Resolutions

"res·o·lu·tion 
–noun

1. a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group. Compare concurrent resolution, joint resolution.

2. a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something."

Year after year millions of people resolve to get healthy, eat healthy, exercise and lose weight.  I hate to admit it, but I am one of these people. 

For most of my life I have been active.  I was a high school and college althete, so I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted.  I wasn't what you would call slim, not even close, but I didn't start really putting on  a ton of weight until after college. When I left home, I didn't have the nightly salad and vegetables pushed on me anymore.  I started eating more and more junk food, fast food and take out. 

After I had my son about 3.5 years ago, I wanted to improve my eating habits to make sure I was a good influence on him.  Over the past few years I have been reading healthy living blogs as well as lots of nutrition books.  I have learned a lot about what I should be eating and incorporating a lot of healthy food in my and my families diet.  Unfortunately I still eat too much and too much of the wrong foods. 

I think the main problems with resolutions are that they are too general.  For example, one of my biggest goals is to lose weight.  I have lost weight before (60+ lbs), but I have also gained most of it back.  I need to focus on positive lifestyle changes, not numbers on the scale. 

 

So based on this philosophy, here are my goals for 2011.

Goals:

1. Family first
• talk to my son everyday - this may sound odd, but I travel a lot for work, so I need to make this a priority.
• at least one TJ and Mom activity each week
• eat as a family at the kitchen table as least 4 times per week, if I'm traveling at least 2 times per week
2. Take care of myself
• healthy eating
• focus on eating mostly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats
• limit snacking - put servings in a bowl rather than taking the whole bag.  Keep portion size in mind
• challenge myself physically
• run a sub 30 minute 5k
• run an entire 1/2 marathon (last year I had to walk the last 3 miles)
3. Develop my career
• Build executive presence
• improve written and verbal communication
• "look" professional consistently - dress for the job I want not the job I have
• Strike work-life balance - work hard at work, so that I have the confidence to take time for family