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~

Weigh-In, Recap, Goals and a New Month

Hi, all!

Happy Monday and happy June! It's a new month, which means it's a new beginning and a great time to come up with some new goals. Today is a gorgeous day, a high of 66 and sunny. Don't forget to write out some new goals today and get working toward them. I have so much to cover today because I haven't blogged in a few days. Sorry about that, by the way, over the weekend my cold turned into something a lot more. I'm still feeling pretty under the weather, but I'm trying to move forward with my week.

Yesterday was Sunday which means I had my official weigh-in. My results were not where I wanted them to be, especially as it was the end of the month, but it is what it is.

Starting Weight: 315 lbs

Last Weight: 308.8 lbs

Current Weight: 308.9 lbs

Weight Lost: 6.1 lbs

As you can see, I gained .1 pound, so I'm not all that happy, but it could have been a lot worse. I need to be honest with everyone though, I didn't do as well with my fitness or nutrition this past week and you can see that with my weigh-in. Most days throughout the week, I was under my calorie goal, however, I made some unhealthy food choices. Plus, my calorie burns from my work outs were down a little this week and I know I didn't push myself as hard. Overall, I'm not happy with how this week went but, these things happen. Today is a new day and a new week, so I'm going to try harder.

Now onto my recap of my weekly goals, I actually accomplished all of these except for my weight goal. As seen above, I gained .1 pound, so my goal of losing .5-1 pound was not accomplished. The positive that I'm going to take out of last week though is that I worked out 5 days and had 214 minutes, which is 94 minutes over my goal. Also, I ate within my calorie goal 5 days, which was my goal. Each day I weighed in, tried to stay positive, blogged 5 times and continued to work through my food addiction. Overall, I did pretty well with my goals for the week and I'm going to keep working hard.

Okay, now it's time to recap my monthly goals and share my results. I didn't achieve my goal of losing 3 pounds, but I did lose 2.5 pounds, so that's still a win in my book. I worked out 23 of 31 days, which surpasses my goal and I had 1118 fitness minutes, which is a little more than double my goal. I ate within my calorie goal 24 of 31 days, which surpasses my goal of 21 days. Each day I weighed in, stayed positive, blogged 24 days (double my goal) and continued to work through my food addiction. Although I didn't achieve all of my goals, I do think that I made some good progress in May, especially with my food addiction. I took more steps forward than I did backwards, so May was definitely a good month!

June is upon us, which means it's time for some new monthly goals. My goals for this month are going to be pretty similar to May's goals, but I'm going to tweak them a little bit.

1. Lose 3 pounds
2. Cardio - at least 22 sessions, 45 minutes/session (1000 minutes/month)
3. Eat within my calorie goal at least 21 days (out of 30)
4. Weigh-in daily for weight loss study
5. Stay Positive
6. Blog at least 12 times
7. Continue to work through food addiction

I increased my fitness minute goal because I'm averaging at least 1000 each month. Also, I increased my amount of days eating within my calorie goal. One thing that I like to do when coming up with monthly goals is to take a look at my yearly goals and see how I'm coming along with those goals. I did that today and I already know that I won't accomplish my weight loss goal for the year because I'd have to lose 11.7 pounds each month, so that goal is definitely out. I'm not going to change that goal but I know I won't accomplish it, instead I'm going to push myself and try to lose between 24 and 48 pounds the rest of the year (1-2 pounds/week).

Finally, we're on to the goals for this week, they'll be pretty similar to what they always are, but there will be a few minor changes.

1. Lose .5 - 1 pound
2. Cardio - 4 sessions, 45 minutes/session (180 minutes)
3. Eat within my calorie goal (2300) at least 6 days 
4. Weigh-in daily for weight loss study
5. Stay Positive
6. Blog at least 3 days
7. Drink at least 64 oz of water/day
8. Continue to work through food addiction

Well, there you have it. This has been a pretty long post, so I hope you've all bared with me through it all. Well, I'm off. I'm going to get a pretty light walk in today, even though I'm sick. No more excuses because I won't see results unless I push myself. I hope that you all have an absolutely amazing day, week and month. Don't worry about what happened earlier this year, last month, last week or even yesterday, it's a new day. We each have a new beginning and we need to push forward. Until next time!

~Sara~

New Month, New Beginning

Hi, all!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today? It's May 1st, which means a new month is upon us. Today is a clean slate, what are we going to do to make it count? There are so many things that we can accomplish this month if we put our minds to it. I shared my goals a few days ago, what are your goals for the month?

Yesterday I had another good day and I ended April on a positive note, which I'm so happy about. According to my records, I was 1041 calories under my goal (for the last 4 days of April), I had almost 1100 calories burned and 201 fitness minutes in those 4 days as well. :) I'm proud of myself for staying on track these four days because it hasn't been without hardships. Sometimes I think I need to eat more in the evening, even after I've had my snack, but I work through it and realize that I don't need it. It's especially gratifying when I talk myself out of eating some that is not necessary (like some nachos or something like that). Often in the evenings, I'm craving some sort of carb, usually chips, and I know that is not something I need. There is nothing wrong with eating chips from time to time, but in the evening, I'd eat way too many of them, so I try to avoid them. It'll be much nicer when I'm living on my own again and I won't even keep those kinds of things around.

Tonight my mom, two youngest nieces and I are going out for Chinese tonight, so it'll be tougher to keep on track today, but I'm determined to stay on track. I've already determined what I'm eating (some delicious chicken and broccoli) and I've added it to my nutrition tracker. This is how my life is going to be, there will be times that go out for Chinese or Italian or whatever else. I will eat it and enjoy it, but I'll make sure that it fits into my day.

Oh, and I just wanted to share something that I find amazing. The shirt I'm wearing today is one that I bought on Saturday. When I was trying it on, I thought it looked nice, but it was just another shirt. Today it is more than simply a new shirt, I feel more confident in it. The reason for that is that I'm working out and eating better again. I feel better about myself when I'm working out and eating properly and I think it shows. I'm more confident about myself when I'm doing well. It's an amazing feeling, I love having more confidence.

My best friend is going to be here starting on Sunday afternoon/evening and she'll be here until the following Saturday afternoon. I'm so excited to have her here, especially since I've graduated. Her sister is getting married a week from today and my best friend is the maid of honor. I can't wait for the wedding, it'll be an amazing time with a family that I've known since I was 7. Plus, I'll be able to hang out with my best friend a few times during the week that she's home. Anyways, I'm off. I hope that you all have an amazing day and an amazing beginning of the month. Until next time!

~Sara~