How to Start the New Year?

The New Year is coming upon us.  Really, how much sense does it make to put two big eating events (Christmas and Thanksgiving) a month apart and then say "Make your New Year's Resolution!" What do you think will be most everyone's resolution.  Of course, to try and lose the freakin' ten pounds that got put on starting back in October and November.  It's a vicious circle of events.

Oh, let's not forget that right after the first of the year comes a few more HUGE eating events (college football bowl games and championship and the Super Bowl).  So really, if you look at it, each month from October through February, everyone is eating more and more.  Let's also not forget that in most places in the US, it's rather cold and not many people do a lot of excessive aerobic activity during those months anyway.

Now that we have almost closed the book on 2011, I am obviously starting to look ahead to 2012 and wondering what new (and probably a little stupid) things can I try.  I am so excited to try my first triathlon, my first marathon, but more than that, I am looking forward to one of my first full years in over a decade, with me feeling healthy. I want to get healthier and push myself harder than I did in 2011. I want to test my limits.

People ask me all the time how I feel since I have lost the weight, and I never get tired of telling them that I feel amazing! I am not trying to say that I don't have sore muscles or normal aches and pains from just being as active as I am, but it is more than that.  I run up stairs now rather than looking for an elevator. I now crack a smile and push myself even harder when my body is asking me to stop. I look for the challenges to put my body and mind through rather than always searching for that easy way out. That is what feels amazing.

Therefore, instead of attempting to make a New Year's Resolution to lose weight, why not just make a resolution to "Feel Amazing!" and let that dictate how 2012 will be for you. Just do whatever it takes to make yourself feel GREAT! It may not have to be to lose weight, but maybe to do something different, something challenging, something you never thought you would, or even could do before. I guarantee it will be worth it!!

So, if I don't see, hear, or talk to you before 2012, have a memorable start!!

2011 is almost gone, 2012 is on it's way, and I am still running...