Battle of the Post Holiday Weight Gain

 

Did any of you over do it like me this past holiday and gain weight like me?

Who am I kidding? With me breastfeeding for the majority of 2015, I let my eating habits go awry, anything and everything I wanted, I ate inhaled. Now all that post baby weight I lost, is pretty much toast. I’m back to my normal weight which is not bad, but for me, I know that I can do better. I can tell by the bloat that the carbs I’ve been inhaling are not doing my body any good. So, it’s time to get my food portions and meals in order. I’m not going to go on a juice or tea detox, because it takes a lot to oil this 6 foot machine! I am just going to do some meal planning and eat less processed foods, eat more veggies and fruits, and drink more water. I’ve done this before if you have been following my blog posts.

I am also back in the gym! I started back last week and it felt glorious! The Fitbit is the reason ‘m back full fledged.

Image Source: FitBit.com

I bought a Charge HR(In purple!!!!) to inspire me to get off my butt and on me feet as well as track my heart rate. What I didn’t think would happen was my competitive spirit to kick into full blast! On the Fitbit app you can add friends, and can challenge them during the week, cheer their progressions and taunt them in competitions. It’s an amazing device and they have many different kinds.I got this one on sale during the holidays and I must say it’s one of my best purchases in 2015.You can check out the various Fitbits here. Today I did about 45 minutes of intervals on the elliptical, as well as took 5 flights of stairs back to my desk and took the 15 minute ab class they offer at the gym at work. I also make sure to track my food and connected my Fitbit to the wonderful app MyFitnessPal which helps you track your food and helps you set goals for eating. Before I put something in my body I will put it in MyFitnessPal to see if it’s a good food or a bad food. Food planning helps and they even help you set goals for exercise and things. I really love the app and it helped me lose 25lbs a few years ago. I am SO excited that I am back on track and I can bring you guys some great fitness content and potential yummy recipes  soon. I am so happy to be on my journey again!

 

 

New Year! New Goals!

Image provided by: http://www.padhokhelo.com/

 

It is a New Year! We are blessed to see another day. We are also blessed to make some new focuses and goals!

I know we all have something we are grateful for in this new year. I know I do. I have a few goals that I want to accomplish this year and I think that they are manageable I just have to put in the work. Because without works, you cannot have anything right?

Goal number 1,  To start a gratitude journal

• My goal is to write at least 5 things I am grateful for everyday. I think this will help me to be more optimistic and more faithful with the blessings and things I already have!

Goal number 2, Save Money

• I have to focus on saving more money because my future goals require capital. I want to focus on more of what I need vs more of what I want and that is to be as debt free as possible. It just will put me in a better position to have funds for the home I dream of owning one day.
• Nwo youot only does saving money help out a good home down payment, it will also benefit me to have additional funds to travel with my little. I started out doing a few challenges and one of them is the penny challenge. I can save a total of 667.00 for the year. That is basically a good flight somewhere cool or fun for me and the little to go with a little extra change left over for a fun souvenir! I have family and friends all over the United States so this would benefit me greatly to visit my loved ones.  How the penny challenge works is you save a cent a day. So day one(January 1st) you save $0.01 cent, day two save $0.02 cents and you add more cents as the year progresses. You end up with approximately $667.00. You can save backwards (start off at $3.67 and work your way down to $0.01 if that helps you) too and even up the ante to a dollar a day if you want to save let’s say $6,667.00 (WOW! Right!).
• Another way to save is to to the weekly dollar saving plan. There are 52 weeks in a year and each week you add a dollar accordingly. So week one is $1.00 and week 2 is $2.00. by the time you are done with the year you should have saved $1,378.00 which is substantial.Check it out here on how to get started with this challenge if you are interested  You can even save it backwards to save the larger amounts first and work on the smaller amounts last.

Goal number 3, To be a healthier me

• The best gift you can give your family is a mentally, spiritually, and physically fit version of yourself. A lot of people think that the physical aspect is the only thing you have to work on but no, renewing our mind, our faith, our perseverance, our peace, our personal selves is the best gift we can give to ourselves and those around us. So I plan to devote more time to praying, reading my bible, fasting if needed, and I also bought a fitbit to increase my daily activity to try to maintain the physique I am at at this point in my life.

Goal number 4, To have more peace

• I refuse to let anyone try to mess up the peace I have in my life I have learn to not be influenced by others and the emotions or actions they try to inflict in my life. Peace is priceless. I will not allow any other person’s dysfunction or disobedience to God to encroach or try to take up space in my life. God has been too good to me for me to mess up the blessings he has given me and will continue to give me in my life.

Make sure you write your goals down and have them somewhere were you can view them everyday. Also make sure you have a plan! Make sure it is obtainable! You can even go as far as tracking your progress, or creating a vision board (A modern day vision board would be Pinterest)

I have noticed on some social media sites, that there are people being critical of others for wanting to improve themselves for the better for the new year. When I see such criticism I ask those of you creating goals or writing them out socially to refer to Jeremiah 17:8 “Such trees are not bothered by the heat.” You are the tree and the opinion of others should bear no weight on your goals. Also, if you see a person trying to claim or wanting to do better for the new year and you know that they are struggling in certain areas, be that friend that encourages them when their endurance gets low. It makes a difference. You could single-handedly be the catalyst for their growth. That’s all I have to say about the berating of those with goals and dreams for the New Year.

 

What are your goals for the New Year? Feel free to share. I think 2016 is going to be an amazing year, a lot of work,but amazing nonetheless!