This March I Will...
themedalist
Posts: 3,218 Member
Oh yes. Oh yes! Oh YES! It's March!
As of this posting, there are 19 days, 20 hours, and 33 minutes until the official start of Spring. I am more than a little excited (can you tell?). The first outdoor walk on muddy, partially frozen but snow-free ground will be downright glorious and I can't wait! March is the gamechanger month.
What's your goal for this month and what's your plan for achieving it? Let's choose a goal, scope out a plan, and get to it. We can do it!
If you are joining us for the first time, welcome! We are glad you are here. Let us know what your goal is and how we can help. And if you're joining us midway through the month, you don't have to wait for April. If you're looking for ideas, our list of previous challenges may be useful.
Try to frame your goal along these lines:
1. My goal for this month (This March I will...")
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible)
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit?
6. What help do you need from us?
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March?
This is going to be a fantastic month!
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Sleep. I need more of it. So....
1. This March: I will go to bed by 11pm
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: I will take my shower by 9:30 and start the wind-down process.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit: set an alarm on my phone
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible) 5 of 7 nights
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit?. Since I'm now journaling my GLAD reflections daily in my notebook, if I'm in bed by 11pm I'll draw a little picture of a bed in my notebook next to the day. Kind of like a sticker.
6. What help do you need from us? Encouragement!
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? I already feel good, but good regular sleep will only make me feel better!6 -
Love the bed drawing!! You could have a few markers or colored pencils & decorate each one with different sheet designs!5
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1. My goal for this month (This March I will...")
March 1-7, I will eat greens 3 days, fish once & legumes/beans once. I’ll make my green bean & potato recipe before Sunday.
Mar 8-14, greens 4/7 days, beans/legumes twice. I’ll find & make 1 new recipe.
Mar 15-21 greens 5/ days, beans/legumes 3 days. Fish 1-2 times. I’ll find & make 1 new recipe that uses greens, fish, or beans/legumes.
Mar 22-28 6 greens, 3 legumes/beans, 1-2 fish. I will make one new recipe.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: looking on-line for low cal tasty salad dressing recipes, washing greens in advance to crisp in fridge, & finding Chile recipes.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit. Not sure yet.
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible) 1-6 times per week.
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit?
A check mark ✅ on my Healthier Eating chart.
6. What help do you need from us? Any favorite recipes! Especially for beans/legumes!
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? Knowing that I have improved the quality of my foods. That I have 3 more recipes in my repertoire❣️5 -
1. My goal for March is to honestly log everything I eat in MFP
2. Added a nutritionist as a friend in MFP who can see my diary to keep me accountable
3. The cue to remember to do this is each time I eat
4. I will do this daily
5. Add a star on my calendar for each meal/snack logged
6. What help do you need from us? Ask me how I'm doing with my goal.
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? A calendar full of stars and 4 pounds lost. 187.4 # this morning6 -
1. My goal for this month (This March I will...") Increase my water intake daily to 5 bottles daily.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal. I will set out 5 bottles before bed every night.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit. I have a reminder on my phone set to remind me to drink a bottle.
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible). Daily
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? A cup of hot tea
6. What help do you need from us? Encouragement
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? Hopefully I will be drinking more than that and have less snacks due to feeling full.
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My goal was inspired by an article @themedalist shared with me. Thanks Denise! Also, the posts of @MadisonMolly2017 and @nebslp have encouraged me to push myself to do what I love.
1. This March I will read a poem and write a poem every day.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal. I will put a poetry anthology beside my chair. I might also download a book of poems for my device. That way I’ll have it available when I have time to read it. I’ll create a document on my device for my poems.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit. After I finish my coffee in the morning I’ll read a poem.
4. How often will you do your new habit: Daily
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? Enjoying the poetry is a reward in itself. But will say when I write a poem, now this event/image will stay with me for ever.
6. What help do you need from us? Cheer me on
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? I’ll have read 31 poems (or more) and have written the same number.
Day 1 I read “Silence” by Edgar Lee Masters and wrote a poem I called “Multi Medium.”4 -
My goal was inspired by an article @themedalist shared with me. Thanks Denise! Also, the posts of @MadisonMolly2017 and @nebslp have encouraged me to push myself to do what I love.
1. This March I will read a poem and write a poem every day.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal. I will put a poetry anthology beside my chair. I might also download a book of poems for my device. That way I’ll have it available when I have time to read it. I’ll create a document on my device for my poems.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit. After I finish my coffee in the morning I’ll read a poem.
4. How often will you do your new habit: Daily
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? Enjoying the poetry is a reward in itself. But will say when I write a poem, now this event/image will stay with me for ever.
6. What help do you need from us? Cheer me on
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? I’ll have read 31 poems (or more) and have written the same number.
Day 1 I read “Silence” by Edgar Lee Masters and wrote a poem I called “Multi Medium.”
@77tes
Wow! Your happiness shines through!
I’d love to read a poem you write when & if you feel like sharing!
Just wonderful! I’m smiling wide!3 -
Day 2 I read “To a Snowflake” by Francis Thompson and I worked over “Multi-Media” and wrote another I’ve tentatively named “Rain” (which even rhymes a bit).
I’ll share when I feel like I’ve got one sort of finished @MadisonMolly2017 (I know this group is a safe place to share).5 -
We are off to a great start with our March goals!
@MadisonMolly2017, I really like how specific you are with your meal planning in terms of increasing your vegetables and beans intake. Those are great goals!
@clynns54, Accurate food logging was the single greatest contributor to my weight loss. It far outweighed anything else that I did. Good for you for making it a priority this month. I hope you’ll reap similar benefits.
@PinkyPan1, water is always a great goal and it’s usually something that slips from our focus pretty easily. And I got a big laugh out of rewarding yourself with a cup of hot tea. Great idea,
@77tes, as Madison said, your enthusiasm for your poetry goal come shining through and I think it’s a wonderful goal. Happiness is a big part of our health and wellness. When you have your poems in a shareable state, please do post them. I’m looking forward to that!2 -
@77tes I love your goal this month! I'm excited to read one you've written if and when you feel ready to share! Your post made me smile this morning!
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I had a pretty good first night. I didn’t take a shower until 10 PM and I didn’t go to bed until 11:30. It’s tougher for me on a work day. We have a big meeting next week and there is a lot of prep work to be done. As a result, I was more sedentary than usual and in order to stay competitive in my StepBet game, I had a lot of walking to do in the evening. That also put a squeeze on my pre-bedtime routine. No matter, it’s a work in progess. I’m a work in progress as we all are! My shower and bedtime targets are just aids. My real goal is to get more sleep. Ultimately I’d like to be getting 6 1/2 to 7 hours of sleep every night. Last night it was 6 hours 17 minutes. Better! Too often I am at 5 hours 50 minutes or thereabouts and that just isn’t enough. What I took away from our Summer of Sleep challenge last summer is to not worry about the nitty-gritty details. I’m not going to concern myself with how much REM sleep I get or light sleep or deep sleep or anything like that. I’m not sure those are controllable anyway. What Is within my control and has a big impact on sleep duration and quality is when I go to bed. Granted it’s a “Duh!“ observation, but I know I often ignore things that are obvious and I should do.
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I'm honestly torn between goals this month. I want to get up earlier in the morning, I want to be more faithful journaling food, I want to preplan meals and pre-log, I want to drink more water and I want to be more active. Every one of these goals is important! How do you narrow them down? I'm in such a funk (winter makes me so depressed)!
So...I guess I will go back to MFP basics this month instead of continuing February's goals. If I manage to accomplish to the other goals as well, it will be a bonus. But for me, I know my body really truly is what I eat and I have to get that under control!
March's Focus:
1. My goal for this month is to journal every bite I eat. Faithfully. Every single bite, down to the nibble.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal: When I pack my lunch, I will scan barcodes of serviings with my food right away. I will grab my phone and journal before I eat anything not already scanned in.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit: I will have intermittent alarms set on my phone asking me throughout the day if I have logged my food.
4. How often will you do your new habit (daily is best if possible) Daily.
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? I will draw a star on the date on our kitchen calendar and color it with yellow highlighter. The visual will make me feel happy and will hold me accountable to others in the house.
6. What help do you need from us? Perhaps If you notice I'm not doing well, give me a nudge or share a tip you use(d) to turn this into a habit.
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? 30 stars on the calendar (-1 day because I failed miserably yesterday. It was pizza and a movie night with my husband.) Also, I should be able to look at my month in review and see which foods I'm eating in excess or which foods may be contributing to my weight and not feeling "healthy". I'm actually really looking forward to seriously analyzing this. I am a visual, data-driven person.
Welcome March! Welcome Spring! Welcome Daffodils and Tulips peaking through the thawing ground! Cya February...
:flowerforyou:
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@clynns54 and @PackerFanInGB logging is so important, so great goal. I’ve also been working on reducing the fats in my diet, so I’ve been trying to log everything faithfully like you. I find it helps to prelog for the next day, that way I’ve got a clear idea of what I’m eating. If I eat something different, then I can add or delete. But otherwise I’m set. I do copy meals from yesterday or the day before a lot, so that makes logging easier.2
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Goodness, February ended almost without my noticing it. We had a big snowstorm that knocked out power this week, so we had to salvage food from fridge and freezer and do a lot of snow shoveling. I am pleased that I kept up with my daily food logging despite the disruption to our regular kitchen. Cooking on a camp stove gets tedious quickly!
These monthly habit goals have been great for me. I’ve lost 10 pounds since late December just by tracking my food intake and keeping close to the calories the MFP app recommends. I’ve also drastically reduced my sugar and flour intake, and we’ve been eating fish at least twice a week and more salads, legumes, and fruit, but that’s all part of the same thing—knowing I will record everything I eat makes me less likely to eat junk or to overeat, because I’m ashamed of myself when I have to write down some embarrassing overconsumption! So I will certainly be continuing with the food-tracking habit.
BUT—for March I am feeling the need for a fresh goal, something that feels a little self-indulgent and that makes me feel better about myself. Despite the pounds lost I still have a long way to go, and it’s a little discouraging that I’d gotten so fat that a 10-pound loss doesn’t make much (any?) difference in my appearance. I don’t want to buy any new clothes yet, but I’m thinking about other things I could do that might help me regain some self-respect for my physical being—a more conscientious skin-care regimen, perhaps, or fresh makeup, or more variety and color in my accessories. I know that some of you here have had great weight loss success; was there anything that helped you feel good along the way? Any tips?
I hope this post doesn’t sound horribly superficial and narcissistic. It seems silly to focus on appearance like this, but I’m coming out of a number of years where I just let my physical self go—I can blame a period of despair over infertility followed by a period of workaholism, but what it all really adds up to is that now that I have started to get my mind and soul back I want to make friends with my body again, too.5 -
@jroslyn To me your post was anything but superficial or narcissistic! Finding things that help you feel good about yourself is important in order to keep moving toward your goals. My daughter gave me Kiehl’s ultra facial cleanser and using that with Nutragena triple age repair moisturizer with sunscreen every day makes me feel like I’m taking care of myself in one small way. Only buying clothes that I love and giving away things I don’t love is another. Doing something you enjoy every day may feel self-indulgent. But we are all creative people in one way or another whether that’s with music, art, cooking, sewing, writing, or coming up with a new hairstyle or makeup. It’s essential that we don’t ignore that side of ourselves or berate ourselves when we do something that’s not seen by others as productive. Getting lost in a project is a great form of therapy!
Congrats on logging food in spite of your electricity issues. Anyone who’s been through that knows what a tough situation that is. Your persistence shows you have a deep commitment to yourself, and that’s inspiring to me.2 -
Daily intake of water
(3-1) 4 bottles
(3-2) 6 bottles
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@jroslyn , I agree with @nebslp , no way is your goal superficial or narcissistic! In fact, one of the important components of my weight loss was buying a new wardrobe. I had been wearing old, I’ll-fitting, and worn out clothes because I wanted to lose weight when I decided to dress the body I had. Wearing nice close boosted my confidence, and while logging and being more active did the work, changing my attitude was important. So, start a new skin care regime, get a cute haircut, or buy some new clothes. Reward yourself for losing those 10 pounds and love the body that did it!
@themedalist , I like your plan about getting more sleep. I also struggle with sleep on work days. Getting to bed earlier is the key. Let the REMs figure it out for themselves.
Day 3 I read “from The Task, Book V: The Winter Morning Walk” by William Cowper (I also read some biographical background about Cowper) and wrote a short poem called “Prayer” or perhaps I’ll title it “Everything I Know about Prayer I Learned from My Dog.”4 -
I did something tonight that I've never done since I bought my piano 46 years ago. I played the piano for about 1/2 hour (it felt like only a few minutes) while my husband was home watching tv in the other room. It was amazing! I always wait until he's gone to play so I wouldn't interfere with his tv viewing so it's not often that I play. My son was here yesterday and we talked music...he's teaching himself to play the piano with a little help from his mom 😀 and we both dabble at playing the guitar. Today's conversation here on MFP about taking care of oneself spurred me on to do what I love when I wanted to do it and not put limitations on myself. I also worked on binding a quilt I made for my grandson and will finish that up tomorrow. Now I'm going to learn how to view photos on my tv from my computer (fingers crossed) or go to bed if it's too complicated! This has been an awesome day and I'm pretty exhausted. Eating has not been great but I will log tomorrow since that seems to be so important in changing habits. Have a great week ahead!6
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I did something tonight that I've never done since I bought my piano 46 years ago. I played the piano for about 1/2 hour (it felt like only a few minutes) while my husband was home watching tv in the other room. It was amazing! I always wait until he's gone to play so I wouldn't interfere with his tv viewing so it's not often that I play. My son was here yesterday and we talked music...he's teaching himself to play the piano with a little help from his mom 😀 and we both dabble at playing the guitar. Today's conversation here on MFP about taking care of oneself spurred me on to do what I love when I wanted to do it and not put limitations on myself. I also worked on binding a quilt I made for my grandson and will finish that up tomorrow. Now I'm going to learn how to view photos on my tv from my computer (fingers crossed) or go to bed if it's too complicated! This has been an awesome day and I'm pretty exhausted. Eating has not been great but I will log tomorrow since that seems to be so important in changing habits. Have a great week ahead!
I love that you played the piano when husband was home. Brava! It sounds like you had a great day!
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Thank you so much for the validation and encouragement! I decided that I'll have a two-part goal for March:
1. I will follow a bedtime skincare routine with careful cleansing and moisturizing, every night. The reminder will be the (nice, luxurious, new) moisturizer bottle that's now sitting next to my toothbrush.
2. I will set the dinner table properly and prettily every evening, removing mail/clutter and using decent linens, crystal, etc. The reminder this week will be the bunch of white freesias and red tulips I bought today, which is just sitting there glowing gorgeously and reminding me to appreciate nice things--and after they fade the reminder will be another bunch of flowers or another table ornament.
Both of these are really treats that give their own immediate reward. At the end of the month success will look like: skin feeling less dry and flaky, and a general feeling of luxury and order!4 -
I did something tonight that I've never done since I bought my piano 46 years ago. I played the piano for about 1/2 hour (it felt like only a few minutes) while my husband was home watching tv in the other room. It was amazing! I always wait until he's gone to play so I wouldn't interfere with his tv viewing so it's not often that I play. My son was here yesterday and we talked music...he's teaching himself to play the piano with a little help from his mom 😀 and we both dabble at playing the guitar. Today's conversation here on MFP about taking care of oneself spurred me on to do what I love when I wanted to do it and not put limitations on myself. I also worked on binding a quilt I made for my grandson and will finish that up tomorrow. Now I'm going to learn how to view photos on my tv from my computer (fingers crossed) or go to bed if it's too complicated! This has been an awesome day and I'm pretty exhausted. Eating has not been great but I will log tomorrow since that seems to be so important in changing habits. Have a great week ahead!
That is so great! I hope you will keep playing your piano whenever you feel like it. I can't imagine it bothers your husband, but I know that feeling of self-consciousness that stops us from doing things that might impose on others. This does sound like a wonderful day--treats for so many senses (the auditory delight of hearing, the tactile pleasure of sewing, and the visual pleasure of photos).2 -
Day 3 I read “from The Task, Book V: The Winter Morning Walk” by William Cowper (I also read some biographical background about Cowper) and wrote a short poem called “Prayer” or perhaps I’ll title it “Everything I Know about Prayer I Learned from My Dog.”
I love hearing about what poems you're reading! I haven't thought about Cowper in years, but you inspired me to read the poem you mentioned (or the part of it that's excerpted on the Poetry Foundation web site), and it's got some wonderful bits--I like the line about his shadow "spindling into longitude immense."
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Thank you so much for the validation and encouragement! I decided that I'll have a two-part goal for March:
1. I will follow a bedtime skincare routine with careful cleansing and moisturizing, every night. The reminder will be the (nice, luxurious, new) moisturizer bottle that's now sitting next to my toothbrush.
2. I will set the dinner table properly and prettily every evening, removing mail/clutter and using decent linens, crystal, etc. The reminder this week will be the bunch of white freesias and red tulips I bought today, which is just sitting there glowing gorgeously and reminding me to appreciate nice things--and after they fade the reminder will be another bunch of flowers or another table ornament.
Both of these are really treats that give their own immediate reward. At the end of the month success will look like: skin feeling less dry and flaky, and a general feeling of luxury and order!
I’m late to responding to your initial post @jroslyn, but I LOVE your March goal! Self care is so important and losing weight is a long term process. It’s important to find things along the journey that make you smile.
One thing that helped me the year I spent losing weight was second hand clothes shopping. In our disposable society, you can find clothes with the original tags on them that were never used or clothes only lightly used. 10 pounds here and 10 pounds there makes a big difference and it was nice to have clothes that fit me along the way. Clothes that I didn’t spend a lot of money on. And it was fun to see the sizes go down!1 -
I did something tonight that I've never done since I bought my piano 46 years ago. I played the piano for about 1/2 hour (it felt like only a few minutes) while my husband was home watching tv in the other room. It was amazing! I always wait until he's gone to play so I wouldn't interfere with his tv viewing so it's not often that I play. My son was here yesterday and we talked music...he's teaching himself to play the piano with a little help from his mom 😀 and we both dabble at playing the guitar. Today's conversation here on MFP about taking care of oneself spurred me on to do what I love when I wanted to do it and not put limitations on myself. I also worked on binding a quilt I made for my grandson and will finish that up tomorrow. Now I'm going to learn how to view photos on my tv from my computer (fingers crossed) or go to bed if it's too complicated! This has been an awesome day and I'm pretty exhausted. Eating has not been great but I will log tomorrow since that seems to be so important in changing habits. Have a great week ahead!
This is such a wonderful post, @nebslp! Doing things we love is important. Exercising our creativity is important. Spending time with family who enrich us is important. And you put them all together! We can hear the joy in your post. Keep playing that piano!1 -
I love hearing about what poems you're reading! I haven't thought about Cowper in years, but you inspired me to read the poem you mentioned (or the part of it that's excerpted on the Poetry Foundation web site), and it's got some wonderful bits--I like the line about his shadow "spindling into longitude immense."
@jroslyn , I'm actually finding Poetry Foundation a great way to find poems. And I was inspired to look up Cowper because he was mentioned in the book I'm reading by Charlotte Bronte and he is also mentioned by Jane Austen. It turns out he was the most popular poet between Pope and Wordsworth. Now, he is hardly ever mentioned (I know I don't have the students in my Brit Lit class read him).
Day 4 I wrote a poem I've tentatively titled "Downer." I allowed the darkness a bit of room in my life yesterday (or in Coleridge's words, "Viper thoughts, that coil around my mind..."), and did some emotional eating (actually a lot), so this poem was an attitude adjustment. Then my poetry reading choice was informed by the poem, so I read "Dejection:An Ode" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His poem was much better, but the fact that I'm not as good a poet as Coleridge does not depress me.
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1. This March I will increase my water intake to 6 cups a day.
2. The small actions I’ll be taking to accomplish this goal. I will fill a pitcher of water and put in the fridge every night.
3. The trigger or cue to remember to do my habit set reminders on my phone and actually get to drinking when they go off.
4. How often will you do your new habit at least 5 out of 7 days.
5. What reward will you immediately give yourself for doing your habit? At the end of the day if I drank all my water I will read some from one of my several books.
6. What help do you need from us? Encouragement and accountability
7. What does success look like to you at the end of March? Drinking 6 cups a water will be natural.3 -
Welcome to our group, @barbaraharmon1! Your goal is to drink more water and you’ll reward yourself by reading a few pages in a favorite book? You have found your people!
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Status of logging everything I eat (every bite):
3/1 - didn't start challenge yet
3/2 -
3/3 -
3/4 -
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Today I read a couple of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence: “ Introduction,” “Holy Thursday,” and “Nurse’s Song.” I wrote a poem I’ve called “Mockingbird.”3
