2016 New Years Resolutions


I’ve decided that 2016 is the year that I'm motivated to make my healthiest and happiest! I want to focus on spending money on experiences/travel, not things/clothes. I’ve been blessed to have traveled to some really amazing places already so my goal is to continue that journey. My closet is so full I've run out of hangers and I'm not buying any more. I want to purge and declutter. I'm continuing my daily green smoothies (recipe 1 and recipe 2). I’m maintaining a food planner & journal (pic above) and scheduling all my workouts.  Here are a couple free workout planners you can use:  One and Two  Sunday is meal prep day and I make my lunch for the week at work. Keeping a food journal also helps me plan what I’ll eat for dinner in advance. I also set a reading goal of 60 books for the year, I’ve read 6 books already this month! I’d rather read than mindlessly surf social media. Reading in bed also helps me to unwind. Here's my vision board I created for this year, you can view my past ones here and here.

I looked at my calendar for fall last year and I worked out 5x a week without fail but my weight only climbed due to mindless snacking, liquid calories on the weekends and late night pizza. (And a special shout out to Rye Triscuits and Snap Pea Crisps - my weaknesses!) Exercise has always been my healthy addiction, it was just the food aspect I struggled with. Since I’ve starting maintaining healthy eating choices this year I’ve already lost 5 lbs. My goal is to lose 30 lbs by May 1. It’s important to have measurable goals with a date attached to it. 

I joined Orangetheory Fitness and am going twice a week. Like the name, the dark studio is lit up with orange lightbulbs. You wear a heart monitor (pic above) and everyone’s heart rate is displayed on a screen during class. Your heart rate will be in a blue, green, orange or red zone based on intensity. The goal is to be in the "orange zone" for 12 to 20 minutes of the class, which is helpful for knowing when you need to push yourself harder. The workout switches between interval training on the treadmill, a water rowing machine, TRX, free weights and abs. On the treadmill whether you are power walking or running you always have to be on an incline which I had never done before and is a bit difficult for me. I've learned that being on an incline not only tones your butt and legs, but it also gets my heart rate up and burns significantly more calories. I’ve slacked off on running last year so I’m glad to have a weekly appointment to do it. The class makes me push harder when I see my classmates on the screen (pic below) are burning more calories than me. 


I went to my first CorePower Yoga class and plan to go once a week. CPY is an invigorating flow yoga done in a hot room set to music. Five years ago I was a Bikram regular, going 2x a week for 6 months straight. So transitioning back into hot yoga is a bit hard for me. I love the way my ab muscles are always sore the next day!

The other three days of the week I rotate between spin class and workout DVDs. I recently went to a ladies of the 80s themed spin class and I sang out loud to all the songs! lol As you can tell exercise makes me happy and I'm dedicating myself to getting fit. I’m scheduling all my workouts in a very strict way on my calendar for the month as I need that structure to stay committed. If you want success at anything, you have to take it seriously and that's what scheduling does for me. 



I’m dedicated to making weight loss and myself a priority. I’m not happy where I am and am not going to settle for it. But I'm not wallowing in the negative, I'm grateful that I have a strong body capable of exercising. The adjectives I want to describe this year are success, confident, happy, gratitude, and adventure. I keep reminding myself that exercise keeps me healthy and happy. It's been scientifically proven that exercise has a huge effect on your mood and energy levels. It helps me to stop obsesses over the littlest problems as I can be very passionate about some things. 

Speaking of which another goal of mine is to steer clear of negative people. The toxic person who is chronically whining, unreliable when I need them,  always late, and then affecting me with their negative energy with craziness. Yolanda Foster had a birthday this month and said this about it which describes how I feel. "Your birthday is a chance for friends and family to express their love and gratitude. My birthday lunch was special for so many reasons. It made me so happy to look around the table and see my die-hard inner circle: the ones that stood by me through the good and the bad times, especially these past four years. I have learned that friendship isn't about who you've known the longest, it's about who came and never left your side. I used to think I had and needed so many friends to feel loved. I know now that if you have one or two, you are good. More than that, you are great."

I checked back on my resolutions for 2015 to make sure I'm still keeping up with those and yes I'm still keeping a gratitude journal and surpassed my reading goal by 200%! In 2016 I'm making being healthy a part of my daily routine, being mindful about eating as I'm truly motivated to reach my goal. Here's to a year filled with crushing my goals!





4 comments

  1. I love that you make vision boards! What a great idea - I need to get on board with that!

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  2. I love that weight loss idea! Super creative. I don't have any weight to lose, but I'll have to find a way to use that idea for one of my goals. Good luck with your resolutions!

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  3. Good luck on all your goals!! You will crush them!

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  4. I need to make a vision board again. I always feel so much more focused with them. Maybe that's a project for this weekend. I love that weight loss tracker idea!

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