New Month, New Goals

Hi friends! Happy SEPTEMBER!!!!

I don’t know about you guys, but the beginning of a new month always feels like a “fresh start” for me to re-evaluate my goals and make some improvements to my lifestyle… especially since some of my “good” habits have been slipping by the wayside with our recent travels! We’ve been eating out a LOT since getting home on Sunday night, and I’m starting to feel pretty sluggish–> a good reminder of why I don’t eat this way all the time!

If you’ll remember, last month my main goal was to lose enough weight so that I felt comfortable in this bridesmaid dress:

In a matter of 6 weeks, I lost 16 pounds! Woo-hoo! (originally, this dress didn’t even FIT over my hips, and wouldn’t ZIP UP over my waist at all!! I was terrified of walking down the aisle NAKED!!) And if you guys have been reading my blog along the way, you know I didn’t do anything crazy– I ate plenty of raw foods (including lots and lots of pudding!) and exercised moderately about 6 days a week. Many of you have emailed me about weight loss recently, and while I don’t want the subject to take over my blog, I do like having healthy discussions about it now and then!

Here are some of my general thoughts on weight loss:

• How you look is 80% diet, 10% exercise, 10% genetics–> I believe you MUST make changes in your diet to have lasting weight loss success! Exercise helps keep me mentally happy and healthy, but exercise can’t do it all– you have to be conscious of your diet!

• A calorie is NOT a calorie–> It drives me CRAZY that people think weight loss is just a math equation! Your body does NOT process 100 calories of apple the same way as it does 100 calories of a Twinkie! Your body knows what to do with whole, unprocessed foods, and will digest those cleanly and efficiently– leaving you with energy leftover to burn off extra fat! That’s how you lose weight–> by easing your digestive load and giving your body the “break” it needs to do some house-cleaning! (check out my post on food combining for more on easing digestion)

• Drastic diets don’t work–> not for long, anyway. In my experience, drastic diets only lead to binging and eventual weight GAIN! You have to make gradual lifestyle changes to keep the weight off long term! Since I’ve only been blogging for about a year, a lot of you have not been able to see my journey to the point I’m at today… but I want you to know that I didn’t just “jump” into a diet of green smoothies, salads and raw food! I read The Raw Food Detox Diet over 4 years ago, and have been making gradual changes to my diet ever since! And even today, I am still working on improving my diet through trial and error– personally, I’ve learned that I need plenty of “safe” treats (like raw cheesecake, dark chocolate and avocado puddings) to keep me from feeling restricted or like I’m on a “diet.”

• Celebrate your progress along the way–> weight loss is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight, despite how much we’d like it to! And with society’s desire for “instant gratification” many of us lose interest while waiting for the results we want!! I’ve noticed I’m happiest (and motivated to stay on track) when I celebrate smaller milestones along the way (i.e. losing 5 lbs), and then re-evaluate my goals accordingly.

…which brings me to the start of this NEW month! I think this this the perfect time to re-evaluate my goals and make a few changes to my current routine.

Here are some habits that I’ve noticed can be improved upon in my lifestyle lately-

Eating out too much–> besides being expensive, food at restaurants is often coated in excess oil and salt, and I’ve noticed that my fingers are swelling!! I’d like to cut back to eating out to only once a week, which I think sounds reasonable. (you know it’s bad when the servers know me and my husband by name AND have my “picky” orders memorized by heart!) *hides face in shame*

Not enough variety–> I’ve gotten into quite the food-rut lately! I’ve been using the SAME greens in my smoothies and salads almost every day. In fact, I’ve been pretty much eating the SAME exact meals every day! (because I love them so much!) We all know that eating a greater variety of produce means you get a greater variety of vitamins and minerals, so I’m making it my goal to switch it up more often…. starting by adding green juice back into my diet! Green juice is great for “sneaking” extra greens into your diet– and is also very alkalizing on the body!

Not enough strength training–> I’ve really been enjoying running, but strength training is still like pulling teeth to me! I’m going to focus on workouts I like (such as Physique 57) and try to do strength training at least 3 times a week. (I’m also NOT going to be scared of lifting heavier weights! I want MUSCLE!!!)

Too many sweets–> I’ve noticed the more sweets I eat (even the natural sugars found in fruit), the more sweets I crave! It’s been getting a little out of control lately (last week, I was eating dark chocolate in my office at 10am!), so I’d like to reign in my cravings just a bit… this doesn’t mean I’m cutting out sugar completely!! (that would just be CRAZY talk!) I’ll just be cutting back a bit…  rather than the pudding mountains I’ve been consuming lately, perhaps I should only eat a small hill instead.

I’m sure there’s many more areas where I can improve, but I think that’s a reasonable chunk of goals to tackle this month.

I’ve also recently found myself relying on this stuff again…

Gosh, darn you coffee! Why do you have to taste and smell so good?? I am seriously lacking on sleep this week, and have been overloaded with work deadlines… so coffee has become a bit of a crutch for me lately. But I’ve noticed that I’m more anxious and tense since adding it back into my life, so it’s going to have to go again! But I’m not going to tackle that beast until this weekend… when I can actually sleep!

Speaking of deadlines… I better get back to them!

Hope you’re all having a great HUMP day!!

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Reader Feedback: Do you set new goals for yourself each month? What goals have you made for yourself lately?

Related posts:

1. The Month of LOVE
2. 3 weeks
3. Time for a change
4. Eat More to Weigh Less
5. Accountability