First of the year…

Hello Party People!!

Well, I hope all you people out there who enjoyed a tipple at New Year’s have successfully made it through the obligatory hangover!  Shame on you!  That’s called binge drinking, you know….

Anyway, I’m back and one of the resolutions this year is to be a bit more proactive on this blog, so if you have enjoyed reading my ramblings hopefully you’ll enjoy it a bit more.  If you haven’t liked it so far, best you block me on facebook and twitter, because the updates will be more frequent!  Time permitting of course.

Talking of resolutions, have you made any this year?  Do you plan on sticking to them?

I have included the essential ‘lose weight’ factor but that is one I actually intend to stick to, since the gratifying sense of achievement from last year.  You may recall that I might of mentioned I lost a bit?  Well, it made me proud, I managed to lose three and a half stone in six months and I want to keep that going.  I want to be thin again!  Well, ish…

Anyway, that’s me and I’m planning on sticking around so I hope you will join me again for another year. 

Happy New Year to all my followers and readers, old and new.  I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

J.

New Year, New You?! Heard It….

Eat far too much over Christmas?  Still feeling stuffed?  Not moved out of the armchair since Boxing Day and are building up a rather impressive collection of sweet wrappers and empty cans around your body?

When your thoughts have moved on from reaching for the empty Quality Street tin and phoning work to tell them that you won’t be in today (using a rather farfetched and pathetic ‘family bereavement’ excuse), an almost instant reaction switches to the new years resolutions.

‘This year, for my new year resolution I will give up the food.  I will lose weight!  Yes, I will be so fit and healthy that I will fit in that 10 man tent I got for Christmas!’

Never has a phrase been used so much but meant so little.  It ranks up there with such classics as; ‘Thanks Nan for the HMV gift certificate’ and ‘No dear, of course I won’t be late, I’m only having the one drink’.

But alas, many of us Brits in particular will make this pledge, and with the best intentions too.  A couple of years ago, that meant running down to town and buying the latest gadget, the Wii Fit.  Nowadays, there is no real tecchy gadget come out that will spur you on.  Obviously there is still the Wii Fit, but also the Playstation Move and Xbox Kinect.  All offer a wide range of fitness software, which is aimed at all ages. I’m pretty sure that these items will fly off the shelves this month.

I have a confession.

I too made this pledge (like many times before) and intend to stick to it.  No, really. 

I conceded this year that I am not getting younger.  A bold statement at the age of thirty, but with two young children now dependent on me, I need to be able to get off the floor without the aid of a nearby piece of furniture.  Or be able to run more than six foot without the need for instant replenishment of oxygen and water.

For me, it’s different this time, I actually have goals I want to achieve and a real need to trim down.  I hope this gives me the impetus to carry on eating right and exercising beyond the month of January.  My previous record was that I made it to March, but then it was my birthday and I decided I needed to treat myself by getting bladdered for a week, topping each night off with a selection of deep fried, unidentified meat from the local snack bar.  Hold the salad.

I sympathise with all the others attempting the same feat with the best intentions in the world, and I wish them good luck for the future.  Many of you will fall before February, some of you will last ‘til Easter and only a few will continue into the months to come, with the prospect of lots of salad in the Summer.  Nice.

Remember though, it’s not a race, it’s a marathon.  Which is a race.  But not a sprint.   You know what I mean.

I’ve heard it all before…

So Christmas is finished.  A New Year is here.

It is now time for the inevitable resolutions.  Do you have any?

I have promised not to make any this year because I never stick to them.  I do try and make achievable goals, it’s not like I’m aiming for ‘this time next year, we’ll be millionaires!’.  I just do not have any will power.

Like many, the main resolution that would be expected of me would be to lose weight.  Yes, I know it’s so predictable and cliche, but it’s a reality for me.  Although some people would probably love my ‘truffle shuffle’.

I try this every year, but come March it’s gone out the window.  Yeah, I try for three months lose maybe a stone but then my birthday comes around and I just can’t be bothered after that.  This then results in the good work up to that point, dissolving onto the large pizza I just ordered.  D’oh.

There are other resolutions that are popular but are just now realistic.  I mean, who is going to give up drinking alcohol?!  I can understand if it is driven by medical issues but if it’s not, that’s just silly.  Fine, stop binge drinking.  That would be a good idea.  Learn the art of self moderation.

But to give up the sherry at Christmas and glass of bubbly at special events?!  Madness.

Anyway, this year I have some goals in my head that I want to achieve, and the dates by which I want this to happen.  But I’m not telling anyone.  This way I can’t fail to achieve my goals, ‘coz nobody will know about them!

Now it’s all on me.

At the end of the day, as said by lots of experts and celebrities, what’s most important when it comes to resolutions and lifestyle changes, is the advantages to you.  If you want to lose weight, do it because you want to feel better.  Stop drinking or smoking for the health benefits, not just to save money. 

Think about you first.  Do things to make you feel better.