How to Set Attainable Fitness Goals (12/20)

Aloha readers! 

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and too often we find ourselves inspired by a sudden rush of motivation and want to get active the moment we feel the rush. That often leads to setting up goals that are unrealistic, or not attainable in a short period of time. We ned to make S.M.A.R.T goals if we want to be successful! 

What is S.M.A.R.T goal setting? It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

If you're starting to plan your new fitness goals, take a read below! 

1. Specific - Don't be vague about your goal. Define exactly what it is you want to achieve. Rather than just "I want to be fit in 2015", be more specific, such as "I will be physically active for 15 minutes each day". The specificity of your goal makes you more motivated, and easier to define when you've reached your goal! 

2 . Measurable - Set a goal you can measure your progress against. If you're concerned about your body weight, setting a goal such as "I want to lose 10 pounds in 3 months" will be more realistic than "I'm going to lose 50 pounds in 3 months". This doesn't have to be a number goal on the scale - it could be being able to run for X number of minutes on the treadmill, or doing X number of push-ups continuously. The important thing is to have a standard to measure it against. 

3. Attainable - Break your big goal into smaller goals. If your ultimate goal is to lose 20 pounds, start by setting a realistic deadline. The recommendation is to lose no more than 1 pound a week, so telling yourself you want that weight off by the end of the month probably isn't realistic and attainable. 

On the contrary, 4 months is a reasonable amount of time for the 20 pounds to come off with consistent efforts in both fitness and nutrition aspects. By setting smaller stepping stones towards your big goal, such as 1 pound a week, will help you stay on track and not get discouraged! 

4. Realistic - Don't set yourself up for failure by setting goals you know you can't reach. If you're new to working out, setting a goal to hit the gym daily is probably not very realistic. A goal such as hitting the gym twice a week, or being physically active twice a week, may be more realistic. 

I once made a plan to do 2 workout programs simultaneously, and need I say I failed to complete them. I set myself up for failure because I scheduled myself to workout every day for a couple hours on top of my other commitments, and that's unrealistic for me. 

5. Timely - As previously mentioned, a due date should be assigned to your goal. A timeframe too short can cause you to feel frustrated and discouraged for not reaching your goal, and an endless time frame can make you lose motivation and lose sight of your goal. Make sure the timeframe is reasonable, and can be completed based on your own schedule. 

If you've found this guideline helpful in setting your goals, leave a comment below and share with us what your new goal is! I love hearing from everyone :) 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Loving Your Life and What You Do (06/13)

Take a moment to think about this, gals. 

How many of your are happy with everything in your life? How many of you are satisfied with what you have achieved and don't want anymore? Probably not too many of us. But the most important part is to be happy and to enjoy the process of life. 

Sure, we should all set some goals in life and work hard towards achieving them, but what is life when you can't be happy and enjoy the process of it? Not every day will be sunshine and rainbows, but those days should outnumber the not so great ones. 

The title of my blog is "Lifelong Journey to Happiness". When I first created it, it was mostly about my daily adventures, things that were happening in my life, some stories, and occasional book reviews. But clearly, somewhere along the way I developed passion for fitness, working out, and lifting weights, and that has evolved into what my blog is today. 

Do I enjoy posting my workouts for you guys? Yes. Do I enjoy sharing my thoughts and stories? Absolutely. Does maintaining my blog feel like a chore/job sometimes? Not going to lie, but yes. Some days I'm really tired and don't feel like updating my blog, which is okay - yet I feel a little guilty. I want to make something out of myself, and my blog. And without continuous hard work and dedication, it won't happen easily. 

On the other hand, as much as I want that to happen, I'm not going to let it stop me from having fun and enjoying me life. There will be days like today where I'm all about posting things for you guys, and some days where I'd rather spend some time reading a book or laying in the sun. 

But as long as I'm loving the life I'm living (besides my current job as a food server, ick), I'll keep doing it :) 

Happy Friday everyone! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Preparation for New Adventures

Hey fellow readers!

I took the time today to focus on my studying because I have my last deferred final tomorrow morning. (Wish me luck!)

I'm also very excited about looking into the details of booking a photo shoot for the summer. It makes me feel more motivated to have something to work towards, as well as a solid deadline to get it done by.

On top of that, I'm looking into getting some branding and logo-ing done for my blog :)
My blog is my release and my most important tool to communicate with you guys! It's a big step up from the very initial reasons of why I started this blog, but I've learned a lot since I started it and I have big plans for myself in the future :)

Here's to new adventures!
(and much more studying to come)

Cheers!
xoxo

Yogi Tea Quote: Gratitude Journal Entry

Tonight's yogi tea quote writes "May your inner self be happy and secure".

The first thing that came to my mind was inner peace and yoga.
My long time friend Alyssa is a strong believer and advocate for yoga. She occasionally tells me things about yoga, it's benefits, and how it can help build one's body and mind to be stronger. I listened to what she said, but I don't think I 100% fully understood the things she meant until the first day I tried out yoga with her.

Man, that stuff is hard. If you ever thought that yoga seems easy, boy are you wrong. It takes so much focus, energy, balance, and flexibility to accomplish even the simplest moves. Even though we were taking baby steps during our class, I was still sweating up bullets and feeling breathless and falling down throughout. But by the end of the session, when we took a few minutes of time to ourselves to just lay down, and clear our minds, that's when my inner peace kicked in.

I felt so relaxed, so weightless on my shoulders - I almost drifted off into sleep. Through that experience I understood why Alyssa and many others practice yoga. It really does bring inner peace and happiness. And when you have peace and happiness within you, you will slowly feel more secure, confident, and strong.

To wrap things up, tonight I feel gratitude for the many great friends I have in my life. Never under estimate what a simple friendship and the simple things your friends say or do can affect your life. It may not seem important at that moment, but somewhere along the road, you reflect back on what they've said and done, and realize how it's slowly changed your life.

Alyssa has moved away last week to pursue the next chapter of her life, and I'd like to wish her the best of luck in her studies and where-ever yoga and yogi tea takes her next!

Cheers!
xoxo

Selina :)

New Year, New Me!

Hello fellow readers!
I'm very very sorry for the lack of updates the past couple weeks - I needed time off to spend with my friends and family, and I also needed time to myself to think about things.

The past few weeks I haven't done much weight lifting, and my diet hasn't been consistent. I felt like I've basically fallen off track. But every time I encounter these "falling off track's", I learn more about myself, what I really want (my goals), and what I need to do to reach those goals.

1. New goals of the year
When I think about what I want to accomplish in 2014, a lot of things run through my mind. After a couple weeks of having time to myself, I've realized that there are many things I would like to change and improve on - in terms of my health, my diet, my lifestyle, and a few things about my own personality traits.
I would like to work on my patience levels, and express my gratitude for many things on by writing it down or sharing it on the web with you guys.
Here's a recap of other NRY I posted last time:

2. Continuing to work hard in school
I am very happy with my results from last semester. It feels so good to know that all the hard work has finally started to pay off. I'm finally getting one step closer to being accepted into my program to become a registered dietitian :D
The holidays have made me kinda lazy, but I'm excited to start school again. School is what keeps me on track! I have a set schedule, I know where I have to be at what time, and I can allocate my other activities such as workout sessions, family dinners, and studying time around class times.

3. I have decided to follow some bodybuilding.com workouts for the next few weeks to kick start the new year workout sessions. I enjoy planning my own workouts, but I feel that I'm lacking some surprise elements in them. Hopefully changing up my workout plans ever so often will keep things exciting for me :)

4. Being more active on my blog
I remember when the school year first started, I had a set day where I would blog once a week. Slowly along the way I started slipping and didn't post on the day I wanted to and it became once every couple weeks. This year, I am going to make it my goal to post my workout routine on my blog EVERY TIME. Since I'm aiming to workout 3 times a week, expect to see a few posts every week ! :)

I'll post some "progress" pics in a couple days to show you guys and myself where I am right now. There probably isn't much progress anymore from all this crazy non-sense holiday eating.

Cheers!
xoxo

Selina :)