In workplaces around the country, managers and employees are preparing for midyear reviews. If you've ever been through the process, you know it's a way to track your progress against your annual professional goals, to see what you've accomplished so far, and what you still need to do.

So why not give your healthy journey a midyear review? Are you on track to achieve your annual goals? What have you already accomplished this year? What do you still want to achieve before the end of the year?

I was doing very well until about 2 months ago when I reached goal again and then my head said "go for it and don't worry about exercise". As the boss of myself I need to step up to the plate and get back on track or something drastic will happen....like major weight gain!

At this time (midyear) I am underachieving.

By this time in August I will be achieving my goals of exercise, time for self and eating on track 90% of the time. I will also cut back on coffee stand drinks.

quote:

...more and more whole grains into my diet...

Speaking of whole grains, I have recently been putting two cereals into one bowl - POST Original Spoon Size Shredded Wheat, and plain Cheerios.

On "low fiber days", I sometimes put a little Benefiber in my coffee.

I'm not sure I can step back and evaluate objectively. I'm still playing with the same 3.5 pounds. Not good.

I've hit my "seasonal" ice cream fetish. Since July is coming, it should slow down some.

I'm hitting another block in that I'm so busy right now that I don't want to get up and exercise in the mornings, because I'm so doggone tired.

I've incorporated more and more whole grains into my diet and am taking off inches...but the scale is not cooperating. I've backed off my cake/cookie thing as well.

I've tried to adjust my meal sizes in order to stop eating a late night snack, but that takes me back to the old problem of too much food at dinner.

If I'm talking about maintaining, I'm doing a super fantastic job. But I don't want to be maintaining, I want to be losing. But I don't think a failing grade is deserved because I'm still seeing some success in inches lost.

Now I just need to convince myself that I'm doing just fine.

I hate evaluations, but they have to be done in order to get ahead.

So, Weight, I would have hoped I would have been in the 100's by now. But life goes on, and medical "miracle" drugs and problems have taken my life over this first part of the year. However, I have learned a lot about my body and it's reactions to medical things...and that is always good. My goal for the second half of the year is to be in the 100's

Exercise, well, again, I would have hoped to be back swimming regularly, that too has not happened. But I have learned to use other means to get moving, and to enjoy those as well. Two more shingle "things" and I can be in the water everyday.

Attitude...how do I say ugly at best. I am working at self talking to me about being strong, tenacious, deviant of the problems in life, and being able to work through them. But still 89% of the time, life takes over, and I feel lost under a sea of water without air. I have appt's to see my "shrink" again, and that will help, maybe the chronic depression has returned and I need more than just self talk. It can't hurt.

all in all, the first half of the year stinks.
What have I learned and am happy about? Mostly that I have kept moving, not given up, and continue to believe that there is an end to misery, and there will be peace all over the world. Hand me the Crown Miss America )

It's too early to celebrate, but I recently stopped my long upward weight drift, and am back to where I should be.(My 2004 start weight was 180.8#.)

My average weekly walk in the park is a little more than 4.5 miles, which is longer than last year.

Overall I'm happy with my weight goals - I got back into my maintainance range for the first time in almost a year so that is a big pat on the back for me.

The key now is to not blow it with the summer partying!

As for overall health, I'm still extremely frustrated with the shock thing but truthfully, I don't feel like there is much I can control with that. I'm trying to help myself feel better about it all by saying that it would have been so much worse if I hadn't been eating well and exercising regularly.

My resting heart rate and blood pressure are down and within "normal" limits.

My weight hasn't changed much. I have gotten stronger and more flexible.

I still cook 5 nights/week and pack lunches for both of us for work.

I would like to drop some weight, not just sizes and/or inches.

So I'd say that, like many of my reviews, I'm focusing too much on what I think I SHOULD do, and not what I've actually accomplished and done well.

On the weight-loss front, I'm doing well. I've lost around 5 pounds since January, which doesn't sound like much, but they have made a big difference to me in how I look and feel. I would say that I have room for improvement: I had been doing a little better about a month ago, consistently staying within my points. In the last month I have let some day-to-day struggles get in the way of my routine.

On the plus side, though, I've added back in a lot of exercise I wasn't able to do in January, and until this heat wave had really been taking advantage of summer's opportunities for spontaneous activity: gardening, walking almost everywhere.

So a positive overall review, but with some room for improvement.

At my work, they grade on a scale of Outstanding, Superior, Fully Successful and whatever the bottom one is--can't remember as I have thankfully never gotten one of those! Fully Successful usually means that you're doing the job as written but you're not exceeding expectations in any way.

For the first six months of the year, I would give myself a BARELY Fully Successful only because I continued to cook and bring my healthy lunches and worked really hard to rehab my shoulder.

I would give myself a warning that the way I ran the first six months is no way to run a business. I very nearly stopped exercising, I gained weight, I started eating fast food more regularly again and was eating way too many sweets.

I would tell myself that, based on past superior performance and based on the promise I have shown in week 1 of the Challenge, I am being given the benefit of the doubt and that is the only way I'm getting a Fully Successful.

If I don't up my game and maintain it better than I have these past 6 months, that Fully Successful is history. I am putting myself on notice.

My goal for year's end is to turn that barely Fully Successful around and push it toward Superior. I have never settled for a Fully Successful rating in my work and I shouldn't settle for one in my health. Time to get back on track and I feel that I've gotten a really good start this week thanks to my Challenge goals.