I Don't Make Resolutions

Happy New Year! 2015 brought a lot of changes for me, unfortunately those changes took a lot of mental energy! The beginning of a new year is a great time to review the previous year, identify things you want to change, and take steps to improve for the next year. Most people make resolutions, but I'm going to tell you why I don't make them!

Resolutions, to me, are wishes. They're "want tos" and "it would be nice ifs" and "it's okay with me if it doesn't happens". Resolutions make me feel bad about my progress before I even start! Think about the common ones people usually make -  they're vague, or set an unreasonable expectation. Please understand,  I'm all about dreaming big! But at the end of the holiday season and the beginning of the new year, I'd rather set goals - specific, measurable, completable!

The key to great goals (and this is the downfall in my mind of resolutions) is to give them a deadline. For me, you'll see that I'm spreading my goals out over the whole year.  I'm not going to attempt to do everything perfectly starting today. That's just not feasible. And because I know myself, I know that if I can't do something perfectly I won't even attempt it!

Let's reframe some common resolutions into goals (by the way, these are all goals of mine for 2016!)

RESOLUTION: "I want to lose weight" or "I want to get in better shape"

Most common resolution of all time (I think). It sends people to sign up for gyms and classes and buy workout gear. It causes a lot of feelings of guilt when the numbers on the scale just don't seem to move,  and the clothing size is the same in July as it was in January. What if,  instead of focusing on the number on the scale or the label,  we made some specific goals about strength and fitness?

GOAL 1: Complete 1 round of PiYo by February 29

GOAL 2: Compile and complete 3 month 21 Day Fix/PiYo fusion by May 31

GOAL 3: Participate in 2 5Ks by September 30

The result of achieving these goals will definitely be improved strength and flexibility, and will likely be a smaller waistline. But even if more pounds don't come off, I can still be proud of achieving the goals!

RESOLUTION: "I want to eat better" or "I want to drink more water"

Both very vague resolutions! What does that even mean? Salad everyday? Cutting out sugars? Only eating food you grow for yourself? Walking around with a cup with a straw every where you go? These resolutions are so frustrating because you have to eat every day. And many times we sign up for a plan, or buy a book or a membership so someone can teach us how to eat. And we commit to it. And the first time we are tempted by treats in the office, we feel guilty and it can derail us. "Diet" is hard to measure because there isn't an endpoint - you can't set a deadline and at the end say, "wow I met my goal, guess I'm done eating!" Instead, food and other behavior goals fall under the "every [frequency of opportunity] is a new chance to make the right choice" category! This is where a food plan like the 21 Day Fix is so helpful - every day you have a goal of getting all your containers in,  and you know that if you do that,  you're making healthy choices that fuel your body!

GOAL 1: Drink Shakeology daily

GOAL 2: Track containers in January - hit 100% containers 3 times per week. 

BONUS GOAL: If I achieve the 3 times per week in January,  increase goal to 4 times per week in February. If not,  February stays at 3.

It's okay to give yourself a break! You're living,  you have a life! The goals are to measure progress, not to make you feel guilty!

RESOLUTION: "I want to make more money" or "I want to get promoted"

This is a great resolution.  You may even be able to map out goals to achieve it.  The difficulty is that often the decision on the raise or promotion is up to someone else! You don't control it! But you do control your performance,  which contributes to your value as an employee.

GOAL 1:  Complete training certification by May 31.

GOAL 2:  Be independent of trainer by August 31.

RESOLUTION: "Personal growth"

Haven't you stated it just like this? I know I have! You know you want something inside yourself to change, or to express yourself in a new way. But it's scary to set a goal about something personal! Because if you don't achieve it,  then what? But this is where those big dreams come in. What do you want for yourself? Break that down into action steps for yourself. I like to think in seasons or quarters - 3 months is a good amount of time to make progress on something that could be a lifelong dream! Mine happens to be writing a book about my own recent "personal growth" - here's what the goals look like for this dream:

GOAL 1: By March 31 - create chapter outline

GOAL 2: By June 30 -  begin writing (remember, I'm doing a certification course in here, so I'm giving myself a little bit of a break)

GOAL 3: By September 30 -  finish first draft

GOAL 4: By December 31 -  revise first draft and share with trusted person for review

I have stitching and knitting goals as well, but I'll share those in another post. Here's to a fantastic 2016!

Health Focus - Sometimes It Is About The Numbers

We've all heard weight loss experts encourage us by saying "when you're working out to lose weight, don't worry if your weight goes down slowly, you're building muscle, it isn't about the number on the scale."  This is true, and it's an important idea I hope everyone grasps.  When you're training to lose fat, your body weight can actually go up as your muscles get stronger.  This is normal, and healthy, and the way it's supposed to be - please don't severely restrict calories while you are strength training just because the scale isn't doing what you want.  Definitely pay more attention to inches than the scale.  Starving your hard working muscles is not the answer!

However.  There's something I want to say to you who are in the trenches with me.  I understand that the number on the scale DOES matter to you.  It matters to me, more than I'd like to admit.  The only time it didn't matter to me was when I gave up on my health, and even then it still had power to make me feel bad about myself.

Here's why it matters - for most people, it's the only way we've had to measure our health and our progress over our lifetime.  I'm going to bet that very few of us knew our waist circumference when we graduated from high school, let alone our bicep measurements.  We may have read an article in Cosmo about how to calculate BMI, to determine if we were "healthy."  Over the course of years, the one place we've gone to see "where we are" is the scale.

When I moved to Idaho, I weighed 195 pounds.  I don't know what my waist circumference or body fat percentage was.  Over the next almost 6 years, I gained nearly 30 pounds.  Those 30 pounds were not muscle.  When I started working out on my own, I was discouraged at how slowly the weight was coming off - even though I've read more and I know that muscle tissue is denser than fat, and it has to build up before it can increase my resting metabolic rate, and that eventually my strong muscles will take over the fat burning...... that number on the scale still mattered to me.

When I started the 21 Day Fix, I knew that I was already 13 pounds below my heaviest weight.  I knew that meant 17 pounds to my "move to Idaho" weight, which was about 30 pounds above my top weight for a healthy BMI.  For me, being able to watch those 17 pounds tick off on the scale was really exciting and encouraging.  Because I could see long term progress.  I started to see the drop in my measurements (I lost 11 inches on my first round of 21 Day Fix), I felt my clothes feeling looser, but now I had confirmation of a downward trend, and I knew that I was making progress with the help of proper nutrition and sustainable fitness.

So here's the bottom line - don't hang all your hopes on the scale.  Don't weigh yourself every day.  For some people, even once a week is too often.  If you're doing a set term program like the 21 Day Fix, weigh yourself at the beginning, the halfway point, and the end.  When you're strength training and building muscle, it will mess with your head to weigh yourself more often than that.

But (separate paragraph because I don't want you to miss it) DO use the scale as one of your many tracking tools.  It's like your tape measure.  It's like your BMI calculator.  It's like your perceived exertion, and that feeling that maybe you need heavier weights.  It helps to mark your progress; just don't let it be the sole indicator.  Set your milestones and realistic expectations for weight loss, and use all the tools in your bucket to see how close you are to reaching your goals!