This December I Will....
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@MadisonMolly2017 I love your enthusiasm and happy post! Keep at it.2
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@SwimMighty
Thanks❣️ Great plan for your exercise. Good luck with your vertigo!!SwimMighty wrote: »@MadisonMolly2017 I love your enthusiasm and happy post! Keep at it.
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Such great goals for December and well thought out plans to achieve them! I’m glad you are updating us regularly on your book reading, @PinkyPan1 and I’m glad to hear that @nebslp, @Heidijens123 and @SwimMighty are all prioritizing exercise this month. I do hope it helps with the vertigo, @SwimMighty. And more water sounds like a great goal, @PackerFanInGB and @texasgardnr. And sewing and having more fun are fantastic goals for this month, @77tes and @MadisonMolly2017.
How’s it going for you, @littlebear0121 in trying to expand your social network this month? I love your goal!
And hello @prgirl39mfp! I know you’re still getting acclimated to your new job but no we are thinking about you and wishing you well!4 -
I wanted to check in with you about my December goal to have at least 300 Fitbit active minutes each week. I made my goal and as you could see it was an increase over the previous week. I’ve decided to modify my goal a bit and not worry about exceeding 315 minutes a week. I’m going to remove the upper limit. I put the upper limit in plaice because I want to make this habit sustainable and pushing for more and more never works out very well for me. But I don’t want the extra stress of trying to stay within a narrow range. I’m going to shoot for at least 300 active minutes a week and let it go at that.5 -
Well, I only sewed for 2 days the first week of December, so I'm a day behind. You could count the day I tried to create an online bingo card to track my progress, but I think that counts as time wasted (I gave up at the 2 hour mark). Both the days I did work on sewing, I made some real progress. I traced my two patterns and cut out most of one pattern, and those tasks are so time-consuming. To facilitate little repair jobs I should probably create a mending basket like ladies in Victorian novels always had, but that might be a time waster, too.
In other news - my semester is over and my grades are submitted! No essays to grade until January!
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I’ve been reading James Clear’s fantastic book Atomic Habits and it’s solid gold. Do yourself a favor and read this book! Here is a great passage on the importance of starting small in building a new habit.James Clear’s Two Minute Rule
Even when you know you should start small, it’s easy to start too big. When you dream about making a change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon. The most effective way I know to counteract this tendency is to use the Two-Minute Rule, which states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”
You’ll find that nearly any habit can be scaled down into a two-minute version: “Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page.” “Do thirty minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat.” “Study for class” becomes “Open my notes.” “Fold the laundry” becomes “Fold one pair of socks.” “Run three miles” becomes “Tie my running shoes.” The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start. Anyone can meditate for one minute, read one page, or put one item of clothing away. And, as we have just discussed, this is a powerful strategy because once you’ve started doing the right thing, it is much easier to continue doing it. A new habit should not feel like a challenge. The actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two minutes should be easy. What you want is a “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path.
People often think it’s weird to get hyped about reading one page or meditating for one minute or making one sales call. But the point is not to do one thing. The point is to master the habit of showing up. The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can’t learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.
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themedalist wrote: »I’ve been reading James Clear’s fantastic book Atomic Habits and it’s solid gold. Do yourself a favor and read this book! Here is a great passage on the importance of starting small in building a new habit.
Thank you for sharing this! Today I was upset with myself and wondering if it was even worth it to get in short (like 12 minutes today) workouts when I'm crunched for time. Since February I have had the habit of working out daily, sometimes taking one day off per week. This has helped my weight (lost 23 pounds), my health, and my mood. After reading the quote you shared, I realized that keeping up my habit with a short workout is MUCH better than breaking the habit.4 -
My social goal is going well for the most part. I have been talking or texting with my mom most days and enjoying that. I have made plans for each week of the month to get together with a friend or friends (last week went ice skating with two groups of friends.) I have also contacted at least a friend a day, and realized that I was already doing this--didn't have to try. However, the area I need to work on is LOCAL friends. While not less valuable, the friends I've been in contact with are mostly from the area we moved from. Even half of the social plans I made for the month are with friends from out of town.5
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littlebear0121 wrote: »My social goal is going well for the most part. I have been talking or texting with my mom most days and enjoying that. I have made plans for each week of the month to get together with a friend or friends (last week went ice skating with two groups of friends.) I have also contacted at least a friend a day, and realized that I was already doing this--didn't have to try. However, the area I need to work on is LOCAL friends. While not less valuable, the friends I've been in contact with are mostly from the area we moved from. Even half of the social plans I made for the month are with friends from out of town.
I think you are doing great! For many people, December is the busiest month of all. You may find people are more available come January.
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Great point about the 2 minute rule @themedalist, so last night I sewed the pom-pom onto my granddaughter's Santa hat. Goal accomplished and Santa (or his assistant) can wear her hat proudly.
@littlebear0121, making friends in a new area is very hard. I was in a similar situation many years ago, and frankly, I made few friends and found it very depressing. Still, keeping the friends from your old town is important too. Sometimes an exercise class is a good way to meet friends (and that would help with exercise too). Holiday events in your new town or volunteering for something might also give you contacts.3 -
I think I should change my December goal. My reasons for doing this are that it IS the busiest month for many people (not a great time for making new friends) and that most of the minigoals I set are ones that I'm already doing. Also, I have another habit that I need to work on as it is impacting my health more than my social life--going to bed on time. It's a better time to work on going to bed on time. So my new goal is going to be going to bed by 10:30 each night. If I don't go to bed on time, it is harder to get up on time to get in a good workout , I usually do not make good eating choices, my mood is not as good, and I tend to eat unnecessary late-night snacks when I stay up late. So, here goes:
1. This December I will go to bed every night by 10:30.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: ask my husband to encourage me to do it, set an alarm on my phone, write an evening routine for myself and my children, and check in here every day or so. Also, I'm going to aim each night for 10:00 because that would be better, but 10:30 will be the actual goal because everything always takes me longer than I think it's going to take.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit: phone alarm.
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible): Every night, unless we have company. We will probably not have any company staying that late this month.
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? I will let myself wrap up in our new snuggly blanket. That is a reward that I can live without if I don't meet my goal
6. What help do you need from us?: Keep me accountable, offer suggestions
7. What does success look like to you at the end of December?: New habit of going to bed on time and getting up on time, good workouts without interruptions every morning.4 -
77tes, thank you for sharing your understanding. It has been depressing at times. I have been thinking about volunteering at the library, and also have been wanting to take a 5 am spinning class that meets at the high school. I LOVE spinning class and group exercise, but it'll be a struggle to get up that early, and the class always fills up quickly.3
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I am still reading daily. My grandson Jonny joined me this morning for 20 minutes of reading. He read a Harry Potter book while I was reading my latest book. He sipped on hot chocolate while I enjoyed my coffee. I am one blessed Nana.5
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Everyone's posts are so uplifting and encouraging to me. I finally covered up my sewing machine and am trying to clean things up a bit here. Thanks for staying focused and sharing the twists and turns of your progress.4
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Like @littlebear0121 , I will probably tweak my December goal a bit. I met with a Health & Wellness Coach at work yesterday. We have a program at work that is free to us where we can meet with the H&W Coaches, which is the same service our clinic provides other companies around town their employees. So what the heck? Why not take advantage of that, right?
I came away from that first meeting with a list of a couple things she said she felt I needed to work on to begin with, and those are:
1. Increase water to half my weight in oz.
2. Increase protein until I am consuming half my weight in grams of protein. Apparently I am not eating nearly enough protein.
3. Begin eating breakfast every morning and make sure it has some form of protein. (I am NOT a breakfast eater and she said this will be really good for brain fog, cravings and midday slump.)
4. Make sure every meal and snack has protein and "color'.
5. Look at buying a "trainer" to put on my bicycle tire in basement so I can get exercise riding that during winter when my hip or knee joints hurt.
These are bigger changes that will take me several small habit changes to incorporate, but if I want to lose weight and get healthy, I need to give it the old college try! (Wow! "old college try"....am I showing my age, or what?!)
So now I'm going to be thinking about small change(s) I can make to get all of these things to fall into place for me over the next few months.
In the meantime,
DECEMBER CHALLENGE: Drink half my weight in water & eat breakfast
PLAN: Water: Drink my normal amount of coffee and when I finish my to-go cup at work, fill it up with 16 oz of water instead of coffee. Each restroom trip, fill my cup back up. Use flavored sweeteners when I crave flavor. Use my blue or red cup by faucet at home to remind me. Breakfast: Either make breakfast the evening before so it's ready to pop in microwave before I leave for work, or have fixings set out on counter. Get up 15 minutes earlier to allow myself time to eat.
What help will I need from group? Any ideas of foods high in protein that I can add to mid-day snacks would be great! I'm a carb junkie so this will take some research on my end. Ideas for easy breakfasts that include protein would be great also! I know eggs and oatmeal. Those are my stand-bys. 🙂
What does success look like at the end of December? Daily, I will tell myself "You did it!" when I actually meet my goal. At the end of the month, my fingers should no longer be swollen like sausages. I will have less brain fog at work and more energy to get through the day without the 2:00 nap time I always wish I had! To finally be in the 170's on the scale again would be amazing .
Thanks for letting me ramble! There will probably be more as time goes on in these coaching sessions.
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PackerFanInGB wrote: »Like @littlebear0121 , I will probably tweak my December goal a bit. I met with a Health & Wellness Coach at work yesterday. We have a program at work that is free to us where we can meet with the H&W Coaches, which is the same service our clinic provides other companies around town their employees. So what the heck? Why not take advantage of that, right?
I came away from that first meeting with a list of a couple things she said she felt I needed to work on to begin with, and those are:
1. Increase water to half my weight in oz.
2. Increase protein until I am consuming half my weight in grams of protein. Apparently I am not eating nearly enough protein.
3. Begin eating breakfast every morning and make sure it has some form of protein. (I am NOT a breakfast eater and she said this will be really good for brain fog, cravings and midday slump.)
4. Make sure every meal and snack has protein and "color'.
5. Look at buying a "trainer" to put on my bicycle tire in basement so I can get exercise riding that during winter when my hip or knee joints hurt.
These are bigger changes that will take me several small habit changes to incorporate, but if I want to lose weight and get healthy, I need to give it the old college try! (Wow! "old college try"....am I showing my age, or what?!)
So now I'm going to be thinking about small change(s) I can make to get all of these things to fall into place for me over the next few months.
In the meantime,
DECEMBER CHALLENGE: Drink half my weight in water & eat breakfast
PLAN: Water: Drink my normal amount of coffee and when I finish my to-go cup at work, fill it up with 16 oz of water instead of coffee. Each restroom trip, fill my cup back up. Use flavored sweeteners when I crave flavor. Use my blue or red cup by faucet at home to remind me. Breakfast: Either make breakfast the evening before so it's ready to pop in microwave before I leave for work, or have fixings set out on counter. Get up 15 minutes earlier to allow myself time to eat.
What help will I need from group? Any ideas of foods high in protein that I can add to mid-day snacks would be great! I'm a carb junkie so this will take some research on my end. Ideas for easy breakfasts that include protein would be great also! I know eggs and oatmeal. Those are my stand-bys. 🙂
What does success look like at the end of December? Daily, I will tell myself "You did it!" when I actually meet my goal. At the end of the month, my fingers should no longer be swollen like sausages. I will have less brain fog at work and more energy to get through the day without the 2:00 nap time I always wish I had! To finally be in the 170's on the scale again would be amazing .
Thanks for letting me ramble! There will probably be more as time goes on in these coaching sessions.
@PackerFanInGB
I can tell you that these changes will make you feel great! I have done 1-4 for awhile.
Protein ideas:
Kashi Flax & Honey cereal
Non-fat lattes
Thin, pork tenderloins, grilled
Unsalted nuts
Unsalted peanut butter (I drain most of oil)
Tuna (fast & easy) - love it as a tuna melt
Ezekiel toast I like the Sesame flavor)
I get 28grams if Protein each morning from:
2 slices Ezekiel Sesame bread, toasted (8 gram protein)
With 32g unsalted Laura Scudders peanut butter (8 g protein)
8 oz non fat milk (8 g protein)
1/2 oz 82% Dark Chocolate (1.7 G protein)
3-7 oz Berries (2.5 g)
A 5-6 oz 🍎, sliced with cinnamon, nutmeg, & allspice (.8)
Total 29 g protein Yum!
Midday snack:
Decaf nonfat latte (8 g protein)
Apple (.8)
30 g Kashi flax cereal (5.1 g protein)
Or 53 g for (9 gram protein)
1/2 oz dark choc (8 g protein)
Total: 21.9 to 25.8
I actually call this my 2nd meal and add an oz of a mixture of almonds, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts. (4 G protein)
25.9 to 29.8
I split my protein pretty evenly across 3 meals since it’s a building block of our body, and our body does not store it. About 30 g per meal. I could go much higher, but work to hold it down. I eat lean meat & fish in 1.5 to 3 oz portions, 1-2 times a day. I was told take weight in kg & multiply by 0.8, but was never able to keep it that low. Saw info that older women do best with 1.2-1.4 times wt in kg, so I decided on 90-93. (1.3 times for me.)
For water, I was told to take weight in grams & drink that many ounces. The docs did not want me to drink too much though ... washes out minerals...
Other snacks
Apple with peanut butter
Slice Ezekiel toast with peanut butter
Celery with peanut butter
Mini-quiches
Small tuna or salmon on arugula salad with cherry tomatoes with olive oil & balsamic vinegar
Leftover stir fry beef & broccoli
1/2 chicken breast chopped, in a tortilla with cabbage, salsa
You are going to feel Great!!4 -
@MadisonMolly2017 Thank you so much for the tips and the encouragement! I’m really excited to have a plan and my main goal is to just FEEL GOOD! I am going to make a list tomorrow and hit the store to pick up some of your food suggestions! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 😊❤️1
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What an exciting month of ideas! I've slacked--have had some difficulties this month and it's been hard to post. But a friend encouraged me that this is when it is most important to stay open. So (even though I love the ideas you've given and they inspire me to be creative and try new things), I better continue my same November goal of posting regularly, regardless of what is going on. I will do this at least once a week with my weekly communication with my accountability partner as a reminder, but more frequently is okay too. The reward is congratulating myself on not isolating, and (in the bigger picture) the support and pleasure of developing friendships. (Special thanks to @nebslp, @texasgardnr, and @themedalist for extra encouragement recently.) I think all I need from you is to be part of the community; just reading all your experiences is encouraging. By the end of the month I will (I hope) feel a little bit more comfortable with regular communication instead of hiding.5
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I read for an hour this morning.4
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@M310 I think that is a great goal! Any kind of communication (for me, personally) helps me stay accountable in my mind with other things. Good luck and it's great to see you on here! :flowerforyou:3
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I did really well yesterday! I got my water in and went over my FitBit step goal by 2,000 steps! I upped my protein a bit by selecting healthier snacks also.
Today, I'm doing well on my steps and healthier foods/proteins, but struggling with the water...which reminds me to get up right now and go get some!2 -
themedalist wrote: »I’ve been reading James Clear’s fantastic book Atomic Habits and it’s solid gold. Do yourself a favor and read this book! Here is a great passage on the importance of starting small in building a new habit.James Clear’s Two Minute Rule
.........The point is to master the habit of showing up. The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can’t learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize.
I really liked the above portion of the original quote because it made the concept of the Two Minute Rule more relatable to me.
@themedalist, thanks for the quote .
texasgardnr :flowerforyou:2 -
@MadisonMolly2017, thank you for all the protein suggestions! As a mostly vegetarian I often get stuck on eating the same ole things. I appreciate your detailed suggestions.
Ezekiel toast with no salt and sugar peanut butter or almond butter, oftentimes with slices of banana or raisins is a favorite of mine! I'll have to try another of their variety of breads. For quite a while it has been the flax one.
Mmmmm, salmon on a salad sounds scrumptious!
@M310, YaY! you are back to make your weekly post! I was hoping that you would be
. There are a number of us repeating our November goal. Myself included.
This month I decided that I was going to track with a little check mark if I drank water in the morning. I am doing better than I believe that I did last month when I didn't keep track, but that being said, I have realized that on rest days or busy/different kind of mornings I tend to have a little or none at all in the morning.
Also upon reading some other posts I'm realizing how much I am forgetting about drinking water during the rest of the day. My favorite cup sits on the counter more often than not with the water level remaining the same, probably feeling very neglected
all the while. So that means that I have been totally neglecting/ forgetting the second half of my #5 point.
Reading your various water related posts helped me to reevaluate my progress more thoroughly. Thank you for your insights and thoughts.
texasgardnr :flowerforyou:
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MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »A few modifications to my December I Will...
1. I will schedule at least one outing per week through Dec 21st with friends
(Deleted #2 since still cannot drive. Will do when cleared for driving!)
3. I will make art (digital or real life) or doodle for at least 5 minutes daily throughout December.
more FUN 🎉 more JOY 🌈 more FULFILLMENT 😃
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Both 1 & 3 are going well. Re-aquatinted myself with my drawing app & sketched over an hour snuggled in bed with my cat! Just what I needed 🐈❣
Update: went to my art group Wed so #1 is done
I’ve been making art each day or doodling 15 mins or longer- I HAVE to remember I do best with very tiny goals)1 -
littlebear0121 wrote: »I think I should change my December goal. My reasons for doing this are that it IS the busiest month for many people (not a great time for making new friends) and that most of the minigoals I set are ones that I'm already doing. Also, I have another habit that I need to work on as it is impacting my health more than my social life--going to bed on time. It's a better time to work on going to bed on time. So my new goal is going to be going to bed by 10:30 each night. If I don't go to bed on time, it is harder to get up on time to get in a good workout , I usually do not make good eating choices, my mood is not as good, and I tend to eat unnecessary late-night snacks when I stay up late. So, here goes:
1. This December I will go to bed every night by 10:30.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: ask my husband to encourage me to do it, set an alarm on my phone, write an evening routine for myself and my children, and check in here every day or so. Also, I'm going to aim each night for 10:00 because that would be better, but 10:30 will be the actual goal because everything always takes me longer than I think it's going to take.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit: phone alarm.
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible): Every night, unless we have company. We will probably not have any company staying that late this month.
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? I will let myself wrap up in our new snuggly blanket. That is a reward that I can live without if I don't meet my goal
6. What help do you need from us?: Keep me accountable, offer suggestions
7. What does success look like to you at the end of December?: New habit of going to bed on time and getting up on time, good workouts without interruptions every morning.
This is such a great goal, @littlebear0121. Sleep is fundamental to having a good, productive, happy day. We did a whole “Summer of Sleep“ challenge here last summer. I learned that for me, setting a reasonable bedtime is the most important thing for getting a good night’s sleep. It’s the one thing that I can control. Good for you for setting a pre-bedtime of 10pm, as winding down usually takes longer than we think.2 -
Great suggestions for protein, @MadisonMolly2017. @PackerFanInGB, do you like yogurt? My secret weapon in getting enough protein (I’m a veggie) is to use plain Greek yogurt as often as possible. A half a cup has 11 grams of protein. I use it as a sub for sour cream all the time. I top stews, chilis, and soups with a dollop of “mock sour cream”. I mix it into sweetened yogurt to reduce the sugar. I put it on baked potatoes with chives. Mix plain Greek yogurt with hummus for an easy veggie dip.
Also, Chobani has a line of yogurts with much less sugar. 15 grams of protein in a serving and 11 grams of sugar. My favorite is “Madagascar Vanilla and Cinnamon”. Oh my...yum!
Edited to include potato rolls and bread! The protein content varies, but breads and rolls made with potatoes can be another good protein source. I buy potato hamburger buns that have 9 grams of protein in each bun and no more calories than other hamburger buns. So, a favorite quickie meal is a veggie burger on a potato bun (20 grams of protein between the two), salad, and a modest serving of potato chips dipped in mock sour cream (another 10 grams protein). Total for the meal: 30+ grams protein.3 -
@M310, I am so delighted to see your post! You are among friends here!0
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I'm sorry I've been so unresponsive this month. I've been getting ready for Christmas and a two week trip to New Mexico to do some sightseeing and visit my daughter. The presents are wrapped and the car is packed. Most of the family will be making the 900 mile trip and my hubby and I are leaving in the morning. I think I'm ALMOST ready! I've been staying more active but haven't gotten a regular workout routine down yet. I'm happy I've kept up my habit of getting as close to 13/13 active hours every day. Some days are bad but if I'm not traveling, meeting people for a long meal, or sitting at a 2 hour concert, I do pretty good. All of those things happened yesterday! I didn't sit at all today so I made up for it! I'm going to get as many walking hours as possible in our trip even though we won't be stopping every hour to walk on the way down. I so enjoy hearing what you're all up to! I'll check in again when we stop for the night tomorrow.4
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Well, this week I have been able to sew 4 days, and have made some real progress on my Christmas projects. I did have to go back to my original machine since I have all the attachments and know more about it. Trying a new technique (sewing knits) with a new machine was probably one challenge too many. I might be able to get a walking foot for my new curbside find machine, and that should make sewing knits better, but for now, I'll stick with old tried and true.6
