April Goals

Time to talk about more GOALS! I think this might become a new "normal" post for me. I like setting goals to strive for at the start of the month. And it's fun to look back and see how I did. Let's start there, shall we?? If you recall, I posted on March 1st about my March Goals. To remind you; here are the goals I set for myself for March:

1. Continue to avoid McDonald's. Other fast food places are OK because none of them are the trigger that McDonald's is for me. 
2. Limit wine. 
3. Stay OFF the scale until my infusion on March 27th.
4. Workout 6 days per week. 
5. Track my food at least 6 out of 7 days of the week. 

Let's see how I did with those goals this month. 

Goal #1 - NO McDonald's

Success!! I call this goal a success because I have not had a MEAL at McDonald's since January. I will confess that I had a caramel sundae at McDonald's after my son's music program. I didn't count that because the only reason we went there is because there is NO other ice cream place for us to go at 8PM on a school night when we want to get the kids in to bed. My kids have learned that when Grandma and Grandpa come to watch a concert, production, sporting event, etc. there will likely be ice cream afterward. In the summer it's no big deal because we have a yummy place that is outside. However, any time that's between October and May becomes more of a challenge. Anyway, so I don't count getting ice cream at McDonald's as having McDonald's. Not only have I had no McDonald's this month, but I also haven't had Burger King, Wendy's, or Taco Bell. Again, those aren't big triggers for me, but I find it funny when I give up McDonald's that the others seem to naturally go away too. 

Waiting for ice cream at McD's

Goal #2 - Limit Wine

Hmmmm.....I guess it all depends on what your definition of "limit" is. If you think that means drink wine only on the weekends then I succeeded at this one. If you think that  means only drink once or twice the entire month than I failed at this one. In my definition I failed at this one. I had wine every weekend this month. With that considered I'm thinking I should be happy with ANY weight loss this month! 

Goal #3 - Stay OFF the Scale until March 27th

We already know how this went. FAILED. But, I haven't consciously used the scale to sabotage myself so that's good. 

Goal #4 - Workout 6 days per week

Success! The only week that I didn't workout 6 days was this week. I didn't work out Monday because I had my infusion and I don't workout on infusion days (I think that's fair). I'm still calling this a success because if I didn't have my infusion I would have worked out on Monday. Also, I almost didn't workout last Sunday but I found myself on the treadmill because I knew it was a scheduled workout day. 

Goal #5 - Track my food 6 days per week

Another fail. I would say I consistently tracked my food 5 days per week. There were several weeks this month that I succeeded in tracking 6 days, but not all month. 

 

So March wasn't great in terms of meeting my goals. I think staying away from McDonald's was a biggie though and I'm happy that I have continued that one. Working out consistently is also very important so that's great! But, there are definitely areas that I need to continue to work on. 

Let's move on to the goals I have been thinking about for April. 

Goal #1 Continue with NO McDonald's

You knew that was coming, right? This one continues to be huge for me. I know the longer I go and the more weight I lose I will start to think I can handle it again. I need to remember that my past has shown me otherwise. Again, other fast food is OK because nothing is as much of a trigger as McDonald's. 

Goal #2 NO WINE

You read that right. No wine. Not even on Easter. It may suck but I am an all or nothing person. I was originally going to say I could have wine only on Easter Sunday; but I have a bad feeling that if I did that it would balloon into more. I mean, in March I was only going to have wine at my mom's birthday dinner and my birthday; that morphed into starting on March 1st at dinner and continuing every weekend throughout the month. 

Goal #3 Track EVERY day in April

This is a pretty big deal. I've tried this goal before and have yet to succeed in it. Back in 2014 I did the Whole30 and that still has been the only time I have completely stuck to something for 30 days with absolutely NO "cheats". When I finished the Whole30 I was struggling with staying on track. I wrote this blog post about how I was going to stay totally strict on the Weight Watchers program I was doing for at least 30 days to compare my results so when I did the Whole30. I can tell you I didn't meet that goal. So here it is again. I'm not even trying to be "perfect" and stay within my calories every day. I am simply challenging myself with tracking every day. I know that if I'm tracking every day the chances that I will go over my calories is lower than if I'm not tracking. 

Goal #4 Continue to workout 6 days per week

This one should be easy enough. 

Goal #5  That DAMN scale

This one is by far the hardest goal. Isn't that funny? So here's my plan for April: on April 1st I am going to weigh myself and take my measurements. I am then going to stay OFF the scale until May 1st when I will get on the scale again and take my measurements again. 

With all these things in place it will be interesting to see what the scale reflects after 30 days. I have 7 weeks until the Cleveland Half Marathon and I really want to see how close I can get to my lowest racing weight. It's not realistic that I'll hit that weight, but I can get close to it. If I work hard I can be smaller than any other time I've done the Cleveland Half (in 2011 and 2012).