Goals Revisited - February 2014

Nothing achieved in January.. lame!

Many goals still outstanding.

Health & Fitness

• Run 5k without stopping
• Run 5k in less than 30 minutes
• Run 10k without stopping
• Run 10k in less than 60 minutes
• Run a 7 minute mile
• Run and finish a half marathon, no time goal
• Finish a sprint or standard distance triathlon, no time goal
• Gain more upper body and core strength
• Have optimal blood pressure instead of normal
• Lose some a lot of fat
• Cut down on smoking   DONE (switched to e-cig Dec 2013)

Diet

• Eat less carbs, eat more protein & (good) fat
• Stop partaking in office 'fat Fridays' EVERY week
• Remember that lattes (either skinny or normal) are not for every day
• Remember that diets don't stop just because it's the weekend
• Remember that eating well still counts even when I'm drunk, hungover, sick etc
• Alcohol in moderation / less frequently :'(

Knowledge & Learning

• Read more nutrition books
• Read more about running, weight training and general fitness
• Learn a language to a good conversational standard
• Dedicate a few hours each week to learning how to play the bass once my wrist is sorted out
• Keep up with current affairs
• Read more novels

Finances

• Save at least £1,000

Travel/Activities

• Thorpe Park!
• Travel somewhere new inside the UK
• Travel somewhere new outside the UK

Personality

• Think before speaking
• Be kind
• Listen
• Be helpful

Miscellaneous

• Stop biting my nails (again)   DONE (Nov/Dec 2013, hopefully I can keep it up!)
• Sing, laugh and dance more

Outlook

• Appreciate everything, even when things are hard
• Learn to view myself in a positive manner

Life

• Be happy

January - Goals Revisited

I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the goals list I blogged about in November every month to see progress against them.

So, new year and a new start. Let's see where I am.

Health & Fitness

• Run 5k without stopping
• Run 5k in less than 30 minutes
• Run 10k without stopping
• Run 10k in less than 60 minutes
• Run a 7 minute mile
• Run and finish a half marathon, no time goal
• Finish a sprint or standard distance triathlon, no time goal
• Gain more upper body and core strength
• Have optimal blood pressure instead of normal
• Lose some a lot of fat
• Cut down on smoking   DONE (switched to e-cig Dec 2013)

Diet

• Eat less carbs, eat more protein & (good) fat
• Stop partaking in office 'fat Fridays' EVERY week
• Remember that lattes (either skinny or normal) are not for every day
• Remember that diets don't stop just because it's the weekend
• Remember that eating well still counts even when I'm drunk, hungover, sick etc
• Alcohol in moderation / less frequently :'(

Knowledge & Learning

• Read more nutrition books
• Read more about running, weight training and general fitness
• Learn a language to a good conversational standard
• Dedicate a few hours each week to learning how to play the bass once my wrist is sorted out
• Keep up with current affairs
• Read more novels

Finances

• Save at least £1,000

Travel/Activities

• Thorpe Park!
• Travel somewhere new inside the UK
• Travel somewhere new outside the UK

Personality

• Think before speaking
• Be kind
• Listen
• Be helpful

Miscellaneous

• Stop biting my nails (again)   DONE (Nov/Dec 2013, hopefully I can keep it up!)
• Sing, laugh and dance more

Outlook

• Appreciate everything, even when things are hard
• Learn to view myself in a positive manner

Life

• Be happy

 Two down - so far, so good.

Blarghhhhghhghh

I was going to go for a run this morning but I failed on that part since I was up till 1am buying Christmas stuff. Good job, me.

Must go to bed early tonight.

Today is a better food day, though. I had a small latte this morning (not great, but whatever), lunch is soup and dinner is chicken & salad. Not brilliant, but better, so that's good.

We had a family discussion last night on fitness/health goals for 2014 which was pretty good. My mum's been ill recently with what I assume is Norovirus and it's spurred her on to get healthier. She made a really good point last night, she said "my one word for next year is consistency". I think she really hit the nail on the head with that. Being consistent with a healthy diet and exercise is definitely better than taking it to extremes which inevitably makes you stop and start.

We decided that I'm going to be in charge of dinner during the week and on Sundays, my mum can cook whatever she wants for our family dinner but I'm in charge of the portion sizes. I think it will be a pretty good system.

The fact is, my whole family (myself firmly included) eat too much and move too little. My mum and I both have sedentary jobs and don't walk all that much on a daily basis. I need to use my pedometer more just so I know how how much I'm doing, and try to increase it. I think I might get one for mum too. Regardless of runs or gym workouts, I'm not doing enough normal movement and that's something I definitely need to change.

My grandma moves even less, she takes the car whenever she leaves the house and stays at home for most of the day. It's to the point where her thigh muscles burn when she walks for about 2 minutes, it's really terrible.

My dad is the most active day-to-day as his job is a manual job; he travels here, there and everywhere as well as lifts heavy stuff a lot of the time. 

Weekends are where we all fall down though (especially me recently) since I'll have at least one day where I don't really leave my bed.

We're also going to tackle the big "S" (smoking). Just small changes at a time, phasing it out slowly. Hopefully this will work for all of us!

In other news, I haven't bitten my nails in a few weeks. My nails were once again in horrible condition so my mum said she'd pay for a shellac manicure at Christmas if I stopped biting them. I still bite my cuticles, though. I've bought some nail strengthening polish and cuticle cream so hopefully I can make them all nice and pretty.

This was kind of boring, sorry (I'm not sorry).

Goals

I started this writing as a kind of New Year's resolution/goal list; but I'm able to start working towards them now (or at least lay the foundations), so why wait?

This has been one of my best years so far, not gonna lie. I've made some amazing friends and had unbelievable amounts of fun and craziness with them.

There are so many things that I want to achieve in the coming months and years and I've made a list of some of them. I may think of more or revise them slightly, but I think this is a pretty good starting point.

Health & Fitness

• Run 5k without stopping
• Run 5k in less than 30 minutes
• Run 10k without stopping
• Run 10k in less than 60 minutes
• Run a 7 minute mile
• Run and finish a half marathon, no time goal
• Finish a sprint or standard distance triathlon, no time goal
• Gain more upper body and core strength
• Have optimal blood pressure instead of normal
• Lose some a lot of fat
• Cut down on smoking

Diet

• Eat less carbs, eat more protein & (good) fat
• Stop partaking in office 'fat Fridays' EVERY week
• Remember that lattes (either skinny or normal) are not for every day
• Remember that diets don't stop just because it's the weekend
• Remember that eating well still counts even when I'm drunk, hungover, sick etc
• Alcohol in moderation / less frequently :'(

Knowledge & Learning

• Read more nutrition books
• Read more about running, weight training and general fitness
• Learn a language to a good conversational standard
• Dedicate a few hours each week to learning how to play the bass once my wrist is sorted out
• Keep up with current affairs
• Read more novels

Finances

• Save at least £1,000

Travel/Activities

• Thorpe Park!
• Travel somewhere new inside the UK
• Travel somewhere new outside the UK

Personality

• Think before speaking
• Be kind
• Listen
• Be helpful

Miscellaneous

• Stop biting my nails (again)
• Sing, laugh and dance more

Outlook

• Appreciate everything, even when things are hard
• Learn to view myself in a positive manner

Life

• Be happy

Blog resurrection!

So, it's been just over two years since I had my short stint of blogging. A lot of things have changed since August 2011, so I'll give you a brief overview of the last two years:

• Wedding happened. I looked amazing, not gonna lie. It was awesome.
• Divorce is in progress. Unfortunately, some people turn out to be epic douchebags. Strong enough to walk away from a bad marriage? This is awesome.
• I have more friends than I had this time 2 years ago, this is awesome.
• I'm fitter than I was this time 2 years ago, this is awesome.
• I'm fatter than I was this time 2 years ago, this isn't awesome.

I actually really enjoyed reading over my old posts, so I'm going to keep them. I had a good few giggles over them. This time, we're (well, I... not 'we') going to be sensible and not do a crazy 500 calorie per day shake diet that you're destined to fail at (hello unsustainable lifestyle choices). Yeah, sometimes I don't have the brightest ideas. Shut your face hole.

The goal is to get fitter, healthier and stronger. Gain muscle, lose fat. Eat good food, limit food that is not-so-good (take it seriously, Ani, limit means limit) and exercise.

Simple, yes? Simple if you don't love food like it was your goddamn first born child and your natural activity level is about that of a sloth.

Maybe that was an exaggeration*.

Some stats (obviously not posting my actual weight on here because I'm not down with that. I mean, duh I'm fat. If you look at me, it's not hard to miss. Just something about the numbers. I know it's stupid, whatevs).

Weight
Loss from HW: 28lbs
Gain from LW: 36lbs (ouch)

Inches from biggest measurement
Waist: -7
Bust: -7
Under bust: -4
Hips: 0 (thanks, hips...)
Total:  -18 inches
(I forgot my thigh and arm measurements)

There are a few things I attribute the weight gain to:

• Not putting 100% into eating well
• Not moving enough
• Health issues

Two are my own fault, one isn't. The health issues kind of definitely contributed to the lack of movement and poor food choices (oh hey meds that make you the hungriest ever for high-sugar carbs and slow down your metabolism). Ext-to-the-reme weight gain was pretty much expected by my doctor due to the medication side effects. It's sort of an excuse, but still not really good enough.

Anyway, weight gain happens; such is life. Let's deal with it and move forward.

*it wasn't.