Nia Peters, March 2023

Challenge Description: Simply put, to eat mainly a pescatarian diet. High-level this means no red or white meat. This was my January challenge and I decided to extend it to February and March as well.

Motivation: I would eventually like to transition into a plant-based diet, but last time I went cold turkey and just tried to plant-based, I failed. My hope is to use the next few challenges to transition into a full-time plant-based diet. This is the 1st pass. The next pass will be vegetarian, then vegan, then plant-based with an emphasis on an Alkaline Diet.

The why is always more important than the what. My why for wanting to eat an Alkaline plant-based diet is my understanding of this form of eating helping in disease prevention.

“Let thy food by thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” –Imhotep

Expectations: Last months I did consume other meats besides seafood so my grade went down compared to January. I am reinvigorating my efforts to consume seafood only if I have a craving for meat. My overall goal is to transition to an all plant-based diet and I’m taking small steps to achieve this so another month of a pescatarian diet. Wish me luck!

Grade:

Reflection:

Starting Weight: 178 lbs

Ending Weight:

Nia Peters, February 2023

Challenge Description: Simply put, to eat mainly a pescatarian diet. High-level this means no red or white meat. This was my January challenge and I decided to extend it to February and March as well.

Motivation: I would eventually like to transition into a plant-based diet, but last time I went cold turkey and just tried to plant-based, I failed. My hope is to use the next few challenges to transition into a full-time plant-based diet. This is the 1st pass. The next pass will be vegetarian, then vegan, then plant-based with an emphasis on an Alkaline Diet.

The why is always more important than the what. My why for wanting to eat an Alkaline plant-based diet is my understanding of this form of eating helping in disease prevention.

“Let thy food by thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” –Imhotep

Expectations: I’m still in Panama City, Panama and the seafood here is wonderful! I admit there is a lot of fresh fruits, but a meal is mostly composed of meat, a heavy card, and a small salad. I’m hoping to eat seafood + vegetables or carbs + vegetables to avoid mixing meat/cards so that it’s easier for my body to breakdown and eliminate food waste in a more efficient manner

Grade: B+

Reflection: My grade went down this month because I did indulge in eating chicken and even beef a few days this month. Honestly is was probably only a cumulative of 5 days, but my goal is to stick to the goal! I’m giving myself some grace. I’ve been eating meat for over 35 years so cravings will happen. This is why I am doing a few extra months on the pescatarian diet as I transition into a plant-based diet. Small steps.

Starting Weight: 180 lbs

Ending Weight: 178 lbs

Nia Peters, January 2023

Challenge Description: Simply put, to eat mainly a pescatarian diet. High-level this means no red or white meat. Also a change in my challenges is to report any weight gain/loss since I am still on my journey to lose 50 lbs by Fall 2023 Cardio and weight training is not included in this challenge, but I will engage in this activity as well.

Motivation: I would eventually like to transition into a plant-based diet, but last time I went cold turkey and just tried to plant-based, I failed. My hope is to use the next few challenges to transition into a full-time plant-based diet. This is the 1st pass. The next pass will be vegetarian, then vegan, then plant-based with an emphasis on an Alkaline Diet.

The why is always more important than the what. My why for wanting to eat an Alkaline plant-based diet is my understanding of this form of eating helping in disease prevention.

“Let thy food by thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food” –Imhotep

Expectations: I’m moving to Panama for 6-months. Every time I leave the United States and traveled to another country, I find it is much easier to access fresh fruits and vegetables. I hope this move will work in my favor. On the other side, moving is difficult and I admit this can lead to me eating poorly sometimes.

Grade: A

Reflection: I recently moved to Panama City, Panama and seafood is plentiful. When I get a craving for meat I usually eat shrimp or fish. Otherwise there are plenty of delicious fresh fruits and vegetables here. I think I will extend this challenge to Feb and March.

Starting Weight: 190 lbs

Ending Weight: 180 lbs

Nia Peters, December 2022

ANNOUNCEMENT: Trying to lose 50 lbs by September 2023 which puts me on the path to losing 1 lb/week. I did lose 5 lbs in November so I’m on track. I understand tracking weight isn’t the best metric (you can gain muscle, be blotted with excessive water, + and – 3 lbs, etc etc) so I’m not obsessing over weight, just monitoring it. I did lose 10 lbs and then gained back 5 lbs after a bout of pneumonia in November so things happen. I’m going to keep pressing on my journey.

Ok on to the challenge…

Challenge Description: No Sugar, No Alcohol and Only Home-Cooked Meals. During the holiday season you say? Yep! That’s why it’s a challenge! From November’s post you can see I have the exercising thing down, but with food, let me just put it here: I’m an addict. I need to get my eating under control and build better habits. Christmas Eve and all the traveling over the holidays will be there to temp me. On the bright side, I do have 2-weeks off during the December month giving me the opportunity to cook more at home.

I put no sugar, no alcohol, and no eating-out all in one challenge because 1) I couldn’t decide between them for the December challenge, 2). These are some my worst eating habits and I want to start the process in conquering them.

Motivation: The “why” is always clear to me in most of these challenges. I don’t just want to be fit and healthy, but also I want to exhibit good habits for my family and children. I believe in generational health. I grew up learning very unhealthy habits and I don’t want impose the same on my children. I’m here to break the generational curse of unhealthy living. Ok that previous statement was negative, better put: I’m here to set an example of generational health and longevity for generations to come.

Expectations: I actually don’t think this challenge will be too bad for me even with the holiday season. We’re actually moving soon so we won’t have a lot of time to engage in as many holiday festivities. Our biggest holiday party is my family’s gathering on Christmas Eve where my aunt makes this amazing banana pudding! I’ll probably lose points for eating that. I just want to set realistic expectations upfront. While we’re traveling I’m going to be pro-active about packing road snacks and meals so we can avoid eating out. I’ll work with my family to plan meals that they’ll be comfortable eating on the road. I think I can do this!

Grade: F

Outcome: I just didn’t do well on this challenge. I would blame the holidays, but no I keep eating sugar outside of the holidays. Sugar is in everything! I would eat a sweet and thing “Well I failed this challenge.” I did however cut down on alcohol. I only drank a few cocktails during Christmas Eve.

Next Steps: Just on to my next challenge, but I do want to see in January if I can minimize my sugar intake,

Nia Peters, November 2022

Before I discuss this challenge I just want to officially announce that I am on a weight loss journey to lose 50 lbs by September 2023 which puts me on the path to losing 1 lb/week. Overall I would like to get down to a healthy weight of 150 lbs and maintain that from now on. Ok now to the challenge!

Challenge Description: The goal is to engage in workouts 7 days a week for an entire month. These workouts will include but are not limited to Zumba, HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training), weight lifting, and running. I will aim to do 45 min – 1-hour workout sessions and come days do two workout sessions (time permitting).

Motivation: Well this is a good starting point for my weight loss journey (building up good fitness habits).

Expectations: I expect this challenge to be relatively straightforward. This is a November challenge so I know I’ll be traveling for the holidays. During the November holiday, we eat and drink a lot so another part of this challenge is to continue to workout even when I’m traveling. I’ve even asked my family if I could do a kid’s and adult Zumba and a short HIIT class with them. Even if nobody joins, I’ll still have the class and this will be a great way for me to continue to exercise.

Grade: A+

Outcome: Oh yes! I killed this challenge! I woke up every weekday at 5:00am and attended a 45min long Tabata class on MWF and a 1 hour boxing class on TTh. Even after the classes I still had so much energy that I practiced new choreos for my Zumba class. I even posted short videos of new choreos on my Zumba With Nia TikTok, FB, and Insta accounts. This move put a lot more eyes on my Zumba instructor business. Double win! Plus I still taught 1-hr Zumba classes TTh so on some days I worked out 2+ hours.

Also on Saturday and Sunday, I did a mix of rigorous workout and fun-n-lite. On most Saturdays I went to the Pushing Limits HIIT workout at 6am in morning. Now that is an intense workout, but I always left feeling like I accomplished so much. If I couldn’t make this workout, I tried to do something active with my family such as hiking or going roller skating with my daughters.

Oh and there’s more. So I did indeed host a Zumba class for my family the day after Thanksgiving. A few of my family members already had YMCA memberships and for the others I had free passes and/or just offered to pay. The staff at the J. Smith Young YMCA in Lexington, NC were so generous and helpful. They allowed us to use the YMCA free of charge (with signed waivers) and gave us access to one of their fitness rooms. The children went to play basketball, the men did weight training, and I hosted a Zumba class for the ladies. It was awesome and it’s a new day-after-Thanksgiving family tradition!

Overall I think working out is my new normal. I honestly don’t mind getting up early in the morning. Even on the days that I do struggle to get up and get in a good workout, I always think to how wonderful I feel after a workout: energized and ready to face the day!

Next Steps: Like I said, it’s my new normal, so I’m going to keep it up. I think I realize that I just need to move and diversifying my workouts has kept it new and exciting. I’ll try new classes and activities and try to move everyday.

Nia Peters, October 2022

So I want to give myself as much advantage for success as possible. When I was thinking about this challenge, I wanted to keep in mind that I will be traveling for work for one week this month. I know myself. I know that when I travel for work I eat the worse and work out the least. I think I can manage this challenge even while traveling.

Challenge Description: Make 80% of each meal a fruit or vegetable. For example, a sample meal day could be:

Breakfast: Fruit smooth (80%+ fruit)

Snack: Fruit

Lunch: Avocado sandwich and carrots (80%+ vegetables)

Snack: Celery sticks

Dinner: Chicken, mixed vegetables, and salad (80%+ vegetables)

That’s it. During every meal try to optimize the number of fruits and vegetables I consume each day. This challenge is exciting. Last month I tried my hand at several vegetable dishes and morning smoothies. I have a few favorites and I look forward to trying more!

Motivation: After reading the book Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, I was impressed by the simplicity of some of the ideas. I wasn’t looking for a diet, I was looking for a way of life. I admit I tried practicing the principles in the book and could only last about a week or two. I figured I would work through these principles one at a time. One of the principles is making each meal 80% fruits or vegetables. I hope the audience notices that since September each of the challenges I related to one of the Fit for Life principles. I love these principles and I think I need to integrate them into my life slowly.

Expectations: My expectation is that my body may go through a bit of a detox phase. I usually consume a lot of processed foods along with meats and carbs. I think consuming more fruits and vegetables will throw my body into a bit of chaos before it gets used to the idea of me putting better foods into it. I believe that by the end of this month I will have a lot more energy and mobility. Wish me luck!

Grade: C

Outcome: I think I received an F on this challenge last time so this is actually progress. Remember I’m trying to undo years of certain health/eating/fitness habits. I’m giving myself a C because I consistently had a smoothie each morning. Additionally, most of my meals consisted of a vegetable, but they didn’t occupy 80% of the plate. Another thing I started doing during this challenge and HIIT, weight lifting, and cardio workouts. I noticed the lighter I eat (i.e. more vegetables than protein/carbs), but easier the workout.

Next Steps: These results were encouraging so I’m going to continue to drink morning smoothies and have fruit in the morning. Additionally, I will continue to be very intentional about having 80% of my plate as vegetables.

Nia Peters, September 2022

Well here I am. Back again and working on habit development. I remember about 20 years ago, I just declared that I was only going to drink water. So I started drinking water…ordering it at restaurants….keeping water bottles on me….and now I look up and that’s what I drink….water. My children drink water also, mainly because I realized early on that any other drink led to potty accidents.

As I work to develop healthier habits and make better decisions about my food and fitness, I reflect on how this small declaration resulted in a life-long change. I’m trying to figure out how to recapture that. My hope is that these 30-day challenges will help me in this endeavor: small changes over longer periods of times resulting in life-long habits.

Challenge Description: Do not eat after 8-pm. That’s it. For those who have read my blog, you probably remember this challenge. I did it about a year ago. I failed it. I attributed the failure to:

“…, stresses of work and everyday life. Either I have to mitigate these stresses or find ways to avoid eating despite them.”

It’s a year later and I am actively working on strategies to mitigate the stresses of work and everyday life through self-care and “being present” behaviors. I look forward to working through this challenge again. I am much more confident in being successful.

Motivation: After reading the book Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, I was impressed by the simplicity of some of the ideas. I wasn’t looking for a diet, I was looking for a way of life. I admit I tried practicing the principles in the book and could only last about a week or two. I figured I would work through these principles one at a time. One of the principles is allowing you body to rest and digest all the food of the day especially since in the night your body is at rest and working the least.

This idea was reinvigorated during a podcast episode I heard the episode: Inside The Vault: How to Take Control of Your Health and Create an Abundance of Wealth with T-Walk the Hawk. T-Walk talked about what your body needs to do to heal itself. In the interview the host Ash Cash asked T-Walk how could people get started. He said just start one month at a time, month one eliminate one bad habit and then the next month eliminate another (I’m paraphrasing of course). Overall the message I took away is, all my good efforts will be negated if I don’t start taking away some of my bad habits, one month at a time.

Other motivation is that when I eat late, I usually wake up feel “drunk”. I will monitor my energy levels in the morning as time goes on to see if this method gives me more energy in the morning.

Expectations: My expectation is that I will have more energy in the morning and that if I successfully complete this challenge, it will set me up to overcome one of the greatest challenges I’m working to overcome, late-night stress eating.

Grade: C

Outcome: It’s an improvement from the F I received the last time I tried this challenge. Breaking habits takes time and I’m happy to try these challenges to start the process. Overall I had a few slip ups. Some nights I ate closer to 9 and 10pm, but overall I was able to maintain pre-8pm meals. The nights I was able to adhere to the challenge rules, I felt so much better in the morning and had a lot more energy. During these challenges I won’t be stepping on the scale, but rather monitoring and tracking how I feel and how my body reacts to these new habits.

Next Steps: I’m going to keep going with this one as I continue to add new challenges to my repertoire.

Nia Peters, January 2022

Challenge Description: For the first month of the new year I will engage in activities associated with select principles of Natural Hygiene. Overall Natural Hygience is a very large body of literature, but the general principle is naturally eliminating toxins from your body by eating at the right time, properly combining foods, and eating more water-based foods. I will focus specifically on sticking to the following principles:

1. Timing: Eating fruit between 4am-12pm ; Eating properly combined meals between 12pm-8pm.
2. Properly Combined Meals: Not combining fruit with anything. Combining vegetables (water-based) with non-meat concentrated foods. Since I want to continue on my vegan journey the main thing here is not to combine fruits with anything and eat them in the morning.
3. Water-based foods: Our body is 70-80% water so I would like my plate to reflect this. I will try to make all my 12pm-8pm plates 80% water-based (veggies)

Motivation: After reading the book Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, I was impressed by the simplicity of some of the ideas. I wasn’t looking for a diet, I was looking for a way of life. I admit I tried practicing the principles in the book and could only last about a week or two. I figured trying it for 30-days may help in developing better eating habits even if I don’t stick to it after the challenge.

Expectations: I expect this to be challenging for a few reasons. It’s January so I’ll be coming off a few weeks of unhealthy habits. I’ve tried this before and I wasn’t successfully after a week. I remember being very hungry. I know stress is a key part of why I have such bad eating habits and I’m still working on de-stressing activities. That may be my next challenge

Grade: F

Outcome: I didn’t do any of this. It’s cold. I’ve been depressed. I’ve engaged in excessive eating, little physical activity, and overall just being really down on myself. This too will pass, but honestly I did nothing in this challenge except reflect on how much I was failing it. Giving myself a little bit of grace, I was able to avoid eating flesh-based meat this month. I started back eating dairy and seafood (mainly shrimp). Last month I was vegan, doing cardio at least 2 hrs/week, and doing strength training 5 hours/week. This month I introduced new foods back into my diet and did on average about cardio 2 hrs/wk. Introducing these foods back into my diet and not working out as regularly as I did last month reduced my energy levels.

I am happy that my teaching Zumba still allows me to workout regularly. I just want to be honest about this month’s journey. It wasn’t what I expected (mainly because I’m comparing it to last month), but I appreciate this space to be open about it.

Next Steps: It’s been a hard month. I may be a little too hard on myself because last months I was doing such a great job health wise and I feel like this month I just dropped off. Additionally mentally and spiritually I just haven’t felt my best. Next month I’m going to try to re-do two previous challenges. One challenge focuses on eating, the other on physical activity. Additionally I want to try a little experiment. Work with me here. I would like to increase the timing for which I engage in these challenges. I don’t know if 30 days is enough for me to form good habits. It took my years to develop bad habits. I imagine it will take a bit of time to break them and focus on habit development. I think I need more time to achieve this.

Nia Peters, December 2021

Challenge Description: The goal is to engage in 1-hour weight lifting session on weekdays

Motivation: Adding to my cardio workout. Toning, balance, and strength training. Overall I’m just trying to engage in healthier habits. I know cardio helps my heart so now it’s time for me to give me limbs and muscles some love.

Expectations: B+

Outcome: So using the ActiveTrax app from the YMCA, I woke up everyday at 4:30am and lifted weights. No cardio, just weights. I’m a Zumba instructor so I continued to teach on Tuesday and Thursday, but Monday – Friday I was in the gym. I like the ActiveTrax program because it works different areas of the body each day including abs everyday. It also corresponds to the numbers on the machines in the YMCA so I don’t spend a lot of time figuring out where things are (great for novices starting our in the gym). Finally it shows videos of how to do the exercises properly. I can track long-term progress by logging into the website. The downside is I have to be proactive and challenge myself (which is more of a reflection on me rather than the app). If I start to feel the weights are too light or the workout is too easy I have to increase the weights myself and log it. To my understanding the app will then adjust accordingly. This way I avoid plateauing which I have been known to do if not careful.

I didn’t always feel like getting up at 4:30am, but I pushed myself and consistently felt good after every workout. I was so energized that I made morning smoothies and read before the rest of the house woke up. It really gave me back a lot of my day. I give myself a B+ because I missed a few days because of holiday travel, but I still did pretty well.

Next Steps: I’m going to continue! I enjoyed this month’s challenge and I want to see where this journey leads me. I’ll continue to explore other times, but the morning is usually my best time. Like I said the major downside was that struggle to get up that early in the morning and I admit I would burn out earlier in the day and need an afternoon nap. Other than that the benefits far outweigh the cons, including morning energy in the morning, productive morning activities including smoothie making and getting my daughters ready for school. I also feel in a much better mood on the days I have a morning workout.

Nia Peters, November 2021

Challenge Description: The goal of this challenge is to adhere to a vegan diet for 30-days.

Motivation: I haven’t written my motivation in previous posts, but I wanted to add it here. There were two things that motivated me to try this challenge. I follow the social media influencer Tabitha Brown. I would check out some of her videos. They made me laugh and smile and sometimes brought me a sense of peace. I later purchased her book Feeding the Soul (which I highly recommend) and she mentioned she was not only motivated to try a 30-day vegan challenge because of a health scare, but also after watching the movie What the Health on Netflix.

I admit I’m sensitive to propaganda and usually see a lot of movies like What the Health as propaganda. Just because I define them as such, doesn’t mean there isn’t a useful message. Most of things we consume are propaganda and are there to make you feel strongly about something in order for you to act a particular way. This isn’t good or bad, it just is. It’s what you do with these messages that makes that difference. I know propaganda has a negative connotation, but here I’m just acknowledging that this film was trying to send a message and hell, it did a good job. The image that sticks in my mind is that of the dead pigs and the notion that they grind them up and feed them to the pigs we eat. It was gross enough to motivate this challenge.

Not sure if I will remain a vegan forever, but with Tabitha’s meal ideas to try along with that horrible image of dead pigs imbedded in my brain for awhile, count me a vegan this month.

Expectations: I expect these next few 30-days to be pretty challenging. At the end of the month we will be traveling down South for the celebration of my aunt’s birthday and retirement. I know there will plenty of tempting treats there. I admit, food + family = comfort so I’ll see how well I fare this month. Wish me luck!

Grade: A+

Outcome: I did it! First let me commend myself for seeing a challenge through ’til the end. Hurray! I ate vegan for the entire month even through Thanksgiving. The hack there was traveling on Thanksgiving day. That worked to my advantage. Honestly this challenge was not as hard as I thought and it came with a lot of lessons.

1. I can do without “meat substitutes.” Things like vegan cheese, source cream, yogurt, etc are unnecessary and honestly I did not enjoy them. Some vegan subs were fine such as butter, mayonnaise, and impossible meat. Otherwise I was comfortable just eating fruits, veggies, nuts, and grain. Specifically I just eat a lot of foods that are already vegan i.e. India, Thai, Mediterranean, Chinese, Mexican, Ethiopia, etc. Without adding meat these foods are amazing!
2. A regular day was as followed:
   1. Fruit or fruit smoothie in the morning…so yes I engaged in the Only Eat Fruit in the Morning Challenge this morning.
   2. Lunch I did a varied of things, with my favorites being:
      1. hummus, pita bread, and sliced veggies
      2. guacamole and chips
      3. avocado with chili lime seasoning and tofu scramble.
   3. For snacks I munched on cashews or popcorn with avacado oil or eat fruit.
   4. For dinner at home I made things like
      1. vegan spaghetti or chili with impossible burger (my family couldn’t tell the difference and enjoyed it)
      2. vegan pad thai
      3. falafel and tahini sauce (this was not a hit with the family, but I loved it)
      4. Traditional dinner in our house with a meat, carb, and veggie where I only eat the card and veggies.
3. I found a few restaurants with dishes I am absolutely in love with. I live in Dayton, OH so places like Butter Cafe have an excellent tofu scramble and vegan chocolate cake. The Cheesebase Factory has a lovely cauliflower taco and avocado egg rolls. Finally The Trolly Stop has an absolutely amazing portobello mushroom sandwich. If you are ever in Dayton I highly recommend these restaurants and dishes

I gave myself an A+ because I handled this challenge like an absolute boss! I also did two other failed challenges this month: the Workout 1-hour Per Day 5 Days a Week Challenge and the Only Eat Fruit in the Morning Challenge.

I lost weight, gained energy, and feel great,! Full disclosure, some days were a lot harder than others. Look I’ll level with you. I grew up eating meat, eating unhealthy, and associating food with love. Eating vegan for month although offering rewards also took a toll on my me physically and emotionally. I just want to paint a wholistic few of the journey.

1. I was gassy for the 1st 2 weeks. I called this my detox period. Anytime you do drastic changes in the way you eat, you body may go through some uncomfortable changes. Mine was gassiness. I embraced that I was in a detox and just pushed through it
2. I associate food with love and not being able to share in the foods loved by my family was difficult. I found it helpful not claim that I was vegan or doing a vegan challenge, but just eat what I could and when someone asked me about me plate, I would just say “I ate earlier.”
3. If I did not pack a snack bag I was in trouble! I learned this early on in the challenge. When I am hungry, I am more tempted to just give in and eat what is available. With a snack bag if I was every anywhere were vegan options were not available, I would just eat a snack before or after to curb my appetite.

Next Steps: I’m going to continue! I enjoyed this month’s challenge and I want to see where this journey leads me. Look I never thought in million years I would participate in a vegan diet, but I’m going to see if I can do this next month along with the other previous challenges. Although next month I will have a different challenge, I like the concept of habit building. Let’s keep that trend going.