{"id":2490,"date":"2008-12-31T16:09:50","date_gmt":"2008-12-31T20:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=2490"},"modified":"2009-01-01T11:54:40","modified_gmt":"2009-01-01T15:54:40","slug":"goals-for-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2008\/12\/goals-for-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Goals for 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m pretty excited to be writing up a goals post.\u00a0 This is actually a first for me.\u00a0 To be honest I never did goals or resolutions before.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

All of that has changed.\u00a0 This past year has been huge for me both personally and physically.\u00a0 I’ve changed and grown into a different person but I think that’s the case for us all.\u00a0 We aren’t the same person we were last year or the year before.\u00a0 Change is good.<\/p>\n

This whole food blogging journey has been a good one for me.\u00a0 I stumbled into this world when I first starting putting together OHC.\u00a0 I thought there must be other recipe bloggers out there and during my search I found the food blogging world.\u00a0 What an impact this has made on my life.\u00a0 It was exactly what I needed and when I needed it.<\/p>\n

I was not happy with my body and had been trying for a while to get it to be where I wanted it.\u00a0 Looking back, I see how my attempts weren’t really attempts at all.\u00a0 Deep down I knew that running was going to do it for me.\u00a0 I had to run, I had no choice.\u00a0 My weight wasn’t going to change unless I ran.\u00a0 My conditioning and endurance wasn’t going to get any better for MT<\/abbr> unless I ran.\u00a0 What I lacked was the motivation.<\/p>\n

Food blogging changed all that.\u00a0 I saw people exercising, eating awesome foods, and still living a fulfilled lifestyle.\u00a0 This is exactly what I was looking for.\u00a0 A way to have everything yet not deprive myself of living.\u00a0 Too many people, in my opinion, get caught up in diets and what I call, “elimination eating”.\u00a0 How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m on a diet!\u00a0 I’m never eating XYZ again!”\u00a0 That’s elimination eating.\u00a0 And I fully feel that is setting yourself up for failure.\u00a0 When you say you can’t have something, you only want it more.\u00a0 Not only that, we only have one life, we should live it and enjoy it.\u00a0 But with moderation and balance.<\/p>\n

It’s all about balance.\u00a0 This was my biggest lesson this year.\u00a0 How to balance healthy living with just living and being.<\/p>\n

My journey started a few months before the blog.\u00a0 In July I finally found my motivation and determination and started living the life I wanted to live.\u00a0 I started running.\u00a0 I changed our diet slightly to include more fruits and veggies at every meal (or I try to have them at every meal!).\u00a0 I made snacks smarter and healthier.\u00a0 Portions have been cut for myself, and we regularly have just “veggie” days.<\/p>\n

September is when OHC launched and when I decided to not to only post recipes but to be a food blogger as well.\u00a0 It helped me so much seeing what other people ate.\u00a0 Maybe that sounds silly but I was introduced to a lot of things I wouldn’t have tried otherwise or even known about.\u00a0 For example, Fage, which is now a staple in my diet is something I only learned about a little while ago.\u00a0 I learned about different kinds of oats and mix-ins which honestly never occurred to me before.\u00a0 I always liked oats but could only eat a little bit before it got gaggy.\u00a0 With mix-ins and different flavors I don’t have that problem anymore.<\/p>\n

As a result to all of this, I’m now a much healthier person and my knowledge is constantly increasing.<\/p>\n

Just the other day I reached my longest running length of 4.5 miles.\u00a0 This is a huge deal for me and something I never thought I would be able to do.\u00a0 I’m not a fast runner and running was always a very hard and very challenging thing for me to do.\u00a0 And it still was when I started in July but I pushed through it.\u00a0 Everyone has to start somewhere, right?\u00a0 And this was the start of my journey to becoming the person I wanted to become.<\/p>\n

Now I call myself a runner.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

My eating is awesome.\u00a0 Yes, my wine consumption has gone up over the holidays but whatevs.\u00a0 That’s part of the living and letting go aspect.\u00a0 I eat a ton of fruits and veggies.\u00a0 I still eat plenty of meat but portions have been cut down.\u00a0 I’ve learned to stop eating when I’m not hungry anymore as opposed to stopping when I’m “full”.\u00a0 I have also learned to slow down my eating and enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n

As a result of this lifestyle change, I’ve lost 25lbs to date.\u00a0 I only have 15lbs more to go before reaching my goal weight and I know that I can do that.\u00a0 In the beginning it was hard.\u00a0 Working my butt off and not seeing the scale move was highly frustrating and very stressful.\u00a0 But then I lost weight.\u00a0 And this process helped me learn more about my body.\u00a0 I’m not someone who drops a pound or two per week.\u00a0 I lose inches first and then the weight, poof, is gone.\u00a0 And then I go back to inches and then more weight is gone.\u00a0 I know this now and don’t get as frustrated when I’m not seeing the scale move.<\/p>\n

Even Scott lost weight.\u00a0 With no additional exercise, just martial arts, because of the diet change he’s also lost 20-some pounds.\u00a0 Pretty amazing right?<\/p>\n

I’m pretty proud of us going into 2009.<\/p>\n

So my goals for 2009!<\/p>\n

Fitness:<\/strong><\/p>\n