December To Remember Challenge

How do I plan to make this coming month a December To Remember?

November 30^th I will be writing out my goals for December.  I will write them in my journal.  I will put them in the Notes on my smart phone and I will be posting them on the bathroom mirror and the frig in my kitchen!   Front and center.  I will see them every day, multiple times a day so I can’t ignore them!

I will plan my food for the week and leave one day to “whatever I feel like”.  I know myself well enough to know that I cannot plan and stick to every single day of the week.  So, one day is ‘off’ but when I’m doing well and really rocking the rest of my goals, even that one day won’t be a free for all.  I won’t be pulling up to the barbeque all-you-can-eat, in otherwords! lol  When I lost weight and gained control of my eating through the Vtrim program I often used recipes from Eating Well Cookbooks and Eating Well Magazine.  Their online site is here  and it offers great low-fat recipes as well as a free treasure trove of healthy tips and information.   

I will go shopping to buy food for the week (since I will have planned it out) and I will STICK TO THE LIST! J I tend to be an ‘oh! This looks great, I should get THIS!’ shopper which helps neither my waistline nor my wallet! *grin* Today I saw a great slide show on AOL’s Live Better America that features healthy, filling foods – many of which I’ll be incorporating into my December food plan.

Measuring out food is so key to weight loss so I will continue to use my trusty little red food scale and my measuring cups and spoons and measure all food and snacks. It is amazing what restaurants will serve for portion sizes, so if I am eating out I will go back to my old habit of asking for a ‘to go’ box right when I order my meal so the waitress knows I plan to cut the portion in half (or thirds) and take the rest with me.  Don’t be ashamed to do this, it happens in restaurants all the time and the waitress or waiter will be glad to accommodate your request.

Let’s get our bodies moving in December. You must include some planned activity into 4 of your  7 days each week.  If you’re obese or morbidly obese, please check with your doctor and know your BMI score. Don’t overdo so that you’ll be so sore you want to give up.  Start slowly and work up. My own plan is to walk 2-4 miles 5 days a week (whether inside to DVDs like Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home or outside around my neighborhood or near my new office near MIT’s campus) and then to get to the gym or use my home WII Fit DVDs for weight and resistance training two days a week. 

Health.com photo credit

Also, I have found myself standing in a lot of lines in the holiday months and I have begun to do leg exercises in line… I rise up to my tiptoes (standing calf raise) and then back down… up and down… if I have the room, I do a few lunges and tighten up my core.  If you don’t interrupt those around you, no one seems to mind or notice and those who do notice are secretly admiring you!  : )

One final thing – accountability!  Please plan to check in regularly either through comments here on the blog, on Twitter using the hashtag #hlgDec2Rem or on the HealthyLoser Gal Facebook page!  Helping one another out through both the challenges and all the victories I know we will be having is so important.  You’re not alone – you have company on this challenge!  And (repeat after me…) we CAN and WILL do this!

So there you go – I hope you’ll join in the December To Remember Challenge.  #hlgDec2Rem on Twitter!  Let me know if you’re “in” and want to be part of the challenge. We will be giving ourselves the present that only we can give to ourselves:  the gift of weight loss, health, and self-esteem!

Dream. Believe. Achieve!

Jan / HealthyLoserGal