Well, I never liked setting New Year's resolutions and normally I scoff at those who do. To me, it just seems cheesy. I set goals all the time but to make a big deal of it just seems silly to me. However, this year DH and I really want to be intentional about losing weight. As much as I have been "trying" to stay healthy, I have extra poundage that I don't want to be there. And for him, it's more of a health thing. He is not at optimal weight and is at risk for developing diabetes, so the safer, the better. Also, my secret reason for losing weight is a bit of vanity. All the cool ones these days are super skinny. I don't want to be one of them... but all the cool fashion looks way better on those who are not slightly overweight. Is it terrible that I want to dress more hip but need to lose some weight to do so???
So, I figure what I need is a bit of accountability to keep me going. I am pretty self-motivated, but I am going to be trying some things that are not in my normal repertoire of self-health and I may need a bit of a kick in the pants. I'd love to find a free online community where I can do check-ins, but one that is not too time consuming. I looked into Weight Watchers, but I just don't want to pay the money to do something I'm sure I can do for free. If I could find an App for my iPhone too, that would probably be helpful.
This is what my plan is:
- I'm going to start going to the gym again, trying for at least 3x/week. I have been doing workouts at home that are great and I'll continue those on days I can't make it to the gym. I will focus on doing more interval training to kick my body into gear first. The weights really do help to firm me up but I also need to trim down, so that is how I will focus my cardio. I will start with weights, with some high intensity short spurts of cardio and then finish with cardio too.
- I will also take a brisk walk each day. This works well because I have the dog and end up walking her almost every day anyways.
- I will cut down my portions for meals. This is always hard for me because I love food, but I will really try to eat a smaller amount.
- I will limit my sugar intake. I think this is key for me! I am going to try a partial sugar cleanse in January and try not to eat any sweets, cookies, cakes, etc. for the whole month. I will let myself have some sugar in tea/coffee and maybe a bit of dark chocolate now and then. I am not going crazy with the sugar cleanse, in that I will completely avoid any packaged food that has sugar in it (granola bars, cereal) but I will try to be intentional about avoiding it where I can.
- I will limit my coffee/tea consumption. I have been trying to do have only 2 caffeinated drinks per day, but with the holidays that has not been the case. I am trying to switch more to green tea and only have one coffee a day (and maybe a cup of black tea too). I think that if I am getting enough rest, I should be able to manage. I mainly just drink when I am tired and lately I feel tired all the time. That is something I hope to improve too.
- I have wondered about cutting out gluten from my diet. I know a lot of people who are doing this and finding great health benefits. I have been tested for Celiac's but it came up negative. Later I heard that if you haven't been eating much wheat before the test it may not pick it up. I wonder about auto-immune things with the way my white blood cell count is so low but it hasn't been a big enough problem to be tested for anything. I may try to experiment with cutting down gluten and maybe even try a short stint of gluten-free to see if it makes a difference. That depends on how busy I am.
So, there you have it. My plan for health for 2012. If you have any tips/suggestions, feel free to pass them on!
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