Lifestyle Changes | Taking Stock

The photos have nothing to do with the subject of this post but I thought you'd like something pretty to look at while I waffle on!

After a lot of thought I've decided to change how I record and assess my progress towards my lifestyle goals. The goals themselves haven't changed but I've reached the stage where I've given four of my goals (home, finance, community, positive outlook) the maximum rating, and another four goals (time management, healthy eating, living in the moment, losing attachment to material things) are all only one point away from the maximum. Of the two remaining goals, work on the garden is in hand and the rating will soon be amended to reflect that, and the final goal of being active is a work in progress.

After I'd finished reviewing my goals last month I did stop to wonder what it was that was stopping me awarding maximum marks on most of the goals. I've been feeling increasingly contented with life even with all the worries as a result of the pandemic and the lockdown and my days have settled into a rhythm that I'm happy with, and everything that needs to be done is getting done on time. The pandemic has put the decluttering project on hold but I have identified and segregated everything that has to go and will deal with it as soon as circumstances permit. My social life has inevitably changed but I have regular contact with family and friends, and have continued with the choir and the quizzes. I'll still monitor my ten sub goals but won't write a monthly post about progress. I achieved what I wanted from doing the monthly reviews and habits have been formed through focusing on certain aspects of life. 

There is one major part of my life that now needs my focus - losing weight and being active. I've struggled with this for a long time and although, for the majority of the time,  I do eat healthily I need to focus on developing the proper habits that enable me to lose weight and increase activity levels. I want this to be a lifestyle change, not a quick fix diet so I am aiming to lose at least one pound every week through a combination of calorie counting and restricted hours eating. I already eat a relatively restricted diet as a result of food allergies so I have no plans to add to that list of restricted foods except that I will focus on reducing the amount of sugar in my diet as I think that is contributing to diverticulitis flare ups. On the exercise front I want to gradually increase to follow the pattern of doing some form of exercise on two consecutive days, followed by a rest day. I'll still continue to do a selection of the knee strengthening exercises every day. 

I'm not setting targets in terms of how much weight I want to lose but more in terms of what I am able to achieve. My first target is to be able to walk up and down stairs properly as I currently take one step at a time, always leading with the same leg. I'll note my progress in my weekly reflections post - this is something I want to review more frequently than my previous monthly update because I need to correct any slips as quickly as possible.