I thought I'd post my goals today to either inspire the rest of you, or make you rethink this whole thing. I'd love for you to post your goals as a comment to this post sometime between today and Monday so that we can get this thing rolling--away from the hearse. (We gotta keep this theme going til it's dead.) Here are my goals (drum roll, please):
1. I am going to track everything I eat on myfitnesspal.com. If you haven't used it before, check it out. I have used Sparkpeople in years past, but it has gotten far too "busy" for me. I just need somewhere I can check in everyday and track my eating, and help me remember to stick to specific limits. Part of this goal is also that I will stick to the calorie guidelines on the website. I am not setting a weight loss goal because weight loss is something I can't control. Behaviors I can.
2. I am going to participate in 60 minutes of aerobic activity five days a week. Hopefully it will be six days a week, but I know things will get hectic some weeks and I don't want to feel like a failure for only getting five days in. Five days is pretty darn good.
3. I am going to do strength training three times a week (core, upper body, lower body). I have only recently developed a real appreciation for strength training. I highly recommend getting into it as much as you can. It makes a world of difference in what you are capable of doing in your everyday life, and muscle burns more calories than fat, so it's great to have around! The best thing about it is that you can get wonderful benefits from a fraction of the time it takes to get benefits from cardio exercises. (You need both, but strength training shouldn't take forever.)
I'd love to say that I'm going to get 8 hours of sleep per night too, but that's asking a little much, so I'll leave it at that. What are your goals all you Morgue-Dodging Mamas? Let us know!
1. I am going to track everything I eat on myfitnesspal.com. If you haven't used it before, check it out. I have used Sparkpeople in years past, but it has gotten far too "busy" for me. I just need somewhere I can check in everyday and track my eating, and help me remember to stick to specific limits. Part of this goal is also that I will stick to the calorie guidelines on the website. I am not setting a weight loss goal because weight loss is something I can't control. Behaviors I can.
2. I am going to participate in 60 minutes of aerobic activity five days a week. Hopefully it will be six days a week, but I know things will get hectic some weeks and I don't want to feel like a failure for only getting five days in. Five days is pretty darn good.
3. I am going to do strength training three times a week (core, upper body, lower body). I have only recently developed a real appreciation for strength training. I highly recommend getting into it as much as you can. It makes a world of difference in what you are capable of doing in your everyday life, and muscle burns more calories than fat, so it's great to have around! The best thing about it is that you can get wonderful benefits from a fraction of the time it takes to get benefits from cardio exercises. (You need both, but strength training shouldn't take forever.)
I'd love to say that I'm going to get 8 hours of sleep per night too, but that's asking a little much, so I'll leave it at that. What are your goals all you Morgue-Dodging Mamas? Let us know!
My comments: 1) Did you know that "darn" looks a lot like "dam" to 65 year old eyes? 2) I wish I had realized at your age (actually at Jonathan David's age) that I could do something about my upper body strength. Good for you. Keep it up and you won't regret it when you have a 65 year old body. 3) I like that you have both eating and exercise goals and I hope we can add goals during this challenge because I want to add exercise goals when I'm better situated. 4) Rah! Do it!
ReplyDeleteClaire, that was SO not goals. But 1) Five days is pretty dam good, too, but now this blog is rated PG. 2) Jonathan D. is starting to do strength training with me to improve his swimming. 3) What are your goals right this very minute? You can alter them when you get "better situated", but you'll be better off if you make some clear ones for yourself right now and avoid putting it off. 4) You too! Let's see some goals!!!
DeleteAlison, I don't know if it is here I will enter my own goals, or anywhere else on the blog....all so new to me...anyhow, 1) three times a week, biking, if it is only twice a week I fill in by walking instead. Twice a week go with you to the rec center and do whatever:) for an hour. Thus SOMETHING five times a week; when we don't have equipment at home, walking every day is great!!!! 2) I see a Phys Ther for my knees, so I have an exercise program that I will continue to stick with morning and night. Paying $ 45 per visit is too much unless I follow up on these home exercises...3) I would like to TRULY track everything that I eat; my my I am so "good" at sneaking in little extras here and there and think it is just so little that it doesn't count.....ok this is it for now, if I can ( oh not only can, I WILL) stick to this plan, I am on my way to feel better.
DeleteBirgitta, looks great! I can't wait to go walking with you! I'm glad you're getting help with your knee and taking it seriously. And remember with food tracking, no one is going to see it but you, so you can be completely honest. Even if you go over your calorie goal the first few weeks you will be (much!) better off than you would have been had you not given your food intake any thought!
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DeleteFabulous! I will email her. I'm going to delete your comment, if that's ok because I made this a "public" blog so that people who want to join can find us, and I don't want Cheli's address out there. Maybe I should make it private. What do you all think?
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure how Erin's name ended up on my email...but when I accepted the invitation this is what I got. So really this is me...not Erin.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited for this challenge. My goals will be simple. I will ride my exercise bike every day for 30 minutes, adding more time each week. I'm also going to lose weight. I'll start with -25, and go from there. But mostly, I just want to eat healthier, and drink more water. So I will be tracking what I eat, and drinking more water. Phew. I hope I can keep up. So tomorrow's the first day!
So funny! Well Kelly (Erin, Wonder-woman, whoever you are!) I am so glad you can join us! You can do it! This will be fun (at least for the first week--then it'll be hard, but we'll all be doing it together, so at least the hard will be more fun than it would be alone....)
DeleteKelly -- I had to giggle when I noticed an inadvertent minus sign in front of your 25 minutes... Hee hee! That's my kind of exercise goal. ;D
DeleteI only have one goal for this week (slow and steady survives the zombie apocalypse, right?). I have been to the physical therapist for my back recently, and if I do my home PT exercises 5 times this week like I'm supposed to, I will be pleased with myself. Next week I'll add in food. Go team!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Is it lower back? I have an awesome exercise that has done wonders for my lower back. I'll teach you next time you're here.
DeleteYep, lower back. Now that you mention it, it seems like my sister had a packet with a series of motions for lower back that made it around the family years ago. Don't know if that's the same one, but I'll take all the help I can get!
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