Winter Wonderland Warriors Finale

I did it! I completed the Winter Wonderland Warriors! Yay! Today's post about it is a recap of how I did. So to refresh my everyone's memory here was my list of goals:

(1) Lose Weight

(2) Exercise 4 times a week

(3) Be prepared to buy a swimsuit and dress for our trip in May

(4) Be half way completed my correspondence course

(5) Drink 8 cups of water a day

(6) Reduce the amount of coffee and liquid calories I consume

(7) Take more pictures and learn more about photography

(8) blog regularly and courageously

(9) Nurture my creative aspirations whenever I feel inspired

(10) Grow to love and accept myself

So how did I do?

(1) Weight Loss: So while I had weight loss as a goal I wasn't too focused on numbers. I was more concerned on doing the right things to be healthy and hoping the numbers showed. And I think they do... I've lost and kept off 7 pounds. Now considering how many times I was ill and injured... not too bad for me! I'll go on about it in the next point. Check

(2) Exercise: My actual desire was 3 times a week but from past experience then I only put a little pressure on myself and end up with 1 or 2 times a week completed. So I set 4 so I could perhaps "fail" and get 3. Sneaky right. Well it worked better than I thought! By the end I've been getting in 4-5 workouts every week. And I doubled the length of them! Another reason why I wasn't too worried about the goal was I started running and the scale went up. I did some research and sometimes that happens when you start trading fat for muscle. Check

(3) Prepared to shop: We have canceled our trip to Vancouver :( We are going to be more financially responsible and use it to save for a mortgage. Plus I am not ready for a smaller size of clothes yet. But that'll come. But that means No Check

(4) Correspondence Course: So this took me longer than I thought. I did work hard on it and get a lot done. But not half. I hate to not say completed on this one. But technically No Check.

(5) Water: Geeze ok so I did increase my water intake to about 6 cups a day. But seriously 8?! I'd pee ALL the time. Not like I don't already! No Check

(6) Reduce coffee and liquid calories: I cut back the amount of coffee. And when I did drink it I had to drink extra water that day before and after any consumed coffee. As for the other liquid calories I did pretty great! I carried my Nalgene bottle everywhere. Check

(7) Photography Related: I bought two books for my kindle and Jon bought me a huge hardcover book about photography techniques and such. So I've learned a lot already. I'm slowly working through them and practicing as I go! I've been trying a lot to take more pictures and I can see an improvement in technique already but still have a ways to go. Check

(8) Blogging: I'm naturally a really shy person. And ok... I have some pretty negative and insecure qualities. But I've been realizing that not everyone is going to like my blog or me for that matter. But I'm still a nice person! And if I love blogging than blogging I will! So I've posted some topics that make me nervous to hit publish. And I've commented on people's blogs. Usually I worried and just "lurked" but I love the blogging community I've found! Everyone has been so nice! Check


(9) Nurture creative aspirations: This one I did so well on! I allowed myself to spend time creating when I felt like it to sew, or paint, or edit photos. And it's been great! So great I opened an etsy shop! And I made things for other people and get this... gave the things to them. And they loved them. So Check

(10) Grow to Love and Accept Myself: What I love about this goal is everything. I set it thinking I would finish this challenge and not touched on it at all. But every time I accomplished a bit of a goal this one was impacted; after every great workout, every completed sewing project, every marked course exam, every posted blog, etc. Check

Question: Was the winter productive? Yes! I accomplished so much more with this challenge than I thought I would! I showed winter wear to stick it. Ok maybe not that far ;)


Thanks Amy for putting this challenge on and all your hard work on it!!!