Motivation and Accountability Thread - Mar 9-15...Consistency
 

Good Monday morning fitday friends. Another week is upon us! To get us started this week, I want to talk about consistency. This has been something I've personally been struggling with for years. It seems that for a few weeks, I'll be on point with my nutrition and fitness plans...then I'll have an injury or pick up a virus and end up derailed...yet again! This lack of consistency keeps me on this loop of never moving forward and making real progress towards my goal. It can be very frustrating and have a person doubting themselves. I'm sure I'm not alone in struggling with consistency? Let's make this a consistent week and push ourselves forward towards our goals.

http://refe99.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ach-6.jpg

Consistency? What is this word you speak of, consistency? I do not know this word. (lol. at least it made my own self chuckle :) )

Actually, though, there is a lot of truth to it. I struggle constantly with it. Had a rough weekend. A lot of it being (but not all of the problem) that it was my son's birthday (15! wow...where does the time go???) and I made an a-ma-zing cake from scratch and had waaaay more than my fair share.

Also, I've come to realize that if I stay home I can mostly do pretty well, but as soon as my ass hits that car seat and I pull out of my driveway, all my willpower flies with the wind out the window.

Trying to restart, again, today. happy Monday to you all.

I may go too far. I get on a program and end up being so consistent that I get bored with it. I eat the same breakfast, the same lunch and dinner. I exercise the same way.
Then at the end of a year I am so bored I can't stand myself.

I have no goals for this week because of work. Because of work, I am stuck in a rut of consistency. As soon as March 23rd rolls around, my goal is to create a new recipe each week.

Hi all! In light of consistency (or lack there of), I'm going to start posting my weekly goals and track them on here. Back in September 2013, I had laid out a 6 week exercise plan for myself and I think it was the first time I actually followed any of my plans to a T. That really made me feel successful...like I really could achieve my goals. After that...for the next 7 months, I laid out plan after plan and followed through. It felt so good! I'm going to try to remember how that success felt the next time something throws me off track...maybe that will at least help me get back at it in a day or so, rather than a week or so! :p My goal is that by listing my weekly goals here and staying accountable, keeps me right on track until I weigh in at the end of the Easter challenge.

Weekly Goals:
track food daily:
72 oz. water daily:
max. 1430 calories:
min. 90 g protein:
max. 180 g carbs:
2 upper body workouts:
2 lower body workouts:
4 - 20 min. HIIT workouts:
4 - 30-45 min. steady state cardio:


Lisa - Glad I gave you a good chuckle :p Your post had me laughing out loud!! Funny lady! Sorry to hear you struggled this weekend, but happy to hear you're forging forward and that I'm not in this thing alone! ;)

Annette - I get stuck in a food rut ALL THE TIME!!! That can easily throw me off track....that was part of my problem last week. I too have to keep trying new recipes to stave off food boredom.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Holy cow!! Last week, I talked about intuitively eating....mostly because I struggle with tracking my food everyday. I'm trying my best to track, but I have never tracked coffee. I get a medium with 2 cream everyday here at work. I just logged it and it came in at 140 calories!!!! What!!! Plain old coffee and 2 cream....I had no idea that 2 cream = 140 calories!!! After today, I'm switching to herbal tea and saving myself 140 calories for actual food. Wow! I'm so shocked!

Took me a bit longer than I'd anticipated, but I'm finally getting a few minutes to jot down some notes. Hi there, everyone! Thanks for getting the thread started, Debbie!

Hope your son had a wonderful birthday, Lisa. I know what you mean about time flying -- before you know it, he'll be 21!!!

Interesting point about in-house vs out-of-house eating, Lisa. I'm the exact opposite of you. When I'm out and about, my eating is pretty much held in check. Often, I simply forget to eat because I'm too busy doing other things. When I'm home, on the other hand, the gloves come off, nobody's looking and I have the potential to go overboard. Waaaaay overboard. That's one reason why,over the past 6 months, I've been making a concerted effort to divide things into single-serving components. Make a whole chicken and immediately cut it up, wrap up the individual pieces and put them in the freezer. That big pot of rice and beans I made last week? Lives now in several 1/2 cup servings (again, in the freezer). Putting things in the freezer also means I have to work for it if I want it. There are very few foods that can go straight from freezer to mouth.

I would absolutely love to get one of those food vacuum machines, but the better quality ones are rather pricy and they don't seem to be completely customizable. So, I make do with plastic wrap, baggies and plastic containers. I should probably make the switch to glass, but A) I already have the plastic -- lots and lots of plastic, and B) glass scares me (chipped edges, anyone? Eek!).

Having the frozen, single-serve items also helps with variety, I've found. That way, I don't get stuck in a rut of same breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's too bad some things just don't freeze well (looking at you, scrambled eggs). I suppose I do have a rut of having the same basic go-to foods (loads of chicken, rice, the same frozen vegetables...) but at least there is variety in the ways they are prepared.

Debbie, yes yes yes about the cream in coffee. Sneaky stuff, when you consider coffee has virtually no calories. It's one of the reasons I recently ended a several decades-old love affair with coffee (aside from a few days of headache, it wasn't as difficult to break the habit as I thought it would be). A year ago, I was racking up 300 calories a day in coffee with cream. Not the fancy, store-bought Starbucks kind of "coffee", just plain ol', regular joe with real cream (not half and half or *shudder* milk). That's a lot of calories. Over the past few months, I've been experimenting with green tea. I've found a brand I actually like (not all green teas taste the same, I found out). Additionally, green tea has a lot of nutritional benefits. Supposedly, it helps metabolism and aids in fat-burning. I'm currently doing 2-3 16-oz cups per day.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++

My Goals for the Week (March 9 - March 15):

• Calorie Cycling -- have at least 1 High day (A=Average Day, H=High Day):
• Minimum 1500mL water/tea per day:
• 7-day Rolling Average calories = 1200-1300:
• Explore! Try something new or learn something new (nutrition-wise) at least 2 times:

These goals seem to be manageable, so I'm going to give them a go for another week.

Back to log my weekly goals :)

Weekly Goals:
track food daily: M-yes
72 oz. water daily: M-104 oz.
max. 1430 calories: M-1426
min. 90 g protein: M-97 g
max. 180 g carbs: M-142 g
2 upper body workouts: M- yes
2 lower body workouts:
4 - 20 min. HIIT workouts: - Mon - yes
4 - 30-45 min. steady state cardio: Mon - 30 min

Epixi - Hmmmm...I love my mid morning cup o' joe. I think I may start bringing my light 5% cream from home with me so I can enjoy a cup for only 20 calories. What brand of green tea did you find that you like?

Agreed!
 

Consistency is definitely something I need to work on. Very good advice though!

Debbie: Way to start the week with a bang! Nice going on the goals! The tea I'm really fond of is Yogi Green Tea Energy. I'm tempted to try the Yogi Blueberry Slim Life, 'cause it says, y'know, Slim Life ;), but I'm not a fan of blueberries, so that could be a dealbreaker :p.

Taylor: Welcome aboard!!! Is it ok to call you Taylor?

Week's starting off slowly and rather uneventfully for me. How about for you?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++

My Goals for the Week (March 9 - March 15):

• Calorie Cycling -- have at least 1 High day (A=Average Day, H=High Day): A
• Minimum 1500mL water/tea per day: 3417
• 7-day Rolling Average calories = 1200-1300: 1182 <---getting close...
• Explore! Try something new or learn something new (nutrition-wise) at least 2 times:
  • Monday: Did some research on something, but I forget what... I guess that doesn't really count :p

Made a delicious, but nutritionally questionable, food decision in mid-afternoon, yesterday. Didn't make too much impact on calories, but sent the sodium above my normal threshold. I drank extra fluids to compensate, but this morning's scale tells the real tale :rolleyes:. Will do better today. I promise.