Good morning and happy Friday! I didn’t even think today was already Friday when I woke up, but then Peter assured me that, yes, it is in fact Friday. Works for me! That meant I could have my big bowl of oatmeal right away this morning.

Normally I have a pre-workout snack of some sort in the mornings – a bar, a couple handfuls of cereal/granola, a piece of fruit, etc – and save my oats for when I come home from the gym and can actually sit down and enjoy them. It also makes me not feel like I’m working out with a brick in my stomach. Rest days I get to dive right on in. And do you see it???

My peanut butter had a special little message for me.

I guess it knew I needed that today. Time for a little heart to heart talk.

I ended up taking an unplanned rest day yesterday because my right calf still felt super tight and tender. Logically, I knew I needed to take the day because I would rather have one day off than push a four mile run and weights workout only to get injured or even more pain. It made perfect sense and I was cool with the decision…until sometime in the afternoon.

This is me saying I still go a little mental sometimes and deal with things like exercise guilt. By the time afternoon rolled around, I felt fine and questioned whether I really needed the day off or if I had “lazily” taken a day. The exercise guilt started setting in and overtaking the logical side of my brain.

I started to let myself feel like I had been too lax lately and that I had lost my Body After Baby progress to my happy weight. Even though I’m fitting comfortably in my favorite pair of jeans – the #1 pair of goal jeans I had for myself.

I had already taken an unplanned rest day this past Sunday and felt like taking another was letting myself down…or possibly you all down. Was I being “lazy”? You know… because spending an hour chasing a toddler at the park is lazy, of course!

Basically – I got hit with the ridiculous stick and was in crazy land for a bit there. I guess we’re never fully immune to the body image and exercise/food guilt struggles that have dug their way in before. My oatmeal’s subliminal messaging pulled me out of that you’re-being-WAY-too-hard-on-yourself haze just in the nick of time. Because now I have to see if I can pull myself out of the why-are-you-waking-up-before-6am-baby-B??? haze.

• Give me either your favorite “love yourself” quote or just something you love about yourself this morning. Let’s burn the “ridiculous sticks” that like to try to beat us every now and again!

Yet another week greets us, which means another need to play catch up with our blog friends after a busy weekend away from the computer, right?  

How it should be. If you’re wanting to get all up to date with FFF happenings, here ya go!

• Running Etiquette – Potty Breaks?
• No Double Digits
• I Don’t Know What To Say (includes FFF Features) 
• He Knows Me So Well – Birthday Recap Part 1
• Self-Love Reflection: Don’t Listen to the Little Voice
• Don’t forget the Luna Protein giveaway (FIVE winners!) – ends Friday

Whew! That’s a link roundup right there! Now, why don’t we dive right into this morning’s post. I realized at the end of last week I never gave you part two of my Numbers Game panel recap. I figured Monday morning made the perfect time to make up for it. I’m sure we all have some goals we would like to tackle this upcoming week – so let’s do that in a healthy, balanced way!  

The awesome panel: Lisa, Janetha, and Beth

In Part One of the Numbers Game I focused on the positive and negative ways we can use goals. Well, that’s all fine and dandy to look at but what matters is how we apply that information. In today’s post, I want to discuss how we make sure we use numbers to motivate our goals in a balanced way that helps us achieve healthy progress.

We each had different experiences to share and key points to take away. Some of my other members have each done a great job giving their points of view on their own blogs:

• Beth’s Post – being flexible and doing things for yourself
• Lisa’s Post – it’s okay to not have specific goals

Now, it’s time for another one of mine. (with some fun outtakes again along the way)

3 WAYS TO KEEP A HEALTHY APPROACH TO GOALS AND TRACKING PROGRESS

Step One: Break It Down. Think about your goal. What does the big picture of your goal look like? Running a half marathon? Writing a book? Doing ten push-ups on your toes? Holding a challenging yoga position a full minute? Developing your blog? Achieving a healthy weight? Saving money? Reading more books? Picking your nose less? (checking you’re paying attention) What IS your goal?

Now…list out everything you can actively do to work towards that goal. Be specific. List out the many actions you can take that can help you achieve your goals.

Step Two: Focus On What You CAN Control. If you have a weight loss goal, you may find yourself frustrated when the scale doesn’t reflect your efforts. If you have a blogging related you goal, you may get discouraged should the growth you anticipated not happen. However, those numbers relate to outside sources (hormones and water weight or people clicking your site). You can’t fully control them.

Go back to that list of things you can do to work towards your goals. Those are where your focus should lie. You want to PR in a race? Make your focus getting in adequate training runs and speed work. Want to achieve a healthy weight? Focus on the number of nutritious meals you eat in a day/week/month and the number of workouts you accomplish? Want to increase blog readership? Focus on producing quality content, getting involved in the community, seeking guest post opportunities, etc.

Checking off what you CAN control and putting effort into those practices regularly WILL lead to results with time. Consider every small act you take towards achieving your goals an accomplishment and don’t forget them along the way. Setbacks will undoubtedly happen at times – boy do I know that from my overcoming binge eating goals – but you have to stay focused on the positive and believe in yourself to continue moving forward.

Step Three: Re-evaluate Often. Step back and look at your progress and ask yourself tons of questions to make sure you are still on a healthy path.

1. Have your goals changed? How do you need to adapt your actions for them?
2. Have you achieved your original goal but it doesn’t feel good enough? Why do you feel the need to do more?
3. Have you tried everything but aren’t seeing results? What ways can you alter your current choices to kick start things again? Seek advice if necessary.
4. Are you feeling unmotivated suddenly? Remember why you originally pursued the goal and determine if you still feel as strongly. If you do, focus on the why of your goal. If you don’t, consider adjusting your goal or finding new inspirational tools.
5. Are you going crazy? Do you feel overwhelmed or stressed? Take a close look at what triggers those emotions and resolve those issues. Perhaps you will need to give up counting calories or reading particular blogs or using certain tracking tools.

Stay aware of your needs and your happiness. It will make achieving your goals that much more possible.

There’s the gist of my main points for this topic. I do have about ten million more things I could delve into and talk about. Obviously I feel quite strongly about this topic. I want people to achieve their goals. I want people to dream BIG. I want everyone out there to do exactly the things they hope to do and achieve their wildest hopes and dreams. I think we all have the potential to do so…and to do so in a healthy and happy way. Go get ‘em tiger.

• Do any numbers “set you off” in a bad way with blogging or health/fitness?What things motivate you in a positive way?
• Which of the points above stick out to you the most or do you try to focus on in your own personal progress?