New Years Resolutions

[JPD]

The start of the new year, to me signifies new beginning, and I do have a few resolutions that I hope that this year will help me. Here are mine:

1. Work on changing my diet from 90% Junk food to only 10% Junk food

2. Spend at least an hour working out at least 2x a week

3. Stick to a strict budget, no unnecessary shopping

4. Read the Bible in a year.


So what are your resolutions this year, and any advice to help me stick to mine?

[AccountingDrone]

Honestly? I don't make resolutions, haven't in years. I can't change my diet - I have allergies that prevent me from eating most convenience foods, we cook damned near everything from raw materials. Can't exercise, stuck in a wheelchair with degenerative joint issues, can't afford hydrotherapy copay and there is no pool within easy distance of the house [nearest one I can use for free is 35 miles away at the military base, and we have one vehicle that my husband uses to go to work in and there is NO mass transit system that would transport me there and back.] Budget - already stripped to the bone - for random ebooks or music, I putz around with Amazon Mechanical Turk and any gift cards from the holidays. Already read the bible, several different versions [mom took comparative theology when she was in college, it was a requirement and I have her library. I have also read the Koran, the book of Mormon, 5 different versions of the bible. I am topped up of religious books, thanks.] As an agnostic, there is nothing in books to push me into believing in anything particular.

As to advice? Hm. Use the internet to menu plan each week and stick to i. No junk food in the house, you won't eat junk food. If all you purchase is the ingredients for your meals, and your allowed snacks, then you won't be able to get the junk food to eat. I have been planning my food for about 35 years now, I was diagnosed diabetic in 1980 and have been managing my food ever since.

Schedule your workouts. Just like you schedule for work and doctors appointments, schedule wen you are going to work out and don't change the 'appointments'.

Hm, budgeting. I know several guys that draw out a specific amount of money each week and that is it - food, entertainment and such. If you don't carry around charge cards or debit cards you can not use them. If you do all your grocery shopping on a specific day, and plan your meals, and make lunches to take to work you can perhaps control your budget. I do know it has been recommended to budget in for an occasional luxury so you do not feel deprived, so peraps that will work for you?

And reading the bible in a year - I seem to remember online a webpage that was a guided read of the bible over the course of a year, not sure if it is still around, this was back in the late 1990s in the early years of the internet. Or perhaps you can find a local church with a study group?

[Seanette]

The start of the new year, to me signifies new beginning, and I do have a few resolutions that I hope that this year will help me. Here are mine:

1. Work on changing my diet from 90% Junk food to only 10% Junk food

2. Spend at least an hour working out at least 2x a week

3. Stick to a strict budget, no unnecessary shopping

4. Read the Bible in a year.


So what are your resolutions this year, and any advice to help me stick to mine?

I really need to improve my own spiritual habits (more regular prayer and Scripture reading, for example). Of course, I say that every year, but I keep hoping that I'll get my act together.

[KuariKaydrith]

I don't make firm resolutions because I invariably break them :/ However, that being said, I am planning on losing at least 20lbs next year - hopefully more, but 20lbs seems like an attainable goal. I am also planning on replacing a majority of the Wicca/Pagan books I had to leave behind when I moved across the country. I have already ordered a couple of Scott Cunningham books, and I have my eyes on several more books in the same vein...I want to just order them all at once, but my bank account has other plans :P

[Ghel]

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions, since I rarely stick to them. Looking back at how much my life has changed and how much I have changed over the past year, I think it makes even less sense for me to set resolutions. Still, I do have a few goals for 2015.

1. Get rid of the house I once shared with my husband. (Hopefully sell it, but if it's foreclosed, so be it.)
2. Complete the divorce so I can move on with my life.
3. Start coming out to real-life friends as pansexual and polyamorous.
4. Finish the main story line in Skyrim.

JPD, good luck with your resolutions. I definitely recommend reading the Bible. I'd recommend some verses to start with, but I don't want this to devolve into fratching.

[firecat88]

This year, I resolve to-

1) Be less negative, less stressed, and less worried about small things
2) Learn to cook
3) Be better at doing things that need doing when they need to be done
4) Get out of the house more

As far as advice for you, JDP, I agree about scheduling your workouts. Also, choose activities that you enjoy. If possible, take some music with you when you workout. Make sure it's all upbeat, fast stuff (for example, Area 11's "All the Lights in the Sky" album was one of my favorite things to run to at the rec center).

For the food, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, don't think that you have to quit everything all at once. You'll make better progress doing the 'baby steps' route than the 'diving headfirst into this' one, and you'll be way less miserable that way. Second, do not be afraid to try things. Try all the things and keep lists of what you liked and what you didn't like. Once you have your lists, it'll be easier to plan menus. Third- The internet is your friend. I've found quite a few blogs and such that gear more toward healthy recipes and/or recipes that keep in mind certain dietary needs.

[Jester]

Every year I make a bunch of resolutions, and every year, by mid-December I've forgotten about them. And every year, there are two of them on my list, that I've gotten nowhere near following up on: start making sushi rolls (all I have to do is learn how to cook the rice, and yet, I never do it), and learn more Spanish.

Well, fuck that. If I get around to the sushi rice, great. But this year, I have only one hard and fast resolution: bicycle more. I have not one, but TWO killer road bikes (plus my commuter mountain bike), one of which I just bought this summer, and brand new bicycling shoes. To neglect them would be criminal. Plus, it would be healthy, and I do love bicycling. So that is my one Big Resolution.

My other resolutions are a bit less....noble:

--Try more beers.
--Try more rums.
--Try more wines.
--Try more new foods.
--Fuck more.

Basically, be more of a hedonist than I already am. And luckily for me, on 80% of them, I don't need anyone else's help!

[fireheart]

--Try more beers.
--Try more rums.
--Try more wines.
--Try more new foods.
--Fuck more.

I don't know if you've heard of Aberlour A'Bunadh, but that might be a new scotch to try (Btw, that's around $110/bottle here in Aussieland, my partner received some for Christmas)

I was going to suggest Prancing Pony (a fire-brewed beer) but they only stock it in my hometown and there's no way to import it elsewhere except to do the Krispy Krack method. (For the Aussies, it basically involves buying a 6-12 pack of Krispy Krack donuts at an airport and then stowing them on the plane to take back to your destination)

[purple]

For me this year is about finding / embracing the positives. You know the chessy posts on Facebook like "I am thankful for dirty dishes as they mean I have food" That is the attitude I aiming to have.

I have lots of little goals (reline at least one room, don't kill the chickens, either loss weight or get pregnant) but the positive is my resolution.

[AnaKhouri]

Drop this baby weight (around 25 pounds).

Pull up the carpet in the living and dining rooms, and either get new carpet or clean up the hardwood underneath (if it's in good shape).

Get halfway finished with the roughdraft of the new novel.

[Victory Sabre]

]
My other resolutions are a bit less....noble:

--Try more beers.
--Try more rums.
--Try more wines.
--Try more new foods.
--Fuck more.

Basically, be more of a hedonist than I already am. And luckily for me, on 80% of them, I don't need anyone else's help!

I like those, and fully support you in this quest.

I really don't have any, beyond seeing how many unique beers I drink this year. Up to 6 thus far.

[Kittish]

I don't really have any set resolutions for this year. I've given up on any serious weight loss, my body just refuses to have anything to do with it, exercise or no. We already eat pretty well, I'm another one that does most of the cooking from the raw materials up. Budgeting isn't an issue, our monthly budget has been pretty well set for years now and I see no reason to change a system that's working.

If anything, my resolution is... more of the same. Far as I can see, we're both happy and reasonably healthy. Boyfriend has a job that he doesn't hate and makes enough money to support us; I'm quite content to keep the house and work at my hobbies (that occasionally bring in a bit of income, even). It ain't broke... not gonna try to fix it.

[Jester]

My original post should have said that by mid-JANUARY every year I have forgotten my Resolutions. Mid-December.....oh, that's funny.

In regards to what Vic said, I, too, am tracking how many different, unique beers I have this year. I am not making a distinction between bottle and draft, I am not limiting it to new beers, just keeping a list of all the different beers I drink, from the lowliest Corona to the most limited edition specialty craft beer.

So far, I'm up to 19. This may seem high, but something to keep in mind is that three of my go to beers, Corona, Landshark, and Yuengling, are already on the list. Over the course of the year, I'll drink many of those, so they won't add any more to my list. It's almost tempting to see how many TOTAL beers I drink, but I'm not gonna give my mother that much ammunition.

[Jester]

Also, I want to drink a good beer representing every letter of the alphabet, which means I need to find a beer that starts with the letter Q other than Quilmes, which pretty much sucks major donkey ass. I'm pretty sure I can adequately cover every other letter. And yes, that includes X and Z.