New Years resolutions versus monthly goals

Welcome to the new year!  The new year is typically the time that people make resolutions.  It is the time that they set goals.  It is the time that they come up with their grand plans for being healthy, fit, active…whatever they want to be.  Nope, not doing it.  I’m not setting any new year’s resolutions per se. You see, a resolution for the whole year is HUGE and a long term event.  I don’t work well that way.  I absolutely want to reach my goals in 2020.  I absolutely want to make 2020 ‘my year’….but I’m not making resolutions.  What I WILL be doing is to continue my monthly goals.  I started this a year or two ago and having MONTHLY goals works really well for me.  It allows me to try again the next month if I really mess up (instead of waiting for the next year!)  and it gives me goals that I can easily identify and work on.    I try to keep my goals quite attainable and manageable.  I love the goals that really push me to my limit but let me be really honest…..when I mess up with those hard ones, I tend to throw up my hands and give up….since I can’t ‘win’.   This is bad for me!  SOOOO….I created a set of monthly goals that are designed to keep me on track and pushing forward towards a healthier life.  I sometimes do tweak them and adjust them accordingly.  But for the most part they stay the same each month.

 Since it is the beginning of the month, that means it is time to review the goals I had for the month of December and renew my vow to complete these goals during the month of January. 

Monthly Goals:

1.        Track every bite I eat-   I almost slipped up on this one a BUNCH of times.  So many times I was a day behind in my tracking and I almost gave up…but I kept telling myself, “This is a freebie goal…..it takes just a few minutes of your time….DO IT!”   So I did it.  And I’m proud to say that I have managed to mark this one as a victory for the month!  GO ME!

2.       Savings:   My mission was is to grow my savings.   My savings took a hit with a very large car repair bill for the old Honda and the down payment for the new car (and insurance for the new car).  Couple that with the cost of Christmas (gifts and whatnot) and I feel like it was just CRAZY and that I was barely keeping my head afloat.  BUT, while it may not be huge….December does show a gain in my savings account!

3.       Weigh Less than I do now.  I amended this goal during the month of December.  I amended it to be that I just wanted to maintain my weight through this month of birthdays and holidays!   December was the month to hang on tight!    Well…… I barely squeezed this one out!  I lost a half pound!

4.       Be active at least 3 times a week.  (20 minutes or more).  This can be anything.  It could be an intense workout or a simple lunchtime walk.  20 minutes of activity….3 times a week.   Uhhhh yeah.   How about we break it down into weeks. 

a.       Week 1- I failed miserably.  NOTHING

b.       Week 2 – We got our indoor bike this week and I managed three good rides and 2 lunchtime walks!  I was on fire! (ha…not really but I was moving more than normal!)

c.       Week 3 -  There were no lunchtime walks…but we hiked once and I rode that exercise bike 4 times! 

d.       Week 4- Christmas week……no bike rides …no lunchtime walks…..I was a slug!

e.       Week 5…which is only three days.   I nailed those three days!

So you can see that this was not exactly a win.   But at least it wasn’t a colossal failure!

5.       Keep my eating in check for @ least 6 days a week.  When I say keep my eating in check.  I try to keep my calories between 1200 and 1500 calories a day.  So to be in check I need my calories to be under 1500 calories.    Out of the 31 days…I only managed to keep my calories in check for 11 days!   YIKES!   I wasn’t totally out of control.  My calories only went over 2000 on about 2 or 3 days!  But still….I failed miserably at this goal!

6.       Average 5K steps a day.   I set my step count at 5K.   Yes, I know that they recommend 10K steps a day.  That’s fine….but five thousand is a stretch for me a LOT of days!  I also set it to an average…because that gives me a chance to ‘catch up’ if I just don’t walk much one day.   I started calculating my steps for the month a few days before then end of the month.  Would you believe with three days left in the month I found myself woefully short of steps. Ok, it wasn’t that bad….I was somewhere near 4500 steps as an average.  I calculated it up and figured out what I would need each of the last three days…and I went to work.  We walked a lot on Sunday….at the mall and in antique stores since it was raining!  I folded laundry and put each item away one at a time….hey 10 steps from the bed to the closet times 10 pieces of laundry adds up!  I made up a few of my necessary steps…but I still needed 5602 steps on Monday and Tuesday….and I worked both of those days…..so a desk job….a long commute in my car….and RAIN!   It was hard fought...but I somehow pulled it out!

My goals for January will be the same.  

1.        Track Every Bite

2.       Build my Savings

3.       Weigh less at the end of the month  (who cares how much as long as it is less!)

4.       Be active at least 3 times a week  (This may be bumped up to 4  in an upcoming month).

5.       Keep my eating in check at least 6 days of the week!

6.       Average 5,000 steps a day!  

So you can see that my goals for the month are not difficult.  They are easily attainable.  They are not rigid.  They are there to simply keep me going in the right direction.  They are designed to allow me to stumble, because this journey to lose weight is all about stumbling and then picking ourselves back up to persevere toward victory!   Onward and upward toward a better me!