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

[batdina]

I'm in again. My goals are simple: continue to feel good in my body (and with surgery in March or April that goal will be at least partially managed outside of my own efforts). To that end I want to get my ass back in the pool. Swimming has been my go-to exercise for decades and I want to get back to it. I'd also love to get on a bike and have seen something other than my own bookcases when I'm all done. I'm also hoping to get back to Pulmonary Rehab, which will mean exercises with weights. That requires a prescription, so it's no exactly a certainty.

The rest will be figured out as time goes on. My current weight will drop by a lot with surgery, so determining what/whether I want to lose will be mitigated by that. But as you know about me, weight is less of an issue than physical health.

Looking forward to learning more with you in the new year.

[sylvanwitch]

I am sending you ALL the good vibes for meeting your exercise goals, especially for the swimming as that sounds lovely. I am also SO excited for your upcoming surgery and will send extra-good healing vibes when the time arrives for them.

I hope you feel more and more yourSELF as the year goes on and that you discover joy in your body and peace in your soul. I am sending you ALL the *hugs* and New Year energy tonight, my friend. Be well.

[delphi]

Slipping back in here with sincere apologies for falling off so quickly in 2023.

Last year turned out to be a bit rough, particularly on the mental health front. I have a bigger fitness goal percolating in the back of my mind, but to start, I think I really need to build back up my self-care foundations. I'm going back to basics, if that's all right.

Goal #1: Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Goal #2: Take at least a 30-minute walk every day (weather and health permitting).

Goal #3: Turn off electronics and start getting ready for bed by 10:30 every night.

Goal #4: Cut out caffeinated drinks.

[oschun]

Happy new year! And thanks for doing this again! My goals remain the same.

1. Reduce drinking.
2. Exercise three times a week.
3. Fast twice a week.
4. In bed by 10:30.
5. Continue experimenting with recipes and eating a mainly plant-based diet.

[sylvanwitch]

These seem sensible and, more importantly, doable! I wish for you a year of simple pleasures, great health, and all the love, life, and laughter you can stand! :-). *hugs*

[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!)

better late than never?

[oldtoadwoman]

I'm here, I swear!

I haven't even updated my own weight chart since September (not that my weight has done anything but go up and down and average out about the same in the meantime). I'm going to go do that now.

I'm with you on goal #1. (Which on my scale means I'm aiming for 12½ to 13 stone.)

I like goal #2 as well, but I'll admit I'm not sure how dedicated I'll actually be. I struggle with the no-electronics-before-bed rule. Maybe if I keep a book by my bed so I can read instead of reaching for the phone?

In fact all of these goals look really good. More water (less soda), meditation (more morning journaling), and regular exercise (I need to work on the strength training especially).

I might have been exposed to the crud last week, so I'm in self-imposed exile for two more days, but then I swear I'm hitting the gym regularly.

Re: better late than never?

[sylvanwitch]

Sorry for my late-late response!

I hope that you have by now been cleared of catching the crud (there are so many different kinds of crud going around the school where I teach that I am honestly amazed I've managed to survive a semester with only two colds and nothing more serious)!

I think whatever goals you know will work for you are the best ones to set, for sure! :-)

Re: better late than never?

[oldtoadwoman]

I officially have the crud. Today's test was positive. I feel fine. My only remaining symptom is that I got the classic loss of smell. So, bad news, I have to keep quarantining so no gym in my immediate future. Good news, all the sniffles etc have cleared. Weird bonus? Lack of smell should help me stick to healthy food for awhile. (Apparently this typically lasts weeks?)

Re: better late than never?

[sylvanwitch]

Oh, no! Well, I'm glad the symptoms are no worse, but I sure wish you hadn't gotten it at all. Thank gods you aren't living with your old roommate anymore! I hope your sense of smell returns. (You can train it to come back more quickly, if you'd like, but I won't offer unsolicited advice. :-)

Re: better late than never?

[oldtoadwoman]

It's back! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE HUMAN BODY

As of lunchtime, I can confirm that I had pretty much no sense of taste or smell and then randomly this evening, it was like a flip had been switched on and I could smell again. I've been going around the apartment sniff-testing random things and stuff that I could not smell this morning at all now smells normal.

How?

All my googling had suggested that this might last weeks or longer.

And it was like my body just went, "Nah, just kidding."

My sense of smell was just totally gone but only for a couple of days. It's so bizarre. (It would make more sense if it lasted longer because I assumed it was caused by some kind of damage that took time to heal. I'm very confused.)