My Quarterly Report: First Quarter 2018

Today is the start of a new quarterly post that is replacing Monthly Milestones.  On the first Saturday in January, April, August and December, I will be posting a quarterly report of how I am doing in regards to meeting my goals, and what my goals for the upcoming quarter will be.

If you want to share a post that has to do with meeting personal goals, just leave a comment below with a link to your goal-related post, and I'll pop over and visit it and leave a comment, and hopefully some of my other readers will, too. :)  

Here is my first quarterly report:

1. I am starting the New Year off at 194 lbs.  This is a change in weight from the beginning of December 2017 of 3 lbs., but I've listed it as a 0 lbs. change because this is my first official weigh-in of this year.  My first goal, as listed above, is to lose at least 5 lbs. by April 7th, 2018 when I will give my next official weigh-in here.  Wish me luck!

2. I want to drink at least 9 Cups of water per day.  I was drinking 12+ Cups of water per day, but that got to be too much for me to maintain for now.  I am cutting back to 9 Cups with the goal of working up to 12 Cups when it gets hot outside again.  I know I need at least 9 Cups to feel healthy, so that's what I'm going to do.

3. I want to eat more vegetables.  I am pretty bad about getting enough veggies in my diet.  I'm starting by trying to eat a salad for lunch pretty much every day that I can.  I want to try to vary the veggies I eat, too, and maybe try a few new ones.  We'll see how I do!

4. I want to eat less sugar.  I already limit the amount of sugar I eat, but this holiday season, I ate more than I wanted, and paid the consequences.  I'd like to avoid added sugars in foods whenever possible, try to sweeten with honey vs. sugar as a personal choice, and only use cane sugar for baking/recipes that need granulated sugars.  I am already making steps in this direction, and it does help me feel better.  I think the hardest thing for me will be avoiding chocolate when I have a craving for it.  I'll have to come up with an alternative that works for me, though it may take awhile.

5. I want to get some form of physical activity daily.  I won't be able to do that outside every day, but I want to do something.  If I sit too much, I get very stiff and sore, so I have to get some form of movement.  I may start walking the stairs inside if nothing else.  We'll see what I come up with.

6. I want to be grateful even when it is hard.  Though I would not consider myself a pessimist, I am not an optimist either.  It is very hard to be grateful for the ugly and difficult things that come into our lives, but I am finding that God works in those things, too, and I should be grateful for them, even if I don't understand why I have to face the hard things.  God is really convicting me about gratitude, so this is the first major thing that I want to work on.  I've already seen Him work in my life greatly when I've decided to be grateful in the hard times, and I plan on sharing more about that later in a future post.

7.  I want to meet my blog posting goals.  I have made some new blog posting goals that require me to post twice a month minimum on here and on Natural and Free.  I'm very excited about these goals, and I hope I can meet them!  I'm going to work hard at it.

That's about it for now.  How are you doing?  Are you reaching your goals?  Have you tried something new?  Come up with a new recipe?  I hope all is going well with you, and I hope you will leave a comment sharing your thoughts and/or goals (with a link to your post, if you wish).  As always, I wish you the best of luck in all you do, and hope you will return soon! :)

(This post was originally posted on my original site, Fibro, Fit and Fab!)