Remember me?

Hi friends!

As I left work today, I debated about who was the best person to call to tell about the small successes I've had with my New Years Resolution. When I couldn't commit, I decided that my blog was the answer.

I left this blog two years ago for a few reasons but largely because I felt I wasn't actually successful at meeting any of my goals. Now that I've won a few small challenges, I feel confident enough to get back in the game. In this post, I want to talk about two things: my New Years Resolution (NYR), and an update on my life since last I posted.

For many years, I have had one NYR: lose weight. I might as well have tried convincing myself to carry a ton of bricks on my back. A goal so lofty and so scary had no right to creep into my head. For one, it's too negative, it's like saying, "lose weight or else!" I just couldn't handle it, and on top of that, I've never really cared enough to work towards it. Sure, all of my readers know that I care about my weight. but losing weight meant scary trips to the gym and eating food I don't enjoy.

This year I felt inspired from the success of my last year's NYR to change it up. Last year I resolved to stop comparing myself to others. Such a simple idea, and as it wasn't focused on methods that freaked me out, I was actually able to make huge progress. This year I wanted to do something that sounded equally small, but would have a huge impact on my life. Develop healthy eating habits. So simple, so easy. Most advice columns want specific goals and measurable outcomes, but I wanted something simple to start with, something that I could build up with small steps that will add up to a long lasting, lifestyle change.

In an effort to make this post shorter, I'll skip right to the good stuff and then explain my goal in more detail in posts to come. Right now there are three things making me smile.

1. I have at least doubled my water intake in the last week.
It's already becoming a habit. I'm drinking several glasses of water at work each day, and coming home to drink more. The short term result of this is that instead of being constantly hungry, I'm now constantly full. I love feeling full of water. In the long term I know that not only will this be better for my health overall, but it could lead to weight loss. On top of that, drinking more water leads to more energy, better skin, and can reduce headaches.

2. I haven't craved sweets.
This started a bit more complicated. I think because I was back in Ohio for Christmas and away from easy access to night time temptation (my snacking hour), I haven't been craving sugar for what feels like weeks. I had a few set-backs involving some M&Ms at work, but I don't remember my last ice cream or chocolate craving. When I stopped buying ice cream a few months ago I started eating bowls of cereal or having a PB&J before bed every single night. I couldn't stop myself. I'd start thinking about it literally after dinner, and obsess over it even after I finished my snack. I felt like I always wanted more.

Now I'm satisfied. I bought low sugar/low carb popsicles just in case I was desperate. I've had a few, but without any kind of relentless obsession.

3. I accomplished my goal for today.
To make my NYR more interesting and sustainable, I've decided to try different types of goals. I set a goal for today to not drink diet coke. I have had at least one glass of diet coke almost every day for the last year or two. Not only is the aspartame destroying my teeth, but the sweetness in the soda is probably causing my cravings, rather than calming them. I also managed to avoid a big, delicious, Rice Crispy Treat of a temptation. This more than makes up for the KFC Isaac and I caved to last night.

This brings up my last NYR point before I get to my life updates. This NYR is not all or nothing. I will have slip ups. I will have set backs. I can't allow myself to grieve those moments. Sure, "forgetting" to ask for grilled instead of crispy chicken last night only adds to my failure to reach my NYR. But I'm trying. I wanted it last night, and hopefully I'll reach a point where I can avoid that temptation, just because it didn't happen last night doesn't mean that I've failed.

Life updates!

Most of you already know what's been happening for me. For those of you who don't, in the last two years I have graduated from college with a BA in Political Science. I got married to a wonderful man who's been really sweet and supportive of this endeavor (though he was the one who uttered the word KFC). We lived in Pittsburgh for a few months at the end of 2010, as I worked on a youth get out the vote campaign for the Sierra Club. We then lived for 2 months in Columbus, mostly unemployed, but I did a brief stint with a really cool adult day care. I had hardly settled into my position as receptionist there when I got a job offer to work with Social Impact, an International Development Consulting Firm as a Program Assistant. Isaac and I have been living here in Arlington, VA since April.

I think that's everything for now. Send me a comment/message to suggest any goals you think I should try out!

Progress Check In

Sorry I've been MIA lately...first there was the conference in DC from Friday-Monday night, and then I left my chargers in DC, so I've been unable to really write anything new. Without these chargers, I don't have a new picture. I know that most of you are my facebook friend, and have maybe seen this, but I thought it would work for today because it was taken over the weekend, and my first thought when I saw it was that I looked really good in it! I have like the worst self esteem ever, so I was happy to have a reason to say that I like myeslf. But, I did want to do a quick update:

First, I was having a hard time keeping up with my eating goals at first, but thankfully I have been doing better. To remind y'all, my goals were to: stop eating a lunchtime dessert, drink more water, and eat more vegetables. I've finally stopped eating the desserts, and I know I have because I've avoided some serious temptations. For water, that has been a slower process, but luckily in the last few days thanks to my other update, I have been drinking more water. Veggies are a bit trickier because I keep justifying things like pizza sauce and the one string of red pepper I found in my beef/cheese enchilada. But for sure, this week my goals have been better than last week.

Also, I FINALLY started going to the gym-thanks to my friend Anne Marie, who provides a great reason to do it-she's going with me. Thanks to her, I went both last night and tonight, working out about as hard as I ever have. Both times I ran on the eliptical for a half hour, which is twice what I normally do. If you take what the machine says seriously, I ran for about 2 miles, and lost 240? calories, but I'm not sure the exact numbers there. Basically, I feel great. We're also working our way into building confidences with using weights and such around others in the gym.

As I said before, I am going to agree to do any suggestions that come my way for this, provided that I don't have to spend money on them. Recently, my friend Kate Mooney-SMC alumn/AIDS activist/great person suggested that I go see the school's nutritionist. That is in fact free, so I still have to make the appointment, but I'm going to try to go next week.

Goals coming up:

My new goal, that I avoided starting today is to eat a salad or a wrap every day for lunch. We'll see how that goes, I might have to include something else because I find that salads are not usually filling enough to get me through the day.

I'm also setting the goal of forcing myself going to the gym 7 times before I make a decision about whether or not I'm really ready to do this. The hope is that by this point I will have overcome my fears, and will have made it into a habit that I wont want to stop doing.

Again, I'm a bit new with excersize/diet stuff, so suggestions for tips and things to try would be GREAT! Thanks again for the support, I appreciate it so much.