Rename Your Resolutions: GOALS

Resolutions. It's about that time, right?

I used to hate resolutions. I could never keep them. That is, I could never keep them until I made a conscious decision to rename my resolutions. They were no longer empty promises I made to myself. Now I call them "goals" and it makes them way more fun to attain. 

A goal is tangible. 

A goal is something you create for yourself that is reachable.

A goal gives you a feeling of accomplishment and pride once you've reached it.

Resolutions? Meh. To most, they are empty promises.

It's kind of crazy to think that a year ago I was in Disney World with my family, almost 30 pounds heavier than I am right now, and while I was in the happiest place on earth with people I loved...I was suffering. I couldn't keep up with my daughter. My body ached from carrying around that extra weight. My legs chafed so badly that they bled. I suffered from belly pain, bloating, and discomfort the majority of the time we were there.

The photo on the left is me on the day we were in Magic Kingdom, almost a year ago to the day. Looking back at this, I so feel a tiny sense of embarrassment. How could I allow myself to get THAT out of shape? I am 28 years old! 

I came home on January 2 and promised that I wouldn't allow this for myself anymore. If I wasn't doing it for me, I needed to do it for my family. I set a goal to get healthier, not just for me, but for my daughter and husband.

I immediately started reading up on clean eating and started implementing it into my daily life. Little by little, step by step, I changed my eating habits. 

And then came my game changer. I had been watching infomercials for Focus: T25 and thought to myself: "You want this bad enough...you can do that." I convinced Denny to buy it for me for an early birthday present, and when my package came I tiptoed around it like it was a time bomb. It was scary. It was a commitment. I knew it was going to push me in ways I hadn't been pushed before.

I started the program on March 17 at 5:00 in the morning in my living room. I huffed and puffed, and thought about quitting, but the fact that I wasn't doing this for just me pushed me through. I finished all 70 days. One workout at a time, one day at a time. I kept pushing play. In the end I had lost 12 pounds and 17 inches (SEVENTEEN!). My T25 after photo is on the right up there.

Since then, I've done PiYo, 21 Day Fix (2x), Les Mills Combat, and next up for me is Insanity Max: 30. 

I've lost 28 pounds since January 2014. 

And while I'm not at my goal weight and the loss I did see this year happened verrrrry slowly, I thank God every day I came home from Florida, set that goal for myself, and pushed harder to make it a reality. I didn't set out in January and said "I want to weigh xxx by December." I simply told myself "I am setting a goal to get healthier." And then I took the baby steps to get there.

This year, though, my goals are little more descriptive. I've put some concrete target numbers on my goal list. I will be sharing them in the next post, but I'm also excited to announce that the month of January I will be doing a goal-setting series! Once a week I will post on goal-setting, including: staying on track, finding and keeping motivation, how to work through goals, and visualizing success.

I want to help so many people feel this sense of accomplishment and pride. I hope you'll join me in 2015.