What Twenty-Eight Days Means to Me

Twenty-eight days means that I can make a lifestyle change.

Twenty-eight days means that I can work past the pain of starting a new workout routine.

Twenty-eight days means that I can take just 2% of my day to focus on MYSELF.

Twenty-eight days means that I can make healthy food choices even when everyone around me is not on board.

Twenty-eight days means that I can shut out the rest of what is going on in my life and spend just 5 minutes meditating.

Twenty-eight days means that I am willing to work on progress, not perfection.

Twenty-eight days means that I am worth it, all of it, and I am going to keep doing it twenty-eight days at a time.

Twenty-Eight Days Broken Down

Last month I committed to focusing just 2% of my day on myself by signing up for Dai Manuel’s 28-day Whole Life Fitness Manifesto. You’re probably thinking that two percent is such a small amount “of course I can commit”, but would you spend the 30 minutes on yourself? Each day? To help make yourself whole, to put yourself first, and watch the trickle effect it has on your life as a whole?

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I have never been skinny, or even average sized, for as long as I lived. I am admitting to being lazy and always putting others needs before my own. I am also a quitter and horrible goal-setter. I stress-eat, happy-eat and even sleep-eat (an actual thing!). After four kids my body, mind and soul look and feel as if they have been ravaged. Something had to change.

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If you have been following along the past few months you will know that I added Bulletproof Coffee to my life. As someone who has suffered from lack-of-focus, anemia and just a general disdain of action it gave my morning the instant boost I so needed. It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to live your whole life scatter-brained only to have what seems like all my ducks put into a row almost instantly. Day-by-day I saw my routine improve and I fell in love with the new ‘normal’ that was going on.

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A huge part of that was the Brain Octane Oil that I put into my coffee. Brain Octane Oil is made from coconut oil and is a purified form of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. Long story short your body breaks these oils down into energy in just 3 steps, unlike sugar which takes 25 steps. MCTs completely bypass the liver making it absorbed fast and why you feel the effects almost immediately after the first sip. It wasn’t until I ran out of my Bulletproof Coffee grounds that I started experimenting other ways I could still get my BOO into my body.

Since Brain Octane Oil is odourless and tasteless I could put it anywhere where really (smoothies, juices, even water) but my favourite was in my homemade salad dressing. Olive oil, the juice of a lemon, Brain Octane Oil, Italian dried seasoning and salt/pepper, shaken up until a thick, delicious sauce is not only good on salad but I have been using it to dip veggies into and even on my grilled meat if it gets too dry. So good!

Bulletproof360 has sponsored Dai Manuel’s Whole Life Fitness Manifesto this month which is where the whole 2% of my day has come from. His free program focuses on the two percent: 15 minutes of daily workout which he does via Facebook Live (LOVE), 5 minutes of meditation, and 10 minutes for personal development. Every day at midnight I get an email with tips and tricks on how to accomplish all of this, it has what to expect in that day’s workout, and it’s motivating AF.

The twenty-eight days are complete and although I deviated most days from what was happening on screen, I did move with intention for 15 minutes each morning. I was always embarrassed to workout in front of my family because I was so self-conscious; now I do it on the living room floor–bad form and all.  Also, I managed to work from almost dying after my first workout to smiling as I did the 15 minutes, progress.

Part of Dai’s program is 5 minutes of meditation a day and although I started out doing it right after the workout with Dai and his wife every morning I have had to dig out my Muse: Meditation Headband close to the halfway point because it’s the method that works for me.

While a strict budget this month (emergency dental sugery<–the worst) has deterred me from making the diet changes I want to implement in future months I have managed to lose 7 lbs so far just by adding movement in every day. I am building up muscles and since muscle weighs more than fat I hope the proof will be more visible when my clothes start to fit less snug. One day at a time, one day at a time.

All in all when it comes to how January has progressed I am happy. My intention for this year has been to ‘slay’ and it will be interesting to see come December 2017 how that has manifested itself. For now, I will happily continue on taking little baby steps. I would like to see my weight get under 100 kg* in February and by end of year to be at 82 kg which works out to be roughly 181 lbs.

The intention has been set and now to start my next twenty-eight days towards a better, more complete me.

Join the WLFM FREE 28 day New Year Best You Challenge

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Check out our other posts with Bulletproof:

Bulletproof360 Twitter Party

Starting the Morning Right with Bulletproof

Sweets and Treats + a Truffle recipe

*We bought a digital scale for $4 and the reason why it was so cheap was because it ONLY shows KG. It’s nice to see such low numbers on the scale for once but I do a lot of googling on weight conversions.<

Aneta Alaei

Aneta is a Toronto-based mom of four that loves a good meal, great company, and learning something new. In her free time, you can find her trying to keep yet another plant alive.

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