I am very, very proud to announce that I have accomplished one of my Operation Quality of Life 2009 goals!

My VISA card is now paid off!

HOORAAYYYYYY!

So when last I wrote, I was soo excited about running for 5 minutes. Tonight at the gym I ran for no minutes, but walked for 30minutes.

The month of February was awful for me, health-wise, because I was sick for probably 20 out of 28 days. I had a horrible cold, thought I was getting better, went back to the gym, and then got viciously sick all over again. I saw the nurse practitioner, and it was just an unfortunate combination of the first cold weakening my immune system and working in a workplace with a lot of contagions.

Tonight was the first night back at the gym in at least two weeks, and it was brutal. I could barely keep up my usual “casual walking” pace, let alone consider running. I’m frustrated, but I am trying to focus on the victory: I wanted to get back to the gym, but after the second cold, I listened to my body and waited until I was 100% well.

It just means repeating a whole lot of baby steps.

As I said in my last post, we planned on joining a new gym after dealing with too many frustrations at the community centre. We went and joined recently, and I love it. It is a huuuuge improvement – more treadmills, better equipment, no stink, and even a VIEW. The best part is that it’s even cheaper than the community centre, which I never would have predicted.

Tonight we went and spent some time on the treadmills, watching the first half hour of Bones.

Y’all, I RAN! For a whole minute!

Adam high-fived me when I started walking again. I am so glad we are doing this together!

Part of my approach to Operation Quality of Life 2009 is that it is completely okay for me to change my goals as the weeks, months, and year goes on. I don’t want to feel badly about these goals; I’d rather they feel doable and exciting and real.

The first few days of January, I was great with getting in my 30 minutes a day of exercise. Then the New Year’s Resolutioners showed up at the community centre, and now we can’t get parking. Now we’re on the hunt for a new gym! As a result, I’ve adapted my exercise goal to be 3 times a week in January, 4 times a week in February, and 6 times a week in March.

The meal planning is going really well. Planning healthy meals for most of the week helped work around our night at the bar on Friday, where it was all nachos and mixed drinks. We even saved a little on our grocery bill last week because of smart planning! I’m excited to sit down today and make our plan for the week ahead.

I had a payday last week, and the first thing I did was move $100 from it onto my VISA. My RRSP contribution comes out of my account automatically, and not til the second half of the month, so I’m covered there, too.

I’ve been reading ads almost daily, looking for an apartment. We also accidentally walked one of the neighbourhoods we like the other night. No winners yet, but I’m optimistic!

I’ve been doing great with getting 8+ hours of sleep a night, but I just can’t keep up with 365 pictures right now. I’m going to amend that goal and reconsider starting it on my birthday (in May). I’d like to replace it with another, more achievable goal, but I’m a little stumped. Any suggestions?

All in all, I feel like I’m off to a great start to a great year.

Rosy cheeks
Originally uploaded by marianne.h

I got started on Operation Quality of Life 2009 tonight. Adam and I got changed and drove up to the community centre after dinner to check out their gym. It’s significantly cheaper than most gyms in Vancouver, but wasn’t lacking in equipment.

Half an hour on the elliptical showed me that I certainly have a lot of room for improvement, although I did much better than I expected. To start off, I’m just going to go and get moving on the cardio equipment, and then in a few weeks I’ll start strength training again.

We’re aiming to go three times a week, late enough in the evening that it isn’t busy, but early enough that it won’t keep us up at night.

Hooray for new beginnings!

(*Okay so I shamelessly stole the name idea from my cousin Laura. I owe Laura huge thanks for helping me figure all this out and set my goals. Thanks lady!)

After the semi-success of Mare’s Awesome Plan of Awesomeness, I decided to go a little bigger for 2009. I’m not doing New Year’s resolutions this year – I’m setting long-term goals that will help me reach my longER-term goals. If I want to build a good life, a good marriage, a good family, a good career, then my lifestyle needs to change significantly. I’m not a university student anymore, I need to stop living like one!

Operation Quality of Life 2009 has a few parts. First, my overall 2009 goals – where I want to be this time next year. Second, every 3 months or so, I’m going to have a set of mini-goals, similar to MAPA. These goals are going to support my overall 2009 goals, while focusing in more on something specific that I want or need to change in my lifestyle.

OVERALL 2009 GOALS

1. Improve health and fitness by making lasting lifestyle changes
2. Create a solid financial foundation for the future by eliminating debt and improving savings.
3. Move to an apartment that meets our lifestyle needs and promotes accomplishment of our goals through decluttering and organization.
4. Focus on self-care by fostering fun hobbies, prioritizing relaxation and “me time,” and seeking counselling for personal and family concerns.

JANUARY – MARCH MINI-GOALS

1. Get moving for 30 minutes per day (walks, Wii Fit, 30 Day Shred, gym dates, dancing, etc.). Make a healthy meal plan weekly.
2. Pay off VISA card by depositing at least $100 from each paycheque. Continue making RRSP contribution ($25/month).
3. Remove 100 items from the apartment through donation or recycling. Start reading ads (weekly) and walking the neighbourhoods we like (monthly).
4. Begin 365 photo project with new camera. Prioritize 8 hours of sleep per night.

In 2009 I want to start laying out a foundation for a good life by getting healthy in all aspects of my lifestyle – from physical and mental health to finances and beyond. I don’t expect perfection and I do expect setbacks, but mostly I expect myself to try, to make conscious decisions, to push myself and respect myself.

Over the next few days, I’m going to write about why and how I choose the goals I’ve chosen for OQOL 2009. The process of choosing and wording these goals has been really interesting to me. Having a few people to bounce my ideas off of was a huge help, because their input made me think harder and go deeper into why I want to achieve these goals in particular and what exactly “achieving these goals” will mean and look like. I am so very grateful for all the input I’ve received and I welcome any other feedback people want to offer.

This is going to be so much fun!

Vancouver has had a week or two now of seriously Wintery weather. For a city that normally considers 10C “cold”, the snow and temperatures in the negatives have been a bit of a shocker. Personally, I love the snow, but it’s becoming very apparent that our city just can’t handle it.

This weekend, a woman burned to death on the street after the candle she was using to keep warm ignited her shopping cart of belongings. On Friday, a man on my bus was wrapped in a damp sleeping bag, taking to the guy beside me about how he couldn’t find a shelter last night – they were all full, and he didn’t know where the extreme weather emergency shelters were. Another woman in the suburbs froze to death after falling outside her home.

I have been saying frequent prayers of thanks for a roof over my head, a job that pays my bills, and food in my cupboards.

Today I also said a prayer of thanks that our new mayor gets that this is just not acceptable for a city of Vancouver’s calibre. We can and should do better for our residents – all of them.

“There’s no better way to energize your body, mind, and spirit than by taking care of yourself.” – Stephanie Tourles

When I start up the Awesomeness again in January, the focus of all my goals will be on taking better care of myself. A variety of events over the last month or two have made me keenly aware of how much I claim to take care of myself, how little I actually DO take care of myself, and how incongruous that behaviour is with the goals and lifestyle I hope to achieve.

I’m trying to amass all kinds of self-care ideas and inspirations, and I would love it if anyone reading this (all 2 of you!) could share their favourite ways to take care of yourself!

“Simple kindness to one’s self and all that lives is the most powerful transformational force of all.” – David R. Hawkins

My Awesome Plan of Awesomeness has been over for two weeks now, and I’m taking December “off” from all the Awesome. In January, I’ll be starting up round two of the Awesome, hopefully with some support and company from my cousin! (Oooh L, did you see how I suckered you into that? ) December is all about evaluating how the first plan went and deciding what I want to accomplish next!

So here’s the final tally:

• As of Dec 1st, I weighed 209lbs. That’s a loss of 3lbs from my original MAPA plan, but 5lbs overall. My habits in general have improved significantly.
• My credit card is a little over 40% paid off, and I have a strong plan to finish it off.
• I got a fantastic new job which has improved my quality of life dramatically.
• We didn’t move, but that’s okay!
• My BCIT mark went up this week, and I came out of the class with 86%, which beats my goal by 11%!

All in all, I’m calling the Awesome a success. I’ve learned so much since August, and I feel so optimistic about what 2009 will bring!

In August, I was working at a great job for a non-profit whose work I really believe in. I liked the people I worked with, the flexible hours, the fun environment. What I didn’t like was the pay – it was a small organization and there just wasn’t a lot of money. What had been enough pay when I was still in university and had some financial help from my parents just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Then I got a phone call in late August from a friend, who wanted me to come and tour her workplace and meet some of her coworkers. They weren’t hiring, she just thought I’d like to learn more about them. One thing lead to another, and by the middle of September I had been offered a job, complete with a 50% raise. With a heavy but excited heart, I accepted the job and gave my notice. On October 1st, I started my new job. Two months into it now, I love it and feel like I made the right decision.

As much as I love this job, it caused some upheaval in my life, which is why I felt alright about putting my moving goal aside for a few months. My schedule and my commute changed, and with that, our lifestyle has had to adapt too. We’re still working out all the kinks, but choosing not to throw a move into the mix was the right thing.

My credit card limit is low, but at the end of August, it was almost maxed out. When I first got my credit card, I was a pro at it – spent very little on it, paid it off immediately. Then I slowly began to have more expenses, less time, less ‘free’ money, and a hard time saying no. By the end of August, I was very uncomfortable with where my VISA was at.

My goal was to have my card paid off by December 1st. That didn’t quite happen, but I’m well on my way to reaching my goal. More importantly, I’ve been very good about only using my card when absolutely necessary, such as to make ferry reservations.

Baby steps are still a win, but since the card isn’t paid off, I’ve got to start making bigger steps!

I gave myself one “out” during this plan – if I found a new job, one of the goals could be dropped. Well, I did find a new job, and this is the goal that got dropped.

We still want to move, but we’ve just changed the timeline. Now we’re looking at moving sometime in February, and since we both got new jobs, we can afford a nicer place than we could have a few months ago.

More about the new job in a couple of days!

At the end of August, I signed up for a course through BCIT. I’m pursuing an associate’s certificate in non-profit management through them, and decided to take a class on human resource management.

My goal for the class was to get better than 75% overall, and on each of my assignments. Well I did better than my goal on my assignments – I got 90% or better on each one! I only wrote my final this weekend, so I won’t have my final grade for another week or two, but I’m feeling good about it.

I learned a ton about HRM, but I learned even more about myself, my study habits, and how hard it is to commit to an online class! Not having it as part of my schedule made it difficult to focus on getting every bit done, but I did better as the course went on. Success!

All week, I’m writing about “Mare’s Awesome Plan of Awesomeness”, my quest to achieve four major goals in four months. So far, I’ve told you about the motivation behind my plan and described the four goals. Today, I’m writing about my weight goal.

Remember that my weight goal was to be under 200lbs by December 1st. At the beginning of August, I was weighing in around 212lbs. To achieve my goal, I needed to lose approximately 0.75lbs a week, which is a very modest approach to weight loss. In August we were eating a reasonably healthy diet, except that we were supplementing our healthy diet with a lot of junk. For example, breakfast, lunch and dinner would be healthy, but I would eat a junky snack in the afternoon and have a junky dessert after dinner. I was also more sedentary than I had ever been – I sat at a desk at work all day, sat on the couch most nights, and my only real exercise was the walks to and from my bus stops.

One of the changes I wanted to make to achieve this goal was to start making a healthy meal plan every week. To save money, we had been meal planning most weeks, but we weren’t really thinking our plans through. We would throw a plan together right before we left for the grocery store, and usually our eye was to convenience and cost, rather than health or balance. I wanted to make meal planning more of a priority so that we could eat healthful, balanced meals that weren’t repetitive or costly. Our meal plans have improved hugely over the last four months.

I also had some fitness ideas to help with this goal, and they were only moderately successful. The Hundred Pushup Challenge started off well, but I found it increased too rapidly, which was frustrating. Frustration does NOT lead to success for me! I started Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred at the beginning of November, which was going GREAT until I hurt myself (I had a bad fall), had to take a week off to heal, started the 30DS again, and then hurt myself again. Sometimes I think my middle name should be Klutz.

As of Nov 30th, I weigh 209lbs. This is actually a loss of 5 pounds in 4 months, because I gained up to 214 from my August weight of 212lbs. I’m actively choosing to be excited about this, instead of sad that I didn’t reach my goal. I’ve learned to take care of myself so much better in the last 4 months, and that will truly help me take the weight off slowly and keep it off. I’m eating more intuitively, making sleep a priority, taking time to relax, and most importantly, not beating myself up over every little thing I do.

PS: I was looking back at some posts from this time last year, when I was starting the Best Life Diet. That ended up not working out so well for me, but when I think of what I’ve been changing since August… it’s the same things listed in Phase 1 that I blogged about here! Breakfast every day, three meals and a snack every day, more activity, not eating much after dinner, and cutting down on alcohol. All I need to do is add in a multivitamin and I’m a BLD Phase 1 star without even trying!

Yesterday, I told you that in early August, I made a plan. I was tired of living my life passively and decided to take control of my life and my goals. This week marks 4 months since I started my plan, and I’m going to use this week to describe my plan and how it has progressed.

My plan is called Mare’s Awesome Plan of Awesomeness, because I wanted to look at my plan and laugh. I also wanted a reminder that this plan is about ME and about working towards the life I dream about.

My plan is short and sweet – it only has four goals on it. Four months, four goals. I chose goals that won’t achieve my ultimate dreams; instead, each goal is intended to be a solid foundation or step towards my dreams. Each goal will prepare me to move further into challenging myself and achieving my dreams.

Here’s what I wrote at the beginning of August: “By December 1st, 2008, I will weigh less than 200lbs, take a BCIT course and get 75% or higher, move to a new apartment in a professionally managed building, and pay off my VISA card.”

Now, this makes no sense unless you know where I was at in August.

My first goal is weight-related. In early August, I was weighing in around 212lbs. I was reasonably content with my body, overall, but I was constantly frustrated at how tired I was and how much harder physical endeavours had become. I didn’t like being naked, because I was ashamed at what I had let happen to my body. I missed the strength and muscle tone I had just a few years ago. And to be honest, I was pissed off about looking fat in a wedding dress. I didn’t want to be one of those women who starves herself for her wedding or buys a too-small dress, but I also wanted to feel sexy, confident and womanly.

My second goal is academic, but also related to my career. I want to work in non-profit management, and to build my knowledge and skills, I am joining BCIT’s non-profit management certificate. I took one class in the spring, and did very well in the class, so I decided to take another class and commit to getting another great grade!

My third goal is domestic. Since May 2007, we had been living in a basement apartment. We had lots of space, lots of clutter, and lots of problems with the apartment. The people upstairs were frustrating, the apartment wasn’t very well maintained, and it just didn’t feel like home. I wanted to find a new place for the two of us to call home – a place that was welcoming, comfortable and well managed.

My fourth goal is financial. In August 2008, my credit card was hovering near maxed out at $1000. Until 2008, I had always been really good at paying off my credit card in a timely manner. Then I graduated and my financial help from my parents stopped. My income stayed the same while the cost of living rose and rose and rose. While it seemed like my debt came out of nowhere, I know that it was really a slow process of justifications and desperation. I wanted to clear my debt and re-adjust my finances so that I can prepare to save for our wedding and enter into our marriage in a responsible manner.

Over the next four days, I’ll write about each goal and the steps I took to achieve it.

At the beginning of August, I made a plan.

I had been having a rough week. I had been having a rough year, if I’m honest with myself, but I kept that pretty boxed up. Lots of great things were happening, and I was overjoyed at the positive parts of my life. I just kept the less positive thoughts tucked up in my head, thinking that I was coping just fine and that my life would sort itself out.

At the beginning of August, I made a plan.

I decided that it was time to stop waiting for my life to sort itself out, to take back the agency and responsibility and control of my life. If life was going to make me be a grown up without asking, then I was going to show it just what I could do. I decided that it was time to start going after the life I want, deserve and imagine.

At the beginning of August I made a plan.

My plan was really just a return to my one little word for 2008 – TRY. I wanted to stop being passive and start taking an active role in my life. I wanted to stop sitting around, literally and figuratively, and make things happen.

At the beginning of August, I made a plan.

Today is the beginning of December, and all this week I’m going to write about my plan and how it worked out.

I’ve let the Happiness Project slide over the last few months. I’d really like to get back into it, for reasons I’ll reveal in January. I’m going to share it between here and Flickr, so keep an eye on both.

So today, I’m finding happiness in treating a friend to Starbucks and a manicure after she’s had a tough week. We had a great time together, and both left feeling refreshed and cheerful. Just what we both needed!

Please stop and take a moment tomorrow to remember our past and present servicemen and women.

I will be wearing my poppy proudly, remembering the service of my grandparents, and praying for our troops, both those deployed and on Canadian soil.

Lately, we’ve tried to have special dinners on Sunday nights, where we set the dining room table, light some candles, and eat something extra delicious. It gets us out of our usual, rushed, eating-at-the-coffee-table rut that is so typical of week nights. We both come home from work exhausted (especially because I have a 45min commute to and from work) and just try to throw dinner together as quickly as possible. Sundays, though, we have all the time in the world. Sitting down together really helps wrap up the weekend and gives us a few moments to just put the rest of the world on pause.

Tonight we made one of our new favourite recipes – lemon pasta. I found the recipe on the Technicolor Kitchen blog months ago, and we only made it recently. It’s a little more expensive of a meal than we would normally make, because of the fresh parmesan, but it’s a great meal for Sunday night treats!

The lemons make it fresh and chockful of vitamin C, while the cheese packs it full of protein, which makes up for this being meatless, in Adam’s opinion. While it is a little high in fat and sodium, the vitamins, minerals and protein make me happy to eat this as a once-in-a-while treat – just right for Sunday nights!

I spent the two days last week in motivational interviewing training at work. While the other staff members at the training deal directly with our clients, I work in the admin section, very removed from the one-on-one work. The training was much more applicable for them, but for me, it was a good view into their work and provided me some tools to use in my personal life. The trainer we had was great, and had us do all the exercises and role plays using our own lives, instead of pretending to be clients.

The part of our training that stuck with me the most was working through a decisional balance. We had to think of a change we want to make in our lives, then our partner walked us through the grid, guiding us to list the concerns and benefits of staying the same or making the change – basically, a more thorough pros/cons list.

I decided that my “change” would be to exercise more, while “staying the same” would be remaining my couch potato ways. At first I wasn’t taking it very seriously, but as I listed off different ideas, and my partner prompted me (in a totally hilarious, flattering-but-blunt way), things started just pouring out and getting a little intense.

If you want to see what the decisional balance looked like for me, it’s available as a PDF here. It’s a fascinating way to work through whatever is pushing you towards and keeping you from a change.

Today I started Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, and I’m committing myself to doing it throughout November. It’s hard and it sucks, but it’s less than half an hour a day, it was $15, and I can do it in my living room, which crosses out a few of my objections!