If you’ve watched the Martha Stewart Show this month, you know she’s promoting her Body & Soul Challenge. Living magazine also has a section in it with the 10 important components Martha includes in her daily life.

I have some thoughts about this. First of all, I’ve tried over and over again to sign up for the Body & Soul Challenge emails, but I have not gotten a single one. I get all my other Martha emails with no problem and there is no filter that is catching them. So that’s annoying.

My second gripe with the challenge is that it seems very scattershot. There doesn’t seem to be a cohesive plan somewhere. Each day there is a short little thing on the wholeliving.com site about that day’s focus, but none of this comes off to me as a “challenge”. I guess I was expecting a checklist or something more interactive. I don’t feel like there is an overall plan to follow or daily challenges to meet. Martha makes reference to the challenge on the show, but again, that’s not very cohesive either. I’m feeling a bit frustrated with it all.

That being said, I did very much like the piece in the magazine (pp. 17-20 in January Living). This was something that fit with my life. In fact, just about every single point in it is something that is important to me as well (although that gross looking green juice for #6 is not something I’m interested in!). I too walk for exercise and lift weights. I drink lots of water, work on skin and hair care, make time to relax and keep a very organized calendar. I don’t have a home gym like Martha does, however.

Since I can’t seem to get any real inspiration or guidance from Martha’s Body & Soul challenge, I’m kind of fashioning my own. I’m stepping up the amount of exercise and trying really hard to cut back on calories. We’re eating more fish and veggies. I’m also trying to eat protein in the mornings. I find that if I have a hard boiled egg with breakfast, I don’t get hungry for hours, whereas if I just have cereal, I’m starving by 10 am.

I would love to know if any of you have been able to get the emails for the challenge and if so, what you think of them.

If you’ve watched the Martha Stewart Show this month, you know she’s promoting her Body & Soul Challenge. Living magazine also has a section in it with the 10 important components Martha includes in her daily life. I have some thoughts about this. First of all, I’ve tried over and over again to sign up … Read more →