Goals for August

I have to admit, I'm having a hard time believing that we are into August already.  The month of July really flew by.  But like it or not, August is upon us and it's time to take stock of my July Goals and see how I did.

July Goal #1 & #2 : Do 30 minutes of cardio every day. Do weight training three times a week. -This is a tough one for me, because I REALLY don't like to exercise.  But I pushed myself hard this month and there were only two days when I didn't do some kind of cardio or weights.  I'm finding the more consistently I exercise, the less I hate it.  By the end of the month, I was even doing 45 minutes rather than 30.  I will admit I would still rather be relaxing on the couch with my knitting . . . . but the workouts aren't the tortuous time in Hell they used to be.

July Goal #3 : Continue to track my meals and snacks, staying within the guidelines set for me to lose weight. - This is an easier goal for me because I am so damn obsessive-compulsive a very organized person by nature.  The SparkPeople web-site and their iPhone app are making it very easy for me to plan what I'm going to eat.  This is especially helpful on "Pizza and Martini Fridays" because I can plug in that high fat / high calorie dinner first thing in the morning and see how many calories and fat grams I have left for the day.  Then I make really healthy food choices for breakfast and lunch.  By the end of the day, I've had my Friday treat without going over my daily calorie or fat allotments.

I'm proud to say that my July Goals led to some pretty good results!!  I lost 8 pounds in July.  Before we all get too excited about that, I should point out that I had gained some weight on the cruise, so overall I'm only down a couple of pounds from where I started.  I'm still proud though!

More importantly to me, since mid-June I've lost 1 3/4 inches from my waist, 2 inches from my hips and an inch from my thighs.  That tells me that I'm losing fat and building muscle.  That's really what is most important to me anyway.

So, what is up for August?  Although it sounds like I did really well in July, there are a few areas where I have slipped.  Mainly drinking water and eating fruits and vegetables.  So those will be my first two goals this month.

• Get back to drinking 8 glasses of water each day.
• Eat 6 to 8 servings for fruits and vegetables each day.
• Kick the cardio up to 40 minutes every day.