April Goals & 4 Weeks Fit Challenge Results

I swear just yesterday it was March 2nd and now here we are saying goodbye to March and hello to April.

I set goals at the beginning of the month, one I can proudly check off and some I didn't do so well with. I'm excited to take a look at how I did and set some new goals for next month.

1. No soda at work & 64oz of water. I had a slow start but I think I KILLED this goal considering March 9th was the last day I had a Mountain Dew. I have only had diet soda when eating out and that was only twice this month. I have had 76-100oz of water a day every day! Yes, weekends included. I can't tell you how happy crushing this goal makes me!

2. Hit the gym 2x/week. I've kept up with my Monday night Body Pump class but I have been skipping the gym outside of that. No reason other than laziness. It is so much easier to come home and be a couch potato. Definitely something I need to focus my energy on changing now that I've mastered the no soda/drinking water thing.

3. Meal plan and prep Monday nights. Meh. Meal planning and prepping is tough when you feel like you have no idea what you're doing. I think this is something I would learn better by actually being with someone while they do their meal planning and prep. I struggle with knowing how much to buy and make because sometimes I easily get sick of eating the same thing repeatedly in one week and other times I'm all for it. Again, this is something I need to focus my energy on changing. More effort into trying rather than throwing my hands up and saying I don't know.

4. Blog 2x/week. Um yeah about that... Again I'm lazy and even though I can easily blog while being a couch potato I just didn't put the effort in to get this done. I thought a lot about blogging this month but I didn't actually execute.

1. Hit the gym 2x/week. I will not stop making this a goal until I meet it!

2. Reach my step goal 2 days/week. Lately I have been lucky if I meet my 5,000 steps/day goal just one day a week. This month I want to really work on moving more. If I go to the gym twice a week outside of Body Pump I will have little trouble with this goal.

3. Meal plan & prep. Failure to plan is planning to fail. So true! My diet is so much better if I have a plan. Not just once a week either. Knowing what I will be eating for breakfast before my head hits the pillow greatly increases my chances of eating breakfast.  And packing my lunch before going to bed is a huge help in ensuring that I take a lunch with me to work. Otherwise it is highly probable that I will run out the door without anything to eat. Not the smartest idea for anyone.

4. Be up and out of bed by 6am 3x/week. Bringing this goal back from February because I need to work on my morning routine in the worst way. More often than not I'm staying in bed way too long and then am forced to rush to get myself ready and out the door. And as I mentioned above, it's highly probable that I will run out the door without anything to eat. I also want to work on putting myself together better for work. I've been skimping on the makeup and hair routine to save time. Not that I think I have to wear makeup and have my hair perfect every day but it's nice to feel like I'm rocking it.

Come back tomorrow to see how I'm doing in the weight loss department. I'm super excited to share how I've been doing. (Hint: it's been going so well!)

I Confess...

It's Wednesday which means we're half way through the work week. Can I get a heck yeah?!

Wednesday also means hump day confessions with Melissa. So here we go, I confess...

...that I am addicted to cappuccino.  Until recently it was french vanilla but now I'm all about the English toffee. And yesterday morning I saw a vanilla bean flavor that I will have to try soon.

...that I am easily hooked on commercials. The Sprint commercial with the narwhals? Yeah, I sing that over and over. And some oldies but goodies, the Geico commercial where the pig pays his bill and then goes back to vacation mode and sings boots n pants and we can't forget the AT&T commercials with the kids sitting at a table with that one guy. My favorite was the island made out of candy and the little boy that asked, "What about the animals? What would they be made of?" I randomly bust out with commercial quotes. Drives my mom up the wall!

...(speaking of my mom) to being extremely jealous of her vacation. She's on her way to Myrtle Beach with a friend to visit another friend. The weather is actually shaping up here in Wisconsin so it's not the nice weather I'm so jealous of but what she gets to do while she's there. Drinking at beach bars when I'm at work and seeing pit crew practice at Stewart Haas. (Yes, I'm a NASCAR fan. :) )

...that I am LOVING the spring like temperatures we've been experiencing lately. It is so so nice to not need a jacket or the heated seats and to be able to open the sunroof in my car and windows in my apartment.

...I wrote this post on a post-it note at work yesterday.

...that I had a rough first week of March as far as my goals for the month go. Up until yesterday I was back on the Dew all day every day.  I skipped the gym last week outside of Body Pump Monday night. Once a week I'm "treating" myself to Chinese takeout when it should be more like a once a month treat. Meal planning was poor horrible which made my grocery shopping trip terrible and then my meal prep non-existent. And I only blogged once. But it's a new week so I'm working on turning things around.

...I've been skipping the scale and posting on Weigh In Wednesday because I feel like I'm repeating myself because I keep losing and gaining the same few pounds over and over again. I have thought about weighing myself less, like only once every two weeks or once a month, but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea for me. Sometimes I let the scale get me down, like today, and I know that's not a good thing. But I also think the accountability of having to step on the scale every Wednesday could help me make better choices. What are your thoughts on weighing in? And here's to turning things around going forward.

SW: 222

Feb. 4: 219.8

Today: 224.4

Change; +4.6
Overall Loss: +2.4

March Goals

Is it really March already??  I know that February is a short month but it seems like those 28 days just flew by.  Please tell me I am not alone in that feeling!

But with the start of a new month comes a time to reflect and set some new goals.  I surprised myself a little bit with how I ended up doing with my February goals.

1. No soda at work & 64oz of water.  I didn't do well with this goal.  Whether I succeed or fail at this goal is all about willpower because I can drink 76-80oz of water no problem these days if I skip the soda.  I would definitely say I had soda at work more often than not and as a result I definitely did not have 64oz of water a day.
2. Body Pump every week.  Done!  I went to my usual Monday night class three times and tried a 5:30p Wednesday class.  I did not try the 4:30p Wednesday class, or try two classes in one week but those were bonus points had I done them so not required to earn a check for this goal.  It feels so good to be able to check this goal off of the list!
3. Hit the gym 2x/week.  I only accomplished this one week.  The rest of the month I was just lazy and only went once.  Here again it is all about willpower to overcome the urge to sit around and be lazy.
4. Be up and out of bed by 6am at least 3x/week.  I didn't do a good job of tracking whether I accomplished this goal every week or not so I'll give it a half check.  I know I was better at this earlier in the month than I was the last week or so.
5. Take makeup off before bed every night.  Here again I didn't do a good job of tracking whether this was accomplished but if memory serves me right I did a pretty good job of this. I may have skipped a night here and there but they were pretty few and far between.

It felt good knowing I had goals for the month.  I wasn't just blindly going at making this lifestyle change with no structure.  Now my goals for March I've decided that some will stay the some and some will be swapped out.  Can't have things getting boring now can we?

1. No soda at work & 64oz of water.  I know that I can check this one off the list this month.
2. Hit the gym 2x/week.  Another goal I didn't check of last month that I just know I can if I buckle down and actually try.
3. Meal plan and prep Monday nights.  I have a good hour at home after work before I have to leave for Body Pump.  Rather than spending it watching Dr. Phil I can decide what I will eat for the week and make a grocery list.  And it has sort of become some what normal for me to make a stop some where after Body Pump on Monday nights so making a stop at the grocery store a regular weekly thing won't be hard at all.  This month I really just want to work on actually buying food to eat for the week. Recently I have been living off of frozen waffles and other items that I can hang onto for a long time.  But I am tired of seeing all of the amazing food pics on Instagram and blogs while missing out on the fun.  Plus real food tastes so much better.
4. Blog 2x/week. I started strong in February that first week but then I obviously quickly fizzled out.  Blogging is a hobby that I enjoy but not one that I take a lot of time for.  Here's to changing that this month.

While I was catching up with my blog reading over the weekend I came across the perfect linkup hosted by Erin from Love, Fun and Football and Kristin from Mama and Mou.  It is a #4WeeksFit challenge that couldn't fit more perfectly into what I am trying to accomplish with my monthly goal setting.  I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else is going to be working hard to accomplish during the month of March.

Do you set new goals every month or do you repeat some from the month before?