Fitness Fellowship 2018: Goals Post!
Jan. 1st, 2018 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sylvanwitchHello, Friends!
I cannot believe I've been doing this annually since 2012, but the archive doesn't lie, and here we are for yet another round of the Fitness Fellowship.
What is it?
The Fitness Fellowship is a very casual, no-pressure, supportive group for people who are interested in setting and keeping fitness goals for 2018.
How does it work?
You create your goals according to your own life and needs. You should feel free to define "fitness" however you'd like (see my own goals below for ideas).
I'll post a weekly update and ask you to offer your progress in the comments, which are open to everyone who wants to comment, offer support and encouragement, etc.
You can participate as often or as infrequently as you'd like. I find that the weekly accountability is very helpful for motivating me to stick to my goals, but maybe you prefer a lower-pressure approach, which is perfectly fine as well.
Who can join?
Everyone is welcome. Feel free to pimp it out. For these posts, I'll be keeping it open access.
If you're interested in joining, please reply in the comments with your goal(s) (short-term and/or long-term), your plan for achieving said goal(s), and anything else you want us to know about your fitness quest. Feel free to comment on each others', as well! The more encouragement and knowledge we share with each other, the better off we'll be!
Fitness to me means more than just being physically well. Particularly given my struggles with anxiety since moving here at the end of August, I'm interested in developing positive habits that will aid me in regaining mental and emotional equilibrium in addition to maybe losing a few pounds and eating better.
So, here's what I'd like to accomplish in 2018:
1. I'd like to exercise at least five out of seven days for at least 20 minutes (to start). This needs to be purposeful exercise, but it doesn't have to be super-strenuous. It may include walking, using my recumbent stationary bike, or doing a fitness vid in front of the television. Exercise helps to reduce anxiety in my case, and I need to be much better about it.
2. I've been vegan for a year and a half or more now, but I haven't always been whole-foods, plant-based. I need to cut out oil, processed foods, sugar, added salt, etc. I need to actually pay attention to Dr. Greger's daily dozen. My anxiety is both triggered by and sometimes triggers upset stomach, so the better and healthier I eat, the better I'll feel and the less anxious I'll be.
3. I need to get more sleep. I'm pretty good about keeping to a sleep schedule, but my anxiety keeps me up. In fact, it most often manifests around sleep issues. The more I can keep to a good sleep schedule, wherein I do predictable things in predictable ways leading up to the act of going to bed, the better off I'll be. This means being off-screen (no television, computer, etc.) by no later than 10:00pm. It also means being in bed with a book by 10:30 so that my mind and body are ready to sleep by 11:00pm, which will give me a solid seven hours of sleep each night.
4. I need to get back to a regular habit of meditating. Meditation helps me enormously in so many ways, not just in regulating anxiety but also in deepening and enriching my spiritual life and in helping me to feel centered and at peace with the chaos of the world.
That seems like a tall order, I know, but for all four of them, I have parts in place already, and I have experience in all of them as well. These are steps I know I can take, that I have taken successfully in the past, that will aid me in feeling stronger and healthier in so many ways.
I'm so looking forward to taking this journey with you. I hope you'll join me in trying to be a better me in 2018.
Peace and health,
SW
I cannot believe I've been doing this annually since 2012, but the archive doesn't lie, and here we are for yet another round of the Fitness Fellowship.
What is it?
The Fitness Fellowship is a very casual, no-pressure, supportive group for people who are interested in setting and keeping fitness goals for 2018.
How does it work?
You create your goals according to your own life and needs. You should feel free to define "fitness" however you'd like (see my own goals below for ideas).
I'll post a weekly update and ask you to offer your progress in the comments, which are open to everyone who wants to comment, offer support and encouragement, etc.
You can participate as often or as infrequently as you'd like. I find that the weekly accountability is very helpful for motivating me to stick to my goals, but maybe you prefer a lower-pressure approach, which is perfectly fine as well.
Who can join?
Everyone is welcome. Feel free to pimp it out. For these posts, I'll be keeping it open access.
If you're interested in joining, please reply in the comments with your goal(s) (short-term and/or long-term), your plan for achieving said goal(s), and anything else you want us to know about your fitness quest. Feel free to comment on each others', as well! The more encouragement and knowledge we share with each other, the better off we'll be!
Fitness to me means more than just being physically well. Particularly given my struggles with anxiety since moving here at the end of August, I'm interested in developing positive habits that will aid me in regaining mental and emotional equilibrium in addition to maybe losing a few pounds and eating better.
So, here's what I'd like to accomplish in 2018:
1. I'd like to exercise at least five out of seven days for at least 20 minutes (to start). This needs to be purposeful exercise, but it doesn't have to be super-strenuous. It may include walking, using my recumbent stationary bike, or doing a fitness vid in front of the television. Exercise helps to reduce anxiety in my case, and I need to be much better about it.
2. I've been vegan for a year and a half or more now, but I haven't always been whole-foods, plant-based. I need to cut out oil, processed foods, sugar, added salt, etc. I need to actually pay attention to Dr. Greger's daily dozen. My anxiety is both triggered by and sometimes triggers upset stomach, so the better and healthier I eat, the better I'll feel and the less anxious I'll be.
3. I need to get more sleep. I'm pretty good about keeping to a sleep schedule, but my anxiety keeps me up. In fact, it most often manifests around sleep issues. The more I can keep to a good sleep schedule, wherein I do predictable things in predictable ways leading up to the act of going to bed, the better off I'll be. This means being off-screen (no television, computer, etc.) by no later than 10:00pm. It also means being in bed with a book by 10:30 so that my mind and body are ready to sleep by 11:00pm, which will give me a solid seven hours of sleep each night.
4. I need to get back to a regular habit of meditating. Meditation helps me enormously in so many ways, not just in regulating anxiety but also in deepening and enriching my spiritual life and in helping me to feel centered and at peace with the chaos of the world.
That seems like a tall order, I know, but for all four of them, I have parts in place already, and I have experience in all of them as well. These are steps I know I can take, that I have taken successfully in the past, that will aid me in feeling stronger and healthier in so many ways.
I'm so looking forward to taking this journey with you. I hope you'll join me in trying to be a better me in 2018.
Peace and health,
SW
(no subject)
Date: Monday, 1 January 2018 08:51 pm (UTC)Your goals all sound fantastic, particularly your attitude toward #4. I originally began the FF for myself as a motivator to lose weight, but I've found over the years that I'm far more successful in being healthy if I focus on the reasons for my eating and on the foods I'm putting into me rather than tracking calories, etc. When I focus too much on tracking, I tend to get really, really self-competitive, and it doesn't take me too long before I've gotten unhealthy about it. So I appreciate your very healthy attitude here toward food and completely relate to your reasons for not wanting to get super-specific. In fact, that's why I made my food-related goal about quality of food rather than weight-loss, if that makes sense.
Anyway, tl;dr, I'm so glad to have you aboard! Let me know what I/we can do to help motivate you. :-)