Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Day 3 of 365: Goal Setting


Hey there sports fans! Welcome in to 103in365!

So here is it Day 3 of 365 and feeling alive!

I have been thinking a lot about goal setting and different goals I have for this journey that I am now officially on here.

I work with teenagers and teach them a lot of life skills, including anger management skills and problem solving skills (to name a few).  I teach them about goal setting, ranging from characteristics of a good goal to the merits of goal setting at all. I have not been setting and/or achieving long term weight loss goals for almost a decade now. Maybe you are like me and you get all geared up with some really positive and realistic goals about weight loss or fitness or any other worthy endeavor, only to retreat back to old habits after the novelty of the thing wears off.

Well, we’re not getting any younger Sparkles. Yep, I’m talking to you too Cha-cha.

This blog is about saying “I want and deserve something different so I am going to do something different!” That is the first step and I have completed it. The Declaration. That is the easy part though. Now comes the hard part. The Follow-Through. (Why can’t just declaring it make it happen? Well, it can’t, so stop asking.)

Here are some of my goals to date:

1)        I will do some form of exercise at least 5 days a week.
2)        I will eat smaller portions.
3)        I will only drink soda on Saturdays. (But not Mega Tanker Gulps.)
4)        I will eat whatever I want for one meal a week. (But not till I can’t move.)
5)        I will not keep my goals a secret. (Accountability to others is a huge deal for me!)

That feels like a good start.

Why drink any soda at all Scuba? Why give in and let yourself have a burger and fries at all? Aren’t you trying to loose weight here? (My imaginary critic is kinda pushy.) I have tried totally cutting stuff all the way out and the only thing I have learned from that is that it does not work. (Unless it is some crazy unhealthy act like maybe snorting a giant squid.) Letting yourself have a  “free meal or free day” in a planned and somewhat deliberate way, can be the difference between long term success and long term failure.

Don’t get me wrong though. I am not being so ignorant as to say that a recovering alcoholic should consider having a drink from time to time, or that someone who has quit smoking should light one up on a special occasion. Some vices require total abstinence or what you got on your hands is a relapse Twinkle Toes.

Eating is not like that though. (At least for me anyway.) A person’s gotta eat. A person does not gotta drink the sauce, and a person does not gotta smoke’em if they got’em. Therefore, a more realistic and stick-to-itable goal involving food, is one that allows for being human. That is why I have always been more successful with weight loss and fitness with a small number of “free passes” (Not a bucket of free passes! Like one or two a week.)

So far (and I am aware I am only on Day 3) I have been sticking to all 5 of the aforementioned goals and pushing on strong.

How about you? If you wanna, post a comment about at least one goal that you are going to commit to, weight or fitness wise or otherwise. Let’s get a little bit of back and forth going here. Let’s have more than just me achieving some rad goals. (365 days of just me rambling and ranting by myself and I am going to go monkeys.) (Side note: For a fun little treat, try substituting “monkey or monkeys” in place of any word once in awhile. I predict you and those around you will smile.)

That is all for today Campers.

Don’t snort giant squid.

Scuba

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