Goals and Resolutions

Welcome to 2015, and may it be an amazing year for everyone. It will be one of big changes for me, that is for sure.

I am not a huge resolution-y kind of person, because I find they end up setting me up for failure if I am not succeeding a few months in. So I stick more to goals, and keep them generalized. I do tend to have target numbers, but that is really only to keep me focused on always moving forward.

Goal: Continue to lose weight. Ideally, around 40-50lbs.
Goal: Cook more, order out less. Financially, this one is necessary. Health wise it is helpful too. I want to learn 50 new recipes this year. Even if I only try them once, even if it is simple and three ingredients or involves super low prep. My biggest challenge with cooking is just my lack of experience so trying anything new is a huge help in the long run. 50 sounds like a lot, but really the goal is about one per week.
Goal: Continue to amp up the exercise. I did a great job walking more in 2014, particularly over the summer, and I want to continue that trend of walking more, but also incorporating the couch to 5k program I started.
Goal: Finish more of what I have, organize better, keep cleaner. I have trouble with clutter, and having lots of things around. Particularly makeup, beauty products, and tea. I am already well on my way to paring down the makeup stash even more (a serious win of 2014), haven't bought new lotion in months (thank god), and have made great progress in lowering my overall tea stash. And I have done a great job in organizing my three main hoards so that I use more, more efficiently. This year I began the rule of "if you haven't touched it in a year, contemplate if you REALLY need it" when it comes to organizing. I need to continue that effort throughout my apartment, in prep for moving in the summer.

I believe all of these things are good, attainable goals even among unknown moving situations and job stress and whatever may come.

I am so proud of my progress with my tea. I posted in August about having 45 samples and 59 containers of full size tea. Thanks to amazing deals and a general lack of control, even as I gave away a ton of tea throughout the fall and drank a ton...I currently have 66 full sizes and 47 samples as of December 31. Womp. Why am I proud? Because I reorganized them, have begun purchasing more wisely in general, and am still plowing through my stash at a rapid enough rate that I feel confident I can continue to get my stash to a more manageable level in 2015. My goal is to have all of my tea fit into my cabinets I store them in (post about organization later). Now that I bought some new tins for cheap from New Years sales, my cabinets are about 2/3 of the way full with as many tins as I feel I need.

Overall, I am feeling pretty positive about the new year. Updates on how these goals are going will be regular, I am thinking of making them a monthly thing so I can keep myself on track.

Exercise Revamp: Couch to 5k

So now that I have more time on my hands, time to get back to being serious about my weight, nutrition, and fitness. I have gone back to tracking my food intake, and have been hunting for some fun recipes. But the most revolutionary development is my sudden desire to try to become a runner.

Up until a week ago, I would tell you that you'd only see me running if something was chasing me. Unfortunately, I am so out of shape, something chasing me wouldn't have to work very hard to catch me as I am now. Part of the challenge of running for me is my general size. Carrying the extra weight makes running tough. But I downloaded the free couch to 5k program on my new iphone 5s, and did the first day today.

The workout is 30 minutes total, but there are 5 walking warm up minutes at the beginning and 5 cool down at the end. For the middle 20 minutes, there was jogging 60 seconds and walking 90 seconds alternating. I felt I needed more of a warm up though, so I added 5 minutes, and I DEFINITELY needed a longer cool down so I added 10 minutes to the end. Overall it was a 45 minute workout. I typically walk 20 minute miles, and my average mileage was 19mph so I am not exactly the quickest runner. I am glad to find out I don't run more slowly than my brisk walk though - apparently for others like me who are running newbies, oftentimes running is slower than walking even if it is tougher.

But, I am not worried. Speed supposedly will come on its own. My plan is to do the plan 3 times a week as scheduled, and just do my normal 30 minute walks on off days as weather permits to keep my muscles loose. I did the whole Week 1 Day 1 as it was laid out, no extra breaks, and I will keep progressing until/unless I hit a day where I can't do it as it is laid out. Then, I will just repeat that day until I can do it. There is no rush for me to finish this program in  8 weeks just because this is an 8 week program.

I feel really accomplished.