Some of you may have read my post on our family blog and if not please go check it out. This post is more of my personal goals for making a healthier me and in turn a healthier family for the year 2011.
Is there something I want to be? When I look at my life am I who I want to be? Have I chosen a belief system that I truly want to live out and model in my life? Am I living up to the standards, beliefs and values I have chosen? Why not? What is holding me back or stopping me? Is it that the values, beliefs, or desires for my life are impossible or wrong? Is it just a matter of pressing on and persevering a little longer until I reach it? Is what I am working towards my choice or was it imposed on me? Is it my faith, my beliefs and my life that I am comparing myself to? These are all questions I have been and am still asking myself as I process myself, my life, my faith and who I want to be.
This is a hard and humbling post for me. One which I have had to battle with myself and my insecurities, fear, pride and a bit of shame in the decision to post.
These are my goals and my plans which I have decided I need to work on to make me better and healthier. To bring me closer to the me I want to be and what I believe I was created to be. Some of my goals and the plans, routines and habits I feel I need to put into place which you are going to read are very basic and rudimentary to some if not most people and you might not think a 34 year old man should need to be working on them. Some of my bad habits are out of training or lack of training others are out of lack of knowledge and sadly some started out of plain laziness. Please not matter why I ask that you try and respect me and support me as I work towards healthy habits and healthy living.
So why write these things and make them public. Because I need change and this is blog is about my journey. It is about me expressing where I am, where I am going and all that I go through as I move from one to the other. My hope is that as you read you will decide join me on my journey by supporting me, by keeping me in your thoughts and in your prayers. And if you are so taken please feel free to check in on me from time and again. I acknowledge my need supporters, encouragers, and some people to partner with me. Maybe by posting this I will find more supporters than I have currently in my corner. Maybe by being open with my short comings others can be encouraged and supported to face their own with a openness that is often missed in today's world.
Goal 1) Getting Physically Healthier
Eating/Drinking Healthier - This can be a broad topic or idea and there can be much debate about what it means and what practices and habits are truly healthy and not. For me here are some very specific patterns or habits I want to change.
- Get rid of and keep the junk food stock pile out of the house.
- Plan meals with the goal the goal of being healthy in mind. Using more vegetables, lean proteins and legumes and less simple carbohydrates and fatty proteins.
Two mini goals are to have one fish dish and one salad dish each week
Another key here is to pack snacks for work and then eat them instead of buying junk at work.
- Pay attention to portion sizes
- Slow Down!!! Eat slower and learn to enjoy the food and the meal time more.
- Drink water!!! The goal for water consumption is a minimum of 48 ounces a day. More is better.
Mini goal here is to stick with plain old water here. Stop drinking carbonated and artificially flavored or sweetened waters
Physical Activity - Being more active physically can help reduce stress and increase energy both of which I know I need. So what are my goals to do this? Luckily for me and you they are in the following list.
- Get off my but and do somethings. My challenge for myself here is to get myself and Jillian up and doing things that don't involve us sitting. This isn't necessarily exercise that goal is coming next. This is getting up and moving.
- Do stuff around the house. Each day should entail at least one task that around the house being done. Sweep, Mop, Dust, Dust, Vacuum, do the dishes any of which mean getting up.
- Get out of the house and go somewhere. Take a trip to the library, the park, go grocery shopping but do something a few times a week that gets you out of the house and up on your feet other than work and taking Jilly to School.
- Create and follow through on a exercise routine. We have a membership to the YMCA which has a lap pool, workout area with a variety of exercise equipment, a Gym and plenty of exercise classes and activities to choose from all of which can be used to create a varied and well rounded exercise routine. In the words of Nike I need to "Just do it!" no excuses just get it done.
At a minimum Exercise will be 3 times a week for at least 15 minutes of a cardiovascular workout. So even if I am not able to get in a full planed routine I am getting the minimum.
My first Goal is by the end of next week is to post one main workout routine and two backup routines for the days I can't do my main one.
- Change Sleeping routine. I need to get myself in the habit of getting to bed earlier. Now early for me will not be until like 11:30 PM until I am able to change my work schedule since I normally work until 11:00 PM. On the other side of the spectrum I need to get my *$$ out of bed earlier. I hate to say this but the alarm needs to be my friend and ally. Here is the official Sleep Routine Goal. In Bed by 11:45 PM and up by 7:00 AM.
Do to the length of that this post is turning out to be I am going to break it up into a few segments. Tomorrow I am going to outline some goals and routines which I hope will help reduce stress, decrease chaos and allowing me to become more effective and productive in my life.
PS. A little birdie told me good goals are SMART(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time Bound) goals. So as I work through my list of goals and changes I will be trying to develop SMART goals and posting them such as my Goal to have one main and two backup workout routines posted by end of next week.
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