Thursday, January 19, 2012

Weigh-in Day, January 19

184.6 - 2 pounds down from last week! A great start to the year!

While I sat up on my pedestal and preached about following the plan to every detail, I will swallow my pride and say that didn't always happen. Nobody is perfect, least of all me, and it takes more than a week to get used to how this program works again. I did workout 4 times this week, which is huge, and for the most part I logged all my points like a good girl and did my best to eat correctly.

This week is a new week! A chance to get even closer to the 170's, where I haven't been since probably 2007. If I stick to my guns, I can easily be there by Valentine's Day. So that's my short term goal - 179 or less by Valentine's Day. Not that Valentine's Day is a special to me for any particular reason, but who doesn't like to look nice the one day of the year when we're required to celebrate love? :) The weight loss goal BY that date is arbitrary - I chose it only because it gives me a specific date to shoot for. Which brings me to the importance of short-term goals.

Short-term goals are HUGE in the success of your weight loss program. If you say "By the end of the year I want to be a size 2!" that's awesome. But what is motivating you to get there from month to month? Setting vast long-term goals and not following through with them is the MAIN reason people fall off the wagon when it comes to New Year's resolutions. Don't allow yourself to slack off because you have "the whole year" to get there.

Start small - you don't know how your body is going to react to the changes that you are making. The best short-term goals are ones that are possible, but challenging enough that you will have to work a little to reach them. To lose 5 pounds or more in the next 3 weeks, I will need to stay on my current plan. No crash diets or vast changes like cutting all sugar/carbs/insert trouble food here. But just keep plugging away.

Do's and Don'ts of short-term goals:
1) DO NOT set a short-term goal SO lofty that it will only depress you when you haven't reached it.
2) DO chose a SPECIFIC DATE to reach your goal by. It can be a holiday, special date, end of the month, whatever. But make it specific. Don't say "the middle of February" - that will give you room to slack.
3) DO NOT set more than one short-term goal at a time. When you reach the date you have specified in your goal, re-evaluate based on your progress until that point. You may need to expect to lose less as you get smaller and the pounds become harder to shed. You may have done much better than expected, and realize that you can lose more than you thought.
4) DO make little notes to yourself to remind you of your goal! Leave a note on your bathroom mirror, or your fridge to keep you from mindless eating. Another good idea might be setting a reminder on your phone to go off when you know you are going to be tempted to eat too much. (For me, that would be every evening around 9pm.) Maybe for you, it's a dinner out with friends where you will be tempted. Or between 12-5 when you're at work, bored, and craving cookies. You know yourself - do what will work best for you.

So - what's your goal for this next month? I challenge you to set small steps for yourself - a step at a time is much easier than a giant leap of faith!!

Much love,
Danielle

1 comment:

  1. My only goal is to stick to my food plan every day. It's getting pretty hard. I am so sick of vegetables!!!! I try to eat 4 4oz. servings a day. That is a lot of vegies. I'm wondering if my food plan is too restrictive. I haven't had any refined sugar since Dec. 16. I'm so afraid that if I taste it again I'll be off and running. I never have been able to have just one bite of a dessert.

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