Fitness Fellowship 2024: WELCOME AND GOALS POST

[sylvanwitch]

Forgive the cut-and-paste from last year, but the basics have not changed.

How this works:

ALL ARE WELCOME! 

Each week, usually on the same day (so, this year, Mondays), I will make a check-in post encouraging you to discuss how you've done on your personal fitness goals for the previous week. You may comment on the post with your updates, if any, or choose not to join in that week. Please come and go as you see fit; there is no judgment here, and I promise I won't DM you with a nudge unless you tell me that's something you'd like me to do.

I will respond to your comments, and I encourage you to respond to each other's as well.

This is intended to be a friendly space to provide a measure of accountability to help you reach your personal goals. Please do let us know if you are seeking advice or if you need a firmer sort of pressure. Otherwise, what you'll get from me is positive cheerleading and/or commiseration.

Goal-Setting:

Please know that you may choose whatever definition(s) and variet(y/ies) of fitness you'd like to achieve. You might want to gain strength, develop a meditation habit, get more sleep, drink more water, spend less time on your devices, etc. (and in combination). You may choose short-term and/or long-term goals. You may change your goals at any time.

I do encourage you to consider mini-goal rewards and a more significant reward for achieving longer-term goals, but that is entirely up to you. I just work better by the carrot than by the stick. :-)

What to do now:

Please comment below with your personally developed fitness goals. Next Monday, I'll post a check-in to let you know how I've done and to see how you're doing.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

My fitness goals for the coming year as the same as for the last year.

So, my lowest weight this year was 204.2, which was just before the holiday week, during which I gained more than six pounds, which I am already losing now that I'm not challenged by meals out, travel, etc. My highest weight in 2023 was 223.6, so I feel pretty good about my weight loss even with the holiday spike on the scale.

Starting weight for 2024: 208.4.

Goal ONE: Goal weight for 2024: 180 pounds. That means I would like to lose around 2.5 pounds a month.

Method: Intermittent fasting. My general rule is that I do not eat anything before 10:00am nor after 8:00pm, but typically, I stop eating even earlier than that. The eating window is adjustable for extraordinary circumstances (e.g. an evening work obligation that forces me to eat dinner later).

Goal TWO: Get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

Method: During the school year, this means: No devices after 10:30pm. In bed ready to sleep at 11:00pm. (I get up at 6:00am on work days.)

Goal THREE: Drink at least 48 ounces of water each day.

Goal FOUR: Do some kind of meditation, breathing, and/or spirituality work at least twice a week.

Goal FIVE: Exercise every day for a minimum of 30 minutes. I am very good about this already, but I thought it bore reiterating for the official record. ;-)

May 2024 be the year in which we achieve and maybe even exceed our fitness goals!

Comments

[luzula]

Late comment again, sigh. But I do very much appreciate these posts! And your goals sound great, I wish you the best of luck with them. : )

Overall, I would like to continue with the sorts of goals I had last year: getting good sleep habits and exercising. Ideally I would also like to lose 2 kg. I bought a digital scale a while ago, but the weight it shows is so inconsistent that I think something is wrong with it? Must fix, arrgh. Also, I think setting goals week by week worked well for me, so I'll continue doing that.

The current week is a bit of a challenge. I have a weird pain in my knee, and a weird pain in my shoulder, and these are keeping me from exercising properly. I've done some core stuff, but I do like to vary my exercise! Additionally I am generally quite stiff in my back/shoulders/neck; this is a side effect of a long cold I had in December, when I couldn't exercise, which always affects me like this. I have booked a massage session with a massage therapist whom I know can fix this, but that's not until the 17th. What I'm doing for now is lots of short walks and short gentle exercise sessions to keep me from sitting still too much.

And today I'm sniffly; possibly another cold is coming on. : ( ALSO one of my roommates had a covid exposure and feels like something is coming on, so I'm isolating. (My cold is not that, it came too early.)

[sylvanwitch]

I have always admired your steady, flexible approach to health and fitness, and I am glad you're rejoining me this year for another go at it. I am so sorry to hear you're having weird physical issues, to which I can definitely relate--bodies are so weird!--and I hope that you're able to get some relief before your massage appointment but DEFINITELY from the massage itself. I also really admire you for doing what you can to keep active; that's so important, and I hope it helps! (I also hope you don't come down with another cold! Boo! for colds!)