Goal talk!

Ok, did you guys work on your list yesterday?  Did you define some things that you wanted to accomplish and did?  How about things that you wanted to do and didn't?

For me, I was able to hit my goal weight and maintain.  Even though I've only been maintaining for 4 months I'd say that so far I've met this ongoing goal.  Now a goal that I had that I DID NOT meet has to do with my household.  I had a goal to clean part of my house each night.  This keeps things from building up so that they need a HUGE cleaning and I have to devote a day or more to it.  I did not come even CLOSE to accomplishing this goal.  I have to do some thinking about time management and priorities before I decide if this will be a goal again for the new year.  If I'm not willing to make certain changes, there is no sense of commiting to it as a goal, because once again it won't happen.

So let's start thinking about goals - NOT resolutions - we have for the new year.  First off, make you goals SPECIFIC and ATTAINABLE.  I would encourage you NOT to have "losing 100 pounds" as your goal.  Instead, break it down into concrete things that you can do that weight loss will follow.  An example of this is "eat 1500 calories per day 6 days per week".  Another goal could be "work out for at least 30 minutes 4 times per week".  

It is extremely frustrating to have goals that you aren't meeting, so make sure the goals you have are ones you are seriously going to commit to.  For example - if you are not a morning person and never have been and if you haven't been exercising at all, having a goal to "Get up at 5 AM 7 days per week and go to the gym" is not smart.  You KNOW you're not going to do that, so why set this as a goal and get completely discouraged the first time it doesn't happen?

I would also encourage you to write down your goals and place them where you can look at them frequently.  And think out of the box!  Losing weight is not all your life is about, right?  What other goals do you have in life to be healthy and happy?

Some suggestions:

• Get 8 hours of sleep per night
• Hug your child every day
• Buy yourself a small present once per month for staying on plan
• Organize your neglected (and messy) spare room by working on it 1 hour per week.
• Trim your dog's nails once per week.
• Eat breakfast every day.
• Complete the Couch to 5K Program
• Switch to whole grains instead of white flour products
• Log my daily calories in myfitnesspal

Do some of these seem silly?  I would encourage you to give some thought over the next couple of weeks to what is missing in your life and how goals can make you a more happy, healthy and complete person.  That's what I'm going to do!  

By the way - there is a "contact" button at the top of the page and you can send me an anonymous (or not anonymous) e-mail.  I would LOVE to hear what some of your goals are!!!