Weekly Goals

Geez, it has been a long time since I posted on here.

Life has been crazy.  Temporary job.  Balancing kids and schedules.  Bronchitis.  Children with pneumonia.  And baby Schwab #3 on the way.

Baby #3 has been my biggest obstacle.  I am currently 24 weeks along and still experiencing some morning sickness.  Plus, I have a low placenta and have to be careful with my activities.  I don't feel like cooking at home.  I don't care about eating healthy (I typically just want what I want...and it isn't healthy).  I don't feel up to my doing my usual exercises (and shouldn't exercise too strenuously).

However, I have been watching the scale creep up, perhaps a little faster than it should, and I realize that I can't completely let myself go with this pregnancy.  I will definitely regret it later as it's not good for either the baby or me.  I am going to have to take control of something.

I have decided to start setting a few weekly goals for myself again.  And I am determined to do it here, in public, where I tend to be much more accountable than if I just make them to myself.

I know it's already halfway through this week, but I don't care.  I've got to start somewhere and now is always better than later when it comes to being healthy.

My goals for the rest of this week:

1. Drink no more than one soda per week.  I had tremendous success with "soda Saturdays" once before.  I have slowly edged into having more - especially since I have been eating out more.  It's just easier to order a soda.  Plus, I love them...so there's that.  But I need to cut back, so one a week it is for me.  In my mind I am already counting down the hours till Saturday...

2. Eat only one portion-appropriate treat per day.  You would think this would be easy for me right now.  You see, my baby hates sugary things.  Anytime I eat something sugary, I pay for it by feeling sick for several hours.  Is this enough to stop me?  Nope.  My craving for sweets is so strong, I often tell myself it'll be okay, only to regret it later.  And yes, I do this more than once a day sometimes.  I am going to start by limiting myself to one small treat a day.

3. Eat appropriate serving sizes.  I keep telling myself that extra calories are needed to grow babies, so I allow myself to eat more and more all the time.  My goal this week is to keep an eye on serving sizes and not eat more than my body tells me it needs.

Wish me luck!  And please, feel free to set some goals for yourself and leave them in the comments (here or on Facebook).  I would love to have you join me!

Weekly Goals

Technically speaking...I failed each goal that I made for this last week.

HOWEVER

I still am counting it as a success. 

Why?

Because I did so much better than I normally would have.

I only attended one Zumba class... but I did attend ONE Zumba class.  Go me!

I had cake to celebrate my parents' birthdays...but I skipped my pre-proportioned treat for that day and still counted the cake in my calories.

I ate out for two meals...but I talked myself out of several others.

The important thing is that I kept moving forward.  Don't ignore the little successes.  It's all part of the big picture.

Here are this week's goals:
1. Attend two Zumba classes.
2. Be diligent in counting ALL calories.
3. Drink 3 full glasses of water a day.

What are your goals this week?

Little Steps

It's that time again for me.

The holidays are over.  The massive amount of sweets are put away.  Life is back to it's typical routine...whatever that is around here.  :) 

It's time to buckle down once more.

I'm starting this week with three basic goals to get me back on track.

GOALS:
1. Attend at least two Zumba classes.
2. Consume only pre-proportioned treats.
3. No eating out.

What are your goals for the week?

One Year

It has been almost one year since we've started this blog. One year since our weight loss journey began.

Yesterday I weighed myself and was *gulp*...

192 pounds

(As though if I say it quietly, it won't be real.)

Let's try that again.

192 pounds!!!

Thanksgiving. It can be a killer and didn't help my already-up-again weight.

And it's time to start over.

Again....

I really like (and appreciate!) Janee's inspiring comment from last week.

"The Lord did not send you here to fail."

It struck a chord.

I know that I was feeling down last week. Overwhelmed by everything on my plate and underwhelmed by my own actions. It can be disappointing to know, deep down, that this didn't happen to me, but that I chose it for myself every day with a hundred little choices.

It was my fault.

My mistakes.

My weakness.

That knowledge simply fed into my feeling of despair.

But I'm starting to realize (and it's a life-long, continual realization) that just because I've been weak before doesn't mean that I can't turn around and be strong.

I've decided that I just need to take baby steps.

Making little, everyday choices that will add up to big life changes.

I was looking back at the posts from when we started last year and noticed that I had set goals every week. Real, tangible, written goals that I could measure myself against the following week. Goals based in actions, not results.

I think that is a habit that I ought to establish again.

My Goals for the Week:
1. Do 30 minutes of exercise at least 4 days this week.
2. Drink at least 3 glasses of water each day.
3. Limit myself to one small "treat" each day.

There, that's a start. I am also going to document and then clear the weigh-ins over on the left. Because it's a fresh start.

How about you? Do you want to join me? What are your 3 top goals for the week?

Sara - Week 1 Goal [Wrap Up]

Time for a wrap up on how my goals went this week. Because hey, if I'm not accountable to you, I simply won't follow through as well. In fact, that's the only reason I made some of these goals this week. I knew I would have to come back and face y'all and I couldn't stand the shame of saying I didn't try.

My 3 Goals For This Last Week:
1. No eating after 7 pm.
2. Drink 2 jugs of water daily.
3. Go walking for 20 minutes at least 5 days this week.

How Did I Do?
1. Oh my goodness! I didn't realize how much I really do snack after 7pm. I was especially guilty of giving myself little treat after my rambunctious 2 year old was in bed for the night. Only...it was rarely a "little" treat. It was my way of rewarding myself for a day well done. Haha! Laugh if you will, but that was my thought process.

It was hard to stop. Really hard. I thought about grabbing something several times each night. So I began focusing on drinking water instead of snacking. Which actually helped me reach my #2 goal as well. Double win! I only failed one night when Zsolt dropped 2 m&ms and didn't want them - I picked them up and popped them in my mouth without thinking. Not a bad fail at all in my opinion. Other than that, I didn't have anything after 7pm all week. Yay me!

2. Was pretty easy actually. I just had to remind myself to do it...and take a few extra trips to the restroom. All-in-all though, not a hard goal to implement. And I liked it! Water is good and refreshing and it's nice not feeling dehydrated.

3. I actually did better than my goal.
2 days - walking, 30 minutes
1 day - walking, 10 minutes
1 day- aerobics, 60 minutes
1 day - dancing, 35 minutes
------------------------------------
= 5 days of cardio OVER 20 minutes (on average)

Whoopee! So it was a successful week goal-wise. We'll see if there's any difference in my weigh-in tomorrow morning.

I'll see you then!

And just for kicks:

This is what our entourage looks like all bundled and ready for walking.

Some days it seemed like a massive undertaking.

My son actually loved going for walks and would sometimes even bring me my shoes and tell me it was time to go.

And luckily I have an amazing view from my little neighborhood. It makes walking just a bit more pleasant.