2010 in review...and what's on my plate for 2011!

I can't believe that 2010 is drawing to a close!  It feels like it just got here, and already we are saying goodbye.  This year was HUGE for me, in terms of health and fitness, and it feels so good to look back on the year and feel satisfied by how I am doing in my seemingly endless struggle against my weight.  I still have more work to do, but I feel like I have learned so much this year, and I am actually feeling optimistic that 2011 may be the year that I reach my weight goal!  And I know it will be the year that represents the first time in a LONG time that I have weighed less than 200 pounds.  I don't have all that far to go to hit that goal, and I am looking forward to it!  I had hoped to weigh that on my 35th birthday, which is four months from tomorrow, but I am no longer thinking that is going to happen.  However, my new goal is to be under the weight I was when I first joined eDiets when I got out of college in early 1999, which was 221 pounds, and I can easily do that before I turn the big 3-5!

To recap, on January 4, 2010, I started my journey to health and wellness at 274.6 pounds on my old scale.  Last week, when I weighed in on my new scale, I weighed 226.5 pounds.  This represent a total weight loss of 48 pounds.  I had lost about 40 pounds by the end of the summer, and I hit a plateau, but I maintained that weight loss while still enjoying food, and I have kicked things back into gear with the help of the new Weight Watchers PointsPlus program.  My official WW weigh-in last week had me at 230 pounds on their scale (with clothes on, while I weigh myself at home first thing in the morning in my birthday suit), which represents a weight loss of 5.8 pounds since I attended my first meeting.  Now, I did overindulge for the four days between Christmas Eve and yesterday (thereby not meeting my goal of limiting myself to two days of excess), so I will not be surprised to see a gain at tomorrow's meeting, but I have been 100% back on track today and look forward to seeing where WW is going to take me!

One of the biggest things I have done this year is increase the amount of time I am spending in the gym.  Now, I used to spend no time at all in the gym, so any increase would be a huge one, but I have really gotten into the habit of going to the gym, for the most part, four days per week.  My work schedule does not allow me to go work out on my work days, but for most of the year, I have been consistent in my gym habits.  I have not been going as often lately because my second job, which is a retail job, has picked up a lot during the holiday season, but that should calm down soon, and then I will have plenty of time to spend in the gym!

Here is a list of my 2011 goals/resolutions, as well as some discussion of them:

To lose the remaining 50 pounds of weight to my ultimate goal - Even with my several-months-long plateau, I managed to lose almost 50 pounds this year.  Next year, I would like to avoid such a long plateau (which I can mostly attribute to being a lot more lax with things for several months, really, so maybe it was more a fall-off-the-wagon than a plateau) and lose the rest of the weight!  It's hard to imagine how I will feel when I accomplish this goal because I have struggled with my weight for so long.  However, I know the plan that I am following is one that will work, and I know that I can do it!

To attend Weight Watchers meetings every week of the year - This one is important to my success with my first goal.  I know that WW works, and I know that part of what makes it work for me is the support that the meetings give me.  I also know that it's easy to let one skipped meeting turn into me disappearing off the face of the WW earth, and I don't want that to happen.

To cut back my fast food consumption to once per month - I still answer the call of the drive thru way too often, usually when I am on my way home from work and am exhausted.  I most often stop at Chick-fil-a, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it is money I don't need to spend at the very least.  Now, the nice thing about WW is that you can build treats like this into your plan.  However, a treat doesn't happen twice in one weekend...it happens once in a while.

To increase my fitness to the point that I can run 5K by the end of the year - I am a C25K dropout, and most of my exercise these days is on the elliptical or on the StairMaster.  And I love both of those because I can read books on my nook while working out, which keeps me working out for long amounts of time.  However, I still feel very strongly that I want to become a runner (well, jogger, really).  And therefore, I am going to restart C25K once the coldest weather goes away, and this time, I hope to complete it!  I know that treadmill running will not work for me at this point, although I did used to enjoy some treadmill running back in the day when I called myself a runner.  Therefore, I am going to continue building up my fitness level using my current cardio methods, and then when it's nicer out, I will add in the C25K program.  Here's hoping it sticks this time!

And two non-health-related goals:

To follow Dave Ramsey's debt snowball for the entire year to pay down CC debt - I have accrued a good amount of CC debt in my life, and I really want to work on getting it paid down.  It isn't the ideal time to do this, as one stepson is headed to college this fall, and the other will follow the next fall.  However, I am feeling stifled by the debt I have, and I want to work on it.  I have downloaded a great planning and tracking spreadsheet that will make this easy to do, as long as I can stick with it and learn the difference between "wants" and "needs."  I have my budget for the year set up and filled in, and now I just have to stick to it (and hope that not too many unexpected expenses head our way this year)!

To read 111 book in '11 - This is my goal with my online book club on The Nest.  I read 100 books this year, and I want to challenge myself a bit for next year.  It would be too much of a stretch for me to read 125 books, I think, but 111 is probably doable.  In the years after that, I will probably stick to a 100-book goal every year, but I look forward to challenging myself with this one!

So that's it!  Those are a lot of goals, but so many of them are interrelated that I think I will be able to achieve them!  Here's to a wonderful new year and a health, happy 2011 for us all!  Make it a great YEAR, everyone!