2019

New Year, New Me? No...but a few changes are in order.

I've heard it said not to make New Year's resolutions - that they aren't proper goals, that there is never follow-through, that if you want to start something, any time is a good time to start. Well, New Year's is a time. Why not start today? Why not take advantage of the momentum from this time of year and get some new habits going? Why not make some changes?

I've been thinking about the changes I want to make - what I want my life to look like, and I thought I would put these musings into writing to give myself something to check my accountability against.

Daily

Mornings

• Get up when the alarm goes off (thought I'd get the tough one out of the way)
• Drink water (I think my bottle is 12 oz)
• Meditate - starting every day off with some mindfulness ought to help me stay focused. Worth a try at least!
• Read affirmations aloud
• Weigh
• Trash

Afternoons

• Work out
• Car - inside

Evenings

• Prep meals for next day
• Prep wardrobe for next day
• Review calendar
• Track things
• Brush teeth
• Wash face
• Read
• FLY

Weekly

• Budget
• Menu planning
• Shopping
• Meal prep
• Grooming
• Body measurements

Monthly

• Review goals, habits
• Car - outside

Fitness

I'll be doing a combination of Gymnastic Bodies (I've purchased their level 1 course), and on days they have a workout I haven't paid for, I'll be doing kettlebell swings. My day off from fitness will align with my day "off" from diet.

Nutrition

I'm going to be following a combination of the Virgin Diet, Slow Carb Diet, and the nutrition guide from Gymnastic Bodies. The way I am going about this is that 6 days a week, I will avoid the following, while taking day 7 as my "Dieters Gone Wild" day:

• Soy
• Corn
• Dairy
• Sugar and sweeteners
• Peanuts
• Gluten
• Eggs
• Rice
• Potatoes

Strategies

Some of the things I'm going to be doing to help maintain the above:

• Set an alarm for my nightly routine. Once the alarm goes off, my phone goes on the charger in a room away from my bedroom. I'll be using my natural light alarm, and my phone will only be a backup. This does mean I won't be able to monitor my sleep, but I'm completely ok with that.
• I've heard that just the act of tracking/measuring helps us change habits without thinking about them. I hate writing things down or entering into an app/website. For my meals, I'm simply going to post a photo to Instagram (@fit2hitlog). I'm also going to post a selfie every time I work out as well as a pic every time I step on the scale. This will be my way of tracking. If I do violate any of my "avoids," I'll put a tag for those. 
• I'm also going to be uploading pictures of my receipts so I can have a better picture of where my money is going.
• In order to slow down my mind before eating, I'm also going to try to incorporate gratitude time. This will be my version of a prayer. The thought is to write 3 items of gratitude and post a pic of these. Getting out of the stress of the moment and focusing on gratitude helps detract from the impulsiveness and brings about mindfulness, which should theoretically help me stop or at least reduce overeating.
• I'm probably going to remove games and social media from my phone again. Except IG, since I'm using that for logging. I'll keep WhatsApp and Hangouts since I use those to communicate with family. 
• I don't have specific weight goals other than getting down to 180. But I'm not necessarily trying to stop there. 160 would be optimal, but 180 is a great start!

Other

Other random things I want to do this year:

• Finish my quilt
• Finish training and start deploying with Team Rubicon
• Apply for my commission

Links

• https://tim.blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/comment-page-10/
• https://tim.blog/2011/01/08/kettlebell-swing/