An eyeopening experience and this week’s goals

My goal last week was to write down everything that I ate. This included everything from my late afternoon diet soda to the random breathe mints throughout the day. The inspiration for this goal came from this month’s book, The EveryGirl’s Guide to Diet and Fitness. In the book, Maria Menounos said she was surprised by her first food log, and I had a similar experience.

Here is my log from Monday:

• 8:15 am – Coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 9:10 am – Coffee with unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 10:00 am – Instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal (low sugar, made with water)
• 12:00 pm – Half of a small pepperoni & pineapple pizza; regular tossed salad with Esperanza dressing
• 3:30 pm – Diet Pepsi
• 5:40 pm – Picked at chicken; slice of monterey jack cheese while cooking; small glass sprite
• 5:55 pm – Skinnytaste buffalo chicken toast; Skinnytaste house salad; glass of sprite
• 8:00 pm – Two slices multigrain bread dipped in balsamic vinegar and parmesan cheese 
• 8:45 pm – A few sips of Sprite

This is a very representative day because everyday this week had some healthy moments and some not so healthy ones. For instance, this was a pretty good day except for my lunch, which added up to a shocking 780 calories! What’s most sad about that is I enjoyed my dinner more than my lunch and it was almost 300 less calories. This was a theme throughout the week that really showed me that just because it’s healthy option doesn’t mean it’s the less delicious one.

Another theme, which I knew was coming, was that caffeine addiction is very real. Every morning included two cups of coffee and every afternoon, around the same time, it was time for my second dose. i was proud of myself for choosing diet soda rather than my favorite, Coca-Cola Classic, but that’s not very good for me either. I’m going to try to slowing start weening my body off of this addiction.

I need to also start weening myself off of my mindless snacking habit. For the first time in a long time, I was thinking about everything that I put into my mouth and I never realized how much of that was in between meals. Whether it was free samples at the grocery store or a snacks here and there while cooking – snacking, even when I wasn’t hungry or about to eat a meal, was something I did every day.

With all of that in mind, I’ve decided that I’m going to build on my previous goal rather than define an entirely new one. This week, my goal is to continue to log my food intake but begin to include calorie, fat, protein and sugar counts. This will allow me to see what all of this is adding up to, and prepare me for what it’s going to take to cut the calories and lose some weight. I’m also going to focus on my snacking and try to keep it to a mid-morning, mid-afternoon, and after dinner snack. No more eating while shopping or cooking for this girl!

#WorkWeekWins

Making a big change in your life is as much about the small victories as the big ones.

If my weekly goal is to write down everything I eat for a week, but I slip up for a day I’m likely to feel a little down about it. That’s when it’s time to celebrate the small victories. The more I can stay in a positive mood about all of this the more likely I am to keep going.

I know this because it’s my frame of mind that’s gotten me off the healthy track before:

About two years ago, I decided it was time to make a change and I went after it 100 percent. I was counting every calorie and I was in the gym everyday. I became obsessive about it, particularly the calorie counting. If the restaurant didn’t have the calorie count posted online, I was unlikely to visit. If I went over by a little, I made sure to work them off at the gym. If I went over by a lot, I dwelled on it.

Rather than enjoying the success I was having, I was constantly worried about maintaining it. The problem is that I don’t want to be obsessing about health and fitness at all. I don’t want to be obsessing about being overweight, like I am now, and I don’t want to be doing it over maintaining a certain weight, like I was back then.

My goal is to incorporate health and fitness in a way where it becomes second nature to order a side salad with my one slice of pizza, or to head to the gym after work. I’ll feel like I’ve reached my goals when I’m not actively thinking about it, I’m just doing it.

I realize that getting to that point is going to take a while, and in order to keep myself on track I’m going to be sure to celebrate my small victories. I’m going to do so every week with five “Work Week Wins” on Twitter.

A “Work Week Win” or #WorkWeekWin is something small that makes me feel good about choices I made on my busiest days – Monday through Friday. This could be anything from ordering a side salad and a slice of pizza, instead of multiple slices of pizza, or skipping the donuts in the break room.

The point is to remember to celebrate the small victories just in case I have a setback. On weeks I don’t have a setback, I’ll have twice as much to celebrate.

Monthly Goals: October

In addition to my weekly goals, I’m going to set monthly goals that will help shape my posts throughout each month. This will include one all-encompassing goal, a cookbook/food blog to cook from, and a book to review. I’m hoping about 50% of what you’ll read here comes from these goals and the other 50% from other sources.

For October:

• Overarching goal: No alcohol*
• Cookbook: The Skinnytaste Cookbook
• Book: The EveryGirl’s Guide to Diet and Fitness by Maria Menounos

*This month’s goal is technically going from Sept. 29 until Oct. 22 as that is four weeks, and I’ve had a long-standing trip to my college town planned for that weekend. This is one of those instances where balance is the key!

What do your goals for October look like?

How this is going to work & this week’s goals

In my opinion, this is going to be all about learning balance – being healthy without completely giving up things I love.

It’s about taking all of the resources available and figuring out which ones work best for me. Fortunately, I already have a few that I’ve paid for in Tone It Up, a local YMCA membership, and my copy of The EveryGirl’s Guide to Fitness and Health – you’ll hear me references these a lot. The rest, at least for now, will be ones I  find online that come in all shapes as sizes. These could be anything from a gym workout for beginners from Bodybuilding.com, or a daily health and fitness email from Popsugar.

Whether it’s testing out new recipes, taking up a week of “Bootycalls,” or just cutting out soda – I’m going to pick goals every week to try to stick to. The one’s that work for me (prediction: morning workouts will never work for me) I’ll keep and the one’s that don’t I’ll toss.

This will not the quickest route to the finish line, but after reading Maria Menounos’ story (and countless others) I truly believe that the best way to make a lasting lifestyle change is slowly. After all, it’s the tortoise that wins the race, not the hare.

Speaking of Maria Menounos, my first weekly goal is coming directly from her book:

Write down what you eat, down to every last breath mint.

No calorie counting, no obsessing over its health benefits – just a day by day log of what you eat. She said that when she was first starting out, her initial food journal served as an eye opening catalyst for change. I’ve already had my catalyst for change, but I expect that I’ll still be surprised by what I’m putting into my body.

Question of the day: Have you ever kept a food journal and, if so, what surprised you about it?