Goals

I'm discovering that I'm really good at giving myself an excuse to celebrate. So I celebrated New Years with food. Wheeee!

I just got a great email from my sister-in-law (hi, Sarah!) who reminded me how awesome you feel when you get all of the junk out of your system and get past the cravings. It's really hard to remember when the dark chocolate-dipped cookies in the office kitchen are calling my name.

So here are some concrete, fo' real goals that I'm beginning on Monday, January 5, 2009.

Goal 1
Exercise for 30 minutes, 3-5 days a week. I'm being realistic here because I know some weeks I will barely get to the gym 3 times and other weeks I will be there 6 times and probably walk to and from work and do a Pilates DVD on the side. But my minimum should be 3 days. I just set a goal for myself on SparkPeople to work out for 10,000 minutes this year, which means I will need to average a little more than 200 minutes a week. Last year I had the goal of 10,300 minutes based on some crazy math that I did around June, and in September I was well on my way to reaching and surpassing that goal. However, the last quarter of 2008 was not good exercise-wise and I didn't make it. Boo!

Last week I ordered myself a new swimsuit, which is always good inspiration to get back in the pool, and I am psyched. I am not psyched about showing up at the pool again weighing several pounds more than I did the last time I was there. And yes, I realize I am the only one who knows that, but I feel like I was doing so well and then I got off track and then I got wildly crazily lost in the woods off track. So I guess I'm just kind of embarrassed about it all and mad at myself for letting my weight get back to this point. Sometimes I just want to give up and let the M&Ms take over.

Goal 2
Step away from the simple carbohydrates. I have already said this ad nauseum, so I'll just restate it quickly. No white sugar or white flour except for a splurge day once a month. 150 g of protein a day and less than 100 g of carbs per day (with a little wiggle room when those carbs come from good things like fruit, because unlike Dr. Atkins and Dr. Agatston I think fruit is right and good)

Goal 3:
Plan ahead. My downfall is when I don't prepare food the night before and show up at work not really knowing what I'm going to eat for breakfast or lunch. There aren't a lot of dining options in downtown Providence and I'm limited to not very good things for the girl who is trying to eat well. Just 20-30 minutes the night before and I can have everything tucked away in a bunch of little containers ready to go to work with me in the morning.

So that's what I've got planned for Monday morning. Exciting, yes?