Is That Part of the Plan?

For the first time in our adult lives we made a plan for one of our dreams. Jason's dream was to be a cop. He went back to school to get his degree in Criminal Justice and work towards a career in law enforcement. Jason and I are dreamers. We've had big dreams and little dreams. We even moved to another state because of the "dream". We were always missing the key piece, the action plan. I guess we thought somehow everything would miraculously come together. Now that we're older and life has taught us a few things, we made a goal and took the first step to getting there. That step turned into the next step and so on and so forth. Along the way there have been a lot of obstacles. Lots of doubts and fears. But with each step we took we stayed focused on the goal.

In the past few weeks I've been working, with my brother Martin, on a business idea. Each time something has come up or I have started to have more "great ideas", he has directed me back to the plan. It's been such a great tool to keep me focused. I cannot become too sidetracked if I bring everything back to the plan.

As I was thinking about this concept last night, it occurred to me, this translates perfectly to weight loss. My successes came when I stayed on plan and remained disciplined. My failures came when I allowed myself to sway away from the plan.

Once you decide what your plan is, stick to it. Every temptation that comes your way needs to be weighed and measured against the plan. A benefit is it will make you concious of everything you do. If it's not in the plan then it's not allowed in your life. If it doesn't help you get where you want to go then it gets kicked to the curb. (You don't have permission to kick your spouse to the curb because he/she brings home donuts, though.) LOL!

Before you start your weight loss program. Work up a plan and set goals. I'll give mine as an example.

My Objective:

To be at my healthy weight and or size by my next birthday, October 7th.

My Plan:

• Eat around 1300 calories per day
• Log my food daily
• Do an hour of circuit training 4 days a week
• Do at least an hour of aerobic activity on Saturdays
• bicycle ride
• run
• swim with the kids
• hike
• Eat mostly a plant based diet (I want to get the majority of my calories from things grown from the Earth)
• Do at least an additional half an hour of aerobic activity two times during the week
• Get plenty of rest
• Drink at least 64 oz of water per day
• Free day on Saturdays (Stay within a 3000 calorie limit, but eat what I've been craving.)

My First Goal:

Lose at least 16 lbs by July 14th.

Now the work begins. Everything gets measured against my plan. If it doesn't help me reach my goal it doesn't get added to my life or put in my mouth. :)

What are your plans? Are they to get healthier or to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Are they to lose weight? Are they to get in shape or to be more fit? Create an action plan. Take it seriously! Measure everything against it.