So it has taken me a long time to write this post – mostly because there are a thousand and one reasons why I started a 28 Days at the Gym Challenge and a million takeaways I got from the experience.

The reasons why I started in the first place were so personal, and I just didn't really know where I felt or what direction I wanted to share with the world...but here it is....

My Review on the 28 Days at the Gym Challenge:

Using Social Media as Accountability:

Last year Joanna Gaines did a 21 Day Fitness Challenge, which was before IG Stories, and she posted her shoes every day for 21 days. Even though most of the comments were encouraging or people asking about the floors, some people actually asked her to STOP posting the photos of her shoes – because they didn't find it inspiring and follow her feed for beautiful and inspiring home decor.

I remember thinking, man that sucks to try and share a personal aspect of yourself and have people say things, but I also noticed how powerful it is to use social media for accountability. So when IG Stories came out I thought to myself, how great would it be to use social media as an accountability to go to the gym for 28 Days in a row!

Using social media for accountability was one of the most fun things I've done on social media. It was a learning curve because I usually plan my social media posts once a week, and having to post something EVERY DAY was a challenge in itself. But what made it worth it was the response. I never thought that people would message me cheering me on or saying that they have been inspired to do something productive that day. I would even get tagged into posts about motivating other people to go to the gym that day and start their own challenge. That alone meant a lot to me. And if it wasn't for social media accountability I would have jumped off the fitness train many moons ago!

I was in situations where I had to miss hanging out with friends to drive from New Orleans back to Baton Rouge to go to the gym, lift weights after photographing a 12-hour wedding, to leaving a birth session and running into the gym 45 minutes before they closed. But that showed me that if you make something a priority, you can always shift things around to make it happen.

Energy Levels

My energy, focus, and productivity went UP! I feel like I probably put a lot of mental energy debating on if I was going to go to the gym or not. But I saved energy debating this because I knew I HAD to go! My days felt longer and I was able to get more work done. However, the first 8-ish days I would say I had the opposite effect. I was so tired waking up earlier than normal to go to the gym and then felt like the day was wasted after showering and getting ready for the day.

Takeaway: I worked out at several different times during the day, and realized that the mornings worked best for me. Waking up, brushing my teeth, putting on my gym clothes, and hitting the gym before thinking about anything else was really helpful. I would get to my computer to start checking emails at 10:30am.

One Goal

When people start going to the gym they will also plan a diet, try to start waking up earlier, etc. Having too many goals can be crippling. I just set the goal that every day for 28 days I would go to the gym for 30 minutes...and set newer goals for waking up earlier and eating healthier naturally into this process.

One Gym Goal

When I would go to the gym, one thing that really helped me is no matter what I would go walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes, that helped me assess where I am mentally that day, I didn't have to figure out what to do, and could figure it all out on the treadmill. I would usually notice if too many people were using the leg machines, so I might want to try the free weights. I liked making my mental routines on the treadmill and having a goal that as soon as I scanned my card to go into the gym I knew what I was going to do first.

The Gym is a Lifestyle and not a Punishment

I'm still secretly a 2 year old, where I give myself rewards for doing something good and punishments for doing something bad. And the gym was always set up to me as a punishment. I've had the conversation, "If you eat this...you HAVE to run a little longer on the treadmill...spend an hour longer at the gym..." but with this challenge the gym became something I would do rather I indulged in more food or not...it slowly no longer became a punishment but something that fit into my lifestyle. That was a major change for me.

Benefits from the 28 Day Gym Challenge

I do well with routines, and going to the gym in the morning helped make a solid routine. I would listen to audiobooks or podcasts during my workouts which kept me super motivated and helped me multitask learning something new in the morning.
Starting off the morning with a win going to the gym motivated the rest of my day.
My energy levels raised and I started eating healthier, going to sleep earlier, and waking up earlier.
I realized how much if you make something a priority you can fit it into your schedule
I got stronger and would last in the gym longer

Takeaways

Create a gym playlist – a hyped playlist can help you get into the zone/push the final few rounds.
Make the gym a lifestyle and not a punishment
Start small
Don't award victories with food
- my award for doing the 28-day challenge was going getting to pick 2 new outfits for my a conference I was attending.
I never craved working out...I just did it. I would compare it to brushing your teeth, it's just something you do out of habit.
I would never do 28 Days straight again, I would take off one day a week, Sundays were the hardest days to go to the gym.
I hate that stair climbing machine

Personal | Why I did this challenge

All my life I was extremely skinny and people would make fun of me all the time for it. A few years ago, I gained a LOT of weight. I didn't realize it at the time, but by the time I did, I was very dishearten. I didn't know who I was...I had an identity in the body I no longer had. I've always been very active and working out went from being something I enjoyed doing to something that was punishment. I had such a negative outlook on body image and associating that with food, gym, productivity, and just everything. It overall just became a cycle of an unhealthy infatuation with body image. The goal was to retrain my habits and outlook on where I am now. This challenge was a fun way to re-motivate working out as a lifestyle.