30 Days: Multi Health - Aftermath - Part 4

After Blogger has deleted my lenghty summary on my last part of the challenge about sleeping without an alarm clock I now have to write the whole thing again. Not amused about this.

So here is my summary: It's great! Try it!

....OK I give you more details.

This part was a 100% success during the challenge and I have never ever used an alarm clock again since then. After the first few days I got used to it and before going to sleep I take a look at the clock and tell myself when I want to wake. Nine times out of ten I wake on the scheduled waking time with a variation of plus/minus 20 minute. Otherwise I'm about 1 hour off.

I compensate any lateness with cutting down my morning routine, so I was only late for work once so far. On any other day I feel much more refreshed and awake because I woke naturally without my alarm clock shocking me in the middle of an inappropriate sleeping phase and leaving me awake but as tired as I was the night before.

I can only recommend this to anyone to try it. During the last three months on average I got to work earlier than before and way more refreshed.

30 Days: Multi Health - Aftermath - Part 3

I started with my summary with those parts of the challenge that were not overly successful and now I will come to the ones that went rather well.

Giving myself a full bathroom routine was something really refreshing and relaxing. For everyday during the week it was rather time consuming because it took about 1,5 hours every time. Yet I expected that my overall skin condition would change and improve a bit over the period. This was not the case. Only the peeling led to a little improvement in skin softness but otherwise I didn’t notice any change. The usage of more washing and peeling products caused my skin to be a little more stressed than usual which was soothed by using several lotions, so the net effect was about zero.

Since the longterm improvements were dwarfed by the invested effort, I will not continue this part of the challenge. It is nice to do this routine from time to time for relaxation but the cost in time and money isn’t worth it if you want to change anything in the long run.

Maybe I will refine this challenge and do some research on a beauty routine that might really be more effective. At least this part of the challenge was rather enjoyable and I would like to focus on this part again sometime in the future.

30 Days: Multi Health - Aftermath - Part 2

Eat 5 pieces of fruit every day and reduce sugar and sweets as much as possible:

The first 2 weeks of the challenge were rather easy. The fruit tasted great and I felt my energy renewed. I didn’t reduce my other meals much though and therefore didn’t lose any weight. To reduce sugar was also easy during these weeks because the fruit were sweet enough. The remaining weeks of the challenge got considerably harder and harder. I got extremely fed up on fruit. I think maybe vegetables would be less boring than fruit. 

Three pieces worked fine for a while but even this got boring during the last few days. I don’t know why, I could eat steak every day but a month of fruit was tough. Since this challenge I haven’t eaten any more fruit. At the moment I cannot imagine to integrate fruit on a daily basis into my diet. I also noted some backfiring since the end of the challenge. My eating habits were worse than before and I ate a lot of chocolate and junk food but I think I'm over it now and my diet returns to normal.

On the whole I consider this part of the challenge a success because for the most part I managed to stick to my plan. There were some positive effects but for myself this diet is not suitable for daily use. For the future I will consider doing some kind of challenge involving vegetables or one where I will drastically reduce unnecessary sugar.

30 Days: Multi Health - Aftermath - Part 1

This challenge had a very easy start and a very tough finish. As I might have mentioned before during the first two weeks of this project I noticed that some parts were easier to concentrate on than others, so I decided to view this challenge as a kind of overview on different health related aspects of my life that I would like to change or improve. Those parts I failed will possibly be part of a future challenge were I will concentrate more fully on this aspect.

Since there were several parts to this challenge I will split my summary into the different parts instead of giving you one big summary.

I start with the part that I failed most. Drinking only Water or tea or fresh juice. I guess this will need special attention in a future challenge. I usually drink water for the most part but when I go out, the temptation to order a cocktail or a soft drink is often to great. On many occasions I only remembered this part of the challenge after I have already ordered something. I simply forgot about it. Due to the fact that I usually drink water for most of the time anyway, the effect of going to extremes might have been minimal to begin with. So I don’t feel especially guilty because I didn’t manage this part too well.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 30

Hurray! Another challenge is over. Today I felt a little better again. Started to eat fruit but not as much as five pieces. Fitness was difficult during the last few days because either I wasn’t feeling well or the gym was closed due to holidays. Well I will summarize my experience in the aftermath in a few days. This time I must say I’m very glad that this challenge is over even though I thought it was rather easy for the most part of it.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 29

Feeling slightly better today but still didn’t get much done. I’m still a bit cautious about the things I eat, so maybe this counts as not eating a whole lot of sugary things. I have the feeling due to my sickness this challenge is somewhat ebbing out. I performed quite well for most part, but now there is only one day left and I don’t think that I will manage to get up and going that fast.

Overall I have to say the challenge gave me a good overview which parts are easy and which parts need more focus. I definitely take some of the things with me into my everyday routines and will focus on some other parts some time in the future.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 28

At night I got horribly sick. Maybe I ate something wrong but today I couldn’t eat anything at all, let alone fruit. I also got problems with my circulation since I was laying down all day. So I could say that this might be the very first day of the challenge where I didn’t get any part of it done.

I notice that a lot of my posts seem to center on me being sick, having a headache and the like. On the other hand I say that this challenge improved my overall constitution. To get this into perspective I must emphasis on the fact that it is winter and there are some other issues that drag me down a bit. Due to those facts I am more sick than usual at the moment, even though I do feel the positive effects of this challenge. So I hope you don't get the wrong impression just because of my frequent ramblings.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 27

I have no Idea for a picture today... so here you have a polar bear ;-)

In the beginning this challenge seemed easier than those I made before but after ⅔ of the time it gets considerably harder and more boring. If I can break down a bigger project into little tasks for every day then I have something to focus on every day anew but with this challenge every day is the same since there is no bigger goal behind it and if I miss something on one day I don’t have to catch up, so it is easy to lose focus, especially now that the month is almost over.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 26

The finish line is already visible on the horizon and I feel refreshed and full of energy to start a new series of challenges. I also have found new motivation to make a new review again. Since I have more time at home right now I watched a lot of movies and my love for this hobby got renewed. Also there are some creative new projects ahead and I can’t wait to wrap up this challenge and plan my course for the next months.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 25

This challenge seems to be getting really long. At least I don’t know what to write about it anymore at the moment. Maybe the break between the very exhausting writing challenge and this one now was too short and I should have used the time in between to prepare especially for the blogging, because at the moment I really run out of things that I can write about my daily experience without giving to much away of the summarizing thoughts of this challenge.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 24

A week without having to go to the office lies before me. Therefore the waking without an alarm clock part of the challenge is already mastered because I never use an alarm during my days off. All the other parts could still use a bit of improvement. Especially my bathroom routine. Usually I tend to get a little lazy when I’m at home so this will need some extra care.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 23

Yeah! Last day of work and now I have the last week of the challenge free to get my routines up to the planned level. Today I slept perfectly on time and again in one complete period. I really like sleeping without an alarm and unless I have a very very important appointment the next day I will continue to not use my alarm clock. Eating fruit is getting more and more boring but I still keep my stock at home piled up and eat at least more than half of the planned amount.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 22

Only two days of work and than I will have a week off. So due to a lot of workload I still can only manage to get the most basic parts of my challenge done. Because many parts were easy in the beginning I must concentrate not to forget about the challenge as a whole. Otherwise my lazy self will slowly drift back to my normal state without even noticing that I ended the challenge. In this part I think blogging about it helps me, even though it might be getting very uninteresting for many readers, it is at least a reminder for myself that I have to keep up with my plans. I probably will do something about improving my blog quality within a separate challenge but that will not be due until summer this year because I have the next few challenges planned already.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 21

down to three

Sleeping is really getting better. I begin to wake closer and closer to the time I planned in the evening with fewer and fewer interruptions of sleep. The other parts of the challenge are no longer at their highest rate but have leveled on a level higher than before the challenge. I tend to eat 3 pieces of fruit a day and my bathroom routine has improved in some parts. I can view that as a success so far, even though my perfectionist self still nags about not getting a perfect score.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 20

Today I slept the perfect amount of time without interruptions and woke at the exact right time. This was the first time that this has worked so far because most of the time I either woke to early or woke several times during the night.

Fitness could get better and during the last two days I only ate 3 pieces of fruit. My bathroom routine is still better than the level I started out from but not as high as anticipated.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 19

I totally overslept today. I went to bed with a severe headache and was already sleeping at 9 p.m. Nevertheless I slept solid 12 hours and was late for the office. Eating fruit is getting really boring. At least the amount of 5 pieces per day is too much. I can eat 3 pieces with ease but then I’m fed up with fruit for the day. I also notice that I prefer some fruits above others not solely because of taste, but because of user friendliness. Bananas e.g. are easily unpacked (they come with an inbuilt zipper) and after removing the peel you can eat the whole fruit without much of a mess. Same with the mandarin, they can be peeled more easily than oranges and unless they have seeds (which the ones I buy usually haven’t) can be eaten whole. Apples and Pears on the other hand always leave a wet core which you have to get rid of. Another fruit I have at home are kiwi, but they are really messy to eat and you also need a knife and a spoon. Way too much effort for a snack in between.

I know I sound extremely neurotic but theses little things are often the things why a habit doesn’t really catch on. Fruit have their place in the snack department and I don’t consider them a part of a whole meal so therefore they should be practical, no mess, no cutlery, just grab it and eat it.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 18

I notice that I have frequent headaches on sunday. I haven’t found out why but it always slows me down. Usually a workout at the gym clears my headache but it is very difficult to motivate myself and it is really hurting like hell during workout. My head is pounding and I feel as if I have to throw up. But if I manage to complete the workout, usually the headache is gone. Nevertheless today I didn’t manage to motivate myself so the headache is still with me. At least I managed to do the drink only water (+aspirin) part again.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 17

We went to the market and bought lots of fruit for next week. So this part is cared for. I now look forward to another positive phase of this challenge. It is only a bit over halftime and I will try to gather my energy to make a good finish.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 16

I slept extremely bad due to too much food yesterday. After eating rather healthy for most of the month, my stomach wasn’t happy with all the meat and pastries and stuff I ate yesterday. So naturally todays workday was rather exhausting and I didn’t manage to do my fitness workout again. I was willing to eat fruit but my storage at home is running empty and I have to restock to be able to eat my fruit again.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 15

Today we had a big feast at the office so I had too much to eat and drink and didn’t manage to eat all my fruit as well. Due to a lot of work during the last few days it is also hard to keep up with my fitness workout. And last but not least the bathroom routine was also at the necessary minimum due to coming home very late at night. I guess every challenge needs at least some days where I do not reach my goal. There seems to be a rhythm to this. One week is going fine. Then there are two days were it is really hard or even impossible to get my tasks done, and then the process starts over.