Thursday, January 1, 2009

Resolutions - Day 1

After a low-key and fun New Year's Eve celebration with good friends and kids, today was the day to get the resolutions started. It didn't help much that we had a New Year's Day Open House to attend with many friends and delicious food, but I was determined to start the year honest. I'm not planning to write about my resolutions in such detail everyday, but I thought it was a good idea to start of 2009 like this. Soon I'll have a trip to Ethiopia, and will get back to blogging about Africa again.

1. Goal - I will write down everything I eat ----I actually asked the host at the party to find a scrap of paper for me, so I could surreptitiously take notes while at the party. Otherwise, I knew I could "forget" to write some things down. I drank huge glasses of seltzer water instead of wine, ate a lot of fresh veggies, and kept the more decadent food to small tablespoon-sized portions. Who in their right mind doesn't want to eat a lot of spinach-artichoke dip???? I chose the smallest crackers, thinking it would be rude to just stick in my finger (which is calorie-free) and scooped up a reasonably-sized gob of deliciousness.

2. Goal - Healthy BMI - In the end, I ate about 2000 calories today, or about 31 Weight Watchers points. (Ideally, I should aim for 23 points, with 35 extra points per week to eat as I please.) I could have done better, but at a party with good food, I normally do much worse! So I was pleased with my progress. I also took the time today to sign up for Fit Day, where my weight loss, nutrition, and fitness goals can be tracked. If you want to see how I did today, you can check out my FitDay public account here.

3. Goal - Run a 5k. I went online and found a "couch to 5K" program that I'm going to try. It seems I should be able to do it in 12 weeks. I didn't exercise at all today, but I'm getting mentally ready to start the program. And I also looked around for 5K races in April, found a local one in Reston, VA, and wrote to the coordinator to find out how to sign up. I got an out-of-office reply, but hopefully I'll hear from him next week, and I'll commit to my first run ever.

4. Goal - Save money for the family. We plan to cancel our cable. It should save us about $44/month. I'll let you know when we actually cancel it, though.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

thank you for your nice comment on my blog today. I'm going to check your blog out now - your life seems rather interesting!!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'm a friend of your Mom's (ex-CBAT) and am now a WW Leader in Montana. Looks like you are off to a good start. Congrats and hang in there. My only comment is that you are making it harder than you need. The points system is to simplify your choices, yet you want to break them down to how much of this and that do you want. Guess for some that is good, helping you choose healthier alternatives, yet that's what the new Momentum program is about. Find more filling foods (green diamonds in your books) and you will be eating healthier and staying more satisfied, without all the break-downs. Simplify. You've listed a lot to accomplish this year ... ah but you are young and probably can do them! ha! I'm just focusing on one ... Moving more! Best wishes for your New Year! Laurie Miller, Billings, MT

Katy, Planet Perspectives said...

Hi Laurie -
I remember my mom telling me about all your progress as you lost your weight a little bit ago. I noticed online that the WW program wasn't "points" per se, but a new "Momentum" program. I was at my ideal goal weight back in the late fall of 2002--so I can jump back to a meeting if I need to. It really is hard to do with all my travel, but I would like to learn more about it. Right now, I know that I must right things down. I am far less likely to eat something fatty, or a huge portion, if I know I am going to write it down. And now that I'm blogging about it, anyone can see what I've eaten on FitDay... I was nervous about doing that, but I figured it was worth it for more accountability. Thanks for writing!

Katy, Planet Perspectives said...

Oops - notice that funny error on my last comment. I must "right" things down. In a way, it's a positive mistake, in that I want to write the right things down...

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