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sylvanwitchHello and Welcome, Friends, to the Fitness Fellowship 2022!
The Fitness Fellowship began many years ago, but in its most recent incarnation, this will be Year 3. I launched it and still maintain it as a small community of people interested in achieving their individually set fitness goals. Please define "fitness" however you'd like, including but not limited to physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual fitness.
Our prime directive is respect: For ourselves and for one another.
We are non-judgmental and focus on mutual support and encouragement.
The way it works is simple: Once a week, this year on Saturdays, I post a check-in that asks you to review the week you've had in terms of your self-determined goals and to offer your plans for the week ahead. You may check in as often as or sporadically as you'd like; there is no commitment implied or required.
The overall goal of this group is to encourage you to achieve your goals through accountability, if that's something you need and/or desire.
The purpose of today's post is to state your goal(s), short- and/or long-term, for fitness in 2022, and speak a little about your plan(s) for achieving it/them, should you choose.
No pressure.
My goals for fitness in 2022 are the following:
1. Return to and maintain my goal weight of 170 pounds.
2. Get more and better sleep.
3. Eat clean(er).
4. Incorporate strength training into my daily exercise.
5. Exercise daily.
6. Incorporate a spiritual element (e.g. meditation) weekly.
Context:
I'm currently at 184 pounds, having gained 7 pounds from where I started 2021 and 16 pounds from my lowest weight of 2021. As background, I've been losing weight since 2020 (starting weight: 230.6) and made my goal weight (170 pounds) in February 2021. However, as is typical of me, maintenance did not go as I'd intended, and I regained a lot of that weight starting in September 2021. (I regained almost 6 pounds of that weight since 21 December 2021. The holiday permissions I gave myself were...broad. ;-)
In January 2021, I purchased a NordicTrack Elliptical, and it changed my exercise life for the better. It came with a year's subscription to iFit, a virtual gym with thousands of recorded workouts that I can load up. The workout session takes over my machine, setting resistance and elevation, and the sessions themselves take me all over the world. I've hiked the Alps, Easter Island, and the Scottish Highlands, and toured New Orleans necropolises, Egyptian pyramids, and street markets in Germany, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic. I've been on beaches all over the world. (I do all of this with the trainer's sound OFF and the television on.) I work out daily, though not always on the machine, walking and hiking being my other preferred regular exercise. I am certainly much fitter, physically, than I was at this time last year, so despite the weight gain, I'm healthier overall.
I try to maintain a plants-based, whole foods diet, which means in practical terms that I'm a vegan, but for health, not animal rights, reasons. (That's a significant distinction for me because we participate in a hive share program with a Minnesota farm, so honey is a sweetener I use and enjoy.) The plan I am supposed to be following is Dr. Greger's How Not to Die plan, also known as the Daily Dozen. Suffice it to say that I have strayed far afield of this healthy eating, consuming a lot of processed vegan foods because they are lower in calories than the non-processed alternatives and/or are easier to prepare. But personal history has proven time and again that the cleaner I eat, the better I feel, regardless of what the number on the scale says. And, not for nothing, the number on the scale tends to trend downwards when I'm eating clean. Also, I try to watch my sodium intake because my family has a history of hypertension, and I emphatically do not want to go on medicine for it.
Plans:
1. Eat clean: Avoid processed foods, pay more attention to sodium content, use the Daily Dozen app every day.
2. Track calories: Myfitnesspal is my friend. I am the sort who needs daily accountability. I've set MFP to reflect my level of activity and that I'd like to lose 1/2 pound a week. That means I have 1830 calories a day, not including calories earned by exercise. I am anticipating that I will not need that many calories a day, but if eating clean means going over but consuming moderate quantities of healthier foods, I'm okay with that. So, I'm shifting my eating plan focus from how many calories to what kinds of food, at least for the first two months of 2022. We'll see how it goes.
3. Get to bed BY 11:00pm, no screens after 10:00pm. I get up at 6:00am for work. I need to get seven solid hours of sleep, and I've been letting this erode over the past semester because I like to read before bed. This plan requires that I start easing down my day's activity earlier in the evening. I can do this, but it takes redeveloping the habit.
4. I bought an Amazon FireStick and am installing it on our Smart TV today, so I can use the iFit app through our television. This makes doing floor workouts with hand weights infinitely easier than squinting at my iPad screen. My initial goal is to do three iFit strength training workouts per week for the first two months. If I develop and maintain this positive regimen, my reward will be the purchase of a pricey but extremely convenient set of easily adjustable NordicTrack hand weights. (I am a sucker for rewards.)
5. Meditate at least once a week. This can be traditional meditation, walking meditation, guided meditation, meditating on a passage or mantra, and/or reading the cards. (I'm a professionally trained tarot reader, but I very rarely read the cards for myself for Reasons. I've promised myself that I'll incorporate more readings into my life because the cards are a vital element of my spiritual life, and I need to approach them as such. Plus, I genuinely feel more centered when I honor that part of my life.)
May 2022 be the year you feel strongest!
The Fitness Fellowship began many years ago, but in its most recent incarnation, this will be Year 3. I launched it and still maintain it as a small community of people interested in achieving their individually set fitness goals. Please define "fitness" however you'd like, including but not limited to physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual fitness.
Our prime directive is respect: For ourselves and for one another.
We are non-judgmental and focus on mutual support and encouragement.
The way it works is simple: Once a week, this year on Saturdays, I post a check-in that asks you to review the week you've had in terms of your self-determined goals and to offer your plans for the week ahead. You may check in as often as or sporadically as you'd like; there is no commitment implied or required.
The overall goal of this group is to encourage you to achieve your goals through accountability, if that's something you need and/or desire.
The purpose of today's post is to state your goal(s), short- and/or long-term, for fitness in 2022, and speak a little about your plan(s) for achieving it/them, should you choose.
No pressure.
My goals for fitness in 2022 are the following:
1. Return to and maintain my goal weight of 170 pounds.
2. Get more and better sleep.
3. Eat clean(er).
4. Incorporate strength training into my daily exercise.
5. Exercise daily.
6. Incorporate a spiritual element (e.g. meditation) weekly.
Context:
I'm currently at 184 pounds, having gained 7 pounds from where I started 2021 and 16 pounds from my lowest weight of 2021. As background, I've been losing weight since 2020 (starting weight: 230.6) and made my goal weight (170 pounds) in February 2021. However, as is typical of me, maintenance did not go as I'd intended, and I regained a lot of that weight starting in September 2021. (I regained almost 6 pounds of that weight since 21 December 2021. The holiday permissions I gave myself were...broad. ;-)
In January 2021, I purchased a NordicTrack Elliptical, and it changed my exercise life for the better. It came with a year's subscription to iFit, a virtual gym with thousands of recorded workouts that I can load up. The workout session takes over my machine, setting resistance and elevation, and the sessions themselves take me all over the world. I've hiked the Alps, Easter Island, and the Scottish Highlands, and toured New Orleans necropolises, Egyptian pyramids, and street markets in Germany, Portugal, and the Dominican Republic. I've been on beaches all over the world. (I do all of this with the trainer's sound OFF and the television on.) I work out daily, though not always on the machine, walking and hiking being my other preferred regular exercise. I am certainly much fitter, physically, than I was at this time last year, so despite the weight gain, I'm healthier overall.
I try to maintain a plants-based, whole foods diet, which means in practical terms that I'm a vegan, but for health, not animal rights, reasons. (That's a significant distinction for me because we participate in a hive share program with a Minnesota farm, so honey is a sweetener I use and enjoy.) The plan I am supposed to be following is Dr. Greger's How Not to Die plan, also known as the Daily Dozen. Suffice it to say that I have strayed far afield of this healthy eating, consuming a lot of processed vegan foods because they are lower in calories than the non-processed alternatives and/or are easier to prepare. But personal history has proven time and again that the cleaner I eat, the better I feel, regardless of what the number on the scale says. And, not for nothing, the number on the scale tends to trend downwards when I'm eating clean. Also, I try to watch my sodium intake because my family has a history of hypertension, and I emphatically do not want to go on medicine for it.
Plans:
1. Eat clean: Avoid processed foods, pay more attention to sodium content, use the Daily Dozen app every day.
2. Track calories: Myfitnesspal is my friend. I am the sort who needs daily accountability. I've set MFP to reflect my level of activity and that I'd like to lose 1/2 pound a week. That means I have 1830 calories a day, not including calories earned by exercise. I am anticipating that I will not need that many calories a day, but if eating clean means going over but consuming moderate quantities of healthier foods, I'm okay with that. So, I'm shifting my eating plan focus from how many calories to what kinds of food, at least for the first two months of 2022. We'll see how it goes.
3. Get to bed BY 11:00pm, no screens after 10:00pm. I get up at 6:00am for work. I need to get seven solid hours of sleep, and I've been letting this erode over the past semester because I like to read before bed. This plan requires that I start easing down my day's activity earlier in the evening. I can do this, but it takes redeveloping the habit.
4. I bought an Amazon FireStick and am installing it on our Smart TV today, so I can use the iFit app through our television. This makes doing floor workouts with hand weights infinitely easier than squinting at my iPad screen. My initial goal is to do three iFit strength training workouts per week for the first two months. If I develop and maintain this positive regimen, my reward will be the purchase of a pricey but extremely convenient set of easily adjustable NordicTrack hand weights. (I am a sucker for rewards.)
5. Meditate at least once a week. This can be traditional meditation, walking meditation, guided meditation, meditating on a passage or mantra, and/or reading the cards. (I'm a professionally trained tarot reader, but I very rarely read the cards for myself for Reasons. I've promised myself that I'll incorporate more readings into my life because the cards are a vital element of my spiritual life, and I need to approach them as such. Plus, I genuinely feel more centered when I honor that part of my life.)
May 2022 be the year you feel strongest!