I’ve tried (and tried) to lose weight over the last two years, and it hasn’t happened, but this year I’m trying again.

To keep it simple (and not too daunting) I’ve set my goal for 2013 at 24lbs – 2lb a month. I’m using My Fitness Pal to track my food, and have it synced to Endomondo to record my exercise (both free apps).

Inspired by Hawaii Planner (my fitness inspiration!) I’m setting specific targets for the year, and will break them down month by month, week by week.

Year // Month // Week

• Weight loss: 24lbs // 2lbs //  0.5lbs
• Walking: 300 miles //  25 miles // 5.76 miles
• Minutes Walked: 5200 // 433 // 100
• Calories Burned: 52,000 // 4333 // 1000

On my walk today I took 18 minutes and 24 seconds to complete a mile and I’m hesitant to speed this up just yet as the last thing I want is my hip bursitis to flare up again. For now I’ll keep doing what I’m doing, and hope to decrease the times later in the year.

Are you trying to lose weight in 2013? If so, have you set a specific target? Let me know, I’d love to follow your progress

(photo credit)

Weight and Fitness Targets in 2013 is a post from: Move to Portugal

Yesterday was one of those real ‘don’t miss what’s right under your nose’ kinda days…with lots of walking!

Get outside! Get walking…..take two! is a post from: Move to Portugal

What a good idea, and one that I’ve already starting to adhere to.

(avoiding the rain on today’s walk)

It makes me a little sad how difficult it is to motivate myself for exercise these days. As a teenager, and young adult, I was so fit, but it was through playing team sports (hockey). Being in a team motivated me to get moving, going out for a walk on my own does not. <——— BIG Excuse. I have friends (and hubby) I can walk with, I just need to organise it.

I dug out an old photo of myself last week. The only one I have left of me that’s not in a wedding album. I kept it because I weighed about 150lbs when it was taken – September 2002. I think 10 years of trying to get back to 150 is long enough don’t you?

Get outside! Get walking! is a post from: Move to Portugal

I’ve lost a whole pound since last Tuesday, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but a pound or two a week  is what I’m aiming for and so I’m happy. I’ve recorded nearly all my calorie intake (as you can see below – you can also see how rubbish I’ve been in the past!) and I’ve eaten good food. I’ve eaten some rubbish too, but less rubbish than usual!

Eating veggies, salad and fruit has become the norm this week. I did have two  bad days, Thursday where I went over my daily allowance (1500 calories), and Saturday. I got sick a work and this had me reaching for the chocolate – for some reason a really bad cold made me hungry…….and avoid recording my food intake too!

Our fridge on Tuesday, before I chopped veggies;

My aims (and breakfast and lunch plans) for the week coming:

Weight Loss// 2 pounds

Exercise// 120 minutes of walking

Daily Supplements// 3 x iron 1 x Vitamin D

Breakfasts// Branflakes with Milk or Porridge and Wholemeal Bread + Peanut Butter

Lunches// Egg or Tuna Salad or Soup and Bread + Fruit + Yogurt

I’ll be back next Tuesday with an update  :)

Weight Loss Journey #1 is a post from: Move to Portugal

…or not as the case maybe!

Confession time: My weight hasn’t changed since the beginning of the year.

I’m not gaining, which is probably down to my increased activity over the last few months, but I’m not losing either. And so it’s time for a re-start. One of my problems is that I think far too long term about weight loss (and everything else!), which makes it seem like a huge task. For me it would be far better to just concentrate on a day, or perhaps even a week at a time.

And so with a lot of little trepidation I’m moving my weight loss/getting healthy campaign onto this site for the accountability. Yikes! I have a long journey ahead of me – I still can’t go a whole day without eating a bag of crisps! – but nothing ventured and all that

Target #1

My first target (starting today), will be to record a WHOLE seven days of calories. Much like paying off my debt, where a spending diary highlighted just where I was over spending, a calorie diary should highlight where I’m over eating.

The food:

In preparation for my new start I went grocery shopping this morning and tried to fill the trolley with as many healthy, unprocessed food items as I could. Happily I (somehow!) avoided the cake and crisps aisle.

I’m keeping my eating plan fairly simple. Breakfasts will be porridge or bran flakes and toast. Lunches will be tuna salad, soup or sandwiches depending on where I am. Dinners will be as per my menu plan – tonight it’s salmon. For snacks I’m sticking to fruit and for drinks, it’s water or water. Apart from two cups of coffee in the morning I only ever drink water these days. See there’s progress, no more wine or gin!

I’ll be back later in the week with my progress (hoping there is some?!)

(1st photo credit)

2012 Goals: Losing Weight… is a post from: Move to Portugal