Someone really needs to slap me in the back of the head!!

Or kick me in the ass!

I am joining in on Steve’s Perfect Ten challenge.  YES, I know I just started to Rethink my Shrink with the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans! It is ok!! I need to set goals for the new year! I have decided that Steve’s challenge gives me the perfect time period to reevaluate my goals! Every 10 weeks I will reevaluate and adjust at that point! I think this sounds reasonable!

I feel rejuvenated and ready to go!!

1. Lose 5 pounds per month update(until I lose 55 pounds to hit goal of 143)

2. Walk 15 miles each week update (that will make 780 miles for the year!)

3. Strength train 3x each week, every week

4. find and prepare one new healthy recipe (update or food) every week ~ and blog about it!

I want to be smart and set goals I know I can attain! I want to set myself up for success! I know that the four goals listed above are all reasonable and I also know that if I accomplish all 4 items I will fell fantastic in 10 weeks!

update: *A side note – my weeks will be from start on Saturdays and end on Fridays. I attend weekly Weight Watchers meetings on Saturdays and it will just be easier for me to track my weeks using this as my first day. I will blog about Perfect 10 on Friday nights and will continue with my usual Saturday Scale Time post.

Let’s enjoy the ride!! and thank Steve and Shrinking Jeans for the awesome & inspiring challenges!

What about you? Did you set goals? Did you keep them SMART?

My first post is about Walking. You can follow that link or just keep reading…

I have been on the path towards healthy living for a little over one year. Honestly, I walked into my first Weigh Watcher’s meeting because I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to be skinny but I had no idea how I was supposed to do that. Fast forward to today and I have lost 47 pound and I am eating better than I ever have eaten. However, food is not the only piece of the weight loss puzzle. The other “F” of healthy living, Fitness, is equally important on this journey. I am just learning all about fitness and I am NOT an expert by any stretch of the imagination!

I do not have a gym membership. I do not have a personal trainer. I do not have a Wii.

I have a constant need to learn. I have a treadmill. I have internet and google.

Walking was my first break into the world of fitness. I have a treadmill but it was sadly underused until last year. Last November, my doctor suggested surgery to repair a weak ligament in my ankle. My doctor wanted to schedule the surgery as soon as I could but I am a teacher and my classroom is on the top floor and the bathroom is on the bottom floor and did I mention there is no elevator. Can I be honest with you? Surgery scared the $&*# out of me!! I told the doc that I would have surgery after school was out for summer. I had already joined Weight Watchers and was making progress but I wanted to be lighter and in better shape if I was going to have surgery. I knew I had to be more active but I had no idea where to start.

I had a treadmill and I started using it! Man, was I slow! I only lasted 20 minutes! But I kept at it. I walked and walked and walked some more. I slowly built up to more time and faster speeds. Winter around here can be cold and wet so I stayed inside. I learned to love my time on my treadmill. I faced my treadmill to the TV and I watched episodes of General Hospital on the DVR while I walked. I walked because I know how to walk. There is no learning curve since I have been walking for 30ish years.

Seven months of walking later, I went back to my doctor for a pre-surgery check up where we would schedule my surgery. Doctor was very happy about the progress I had made with my ankle. I had built muscles in my legs and near my ankle, my ligament would always be weak, but the extra muscles I built were helping my ankle stay stable. When I told doc I felt “AWESOME” he was very happy. We decided that surgery was not necessary at this time. I was so happy because I did not want to stop progress. The surgery had a total healing time of 3 months – that is a lot of time to be out of commission.

I loved rotating treadmill walking with outside walking but July and August were mighty hot so I needed to find a new way to walk. A bit of googling and tweeting brought me to Leslie Sansone and Walk at Home. Using my DVD player, I walked in my very small living room. At first I felt silly walking in place in my living room but within 10 minutes I was sweating and breathing hard. I was walking in a new way and I loved it. I now rotate living room walking with treadmill walking and outside walking.

I am still on my journey to weight loss. I have more weight to lose. I am getting healthier but I am not all the way healthy. Walking has been my main source of fitness and it has been good to me! I have walked myself out of ankle surgery. I have walked myself 47 pounds lighter. I have walked my legs stronger. There are tons of benefits to walking for health.

From The American Heart Association (and the Start Walking campaign):

Walking Toward a Healthier You

There are countless physical activities out there, but walking has the lowest dropout rate of them all! It’s the simplest positive change you can make to effectively improve your heart health.

Research has shown that the benefits of walking and moderate physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day can help you:

* Reduce the risk of coronary heart disease
* Improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels
* Improve blood lipid profile
* Maintain body weight and lower the risk of obesity
* Enhance mental well being
* Reduce the risk of osteoporosis
* Reduce the risk of breast and colon cancer
* Reduce the risk of non-insulin dependent (type 2) diabetes

There really are so many benefits for such a simple activity!

Walking is a fantastic exercise and I enjoy it very much! But, I am ready to add something new.

I want to be stronger and I want to transform my mind and body. Stay tuned while I learn more about fitness! Every week, I will be back to share with you what I learn about fitness!
Together we can get fit!!

I have been writing “take measurements” on my to-do list for weeks. Well, today I finally got to it!

Measurements for November 1, 2009 (I used my yellow tape measure and I wore my blue sports bra and undies):

Chest: 42.5

Upper Arm (Right/Left): 14.5/15.5

Waist (Belly Button): 40.75

Hips: 45.5

Thigh (Right/Left): 27/27

*Height: 5’4″

Weight: 198.8

*Height was added at the request of my girl Mary over at A Merry Life

One of my goals for the Hot 100 was to finally have some sort of schedule and to get organized! This month I want to really get that going. I know I need routine! I do so much better when I have a schedule and routine.  This will be a huge part of my goals for the week and month!

November Goals:

• workout 21 days this month
• truly follow the healthy guidelines every day (fruits, veggies, vitamins, whole grains, lean protein, water, and activity)
• track food and activity daily
• write a workout plan (much like my menu plan) every Sunday
• start 200 Squats Challenge
• start 200 sit-ups Challenge

My “BIG” Goal for this month is to push myself!! I want to feel sore muscles!! I need to feel sore muscles! I need to push my body! I have become too complacent and I think sore muscles are the answer! I know this sounds completely crazy but sore muscles are the answer!

Goals for week of November 1st:

• wake up at 5 am to get some sort of activity in. This is going to be brutal!!! I am not a morning person! But, I let too many obstacles get in my way after school.
• track food and activity every day
• use kettlebell this week!!
• try a yoga or pilates workout from On-Demand

What are you goals? Do you even have goals? Why or why not?

PS~Watch for a Halloween post tomorrow! I know it is a few days late but I felt this goals post should come first!

until next time, keep it real

jen

I have been treading water (weight loss speaking) for the last couple of months. I want to lose the weight but I have not put the work in! and the scale has shown that! If I was truly doing everything right the scale would have shown it by now.  Yes, I have lost some poundage and yes, my clothes are all smaller and YES, my clothes are all from the “regular” side of the store….

but NO, I have not walked as many miles as I should have and No, I have not started the squats and sit-up challenges and no, I have not used my kettlebell enough.

What the hell am I waiting for?!?!

I think I was waiting for this weekend that just passed! I did a little but of blog reading and was able to catch up with some friends.  Over the past two days a few blogs have really hit home, especially Mary’s blog….in fact, a couple of Mary’s posts I swore she wrote just for me! Well, Saturday Mary wrote about workouts and posting about workouts and I realize that I am a very lazy individual! Once I am up and moving, I am raring to go but I could just as easily sit on the couch and watch TV all day long.  I will be writing down my workouts and logging them weekly (thinking about posting on Saturday when I give a week review and weigh in).

My WW meeting this week was all about “back to basics!” My leader led us through an entire meeting focused on the Healthy Guidelines: 6 liquids, 2 dairy, 5 fruits & veggies, multi-vitamin, 2 healthy oils, a lean protein, a whole grain, and an activity EVERYDAY!

This could not have been a better timed meeting! I know I have been slacking! Kind of following the program. Kind of eating what I was supposed to be eating. There is a reason I lost 40+ pounds and that was eating properly, eating fruits and veggies, taking my vitamins, eating yogurt (one of the only ways I get dairy). I have to go back to when WW was new and exciting! My leader left us with this quote from a French author: “To eat is neccessity but to eat intelligently is an art!”

I have to make better choices!

I need to make better choices!

I will make better choices!!

And then this morning, @MizFitOnline tweeted a very early morning tweet:

GOOOOD morning! It’s monday and Im ready for my week. you? whats your ONE BIG GOAL?

MizFitOnline

carla birnberg

I responded very quickly with: to track/journal everything!

I am sticking with this goal this week!! I have other goals but none can truly be accomplished if I do not track/journal better. I know not everyone needs to track but for me it is crucial!!

Thanks Carla and Mary for inspiring me!!

I have been in a slump and it is high time I pull my head out of my ass and get down to work!!

I wanna be smokin’ hot when I get to Fitbloggin

These are going to definitely be my every day daily goals:

• write/log everything I eat or drink
• drink 8 glasses of water
• walk (or ride bike) for 40 minutes
• stretch in the morning and at night

These are goals that I can accomplish every single day! 40 minutes is not too much and I think I can do that much walking as many days as I can. They are the Basic 4!

This weekend I have a few other goals to add:

• clean/scrub bathroom
• clean kitchen floors
• Walk lots and lots! It is the weekend (a 3-day weekend) and I have no excuse!
• DO NOT OVEREAT!!

I am one tired chick! I woke up early to watch NASA bomb the moon. I read that is was supposed to happen at 6:15 but it didn’t happen until after 7:30. This was cool because my daughter and I watched it together. But now at almost 11, I am ready for bed!

G’nite!

See ya tomorrow for Saturday Scale Time!

peace out, jen

• walk 30 minutes…check and exceeded. I actually walked for 60 minutes while I watched Grey’s Anatomy!
• drink 8 glasses of water…check.
• write down everything…check..errr…well actually I just typed it all into WW e-tools! I haven’t tracked a whole day in a while…longer than I actually care to admit.

I think those 3 goals are a perfect place to start fresh! SO, they will be my goals every day! I will add stretching to my morning and evening routines. My good friend Kirsten sent me a fabulous email with a full PDF of stretches. I have not been stretching properly and I think I really need to stretch!

Simply put…

Goals for October 9, 20099

• write/log everything I eat or drink
• drink 8 glasses of water
• walk (or ride bike) for 40 minutes
• stretch in the morning and at night

I am seriously going to take it all one day at a time! I have made it way too far to give up now! I think I know how I got into the funk I am in…For the first 9 months of my weight loss journey I was so focused on getting into onederland. I hit onederland on August 1st and then life happened. Actually summer happened and then life happened. I am a teacher so ya know I totally love my summers off and this summer my husband was home with me and the kid so we spent a lot of time together.  I got very comfortable and thought I could do this thing without tracking. Then my grandfather got really sick and passed away. He had been sick for a long time and he never took care of himself or his health. This angered me in a way I still haven’t completely processed.

Somehow, through all of this I lost sight of the big picture. I never fell completely off the wagon but I certainly hung off the edge. I did not track my food, I did not count my points, I only exercised half-assedly!

Today I set goal! Today I accomplished set goals!!

I feel like I made some sort of revelation.

and all of the sudden I am exhausted!

Tomorrow is another new day! Make it great!