1. Drink 128oz of water.
This is 4 refills of my 32oz water bottle. I still have to be somewhat deliberate in my drinking but I believe that I can make it happen nonetheless. I do try to live by the idea that the fewer the inhibitors the better which would fundamentally mean that utilizing a gallon water bottle would be more useful in achieving my goal. I do have one but it requires some deep cleaning after sitting unused for a couple of months.
My "why" for this particular goal.
You're supposed to get roughly .5 to 1 oz of water per pound of body weight. By doing so you will be less dehydrated and the extra water will help with feelings of fullness between meals. A lot of us who are obese have a definite poor hand-to-mouth habit. This is why some people struggle with stopping smoking. Have you ever tried to stop using your phone so much? Have you ever struggled with the urge to pick it up 5 seconds after you told yourself that you're going to spend less time on the phone? That's kind of the psychological effect of constantly snacking and eating. If you're filling your time with popping chips when you're bored your hands are going to be looking for that same habit. You can replace that same habit with grabbing your water bottle. Don't like plain water? I'm sorry to be a little crass here but... only doing things you like is why you're morbidly obese in the first place. If we have eaten ourselves to such sad states of existence I think it is time that we take a moment and acknowledge that we are the reason we have gotten here and we are the answer to getting out.
2. Wake up at 7:30am
This is fairly self explanatory.
My "why" for this particular goal.
I like to refer to myself as the Chief Operations Officer of my household. What this means is I am in charge of the execution of all tasks pertaining to my family. Grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, meal planning, meal prepping, home educating charles and implementing his "empowerment program", monitoring the family budget all fall under my purview. My husband and I are a little neurotic about how clean we like to keep our house. We really believe in the mental wellness that comes from having a clean home because you've eliminated unnecessary inhibitors of productivity. So getting up at 7:30 will ensure that I get the house set and everyone can run properly on their schedules. I have been slacking on this for a couple of weeks and it has only caused me more stress and frustration because I end up trying to fit in 3 hours of work in 1.5 to 2 hours. I end up losing my patience because I'm overwhelmed. I don't like feeling that way so I have to be more organized about my time.
3. Track Calories
I've been doing this since March. This is just a continuation of what I have been doing. I am trying to build in habits, understand what I'm eating, understand how much I'm eating and what is my actual nutrition. I give myself a window of 1600-1800 instead of a drop dead number. Why do I do that? Because if you give yourself a drop number you're going to live and die by that number and it WILL turn into self sabotage at a certain point. I'm a perfectionist (if you couldn't tell). I will literally get into a competition with myself about how few calories I can eat because I have this dead number I have to meet. Its weird but that's how I operate. I end up restricting WAY too much and then bingeing like a crazy person afterwards. It's a fruitless endeavor.
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How do I come up with these goals?
I love the SMART goals methodology.
Specific: be as specific about the goal as possible. Example: "I will walk 9,000 steps everyday." This is better than "I want to walk more."
Measureable: The goal must be something you can measure or quantify in some way.
Example: "I will have 90g of protein" instead of "Eat more protein"
Attainable: The goal has to be something that is slightly out of your comfort zone but definitely something you can do.
Example: "I'm going to walk 3 miles every other day." instead of "I'm going to hike Pikes Peak!" when you're a novice and just started walking after being sedentary for a long time.
Realistic: The goal must be something where you are being completely honest with yourself and have eliminated delusion.
Example: "I'm going to exercise for 20 minutes a day, after dinner." is better than "I'm going to get up at 5am and work out for two hours!" if you're the kind of person who struggles to get out of bed for even an important meeting.
Time-bound: The goal has an end. This can mean you've seen if this is something you can maintain in a new lifestyle or it is unsustainable long-term. For me that was my goal from July which was 11k steps a day. Giving myself a set goal of steps everyday made me so miserable half the time that I wanted to just give up. That was too lofty a goal and it was not sustainable. I like being able to have some downtime in my day without feeling guilty about it. That was definitely doing the exact opposite.
Example: "I will drink 90oz of water from Aug 1 to Aug 31." this is better than "I will drink more water."
Let me know what you think and if this method of making goals helps!
Peace!
Hannah
