Back after 6 years!

[Bouchra]

It has been a long, long while since I last attempted one of these challenges. I never finished any, though. Back when I first joined I was just an 18 year old looking to lose weight, and now I'm a mom, business owner, and wife still looking to lose weight xD

 

I'm posting late but I've already started today. Right now I'm at 89 kg, and my main goal is to lose 20 kg over the next 6 months. Over the past year or so not only was I pregnant, but I also fell back into loads of bad eating habits 

 

I also have other goals related to my personal and professional life, and I've chosen five main quests that I want to work on over the next 6 months. They are as follows:

1. lose 20 kg
2. run biz-related workshops
3. turn home into a haven
4. make a social life for myself
5. improve my faith/spirituality

 

Obviously, I can't pick all to work on at once, and each of them has a few sub-goals. I've picked a total of 4 of them to work on during this challenge.

 

Lose 20 kg:

• drink 3L of water everyday
• 20 days no added sugar in food

 

Run biz-related workshops:

• brainstorm and plan content for workshops

 

Improve my faith/spirituality:

• start Quran discussion club

 

I have purposefully not chosen a fitness goal this challenge, because I'm not yet clear on what I want to do fitness-wise, and I have no gear that fits me, but I aim to change that over the next month by finding a workout routine that suits me and buying new sportswear

 

Until then, I'm going to keep working on diet, professional, and spiritual goals!

[Bouchra]

Week 1 Day 1 Update

 

Today's the first day of the challenge, so I'm going easy on myself. It's 11:11 PM now here, and I'm going to be retiring to bed soon. I'm almost done with my 3L of water for the day, and I haven't had any added sugar in my food and drink for the day.

 

I woke up today with a sore throat and feeling quite feverish, but once I hit over 2L water drunk, I started to feel much, much more better. I'm still feeling a bit lethargic and my throat isn't 100% okay, but I'm going to chalk this down as a win. I'm assuming that once I start to drink more water on a regular basis I will feel much more healthier overall, and I'm pretty sure that water will help a lot in losing weight. I already ate less overall today because I was so full and satisfied with the water.

 

I'm craving more food, though. I've known for a while that I have some sort of emotional eating issue, so I know that this will take a while to conquer, but feeling full in my stomach means that whatever cravings I'm having for food are just "an itch in my tongue"  

 

Tomorrow I plan to put up a notice in a local group about the Quran discussion club I want to start! I can't wait to get ahead with my spirituality as well

[Odango]

2 hours ago, Bouchra said:

It has been a long, long while since I last attempted one of these challenges. I never finished any, though. Back when I first joined I was just an 18 year old looking to lose weight, and now I'm a mom, business owner, and wife still looking to lose weight xD

 

Wow! Talk about leveling up!!

Welcome back!

 

Also, you mentioned hypothyroidism on Harriet's challenge, and I wanted to drop by yours and let you know that I've had hypothyroidism for 6 years now so I'd be happy to put those years to use if you have any questions, want to talk about it, etc.

 

Let's have a great challenge!

[Bouchra]

2 minutes ago, Nol said:

 

Wow! Talk about leveling up!!

Welcome back!

 

Also, you mentioned hypothyroidism on Harriet's challenge, and I wanted to drop by yours and let you know that I've had hypothyroidism for 6 years now so I'd be happy to put those years to use if you have any questions, want to talk about it, etc.

 

Let's have a great challenge!

 

Thank you, Nol! I'm hoping to visit my OB (who is the only doctor I trust around here) sometime during this week or the next to speak to her about the possibility of having either hypothyroidism or endometriosis (or both, if I'm especially lucky), so I will definitely appreciate any information!

Could you point me to any resources that talk about the basics while mentioning test result numbers, etc.?

[Odango]

11 hours ago, Bouchra said:

 

Thank you, Nol! I'm hoping to visit my OB (who is the only doctor I trust around here) sometime during this week or the next to speak to her about the possibility of having either hypothyroidism or endometriosis (or both, if I'm especially lucky), so I will definitely appreciate any information!

Could you point me to any resources that talk about the basics while mentioning test result numbers, etc.?

 

To get started the best is the NHS website.

Here's their page about diagnosing hypothyroidism: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/underactive-thyroid-hypothyroidism/diagnosis/

They also go over symptoms, treatment, etc.

 

Let me know how it turns out!

 

[Lady Amezan]

Hi Bouchra! I see we have about the same amount of weight to lose, though I can't attribute my weight gain to pregnancy--just TV watching in my case. Your goals seem great. I especially love that you have a spirituality goal! A great focus for life. I'm cheering for you!

[Mera]

Hooray for Respawns! Great challenge, I'm here to support!

I love the no added sugars challenge. It's scary how much of that stuff they put into everything.

[Bouchra]

On 9/18/2018 at 11:24 AM, Nol said:

 

To get started the best is the NHS website.

Here's their page about diagnosing hypothyroidism: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/underactive-thyroid-hypothyroidism/diagnosis/

They also go over symptoms, treatment, etc.

 

Let me know how it turns out!

 

 

Thanks, Nol, this was interesting reading! I'm going to see when I can go in to my OB - she's the only doctor I trust around here - and speak to her about this

[Bouchra]

On 9/18/2018 at 12:06 PM, Lady Amezan said:

Hi Bouchra! I see we have about the same amount of weight to lose, though I can't attribute my weight gain to pregnancy--just TV watching in my case. Your goals seem great. I especially love that you have a spirituality goal! A great focus for life. I'm cheering for you!

 

Hi there... erm, do I call you Amezan or Lady xD

 

Thanks

[Bouchra]

On 9/18/2018 at 6:48 PM, Mera said:

Hooray for Respawns! Great challenge, I'm here to support!

I love the no added sugars challenge. It's scary how much of that stuff they put into everything.

 

Yay, thank you!

 

[Bouchra]

Update:

So I'm pretty sure that it looked like I had done another disappearing act and dropped out of the challenge, but that wasn't the case this time around! I just was extremely busy, starting in on a business mastermind and planning my next quarter, and so much more. I kept wanting to update but kept forgetting

 

I'm going to briefly list what happened every day until today.

 

Week 1 Day 2 Update

Another 3L of water went into my system. Tonsils still feeling off, but much better. No added sugars. I'm on a homeopathic remedy for my constitutional issues (including anemia, psychological trauma, and some sleep issues), and this was my day to take my regular weekly dose. That's a lactose-based pill, so technically this was sugar, but I'm not counting it.

 

No progress on other ends.

 

Week 1 Day 3 Update

3L of water. No sugar. Cravings are starting. I'm barely able to resist the remaining pieces of chocolate in the fridge... updated my post in the local group on the spirituality meetup, to see if anyone else is interested.

 

Week 1 Day 4 Update

3L of water. No sugar.

Had in-laws over for dinner. I forgot to make dessert so served some fruits and biscuits that I didn't like much and were lying around.

 

Week 1 Day 5 Update
3L of water, no sugar. Cravings getting tougher, but I'm still resisting. Went out for my husband's late birthday dinner, but didn't have dessert. Bought some popcorn on the way back, because I haven't had it in over a year, from before I moved back to Algeria.

 

Week 1 Day 6 Update

Here's where things started getting tricky with the water... I had my cleaning lady over this morning and lazed around in bed, and didn't drink any water until 12 PM. Then I had lunch and couldn't drink so much water, and then I had soup for dinner. I think the soup covered the amount of water I missed, but I'm chalking this down as a 2.5L day. No sugar. I'm actually amazed at how long I've been holding out. Had some raisins for the sweet tooth.

 

Week 1 Day 7 Update

This was yesterday. I was catching up on some business training calls and planning, and I was so engrossed in work I ended up missing out on water. I did have soup for lunch that also covered the amount, but I'm chalking this down as a 2.5L day. Still no sugar. My mouth waters at the mere thought of sugar, though.

 

I've got some things to take care of before Q4 rolls around, so I'm pushing the workshop stuff to when October starts, for now.

[Odango]

So happy to hear you've been doing well

 

 

You're doing so much and you're so brave, I'm in awe! I'm trying to develop my own activity as well, but I've been too scared to do anything. It's really nice to read about your motivation and all your hard work.

And you've been doing amazingly well with your challenge! Stay strong!

 

[Harriet]

Nice job on the no sugar! I'm sure it gets easier as time goes on. Is the 3L water helping you out? I haven't really thought about water intake before, but a couple of people here have included it in their challenges.