New Year's Resolutions

Let me start by saying I'm not great at New Year's resolutions.  My 2017 resolution is pretty simple -  to make time for things I enjoy.  However, I know many people make significant resolutions or otherwise want to make a commitment to better themselves in a new year.

I've put together some posts this week to offer ways to choose a resolution or succeed in many common resolutions.  I've scoured the internet for the best tips and information (and added a few of my own).  This week, Straddling the Gap is your New Year's Resolution Central!

First, let's start off with a short list of worthwhile resolutions (just in case you need one).  I will be writing more detail about some of these this week:

1.  Improve your sleep.
2.  Improve your fitness level
3.  Change your diet
4.  Break a bad habit
5.  Start a cleaning routine
6.  Simplify your life
7.  Make (and stick to) a budget
8.   Be more charitable
9.  Organize your life
10. Incorporate God into your daily life

Whatever your resolution(s), make 2017 different and special.

cindy

Fit Friday - You Gotta Have A Plan!

I'm learning that it's not enough to say "I'll lose weight" or "I'll exercise more."  Those are great resolutions, but with no execution of the resolution you've got no solution.  Enter - a plan!

More than half Most Almost all of what I write here is encouragement for me.  I'm certainly not in a position to be speaking from a place of knowledge.  Having said that, a plan is in order - for me or whoever wants to be successful in getting healthier.

It takes 3 weeks or more to develop a habit.  Until then, you probably need a strong routine.  For exercising, it means scheduling a specific time each day during the upcoming week when you will exercise.  In fact, you should also plan exactly what exercise you will do.  Hopefully, after the 3 weeks of the routine, you will be in a place where you will know when and how to exercise regularly.  I'm still waiting for that to happen.

With weight loss for me, it's all about accountability.  I need to weigh myself every day at the same time.  I know many people strongly discourage that, but for me, if I don't do it every day I won't understand and recognize that the extra helping of mashed potatoes I ate yesterday resulted in the extra pound today.  It can also go the other way - that hour on the treadmill resulted in a bonus pound loss.

Most importantly, you need goals.  The long term goal of 30 pounds by next November is great, but how do you get from Point A to Point B?  How do you know if you're on track?  I recently sat down with a calendar and determined how much weight I wanted to lose.  I don't have a particular timeline - a class reunion, a wedding, whatever, so I don't have a specific date that I need the weight gone.  I do know that I wanted to take a slow, sensible approach (especially after a stint on HcG).  I figured that for the first half of my weight loss I could do a rate of 2 pounds per week (which is pretty ambitious over time), but the second half I would do at 1 pound per week.  I figured out how long it would take me and marked the ultimate deadline on my calendar.  Then, I wrote the goal weight for each week on the calendar.  Now instead of thinking that 6 months is a long way off, I know I need to lose 2 pounds before next Tuesday.  Every "Tuesday" I plan to mark down my actual weight under the goal weight for that week.  If I'm ahead (I lost 3 pounds instead of 2 this week), I just got a cushion!

The same is true with exercise.  (I'm really paying attention to my own advice here.)  Identify the days this week you will go to the gym and the time.  Initially don't worry about what you do there or how long - just GET THERE.  Later you can set the goal for time and exercises you will do each time.  Finally, you can just identify the number of hours per week you need to exercise - how much cardio and how much strength training.

Wow, I have a lot of work to do.  Get out that calendar and get a plan!

Don't forget to check out the Fit Club every Monday for more inspiration.

cindy

Fit Friday - Find Your Thing

While we've been here in Hawaii, I saw this add on TV.  It describes me to a "T" and I love her final choice for exercise.  I think it's mine too.  The rest of the commercial speaks for itself.  Maybe it will speak to you too.  (You will probably need to buffer this video and make it full screen to get the best view.)

Don't forget to find your motivation at the Fit Club every Monday.

cindy

Fit Friday - Why Am I Doing This Anyway?

Yesterday, I wore a suit I haven't worn in 9 years.  That's exciting and I'm pretty happy about it.  Thing is, no one else noticed.  I remember thinking someone would say something, but no one did.  Did that make it less than exciting for me?  Maybe.

One of the biggest problems of losing weight is the idea that it will make you a different person.  If I get to a certain size or wear different clothes, will people think more of me?  Will it change my personality?  Will my problems go away?  Will I stop battling with my weight?  Nope.

I'm at a place now where I have to keep my focus on why I'm doing this.  It's easy to say the only reason I'm doing this is for my health, but that wouldn't be true.  I'm doing it because I want to wear "normal" sizes and shop in any store for clothes.  I want people to see the real me without my weight getting in the way.

Right there - that's it.  I want people to see me differently because I don't like what they see now.

That thought process is a VERY dangerous path.  There's a great article from Sparkpeople about this issue, "The Secret to Loving Your Body Isn't Losing Weight"  In the article the author says the only way she became happy was by accepting herself, fat or thin.  Instead of weight loss being the point of pride, she takes more satisfaction in exercise.  Hmmm.  Maybe I should give that a try.

I hope you're exercising and I hope you're loving yourself wherever you are.

cindy

Fit Friday - The Clothes Connection

This week I finished my first week (second round) of HcG shots and 500 calories a day.  Just like in the first round, I experienced a precipitous drop in weight (which I know won’t be sustainable over the next 2 weeks).  I’m getting closer to a weight I haven’t seen in over 16 years.  Other than the obvious health benefits, the most exciting part of this has been the clothes.

I haven’t purchased any new clothes yet, but I am rediscovering clothes I have been storing (waiting for “some day”), as well as a few items I purchased a while back that never did fit or were too tight to wear in public.  This has been so much fun, especially because there are some items I don’t remember.  It’s like shopping in your own closet.  There are some things that are out of date, like that bright raspberry colored suit with long pleats, so those are going.  I’m also fortunate that my sister has also been doing HcG and has passed on a lot of her clothes, especially the casual clothes I will need on our upcoming trip to Hawaii. 

Now comes the confusing (but happy) problem:  when do you buy new clothes?  I’m pretty much at a point that my work clothes are starting to look silly because they are so big.  However, I still want to lose about 20 pounds more, so I don’t want to spend a lot of money on things that will be too big in a month or two.  For now, I’m going to try to stick it out with what I have as long as I possibly can.

Clothes can be such a great motivator, both to lose weight and to see where you've been.  I don't want to be someone who has clothes in 5 sizes, but I may keep a couple of things just to see where I've been (and hopefully to take that picture where you hold out your "fat jeans" out in front of you :)  I'm keeping in mind that they're not the only reason to lose weight, but it is the immediate gratification.

On the exercise front, there’s not much going on and that needs to change before I’m on stabilization in two weeks.  Maybe I need to visit that gym place . . .

Happy days!

cindy

Fit Friday - Crossing the Gorge

It's been a very busy week and I'm sad to say there has been no exercising going on here.  I started round two of the HcG diet on Monday.  The protocol requires that the first two days of the diet you take the HcG shot but you have to GORGE yourself.  That's right, eat as much as you can for two days.  Sounds like a dream, but is a bit gross and exhausting.  So here's lunch on Tuesday:

Boy, that was good, but I hope to never consume that much food in one sitting ever again!  As a contrast, starting Wednesday through the next three weeks I will be eating 500 calories a day.  On Wednesday for lunch, I ate raw spinach with a little bit of balsamic dressing, 100 grams of skinless chicken and an apple.  I wanted a picture, but probably consumed it so fast I couldn't.  I've lost 5 pounds in 2 days.  The results are great, but this is a down and dirty diet not for the faint-hearted.

I plan on doing some limited exercise during the next 3 weeks and finish the 500 calorie thing on my birthday in three weeks.

Wish me luck!

cindy

Fit Fridays - Tracking

This is my first Fit Friday, which is my way of offering an update of where I'm at in my efforts to have a healthier life, as well as some little advice I can offer from my previous experiences.  Today I'm offering the best advice I can give as a start.  You have to keep track.  You have to track what you eat, how much you drink, how much you exercise and how much you weigh.  It sounds easy, but I've found it to be one of the hardest things I have learned to do.  Kim from The Fit Club has already written a post on a phone application she uses to help her.  You can read about it here.  I use a website and mobile app called Sparkpeople.  Back in November, I wrote a post about Sparkpeople.  Please check it out here - there are 10 good reasons why you should try Sparkpeople.

Good luck - be well!

cindy