Tuesday, January 8, 2013

She's back.

Hi everyone!

First off, to all those whose stories I haven't been following because I withdrew from the bloggy world, I hope you're staying strong and keeping on keeping on or something good like that. I've thought about you often.

Well, 2012 was a year for me to re-focus myself a little. Things at work were down then got really up near the end of the year. I got a promotion, and am in training to become the team leader in February if all goes well, so this has given me a renewed excitement about work.

I began taking Portuguese lessons in October 2011 and continued to Level 5 (of 6) at the YMCA, then moved on to the courses at the church since it's MUCH cheaper and is more relevant for me since it is continental Portuguese. I even got to test it out when I went to Portugal in September, which was such an amazing time for my boyfriend and I. My Portuguese classes resume tonight, yay!

Yes, I am still happily with my ex-personal trainer-now-lifetime partner. He moved in last January and he makes a really fun roommate, friend and personal chef and motivator. I'm a lucky one.

In fitness news, I was really inconsistent and unmotivated for much of last year. I managed to put back on 10 lbs, but get back on track every time I fell off for a week or two. I couldn't get myself back into running, so I decided to focus on running in 2013. Especially since I made the painful move to drop volleyball. Well, I was supposed to be playing indoor court vball for fall/winter, but since I'm not passionate about anything but beach vball, I decided I needed that time to rest. I will be playing court vball one night a week now, instead of indoor beach, for money reasons. Eventually I will play beach again, but I have big things to save for and am making a few sacrifices now for the greater good. Running will have to suffice until summertime.

I began to see my old eating habits re-emerge, so I am working on keeping those more disciplined and in check this year. Since I do have a problem with food and tend to pack on pounds, it will be a lifetime effort, and some days (or years) are harder than others. I watched a documentary called Hungry for Change, as well as Food Inc., and have been inspired. My boyfriend and I decided to test out buying local organic produce to see if that works for us, and we've been incorporating a wider variety of vegetarian content even though I (and probably he) never intend to go fully veg. I love meat, and fish and eggs especially, so we just eat less of it and buy better quality, offsetting the price by eating more legumes, green veggies and grains, for example. Fewer croissants on the weekends too, while not depriving ourselves completely of the good stuff.

On the subject of deprivation, I have been without Diet Coke for about a month or less now, and it was only intentional for a few days, then I just stopped noticing. If I could cut back to once a year I'd be satisfied. It does more harm than good (being absolutely NOT good for you), but I love it and only it where fizzzy drinks are concerned. Otherwise I'm a waterholic, always have been, fortunately.

Okay, I can't make any promises about writing regularly, but I am thinking about it, since it really helped me stay focused on my goals year round, and find the necessary support and inspiration. I want to stay focused on keeping my eating habits in check and maintaining my current weight or losing 5-7 lbs through running and eating well. Those are my SMART goals for the year, let's see how this goes.

2 comments:

Babs said...

Hey there, keep up the good work! I will be checking out those two movies you wrote about. I've been meaning to check out Food Inc. for years now! Sending some healthy-food-craving vibes to you over the interwebs. xo

Leanne said...

I watched Food Inc. while on a 3-day juice diet, which really helped since you may be slightly turned off meat for a short time after (it's not as 'gross' as I had expected though, but makes you think twice for sure).