5 for Five: December Goals

I'm back after taking an unexpected week off from blogging last week. Between a day off to spend with my best friend and Thanksgiving the week just felt exceptionally short when it came to blogging.

Today I'm taking a look back at November. While overall the month was a good one between looking at apartments, my best friend being home from Maryland for two weeks, and it being my first month student loan free. But goal wise I didn't do so well. At all.

1. Get my healthy lifestyle on track. Yeah that was a fail. I didn't meal plan at all, went to the gym maybe once, and I definitely wasn't drinking 64oz of water a day. So of course I didn't lose three pounds.

2. Wake up and get out of bed by 7am at least three times a week. Fail! I really love to be lazy in the morning, especially when cozy comfy flannel sheets are on my bed.

3. Put more time and effort into blogging. I won't say I completely failed at this but I surely could have done better. At best I was blogging twice a week.

4. Clean my bathroom and room, then keep it that way. Fail, again. My mom ended up cleaning my bathroom over the weekend so I'm going to work on keeping it clean but I didn't clean it so I'm not counting this as any sort of accomplishment. And my room? Yeah, still a mess.

5. Read 4 books. I was able to read 2 books during the month. The Book Thief took me all month to get through, something I wasn't expecting. I was able to breeze through The Single Woman's Survival Guide: Letting Go and Moving On in a day so that helped me reach the half way point at the end of the month.

Like I said, goal wise November wasn't a good month for me. But I've set some new goals for December and am going to take a slightly different approach to accomplishing them. For November I just set those goals and then winged it when it came to actually accomplishing them. So for December I want to set goals for the month but then setting weekly goals that will help me accomplish my goals for the month.

1. Lose 3 pounds.

• Drink 64oz of water 4 days this week. Today through Friday is a good starting point for me, hopefully not too overwhelming.
• Go to the gym 2 days this week. I have three chances to get to the gym before the weekend. It can be done.
• Limit Mountain Dew to one can per day.

2. Wake up and get out of bed by 7:30am at least three times per week.
Last month I set my goal for 7am but that was just a bit much for me. I seem to be able to handle 7:30 much better so we're going to go with that for this month and see how things go. I have three days left to get it right so wish me luck!

3. Clean my bedroom and pack away summer clothes.
This week I'm going to start with catching up on laundry and putting away those clean clothes.

4. Put more time and effort into blogging.
I'm going to shoot for posting 3-4 times this week. I have some things I've been meaning to blog about so this shouldn't be a problem.

5. Read at least 4 books.
Yup, it made the list again. I know I can read 4 books in a month. And with BBC taking a break for the month I will be choosing the books myself so hopefully I can find something that grabs my attention so I can't put it down. I've already started Catching Fire {for the second time} but past that I have no books on list to read. Any suggestions?

I'll be back next week to check in and see how I did this first week of December. {where did 2013 go?!}

• Do you have any tips for motivating yourself to get things done? It seems I struggle to motivate myself to get up in the morning and to accomplish the tasks that I know I need to get done.

Weigh In Wednesday and 5 for Five

I'm going to let this post kill two birds with one stone. This means I'm mixing my 5 for Five post with my Weigh In Wednesday post. Why? Because I wasn't prepared for this week at all so I'm a bit behind on all the things I want to write about. So let's quit wasting time here and get right to it.

1. Put more time and effort into blogging.
This isn't going so well. Obviously. I'm only posting about twice a week it seems. I haven't taken the time to commit to this goal. I need to plan ahead at least a day in advance or things fall to pieces. Since I'm posting this update midweek already it's going to be tough to show progress by the beginning of next week already but I will do what I can. Some progress is better than none.

2. Wake up and get out of bed by 7am at least three times a week.
Again, not doing so well. Going to bed at a decent time and being able to get up when the alarm goes off go hand in hand for me. I am not the type to spring out of bed when the alarm goes off every morning {obvs} but I do know it is easier for me when I get enough rest. In theory, I should be getting enough rest since I'm sleeping about 8 hours a night. But that doesn't seem to be the case since I'm still always snuggling deeper into my flannel penguin sheets when the alarm goes off. I'm going to try my hand at getting to bed earlier than 11pm the rest of this week to see if that helps my mornings. Maybe I need more than 8 hours of sleep every night?

3. Clean my bathroom and room, then keep it that way. 
I haven't touched either room yet. I still have over a week left of November to get this completed. Cleaning is never fun but it definitely needs to be done. Maybe I can try tackling one smaller project {packing summer clothes away} at a time rather than looking at the daunting task of organizing and cleaning both rooms in one session?

4. Read four books.
I'm over 60% done reading The Book Thief {November's BBC book choice} so I'm not completely failing at this goal. But I do have another three books to go. I'm hoping I can breeze through The Single Woman's Survival Guide once The Book Thief is finished. I have my third book, Serena, waiting on my Kindle as well but I don't have a fourth book even picked out yet. I guess I'm hoping when I finish the first three I'll be able to find something fairly quick and something I can dive into and finish quickly. It might be a struggle to read four books by the end of the month but I will try my best. The fact that this goal is challenging me is surprising. I love to read and thought this would be an easy one to complete.

5. Get my healthy lifestyle on track.
Failing big time at this. I even had quantifiable sub goals that would help me achieve the big goal but lack of effort to plan has lead to failure. It's true what they say, failure to plan is planning to fail. I succeed when I plan my meals and mentally plan to go to the gym at least a day in advance. I fail when I decide to wing it with my meals and go to the gym if I get up early enough. I'm even losing the mental battle to drink water and avoid my beloved Mountain Dew. Why? Because I have the poor mindset that if I'm failing at meal planning and going to the gym then why bother. But I'm not giving up. I will succeed. I can do this.

Stats

Starting Weight {highest weight recorded}: 207.7

Last week's weigh in, Nov. 13: 207

Today's weigh in, Nov. 20: 207.2

Gain: 0.2

Overall loss: 0.5

And with that I'm going to blow this Popsicle stand. Enjoy your Wednesday! Be happy we're at the half way point!

5 for Five: November Goals

Happy Sunday evening friends! I'm finally getting my blogging butt in gear and sharing with you my November goals. Go me!

Remember when I mentioned using the notebook Ricci gave me as part of the Falling Into Fall swap as a physical journal of my monthly goals and weekly updates on how I'm doing? I'm actually doing it! Again, go me!

I came up with five goals for the month of November. I tried to cover a little bit of everything in my life and I think I did I good job of it.

1.Get my healthy lifestyle on track.

• Meal plan for the week ahead.
• Hit the gym at least three times a week.
• Drink at least 64oz of water per day.
• Lose at least 3 pounds.

2. Wake up and get out of bed by 7am at least three times a week.
3. Put more time and effort into blogging.
4. Clean my bathroom and room, then keep it that way.
5. Read four books.

• The Book Thief {November's BBC book}
• The Single Woman's Survival Guide: Letting Go and Moving On
• Serena
• ?????

Evidently I sent a few more goals than just five since getting my healthy lifestyle on track has four sub-goals.

But besides the lengthy list I definitely think this is doable.

Sadly I was off to a bad start last week.  I think I first made this list of goals Monday morning, four days into November. But then on top of that I let working 11 hours that day get in the way of accomplishing pretty much anything besides downloading The Book Thief on my Kindle and kind of beginning to read it. Yes, that's a big fat excuse because working 11 hours one day does not mean I could not have been successful the remaining four days of the week.

That being said I will not let one week of poor decisions hold me back from making better ones these next three weeks. I'm looking forward to being successful in achieving these goals and am hopeful that one good month will turn into two and then three and so on. I need to get some good momentum going in my life!

I will see you all back here tomorrow to talk all things Grey's Anatomy with Kelley from One Hot Southern Mess!

5 for Five

Do you ever feel like you need a day to recover from the weekend?  That’s exactly how I feel today.  It’s been a rough 8 hours at work after getting less quality sleep than needed this weekend.  But more on my weekend tomorrow when I link up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans.

Today I want to link up with Jenn for 5 for Five.  I haven’t set any goals for myself in a while and it’s showing in my lack of doing anything besides eat, sleep, work, and watch TV.  So, hopefully by reintroducing some weekly goals into my life I’ll get my little booty back on track.

One. Up by 7:00am [Or 6:00am on gym days]

Two. Plan and/or prep breakfast & lunch the evening before.

Three. Go to the gym 3 times [M, W, F]

Four. Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Five. In bed by 10:30pm, sleeping by 11:00pm

I’ll be updating y’all on how I did next Monday.  The plan is to have no red goals, or goals that I just completely bombed.   The choice is mine so we’ll see how it goes this week.

5 for Five - The Gym!

Hiya friends!

Generally 5 for Five is a Monday post but I didn't get around to typing this up until late Monday night so you're getting it on a Tuesday.

And you're getting two posts in one day!  Feel special peeps. ;)

As the title of this week's 5 for Five post suggests I'm going to be focusing on the gym this week.

I just joined my very first DietBet game and in order to reach my goal of losing 4% of my starting body weight I know I need to get back into the gym!

So my goals for the week are this...

1.  Sleep in work out clothes!

This will make getting to the gym in the morning just that much easier because there is no hunting around for a sports bra, pants, or t-shirt since I'll already be wearing that stuff.

2.  Pack "gym bag" before going to bed.

I say "gym bag" because it's not really a bag for the gym.  It's a bag for after the gym so I can get ready for work at my aunt's house.  This bag includes clothes for work, makeup, hair products, shampoo & conditioner, and towels.

3.  Plan & Prep breakfast before going to bed.

I've found that I don't feel as well while working out if I eat something beforehand.  Even just a banana is too much for me.  So that means eating breakfast after working out which means I need to take it with me when I leave my house in the morning.  Planning and prepping my breakfast the night before means it's just grab and go the morning of, super convenient!

4.  Take water!

I'm horrible at drinking water on a regular basis.  But we all know hydration is important for our bodies.  If I take a water bottle for my work out in the morning this also means I have a water bottle for the rest of the day.  {We have new water machines at work so I have no excuse not to drink water at work!}

5.  Work out 3/5 days.

I'm starting this week off with 3 work outs in 4 days.  If I'm feeling good and decide I want to go for 4 I will but I don't want to over commit this first week back and "fail" at my goal.  I want to set myself up for success so it's baby steps for now.

Ideally if I accomplish #5 I will accomplish #1-4 because those all lead up to #5.

What's one of your goals for this week?

5 for Five...Errr 1 for Three?

I have to be the worst blogger ever.  I posted only twice last week when I really meant to post four times.

I have been planning my posts in my Maybooks planner but even that doesn't seem to help me actually sit down and write my posts.  I think a lot about posting but am actually struggling to post.  I need to get my act together!

Same goes for the gym...I think about going but am struggling to get there.  But that's a story for another day.

So this week for 5 for Five with Jenn and Jessica I decided to change it up a bit and focus on one goal for the remaining three days of the week.

There is one thing I can change about my routine that will more than likely help me post on a more regular basis and get back to getting to the gym.  It seems to be a topic buzzing around Twitter last night and this morning, or at least it is with Jenn and Allie. ;)

SLEEP!

You see Jenn and Allie are struggling to sleep, or stay sleeping.  I on the other hand am keeping myself up at night to watch something I have recorded on my DVR.  For a while it was to prevent the horrible "this show only partially recorded" type message.  But last night I didn't need to do that but I still finished watching last week's Grey's Anatomy (which I can't delete because my aunt asks me to record it for her and she hasn't been over to watch Grey's in weeks), watched all of last night's Teen Mom 2, and watched an old episode of The Big Bang Theory that I hadn't seen yet.

And it doesn't end there.  I then decided I would go to my room to lay in bed and start reading a book.  It was around 11pm by the time I did this.  And by the time I actually shut the light off and went to sleep it was after midnight.

Who does that?!  I was tired but I kept doing things other than going to sleep.  And now this morning I am paying for it.  I didn't want to get up and I am tired and not in a good mood because of it.

So, my goal for the next three days of the week are to get at least 8 hours of sleep.  If I get up when my alarm goes off this means going to bed no later than 11pm.  But I am definitely going to try going to bed earlier than that if I am feeling tired, which lately I have been.  (Probably doesn't help that I was up from around 8am Saturday until 6am Sunday morning...)

Help me out ladies, if  you see me tweeting and it's past my "bed time" call me out on it.  Send me to bed!

5 for Five - Review of Goals

Last week I did my first 5 for Five post hosted by Jenn and Jessica.  My post last week was just setting goals as it was my first time participating.  Now this week I'm going to just be reviewing how I did on those goals because I didn't think it would make sense to post new goals for the week when I wouldn't be around next Monday to review them.  (Hello Maryland!)

1. Go to the gym 3 times this week.  I made this one orange because I went twice.  I kind of forgot that I might be taking Bo to the groomer before heading off to work on Friday so when Thursday night rolled around and my mom asked me to drop him off I couldn't really say no any more.  And by the time Thursday night rolled around it was too late to go back and get to the gym and extra day so not being able to Friday wouldn't matter.  But 2/3 isn't bad!

2. Get up without hitting the snooze button. I knocked this one out of the park!  And you know what?  It felt GOOD to just be up for the day when my alarm went off.  I even think I was in a better mood because of it and not so tired feeling.  I definitely want to try this again another week but this one isn't off to a good start because I'm just not in the mood to go to work this week.  (Vacation mode already?!)

3. Do at least 2 household chores in the next 4 days to help out my mom.  I made this one orange because I know I for sure did one chore (running the dishwasher and all that entails) but I can't remember if I did another one.

4. Put my phone away at work. (use it sparingly)  I didn't do horrible at this one but I know I could use my phone even less while I'm at work.  It isn't that I get in trouble for having it out but lets face it when it's on my desk I see every notification and I just have the urge to check it right away rather than on a break or at the end of the day.

5. Plan breakfast and lunch the night before and do any prep work possible.  I did not succeed at this goal last week at all.  I winged it a lot in the morning which adds unnecessary stress to my mornings.  Definitely a goal to try again another week because I know my mornings will go much more smoothly and make getting out the door easier if I accomplish this.

Once I'm back from vacation I plan on fully participating in the 5 for Five link up, posting goals AND reviewing them weekly.

5 for Five

Today marks a first for me on the blog.  This is the first time I am going to participate in the 5 for Five link up hosted by Jenn and Jessica.  What is 5 for Five you might be wondering?  I'm going to send you over to Jessica to read about it because she does a great job explaining it here.

Since it is my first time participating I don't have 5 goals from last week to review how I did so we're just going to jump right into the goal setting for this week.

1. Go to the gym 3 times this week.

2. Get up without hitting the snooze button.

3. Do at least 2 household chores in the next 4 days to help out my mom.  (Today doesn't count because I am at home and am focusing on cleaning my room.)

4. Put my phone away at work.  (Use it sparingly)

5. Plan breakfast and lunch the night before and do any prep work possible.

This week is a bit funny because I have today (Monday) off due to President's Day so I really only have 4 work days to work with but I can make it work.

Talk to me...

What is one of your goals for the work-week?