Having goals can be very beneficial to staying motivated. I love changing my fitness goals, reevaluating and continuously updating my fitness goals. I wrote a previous post about my Fall 2020 Fitness Goals. So I thought I’d write an update on how those fitness goals are going and how my goals have changed.

Fitness and having a routine are so important to me. I THRIVE off of having a routine. Once winter hit, I moved and then had COVID exposure, causing me to quarantine (I did not get infected by the virus, thankfully;) I fell off my whole routine. My mental health was in the toilet, and my amazing boyfriend encouraged me to get back into a routine. I am so thankful that he realized just how much I NEED my fitness routine for my mental health. Granted, it is not a fix-all, but it most definitely helps me significantly.

Read my post about How to Set Healthy Fitness Goals if you're unsure how to set your goals. If you’re starting your fitness journey, check out my blog post about how to get started.

I have been setting goals very slowly and strategically so that I can create habits. If I change all the things at one time, I will be less likely to stick to any of them. But setting one at a time and allowing that change to be a habit before adding something else most definitely increases my ability to make new habits.

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Fall 2020 Fitness Goals Update

In my previous blog post about my fall fitness goals, I just wanted to begin a consistent fitness routine. I hadn’t had any consistency due to buying and renovating my condo, pandemic, and then selling my condo. So many things going on at once; I needed something small just to get started. So I decided to get into running and focus on my nutrition—easy goals to get started.

My running goals included running two miles every day, working towards running two miles under 30 minutes. I went for a run most of the days for a few months, then winter hit, and I just stopped. I was able to run two miles under 30 minutes consistently. Now I can run two miles for around 20 minutes., which I am very proud of.

As far as nutrition goes, I eat healthy the majority of the time. My overall diet is fairly healthy. I do not believe in cutting anything out completely but rather indulge in moderation. But as far as the goals I set for myself in the fall, I did not achieve those goals. I wanted to be consistent with my caloric intake and be more strict so that I knew that I was fueling my body properly; I did not achieve that goal. I will say that I have a perfect sense of how much food my body needs to maintain my current weight. So I’ve done great about that.

When winter hit, I just stopped any fitness routine. I wasn’t that interested in running in the cold and snow, and I just ate whatever I wanted. I am still very good at eating at maintenance naturally, without any tracking. I ended up having to quarantine due to COVID exposure over the holidays. I didn’t have any motivation to get a fitness routine going. I attempted to work out at the beginning of the year using the Nike Training App (which I highly recommend), but that also did not stick very well. I was missing weight training so much, and my mental health was declining fast.

Spring 2021 Fitness Goals

We had minimal equipment (a pair of 25lb dumbells, a bench, and some resistance bands), which was enough to get a good workout in. So my boyfriend encouraged me to start getting a fitness routine going. He and I began a routine with what we have available until I could get my home gym going. With his encouragement, I have been able to remain consistent for over a month. So now that I’ve created a consistent workout routine, I have set some goals to work towards.

Fitness Routine

My current routine has a daily workout, whether it be strength training, running, or yoga. I love the current routine that I’ve created. It makes me so happy to work out every single day. My mental health has never been better. I am so excited to have already seen body composition changes and gaining strength in the last month. I want to maintain this current schedule from now on to continue growing that habit and seeing changes.

Nutrition

I am great at eating what I need to maintain my current weight and eating healthy overall. As I see muscle gain and body composition changes, I want to cut my caloric intake to shed some extra body fat. This will allow me to see what muscle I have to assess what physique goals I want to make going forward. So my goal is to eat healthily and track my caloric intake to make sure I am eating at a slight deficit. I do not have much extra body fat to lose, so I don’t want to restrict my caloric intake too much.

Running

Now that I have been consistent with running two miles in about 20 min, my goal is to slowly increase my distance while maintaining an average pace per mile of 10 minutes. I want to increase my cardiovascular endurance so that hiking and backpacking at higher elevations aren’t too difficult due to my asthma. I love hiking, and I want to do what I can to increase my lung function. I feel great when I run, so I feel comfortable increasing my distance.

I have been running two miles two days a week. Right now, I’ve increased my distance to 2.5 miles 2-4 days a week. I am off work 4 days a week, and usually, I don’t feel like going for a run after work. It is getting warmer outside as we creep into spring and summer, so I want to go for a run on all four days off. But if I only get out two days, I am happy with that too.

Once I feel confident maintaining my average pace per mile of 10 minutes at a 2.5-mile distance, I’ll increase it to 3 miles. After a month, I hope to have running four days a week as part of my workout routine.

It may have taken me a couple of months to begin the goals I have set to achieve in the year 2021. Check out my blog post about my 2021 goals to read more. I feel like I am right where I need to be. I want to gain strength and increase my cardiovascular endurance, all while maintaining my nutrition. I am well on my way to achieve these goals. I love setting small goals to achieve and celebrate along the way. Check out my Instagram as I post almost daily to follow my fitness journey.

If you are here and reading this, that means you have an interest in your health and fitness. That is so good; I am so excited for you! Taking care of your body is literally the best thing you can do for yourself in the present and the long term. I read this quote, not sure who said it.

I find that so inspiring. Hard work will pay off in the future, but you also have to live in the moment, and I feel like taking care of yourself is doing both. You are doing good for yourself now as well as for your future self.

If you are interested in learning more about all things health and fitness, follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram @myactivelife_stacey. I am now offering nutrition and personal training online coaching programs. These six-week programs are designed to help you create lifelong healthy habits with nutrition and fitness. Click here to learn more!

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