So You Want to Start Working Out? PART 1

Have you let go of your excuses yet? Are you ready to get your life in gear and start your journey to a healthier lifestyle?

So now what do you do?

YOU HAVE TO HAVE GOALS.

Now, I am a very type-A person. I wake up in the morning already mapping out my entire day. As a teacher, I am a natural-born planner. I currently know what my students and I will be doing every day for the next week and a half. Can normal people say that about their jobs?

That being said, before my clicking point, I was not very good at planning out how I wanted to reach my weightloss goals. My plans consisted of “I’ll eat some salad” or “I’ll go to the gym.” I lollygagged around with that attitude for years before I got it together, started doing a ton of research, and really thought about what I wanted to achieve. Before I thought about things, I’d try to replace my bad snacks with only slightly better snacks and think I was doing enough (but not seeing results and getting frustrated about it) or I’d go to the gym and just kind of randomly get on machines and use them for a minute or two and move on (also so no results).

Things didn’t really change until I started setting goals for myself. Here are some of the goals that I worked toward in my first year of my journey:

1. Record all food and keep calories at a certain amount.
2. Work on getting macros at the right amount each day.
3. Work out 4-5 times per week, doing cardio each time and alternating parts of the body for strength training.

For the most part, I did a good job (there were periods where I slacked, but I learned a lot about what leads to success and what does not). Recording all of my food and focusing on my macros really helped me to start to see food as more than just food, but a way to fuel my body (“my body is a temple blah blah”). I also went into each of my workouts knowing exactly what I was going to do and I left the gym each time feeling like I had really worked something!

1. A year into this process, I am at a different place. Some of my goals are the same and some of them have changed. For the most part, here they are: 
2. Record ALL food (including the random Hershey Kiss here and there) and keep calories at a certain amount. 
3. Stick to a pre-set meal plan each week in order to get macros at the right amount each day.
4. Drink at least 70-90 ounces per water a day.
5. Work out 6 times per week, focusing on modifying less and less each time I complete a workout.
6. Create less opportunity for injury.
7. Inspire others to work out and be healthy.

What I want you to do over the next few days is think about your own goals. Think about what you want to achieve (lose 20 pounds, drop 2 pants sizes, run a 5k in under 30 minutes, etc.) and then think about HOW you are going to achieve that. Once you have had a chance to do so, I will have a “part 2” of this post that will talk more about what to do once you have set those goals. J