It's Sunday morning, and I'm half-way through my 2nd week of my 8 week big goal, which is to lose 8 pounds and log 80 hours of exercise. I learned about big goals from the fitness coach I hired last November. It was such a good investment. I'm pretty good at setting goals anyways, but she taught me the value of having daily/weekly plans and goals that lead up to a big goal. She also taught me how important it is to have some kind of public accountability. So that's what this blog is, and I'm surprised how much it is working for me. It is giving me that added motivation to figure out why I can't seem to stick to my eating plan, but I am doing the exercise plan, which I thought would be a lot harder.

So back to the subject of big goals. What a big goal does is help give you some focus for setting weekly and then daily goals. It should be something that you can think about and smile, something that is big enough to help motivate you through the tough spots. I picked 8 weeks for my goal because I'm taking a trip to see some really good friends in mid July. Most of them I haven't seen since last July, when I was much heavier and extremely depressed about my weight. There are so many different levels of motivation for this goal - it's perfect. But... a week and a half in I can see how well I'm doing on the exercise (pleasantly surprised on that one) but I am doing terrible on seeing the scale move in the right direction. One pound a week should not be that hard given all the exercise I'm doing and the fact I have this band that doesn't let me eat too much at one time.

Since I'm coming to my draft blog every day writing in my exercise times and then logging them into the ticker every night - it became very obvious why I'm not doing well with eating. It's because I'm not doing a daily plan like I am for the exercise. One thing about having goals that actually work, they need to be specific, measurable, and have a time element. (Google SMART goals if you want to find out more). I need to have a daily plan for my eating - and it needs to be one that will actually work for me. What I like about my exercise plan is that I can choose what I want to do, I just need to get the minutes in. And if I don't make them on one day, I always have a plan B in place to catch up the next day.

For my eating plan I know what doesn't work for me. I don't like counting calories and keeping track of everything I eat. But I do like being mindful of how much I'm eating and the total calories for the meal. I did really well when I was following the band rules, but I just got tired of eating meat at every meal. I do really well on a diet of protein, veggies, and good fats. But I just don't like eating meat that much. So the past month or so I have been focusing on cheeses and beans for my protein. The problem is that these are kind of like slider foods for me. They fill me up, but they just don't have the staying power that 6 oz of chicken or turkey does for me. I guess that's what happens with the band, you are continally finding out what does and doesn't work.

This blog entry is getting really long, so I'll wrap it up. Thanks to anyone who has read this far, I hope my learning process helps someone sometime. So today I've got my exercise results and my plan for the next 4 days listed below. And starting today I am going to start with some specific eating goals for me (that are reasonable given this is PMS week). I am going to try Martha Beck's 4 day win strategy from her book, 4-day win. I am almost finished with reading the book for the 3rd time, but I've actually never done the process she recommends. I guess I'm finally ready to try it. So my first set of goals will be to get back in the habit of eating meat protein for lunch and dinner. Breakfast is not something I have a problem with, so I'm leaving that alone. Once I get back in the habit of doing that I think it will be easier to cut back on the snacking and other things I'm doing to sabotage myself.

Accomplishments for last 4 days

Wed- go to gym, do 1 or 2 dog walks = 1.5 hrs

Actual - 20 + 75 (gym) + 30 = 2 hrs 5 min

Big win - did not stop at the store after the gym for a treat!!!

Thurs- long hike day, plus 1 or 2 more walks = 2 hrs

Actual - 70 min + 30 + 30= 2 hrs 10 min

Fri- gym?, 3 dog walks = 1.5 hr

Actual - 20 + 15 = 35

Sat- ? = 1.5 hr

Actual - 1.75 (weights at home + hike) +20 = 2 hr 5 min

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Goals for next 4 days

Fitness goals are specific per day, eating goal for the 4 days is to have 4-6 oz of meat protein at the beginning of lunch and dinner.

Sun- do 2 or 3 dog walks = 1.5 hrs

Actual :

Mon- long hike day, plus 1 or 2 more walks = 2 hrs

Actual :

Tues- gym (easy workout), 2 dog walks = 1.5 hr

Actual :

Wed- try something new = 1.5 hr

Actual :