May Goals

I've been wanting to post my monthly goals on the blog for a while.  I figured it would be a good way to make myself more accountable and actually get stuff done.  Well, being the procrastinator that I am, I have failed to post said goals.  But, that's all going to change this month!  Here's the launch of my monthly goals.  At the end of the month, I'll revisit them and see how well I kept up my end of the deal.  Who knows what this month will bring, but I'm excited to see what is going to happen!

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Proud

I'm extremely proud of this image.

On Sunday, I ran a mile.  I ran a full mile without stopping or slowing down at all!  I ran on the treadmill - so I know that I kept the same pace the whole way.  I ran this mile in 11 minutes.  Okay, technically 11:01, but that's oh so close to 11.  An 11 minute mile may not sound "great" to you, but this is honestly the first time I think I have ever run a full mile without stopping.  Even in elementary school, I ended up stopping at some point during that dreaded mile run.  Words cannot describe how proud I am of myself for accomplishing this goal!  

Here's where this post gets a little personal.  I've never EVER shared my weight.  With anyone (except for maybe two people).  It's not something that I've ever been proud of.  But considering where I currently am, I feel okay with sharing this information with you.  I hope that this will make me more accountable for my actions - the time I spend at the gym and the food I put in my mouth - and will lead me further to my ultimate goal.

I signed up for Weight Watchers Online on December 21 (and I started going to the gym at the beginning of January).  At this time, I was 226 pounds.  A number that I will never, ever see again! :)  I weigh in every Friday, and this past Friday, I was 194.4 pounds!  As they say on The Biggest Loser - I'm in ONE-derland, and I'm never going back!!  

Since December 21, I've lost 31.6 pounds!

I've even reached a few non-scale victories!  Since I've started this weight loss journey, I've lost 3 inches in my waist, 1.5 inches in my hips, 0.5 inch in my thighs and I've gone down almost 2 pants sizes!  

There are so many people who know about this journey I'm on, and it feels good when they give me compliments on how I look.  However, I've recently started receiving so many compliments from people who don't know that I'm doing this - and that's when you know it's really working!  So many of the new clothes that I bought for school at the beginning of the year don't fit anymore, which is very exciting!  I keep thinking I need to go shopping for new clothes that actually fit, but then I think, "what if I buy these clothes and they don't fit in a few weeks?!"  What do you do in situations like this?  Guess I'm going to have to start thrift store shopping more!!  

There have been plenty of times that I've been proud of myself, however, this moment definitely tops all the others!  It's great to know that all the hard work, sweat, and money that I've put into this weight loss journey is paying off!  

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096. Reach 100 followers.

I'm not a blogger who dreams of having 1000+ followers.  But I did set two small goals, of first having 50 readers, and then a second goal of 100.  This blog is really a place for me to blog about my life, school, and everything in between.  An online journal, if you will.  But it is nice to know that there are people who are interested in following my blog and my life.  Typically, these readers and I have some of the same interests.  When someone follows my blog, I go check out their blog - and, usually, it's a blog I love because of our shared interests!  I have (virtually) "met" so many amazing bloggers and I can't wait to meet more!  

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087. Set up a 403B Savings account.

This is just a quick post for today.  There's not a whole lot to share for this, it's really just to update my 101 Goals in 1001 Days list.  Eventually (if I'm ever allowed to, haha), I'd like to retire.  I'd also like to retire with some money saved so I can live life as a retiree :)  So, to help with that, I finally got around to setting up my Savings account.  

Yep, today was pretty much a boring post, I know!  But just take this public service announcement to heart.  The longer you wait to set up your account, the less you will have saved for retirement.  If you haven't started a retirement account, go now and do!  

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011. See a play.

When I created my 101 Goals list, and I wrote up this goal, I had in mind going to New York or seeing a Broadway style play.  However, it turned into something better.  A friend and I went a few weeks ago to see a play put on by The Children's Theatre of South Hill.  What a great way to spend the evening!!  The performers were all between the ages of 7 and 22, and they performed Snow White!  It was a fun play with innovative costumes and set design.  A wonderful production by a local group of actors!  I throughly enjoyed this play!

Have you seen any good plays lately?

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055. Lose 20 pounds. 058. 5% Weight Loss

**Normally, I don't like to post two 101 updates in one post.  However, I've been a slacker blogger lately, and these almost go hand in hand, so I'm making an exception this time!**

This is the goal.  When you are a member of Weight Watchers (even though you don't follow the plan perfectly) and a member of the YMCA, the goal is to lose weight.  I want to lose a lot of weight, but I didn't want to get overwhelmed in the process and easily frustrated if it didn't come off as easily and as quickly as I would like.  So, I'm setting smaller goals.  Weight Watchers focuses on small victories, every 5 pounds lost, etc.  So, I've been stretching for the next five pounds gone.  It makes the weight loss process much easier!  

My first "big" goal was to lose 20 pounds, and I can happily say that I've finally managed to reach that goal!  I've only been a member of Weight Watchers (this time) since December 27 and I've only been going to the gym since the beginning of January.  Of course, we'd all like the weight to fall off quickly, but I'm very happy with my progress so far!

The chart above shows my weight loss progress by the week.  As you can see, I've lost every, single week!  I know that won't happen forever, and this will probably change soon, but at the time of this image, I had lost something every single week!  That's a huge victory in itself, no?!  

As you can see in the graph above, the colored stars all have different meanings.  The orange star is your first five pound weight loss mark!  That's a huge victory!  Once you hit the first five pounds, the next five pounds doesn't seem so far away!  The pink stars are every five pounds after your first five.  See what I mean about small goals?  Makes the whole process that much easier!  And the gray star above?  That would be my 5% weight loss!!  YES!  5% is huge, and the better news?  Since I reached my 5% a while ago (and have just been a slacker blogger), I'm so close to my 10%!  And I couldn't be happier about that!  

P.S.  The screenshots in this post are from Weight Watchers E-Tools.  They are excellent tools provided for WW members to help with the weight loss!

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For real, this time...

So, the last time I blogged, I lied.  I said that I was back after an "unscheduled blog hiatus."  Well, as it turns out, I took another hiatus after that post.  But I'm back this time, for real.  I mean, I really hope to be back and blogging consistently - only when I have something to say, because who wants to read blogging babble?  Not me!! :)  Anyways, I've got a lot of things to blog about in the near future...including, but not limited to the following...

- updates on my 101 in 1001 Goals
- recipes I've recently tried - and loved
- my (extremely) recent trip to Disney World
- my newly redesigned (and almost finished) office
- life and everything in between

I'll leave you today with a picture.  Just one, because I don't want to spoil an upcoming post - and a blog post really is boring without a photo, don't you agree?!  These are two of my favorite photos from my Disney World trip - printed and framed within three hours of leaving the airport!

I'll see you back here (very) soon!  I promise that I'll have some good things to share!  The blog hiatus' have stopped! :)

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