Goals, silliness and Summer Lovin...

happened so fast....

Shoo-be-do
Shoo-be-do
Shoo-be-do
Shoo-be-do

Nothin like a John & Olivia duet to make ya wanna start skipping and singing... and draw weird looks in the weight area of the gym. It's ok, I just know they're mad jealous that they don't have cool music on /their/ iPods! LOL!

But really, the song reminded me of my dinner last night (seriously!) I have been blessed to have a friend with an amazing garden (that I regularly make compost contributions too :) and gifted me with a bag full of summer heaven in the form of zucchini, yellow squash, cukes & a few sprigs of herbs. Last night's dinner - Which I named Julee's Delight in honor of my bud - was a sensory delight that made use of that bounty.

The photo doesn't do justice to the fresh squashes and the OMG smells of the fresh basil & rosemary!

Can't wait to sample the Great Pumpkins this fall!

And on to goals... (Yeah, it's a random kind of day :)

I've had several questions/comments about where I am in relation to and what is my goal weight. One lady at work (the on again off again WW one) has been fixated on it... "You must be close to your goal weight... /Surely/ you can't have any more to lose!"

Um... yes I do, and don't call me Shirley. (LOL! I crack myself up)

I've also had people ask me if the goal weight on my SparkPeople Tracker is still what I'm aiming for, and here's the short answer: Sort of.

Here's the slightly longer answer: I initially set my goal weight at 145 because when I actually got to the 130-135 range ages ago, it was a bit *too* low for me - caused all sorts of fun with my blood sugar, energy levels, etc. Yes, I was pretty darn fit and ate really well, but my body just didn't like it... then college, moving to AZ, more school and life in general happened. So I figured that 145 was a good place to move toward.

Then I decided to pursue my Personal Trainer Certification (yep, still working on it - going to a seminar next weekend, scheduling my CPR/1st Aid class, and am trying to calm the testing/essay writing anxiety to just get it DONE!) And that's totally changed my physical/weight oriented goals.

The reason is probably plain to most people, but for the rest here's the truth of the matter: As much as life, and this journey in particular is, about learning to love yourself (who let Whitney in here?!) from the inside out, no matter what your pant size is, people want personal trainers to look like they practice what they preach. At my current weight, I'm not exactly a poster child for super fitness, nor do I look like I've never set foot in the gym.

MY mission/purpose is to help people accept themselves as they are, and give them confidence while guiding them toward /their/ fitness goals, but first, I have to look the part.

To that end, I've adjusted my goal weight, but made it like my "code": It's more a guideline and that involves several components.

One part of it is, as I mentioned to my WW co-worker, I'm waiting to see where my body settles. I have really solid eating/nutrition habits as well as solid fitness habits that are sustainable and make me happy. So I'm kind of waiting to see where that takes my weight.

Another part is my body fat level. About a year ago I shifted my focus from 'weight' loss at any cost (usually, muscle loss!) to 'fat' loss. That alone has helped to loosen the hold that the numbers on the scale had on my psyche because I incorporated other ways to measure my progress, including body fat %... If the scale stays the same but the Body Fat measurement goes down (like this week), a huge happy dance ensues (and it did)!

The final part is figuring out what body fat % is not only sustainable for my body, but also shows off my hard work.

Combining those parts, I'm working towards 18-20% body fat and seeing where that puts my physique as well as my weight. That may leave me at 145-150# on the scale, but with only 25-30# of fat.

That's something I can live with.

And now for something completely silly I got from my dad:

(it's the June 17 one)