Project Happiness January Wrap Up

So, January is almost over so I wanted to report in on my project. In case you don't remember, here is a quick recap and how successful i was:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Success! I now drink 8 glasses of water a day. I can feel it if I haven't had it and I think the habit is here to stay! Yay!
2. No more than one soda a day. Success! I think I only had about 10 sodas (if that) the whole month!! No refills at all! This one will get harder when I start to travel like tomorrow when I get up at 3:45!
3. Take vitamins. Still a work in progress. I have a few vitamins to take, they are ones I already had like vitamin C and D and I took them a couple times but since I can't take them in thie morning because they make me nauseous, I often forget to take them. This goal will have to be worked on in Feb.
4. Track what I eat. Success! I did this all month, even when I had to go to work dinners and didn't get to pick what we were having. I think that overall it helped me to eat better and I am going to continue it.
5. Eat 5 fruits/veggies a day. Success! I think there were no more than 5 days for the whole month that I didnt get this one. Pretty good if you ask me! I will still work on it and I know as the days get warmer, my choices of fresh fruit and veggies will be more!

I have completed 10 days of the p90x so I am more than 10% done. I am sure there is no difference yet but I can definitely tell that I am stronger! You keep a log for some of the exercises and I have improved in every single exercise. Part of that might be that I wasn't quite sued what I was dojng the first time but I also think that a lot of it is because I have gotten better. I am a little in disbelief that a DVD that left me barely able to walk last week didn't have any effect on me this week. C says that you can get stringer pretty fast but I odnt remember the last time I did a full routine (other than a gym class once a week). I just am having a hard time getting over how much my form and strength has improved in a week. I think I will add back in running next week.

February's focus is going to be Organization. I have a couple ideas but most of them involve cleaning something out or organizing something rather than daily tasks. I will be back With the goals for that month. I know the first one is to make a resolution chart like Drena talks about...I think that will keep me on task!

I am off to bed soon, I have an early wakeup call tomorrow!!

Hit by a Bus!

That is sort of what I feel like this am. Not really a bad bus, per se, but a bus all the same.

I think that I have told most of you about a Market restructuring they were doing at work...quick version....we used to have 80 locations, Controller at each location and then 5 Regional Controllers and the Controllers rolled up to one of the 5 Regional ones. Now we are in a reduction mode and they eliminated the 5 Regional Controllers, turned our country into 23 Markets and we have 15 Market Controllers (some over 2 small markets) now (and will likely not have a Controller at each location anymore to reduce headcount and combine operations where we can). This week was the meeting to "on-board" (gotta love corporate lingo) the new Market Controllers. It was a lot of information on where our company is going and it just gets draining. Plus, I lost one of my employees to the position (she is now a Market Controller) and I am about to lose another employee, maybe two to other projects (I told them I was going to stop letting people work on projects because they keep getting stolen). Then, the bomb was dropped on my that we are going to start taking a process that the field does currently and roll it all into home office (which I knew) and they want those people to report to me (which I did not know). At least it is the project I was about to lose an employee to so I will get to keep her. BUT, now I have to make a case and proposal on why I need to replace the people I lost in a time when we are reducing headcount. GEEZ. I guess the good thing is that they are going to trust me with this new project (and seem to trust me with "new" anyway since my whole department didn't exist before me) and it is nice that my name even comes up in meetings that I am not even in, but it also seems like when I get comfortable they change it. oh well, I was also told that I had the most job security of anyone so that is a good feeling. We also reached our budget this year for the one metric that we have to meet for me to get a bonus so YAY!

In the workout world, I have done really well and I am proud of myself. You do p90x for 6 days a week and then take a break. I started last Friday and I have done every day except yesterday. Since today was supposed to be the rest day and I didn't do it yesterday, I am just switching it. I even did it starting at 9:30 on Tuesday after a work dinner of Mexican food...that deserves a clap at least! I really like the program. I like that they tell you what to do and it seems to go by faster with each DVD. I don't love the chest and back but that is mainly because I can't do any pushups to speak of, I don't have a pullup bar and I just think it is draining. I also don't care for the first 35 mins of the 1hr and 32min yoga (isn't that REALLY long). I feel like every pose is almost the same and between all of them you have to do a plank...gross. But, now that I know there is something better at the end of the DVD (stretching and balance moves) I think that I will be a better sport for the beginning. The first time I did it I thought the whole DVD was going to have me doing planks and downward dogs. The whole thing is a pretty big time commitment if you don't already work out (an hr a day) but I was already working out for about an hour or more a day by the time you count the drive time to the gym and back. I did a little research on doing p90x and running and it seems like they discourage it a little (not sure why because only a couple of the DVDs are cardio so wouldn't it be like lifting weights and running) and they say p90x is SO INTENSE but I don't think that is true. It is hard, but it isn't like you need to sleep all day after. Anyway, they suggest that if you do run while doing it that you wait a couple weeks so I am going to start next week after I am two weeks in (if I can wait that long). I am also no longer sore. The last post I wrote was the last day I was sore...so I was sore for one day really bad but that was about it...the other days I was sore but not the kind of sore where it hurts to bend your legs to sit on the toilet. I like to be a little sore because I feel like it is working, but I don't like to be in pain too much.

The weight loss hasn't been so good (not bad but not great). I have been eating better and I feel better so I am going to focus on that. I haven't gained anything back but it has been slow moving...I have read a lot that seems to say that is common on the new ww plan so I am going to keep doing what I was doing and give it a few weeks. The past two days in Atlanta were HORRIBLE. I didn't get to pick anything I ate. The picked our breakfast, lunch and dinner. I tried to pick the healthiest options until we got to the Mexican restaurant and I ate my weight in chips. I know better than to go to that kind of restaurant when I am watching what I eat. Oh well.

This week is winter restaurant week and we are going to a really nice steakhouse tomorrow night to eat for $25.11 including an appetizer, steak, and dessert...good deal. I am excited since Dayton doesn't have that many local restaurants that we frequent :-) I feel like Drena and Carrie would be so proud of me.

That is about it for me. I am going to do a Living Social/Groupon deal here in Dayton (MUCH smaller market than in Atlanta). What would you guys like to see as a deal from a photographer? Session and pictures for one price? Prices? What size pictures? I am going to put together a couplet things for the marketing people to decide on but since you are all moms, I thought I would see what you would want. I have learned that the pricing here is a little lower than Atlanta so I changed that the other day. I know people here are not worried about pictures right now so I am going to do the deal when it gets closer to some nicer weather here :-)

Whew, that was a long one!!

Pictures are Rachel and I before and after the race last week.

AHHHH!

I am SO SORE! Yesterday I did another DVD that was what I would describe (or maybe I did in the previous post but am too lazy to look) as a sports agility DVD. You jump around, do basketball slides, pretend you are running through tires and pitching baseballs and shooting hoops...sounds fun huh? Well, it was (and hard) yesterday. I wasn't sore yesterday...today? OMG...I know EXACTLY where my butt muscles are...I also know where every single stabilizer muscle in my body is because they all hurt. Getting up and down is quite a chore at the moment. Today was shoulders and arms, neither of which is sore right now but I am scared about tomorrow now. Tomorrow is yoga. I have heard it is really hard...awesome. Oh well. I took some before pictures today. I wasn't going to but then I figured if I was going to do an hour a day for 6 days a week for the next 3 months, I better see a difference. I asked C to take the pics for me yesterday but he said I wasn't big enough for any change to show up in pictures...just goes to show you what boys know because I found a lot of pics online of women my size where it very much showed (or he was just trying to be nice??). I set up the tripod today while he was at soccer. I will not be posting them until I see some sort of change :-)

I found out today that my old math teacher (friends with her on FB and she is only like 10 years older than us so she was the "cool" teacher in high school) does a half marathon every month except in the summer where is it hot everywhere...WHAT? Doesn't that seem a little insane? I can't imagine. I just try to do a 5K every month. We signed up for our first one in Feb. It is at noon...my kind of race!!

Today the Packers won their game and are going to the Super Bowl!!! YAY!! C is so happy and like a good little fan, I was sporting my t-shirt today that said "We'll Never Forget You Brent"...HAHAHA (from when BRETT Favre left). I am hoping that this means we will get to have a Super Bowl party...YAY!

Cold in Ohio!

Last night it was -10 degrees here...not wind chill cold, just plain -10 degrees...UGH! Luckily it warmed up to a balmy 22 today for my errand running. This is the coldest it has been in the almost 2 years since I have moved. Yuck. I am definitely getting more used to the cold but I don't like it much better.

Today I finished my 2009 and 2010 blog book. I didn't write but 49 entries for all of 2010...wow, sad. Since I have some extra pages because you pay depending on a range of pages, I am going to find some pictures to throw in there.

I ran the other night (after I went out in the 6 inches of snow we got on Thursday...and they still have not plowed our road and I doubt they will because the main roads are clear) and it was a little tougher than I had hoped. I think that I don't do as well on the treadmill as I do outside..maybe it is boredom, I don't know, I just know I don't like it. My hamstrings were really tight.

Yesterday I started p90x and my chest is pretty sore today. The first DVD was basically an hour of doing pushups and pullups (I used bands because I don't have a pullup bar). I couldn't feel my arms by the last set and was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to move today because I thought I would be so sore. It actually isn't too bad today...what hurts worse is my stomach muscles. I had no idea how much you used those in pushups until I did the fitness test and my abs were sore. Then yesterday when I did the pushups my abs were screaming...today I can barely sit up from a laying down position...it is tough. If I sit for too long I get sore. The workout for today was Plyometrics. I liked this one...it is supposedly the hardest one but I found it kind of fun...it is a lot of jumping and sports moves. A lot of the moves reminded me of drills we would do in high school when I played basketball....cool. I am not sore yet but I am sure I will be tomorrow.

I think that I am going to like p90x. It is hard but I can tell that it is good exercises. The dude instructing it is sort of hard core...He kept asking if we were in our heart rate zone. I was not! My "zone" according to my watch is 132-150 (though I probably need to recalibrate it) and I was around 165-175! HA! I also like that you can do almost all the moves using a band. You don't get as much out of it using a band, I don't think but it is at least nice to know it is an option to take the band on the road with me and still keep up with it. The one I did today didn't have any extra equipment. I am going to try my hardest to stick with it for the 90 days and am hoping I will be less sore eventually so I can start running again. I feel like at this point it would just be painful.

Other than that I haven't really done that much this weekend so far...tomorrow the Packers play and if they win I get a free lunch (Controller in Cinci is a Bears fan and we bet every time they play) and they get to go to the Super Bowl! YAY! I think that Ali is coming over to watch and we are going to have brats :-)

Next week starts my travel again...3 days in Atlanta, home for 4 days, back to Atlanta for 3, home for 4 and then Baltimore for 5. Whew! Next week is going to be long...I have two work dinners and all day meetings...you guys know how I love those. I just feel like they are so draining! On Wed I will finally be done and am going to meet Alyson, Zach, Ariyana, and Maddox for dinner before heading to the airport.

I sure do hope it is warmer in Atlanta!

Motivated

I am feeling pretty good after my run last Sunday...I was only sore really the rest of the day on Sunday and Monday...by yesterday I was back at 100% :-) Or, at least I felt that way.

So, I was already planning on doing the Air Force Half here in Dayton in the fall but Rachel and I got a little booklet with our race packet that listed all the Rock and Roll series races...now we are considering the Savannah one in November...bringing the boys and having a little getaway...fun times!

After this last race I realized that I am at the point now where if I run a bit (and I feel like I have gotten in a routine with that...minus crazy work weeks or weeks I don't feel well, can't get out in the weather or whatever, I have run at least 4 times a week since June) I can certainly FINISH a half marathon. Don't get me wrong...it is still hard and challenging but I no longer have that fear that I might have to get picked up by the sweeper van :-) The next step (and I have already talked about this) is to improve my time...that is what I will be working on next.

I joined the Ohio River Runners Club yesterday. Ali is already a member and when you are a member you can do races for $3...they aren't fancy races will t-shirts and stuff and you are basically paying for the water they provide but it is still a good way for me to commit to run and to meet some new people in the process. Ali and I have also decided to sign up for a couple races coming up (a 5 miler, and a 10 miler). I hope that when I go run tonight I feel good and it doesn't completed deflate this feeling.

In other news, I am going to start the P90x workouts tomorrow. I am not doing the nutrition part of it because I am not into the shakes and supplements and stuff. Anyway, Craig and I did the fitness test last night...it was hilarious. I am so bad at all of that stuff. I couldn't even do a proper pushup, not even ONE! We did what we were supposed to do and I wrote down all my numbers. Now to see if I improve.

We have been getting snow ALL day...it is about 4inches so far but I am going to try to go and run tonight...my first one since the half.

Rock and Rol Half Marathon

I just finished a few hours ago and I am all showered, had a few beers and ready to relax :-). This race was a good one for me. I didn't do better than my Air Force time but I did feel much better this time. I find that so strange since I basically had the same time but I felt so ready for the last one and wasn't so sure about this one because I only ran 1 time outdoors and it went horribly. I think that drinking more water helped a lot! I always seem to learn a lesson at each half that I do. Last time I learned to drink early because by the time you feel thirsty there is no way you can drink enough to get rid of the thirst. This race I learned that how you train is definitely how you run the race. Running on the treadmill for long runs is so boring that I think I broke it up by walking....today I fou d myself walking at times that I didn't really need to. I think that I was so used to breaking up boredom with walking breaks that I felt like I should still do it. I would find myself walking when I didnt need to. I have decided that for the next one I am not going to walk in training...I will run slow but I will not walk. I might try to break it up by sprinting (though I am not sure I will look forward that as much as my walking breaks). I know I can finish them now..I have done 2 in 4 months...now I need to work on the speed...and hills. There were not a lot of hills in this race but there are some in the Air Force one and in the one in Cinci that I am doing next :-). Luckily I live in a hilly neighborhood.

I just love the feeling when you are done!! My friend Rachel got a PR at 2:05!!!!! Awesome! My fastest ever was 2:10 and I would love to ge back there....one day :-)

Cat Pee

Cat pee is nothing to mess with...it smells disgusting. I think that a few of you can remember the lovely condo that I had on Weatherstone where my upstairs neighbors were drug dealers who had a million cats (63 were picked up one time by the humane society) and made our condo smell all the time!

Well, we have two cats now and I always laugh at those stories about people who leave their cats and the cats pee on their bed (or on something else of theirs),until now! Our cats have never done that...occasionally the boy will pee in the tub and while that is really gross, it is easy to clean because you turn on the water and then scrub the tub...no big deal. Well, last night we were sitting on the couch and I kept smelling pee. I KNOW that smell and our house does NOT smell like it. Our litter box is in a remote unfinished bathroom in our basement a whole level away. I couldn't get rid of the smell even with Febreeze (though it did help) so I knew our boy kitty had peed somewhere...I crawled all over the floor and couldn't find a wet spot. I looked at all the furniture and everything was fine. I had to call C at work today to get something from him and he said he could smell cat pee at his desk (our living room smells fine). Then I got this email from him:

I called Jennifer over to see if she could smell it and then we moved my coat but it was still there and then she smelt my bag and holy crap was that bad…you can see a huge stain on it too and it smells really bad…Mu peed right on the top of my bag! Now I have to get a new one…

It isn't funny but at the same time, it is. We have an outside cat that we have sort of adopted. As you can imagine, with the temps the way they are here we worry about her in the winter. We bought her a bed that we put in the garage and C closes the garage door at night to keep the temp in there around 30 (better than 9 or 19). Lately he has let her in the basement for a little while at night to eat (we feed her regularly) and I think that I our cat got mad about it and peed on Craig's bag. Ah, good times! At least it is an easy fix.

In other news, it seems like flights are now going to Atlanta and to Phoenix from Atlanta so it looks like I might actually make it out tomorrow. It is STILL snowing here but we can drive because it is powdery and no ice...keep your fingers crossed. My friend in Phoenix posted yesterday that it was 70 and sunny...YES PLEASE!

Will I or Won't I...

get to run in my half marathon??

I am already extremely nervous about this half marathon. I only did one run outside and it went HORRIBLY. Grant it, I had walked hills the day before after not exercising outside for months, and I didn't drink enough water beforehand, and all my water stops were closed for the season, and it was really windy, but still! That is the only outside run I have for this training session and I seriously had to consider stopping a mile from our house and calling C to get me.

I am connecting through Atlanta on my way to Phoenix on Friday and things aren't looking good...I would hate to miss the race and the time hanging out with Rachel when I get out there :-(

I also have this weird foot ailment...it started yesterday and it hurts whenever I walk...no idea what it is from....I didn't injure my foot at all and I haven't run since Friday. Hmmm...hopefully it will go away and I will be good to go AND will actually get out there.

Blurb, Weight, Cleaning, and Snow

Quite the group huh! Well, prompted by Rebecca's post on FB about dong her blog book, I decided to look into it *thanks Rebecca, it sucked me in for 3hrs last night*. I am in love with Blurb. I think that it is pretty simple to use and I am excited to use it to make books...I plan on doing my blogs and pictures from all of our vacations :-) YAY!! So, if you guys see any Groupons or coupon codes for Blurb coming up, help a girl out!

When reading through my blog (and not really even reading it but just skimming and looking at titles as I copied and pasted...they put each post on a new page so I got my 356 page book down to 160 pages), I realized that I wrote about a lot of really random things in 2008 and A LOT of travel. I don't feel like I post about travel as much anymore. It certainly isn't because I travel less, I think that I have just gotten a little better at going with the flow. I probably also post in one sentence status updates rather than a full blown story on my blog. Hmmm. I also learned that I need more pictures in my blog. Out of the 300 posts I had in 2008, there were only 64 pictures and there were often posts with a few pictures per post. I am not really sure what I will take pictures of because I surely don't need a year of pictures of my cats but I will try to figure something out.

Weight - last week was my first full week on WW, actually doing everything you are supposed to do and I am happy to report that I lost 4lbs. I know that is a lot for one week but I don't think that it will be that way every week. I am hoping for about 1lb a week...with that I should be ready for spring (remember spring is later here in OH). I didn't feel hungry at all last week and I cooked dinner every night other than Friday (pizza night) and the nights we had leftovers. I don't think that C even noticed that the meals were healthier because they weren't a drastic change from my norm...I just took smaller portions and always had some veggies. It worked. This coming weekend I am going to Phoenix for the half marathon and I wish that I didn't have to go out of town so close to starting the program but I think that I can do ok. I think my goal will be to maintain on the road and to lose while at home. It doesn't mean that I won't try to lose on the road, it is just harder to do that.

Cleaning - I have decided to try to get this email and google reader business under control! I am unsubscribing to all the newsletters that I get from places that I shop online with if they don't offer coupon codes or if it somewhere I only shop at occasionally. It seems to have helped cut down on the email! I am also unsubscribing on Google Reader to all the blogs that I thought I would read but don't. I subscribed to a bunch of coupon ones but I really only use 2...gonna get rid of the rest..those people post multiple times a day and it overwhelms me to have it clogging up my reader and to read the same deal worded 5 different ways.

Snow - I can't help but laugh at how much my life has changed with just my second winter in Ohio. I logged onto FB this am and every single post (and I am serious, it was EVERY one) from my Atlanta peeps was about the snow...about 1/3 of them had pictures. The funny part to me is 1. I would have been right there with you guys 2 years ago and 2. The pictures look like my yard has looked since Dec 1st, minus the one day it got up to 58 and I rode to the grocery store with my window down (seriously) and the 3 days until it snowed again. I even went out in the 15 degree!!! weather on Saturday WHILE it was snowing to do my grocery shopping. I got an email last night that our home office was closed today because of snow. I am not saying any of this to make fun of you guys...I am the first to defend the south...though my yard looks like yours do, my roads are clear as can be...and C has to shovel the driveway regularly when it snows because otherwise we will never leave our house. They put down beet juice, and brine, and salt and when you drive around here this time of year, every other pickup truck has a plow on the front and a salt spitter in the back (they do side jobs for private companies and stuff). It just makes me giggle a little bit to have lived in both places and to see the difference. Then again, it hits 90 here and people act as though they can't possible lift a finger, and humidity of 10% and they are dying...it is all relative. I think that a little bit of me is laughing at myself. Last year I couldn't wait for the first snowfall and I thought it was so awesome but now it is almost like rain...it happens so often that it is just another weather thing :-) (still pretty and I would much rather have it than rain). We are predicted to get 3-5 inches tonight and with that kind of snow it takes them a while to clear the roads so we will probably be in the same condition tomorrow that you guys are today and the fact that it won't get above 20 until March means it won't melt either...we just have to wait for the plow.

Happiness Project

So, I came up with my whole list on my own and then the Happiness Project blog is doing a 2011 Happiness Project where she is supposed to give a topic each month to work on...of course it is now Jan 8th and I still haven't figured out where she put the topic for Jan so I am not going to hold my breath.

Here is my list for 2011, they are not in any particular order and I reserve the right to adjust/change them at any time :-)

1. Eating Health - January
2. Physical Health - I will probably start this one while doing another one
3. Relationship - probably April since it will be 5 years of us dating :-)
4. Being Appreciative
5. Being Positive
6. Family Time
7. Organization (not sure this will ever happen but I think I am going to try for Feb)
8. Projects - Probably March
9. Friendships
10. Money
11. Communication
12. Control (or really the fact that some things are beyond my control).

Other things that I will probably add in are:
Service
Photography

I am trying not to focus on too many things at once (one of the flaws that Drena mentioned in our flaw conversation) but it is really hard to wait to start on some of the things. I might start doing a couple things but then in the month where it is on my list I will fully focus on it. That way there is no pressure beforehand and I still get a whole month to work on it.

As for the goals for this month...they are going great. I think that yesterday was the first day I didn't get all my veggies/fruit in. I have gotten my water in every day. Tomorrow is my official weigh in day but if the scale is the same tomorrow as it was today then I lost 3lbs this week :-)

Progress

I think I am making progress on the whole drinking more water thing...today I have already me my goal and haven't spent very 20mins on the bathroom (as was sadly the case yesterday). I skipped my nightly diet coke with dinner nice I still had water to drink and I am trying to not have to get up in the middle of the night...I remember now that when I was good about drinking water, I drank much less diet coke....looks like I am headed back that way...hopefully I will not get a headache.

The last two nights I have tried WW recipes (and I never told C that they were WW) and he has liked both of them...I think that is what I like about ww..you really can eat what you want, just in moderation...of course things that are bad for you count for more points but still. The two recipes I made were Baked Ziti with (Free Range) Turkey Sausage..it was yummy! The other one I made was (Grass Fed) Sirloin Steaks with garlic and herbs and some mashed potatoes...that one C said was the best steak he thinks we got out of the bunch. :-) Happy Melissa. I also watched my portion sizes on everything and sort of like Meghan was saying in her post, I stopped when my portion was done...sice I wasn't hungry I didn't get more..normally I would have since I wasn't full. I am really hoping that this will be a bit of a breakthrough for me. I guess we will see come Sunday and weigh in day :-)

Update on Projects and Back to Work

So, I have been off work since Dec 21st and tomorrow I have to go back to work. I am almost (I said ALMOST) ready to go back. I have really liked having my free time but now that I have completed a lot of projects I am sort of ready to get back int to the swing of things at work. I know I will regret that in the next few months when work is crazy but oh well.

During my break I finished the following projects:
1. Finished the t-shirt quilt I had been working on for C for a year...literally (well, I worked on it last Christmas break and then only slightly after that). I had the top done and it pinned to the back so last Thursday I spent from 9-4 (mini break for a 3 mile walk and a shower) working on it and I surprised C with it when it got home. I also used it on Saturday night when I couldn't sleep and moved to the couch so I didn't wake up a sick C.
2. I finished the crocheted blanket for C's mom...now I just have to mail it. I had fully intended to do that today when I ran errands but then I forgot it at home..GRRR.
3. Cleaned out all of my t-shirts, running shorts/pants, tank tops, short sleeve shirts and jeans/pants. It was a huge accomplishment...now I just have to clean out the long sleeve shirts and the sweaters. I tucked a couple of jeans from my skinnier days (NOT high school, just about a year and a half ago) in hopes I would get to bring them out again soon :-)

The one thing I didn't get to was the pictures of our trips but don't you guys worry, the winter here is pretty cold in case you haven't heard and there won't be many distractions between now and April so I hope to schedule that project for a couple weekends.

The last two days have gone well with the eating right stuff...I have stayed within my points all week and I have drank all my water and eaten all my veggies. It is becoming easier but I will definitely look forward to when my body finally accepts the extra water and stops trying to get rid of it...getting up twice at night is not cool.

I am a little anxious about going back to work because some pretty crazy stuff was going on when we went on break and I know it will start right up again...they are doing a lot in the field in the next couples months and people will probably be let go that I really like :-( It is even more important for me to keep a good atitude about it all.

Also, thank C for getting me an iPad, it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to blog than my ancient computer :-)

Month One: Eating Health

I think that I have finalized my 12 things that I am going to work on for my happiness project but I don't want to share them quite yet because I think that I might change a few or maybe even work on two things in one month (one of the ones I have on my list is friendships and I am pretty sure I could work on that one while working on another thing....I also have communication which will include blogging more and I feel like I am already starting on that one too.) I will post a list of what I have by the end of the week so you guys can help me figure out some more.

Anyway, month 1 will be focused on eating healthy and I have set up the following guidelines to help me achieve this:
1. Drink 8 glasses of water a day (I can't believe that this is one of my items but I realized that there are some days where I will pour a glass of water in the am and it will still be full in the evening...0 water?? Ridiculous when I used to drink 10 glasses a day.) I don't think anyone will deny the health benefits of drinking water so I want to get back to it.
2. No more than one soda a day and no refills at restaurants. This one isn't that bad but I figure if I am not drinking water then I must be drinking something...diet coke seems to be the only other thing other than milk in my latte each morning...hopefully if I cut it out then I will be able to reach my water goal easier.
3. Eat at least 5 fruits/veggies a day. I think that this is something that I am a lot better at when it is summertime and everything is so fresh but I need to find a way to do it year round. It isn't like I don't eat any veggies because I do currently eat about 3 servings a day but I would like to get to the 5 that are recommended.
4. Take vitamins. Originally I had this as a multi-vitamin but I don't know if that is what I am going to do or if I am going to pick specific ones to take...do any of you take vitamins and if so, which ones and do you feel like you can tell a difference? I also think I have to be careful of when I take vitamins...they make me naseous without food and I am pretty sure there are some that will affect the absorption of my thyroid meds (Erin?)
5. Track what I eat. This falls right in line with WW so it should be a no brainer. Many studies have shown that people eat healthier when they have to write it all down. I have had a bad habit in the past of just writing down meals and not keeping track of all the snacking. That is about the worst thing to do since meals are not what normally cause people to gain weight..it is the snacking and little bites here and there. SO, I am going to commit to writing EVERYTHING down for Jan...I am hoping it will curb the snacking a bit and I will have less to write down in the next month.

Now, I am off to watch the Packers (hoping they do better than the Dawgs and Wisconsin this weekend). We took down our tree and cleaned the whole house this morning so I am ready for a break.

New Year's Resolutions

Does anyone make these anymore? I like to make them...but I am not exactly sure why. I don't stress if I don't meet them or anything but I think that I just like the tradition of it all.

This year I am going to do it a little differently and instead of making one big resolution (like losing weight or working out or whatever), I am going to participate in a happiness project. Drena talked about it a little bit in her blog when she was discussing how we went to dinner and discussed our flaws (kind of a cool discussion if you have the feelings that can take someone being honest with you. I think you know most of them anyway, you just have to be prepared for some one else to say them :-)) Anyway, there is a book called The Happiness Project where a woman takes a year and addresses different areas of her life that she wants to change slightly so she can feel more happy. I am only on page 50 but it sounds like exactly my sort of thing. I feel like I have been a little negative lately and I don't like that...especially when I have everything I could ask for and I really do love my life. I think that I just focus on the things that go wrong instead of focusing on all the things that go right. I am going to try to change that this year. I haven't completely come up with my list yet but as soon as I do I will share it. I think that my first month with be healthy eating. It will be a different take on the whole losing weight than what is typically done. As a side note, I did decide to do weight watchers. I actually signed up for it and recruited a friend...They have completely changed the program and it focuses more on healthy eating now..no points for fruits and veggies. Since signing up I realized that I do NOT drink enough water (which is funny to me since I used to HAVE to have about 10 glasses a day) and I don't eat the recommended amount of fruits/veggies per day. These will be part of my goals. I have to admit that I am a little embarassed about signing up for it again because I feel like it is something that people do when they weigh 300lbs and all I really need to lose is about 15-20. But, at the same time, I feel like doing it on my own wasn't working and now I am paying money for it and have some accountability. I wish that my personality wasn't the type where I needed that accountability but it just is...it is the reason that I signed up for a half marathon in Jan and it is the reason that I think having a system will help me out. I have been trying for quite a while on my own and I think that rules (but not cutting out foods) will help. I think my biggest problem is portion size and eating out. It makes me sick to see how many points some of my former favorite meals were at the restaurants I eat at for work Tomorrow I will post my first month's goals along will all the steps to get there..

I hope that everyone had a great and safe NYE...if you made a resolution, let me know what it was....I love hearing them. I have taken a serious break from everything so getting back into it will be a challenge!