A New Way of Living

January always brings new resolutions that last about a month. Not this year!

My big goal this year is to lose weight and become healthier. So cliche, I know. But I have hit my highest weight and do not want to see it go any higher. After each baby I kept a little more weight on and gradually I got to where I am today. The last year and a half I put on quite a bit of weight that I attribute to stress and some depression.

I have never been a dieter. Or an exerciser. Here and there I would start walking routines that lasted a few months and then slowly faded away. I am hoping that my lack of previous fad diets will help me reach my goal a little easier since I haven't messed up my metabolism too much. I have simply been eating more calories than I was expending.

Here are the reasons this is the year to succeed.

~The biggest reason is my sisters and I devised a plan to work together to support and motivate one another. We all have weight goals to meet. When we reach certain milestones we get set rewards. Our reward at the end- a big vacation to an as yet undetermined location. And no one gets the reward until we all reach our goal. Support and guilt are great motivators!

 ~I am tracking my caloric intake and activity levels on Fitday.com. Because of this I am learning portion control. It is amazing that many times what I think is a serving is 2 or 3 servings according to the food labels. I really recommend using a program to track your food, exercise, weight, etc. It really is eye opening.

~We have gotten in a bad habit of buying treats. I'm not going to buy the things that tempt me like, cookies, brownies and chocolate. If it's not here I won't eat it.

~I have begun exercising. I have been attending a gym and look forward to continuing and trying new things.

To start this all off, I had Zoe take a couple of hideous "before" pictures. When I have made some progress I will post some before and after pictures every so often. And maybe even divulge my actual weight. :)