A New Year Approaches…Five New Years Goals

Since I have taken vacation this week. I decided to catch up on a few things I have been putting off. One of those things on my list was to catch up on my magazine reading. I had seven (yes, seven) magazines that I have received in the mail over the past couple of weeks that I had not even looked through (until this afternoon).

Of course, most of the issues were the January issues and what comes with those issues? You guessed it. New Years Resolution suggestions. What to do and not to do when making resolutions, diet plans, exercise routines, etc.

One of the main things every magazine talked about was not setting impossible goals. Don’t say, “I’m not going to eat any chocolate this year” if you have a sweet tooth. Or don’t say “I’m going to run a marathon this summer” if you despise running. Set realistic, obtainable goals for success. The other most popular suggestion for setting resolutions was write them down.

So, here I am. I am writing down my New Year’s goals. The first thing I would like to do is become more consistent with exercise. I was doing really well this summer when it came to going to the gym but as the holidays approached, work got busier and my schedule began to fill up, that commitment to working out really fell by the wayside. So, in 2011, it’s back to Zumba on Mondays and Thursdays and I want to try the new Bosu Blast class the gym started offering this past month. In addition to that, I really want to make sure I am running at least a couple of days a week. Half marathon season is just around the corner and I always felt like the best weight loss tool for me was running.

Speaking of weight loss, my next goal involves eating better. Less junk, more fruits, veggies, whole grain. It’s time to get back on Spark people and being accountable for everything that goes in my mouth. What? You haven’t heard of Spark People? Well, let me tell you, www.sparkpeople.com is a great resource. It’s a place where you can track your calories, track your exercise, look up recipes, connect with communities of people and make new friends who have the same weightloss goals as you. AND it’s totally free. No paying to use their tools, no paying for special food. I used this website quite a bit over the summer and found some really encouraging people on this website.

My third goal is to take a trip someplace new. I feel like I have been really blessed since I moved to Tennessee. There are a lot of places to see that are fairly close to me (many within driving distance). I have visited Charleston, SC, a few places in Florida and just this past week visited the largest home in America (Biltmore Estate in NC). But, there are still many places I have not yet visited. Some on my list include New York City, Washington DC and Virginia (I have a few friends in MD/VA that I would like to visit as well).

Next on the list is to be better about blogging. It’s crazy that my last post before this one was at the beginning of October. I have three books to read and review on this blog (I’m a little embarrassed to admit I’ve had one of those books for about six months now). So, a realistic goal for blogging is going to be one post a week (unless I have no books to review or nothing to say).

Finally, I want to utilize the Swagbucks site a little more. I love this site. You just search on this site (like you do with google or bing) and you get “swagbucks” every so often with your searches. You can exchange these swagbucks for gift certificates (I love the $5 amazon gift certificates), sweepstakes, electronics, books, music downloads and more. It’s a great site and is now my homepage so I remember to use it every time I get online. You can check it out at www.swagbucks.com/refer/nashpredsfan.

Oh, and I’m going to add a really random sixth New Years goal. I want to learn to make a good frittata (I know weird, but I’ve been wanting to try it for a while and just haven’t gotten around to it so I’ll make sure it happens in 2011).

So, I’ll be seeing you next week if all goes as planned ;). What are your goals for 2011?