27 Dec
2011
I don't believe in the importance of making resolutions, especially on New Year's, for the sake of making resolutions. However, I think it's important to take stock in the value of making lifestyle changes that can provide some benefit, such as saving extra money, or becoming more healthy.
Last year, on a whim, I made two resolutions. My first New Year's resolutions were to lose 25 pounds. My second, to stop drinking soda pop. The important thing is that I didn't set a deadline date (immediately). Changing habits overnight is not something that's possible for me to do. And I didn't want to set a deadline date that was too agressive.
So, I downloaded an app called "Lose It" and set it up so that I would try to lose 25 pounds by May 1st. I figured that I could always modify this, as needed. But I thought 25 pounds over 16 weeks was realistic. All I'd need to do is very gradually reduce my calorie intake overtime. The only expense of effort and money was to check calories on websites, food-labels, etc., and purchasing some extra measuring cups, so you can accurately keep count of calories. Surprisingly, it wasn't that big of a deal. And there were times that I would do my best to approximate - which became easy to do, with practice. The gradual reduction of calories was built-into the lose it app. It would lower your daily budget of calories over the course of weeks, as you checked in - and updated the program with your weight every couple of weeks.
I became so use to counting calories, that even though I stopped back in July, I sometimes still miss it.
But I reached my goal by mid-May, and at that point, I was finding that a daily calorie allowance of 2100 per day, was sufficient for me. At that time, I started going to the gym. I was way out of shape, but having lost the 25 pounds made getting back into shape not as big of an ordeal. As long as I would go to the gym and work out for 15-20 minutes a day, three times a week, I could bump up my calorie intake to about 2500-2600 per day (for every extra 100 calories that I went over by the end of the week, would require an extra five minutes on one of those days). And I was maintaining my weight.
After having lost the 25 pounds, I had lost some muscle mass, so I started a weight training program with a personal trainer. I could have just done it on my own, but since I've had back and leg issues, I thought I would consult with a PT for a few weeks of classes to learn proper form. But I've come to learn that by watching others and asking questions, can be a good (and cheaper) alternative to hiring a PT. Now that I've rebuilt the muscle that I lost, and continued to do weight training once or twice a week, along with my three days of cardio, my caloric budget is just under 3000 calories. And as I mentioned before, I don't count calories anymore. I pretty much developed a good sense of when I'm over-eating due to having counted calories for six months.
The point of posting this is to try and convey that it's possible to set a resolution and achieve it, but maybe the success comes in not investing too much energy into it - that is, set up something realistic, try the best you can to put yourself in a position to achieve it, but don't make it a life or death type thing.
Giving up soda pop was surprisingly easy for me as well. I use to average 80-100 ounces a day. But I weaned myself off very gradually. I bought some mini-bottles/mini-cans, and would only drink when I started feeling the beginning of a caffeine-withdrawal headache. I would drink half the mini-bottle/mini-can. And that made the headache dissipate. When I felt it come back, I'd drink the other half. Pretty soon, I'd just drink 1/3, then 1/5. Til at the end, I'd take one swig, and that would suffice. I never had the pain of going through an intense caffeine-withdrawal headache. So, the key was to just keep things pretty low-keyed. Not to be too agressive with deadlines or goals, just patience and time.
