Goals and Preparations

Tomorrow is the beginning of the 90-day challenge. I'm not sure why, but I thought it started on 10/1. Perhaps it was wishful thinking. I've been thinking about my goals and what I want to accomplish. Here's where I am so far:

Food

1. Meal planning and preparation. Heather and I have worked hard this year to reduce, and in some areas eliminate, our eating of processed foods and things like HFCS, MSGs, etc. When I've dieted in the past, frozen meals like Healthy Choice and others have been food staples, so for me, planning will be a critical part of this challenge. We are typically pretty good about planning our dinner menus each week, but I've never planned my breakfasts or lunches. So, tonight I'll be mapping out those meals for the rest of the week and I'll take a quick trip over to Publix to get the things I need.

2. Journaling. I really hate journaling my food, but I know that it works. I might not stick with this for the full 90-days, but I am going to keep track of what I eat for the first 30 days at least. I have a little notebook in my purse that will be my friend for this goal. I'll post here about some of my discoveries, favorite recipes or ideas but likely won't post daily food journals.

3. No more candy bowl. There is a lovely woman in my office who keeps the whole place afloat with her candy bowls. I like her, but I secretly hate her candy bowls. What makes it worse is that the candy sits right next door to me. So beginning tomorrow, the candy is dead to me. It'd be swell if she could just not buy any more chocolate, but I don't think that's going to happen. I think I'm going to have to imagine that a family of spiders has taken residence in the chocolate bowl, because that will certainly keep me away.

4. Eating out. I'm not going to be all crazy and say no more eating out, because, well - that's just not realistic. What I will commit to is eating healthier when I am out. Less fries - more salads, fruits or steamed veggies. Seems fair enough.

Exercise

This is the part where equal parts excited/nervous about this challenge. I really suck at keeping up with a regular exercise routine. So I'm going to start small and work my way towards bigger. Here's what I am starting with:

1. Parking far away from the office door and walking more. Thank you to my brilliant and lovely niece for reminding me of this tip. We have a HUGE parking lot at my office, so I will do this on non-rainy days (I typically don't have/use an umbrella when it rains).

2. Taking the stairs. This one makes me roll my eyes because it reminds me of living in NYC. For the most part, I hated living in NYC. One of the biggest reasons I hated living in NYC was the stairs. They were everywhere. So here I am - 2 flights of stairs up to my office and 2 flights of stairs down to the parking lot. I can do it but I will hate it. What I will think of is the fact that while living with those horrible stairs in NYC, I actually lost 2 pant sizes so I will grudgingly admit that they are good for something. I'll also remind myself that it's not stairs to the subway which I hated the most. Blech.

3. Walking. I want to start walking 3 times a week, a mile each time. By the middle of November I'd like to be walking 2 miles at a time and/or perhaps one or two more times a week. I need to get a couple of new play lists together for this goal. Looking forward to listening to Florence and the Machine and the Gossip during my walks!

That's where I am starting from, but I'm sure my goals will morph as I go along. Thanks again, Chuck, for the idea an inspiration! I'm excited!