Six Month Challenge

As time starts ticking away I know it's time to get my plan together and set my goals for the next 6 months. I have some lofty goals and some pretty intensive challenges for myself. I am a very time oriented person, I like to know how my time will be spent and how much extra of it I will have for other things. I need to learn how to condense my daily activities to workout, run errands, do household chores, *self-pamper, and still have **free time. *Self-pamper is considered any activity that I normally skip due to time constraints, examples; exfoliating scrubs, straightening my hair daily, putting on lotion, painting my nails, dressing up, etc. **Free time is considered any activity not planned; web-surfing, tv watching, reading, calling relatives, etc. As it is I struggle to ever do anything nice for myself because everything else comes first, this soon will change. I want to spend this time re-learning how to structure my life and relax. I'm don't reflect a high strung personality on the outside but the truth is inside I'm wound tight mess! The last time I went to the massage therapist he told me (referring to my back shoulder area) "It's like you have steel cables in here." Does that sound like someone in a relaxed and stress free state? I need to learn to take back control of my life and take care of me. With all that said, here are the goals:


Weight Loss & Fitness:
I want to lose 60lbs, yes 60lbs, over the next 180 days. That averages out to 0.3 lbs per day or about 2.3 lbs per week. That is a weekly burn of 8050 calories + (insert calories eaten per week). My resting metabolic rate or RMR (amount of calories burned by doing nothing but living and breathing) is roughly 1,300 calories. I plan to stick to a 1,200 calorie per day diet plan, meaning that I must burn approximately 1007 calories a day additionally through exercise to reach my weekly goal of 8050 calories expended. Did you catch all that? I hope I explained it well. Simply put, I need to burn 1,000 calories a day through exercise while eating no more than 1,200 calories per day. The EATEN - RMR - BURN = -8050 DEFICIT. The calorie DEFICIT divided by 3,500 (amount of calories in a pound) = 2.3 lbs

I know I can do this, I used to burn 800 calories (tracked with my heart rate monitor) by strength training for about 45 minutes, elliptical for 45 minutes, and recumbent bike for 30 minutes. Even if I'm too tired to do anything else I can always keep pedaling that bike for awhile longer to push my 1,000. I'll switch out the strength training on certain days for something else, probably by slowly dying jogging on the treadmill or playing with the kinect. 10 lbs a month isn't a too large goal, but it's hard enough to keep me from being complacent I think. I'm figuring that my daily total workout time plus travel will be around 3 to 3.5 hours, plus my gym has tanning and red light therapy so I'll more than likely do one or the other each day making my total around 4 hours.

I had to go back through my old 3fc posts to figure out how much weight I'd gained and how fast. It seems that on/around June 15th I weighed approximately 154lbs, two months later on August 20th I had gained (which I attributed to the DH madness) to 162lbs, next around October 15th (I know for a fact because I was weighed after I had my miscarriage) I weighed 174.0 (and was quite upset about my gain). After the miscarriage I truly stopped all attempts at weight loss or tracking because of the holidays and circumstances which led me to 190 lbs around January 1st this year (O.O) , I have since dipped down to 184.0 and am hovering in this area. This morning I weighed 182.8 lbs. It averages out to me gaining about 4 pounds a month, I am currently 28 lbs heavier than I was when he can home last time. Dios mio, the progress that I have negated. I certainly haven't worked out any near the way I was last summer, so all the tone I gained is gone along with my strength. I can't fit most of my summer clothes and I really only have a couple pairs of jeans that fit, barely at that. I'm also disturbed at how much larger my lower stomach and hips have gotten. For example, I have this pair of dress pants that I bought in Florida when we first moved there in 2010, I know for a fact that I weighed 183 at that time because I signed up for Curves while there and that was my start weight. When I bought those pants they fit like a nice slack, fitted in the hip and a little loose on the thighs. Now when I put them on I can barely button them and my stomach pooch is so big I have to wear a long top to cover it up. Same weight but my lower tummy is huge! When I lost weight last summer and put those pants on they were so loose I could pull them out in front about 6 inches. I really truly wonder if the miscarriage triggered some "mom gene" in my body and caused this new weight distribution, it's scary!

All that said, when I lose 60 lbs, I'll be 120 lbs by mid-September. I know 120 is very small and its a lofty goal, but I am only 5'3- 120 is supposed to be a mid-range weight for my height. Also, by setting a big goal I feel like I'm more likely to push harder to reach it. Sure I'll be a little disappointed if I don't make it there, but I'll be thinner for trying I'm sure. I am going to re-measure myself again tonight and start a weight and measurement page, I know I'll do tracking, but I haven't decided how often. I got a new scale for Christmas that measures muscle mass, fat, bmi, and visceral fat. I know I'm going to track those numbers weekly and I will post all that on my weight stats page as well. Now that I've given you all the lowdown on my plan, I'm going to break it down and add a few miscellaneous goals in. These are my initial thoughts for the next 6 months, I'm sure I'll add a little bit here or there, but this is the bulk of what I want to accomplish for now.

Goals & Lifestyle Changes:
Lose 60 pounds by September 15th, 2012 to weigh 120 pounds.
Lose 50 inches off the tracked areas of my body
Wear a size 6 in jeans
Drink 120+ ounces of water a day
Burn 1,000 calories a day
Take a picture for photo-journaling everyday
Email DH everyday
Do something nice for myself everyday
Drink more coffee and less diet soda
Take a multivitamin everyday
Complete household overhaul
Make time every week to sew and read
Organize all my old film photos and album them
Pay off my auto loan
Save at least $4K

Did I mention that DH now believes they are leaving on the 13th, instead of the 16th? That leaves us only 10 days, 5 of which I am obligated to work. Sometimes the Navy life really really sucks.