Hopeful

Happy New Years!

With the new year, there is always so much talk about resolutions, and commitments and craziness. And usually this stresses me out. I feel like when I make a goal in the middle of the year it is so much easier to accomplish because the expectation to succeed is lessened. There is no pressure to change. and if you do fail, its not the end of the world. But at the new year, everyone is expecting to see a change. Everyone is waiting to see the "new me" emerge. And that's stressful. Everyone is curious to know what things you don't like about yourself and want to change.

And while this does add a level of stress and pressure, this year I am less annoyed by it, and more excited by the challenge.

I want people to hold me accountable. I want people to know my goals and hold me to them. I want people to congratulate me when I eventually accomplish my goals and I want people to feel like they had a place in helping me achieve them.

It's not an original goal, but I'm so excited about it.

I'm losing weight. Tah dah! I know, it's so cliché for a New Years goal, but I feel like its something I need in my life. I need the be healthier. I need to be more aware of my body and its needs. I need to.

I joined Weight Watchers, and so far, I LOVE IT. I've never used a program like this. It's wonderful. It's more than just counting calories, and logging all you eat, although that is part of it.
The WW app really helps me set goals, form habits and love my body.
It also understands that I am human, and I have cravings and I have days I want to splurge. And WW gives me to tools to do this in the best ways possible. It's forgiving and encouraging and it's perfect for my personality.

I started last week, and I weighed in this morning and I have lost 5.2 pounds so far. And I couldn't be more ecstatic. One of the best parts of this New Years goal, is that Alex is doing it too, and we are totally competing to see who can lose the most. It's great to have the friendly competition going on. Plus we have a couple goal. When we lose a certain amount of weight together, we reward ourselves with something fun, like going to the movies, or getting tickets to a baseball game!

One of the parts of dieting that I really do love, is the cooking. I love the challenge of eating/cooking healthy, but delicious meals. So far I think I'm doing pretty good!! At least Alex is still smiling, so that's a good sign. I get lots of inspiration from magazines like Cooking Light and blogs like eatyourselfskinny. I'm also make a killer salad, so that makes healthy eating pretty easy when I'm out of creative ideas!

I'm excited to see what this next year brings!!

I will be giving WW updates every week or so to let y'all know how I'm doing.

Happy Healthy Eating!!