Healthy Habits Challenge Week One

The other day my mom asked me, "What's up with this health kick?" At first I didn't know what she was talking about. But then I thought about it. I had just told her how I'd gone jogging for the first time in 6 years, plus I've been going to Zumba four to five times a week and we're starting a healthy habits competition in the office. The thing is that when I got back from Chile the first time (almost two years ago) I started losing weight without doing anything. What a blessing, right? Right. So then because it was happening naturally I decided I liked it and so I started eating just a little bit healthier and eventually started exercising. And from there it has just grown. Sometimes I worry that I'll become too preoccupied over my weight/healthiness/exercise, but I'm not near that point yet and I know that I need to keep a positive body image. So I will keep on exercising, trying new exercises and improving my overall health. I think that's okay.


And to help out with this, I introduce to you the Healthy Habits Challenge. I did this last year with my family and now we're doing it in the office. I guess the habits didn't stick with me from the year before, hehe. How it works is that we start off this week with three healthy habits: drink eight  glasses of water a day, eat five servings of fruits/veggies each day and exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week. We're doing the challenge for a total of six weeks (each week adds on another healthy habit so by the end you have 9 habits you're doing everyday) and you get points for each day you keep the habit. The winner will be the person at the end with the most points. We haven't decided on a prize yet but we're thinking it will be cash! We tried to get my boss (we'll call him Padre since he's a priest) to give an extra vacation day for the winner, but he wouldn't go for it. So then I suggested that he should cook the winner an eight course meal and Padre replied that he would love to- with all the rotten, expired food that people donate to the soup kitchen and think the less fortunate want to eat it (they don't). It was a nice try.


The last thing I want to say on this subject (for today anyways) is that thinking ahead to when I'm in Chile, I hope I can keep this up. Well, I eat healthier there with a lot more fresh produce and pan (mmm, bread!) so really what I'm worried about is the exercise habit. When I read the gringa blogs about life in Chile, the only thing I hear about exercising is running/jogging or belonging to a gym. I know I won't have money to join a gym so that's why I want to take up jogging now- so that I can do it in Chile! And right beside the ocean! Also, from what I can tell, the Zumba craze has not yet reached the part of Chile where I'll be residing so I'm thinking maybe I should invest in the DVDs and then I can do that too. Will Andrés' family think I'm crazy as I'm doing Zumba in their living room? Probably.