New Year Equals New Plans

Welcome to the new year! 

2018 ended with a bang sneeze for me.   Yes, I have been sick for what seems like weeks..  We were struggling with something in mid December and it finally came to a head and I have been sick as a dog for the last few days.  I think I have turned the corner and today felt mostly human.  So it's finally time to talk about the plans for the new year!

I am not setting any resolutions.  It's as simple as that!   A year is a long time.  People make goals for the year but then stumble and give up.  So I'm not setting any yearly goals.  That doesn't mean I don't have plans for 2019 though!bb I AM going to work to try to live a healthier lifestyle.  Yes, ultimately I would like to weight less....but my only thoughts for the new year is one of health!

That said....I DO have monthly goals for January!

1.  Track every bite of food
2.  Put money into my savings
3.  Weight less than I do now!  I don't care if it's a measly ounce...I want to weigh less!
4.  Do something active (a walk suffices) at least 3 times a week.

So day one is over.

I tracked.  I also DID get out and walk.  I got more steps yesterday then I have gotten in AGES!  We didn't want to do anything stenuous.  So we ended up going to a HUGE graveyard and walking!   It was just what we needed.  I got over 5 miles of walking in.  So I'm happy.  But after being sick for so long the activity really kicked me in the behind!  (Seriously...WEEKS....and about a month before that I was having a tightness in my chest that alerted me to the oncoming onslaught of illness).  Enjoy the pictures from our walk through the graveyard.

Chapel

Confederate Graves

Neat moss growing on a bench

A perfectly shaped tree

So here I am heading into day two.  The first day is always easy......so now is when it starts to get hard!!!!!  I can roll through January successful and reach my goals....and that will only build to my year of health!

Well then...

So I had made my plans to be healthy come the new year....I made them a week or so before New Years...and vowed to start on day one.    So how did that plan work out for me ?

The last few days of 2017, I ate like a wild boar that hadn’t seen food in three years!   I’m telling you...It was bad!   Cakes, donuts, candy, cookies and pie!  It was ugly!  In my mind I kept saying ‘one last hurrah before the serious healthy stuff begins’.   And that was the mistake. I should have started immediately and not thrown my hands in the air and commenced with a foodapalooza!  Still not convinced it was bad?   I ate and ate and ate.  Each night I would feel stuffed...I would have slight stomach aches.  But I trucked on...remember I’m an addict...food is my addiction!   Every night got worse.   And then finally...I hit rock bottom.   New Year’s Eve...we ate dinner.  I wasn’t overly hungry when I came to dinner time...but I ate and it was delicious!  I finished dinner and I made the comment that I was stuffed...that I felt like I needed to go for a long walk or run or something!   Yet a half hour later I ate a huge piece of cake...and shortly after that a donut....and right around midnight I found myself eating tortilla chips!   Is it wrong that while I ate all this I kept saying ‘this is the end...healthy tomorrow!’   We went to bed at around 12:30 or 1.  I was ready to start the new year with healthy eating!

I woke up at 3am...my stomach was in knots!  I remembered the feeling well.  I used to have stomach aches constantly way back in the day...once I got my eating under control the constant stomach aches disappeared....but it was back.  A trip to the bathroom and then I curled up in a ball and slept until 5....a trip to the bathroom and then some more sleep!  I was miserable until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon!  I know my body just had had enough of the gorge of food!!!

Maybe I had to hit rock bottom to see the light and finally be ready to roll into the new year and to form (re-form) the healthy habits!

So day one was an incredible success in terms of eating.   January first i couldn’t even think about food until about 8 PM...and I had a light sandwich!  

Yesterday January 2...I didn’t do too bad.  Not perfect but I’m happy with my choices and how I managed my food!  Even better...on my breaks I rode the elevator down to the lobby and I carted myself back up all the flights of stairs on foot!  It’s not a lot of exercise...but 8 flights of stairs twice a day is better than riding the elevator!!  I’m sticking with the 8 flights twice a day for a while.  I am seriously out of breath after the 8 flights.   When that gets easy I will add more floors just keep goinbg up and then walk back down until my whole break is steps!  And right now I’m leaving my lunch mostly intact.  As it gets easier I believe I may throw in the steps on my lunch...but right now I’m just proud to have done the steps twice!!  (The steps should hopefully help when we get back to hiking heavy...as soon as the weather breaks!)

Now I head into day three....I’m sure I will rock this day!!!    

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!    

This past year.....wow.  It was a year filled with incredible happiness and a year filled with absolute and utter sadness.  One extreme to the other, for sure!

I enjoyed a second year with Jason...and that is the happiness, peace and joy.  

The first part of the year we were super active...but then we each changed jobs and our time for active pursuits was seriously diminished.  But we still got out on the weekends.  

We did get bike rides in.....

We got some hiking in.....

We made it to the ocean a few times..

We spent as much time together as humanly possible within the confines of work and life responsibilities.

We are happy and still moving forward in our relationship. (The first change...we are looking for an apartment to share closer to our respective jobs....currently my commute on normal days is 1.5 to 2 hours each way)

The sadness...yes I lost my father. 

And that is where my weight loss/maintenance went to hell in a hand basket. I let my addictions free and started eating like crazy...

For the first part of 2017, I maintained my weight...but from summer to late fall I somehow managed to slowly start losing.  It was a slow slow slide, but the numbers were going down.   Hey, I’ll take it, slow still  wins the race!!!

But then I lost control and within one week gained five pounds!   Right now, I’m hovering at 8-10 pounds higher.  

I’m miserable at my weight.  My body is screaming it’s protest in many ways!  

When I switched jobs my exercise went out window too...4 hours in my car a day did that in!!!  It’s hard to even contemplate going for a run when it’s pitch black outside and you are bone tired!  My 2017 miles in the year 2017....I was totally on track in August when I started my new job...but well, that went to pot!!  

So I guess it comes as no surprise that my New Years Resolutions center around healthy pursuits! And let me backtrack and talk abut resolutions.  There is no rule that says that you have to make a New Years resolution.   There is also no rule that says you have to wait u til New Years to start something like a new lifestyle.  If you have that mentality, then a New Years resolution is a bad thing for you....because you are losing 364 other days of the year for greatness!   For me New Years is just a time where I’m wrapping up a calendar year and facing a new calendar year.  It’s the perfect time to reflect upon where I was...where I am...where I’m going.   The rest of the world calls it New Years resolutions....so guess what?  I’m going to just call my re-evaluation a New Years resolution!!!

So what are they????    

Lose Weight, be Healthy, be happy!!

Nothing with direct numbers attached...no ‘I will weigh such and such’ or ‘lost so many pounds’.   Very loose goals and ambitions.  But the healthy and happy should be every day of our life goals!!!  As for lose weight/maintain a healthy weight, honestly, if I’m healthy happy, the weight should correct itself!

Plans to achieve my resolutions:

1. Blog more...it helps me stay tuned in and focused!

2. Weigh daily/at least weekly 

3.  Exercise ....this should get easier after Jason and I move!  However in the meantime I can at least be active...I can walk up and down the steps in my work building...there are 14 floors. (Since I’m a wimp and it’s kinda cold outside and that keeps me from walking on my breaks!!). I have that stair stepper thing at home too.  And I have tons of videos!

4.  Reign in the eating...that might mean tracking my food again.   The freedom from constantly entering my food has been nice...but I think right now I may need it!  (And notice tracking is not a resolution...because I would actually prefer to try to get back to the point where I don’t have to track!)

And the crazy thing???  Im actually excited about the changes I’m making and the end result!!!!