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!

October is in the books!

Well here we are at the beginning of another month!  It’s crazy how time flies!  I do have to say that the older I get the faster time flies!  It’s nuts!

October was a busy month!   We started our month at the beach!   We were on vacation!   Woohoo!  

 The rest of the month was pretty routine with work...but we still got some bike rides in. 

We got the news that my car was dead and not fixable.
We bought a new car.

And the old car revived itself!

It was crazy! But the real question is...how did I do on my monthly goals?

So here we go!  Here are my monthly goals.  These goals were my October goals and will be my November goals also! (I tweak them when needed but this month they will remain the same!

1.  Track every bite of food!
2.  Put money into my savings. (The tweak for November is to hold steady on savings...I have some expenses I still need to cover in relation to the car issues!)
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.   

6.  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!

So how did I did!

1.  I tracked my food every day but two!  Surprisingly the two days were NOT during the vacation week. I tracked religiously during vacation!  They were random days that when I went back to check for this post, that I found were missing information (both weekend days...different weekends)

2. Savings....hmmmmm.   I did put money in savings at the beginning of the month...yes, even with vacation my savings went up at the beginning of the month.....but then I bought a new car and that savings went way down!   So call this one a failure or a victory....some of the savings was earmarked for a car anyway...so it’s not really a failure.  But the end result is that my savings is a couple thousand less, so if you think that’s a failure then so be it. But the fact that I had the savings to use when I needed it and for what I been saving so hard for...that’s a victory!   It’s a wash in my mind!

3.  Weigh less than I did at the beginning of the month...hmmmmm... I recouped my vacation weight gain a week ago...but then had some stress eating and the monthly hormonal water weight gain is upon me...and today I find myself 1.6 pounds up...so in October I officially gained 1.6 pounds!   Grrrrrr

4. Do something active at least three times a week.   The vacation week was super active...hours upon hours of movement each day!   We got home and we rode on the weekends but that was it for the next two week....until the end of the month when I saw my endurance slipping on my bike rides.  So we kicked it into high gear and we rode 4 times that week and I walked every chance I had on my lunch breaks (not when it was rainy though!). 

5.The next was to keep  my eating in check for at least 6 days a week!  So I gained weight on vacation...but my eating was in check.  I was not eating more than mfp (myfitnesspal) was telling me I could eat....when I added all my activity calories.  (even though, I gained four pounds that week!). The rest of the month there were four days I was over the top end of my range.   Two  days I was only over budget by 100 calories ...and two days I was over budget by 400 calories.   

6.  The last real goal was to walk an average of 5000 steps per day for the month.  I struggled with this...for a good portion of the month while at home I was averaging about 4K steps.  What saved me was the week of vacation where I was walking 25k steps a day and the weekends where I was walking 10k steps!   So I nailed this one!

And my not so secret goal to lose 5 pounds...failed! Colossally!

So this month had a lot of ‘failed’ attempts.  But that is ok.  Life happens and we have to accept it and roll with it!   I’m not giving up.  I’m still going strong!!!

That weekend wiped me out

We had a busy busy weekend.  I almost had to go to work to relax and get some rest. Ok, not really!   But it was crazy busy!

Saturday we woke up and we didn’t fiddle around much.   We headed out early to hit all of our stores and do the errands.  (We hit three different grocery stores and one farm stand). We were done all of that by 9:30 and we were ready to roll shortly after that.   

Roll?  Well a bike ride of course!   We headed out toward the same park we had been to the previous week.  We were delighted with the weather....low 80°s and low humidity!!   Awesome!   We wanted to tackle the same trail that we had been on the previous week. And of course I wanted to try the ‘Hill’ that I call my nemesis....I will make it up this hill one day!!

We headed to my nemesis first.  I felt strong.  I was ready.  I did horrible!  Barely a few feet further than my very first attempt!   What the.....?  We retreated and started toward the trail we were planning to ride.  We started to talk about what I was doing and how to correct it.   Before I knew it we had turned around and we’re heading back toward my nemesis for a second attempt.  Not quite a total victory....but not a colossal failure.  I made it about 25 feet further than my previous best.   Slowly but surely I’ll get it!!!!

This time when we left the hill we didn’t go back...and it was time for the trail.   My legs felt strong.  I didn’t feel run down.  Sure, I had to walk my bike up a few hills.  (Seriously, how can they label this one trail as easy....it is horrible...it’s an incline...it has roots and rocks and all sorts of obstacles....I try it...but thus far I have had to always stop to walk!). But even in those places I had to walk, I felt strong.  

The problem?  I was riding sloppy.  Ok maybe it wasn’t me....maybe it was the slight dampness of the trail.  But I had a few near misses.  Most notably when I started to go down and was saved by....a thorny bush.  Luckily the thorn bush was quite thick and dense and it slowed my descent down enough that I was able to get my feet down and stop myself from a total fall.  There were a few other instances...but each time I merrily got back  on my bike and started riding again!

I seriously was feeling so good that as we headed back toward the car, I decided to add another trail!  I did it...safely.  But, that extra trail threw me into the ‘I’m wiped out’ category!   

We got home and it was still early afternoon.  So we showered and headed downtown to walk.  We stopped in some stores and just enjoyed ourselves. I’m sure the walking was a good way to stretch our legs after our ride...but by the time we had done that for a few hours I was absolute toast!  Done.  Finished.  A complete pile of mush!

I woke up on Sunday...I immediately knew I was still struggling with that feeling of being wiped out.  I had totally overdone it on Saturday.  Luckily, we had plans to see family (Jason’s family) to have a belated birthday celebration.  We also stopped to see my family for a bit.  Even with that low key day...I was so tired by the evening that I could barely function!

I guess that is the epitome of a great weekend...when your activities are so fun and awesome that you know you couldn’t have done one more thing!!!  All in all, it was a great weekend...and an active one! What could be better, we had fun and still worked on my weight loss goals.   A double win!!!   I couldn’t have asked for anything better!!  

Not So Secret Weight Loss Goal: The results

OOOPS...here we are at the beginning of the month....the 5th to be exact and I havent talked about my July goals OR talked about my August goals!    AND I need to share my official weekly weigh in! I'm soooo excited to do that!  

I am sharing here and through my weekly blog on YouTube.  So read...watch or do both...whatever your heart desires!  

If you remember, last month I set my monthly goals.  I was vocal about them and was transparent.  But that was a lie.  I had a bit of a secret goal.  Ok, a BIG goal....for me!  I was secretly determined to lose 5 pounds for the month of July.  I was really skeptical about my goal. First because I know how fickle the scales are.  I can do everything right and still not lose weight.....we have all been there. But,  mainly because in June I had not even managed to lose 2 complete pounds.  So 5 pounds seemed like a huge stretch!  Well.....I can't wait any longer...I HAVE to share!  I have been dying to share this for a few days now! (If you are inquisitive, you may have already found out because I updated my weight loss progress page a few days ago!)

            I LOST 8.8 POUNDS!!!!!
I couldn't be happier!  I was sweating about it right around the middle of the month.  The first two weeks of the month I lost a 4.8 pounds and then my weight stalled and I had a week of NO LOSS!  I struggled with despair, sure that my body would NOT cooperate to give me the measly 0.2 pounds that I needed to reach my monthly goal.  But my body came through with a spectacular last weigh in for the month!  (Can you feel the excitement oozing through my words????)

So let's take a look at July and see how I did with my goals!!!!

1.  Track every bite of food!  SUCCESS! EVERY bite was tracked!
2.  Put money into my savings.   No Problem!  Victory!!!
3.  Weigh less than I do now!  I don't care if it's a measly ounce...I want to weigh less!    TOTAL VICTORY!!!!!
4.  Do something active (a walk suffices) at least 3 times a week and aim for at least two bike rides a week.  I didn't 'manage two bike rides a week....an injury and sickness happened.  I also didn't walk at least three times a week.  BOOOOO

5. Keep my eating in check for at least 6 days a week.   No problem!   I kept it in check EVERY day of the week!

7.   Walk at least  of 5 k steps a day at least four of my work days.   Weekends...I need the steps OR a bike ride!  FAILURE ALERT!!!!!  I didn't walk on my lunch breaks.....I struggled with my steps!!!

8.  Transparency with my weight...even if it goes up!!!   No problem there either!  Success!
           Secret Goal:  Lose 5 pounds.......VICTORY!!!!!

So out of the 8 (9 if you count the secret goal) goals, I had success on everything but 2 things. I call July successful!

For August, my goals are similar.  They are still very loose and 'easy to achieve' (except for that pesky step goal!!!!!!!!  (Stupid Desk job and long commute to and from work!)   I have changed it back to an average to at least give me a 'chance' to reach it and have success (and let me tell you, on Saturday morning I pulled up my stats for Friday from my Garmin watch and I just groaned  I missed the 5K steps by a whopping 24 steps!!!!   But it's an average, so I have not lost the success yet....I just have to make up those 24 steps another day!  (And THAT my friends is why my goals are still hard enough that I have to work for them, but loose enough for me to achieve.....because if I had left it as 5k steps a DAY, no averaging allowed, then I would have just given up by August 3rd because I had already messed up...by 24 measly steps!)   

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)

8.  Transparency with my weight...even if it goes up!!
         My Not so Secret Goal:   Lose 5 pounds!

So yes, I have set  my goals for the month of August.  Even with the amazing victory of losing  8.8 pounds in July, I don't feel comfortable with setting my weight loss pounds goal as a definite one.  I really do like to keep my goals things that are within my control.   BUT, you can see I still have a five pound goal listed.....and even more secretly, I hope for another 8.8!  I know that I can smash these weight loss and healthy living goals for the month of August!!!!!  It's time to do it!  I have belief in myself and I am accepting NO EXCUSES!

A slight secret to share

Ok, so I have a bit of a secret and I guess it’s time to share.  It is something that has been on the tip of my tongue to post about for the last few posts but I never felt brave enough.  But it is time.   It is also time to share about my weekend and even another little secret that came up this weekend!

So first of all...the big secret!  Ok, so let’s start by saying that a week ago I posted about my June goals and how I did with those and I posted about my goals for July   I wasn’t as transparent as my goal suggests I should be.  You see, for the first time in a long time I have set a mini weight goal.  I stopped doing that a few years back because of the pressure to reach the goal and the panic and eventual shut down when I messed up and it was apparent (even if only to me) that I wasn’t going to reach the goal.  But, yes I have a goal of how much weight I want to lose this month. It isn’t huge...but I have a very definite goal for the month of July.   That number????   5 pounds.   That is 1.25 pounds each week.   Quite doable I think!  (And I seem to be on track this far).   If I don’t make it, that’s ok.   As long as I have lost SOMETHING I will be happy because my official goal is to weigh less....but my unofficial goal is 5 pounds.

So the weekend rolled around.   We ran some errands on Saturday morning and then headed out on our bikes!  It was hot again!   We said we were not going to ride hard or long.   Just a stretch of our legs..Sunday would be the long ride!    However, I had two secret goals for myself on the ride.

First....we hit a steep hill and I didn’t make it far up that hill but I came out of the saddle to try to peddle standing up. That is huge for me as I like to keep my rear end firmly planted!   I know to really do well in mountain biking that I need to get comfortable out of my seat.   Climbing while standing is my first goal...and specifically making it to the top of that demon hill while standing.   (Ok making it to the top at all will be a victory!)

The second goal for the ride was to go back to the trail that I was exploring last weekend when I wiped out.   Last week was my first time on that trail and in this past week the area of my tumble had become a huge twisted mass of tree roots and protruding rocks in my mind.  Because surely they had to be monstrous!   I also knew that the longer I waited to do the trail again the more those tree roots and rocks would grow in my mind!   So I headed straight for that trail and cleared it!   And yeah, I have no clue what made me fall...there was NOTHING monstrous!

After those two items had been checked off my list we headed to the creek.  The water was delightful and a wonderful way to cool off.   (The bike ride back to the car was not so hot either!)

You can tell that we were happy and having fun by the grins on our faces!  The scenery up stream was pretty nice also!

Sunday rolled around and I felt a twinge in my foot as I showered, but nothing out of the ordinary...I’ve had a twinge for the last week or so.  Not worrying about it (twinges are common in my feet), I carried on with my activities.   I flipped the laundry and took two steps out of the laundry room and I let out a yell.  My foot had a sudden harsh pain!   I hopped to the kitchen sink and standing on one foot I put the few dishes in the dishwasher, grabbed my drink and headed to the living room.  I made it exactly two steps.  Intense pain.  Tears of pain.  Double over in pain.   BAD!   (Now lets just say I have a pretty high tolerance for pain..hello I walked on what was most likely a broken foot when I was younger!)    It took me forever to make it the 15 feet to the couch.  I immediately elevated my foot.  I ended pretty much staying like that until about 1pm.  At about 9:30 am I did get up and ride my bike across the living room...to see  if riding was possible.   And here is the other secret...I REALLY wanted to ride!   I wanted to throw caution in the wind and damn the consequences.   But I knew that if I needed to put my foot down that it would be harsh pain and quite possibly actually not hold me under the intensity of the pain and that very likely I would go down.    Not worth the risk.   So I stayed home while Jason went out and rode.  I laid on the couch with my foot elevated and watched you tube videos.  (I watched beginner mountain bike instructional videos  and then got suckered into watching crime scene clean up videos...yeah I’m sick and twisted apparently!)

After Jason got home I strapped my foot into a hiking boot and we went out.....no not hiking.....just to a couple stops.  The hiking boot gives more support to the ankle than a shoe! The intense pain had passed and my foot was just aching and tender.  We ran into a pet store (we are looking for a big tank so we can put all the crabs together) and into Aldis’s (bottled water..their bottles are BPA free) and Wawa for gas (need my tank full for my work week).   My foot was tender but it felt good to get out.  I also know that if my foot stays the same that I can drive my car and that I can make it into the building tomorrow at work!

So that is the secret...I am so upset that I missed Sunday’s ride!  But Shhhh don’t tell Jason!!!!  I am on a roll and seeing slow progress on the bike and the weight is starting to come off too....I didn’t want to stop the progress!  Jason has assured me that he will push me extra hard next weekend!

So there you have it...my secret weight loss goal and my secret that a passion for mountain bike riding might just be growing within me! Bring on this next week!  I have some weight to lose and some trails to ride!!!