My 10 Week Turnaround.

I’m officially DONE with my first year of grad school!! (More on that in a later post.)

I have a week’s vacation from school (starting last Thursday) and then 3 summer classes start next week.

There are two things I’m most looking forward to on this vacation:

1) Reading Game of Thrones (major fantasy nerd here). 

2) Cleaning my kitchen floor. (I kid you not, it is disGUSTing). 

I’m also officially done with feeling unhealthy, not like myself and not working out. I haven’t had a regular workout routine in quite some time now. This hiatus is happened before in my life, where things get really busy and I just sort of stop making it a priority. I know that it doesn’t help my mental, emotional or physical self at all, so I’m making some changes this summer.

For the next 10 weeks, I’m going to complete a 10 Week Turnaround. Each week I’ll either add a new habit or subtract an old habit that doesn’t serve me anymore/is something I want to change.

Why: I picked 10 weeks because I just like the sound of it. In ten(ish) weeks, we have a friends wedding to go to and I’ll probably be looking at wedding dresses. It will be in the middle of summer. Most importantly, it will help jump start my routine again.

My typical approach to health and fitness is to just throw myself into something, thinking that if I go all in, I’ll succeed. Sometimes this works, but most of the time I end up overwhelmed and pissed that I couldn’t maintain my ridiculously high standards. Instead of trying to overachieve (hello, my MO) and burning myself out, it occurred to me that I could CHOOSE to do it slowly and gradually.

How: I will most likely post 2-3 times a week, once on Monday to tell you what the turnaround is for the week, once in the middle and once at the end of the week (or the weekend). I’m hoping this will keep me accountable since I know someone is actually wondering how I’m doing!

So. Here we go. If you’d like to join in for even a few weeks, let me know – the more buddies, the better!

Week 1:

What: Dunkin Donuts Iced Mocha Coffee. (A sweet, sweet temptress). 

Why: In the last month of school, I became addicted to Dunkies iced mocha coffee (skim milk only please). It started as the perfect sweet treat once in a while when I was really dragging….and eventually became an every day occurrence. I still plan to have them once in a while this summer, but every day is not something my wallet or waistline really needs.

Even though it’s delicious and not THAT terrible in terms of calories, the added sugar and caffeine is definitely overloading my system. Ever since the doctors upped my medication last summer, I’ve had a really hard time handling too much caffeine. A small coffee is about all my body can handle (shakes, heart racing, etc) and I notice that I wake up with a “hangover” the next day if I drink too much. I think those are all reason enough to quit my DD habit. 

How: Cold turkey. I’m just going to stop. If I don’t go to Dunkies, I can’t order it! I’ll substitute with iced chai or other teas in the morning. I don’t need to treat myself for making it out the door like a grown-up in the morning. And, I have a feeling drinking coffee again has something to do with the fact that my sleep schedule is really messed up. (Or it could be staying up until 2am to read Game of Thrones. Potato, Potahto). 

Any good books you’re reading lately!? Any habits you want to change right now? (I might add these to my list!)