Sorry, guys; I have heard from many of you who really love our weekly segment Eat Fit, Not Fat, so I know how much of a bummer it is not to have a post today. Sadly, I was supposed to have a post this week, but last night's dinner didn't go as expected . . . so I punted! Food blogging is WAY harder than it looks, and I have a new-found appreciation for how much work Suz puts in each week. I am excited for her return next week. Instead, I wanted to talk a little bit about defining goals.
This morning I have been putting together a website business strategy for my lab. For those of you who don't know, I work in a Next-Generation Sequencing Core Facility, which is a fancy way of saying I work for a lab that preforms genetic sequencing for anyone who wants it. We are in the process of rebuilding our website, and part of the process is to clearly describe what our primary objectives are of having a website. Here is a sample of what I'm talking about:
The Next-Gen Core website is a first point of contact for internal and external customers, their students and potential collaborators, as well as the general public who wish to gain information and insight into our Core’s sequencing and informatics capabilities. We want to provide quick and concise explanations of our services, as well as information on how to get started with new projects. As the field of Next-Gen sequencing is constantly evolving, we need to actively maintain our website with our latest technologies and as importantly, our current pricing structure.
As you can see, we need to clearly lay out exactly why we want to have a website, what the goals are, who our audience is, and what we want to accomplish. Going through this process got me thinking about this blog and about its purpose and goals. Who is my target audience? What do I want to accomplish? Why do I do it in the first place? It got me thinking about weight loss and fitness in general, and how helpful clearly laying out WHY I want to lose weight can be. It is like a statement of purpose, but for your life. So here is mine, and I encourage others to write one as well.
The primary purpose for 2 Fat Nerds is first and foremost for me to achieve good personal health and fitness. It is also predominately to achieve a high level of satisfaction with my own self. I want to be proud of how I look, how I feel, and how I represent myself to others. Importantly, I want to be healthy for myself, for my family now, and for my potential family down the road. I want to try and avoid medical complications due to being overweight, from eating bad foods, and from not taking care of myself. To do this, I will actively maintain this blog, which in turn helps me stay accountable for my actions.
To accomplish my goals, I plan to continue providing an avenue for others to lose weight and stay fit, which in turn keeps me motivated in my own quest to stay on top of my health. Motivating others is incredibly motivating in return and also gives me a better sense of purpose. I will continue to develop web content and systems that will assist in this process, which will inevitably lead to long-term success for myself and others. As I reach ever closer to my personal long-term weight goal, I will find new goals and demand more from myself in terms of accomplishments on and off the race course.
Think about what your goals are, write it down, and revise it. Come up with what you want to do for yourself and clearly define objectives. I think having a clear-cut strategy in place makes it obvious about what you will have to do to get there. Give it a shot, and I'd love to see what some of you have to say.
I’m trying to break the cycle of losing a couple of pounds and then gaining them back. I’d like to see more consistency in the downward direction, even if it comes with a little fluctuation here and there. I think a large part of this cycle comes from me feeling like I’m doing great, so then I ruin it with laziness and slacking off on my dietary choices and feeling like ugh. (By the by, I would never survive on that crazy fast diet Adrienne discussed yesterday because of the five days of eating garbage.)
So my goal is to make a lifestyle change, not to focus so much on dieting and the like but to integrate exercise and eating well as a part of my life, maybe even as part of my identity, who I am. I think I would enjoy that (“There goes Ellie, the crazy runner/yogi/vegetarian!”). I’d like to accomplish this while maintaining a balance of spending time with Jono and Rara, and even seeing our family and friends. It’s a lot, but I remember when I felt like I was doing it and had made the change. But that was back when I had summers off, had a part-time job, and lived with my parents for free; so now it’s a whole new goal that I have to approach in a new, mature way.
I like what you say about using the blog to hold yourself accountable. Writing down your goals forces you to reflect. My goal, in a nutshell, is to continue to learn how to live a balanced, healthy lifestyle so my future family can feel happy, safe, and healthy.
Family and future family is the key.