90 Day Challenge : Getting Started

Where to begin?

First I think it is really important to document your progress. It will be much easier to see how far you've come if you know where you started. Snap a before picture. Take comfort in knowing that no matter what, your before picture is bound to be better than this:

Second, I made sure to weigh myself today. One of my goals is a weight goal so I have to know where I'm starting. I usually weigh myself daily, but I think there are benefits to only weighing yourself once a week or even once every two weeks. I just do it out of habit.

The next thing I'm doing to get started is finding a way to stay accountable. I'm going to be posting daily about my progress to stay accountable this time, but here are some things I've done in the past to keep me focused on my goals:

#1 - Tell someone your goals, and check in with them everyday. This is most successful if both of you are working on similar goals so you can check in with each other. If you don't have someone just post a comment everyday under my post to tell me how you're doing!

#2 - Wear a brightly colored band around your wrist on your dominant hand. Every time you reach for a snack without thinking, you see the band and remember your goals.

#3 - Progess jars. Get two clear jars, fill one with the amount of weight you want to lose (use pom poms/cotton balls/rocks/anything) and every time you lose a pound transfer a "pound" to the other jar. I like this visual way to keep track of how far you've come and where you still need to go.

#4 - Write down every single thing you eat. For some reason it is easier to evaluate what you need to change if you see it all on paper. (Plus once you are used to writing everything down, you can easily start counting calories).

So today to get started : Take a picture, document your weight, find a method to stay focused. That's what I'm doing!

Let's do this!

(now an arbitrary motivational meme)