Way back in January I posted about my goals to get healthy. (I originally planned to have a different goal every month of 2013. But since trying to get healthier is a never-ending battle for me, I'm continuing with that until I feel I've reached a point where I can say I've achieved my goal.)
The winter has been tough, full of illnesses and house buying stress. But I've noticed that I'm snacking a lot less and incorporating more fruits and vegetables into my diet. I don't buy many processed snacks at all anymore which means they aren't in the cabinet tempting me. I also cut nighttime snacking cold turkey. It's the only way that works for me because once I have one small snack, I can't stop and attack everything in sight.
I've been planking every day and alternating between either yoga or strength training each day. I make sure I get at least a 10 minute workout in because there is no way I can claim to be so busy that I can't take 10 minutes for myself. It might not seem like much of a workout, but it really seems to be making a difference. And since I only need to do 10 minutes I don't blow it off or stop doing it altogether. It's all about finding what works, and what works for me is small daily workouts!
I haven't reached my goal weight, and i'm 1.5 pounds away from the lowest I've been since having children. But my clothes fit better, I have more energy and my body seems much leaner and more muscular than it was before. (I'm no body builder but some of the leftover baby flab has started to disappear.) I also managed to wear a pair of my pre-Stephanie pants for the first time ever on Monday. (They are really too tight though, and by the end of the night my stomach hurt from the button digging into me. But I was still proud of being able to get them on!)
It's good to finally feel like i'm making progress toward becoming a healthier version of myself. I know I still have a long way to go, but just the fact that I started this journey in January and am still plugging away at it in March is good for me! (I have a tendency to start a project, go into it full force and then forget about it a few weeks later.)
Are you working on becoming healthier? Are there other goals or resolutions that you've been working on? Feel free to share what works and doesn't work for you!
Showing posts with label New Years Resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Years Resolutions. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
January Resolution Check-In Week 3
I have to apologize for the lack of posts this week. My laptop is broken, and my husband brings his to work all day, so I haven't had access to a computer. I also realized that I never posted last week on how my January resolution is going, so I definitely have some catching up to do.
I made a resolution this year to set a new goal for myself every month. This month my goal is to work on getting healthy and lose weight. (I know it will take more than a month to lose the 20 pounds I'm hoping to lose, but I used this month to jump-start things.)
I'm excited to announce that I've dropped the 5 pounds that I put on over the holidays. I've also finally gotten my eating under control. It took a few weeks but I've slowly started changing my habits. I'm logging my food into the myfitnesspal app every single day, and most days I'm within my calorie range. I only have 2 or 3 small snacks each day, instead of eating from the minute the kids go to sleep until I go to bed. (This is huge for me, because snacking has always been my downfall.)
For the past 3 days I've been drinking water like crazy, which was one area I hadn't been doing so well with. I log in at least 8 glasses a day, sometimes as much as 10.
The thing I still need to focus on is exercise. I started out the month doing really well in this area, but I've slowly slid out of the habit. (I also haven't been feeling 100%, and can tell my body is fighting some kind of cold germ, so I'm letting myself rest without too much guilt.) As soon as I feel better I'm going to add at least some form of exercise into every day, whether it be cardio, strength training or yoga.
There's one week left in January, and even though I still have a lot of work to do this year, i'm excited by how my first month is going.
Did you set resolutions? Have you kept them? I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to comment or strike up a conversation with me on Facebook. :)
I made a resolution this year to set a new goal for myself every month. This month my goal is to work on getting healthy and lose weight. (I know it will take more than a month to lose the 20 pounds I'm hoping to lose, but I used this month to jump-start things.)
I'm excited to announce that I've dropped the 5 pounds that I put on over the holidays. I've also finally gotten my eating under control. It took a few weeks but I've slowly started changing my habits. I'm logging my food into the myfitnesspal app every single day, and most days I'm within my calorie range. I only have 2 or 3 small snacks each day, instead of eating from the minute the kids go to sleep until I go to bed. (This is huge for me, because snacking has always been my downfall.)
For the past 3 days I've been drinking water like crazy, which was one area I hadn't been doing so well with. I log in at least 8 glasses a day, sometimes as much as 10.
The thing I still need to focus on is exercise. I started out the month doing really well in this area, but I've slowly slid out of the habit. (I also haven't been feeling 100%, and can tell my body is fighting some kind of cold germ, so I'm letting myself rest without too much guilt.) As soon as I feel better I'm going to add at least some form of exercise into every day, whether it be cardio, strength training or yoga.
There's one week left in January, and even though I still have a lot of work to do this year, i'm excited by how my first month is going.
Did you set resolutions? Have you kept them? I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to comment or strike up a conversation with me on Facebook. :)
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Week 1: January Check-In
It's been one week since I wrote my January resolution post, and i'm happy to report that I've been meeting many of my goals to get healthy this month.
I've been using MyFitnessPal to track all my food, and while I've been over my allotted calories more days than not, I'm happy that I'm at least tracking.
I've been doing cardio work-outs most days. (I work on a 3 days of working out followed by 1 day off schedule.) I started out running at night after the kids went to bed and I had done all my computer work. It ended up being 9pm by the time I actually got around to it, and I would feel nauseous from being so tired. Now I'm trying to squeeze it in during nap time instead which is working out much better. (Eventually I'd like to get up early enough to do it before kids wake up.)
I've also been doing well waking up when the alarm goes off at 6am so I can have a cup of coffee and start the day with a little me-time. (I do hit the snooze a few times though...I'd like to stop that part!)
Things I haven't done quite so well:
-Drink water. I just forget. I need to track the glasses I drink to keep myself accountable.
-Snack less. I have good days and bad days with this one.
-Go to bed by 11. It's still closer to 11:30 most nights. I'm determined to change that.
I'm going to keep plugging away at all these goals to make myself healthier in January. Did you make any goals/resolutions? Have you been keeping them?
I've been using MyFitnessPal to track all my food, and while I've been over my allotted calories more days than not, I'm happy that I'm at least tracking.
I've been doing cardio work-outs most days. (I work on a 3 days of working out followed by 1 day off schedule.) I started out running at night after the kids went to bed and I had done all my computer work. It ended up being 9pm by the time I actually got around to it, and I would feel nauseous from being so tired. Now I'm trying to squeeze it in during nap time instead which is working out much better. (Eventually I'd like to get up early enough to do it before kids wake up.)
I've also been doing well waking up when the alarm goes off at 6am so I can have a cup of coffee and start the day with a little me-time. (I do hit the snooze a few times though...I'd like to stop that part!)
Things I haven't done quite so well:
-Drink water. I just forget. I need to track the glasses I drink to keep myself accountable.
-Snack less. I have good days and bad days with this one.
-Go to bed by 11. It's still closer to 11:30 most nights. I'm determined to change that.
I'm going to keep plugging away at all these goals to make myself healthier in January. Did you make any goals/resolutions? Have you been keeping them?
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! I can't believe it's 2013. Time flies!
We just got home from a trip to NY to visit my in-laws, and i'm ready to start a fresh new year. I have big plans for myself, my family, our home, our budget, and this blog. I thought long and hard about resolutions that would relate to the plans I hope to achieve, and I decided that the best way to tackle them is one month at a time.
(I absolutely love the Happiness Project by Gretchen Wilson, so I've based my plan very loosely on her book.)
Each month I will have one over-arching goal that I set for myself. I'll have several smaller goals or tasks that will help me reach that goal each month. I will check in here once a week to keep myself on track and help myself reach my goals.
January's goal is to get healthy. I know losing weight is a common New Years resolution, and it's kind of cliche, but it's also very important and very necessary. I had amazing weight loss success in 2012 and felt very healthy and proud of myself, only to gain most of it back during the last 3 months of the year. I need to get back on track!
To help myself get healthier I need to:
~Drink more water (at least 8 glasses a day)
~Log all my food intake into My Fitness Pal
~ Exercise most days of the week
~Go to bed by 11 each night
~Get up at 6am so I can have a cup of coffee before my family wakes up. (My days are less stressful and more calm when this happens.)
~Eat one healthy snack in the middle of the day and one at night. (Not a whole meal's worth at each snack time, like I've been doing lately.)
I'll be posting the success of my first week next Tuesday! (As for today, I've logged all my food and done 30 minutes of cardio. Not bad for the first day.)
I hope you all had a healthy, happy and fun New Years Eve (we stayed at my Mother-in-Laws and watched the ball drop in our jammies, which is my preferred way to celebrate!) and please feel free to share your plans for the new year with me.
We just got home from a trip to NY to visit my in-laws, and i'm ready to start a fresh new year. I have big plans for myself, my family, our home, our budget, and this blog. I thought long and hard about resolutions that would relate to the plans I hope to achieve, and I decided that the best way to tackle them is one month at a time.
(I absolutely love the Happiness Project by Gretchen Wilson, so I've based my plan very loosely on her book.)
Each month I will have one over-arching goal that I set for myself. I'll have several smaller goals or tasks that will help me reach that goal each month. I will check in here once a week to keep myself on track and help myself reach my goals.
January's goal is to get healthy. I know losing weight is a common New Years resolution, and it's kind of cliche, but it's also very important and very necessary. I had amazing weight loss success in 2012 and felt very healthy and proud of myself, only to gain most of it back during the last 3 months of the year. I need to get back on track!
To help myself get healthier I need to:
~Drink more water (at least 8 glasses a day)
~Log all my food intake into My Fitness Pal
~ Exercise most days of the week
~Go to bed by 11 each night
~Get up at 6am so I can have a cup of coffee before my family wakes up. (My days are less stressful and more calm when this happens.)
~Eat one healthy snack in the middle of the day and one at night. (Not a whole meal's worth at each snack time, like I've been doing lately.)
I'll be posting the success of my first week next Tuesday! (As for today, I've logged all my food and done 30 minutes of cardio. Not bad for the first day.)
I hope you all had a healthy, happy and fun New Years Eve (we stayed at my Mother-in-Laws and watched the ball drop in our jammies, which is my preferred way to celebrate!) and please feel free to share your plans for the new year with me.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday Fives: New Years Resolutions
I have several things I've been working on in my life that I decided to turn into New Years Resolutions. I know that many people make resolutions only to forget about them a week into the New Year. But these are things that I think are really important for my family, my health, my well-being. Therefore, i'm going to work really hard, and hopefully be successful in achieving them.
1. Lose Weight
Obviously this is a quite common NYR. But since I just had a baby, I think it's really important to my general health to lose the extra 21lbs i'm carrying around. I have 10lbs of Joseph weight (well, 6 is holiday weight. I was down to only needing to lose 4, it's now up to 10). The rest is my Stephanie Pregnancy weight. To keep myself accountable, i'm going to post my failures and successes on my blog. Once a week or so you can expect updates on how i'm doing in this department. I haven't decided whether or not to sign up for Weight Watchers or just try losing it on my own. Right now, i'm working on small changes (drinking more water, eating more fruits & veggies, and consuming less refined sugar.) I also have a goal of exercising every other day using our Wii Fit, and on alternate days doing an ab workout that I found in a magazine. If after a few weeks this doesn't seem to be working, i'll consider WW.
2. Be more organized
This is a pretty generalized resolution. To be more specific, I want to be more organized with the things we do on a daily basis. I want to set out our clothes at night for the next day so that I can grab them quick and get us dressed in the morning. I want to have weekly dinner menus set up so that I don't have the "what are we having for dinner tonight?" conversation with myself on a nightly basis. If I create the menu on the weekends, I can go grocery shopping once a week and get all we need, with one mid-week mini-trip to stock up on milk and fresh fruit as needed. I also want to have Joseph's bottles washed and prepared every night before bed. And I really, really want to work on having Stephanie put her toys away as she finishes playing with them so that we don't have 15 things to clean up at nap-time and the end of the day. I work better when things are organized and orderly, so hopefully doing these things will help keep me relaxed and calm, especially during the early morning and early evening "rushes."
3. Be "in the moment" with my kids
I already blogged about this, but it's still something i'm working on and striving to get better at on a daily basis. You can read about it here.
4. Take some "me" time every day.
I think all moms feel guilty about doing things just for themselves. I know I do. I want to be super-mom, and get everything accomplished, and always do fun things with my kids, always have nutritious meals on the table, be super organized, keep a spotless house, and be happy all the time. But in reality, none of that get's accomplished if I don't have some time for myself. I'm a better mommy and wife when i'm calm and relaxed. So every day I want to make sure to fit 15 minutes into my day to do something for myself. I love to read, but haven't read a single book since Joseph was born. To remedy that, i'll use my daily 15 to sit and read, preferably in the morning with a cup of coffee or at nap-time with a cup of tea. I find that when I do this, I get rejuvenated and have more happy energy to devote to my family. Including it on a daily basis should help us all be happier and more productive.
5. Have more patience.
There are no "tips and tricks" for this one. I just need to work on it, catch myself when i'm starting to snap at Dan or Stephanie, and take deep breathes before I speak to them if something is upsetting me. I have a history of being impatient with people, so this is something i've worked on all my life. But, I want to jump-start my efforts, because it isn't fair to my family to have a frazzled, irritated wife and mommy all the time. I think that the previous 4 resolutions will all help me to be happier and calmer, and hopefully that will create a more patient me.
I know that none of these things can happen overnight, but using them as benchmarks all year long will be my goal. If they are in the back of my mind, i'll know they are there and things that I should be working on. I'm looking forward to a happy, healthy New Year with my beautiful family of four. Feel free to share your resolutions with me in the comments section! I hope all of my readers have a wonderful New Years, and please be safe!
1. Lose Weight
Obviously this is a quite common NYR. But since I just had a baby, I think it's really important to my general health to lose the extra 21lbs i'm carrying around. I have 10lbs of Joseph weight (well, 6 is holiday weight. I was down to only needing to lose 4, it's now up to 10). The rest is my Stephanie Pregnancy weight. To keep myself accountable, i'm going to post my failures and successes on my blog. Once a week or so you can expect updates on how i'm doing in this department. I haven't decided whether or not to sign up for Weight Watchers or just try losing it on my own. Right now, i'm working on small changes (drinking more water, eating more fruits & veggies, and consuming less refined sugar.) I also have a goal of exercising every other day using our Wii Fit, and on alternate days doing an ab workout that I found in a magazine. If after a few weeks this doesn't seem to be working, i'll consider WW.
2. Be more organized
This is a pretty generalized resolution. To be more specific, I want to be more organized with the things we do on a daily basis. I want to set out our clothes at night for the next day so that I can grab them quick and get us dressed in the morning. I want to have weekly dinner menus set up so that I don't have the "what are we having for dinner tonight?" conversation with myself on a nightly basis. If I create the menu on the weekends, I can go grocery shopping once a week and get all we need, with one mid-week mini-trip to stock up on milk and fresh fruit as needed. I also want to have Joseph's bottles washed and prepared every night before bed. And I really, really want to work on having Stephanie put her toys away as she finishes playing with them so that we don't have 15 things to clean up at nap-time and the end of the day. I work better when things are organized and orderly, so hopefully doing these things will help keep me relaxed and calm, especially during the early morning and early evening "rushes."
3. Be "in the moment" with my kids
I already blogged about this, but it's still something i'm working on and striving to get better at on a daily basis. You can read about it here.
4. Take some "me" time every day.
I think all moms feel guilty about doing things just for themselves. I know I do. I want to be super-mom, and get everything accomplished, and always do fun things with my kids, always have nutritious meals on the table, be super organized, keep a spotless house, and be happy all the time. But in reality, none of that get's accomplished if I don't have some time for myself. I'm a better mommy and wife when i'm calm and relaxed. So every day I want to make sure to fit 15 minutes into my day to do something for myself. I love to read, but haven't read a single book since Joseph was born. To remedy that, i'll use my daily 15 to sit and read, preferably in the morning with a cup of coffee or at nap-time with a cup of tea. I find that when I do this, I get rejuvenated and have more happy energy to devote to my family. Including it on a daily basis should help us all be happier and more productive.
5. Have more patience.
There are no "tips and tricks" for this one. I just need to work on it, catch myself when i'm starting to snap at Dan or Stephanie, and take deep breathes before I speak to them if something is upsetting me. I have a history of being impatient with people, so this is something i've worked on all my life. But, I want to jump-start my efforts, because it isn't fair to my family to have a frazzled, irritated wife and mommy all the time. I think that the previous 4 resolutions will all help me to be happier and calmer, and hopefully that will create a more patient me.
I know that none of these things can happen overnight, but using them as benchmarks all year long will be my goal. If they are in the back of my mind, i'll know they are there and things that I should be working on. I'm looking forward to a happy, healthy New Year with my beautiful family of four. Feel free to share your resolutions with me in the comments section! I hope all of my readers have a wonderful New Years, and please be safe!
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