Day 32: Setting Goals

So what are your goals?

I had to think about this when I got started. I've worked out before. I've lost weight before, but wherever I've been in the process, it has been difficult up until now, to keep going. To not quit after I reached my weight goals and say "screw it, I've been on my vacation, and now I'll have that second and third piece of pizza! I've earned it!" When you are working toward a goal, it can be easy to think of health as a point where you get to, and thinking that short-term may have pitfalls of it's own. As you go, it can be discouraging at times and there maybe times where you want to quit. You decide that the goal is unattainable, or not as worth it to you at the moment as indulging in your favorite foods, or depriving yourself of something that you really want, only to realize that you want it more right now, than your short-term goal. But one of the most important things you can do to set yourself up for long-term success is figure out why are you doing this in the first place. 

The main question you have to ask yourself is;
What are your goals?

Are you trying to fit into a pair of pants, a dress, or suit? Are you trying to lose 15 to 30 pounds before your high school reunion? Are you trying to look good before the summer swimsuit season?

So what happens when you work hard and reach your goals? Imagine you have - You done it! Hurrah and hallelujah!!  So what next? What usually happens after you reach your goals? If you are anything like me, what usually happens is you will gain back the weight you've worked so hard to lose. And you may find yourself five years later and 50 pounds heavier. How did this happen? The problem was that your goal was short-term to get you to a point, but you never re-evaluated your goals for longer periods of time, or decided what you ultimately wanted to work towards. Most people don't think that far ahead in terms of their goals. I sure didn't.

So, setting a long-term goal is crucial for success long-term. But what kind of goal can you set for long-term that is going to keep you motivated to make healthier choices consistently for the rest of your life? What would that look like? Is there even a long-term goal that you can set and hope to stick with for the rest of your life? How will it motivate you to keep going or start over when you've slipped up, backslid or even totally given up? 

The real question is what you want

 for your of life?

Maybe start by asking yourself what is The most important thing to you in your life right now and what will most likely be the most important things for the next 5, 10, 20, 50 years? The answers are probably your spouse, your kids, your family, maybe your job, retirement? But ultimately if you were to suddenly get sick and land yourself in the hospital wouldn't almost everything else becomes secondary to that? If you are dying of cancer, you may not live long enough to enjoy retirement, your kids weddings or grand kids. 

One thing that we often leave off the list of important things in our lives is our overall health. We can be successful, have happy families, no more debt, but ultimately the biggest concern that will dwarf everything by comparison is your health. So your ultimate health is really important! So how do you make a long term goal for your health that will actually motivate you to stick with a healthier lifestyle and healthier choices? 

The best long-term goal is to have long-term excellent health.  And if every single day you were faced with temptations to be lazy or to make poor diet choices you can stop yourself and ask the question "does this go along with my goal for excellent long-term health?" If the temptation involves a slice of pizza or a piece of cake the answer is most likely "no".

That is why my personal mantra is 
"I don't diet, I just eat according to my goals." 

A special treat left behind by my sweetie!

Food is so important, and is integral to your overall health. Have you heard the saying garbage in garbage out? Well that's exactly right. If you think about going to the store and purchasing a can of green beans, you may be thinking to yourself " But it's healthy! It's green beans! It's a vegetable". But if you look at the expiration on the back of the can most likely the expiration date is about three years from now. That means they put enough chemical preservatives in with those green beans to keep them from going bad for another three years. Those are nasty chemicals and if you only ate one can of green beans per year for the rest of your life and no other canned food you probably be okay. But on the other hand if you eat primarily prepackaged, processed, or canned foods you're probably getting more than annual dose of toxic chemicals that are going body. Over time, enough exposure to this kind of chemicals can ultimately cause all kinds of health problems. It's just logical think about it. I'm not claiming that there are any specific links of this chemical to that disease, but doctors and scientists still won't tell us where things like cancer, diabetes, or even things like bipolar disorder and ADHD come from.

If chemicals inside of canned food can keep the contents from rotting for three years what else will he do to your body? Think about it, it isn't a pretty picture! 

My little pooh-Bear loves Greek yogurt too!

And all I'm really trying to do in this blog is make better healthier choices for myself, give some critical thinking time to the way that we've done things for a long time, and trying to find a better way to live healthier lifestyle and then pass the information that I learn on to you. So think about what you want for your life. I have and it has changed my life and the way that I live it for the better.

Do you want to merely just look good in a swimsuit, or do you want to live to see your grand kids jumping into your pool?

There's nothing wrong with short-term goals, in fact, they can be really helpful to give you a time-line to work harder in certain areas, and to help you focus on areas to look for improvement in, but having ultimate goals, not just for your weight, but for your overall health are what is going to make the difference on your long-term success.

What are your short-term and long-term goals?

Short-term and Long-term Goals are Important!

So on a lighter, and more short-term note: How did I do today?

FOOD

Breakfast: Strawberries and Greek yogurt with a little honey, and sliced almonds (Bear likes yogurt too!)

Snack: a cup of green tea and 3 chocolate zucchini muffins

Lunch: A veggie sandwich and 2 HBE 

Snack: 2 TBS cashews, a few mini muffins, and  a half cup of cut pears (my hubby left these for me to find as I was cleaning out the cupboard! How sweet)

Dinner: Beef stew and a pear

EXERCISE

I ran a 5K on the treadmill. I walked the first two minutes as a warm-up and then it took me 35 minutes, I actually ran/jogged the whole time and I finished the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone! Woo hoo! Then after... stretch!!!

Thanks for reading all! I hope you're enjoying your daily read.

As always, if there is anything you'd like to see, any changes I need to make, or any comments whatsoever, you know what to do!