I’m usually not one to make goals, at least not out loud or in writing. Sure, I have goals in mind for my future, but I don’t generally come up with short-term goals because I know that if I’m not successful in keeping them, it’ll just disappoint me. But I figure I might as well have a few fun goals in mind over the summer, and I won’t sweat it if I don’t keep them all.
Fitness
Go on at least one hike over the summer.
Play tennis with my dad/sister at least twice a month. I’ve already played once with my dad since I’ve been home and with the weather so warm, I hope we can keep playing regularly. It might get harder once it gets into the 90s, but we’ll endure the heat as long as possible.
Get back into my yoga practice.
My pretty purple yoga mat needs more lovin’.
Take at least one rest day per week. I can’t lie, it’s been mentally stressful convincing myself that it’s okay and actually healthy to take a rest day every week. But as I’m getting busier, I know it’ll be a lot less strenuous trying to squeeze in workouts on my internship days or days that I’m not feeling 100%.
Take walks around the neighborhood more often.
Switch up my lifting routine and try new things.
Food
Have at least one raw meal per day. Raw foods have a TON of benefits, like being alkaline-forming and retaining more nutrients than cooked food, and I already have a love for raw, whole foods. Disclaimer: I’m not saying I’m going 100% raw or even high raw (I would love to try a high raw diet at some point) but I think raw foods have a place in everyone’s diet. I want to do a lot of experimenting with raw meals and raw desserts and see what works best for me and my body. And with it being summer, it’s the perfect time to do a little less cooking!
I like raw restaurant meals, but I want to make them for myself too.
Make more of the recipes I’ve bookmarked.
Work towards more intuitive eating. I’ve gotta say, I feel a lot better now that I haven’t been counting calories or macros since the beginning of the year. However, I still stress out a lot when it comes to eating, and I want to work on my relationship with food. I know a lot of girls have seen success with intuitive eating in overcoming their eating issues and I want to see if it can really help me figure out my own issues. I know intuitive eating can have a bad rap for being just another way to restrict, but I really feel that it can be helpful in balancing a healthy diet with a less strict attitude around food.
Stay on top of weekly food prep.
Go to Native Foods or another local vegan/vegan-friendly restaurant. Colorado is fairly vegan-friendly, with an abundance of health food stores state-wide (Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, possibly Trader Joes soon?) and veg restaurants in many of the larger cities but my hometown doesn’t have many (if any) exclusively veg places to eat. There are plenty of places with lots of vegan options, but when I really want something other than veggie burgers and salads, I know I’ll have to make a trip to Boulder or Denver to get my fix of more creative, healthy vegan food.
Do you like to make goals? What are some of your plans this summer, food and fitness wise?
almostveggirlie 
Good luck with your goals! I used to make goals but I always forgot about them after I made them so they didn’t work for me too well.
I always do the same thing, but I guess it helps a little to have them written down so I can look back at them.
I love your goals,Ashley!
I think it’s so good you want to start allowing your body at least a little rest after all. Believe me,it will be SO appreciated,and even if it’s hard at first – it WILL get easier,I promise. 🙂
My summer plan is to ENJOY this summer. For the first time in years. Just enjoy.
I hope you do enjoy your summer, because you so deserve to!
I think those are great summer goals–just be careful with the intuitive eating one; sometimes your hunger cues can be irregular or even absent when recovering from an eating disorder. But I think it’s wonderful that you haven’t been counting calories or macros; that is a good step! I love that you are trying to do more yoga; I have found it to be VERY beneficial in helping clear my mind and make me less stressed out. I wish I could visit more vegan restaurants this summer, but they tend to be so expensive, and I can’t really afford it. But I really want to go to the Chicago Diner; it is supposed to be a fantastic vegan restaurant with delicious food.
I’ve heard good things about the Chicago Diner so I hope you get to try it at least once! I know most vegan places are pretty pricey though so I usually only go once every few months.
Oh I hope you do get to go to Native Foods at least one, if not a few more times, this summer! I would probably go there everyday if I lived in So Cal :P!
I think my wallet would hate me even more if I lived in So Cal because of all the amazing vegan places 😀
Hi Ashley, I know you are aware you have some problems with your relationships regarding food and fitness, so this is just a gentle reminder that you really should try move past this unhealthy mind set and toward freedom and peace! It is not only beneficial and healthy to have rest days, it will also start to end your somewhat unhealthy relationship with working-out. I would suggest way more than one rest day a week! That still seems like such a tiny step! I agree intuitive can be great- but with your mindset I’m not sure- ask yourself if you don’t want something because you really don’t like it or have just convinced yourself so because the feelings of guilt and shame (and you have mentioned even feeling satisfied after a meal leaves you uncomfortable!) would be to overwhelming so you just opt-out to save yourself the unwanted feelings. Maybe seeing someone to help you out with all this would be good? Have you at least told your family you are still struggling and have their love and support? You are a sweet girl Ashley, I hope you find the peace you deserve!
Thank you for all the encouragement! I have considered that intuitive eating may not be the best for me at this point, but I feel that since I’ve gotten rid of the calorie/macro counting, I may be in a better mindset to at least try out intuitive eating and see if it works for me right now. I know it can become a slippery slope though and I would hate for that to happen, so I hope that getting some nutritional support from a nutritionist or someone like that would help me stay on track while also challenging my mindset.
Love this, Ashley. Definitely give yourself (at least) one rest day per week! You’ll need it with your busy schedule. And I’ve found that being busy actually makes a big difference when it comes to intuitive eating. You don’t have time to stress about what you should/shouldn’t eat- you just eat when you’re hungry and you can!
And I really hope you make it to Native Foods- you’ll absolutely fall in love!
I think being busy will help me a lot! I know when I’ve had more time on my hands, it’s not always the best for my food and exercise anxiety, but when I’m busier, I don’t have as much time to focus on that and I eat and exercise more intuitively without even trying.
I want to swim outdoors as much as possible and clean up a lot of my eating (diet soda and lots of chips got the better of me. I feel like a big bag of salt.)
I wish I had a pool! Makes me want to move somewhere warm like right now.
Cleaning up eating habits can be hard, but it also can become obsessive if you let it get the best of you. But it does feel good to have some things out of your life and body.
I think what’s key to intuitive eating is literally eating when you want instead of stopping because you “think” you’ve eaten “too much.” If you’re still hungry, push those thoughts away, clear your mind, and just focus on the goodness of the food! Food is not the enemy. The more you center your life on the types of food you eat or workouts you do throughout the day, the more burnt out you’ll become and well, that’s soooo not the way to live.
Also, I don’t really make goals because I know I’ll probably forget them… but I do keep in mind, generally, what I want to improve on (like working out less for exp).
That’s true, I know a lot of people end up going the opposite way and restricting even more with so-called intuitive eating and I don’t want that to happen to me. I think what you said about focusing less on food will really help me eat and exercise more intuitively which is the way I want to go.