Originally posted to Blogger on December 30, 2014 @ 7:40 PM.
Tomorrow is the last day of yet another year, and as usual I am reflecting back on what has happened over the course of this past year. In 2014, I turned 28 years old. I went an entire year without stepping foot in the United States, and have learned how to get by with a handful of words in strange languages. I started graduate school, and I let myself go. I would say that 2014 has truly been the best year of my life, because it is the first year that I have truly lived on my own terms.
When I arrived in Hanoi in the beginning of December 2013, I clocked in at my highest weight of 234.8 pounds. Even with all of the excitement from the job, the move, and my new surroundings, I felt sluggish and listless. New friendships with more active people, as well as our post's Marines, whipped me into activity and within my first eight weeks at post, I had lost approximately 20 pounds. Since February 2014, I have essentially maintained this loss, but after a series of injuries and a general laziness resulting from stress levels at work I have completely fallen off the lifestyle change wagon. Today, the day before the end of the year, I weighed in at 216.9 pounds. This is still a substantial victory for me, but I am looking forward to doing more!
I have a plan in place. I have not one, not two, but three accountability partners. Three of my closest friends and coworkers will probably be sick to death of me by the end of this, but they will be by my side and keeping me accountable to my nutrition and fitness goals. I will be following an 80/20 approach when it comes to my nutritional goals because let's face it, I don't want to live in a world without sweets. However, all indulgences must come in moderation! With the 80/20 rule, I will be following a healthy diet 80% of the time (or more) stocked full of proteins, vegetables, and fruits and allowing myself 20% (or less) for those slip ups or indulgences. Over the years, I have found that the main reason I have given up on past "diets" is because I have felt frustrated and cheated by the fact that I have had to give up everything that I love. Literally, everything! Pastas, sweets, you name it. What I have learned is that I can find other healthier ways of having the foods I love in moderation. I know that this will be crucial over the next year.
Fitness wise, I am planning to start of focusing more on cardio while supplementing some free weights and body weight for toning. I have a lot to lose, so I do not expect to have the perfect body by the end of this. That sort of thing requires money that I don't have for surgeries that I don't want! But, I am capable of making myself stronger and leaner. I am currently going through the C25K (Couch to 5k) program using the Android app. I am also planning on going to one of the local gyms with one of my accountability buddies this New Years Day to hopefully take advantage of some membership sales, and get started in some spinning and zumba classes to mix things up. I already have a membership at our embassy gym for weight training and cardio, as well as the gym at my apartment which is free to use. I also have some 30 day challenges stored in the hopper that I would really like to try out, including squats, arms, abs, etc. I also work a desk job, so it will be vital to stand up and walk around more.
I will be tracking my progress in a variety of ways, mostly because after nearly a decade working for Best Buy I am still completely addicted to technology. Last night, I ordered a wearable fitness tracker. After some pretty extensive research, I decided on the Withings Pulse o2. Hopefully it will be here in a couple of weeks! I am also using several apps, including the Withins Health Mate (which will be synced with the Pulse o2 when it arrives to track my activity and sleep patterns), Map My Fitness for tracking my workouts, C25K for dictating my treadmill training, and My Fitness Pal for keeping it all together, including a food diary. For me, tracking my food intake is essential!
I've also decided to return to DietBet and participate in a 6 month transformation challenge! Another one of my accountability buddies will be doing it with me. It is a $25 per month bet and whoever meets their goals each month receives a portion of the money pot back. The overall goal is to lose 10% of your starting weight in 6 months - completely achievable, with focus. It begins on January 7th and runs through July 6th. The first month's goal is a 3% loss ... the 2nd month is 6%, 3rd month is 8%, 4th month is 9%, and months 5 and 6 are getting to and maintaining 10%. For me, this would be approximately a 22 pound loss and would put me in onederland for the first time since I can remember. This will be hard to do, as I will be traveling to Cambodia and Myanmar for 10 days in February, and then traveling through Europe for four weeks in the Spring! But, with the right plan and foundation in place, anything is possible.
Perhaps the greatest struggle is living in a foreign country, where many of these concepts are literally foreign. Food labels do not exist in Vietnam, so tracking food can be very difficult. Sidewalks do not exist, so running on the roads is not only dangerous because of the lack of regard for pedestrians, but also because of the pollution. I find out in the next 8 weeks where my next post will be starting in 2016 and while I can cross my fingers that it will be easier there, it likely will not be. So, it is imperative that I spent this year rebuilding and solidifying a strong foundation, so that these actions become like second nature to me.
Tonight, I am going to work on my foundational goals to post on another blog post here, so I can refer back to them over the course of the year. Until then, I am feeling very solid in my drive to make a change! I cannot wait to see where 2015 takes me!