November Plans

Thursday, November 01, 2012

I stole this blog idea from another BLC20 member and I thought to myself, "I really should create a plan for the month." Unfortunately, I've been coasting along. In everything, not just in weight loss. I'll be the first to admit that my commitment levels for everything from BLC to work to school to wedding planning to house chores have been flighty. I want to do all of these things, but I have poor follow through. I always have.

Some examples:

---I've read several books to within pages of the end - and never finished them. Most notably, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. I stopped reading this one 6 pages before I finished it. (I did eventually finish it, but ONLY because I was going to see the movie and just couldn't allow the movie to ruin the ending. BUT there are many others out there just waiting for me to pick back up. Someday.)

---I started a minor in photography and I was really good but I stopped taking the classes when I found out I didn't "need" them to graduate. Even though photography is something I really enjoy. (Makes no sense..except maybe financially, sadly, that wasn't even the motivation behind quitting.)

---I want to lose weight before I get married and I've lost a couple pounds, but I'm not pushing myself hard at all. I could be up early in the mornings working out and kicking some behind, but instead I hit the snooze button about 8 times. (I'm lazy. Clearly.)

---I'm back in school and really enjoying the classes I'm taking and the field I've chosen to move into, but doing the reading for class? I think I kept up with it for about a month. I haven't picked up a textbook to read in about two weeks. (Again, there's the lazy thing.)

In any case, enough on my failures in life. :p On to the positive things - like how I plan to not fail anymore.

This month, I really want to prove to myself that I can commit to doing something for me and follow through with it.

The first thing I will do for myself is take the month off from drinking any alcoholic beverages. I wouldn't call myself a big drinker, but sometimes on weekends when I'm out with friends I do indulge. It really wreaks havoc on my life when I do this - mostly because: 1. I should be drinking water instead, then I'd get my 8 glasses every weekend day for sure. 2. My wallet always hurts the next day, sometimes along with my head. 3. I won't need to sleep in as long and I'll be able to get a workout in early which is the only time I ever get a workout in on weekend days. (I get distracted after about 11am - so when I wake up after 11 am, of course there's no chance I'm working out.) And finally, 4. Maybe I'll lose a few more pounds if I cut out beers and drinks for a few weekends. (Can't argue with that potential benefit.)

The second thing I am going to do for myself is devote one hour every single day to doing homework - whether it's reading or studying or writing papers. I need to make sure I include my schoolwork into my DAILY schedule and not just when I can fit it in (because playing the Sims and watching TV will ALWAYS win out.)

Lastly, I will stop SNOOZING the alarm clock every morning. (Starting with tomorrow, because I definitely did not follow this rule this morning.) I know exactly how to stop doing this...get up when I wake up and that'll be that. I usually wake up between 5 and 6 am and then make the decision to go back to sleep - knowing that this is not going to work out well. But I do it anyway. Anyone who knows anything about sleep knows that people tend to sleep in 90 minute cycles. I'm sure I could wake up mid-cycle if I heard the alarm blaring, but let me tell you - my body and mind do NOT like it when I attempt this and then I find my arm reaching for the snooze button. Maybe its all mental - but either way, no going back to sleep!

Okay, so three things on the to do list this month:
1. No drinking.
2. One hour of study time daily.
3. Get up when I wake up (i.e. no snoozing.)

Sound simple enough, right? Yes.
I'll report back next Thursday to let you know how week 1 goes. :)

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BLC20 - Halfway there.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Here we are halfway through BLC round 20. My progress has been slow, yes. But it's been progress.

Here are the original goals I jotted down at the beginning of the challenge back in September:

Use my 30 minute lunch for the gym 3 times each week.
Exercise on weekends.
Have a brighter smile, healthier nails, and clearer skin.
Create a recipe rotation for 'prepare ahead' recipes.
Lose 20 lbs!
Have to buy NEW jeans because even my size 8s are too loose!

Here's how I've been doing:
-I have not been using the gym at work 3 times per week: The gym at work has been sporadic at best. I need to re-focus on this goal and make a better effort to achieve it.

-Exercise on weekends: I AM getting better at this. In fact, this past weekend, I made a real effort to exercise both days. Typically, I've found that I'm very motivated on Saturdays but not so much on Sundays. If I'm able to get moving on one of the two weekend days, I'm halfway there! I'd say halfway through the challenge is a good place to start work on getting the other half of this goal going. I need to take advantage of time away from classes and work on Saturdays AND Sundays, and I need to start doing that now.

-Have a brighter smile, healthier nails, and clearer skin: I am working on this one. My nails actually look great. My skin still sucks and my smile is probably the same. (I know this is a totally strange goal, but I wanted to focus some attention on it because of the wedding coming up.) The real problem here is my water intake. If I drank the water I was supposed to everyday, all of these things would be beautiful. Real goal: drink LOTS of water. Some days I do great at this, other days I forget to drink water until like 6pm. Starting the day off with water should help me remember this throughout the rest of the day. So starting now, I'm going to focus on starting with water.

-Create a recipe rotation for 'prepare ahead' recipes: Unfortunately, I've found that I simply haven't even had time to plan for meals nevermind actually prepare them ahead. I think I used the crockpot once so far this season. Poor Mike does about 99% of our cooking. I'm changing this goal - I'm going to do my best to show him how much I appreciate this by committing to making him dinner at least ONCE each month for the rest of the year.

-Lose 20 lbs!: Well, I've lost 2. Clearly, this goal is no longer attainable - and I'm okay with that. I'm changing this goal to "Lose 7 pounds over the next six weeks." This is an attainable goal, and it will get me into the 140s which is where I REALLY really want to be.

-Have to buy NEW jeans because even my size 8s are too loose!: I've halfway achieved this goal. Unfortunately, it wasn't my size 8 jeans being too lose though. I needed new work pants and purchased 4 pairs of size 10s. After I purchased them, removed the tags, and washed them, I found that they were ALL too big. (Umm, what, they fit perfectly when I tried them on!) I'll call this halfway to this goal. A few more pounds and I really will be walking around pants-less because they'll all have fallen off. Lol.


So there you have it. My progress and my adjusted goals for the final six week stretch!
Here we go!

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Before Pictures!!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Before Measurements:

Waist - 33
Hips - 42.25
Thigh - 25.5
Calf - 14.5
Bicep - 11.5
Bust - 37
Waist to Hip Ratio - 0.78

[0.85+ high risk, 0.81-0.85 moderate risk, -0.80 low risk]

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