273 Pounds

One thing I didn’t do this past year was set goals for the year. There’s two reasons for this. First off, yearly goals/resolutions tend to be too broad and generalized. I prefer my monthly goals as I can change them up easily and they can be a lot more specific. The second reason is that I had no idea if I would truly stick with the weight loss/healthy living this time around. But it’s clear that I have, and I am determined to keep with it.

I really have only three specific goals for 2013. They are:

Complete one race a month. Yes, one race a month. I want to do 12 races in 2013. Most of them are going to be 5ks.

Run two longer races. I want two of the 12 races to be longer ones. I’ve already decided on one, the Austin 10/20 in April. I’m thinking the second one will be in the late summer/early fall. A full marathon is out of the question for this year haha. Maybe a half? I’m not sure yet.

Reach my ultimate goal weight. As I said a few weeks ago, I think I’ve settled on 198 lbs as my goal weight. Once I reach there and maintain for a few weeks I’m going to focus on building muscle (see below).

I have two other goals which are more generalized because I don’t really have a specific amount in mind. They are:

Focus on building muscle. While 2012 was all about losing the extra weight, once I reach my goal weight I want 2013 to be about building muscle. I will be doing this purely through bodyweight exercises, because I don’t want to pay for a gym membership, and because bodyweight exercises are badass. I want to be able to do 20+ perfect form push-ups, chin-ups, pull-ups, etc. by the end of the year.

Work on my flexibility. I have terrible flexibility. Since I’m going to be building muscle through bodyweight exercises, it’s probably a good idea for me to work on my flexibility as that’s a key part of it. Doing the exercises themselves will certainly help, but I’ll need to make stretches and such a larger part of my routine.

So there we have it. 2012 was an incredible, life-changing year for me. I expect 2013 to be the same.

Sigh. Let’s get this over with.

• Run at least 3 days a week. Yep!
• Run at least 3 miles once a week. Yep! Also did a 4-miler last week.
• Bodyweight exercise at least 3 days a week. Nope. What a surprise…
• Lose at least 5 lbs. Nope. Hardly lost anythig.
• Meditate at least once a day. I really slipped on this. I did well the first half of the month but I haven’t meditated in at least a week or more.
• No eating after 8 pm. Not really sure to be honest, I think this was a wash.

Last two weeks of November were pretty terrible. But I have a few ideas for December to change it up a little… And at least I’ve been sticking with my running.

It feels like each month goes by faster and faster. I suppose a lot of that has to do with the rush of the holidays.

• Run at least 3 days a week. Yep! Ran three days this past week, and for the previous week (which was a partial week) I ran two days.
• Run at least 3 miles once a week. Yep! Ran 3.4 miles the first week and 3.04 miles the second.
• Bodyweight exercise at least 3 days a week. Lolnope. I think last week I only did it once, and the previous partial week only once.
• Lose at least 5 lbs. Using my weight from the October 29th weigh-in, which is 215.6 lbs, I am at 213.2 lbs as of Monday. So I have less than 2 lbs to go. Woot!
• Meditate at least once a day. Yes! This past Sunday I actually did not sit down and do my normal meditation, but I did meditate on my run (I literally do not remember doing anything except running and concentrating on my breathing).
• No eating after 8 pm. I did pretty well on this. There were a few times that I ate after 8, but that was due to having a late dinner.

I actually did pretty well. Only one that I didn’t do so well on was bodyweight exercises, but that’s always a struggle for me.

Alright people, it’s a new month which means a new batch of goals! I’m determined to make this the best month, even with the food fest that is Thanksgiving and the stress that is the holiday season.

• Run at least 3 days a week. Going to do this again. Since I seem to run better (and faster!) in cooler weather, I’m sure I can do this.
• Run at least 3 miles once a week. Again, this is a repeat, for the same reasons.
• Bodyweight exercise at least 3 days a week. Upping this from 2 to 3 days. Now that I’ve been doing it regularly it’s getting easier and I’m looking forward to it.
• Lose at least 5 lbs. Another repeat. I realized the other day that if I stick with it, I could be under 200 lbs by my one-year anniversary of starting all of this, which is really exciting. I’m using my weight from Monday’s weigh-in, which is 215.6 lbs. So I need to be at or under 210.6 lbs.
• Meditate at least once a day. Yes, you read that right. More on this later…
• No eating after 8 pm. Bringing back an oldie again. I’ve caught myself doing this a few times.

I know there’s a lot of repeats on here. Two reasons for this… First, I’m not feeling very creative. Second, October turned out to be mediocre so I wanted to repeat a few of them.

• Run at least 3 days a week. Other than the week with allergies I did pretty good with this.
• Run at least 3+ miles once a week. Again, other than that one week, I did good.
• Bodyweight exercise at least 2 days a week. And yet again… Other than allergy week, I did good.
• Lose at least 5 lbs. Starting was 219.8, this morning was 215.6. So nope, but I got close!
• Take my lunch at least 2 times a week. Heh, yet again, other than the week of allergies I did pretty good. And actually this past week I took my lunch three times.
• Track all my food. And again… While I did not track 100%, I got pretty close.

So October was kind of mediocre. The week where I had severe allergies threw off my goals, but other than that I did pretty good. Here’s hoping November treats me a little better.

Yikes, middle of October already! Let’s see how I’ve done.

• Run at least 3 days a week. Nope. My severe allergies early last week really put a damper on this.
• Run at least 3+ miles once a week. Nope. Didn’t run at all last week and the week before I did under 3 miles.
• Bodyweight exercise at least 2 days a week. First week I did 2 days, last week didn’t do any. So nope again.
• Lose at least 5 lbs. From 219.8 to 218.6 so far. So less than a pound lost. Not sure if I’m going to make this goal, but I will try.
• Take my lunch at least 2 times a week. First week was a success, second… Not so much.
• Track all my food. Hah. First week I did well, last week did not.

Yeah… Last week was shitty goal-wise. But I still have the second half of October to do well, and I am going to do well. Been taking Claritin so hopefully that will keep me from having severe allergies again.