120 Day Fitness Challenge

Now that the holidays and over-indulging are over, it is time to get back into the swing of things.

With my Top Priority of being Kind to Myself, I have decided to get engage in a 120-day fitness challenge to kick start my New Year. Being Kind to Myself means taking care of my physical well-being, among other things.

I love setting goals. It keeps me in line plus I love a good challenge.

When it comes to fitness, it is always helpful to create a specific goal rather than to wing it. Creating a S-M-A-R-T goal is useful for anything, not just fitness, so you can assess, track and give yourself a realistic deadline for such goal.

What is SMART goal? It stands for Specific, Measurable, Action, Realistic and Time. How does this translate to my 120 day fitness challenge?

Well, I thought about competing in another fitness show in April. I thought about it for a long time. I wasn't sure if it's something I wanted to do again this year. I enjoyed my first fitness competition last year; however, I needed to find something meaningful in these fitness shows but I couldn't. I would not check this off my list forever but not right now. My heart and mind are not in it. And when they don't jive together, the goal is useless, pure meaningless and the goal would be down a garbage shoot. The hard work would not be there - which is KEY.

What I'd like to do is travel. I have not been on a real vacation since 2008. Kinda sad really. So I decided to go on a real vacation, actually a nice cruise with my hubby is in the plan =)

I want to get myself back into my bikini-body again for this vacation and 120 days should do it!

I want to do this challenge without the extreme pressure of getting on a stage, dieting and bodybuilding preparations. I want to do this by eating nutritious foods, working out and doing Pilates on a regular basis, use necessary supplements that I get from my awesome Homeopath friend in Guelph, consistency, motivation and keeping an eye on the goal.

Here's how I outlined my SMART goal:

Specific - get down into my bikini body by May, 2010

Measurable - is it measurable? Hell, yeah it is. I have not "let go" that much over the holidays. So yes, 120 days should get me there.

Action - I have done my programs for the next 4 months which will include interval training, weight training, Pilates, stretches, cardiovascular, and of course, some rock climbing! My program starts on Monday which I can hardly wait.

Realistic - Is my goal realistic? I believe it is. I have not gained much weight but my muscle tone and definition are soft. I will be tracking my developments using calipers, body measurements and weight scale.

Time - 120 days which is 4 months to achieve my goal.

I have always wanted to get professional photos done. I will be hiring one of my sister-in-law's good friend, Deena, to take my photos before we leave for holidays. This should be fun.

As for the cruise destination, we are still undecided on that but I am doing my research now and there's lots of cruises available so I'm really excited about that.

I will be posting videos of my training, before and after photos, my nutrition plan, supplements that I am currently taking and the whole enchilada on this blog.

Follow my journey here and I hope to inspire you to get your SMART goals on =)