Goals update

To help me stay on track with my goals, I am going to post weekly about how I'm doing on them for the remainder of July and then I'll start all over again with August. So far, I love monthly goals. I feel more motivated to stick to them, since it's only a month. It also helps that the goals I've set for this month are very doable and fairly easy to stick to.

1. Pick a running program- well this is kind of cheating but I already had one pretty much picked out. It's the Runner's World "FIRST Run Less, Run Faster" program by Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss. FIRST stands for Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training. The theory behind the program is 3plus2 which means that I'll run 3 times a week (doing a variety of types) and then strength train/cross train 2 times a week. Their theory is that by pushing harder on the 3 run days, race times will go down while endurance goes up. Disclaimer: I haven't finished the book yet, but what I've read so far has been scientifically researched, and fully tested on a wide range of individuals. I haven't started it yet but I'm excited to get going!

2. Hike more frequently (at least once a week)- The day I posted my July goals, my brother and I went on a bangin hike up a local trail. I burned over 1,000 calories in less than 2 hours, got to hang out with my brother, and take my doggies too. Now I know why I bought the Polar HRM, working out outside is a blast!

Me and my brother at the top

The beautiful view

Hot puppies :O)

3. Beef up the weight routine- I haven't done as much with this one yet. I've stuck with 3 days a week of weight training for this week but I definitely upped how many exercises I'm doing and have increased my resistance on a couple of them. Right now I'm thinking of doing one week of weight training every day (focusing on different body parts) and then one week of 3 days a week for awhile to help get used to it. 

4. Get on the job hunt- I've done really well with this one! I applied for several teaching positions in the area and have an interview next week for one. As well I have another job offer for a position with Starbizzle (hello cheap coffee!) so we'll see how it all plays out. I'm still going to keep looking until I know for sure if I have a teaching position or not.

5. Less snacking, more eating- I've been trying really hard to work on my grazing habits this past week and it's getting much better! I've been trying to focus on eating at least 4 mini meals, preferably 5. 6 times a day works great during the school year when my schedule is planned out to the minute, but in the summer it just doesn't happen. I'm also going to start tracking my food a couple days a week. It helps me snack less, and it will also make sure that I'm hitting my macronutrient ratios (protein, carbs, fat) and eating enough to fuel my workouts.

6. Do Yoga once a week- I actually tried the yoga class at my gym. Truthfully, it sucked. She was an amazing Yogi but not a very good instructor, especially for someone with basic skills (like me!). So it was not a success but I'm not giving up! I'm going to do some searching for yoga podcasts of iTunes and hit up YogaDownload for some workouts. Plus I've got Bob (a la Biggest Loser fame) to work me into a sweaty yoga mess with his Weight Loss Yoga DVD which is actually a lot of fun.

After doing the update, I feel much better about my progress towards my goals. I'm going to keep working on them and see how much more progress I can make in another week. I hope you have a wonderful Saturday. After my super long (over 2 hours!) sweat sesh this morning, I'm off to enjoy my (other) brother being home from college and do a whole lotta this:

Toodles!

july goals

All around the blogosphere, I've seen lots of people posting mid-year goals. Some do it like a check up on those dreaded New Years resolutions, and others just post goals for the month. These wonderful posts have got my inspiration button buzzing and itching to do my own goals. Because, let's face it.... I suck at resolutions. I make them (in my head), I don't write them down, and I forget them by February. I generally make them unattainable and boring, which sure doesn't help. However, I can do monthly goals; that's only 30ish days I have to remember them! So without further ado

July Goals

• Pick a running program- I am still a newbie runner and I think a running program would really help me get my 5k time down, raise my endurance, and increase my confidence in my ability to run.
• Hike more frequently- At least once a week I want to take my doggies and/or siblings on a hike
• Beef up the weight routine- I would like to see an increase in how heavy of weights I can lift and start training specific body parts every day
• Get on the job hunt- I need to start checking for teaching jobs and getting all those apps in order
• Less snacking, more eating- sounds like an oxymoron huh? I need to work on how much I much between meals or instead of meals (as is more likely to happen) and instead plan out what I'm going to eat every day. I need to put more thought into what's going in my mouth!
• Do Yoga once a week- I have the ability to do it at home and I need to work on my flexibility.

So there you have it , what I hope to accomplish (or at least start on) in the month of July. I'll try to update the bloggy with my progress and see how it goes.

Something to think about.... Do you set goals? If so, how often? Ever find inspiration from other blogs?

trusting myself

All I can say is HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!! Seriously I love Friday's (especially now that I'm done teaching for the year, ha!), not as much as I love Saturday's, but that's okay. A couple glasses of Polka Dot Riesling (Side note: I only bought it because I collect cute/unique wine bottles but this stuff was actually good! Two large glasses worth :O)) I'll just use that as my excuse if anything in this post doesn't make sense!

I've been putting this post together in my head all week now and it just hasn't been coming out right but it's something I need to have down so that I can read it over and over again in the future. I've been talking a lot about listening to my body lately and trying to figure out what that means exactly. I'm pretty sure if I let it, my body would "require" lots of Reeces peanut butter cups and lengthy midday naps in the sun.

However, this past weekend I was proven wrong. I was out of town for a girlfriend's birthday fiesta and ended up staying with her for a few days. It was a blast! Buuuuut, she doesn't eat the same way I do. She's perfectly fine having a bowl of fresh fruit fuel her workout and skipping meals. Her body just works with it. Mine doesn't. Last weekend I fueled my body with a lot of processed crap. No I'm not proud of it, it's just how they eat and I didn't want to be rude and say "ewww, no" plus I was in splurge mode and ready to loosen up my eating habits.

Something funny happened over the weekend though. My body revolted. I was rarely hungry, even though I was eating only 3 times a day (and not large meals) and occasionally munching on a few things here and there. When I did eat, it was usually processed foods or foods that I don't normally eat (cookies, desserts, etc.). By the time I left Monday morning, my tummy was very angry with me. I was craving veggies and grilled chicken breast. Tuesday, I ate normally and was surprised at how hungry I was all day. It was literally like I couldn't fill my body up with enough good food to satisfy it.

My epiphany came that afternoon. My body knows what it wants and what it needs to be healthy. Think about that statement, such a small sentence but for me it was earth shattering. My body craves fresh, organic, unprocessed foods. It craves fruits, veggies, nuts, and lean protein sources. It does NOT crave junk food and processed crap.

I need to trust my body more. For years I've been telling it to eat this, don't eat that, starve, run faster, eat this many calories, ban this food, blah, blah, blah... only to find out that it actually knows what it wants. I am giving calorie counting a break. I have been to obsessed with hitting my macronutrient ratios and only eating certain foods. I am truly committing to listening to my body, letting it tell me when its hungry, when its full, when I need to ease back on the workouts a little.

I've done this all week. My SparkPeople account has been very lonely this week. And in doing that, I dropped the 2 lbs. that all the crap food put on my body. I feel more relaxed about food and about my body. I feel mentally and physically healthier because I am letting my body dictate what it needs and not my mind dictating what it thinks I *should* need.

Truth? I'm a little scared. This is the most I've ever *let go* of control with food. Ever. I'm afraid I'll gain weight. I'm afraid my body fat will go up. I'm afraid my body wont know what it wants. In spite of all that, I'm committing to finding out. Because for the first time, I feel like that controlling OCD eating disordered girl is just a little bit further away from me. And that feels good.

My Goals

In order to fully understand the crazy logic behind my posts, I feel like it's good to talk about what my goals are. I'm always telling people that "I want to get fit and healthy." And they look at me and nod encouragingly and say "good for you!" I think they really mean it (I have some great people in my life) but what does "fit and healthy" mean to me?

I feel like I should say that first of all, my goal is not to lose weight. Well, not in the traditional sense anyways. Throughout all of my dieting  failures experiences, I have been scale obsessed. To the point that I was weighing myself about 14- 20 times a day. Definitely not healthy. Especially because that number at any given point of the day, determined how happy I would be for the rest of the day.

So now I have banished the scale to a box, and weigh in on the same scale about once a week. This way I have a ballpark figure of what I weigh and my progress but it no longer defines me. It has actually been quite freeing. And sure, I would love that number to go down, realistically another 10 pounds, but that's not one of my goals that I am actively reaching for right now.

When my trainer first body fat tested me and told me that God-awful number, he said "we need to get this number lower more for your health reasons than for vanity." I took that to heart and am currently focusing on lowering my body fat and upping my lean body mass.

My current goals are:

• Eat a well balanced diet with limited sugar every day (usually easier said than done in my world!)
• Exercise at an intense pace at least 6 days a week
• Stay within my calorie range (currently 1500-2000) and nutrient range (40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat)
• Less body fat, more muscle

Why do I torture myself 6 days a week at the gym? What do I want to get out of this? I want to run a marathon. I want to be able to do pushups (on my toes) and pull ups (yes more than one). I want to lose a little bit of jiggly fat. I want to go rock climbing. I want to have kids and be an active mom. I want to wear a bikini without nitpicking my body's flaws. While all of those are worthy reasons of regular sweat fests, that's not why I do it. I drag myself to the gym 6 days a week at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. because exercising helps me be more at peace with myself. It helps me like myself better. It helps me be okay with my flaws. And because its fun :O)