Happy July First!

Gosh, it's hard to believe that the first half of 2012 is OVER! It's DONE. Wow.

How are things going on your goals? I had a bunch of goals for the year and most of them (due to outside circumstances) are not going to be completed as I originally intended. This is not to say at all that I gave up or am not doing them, just that sometimes we have a goal in our head and as we proceed through our life we realize that the goal must be modified. Not necessarily abandoned.

So, overall, I'm feeling really good about my goals for 2012.

Let's revisit them shall we, and do a little update?

1. Complete my Bachelor of Science in Human Communication by the end of Fall Term 2012 (December), including a Certificate in Human Resources Management and a Certificate in Conflict Resolution.

Alright, I've already updated you on this one. Not going to happen because of class availability. I am on track to graduate the end of Winter term 2013 though. And I am super thankful to one of my professors who was willing to do a class for me over the summer term that is typically only taught in Spring term. Thank you Jody!

2. Lose 20 pounds.

This goal is on track! I lost and then gain and have lost again (my typical scenario) but I am on track to make this goal happen! Woohoo!

3. Complete the Helvetia Half Marathon on June 9th, 2012 in Hillsboro, Oregon. 13.1 miles.

DONE!! I completed the half (walking) in just under 4 hours. It was awesome!

4. Exercise at least 20 minutes 183 days of the year.
I am just going to admit that I have done an absolutely horrible job of keeping track of how many days of the year I have exercised. I have no clue how many days, but what I do know is that I have consistenly been exercising. Not every day, but regularly, and this is the kind of habit I need to continue to build upon, which is really the whole point of this goal in the first place, to build consistency. So, even though the number of days hasn't been tracked, I am building consistency.

5. Complete 3960 exercise minutes during the year.
Okay, another admission: I have done a horrible job of tracking how many minutes I have worked out. Here's what I do know: My average cardio workout at home is 50 minutes. My average walk was at least an hour while I was training, with several of them being multiple hours. In order to meet this goal I only need 66 days of 60 minutes of exercise, so I'm fairly confident the the number of minutes I have been working out will mean I exceed this goal.

I actually just did a little figuring based on what is recorded in mapmyfitness and my recent FIRM workout routine and figured I have at least 1772 minutes. It is actually more than that because my workouts from early in the year are not included so, I have well over 2000 minutes so far. So if we just say I have 2000 more to do and divide that by 50 which is my average minutes that means I need about 40 more 50 minutes workouts to reach this goal. This should be no problem!

So there we are. A little halfway point update and it looks to me like I am pretty on track for the main goals I wanted to achieve this year. How are you doing on your goals?

For the month of June I also participated in a 30-Day Salad Challenge where the goal was to eat a salad every day the month of June. While I did not eat a salad every day (I think there were four or five days that I didn't eat a salad) I did succeed in the spirit of the challenge which was to be aware of and increase veggie consumption. I frequently had more than one green salad a day, so I did eat lots of greens and veggies in June.

What's on tap for JULY??

Well, putting an exception in for the Fourth of July this Wednesday, my goal is to eat really clean between now and the 12th of July. No sweets, limit alcohol to only a couple days a week, and eat lots of really good healthy fruits, vegs and proteins in appropriate portions. Goal number two is to continue to exercise 50 minutes at least every other day. More would be awesome, but that is the main goal.

As far as fitness goals go I want to increase my plank time and increase the amount of weight I am lifting for a couple different exercises. I am always working on improving my ab strength and improving my push up performance.

Here is some of what I ate yesterday and today so far to kick this goal off:

Last nights dinner: grilled lemon-dill salmon. I had coleslaw on the side.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with sauteed bok choy and a cup of fruit (strawberries, grapes, kiwi), along with coffee and water.

So good! Heat pan, add a little olive oil, saute chopped bok choy with pepper, salt and garlic poweder. When not quite cooked add eggs and scramble.

Fruit Salad

 I have mentioned many time before that meal planning and prep work are a key to my eating well during the week. Here is the menu for this week (for dinners). Breakfasts and lunches are usually very similar, eggs and fruit for breakfast, greens and proteins for lunch, snacks are usually fruit or nuts or peanut butter.

How about you? Do you have your meals planned for the week? Do you have a fitness goal for the month? Share with me in the comments and we'll keep each other motivated!!