Week 6 of 52 Small Changes ~ Take your vitamins!

"Friendship is like vitamins; we supplement each other's minimum daily requirements." ~ unknown

I can't believe we are already at week 6 of this project! My goodness, how the time has flown. I'm doing very well with this plan, and I hope you are, too. This week is sort of a free one for me, as I made this change a few months ago. So we'll call it extra time to strengthen the plan and work on all of the changes together.

Week 6 ~ Take a multi-vitamin every day, just a plain old multi-vitamin. One A Day or Centrum or your favourite store brand. It really doesn't matter. It's like a little supplemental insurance for those days that you don't eat perfectly and fill all of the daily requirements. Because I don't know about you, but I certainly have days that fall far short of some of those requirements.

Now, this doesn't mean that you have to take one of every supplement on the market; that could lead to handfuls of pills daily and really do more damage than good. Besides which, you don't want to have to schedule 10 minutes a day for pill taking. Remember, this is about the small changes. :)

So, be smart about it. For most people a multi-vitamin alone will be just exactly what's needed. At the doctor's suggestion, I do take a daily calcium and a monthly Vitamin D, too; gotta watch out for those brittle bones, ya know.

Ok, let's recap and analyse a little....

Week 1 ~ Drink your daily water. I am up to between 80 and 96 ounces a day, and I really don't even think about it; I just do it. I have a water bottle at home and one at work, 32 ounces each. I also have a couple of 20 oz. bottles that are a bit more portable and travel well for drives and walks.

Week 2 ~ Get 7 to 8 hours of restful sleep every night. I really thought this would be the toughest one, but I have really settled into a routine for bedtime and I can feel a big difference. In fact, 7 of the last 8 nights, I have slept through the whole night!

Week 3 ~ Apart from exercise, incorporate regular and routine activity into your lifestyle. I haven't been on the elevator at work in 3 weeks. I walk to the 4th floor of the library a minimum of 5 times a work day, I use my exercise ball in place of my desk chair at home, and Bailey is loving the extra play time. I just got myself a little pedometer, and I'll start tracking my movement this week. I can feel the difference.

Week 4 ~ Keep a food journal. I do this online with Lose It!, and I love their plan. There is a webpage and apps for all mobile devices, so it's super easy to keep track where ever you are. Bonus, I have lost 12.6 pounds since starting this journey on January 31.

Week 5 ~ Develop an optimistic outlook. This one is easy most of the time; but when it gets difficult, it gets VERY difficult. You know, like when SU is about to lose the big game.... But over all, this one has been a fun change to make.

Week 6 ~ Take a multi-vitamin every day. Done!

That just about covers it. I hope you're having as much fun and success with these changes as I am. I'd love to hear from anyone who is following along. Have a great week, and I'll see you next week when we'll try to keep the outside out. I have a feeling that one will prove a challenge for this tiny-apartment dweller....

Thanks for listening.