Spring Shed
Welcome to the Spring Shed!
Here is the back story about this support group/blog hop for those trying to be accountable for the positive changes we intend to make in our lives in 2013. Whether you are trying to shed weight, find more balance or let go of something else that is dragging you down in the New Year… We can do this — together!
You are welcome to join us whether you previously participated in the Winter Shed this year or not. For those who want to continue on, feel free to take a look at your goals for this Winter/New Year and adjust them as you want or feel the need to, in effort to better represent where you want your focus to be during this next season.
For anyone new, who might want to join us for this round/season, by all means, please do! I have really enjoyed the connections I have made through and the accountability it brought for me doing this during this Winter Season at the start of this New Year.
These are the three areas that I tried to focus on during the Winter Shed and a report on how I did with them:
1) Keeping Fit & Shedding Weight
In December 2012 I was determined to try to lose the last 5-10 lbs. of my postpartum/IVF weight to get back where I was around 2006. When I made that resolution I was 5-8 lbs. from my goal weight, but in pretty good shape from regular exercise. When we began the Winter Shed I was about 10-12 lbs. from where I want to be AND had managed to let regular exercise become less of a priority than it had been in recent years. Not exercising consistently over the past few months had led to weight gain and more stress, as running, group fitness and practicing yoga typically helps me to keep both in check.
I was determined to get back on track.
I am pleased and proud to report that overall I have gotten back on track and as of Friday, March 15 (Week Ten and the last week of the Winter Shed) I have lost 7 lbs. since Friday, December 28th! Shedding 7 lbs. in ten weeks works for me!
I also have done well with trying to eat healthy, eat smaller portions and count calories, as well as regular and consistent exercise. Finally, I am done with my first twelve weeks of pelvic floor physical therapy and have seen positive results!
2) Housekeeping
As I said when I set this goal at the end of December,
I won’t bore you with my excuses, some of which are valid and others, not so much. The bottom line is that I have not been doing enough as often as it is needed.
I can and will do better.
Unfortunately I have not done a whole lot better with this one. I have made some progress, but not enough. This is one of the goals that for the Spring Shed I have set very specific objectives, which I hope will motivate me to “just do it!”
3) Balance & Harmony
This what I wrote for this one in December 2012,
I want to strive to not let any one area in my life out weigh the other priorities. I want to be a good, even better, woman, wife, mother, writer and group fitness instructor. I know that it is possible for me to do all these thing well, but I don’t have to attempt to do each them perfectly, which often trips me up when I am trying find that “harmony” as Brooke from Redhead Reverie wrote about in her “My One Word” post this week.
I
wantneed to find balance and harmony in my life.
I feel pretty good about how I did with this one, though it is hard to quantify. I just returned from a Hearts at Home conferences for moms the weekend of March 15 – 16, with a theme of “no more perfect moms.” The message really resonated with me and I learned a lot at the various session I attended geared towards helping me to be a better mom, wife, family member, friend, Christian, etc. This is another area that I chose to spell out a bit more for the Spring Shed.
For the Spring Shed I am adapting my focus some, including being more specific about my goals and objectives, as well as separating some of them out into their own categories:
1) Healthy Eating
A. Try to follow the U.S. government’s “Eat My Plate” recommendations (with emphasis on 3 servings of veggies & 2 fruit)
B. Continue to practice portion control and count calories.
C. Limit my intake of sweets, soda, alcohol and other pelvic floor flare up triggers.
2) Keeping Fit (Physically/Emotionally/Spiritually) & Shedding Weight
A. Get 7 – 8 hours of sleep every night
B. Drink enough water
C. Exercise 5 – 7 days each week
D. Train for a few Spring 5K races
E. Shed 1 – 2 lbs. per week
F. Meditate & pray daily
3) Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy
A. Go to my physical therapy sessions as scheduled
B. Watch my dietary triggers
C. Do my “homework” (i.e. PT exercises, stretches and such)
4) Housekeeping
A. Basics Daily (dishes, laundry & straightening)
B. Weekly Cleaning (dusting, sweeping, scrubbing & mopping)
C. Organizing & Purging (sorting, filing, selling &/or donating)
5) Family & Faith Focus
A. Bob: Hanging out together with my husband at home, on date nights and spending quality time and have fun together with our family (including family meals, game nights, movie nights, day trips and vacations).
B. Sean: Spending quality time and have fun together when he not in school, activities or doing homework. Helping him to learn to manage his time well, take care of his belongings and keep his room and the basement play area clean and organized.
C. Abby: Spending quality time and have fun together when she is not at preschool, playdates or other activities.
D. Molly & Babies Benson: Honoring their lives and memories, as well as trying to minister to other bereaved families and friends who have lost loved ones.
D. Extended Family: Appreciate the roles they play in my family and my life, be patient with the areas in which we don’t always see eye to eye and prioritize spending quality time and having fun together when possible.
E. Friends: Keep in touch, check in and show them I care. Get together when possible to spend quality time and have fun together.
F. Faith Community (Parish, RE, MOPS & CRHP): Stay actively involved in our parish church community. Fulfill my responsibilities and enjoy the last two months of my involvement with the second grade religious education program, as a catechist, and the MOPS group I am a part of, before I transition out of both to focus more of my time and energy as C0-Spiritual Director for the Women’s CRHP retreat program at our parish.
6) Writing & Reading
A. My Blog: Aim to write at least two – three posts each week.
B. The Today Voice: Fulfill my weekly writing responsibilities through the end of June, which I have committed to and enjoy the process of writing about the weekly prompts.
C. Exhale: Continue to serve as a Contributing Editor helping when I can with the publishing our our website, as well as also writing reviews and/or essays each season.
D. Special Projects (First draft of my book & other freelance writing): Aim for 15 minutes a day, as when I have done that in the past I have been amazed at the incremental progress I am able to make.
E. Read (books, blogs, magazines & other online news/articles of interest): This always seems to be at the bottom of my list of priorities, but is something I get so much out of when I find/make time to do.
F. Comment on others’ blogs: Prioritize this, with emphasis on return comments and then trying to check in and keep up with other blogs that I follow.
As I shared in the intro to my Winter Shed Series…
When I reflect on what has helped me to shed weight, get/stay in shape in the past, prioritize housekeeping tasks and find more balance in my life, accountability is huge!
I have kept myself accountable various ways in the past, but this time I am finding doing so publicly here on my blog have been effective.
Once a week, on Fridays, from now until at least mid-June/Summer, I will continue to check in and share how my week has gone in the key areas I am working on. My hope and intention is that knowing I have this self-imposed report card to file will continue to motivate me to stay focused on my goals.
For those who want to join me in this “Spring Shed,” I will add a Linky Tool to my weekly Friday posts and you are welcome to link up to your Spring Shed blog entries, and/or you can comment here on how you are doing from week to week, so we can support and encourage each other, as well as share what works and what doesn’t for each of us when it comes to striving towards our goals.
Please join me and we can cheer each other on as we kick off the second season of 2013 strong (and stay the course long past February 16th)!
We can do this — TOGETHER!
You are welcome to grab the code for the Spring Shed button by clicking here and put it on your blog. The link will take you to a Google Doc where you can copy the code. If your browser does not allow access to your computer’s clipboard, you can use Ctrl-C for Copy and Ctrl-V for Paste, or use your browser’s Edit menu.
