talkhealth Blog

Okay – so I spoke a while ago about goals. In fact, I speak about goals quite a lot – I think they are important!

I have my Christmas goal of getting my 18st award…but I also have a sneaky Christmas goal of getting under the 25st mark. When I lost 8st I then started a new job and it all went tits up. I know that I was 25st something or other…I just cannot remember what the ‘other’ was. So my goal is to get to 24st 13.5lbs before Christmas if I can. Or the first weigh in of the New Year; that would be okay too!

Let’s get a little bit more ‘scientific’ though. I have set quite a few goals in my work and private life – although it’s not so private now really considering I write bloody everything on here. The thing about goals is that they need to have a few components to make them work…you may have heard of SMART goals before, but if not…

Specific
Measurable
Achievable and Attainable
Relevant
Time-Bound

So let’s look at these in a bit more detail:

Specific: Vagueness does not cut it here I am afraid! Clear and concise goals that make you want to work for them. If you tell your mind what it is – exactly – that you want to do, it will help you out.

Measurable: How will you know that you have achieved your goal if you don’t have a measure. A goal of losing lots of weight is great…that is my goal! Yet what is the first thing you wonder when someone mentions losing weight…”How much?” Have a clear measure – how much weight do you want to lose, and by when. This measure can help in terms of motivation – I have a success chart with shiny stickers on it at home, and I use the online tracker with Slimming World…it keeps me going to see more stickers and a chart with a line that is in decline!

Achievable: This was one of the things that I used to struggle with in terms of my weight loss goal. I kept looking at the finish – I need to lose over 32st, how the feck do I do it, and where do I start?! So I struggled to get started at it was all so bloody overwhelming. You have to make sure that your goal is doable. I broke my weight loss into 3st segments and have a chart with a page for each of these…now, I actually focus on the next award – so 7lb goals instead of 42lbs goals…and certainly not the 453.5lbs total weight loss goal! If you aim too high, you lose focus and it becomes meaningless – and a lack of focus on something meaningless leads to no action…which leads to a fatter arse, lower self-esteem and a general sense of peed offness!

Relevant: Focus on one goal at a time. Make it incredibly relevant to your current circumstance. A relevant goal can answer yes to these questions: Does this seem worthwhile? Is this the right time? Does this match my other efforts/needs? Try not to link goals – so having things that are unconnected – such as losing 7lbs this month and enrolling on a university course. Is the 7lbs loss linked to the university course…if not, then don’t confuse your mind. Let it focus on the goal you really want to achieve.

Time-bound: You need a start and you need an end. I kept promising myself that I would lose weight. When?! When are you going to commit. By what point in time do you want to lose that first 7lbs? Keep the focus on the short term, and break bigger goals down into bite-sized chunks…oh the irony in talking about bite-sized chunks with weight loss goals…maybe having less bite-sized chunks should be a goal in itself! Set a date for your goal and bloody well give it your all!

As for other goal related tips – write them down. I find having a journal or a list of my goals – so that I can tick them off – is a great motivator. Some people will say that having goals puts too much pressure on them…I would say that their goals aren’t SMART in that case. Seriously – if you feel too much pressure then your goal is too big. A goal should motivate you…not comatose you into a lack of action.

Share your goals with someone – this can help with the accountability. Scary perhaps, to be accountable…but being fat and unhealthy is a pretty scary place to be. I know which scary place I would rather choose.

I have already harped on about breaking your goal into smaller chunks. Do this – please! If you don’t then you aren’t going to get very far. Once your small goal has been hit, set another one. The goal-setting process is something that I think about on a weekly basis. It gives you something to aim for…and it can be quite good fun too!

Get creative and find your inner child. We all learn differently. Some people like words. Some people like sounds. Some people like pictures…what appeals to you? I am a bugger and kind of like all of it really. So I write my goals down, I use old magazines and cut out pictures for collages, and I even record some of my goals so that I can play them back to myself. Do whatever makes you excited and whatever makes you want to achieve that goal.

When it comes to achieving those goals, only you can do it. I can certainly help you identify some goals though and get them looking SMART – so give me a shout if you want some help with this bit!

As for my goals…

1 – Get my 18st award at the pre-Christmas weigh in. I have six more weigh ins and I have 11lbs to lose…so I need 1.83lbs loss each week!

2 – For my sneaky Christmas wish – being under the 25st mark – I need to lose 17lbs…so that would be a weekly loss of 2.83lbs.

3 – My goal of losing 250lbs – as it’s a nice round number! – is 9lbs away. I would like to have this by the 10th December, which is a 2.25lb loss each week.

4 – One of my goals relates to my stomach not touching the steering wheel! This is a harder one to attain…the weight is coming off, but I am shaped like the Teletubbies and so the steering wheel and my stomach keep meeting. On days when I have been to the gym, there is 1cm clearance! On days when I haven’t been to the gym, there can be a little brushing going on. So I would like to have a decent steering wheel clearance by the New Year. Not sure that this is a SMART goal…but it’s my fecking goal and I am keeping it!

5 – My next big goal will be my 20st award. This is 39lbs off for me. I am aiming to do this by the end of February. This one could be a bit of a stretch – it needs a loss of 2.6lbs each week on average. I can only give it my best.

6 – Not wanting to think too far ahead – as I like to reassess all goals after the next one has been reached – but I am aiming to be back in the saddle this year – eek! My Mums mare is a big girl and all ‘professionals’ have said that she will carry 23st with relative ease. I don’t want to put that much weight on her though, but would love to sit on her when I reach the 20st mark – which is 6st 2.5lbs away. My birthday is in the middle of June, and there is 30 weeks until then…which is just over 2.88lbs per week.

The gym and pool and continuing my healthy eating will get me there…as will the mind tools that help me along – such as goal setting. Some of my goals might be a stretch, but I do my best to reach them. And generally, I am not annoyed if I don’t quite make it…if I hadn’t been trying to reach it in the first place, then I would probably still be sitting on the sofa. In fact, I would likely be ordering a takeaway tonight and not considering tomorrow’s ‘on plan’ meals.

That’s it from me! Today has been another good one. I woke up early thanks to a service message from Orange on my phone! I then got ready for an Aquafit class – it was so busy! Apparently they have up to 32 people in it at times…goodness knows what the waves would be like, as the 20 or so people in the group today were making a few splashes! After that I took my other half to his canoeing place whilst I then headed over to the horses. The plan had been to get my Mum on board…but the saddle had other ideas and kept slipping! So the ride turned into a walk, which was fine…it means our mare won’t be so spooky when she is ridden. I got my youngest lads new rug on – he seemed very pleased! My Welsh lad had somehow buggered his rug up in the night though, and was not so pleased to be put in the rug I had just taken off my other one…he seemed most disgusted that he was wearing the clothes of the lowest horse in the pecking order! After this, I collected my other half and we came home to relax for the night. I am in the thick of series 3 of Prison Break…and loving it – so more of this will be watched tonight.

Breakfast: Bananas and a HiFi bar (1 x HEB).

Lunch: Smoked salmon and cream cheese Ryvita with tomatoes and a clementine (1 x HEB, 2 x HEA and 5 syns).

Dinner: Ribeye steak with roasted cheese pepper, butternut squash, red onion, mushroom and tomatoes (6 syns).

Snacks: Pineapple and Greek yogurt with 2 rice cakes (3 syns).

A lovely food day! Brekkie was just quick and simple before heading to the gym. Lunch was eaten on the hop but was gorgeous – Ryvita topped with garlic and herb Philadelphia and then topped with smoked salmon. I had an extra Ryvita and some extra cheese, which accounts for the 5 syns. And I now know that Christmas is on the way…when the stores stock clementines with the leaves on, you know the festive season has arrived! Dinner was lush too. I did the stuffed peppers and synned the cheese for them. I roasted the butternut squash and onion with the peppers and mushrooms, cooked the steak and added some fresh tomatoes – it was gorgeous. 0% Total Greek has to be my current favourite dessert…it feels really decadent and the pineapple with it is ace…try it!

Exercise: 45 minutes Aquafit and 10 minutes of leg exercises in the pool…trying to practice my swimming legs…as they currently look like doggy paddle ones!

Thank you for reading – I would love to hear some of your goals too!

Weight Loss Bitch xxx

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WeightLossBitch

On a health and fitness driven journey to lose over 32st / 448lbs / 203kgs – yes, it is a considerable amount – I am committed to losing my excess weight without the aid of weight loss surgery, diet pills, or quick fixes…as there aren’t any! Changing my eating habits and building up my fitness levels, along with addressing the ‘head issues’ will be crucial in order for me to achieve my goal. Living in England as a 31 year old super morbidly obese woman can be challenging to say the least. I have been shouted at in the street and verbally abused far too many times to mention; hence the name ‘Weight Loss Bitch’…the day I am just called a ‘bitch’ instead of a ‘fat bitch’ will be the day that I know I have cracked my weight loss! With many reasons to lose this weight I am documenting my journey for a number of reasons. Firstly, I would like to keep a record of the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the challenges I face with such an enormous task to tackle. Secondly, I would also like to inspire and encourage other people who are in a similar situation and to show them that significant amounts of weight can be lost naturally…with a bit of motivation, hard work, dedication and will power. Thirdly, all of the blogging, Facebook-ing, Tweet-ing, Pinterest-ing and YouTube-ing keeps me occupied and keeps my fingers out of the fridge!