September Goals

Ok, so I am a few days late but better late than never, right?

Since I am participating in Colleen the Fit Bee’s  back to basics September challenge and trying to follow along with Cassie at Back to Her Roots wellness calendar I thought I should set some goals for the month.

I came up with five goals for September. It might seem like a lot but they are pretty interrelated so I think it’s ok.

1.       165 lbs., it’s a pretty arbitrary number but I wanted to pick something that would be a challenge to hit but not entirely unrealistic. It means losing five pounds in one month. It’s possible. But if I end the month at 166 I won’t beat myself up. I just think having a number to work towards will help keep me focused and on track.

2.       Log 300,000 steps in September on the fitbit. I know there will be days when I don’t hit my daily goal of 10K steps but I am hoping to average out for the month at 10K a day, or higher, which would be 300,000 steps.

3.       Be comfortable in my size 6 workpants. When I was taking barre classes my work pants were starting to get loose in the waist. Of course, they were getting tight in the thigh but I was ok with that because my legs were getting more muscular. But now they are tighter in the waist and looser in the thigh. I’d be happy just to not have to be concerned about popping a button every time I sit down.

4.       Every Sunday set a workout plan for the week and then follow it to the best of my ability. This one is pretty straightforward, not really sure how to expand on it. Oh, but I can tell you that Paul and I signed up for a 3 month family pass at a yoga studio. We took a restorative class on Monday and I will be attending a hot yoga class tomorrow morning. This is also the same place where I will be going for aerial yoga on Saturday and I also signed up for a meditation workshop- TRUE PEACE: SAVASANA MEDITATIONS FOR RELEASING ATTACHMENTS AND SELF-AVERSION. Yeah, I know meditation is not really a fitness activity but it provides me balance and calm which is important when trying to juggle a busy schedule.

5.       Each week try out one new recipe that is fast/easy to prepare and uses mostly fresh/whole foods. Paul and I are both trying to cut out processed foods as much as possible and so trying out some new recipes will hopefully help keep us out of the convenience foods rut. This week we tried chickpea sloppy joe’s which were awesome. Paul made them which means that they are also super easy to make, even for a novice in the kitchen. We ate them open face on a piece of toasted Ezekiel bread and had some steamed veggies on the side. The recipe says it makes four sandwiches but our batch yielded six huge servings.

So, those are my goals for September. I am pretty happy about them. September got off to a bit of a rough start for me and I had a little meltdown on Monday. I was starting to feel defeated when everything I tried to do (Crossfit, kayaking, hiking, etc) kept backfiring on me. But then I cried a bit and talked things out with Paul and spent the rest of the day focusing on doing something good for me (yoga) and putting together plans for the week (meal plan and workout schedule) and grocery shopping and food prep and I went to bed Monday night feeling a million times better. It’s amazing how much better I feel once I am able to refocus my negative energy into something productive. Even better when I can carry that momentum forward- so that is my for this month; staying strong, positive and focused on my goals and what I need to do to achieve them.

My best day step-wise to date...this was yesterday. I totally killed it yesterday :)

Did you set any goals for the month? What do you do to help keep focused and on track?