As promised, here I am with my NYRs for 2017. I am starting with Health because it tends to be the easiest resolution for us to make, break and focus upon.
In general, we are fairly healthy. I keep active, exercise pretty regularly and we eat a decent Paleo-ish diet. Still, it is easy to yo-yo back and forth during down times, holidays or when I think I am doing great and then become lax.
Yesterday, I posted about my workouts for last week and will continue to maintain that as long as I can. As I said, it is a good way for me to keep track for myself as well.
In the Health category, I am breaking it down between exercise and diet. So, let us start with exercise:
*3 month goal = to have a six-pack stomach.
Yes, I know that women are probably healthier with a little bit of roll or pudge to their tummies. I also do not judge anyone in any way regarding bellies. This is a personal goal for myself to see if I can do it and what it would look like. That is all. Once I have achieved the six pack, I will most likely just try to maintain a four-pack, which I think is sufficient. π
*6 month goal = to do between 5-10 pull ups.
At the moment, I can do zero. I can barely lift my body from deadweight up a few centimeters. Despite my arm strength in certain muscles, I am severely lacking in triceps and whatever other muscles are used to do a pull-up. Therefore, with a bit of focus, patience and work, I am hoping that within six months I can do 5-10 pull ups. π
*9 month goal = to run 10km under an hour.
Now, I think this is probably quite slow of a run, but at the moment I can do around 10-12 minutes of running in one stretch before I get bored. Yes, bored. I am fairly certain that I could probably run longer, but my mind drifts and I would rather enjoy what I am reading or listening to while I exercise so I end up walking. Although I have joined the MRTTAD running group, I mostly walk because it is easier to socialize and well, my competitive nature kicks in so I either feel bad about not being as good or arrogant about being better. Neither of which I desire to foster in my psyche. Therefore, I walk. Still, I have determined to train on the treadmill as it allows me to address my boredom issues and I think that I will be able to build up my stamina better this way. I used to be able to do 45 minutes with about 30 minutes of running. I am not sure that I ever made it to 10km, but in any case, this is my goal.
*12 month goal = 90 minute yoga practice plus 30 minutes meditation every day
I know…it may seem strange to have this goal considering the fact that my current claimed profession is a yoga instructor. I mean, how does one become a yoga instructor and have a year goal to be able to do 90-minutes every day??? π The truth is that I am human! I do not always want to get on the mat. For the past week I have definitely been more disciplined and been on the mat at least four times with meditation included. However, I need to build up my practice stamina. At the moment, I can do about 30 minutes of yoga following my Vijnana Yoga Manual from my training. Probably, I could stretch that out a bit more, but I don’t. I am also building my meditation to now about 20 minutes straight where my legs fall asleep around 15 minutes in. Of course, more practice will make this easier. I was up to a 45 minute sit before, so the meditation should not be difficult. The key here is EVERY DAY! On top of working out at the gym, it is a little difficult to make sure I also have 2 hours set aside to do this. Therefore, to reach this goal, I imagine I shall have to adjust my schedule more and other things will give….But, this is my goal by the end of the year!
As for diet, I do not mean dieting to lose weight. I am sure if you know me, you already knew this. Diet means what I eat each day – just to make it clear. I do not have quarterly goals per se because that might put focus on weight loss or even suggest that these changes cannot be made overnight, but really for me they can since we already are a leg up in how we are eating.
We did decide to make January – Drynuary. This means staying away from alcohol for the month. It was really M who determined this as he initially said to cut back to just once a week. When he asked if I thought I could go the whole month without it, I said “Sure, no problem at all.” To his surprise he said he would try it. π What I have noticed in the eight short days that we have been ‘dry’ is how much thought and activity is centered around drinking. Our culture, especially as expats, is heavily focused on food and drink to satisfy, bring joy/happiness and distract us from the lives that we lead. In a way this is extremely sad to realize and accept.
So, our one month goal is to stay away from alcohol. Beyond that I am not sure for M, but for me, I had already decided to avoid it for the most part as my body just does not react well to it anymore. This is not to say I will not have a glass or two when out and about, but no more binge nights in my future. π
Also, I would really like to work out how to have a more alkaline diet for M’s acid reflux issues as well as investigating what a more balanced Ph level in the body does. In fact, I am considering taking an online nutrition course this month or next (need to research it a bit) just to have a better knowledge of these topics.
Well, this turned into a long post, but I believe that these NYRs that we make should have depth and quality to them rather than fleeting claims to improve ourselves only to laughingly fail a week or month later.
We will be moving on to 2. Work goals tomorrow. Stay tuned!
~T π
