Tag Archives: SparkPeople

2013 “Resolutions”

Let’s start off with a some background info: my husband works for SparkPeople.com. If you’re not familiar with SparkPeople, it is the largest online diet and healthy living community (and it’s free!). In the spirit of “practice what you preach,” SparkPeople employees are encouraged to participate in an annual challenge that includes fitness and nutrition goals. Participants are also asked to create some personal goals to work towards throughout the year. They don’t have to be fitness or nutrition-related; these goals can be anything. I thought writing these out and sending them into the ether of the Interwebs might help with accountability and responsibility and all those other abilities.

I put “resolutions” in quotes because that word makes me shudder a little bit, and conjures up almost immediate expectations of failure. So maybe something like resolutions will have a more positive effect on my mental outlook for the year to come, especially since after reading through these, I may be asking for a lot of myself at once!

Here goes nothing!…

1.) Work on my diet/food prep. There are a lot of different components to this, but here’s what I’ve got in mind – I already eat a fair amount of organic fruits and veggies, but I want to make an even stronger effort at eating only organic, as well as looking for organic/local/grass-fed sources to buy meats (anyone have any recos?). I’m considering giving the Paleo diet a shot, as I feel it would really benefit me to cut out as much dairy and grains as possible. I’d also like to make an effort this year to make more basics from scratch, at home. For instance, spices and seasonings, chicken or veggie stock, etc, instead of buying from the store. I also want to plan at least 2 meals a week, so we don’t get sucked into the “let’s pick something up because I forgot to defrost the chicken” habit. Make sure those meals include plenty of veggies and fish!]

>> I’ve already started with meal planning: Sunday we had Black Bean Burgers and tonight, Mexican Quinoa is on the menu! Yum! I found both recipes on Annie’s Eats: Black Bean BurgersMexican Quinoa

2.) Find a form of exercise that doesn’t feel like a chore. I’m really looking forward to daily dog walks once the weather improves a bit, but I really need help motivating myself (indoors or out!) when the weather’s so cold and dreary.

3.) Start writing again. My novel is never going to write itself! I don’t know what I’ll write, but I think a personal project, beyond this blog, will be good for me 🙂

 

What are your “resolutions” for the year? If you have any tips that could help with mine, I’d love to hear them! Let’s help keep each other on track and motivated!

{I already listed out some of the house projects I want to complete in 2013. You can view those here.} 

Getting Back on the Workout Train

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Today was the day. The day to lace up the ole shoes and start working off all those holiday sweets I’ve been indulging in for the past month.

I’m sure I’m not alone with I say that I have a love-hate relationship with working out. I’ve stuck with a pretty consistent 4-to-5-day-a-week schedule for the past 4ish years, but I still go through many peaks and lulls along the way. I just haven’t found my “thing” yet. Y’know? That thing that you do? Some people are runners, some are weight lifters, some are Crossfitters, or yogis, or Zumba enthusiasts or Jazzercisers. But I can’t figure out what mine is. I’ve tried tae bo (who can resist a spandex-clad Billy Blanks?). I’ve tried free ExerciseTV videos on hulu. I’ve tried running. Oh, how I tried to love running. I ran a few 5ks, one 10k, and then tried training for a half-marathon before I hit a major IT-Band wall. And then I was depressed and cranky for 4 months. So maybe let’s not get into that right now.

My most recent kick was the Insanity program.
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If you’ve heard of P90x, Insanity is a similar program from the same producers. 60-something days of cah-razy cardio antics, mostly using your own body weight instead of equipment. There’s cardio, there some yoga-type stretching, there’s even an upper body weight training disc for those who love to lift. I made it about 3 full rounds before I got burnt out. And I guess I should also say that I felt a bit discouraged, because I never saw any of those crazy weight-loss results that the infomercials are always touting. In addition to tracking my starting weight, I also took measurements, since they’re more accurate indicators of progress. I actually gained, but I’d attribute that to muscle mass vs. fat. But it’s still hard to find the motivation when the numbers on the scale stay about the same, and the numbers on the tape measure grow!

So now that post-holiday pounds and New Year’s resolutions are staring me down, I’m still trying to figure out what my “thing” is.

What’s your fitness activity of choice? Have you tried Insanity or P90x, or a similar program before? What has/hasn’t worked for you?