peace + love + cupcakes
Oh yeah, I also am trying to lose weight with Weight Watchers & hope to one day be able to call myself a runner.
My goals for April were:
- Lose 8 pounds: actual pounds lost were 2.2
- Workout at least 1000 minutes: actual minutes were 485
- Walk at least 50 miles: actual miles were 6.2 miles
- Workout at least 21 days: actual days were 12
I didn’t work out the first part of April. I feel like I have gotten my groove back in the latter part of the month. I’ve been getting bored of the treadmill so I’ve been doing the Boot Camp Challenge app and cardio DVDs at home. Having the variety in my exercises has helped me remain motivated. But I need to get back on the treadmill to get ready for Bay 2 Breakers which is on May 20th.
I tracked both calories and points this month and i wasn’t very successful. To be honest, when I was tracking points I would worry about the calories and vice versa. I wasn’t giving my full to either method. I lost the majority of the weight following Weight Watchers so I am going to go back on it full time. I am even contemplating going to a meeting here and there to get more tips and information about Points+. I’ve been looking at the website and it’s somewhat confusing sometimes. I think it helps to have an actual person answer questions and explain things rather than a website.
After thinking about it for the past couple of days, I decided on my goals for the month of May:
- Lose 8 pounds. I really wanted to be at a 100 pound loss by Bay 2 Breakers and right now I know that I will have to work so hard to get there as I need to lose 8 pounds in 19 days. I won’t be giving up. It is doable as I lost 11 pounds in December.
- Track my food & activity points on Weight Watchers app. If I bite it, write it. If I nibble it, scribble it. To get an accurate picture of my eating habits and exercise, I need to be diligent in tracking.
- My weekly activity points (AP) goal will be to earn 40 AP’s weekly. I was looking at MFP profile and when I filled it out it recommended I burn 2,880 calories a week for a projected loss of 2 pounds per week. On the Points+ plan, 80 calories equal 1 AP so 2,880 calories equals 36 AP’s. I am going to push myself to earn 40 APs per week. In my past workouts, this is how the APs break down:
- 45 minutes of low impact aerobics = 6 AP
- 26 minutes of boot camp (calisthenics; moderate effort) = 4 AP
- 50 minutes on the treadmill > 3.0 MPH & < 5.0 MPH = 7 AP
- 40 minutes of kickboxing (basically Turbo Jam) = 14 AP
I am ready to kick some ass this month.
By Wednesday, share five specific goals with each other that will be reachable by the end of week FIVE. 12 days.
Christy (noquithouse) is my buddy for this week’s (and I think next week as well) Do Life Challenge. She’s lost 76 pounds so far. How awesome is that! Definitely check her blog & cheer her on.
Here are my five specific goals from today through the end of week 5.
- Track my food every day both on WW & MFP.
- Work out 8 days out of the 11 days remaining.
- Organize my house. It’s chaotic right now.
- Perform one random act of kindness.
- Drink at least 64 oz of water a day.
Setting realistic goals is important. I know that I could say that this year I want to run a marathon. That would just be setting myself up to fail. I’ve learned that I’ve got to set short term goals which in the long run will help me achieve my long term goals. The 4 main things I want to accomplish this year are get a job, continue to work on losing weight, run & take more risks. I could wait until December to search for a job, lose a couple of pounds that month, run from one side of my house to the other and cross the street without looking at both sides. But that wouldn’t be living. How am I going to make reach those goals?
As far as weight loss goes, I am making it my monthly goal to work out at least 1,000 minutes & to walk at least 50 miles per month. Last month I reached 749 minutes and I’m pleased with that because there was one week where I didn’t work out because I was sick. I also walked a total of 42.7 miles in December. I know I posted that my monthly goal is to lose 8 pounds. I think that’s doable and I am motivated by the fact that last month I was able to lose 11.7 pounds during what is a difficult month due to all the food temptation.
One of the reasons why I decided to join the Do Life challenge was to keep motivated. I think that has been one of the most difficult areas for me during the past year. I’m still trying to think about how to improve my job search & also figure out how to be more fearless. Perhaps the Happiness Online project will help me determine that. I’m hoping to post about that program in the next day or so. Still trying to get my head around it.
4 things that I did well today:
- Woke up before 9am. Now that may not seem like a big deal but for me it is. When I worked I used to get up around 6:30. However the past 9 months I’ve typically gotten up around 11ish unless I had something going on. In order to get into a routine, I need to wake up at the same time every day.
- I walked 5K on the treadmill even though I didn’t want to finish it. After about 20 minutes I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. Instead of stopping, I just slowed down and told myself that my time didn’t matter. Just finish the workout.
- Making a new healthy snack. I heard about baked garbanzo beans so I am attempting to make them.
- I had a hearty breakfast and although I was extremely sleepy this morning, I only had one cup of coffee. No need to be excessive in my caffeine intake. My mom got me some amazing coffee from Mexico.
I decided to participate in the Do Life Challenge. If you haven’t heard about it & want more details, you can check it out here. I definitely recommend you sign up. It’s going to be a 12 week challenge which promises to be a lot of fun. There will aslo be prizes awarded. Now who doesn’t like that?
My goals for this month are:
- Lose 8 pounds by the end of January.
- Workout 21 days out of the 31 in the month. I track my workouts on MyFitnessPal, using Runkeeper & my Fitbit.
- Find a strength training program and work on it three times a week. Any recommendations for a newbie?
- Improve my 5K time on the treadmill. Fastest time is 49:19.
- Stop eating after 8. If I am hungry, I can only drink water/tea or eat 0 point value food i.e. fruits & veggies.
- 1 modified push-up. Damn, I am weak!
- Since I am home most of all day, I find it very hard to motivate myself to be active. Even when I finally make it to the gym, it has taken me most of the day to get motivated. Part of it has to do with the lack of routine. I need to work on setting a routine for myself so that I use my time efficiently. I won’t always have so much time so I better take advantage of it while I can.
- I’m sticking to my not eating after 8. Currently drinking a cup of tea.
- I told my mom that I would go with her to Weight Watchers & help her with her journey. She is still thinking about it but I told her that I would be a source of help for her.
- While I didn’t track my points today, I know that I didn’t go over my daily point allowance.
- Today I actually wore my Fitbit all day long. I’m still not used to having it on me all the time.
1. You will have more peaceful and restful sleep
2. Enhance mood levels and calms “reacting” impulses
3. Strengthen your bones
4. It can be an escape from school, work, etc…
5. Improves posture, makes clothes fit better
6. Decreases appetite for junk food (more self-control)
7. Make wiser food choices
8. Reduces emotional steam, eliminating stress
9. Allows for occasional indulgences
10. TO STAY HEALTHY
(via 1lbatatime-1dayatatime)