Back At last

[Anaticula]

I started out last year as an active member, but slowly my posts became less and less as I had stuff come up in my life.  Finally in March I ended up having gallbladder surgery. After the surgery I simply stopped posting altogether for several reasons.  First, the surgery meant I couldn't do the races I had signed up for, which left me very disappointed. Second I purchased a house and the preparation and pressures left me with little time to post.  Third, I got a boyfriend and began spending all my time with him and his two daughters and simply did not have time to post or exercise.  Now though I'm ready to get back on track and start again.  Luckily while many of my bad habits, (poor eating, drinking lots of soda, not exercising) have come back, my weight has not gotten back to the point it was at last year. Due to some monetary issues I can no longer afford the personal trainer or the gym, but I can still do many of the exercises he taught me. And besides, I don't need a gym to run, walk, bike or hike. I won't have access to a pool with out the gym, but hopefully I as money gets better I can go back. The most important thing I learnt over this past year though is that all the exercise doesn't matter if I don't eat correctly.  I also have some additional motivation this go around.  In February, the boyfriend, his kids, and I will be going to Disney World.  This means full days of walking and a very good possibility of carrying children around all day. (His girls are 3 and 6.) So I need to be in much better shape by then or I am going to be exhausted and making the kids carry me around. Looking forward to beginning my journey anew and reaching my goals.

[starsapart]

Welcome back!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I also bought a house recently.... it is definitely insanely stressful.

[Anaticula]

Oh God, I know.  The worst part though is last Thursday someone broke in and stole some of my stuff. It was devastating, because now I'm questioning if I ever should have moved there.  I'm not too worried about the stuff, I can replace it, but my feeling of security is gone, and I was only there for two months.  Now I need to buy a stronger door.

[DarK_RaideR]

Welcome back, Cutlass!

Was wondering where you'd gone. Good to read the updates and good to have you back again!

[starsapart]

Oh God, I know.  The worst part though is last Thursday someone broke in and stole some of my stuff. It was devastating, because now I'm questioning if I ever should have moved there.  I'm not too worried about the stuff, I can replace it, but my feeling of security is gone, and I was only there for two months.  Now I need to buy a stronger door.

 

Oh, good gravy, that's AWFUL!!!!!

 

Security system, maybe???

[Anaticula]

Glad to be back. Looking forward to getting back to exercising again.

 

I'm looking into a security system, but I think the best thing will actually be to replace my doors with stronger ones.  The two that I have aren't very good. I've also spoken to a couple of people and they suggested getting a motion sensitive video camera and hiding it in the house. I've also heard of getting one put in one of the trees near the place to get the license plate of any car that pulls in as that'll give the police something to go on. I'm looking into cost of these things and going to see what'll work out best. I've also had people suggest getting a dog or a gun, but I don't have the time (or a fenced in yard) to get a dog, and I'm simply not comfortable with the idea of getting a gun. I'd prefer to get the better doors and locks to simply keep people out to begin with. It takes thinking about and weighing all the options.

[Anaticula]

So my thoughts on the upcoming challenge.

 

SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely. I got away from this for a while and want to get back onto it.

 

Goal 1: Hydrate. Aim for 8 glasses of water a day. (8 oz each, 64 oz total).  

 

Goal 2: Exercise: Aim for 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. This is the bare minimum required, but with everything going on in my life right now I think it's a good goal.  Another option to replace this with would be to get a pedometer and go for the 10,000 steps a day for 3 days a week. (Ideally, I would eventually build this up to everyday.) Either would be a good getting back on track goal.

 

Goal 3: Meditate: I'd like to start meditating.  I won't try to start meditating 30 minutes a day, but if I can start with some short guided meditations, I can work my way up over time. I'm thinking for this goal I'll say 5 minutes of meditating 3 days a week. Because I have so much going on in my life right now I'm not getting as much restful 'me time' as I'm used to.  M and his girls come over every weekend and I don't have the weekend free to recharge like I used to.  I think getting myself into a meditation mode will help with this.  Plus if I can reinforce with the girls early that I get 30 minutes a day to myself when they are over it'll help later so that they aren't wondering why I'm locking myself in the bathroom to get a minute along, lol. Plus it'll help with my personal goal. 

 

Personal Goal: Unpack - I still have several boxes from the move that need to be unpacked. I want to get this all done. So that I'm not still living with stuff in boxes ten years from now. One of my rooms is supposed to become a meditation temple room. I'm Wiccan and want a temple room in my house where I can set up my alter and have my books out without worrying about guest picking stuff up and playing with it, or anything. Plus having a peaceful resting place to relax in the house will be nice. Right now though, this room contains all the unpacked boxes. I want to get them unpacked, shelf the books (my temple will also have to be my library as the room that was going to be the library has become a playroom for the girls) and set the room up so I can escape in there whenever life gets tough.  I used to have the habit of escaping into a bowl of ice-cream, or a bag of chips, but if I can start meditating and have the room already set up I can escape there instead.

 

I think these are pretty good goals.  Each one fits the SMART criteria.  As a whole they are not overwhelming. I can easily fit them all into a week.  Ironically I think the one that will be the toughest will be the water goal as I've gotten back into the habit of drinking soda and I'll have to force myself to get away from that again.

[Anaticula]

So I've given it some thought, and between the heat and all I'm going to sign up with the Druids this round and do a yoga program for my exercise.  About to go set up my thread.