Yeah, that was a few weekends ago for me. I ate so unhealthy . It started on Thursday with pizza, then Friday with Taco Bell, then Saturday brunch at Jolie’s (OMG….if you ever come visit me, we will go eat our hearts out), then chilli at grandma’s, then breakfast Sunday morning at Dwyers (again, if you come visit me, we will have breakfast Sunday morning here), followed by fish tacos at PJ’s parents house then stuffed pork chop, stuffed jalepeno, stuffed mushroom and corn on the cob at our friend’s house for the Walking Dead premier.

Y’all….that A LOT of food consumed over the course of a weekend.

I wasn’t feeling good Sunday night and woke up Monday morning feeling worse (turns out I have a UTI- I’m on meds now and it’s getting better). I weighed myself. I wasn’t that surprised with the weight gain I saw on the scale. I was disappointed. I was disappointed that I let it happen. I don’t want to see that again, but it’s difficult to work out when you have to go pee like every five minutes. What do I do?

I need some help here.

I usually am not big on New Year’s resolutions, but our ’12 changes in 2012 project’ sounded like a really good way to tackle goals and as with everything else in life, it’s easier to do things when in good company. It’s a huge motivating factor and breaking the list down into one resolution at a time makes the whole thing feel more tangible

Having said that, my goal for this month is going extremely well.

And I think I also know why.

So, here’s the thing: When you started working on your list of 12 changes for this year, did you notice that there are two types of goals?

The “shoulds” and the “wants”.

There is a fundamental difference between things you “should” be changing and things you “want” to change.

Clearly, my first goal in January – to make drinking more water part of my routine – was a “should” and my results were mediocre, at best.

This month’ goal – meal planning – is a “want” and I can already see how much more effort and energy I put into the achievement of this goal.

This leads me to the conclusion that I have to set more “should” goals for the rest of the year and work at them as hard as if they were “wants”, because I know that the wants will eventually get done, when I make enough time for them…. but the “shoulds” will always be struggles.

How do you feel about the goals that you set for yourself?

I wanted to say ‘screw it!’ to calorie counting and eating healthy. But, I didn’t.

I wanted to sleep in that extra hour. But, I didn’t.

Instead, I kept going. I held my head up high, gave myself little pep talks and continued on the elliptical (I even think I am finding my stride). I set my alarm 15 minutes EARLIER so I could get out the door on time. I am now enjoying the food that I am nourishing my body with instead of not caring what it was and just eating to eat.

No one said this was going to be easy. I knew this going in. I also knew that I really needed to do this early so I could make it stick.

Here’s to the journey!

I can’t believe we’re already well into February and well into our second change of the year! January went really well for me; I had set out to begin a healthier eating lifestyle for myself & accomplished just that by cutting junk food out of my life for most of the month, as well as going vegetarian for the last two weeks.

As of right now, I’m still semi-vegetarian (by choice!) and only indulge in junk food once in a while. Cutting things out of my diet drastically doesn’t always work for me- I tried coffee once, did NOT like that experience- but every once in a while it turns into a great experience. Cutting meat out of my diet for the most part has done amazing things for me and for right now I don’t plan on looking back to what I used to eat.

In February, I really wanted to continue on this healthy eating track and add in a fitness routine. I’ve never been the kind of person who LOOKS FORWARD to exercise, but after trying out fitness classes last summer I’ve been wanting to get into that kind of exercise more regularly. I was doing so well in January that I ended up activating my new gym membership a week early.

I was feeling great about it until February hit- I haven’t been to the gym yet and we’re already one week into the month! I was putting it off for the first few days, but now I’m just focusing on getting better from a little cold. I was told that exercising while sick isn’t the best idea, so I’m postponing my challenge for a few more days while still focusing on eating extremely well and getting healthy again.

I’m kind of sad to not be able to jump right into Change Number Two after such a successful January, but that’s just part of life, right? Things aren’t always smooth sailing and you just have to go with the flow. I’ll have a little bit less time to get my butt into gear & get into a good fitness routine- I’m not too worried though. I’m so excited to get into shape, I think I’ll find ways to make it work.

As of right now, I’m most excited to get back into a Jillian-Michaels-kicking-my-arse-routine every day as well as fitness classes 2-3 times per week. I’m hoping that by mid-February I’ll be getting my fitness routine worked out and once March comes around I’ll be ready to add my Third Change into the mix. As of next month I’m moving away from health and incorporating other aspects of my life into my changes, so I really need to make this month count if I want my Jan/Feb changes to be long term! 

How have you been doing so far with your February? Have you hit any road bumps along the way in the past month and a half?

One might say (and one would be making the understatement of the century) that I’m what they call “goal oriented.” I’m just about as Type-A as they come, and I love a good checklist. So it’s no real surprise that on top of being 4 months into my second Day Zero Project (aka 101 Goals in 1,001 Days), I was all for this 12 Changes project when I heard about it from Katherine and Stephany. Then again, those girls could probably get me to do almost anything!

When I was coming up with my 12 changes, I tried to think of things that would coincide with some of the life events I knew would be happening this year, as well as pulling some things from my 101 list. I didn’t want them all to come from there, though, and in the end not many did.

My change for January was one of those, however. #15 on my list was to go an entire month without hitting my snooze button and I’m really proud to say it was a big success! I slated it for January because I knew that I couldn’t afford to sleep in at the beginning of the month – I was driving cross-country to move from California to Tennessee and had a set number of miles I had to reach each day. One of the keys to being successful for the rest of the month was figuring out how much sleep I actually needed and when I should go to sleep. I’m not a night owl, so staying up late usually wasn’t the culprit behind me hitting snooze a few too many times. It turned out that I didn’t have a good grasp on how much sleep I needed or when I actually had to wake up so I was setting my alarm too early!

My change for February is to MOVE by exercising 3x a week. So far it’s not off to as awesome a start as January’s change, but it’s coming along. Couch-to-5K is my real motivation for this – I need to hop back on that horse.

For those who are curious, here’s the rest of my list:

So, here I am….facing my second change. I had a tough time deciding on this one but I think I got it (and I may have started a little early….sorry!)

I am going to start exercising and eating healthier. This means that I have to add something to my list because these where two separate things on my list originally (I already know what it is but y’all will have to wait and see lol). I am still drinking water, but have learned that I have to drink about 101 ounces of water a day to stay hydrated and lose weight.

I started exercising last week. It all started with having to buy new jeans the weekend before. I was not to happy when we left the store (on the up side, I do like the jeans I bought). PJ and I decided that something needed to change. We are working out three days a week together. I have dance on Monday nights, along with Zumba and dance on Thursday nights. We have even started drinking the green monster smoothie! OMG…..SOOOO GOOD! You MUST try it! This morning, I used apple juice in place of milk. I liked it just as much as with the milk.

To be honest, I was scared to put this change up. I’ve always struggled with weight lose and exercise. I know I can do it. It’s the sticking to it part that I have a hard time with. This is why I decided to make this change early. I know I am going to need all the help I can get.

What’s your change for February?

So what’s in store for February?

Honestly, I’m still not 100% sure.

Scratch that. I am sure. I’d started the water thing a few days before January started, and without intending to, I’d tried to start February’s change early as well. Except for that thing that I mentioned about being sick. Hell, as I write this, it’s just after 3 AM on the first of February because I’ve slept so much in the past 36 hours.

Obviously I need to be getting to bed if I’m going to make this change happen. Yet here I am typing!

I think what I’m really trying to say is that I think this change is going to be a bigger challenge for me. But so many of us have already made changes this past month, and with your support and your tips from last month, I believe I can get through it!

What are you going to be changing this month?

I’ve been out of school for the past two semesters, or a year if you want to get technical. I left my previous school due to many personal and financial reasons. Throughout the year and a half that I was in school, I was always bouncing from major to major. One semester I was in Criminal Justice, the next I was in Visual Arts. I couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my life, pretty much because I want to do everything, and I finally drove myself into the ground. (Let it be known that my last semester I was in a bad relationship that emotionally was draining and didn’t help my cause. But that’s a story for another day.) I ended up making the call to my mother half way through finals week to come and get me, and that was the last time I stepped in a classroom.

I was up late one night and for some reason I was on the website of Southern New Hampshire University. I guess was just looking around to see what programs and classes they offer, just in case I ended up going back someday. All of a sudden, I found myself filling out an application for admission to the Small Business Administration online program. I don’t even know if at the time I realized what I was doing. I submitted the application, shut my laptop and thought nothing more about it. The next morning I was rudely awaked by an unknown number. Usually I don’t answer unknown numbers, but for some reason I did this time. It was an admissions counselor from SNHU, she was calling to discuss my application. We talked for about twenty minutes, and by the time we were done talking I was signed up to start classes in March.

I am very excited about this unexpected change that has happened. Honestly, 12 Changes has changed the way I deal with life now and how I make changes. I hope you all were able to make the changes you wanted to during January and I wish you the best of luck in February.

January’s change of go to bed early and get up on time was halfway successful. I am routinely in bed between 10 and 11 at night and getting up by 830AM on the weekends at the latest. But during the week, the 6AM alarm comes far too quickly and I hit snooze way too many times. I’m trying to put my alarm farther away from the bed so that it requires some movement in the morning, but really I just sort of move myself just as little as possible to reach the snooze button. I’m still working on making this change actually happen- and stick.

And here are my 12 proposed changes:

1. Go to bed early, get up on time           2.  Drink more water

3. Be active at least 3 times/week         4.  Don’t waste real work hours on web stuff

5. Make better attempts at communication and plans with friends

6. Less carbs                       7. Cook more

8. Read more                    9. Blog frequently

10.  Paint/create              11.  Take more photos

12. Meditate

That was until I had to buy a pair of jeans. Then it all fell apart. I realized that I had to do something NOW.

The easiest thing I could do was to INCREASE MY WATER INTAKE! How hard is that? Not really. So, here I am, at the end of January, drinking AT LEAST 64 ounces of water a day (oh man, my bathroom usage has increased as well…haha). Now, I’ve only need doing this for about a week (while all month long trying to get this to stick), but I know that this WILL become a habit.

How’s your January change coming along?