New Years Eve

There's only a few days left of 2012! Are you satisfied with how this past year has been? Do you have big dreams, goals and resolutions for the next 12 months?

One of my goals is to run one challenge a month here on my blog! Yay!! 30 days is all it takes to instill new habits and replace the old bad ones. 

January's challenge will be nutrition based because you can't out run a bad diet!!! You could spend hours in the gym a day but if you go home and refuel with sugary drinks and chemical filled bags of goodies then you will be highly disappointed in your results! 

Yes, you will still see results. However, they wont last long. You'll hit a plateau after a few weeks and will be working your butt off in the gym for nothing. Trust me. This is one of those lessons that I learned the hard way! I knew that having a healthy diet was 80% of the battle but I figured if I was doing programs like P90X and Insanity plus running everyday I could eat what I want and it would matter. 

Wrong! Sure I saw results. I lost about 50 pounds before I hit the bad diet wall. But once I got there it was discouraging to workout everyday and not lose even a pound. I even started seeing weight gain as I continued to build muscle but kept the fat as well. After a month or so of this routine I stopped working out and gained back some of what I had lost. All that hard work, wasted because I didn't want to give up the junk food. I continued snacking on chips and dip, eating sugary over processed carbs daily and bread....I would have multiple slices of toast daily. A typical breakfast for me back then was usually sugary cereal and a piece of toast with jelly.  

 Why? Most grains come in highly processed forms. Most people can't digest grains very well. Our bodies just weren't designed for it. Eating grains is a modern phenomenon. For around 2.5 million years our ancestors ate meat, veggies, nuts and berries. About 10,000 years ago we started cultivating our food and that's when we started eating grains (including corn!).

 I wont go into all of the details in this blog, this one is just meant as an introduction into what January's challenge will be. Going 100% Paleo is also one of my personal goals for the month because when I go a week or two without grains I feel amazing, but when I'm fueling myself on processed junk I feel like processed junk.

So what do you think, are you in?! 31 days of eating healthy, clean foods. Take pictures tomorrow morning, take measurements, weigh yourself and then hide the scale. Do the same on January 31st and compare. You'll see results, I promise you!

I will also be doing a bonus fitness challenge on my Facebook page. Make sure you 'like' it so you can join us on that as well!

I resolve....

to not resolve! 

The clock is ticking my friends! We are down to the final days of 2012. This time of year people go into a frenzy of resolutions. We resolve to lose weight, to stop smoking, to pay off credit cards and to not drink alcohol. After the customary night of  spending way too much boozing, social smoking and finishing it up by indulging in food, of course. 

Well this year I say no! 

Why?
I say no because I am sick of making resolutions I know I can't keep. I make vague generalizations like " I will lose weight." or "I will eat better".

Okay, so I eat carrots for a few days and lose one pound, resolution achieved! Bring on the cake!!

Come on, you all know that's how it goes for you as well! Something like a whole whopping 8% of people who make resolutions actually succeed at them! For the other 92% of us, we tend to keep our promises for about 3 weeks. And then the initial motivation wears off and the excuses kick in. 

A viscous never ending cycle!

Unfortunately I love the New Year spirit and I love using it as an excuse to reinvent myself, to evaluate where I am and where I want to be a year from now. So I'm trying something new this year.

My Plan

                                                                                  Sounds like as good as plan as any!

Instead of making one or two large, vague, doomed to fail resolutions I am going to be making 13 smaller goals, trying to focus on one per month, with the exception of January having two. I plan on keeping track on here (because yes, one of the two January goals is to keep up with my blog!) and also on my Facebook page. All of my goals are going to be designed to fit the smart goals way of doing things and hopefully by this time next year I will be a self-improved guru!!

What would you like to change in the next year of your life? What are your resolutions for the next year? Are you one of the 8% that manage to keep their resolutions beyond the first month?