Health & Fitness Goal Mid-Year Review

Doing a mid-year check in on my health & fitness goals for 2018.

Even though I’m keeping track of my progress toward meeting my goals, it’s always good to do a review to see how far I’ve come in 6 months.  I have a few big fitness goals for this year so staying consistent with my workouts and nutrition are key for me.

Let’s see how things are coming along!  

Bench press 120 pounds
My one rep max about 8 weeks ago was 80 pounds, and now I’m consistently bench pressing 80 pounds as part of my normal routine.  Next week I plan try for another one rep max at 100 pounds.  I think I’ll actually be able to accomplish this goal soon!  Pretty pumped!

Find the modified paleo/keto plan that works best for me
My nutrition is still something I’m working on.  The last month I’ve been doing more carbs and less fat in order to reduce body fat quickly.  But man it is hard!  I’m hungry a lot more and I never seem to meet my carb and protein goals (150 grams of carbs and 180 grams of protein), and I always go over my fat by just a bit (goal is 30 grams).  I’m going to continue with this plan for the next month or two, but then will decrease my carbs and increase my fat again.  

I’ve been eating really clean, and I definitely notice when I have a bite of something that’s processed; even white breads and pastas.  My stomach just feels off.  Once you eliminate those foods from your diet completely, you really see the impact they have on your digestive system.   

Lose 4% body fat
Like I mentioned in the post where I set my goals in January, essential body fat for a woman is 10-13%.  Athletes have around 14-20% body fat, fitness is considered 21-24%, and acceptable is 25-31% body fat.  When I started the year I was at 18% body fat.  Well, with my bulk, I gained about 2% body fat, which was so hard for me to deal with.  But I knew it was for a purpose because I was gaining muscle very quickly.  I started my cut at the beginning of May and right now I’m sitting around 16.5-17% body fat.  Technically I should do a bulking phase again because I’m below 20% body fat, but since my goal is 14%, I’m going to continue with my cut.  I’m not doing a super strict cut, because I’m still working to build muscle during this time.  So it will take me longer to get to my goal of around 14% body fat.  

If you aren’t familiar with the terminology, a bulk is where your primary goal is muscle gain.  You take in more calories to aid in those gains.  During a cut your goal is to lose fat while maintaining muscle.  You usually alternate between these phases to get down to your lean goal. 

Meal prep our lunches at least three weeks every month
Eh.  We’ve had some good weeks and some off weeks but for the most part we’ve done fairly well at this so far this year.  

Hike to Camp Muir
Camp Muir is the base camp on Mt. Rainier, here in Washington.  It’s at 10,080 feet of elevation, and you gain 4,640 feet of elevation during the hike.  It’s an 8 hour hike, that we are not at all prepared for….yet.  Now that things have calmed down after my dad’s passing, we have more time to prepare for the hike.  We just need to get kid coverage.  We have hiked some with them, but to really prepare to hike Muir, we need to do some longer and more strenuous hikes, and those aren’t kid-friendly hikes.  I’m thinking we will try Muir sometime in August when the snow levels are the lowest.  

View from atop Camp Muir of the Cascades. You can see Mt. St. Helens in the background.

So far I’m pretty happy with how I’m coming along with my goals.  At first I didn’t think I was doing so well, but looking back now I’m making good progress.  We will see how the rest of the year shapes up!

What is one goal you set for the year and how are you doing with it?