January Results and February 2018 Goals

Time to update y’all on my January 2018 goals and share my February goals with you. (The January blog post included lots of tips on simple goal setting and you can read that here: January 2018 Goal Setting

Also, I am making February my “month of gratitude” and I am really excited to share with you a free gratitude printable. You can pick that up right here….

Let’s jump right in…

Results: January 2018 Health and Fitness Goals

1. Lose 5 pounds.

Nope this did not happen. I lost a whopping one pound. (Lots of details, err, excuses below!)

2. Do PiYo 3 times per week.

Yes. And my back feels so much better!

3. Walk 8,000 steps per day, five days per week.

Yes!!

So goals two and three were awesome. I feel SO MUCH BETTER after re-incorporating PiYo into my life. (I suffer from chronic back pain due to degenerative disc disease, bulging discs and scoliosis). This goal will continue in February.

I hit my steps goal so I am going to bump that up in February (on my way to 10,000).

So two out of three ain’t bad, right??

Wrong.

There is no excuse for me not losing 5 pounds this month.

I was doing lots of the right things to make my weight loss goal happen:

logging my food
meditating to keep a positive attitude
exercising most days each week

But I continued to eat Too. Damn. Much.

I initially set my action step as 40 grams of carbs per day. I do well when I eat low carb. (I learned to eat low carb from these e-books.) I don’t have cravings. I have more energy. I really enjoy the food I eat.

But there was this crazy battle playing out in my mind.

I was consistently going over 40 grams. even though my macros were spot on for keto/low carb eating. So I started playing all sorts of mind games with myself. This is “nice speak” for “telling myself lies,” like:

40 grams of carbs is too low, I can’t possibly do this.
Maybe I should count calories again. That worked in the past.
I’ll let more carbs in if my overall calories are good.

And on, and on.

I know these are blatant lies - for me personally.

So long story short, I opened the floodgates to the carbs. Which led, as it always does, to cravings and binging. And the cravings and binging lead to beating myself up about being a failure. Negative self-talk.

I didn’t take action to get myself back on track.

It was totally my fault.

But, it was YET ANOTHER learning experience. I am going to take steps that this does not happen in February. If I have to report another failure to y’all in February I will flipping lose it, lol.

February 2018 Goals

This month I’m going to share some other life goals with you, not just my health and fitness ones. If you want to learn the process I use to set goals, I wrote about it in THIS POST.

1. Lose 5 pounds.

My action steps are:

Low carb/keto eating, with fat ranging 60-70% per day. This means I will continue to log my food in my fitness planner.
Weigh at least twice per week. (To monitor my progress more closely.)
Evaluate my progress and make any necessary adjustments each week (during my Sunday planning time).

I track my food and workouts in my printable Diet & Fitness Calendar. You can check it out at the link below:

2. Update my exercise routine.

One thing I have not slacked on since 2008 is regular exercise. Sometimes I have a very balanced routine, and sometimes I just wing it. It’s time to add a bit more structure to my workouts by adding strength training back in.

Action steps:

85000 steps per day, five days per week.
PiYo three times per week.
Strength training (20-30 minutes, full body), twice per week.

These next goals are not fitness related and I track them in my printable 2018 planner. I totally love how it keeps my goals front and center and holds me accountable

Check out the printable 2018 Plan a Healthy Life Planner.

3. Practice an “attitude of gratitude.”

I have been writing in a gratitude journal off and on since 2000. Yes, that is 18 years. Practicing an attitude of gratitude is one of the easiest things we can do to make improvements in all areas of our lives.

It has been scientifically proven that gratitude:

makes us happier
makes us more optimistic
makes people like us
strengthens relationships
improves decision making
helps us sleep better
increases self-esteem
reduces blood pressure
helps with depression
improves overall physical health

In February my goal is to write down three things each day that I am grateful for. It is super simple. I don’t have to write long paragraphs, I don’t have to use proper grammar, and I don’t have to use my best handwriting. I just need to take two minutes to jot down things I am grateful for.

You can download the printable I am using now to track my gratitude. The printable is undated so you can start anytime.

4. Hire a contractor to remodel our master bathroom.

This is super simple, right? Why am I including it on my goals’ list?

Because I have been talking about remodeling my bathroom for over a year. I am a master procrastinator.

Action steps:

Go over list of potential contractors with hubby
Narrow list to three or four.
Set up appointments for an estimate with each.
Discuss pros and cons with hubby.
Hire one for the job.

5. Plan for Valentine’s Day.

Do you ever feel like holidays sneak up on your? I want to make Valentine’s Day special for family and some friends, so I need a goal and action steps to do so. (The same is true for birthdays and holidays.) I don’t know about you, but I don’t magically purchase gifts or mail cards without a little pre-planning, unfortunately.

Action steps:

List who I want to purchase/make goodies for.
Order or purchase gifts and cards.
Calendar day to mail cards for out of town people.
Schedule time to deliver goodies to local people.
Check with hubby re: dinner plans. Make a reservation if needed.

I have a few other goals for February but this gives you the gist of things. Health and fitness goals are important, but so are other parts of life too. Goal setting, to me, is all about getting the things done that are important to ME, and mapping out a simple plan to make them happen.

Now it’s your turn. Do you want to set any goals for February? Use a planner like mine, your own planner, or even a simple notebook to write your goals and your action steps.

Be sure to check back in March for an update on my February goals and to learn what I’m cooking up for March.

Helpful Links: