Set 'em high!

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” -Zig Ziglar

I am a special educator. Goals are my life. I set goals for all of my students and then figure out how to reach those goals, creating short-term objectives that are components of or baby-steps toward reaching the overarching goal. These goals and objectives are specific, clear, and measurable so that it is understood exactly what needs to happen to be successful (There's a little SpEd 101 for you...you're welcome). ;-) If I have seen the benefits of these goals day in and day out with my students, why haven't I created specific, measurable goals for myself? As my friend Heather would say, "Duh, silly!"

I cannot promise that these goals won't change along my journey, as my journey has changed so much already. (But thankfully, if they do, I won't have to hold an IEP meeting and write an amendment)! I'm not much of a "lose 15 pounds" goal girl. That's all good, but how would I go about doing that?  I cannot "do" lose 15 pounds. What can I do? Anyway, this is a start:

1. Keep a food journal and document EVERYTHING. I have an app for this and am usually good about  inputting my information...until I blow it and eat three pieces of pizza or a blizzard. It's time to get over it. If I overeat and my calorie count goes into the red, I need to see that and deal with it. 
2. Exercise at least five days per week. No excuses...even a little something is better than nothing. I feel like objectives will come out of this one such as weights or reps. I already know I really want to be able to do a pull up! **On a side note, although this will probably be a post someday, buddies help!! My friend Sam and I did Insanity together. Would I have stuck with it on my own with Shaun T looking all cute and me looking a complete and total passing-out mess? Probably not. Get someone like Sam--someone who will encourage you and tell you you're doing great, even when you can't do a girl pushup and burpees bring you to tears.**
3. Drink water. My eventual goal is 83.5 oz per day (appropriate for my age, weight, and activity level). However, I'm starting with a goal of 50 oz per day and moving forward from there. Baby steps, folks. Baby steps.
4. Eat real food. Get away from fast foods and processed foods. I'm not sure how to make this measurable yet, but I'm working on it. I have read that a good balance is 80% whole foods and 20% splurge, but I assure you I'm not going to tally what I eat to create a percentage...well...come to think of it, that sounds like something I would do. I'll have to think on that!

There we have it: four starter goals for the journey to a better, healthier me! What about you? What are your goals? How are you going to get where you want to be? I'll continue to use this word, but it's a 'journey'. Join me for the ride...no wait!  The run!

Why not cook?

Last night I made a pretty delicious dinner (not boasting here...it was simple): grilled pork chops, steamed broccoli and roasted, mashed cauliflower. It was so good that I sat thinking, "Why in the world do I ever just run out for chicken nuggets? That stuff is hardly considered food and this tastes so much better anyway!" I was on a "healthy high" (ya know, those moments where you're at a complete motivational peak and believe that you are unstoppable). I finished dinner (I may have even licked the cauliflower off the plate...don't judge) and then took my plate to the kitchen. This is where I slammed my face into reality: the sink FULL of dishes. How were there so many dishes? I swear I only prepared three items! Thankfully I tend to clean the kitchen counters and such as I go so the room wasn't messy, but I dreaded those stinking dishes. And that's when it hit me...I'm a lazy butt! Haha!  I'm kidding :-)  Well...maybe not. Fast foods are convenience foods. We allow someone else to take care of all the parts that we don't want to: the cooking, cleaning, and yes...the dishes. All we have to do is stuff our faces and throw away the paper at the end. And that's what we do...we stuff our faces, without thinking about what we are putting into them. Recently many restaurants have added calorie counts to their menus, which is definitely beneficial in making better choices. But is it enough to just eat fewer calories if they still provide no nutrition and perhaps introduce harmful substances into our bodies? I'm a moderation kind of girl. I know that this is not the end of my drive-thru ventures, but I also know that I owe it to my body to eat food...real food. Because this?

CHICKEN MCNUGGETS:
Ingredients: White Boneless Chicken, Water, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Seasoning (Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Salt, Wheat Starch, Natural Flavoring [Botanical Source], Safflower Oil, Dextrose, Citric Acid), Sodium Phosphates, Natural Flavor (Botanical Source). Battered and Breaded with: Water, Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Yellow Corn Flour, Bleached Wheat Flour, Food Starch-Modified, Salt, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Lactate), Spices, Wheat Starch, Dextrose, Corn Starch.
CONTAINS: WHEAT
Prepared in Vegetable Oil (Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil with TBHQ and Citric Acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid
added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/ingredientslist.pdf 

Yeah, this isn't food.

It's time for me to put away the excuses and think about what I eat. I'm certain there will be a future post about planning ahead, because that truly is the main ingredient that I am often missing. Stay tuned;-)

"This time"

How many times have I said it? There have been so many "this times" in my life:

• This time will be different
• This time I will stick to my plan
• This time I won't tell anyone so they can just be surprised by my hot body (or so that if I fail, there was no expectation).
• This time I will drink weight loss shakes
• This time I will count points
• This time I will eat pre-packaged foods
• This time I will exercise daily

You get my point. Some of these "this times" have produced pretty good results (I'm down 65 lbs. from my heaviest...woo hoo!) and then others were total flops (like when I vomited every time I ate the pre-packaged foods...not exactly the way I wanted to lose)! I'm tired of looking for that fast fix and frustrated beyond belief at some of the ways I have been duped into thinking some of these things are good for me! Sure, I'd love to be hot...who, in their right mind, wouldn't? But, probably because I'm a little older and have been a big girl long enough to have forgotten the "hot" factor, I don't care so much about that now. I want to be healthy. I want to do my part to avoid sickness and maintain strength. That is why "this time" is the last "this time". Today we stop the start-over and my personal preference the "On Monday". It's time to really adopt a lifestyle change. No fads, no diet plans. I'm over all that. Will I change overnight? Absolutely not! I always admired my dad because he had that ability: to change his entire thinking in a moment. He didn't pass that on to me, so you'll get to hear my struggles and victories as I strive for progress, not perfection!