#72 - Renewing my goals

I've been thinking about my goals the last few days, and how I'm doing (and not doing). Unfortunately, some of those goals fall squarely in the "not doing" category. For instance, my goal to get back in the habit of daily scripture study this year . . . not doing. My goal to get the kids doing their homework right after school every day . . . you guessed it. Not doing.

Other goals, I'm hovering on the "doing" side of the line, but just barely. Writing 30,000 new words on my novel in January . . . If you look at the raw numbers, you could say it's a "not doing" because I didn't hit my goal. On the other hand, I wrote 9571 words that hadn't been written if I wasn't striving for 30K. So was it a failure? Definitely not. But it wasn't exactly a success, either.

I've also been doing Body-for-LIFE for about 2 months now. Even considering the fact that I took a 10-day "free day" over the Christmas holiday, I've still lost about 15 lbs since I started. In the beginning, I was faithful. I wasn't cheating, I wasn't skipping workouts. But for the last few weeks, I've lost some of my steam. Most days, I'm eating something or other I shouldn't be. I'm missing workouts occasionally, although I'm still doing pretty good on that.

So every once in a while, I'll get really dedicated and I'll lose a few pounds, and then I'll start cheating here and there, and I'll maintain, or gain a pound or two. But so far, it's been a 2-steps-forward, 1-step-back kind of a process. So, does this fall in the "doing" or the "not doing" category?

Part of my justification for being lax is that this is a lifestyle change, and if I push too hard during this 12-week challenge, I'll burn out. But if I don't push hard enough, I won't ever really get to my goal. Even if I don't maintain it, I want to get in amazing shape, at least for a little while, just to prove to myself that I can do it, and to see how good I can look, and to see how awesome it feels to be there.

So, today, I'm once again renewing my dedication to my challenge. Right now, I'm on day 57 of an 84-day challenge. So, I officially have just over 3 weeks left to see what I can do in the 12 weeks. After that, I'll just start over with a new Day 1, and move on to a new challenge. Not because I failed this one, but because I want to continue on with my progress.

So I got in a nice workout this morning, and I'm about to make my favorite breakfast - a scoop of protein powder, a cup of water, and some frozen fruits and berries, with a little bit of fish oil mixed in. (If you make this, get the lemon flavored fish oil at the health food store. It actually makes the shake taste better. Crazy, but true.)

I have a Body-for-LIFE blog, and I wanted to invite all of you to come over, whether you're doing Body-for-LIFE, or some other form of diet and exercise, or just trying to get or stay healthy. If you want to be a contributor to the blog, let me know. I have some friends on there, but activity is slow right now, so I'd love to round up some more action on the blog. :)

Go here to check out the site and jump in with anything you can contribute!

Here's to my "new month resolutions" - and yours! Don't forget you can start over any time you want. You don't have to wait for 2010 to make a fresh start. :)