2011 Goals and Guidelines for Success

Since just listing a bunch of goals with no practical steps to achieve them has never served me well, I decided to really think about what I wanted from this year and how I plan to get there.

2010 brought about a lot of changes for me and was overall a positive year full of growth.  I want to continue to be grateful, to continue to be happy as I've learned to do in 2010.

In 2011, I'm also getting married to the love of my life.  Above all, my goal is to enjoy every moment of the process - not overwhelm myself with stress over the elopement and party.  This is about us....not all the stressful details! 

Here they are, my 7 goals for 2011.

Fitness/Health


Run a 5K
How will I get there?
1. Continue with C25K program (9 weeks or however long it takes me!)
2. Register for local race – looking at Great Bay Race on April 2nd
3. Complete my first 5K!

Lose 35 pounds
How will I get there?
1. Continue with WeightWatchers and monitoring how and what I eat
2. Go to a WW meeting every week
3. Gym/workout – be active at least 5 days per week, 30 min per day


Honor my body by feeding it well
How will I get there?
1. Remember that binges might happen – figure out why it’s happening, forgive myself and move on
2. Be conscious of how I eat, what I eat and how it makes me feel
3. As I lose weight, notice the positive health effects and changes I experience
4. Cook at least one vegetarian dinner per week


Education/Career


Kick Anatomy & Physiology 2’s butt and end the semester with an A!
How will I get there?
1. Set aside 8-10 hours each week for studying – create a study plan and stick to it
2. See the tutor at least 2x a month (not just before exams!)
3. Utilize open lab times


Get an A in English composition
How will I get there?
1. Set aside 8-10 hours each week for studying – create a study plan and stick to it
2. Utilize the writing center


Take the pre-entrance exam for nursing school
How will I get there?
1. Already registered for January 22nd


Apply to nursing school
How will I get there?
1. Continue to research the programs I’m interested in
2. Decide on professional references and ask them
3. Meet with reps from each school to get advice/input on application
4. Work on essay and get help/feedback on the process
5. Know that this may be just practice, and KEEP TRYING!

Body Image Warrior - When You Revert Back to Your Mean Self

Cakie Belle posted a fantastically thoughtful and honest letter to her size 12 body today over on her blog. It really struck me intensely as I'm having one of those days where I ate a little too much over the weekend (OK, a lot too much) and am expecting only a .2 lb loss tomorrow at weigh in. I'm feeling like my motivation and resolve is a little lessened and that I'm headed for another "failure".

I noticed this morning that my brown corduroy pants didn't fit me (there was no reason they should), how my arms are flabbier in the tricep area than they used to be, and that my stomach is a little larger than I wish it were. Just last week, actually just 2 days ago I was noticing that my stomach seemed a little flatter, that I had more energy than I've had in weeks, that I'm so proud of how well I've been doing and how good I feel.

Why does one bad day, and one slow week of weight loss, send me backwards into a forfetful haze where I revert back to beating myself up instead of dusting myself off and moving on? Why do I become mean and hateful and disparaging?

Cakie Bell has it right that instead of looking down and seeing the negative, I need to remind myself that this body I have is amazing. It's MINE and it's gotten me here, in spite of the abuse I've slung at it and the junk I've fed it for days on end at times. This is a day I should be grateful. Grateful that even though my head's not in it, my body's not going to quit me. Not today!

Recipe Box: Kale Chips

Since we’ve been seeing kale chips in the stores and reading about them everywhere (like on Kath Eats Real Food), I decided to try this healthy snack craze for ourselves. Y is someone who would give up all food for chips if given the choice, so he was seriously craving something salty and crunchy about halfway through the 10 Day Real Food Pledge. When we saw a bunch of kale at the local farm stand, we decided it was time.

We just did a basic version with olive oil and salt, but next time I might add some variety with something like parmesan chips, tamari or crushed red pepper. Because, yes, I will DEFINITELY be making these again! They are crispy, salty and a fun snack. Of course they're not just like potato chips, but they're interesting and healthy and definitely satisfy cravings for salty and crunchy munchies.

My one complaint about these is that they did leave a strong aftertaste. Not bad, just very kale-y. You've been warned! I guess it's the trade-off for the snackfest I had.

Basic Kale Chips

1 bunch kale
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt (I used sea salt)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F

Wash the kale, remove thick stems and tear into bite sized pieces and then dry completely in a salad spinner.

Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread the kale on paper. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Bake until the kale is crispy and the edges are just browned, about 10-15 minutes.

Serves 4
Points per serving: 2

Sober Eating

Since I've cut out refined grains and refined sugars for the last 10 days, I've been feeling pretty amazing physically. I haven't had any strong cravings, no physical urges to binge and have been getting more an more sensitive to the subtle tastes of food -sweetness of carrots has increased, the complexity of flavors seems more obvious to me. Eating this way has been a pleasure, an adventure and mostly, as cheesy as it sounds, a gift to myself and my health.

I was talking to my crazy lady about how good it feels to eat well, how easy it seems this time around. I also mentioned how I've been more moody than normal. She thought maybe this is a direct reaction to not having binges and binge trigger foods to mask some of the emotions I would normally need to feel and deal with directly. She also thought that it might seem easy because I've drawn a line in the sand with the refined foods. That for me, this might be my version of "sober eating". That I might need to continue to do this to allow my body to adjust to feeling good and using food for fuel and nourishment as opposed to using it mostly as a drug.

The concept of sober eating was new to me, but as soon as she used that term, I completely understood what she meant. It seemed such a fitting term for how I should aim to eat and what I need to do as part of my recovery from this eating disorder. I had never thought of myself as seeking out sobriety. I don't have an issue with drugs or alcohol, which I usually equate with the concept of sobriety. But I do have an addictive issue with food and bingeing, and have been using something similar to addiction counseling to deal with my food issues. So this idea of sobriety and sober eating really put a new frame of thinking for me.

And how amazing that I've been not only free from binges for two weeks now, but free from even the URGE to binge?? When I've been eating clean (i.e., "sober"), it hasn't been a struggle at all and I haven't had to make any decisions about bingeing or not...it just hasn't come up. Yes, I've been a bit moody, a bit sensitive, a bit sad. But I haven't been any of those things enough to drive me into a binge. Or to pull down my strength enough to make me consider a binge. I've just felt like I'm getting stronger, getting closer to the way I want to live my life. The way I WILL live my life. I'm doing it now. I would have never been able to do this even a year ago.... After 3 days max eating like this, I would have turned it into a control issue and binged privately and grandly.

I don't think I will continue on forever without another urge to binge. Life gets tough, I have my fallbacks and my coping mechanisms that aren't always the best. But for now, since I've found something that seems to be working, I'm going to give it a try for the long haul.

My goal is to do an 85-15 eating plan. What I mean by this is that 85% of the food I eat will be sober foods - no refined grains, no refined sweeteners, as few unprocessed foods as possible. Just real food. There's no reason I can't do this when I'm shopping and cooking for myself. The 15% comes in when visiting friends and family, out to dinner, away from home.

I'm going to think more about this idea of sober eating and clean living as it relates to the bingeing and the way my body feels. So far, I think I might be onto something.

Taking the 10 Day Real Food Challenge

Starting on September 1st, my boyfriend and I will be taking the 10-Day Pledge to eat real food and consciously cut out any processed food from our diets.

I took the challenge based on the 100 Days of Real Food blog. I'm not quite ready for that level of commitment, but I am excited for the new start.

I've been many whole foods as I've been making a conscious effort to be mindful of my health and the way different foods make my body feel. I find myself relying on packaged granola bars and frozen pizzas when in a pinch though and I'd love to move away from that dependence.

I'm going to spend a few days planning what I'll need to buy, what I'll want to eat and really commit to this challenge. Check out Lisa Leake's blog and think about making your own pledge to eating real foods, if only for 10 days.

(As an aside, sorry it's been so long since I've posted...I'm sure no one even checks back here anymore. I struggled a bit with the healthy eating/blogging/honesty about my weight and body issues for a while but I find that when I do blog, it gives me some accountability and somewhere to talk about successes and failures. So I'm giving this another go.)