So I had posted earlier this week that I was in the process of developing a new 12 month plan that encompassed several different areas: health and fitness, career, finances, and spirituality. These areas were picked because they can more or less feed off of each other and once you have some of these areas under control everything else can then hopefully fall into place.

So I know that starting out I probably won’t reach 100% on each area, and that there will be some weeks when I subconsciously focus on one more than the others. The purpose here is to keep moving forward (even if it seems to be at a snail’s pace).

I decided that each week I’d set two to three goals per area, and then on Saturday and Sunday review how I did the previous week and then adjust the goals accordingly for the following week. Today’s review/check-in will cover my goals for health and fitness, and finances. Tomorrow will be career and spirituality/personal development.

So my goals for fitness and nutrition this week were:

            Set up a new workout schedule for the week.

            No sweets at work.

            Hitting my step goal daily.

So how did I do with each one?

My workout schedule for the week was to do the following workouts:

Monday—LIIFT4: Chest & Triceps

Tuesday—LIIFT4: Back & Biceps

Wednesday—Country Heat: Country Swing

Thursday—LIIFT4: Shoulders

Friday—LIIFT4: Legs

Saturday—Country Heat: Giddy Up

So today I will be probably doing a double workout (as long as the internet/wifi behaves) of Country Heat: Giddy Up followed by LIIFT4: Legs as I took yesterday off as a rest day. Also for full disclosure, Wednesday’s workout was only 20 minutes of the 30-minute workout (because the wifi in the house blinked out and then reset itself—and I wasn’t in the mood to do the entire program again or try to get it back to where it was). But I have managed to do a workout basically daily—which is a lot better than what I’ve managed to get done the past couple of weeks. I’m also starting back a little light on the weights and hopefully working my way back up to where I was when I finished my first round of LIIFT4—my NSV goal is to be able to do bicep curls with 14-20 pound weights.

In terms of no sweets at work—I managed to go three out of five days (60%) of not getting any sweets at work. I had bought coffee and breakfast on Thursday (which included a candy bar—that I ate with my lunch on Friday), and I guess I bought some candy Tuesday afternoon as well (though I had forgotten about that candy splurge). While it short of my goal of five days it is a lot better than what I’d been doing the previous couple of weeks.

In terms of hitting my step goal daily—yesterday was the day that I fell short of the goal of a minimum of 14,000 steps (I finished with 11,518; which was 82% of my daily step goal). But every other day this week I managed to get at least 14,000 steps; so even though I didn’t hit yesterday—I’m still close to my weekly goal of 98,000 (Sunday-Saturday).

So I managed to hit the goals 75% of the time—rest days are important so I’m not going to beat myself up on the fact that I took one yesterday instead of doing my workout. I also know that stress/anxiety and having a bad night sleep are usually the culprits for me going to look for sugar fix on campus during the week. Know what the triggers are is helpful—but now I need to find a different way of reacting that doesn’t include sweets or spending money.

I am also trying to get back into the routine of writing down what I eat daily (usually at the end of the day; though sometimes I remember to start my daily food journal at lunch). This is just so that I can maybe start trying to determine if certain foods are also making me feel uncomfortable and then adjust what I eat accordingly.

So my goals for the coming week in terms of fitness and nutrition, are going to be more or less the same (as I’m happy with being at about 75% for all three):

Set up the workout calendar again (LIIFT4 with either Country Heat or Yoga Booty Ballet)

Trying to avoid buying sweets on campus (this also helps with the no spend challenges)

Hitting the step goal daily (this way I can work towards my monthly and yearly step goals).

In terms of my finances—I realize that I’m going to be 39 this year, which means that I should be thinking about making sure that I have enough money when I retire (in basically 25-30 years; or possibly sooner if I can swing it). Currently my finances are okay (mainly because I’m living at home and have very few monthly expenses).

 I have managed to get my credit debt back to down to basically zero from the astronomically high amount that I owed when I moved back home six years ago. I probably could have had it paid off sooner, but I was also trying to build my savings account back up at the same time.

By the end of twelve months I would like to hopefully have my savings up another 10-15K (or at least steady—which means having saved hopefully an additional 6-8K to cover any moving expenses for when I get an new job and have to move out of Oklahoma). I always want to start getting my retirement account a little higher (which means having some money set aside that I can put into another type of retirement account that is separate from my current one).

My goals for this week were:

Fill in my money log for the first part of the month (I know that I’d spent money during the first part of the month—but I didn’t fill in the sheets; so I need to have gotten that done).

No spending money at work.

Check all credit card accounts and readjust my monthly budget accordingly.

So how did I do with each one?

I filled in my monthly money tracker. This was more of trying to keep track of money spent on campus—so there were one or two things that I had forgotten to put on it (like the e-book that I bought or the two journals that I’d bought for note taking).

I did spend a little money on campus this week—two out of the five days (but that is one day better than the week before where I spent money three out of five days).

I’ve done my credit check, and my monthly budget that I set up is looking like it is still good—I’ll probably readjust it after the next biweekly paycheck comes in so that I can set up for my May budget.

One thing that I will be doing is making a list of monthly re-occurring fees and looking to see which ones I might cancel. I know that I do support a couple of non-profits via monthly donations that I charge to a credit card; plus I have several other things that come in monthly that are charged to a credit card as well. My goal is to try to have a monthly sum (via all credit cards) of less than $750 dollars—that way it can also get paid off monthly as well (and there will be no interest charged). So we will have to see how this goes.

My goals for the coming week in terms of my finances are:

No spending any money at work (keep money log up to date).

Transfer about half a paycheck to the savings account.

Resubmit the declutter order and sell quite a few DVDs back for a little bit of money.

So overall I’m pleased with the first week’s progress for both my fitness and nutrition journey and getting my finances back on track. I realize that there may be weeks that I have a set back in both areas—but I need to remember that small setbacks are okay (and even expected)—I just need to keep moving forward and not allow them to derail me like I have in the past.