My 2018 Health & Fitness Goals

One month has passed since 2018 started.  I realised I haven’t shared with you all my mini vision boards.  So here I am sharing another one. This time, it’s for my 2018 Health & Fitness goals.  So far, I’m not really progressing much but I will continue to strive to work on it so that ultimately, I get to reach my target by end of year.

Three results that I intend to deliver by end of year are the following:

1. Consistently get 7-8 hours of sleep everyday
2. 115 pounds of weight (stretch goal is 110 pounds)
3. Run a 10km race

For other people, this might be very easy to achieve.  However, for me, I continue to struggle on all three goals. Maybe it’s just my personality, my stubbornness or maybe my laziness, hehehe! 🙃  So I’m going to be very deliberate on how I will achieve the goals.. I even have tracking tools for each goal.  Let’s break it down:

Consistently get 7-8 hours of sleep everyday

So why is this goal important? Let me share some statements about sleep which gave me some thought on why I have to prioritise having a good night sleep everyday.

“We sleep to restore brain chemicals and rest the body. Some researchers believe that the brain organizes and stores memories during sleep. Lack of sleep can affect our daytime functioning, hormonal balance, appetite, and immune system. We have internal clocks that tell us when we need to sleep.”

“Researchers have also shown that after people sleep, they tend to retain information and perform better on memory tasks. Our bodies all require long periods of sleep in order to restore and rejuvenate, to grow muscle, repair tissue, and synthesize hormones.”

“When you don’t sleep enough, your cortisol levels rise. This is the stress hormone that is frequently associated with fat gain. Cortisol also activates reward centers in your brain that make you want food. At the same time, the loss of sleep causes your body to produce more ghrelin.”

“A good night’s sleep can mean good skin health because when you’re sleep-deprived, your body makes more of the stress hormone cortisol. Elevated levels of cortisol can lead to increased stress and inflammation in the body, hurting your skin’s quality. … This can result in increased itching, which can disrupt sleep.”

Firstly, I decided on the time that I should sleep and the time that I should wake up.  I realised that it has to be the same every single day (even during weekends).  If the sleeping/waking time is fluctuating every day, then there is no way for me to achieve the 7-8 sleeping hours goal.  I ended up with sticking to 12:30AM to 7:30AM.

Then, I contemplated on the right tool to use to track my sleep.  At first, I’ve been using Withings Aura (I have a sleep tool under my bed and a speaker/lamp combo beside my bed).  However, when I’m out of town, there is no way for me to track my sleep and it’s a bit heavy and inconvenient to bring the gadgets with me.  Then I realised that I have an Apple watch so I researched for an app I can use to track my sleep.  Luckily, there’s Auto Sleep and that tool is perfect for me!

Reach 115 pounds of weight (stretch goal is 110 pounds)

Reaching 110 or 115 pounds is tough one!  I’ve been wanting to lose weight for the longest time.  When I was young, I didn’t have this problem at all.  Even if I chowed down 10 cups of rice, I couldn’t even lose weight.  Some people even called me a skeleton for being too thin.  But lo and behold, as soon as I reach the age of 30, my weight just blew up!  Reality set in.  I’m not the luckiest in the world, my metabolism just went down big time as I age.  So I really don’t have a choice but to try my best to reach my ideal weight. I really don’t look good fat so I’m on a hard and challenging journey to fight obesity.  I’ve progressed a bit.  Last year, I brought my weight down from 140 pounds to 128 pounds.  I intend to bring down my weight further to 115 pounds (better if 110 pounds).

There are, however, so many things I need to do in order to achieve my ideal weight.  And to be totally honest, it’s too damn hard to do each one of them but I’m really doing my best.  January is a bit hit or miss but I hope I get better as 2018 passes by.

Run a 10km race

I do not exercise at all.  Two years ago, I tried getting into the habit of exercise.  I even went to the point of spending so much on gym memberships & trainer fees.  While I got the best trainer in the gym and the gym was very near our office. I just dread going there.  I really don’t have any interest in exercise.  But I know I just need to do it especially if I want to be strong and healthy.  So I thought what would be the best way for me to start.  The place that I live in has a running path and then I have a Nike+ run app.  I just have to try running.  I even have a very good friend who’s pretty much an icon for running.  I need to start something.  So I figured that maybe the best goal for me to aspire for this 2018 is at least to run a 10km race.  In order to do that, I need to build a habit of running 3 times a week.  I haven’t done anything yet last January and I’m still kicking myself to start the habit this February.  Let’s see.