Goals & Guiidelines for 2010

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." ~ ConfuciusA few days ago I created a new post titled "Goals for 2010" which outlined several fitness goals and how I planned to achieve them. I've since saved that post as a draft so I could take a different approach. This post will present my overall goals & guidelines for 2010, which focuses on 3 categories: Fitness, nutrition & mental health (BALANCE). I'll list my overall goals, followed by specific goals & the guidelines that I plan to follow to achieve my specific & overall goals.

At some point in the near future, I'll create a new post dedicated to each of the 3 categories outlining how I plan to accomplish the goals specific to that category using the S.M.A.R.T mnemonic.

Overall Fitness Goal: I would like to become far more physically active this year. I want to improve my cardiovascular capacity and my overall strength. As I lose weight I'm hoping my knee will be able to withstand more strenuous activities.

Fitness Activity Goals:
1. Complete the "One Hundred Push Ups Training Program"
2. Complete the "CN Tower Climb for WWF"
3. Complete the "CIBC Run for the Cure"
4. To start bike riding.
5. To start hiking (local trails).
6. To start Kayaking.
7. To join the local Curling Club.
8. To start Cross Country skiing.
9. To start Snow Shoeing.
10. To start Skating
11. Join Akido Club.
12. To start Geocaching.

Fitness Guidelines:
1. To upload my BodyMedia collected data daily.
2. To burn +3200 calories each day.
3. To burn +500 more calories than I consume.
4. To get +60 mins exercise each day (50 mins moderate & 10 mins Vigorous).
5. To walk +5000 Steps each day.
6. To purposely park father away from my destination.
7. To walk/bike more often as an alternative to driving.
8. To allocate 1 day a week to rest.


Overall Nutrition Goals: I recognize that this is one area that needs to be completely overhauled in my life. The funny thing is that I actually well read & educated on the topic. My goal is to successfully use this knowledge and put it into action.

Nutrition Guidelines:
1. To log my meals & snacks daily. (Using BodyMedia "Activity Manager")
2. To drink 8+ 8 oz glasses of water each day.
3. To eat 5-6 times daily.
4. To eat slowly, chew more and enjoy my food.
5. To consume 5-10 servings of fruit & vegetable each day.
6. To reduce/eliminate Saturated Fat and Trans Fats.
7. To reduce sodium intake to below 2300 mg/day.
8. To prepare & eat more meals @ home, while reducing dining out.
9. To eliminate visits to Fast Food Restaurants when dining out. (Banned List)


Overall Mental Health Goals: In the past I've allowed stress to build up without a means of coping with it beyond the comfort of food... I've always been an emotional eater. My new goal is a two pronged approach. Firstly I need to reduce the overall stress in my life. Secondly I need to create new coping mechanisms to deal more effectively with stress. Achieving/following my above fitness goals/guidelines would be a great start.

Mental Health Goals:
1. To become a volunteer @ The General Hospital, Health & Sciences Centre.

Mental Health Guidelines:
1. To get between 7-8 hrs sleep daily.
2. To allocate +15 mins daily to reading.
3. To listen to music often.
4. To watch a movie once a week.
5. To research & start practicing meditation/relaxation techniques.
6. To take 2-3 mins every hour or so to take few deep breaths/stretch.
7. To organize and complete a weekly To-Do list.
8. To maintain my blog & relationships online.
9. To keep contact with my friends & family.
10. To have 1 cheat meal & desert each week.

P.S: Sherri wanted to know where the "Sherri" category was and I had to explain to her that she was an integral part of the other 3 categories.... to which her response was "but where is the buy Sherri presents goal?". It's going to be a long year....lol.

I plan to update/modify this list throughout the year!

To Do List

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." ~ John Lennon ~ Sean D'Sousa (used by permission)

As a person with A.D.D a To-Do List is an absolute MUST when trying to remain focused and on top of daily/weekly tasks. Keeping on top of things helps me reduce stress, and reducing stress helps me remain content and happy.......a key to Mental Wellness.

I've decided to change the To-Do List items and the post date to the beginning of each week as there's no need to populate my blog with a tonne of past completed lists.

Notes for this week:

This week will likely be as crazy as the last, but hopefully I'll be able to knock off a few things.

Weekly chores:

- gather garbage & take it out to curb.
- water plants
- dust house
- sweep/vacuum house

Monthly Chores:

- take recycling out
- empty dehumidifier water

To Do List: items to be completed before Feb. 1st, 2010
(High Priority items are red)

- build book shelf in basement (stage 4)
- return items to store & pick up more wood for bookshelf
- insulate the outside wall switch/plug outlets
- convert slide canister #7, 8, and 9 to digital format
- clean bird cage
- take donated books to library
- clean compost container
- read more of "Life Without Ed"
- contact hospital to volunteer
- contact MUN Akido Club
- attend 1st Akido Class
- Remind Kev to get website info...... again (never ending battle).
- try to get surround working for T.V
- contact Service Canada & have account info changed
- use online JobBank

Future To Do's:

- get the website info & PS3 files of Kevin
- start/finish "My weight, My life: Part 4" post for blog
- read 1st chapter of my meditation book
- get new drivers license, ownership & plates
- empty book boxes onto new book shelf
- build cork board display area for Josh & Vanessa's art
- hang up family photo's
- organize hardware racks (screws, nails, bolts, etc.) in garage

Spring/Summer To Do's

- paint front walkway
- build ground level deck at rear of house
- build a window box for Sherri's office
- build a storage shed

Week #236: In Review

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
~ Winston Churchil

~ Nick D. Kim (strange-matter.net) used by permission

This week turned out great. I did really well in all regards. There's always room for improvement, and one thing I could still use some work on would be consistency, in regards to exercise. I'm making a lot of headway in all aspects of my life & I'm very proud of my progress.

Here's last week results:

	Last Week	This Week	Result
Weight:	241.9 lbs.	240.5 lbs.	- 1.4 lbs.
Body Fat:	38.9 %	37.5 %	- 1.4 %
Lean Body Mass:	147.80 lbs.	150.31 lbs.	+2.51 lbs.
# of Steps:	41,318	41,468	+ 150 Steps

Here is a copy of BodyMedia Summary Report.
Week #236 - Summary Report (Feb.1st - Feb.7st, 2010)
I'm looking forward to further success in Week# 237, and I would like to wish the same success for everyone else!

Day 1724: Beat My Record

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." ~ Jim Rohn

Last Saturday I managed to beat my previous calorie burn record by helping a friend reorganize his garage & a good elliptical workout... well yesterday I beat that record doing the very same things. Sherri and I watched the 2nd half of the Superbowl yesterday, and during the 4th quarter I checked my step total for the day and realized that I was going to fall short for my weekly total, so I hopped onto the elliptical for 30mins... rechecked my total... hopped on for another 15mins... rechecked my total... hopped on for a final 5mins and called it quits.

Sherri thought I was nuts for being obsessed about my total. She reminded me that although I might not of walked as much this week, I burnt up more calories on a daily from activities like shoveling, building the bookcase...etc. She was right of course... but I still wanted to beat my previous weeks step total... which in the end helped me beat my previous calorie burn total in a single day.

	New Record	Previous Record
# Calories Burned in a Day:	4269	4177 – Jan.30th

I wonder how long it'll be before I'm able to break 5000?

Men's Health Minute #1

"It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic substances and just gave me the names of the one or two things still safe to eat"
~ Robert Fuoss

As you know one of my favourite magazines is Men's Health, and their website is full of useful information... albeit, a little bit hard to find exactly what you're looking for due to their poor search engine.

Article - "Should You Splurge on Organic Fruit?

Every now & then I'll feature one of their "Men's Health Minute" video's... Enjoy.

Thursday Funnies: Volume 8

"The aim of a joke is not to degrade the human being, but to remind him that he is already degraded." ~ George Orwell

~ Source Unknown

I love this picture.... and no I'm not a soccer fan; which is why I love this picture so much. I've tried to find a few sources of cartoons to use on my site, but unfortunately the everything I find is copyrighted and requires outrageous sums of money to use the image. The going rate to use a single image on a non-profit blog for a 1 year period is $15.00 - 30.00 which is ridiculous.

Setting Goals

"Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals." ~ Aristotle

Note: This post was originally posted Jan.26th on another blog I contribute to titled "Men Getting Fit". My next post will be dealing with this topic.

I don't know about the rest of you, but setting goals has always been a challenge for me.... well, maybe not setting them, but actually achieving them. Sometimes my goals are too lofty, sometimes they're set too far in the future, other times there demise occurs by element beyond my control.

I've been tossing around this subject in my head for more than a few weeks now, and I've been doing a bit of research to help make 2010 more successful.

Apparently, a great way to make goals successful and more powerful is to use the S.M.A.R.T or S.M.A.R.T.E.R mnemonic; which stands for:

S - Specific (Significant, Stretching, Simple)
M - Measurable (Meaningful, Motivational, Manageable)
A - Attainable (Appropriate, Achievable, Agreed Upon, Action Oriented)
R - Relevant (Realistic, Reasonable, Rewarding, Results Oriented)
T - Time-bound (Timely, Trackable, Tangible)
E - Evaluate (Excitable, Ethical)
R - Reevaluate (Rewarded, Revisited, Recorded)

Source ~ Wikipedia

Goals such as: losing weight, improving my eating habits, being able to finish a 10k run, are not S.M.A.R.T goals, and are therefore far less likely to succeed.

So based on that criteria I'm going to focus on creating some short, medium & long term goals for 2010....... what are your goals going to be? Are they S.M.A.R.T goals?

Day 1718

"Those who think they have not the time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." ~ Edward Stanley

Yesterday Sherri and I went skating at the local arena... which is a huge milestone for both of us since it's been over 15 yrs since we've both done so. Sherri's been wanting to go skating for a really long time, but a few things were holding us (me) back. I was really worried about injuring my knee, but more importantly, I didn't even own a pair of skates.

I'm not sure if I've blogged about this yet, but just before I returned home from Ontario I finally purchased a custom made knee brace. I'll have to blog about my knee brace in more detail in the future, but for now lets just say that it goes a long way in helping to alleviate my fear in participating in physical activity.

The only thing I needed now was a pair of skates.... which I received as a Christmas present from Sherri (thanks baby).

So, knee brace on, and skates in hand, Sherri and I headed off to the local arena for the "Adult Skate" from 10-11am. I was really surprised by how easy it was after all this time. Don't get me wrong... I was anything but graceful, but it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as I had pictured .

We didn't break any speed records, but more importantly we didn't break anything. We didn't stay for the full hour, but we both worked up a bit of a sweat... and more importantly had a lot of fun.

We're already planning to return next week.

Messing Around

"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence." ~ Buddha

I'm currently messing around with my blogs appearance.
Don't despair, all will be set right in due time... I hope!

Feedback is most welcome.

UPDATE: It seem to be coming along... just a bit of tinkering left.

Week #235: In Review

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
~ Winston Churchill

This week was definitely tougher. I was off to a great start at the beginning of the week (I might of even started out too hard exercise wise), had a mid-week slump, and picked myself back up towards the end. When I say slump, I didn't revert back to my old ways... I just didn't put as much effort in as the rest of the week, which is nothing to be ashamed of or worry about. I'm pleased with my progress; especially since I've now been on target for a full month... something I haven't done since last year. Here's last week results:

	Last Week	This Week	Result
Weight:	243 lbs.	241.9 lbs.	- 1.1 lbs.
Body Fat:	39.2 %	38.9 %	- 0.3 %
Lean Body Mass:	147.74 lbs.	147.80 lbs.	+0.06 lbs.
# of Steps:	40,900	41,318	+ 418 Steps

Here is a copy of BodyMedia Summary Report. The fullscreen view doesn't seem to work for me.... but I'm not sure what's causing the problem. Hopefully it works for everyone else.
Week #235 - Summary Report (Jan.25th - Jan.31st, 2010)
I'm looking forward to further success in Week# 236, and I would like to wish the same success for everyone else!

Day 1715: Beat My Record

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." ~ Jim Rohn

On Saturday I put in 32 mins on the elliptical and spent a bit over 3hrs helping a friend reorganize his garage... but I really didn't expect to beat any records.

	New Record	Previous Record
# Calories Burned in a Day:	4177	3510 – Jan.19th

I wonder how long it'll be before I'm able to break 5000?

Day 1714

"An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises." ~ Mae West

Yesterday was probably my toughest day this month. I felt a bit tired and mopey, which I allowed to translate into inactive and emotional eating. Sherri was kinda feeling the same way (she had a really busy work week & as a result she was exhausted), and this allowed us to play of each others weakness.

I've been doing an amazing job this month with controlling my cravings, emotional eating and binging.... so I'm not too concerned with yesterdays outcome. The most important thing is that even before the end of the day Sherri and I talked about the way we felt, the actions we took (or didn't take) and how we might approach a similar day next time.... which makes yesterday a success in the end.

Before I turned in for the night I said "tomorrow's a new day".

As for today.... I'm back on track. I had a healthy breakfast & lunch, and I've already put 32 mins in on the elliptical.