It is very difficult, for me, to think on a small scale when I'm planning; I tend to plan big. As established previously, I do tend to bite off way more than I can chew, but paradoxically, I am unable to portion smaller bites for myself without having a good grasp on what the big goal is.
Lessons in 2016 taught me that it is OK to plan big, but in order to succeed, the steps must be small and manageable. Here are the 5 big goals that will guide the smaller bites I choose to take throughout the year.
1. Eat better food and less of it.
2. Move daily.
3. Pay closer attention to beauty regimen details.
4. Practice mindfulness. (Sense of Purpose)
Eat Better Food...and Less of It.
When it comes to food, here are some things I know and have discovered about myself. I:
- Love to cook, and love to cook a variety of foods.
- Don't like to eat first thing in the morning.
- Go from not hungry at all to ravenously hungry.
- Like plenty of healthy, whole foods, but make bad choices when ravenously hungry.
- Prefer the salty over the sweet.
- Enjoy an adult beverage to wind down.
Here are the first small goals:
1. Follow the 80/20 rule.
There are 365 days in a year. 20% of the year equals 73 days, which equals 1.4 days per week. On average, I will have 1.4 days per week to splurge a bit. The .4 equates to about 9 hours, and can probably count for something small, like a glass of wine or light cocktail, or a small sweet treat.
2. Establish a weekly rotation of healthy breakfast and lunch plans.
There are many articles pertaining to weight maintenance that suggest eating the same things every day. Fact: Neither I nor my husband will tolerate eating the same thing for dinner every night, and so I will permit myself the pleasure of cooking a variety of food. However, I am absolutely comfortable eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch. For ease of planning and shopping, I will establish a total of 4 week-long breakfast and lunch menus.
3. Eat something for breakfast upon my arrival at work.
Wake up time is around 5am. Based on my past experience, the tummy tends to grumble the loudest around 10am, and I start to feel like eating between about 8 and 9am.
4. Alcohol or Sweet treat - in most cases, not both.
I am permitted to choose one adult beverage or one sweet treat. It should be a very rare occurrence that both are consumed.
4. Take a brisk walk with the dog as many days of the week as possible.
Self explanatory.
5. Strength training activities 3 to 4 times per week, at home.
Look into Pilates and HIIT videos. Select one workout per week to make longer, and the others can be short but intense. This is in addition to the brisk walk with the dog.
6. Use Sundays to prepare my appearance for the week.
- Manicure/Pedicure
- Facials
- Eyebrow maintenance
- Pick out work clothes for the week
7. Decide on some type of meditation and/or relaxation exercise to better manage anxiety and depression.
This may be a formal meditation or relaxation exercise, or might be something as simple as writing or doing listening to something that makes me feel good about myself and others.
8. Put together a reading list.
Reading relaxes me, helps me sleep, and helps me think more clearly. It is crucial to my week.
9. Establish a daily health entries on my calendar and track my progress.
Write it down. Schedule it. Be honest with myself. Make myself accountable.
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