October Goals

Hi, all!

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, it's been fairly busy for me. I usually like to write these posts before my husband gets out of bed and he has been waking up with me in the morning or right after my morning workout. Plus, two of my friends are in town, so we have been seeing them in the mornings. Happy October! This is probably my favorite month of the year because it's colder, which for me means, jeggings, cardigan, and boots weather! I adore the 50-60 degree weather! This almost means that I start slower in the morning because of the arthritis and fibromyalgia. Oh well.

As I said above, I have been working out in the mornings. I walk and have my coffee before I do anything else. It is an amazing way to start the day and helps put me in the right mindset for the rest of the day. These colder mornings my walks start a little slower because of my stiff joints. Oh, the life of someone with arthritis and fibromyalgia. I never thought that at 27 I would have these two conditions but these are the cards I was dealt.

I had a very emotional and rough few days. Earlier this week I lost all of my school work and I was 3 weeks ahead, so it was horrid. I went to turn a few assignments in at the beginning of the week and they were all gone. After this happened, I had a few panic attacks and then hunkered down and started redoing the assignments. At this point, I am a week ahead but hopefully, I can get further ahead again. On Wednesday, I went to my doctor and talked more in-depth about my eating disorder. Unfortunately, he does not know a ton about eating disorders so he referred me to someone who specializes in them. I am a-okay with that but unfortunately, I cannot get in to see her until November 14th! That was hard to hear because I can no longer do this alone. I need help from this specialist and I still have to wait a month and a half to see her. It is honestly disheartening. Then on Thursday morning, I was called back to the doctor because he wanted to have my blood pressure checked again. Apparently, it was high when I had seen him the day before and he wanted to have it checked. Well, I go in and have my blood pressure taken twice after I had been sitting for awhile. It was still high both times the nurse took it. So now tomorrow, I have to go back to the doctor and start treatment for high blood pressure. :/ I have never had weight-related conditions before and now since June, I have two. After I received the call on Friday that I need to start treatment for high blood pressure, I broke down. There have been so many other things that happened this week that I was stressed about and then this as the cherry on top. I honestly thought that I was going to binge on Friday but I didn't!! This means I am going on 12 days binge free!

Monthly Goals:

1. Lose 8 pounds (2 lbs/week)
2. Walk 30 minutes/day
3. Eat within my calorie goal each day (Not too high or too low!)
4. Track everything that goes in my mouth
5. Start treatment for high blood pressure and stick to it
6. Stay positive
7. Continue to stay binge free

Weekly Goals:
1. Lose 2 pounds
2. Walk 30 minutes/day
3. Eat within my calorie goal each day (Not too high or too low!)
4. Track everything that goes in my mouth
5. Start treatment for high blood pressure and stick to it
6. Stay positive
7. Continue to stay binge free

One problem I have been having is that when I do eat well, I do not get enough calories. My calorie goal is set for me to lose 2 pounds each week. That is 1990 in calories. I have been eating an average of 1650 in calories but after my exercise, the net calories have only been around 1000 calories. I have been looking at my numbers and I am set to lose over 4 pounds. Don't get me wrong, it won't kill me to lose 4 pounds in one week and I know things will even out but I need to get into the routine of eating at my calorie goal and not a few hundred calories under it and then burning 600-1000 calories through exercise. I never thought I would have this problem. Oh well.

Time to getting working on my school work. Until next time!

~Sara~

October Goals and Other Thoughts

Hi all!

Happy October! How are you all on this beautiful fall day? I am so excited that it's finally October, it is my favorite month of the year. Here in Wisconsin, the leaves are changing colors and ultimately falling off the trees, so it's absolutely beautiful. Plus, the weather is gorgeous, it's colder but it becomes my perfect temperature. I'm able to wear, a 3/4 length sleeve shirt, skinny jeans and boots and be extremely comfortable. Can it just be fall all year round? One of the reasons I want to move to Seattle is that the temperatures are so much better than Wisconsin's, all year round.

Okay, so a new month means monthly goals. I feel like my goals are similar each month or week but I always want to accomplish similar things. So here we are:

1. Lose 3-4 pounds

2. Exercise at least 30 minutes/5 times a week

3. Burn at least 300 calories/workout

4. Blog 5 times/week

5. Eat a healthy breakfast/daily

6. Eat within my calorie goal at least 6 days/week

7. Stay positive

8. Continue staying ahead school work

9. Monitor stress levels and make sure to not become overly stressed

10. At least 1 hour of pleasure reading/daily

11. Don't focus so much on the number on the scale or clothing but focus on how I feel

The past few days I have been seeing an ad from Special K and I just have had the urge to write about it. This ad takes places in a store that sells jeans but this isn't like every other clothing store. What's different? There are not numbered sizes on the jeans, the employee has to measure you and the tape measure gives a positive word instead of a number. This word correlates with a jean "size". I wish that is how stores were, not these stupid numbered sizes that we have today. All of us compare our size to someone else's because their smaller or larger, that is such an emotionally trying thing. If we were a size confident or strong or whatever other word, how could we compare ourselves to someone else? We don't know what the actual size would be because it's another positive word. Honestly, how amazing would that be?

Amanda and I - Summer 2012

Last night I was texting my best friend about how far ahead on my homework I am this week and she began joking around that I should come and visit her (she lives 3.5 hours south of me). At first I took it as a joke but then I began thinking, I am really far ahead and I have enough cash to spare right now. So on Friday morning, I am heading down to see my best friend for the weekend! I am so dang excited for my weekend away with my best friend, I miss her so much. We've been through everything together, since I was 8 years old (I'm 24 now), so for 3/4's of my life this girl has been by my side. When she moved away in 2012 it was really tough for me, needless to say, but our friendship is even stronger now as it was when we lived in the same town and saw each other at least once a week. Now we only see each other in person maybe once every 3 or 6 months, so any time that I'm able to spend with her is amazing.

I was checking my Facebook feed this morning and my college's page posted this picture and it is definitely something that I needed to see today and many other times. I want to share this with all of you and I hope it brings some encouragement to at least one person.
There are certain times when I get discouraged about one thing or another and I always seem to forget to look at how far I've come. Instead I focus on how far I still have to go, whether it be for weight loss or school or whatever else.
Today I wasn't really discouraged but this photo just encouraged a great deal and served as a wonderful reminder of how far I've come. Weight loss wise, I've lost 27 pounds and yeah, I still want to lose 128 more pounds but I'm so much farther than I was when I first began. And for school, I have an Associates degree and I only have 10 months left until I have my Bachelor's degree as well. Then only 3 years until I have my Master's degree. I could be able to begin my career in 5 years or less and have 3 degrees under my belt. Look how far I've come since I graduated high school 6 years ago, I'm in a much better mind set emotionally, spiritually and physically. I've experienced good and bad things but the most important thing is that I've grown exponentially.

One final thought before going to work on my final some more: no matter what you're experiencing now, always remember to stay positive and look towards the future. You can't change the past, so remember how far you've come but keep your focus ahead. I hope that someone finds encouragement in this. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Until next time!

~Sara~