3 Weeks In

January 24.  This month is flying by. I thought I'd better take a minute to check in on my goals for the year:

I am still not tracking my food so I also don't know if I'm staying in my points allowance. Okay, I admit it, I'm resistant. I will plumb the depths of that resistance a bit later and see what's driving it. Similarly, since I'm not tracking, I'm missing out on the opportunity to see what is behind the eating choices I'm making. Okay, I've convinced myself. I will track today!

I do have perfect attendance at Weight Watcher's so far, and it is paying off, in spite of my lack of attention to tracking. So far, I've lost 4.8# of my 50 lb. goal for this year. 49 weeks and  45.2# to go.

As far as my exercise goals, I'm getting in my  60K steps and then some; now I need to focus on my minimum 1 hour of strength training and working up to 30/min a day of structured exercise.  I got 20 minutes of Dance Party yesterday. I will get 30 minutes of structured exercise today.  My fitbit week starts on Sunday, so that exercise will be strength training plus about 8000 steps to get in today.  I found some great leg presses without machines I will try. (Here's another. And one more.)

My glaring "miss" so far is I still have not gotten my official support partner on board. It's because there's been an awkward silence between us for some time so I need to break that silence. I will do so with an email today. I know that if I had more accountability, I would be hitting more of my goals!

I'm working on my first every self-made workout playlist. The last thing I had that was even close -- try not to laugh -- was a mix tape I made in the early 90's and played on my Walkman! Oh I am so old!  I think getting my playlist will help me get those weekend steps in. 

How is YOUR year going? Are you meeting your goals? What do you think is helping you succeed or getting in your way?

First Friday of Fourteen - Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

It's a very new year still and here we are with our plans and resolutions. Perfect time for some tips, tricks and inspiration, right?

First some practical tips for keeping those new year's resolutions:

• Post your plans where you can see them
• Even better, post them where your family can see them and garner their support
• Have an honest check in every week on how you are doing and make a plan for going forward; adjust as needed and learn the difference between a mitigating circumstance and an excuse

You know this is absolutely true: there are no magic pills to lose weight and get in shape. So the first trick of the year is this, don't fall for any gimmicks, gags or snake oil salesmen! We are all going to meet our goals the same way, with hard work, perseverance, course corrections and a pinch of optimism.  

Speaking of hard work and perseverance, please meet my friend Mary Love. If she isn't an inspiration to you, I'll eat my hat!

Mary has lost over 100 pounds so far and has only 44 to her goal. No snake oil, no miracle pills, just perseverance, wise choices and a lot of hours at the gym. May we all work as hard as she has!

That said, let's get off the computers and on the treadmill. Happy New Year!

Slow Start to a New Year

I am still getting up at 4:40 (yes A.M.) and heading off the gym.  I missed several days over the holidays but instead of giving up because I didn't do it perfectly, I decided to just regroup and get myself back in there.

The slow start is really working for me.  When I first made this commitment to my friend Colleen, I determined to do it differently.  I decided that instead of rushing in to the gym, staying an hour and a half and working myself to bits, that I would start slowly - committing to 30 minutes.  I've done some other things differently too;  my first days I did the elliptical machine and I did not monitor my heart rate or try to do intervals or anything.  I just worked hard enough to sweat and when my time was up, I'd stop and go home.  Sometimes I have worked up to 20 minutes longer if time and interest allowed.  I have not been worrying about optimal burn, tracking calories or anything up to now.  I have just been doing my cardio and leaving it at that.

Likewise, I decided to start my circuit training right where I left off when we expanded our family almost 2 years ago.  I figured lifting little children all day had probably kept me pretty strong and it had!  I was able to pick right up where I left off (to the best of my memory, anyway) and even add weight on a couple of machines.  I have already added an extra set of repetitions and when I can get through 3 sets, I'll add weight again.

I've stopped being so picky.  For instance, I've lost my iPod.  Typically, I'd refuse to exercise without it, but I've let go of everything having to be "just so."  I think it is a set-up for failure.  I grab whatever water bottle and towel I can find and I am just trying to keep it simple.  I started with the commitment of getting to the gym 5 days each week.  Now I am also committing to 2000 calories burned each week. If those two things line up so that I actually burn more than 2000, I'll be happy, but I don't have to keep increasing it every week.

It's ironic that in the face of my New Year's Resolution to "set higher standards for myself," sometimes that looks like being saner about my standards.  I am 52.  If I can successfully exercise 5 days a week for many years to come, that will be a big boon to my long-term health.  In order to reach that higher standard of a healthy old age, I needed to lower my standards for my daily activity to a more reasonable level. 

This week, I decided to start Couch to 5K again;  the difference this time will be that in slow-start mode, if I'm not ready to advance to the next week because the week I'm on is still very challenging, I won't advance.  I will wait until I can get there without getting so discouraged I quit.   I love C25K but it does get challenging at the end.

So it is fair to say that I am starting my new year with whisper instead of "shock and awe" -- maybe that will keep it from turning into "shock and flop"!  Happy New Year!