You’ll remember that a month ago I made Back to School Goals, and I thought this would be a good time to check in on those and to make some new Autumn Goals.
Here’s how I did on each of the Back to School Goals:
- Track every bite in LoseIt, whether I’m proud of the choice I made or not. Being honest with myself and seeing the true picture of how many calories I’m taking in is the only way I can modify the rest of the day to make sure I meet my caloric goals. About 60%. Many weekdays I would track and then on the weekends I’d be more lax. Right before I moved, I stopped tracking altogether, but in the past week or so I’ve been a bit more consistent with it, and this week, I’m on target since Sunday.
- Stay between 1200-1400 calories each day. I’d love to be at 1200 every single day, but that’s not realistic sometimes. I figure that if I can balance the higher-calorie days with increased exercise, I’ll be ok. 60% with this one – when I was on it, I was doing really well but when I wasn’t, I didn’t really pay attention to how many calories I was eating.
- Bring a healthy breakfast and lunch with me each day (see Tuesday morning’s post for more on my plan for this). 95% Even when I was at my most hectic, I brought a good breakfast and lunch. Sometimes it was purchased at Starbucks, but at least I remained consistent on this one.
- Drink 64 oz of water, minimum. 95% I’ve done really well with this because I’ve been working hard and it’s been hot.
- Go for a caloric deficit of at least 1000 each day. Realistically, if I’m getting in a good workout, the caloric deficit will be around 1500. 50% I was working hard at packing, and I took Lulu for her daily walks, but I didn’t do any formal workouts.
- Pack my workout clothes the night before and bring them with me, so I can go right after school, no excuses.* 0% Total fail with this one.
- Workout at least 3 days (M-F) and 1 day of the weekend.* 0% Total fail with this one.
- Wear the BodyBugg all day at least 1 day this week, so I can get an idea of how many calories I burn at school. I should be wearing it every day, but my vanity gets in the way. If it’s going to show with my outfit, I’m not going to wear it. I usually dress up the first few weeks of school and having a BodyBugg hanging off my upper arm when I’m wearing a dress just isn’t the look I’m going for. Oh how I wish that they made a BodyBugg that you only needed to wear on your wrist. Once winter weather gets here, wearing the BodyBugg won’t be an issue, because sweaters and long-sleeved tops will cover it. Did it once, but that was it.
- Wear the BodyBugg for every non-pool workout to get an accurate caloric burn reading. 0% Total fail with this one.
- Enter calories burned in various exercises/workouts into LoseIt each day. 25% I hardly ever entered the exercise in.
- Cook healthy dinners 6 nights a week. I usually go over my parents’ house on Sundays, and my mom always makes well-balanced meals, so the key there will be portion-control. 75% Up until about a week before the move, I did this really well.
- Blog often because the more I’m blogging the more on-track I feel. 50% I tried to blog, but then things got busy.
- Understand that when I make excuses for any of the above items, I’m only shortchanging myself. Do these things FOR ME because they’ll help me get to my goals quicker. I kept this in mind, but obviously didn’t take it enough to heart.
Overall, I think I was pretty miserable at these goals. I didn’t really set myself up for success by trying to do them in the midst of getting ready for a major move. Ah well, a lesson learned.
I do that to myself all the time – set lofty goals that are almost too challenging to reach. It’s worked well in my professional life, but it has never worked for my weight loss efforts, for some reason. Even with quitting smoking it worked – I never questioned the fact that this was it – I needed to quit and there was no other possibility but success. And that worked. Why can’t it work with weight loss? Why can’t my single-minded determination work with the one thing that I have struggled with for so long? Understanding that would answer a lifetime of questions.
I love the fall season because everything is crisp and new. The weather starts changing, the clothes get more fun, and the food gets heartier. It seems fitting to create new goals for this new season. And this time I’m going to keep them simple and check in weekly on Tuesdays.
Autumn Goals
- Track every bite in LoseIt, whether I’m proud of the choice I made or not. Track all exercise in LoseIt, as well.
- Stay within 1200-1400 calories on weekdays; 1600-1800 on weekends, if needed.
- Cook dinner for myself 5 nights a week, at least.
- Prepare breakfast and lunches the night before.
- Pack a bag of workout clothes and keep it in my car, so I can go to the gym right after school, no excuses.
- Take a class/workout at the gym 3 days a week.
- Walk Lulu every day, with 2 walks/day on the weekends.
- Supplement “gym days” with Wii workouts.
- Keep the fridge/pantry/freezer/snack drawer stocked with healthy choices.
- Drink at least 64oz of water a day!
Even though there are 10 goals, they really all boil down to this:
- Eat Healthy
- Exercise
- Track It
- Stay Organized
Or even more simply:
- Show my love for myself through the choices I make each day.
I’ll check in next week with my progress on these goals.
Bella on the Beach 
These are great goals, Bella. And I think the most important thing is that you never give up and always keep trying. I know for me that achieving success has ultimately been about all the small lessons I learned over the last 15 years of being obese, trying to lose weight, trying different programs, starting, stopping, falling, getting back up, and trying again. I know you’re on the road to success, and don’t be discouraged if sometimes it feels like it meanders a bit – the destination will still be the same!
Fantastic goals!
That is such a pretty picture!
I know you don’t like this suggestion, but again it’s really so fitting, you should try a few sessions of therapy to find out some answers for yourself. If you can accept reading self help books and watching Oprah then I can’t see why a person would look down on psycho-therapy. Well, maybe you’ve tried it but don’t want to share. I hope you give it a try, you have nothing to lose.
I LOVE how you boiled it down to the 4 simple goals. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to remember ALL of the other goals–especially when you have so much else going on. There IS such a thing as overplanning, you know 🙂 I think by focusing on the basics and measuring your performance (instead of creating an incredibly detailed list and comparing your performance to that) will be much more motivational and better help you recognize what you’ve done.
You go! (I love that fall picture too–it’s my favorite season of the year.)
Tina said exactly what I was thinking, it all comes down to those four simple goals. All of these list and milestone plans that we set (me included) really do boil down to those four things.
I am SO happy that fall is here, warm cozy sweaters and leaves changing are all things I love!
If you have more than 1 pair of workout shoes that you like (or can even tolerate), maybe you can pack a single bag and put it in your trunk today and then you’ll always have it there as a back-up. You can try to pack a bag for the days you need it, but if you forget or run out of time, you can always use your back-up workout gear. I always have workout clothes in my trunk, though they’re bottom-tier worn-out shoes, a bra, shorts and shirt that I don’t love (neutral on the socks), they’re there if I ever want/need them, but I don’t miss having them in my choices everyday since they sit in my trunk sometimes for months on end before I need the clothes.
I like the new goals and I think you’ll do great without the major life events of quitting smoking and moving taking so much focus.
Good idea. I do have a backup pair of shoes I can put in there. I think I’ll pack the bag tonight. 🙂