because i am very excited about my new fitbit and have nothing else to share

i'm shocked i beat my previous weekly step goal of 20,000. so i bumped it to 35. i climbed the equivalent of 19 floors today, which is one more than the leaning tower of pisa :)

...damn, i'm boring

aug goals

july was a truly crazy month. so much happened that i won't even get into, but some major blows came to the goals. so i'm moving forward with most of the same ones for this month (which is practically half over)

1. water: six glasses per day; at least four of actual water

2. food: four veggies/fruits, two dairy, two healthy oils and lean protein. also trying to decrease my sugar and grains since nearly half my diet is carbs. delicious delicious carbs

3. routine: still trying to get my shit together. it'll probably be easier now that the olympics have ended *le sigh

4. workout: i dropped full workouts because i have zero motivation. instead i'm focusing on strengthening my back. i'm supposed to be doing various exercises daily from my chiro. guess how many times that's happened :p so it's up on the to do list

5. me time: also dropped off on my journaling and reading. it's on the agenda again though since i generally feel better when i can do both regularly. keep saying that. then i get distracted by things like diving and gymnastics ;)

in addition to my goals, i need to start gearing up for another semester. my last as a master's level student. eep! still wrapping my brain around graduating in december... but first, bedtime before another short week of work :)

july goals

so i didn't do terribly with june's goals, but i didn't really excel either. not changing much for july since i really want to get things under control before taking next steps, with the exception of water intake and productivity. i kinda crushed both of those :) i also managed to do well with getting on top of my diet. salmon with couscous and brussel sprouts > cheetos

1. water: six glasses per day. water isn't just water though. it's any non-alchoholic, non-carbonated drink (tea, milk, coffee, juice...). however, i only count two of those per day so that's four glasses of actual water

2. food: taking a cue from the weight watchers "good health guidelines" - three veggies/fruits, two healthy oils, two dairy and one lean protein. seems like a lot, but it really isn't. still working my way back up to five veggies/fruits per day; the rest i've kinda been doing unofficially

3. workouts: spinning impedes my budget goal so i'm dropping it for the month. instead, i'm going to start using our community gym. i have no good excuse for not using it before. it's time to change that. three workouts per week starting with 20 minutes per workout

4. mornings: slightly shifting the schedule. up by 7a to hit the gym, shower and eat; out the door by 815a to get to the office early. cause if i get to the office earlier, i can duck out earlier on fridays

6. boundaries: i've been doing WAY better about staying focused and being productive now that i'm making daily to do lists. however, i need to start establishing more work boundaries for myself. school starts up next month so i'm going to need blocks of time dedicated to it alone. this means having a clearly defined schedule for the day job and side business

7. bedtime: still giving myself at least an hour to journal and read a little each night. lights out by midnight is an absolute must. i know i'm not getting nearly enough sleep, but i'm also an old lady who can't sleep in on weekends anymore. it's total bunk

now let's see how well i've done this past week despite setting goals today ;)

new tricks

jesse: how was class?
me: it was such a struggle. can't pull/hold myself up very long. can't get in proper position most times. kept snagging silk on my love handles
and i can't wait to go do it again!!! :D

so the adventures continue. who could have predicted that? i heard about the new york trapeze school on elliot in the morning forever ago, which piqued my interest. then, as with most things, i completely forgot about it until someone else did it. sarah took a class in detroit and fell in love. interest = resparked. but my life is busy and i didn't think anyone would want to come with. blah blah blah one year later (or however long it's been. it's late people and my brain is le tired [update: was just looking at sarah's archives for aerial tips when it hit me - i've been thinking about this for almost THREE YEARS. what the hell took me so long?!])... rebecca went as her birthday gift to herself. i, in all of my jealous, commented on how i bet the post-class pain was worth every wince. so she convinced me to attend a class with her. peer pressure at it's best, folks :) it just so happened that our business meeting had to be moved, freeing up my thursday. one aerial silks class booked, one missed turn cause my gps is crazy and one sweet parallel park job later... i decided that my body is so not meant for cirque du soleil

waiting for class, i watched the trapeze class flip and swing and catch and climb a scary high ladder and twist and do some more flippies into the net. watching was exciting and terrifying. i want to try one of the trapeze classes in the future. though that one is about conquering (sorta) a fear... back to silks. having watched the trapeze students, i was feeling mega nervous. noticeably nervous, but all was well. i didn't realize how small they keep the classes. there were only four of us, and three were beginners. so there was plenty of time to learn and figure out each skill and get one on one support from the instructor. we learned locks and climbs and positions and flips and how to properly dismount without rope burn cause you slid from several feet up (or was that just me? ;)). it was SERIOUSLY hard. i'm exhausted from the effort, and my everything hurts. tiff (someone else into acrobatics?! woot!) mentioned her gym offers a strengthening and conditioning class. i need to work on my core and arm strength. i also need to work on finding my balance/center when upside down. so i think i might slip in a couple conditioning classes at TSNY. i'm DEFINITELY going for more aerial classes... as soon as i find some openings in my ridic schedule

my life is getting funner by the minute, friends :) now if you'll excuse me, i need to bengay ALL THE MUSCLES and go the fuck to sleep

june goals

this is no great epiphany, but i've come to re-realize that i need to set concrete goals for myself in everything that i do. my life is easier when i'm crossing things off a list. bringing back some old "favorites"

1. water: i need to drink so much more of it consistently. i can get in four or five glasses on a good day, but i want to get in six. this is a must. i'm gonna be peeing like a pregnant lady, but at least i won't be parched

2. food: eat more veggies and fruits. we've been getting local/organic produce delivered to the apartment, which is super awesome. so i'm hoping that translates into more healthy lunches, dinners and snacks. breakfast is not as bad as the rest. current goal is two servings per day - lunch and dinner. as the season picks up and i adjust, i want to increase that back up to five

3. workouts: this is one of my biggest problem areas. i. must. get. my. ass. moving. spin class is a huge help, and i'm really loving it. however, that's only once a week since i have to ford the river into nova (nothern virginia for those who don't know ;)). i need to get at least two more workouts a week i think. i'm hoping that will get the fat down and the muscle up

4. sleeping: my bedtime routine is a mess. so is my morning routine. i never get enough sleep, and i have no real excuse for it. my goal is to be in bed by 11pm and asleep by midnight. that gives me seven hours for sandman action before i need to get up. eventually, i want that to be a 10 to 11 window for eight solid hours of snoozing

5. mornings: so the natural next step is getting my morning routine back underwraps, too. i need to stop laying around in bed for eternity, which really means "i need to stop checking twitter first thing when i wake up". i already changed around my phone home screens. so when i wake up, the first thing i'll see is my daily agenda. the goal is to be awake up 7am and in the shower by 730. that leaves plenty of time for a morning workout and some lounging. if i can get really motivated, i might shift my work schedule earlier, too. that'll be in july's goals ;)

6. money: stop wasting it. stop grossly exceeding the budget. stop playing the credit card transfer game. the rest of the year is going to be tight moneywise. not as tight as i first anticipated thanks to some surprise extra cash. however, i still need to be on my game. i'm going to be ramping up some more smartypig savings for trips, but i need to start partaking in more free fun this summer

7. journaling: i started writing in my journal again to keep my crazy in check. i always forget how much i enjoy a conversation with myself. it's easier to resolve or understand things when i get them out of my head, but not everything is blogable. though, there are some blog posts hiding in there. my goal is to journal every day before going to sleep; so far i'm up to every other night. getting there

8. reading: another piece of the bedtime ritual is reading for fun. i'm making the time for something i love, and i want to do it every day. just like journaling, it's been inconsistent. however, this should be one of the easier goals for me to meet since i love a good story

9. connecting: during the semester, i threw together a highlights email for my closest girls. it was essentially the top three/five things going on in my week. i miss them constantly, and the email was a nice simple way of staying in touch. i want to keep that up despite it having been a self care semester goal. self care never ends (file under: things i need to remember more often). i also want to further connect with my blog/twitter friends. first step in that is keeping up with what's actually happening in my internet circles. setting aside some time for reading blogs and checking twitter is necessary

10. productivity: i need to reprioritize my day. i mention connecting and interacting with my online peeps, but i spend most of my time playing catch up. yes, i have a bit of fomo, but i'm also too disorganized to manage my day. this has been the week of "i don't actually know what i did for the last five hours", but i know i did something. so i'm bringing back my trusty post it note to do list. that'll give me a way to structure my days in and out of the office so that shit gets done without sacrificing time somewhere else or just going through the motions

it's not much, but each piece is important. i fell off a wagon somewhere, and this is my attempt to climb back on

reversing the stress

reorganizing/updating my schedule gives me a happy. so i did a little of that this afternoon. forget the 6am wake up call. screw sunday homework. i wasn't doing it, and seeing it on the calendar was adding to my stress. i do need to find time for homework catch up, workouts and being domestic. i just won't try to pack as much into each day of the next three weeks (eek)

i also need to increase my accountability since i've obviously been majorly slacking. i'm turning to my mistress, tumblr for certain updates. (weekly meal and workout plans if you're interested) i've totally fucked up my goal to lose 17 pounds by bisc, but i'm still going to try getting back to my original weight watchers goal. i'm not going back to ww (mr. piggybank says, "denied!"), but i did save all my books and shit. so it's time to stop putting burritos where my mouth is. you know, instead of my money heh... well, i thought it was funny...

now i need to read some chapters, work on some presentations and think about what to cook next week. so i bid you adieu for now :)

progress: 17 in 15

i've been weighing myself twice a week since i bought my scale last year. the goal was to use the numbers so i could adjust every few days, rather than wait a full week to see how my body was responding. my official weight watchers weigh in day was wednesday so that's my "real" number. that's the same day i'm using for my self challenge. sundays are my back up check in days. it's been a handy cycle for tracking how my body naturally fluctuates when i'm trying and when i'm not

that all being said, i weighed in at 130.8 this morning. a 6.6 drop since wednesday (6.2 since last sunday). a drop that shouldn't happen given my complete lack of exercise or smart eating choices last week. i'm not stress eating (even though i want to), but i'm eating whatever junk happens to be around. the only "workouts" i've done are my half hour physical therapy sessions when i'm at the chiropractor. trust me when i say that they aren't stenuous. i just don't trust this record. scale says my fat percentage is down two, and my water is up two. my muscle is only up a half point. i've had similar numbers before, but my total weight loss has been modest. so this is freaking me out

because if i actually dropped 6.6 pounds, i've lost my grief weight. if i actually dropped nearly seven pounds, i'm back at the top of my weight range. if this isn't a glitch in the system, i have only 10.8 to hit my new goal and 12.5 weeks to get there. i'm making ridiculous progress

or my scale is trying to psych me out before telling me i really gained this week... i want to be happy about the progress. i just won't be until wednesday

17 in 15

so i've slowly been creeping away from my goal weight over the last six(ish) months. yes, it started with the death of my grandma. yes, it got a little worse with fall semester stress. yes, it got out of control with the holiday season. yes, i'm putting on the breaks. i'm not WAY off base when you look at my numbers, but my eating is a mess with few workouts to speak of

as of today, i'm starting over. my suggested weight: 118-128. my ideal weight: 128-130. my current goal weight: 120*. my deadline is bisc**. this gives me 14 weeks to drop that shit like it's hot. i'm going back to planning every meal with fruit and veg, and i'm going to move three to five days a week. for every extra calorie i burn, i'm only going to eat half (like i did when on weight watchers) if i'm hungry. i will not stuff my face just because the wiggle is there. it's time to stop making excuses and putting shit off. i don't want to end up where i started nearly three years ago. i like this person i've become, and i promised i would keep her

today's weight: 136.6; 16.6 to go (ps it's moments like this that i especially miss the IITGI community)

*this allows for a little gain back while staying within range. gaining is inevitable. i'm hoping for muscle, but we all know that's gonna be tequila weight
**i'm not doing this for bisc; it's just a great hard deadline. otherwise, i may drag this out instead of working at it consistently