Goals

This summer was really slow – as far as weight loss is concerned. It bothered me, but I did not even have one thought about giving up or “falling off the wagon”.

These two facts told me two things:
I really HAVE changed in my thinking toward food
I was too willing to accept a 2 – 3 lb per month weight loss

One thing I was very aware of was that I needed to put some kind of activity into my daily routine. In reading your blogs, I noticed almost everyone is involved in some kind of physical activity – and it seemed like everyone was either working out at a gym, training for a marathon, or riding miles on a bicycle every day.
I also noticed something else that I seemed to be missing…..goals. Real goals.

When I began this part of my journey last December, the only goal I had was to lose 130 lbs within a year. And the 130 lbs wasn’t a real goal because I did not know what my goal weight should be – it was always kind of fuzzy (actually, VERY fuzzy) because I have NEVER been happy with the way I looked as far as weight is concerned so I had no idea what weight would be good for me. I mean, even as young as 10 I was thinking I was fat. (I wasn’t) I don’t know why I have had such a poor self-image – I guess that is a matter for further contemplation and a possible future post. Getting back to my point, I have had NO IDEA what my goal weight should be – I’ve just been willing to “know when I get there”. And when it became apparent that I would not lose over 100 lbs within a year, I started to just kind of float along…..eating healthy, writing almost everything down, weighing and measuring almost everything, following my plan 98% of the time, but being just a little nonchalant about it all. I didn’t eat all my exchanges, I didn’t drink all my water, I drank too much diet pop, and had too many alcohol based drinks. I wasn’t gaining, but the losses were v-e-r-y s-l-o-w.

These last couple weeks I’ve felt the need to set some hard and fast goals – long term as well as short term. And here’s the tough part…..work to reach those goals.

My first step in setting some goals was to decide on an exercise program. I live in the country so there are no walking paths nearby and Hubby doesn’t like me walking along the narrow gravel road where people speed by at 100 km/hr. Same for biking. As well, I live in the part of the world where summer is short and winter is long and cold. So, those two activities are out. I do have a treadmill though, and I can use it for walking. The strength training options kind of confused me, though…..there are many that are inexpensive and can be done at home. I have a pile of books and videos containing oodles of exercises that promise to strengthen and tone every muscle in your body. Most of those have never been used and although I have had a real shift in my thinking, I don’t trust myself to oversee my own strength training using the books or Videos I already have. So, I went back to the only exercise I’ve ever really enjoyed and stuck with for any length of time….Curves.

At the gym, I told the manager/owner my story. I told her that I was tired of just “floating” along and wanted to set some goals, work hard, and begin to lose at a quicker pace than I have been. She told me what they could offer in terms of maximizing the machines and the workout, promising that they would coach me and push me as much as I wanted.

At Curves, they measure your % of Body Fat as well as how many pounds of Fat Mass you are carrying. Based on this information, and the healthy % of Body Fat for a woman my age, she came up with a goal weight of 144 – 149 which shocked me! (That seems high) But, if I am building muscle as I burn fat, I guess……. I’m still thinking “We’ll see”. I do know that my daughter looked terrific and was wearing a size 6 or 9 at most when she got married. She weighed nearly 150 lbs (she is 5 ft 2 in) but she has always been a very strong girl with lots of muscle. As well, the Curves owner herself looks fit and firm in every way and her weight is 175 (she is about 5’7”) So, I’m willing to shoot for a firm 145-150 lbs.

Thus, I have established a goal weight. What I need to do is establish a time frame……still thinking about that one.

I have also established an exercise goal……workout at Curves 3X per week, and walk on my treadmill 6 days a week. As for the treadmill – for now, I am doing one mile. I want to be up to 1.5 miles by next week, 2 miles the next, and so on until I am doing 4 miles every day for a total of about 100 miles per month.

I’m excited to take a step up on this journey.

But yesterday, it became obvious that I was about to take two steps backward. I was getting sick. By evening, my 100.4 degree temperature confirmed that yes, I am sick. And Hubby is coming home tonight! This really sucks. There is no way I can stick to my exercise goals when I am sick. It will be nice to have my sweetie take care of me, though.

I’m going to drink lots of water, take Cold FX and Garlic, eat properly, and take it as easy as necessary until Mr. Wonderful gets home to take care of me.

And when I am feeling better, my goal is to immediately implement my exercise goals.

For now, I cancelled my workout at Curves for today. I still need to go into town for a few things …… I want to make Mr. Wonderful’s favorite Poppyseed Cake for his homecoming and I am out of eggs. I’m also almost out of Cold FX and Tylenol. And, I like to have my car clean for my man when he gets home – a trip to the car wash is in order….although, in deference to the way I am feeling, I think I’ll just run through the auto wash rather than use the wash bay.

I really hope the Cold FX works and I don’t get any sicker than I already am.