Wednesday 27 February 2013

Excuses, Excuses: Part 2: What I am going to do to actually achieve my goals

In part 1 I gave you a pretty good list of why I am not getting out exercising/walking the dog/etc and why I am doing crappy at achieving my New Years Resolution of losing my baby weight and getting back in shape. So now it is time to get a plan together that will keep me focused on getting where I want to be.

Let me start off by setting goals and explaining my reasons.
I have 3 weight goals:
  1. Get back to my pre-pregnancy weight for LB (~30 lbs). 
  2. Get back to my pre-pregnancy weight for Monkey (~45 lbs from where I am now). 
  3.  I would like to be closer to weight I was when I quit competitive swimming in high school, but this goal is more long term and less defined at the moment. 
I have a couple fitness goals:
  1. Be able to do a chin up by the end of 2013 (kind of silly, but I used to be able to do them and it would be nice to do them again).
  2. Be able to swim 3km in less than an hour (I used to be a competitive swimmer, so it should be doable)
  3. Be in good enough shape to snowboard next winter.

It is about 150 days or 21 weeks until my brother gets married. This is my major motivation right now, I want to look more toned and thinner in the photos. Also, it would be healthy to lose the weight. I would like my children to be active, which is a lifestyle I should be demonstrating to them because Monkey See, Monkey Do (and soon LB See, LB Do Too!).


Awkward High School Photo.  Long term target shape/weight


First trimester pregnant with Monkey (weight goal #2)
Here is the plan:
  1. Do something active for a minimum of 30 minutes everyday. Hitting the gym, taking kiddos swimming, walking the dog, yoga, skating, xc skiing... lots of options out there. Since deciding to blog about my fitness goals I found MyOnlineYoga which for about the same price as Netflix gives you unlimited access to hundreds of yoga and pilates class videos. They range in length from a few minutes to a couple hours so I can do a short class while kids nap! I could also dance along with the kids videos we have for Monkey.
  2. Just before getting pregnant with LB I saw a personal trainer and she gave me 2 sets of exercises I could do at home with almost no equipment. I will call these Set A* and Set B*. She designed the 2 sets to be done alternate days, a hard day (Set A) and an easier day (Set B). If I go through do 3 rep of the whole set it takes about 40 minutes, I work up a good sweat and it feels pretty good.
  3. Part of losing weight will be to eat better. Smaller portions, more veggies, less chocolate cake. I am going to be tracking calories using Livestrong's MyPlate. MyPlate allows you to track almost any food you can buy, and allows you to build meals that you regularly eat to make tracking easier. I'm not sure I will have time to track everyday, but it should help me get a better idea of how much is the right amount to be eating for my target weight.
  4. I currently drink my coffee with 2 milk and 2 sugar. I am not going to give that up on the first cup of the day just yet, but I will try to drink the rest of my coffee for the day black. Or drink more water instead. Also, if I was really hardcore I would give up chocolate, but that is not feasible because if I try to tell myself "No chocolate" it is all I want to eat.
So I think this is a good start. I will do a check in update in a couple weeks. 
Here is photo from today. I think it is good to have a before photo just to reference any progress being made:
Feb 27th, weight (not a number I am happy with)

I'm off too start changing my bad habits!!
GeoMama

*Note: Some of the exercises below with odd names can be found here
Set A

  • 10-15 squats
  • 10 walkouts 
  • 20 toe taps/leg
  • 10 lunge pulses/leg
  • 30-45 sec plank
  • 20 birddogs
  • 10 push ups (start with knee ones and advance to full ones)
  • 10 mountain climbers/leg
  • 30 jumping jacks
Set B

  • 20 Wide leg squat pulses
  • 15-20 curls with tubing (or resistance bands)
  • 12-15 Bench dips
  • 30 toe taps/leg
  • rotating plank (10sec/side to start)
  • 20 supermans
  • 15 lateral raises
  • 20-30 heel raises

Update (Feb 28, 2013): After posting this initially, I was sent this photo and I think it fits well in here.


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