Sunday, February 14, 2016

My Peak Challenge

As a huge fan of the Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon, I was pretty excited when the tv series came out on Starz last year. 


This is a painting I did inspired by #Outlander - clearly a bit of an obsessed fan girl! But in all seriousness, the book series are probably some of the best books I've ever read.

Of course I started getting my fan girl chops on and following the Outlander cast on social media like every other obsessive fan girl.  In the process I learned that swoon worthy Sam Heughan, the Scottish actor who plays the role of Jamie Fraser, has created a fitness challenge that helps fundraise money to support a charity organization called Bloodwise which helps support blood cancer research.

Here's a promo pic for the program featuring Sam Heughan - super fit (and extremely good looking) guy who climbs mountains and runs marathons.  Not sure I'm even close to that level - but I am excited about my goals!

I became interested in what he was doing, and after connecting with a lot of fantastic Outlander fans who were participating in the challenge, I decided to set my own fitness goals and give it a go. 

The program is called My Peak Challenge  and it encourages participants to set their own health and fitness goals while connecting with others in the community. 



I'm fairly excited about it!  I wanted to join last year but I had just had a baby and didn't feel ready to jump head first into a fitness challenge with a newborn and another toddler at home.

Anyway / my youngest is now 14 months old so now I feel ready to be a part of the #MyPeakPosse #BearStength community.  I just signed up for the My Peak Challenge Prep Program and ordered a My Peak Challenge starter pack - which comes with a really cute t-shirt.

First things first, I need to set my goals.  I'm happy to say that I already did a weight loss challenge shortly after my daughter was born and I have been back to my pre-baby weight for several months now.  So now that I am feeling good about my weight, I am ready to set some more challenging fitness goals.

Sam provides some awesome fitness tutorial videos, nutrition tips and a course plan.  I'm hoping to follow along with the workouts and as much of the plan as I can.   

Since I have a crazy schedule with my kids I'm making my pledge realistic for me to follow - So here is my plan and My Peak Pledge:
mypeakchallenge #mypeakpledge


- I will attend my cardio barre class at least once a week
- I will go for a long walk/ hike with my daughter at least once a week
- nutrition goals - I will eat at least 2 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
- Follow along with the program and make adjustments to fit my schedule and fitness level
- I will focus on core strength and toning my butt and legs by doing at least 2 sets of squats (15 each set) and 2 sets of bicycle crunches on at least 3 days of the week.
- I will work hard to increase my daily water intake and carry my water bottle with me everywhere.
- maintain my current weight and improve my muscle tone, energy levels, strength, flexibility and nutrition
- I will limit my intake of alcohol and chocolate to no more than 2 glasses of wine or beer a week and no more than 3 small servings of chocolate a week
- I will log on to myfitnesspal every day until May 1st to track my progress

Okay! Let's do this!