When it comes to weight loss I have only had one ‘goal’ for the last 14 months.. “Lose weight to my goal weight of 228 pounds”
Great goal right? Wrong. First I neglected one of my favorite sayings.. ‘A goal without a date is just a dream’ (American psychiatrist Milton Hyland Erickson) When do I want to reach this weight? Well tomorrow would be great, but then that would be a fantasy not a dream or a goal… and if I look at what the ‘experts’ say then I am looking at about 16 months (best case scenario of 3 pounds per week, every week)
What I needed to do was to set small attainable goals (with dates) and action items for how to attain them. That way I have something tangible to shoot for, to be motivated to accomplish and to have some success when I do accomplish them instead of dreaming of this goal weight at least 16 months away.
I want these goals to be realistic, but also very aggressive so I actually feel like I accomplished something. If I set the goal as ‘lose 3 pounds this week’ that may be realistic, but I just won’t feel like it did much when I get there.
So I started with a 2 week goal on my weight loss. I decided that I will lose 8 pounds each week for a loss of 16 pounds by 9/3/09… that may seem like a lot to lose (and it is) but I have a lot to lose.. Right now I have 142.2 pounds to my goal weight and 16 pounds is only 4% of my body weight.
Goal #1 (on 9/20/09) – Lose 16 pounds by 9/3/09 (354.2 pounds goal weight)
Before I get into the action items for that goal I wanted to set another goal related to my weight loss but not really a necessary step to achieving it. so I thought about food (like I’m not always thinking about food) and thought about all the recipes that I have printed out (mainly from Richard Simmons website) that I have in a binder that I haven’t made yet. I printed these out because they sounded great and would be a healthy meal that would help my diet.
Goal #2 (on 9/20/09) – Make one new recipe from my diet binder each week.
And while I am on the ‘bettering’ myself goals I have wanted to learn to meditate for a long time now… I have a book and a CD.. just have never tried it… so…
Goal #3 (on 9/20/09) – Meditate once per week using my meditation CD
I might as well do one that I have been saying I was going to do for a long time and just haven’t done it…
Goal #4 (on 9/20/09) – Blog every day
Even if it is just a small update I need to do this to document and reflect.
Now on to the action steps… Goal # 3 is simple.. I just need to force myself away from the computer with my iPod and meditate for 30 minutes once per week and write something in this blog everyday… period. Goal #2 is pretty easy:
1) find recipe for the week
2) Shop for ingredients
3) Make it
Goal # 1 is the big one… the one that will require a lot of work and dedication.
1) Run twice per week using the couch to 5K audio files I downloaded previously
2) Weight train twice per week (either garage or gym)
3) Cardio everyday for 20 minutes minimum (bike, elliptical, run, swim, etc.)
4) Follow LightenUp food plan daily and chart all food that I eat.
So for the next 14 days these are my focuses.. not that I can ‘unfocus’ on everything else I am doing for my health (64+ oz water each day, meat for only one meal, no beef, no more than 1 diet soda per day, 7-9 hours sleep per night).. I will be using my food chart and this horrible photo of me from July 4th 2009 that I now have printed and in with my notes that I carry with me to achieve these goals… then I will make new ones based on how realistic and effective these were.
In a nutshell:
Goal #1 (on 9/20/09) – Lose 16 pounds by 9/3/09 (354.2 pounds goal weight)
1) Run twice per week using the couch to 5K audio files I downloaded previously
2) Weight train twice per week (either garage or gym)
3) Cardio everyday for 20 minutes minimum (bike, elliptical, run, swim, etc.)
4) Follow LightenUp food plan daily and chart all food that I eat.
Goal #2 (on 9/20/09) – Make one new recipe from my diet binder each week.
1) find recipe for the week
2) Shop for ingredients
3) Make it
Goal #3 (on 9/20/09) – Meditate once per week using my meditation CD
Goal #4 (on 9/20/09) – Blog every day