January Reflection

A major reason for this blog is to have a place to hold myself accountable with my health and fitness goals. As a result, I'll be setting goals each month and reflecting on them at the end of the month. The first reflection or two will have a slightly different focus due to the last trimester of pregnancy, but I'm focused on being consistent.

As I sit here and reflect on my "progress" in January, I've realized that I didn't really set goals other than launching this blog and starting to think about my health and fitness goals again. I have continued to remain active throughout the month and I've done my best with food. It's been an interesting battle of sorts since most days I don't even feel like eating anything.

With this being said, I wanted to focus this reflection on how I'm going to set goals in future months. Our baby boy hasn't been born yet so February will obviously look a bit different than other months but it all goes back to consistency. Each month, I'm going to set a goal in each of the following categories: nutrition, exercise, self care, and personal development. These are the areas that I typically consider important for a healthy individual. Remember, health is about more than a number on a scale or the foods you put into your body. Health is about the overall care you give to your body - outside and inside.

Let's go ahead and take a look at the goals I'm going to focus on in February. Keep in mind that our little one is due early in the month, so a lot of February will be focused on recovery and life as a new mother. As a result, I'm going to keep my goals quite simple.

Nutrition
Goal: Meet my water goal everyday.
Reason: I want to keep my goals simple and attainable. Meeting my daily water goal will help me stay hydrated, which is important for pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding. It's also a good place to start.
Defining Success: 21/28 days with water goal met (75% of the time)
Accountability: I will add a water tracker to my planner and record my daily water intake on it.


Fitness
Goal: Stay active within reason - recovery is important.
Reason: I would like to stay as active as possible until the birth of our son. (Yes, sometimes this is just a few trips up and down our basement stairs.) After he is born, I'll be focusing on letting my body recover which will be a challenge in itself.
Defining Success: This one doesn't appear to have a quantifiable way to identify success.
Accountability: Reflecting on how I feel at the end of everyday.


Self Care
Goal: Apply lotion before bed everyday.
Reason: Winter has been causing my skin to be very dry. As a result, I've been trying to be more consistent with applying lotion each and every day.
Defining Success: 21/28 days (75%)
Accountability: Record in planner at the end of everyday.


Personal Development
Goal: Read and learn about newborns and breastfeeding.
Reason: Kind of obvious, right? I'm going to be a new mom and there are a few things I'll have to learn along the way.
Defining Success: This one doesn't appear to have a quantifiable way to identify success.
Accountability: Sharing my experiences and reflections on social media and my blogs.


What goals do you have for February? Were you successful with any of your January goals?

Psst...If you're interested in learning a little bit more about self love and how it can help you live a healthier, happier life, please join the Hodge Podge Moments community on Facebook for a great (free) self love event that will be taking place in February!