I’m pretty excited to be writing up a goals post.  This is actually a first for me.  To be honest I never did goals or resolutions before.  I thought about things that would be nice to do or accomplish in the coming year but never really gave it much thought or effort.

All of that has changed.  This past year has been huge for me both personally and physically.  I’ve changed and grown into a different person but I think that’s the case for us all.  We aren’t the same person we were last year or the year before.  Change is good.

This whole food blogging journey has been a good one for me.  I stumbled into this world when I first starting putting together OHC.  I thought there must be other recipe bloggers out there and during my search I found the food blogging world.  What an impact this has made on my life.  It was exactly what I needed and when I needed it.

I was not happy with my body and had been trying for a while to get it to be where I wanted it.  Looking back, I see how my attempts weren’t really attempts at all.  Deep down I knew that running was going to do it for me.  I had to run, I had no choice.  My weight wasn’t going to change unless I ran.  My conditioning and endurance wasn’t going to get any better for MT unless I ran.  What I lacked was the motivation.

Food blogging changed all that.  I saw people exercising, eating awesome foods, and still living a fulfilled lifestyle.  This is exactly what I was looking for.  A way to have everything yet not deprive myself of living.  Too many people, in my opinion, get caught up in diets and what I call, “elimination eating”.  How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m on a diet!  I’m never eating XYZ again!”  That’s elimination eating.  And I fully feel that is setting yourself up for failure.  When you say you can’t have something, you only want it more.  Not only that, we only have one life, we should live it and enjoy it.  But with moderation and balance.

It’s all about balance.  This was my biggest lesson this year.  How to balance healthy living with just living and being.

My journey started a few months before the blog.  In July I finally found my motivation and determination and started living the life I wanted to live.  I started running.  I changed our diet slightly to include more fruits and veggies at every meal (or I try to have them at every meal!).  I made snacks smarter and healthier.  Portions have been cut for myself, and we regularly have just “veggie” days.

September is when OHC launched and when I decided to not to only post recipes but to be a food blogger as well.  It helped me so much seeing what other people ate.  Maybe that sounds silly but I was introduced to a lot of things I wouldn’t have tried otherwise or even known about.  For example, Fage, which is now a staple in my diet is something I only learned about a little while ago.  I learned about different kinds of oats and mix-ins which honestly never occurred to me before.  I always liked oats but could only eat a little bit before it got gaggy.  With mix-ins and different flavors I don’t have that problem anymore.

As a result to all of this, I’m now a much healthier person and my knowledge is constantly increasing.

Just the other day I reached my longest running length of 4.5 miles.  This is a huge deal for me and something I never thought I would be able to do.  I’m not a fast runner and running was always a very hard and very challenging thing for me to do.  And it still was when I started in July but I pushed through it.  Everyone has to start somewhere, right?  And this was the start of my journey to becoming the person I wanted to become.

Now I call myself a runner.  Sure I might not be fast but I run almost everyday and I’ve got the gear and leg muscles to prove that I am in fact a runner.

My eating is awesome.  Yes, my wine consumption has gone up over the holidays but whatevs.  That’s part of the living and letting go aspect.  I eat a ton of fruits and veggies.  I still eat plenty of meat but portions have been cut down.  I’ve learned to stop eating when I’m not hungry anymore as opposed to stopping when I’m “full”.  I have also learned to slow down my eating and enjoy the moment.

As a result of this lifestyle change, I’ve lost 25lbs to date.  I only have 15lbs more to go before reaching my goal weight and I know that I can do that.  In the beginning it was hard.  Working my butt off and not seeing the scale move was highly frustrating and very stressful.  But then I lost weight.  And this process helped me learn more about my body.  I’m not someone who drops a pound or two per week.  I lose inches first and then the weight, poof, is gone.  And then I go back to inches and then more weight is gone.  I know this now and don’t get as frustrated when I’m not seeing the scale move.

Even Scott lost weight.  With no additional exercise, just martial arts, because of the diet change he’s also lost 20-some pounds.  Pretty amazing right?

I’m pretty proud of us going into 2009.

So my goals for 2009!

Fitness:

• Run a 5K
• Run a 10K
• Run a Half (omg this will take some work!)
• Buy weights so I can strength train on my own
• Always find time for a run
• Perhaps buy a bike

Health:

• Drop the final 15lbs
• Incorporate even more fruit and veggies into diet
• Work on new recipes

Personal:

• Save money for future plans
• Reno the house, updating it
• Work on the site and make it everything I want
• Going through and minimizing our “stuff”
• Make more time for friends
• Make more time for “Us”

Thank you guys so much for stopping in and taking the time to read my site.  It’s because of you I found the motivation to do this and to be who I really want to be.  Here’s to 2009 and making it count!  I wish you all the best and hope your 2009 is perfect!