Taking Stock of 2012

At the end of the year, and the entire world if the idiots are right about the Mayans, it seems a good time to look over the last year. I have been thinking about my goals, challenges and resolutions for 2013, but want to see how I did in 2012 first. Not that an unachieved 2012 goal will keep me from setting my sights higher in 2013, though.

I had a goal to lose weight. I believe I weigh exactly the same as I did last year. I didn't gain weight, but I didn't hit my stated goal. I also challenged myself to participate in 2 hours of cardio every week. I am pretty sure that I did that. There were weeks that were much more than that and others that were less, but I will bet I averaged out to 2 hours weekly over the year. Just walking to my work shuttle every day is about 20 minutes, so that's getting me close without any set-aside workout time.

My biggest challenge for 2012 was to run the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I did finish the marathon in 4:58.21. I wish I had finished in less time, but just happy that I finished my first marathon. I also finished my first half marathon, too. 2:15.10 for the half. Honestly, the half marathon was harder than the full.

Those were the only goals that I declared publicly in 2012. Two out of three goals isn't bad. I will take that and use that for 2013. I won't worry about the one goal that was not accomplished, since it was not nearly as big of a goal as finishing the marathon. I'm ok not being at a smaller weight if I can point to my medal and say that I ran 26.2 miles.

Goals

If you're struggling to keep up with your New Year's Resolutions, perhaps the issue isn't with you, but with the resolutions themselves. Did you set SMARTER goals, or just pick things you want to improve? If they were just pie in the sky promises, you may want to revamp them to make them better. You always want goals you set to be smarter.

S	Specific
M	Measurable
A	Attainable
R	Relevant
T	Timely
E	Evaluate
R	Reevaluate

If you just said, "I want to be healthier," that doesn't fit this goal setting blueprint. Think about what you actually mean when you say "healthier" and make some specific, measurable goals from that definition.

Following this standard will help you stay on top of your resolutions and feel good about the progress you're making.

2012 Resolutions/Challenges- update

My challenge was to get 2 hours of exercise a week. Because I have many hours of free time, I am far exceeding the 2 hours a week and getting close to that on some days. Monday and Tuesday this week each saw 1 3/4 hours or fitness. Here's a graph of my weekly time spent being active this year, and the last week of 2011:























How are you doing on your resolutions? I hope you're sticking with them. If so, congratulations!!! If not, you can always start again. There is nothing that says you have to be perfect from 1/1 going forward or you have to give up for the rest of the year. Every day is a new day to start working on being a better and healthier you.

Resolutions

I just found out that today is "Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day" I had no idea there was an actual date for this. I think this is a bad, bad idea, but you should still look at this site. Mainly because cats are cute.

I hope that you are all still going strong on your resolutions. In fact, I hope you're doing so well that you decided to double-down on your resolution. Were you hoping to lose a pound a week? If you've been hitting that, why not try to go for two pounds a week? I was trying to get in two hours of cardio/fitness a week, but did over five hours last week. I am not going to aim for ten hours, but am going to try for three hours every week instead of two.



If you're not going strong on your resolutions, you get a fresh start on the 23rd with Chinese New Year. You can ignore the last three weeks that didn't live up to your hopes from 2011 and get a fresh start on your resolutions. It is a new year, even if it's a different calendar.

Resolution Declaration

I've officially declared my resolution with RedBull and joined their fitness tracker contest. I'm not overly interested in winning, just love the idea of adding another social network to my fitness cause. It also adds an element of competition, even if they are complete strangers. Plus, the resolution poster is really, really funny.

2012 Resolutions/Challenges

When I revamped this blog back in December, I challenged everyone to get at least 2 hours of cardio activity every week. I have hit that challenge two weeks running. (the gap between the two weeks is just to show the break from 2011 to 2012)

How are you doing on that challenge? Any activities that you want to try but haven't?

Vigilance

This is about part of the "let's give up on our New Year's Resolutions on day one" conversations that were on Facebook on Tuesday. "It's effectively impossible to keep lost weight off because of the biological changes caused by the dieting itself. Of course if you buy into hyper vigilance as an acceptable lifestyle to remain thin, that's fine." I'm not sure what the person meant by hyper vigilance, but I think anything to do with our health is something that we should be vigilant about.

I would say that the difference between being cautious and protective of our health and weight and being overly cautious is in the eye of the beholder. If you're a person who eats whatever you want with no thought of calories or nutritional benefit, reading food labels may seem hyper vigilant to you. I think that reading food labels is something every person should do before buying something. I do it because I don't want to consume any sneaky pork or beef fat. To me, it's part of being a smart and well-informed consumer. I believe that two hours of cardio/fitness/exercise a week is a good level. To someone who doesn't move very often, that can seem like a huge time commitment.

It is true that maintaining any weight loss will require some level of effort for the rest of your life. However, this is your life. Wouldn't you rather put that effort into making smart food choices and some physical activity than whining about how you can't lose any weight? A better, more positive way of looking at the life-long commitment that maintaining a weight loss requires comes from Lynn Haraldson, "I've been up and down the scale so many times, always thinking I can go back to 'normal,' but I had to establish a new normal." The "normal" that brought her to a point of being unhealthy and overweight can't be the normal of maintaining a weight loss. That new normal has to involve awareness of food consumption and a dedication to remaining physically active.

Weight loss can happen and can be maintained, but it won't happen through apathy and laziness. It will involve some effort, but I believe it is something that everyone can and should do.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

With today being the first day that people are getting back to work and routine after the holidays, it's also the day that they start to tackle their resolutions. Because many people have resolved to exercise more, lose weight and get healthier, there is a lot of talk on facebook about these topics. Sadly, many conversations seem to be about how overweight people are doomed to be overweight forever. Even if they lose weight, they'll never keep it off. Along with those negative thoughts are the theories of how exercise won't help you lose weight, how gyms know about this and how they're conspiring with the medical profession to keep us all spending money on weight loss when it's not obtainable.

This all boils down to making excuses for not achieving resolutions before making any effort to achieve the goals. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come 'true'. People claim that weight-loss is impossible, so they don't make the full effort to lose weight, and they end up not losing weight.

I am not saying that losing weight is easy or that it will happen quickly, but, please, don't give up on getting healthier. It is possible. If you move more, you will get healthier, even if your weight doesn't plummet. Your blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol and other indicators will show that you are healthier. In addition, being more active will help your mental health, something that everyone can benefit from.

Instead of setting up negative prophecies, please follow the attached diagram and expect success. It will lead to actual success. Don't just have expectations yourself, but seek out others who have been successful. They will reinforce your feelings that you can succeed.

Tackling resolutions

I have already signed up with Team To End AIDS for the marathon and half marathon for this year. I really hope you can join me. If you want, you can join my fundraising team "Team Twitter" and I believe it allows us to pool funds if one member is short. (I'll check on that and update when I know for sure.) When signing up, please make sure to say that Rebecca Kell referred you, I believe that gets me a referral credit applied to my fundraising total.

I know that the actions I took this morning were just some clicks on a computer, but it made my resolutions more concrete and less nebulous. I already feel that I have started the training, rather than just working out randomly. Regardless of your fitness resolution(s), I highly recommend you make a start on them right away. You will feel that you're one step closer to your goals.

Resolutions

Have you made any New Year's Resolutions this year? What are they?

Every year, people make resolutions at the New Year. It seems like a good time because of the 01/01, blank slate aspect of a new year. Most years, the resolutions are the same. Of the top 10 most popular resolutions: get fit, lose weight, learn something new, and volunteer/help others are all things that can be done by taking on my challenge to run this year.

Some of the other resolutions: spend more time with friends, enjoy life more and stop smoking, can be done or at least aided by taking on the challenge. It is much easier to stop smoking when you have another activity that can fight stress and raise endorphins. You can spend time with friends or family while running, rather than watching TV with them. Exercise or any increase in activity will make you feel better, which will make all of your life more enjoyable.

The success rate for resolutions is low, about 12%, and it's theorized the cause of that is lack of clarity and planning. People say, "I want to lose weight" with no goal of how much to lose, how they'll lose it, or how long it will take. There was a study that showed ways to improve the rate of success. Men need concrete goal setting and women need to share their goal. If you have a goal, please do both to increase your odds of success. It will also give me some challenges to tackle.

Social Networks and Obesity

Many studies done on the spread of obesity and smoking through social networks have shown that the health habits of our friends and family are a good indicator of our health habits. If one of your close friends becomes obese, your chances of becoming obese go up at least 50%. The same data source shows that quitting smoking works the same way; if your friends quit, you're more likely to quit.

I'm trying to use this peer pressure to help all of us get healthier in 2012. If you share your health resolution with me, I promise to make it mine, too. I will also share our resolution with everyone else so we can all view it as a challenge to get moving more. So far, the only resolution has come from Desiree. She wants to set some personal records in the marathon and triathlon. She's also going to do more trail running and swimming. I will be doing at least two hours of cardio every week and will be training to run the half and full marathon.

If you're newer to fitness than Desiree, instead of shooting for a great marathon time, why not shoot for improving your time at walking or running a mile? If you currently take 20 minutes to walk a mile, why not work up to a 14 minute mile by the end of the year? Every person is different, but it's still important to get out there and move.

Have any of you decided to join us in these challenges? Do you have challenges of your own?

New everything

I redesigned the blog today. I added additional pages, which you can view by clicking above. I'm switching my blog from just being about my daily activity and progress to a blog about health, fitness and moving. I hope I can inspire you to be more active and in turn get inspiration from you.

I plan on posting inspirational stories and quotes to keep us all motivated to keep moving. I also will be posting tidbits about health and fitness. That could include scientific studies, recipes or anything that may help us in our quest to be healthier. I will still post updates on my fitness journey, but only periodically.

I know that the new year is just 10 days away and people are starting to think about their resolutions for 2012. Instead of resolving to be healthier, I would love if you would make more specific, concrete resolutions and share them with me. If they're not too far-fetched, I will make your resolution my resolution as well. It will be more of a New Year's Challenge, than just a resolution. Here's the first one: I challenge myself and everyone else to participate in cardio activity for at least 2 hours every week. That can be walking, running, cycling, swimming, dancing or anything that elevates your heart rate. Please let me know what your challenge is.

UPDATE: I will be tracking my activity using DailyMile. The most recent activity will show up on the right side of my homepage. I highly recommend it. It's free and allows you to track all you activity and it creates graphs so you can see trends and improvement.