Thursday, June 7, 2012

Goals, Goals, Goals

Two weeks ago, I started this blog as a way to document my journey to what I deemed to be "my healthiest life".  I only had a vague idea of what I was going to do to achieve the vague goals that I had in mind.

And for the past two weeks, I have pushed myself out of comfort zone when it comes to workouts, and my eating has been 80% clean. But I still feel as though I am getting it wrong more than I get it right. 

So I decided to sit down and write some concrete goals to help me take this journey further.

1. To weight 135 pounds by my 30th birthday. Currently I weight 143 pounds, that calculates to an 8 pounds loss over 8 weeks.  This is entirely doable.  I am going to approach my weight loss by both modifying my workouts and cleaning up my eating.
    • Workouts:  I am going to follow the FANTASTIC workout plan created for me by Annette at Fitness Perks. I will also be doing 2 additional cardio workouts per week  (See Goal #2).
    • Nutrition: Eat "clean" 95% of the time.
      • I define clean as lean protein, healthy fats, whole grains, and limited sugar and processed foods.
      • Avoid eating out and limited processed foods:  To achieve this, I am going to pack a small insulated lunch bag daily, which will contain breakfast, lunch, and a few snacks.  I will spread these meals out so that I am eating something every 2 to 3 hours.
      • Avoid mindless eating:  In the past few days, I have come to realize that I want to snack around 3 p.m. but I am not hungry. The urge to snack is just a response to stress related to my work. While I have no problem snacking when I am truly hungry, these instances are just empty and unnecessary calories.  Going forward, if this occurs, I will drink a glass of water and take a 5 minute walk around our campus. I think this will help reduce my stress and allow me to refocus so that I can finish the rest of my day.
2. To shave 3 minutes off of my 5K time.  I ran a 33 minute 5K last weekend. And I did it battling tired legs and an upset stomach.  Assuming I train smart over the next 8 weeks, I really believe I can run a 30 min (or less) 5K. I will test this on August 18th with another 5K race.
    • Training:  In addition to follow Annette's workout plan, I will be devoting two days a week to training for my next 5K.  The first run of the week will be a tempo run - where I add in faster intervals during a regular run.  The second run of the week will be an endurance run - where the focus will be on running a full 5K.
3. To reduce my overall stress level.
    • Gratitude List:  Per Annette's suggest, I will write 5 things I am thankful for each morning and each evening. I will compile my top 5 each week and share them in a post on "Thankful Thursdays".
    • Me Time: I am taking twenty minutes every day to read something other than work related items or blogs. I have a stack of magazines and a dozen books on my Nook that I am eager to read.
    • Weekly Date Nights with Hubby: One night a week where we do something together without our daughter.
    • Play Dates with My Daughter:  Carve out at least 30 minutes every day to play a game, watch a DVD, or do whatever my daughter wants to do. This should be interesting as I am trusting my time to a 2 year old. :-)

I did not intend for this post to be so verbose. But now that I have typed it all out, I feel better. I have a plan and a clear path to my goals.  What are your goals?  What does the "healthiest life" mean to you?

1 comment:

  1. Good for you!! Annette makes the BEST workouts!! I'm sure you'll make your goal - stick with you minigoals... You can do it! :) :)

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