A Road Block (and Getting Ready to Leave)

Just a quick post.  I'm sorry I'm failing at the challenge posts... I feel like I've been failing at everything that even remotely involves being healthy, dieting, losing weight, twitter, #7daychip, or this blog lately and I am really sorry and feel pretty bad about it.  I feel like every time I go to start something or set a goal with the first hiccup it all falls to pieces and I'm back to where I've started.  Like the first mistake or misstep turns into a road block that keeps me from getting back on track and doing what I said I would do.  I never used to feel like this, why now?

That said, I hope to get back on the horse starting tomorrow.  Not going to write any goals right now because I don't want to let myself down again, I just really want to survive the next (get ready for it) 6 days before I fly home to America!!!  I've been busily packing and getting my affairs in order... and letting my eating and exercise slag in a big way.  It's really caught up with me all of a sudden today and I've been really bummed out and feeling huge and disgusting all day.  After I post this, I'm off to bed so I can MAKE MYSELF get up and RUN tomorrow before work.  I'm going to do it.  I am. I am. I am.

This week I've also really started thinking about going back to WeightWatchers when I get home, more specifically for the summer.  I checked my loan repayment plan (I'm trying to REALLY accelerate it to be out of debt ASAP) and paying for 4 months of the monthly pass change the end date of my new plan at all.  So, I'm currently thinking I'll sign up with a goal of doing it for the summer.  If at the end of summer, I'm not taking advantage of it and I'm not at least 10lbs down... then I'll stop my subscription when we move and go back to using CalorieCount for free... What do you guys think?  I think that with this plateau and the way I've been feeling, I really need my meetings (and my AWESOME leader at home) back.  Something needs to change and I need to kick myself in gear since Jon and our friends have a packed schedule of fun races and other event we want to do.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling post, just wanted to put out how I'm feeling to the blogosphere and remind you all that I'm still here.  I'm working on a few posts right now: moving out (with photos), a new challenge post, a plan for the summer, etc.  Stay tuned!

Update: For the first time in I think all of 2011 so far, I actually DID get up at 6am and go for a run after this post.  I hope that this is the start of me being back on track, one mile at a time.  Stay tuned for the next post, I just saw it's going to be my 200TH!!!

2011 is MY year!

I'm back in France and ready for action. Or at least I will be once this bout of jetlag goes away. For some reason, I'm so much more tired today than all the other flights I've done here—I actually caved and took a 2.5 hour nap today, which doesn't bode well for getting used to France time! Case in point: I'm now wide awake at 4:30am!

December was a rough month, though it's getting a LOT better and I'm really looking forward to all the exciting things that 2011 has to offer. Here are a few goals and things to look forward to in the coming months!

Goal 1: Read at least 20 books for pleasure. That doesn't sound like a lot of books, but I'm really bad at getting off the computer and reading. I need to work on that.



Goal 2: Keep tracking and lose 10lbs. ProPoints is going to be my ticket to a successful year. Goal weight would obviously be ideal, but given the fact that I only had a 4-pound loss in 2011 (though I did lose 2 pant sizes), I don't want to set unattainable goals. I'm very okay with this being a journey and not a fast sprint!


Goal 3: Run my first half marathon. I ran my first 4 races in 2010, so an additional subgoal here would be to try and run at least 5 in 2011.

Here are at least 2:

The course for April 17th Marseille half
I'd also like to run in Cincy's Turkey Trot when I'm home--I've never done it before
Goal 4: Cross train using P90X and my new resistance bands. I'm going to try and run 3x a week to start and want to incorporate at least 2 days of strength each week on top of that.


Goal 5: Ask a guy out on a date. Or at least make the first move. I'm usually more of the wait to be asked out variety (which does happen, I promise!). I'm actually relatively shy when it comes to that sort of thing, so I think this would be a good goal to push myself out of my comfort zone this year.

Beer seemed like an appropriate photo for this since we'll probably drink one together if things go well AND I'll probably need one to quell up the courage!

Goal 6: Get into grad school, find an apartment and move to one of these beautiful cities:

Atlanta
Nashville
Madison
Columbus

Goal 7: The most important and all-encompassing goal: Be Positive.

Is it just me or do plus signs look kind of odd out of context?
Heather @ Leading the Weigh just wrote a post about one-word resolutions. If I had to pick a word for my 2011, it would be "Positive." Dictionary.com shows why in it's first four definitions of the word:

World English Dictionary
positive (ˈpɒzɪtɪv)

— adj
1. characterized by or expressing certainty or affirmation: a positive answer
2. composed of or possessing actual or specific qualities; real: a positive benefit
3. tending to emphasize what is good or laudable; constructive: he takes a very positive attitude when correcting pupils' mistakes
4. tending towards progress or improvement; moving in a beneficial direction

I'm going to focus on the good things (everything happens for a reason) and using this year to keep moving in the right direction in all of the spheres of my life (love, friends and family, health, weight-loss, career). I'm going to take advantage of the new opportunities that are presenting themself to me and make this year the best I possibly can. No regrets!

What are your goals for 2011?