3o day challange- part deux

i remember during my first 30 day challenge how amazing it was to hear that i am not the only one who has dirty kitchen disorder. and that it was meaningful to some of you as well, to know that you aren’t alone.  and to be honest, i still haven’t scrubbed the thing, even after a coworker (hopefully) joked about not wanting to stay at my house when they came in town because of the nasty. it is coming, but i am not there yet.

i just finished my second 30 day challenge. my goals were very similar to my first-eat 7 servings of veggies a day and pick up the kitchen before bed every night.

the way the group works is that we have a private facebook group, where people post about their progress, roadblocks and breakthroughs. it is accountability. it is encouragement. it is a safe place. i went back through and pulled out my daily posts for the past 30 days and have posted them below. i hope that you can find something in them. and i sincerely hope that they inspire you to make a small change for the better. in whatever that may be for you. set that goal and set the intention daily to work towards accomplishing it. it is perseverance over perfection. notice a pattern. learn from the challenges and do your best each day, whatever your best may be on that day.

today i ate seven servings of vegetables and my kitchen is clean, yet my challenge is not fulfilled.

today starts my third 30 day challenge! and i will let you know all about it soon, but for now…i owe a check-in to a lovely group of ladies and then i have a goal to attend to.

what about you? any goal-setting going on out there?

…my posts…

day 1: (lesson learned from last time…number your days!) all day conference today. was going to stop and get a smoothie for breakfast, but coworker assured me breakfast. lies. but in order to not eat anyone for breakfast i chose what looked to be the best option, small blueberry muffin. lunch was catered, but i was happy to get 3 servings of veg in. i ate dinner at a friend’s tonight and got in at least another 2, leaving me with 5 for the day. i have said it once and will say it again, i am nothing without my salad
got home around 8, changed out of work clothes, threw a load of laundry in and got after the kitchen. loaded the dishes, cleaned what didn’t fit/doesn’t go in, put things in their homes, new liner in the trash can, recycling in it corner. wiped down counter tops.
all in all could of been better, could have been worse, and tomorrow is a new day!

day 2: lunch with coworkers meant 5 servings of veg tonight. went to store after work. acquired veggies. made a salad for dinner while I made my lunch. cleanup up, ate, unloaded dishes, washed dishes, posted to group. win!!

day 3: yes! and yes!

day 4: no and not applicable-ish.

friday lunch today, which is where we eat together as an office. we were having tacos. typically there is a mixed green salad too, but that was missing today. husband got back in town from being gone all week around 4 and so we went to the store and then out for sushi. had seaweed salad too…mmmm. STILL there is no way that i got 7 servings of veggies in. and i just ate graham crackers. and while we are being honest my kitchen isn’t cleaned up from putting groceries all rinsed and put in their homes. had a rough night of bad news coming from every angle. so we hung out together for a while and watched some bad tv show. i worked on a craft for the wedding and he zoned out in video game land.
i will wash the veggies tomorrow and put them all in their respective homes, but tonight i am doing almost nothing and if feels pretty good

day 5: part one… doing what I said I would do.got up, made vegtastic breakfast, washed and stored produce from the store yesterday and cleaned up the messes.
day 5: ended up being very productive and with a clean kitchen. not 7 servings. more like 5 and a serving or two of fruit

day 6: in the airport to fly to chicago for work for a few days… 7 servings will take some work! stopped and got a smoothie with 5 servings of veg and fruit on my way to the airport. should be able to get two in at dinner. more to come…
wrap of day 6: no restaurant at hotel… the best I could do was hummus, so only 5 servings of veg. kitchen was n/a.

traveling really messes with me!

start of day 7: no restaurant at hotel means no veg for breakfast, which is normal, but lunch will be provided so who knows!
end of day 7: salad for lunch with not too much dressing. veggie (trying!!) pizza for dinner

day 8: round 1 not veggies but I will take fruit as a sub over a carb fest. today I will get the salad bar instead of a premade salad so that I get more veg in!
day 8: part two lunch success!
day 8: i got in 7 if you count fruit. without fruit, just the 5. back to arkansas bright and early tomorrow.

day 10: picked up a big salad for lunch, went to the store after work. made open faced turkey melts and salads for dinner. got my 7 in today. cleaned the kitchen.

day 11: no-vegetables, yes- kitchen (later admitted to 4 servings)

day 12: i had a bannana for breakfast, had thin crust pizza loaded with veggies (probably 2 servings total) for lunch and then thought i ordered veggie pasta for dinner, but the veggies were not to be found. didn’t try very hard to be honest. i was running around with my cousin and then we had her bachelorette party. so…i was not around my kitchen.
day 13:….so far passed up fast food driving home from springfield this morning. had a salad for lunch, not a huge salad but at least 3 servings of veg. also happy that our veggies still look good, so i will be able to make a salad and get my breakfast ready. i really want to be intentional in what i eat this week so that i am strong going into my travels.
kitchen is so not clean. looks like husband is part way through brewing beer? i will wait for him to make sense of that mess and then i will do my thing before bed. i best be snacking on veggies between now and dinner! hummus and bell peppers sounds like a good afternoon snack.

day 16: Jacqueline watched me eat a whole mess of fries, BUT after counting up my veg for the day I am ending around 5 servings and a banana for breakfast, but the food around it was no good. I will stick with this one for the 30, but then I think I would like to approach this from a new angle and use a food journal or use my fitness pal daily. I will decide when I get there. two meals out in one day is not so awesome.
on the bright side my husband cleaned the kitchen.

day 17: I lost track of my days, so I will straighten that out tomorrow, but I did both today! squeezed the kitchen in and now to bed!

day 18 (that took some work): haven’t really gone to the store this week as we are trying to eat through the remnants before i go out of town. and i haven’t been making my salad BUT for the past two days I have just gone and gotten a salad from the salad bar down the street. it isn’t cheap, but neither is eating crap at a restaurant. so with that being said, seven CHECK

kitchen is clean….still from yesterday.  i have also gotten more protective of my clean counter tops.

day 19: well. I ate a banana and pretzels for lunch. sometimes meeting happen and then more meetings…for dinner I had a tofu and veggie dish at a Thai place. I am guesstimating there were 3+ servings. we didn’t cook at home so no big mess. cleared off counters and put things away, so yes to the kitchen.
I leave for New York tomorrow and I will be gone until next Friday. While I won’t have a kitchen to clean, I will make sure my space is neat each night. I will also be challenging myself to check in!

day 20: got a salad for lunch over team lunch of chicken alfredo. it was as close as I could eyeball, seven servings. I left some behind so I will call it 6. knew dinner would likely be crap-and it was. I took all the shoes out if my bag and stashed them behind a chair (remember staying in my friends’ living room). then I reorganized my bag and now I am going to bed!

day21: yesterday. got maybe three servings in. kept my things picked up. had an awesome day

day 22: did not do much better today, but tomorrow is a new day. have kept my things very tidy.

day23: better on the veggie front, not all the way to seven, but in the five region…still tidy

day 24: hit in the five range again. i feel pretty good about this, to be honest. i checked into hotel for two night for work stuff….fanciest hotel i have ever stayed in, but to be honest i prefer my best gal pal’s flat over this any day. tomorrow i will be in meetings with working breakfasts and lunches. lets hope there are good choices to be made.

day 25: ate a LOT of fruit for breakfast (3 servings) as i had no idea what lunch had in store. SURPRISE!! There were good options (i love ny). i would guess i had three servings at lunch (roasted veg sammich with only the bottom bread, quinoa salad with veggies, salad and some spinach quiche). met an old friend for dinner and there was not a veg to be found on the menu at the cuban place we hit up. oh well. overall, feel good about my choices. and got a little walking in as i wondered around the city to meet her and then meet up with liz again. last night in the hotel…things are tidy. tomorrow night after another day of meetings i will head back to my sisterfriend’s in brooklyn for our last night together and then back home. i still miss my man, i still miss my mutts and even with making the most of each meal, i miss my salad.
while i do indeed heart NYC, i heart arkansas more and can’t wait to get back to my quiet, peaceful, middle of nowhere life.

day 26: 3 servings of fruit at breakfast, a few cups of kale salad, a serving of roasted veggies. another serving at dinner. probably right under 7 with the fruit, but I am happy. I have to get up at 4:00 for my flight. going to be a long day! bags are packed, clothes laid out. here we go.

day 27:  traveled, stopped by the office and then I hit the wall. likely got about 5 in, 6 with a banana. kitchen was fairly clean, but I went to bed and slept for 13 hours.

day 28: just got home. 5 seems to be the number lately, but two out of three meals away…kitchen? what’s a kitchen;)

day 29: I cannot believe I am almost to 30 again! I made it to five veggies today and two fruits. we went to the store today and have meals set for the week. b prepped veggies for our salads while i dealt with laundry and then picked up and wiped down the kitchen. tomorrow I am armed with a seven veggie salad, a sliced apple and plans to put yogurt and berries together in the morning. we are having a sw crustless quiche for dinner.

day 30: i took breakfast, but did not eat it. i did eat a seven serving salad and a delicious honey crisp apple. tonight i made the quiche, which had at least one additional serving of veg in it. i cleaned the kitchen as i went, made my lunch for tomorrow while the quiche was in the oven and enlisted the husband to help finish cleaning up and wiped down the counters.so yes and yes

(good luck! you got this)