30 Days

My friend Stephanie set out a challenge on her website, Live and Tri:

Christmas is 30 days from today. Feel free to panic.

Done? Alright, now I will tell you of my plan for the next 30 days.

My eating habits have been a bit off the last month. Between travel, the husband travelling for work, and the Thanksgiving holiday, there has been a lot of eating out, eating excuses, and overeating. Nothing major, I can’t say that it’s bad. It’s just that I want to refocus for the next month before the holidays.

So, here’s the plan. The challenge, if you will. 30 days meeting 3 goals each day.

I fully intend to keep myself honest, and be obnoxious on Twitter about it.

Feel free to join me, set your own goals, and commit to a healthy pre-holiday month!

I’m going to take her up on this. While I haven’t been precisely bad lately, I also haven’t exactly been on my best and healthiest behavior. I always used to joke with my Weight Watchers buddies that I’ll be great at Maintenance, once I finally reach my Goal weight, since I seem to be so good at it now. And that’s what I’m doing right now. Maintaining. Not actually gaining any ground.

So, here are my four goals, of which I will be sure to meet at least three per day:

  1. Track everything I eat, every day. My current plan of choice is Weight Watchers, and I have no excuse not to track, since I have eTools right on my iPhone (which virtually never leaves my person). I have a tendency to track when it’s convenient (during the week, when I pack my lunch) and freeform it when tracking isn’t quite as convenient (on the weekends, or when I go out with my department for lunch, or when I have an evening snackie binge). Accountability is the key.
  2. Exercise every day. I spend lunch on Tuesdays attending a yoga class with my girl Sheryl, and we spend lunch on Thursdays lifting weights like the badasses we are. On Mondays, I’ve been running with Sheryl, but that will soon return to either walking or hitting the elliptical. Every other day is currently a “rest” day — but no more. If nothing else, I’ll be doing 20 minutes of yoga after Connor goes to bed. Weekends, too, although I think a nice brisk walk around the mall with the fam would count.
  3. Lights out before 11:00pm. This is my downfall. I get caught up in whatever I’m doing after I put Connor down, whether I’m twiddling on the computer or on my phone, and I totally lose track of time. Then when I finally get up to bed, I take more time to play on the phone before I turn out the lights and try to sleep. I need my beauty rest. (Especially this month, when I need to go in to work early to offset leaving early so that Aaron can leave early to go to his work.) I’ve been using the Sleep Time app this past month to track my sleep habits (as recommended by blogger Foodie McBody), and it’s definitely been helpful in identifying what helps me wake feeling more rested… including getting to bed at a decent time, so I get some quality cycles in early in the night.
  4. Eat at least one serving of fruits or vegetables with every meal. This seems like a “duh” sort of thing to anyone who’s familiar with the Weight Watchers plan, I’m sure. A big part of Weight Watchers is eating fruits and veggies, so much so that in the current incarnation of the plan, they’re “free” — that is, zero PointsPlus. I’m supposed to be eating at least five or six half-cup servings a day, but sometimes I only manage to rock a banana for my pre-workout snack and a snack cup of applesauce with lunch. I’m going to be sure to eat a full serving of fruits or veggies with every meal for these 30 days: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I’ve been spamming Twitter with my #thankfulproject Instagram photos this month, so hopefully my tweeps won’t mind another 30 days of dailiness. An accountability-based challenge may be just what I need to get myself into gear.

Let’s do this!

2 thoughts on 30 Days

  1. This answer deserves a blog post of its own, but… while I didn’t manage to successfully meet three out of four goals every day for the 30 days, I was at least more mindful of those things. And that was a big part of the project.

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