Those of you who know me, know my love for trashy reality TV. The Real Housewives of anything, basically anything on Bravo, TLC or E!, etc. One thing that has intrigued me lately is “Revenge Body by Khloe Kardashian.” Now, to be clear, I stopped watching “Keeping Up…” years ago. I think it’s gotten out of control. But I’ve always liked and related to Khloe.

The concept of the show is to lose a bunch of weight in 12 weeks to get “revenge” on someone who did them wrong – usually someone who has bullied them or caused them to gain a lot of weight. It’s quite an addicting show and it’s got me to thinking about this concept of a “revenge body.”

Demi Lovato also has a song called “Sorry Not Sorry” where she talks about looking so good that the person regrets what they did to her.

Now I’m out here looking like revenge
Feelin’ like a ten, the best I ever been
And yeah, I know how bad it must hurt
To see me like this, but it gets worse (wait a minute)
Now you’re out here looking like regret
Ain’t too proud to beg, second chance you’ll never get
And yeah, I know how bad it must hurt to see me like this
But it gets worse (wait a minute)

– Demi Lovato “Sorry Not Sorry” lyrics

I mean, who HASN’T lost weight or undergone a transformation and then felt really good rubbing it in someone’s face? I know whenever I see an ex-boyfriend and I’m looking particularly fierce, I always feel really good about it.

But, should we want to lose weight for the sole purpose of “revenge?” My immediate thought is “no. we should always want to lose weight for ourselves – to be happy and healthy with who we are as individuals.”

But man … it’s such a fun concept right?

Today I’m starting the final week of my 6-week workout program from Jessica Smith. It’s been challenging and really rewarding. I haven’t stuck to a program like this in a really long time. I was really worried when my mom went back to work, that I was going to lose my workout buddy and lose my motivation, but I didn’t. I stuck with it and really push myself on each workout. Sure, there have been a couple where my energy wasn’t where I wanted. And I skipped yesterday on the account of it being a “stretching workout” and I also really needed a nap a lot more than I needed stretching. But for the most part, I feel REALLY proud that I’ve killed each workout!

The last 2 weeks have started off Monday with HIIT workouts and I have to say, I love it! I love starting a Monday with high intensity and determination. It seems to set the tone for the whole week! The weather is supposed to be nice today and tomorrow, so I plan to finish each day with a walk/hike around our favorite lake with the dogs.

I REALLY want to work hard and hit my goals this week. I travel for work next week and I want to feel confident and more fit when I get there. It’ll be the first time I meet a lot of my coworkers. I work from home, and have talked to them all day everyday for the better part of 3 years, so I’m really excited to meet them. I fully realize that I’ll still be the biggest person in the room, but if I can work hard this week and shave some extra pounds off, I will feel confident and will hold my head high when I meet them.

What are your goals this week?

Mine: Meet my 7,000 steps/day goal day; Workout for 30 minutes each day; Walk the dogs each day the weather allows; If the weather is not good, aim for another 20-30 minutes of indoor cardio on those days; 1,200-1,350 calories a day.

Let’s talk about goals – when to set them, how to measure them, and when to adjust them.

A lot of people talk about setting SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. I think all of that is great – extremely obvious – but great.

So when do you set a goal? A lot of people think you should set them right away. But for me, I needed a little time before I set very specific goals. I needed to start first. Once I started working out and eating better, I was able to get a better sense of what my body was capable of. I wasn’t going to set a goal of running a marathon if I could barely walk a mile. So once I had a solid week of being more active and counting calories, I was able to better set my SMART goals.

I am also a huge believer of setting both short term and long term goals. For instance – my short term goals range from week to week. What I accomplished last week can be built upon, improved, and reassessed for this week. For instance, last week I counted all of my calories, and worked out for 30 minutes, 6 days a week. My body felt great, I had a ton of energy and at the end of the week, I felt like I could achieve more. So this week, I’m still counting each calorie that crosses my lips, but I’m upping my daily activity to 60 minutes 4x a week, and 30 minutes the other 2 days, with 1 rest day. I’m also focusing on hydrating myself at a lot better, as my water consumption has been dismal.

However, my long term goals are different. I hope to get to a certain weight by the time I leave for my work conference on March 5th (I may share that weight with you further down the road, I may not, get over it!). That’s a month away, so that’s a little bit further out, but everything I do today contributes to that longer-term goal.

Ever further out than that is my long-term goal. I hope to lose 100lbs in the 2018 calendar year.

I also, one day, want to complete a half marathon. Sooner than that, I want to get back to completing 5k’s on the regular. So each day, I’m working toward my goal. Each walk I take is a little longer. Each calorie I consume fuels my body instead of hinders it. Because each of these goals are important to me, they’re completely achievable, and they’re mine.

Now let’s talk about how to measure your goals and progress toward them. This, for me, is the hardest. It’s important to set up measurable benchmarks along the way to assess your progress. For instance, if you want to be able to benchpress 100lbs by March, maybe you set up goals each week. 50lbs by Friday. 75lbs the next week, and so on and so on. That way, you can measure how far you’ve come and how you’re doing each week.

For me, a lot of my progress is measured each week on the scale. My main goal in the next month is weight loss. And even though many people advise against it, I weigh myself daily – At the same time, wearing the same thing, every day. I’m able to see how yesterday’s choices affected my body today. I’m able to see if I’m retaining water, or if I need to push myself a little harder on my next workout. However, even if I gain weight one day, I’m cautious to let it effect my mood and my progress. As long as my overall weight loss trends down, and I’m meeting my weekly overall goals, then I’m doing great!

Tip: Don’t get caught up in the day-to-day minutiae. Look at the big picture and the overall trend. If you’re hitting your weekly goals, you’re doing great! Don’t let a stumble become a head-first tumble downhill.

What are your goals? How often do you reassess them?

As a big girl, I’ve perfected hating myself and my body. The constant judgement from myself and others has become the norm. It’s sad but true. The self hate is on a constant highlight reel through my brain.

But when does it stop? How do we train our brains to love ourselves? I’m honestly curious because I have no. freaking. clue. I’m losing weight, I’m exercising daily, I’m sticking to my calories goals. But I still have this loop of self-doubt in my brain. I still sit at night thinking about what I could have done differently or how I could have been better (and often the answer is that I did perfectly good that day).

When I’m hungry, I feel great. I feel like I’m doing what I should be doing – starving myself. When I’m satisfied after a meal – even if it was a great, healthful meal – I feel guilt.

When does this go away? What can we do to train our brains to think positively instead of judgmentally and negatively? Let’s brainstorm!

I am finally feeling GREAT, losing weight, and hitting my stride! My body feels SO much better when it’s active and moving daily. I’m officially on Day 19 of my 6 Week Jessica Smith workout program and I’m really enjoying it!

Check out some of the calorie burns from my recent workouts! Freakin’ killin’ it!! 

At first, I was just half-assing the strength training days because they weren’t as fun as the cardio days. But now I’m realizing how important they are, and how good of a burn I can get from them. So this week, I stepped up my effort on those days and smashed the cardio days. My body is LOVING the activity and I’m smashing my step goal everyday.

Goal for next week: two-a-days! I would LOVE to kill my workout in the morning and do another 30 minute workout in the afternoon/evening to bring my workout time to an hour a day. I also want to increase my step goal from 6,000 a day to 7,000 a day. This is challenging for me, especially on strength training days, since I work from home. But it’s totally do-able!