Goals . . .



WOW!  You girls are really goin' . . . I'm so excited!  I don't know how much of a help or inspiration I'll be to any of you, but I can already tell that you guys are going to be such a help and inspiration to me!  Thank you for all the great meal and snack ideas.  I like your green smoothie Carrie!  And I love that your snack ideas include lots of sweet subsitutes . . . I hate that I have such a sweet tooth, but I do!

I'm starting out pretty slow here . . . havn't been on a good exercise schedule in over a year, I have a nursing baby, and a post partum body. (Oh yea, . . . and I'm old.)  :)

I've kept my "physical" goals very simple for the year, and broken them into quarters to help me hopefully stay on task. 

My first quarter goal is to . . . start exercising.  That's it . . . and kind of sad, cause I still havn't started.  :(  I have to say, I can commisserate with Sarah in finding it hard to find the right time to do it.  Ideally I'd like to do it before the kids wake up, but like you Sare, Anna nurses at around 6:30, and the rest of my kids are up at 7.  I don't think I can do it real well before Anna wakes up cause she sleeps through the night, which means that she hasn't nursed in hours, which means my boobies are a little full and not so comfy to exercise with.  Sorry too much information, I know.  But that's my dilemma.  I could shoot for after I drop the kids at school, but honestly, that's not my favorite option.  On days that Claire has preschool, I don't get home from running kids to school until after 9am (three different schools, three different start times), and then Anna needs to eat again, and I still havn't showered, etc.  But I guess that's just what I need to do . . . I'll let you know it how goes.

My second quarter goal is to exercise at least 4 times a week, consistently. 

My third quarter goal will have something to do with duration and maybe a schedule of adding weights, etc. 

I'm not sure what my fourth quarter goal will be . . . I'm going to leave that one open.  I'm hoping it will end up being something awesome, like run a half marathon.  We'll see.  (hopefully it's not . . . "start exercising".)

As far as eating . . . I'm a very psycological eater.  If you tell me I can't have something, I just want it more.  So, I'm just going to try to make better choices.  And tell myself that I am "choosing" raw vegetables over something else, just because that what "I want".  :)  Unfortunately I'm also an emotional eater . . . I eat when I'm nervous, or stressed, or tired, or sad, or bored.  The tired one is really getting me right now.

My tip, is actually something I got from Caroline (thanks Caroline), and something my doctor recommended to me when I was pregnant!  For breakfast I have a protein shake with frozen fruit (usually bananna) and peanut butter.  The protein fills me up and gives my body something to burn for the first half of the day . . . especially when lunch sometimes escapes me.  I had low iron levels for awhile when I was pregnant which meant low energy levels.  My doctor said that adding more protein to my diet would help that, and boy did it ever!!  I felt SO much better (and I even trimmed down a bit).  So I guess I've just stayed on that kick since it worked well for me.  My kids love it too.  It's what I feed Liam in the morning before athletics, since he's not a "breakfast person".

Anyway, so glad to get going!  I think I'll have to start checking in daily, for my daily dose of "inspiration"!!  Just talking about it with you guys makes me feel more motivated!  Thanks!!