Goals.

So in mid-August I set some health-related goals for myself. Today I conquered the second goal and because of this, I am feeling quite good today.

The first goal was to stick to a plan while not going off on some weird diet tangent that promised to reduce me to the size of Twiggy in a month but then would blow me up to twice the size if I inhaled anywhere near a Pop-Tart.  I believe eating normal, regular food but at reasonably sized portions (I call it “Leave It To Beaver” portions) is the way to go. With the help of MyFitnessPal (as recommended by our friend Jeff), I can say that I have gone for over 25 days of sticking to my plan. Goal #1? So far so good.

The second goal was to get my weight to Army standards. Now I know I’m not in the Army nor have I ever been in the Army (back then they would have asked, I would have told…) but I figured that the goal of being within Army regulations was a good milestone along this path I had plotted for myself.  So this morning I felt quite good to see that the scale gave me the number that put me within regulations. I even jumped on the scale three times to make sure that the number was consistent.

I don’t like throwing out numbers, but I’m going to:

29 Aug 12: 209.0 lbs
05 Oct 12: 191.8 lbs

Watching what I eat because I record everything I eat has been a really good first step. Earl and I have been walking after supper at least three times a week for the past several weeks. We recently moved our walk from the nearby high school track to the mall, where there’s more to see, it’s warmer and we can be like old people racing around the perimeter of the mall.

I have also pledged to continue cycling until the snow plows chase me off the road. When that happens I’ll move the road bike into the basement (for days when we can’t see beyond the front porch) and start taking the trail bike out on days when we’re not having a blizzard. If the snow becomes an issue this winter, I’m going to take up snowshoeing. I hear that’s a great cardio workout.

My next goal is known to only Earl and me and I’ll probably peacock (using peacock as a verb sounds a little dirty) when I reach that goal, but for now I’m feeling good and I’m feeling more _balanced_ than I have in a while.