2013 Health Goals: Taking Small Steps and Rewarding Yourself

The next section I attacked was my health.  Some obvious goals really jumped out at me here: my health condition and my weight.

First of all, I struggle with hypothyroidism.  Hypothyroidism occurs when your thyroid doesn't produce enough hormone, which affects your whole body.  I actually experience just about every symptom to a great severity, including weight gain, fatigue, cold sensitivity, dry skin (I actually have psoriasis), drowsiness and oversleeping, depression and even hair loss.  When I was tested back in May of 2011, my results were off the charts.  The minute I got on a heavy dose of synthetic hormone, I felt much better.  Unfortunately, due to finances, I couldn't afford the lab tests required to get my medication, which means I haven't been taking levothyroixine since roughly May 2012 - shortly after my husband lost his job.  I've been holding onto a month's worth of levothyroxine so I can get proper lab results.  Now that I've made my monthly budget back in my Financial Goals post, I know I can not only afford the lab work but the medicine this year.  If I were to start taking my medication again, that would certainly make me healthier.  Getting my lab work regularly done would also help.  So there's two out of five goals that are easily attained and already planned for.

As I mentioned above, one of the side effects of my condition is weight gain.  Unfortunately, I can't blame all my weight on hypothyrodism alone.  When my husband and I struggle financially, it actually becomes cheaper to buy junk food.  Healthy options where I live are very expensive, which makes healthy eating on a budget hard.

Plus, sometimes, I'm just craving a damn McD's hamburger.  Won't lie.

Last year, when my husband found another job and we got financially stable for a month or two, I went on a weight loss adventure and lost 23 pounds, getting down at one point to 159 lbs.  Then my car crapped out, we lost our cat and I was forced to take off a month's worth of work.  Budget eating meant cheap sugary cereals and bulk bags of microwavable chicken patties all over again.  Because of this, when I was making my financial budget, I put a pretty chunk into groceries.  I have a lot of wiggle room to buy the things I should eat!

The first step to determine my weight goals was to jump back on my scale.  Seeing the red "You've Gained Weight" button did not make me a happy camper.

Currently, I weigh 172 lbs at 5'3".

On the down side, I am 13 pounds heavier than I was four months ago.  Never great.  On the bright side, I am ten pounds less than what I was at this time last year. Gotta keep thinking positive!

Since I went on my weight loss adventure last year, I already know my target weight: between 135 and 140 lbs.  If you don't know what the ideal weight for your height should be, give it a quick Google search.  What I chose is actually a little heavier than what I should be, but it keeps my curves.

So my goal is to lose around 32 pounds this year.  That seems like a really hefty goal but not if I lose it slowly.  I split that number into 12 months, resulting in roughly 3 lbs a month.  That's more doable.  But just how was I going to lose that weight?

The thing about losing weight is changing your lifestyle.  That's pretty stressful and takes a lot of work unless you take baby steps by creating small, positive goals.  Don't totally remove stuff like sweets, but replace it with healthy things, like salads and fruit.  And, if you're losing substantial weight, always add exercise.  By doing this, you can create small goals oriented around your strength and endurance rather than your measurements.  Here's a list of my goals to help me lose 3 pounds a month:

Some of this tail ends on the fact that I have Girls' Nights with friends twice a week - and those are actually exercise nights.  Granted, I haven't been exercising the past couple months, but we're all ready to get back on the wagon.  Our first one is actually scheduled for tonight!

Now that I had achievable monthly goals that would help me lose my reachable goal of 3 pounds per month, I needed to think about rewarding myself.  Often, when you're stressed out, that piece of cake looks a lot better than being a healthier you.  I needed something else to look forward to other than my health.

I decided my best course of action was to reward myself with a new wardrobe.  After losing 30 pounds, much of my clothing won't fit anymore.  I looked into the budget and saw what I could spare.  I decided to set my budget for the wardrobe at $100.  Since I shop at thrift stores, this could easily replace my whole closet if necessary.

The best way to reward yourself is to see it in action.  I decided I would split that $100 into pound rewards. The easy way would be to pay myself about $3 per pound.  If you'd like to do that, that's perfectly fine!  However, I decided to start low and slowly increase my monetary reward as losing the weight gets harder.  It's a little more exciting when you're struggling to lose the weight if you know you're getting $5 per pound rather than the $1 you started with.

However, I can already see two problems to this chart.  The first is that having one reward at the end of losing all the weight probably won't motivate me all the time.  On the hard days, when I can smell the food my husband is eating wafting through the room, I need something that's going to push me through - a reward that will happen sooner rather than later.  The second problem is relatively minor, but still present: calculating the money I reward myself is going to be a little tough.  

So I decided to create a chart that would solve both issues.  I looked at my budget and saw what I had in spending money.  I also looked at items that we needed to replace that I really wanted, like a new camera or my tablet.  I then created the chart below:

Rewards on the 5's are smaller - usually around $30.  Rewards of the 10's are much larger, and also already in the budget.  And with the third column  I could easily see how much money to reward myself with at each milestone.

Finally, as you'll note from above, a lot of my monthly exercise goals points towards October, when I'd like to run my first marathon.  When I was in high school, I was a runner.  I loved the feeling of it.  When I started exercising again this year, I started running again and it was amazing.  I started being able to out-lap my husband.  I'd like to do it again, but this time permanently.  In addition to all of that, I can donate and run for an important cause.

Out of all of that, I had determined the five goals I needed to become a healthier person.  My chart was starting to look a little fuller!

Tomorrow on The Progressive Planner: My career goals.

Share one health-oriented goal you're planning for 2013 in the comments!