This week officially starts my journey towards a healthier lifestyle. As you’ll recall, my goal on this journey is to lose 10 pounds. I am hoping this weight loss will come gracefully and (somewhat) effortlessly by eating better and exercising more. Those two components are huge for me because over the last couple of years I have let them lose their importance in my life completely. My starting weight (from this morning) is 149.7lbs. So ultimately, my goal weight is about 140. I am not opposed to losing more as the least amount I remember weighing is 135lbs and that was when I was in high school. I have included a picture of myself on the scale, and I am sorry to those who do not like feet.
My plan for eating healthier basically revolves around simply grocery shopping and food planning. I plan just about every aspect of my life out. I plan out each day, each month, each year, and almost every hour of my life. I currently own three planners and use all three of them. Need I go on? So, it does surprise me that I have never attempted meal prepping. As I mentioned in my first post, I am so busy, and this has been my excuse for eating so sporadically and opting for unhealthy food options (a random snack, fast food, etc). But, if I simply take the time to do a grocery shopping trip each week I can anticipate what I will be eating and what I can take with me on the road, depending if I will have access to a microwave, fridge, etc. I absolutely love sweets, chocolate, and coffee. These are my biggest downfalls. I need to cut down on sweets A LOT, and also on coffee, as this also causes my anxiety to persist. When I’m so busy and tired, a coffee is the most tempting thing to grab. But, I would like to look into healthier options such as tea or protein shakes/drinks (open to suggestions). It would be helpful to monitor my calorie intake when it comes to those tempting, yet dangerous sweets. I have started on monitoring my food intake and avoiding sweets, and I am going to start my grocery shopping this week.
My schedule varies day to day and week to week. It is hard to make a set schedule for going to the gym. However, my goal is to go 2-3 times a week. I think this is more than fair considering my work load. If I have a slow week, I will definitely try to motivate myself to go an extra time. Even if I do not have time to make a trip to the gym, I will try to at least walk my dogs. I will aim to go in the morning, as going after a long day of school and work is much more challenging. Based on my schedule, my goal this week is to go to the gym twice and walk my dogs everyday.
Chapter one opened my eyes to many important concepts to consider on my journey. There are six different types of health: intellectual, emotional, physical, social, spiritual, and environmental. Our health and wellness is based on how successfully we reach our full potential in all six of these areas. This made me consider where I stand with these six areas of health. I know where I stand as far as my physical health, because that is what my goal is aiming to improve. Physically, I am out of shape and could definitely afford to lose a few pounds. Otherwise, I normally feel good, rarely get sick, and always pass my check ups with flying colors. I believe that improving my physical health will positively impact my emotional health. I think it will definitely help my self-esteem and anxiety issues, which is an added bonus.
I also found the idea of a SMART goal incredibly genius and helpful. SMART stands for specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, and time-oriented. The book discusses how setting a goal that is far fetched, unreasonable, or hard to keep track of is most likely a goal that is never going to get achieved, which makes complete sense. You can lose track of a goal very easily when it is not specific or realistically achievable. This is not to say you should set an easy goal for yourself. But, if you need to create a set of smaller goals rather than one big goal in order to stay focused, than that is what is best. After reading about SMART goals, I feel reassured I have picked an achievable goal for myself.
Kayla's Health and Wellness Blog 