Health & Fitness Goals for Week of Jan 24th
The masses have voted and over 80% of you are willing to ride with me, no matter what. So I guess it’s a GO! Single Ma’s back…with a new focus (and hopefully a new look too)!
In order to keep health & fitness front and center of my life, I have to force myself to think about it every single day until it becomes a habit. Similar to the early days of managing my finances, I had to track every dime spent and adhere to a strict budget. With health & fitness, I track my nutrition and exercise everyday on SparkPeople. But before I can track my progress, I have to plan what I’m going to do.
I thought about providing some back history, but most of you follow me on Twitter so I won’t bother. I’ll just pick up from where I am today.
I officially completed week 4 with a 2.8 lb weight loss for a total loss of 11.2 lbs. Continuing with my routine, this is my plan for the week of January 24-30:
Water Intake: I’m still chugging along and trying to consistently drink 32 oz of water everyday. In one of my meetings last week, someone handed me a little 8 oz water bottle. Immediately, I thought to myself “drinking 8 of these tiny things should be easy!” (recommended 64 oz) So I reused that little 8 oz bottle all weekend. Umm…how about no! I could only drink 4 of them, which is the same amount I drink using my 32 oz water bottle. Oh well, another week, another chance. My daily goal is to carry my 32 oz water bottle with me everywhere I go and drink as much as I can with the intent of finishing the bottle.
Exercise: Complete Week 5 of c25k. I had the courage to peek ahead this week. My exercise routine will be:
- Day 1 (Tuesday?): Run 5, Walk 3, Run 5, Walk 3, Run 5
- Day 2 (Thursday?): Run 8, Walk 5, Run 8
- Day 3 (Saturday): Run 20 << Whoa, first day with no intervals!
Meals: Continue my routine of preparing every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) during the weekday at home. Here’s our weekly menu plan:
- Sunday: Leftovers from last night
- Monday: Steak Salad
- Tuesday: Bulgogi with Steamed Rice and Brocolli (a la Chef Baby Girl)
- Wednesday: BBQ Beef Pop’ems (slightly altered) with a side salad
- Thursday: Zesty Italian Chicken
- Friday: Zucchini Rice Casserole
- Saturday: Leftovers or dine out
Breakfast is usually 2 boiled eggs with toast, a blueberry bagel with peanut butter, a bowl of Cheerios with skim milk, a bowl of Quaker reduced sugar apple cinnamon oatmeal, or a smoothie with frozen blueberries and strawberries.
Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner or some kind of sandwich with cheese, baby spinach, grape tomatoes, and light mayo on a whole wheat wrap.
Our snacks for this week are bananas, oranges, clementines, grapes, Yoplait low-fat vanilla yogurt, mozzarella cheese sticks, and Quaker caramel mini rice cakes.
I am not, I repeat, I am not on a diet. We eat regular food, but I am learning to choose healthier ingredients, substitute junk for healthier snacks, and eat in moderation. However, I do try to limit my calories to less than 1500 per day, 200g carbs, 50g fat, and at least 125g protein. Note to Self: healthy choices, normal eating, and consistency will lead to permanent lifestyle changes.
Weigh-In: My goal for this week is to lose another 2 lbs. I’m not sure if or how I will report my weight loss on this blog, but I do weigh myself every Saturday morning.
Track Progress: Use SparkPeople to track my exercise and nutrition everyday. Continue reading my fitness prayer journal and writing my intimate thoughts at least 2x per week. Daily, ask God to order my steps and bless my journey because I know I can’t do this without Him.
Those are my goals for week 5. Let’s get it!
Oh but wait, I want to send a special shout out to @Tazzee, @nofearingthemoney, @aunaptural, and @talktotisha for inspiring, supporting, and encouraging me every single day. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you. I love you ladies to pieces!
This blog is all about Finance, Fitness, Fashion & Fun - the sum of my life. If you like what you've read, feel free to subscribe via (feed reader) or (email) to follow along.
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Hi!
Found your blog via googlealerts.
Seems we have a lot in common;-)
Like your goals for this week
Good luck!
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Hi,
I requested to follow you on Twitter awhile back, but I guess you thought I was a spammer since you blocked me? My username is @bintalpatel.
I hope you’ll let me follow you. I read your blog for ages and was sad when you decided to stop.
Good luck with your health and fitness goals!
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I used to have trouble drinking enough water until I got this bottle:
http://www.rei.com/product/776892
It is mind boggling how quickly I down it, the spout just makes it easy to mindlessly drink water. I can easily go through 4 or 5 a day. I got one for my husband and several friends as gifts and every single person has raved over it. Highly recommended :)
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P.S. kudos on C25K. I finished the program last October and have been running ever since.. I’ll run my first race this March.
Congrats and good luck on your 1st race! [-SM]
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Good job on your new healthy eating! Just one suggestion – you know, there’s no real evidence that you should drink 64 oz of water each day. It seems to be a sort of health urban legend. Your body can keep you perfectly well hydrated just by making you feel thirsty when required. But it is true that drinking water can make you feel full even though it has zero calories, so it can be helpful in weight loss.
See for example: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89323934
Thanks for the link. Never knew that. [-SM]
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Have you ever used The Daily Plate for tracking your nutrition? I’m just wondering how that is compared to Spark People because that’s the one I use.
I’m not on a diet either but trying to get healthier foods although it’s not always that easy because I LOVE ethnic foods (all Asian cuisines, Greek, etc.) and they usually don’t have the healthiest ingredients.
For your breakfast, if you want it to be a little healthier, you should cut out the cheerios and instant oatmeal and replace it with plain oats and dress however you want it to; it’s a lot healthier, delicious and fun making coming up with combinations of “toppings” to put in it. Things I like to put in my oatmeal: honey, skim milk, Coffeemate French-Vanilla coffee creamer. frozen berries, peaches, or just 2 packets of plain splenda, etc. =)
I also try carry a refillable water bottle with me everywhere* I go too.
What I eat works just fine for me. I’m making gradual changes at my own pace. [-SM]
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So glad that you are back to blogging. I loved fabulous financials. I would read anything that you decided to write be it about money, fitness, whatever. Good luck with the new direction of your blog!
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You are approaching this healthy living with a vengeance. You encourage me when I want to get lazy with it – like how you checked up on me with the ice cream yesterday ;-)
My first run with no intervals was when I was in Florida for the holidays. I ran outside and it was lovely. I hope the weather allows you to run outside, having a destination and some scenery makes it so much easier for me.
I’m so excited about your progress – we are going to be SUPER FINE by the end of this year. < < Sho nuff! [-SM]
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I’m sooo glad you’re back. I’ve been following you on twitter and LOVE the fitness updates. I’ve also been planning my meals. I use this site http://orgjunkie.com/2010/01/menu-plan-monday-jan-25th.html. She has alot of easy meal ideas and she also has links to other people’s menus for the week.
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Welcome back! I love your writing and will continue to follow you in any writing format you choose.
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I’m so glad you’re back! I was sad when you left. You are such a motivation that it doesn’t matter whether you’re discussing fitness or finance. I look forward to following your fitness journey!
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Hi Single Ma,
I am so happy to have you back! I just happened to hit my old bookmark mope over your sage posts – and you’re back. Thanks for reconsidering.
Big smile,
Life in a Shoe
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I love Sparkpeople! It’s a great way to keep track and it keeps you focused!
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Welcome back Singlema!
I missed the poll so I didn’t get to cast my vote for the return but I’m happy the majority carried it. I’m looking forward to reading posts about maintaining that healthy lifestyle.
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Wow! Yay! Getting fit is a goal of mine too so this is great! I wish you were in Week 1 of C25K – Darn!
Otherwise, I have been THOROUGHLY engrossed in your blog. :) I am currently in May 2007 and feel like a fanatic waiting to see what happens next (ignore the fact that it happened 2+ years old).
I found you JUST as you were retiring the financial side of your blog as you met your goals. I feel like I have been reading the blog of a friend. When something happened to me, my instinct was to call you up on the phone to trash talk, “Guurrrrllll…” until I realized that I don’t know you – LOL. Or, is it you don’t know me.
Thanks!
This is funny! :-) [-SM]
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I silently followed you when you wrote about finance but maybe now I will speak up more. :) I love health and fitness!
I recently started over with running after having a baby and just wrapped up C25K. I ended the program without be able to run a full 5K (maxed out at about 2.4 miles during the running interval). However, the program took me far enough that I had the juice leftover to run the other .7 miles. I just ran my first “return to running” 5K last Saturday! It is a great program. – stick with it.
Welcome! So glad to have you out of lurkdom.
Congrats on your first “return to running” 5k! Your body goes through significant changes when having a baby, so I know that was a huge accomplishment. And thanks for sharing your c25k experience. It gives me a realistic idea of what to expect when I finish.
I’m adding your blog to my fitness links. [-SM]
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Hey ma,
Glad to see you’re back. Didn’t think you could stay away =) Good thing for us. As a doctor I’m really into health and fitness – and think they go hand in hand with personal finances (healthy bodies spend less on healthcare!)
Researching the subject something that I came across that seems real interesting is plate size believe it or not. Our plate sizes have grown dramatically and in proportion so has the amount we eat – by nearly 20% to 30%.
Simply by switching from a 12 inch plate to 10 inch plates we dramatically cut down on how much we eat!
Check out the small plate movement at http://www.smallplatemovement.org/
Another great read is the book Mindless Eating by Dr. Wansink who runs a food lab at Cornell University – he has done very interesting studies on how our eating habits lead to excess weight gain. He’s also one of the forces behind the small plate movement.
Wassup doc! So glad to have you on this journey with me. I’m sure there’s a lot I can learn from you about health & fitness. [-SM]
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I have lost 40 pounds by using Spark People in the last year. I find it to be a great resource for healthy living.
Awesome progress! [-SM]
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SingleMa,
I am so proud of you for taking the first steps on this journey. I was more than happy to encourage you on twitter and I am more than happy to read about your experiences with this on the repurposed blog. You’re doing great!
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