Thursday, April 9, 2009

The Top 5 Goals for 2009

So, I did want to share one thing with all of you, and these are my top 5 goals for 2009. These are my personal goals to weight loss and hopefully they'll give you an idea of which direction to take your own attainable goals. I've also posted one of my (less humiliating) weight loss motivation pictures. I think it's important for everyone to have a small collection of photos where you wished you look better but didn't (in your own eyes) because of your weight. So here are my top 5 goals for 2009:

1.) Eliminate soda intake completely while at work. I currently consume about 2,500 calories per week at work on soda alone. These are absolutely useless calories and doing me a great deal of harm in the long run! In return, I will substitute water, ice tea, and the occasional Arnold Palmer ;)

2.) Stop binge eating! This is essential for me, I was at one time a huuuuge binge eater. At times I wasn't even hungry, yet I felt myself submitting to the sweet tooth, and before I knew it I had consumed an entire carrot cake (or as much of it as I could eat without exploding)! I will avoid binge eating by attempting to eat slower at every meal, to allow my body to catch up with my eyes and in the times of the day where I get a craving, I will use gum as a substitute.

3.) Originally my goal was to reduce fast food intake to one meal per week, which I thought was a milestone. Now that I've been eating correct for a few weeks now, the thought of fast food at this point is physically and mentally nauseating, so I have changed this goal to one fast food meal per month. The reason I am allowing myself one meal per month instead of cutting it out completely, is because I want to reach my goals. I'm starting out slow. Eventually I would like to be at zero, but in the meantime, I will keep pushing it back to one every 2 months, one every 3 months, etc... Setting unattainable goals is the first step backwards to the life we're getting away from!

4.) Stretch twice a day, walk three times a week and take a multivitamin every day! Very important to me, this goal! I was a notorious couch potato (in my previous life) because I was unmotivated and had no energy. Now I have a new passion for getting my walks done and often find that I'm walking more than my goal!!! The multivitamin is very important in ensuring you are taking in the correct amount of nutrients per day. The stretching is purely for the benefit of my back, and are exercises I got directly from my chiropractor.

5.) Cut out high-fat foods (especially sweets). I've left this goal fairly unspecific at the moment. I have a big sweet tooth, as I mentioned earlier, and this is the biggest thing for me. My current goal is no more than one small portion of high-fat food every two days. I'm starting off slow and hoping to get to the point of one small portion per week. I don't think it's unreasonable to make this a lifetime goal, everyone likes the occasional sweet! As an example: I may eat one McDonald's apple pie every two days. I may NOT eat one entire carrot cake at all. For me this goal is all about portion control.

Well, I hope this helps you guys in shaping your own attainable, realistic goals. Good luck and see you in a few weeks!

1 comment:

  1. Great goals! You're off to a good start! I hope you'll keep in touch and let me know how you're doing!

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