resolutions – Sweat & Sparkle

Just Watch

Sure, it’s trite and cliched to set New Year resolutions. I don’t care. It’s exciting to start a new year, so much potential ahead of us. Where will you be on December 31, 2022? What will you have accomplished? What changes will you have made in your life?

The kids and I used to write down a list of resolutions on New Year’s Eve, and I would tuck the piece of paper into a desk drawer until the next year. It was fun to open it up and see what we had hoped for that year, and what we had actually done (or had not done).

We didn’t write anything down this year, but just jokingly, I asked my husband and older stepdaughter what their resolutions were for 2022. My husband proclaimed that he resolves to be as awesome this year as he was last year, ha ha. My stepdaughter will be graduating high school this year, so her resolution was related to the upcoming chapter of her life, which is thrilling and bewildering at the same time. Wasn’t she just wearing overalls and needing me to lift her up to the sink to wash her hands?

My husband asked me what my resolutions are, and I told him I have a lot of them. Some are work related. Some are personal growth related.

I actually sat down with a notebook later and wrote them down like we used to, except this is just for me. I wrote down my goals, then mapped out mini goals and target dates. A funny thing happened: I started to feel stirrings of excitement, anticipation. Hope.

I don’t want to just cruise by in 2022. I have devoted so much of my time to helping others, to solving other people’s problems, and I would never turn my back on anyone that I care about, but this year is unapologetically about me. I am going to focus on me and the things I have wanted to accomplish but keep pushing to the back burner. Not this year. I just lifted myself to the top of my priority list.

I know that the negative, toxic people I am forced to tolerate in my life have no intentions of becoming better people this year, but that won’t stop me from rising up and ascending even further above them. I can’t fathom wanting to stay just the way they are — bitter, jealous, spiteful — but that is their choice. They can hiss and spit and caterwaul and go to hell for all I care. Nothing is going to stop me.

Just watch me!

New Fitness Challenge!

Did you know that 80% of people fail at their New Year’s resolutions by the second week of February? Or that losing weight is the #1 resolution that people make?

I’m not sharing this with you to depress you on this fine Friday morning, or to wow you with my random facts and impressive statistics-spitting. Just trying to convince you to join me in a challenge to keep our momentum and motivation going well into this new year!

I have struggled this past week, between the funeral and then worrying about the kids. I sure could use an extra dose of motivation. I searched online for a weight loss challenge, but nothing stood out to me as particularly interesting, so I figured: why not start my own?

I don’t have the time (or patience) for a lot of tracking and logging on top of what I am already doing, and I already know that if I have to count points or do a bunch of math every night, I won’t do it very long. So I want to keep it simple and something that can work for all of us.

How’s this? Starting on Sunday, January 27, we will set a goal of how many exercise minutes we will accomplish over the next 30 days (until February 28…okay, that’s more than 30 days, but I didn’t want to end a few days before the end of the month!) So, for example, if you want to work out for 30 minutes a day, four days a week, your goal would be 480 minutes by February 28.

Let’s see…I want to aim for 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week. That would be about 1080 minutes by February 28.

This way, the challenge is personalized to what you can do, what you want to accomplish, how much you want to challenge yourself.

Anyone want to join me? A fellow blogger had the idea of joining the challenge by writing on her blog about it, but I also thought we might want a central place to virtually meet up, like a Facebook group. I can create the group if anyone is interested, and I will post a link for anyone who would like to meet up there for accountability, tracking, questions, motivation, griping, whatever you need over the next thirty-ish days!

January Goals

new year motivational quotes Unique denim and chocolate January ? New beginnings Happy new year! It’s exciting to have a fresh, blank, brand new year stretched out ahead of us, full of opportunity and chances and possibilities.

Don’t worry, I won’t start rambling about “new year, new me”. I burned out on that after many, many years of vowing to lose weight, then ending the year weighing just as much (if not more) than I started.

I keep reading comments on blogs and Facebook saying “I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, because they don’t work!” It’s not the resolution’s job to work or not. It’s our job to set a plan into motion and make them happen.

I haven’t done that in the past, until last year. I finally decided enough was enough. Weighing over 200 pounds was unhealthy, and I looked awful. I knew I could do better. Over half the year was gone before I got moving, but eventually, I got into gear and started making changes I desperately needed to make.

Unfortunately, December was a rough month. Between travel, stress, a loaded schedule, and more than one personal loss, I crumbled under the strain. After losing about 8 pounds in November, I managed to eek out only a 2-pound loss in December (after accounting for my gain).

life-quote-new-year-changes

Time to get back to what works. I was by no means thrilled to be back at work today, but I am relieved to have the holidays over and get back onto a more normal, regular schedule and routine.

I want to stay focused on this new-start mentality, this attitude of doing things differently if I want different (better) results. I started with breaking up with my old gym. I am sick of equipment that is constantly out of order, weekend hours that don’t work for me, and the last straw, the gym not opening on time when I got up at 5 AM to be there! My first act this morning, as soon as I turned on the computer, was to sign up for a different gym. Out with the old, in with the new!

My goals for January:

Reach my next mini-goal of 159 pounds or lower
Complete a distance run of 13.1 miles
Strength train at least twice a week

The second half of 2018, I made a lot of progress to my goals. Now, in 2019, it’s time to finish what I started!

Goals for the New Year

The minute Christmas was over, I dashed off to work out, immediately returned to diligently logging all my food and drink, and got right back into my routine like a good little dieter!

Yeah, okay, right. Not quite.

I have stuck to my workouts, but my eating has been swinging from “nice, healthy breakfast” to “oh my god, how many calories were in that?” Being off schedule makes it very difficult to stay disciplined. And I guess I’ve had a few things going on, like my friend’s daughter’s death, which is understandably still very much on my mind.

So I will cut myself some slack for this week. But this week only. Let’s get real, life happens. It’s not an excuse to stuff my face and gain back weight I’ve busted my butt to lose in the first place. Time to suck it up, pick up the pieces, and move forward.

My goals for 2019:

Reach goal weight.
Maintain goal weight!
Run a half marathon (and get that medal!)
Run at least 450 miles total (check out the miles tracker I added to the top right of my blog).
Buy cute new clothes!

I have laid the foundation for all of these goals during this year. I’ve lost the majority of the weight I want to lose. I built a good running base. I’ve learned all I ever wanted to know about treating plantar fasciitis! (I could have done without that one, though, to be honest).

I am excited about the new year. I think I will accomplish quite a bit.

Searching for motivating images today, I came across this:

Sparkle

Of course it reminded me of my friend’s daughter. And of course, at first it stung. But I decided to save it here, because it’s right: the upcoming year is my year to sparkle. It’s my year to finish what I started this year. It’s my year to impress myself, to push my own boundaries, to reach goals and to raise the bar and to soar.

When I put it like that, how can I not be excited? Bring on the new year. I’m ready!

Happy New Year!

Who doesn’t love penguins?

Goodness, three blog posts from me in three days! What on earth is happening? I guess I just feel the need to check in now that I’m trying so hard to get back on track.

Yesterday I made a list of small rewards for every 10 pounds that I lose. I started with the smallest rewards, like a workout DVD, and will give myself bigger rewards, like a manicure at a salon, as I lose more weight. Nothing elaborate or silly expensive, just things I don’t typically buy for myself that I like the idea of earning and looking forward to along the way.

I have a long weekend coming up due to the holiday, and I plan to get some yard work done but also find time to get organized and get my mind into the game so I can hit the ground running on January 1st.

I know it’s trite to make New Year’s resolutions, but I am making one anyway. My biggest goal for 2017 is to reach my goal weight before the end of summer. In order to do that, I need to get into my routine again and stay consistent. No more backpedaling, no more giving up.

Last night I did a Leslie Sansone walking DVD and walked for 3 miles. My fiance can’t stand her. When he imitates her, he uses a nasal, high-pitched monotone and squawks, “Walk, walk, walk!” Ha ha. Okay, she does say that a lot, but nothing beats her workouts when you want something gentle, low-impact, and simple to ease back into a workout routine.

Not sure how much I will be online over the weekend, so I will wish all of you a happy new year right now! If you are like me and didn’t reach your goals in 2016, then now is the time to drop those regrets and baggage in the trash and stroll into 2017 with your head held high, because no matter what the past held for us, we are going to accomplish a lot in this new year. It’s a genuine new start. Let’s make the most of it!