Fitness: You know you’re doing it right when your mom calls your biceps “scary.”
No, I’m not that sweaty, unfortunately. I went for a run in the rain this morning, and that’s how wet I got under my sweater. I also saw two raccoons. Is that relevant to fitness? Maybe not. At least I didn’t scream at them.
Today was going to be an arm workout post to match my leg workout posted earlier, but my arm workouts really aren’t as organized as they should be, and go a little something like: Do a lot of bicep curls. Do a lot of pushups. Throw in some tricep stuff. Finish off with dive bombers and one arm press ups.
Instead, Electra at Vanilla Bean Lean has posted an accountability challenge, and, as I love her amazing and inspirational site, I just had to join.
Week One Accountability Challenge: Make some goals.
Fitness
- Run my afternoon warmup mile in 8 minutes rather than my current 8:30 (which I know is getting too easy). I can do this by the end of the month. I know it.
- Get (more) serious about weightlifting by learning more/learning new moves and techniques. Put something new into every workout from here to the end of the year.
- Be able to do a bicep curl with a 25lb dumbbell by the end of the year.
Mental
- Keep running every morning. Yes, this is a mental goal. I hate winter/cold weather, it’s no joke, but there is no excuse to give up my morning runs.
- Be more social. Talk to a stranger twice a week, even if it’s just an inane comment in the grocery line.
- Do more artistically. Paint or craft at least once a week, and keep writing even after NaNoWriMo is over.
Diet
- Cut out fake sugar, starting now. I have tried every brand/product imaginable, and none of them agree with me, and I feel awful after consumption. This does not mean add in real sugar, it means limit sugar intake to my usual once a week healthy (enough) cookie treats (no way I’m giving those up).
- Reschedule/restructure my eating. I’m going to the gym at a different time because of the season change (directly from work), and that is complicating my former two-dinner schedule. This needs to happen by the end of the week.
Holiday
- Splurge on stuffing (I only get it twice a year, and it is a holiday, after all), but resist the other junk I don’t really like that much anyway.
- Find a way to work out when visiting family/away from home.
Have any holiday or fitness goals?
ForgottenBeast 
Dang girl, nice progress!! Lovin the goals too, I’m sure you’ll knock ’em all out in no time 😉
Those are great goals! I think it’s awesome to fit in your favorite holiday treat too. I would go crazy without a couple of my holiday staples!
Yeah, I think it’s still important to celebrate holidays/make certain times special regardless!
Dannnng girl! Show me how to get those arms! I’m going to start following your workout 😉 Good think you’re going to have a plan! haha
I’m working on putting something logical together, haha, “Do a bunch of this” doesn’t really help, does it?
I want those arms!! Really, I need to work on my arms….I’m soo jealous!! Maybe that’s the key to increase my weights for my bicep curls!! I totally agree with your sugar intake…real, raw sugar or agave over anything fake…and just a little bit!
The idea of fake sugars kind of scares me the more I read about them, too. There’s nothing wrong with a good real food item as long as you use it smartly!
Nice goals.
You’re arms look very strong. Mine, I won’t show you, are not very strong…but they’re good kid pillows. Heh.
My holiday goals are:
Thanksgiving:
1. Make the 2 dishes I need to bring to the family get-together.
2. Try to relax on the LONG drive to my in-laws.
3. Enjoy
Christmas:
1. Finish shopping before Thanksgiving
2. Put Christmas tree and decorations up on Thanksgiving evening or on Friday.
3. Get everything non-perishable wrapped by December 1st, so my tree does not look bare.
4. Enjoy.
These are awesome goals! If I could get that “finish shopping” business knocked off too, it would be a miracle. At least I’ve started, that’s better than most years 😀
I LOVE LOVE LOVE these goals Allie! Seriously! You rock! You broke them up into the categories and really took each category full on. I am so proud of you!!! 🙂 I can tell by the way they’re written that you’re going to achieve them. I am so looking forward to being a part of your journey and seeing you reach all of these goals!
I am a major fan of you ditching the fake sugars. The only one I still have is sugar free gum and every fake sweetener (other than stevia) wrecks havoc on my system too (digestive, breathing, headache .. you name it I get it) and this is part of my goal list as well to cut out – so lean on me – I totally understand!! 🙂
SO psyched you’re taking on the challenge – I know you’re going to kick some serious holiday accountability challenge booty!
Thanks so much for setting up the challenge! I love this! And I definitely took your advice to make them attainable, I’m completely guilty of usually making goals like “lift more,” “eat better” or “spend more time at the gym”–way too vague, can’t really cross them off a list, and then they never really happen anyway. Excited about moving forward with this challenge, I’m confident I can get these done!
I saw Electra’s (what a cool name, btw!) challenge, and thought it was awesome…sadly I have yet to really wrap my mind around it. In the meantime, can I say WOW?! Your biceps are killer! You should wear tanktops every day. Through the winter.
Any questions Kiah?? I’m so up for helping you wrap your mind around it so you can be a part of it too 😀
I totally agree – Allie’s biceps rock!
If only I wasn’t also a cold wimp, I’d totally rock year-round tank tops 😀 Hope you join in on the challenge, it’s not too late!
I just don’t want to gain over the holidays. If I can lose, then that’s icing on the cake!
Those guns are looking mighty shiny! You should be proud of yourself! I rescheduled my eating a little over a week ago, and it’s really working out so much better for me. Before, I tried to eat 5 or 6 small meals every day. Except that I kept gaining weight and I was ALWAYS thinking about food. Now, I eat 3 larger meals and a snack at night and I find that I’m perfectly satisfied. I’m nowhere near as food-focused as I was before! I think it’s really important to find an eating pattern that works with our rhythms. Good luck on your goals! They’re very specific, which will hopefully make it easier to stick to them.
I can’t really do the 5 or 6 meals a day either, although that works for a lot of people. Ah, well–that’s what experimenting’s for, figuring out what’ll work for you! Glad you’ve found a routine that makes sense. And I need specific goals! I’m so bad at making vague ones that are impossible to work towards.
Look at those guns! I bow down to your dive bomber skills. I’m terrible at them. I love your goals. You’ll knock them out, I just know it.
I thought about going for a run last night, but no dice. I’m not running in the dark in 40º weather. I’m a wimp. I stuck to bodyrock instead.
It’s weather like this that makes me miss the gym.
Heck, nothing wrong with bodyrock. And I definitely need my gym membership in the winter! I get so much less active outdoor time. Since it gets dark at 4pm. What gives? I run in the dark in the morning, but yeah, not always the most pleasant thing.
Woot woot! Love the bicep picture! Hmm my fitness goal is to do a marathon sometime in early 2012 😀
WOAH that’s quite the goal! But you’re such an awesome runner, bet you’ll achieve that one easily!
These are great goals! Your arms are looking fabulously strong! 🙂
I agree, splurge on stuffing. I think I only have it once a year so I def. take in my fair share! And holy amazing look at your biceps!!
Yep, I only do stuffing at Thanksgiving, and I absolutely love it, I could eat JUST that for Thanksgiving dinner and be more than happy.
Love the goals- 25 lbs dumbbell girls is pretty beastly ;)! I love your goal to talk to strangers twice a week…I think I may work towards that too 😀
You should try it! I’m already one down for the week, chatted with the maintenance man at my office this morning.
Brilliant idea to set goals like this, great to push yourself and that they’re achievable – I definitely couldn’t be running in the mornings in winter!
I think you’re right with the food too; there’s no point trying to deny yourself everything, you’ve got to have some treats and some proper sugar has got to be better than artifiial stuff… 🙂
Yeah, I love a good batch of mostly healthy cookies, and I figure if I make them myself, I know what’s going in there, so I get treats that are real food at least and won’t leave me craving massive amounts of other junk. And ugh, I’m no fan of early morning runs in the cold, but I’m off to buy mittens this afternoon for tomorrow–it’s dropping down to below freezing, yuck.