Are my arms getting longer?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

A little NSV to start the day off right!

One of my co-workers had to have an emergency surgery this week, so some of the duties around the office have been shifted to accommodate her absence. I am now in charge of straightening out the break room until she returns to work in about 6 weeks.

Our break room is always very well-stocked with sweet treats: For the last six months I have been avoiding the break room as much as possible for this reason. Now, I will need to go in there at least once per day!! This could prove to be an overwhelming source of temptation for me Hopefully enough will power will kick-in to keep me from over-indulging from over-exposure to sweets!

Thankfully, I had a little NSV this morning that kept me on the straight and narrow when I was in there earlier:
The set up in our break room has the sink in the corner with counter space and under-counter and wall mounted cabinets all around. This set up creates a tough-to-reach space behind the sink. The combination of my lack of flexibility, short arms and big tummy have always made it especially difficult for me to reach behind the sink to wipe off that counter. Usually I open the cabinet below and step on the bottom shelf and still use a spatula to make the dish rag reach into the corner.

Drum roll please: (you'll have to use your imagination, I can't figure out how to type that sound!) This morning, I accomplished wiping the counter - all the way back to that hard to reach corner - standing on my tip-toes. No step up on to the shelf. No spatula to extend beyond the limits of my arms.

What a great feeling!!!

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Another Monday!

Monday, January 14, 2013

This weekend was nice, and I want to carry the positive feelings, positive energy from the weekend into my work week!
Friday was a rough day in the office, and I don't want to go back to that mental state again! I was so frustrated and tired by the end of the day, that I just left as soon as I could without even bothering to straighten up my desk... I am pretty sure that when I get to the office, every last bit of my work-space will be covered with papers. And not in neat piles, ready to be tackled, but a veritable mess I hate messes! And I know that I dread Mondays much more when I have to sort through a disorganized desk before I can accomplish anything at work. Why do I do this to myself? I let my stress rule me on Friday. I could have taken a few minutes (probably 10 or less) at the end of the day on Friday to put things in order, but I was not willing to spend an extra second in that space... And it will definitely take longer to straighten out this morning than it would have on Friday because I will need to look at everything a bit more carefully since none of it is fresh in my mind after a weekend away.
One of my January goals was to leave my cleared every Friday... And I haven't done a goals progress report yet this month, so I guess it is time!

January Goals:

1. I will track my food daily! - So far I have kept up with tracking food - although, not always tracking it immediately.
1a. I will drink at least 8 glasses of water daily! 4 years ago it was hard for me to choke down this much water, but it became a relatively solid habit. Unfortunately I let the good habit slip in November and was back to forcing the water through December. Now it is finally getting easier again, and I am drinking my water faithfully!
1b. I will eat at least 7 servings of fruits and veggies each day!

2. I will track my fitness daily! So far, so good!
2a. I will walk/jog at least 75 miles! 27.6 / 75 miles so far!
2b. I will log 2000 fitness minutes! 757 / 2000 so far... I had hoped to be at 1000 by the 15th, so we'll see how many minutes I manage to squeeze in to the next two days!

3. I will add my calories burned to the January Calorie Torch challenge thread daily! Total through yesterday is 7,167!

4. I will earn 3000 sparkpoints! So far I am at 1178 for the month of January.

5. I will leave my office desk completely cleared every Friday! My office was in perfect order when I left on Friday 1/4... not so good on Friday 1/11. Actually, the dread of facing the mess left on my desk today was what prompted this little progress report!

6. I will progress report in my blog! Maybe I should have added a time frame for this goal - first progress report at the half-way point was not what I had in mind!

7. My target weight for January 31 is 228 (this would be an 8 lb loss for the month)! Weighed in yesterday at 334, 2 lbs lost so far...


My first week of January was great! Second week, not quite as great, but still good. I am going to aim for better than great this week - how does sound?

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January 2013 Goals

Thursday, January 03, 2013

My New Year's resolution is to get back into the habit of making short-term (monthly and/or weekly) goals for myself again. That tactic seemed to work pretty well for me the few months when I did it this fall, so it is definitely worth revisiting!
So without further ado:
For the month of January -

1. I will track my food daily!
1a. I will drink at least 8 glasses of water daily!
1b. I will eat at least 7 servings of fruits and veggies each day!

2. I will track my fitness daily!
2a. I will walk/jog at least 75 miles!
2b. I will log 2000 fitness minutes!

3. I will add my calories burned to the January Calorie Torch challenge thread daily!

4. I will earn 3000 sparkpoints!

5. I will leave my office desk completely cleared every Friday!

6. I will progress report in my blog!

7. My target weight for January 31 is 228 (this would be an 8 lb loss for the month)!

To great things in the month ahead!!

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Standing in Hope!

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Today I changed my profile image. I chose another butterfly picture. Butterflies are beautiful, and beauty is always uplifting for me. Usually when I am looking for something beautiful, the first images to catch my eye are things breathtakingly majestic - mountains, oceans, sunsets, etc.


The slideshows for my desktop background and screensaver are filled with images like that. When I am looking for images for my SparkPage, it seems I am more attracted to the delicate beauty of flowers and butterflies. As much as I love majesty and grandeur in nature, I long for serenity, peace and gentleness in my personal life.
Images of butterflies remind me of hope and promise, and standing at the beginning of 2013 that is what I see for this year. I certainly didn't leave 2012 barreling forward with great momentum, but I did have a stretch of positive momentum from August through October which gives me confidence that it is possible! I look forward to the days ahead with the hope that I can rekindle that momentum and stretch it through the year!
I recently celebrated my 4-year Spark Anniversary. Today I spent some time looking through my Spark History. It has been through its ups and downs, times when I have been faithful and times I have completely neglected it for long stretches.
I started 4 years ago weighing in at 235. I start 2013 weighing in at 236. So that makes a 4-year progress of +1!
The lowest weight I have achieved to date with Sparkpeople was 210 in the fall of 2009. I started 2012 weighing 243, and reached a life-time high of 249 in June 2012. My lowest weigh-in for 2012 was 232 on Oct. 30 and was back to 238 by Dec. 1.
With all of the good and the bad that 2012 held - all of the ups and downs not just in weight but in all of the threads that make up the fabric of my life - I ended the year with a net loss of 7 pounds for the year and a much better understanding of myself.
One of the big lessons I learned in 2012, is that this sight is infinitely better when you take advantage of the community aspect! I spent the first three and a half years on SP with a private page and no interaction with other members. Making my profile public in August and taking the time to get to know other members, to encourage and be encouraged, was the best decision I have made with SP. Incidentally, in the two months that my weight has crept up again, I have barely made time for my SP friends.
Thank you to all of my SparkFriends for being with me through these ups and downs, and I look forward to celebrating lots of victories together in 2013!!

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