Journal - Day 1 - How do you stick to your goals?

[bethany6473]

I didnt work out today, like I had planned. I didnt eat well or even better than normal, like I had planned. Ive been in a cycle of over eating for so long... I think breaking those habits is going to be hard. But Im sitting down now, to set some goals for myself to begin to live a bitter lifestyle.

1. Do what I set out to do!

2. Drink 8oz of water before lunch and dinner

3. Don't over eat at any meal

4. Start the day with a walk

5. Dont forget to floss and use mouth wash (I have the unfortunate genetics to be cavity prone)

6. Use my face cream every day!

[Blossom03 5lbs]

Sounds like a great plan 😊 An instructor at my gym gave me some great advice. Not to set my goals too high or set too many of them. This was so enlightening as so many people had told me the best thing to do is set a huge goal to work towards.

How daunting is that! It's like I was setting myself up to fail as when I didn't get anywhere near my goal I would give up & fail big stylee.

My gym instructor told me to set my goals a little lower i.e. instead of planning to go to the gym 4x a week, plan to go 2x. Then any extra times are an added bonus. Also if I do go 2x I am really pleased with myself instead of feeling annoyed or upset that I hadn't gone more. He also said that once I'd got used to that routine to add another day in.

I have applied that way of thinking to my eating & exercising & do you know what, it has worked for me. I know it won't work for everyone.

I guess, without my waffling 😉, an easy way of saying it is don't try to eat all the elephant at once 😁

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Blossom03]

Sounds good! I like my elephant in small bites

[Blossom03 5lbs in reply to BridgeGirl]

😂😂😂😂

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to Blossom03]

Did the scales go your way today, after your good blood results?

[Blossom03 5lbs in reply to BridgeGirl]

I stayed the same, which I was ok about 😊 For the first time in a few weeks I felt well enough to go to the gym today 😊 So that's my mini goal achieved 😁

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

I put things in my diary. I've started swimming since the new year - would usually have put it off 'til the warmer weather, and then it would have been school hols so too busy and then ... you know how it goes. So I bought an annual pass and worked out I'd have covered the cost by end of April and I don't like wasting money So I put it in my diary each week, and that works for me.

On this site, the Daily Diary works on the same principle that if you put something in "writing", you're more likely to stick with it

[IvanTheHorrible Maintainer]

>> bitter lifestyle.

Bit of a freudian slip there

The answer is "routine". Do the same thing every day.

>> Not to set my goals too high or set too many of them

This is indeed excellent advice. Choose something that's (a) concrete (b) achievable and (c) useful. You can always move the goalposts later.

A non-concrete goal would be "not overeating" or "having a walk". Frame these more explicitly as (for example) having a proper breakfast every day, so that you're not starving and tempted to snack at 11am, or walking for 1km every day. A sub-goal might be learning how to recognise that you're full. There are tips online for doing this.

An example of something that's not useful would be drinking 8oz of water before meals or using face cream. Just drink when you're thirsty and stop using soap on your face (it took me years to figure out that face creams don't work). Although there's something to be said for ritual, things that are actually pointless tend not to be self-reinforcing.

[Dj9ao]

I have battled with overeating for 2 days including eating 2 packets gluten biscuits (I am coeliac)

Then someone was very kind to me yesterday & asked why I am sabotaging my life when none of the trauma in it I caused?

It made me think why was I hurting myself because of someone else

I hope to be a bit kinder to myself today

[bethany6473]

Blossom03 , BridgeGirl , IvanTheHorrible , Dj9ao , and Hidden : Thank you so much for sharing your stories and words of wisdom. I am very thankful for all of you!

[Dj9ao]

Thankyou for your sensible advice

You have made me see if I eat better I will probably feel better mentally too