Saturday, January 2, 2016

2015 Fitness - a year in review

It's been a nice & relaxing last few days of vacation! Can't believe it's coming to an end. :-( We started off yesterday with a family 5K, which was rough given how out of shape I am. I need to really, really make time for yoga today as well!

And with that, here's my 2015 fitness review.

I set some lofty fitness goals in 2015, and didn't do very well. Or, perhaps I should say that even though I achieved some of my goals, I still didn't achieve my main goal of losing weight. Which tells me that my current goals aren't working as intended. :-)

Up until 2015, I was really able to maintain my weight through a combination of exercise (my main focus) & a reasonably close eye on what I ate. Things shifted quite a bit in 2015. I traveled more, which impacted my ability to exercise & control my diet as much as I'd like. I'm also older, and worked more than I ever have. I made up for that working by stress eating, and didn't have the energy to work out as much as I needed/would have liked. I also stopped running, & got frustrated with my inconsistency.

So, with that as context, here are the numbers.

Average Daily Calories In:
2013 - 1637
2014 - 1538
2015 - 1569

And, by month:. Yes, December was a real rough ride.
2015 Yearly AverageAverageTotal
Jan152947,408
Feb166246,531
Mar158949,267
April144043,209
May138442,897
June151445,425
July165851,412
August152747,340
September153746,102
October157548,821
November160348,098
December182056,414

Workouts:
2015 Cardio - 10,020
2015 Strength - 131
2015 Stretching - 17

vs
2014 Cardio - 10,006
2014 Strength - 77
2014 Stretching - 32


Weight:
2013 - 138
2014 - 142
2015 - 153

All of the data aside, what am I going to do about gaining weight & struggling to lose? I'm glad you asked! :-) I have a few plans:

My official 2016 goal is to lose 20 pounds, bringing my weight to 133. Here's how I plan to achieve that.

  • Get back to running! Run a 5K, 10K, 15K, & a half marathon, as a 40th birthday gift to myself. 
  • Drive my average daily calories down to 1400. Track my food/exercise every day.
  • Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day. I've definitely been eating too many carbs & sweets, and not enough fruit & veggies.
  • Complete 10,000 minutes of cardio
  • Complete 100 strength workouts.
  • Complete 75 stretching workouts. 

My 40th birthday is coming up, and I want to look and feel my best & reverse the aging that's happening. It's really critical that I start making my health more of a priority. 


How about you? Do you have any fitness goals for 2016? How did you do with your 2015 goals? 

5 comments:

  1. I've never ran a half marathon and am not motivated to do so because I have knee issues when I run too much. However, I think that training for a half on only 1400 calories a day is kind of crazy. Have you looked at your eating patterns to see if you could change them instead of your calorie count? Always eat breakfast, eat two smaller lunches or a 4:00 snack so you eat a lighter dinner? I'm not saying I have it all figured out because I certainly do not so don't take this comment that way. Good luck with your goals.

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    1. My calories in 2012 were around the 1500 calorie mark, & I was running 20ish miles a week consistently. I was also making much better choices with my food. ;-) Less junk, more filling foods. I will absolutely make adjustments if I am running regularly & still hungry. But, I also need to bring my calories way down most days. Thanks for the input. Not offended at all - love the advice! :-)

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  2. Good luck on these goals HP! Like you 2015 (at least the first half) was full of stress eating due to work but I managed to turn the corner on that in the second half (due to quitting my job). But health is still a priority in 2016 especially since the aging factor isn't going to help me out!
    ~ Pru

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    1. Stress eating is the worst. I don't know why I fall into the trap. I'm a reasonably smart person, and I know that stress eating just makes me feel worse in the long term, yet. . . I still fall for it. Good luck to you in 2016!!

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  3. About 10 years ago, I figured out (through lots of data!) that in order to maintain my weight where I like it, I have to do 90 minutes of physical activity a day (including brisk walking). I was only able to keep it up for about 18 months and then I backslid! My life has changed a lot since then. I am now an empty nester and have a much less stressful job. So now those 90 minutes are do-able and enjoyable. Also I can eat so much more :) As your life changes, you can try new things!

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