Refocusing

I know my blog has been quiet for over a month.  There's a good reason for that.  During the month of May, I realized I wasn't consistently meeting my health goals.  In fact, I was only meeting them about half the month.  My chart, which was meant to be a tool to keep me on track, was stressing me out and I was bored with walking and eating salads.  As a result, I'm modifying my goals.  My new goals will be much less rigid.  I'm still aiming for 10 minutes of intense activity during the day.  But, this can include a walk with Steve and the kids, playing on a playground with the kids, yoga, Zumba or anything else I please.  For water, I'm striving to finish two of my water bottles at work and drink water with supper.  My water bottle contains 24 ounces so if I finish two at work, I have a good start on drinking water.  As for my diet, I have a new goal to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.  If I have a piece of fruit with breakfast and a fruit and a vegetable with lunch and supper, I should be able to meet this goal.  I don't plan to add any new goals until these goals become a daily habit.

Has anyone seen my motivation?

Raise your hand if you're sick of hearing about my health goals.  It's OK if your hand is raised.  Mine is too.  Friends, my motivation is waning.  I'm not seeing the results I thought I'd be seeing by now.  I'm still out of shape and lacking energy.  I still have to think about every single one of my goals every single day.  It's frustrating that at least a few of my goals haven't become ingrained habits.  However I keep reminding myself, this is why I'm doing this.  I didn't become out of shape, exhausted and stressed in one day and those issues won't be fixed in a day.  Realistically, it's probably going to be another two to three months of being consistent with my goals before I see any real change in my health.  The perfectionist in me is very annoyed but the realist in me is not surprised.

That Was A Bad Idea

OK, so... I sorta fell off the goal wagon last week and I can totally tell.  Both of my kids were sick (not with the same thing and thankfully, not with the stomach flu) and I felt like I was getting sick.  I threw my goals out the window and that was definitely a bad idea.  I felt like crap because I was eating junk and not exercising; I also gained some weight.  Not a lot of weight but I don't want the trend to continue.  April's goal is to eat a salad with lunch every day.  Do you know what makes that really difficult?  Not having any lettuce.  I didn't buy lettuce the last time I went grocery shopping because I thought I already had a bag.  Turns out that bag went furry waiting for me to eat it.  We fed it to the garbage.  I'm recommitting to my goals this week.  I had an orange with my breakfast and am stopping by the grocery store on my way home to get some lettuce.  I'm refocusing on my water goal and have a plan to walk tonight.  This is normally the time when I let go of my New Year's resolutions.  But I'm determined to not do that this year.  I want to be a healthy, fit, non-stressed out person.  To achieve that, I need to stick with my goals.  I have noticed when I'm really sleep-deprived, drinking a lot of ice water actually gives me more energy than drinking a lot of pop.  I keep reminding myself that even though it's a little thing, it's a sign I'm on the right path with my health.

What's Holding Me Back?

Earlier in March, I was reading Shape magazine and one of the articles made me really think.  The article talked about kids always moving and being active but at some point, we stop moving.  It might be when we're adults, preteens or teens.  The article made the statement that we need to figure out why stopped and then we go forward with our fitness goals.  This statement stayed with me.  I had been an active child, attending dance lessons once a week in addition to running around the farm and playing on our swing set and later riding horses.  I did a lot of thinking.  Why did I stop?  I had always enjoyed being active.  What made me stop?  It finally hit me.  I stopped when being active was no longer fun.  In seventh grade, I quit dance to participate in sports.  I didn't have the natural sports ability that I had with dance.  As a result, I was placed on the D team for volleyball (we always played last), sat on the bench for most basketball games and really, really hated track.  I went out for only volleyball in eighth grade and then nothing in high school.  Being active was no longer fun.  I did ride horses on our farm and was very good at it until my horse went wild while I was riding him and bucked me off.  After an ambulance ride to the hospital, my only injuries were a jammed hip and a slightly scratched up face.  (I landed on my hands and knees and somewhat my face on hard gravel.)  I still loved horses but now I was afraid.  (Please no helpful advice about how I should have gotten right back on.  I know that and I regret letting my fear hold me back from an activity I truly loved.)  So what does all of this mean now?  I need to find ways to make fitness and being healthy fun.  It's the only way I'll stick with it.  I had always enjoyed walking, which is why I made it one of my early goals.  Yoga is an activity I enjoy.  It's even better when done with a friend so I plan to do that at least once a month.  (Yoga is also good for me because it's low impact.  The high impact activities seem to aggravate my hip and knee.)  Later, I'd love to incorporate some kind of dance or aerobics into my fitness routine.  It might need to be years down the road.  I don't have a ton of free time to devote to a fitness class right now.  Currently I squeeze fitness in when I have a free moment, which isn't always the same time every day.  Katherine mentioned needing to learn to jump rope.  My immediate thought was we need to get jump ropes for her and me.  I plan to continue to look for ways to make fitness fun.

April's Health Goal: eat a salad everyday with lunch  (this can be a large salad as my lunch or a small side salad)

March's Score Card:  For the most part, I did OK with my goals in March.  I created a simple chart to track my progress with my goals.  This way I can't fool myself into thinking I'm doing better than I actually am.  I still struggle with drinking enough water.  Most of my goals I hit practically every day.  A few times I walked longer than 10 minutes because I had missed the day before.  Overall I'm happy with how things are going.