New Month, New Plan

September 2012 Review & October 2012 Goals

Somehow it managed to be October already.  I have no idea where September went but it certainly went by in a hurry.  There just aren't enough hours in the day.

Looking at my goals for the month, I didn't have many.  It looks like I wrote the goals post in about two minutes:

September Goals:
1.  Lose 15 lbs.   Going to require better focus.
2.  Keep up the exercise.  Gets harder as the days get shorter.
3.  Like I said, be more productive during work hours.

So, how did I do?

1.  Lose 15:  FAIL.  I actually forgot to weigh myself this morning but I know this was a fail.  At last check (some time last week) I was actually up a pound this month.  Apparently eating and eating and eating some more isn't good for weight loss.  Who knew?  I will probably check tomorrow and update.

(Update:  I weighed in, ended up down 2.5 pounds for the month.  Still extreme FAIL).

2.  Exercise:  PASS, with flying colors.  I'm way above target on this one.  Thanks to a string of good weather days I've been able to get out to the golf course most nights and I walk as many as three nights a week.  I rarely have time to walk more than 6-9 holes, but that's still a good hour plus and there are hills involved.

3.  Productivity:  FAIL.  Some days are better than others but on balance I didn't do real well this past month.

So, since overall September was a failure, let's talk about October instead.  

1.  First and foremost, let's cover a new plan:  October is henceforth International Eat At Home Month.  Yeah, I eat out too much.  Way too much.  It's not only calorific, it's expensive.  During the month of October I'm going to limit myself to one lunch a week out (where I get breakfast and it's fine) unless required by work and pizza no more than once a week.  I can even do pizza at home and will strive to do that at least once instead of ordering out if I'm going to have it.  If I can limit meals out to less than 10 total it'll be a success.  6 or less would be a complete success.

Other goals for October:

2.  Lose 15 lbs.  Yeah, you've seen this before.  I may have to nuke the grains and potatoes from the diet again to make it happen, but we'll see how it goes with just better focus first.

It's still possible to make the end of the year milestone I hope to accomplish but it's going to take 90 days of real, concentrated effort.  

3.  Exercise:  Continue.  15 days this month is the goal as always.

4.  Productivity:  On balance become more productive at the office.  Repeat of last month.

5.  Take steps to accomplish better sleep.  I'm going to try the following -- an alarm is going to go off at 9:00 signaling time to wind down.  Get to sleep by 9:30.  No electronics in the bedroom (TV, phone, ipod, etc).  It will be dark.  I'm going to dust with extra care and clean the carpet.  If I can find a way to justify it I might spring for a new mattress, though I really cannot afford one.  

There it is.  Five goals.  Reasonable goals.  Attainable goals.  I can do this.  Just need fewer FAILs and more good days.