1. I will feel better about myself--emotionally and physically.
2. I will eliminate physical problems that I've developed (hopefully).
3. I will have a wardrobe of clothes that I am not embarassed to wear (or be seen in).
Last week, my goal was to cut back on my very high caffeine intake. I had been drinking a pot (or more) of coffee each day. Each cup was full of Splenda (2 packs/mug) plus 2 Tbsp of vanilla coffee creamer. Let's not do the math and leave it at this: too much caffeine, too much artificial sweetener, and lots of hidden empty calories.
Because I have been having trouble with my sleep patterns, I know that cutting back dramatically on my coffee intake is a must. I was successful on cutting back on my coffee intake although I still drink more than what I had set as a quota. However, I did cut my coffee and caffeine intake by more than 50%. The second part of my goal was to increase my water intake. I did this although I still fell dramatically short of my goal of 8-10 cups/day. I have average 3-4 cups/day which is a definite move in the right direction. The third part of my caffeine and water goal was to cut my diet soda intake back to one 12-ounce can of diet soda/day. I wasn't as successful in this as I had hoped. I don't know what exactly led me to drink the second can 4 out of 6 days, but it happened.
So I am still working on these goals. I know that I'm making steps in the right direction so I'm not going to beat myself up over what I didn't achieve. Instead, I am going to pride myself on being successful with what I've already done and encourage myself to keep plugging along. This is a lifelong journey and there will be speed bumps and potholes along the way.
But I have to keep moving on also. And so the next step is exercise. Weight loss is not a magic equation, elusive or expensive. It's like a bank account. To lose, you must use more than you put in. There are several ways to do that. You can cut back on your caloric intake (eating) without increasing your physical activity. You can continue to eat the same way and increase your physical activity level. Or you can do both. Ideally, to lose weight, look great, and maintain the loss for a lifetime, you must find a balance of fewer calories in and more calories expended.
So my goal this week is to increase my physical activity level. The recommended amount of physical activity for healthy adults vary dramatically depending on the source. But what I know for weight loss is this: I have to eat 3500 fewer calories to lose a pound, or burn 3500 more calories to lose that same pound. Or you can do a combination of the two.
Once I get completely underway with my weight loss, my goal is to lose 1.5-2 pounds per week. To do that, I will need to eat 500 calories each day in deficit and burn an extra 500 calories each day through physical exercise. Fortunately, I am home with my baby most days and can easily schedule time for working out. Unfortunately, I am home alone with my baby most days and can easily find a way to do something else instead. Sigh.
But I will not be defeated. To encourage myself in my goal, I am actually going to get out to do my exercise, at least until the weather improves and I can go for walks through the neighborhood. It's not that I don't have the equipment to workout here, but I know that I won't do it. In time, as I am losing weight and seeing results, I will be able to jump on the elliptical. In fact, I know that I will get to a point where I will actually crave the physical activity.
So the plan is to get out and walk for 30-60 minutes three times this week. I have plans to meet a friend and walk on Wednesday which means I have little room to really mess this up. That said, I have messed up much simpler goals. I plan to head to the mall and walk with the baby tomorrow morning after I get the older kids off to school, and I plan to do the same Thursday morning. In addition, if I'm feeling really gutsy, I may jump on the elliptical and start building my endurance back up.
I also hope that by the end of the week, this increase in physical activity will also help with my sleeping issue enough that I can plan to get up 30 minutes earlier each day to do Winsor Pilates each morning. I don't like to "promote" a specific product particularly, but I really enjoyed the Winsor Pilates program when I did it three times a week several years ago.
More specifically, the basic introductory program that they send you--the 20 Minute Circle Workout--is mainly designed to target your core muscles, although it gives attention to your arms and legs also. Like the name implies, it is a brief 20 minutes in length, ideal for a quick morning workout (in case like me, you are morning-challenged!). I believe that this kind of workout is especially helpful at the beginning of a lifestyle change because it does two things:
1. It's quick and easy to do regularly and at home.
2. You will get results that are noticeable if you do it faithfully.
And who doesn't want to notice a difference in their midsection pretty quickly when they start a weight loss program? Even men want to see their love handles disappear!
So these are my goals for the week:
1. Continue to work on cutting back my caffeine intake via coffee and diet soda.
2. Continue to increase my daily water intake.
3. Add regular physical activity into my schedule--for this week, 30-60 minutes walking, three times this week.
What's your goal?
No comments:
Post a Comment