First Steps

There are many ways that I could begin this journey, but the first steps that I will take will be toward better health. I've been lurking on several sites that are weight loss and health-oriented and they've given me lots of ideas. Setting and working towards better health is a great place to start, since no matter how much I acheive I will be doing something good for myself.

Hmmm. Good goals. . . .
Let's think of the big picture first. Where would I like to be?

• I would like to eat a healthy diet.
• I would like to be strong, fit, and flexible.
• I would like to have good coping strategies for stressful situations.
• I would like to build a strong and fulfilling relationship with my husband, family, and friends.
• I would like to lose about 30 pounds.

Kind of a big picture, I guess. Some of these are inter-connected so work on one will be double the fun. I know that the biggest problem I will have is creating small habits that work towards these big goals. First of all, I think that I will ignore the 30 pounds goal. I hope that will be the result of the first three, but if not I'll still be doing pretty good. I think that the easiest thing to start with will be the healthy diet and after all, I'm going to be eating something even if I don't do anything else! So, I guess I'll need to break that one down into baby steps.


STEP 1: A Healthy Diet.

I guess what I mean by a healthy diet is one that looks more like the new food pyramid, more whole grains, fruits, veggies. I put my stats into the mypyramid.gov website and it suggests that my diet contain: 3 oz of generic grains, 3 oz of whole grains, 2.5 cups of veggies, 1.5 cups of fruit, 3 cups of milk, 5 oz. of meat, and 5 tsp of oils. I'm ignoring the discretionary calories because it confuses me a bit, time for that later. I would also like to drink the equivalent of eight glasses of water a day--64 oz.

I don't think I've hit a baby step yet! hah!

Actually, drinking 64 oz. of water a day is kind of a mini-goal and one that I know I can do! On the other hand, eating veggies is hard for me; I just don't do it and we've been so busy that we haven't been eating at home. It's so hard to find good veggies out. I guess that's where I'll start. These two mini-goals are the beginning!

To acheive these mini-goals I will: bring my water bottle to school with me and drink one glass with each meal; either bring my lunch with one cup of veggies or have at least one cup of veggies; plan on more dinners at home with at least one cup of veggies.

I'll try to do this for two weeks before I add any more changes. If I'm successful at this, then I'll add another mini-goal. All the while, I'm going to keep doing my usual things: exercising a few times a week, eating generally well, and studying. I'm going to try and make some charts or graphics.

Also, I added a link to Renee's site. I really like her challenges and goals for herself as well as the inspirational quotes she posts.