Monthly Goals and Showing Mercy

I can’t believe that it is already November.  This year is flying by!  The last few months have not been easy for me with my weight loss journey.  Not at all.  It has been so ‘weird’ that I haven’t even done a monthly goal post.  I haven’t even thought about my monthly goals and quite honestly in the month of October I blew most of the goals off!  But it is time to talk about those goals and get myself straightened out!

Setting Monthly Goals

When I set my monthly goals, I try to set them with the idea that I will falter and mess up.  I am a human and therefore I will have stumbles upon my journey.  I also know that for me I tend to be an all or nothing.  If I set a goal that I am going to eat perfectly for 7 days a week and I mess up on day one, my tendency is to quit because “all is lost”.  So with that in mind, my goals are more loose and fluid to allow myself the grace and mercy to be human and NOT be perfect.

1     Track every bite of food.   This goal is set to help me stay consistent.  I know that when I track I tend to be more on target with what I eat.  But my goal is to simply track.  It doesn’t matter if I have a day where my calorie count is 6000.  I just need to track it to have the win!

2.      Save money.  This it not strictly a weight loss goal, but it is a life goal.  So I am including it.  Up until recently the goal was to save money. However recently I decided that I will be ok with a set amount in my savings account. If the total dips below that amount I will start dumping money into the savings but I’m not focusing on my savings at the moment.  What AM I focusing on?  Paying off the car!  You see, the car payment has what…3.5% interest (I’m just guessing…my paperwork is buried in files at the moment).  My savings account is earning me a whopping 0.1% interest (once again…guessing…and I think that is a high estimate).  You do the math.  Where is my month best spent?  Shaving off my principal on a loan meaning my interest will be reduced greatly over the years or earning that penny?   And once again, I’m not saying a certain amount.  Sure I would like to at least double my payment each month…but I’m not stressing about it as long as SOMETHING extra is paid!

3.       Weigh less!  I don’t care what I weigh at the end of the month as long as it is less then I weigh at the beginning of the month.  A hair less works!  Would I like it to be 10 pounds?  Or even 5 pounds?  Sure.  But ANY loss is a good one and considered a win!

4.       Be active at least 4 times a week. This is pretty easy to get….or at least it has been.  A simple walk outside with Jason after work suffices.  We do that pretty much every day. (I am not sure how the time change and the darkness that comes with it will affect us though!)   But 4 times a week…for a measly 20 minutes is doable.  I’m not asking for the moon.  I’m asking for just a few times!

5.       Keep my eating in line at least 6 days a week.  There will be events (hello Thanksgiving) and happenings that cause me to eat a bit more.  There are things that happen.  I have to show myself mercy and allow myself to have a day where I can eat more.  That day gives me the wiggle room to have a stumble and still not fail with my goals.  I would rather stumble and say “It’s allowed, so I better pick myself up because I used my one ‘get out of jail free’ pass!”  Versus “I messed up, I may as well eat every piece of chocolate that I see!”  That one day gives me room to mess up!

6.       Step count.  I know that they recommend 10,000 steps a day.  I would love to get that.  HOWEVER, with my lifestyle and work this is difficult.  So I am aiming for 5,000.  And yeah, that’s a struggle.  I allow an average of all the days of the month (and yes, those hikes save my behind many months).  I will also take out any days where I ride the bike instead of hike/walk.  If I’m spending my time doing something active that isn’t earning me steps, it shouldn’t count against me.  That’s my thought at least.  Once again…..grace and mercy!

Those are the standard monthly goals that I carry over from month to month.  And they will be my goals for the month of November for sure.  But November has a special goal.  IT has my Yogvember challenge.   For Yogvember I am challenging myself to at least three days of yoga each week.  Realistically that is my goal.  But I will let you in on a little secret…..I am actually aiming for 7 days a week!!!!

Goals are important.  But we have to make sure that they are attainable. We have to make sure our goals are not something that will actually derail us.   My goals are here….and with the room for stumbles, I’m sure that I can totally nail my goals in November!

Monthly Goal Recap

 I have already said that I kinda blew it in the month of August.  Yeah, I really blew it!   But you know what?  I am still here in this weight loss journey.  I am still wanting this weight loss to happen.  I am still in this game, so I did NOT fail!  Failure is giving up and I have NOT given up!

So how did I do?

1.  Track every bite of my food-  I totally fell off the wagon with this one.  I failed to track for a good two weeks.  I just didn't....no real reason.  Ohhh there are reasons...but they are all excuses!

2.  Save money  There is not money in the savings account, but we have paid for TWO weeks of lodging for our one week of vacation.  The duplicate (back up option) is being cancelled and I will be regaining those dollars.  I paid for the second hotel this past month.......and did not deduct ANYTHING from savings....so when I get my refund.  So while I technically did not put money into the savings, the money will get there eventually!

3.  Weigh less at the end of the month - Uhhh yeah, this did not happen.  (See tracking issues above....because we all 'know' that we we don't track it then it doesn't count as calories....right???)

4.  Be active at least 4 times a week  I actually managed this thanks to the after work walks with Jason!

5.  Stay within caloric/food budget at least 6 days a week  Nope.....this didn't even come close to happening!

6.  Have an average of over 5K steps per day for the month.  I actually nailed this one!!!!!

So you can see that my month was a combination of victory and failure!   But that's ok.  We learn from failure and we grow from adversity.  So I must have done a heap of growing!!!!

So my goals for next month?   Exactly the same!!!

1.  Track every bite of my food

2.  Save money

3.  Weigh less at the end of the month

4.  Be active at least 4 times a week

5.  Stay within caloric/food budget at least 6 days a week

6.  Have an average of over 5K steps per day for the month.

Monthly Weight Loss goals

 OK, ok ok ....so I'm a bit late in sharing my monthly weight loss goals and how I did in July!  Better late than never right?  I have some basic goals that I strive to keep each month.  They rarely change but do sometimes get tweaked a bit to fit my life as it is at that exact moment.  I try to keep my goals flexible so that it allows me to 'fail' but still succeed.  You can read more about my goals and how I came to this set of goals here.   For right now, lets see how I did in the month of July!

July Goals

1.  Track every bite of food!  DONE!  I managed this one easily.  Half of the time I actually tracked my food before I even ate it!  Huge victory!
2.  Put money into my savings.  I sure did!  It was an expensive month as I had a few big purchases...but money was put aside!
3.  Weigh less than I do now!  YAY!!! I managed this!  I lost weight in the month of July!  SOOO happy!  It was the first time in a few months that I lost in the month!  LONG overdue!

5. Keep my eating in check for at least 6 days a week.   I actually didn't have any problem with this.  My eating was in line and I was never crazy over  (from the day that I got serious about this journey again...which was right about July 6).

7.   Walk and average of 5000 steps  per day. (total monthly steps divided by the days in the month....bike ride days on the trail are exempt from the 5K step goal, simply because it shard to get  steps when you are riding)     I somehow managed to make this goal!   We walked after work each night, but that only got me to roughly 4800 steps for my weekdays.  LUCKILY we hiked most weekends so that pushed my step count way high and that made up for the lower weekdays.  I really need to focus on getting my daily steps up!

8.  Transparency with my weight...even if it goes up!!  Definitely!  I shared and have been open and honest!!!

My goals will be remaining the same for the month of August. I am going to work hard to not squeak my steps in by the skin of my teeth though!!!!!

Monthly Recap

Well then, I went to write this post and realized that I never posted on Friday.  Oh well......you will get to read it in a future post because right now it is time to look back to the month of August and see how I did in my weight loss journey.  Oh, and we will also look forward to the month of September and set some new weight loss goals.

Before we get into the monthly goals, lets talk about my weight loss for this past week.    I was happy with myself!  Quite happy.

So now that we know that I had a great week, lets talk about my monthly goals. At the beginning of August I set a few goals for myself. 

So here were my August Goals and how I did!!!!

1.  Track every bite of food!   NAILED IT!   This one has been non-negotiable for me and I do not waver.  If I eat it, it's tracked!
2.  Put money into my savings.  Done!  Although I did buy a new camera and that meant I didn't put quite as much in the savings....but that's ok, because we do sometimes have to splurge on a treat for ourselves!
3.  Weigh less than I do now!  I don't care if it's a measly ounce...I want to weigh less!   This one I did manage to reach.  I was getting really worried.  The first week of August I gained weight.  (like 2 pounds)  the Second week I lost what I had gained.  THe third week?  I maintained.  And then this last week I lost.  So it was a bit touch and go!
4.  Do something active (a walk suffices) at least 3 times a week and aim for at least three sessions of formal activity (bike ride, run, hike) a week!    There was no question about this goal.  I didn't just meet it, I totally blew it out of the water! Seriously! I walked every day at work (I think there was one day where it rained that I skipped!).   I rode my bike every weekend, usually two times.  I did yoga every weekday morning.  I was active!!

5. Keep my eating in check for at least 6 days a week.   BINGO...I did great.  I was a bit higher on my bike days, but I was still well under control!

7.   Walk an average of 5000 steps  per day. (total monthly steps divided by the days in the month....bike ride days on the trail are exempt from the 5K step goal...cuz it's hard to get  steps when you are riding)    I also nailed this one!  You see, I hit the 5k steps ALMOST every day....even the days that we went biking!   So my average was spot on!  I averaged 5250 steps a day! I completed 18 lunch time walks, two runs, 19 sessions of yoga, 1 round of swimming and 7 intense bike rides!   Total win!

         My Not so Secret Goal:   Lose 5 pounds!   I didn't meet this goal.  BOOOO

So you can see that I did pretty good on all of my goals.  The plan that I have set is not designed for a fast loss.  It is designed for being sustainable for a life time.  It is a plan designed to really teach me to view and manage my food in a totally different and healthy way.  So, I am happy with my results!

As for my September goals?   

1.  Track every bite of food!
2.  Put money into my savings. 
3.  Weigh less than I do now!  I don't care if it's a measly ounce...I want to weigh less!
4.  Do something active (a walk suffices) at least 3 times a week and aim for at least three sessions of formal activity (bike ride, run, hike) a week!  

5. Keep my eating in check for at least 6 days a week.   

7.   Walk and average of 5000 steps  per day. (total monthly steps divided by the days in the month....bike ride days on the trail are exempt from the 5K step goal...cuz it's hard to get  steps when you are riding)

         My Not so Secret Goal:   Lose 5 pounds!

Why yes, they are exactly the same thing as the August goals.  They are working for me.  They are teaching me all sorts of wonderful things.  I , for the first time in a LONG time feel like I am on a really healthy path within my weight loss journey....both physically and mentally.   

So its time for me to focus on the September goals.  This weight loss journey is crazy but I will come out on the other side a much healthier person.  (and fit and thin also!)