So I know I'm usually all hippy skippy positive thinking gal up here, and I am trying to be, but I think it's only fair to admit this is not true 100% of the time "off screen."

I have a couple of things coming up that are making me start to, well. Obsess. Like I promised I wouldn't, and ranted and railed would CLEARLY lead to failure.

The scale has moved a little, but not much, and it is feeling sooo slowwww right now. I should stop whining and just be glad I didn't gain over Thanksgiving, but even more than that I should be proud of my accomplishments as far as eating and exercising because as advertised, That Is My Philosophy.

supposedly.

But it's hard with Christmas coming up. I'll be seeing my family for the first time in about 6 months. They know I've been running & losing weight, and I am starting to feel like I want to have lost "enough" when I see them. I've gone down a pants size, which is awesome, and I'm starting to feel like "WELL, ONE size is not that much..." Annoying! I am annoying myself.

Also, my babiest cousin is getting married (EEEE!!!) and we are going bridesmaid dress shopping in January. Same deal; I'm annoying and starting to feel like "I wish I had lost/could lose MORE before we go dress shopping." That's what alterations are for, dolt!

It's annoying because that isn't what this is about. And that will just derail me and cause problems. So it's time to get back to what was fueling the fire when all this started. And that would be BAR GRAPHS.

I need to see progress I can put on paper and point to and go WHEEE! and it doesn't have to be my weight, either.

So I spent some time pouring over the My Reports and all the graphs and such. I discovered something interesting. Of my months on SparkPeople (June-now), August 2012 has kicked every other month's behind. It's clear in all the charts - calories go down and get more consistent. Other nutrients improve. Fitness minutes go up. Calories burned skyrockets. August was the super star. Then things start to drop off. As I got busy/lazy/on vacation/injured/whatever.

Not cool! I want August back.

So I'm declaring for myself a challenge. I am declaring December the month of Kick August.

I looked over what made August so amazing, and I'm going to try and beat my personal bests all through December.

I'll try to post each day how it's going, then of course I'll do an awesome wrap up on January 1. Should be fun.

The best part is, it's a bunch of little goals, so if I meet of bunch of them but miss one, that's okay. And if I don't lose more weight than I lost in August, it's still awesome because this is about kicking August's butt, not about whatever the scale feels like doing.

This is all based on stuff I'm trying to do anyway. So, stay in calorie range for weight loss, keep fat intake down, increase protein and fiber, drink water, exercise, blah dee blah blah. This is to keep me focused on what I'm doing, forever and ever, for Healthy Me, instead of getting all crazy and weighing myself every 5 minutes and thinking I should drink 4 cups of coffee a day for the laxative and diuretic effect so I can have a good weigh in this week. I'm not, I'm just saying. It MAY HAVE crossed my mind...


Anyway here it is:

~*~***~KICK AUGUST~***~*~
August accomplishments - December goals

Nutrition:

Tracked all calories eaten all 31 days - Meet
Within calorie range 24/31 days - Meet or exceed!
Went over 2000 calories on 6 days - Make this fewer # days
Fat grams in range 25/31 days - Meet or exceed
Carbs in range 29/31 days - meet or exceed
Protein under range 4/31 days - FEWER
Protein over 90g 12/31 days - meet or exceed
Cholesterol in range 25/31 days - meet or exceed
Fiber in range 19/31 days - meet or exceed
Fiber over 40g 4/31 days - meet or exceed
Sodium in range 12 days - meet or exceed
Sodium under 3,000mg (above range, but range is hard, man!) 24/31 days - meet or exceed
Remembered to take vitamins 23/31 days - meet or exceed

Intake (other):

Total cups of water 152 - exceed
Average of 4.9/day - exceed
Total fruits & veggies 137 - exceed
Average of 4.4/day - exceed

(I know we're supposed to be getting 5 fr/veg but I try to get more like 7. The fact that this is my personal best average I am finding kind of dismal...)

Fitness:

Worked out 3x a week 4/5 weeks - meet or exceed
Measured another way, worked out 13 days - meet or exceed
569 fitness minutes - meet or exceed
Strength training days 0 - exceed (shouldn't be hard, HAH!)
Calories burned 4720 - meet or exceed
Average of ~1005 calories burned per week - meet or exceed


So there you have it. I'm interested to see which of these are easy to beat (strength training, hello) and which are hard (sodium, probably...). I'm also interested to see how it works out psychologically/motivationally
.

Oh yeah, just for the record:

Measurements:

Lost ~7 pounds In August. December.... ??? Whatever happens, people.

Didn't measure inches (I've only done this twice because I'm super lazy) - December goal: measure and track waist and hips on Dec 1 and Dec 31.

Anybody wanna join me? You don't have to make a big long list, but pick a personal best and make December the month to best it.