Spring review of my 2012 goals

Hi everyone!

Well, yesterday was such an exciting day for me. I finally got an iPad!!!

Ta da!

My friend Sas updated hers, and we struck a deal and now an iPad is mine. ALL MINE! ;D

And I'll just say now, I'm in love with it! I'm already looking disdainfully at my poor iphone and it's smallness which was once a feature. But my iPad is shiny and new and BIG! haha. I'll calm down soon I'm sure.

What with yesterday being the first day of spring, and I achieved one of my goals of getting an iPad, I thought this would be a good opportunity to review my goals for this year.

The observant may have noticed that I have a page dedicated to my goals on this blog.

So...let's see how it's going....!

Okay we'll have a look at my health goals which are maintain weight loss, exercise regularly, continue eating well, and take Sundays off.

I'm afraid to say I'm not doing very well in these areas. And Sundays are meant to be Me Days, but I have ended up letting other things overflow into those days. That's my own fault and I simply need to be stricter with myself as I really enjoy a day to chill out, get all beautified and watch films.

I think the biggest mistake I may have made is to stop blogging about my weight loss and my exercise goals because apart from having an injury from running late last year, and taking a break from running all those miles, I have slipped into bad eating habits again.

As a consequence I have put weight on and I'm not doing as much exercise as I would like. So I'm now going to address these areas and get back on track again because that's the only way to go. I felt much better and had more energy when I was eating very healthily and working out regularly. There are so many benefits, it would be madness to undo all my great work.

Let's have a look at my work goals. Continue developing social media skills. Yes, well I'm always keeping up to date with as much as I can with what's new in social media and it's something I'm very passionate about. I use social media that every aspect of my life including work and play and projects and social arrangements.

Launch wedding photography services. Yes I am happy to say that I can tick this one off the list. I launched my wedding photography services in January. I'm only going to take on about three or four wedding photography bookings this year. That's due to my other work commitments. I don't want to take on too much, because it's important that I keep balance just right.

Website make-over on karenstrunks.com Yes I've done this too! It's a one-stop-Karen-Strunks-site. It is quite a basic and simple design, and I will probably play around with a bit more, but it's something that I've been meaning to do for a long time and I'm very happy with it. The benefit of having everything under one roof is that people know what I actually do. The problem I had in the last year or two was that some people only knew me for my photography work, some people knew me from talk about local, some people knew me from the Birmingham Social Media Cafe, or the 4am Project. So now when somebody visits my site they can see all the areas that I'm involved in.

Oh, and I've moved my photography site from karenstrunks.com to karenstrunksphotography.com. Don't ask me how I managed to do it! That was one big learn-as-I-go challenge.

Next goal. Get sponsorship and funding for the 4am Project. This goal is still outstanding. Now there are two parts to this. One is to gain sponsorship, the other part is to gain funding. I've had a few approaches with regards to sponsorship but they haven't been right fit, and it's very important to me that if I find a sponsor they match 4am Project and it's ethos.

The second part to this goal is to secure funding of the 4am Project. Obviously this requires me to apply for the funding from some organisation or other. As you may be aware I received funding from Channel 4 and Screen West Midlands couple of years ago. I'm keeping that option open and I may apply for some funding, but whether I get sponsorship or funding for the 4am Project, it will continue for as long as I want it to. I've been running it since 2009, and it will naturally come to an end at some point. It would be nice to get more sponsorship/funding, and I know that I will have to do actively go out and do that if I that's what I want. So I'm leaving this goal in the air at the moment. There's lots of things to consider, so we shall see!

Things I want to buy. I have put here that I want an iPad (check! See above!), an iMac, and a 10 mm lens. Okay, well I've got my iPad! I don't have an iMac but in the meantime I do have my MacBook pro, and I think I'm not too bothered about 10 mm lens now. If one happens to pass my way, that would be great. But if not that's okay too.

Now to the big one! My life goal. To live and work in new York city. Well, let's say that I haven't achieved that goal. Yet! However, as you can see it's a pretty big goal. And apart from my health goal, and to generally be very happy in life,  this is one that's the most important to me.

Times Square

I find it quite hard to actually talk about this goal. I could a blog post everyday about my passion for New York City and how much it means to me, and how much it would mean if (when!) I achieve my goal to work there. Because it's such a big goal and it's so important to me sometimes I find it quite hard to talk about as I'm so emotionally attached to it. If there is anything in life that keeps me going, it is this goal. I'll say no more about it now, other than whether it takes one year or five years or 10 years, it's one that I intend to achieve. Unless! I change my mind! lol.

So there we are! This is a quarterly review of my goals and I'm pleased to say that 2012 is going really well.  I'm really happy, I'm loving my work and the people I get to work with and meet. I love being kept busy and it's all good so far.

I've decided to make the month of May a month for me. I have a week off to spend on myself. I think it's really important to have that balance. And I'm still upset that I was ill with a cold on my Christmas holidays lol. I am saying no to a lot of things for May (unless it's a trip to NYC!). I'm concentrating on myself and I think that's perfectly okay. If I'm not happy then I can't help other people and be at my best.

And as for the rest of the year bring it on!

How's 2012 treating you so far? What's been the highlights? Are you going to change your goals and review them throughout the year?

I hope 2012 is going well for you! There's never a wrong time to have a quick review of the goals that you have set yourself for the year and never too late to get back on track, and don't forget that you can always change your mind about things too!

  Subcribed to my blog 


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Goodbye July - Hello August - A belated mid year review

With the start of a new month and well into the second half of the year I've been doing some Deep Thinking.

Am I where I want to be?

If not, where do I want to be?

How am I going to get there?

How do I want to spend my time?

Perhaps this is a mid-life review (I have a Big Birthday coming up in October!).

So far this year has been one of the best yet! I've done most of the things I set out to do in the new year (but there's still a few things outstanding), I've learnt a lot, had some amazing experiences, feel I've got a better control on time management (there's still never enough) and I've never been so productive.

What I've realised this year is how much I thrive on excitement and having something to look forward to. It's almost like the more exciting things that happen, the more I want. I'm not satisfied with waiting for things to happen, I try and make things happen. I guess it boils down to having the life I want. I've got no ties (husband to consider/kids) except a mortgage. I feel that I'm in a great position to do all the things that I would like. Also, looking at the bigger picture, I want to have some great memories to look back on when I'm old! :D
But back to now....

July ended on a high with three great events in succession.

Last Thursday I made my way to London town to meet up with my Talk About Local colleagues for the Nominet Awards held in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Talk About Local were short listed in the Nurturing Powerful Local Partnerships category. Unfortunately we didn't win on this occasion, but it was great to be shortlisted and be in with a shot. It was a brilliant night all round. I'm really proud to be working with Talk About Local, doing a job I love with great team members.

Me, Will Perrin, Ellie Stoneley, Mike Rawlins, Clare White Sadly our Nicky Getgood wasn't able to attend the event due to illness and she was sorely missed.

It's always nice to have an excuse to dress up!

It was a 5am start on Friday morning and with just 3.5 hours sleep I made my way back to London for the Birmingham Social Media Cafe event. This is the second event I've run since being handed over the reigns and it went really well. There was a great turn out and lots of new faces too. I'm trying to spread the word and grow the event. If you have an interest in social media and want to meet other creatives and business in and around Birmingham, then this is the event for you! The next event is on Friday 26th August at the Birmingham Town Hall from 10am-midday. Hope you can make it! @birminghamsmc

Photograph by Charles Davis

With such a short sleep on Thursday night, I certainly made up for it on Friday night with eleven hours! I needed it and it set me up nicely on Saturday for a full day of wedding photography. Going back to my goals for this year, I'll be announcing my wedding photography services this month.

And now it's August!

I'm actually going to have a bit more free time this month and I'm deciding how to spend it. I'm aware that the month will fly by all too quickly. I'm going to re-view my to-do list and make a plan. At this point during the year I have realised I have reached my limit on the things I can take on, but not wanting to miss out on anything either I've scheduled in some 'leeway' time into my diary should something too good to turn down present itself. The leeway days I've already put in my diary in the last month or so have already proved useful. Before then I was filling each day of the week to the hilt (except Sundays, my day off), and that left me with little room for maneuver.

Here's to a happy, productive, exciting August for everyone! How are your new year goals going? :)

I'VE REACHED MY GOAL!! 50LBS GONE!

WHOOOPP!! No, wait.....

WHOOOOOPPP!!!

I can hardley believe the day has finally arrived!!

And now it has....it feels SO STRANGE! I've worked hard to reach this goal (although I've enjoyed the journey a lot!), and I can hardly believe the day is here.

I've reached my 50lb weight loss goal!

1st August 2010 - 188.8lbs
29th April 2011 - 138.8lbs

3 stone 8lbs!

It's taken 9 months. Averaging 5.5lb loss per month - 1.3lbs a week.

I've kept a record every week of my weight loss, or in some weeks my weight gain!

I've made the graph below to show actually monthly weight loss. As you can see I got off to a flying start in the first two months. I guess that's because I had a lot to lose!

I spent the month of October in New York City, which is what spurred my on to lose weight - I wanted to be fitter and healthier to fully enjoy my NYC experience! November & December were fairly slow months weight loss wise. In January I started exercising and took up running - and it shows on the chart! In March I had a coupl of weekends away. April, back on track again. And here I am today, having finally reached the goal I had set my sights on!

This was my body mass index at 188.8lbs - off the charts!

Today.... I'm in a healthy weight range for my height!

Measurements

Waist     Before  44"    After 34"    Dropped 10"
Hips       Before  45"    After 38"    Dropped 7"
Thighs    Before 25"     After 21"    Dropped 4"
Arms     Before 14"     After 10"     Dropped 4"

Dress Size: Before 16/18 - After 10/12

Before and After photos!

Putting these photos together has been a strange experience. I'm not sure who I recognise more! The 'old' me or the 'new' me!

Seeing the photos side by side is a bit of a shock.

I wasn't unhappy when I was bigger. I thought I looked fine. My confidence was high. I liked myself and my curves.

I knew it wasn't healthy though.

But now...I feel SO much better. When I started losing weight, I didn't really imagine how I would feel. It's like a mental as well as physical weight has been lifted, much to my surprise.

I feel healthier, I can move around easier, I feel even happier, my confidence is even higher, I have a sense of achievement and pride in my efforts, and I do feel like my new body is rewarding me.

What next.....?

Well, I can't rest on my laurels! I've achieved my goal and now I want to keep it. So, I'm entering the 'maintenance' period.

I will put everything I've learned and the past 9 months experience to good use. I've practically overhauled my eating habits, and I'm loving the healthy way of eating. I've never felt deprived during losing weight, and I haven't found it hard work. I've actually enjoyed the whole experience!

There are some things I've been waiting to do when I got to goal, so I'm going to get these checked off...

Get new running shoes. Check. I did that a couple of weeks ago.

Photo shoot! I would love some new photos! And I need some new profile pictures for my online presence.

Clothes - I'm not going to go mad (and I don't like this seasons colours), but I would like a few new items.

Bras - Whilst I've been shrinking I've kinda made do with cheaper bras as I knew they wouldn't last very long with my changing shape. Now I want to invest in some perfect fitting ones!

Hair - I don't think I'm going to go for a big change, but I would like to at least have my hair cut and shaped.

Get some old clothes adjusted - I've kept some of my old clothes that I really love. Just a few, beautiful, quality items. Some I haven't been able to wear as they were too small, and now they are too large! So I need to take these to a seamstress to have them taken in.

Blogging subjects on this blog - Lots of my posts on this blog are weight loss related, but there are so many more subjects I want to talk about! Simply due to time, I have to select which topic to write about and of course weight loss is important to me. So, I may reduced the weight loss posts to once a fortnight, instead of weekly, just so I can squeeze in some other subjects!

If you would like to catch up on my weight loss journey since January, you can find all my weight loss related posts here.

I think I'm going to spend the rest of the day wearing the biggest smile EVER! :)

Follow me on twitter! @karenstrunks

Weekly running round up - 3 runs 10 miles - tempo runs and intervals

Last weeks runs were quite varied.



10 miles in total.



I introduced a tempo running for the first time. More on that in a moment.



Tuesday Run - 2.05 miles.



Quick lunch time run. It was a bit of a weird one in that it felt like a bit more effort. I kept looking at my watch and it seemed I was going a minute mile faster than normal, and I kept trying to slow down, but couldn't! The result is I knocked a minute of my usual mile time on this run.









Thursday 2.35 miles - TEMPO RUN!



I really enjoyed this one!



Tempo runs are where you vary the running pace.



The benefits of tempo running, as with intervals, is that it will improve your running pace.



So I thought I would experiment. I didn't follow any particular formula, though I am sure there are lots of detailed tempo run guides that you can follow if you like something more structured.



I started off with my normal (slow) pace and warmed up. When I felt I was ready I picked up the pace. Not a full speed sprint but a good effort at about 6/10. When I felt I had enough of that, I slowed down to a walk to catch my breath. Then it was run, fast run and walk repeated over 2.35 miles.



What did I enjoy about the tempo run?



I liked the variety of paces. Allowing myself to pick up speed and also slow down when I wanted to. Even though I took walk breaks whilst I recovered from the harder pace, I still covered the distance in my usual time.



I liked picking up my feet higher and the fuller range of moment, even if it was for a short time that energy burst is quite reviving!



It gave me something else to think about. Checking on how I was feeling and breathing, recovering and planning when I was going to pick things up again.



I'll definitely do more tempo runs. Not for every run, but maybe once a week or so.

Sunday 6.6miles - though I didn't clock it all on my watch.

Another great run with my friend Ben.

We agreed to do some intervals this time. Now my last experience with interval running wasn't the best one. I loved it so much I tried to do 3 in a week and ended up with a sore muscle. It was too much too soon.

We did a warm up walk, a slow run down to Cannon Hill Park, a loop around the park and then selected a nice stretch of path to aim for - about 100 metres long or so.

Then it was Ready, Steady, GO! And off we sprinted!

Again, what I love about this type of running is that it is short and intense and there's the full range of movement, really picking my legs and feet up and powering my arms!

We did that about 4 times and then ran a loop around the park again. My legs were telling me that they had a really good work out and I had to slow down and walk (and pop a jelly baby!) at times. When we reached the interval path again, off we went, another 4 times.

Ben is good to run with. Even though he has a lot of running experience and is much faster than me, he keeps to my pace, which I am really grateful for. There is nothing more disheartening than running with someone who shoots off ahead of you and leaves you behind! I've also discovered that I can kind of maintain a conversation whilst running, even if it's short burst of words and not full sentences!

I was so pleased with this run! It was hard in places, and I pushed myself on the sprints. And I well and truly earned my hearty roast dinner later in the day!

Thanks for a great run Ben!

AND I've been totting up the miles this year so far.

63 miles so far! They add up fast. And I've spent about 14 hours on my feet, OUTSIDE! That's more than I did for the whole of last year. And the year before come to that!

Here's my GPS map of the miles so far! Go me!

Hula Hooping! I can't forget the hula hooping! I spent 90 mins in total this week practicing my hula. Unfortunately I had to miss my hula class on Wednesday as I've got quite a lot on at the moment, but did a 30 min session at home instead to make up for it.

I'm feeling and seeing all sorts of benefits since I started exercising this year. I lost 30lbs without any exercise, but have lost another 10lbs this year so far and I've reached the goal I set myself last August of losing 40lbs!

Now this running 'bug' seems to be sticking I'm going to treat myself to some new trainers soon. Trainers have a life span of about 500 miles and although I haven't run that far in my current trainers, they do cause me blisters - I have to tape my feet up before each run, not ideal! And although I'm looking forward to purchasing some new shoes(!), it's with some intrepidation as I have such sensitive blister prone feet, I hope that the new trainers don't just cause blisters somewhere else!

That's me over and out for this weeks running report :)