Fresh Start for the New Year: Goals and Healthier Eating

And here we are in the fourth and final weekly post of the Fresh Start for the New Year campaign!  I have talked about my general health & fitness goals for 2011, gave  an update on my general goals and outlined some ideas for getting more fit in the new year and did an exercise goal check in and talked about exercise equipment.

This week I’m going to do my goal check in and then talk about healthy eating.  So here we go!

Goal Review

Fill up that jug!

Drinking Water: B

Somehow I got off track last Sunday.  I didn’t drink my water that one day-and let me tell you, I could actually feel the difference.  Drink. That. Water.

Journaling: C

I have a hard time with the journaling.  I will continue to work on this- it really does help me to pay attention to what I am eating when I write it down.

That's a lot of vitamins.

Taking Vitamins: B+

I forgot to take my vitamins for one day last week-and honestly? I could totally tell the difference.  By mid afternoon I felt exhausted.

Exercising 3X a week: C

I sort of fell off the wagon this week.  It was super cold here and for some reason that just saps my will to exercise.  I felt tired and just didn’t force myself to do it as much as I should. . . I just did the EA Sports Active once.  But I’m back on the wagon!  I did the “Your Shape” on the Xbox 360 this week as well as a fitness walk held in the mornings at the conference I attended last week.  I will continue to strive to meet my 3X a week exercise goal.

Healthy Eating

The first issue with my eating is that I just eat too much.  I really enjoy food and find myself thinking fairly often about when the next time is that I will eat food and what that food will be.  *sigh*

Honestly-I’ve never been one of those people who could “forget” to eat.  Ever.

I have noticed over time that some days it is easier to stay on track with my eating (or not over-eating) than others, and that there are some things that seem to really trigger eating outside of meal times.  Once I stopped to think about it my 2 major trigger points were actually very easy to isolate:

Trigger 1:  Boredom

Yeah, like that is a surprise.  I think that by now anyone who has ever spent any time thinking about their weight realizes that many people eat for entertainment.  You’re a little bored and out running errands?  Stop and get a cup of coffee and a cookie.  You are bored at night? Grab some chips.   The point is to realize when it’s happening and to stop it!

Photo by The Impulsive Buy

A good idea is to give yourself something to do (plus the fun of a “taste”) by chewing some gum.  My kids love gum, but I always just grab spearmint (my fav) and call it good.  I never have paid much attention to the new flavors that come out.  But Walmart sent me some of the new Extra Desserts gum to try (Mint Chocolate Chip) and it was YUMMY.  Then I had to go out and buy the Key Lime pie to check it out. . . if you like lime, you’ll like that too

2.  Bad Habits.

Without realizing it we all fall into certain habits.  Things become linked in our minds-like snacking while watching tv, eating a snack mid afternoon with the kids, or grabbing a cookie while shopping. . . even though we aren’t hungry.  Again, it’s all about awareness.  When you start longing for that snack-stop and think.  Am I really hungry, or am I just thinking about eating?

Photo by Veggiefrog

If you find that it’s hard to stop the “habit” snacking cold turkey, try some substitutions instead.  Need to crunch while watching tv?  Try air popped popcorn or raw veggies instead of crackers or chips.  Used to having a sweet snack with the kiddos mid afternoon?  Substitute a piece of fruit or a low calorie flavored yogurt.

Now that I have made myself aware of my eating trigger points I can keep an eye out for them and make sure I don’t fall victim to them! It just takes willpower (or won’t power as my MIL says-as in “I won’t eat that”)

Another area I am looking to improve-in the long term-is the actual food choices I am making for the family in general.

In my weekly meal plans I am already trying to work fish and meatless meals into our weekly diet.  I feel fish is important because it is lower cholesterol than meat (for the most part) and it has valuable oils and minerals.  I aim for a meatless meal because it forces me to be creative and typically includes beans (which are high in fiber and low in fat).  Also a year ago in an attempt to be more healthy I switched over to 100% whole wheat bread when I do buy bread (although my homemade tends to be mostly white).

To these goal I am adding a commitment to increasing our family’s fiber.  I have purchased a wide variety of whole wheat pasta products and more brown rice.  My intent is to mix these 1/2 and 1/2 with the original variety to increase the family’s fiber intake without changing the taste too much.  During the summer we eat a lot of raw veggies from our garden and the store, but I will be conscious of our intake for the winter as well.

There you have it, my plan going forward.  I have really enjoyed and appreciated this campaign by Walmart-it has forced me to look at and think about what steps I really need to take to be more healthy for myself and my family.  I will continue to work on my original goals (lose weight, exercise 3X a week, drink water, eat less processed food) even though the campaign is over.

Good luck to all of you in your goals for the new year!

Disclosure: This post is part four of a four part “Fresh Start for the New Year” series I am participating in with the Walmart Moms. Walmart has provided me with compensation and product for these post. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.

Tagged as: Fresh Start, health, Sponsored, Walmart