Saturday, January 16, 2016

Last Year's Goals Revisited and Renewed


When I started my weight loss and fitness journey last February I set certain goals that I wanted to achieve in 2015.   While I met many of my goals there were some that simply didn’t happen. With some, I just wasn’t physically able to do them, for others it was a matter of time – as there are only so many hours in a day.

I’m weeks away from the one year anniversary of the start of this process.  I figured it’s a good time to review my original goals and renew my commitment to the ones I haven’t achieved yet.  

The number one goal that I had was to reach my goal weight within one year, which represents a weight loss of nearly 200 pounds. With the one year mark just weeks away I am about 35 pounds shy of my goal so there’s no way I will achieve it. Surprisingly, I’m ok with that. I have renewed this goal and would like to try and achieve it by the first day of Spring, which is about two months away.

It was important to me to hike to the top of Sleeping Giant State Park as it’s something I used to be able to do without even thinking about it. After shedding my first hundred pounds in less than three months I attempted the hike and was near collapse about half way up.   I sat on a rock until I felt better then walked back to my car feeling like crap in many respects.

This was initially so discouraging that I had to struggle to keep my resolve and focus.  It was eye-opening in terms of understanding that mere weight loss is NOT fitness.   Just peeling off pounds wasn’t enough for me and I knew it after that day.

And so I will return to Sleeping Giant in the Spring and see how I do.    

Another goal that I set was to participate in some 5Ks even if I had to walk them and even if I had to be the last one over the finish line. I never did this last year.  There was no particular reason other than a judgment call at the time.  I was working with a trainer three times a week, doing cardio 3 or 4 times a week, taking yoga classes and juggling all that with family responsibilities.

I was steadily losing 3 pounds a week so I figured, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”   I seemed to be doing fine without 5Ks so I let that goal sit on the back burner where it has simmered ever since.

I still want to do some 5Ks, not because I “need” the exercise but just to be able to say that it’s something I can do now that I couldn’t do before.  So, I’m definitely doing some this year.

OMG, to run again!  I used to be runner and did 3 to 5 miles every weekday morning and longer runs on the weekends.  When I started struggling back towards fitness last year I thought the aerobics aspect would bounce right back and be easy and that the weight training would be difficult.

It actually turned out to be the opposite.  Getting to the point where I could trot for a full mile took forever. It’s just recently that I can complete 2 miles at a light jogging pace.  I’ve also started to add some sprints in for a HIIT effect.        

I will work on my running stamina more in the spring and I’m confident I’ll find my rhythm and pace again sometime this year.   

A black dinner dress:  Back in the day, I had a favorite dinner dress that was a black crepe wrap dress that fit me perfectly and looked amazing.  I used to wear it with black heels and a strand of white pearls. 

One of my goals is to be able to pull off wearing such a dress once again.  Sure, they make them in plus sizes but it’s just not the same as being fit and wearing something like that.  I’m looking at this as something that I must earn,  a reward for my hard effort.

A dress something like this:


Hopefully, by the time I can wear such a dress, I will have met a gorgeous guy who’ll want to undress me with his teeth and have me for dessert.  LOL.  I can dream, can’t I?

Perhaps with a few more months of sacrifice and hard work I’ll be posting a photo here of my new black dress. 

 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment