It's A New Year - 2012

It's a new year and I'm ready to make the most of it! The Sisterhood wants us to start it off right so they are offering a great new challenge to start 2012 off with a bang!



I'm excited and ready to see what I can do when I pour myself into it 100% and that's exactly what I'm planning to do! In fact I already started, by getting up this morning and changing clothes, putting my contacts in and EXERCISING! Yes, that's right I've decided that I need to exercise first thing in the morning so I have no excuses to NOT do it!

For the month of January I have decided to do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred! Yes, I know January has 31 days but I figure I can start February a day early since it only has 29 days in it! Since Jillian's workout is only about 20 minutes (plus about 4 minutes of warmup and cool down I decided to some sort of ab workout to bring my minumum total of workout to 30 minutes. Today I pulled up Netflix's Target Toning and I did the 10 minute Ab workout. Normally I would say that this workout would not be a good enough workout for me but after Jillian it was enough! I feel like I'm starting over with my fitness and this was a great start!

As for my starting weight for this challenge: Sadly it was 205.0 and honestly I was surprised it wasn't more. Over the past couple of months I have basically not had any exercise and I have been eating and drinking way more than I know I should! This challenge lasts 8 weeks and goes till the end of February. That gives us plenty of time to make some good changes and a great start to meeting our goals for 2012!

At the end March of 2009 I started my journey of weight loss and I weighed in at 226.8, so over the course of 2 years and 9 months I have lost and maintained a loss of 21 pounds. For that I am happy. For that I am grateful. BUT I really want and NEED to get the rest of this weight off. It's for my health! It's for my sons! It's something I need to do for ME! So here I am again at the beginning of a new year saying one of my goals for the year is to lose weight. I really believe that if I follow the Low Glycemic Index Diet Plan (that the doctor told me to follow nearly 3 years ago) I will meet my goal of 150 - 155 pounds by the time my birthday shows up on the calendar in late July.

So...how will I ensure that I follow the diet and exercise plan I KNOW will work for me? I will hold myself accountable. I will beg my friends to help me! I will make sure that I don't buy junk that I will be tempted to eat! I will focus on the things that help me do what I know I need to do. I will also make sure I exercise EARLY in the day so that I'm not "too tired" to exercise! Just an excuse really since I don't EVER go to bed early but it was an excuse I used for the past couple of months!

So...my goals for the month of January?

** Workout with Jillian every morning as well as an additional 10 minutes of ab work! (My abs will thank me!) for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day.
** Follow along with the challenges that the Sisterhood throws out there!
** Follow along with the "small changes" that Christy will share with us on the 'hood!
** Follow the Low Glycemic Index Diet Plan! If it's not on the plan it's not going into my mouth this month! (I'm not planning to be this strict the whole year but I really think my body needs some "detoxing" and this is a great way to do it!)
** Weigh in at the end of January at 195!

If I do everything I have set out to do I know I can meet this goal! Yes, it will be challenging. Yes, it will be hard. Yes, I'm gonna need my friends to help me out sometimes. BUT....I know in my head and heart that I am worth the effort!

So are you participating in the new challenge? It's gonna rock!! Let me know what your hopes and dreams are for the new year so I can encourage and help you meet them!

Happy New Year friends!