Well holy cow, here we are on the last day of 2018! It’s crazy how I just keep growing older and the kids just keep getting bigger. It seems like each year goes by faster than the last!
Thankfully, it’s been mostly a great year! I’m hoping 2019 will be the same.
I hope you’ve all had a wonderful 2018 and a wonderful Christmas! This year we spent the holiday up in Oregon with Kev’s family. Several years ago, we decided to spend every other Christmas with Kev’s family and it’s been great.
It’s a bit of a pain to haul all of the presents up there, but we’ve made so many great memories and all of the kids have said they cherish the Christmases they’ve spent there. Kev’s parents are both in their mid-80s now too, so I never know how many more Christmases we will have with them. I’m thankful for every one!
We were also able to celebrate my biggest baby boy’s birthday!
He turned TWENTY on Christmas Day! How in THEE world am I old enough to have a TWENTY year old??? Folks, this whole growing older thang just continues to blow my mind.
I know I say that all the time and I’m sure I’ll continue to say it many times more, BUT I just really never thought I’d ever grow up or grow old! AND, here I am doin’ both! Ha!
I still feel like a teenager most days; a teenager who is supposed to be mature and somehow in charge of all these kids!! LOL! I’m a sentimental sap and I just try to remind myself every single day to enjoy every stage of life and embrace this whole aging process!
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I was also able to go on a quick 4 mile run on Christmas afternoon and I loved every minute. I took my sweet puppy with me for about 1/2 mile, but then he got freaked out by all the busy traffic and didn’t want to run anymore! 🙁
He always gets SO EXCITED whenever I get ready to head out on a run. He always “asks” if he can come and is always so happy when I let him AND THEN when the first fast car drives by….he’s done.
I still take him on occasion hoping he will face his fears and run with me, but no dice. Oh, how I love this puppy!
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Well folks, today I want to talk about the NEW YEAR, of course! I know so many people want to start the New Year with a bang and a lot of us want to lose weight, get healthier, have more energy and just take charge of our lives and make them what we want them to be!
I like to set healthy goals for myself all year long, but there’s just something that’s so refreshing about the New Year. It feels nice to have a “fresh start” and I also love that life usually slows down just a bit in January. It makes it possible to actually set AND reach some goals!
So, today I’m going to share the things I think are most effective, practical and doable and will help you to reach your health and wellness goals! I will also share the things I’m going to be doing and the goals I am setting for myself!
There is so much bogus BS out there and so many fad diets and I just want to say PLEASE don’t do any of those things! If you hear about a diet, challenge or plan that sounds a little extreme or too good to be true….run!
You DO NOT need to do anything extreme, in fact you SHOULDN’T do anything extreme to get healthy or lose weight. It will ALWAYS backfire on you. ALWAYS.
I also just want to say that over the years I have seen so many friends and people that I love lose weight and get healthier in so many ways. I always love seeing how happy it makes them. Their whole countenances seem to change, they walk with a spring in their step, they feel better, have more energy and have more confidence. It definitely has a profound positive effect on their whole lives.
Sadly, I’ve also seen most of these people gain back all of the weight they lost and it always breaks my heart. But, most of the time the way they lost the weight in the first place was extreme and just not livable for the long haul. I’m talkin’ ’bout long-term low carb diets, very low calorie diets, super gourmet diets where you spend a zillion hours cooking in the kitchen and diets that are just not practical to do long term.
Soooo, when you start a diet or try to just step up your healthy living….ask yourself, “Could I do this for months or years as a lifestyle?” If the answer is yes, then you know it’s a good thing!
I also want to say that it’s completely normal and natural to have times in your life when you’re a little more “on” and times when you’re more “off.” That is fine and that is life. You just want to avoid the mega extremes. It’s just not good for your body OR your psyche.
OKAY, so if you DO want to improve your healthy living and lose some weight, here are the three main things you SHOULD do and SHOULD focus on.
#1. You have to pay attention to food amount. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat in a calorie deficit. Simple as that. You just need to pay attention to what you are eating and make sure you don’t eat too much. I try to remind myself to eat until I’m satisfied, not until I’m stuffed. This practice alone will yield great results if done consistently.
- There are so many apps and websites out there that can help you figure out how many calories you should eat to reach your goal. I highly recommend My Fitness Pal. Just enter in your information, set your goal to losing either 1/2 pound or 1 pound a week and then set your activity level to sedentary and that should give you a pretty good idea of where you should be.
- Even if you exercise several times a week, most of us live fairly sedentary lifestyles outside of our “official” exercise times. The exception to this is if you are working a job where you are very active most of the day. I am a busy mom who is on the go all the time, but I don’t think I’m really burning a ton of calories. I think most of us overestimate how active we are!
- There are a lot of people who say that when you are eating “clean” and healthy, you don’t need to count calories. This can be true if you’re mindful and listen to your body! The reasoning behind this is when you eat well, your body regulates and you’re able to feel your body’s cues better. Your appetite will regulate (because your body is getting adequate nutrition!) and your body will tell you when it’s hungry and will just function really well. However, I still recommend counting calories at least for a little while so you can learn how it feels to eat a certain amount of calories and how your body responds.
- When you are cutting calories, expect to be a little hungry for a while. Not starving, but just a low level of hunger. I know this feeling well and I know it’s necessary if I want to lose weight. It’s only really hard for a week or so and then my body and appetite seem to chill out and it gets a little easier!
#2. You have to pay attention to WHAT you are eating! Your body is literally made up of the things you put into your mouth. Quality of food is HUGE and is absolutely 100% necessary to live a healthy lifestyle and to lose weight.
- You can technically still lose weight eating crap, but you will feel cruddy, starving and low on energy. Consequently, you probably won’t stick with it too long either.
- I like to remind myself that when I eat well and fill my body full of good things….my body will feel well and work well! Shocker! It actually makes weight loss much, much easier because your body will be working in your favor; your appetite and cravings will decrease, digestion will be on point and you will sleep better and more restoratively. It’s just a WIN-WIN situation!
#3. You HAVE to get your sleep!!! This one is vital. I’ve learned time and time again that when I slack on my sleep, my whole healthy living mojo goes to pot! I have no energy to workout and I just wanna eat all the crappy food! On the flip-side, when I make sleep a priority, I turn into a machine! I have so much energy and motivation. My workouts feel so good and I actually love and enjoy eating healthy food!
- Sleep is huge folks. Trust me, I’m an expert. Ha ha! This is one of the things I’ve struggled with for pretty much my whole life. I know full well what a game changer sleep can be…for better or worse!
- Sleep is the one chance our bodies have at truly repairing and healing. It’s also vital for our mental health and overall quality of life.
- It’s also impossible to lose weight if you are chronically sleep deprived. I just cannot emphasize enough how important sleep is for overall health and weight loss.
So, that pretty much sums it up! These three things have far and away the most impact on our overall health and they are absolutely vital if weight loss is the goal! When we focus on eating less, eating well and getting our sleep, our bodies will naturally work well! These three things can also make up a long-term healthy lifestyle.
I know it’s not fancy, trendy or exciting…..but, it works. Every time. Simple as that! I’m also here to tell you that if you think you can’t lose weight, if you’ve been overweight for a long time or if you think nothing works for you, I’m here to tell you it CAN and it WILL!!!
Serious.
Focus on these three things. Don’t go crazy and think you have to do everything perfectly. That will just cause you to burn out, get frustrated and lose hope in the process. Just wake up in the morning, remind yourself of your goals, be mindful, be consistent and show up every day.
And, never give up!
You will create habits in your life that you will be proud of and that will bless your life!!! It is so worth it! Food is so darn good, but I always remind myself that it is SO MUCH more rewarding to feel good, look good, have energy and good health!
It is so worth it. We just have to remember that!
I also want to mention that there are a million other things we can add to our lives that help us live a healthy lifestyle and reach our goals. We each just have to decide which things will work for us and what we’d like to do!
For example, I love intermittent fasting. It makes it much easier for me to eat well and eat less. I also think it helps me to sleep better. It’s a miracle for me! But, I know it’s not for everyone.
There are other things that can help like:
- eating several small meals throughout the day
- eating 2-3 bigger meals instead of several small meals
- stopping eating at 6:00, 7:00. 8:00 or whatever time works for you!
- Cutting out trigger foods (foods you know will cause you to overeat, fall off the wagon and just struggle with healthy living!) FYI, this is sugar (namely chocolate and baked goods) for me!
- Tracking food in an app like My Fitness Pal
- Counting calories
- Counting macros
- Carb cycling (eating lower carb some days and higher carb others)
- Calorie cycling (higher and lower calorie days)
- Obviously exercise is huge! Exercise helps us to have more energy, feel happier, feel more motivated and lose weight!
- Restricting carbs at different times throughout the day (i.e. eat low carb after 2:00, 4:00 etc.)
- AND many more!!
These are just examples of things we can decide to do to support our healthy habits. None of the things on that list are necessary. They are just supportive. The main three things; eating less, eating well and getting sleep are where we need to focus our efforts. The rest of these things just help us with the process.
Don’t get overwhelmed and don’t think you have to do anything complicated!
With that being said, I will share with y’all my goals for 2019….
- I’m going to focus on those three things; eating less, eating well and getting adequate sleep all year long. These main goals will be my standard that I will always strive to stick to!
- I’m also going to eat more vegetables!
- I’m going to add more weight training to my life. I know if I focus on getting adequate sleep, this goal will be easy because I will have enough energy and motivation to stick to it!
- I have 10-15 pounds that I’d like to lose and I’m going to do it! AND, I’m going to keep the weight off!
- I have some other personal and spiritual goals I’m going to work on as well. Mainly things like upping my spiritual efforts (reading scriptures, saying sincere prayers, etc.), organizing my life and spending more time with the people I love!
Well, that’s all I’m going to say today! I sincerely hope each of you have a wonderful New Year and a fabulous 2019! I love you all! xoxo
This post was wonderful! Thank you!
Awww, thank you so much Kristen! ❤️
Great read, Mel! I read every word! ❤️
Thanks so much Jen!!! 🙂