My first “health” post. Because it mostly fits.
Like I said earlier, I am not a New Year’s resolution kind of girl. But I am making quite a few this year because the new year happens to end a period to travel and illness that derailed the healthy habits I had gotten into earlier this year. So, a few resolutions:
1. Start counting calories again.
Until I hit my goal weight at least. I was good about this for 2 months in the fall and then fell off the wagon. After losing about 10 pounds, I gained 2.5 back over the holidays. So here I go again. I found counting calories to be the key to finally shedding those extra pregnancy pounds. And it encouraged me to exercise because then I could eat more. If you’re on MyFitnessPal, you can find me as “themichelleerin.”
2. Drink more water.
I was really good about this for a long time. And lately I haven’t been. Which is probably contributing to my frequent colds and lethargy. So I am getting back on this horse, too. Tip: If you want to drink more water, get a good water bottle that you can carry around. It helps. (I happen to love the Lifefactory ones because they are glass so no leaching or metallic taste).
3. No more Diet Coke
This goes along with No. 2. Again, I was doing a pretty good job for awhile and then I started with the daily Diet Coke habit again. This stuff is not good for me and may even be really, really bad for me down the road. So I’m done (except for maybe an occasional one at Cleveland Street Cafe because their Diet Coke is extra delicious).
4. Run a 10k
I am probably going to have another baby in the semi-near future, so before I do that and get thrown off of my running plan for two years again, I want to run a 10k (6.2 miles). I’ve only ever run 5ks so this is a decent challenge. To start, I am signing up for the 8k (about 5 miles) at the Gasparilla Distance Classic. It is 8 weeks away so it is just enough time to train. Then hopefully I can run a 10k in April while the weather is still nice. I just need to figure out when I can squeeze in some running during the busy workweek.
5. Go to yoga weekly
I’ve not been very good about using our YMCA membership. I had a few minor injuries in 2013 (a month of rest for an unknown foot injury that never actually got better and 2 months of rest for a rotator cuff/clavicle injury that did actually get mostly better) so hopefully now that I am feeling at least 90% healthy, I can get back to yoga. I find yoga to be very challenging. I need to work on my upper body strength, my core, and my flexibility so yoga is a perfect balance to running for me. There are classes every single day at the Y so no excuses. I just have to go to one each week.
6. Get debt free
This isn’t health-related and I know we’re not supposed to talk about money, but it’s a goal Ben and I are really working hard on. By 2015, we want to be free of any debt that isn’t a student loan, a car payment, or a mortgage. We have a lot of travel this year, so it will be a challenge (plane tickets always seem to be the reason we start using credit cards again). At the same time, we are going to do the savings challenge where you save $1 the first week of the year, $2 the second week, etc. By the end of the year, if we both do it, not only should we be debt free, but we should have an extra savings cushion of $2,756.00. Then we can just hand it all over to that theoretical new baby I mentioned above.
7. Recommit to #fmsphotoaday
This is also not health related, but just like with everything else, I haven’t had the follow-through on posting a photo every day to the #fmsphotoaday challenge. I started this when E was born and stuck with it for some time. Now, I start a month strong and completely abandon it halfway through. I am going to try to do this every day this year. It helps me see the world a little differently when I’m looking for a specific shot all day. And it keeps my instagram feed from just being all Evan, all the time.
So a lot of these are cliche. But cliches exist for a reason. They are all good goals and I know that if I stick with them, I will be healthier and happier.
What are your resolutions?
my books. my life. 
Wonderful resolutions, Michelle! Wish you all the very best! I want to start cycling from this year. I used to love it before I stopped. And I want to read more books 🙂
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You hit 70 last year. What is your goal for this year?
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For the sake of fun, I told myself that I will try to read 100 books this year, Michelle 🙂 I have never done it before but I thought it will be nice to have a round number like that for a reading goal. I will probably review it halfway through the year and see how it has gone and maybe revise it. What is your reading goal for this year?
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I like that savings challenge a lot. C spends more during the week than I do, because of his job hours and whatnot, so he does a $20 a week spending plan (cash only) and it’s working really well for him. I think we spend the most on groceries…but how do I spend less if I don’t want to eat crap??? Money…
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I figure groceries are just a cost I have to live with. I try not to look at the fact that I spend $7 on organic butter when the regular stuff is $3. I do save money by not buying meat. You could go meatless a few days a week to try to save.
I think having a set amount of money for the week is a good plan. I’ve heard the cash in an envelope strategy works. My problem is that all of the lawyers go out to lunch every day. That’s like $200 I just have to spend if I want to be included at work. Thankfully, they pick up the tab a lot.
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These are awesome goals, so what if they are cliche. All that means is that we ALL struggle with these issues. I concur that tracking calories is the best way to lose weight. It holds you accountable for that handful of chips, or M&M’s, or eating a dessert or dipping into that bread basket at dinner. It works. I’m incorporating the counting with my Fitbit and it is awesome. I’m horrible with Diet Coke, but with all the other slight tweaks in my routine these days, I’m not sure I’m ready to give them up!
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I think you listed some doable ones here. I wish you luck! I would love to see you make your goal of running that 10K. I would be happy if I could run a block. I know, so pitiful.
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Good luck with your goals! I hope you do stick with photo-a-day. I am great with taking pictures with my phone, but I buy all this stuff for my camera and forget to use it half the time. I really like my new lens and need to actually use it! I look forward to your pictures. (And really, there is nothing wrong with lots of Evan pictures. He’s cute!)
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I’m not a big resolution type person but you’ve got some great goals here. I’ve committed to walking a half marathon in April. I’ll mix up running and walking for a 5k but for a half I’ll definitely be walking it. Longest race I’ve walked so far is a 10k.
I’m glad to see #fmsphotoaday on your list – I’m closing in on two full years (in March). Love that it’s turned into a sort of photo journal for me.
The only thing resolutionish I’m trying to establish right now is restarting my Feed Reader from scratch and get better about visiting and commenting on the blogs I care about the most.
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Love the yoga goal! You could check out yogaglo.com too if actually getting to a class is holding you back. I bet after a few weeks you’ll see tremendous improvement on those mico yoga goals you mentioned, which is great encouragement to keep going. Also a great counterpart to running and water drinking. Good luck and happy new year 🙂
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These are great resolutions and they’re things we all want to be better at! I think as long as you don’t necessarily let resolutions stress you out, it can be a great way to at least sit down and think about what you want, so you have a direction. Not “I will do this or I will be severely disappointed in myself,” but just a list of things to keep you focused.
I want to come up with some kind of fitness goal this year. I used to go to the gym almost every day during lunch, but I started a new job in September and I have an assistant, and it’s been hard. I still take a break, but I don’t always feel like I can take the full hour for the gym. I still go to pilates on Monday, but other than that I’ve been slacking. I’m not quite sure yet what my resolution will be!
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I think these are fabulous goals, and they all come from a place of positivity. I, for one, am glad to see someone talk about debt. Plane tickets and travel always throw off our budget too–it’s the curse of living 1200 miles from most of our family. Good luck!
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Yes, I would be so much richer if the country was a lot smaller.
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MyFitnessPal has been a great option for me (I’m emperatrix if you’d like to friend), especially when I go offtrack with work parties and events. Just on a random side note, there’s an app called YogaStudio that I use to practice yoga at home and it’s great for improving your skills at your own page. They also have a neat reward program that gives you coupons and offers for completing classes, always a fun perk 🙂
Good luck with the savings challenge! I’m doing it myself.
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I really like these resolutions and I wish you the best of luck with these in 2014!
I find that I have a lot of similarities with you in my own experiences in trying to get healthier. I had a fantastic summer where I started running and working out A LOT. I got in to yoga, cycling, and rock climbing. I’m a teacher though so when the school year started I neglected a lot of these activities which slowed down my weight loss a lot.
I have to say that counting calories was a game changer for me. But even that petered out a bit once school started and the the holidays came around. But I am working hard to try to get back on track with all of that. I know what can work for me since I did lose 10 lbs over the summer!
Perhaps as we work toward our goals, we can give each other shout outs of encouragement. I’m going to try to add you on myfitnesspal.
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Just accepted your MFP request. Good luck in 2014!
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