New Year, New You

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A lot of us probably have goals for the new year, or at least things they want to do, whether it be starting something new in life or finishing something they've been meaning to finish. I'll refrain from saying 'resolutions' since some don't like that word, but the sentiment should still be there, I feel. It's always important I think to have something to work toward.

That being said, one part of my goals for going into 2018 is to focus on my body's health. My work is still doing their weight loss program, and so I'm going to be signing up for it again. A few years back I lost 30 pounds doing it, and earned myself a cool 50 bucks. But, I fell away and back into bad habits, so those 30 pounds came right back.

This year I'm making a pledge to myself to change. For as much as my guilty pleasures may be tied to Taco Bell, I can't really treat myself to that sort of stuff until I get myself under control. Does that mean I may try a modified Whole30 at some point down the road? Sure does. Does that mean I'll be starting to be more active in the mornings before work? Yup. Thankfully I have a rather physically demanding job, so I feel lucky that I can incorporate exercise into my normal daily activities.

Yesterday I weighed in at 185.8 lbs.

That mess is coming off, and anyone that wants to join me is welcome to do so!

I'll be posting my journey in this thread, and I'd love to see what other folk are doing as well

[Satkia Beltrak]

Good luck with your goals!!

I want to continue to have a healthier life this year too, both physically and mentally. Last year, I made solid progress in healing my anxiety issues and hope to continue in that path.

I am readjusting my food intake as well because shedding pounds is definitely something I want to do to be healthier. I kept up with a short workout routine in the mornings during a significant part of 2017 and want to do even better in 2018. I plan to do the PIIT28 program from Blogilates, and then will either keep doing pilates + yoga, or shift to yoga. I also started meditating last Fall and want to go back into doing this daily as I felt a positive difference when I was doing it.

I want to avoid relying on food treats, by doing better self care through fun/creative activities (more RPing, more reading, more watching stuff and playing more than one video game). I dealt with some emotional eating towards the end of 2017 and paid the price in pounds.

Taking better care of myself on all levels is really at the core of what I want to achieve this year.

[Shyahwyn]

I've found that keeping less soda in my life has helped me lose weight easier while drinking a lot more water. During Christmas my sister-in-law mentioned that I looked like I had lost weight, which was a great compliment. Feeling better isn't always about weight though and personally, I have to get back to church at some point. I do miss it and have already visited the one that my brother and his family have gone to for a long time now. I know getting older its harder to do, but only eating when I'm hungry helps too, as well as eating less and keeping my mind busy, like Natacha said, being more involved with reading, writing and other things definitely helps the day go by faster.

I honestly don't know how much I weigh now, but I can tell in the mirror that certain areas need some attention and getting back to exercising also has helped.

[Ilias Nytrau]

My job, like Christin's, is physically demanding so I get a little bit of fitness from that, and I'm starting school as a culinary student on January 8th. I'm on my feet a lot. Additionally, I cycle, and walk a great deal, mind the sugar (if not cut out added sugar completely) and dairy in my diet, and try to eat a bit more plant-based at home. I drink more water and tea than anything else, and a little beer, wine, or cider here and there.

My plan outside of my commute is to get in a couple longer rides per week, hit strength training class at the gym a couple times a week, and do those walks. All in all, be active for at least an hour a day. Stop buying bread again, entirely because I just end up eating a lot of peanut butter and jam or peanut butter and banana sandwiches if I have bread, and a lot less of everything else.

I'm somewhere around 170lbs right now, and stand 5'6.5" tall. I do weigh myself at the start of each week, but how I look and feel, and the measuring tape, are my markers of progress. I have more energy and little to no need for naps or caffiene to get me through the day than I did at the beginning of last year.

Good luck to you all in your goals. ^_^

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Oh I definitely agree that just losing weight isn't a magic cure-all. I've been telling Charley that I plan to finish a bunch of my projects in 2018, and believe-you-me it's a hell of a list. Replacing the back deck railing that I'd removed, finishing restoring one of my pianos, fill up the rest of my sketchbook, continue my efforts to massively de-clutter the garage, finish recovering the bar top with the wood that used to be the back deck railing, finish painting the back room, finish my Star Wars Unleashed floating shelves, finish putting up the ceiling tiles downstairs... and that's just a few things, heh.

But, there are also other things that I want to do; write more, do more art, read, watch new shows, start up the garden again in the spring, building a front deck, building a leveler so I can smooth out my driveway, plant fruit trees, replace the mailbox... stuff of that nature

[Charley]

Lose weight mainly. I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I want to be healthier and fit in some cool clothes that I have.

That involves working out regularly (even if all I can do on some days is walk a few miles on the treadmill) I'd like to develop a culture of fitness.

I want to cut down on any eating out that isn't quality or for a reason. AKA, I don't want to buy someone's food because I wasn't able to make my own.

I want to meal plan. I want to set a diet that is more vegetarian (still omni, just cutting my animal proteins), and I want to reduce my alcohol intake. Right now I'm drinking about once a day. I'd like to dry that up during the weekdays.

I want to pay off debt. My car is nearly paid off. From there, I have a few other things to go.

I want to draw more.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Oh gosh yes, I forgot about my own car note. I have about 1200 left, so once I build up enough funds, I plan to knock it out completely by the end of March.


Also, I suppose the big one for this year - I want to quit smoking.

[Satkia Beltrak]

Good luck everyone!

Readjusting how to eat is definitely a challenge. I tried to lean more vegan in 2017 as I normally am a lacto-ovo vegetarian, and it wasn't the best option for me. I actually feel better, more balanced and energized when remaining lacto-ovo veggie, in balanced proportions. So I am readjusting accordingly this year. One thing I am planning to improve my diet (along with continuing to lower my sugar intake again) is to make more homemade soups as it's one of my favorite ways to ingest vegetables, especially green. The electricity is a biatch where I live, so I try not to use my stove more than twice a week on the weekend, and never touch my oven. So that can limit certain things but forces me to get creative. Thank the universe for microwaves. >.>

I have not had a scale at home in forever because it shot my nerves something fierce every time I stepped on it. I was weighted three times in Fall 2017 at the doctor, and saw 10 pounds go poof by the third time. I have been debating getting a scale again because part of me is curious about monitoring that, but I still haven't made up my mind on that.

[Charley]

I also want to take control of my mental health and get more sleep

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Friday's weigh in was encouraging. 180.4 lbs.

Most of the drop was due to having stopped eating after getting home, and also cutting back on my beer consumption once more. Since I get home at around midnight, eating then isn't really a good idea since I generally poke about online, then go to bed. I've also started bringing dinner to work with me; last few days it has been a small portion of chicken curry with veggies like celery and carrots to snack on between 5pm and 8pm.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Weigh-in on Friday January 19th was 176.4.

Ironically the day before the jeans I'd worn to work decided to split a small bit in the back next to one of the pockets. In retrospect it was rather funny, since I was in the supply room and when I went to lean over the gate to talk to the supply clerk, my partner pipes up with 'hey, so, you wouldn't happen to be feeling a breeze right now, would you?'

The rest of the day he sang moon songs to me

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I plan on losing a great deal of weight in March.

[Padd]

As others have mentioned, I'd like to regulate my eating habits. I don't need to lose weight, but my eating habits are very erratic. My wife hates that I snack all day and am not hungry for a sit down dinner with her when we get home from work. I'm going to try to cut out the snacking and eat real meals every day. I did gain maybe 3-4 pounds last year, but it appears to be all muscle, as the only thing that got tighter was the sleeves and shoulders of my suit jackets and blazers.

I'm on a program where I alternate working out and running every other day, typically 7 days per week, but sometimes I fall to 6 because of traveling or pulling all nighters at work. My workouts are right at an hour (a little longer if I do a full chest/back day), and I run anywhere from 4 to 8 miles on my run days depending on how much time I have. Usually I do a long run on Saturday/Sunday with shorter ones during the week. I'd like to stay on that regimen, and maybe work on increasing my speed on my shorter runs.

[Emelie Shadowstar]

I'm gonna post here so I have at least some sort of public accountability. Since mid-December I've been working on just being more physically active. Losing weight will be a great side effect of this, but mostly I just want to feel better. It started with Yoga in the mornings and I've moved on to throwing in some days of interval/circuit training which have been brutal but I can't deny that I feel so much better the rest of the day when I do it in the morning so there's that.

Been a bit shit about keeping up on it the last two weeks though. Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things, got off my ass today so hopefully can keep going Monday and onwards. Just looking to make it all routine, pretty much.


Aside from that I think I just in general want to read more and write more this year. Also get out and explore/experience my new home town a bit better. There's still a local brewery I haven't even stepped foot in to yet but I know a lot of that has to do with overcoming my social anxiety bullshit and doing things and going places on my own which I have to admit, I never really have had to do.