Wow, spring has arrived and here in Ontario it has provided amazingly warm and sunny days this past week. It puts joy in my heart and a need to get outside to experience the weather. I hope it has motivated you to get out and about too.
This week we are also 1/4 of the way through 2012. Can you believe it? These first 3 months have moved so fast. That means we only have 9 months to go to reach our goals. I'd like to suggest some places to re-evaluate what you are doing in order to make sure things are still progressing towards those goals.
FOOD:
Are you eating all of your food groups?
Have you lowered your red meat consumption?
Are you eating more dark greens and a variety of coloured vegetables?
Have you tried new foods like quinoa, millet, kamut, brown rice, lentils, beans, etc?
Have you lowered your calories per day as we talked about in one of the first weeks?
Are you eating slowly, chewing more, stopping between bites?
Do you know when your snacking or cheating times are and have you found a healthy substitute including drinking a glass of water and waiting 10 minutes before deciding whether you really want something?
Are you drinking 8 - 10 cups of water per day?
ACTIVITY:
Have you found an activity that you either like to do or at least don't mind doing?
Are you increasing your activity time by 10% each week?
Have you started adding some weights to your week even if it is using cans or filled water bottles?
Have you tried something new?
Have you tried different times of day to see what works best for you?
MENTAL:
Have you learned to encourage and motivate yourself or do you have a lot of negative self-talk?
Are you checking in with your support person and do they keep you on track?
Are you still excited about meeting your initial goals and do your frequently remind yourself of what they are?
Can you say to yourself that even if you don't want to do something you will do it anyway because it's what is good for you?
Is there one of these areas that you are pretty good at and one that you are having problems with? We all tend to have a preference but the more that you work on the one that is the tough one the better you will find you will do with this challenge.
Please send in your comments or questions as there are many of you reading and committed to this so I'm sure you could all really offer help and support to each other. Have a great week and don't forget to add your 10% more activity time this week as well as making sure you are on track using today's check list.
4 comments:
So, I do well with water, and then not so good. This week I'm working on that....again.
I am still struggling to try a different food like quinoa etc but am doing well in calorie intake and such.
My proteins are always high because I drink a protein shake for convenience every morning. I am starting to eat cereal every now and then.
I'm highly motivated, mostly because I have seen some results.
I'm attempting to add jogging/running to my list of activities and will hold water bottles later on to add some weight.
The water drinking is on track, I find it helps if I start the day with a big drink of water - gets a lot of it out of the way right off the bat!
Excercise is hit and miss - 4 kids will do that! But they all like cranking ABBA and dancing in the living room, so that's often what I do. As the weather warms up, I want to start walking on my own a few days a week. Not sure when/how to fit that in.
New foods I'm not doing so much of. Turns out my diet was pretty healthy to begin with, but you can have too much of a good thing. :)
But having a weekly reminder of what I should be doing is great. Thanks for doing this, this year!
Just weighted myself and I am down a total of ten pounds. Double digits is so encouraging. I don't think I have lost ten pounds EVER!
Way to go all of you. I know it can be a struggle to faithfully follow all of these things, but you'll find if you even spend a couple of minutes in the morning setting your intentions for the day you will keep them in mind all day long. When there are things I really want to get into my head I tape them to my bathroom mirror and read them while brushing my teeth, washing hands, doing hair or makeup. It kind of cements intentions or right thinking into my day.
Congratulations on the 10 pound weight loss too! It's exciting when you make it further than in the past. Keep it up since there is always another milestone down the road.
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