BeddingBlog

Although I’ve never been big on New Year’s Resolutions, this year I have made an exception and set aside a true resolution to get healthy both physically and mentally.  I started this goal before the New Year started simply because there was no reason to wait a couple more weeks to get healthy AND in doing so, I got a head start on losing weight and it’s always easy when you’ve got momentum.  My goal is to get in shape, but more specifically to get toned and to lose weight.  However after saying this so many times before without getting much for results; I knew it was time to make a change.  These are the 5 key steps to reaching my goals.

1. Eat a high fiber and protein diet – cut out super fatty and high carb foods. Shoot for two good sized meals a day plus a snack or two if needed.  I talked to a doctor and he recommended fruits like blueberries and blackberries (really high in fiber) and eating fresh vegetables regularly.  I switched out beef and chicken with salmon and tuna and cut back on the amount of meats I was eating.
2. Don’t throw the diet by the wayside when going out to eat. This was a big problem before, I thought if I was going out to eat, I’d push the diet aside and resume after I had indulged.  There were 2 problems with this. First, I’d gain a pound or two and then feel like I had ruined the whole diet, why start now, it’s already a lost cause.  Two, I could still eat out AND not gain weight – simply order the salmon or fish on the menu, absolutely NO wine, and avoid the bread, vinegar, and oils.
3. Stop expecting it to happen overnight. I can be a very impatient person at times and go really, really hard at exercising and eating right for a week or two, drop a few pounds and then when it gets harder I get impatient and start to get burned out and give up.  I start to accept that I’m just the way I am and can’t change – WRONG! I’ve started to realize that it’s not an overnight thing, or even a month long thing, it’s a lifestyle change.  It might take me a year to get to where I want to be, or maybe I’ll be 30 before I get to my goal, but if I work at it every day, I WILL get there and I’ll be happier and healthier along the way.
4. Create system to keep track of daily exercises and exercising more. I work from home and spend most of the day and evening at my computer, so I created pull tabs on pieces of paper that mark how many exercises I have done.  For example, I have a running sheet, and each one mark 100 calories burned on the elliptical.  Every time I run 100 cal I can tear off a tab, I’ve set it up so that all the tabs must be torn off by a certain day, some days I can slack and other days I’ll have to work harder to catch up, but it always works best to stay right on track.  I’ve stuck to 3 key tear sheets, one for running, and one to each of the two leg exercises I have.
5. Get more sleep and make my days less stressful – take more time to relax. Often I’ll find myself getting caught in the hustle and bustle and realize that I’m always bending over backwards to accommodate other people’s schedules.  It’s easy to do, but I also find that half my day is spent overly stressed about tiny (and likely unimportant) details.  I have set aside times when I don’t work – meals times, exercise times and of course…sleep time.  I allow myself 7 hours for sleep plus a half hour for TV and internet browsing before going to sleep.  This was one of the harder changes to make so, to make it easier, I redecorated my bedroom with a new bedding set, some new artwork and lighting (which made a huge difference).  I decided to take a little time for myself and full advantage of the after Christmas bargains and make my bedroom into a place where I actually wanted to be.

So those are my 5 steps to reaching my New Year’s resolutions and the combination has worked out really well.  So far so good, down 5 lbs and on my way to a healthier and MUCH happier lifestyle and only 10 more lbs to go (plus lots of toning).  Thanks Twitter Moms for this opportunity to share with others and hopefully inspire others to get healthy as well.   It would be great to have a copy of Your Shape (http://www.yourshapegame.com) to make the rest of my resolution more enjoyable!

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