Goals #1: Review.

I thought that maybe a step to making new goals would be to review my old ones...

Short-term goals:

• Make weekly goals and share with Lydia to help me stay accountable-Well, I certainly share goals with Lyd, but now on a weekly basis. In fact, I'm not sure I have short-term weekly goals that change each week. 
• Weigh 235 by mid-June-Didn't happen, but I'm close- the lowest I've weighed is 243. 
• Find cardio exercises that I enjoy (possibly biking outdoors, zumba, yoga, or hiking) CHA CHING! Yes, I indeed accomplished this. I love trail runs and yoga! 
• Bike to work as often as possible- Yeah.... not so much. The doc's don't really love a sweaty receptionist. 
• Bike to NFPT as often as possible As much as possible. Well, yes, when I had the chance, I think I did. 
• Journal my journey on blogger at least once a week- Yes, on average, I think this was accomplished! And might I add that I enjoy it. Looking back is a certain motivation for me. 
• Work on curbing/decreasing my food intake by: eating more raw veggies, juicing, portion control, and controlling special occasion meals (that last one is my vice....) I do eat more veggies (thanks to hummus), and my appetite has curbed immensely. Pretty excited about that. 
• Research & study! The more I know, the easier it is for me to say no! Yes! I love to continue to study and research. 

Goals with Lydia:

• Push and stretch me beyond what I think my capabilities are Heck yes. 
• Find exercises that target areas of my body that need focus. Yes. 
• Learn more about food from her (and her influence's) perspective. Yes! Thanks for being willing to share!
• Keep me accountable to my goals (for both workouts and diet). Sure thing. Never be afraid to ask me!

Long-term goals:

• Reach my target weight by June of 2013 (means an average weight loss of 1 1/2 lbs per week!) Well, my average weight loss per week was 1.25, which is good, but not my goal. BUT. I'm trying not to focus so much. More later on this. 
• Compete in a race? Well, not yet. But this was long-term for a reason! 
• Find an enjoyable cardio workout during the winter (swimming indoors?) Winter's just around the corner. 
• Find a work-out buddy for accountability and encouragement. I think I've found many! I have an accountability group online, and I really do feel blessed to have so many people around me who care. A huge thanks to Amy, Courtney, Amber, Lydia, Hope, Steffen, Mom and Pa, and my sweet in-laws! 
• Possibly go gluten-free? Welp...

Week 20!

Feeling better already! I took 2.5 weeks off (well, the last week I was on vaca and kinda did some cardio stuff) and I feel like I'm now back on schedule. I'm now doing a different kind of routine-- instead of the low-weight-high-rep ratio, I'm doing the high-weight-low-rep ratio. Kinda intimidated me to dive into, but after the first week I am definitely on board! It's nice to feel that shock to my muscles again.

I also have to reset my goals...but I'm kinda drawing a blank. I want them to be specific, yet attainable. One goal that I've already set and met is that I now have a membership at the Purdue rec center as of today! I think that will really help me to accomplish my cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Lately it's just been too blasted hot to get outside, and even if I have motivation, I don't think it's actually safe to step out in that heat. At 2:30 today when I got off work, it was 109 degrees!

Crazy that 20 weeks have gone by......

Ketchup

I'm not really sure if there's a definite reason as to why I haven't been updating this blog for the past month. I had a lot of time to think about what I should post, but I guess I never felt motivated to do so. There weren't any drastic improvements during the month of June or really even any days where I felt like I was doing my absolute best to accomplish my goals here. Admittedly, I think a huge part of that was because I wasn't seeing any results on the scale every day. (Funny how those last two sentences are so heavily cause & effect!) 

For most of us, when we don't see results, we slowly start moving back to where we started... looking for some satisfaction. We tell ourselves that we deserve to cheat for the weekend, because we've worked so hard and it won't really make a difference anyways. I listened to voices come back and tell me that I'll always be overweight and could never be health, and that it's all my fault. I slowly started eating for pleasure instead of fuel for my body. UH! This makes me angry just typing this! But this is good... I mean, sucks that I have to continually go through this, but it's good that I'm realizing the pain and dedication it is to set myself apart from what America thinks is a clean-eating, healthy person. (I have this huge picture of Jared from Subway in my head.) Looking back, I realize that I have a greater desire to become healthy with each year that goes by. And even now, month to month, I can see the affects of what I've been learning. In fact, I have a specific, first-hand encounter! Read on. 

From February to the end of May, according to my results, I had lost 20lbs of fat and gained 1.5 lb of muscle. Cool. At that measurement in May, my trainer told me I should up my caloric intake as well as my daily dose of protein. I took heed to her suggestion (Sounded great! More food!) but was kinda unsure on how my body would react. 

Well, by mid-June, it was time to once again do some calculations with my weight loss. In just a few weeks, I gained EIGHT pounds of muscle!!! How crazy! I also brought my total weight loss up to 25lbs as well. I am now 1/3 of the way to my goal weight! This was perfect timing for me to find out this news, because like I said earlier, I wasn't seeing any change on the scale, and was really starting to lose motivation.

So, here are some pictures that I took about 3 weeks ago. The physical difference is encouraging, and certainly a motivation to never go back!