5 Steps to Keep You Focused on Your Fitness Goal

How focused are you on your health and fitness goals??
Usually we start off pretty focused. We are eating healthy, getting our workouts in for a few days in a row. But then something happens. We may start to skip a meal here and there or overeat. Then we may miss a workout or two in a row. Then we start to wonder, "What happened to my plans to lose weight?" We may start to lose FOCUS and motivation when we do not have an Ultimate Goal associated with our actions.

How Do You Stay Focused On Your Weight Loss Goals?

5 Steps to Keep you Focused

1.  Have a GOAL.
How much do you want to weigh? What size do you want to be in? What specific date do you plan to reach that goal?

2.  BREAK that goal down into manageable goals.
Is your ULTIMATE goal to lose 20 lbs? Its seems like a big number. However, when you break that 20 pound goal down into 1 lb a week you know that in about 5 months you will have achieved success. 1 lb a week is a very manageable and not so overwhelming goal.

3. Create a Step-by-Step Written plan on how to achieve your goals.
500 calories less a day means a deficit of 3500 a week or 1 pound loss a week. So will you reduce your calorie intake or increase your activity by 500 calories? You must make a plan to determine how you will create that deficit. A step-by-step written plan will help you to stay focused.

4.  TRACK Your Results. In order to know that you are moving in the right direction, you need to track your achievements. There are several tools that you can use to track your meals, your measurements, weight loss, calories burned etc. My faves are Teambeachbody, MyFitnessPal and journals.

5.  PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK- REWARD YOURSELF
There is no need to wait until you hit the ULTIMATE goal in order to reward yourself. Celebrate small success! Talk about your acheivements with others. Get a facial, buy a new pair of shoes, or clothing or better yet- put on those jeans that were too small last year. Rewarding yourself can help keep you motivated.

Always keep your ultimate goal ahead of you. You should think about your ultimate goal daily as you work through the smaller tasks to get to it. Do whatever it takes to keep your eye on it. I have a dress I want to wear in 6 weeks. So I am going to make that dress my screen saver and keep it hanging somewhere I can see it! I am also going to track my daily habits and progress so I know exactly what direction Im heading in.

 

I am here to help support, motivate and reward

you in your fitness journey. 

If you want help with setting goals and need help with nutrition and finding a fitness program that fits your needs email me at yesprettylanise@gmail.com

Meal Plan Monday

My meal plan for this week has a LOT to do with my weekend. My husband and I visited a restaurant in Indiana for dinner. It’s similar to one that we have dined-in before so we both expected to enjoy our meals. The concept is Brazilian grill, and the men bring you as much meat as you like until you turn your placecard up to say "Stop." But, this one also included seafood (which was yummy)- fish, shrimp, and crab legs. And then there’s the salad bar. We enjoyed our dinner there. The food was great and the staff was too.

Anyhow, there is a chance that I had some undercooked beef. I prefer my meats well but there were a couple mediums on my plate. I just cut off the red and enjoyed the fully cooked portion. But, for my stomach, that wasn't good enough I guess.

Fast-forward to next day and I’m sick as a dog and can’t hold down water. Made a visit to urgent care to stop the madness. And now I don't want to see any meat nowhere near me! I'm not even sure if I will have yogurt or eggs this week. (And I love eggs) I was in so much pain and couldn't sleep without a bucket near my bed for 2 days!

So my meal plan this week is mainly plant based. It works out too since my current challenge group will be working on adding more fruits and veggies to their meals this week. I will be able to share with them some yummy vegetable recipes.

Enjoy!

I will post pics next week!

 

Crafty Mom I Am. LOL

Having kids means Always spending extra money. Sometimes it's not the, "We don't have the money for this."  A lot of times it's "I'm not wasting money on that." Needless to say, 2 theme kid parties within 2 weeks times 3 kids equals 6 costumes/accessories that will never be worn again out the house. One party, a 50s theme, the other a Superheroes theme. The things I could do with the money that I would spend on these parties....

So I got to thinking. There has to be something I can do to make this happen. Having 2 boys who didn't care too much about the 50's theme. I decided to keep them simple. White socks, white t-shirt, cuffed jeans. My daughter though, needed a poodle skirt. I knew I would be better off making the skirt vs buying it. Online they were running around $40- not gone happen. I preferred not to sew and just in time I found a couple no-sew instructions and made it happen for just under $6. Found some inexpensive pink and white felt at the fabric store. Already had sparkly sequins and funky ribbons. Also used my hot glue gun and a button and that's about it..  Even made a skirt for her doll.  Came across a poodle template at www.obseussed.com and resized it to my daughter's shirt and her doll's skirt. Such a fun activity to do with her and Grandma!!

For the Superhero costume party, I decided to go ahead a just do a major search for a few days for the costumes my kids wanted and found pretty good coupon codes online. Four costumes with masks for just under $70 with shipping was the best I could do. However, my youngest really wanted to  be Captain America because he wanted the shield!! Ughhh! That's all he really wanted. Well, I decided that we would have to make the shield and the night before the party, we did.
Used the cardboard box the costumes were shipped in, an old blue folder from last school year, the white packing paper from the costume packaging and red spray paint, which we already had.  Saved myself $20 and the shield actually looked pretty good! Cost- FREE!


I'm pretty crafty by nature, just not always very precise.  Overall, I was pretty pleased with my last couple projects for the kids. More importantly, I showed them that there are plenty of things you can create right at home with supplies we already have and save a little money.

Meal Plan Monday

Here is my meal plan for the week of August 5th.

 

 

 

Again we will be utilizing much from our garden for vegetables at breakfast, salads at lunch and veggie sides at dinner. We also toss spinach, kale, Swiss chard or Bok Choy in the blender when we prepare our shakes.  Meats for the week will include chicken, turkey and steak. Love to include protein at every snack. Cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, hard boiled eggs and string cheese are my faves at snack time.

 

 

 

Here are some pics from last week meals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week went fairly ok. Our first Wednesday "Earth Day" of clean vegan inspired eating went fairly well.  Since we spent a large portion of the day running errands we packed the car with snacks like lots of fresh fruit, baby carrots and almonds. The problem I think was that we felt more like we were snacking all day versus eating meals. It's not that that's a bad thing.  It's just kind of different thing. And then there was also a point where the kids and my husband felt like they ran out of options.

 

This week I will have more options available to them and have a new dinner recipe for us to try out. The kids loved having a large bowl of fresh fruit salad for breakfast and juicing later during the day. So we will keep that part in the plan.

 

We attended 2 parties this weekend that switched up my meal plan in the evening. My meal plans are a guide for me when my schedule is pretty typical. When I remember that I am supposed to be somewhere else, like a party, I make changes in my normal eating routine to accommodate for eating away from home. I usually will eat and drink and possibly have dessert while out. That's just me. So on those days, I simply had a Shakeology in morning and snacked on fruits and vegetables and drank tea and water before heading out to those functions.

BONUS- I weighed myself this week and I am finally pushing past a plateau. Down a couple more pounds and I know that my midsection is tighter and more toned. Will take measurements next Monday.

 

11 Years

The end of August will mark 11 years of wedded bliss for me! Not sure of exact plans for August and October,

(we celebrate twice) but what I am sure of is that I want to look good doing whatever we will do!!

My goal for month end is to lose another 5-7 pounds. That is reasonable and attainable if I am committed to do it. I am ALL about putting in the work. No quick fixes, so I just will have to keep myself in line.

To Keep Myself in Check I will...
 

• Post a meal plan weekly
• Track everyday during week on My Fitness Pal
• Keep my FB Challenge Groups motivated daily
• Complete my Focus T25 Workout according to schedule
• Add in a couple days a week of strength training- Body Beast
• Keep snacks healthy and meals filling
• Drink Shakeology daily
• Continue Wednesday as "Earth Day" (that's what my kids call it)
• Keep processed foods to a minimum. (I do not eliminate food groups)

As always, if you have healthy recipe ideas- PLEASE SHARE!!