Mardi Gras & Lent

Oh it's definitely Fat Tuesday. More like lazy Tuesday. Following lazy weekend. Oy. Missed a few days at the gym (my Twitter whine on Saturday ended up getting the best of me-no gym), and I am dragging. Eating wasn't outrageous this weekend, but Evil Nemesis Laziness was definitely doing his dirty deeds with my motivation.

But tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season begins. Now trust me--I am not someone who normally pays any attention to this, but this year I'd like to use it to my advantage. A few others in the blogging world have committed to doing the same. Laurel at Bare it All and LisaMarie, aka The Broad Broad not to mention countless Twitter peeps have posted their Lenten sacrifices, so I-not one to pass up a good bandwagon, will do the same.

Lent to me though is not only about sacrifice, but about looking at your life to improve it. So I'm doing two things--a sacrifice, and a healthy addition. It's a leap of faith to do either of these for me

So for the next 40 days and nights my Mardi Gras Challenge will be as follows:
-Absolutely no food that's not a meal. I was going to make the goal no food after dinner or a particular time, but I have been known not to eat dinner until 9pm on certain nights. And since my goal is to combat my mindless eating habits like sitting in front of the TV with a bag of chips or cookies or something, this would be a good practice to help me plan my meals and stick to them. I can have planned snacks or desserts so I don't feel deprived, and it will force me to plan my meals when I eat out too.
-No elevators. Only excuses for an elevator...carrying something which requires an elevator, no access to stairs, assisting someone who needs to take an elevator.
-(At least) One activity a day. Of course with training I should be running 4-5 days/week, but I do realize that sometimes that won't be possible. But even if it's a short walk or climbing the stairs at work, or pushups, I want to continue to incorporate exercise into my life on a daily basis.

I am also going to start a jar that for each day I successfully complete this, I put money in. (I figure 25 cents each goal, $1 for a complete set) At the end I can use that money to celebrate. I have to figure out logistics on this. I should donate it or invest it, but most likely I will use it to buy an outfit or something. So I could potentially have 40ish dollars to do something fun with (because apparently there are more than 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter).

Anyway--there's the plan. Today however IS Fat Tuesday and I WILL be going out to celebrate. Beads anyone?

Until next time