) water bottles for Brendan and I so we can fill it up in the morning and have it be our goal to finish one, if not two, whole bottles of it. I have been coming close to finishing one half gallon of water a day, but my ultimate goal would be a full gallon. Staying hydrated is SO important, at any time of the year; not to mention all of the other benefits water can bring you – aiding digestion, monitoring calorie intake and clearer skin! Water is a wonderful thing. I dare you to abuse your intake.

This is what she looks like. It is about 3pm and I'm only half way there. Ideally, I would like to already be on my second fill of this. If I can finish just one of these though, I am still a happy girl :) .

LESSON LEARNED.

I have already started to map out and plan my meals for next week so I can properly fuel my body and assist my body with what it needs to get leaner in conjunction with my workouts. I am looking forward to trying some new clean meals and progressing next week. I am already almost a month into this fitness challenge and I am really needing to push myself a little further.

What do you do to help yourself  get back on the wagon when you have off days or weeks when it comes to fitness or something else important in your life? Where do you find the most motivation to stay on track? Is it inevitable that we all have “off” days and must learn purely by trial and error?