Resolutions Revisited.

I made three main New Year's resolutions three months ago.

So how are they going?

My first resolution was to reach my goal weight with Weight Watchers and become a lifetime member. My plan was (er, is) to achieve this by tracking, attending my meetings, and exercising regularly.

For the past few weeks, I've missed my weekly meeting because of a course I'm taking on Saturdays. The course ended today, but I'm taking another one that starts immediately. I know I can find another meeting to go to, but I've been really busy and haven't gotten around to it... so I may be meeting-less for a few more weeks.

I also haven't been tracking! Some days I will start off strong, eat a healthy breakfast, pack a healthy lunch, etc, but by the end of the day, the tracking has usually gone by the wayside.

As for exercising? After a three week absence from the gym, I finally got back to it about a week ago. But it's in danger of disappearing again, I fear... I'm wondering if I need to revisit Operation: Buff, one year later?

My other plan for reaching this goal is to focus on one or two healthy habits each month. So, yeah, that didn't happen for February or March. BUT, it's a new month, and I just so happen to have a new habit I want to work on.

• For the month of April, I will focus on getting to bed on time.
  

In order to do this, I'm going to try and be off the computer by 7 or 8 pm each night. Lately I've been sitting up late on my laptop, not really doing anything important. By the time I get into bed, I'm too keyed up to fall asleep.

A couple of nights ago, I got off the computer at 7, and since I wasn't on it, I ended up going for a long walk, writing in my journal, washing the dishes, and getting to bed at a really reasonable hour! It was amazing.

I really think that getting more sleep will have a huge impact on my eating habits. I always notice the correlation between my sleeping patterns and my eating patterns, but I never succeed in doing anything about it.

My second New Year's resolution was to knit a sweater. I actually have started doing this! Yay, I'm not a complete resolution failure. :)

My third New Year's resolution was to get organized. This encompasses organizing my finances and, it turns out, organizing my life. After a lot of soul-searching, I had to make a big decision.

I'm moving!

I've decided it would be best for me to move back home with my parents for at least a few months to pay off some debts. So, deciding and preparing for that is partly why I've been missing from this blog (and obviously not paying enough attention to my healthy living habits).

After I decided to move, I started to do a lot of thinking about what I want to do career-wise, and if I'm satisfied with my current prospects. I still don't know the answers to those questions, but there may be changes in the near future! Once stuff is decided, I will fill you in. ;)

How are your resolutions going?

In 2011.

In 2011, I will reach my Weight Watchers goal weight and become a lifetime member.

No more messing around. I know I can do this! This is my most important resolution for 2011.

How will I do it?

Well, tracking, going to my Weight Watchers meetings, and exercising regularly are definitely part of the plan. I'm also going to choose one or two healthy habits to focus on each month.

For the month of January, I will focus on the following:

• drinking enough water each day and tracking it
• finding time each day to meditate, even if only for 1 minute (inspired by one of Angela's "Eleven in 2011")

These are simple things, but I think they will make a huge difference.

To help curb night-time eating out of boredom (I hope!), I plan to spend more time on activities that de-stress me and make me happy. Which brings me to my second resolution:

In 2011, I will knit a sweater.

I love knitting, and I love starting projects (including sweaters)... the problem is finishing them! I don't want to think about how many times I've started a knitting project and not followed through. I think it will be totally rad to have a sweater that I've made all by myself! I'm pretty sure I'll tackle this one.

And my last resolution, which is hopefully not too vague:

In 2011, I will get organized.

I love my apartment, but right now it looks like a tornado swept through it. I plan to set up some new shelving and have a place for everything!

I also need to get my finances organized. I'd like to continue to pay down my insane student debt and help get a better handle on my pocketbook.

One thing I think will help is to go grocery shopping only once a week. It's not an exaggeration to say I love going to the grocery store! I'll often stop in several times a week to pick a few things up. I'm very good at only buying healthy groceries, but I find myself throwing out food that's gone bad much too often.

By planning my meals (at least partially), writing out a grocery list, and shopping once a week, I will keep my kitchen organized, save money, and help my healthy eating efforts.

So far, I think I'm off to a good start! Today, I went back to the gym after a hiatus of over two weeks, and I got a bunch of healthy groceries and cleaned out my fridge!

I'm really excited to see what I can accomplish this year. :)

Birthday Challenge!

My 25th birthday is in about 8 weeks (October 18). This seems like the perfect opportunity to combine my action plan for getting back on track with some goal-setting!

I'd love to lose 25 pounds by my 25th birthday (and it would be so darn catchy), but 25 pounds in 8 weeks is a bit unrealistic, I think.

So, I am going to aim to lose 15 pounds by my birthday! 15 pounds in 8 weeks is totally doable, right? ESPECIALLY considering they are 15 pounds I have already lost before.

So how am I going to do this? I think I will take it one week at a time. My action plan for the rest of this week (until Friday) is:

• be active every day
• have a salad for one meal every day
• track, track, track!

So far, so good! I've been faithfully tracking (including the, um, 5 beers, 2 shots, champagne, chips, and pizza consumed at a party on Saturday night), and I've been rocking the big salads.

Today, my friend Martina came over and we worked out at an outdoor track near my house. We were Booty Camp buddies, so we did some Booty Camp style drills that included running laps, skipping, lunges, squats, tricep dips, and more. We're also considering signing up for a 5k together!

This will be more than just big talk - I will follow through! I actually feel good enough about where I am now to declare this to all of you, rather than just fumble along hoping it happens.

Have a great week!