So, yesterday we examined why New Year's Resolutions suck. Today we're going to talk about why New Year's Resolutions ROCK!
A new year is a fresh start, and a chance to change your life with a perceived "clean slate." This attitude is fantastic, because changing your life for the better is something everyone can(and should) always do. The problem with this attitude, as stated in yesterday's post, is that it sets you up for failure if you expect too much of yourself.
Instead, I propose that we look at EVERY day as the first day of the new year. Not to get cheesy or cliche about it, but every day is a chance to start again. You are a different person today than you were yesterday. The decisions you made yesterday can carry over into today, yes, but from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, you always have the chance to make different ones.
Ate a candy bar, a milkshake, and four cookies yesterday? Well that sucks. Does that make any difference today? Well, it might cause a bit of a bump on the scale, but that is fuel. Too often I let decisions of the past cloud my judgement, alter my motivation, or ruin my mood. I'm sure some of you do this, as well. It's human! But remember, this blog is about surpassing our own limitations, human as they may be, and make a difference in our lives. Those bad decisions? They're not something for you to feel guilty about. They're fuel to push you further, farther, faster, and harder. So what, you ate a candy bar yesterday?! Show yourself how strong you can be by not eating one today.
If every day is a new year, a blank sheet of paper, then you are free to write your story in any way you choose.
You are your own video game character. Every time you have a choice in life, that little conversation wheel from a Bioware game pops up in your head, and you get to pick which way you go with that decisions. New Year's resolutions ROCK because they give us the goal we're striving for. Every time we have that wheel pop up in our head, we can look at our choices and say, "Which one of these moves towards my resolution? Which one fits my step-by-step plan?"
This brings us to our new challenger, today. In addition to plotting my own progress(starting with the previous post), my lovely wife, Jackie, will be joining me!
Name: Jackie Wallace
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 193.5 lbs
Skills:
- Martial Artist
- Determined
- Resilient
- Excellent Chef
- Supreme Organizer
- Devious Ass-kicker
- Fantastic wife and step-mother
Jackie is no stranger to changing her life, or starting over again. This time last year she was in the full swing of a new diet and workout program. She stayed faithful and dedicated for eleven months, losing 64 pounds, going from 230 lbs to 166 lbs. It was truly remarkable to watch. Unfortunately, then her father got much sicker, and we ended up having to change our lifestyles drastically. I also injured my foot around the same time, so she lost her workout partner. Since then, she has gained some of that weight back, currently sitting at 193.5 lbs as of yesterday.
Jackie's got some goals for this year, as I do, and they are as follows:
Goals(by December 31st, 2013):
140 pounds, toned and fit, by June
Maintain that weight.
Be physically capable of doing whatever she wants, whenever she wants, and have the confidence to wear whatever clothing she wants while doing it.
Able to run an entire Tough Mudder(the first one she ran she took a little over four hours, and walked a lot of it)
So let's look at the first goal, and break it down. It's a pretty lofty goal, putting her at just under ten pounds lost every month between now and then. This is possible, but it is at the upper level of what is considered as "healthy weight loss." As such, she's really gonna have to bust her butt to make it happen. But, being impatient and trying to make sweeping changes right off the bat is probably just going to set her up for failure. As such, we need to break it down incrementally. She needs to alter her diet, and her workout program. On the diet front, her change for this week is to remove all sweets. This means that to start off her year, we're starting by cutting out the candy, cookies, and dessert, and replacing them with fruit, veggies, and whole grain granola bars.
On the workout front, she's going to be doing the Kinect Nike Workout program, subbing in some exercises from the Lara Croft workout, as well as some dumbell exercises from the new set we got for Christmas. For her first week, she's setting a goal of working out twice this week.
So, to summarize..
This week, Jackie will...
Cut out sweets.
Work out twice with the Kinect Nike Fitness program
As we did before, we're laying out simple, measurable, straightforward goals. No wiggle room, no vague wording. She's not trying to "eat healthier" and "work out more." She's cutting out her sweets, and working out twice. Done.
If she doesn't succeed completely, like we said before, that is just more fuel for the fire that is driving this change in her life. No regrets, no guilt, just relentless forward progress.
We will be updating you all periodically on our journey, and revisiting our goals and progress markers every week. Tomorrow's post is an adventure, we'll see where we go when we get there! Until then, make sure to follow me on Twitter, like the blog page on Facebook, hit up the Tumblr, and continue to be awesome!
Dan "DaRatmastah" Wallace
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