A New Year

I've never been one for resolutions. Sure, if someone were to ask me in the past what mine was after sharing theirs, I may spout something pretty cliche off, and I may have even thought about following through with it, but it was never a 100% serious statement.

Can't say that much has changed this year. There were no empty promises said aloud at the stroke of midnight on January 1st of this year. No thoughts going through my head in planning what my contribution to the pot of mostly broken by February goals. But I can say that changes have taken place. They just started a bit before the new year and in no way were contingent upon it beginning.

The boy and I haven't been truly active in an exercise format since last May. Because of reasons neither here nor there, we both decided to move away from our Krav Maga class despite our love for it. I started getting itsy around the end of the fall about becoming sendentary, and decided to start taking short runs around the neighborhood at night. The boy wasn't a fan of me running by my lonesome as there isn't a lot of artificial light out there after dark, so he joined me after the first few days. Although his skill level in running was beyond mine, it was nice to have him as a pacer in front (oh, who am I kidding...waaaay up front) to motivate me to keep running, to keep pumping my legs when they were just about to fall off (true story).

Truthfully though, I am nowhere near a natural runner. In high school I envied (in passing) the cross country runners who looked just as natural as deer romping through the woods. Because of this, I decided it was in my best interest to join up at a gym that would give me access to all sorts of fun machines to get my ass in shape. Literally. Enter the YMCA. Which happens to be right next door to my work. Thank goodness. It's because of that 50 yards that I have no excuses to not go at least 3 days a week. And the boy comes too :)

For going on two months now we've been hitting up the gym 3-4 times a week, sweating it out and eating healthy at home, at work and at play. Somedays it's not fun thinking that McDonald's isn't in the calorie budget plan, but then others it's a treat that you get to go and something you don't take for granted like you did before. It's a conscious decision that we both made in order to begin a healthier lifestyle together, a lifestyle that would continue over time not just be pushed to the wayside after a month exclaiming "Yay, we accomplished our resolution!" To date, I've lost at least a half inch around my stomach, hips and thighs and the boy is down about 7 or so pounds. There's something so immensely satisfying in typing and re-reading that statement.

To those of you out there who do make yearly resolutions- I'm not discouraging nor slamming you (I just know myself too well). To you I say good luck, and please keep it up. Whatever it may have been that you promised yourself you would accomplish this year, put your mind to it and get it done. If it's a long term thing, keep your chin up and keep that motivation going. You'll feel so good about yourself in the end!