A New Year coming and some new Goals.

Welcome to the last day of the year. 2008 sure has been a year of change for me, Learning how to manage my new tum, having the stricture sorted, to moving towns, house and jobs.

In the past year I have made new friends, and started new things.....Lions club, Flag 500. There are also many things that I needed to do and I didn't, or I lost my way on. I am going to try to address these in the coming year. One of these was the Gym. I joined one of the local gyms here in Feilding when I moved here last April......how many times did I go.......TWICE!!!!!!!! So I have been paying $12 per week and my fitness certainly has not improved. Maybe I wasn't ready or just maybe I was being lazy and letting the 'tool' of Weight loss surgery be the only answer to losing this flab.

Things have to change on that, and luckily for me, the old gym has basically gone out of business, and they have transferred all membership to the more modern gym in town, and I have made an effort to transfer and met the new people and check out the gear. The gear is nice, and the gym is not as pretentious as I first thought......lots of different folk all at different stages with different needs. Just like me. So, since I signed up with them on Monday, I have been twice....once on Monday and once this morning. I don't have my assessment till the 12th Jan, so until then I am just working on cardio - mainly bike and treadmill. I obviously have a history with being all gung ho about going and then fail miserably, so I have told them that, and they will call me if I haven't been for 2 weeks. I am also taking a different approach to exercise and starting small and building on it, therefore I shouldn't go to hard out, find it tough and then quit.

Well, enough about that, a little now about our Christmas and our holiday. We had a lovely meal on Christmas Eve with my eldest brother and his family at Dad's house. We then headed off to Taupo to spend time with Si's parents, which was lovely, although the accommodation's bed was not so good for Si and we came home a day early. We also discovered we like more structure to a holiday, and are not the sit around and do nothing type of people. Unfortunately this year the budget did not allow for more. So, I am starting to save for next years Christmas now!!!!

The cat and the dog were pleased to see us, Not sure that they enjoyed the stay away, especially Riddick who has been really attentive since we got home and is constantly looking for a lap to sit on. While we were on holiday we bought Porsche a new harness/lead, so now I can actually walk her without her being 100% out of control. So far I have walked her to my dads place (only a 5 min walk) twice, and she has been pretty good, I think i will start taking her for more walks....start slow of course and build up time. There is a circuit I would like to build up to which is 3km long.

Simon's parents have joined us here in Feilding for a few days while they look for a house. They have now sold their house in Auckland and are struggling to find something that ticks all the boxes in their price range, style, size, location etc etc etc. It is kinda fun driving around looking at them, knowing that I don't have to spend a cent. His Dad is here till Saturday and his Mum is staying till the 12th.

I am back to work on the 5th Jan, so a few more days relaxing before then. Tonight we are heading to the Palmerston North RSA for a meal with Dad & Val, Si's Mum and Dad and several family friends. I doubt we will stay to see the New Year in.

So I guess down to the nitty gritty - Not resolutions as such, but certainly areas that I want/need to work on over the next year to achieve my health and fitness goals.

- Increase water intake- I am really bad at this and need to drink more water.
- Do at least 20 Min's of exercise per day – walk, aqua, gym etc.(need to start small and build up to increase both fitness and strength)
- Stop drinking when I eat.
- Plan my meals so I am not tempted with 'easy'(unwise)options.
- Watch the portion sizes
- Monitor the snacking, make sure if I do need to have something it is a health snack
- TAKE MY SUPPLEMENTS

I am really not sure where I would like my weight to be - eventually. I am still a size 18/20 up top and a 20/22 (mostly) on the bottom. My current weight is 105.5 kgs, and ideally I think I would like to be a 14/16 on both top and bottom, but I also can not ever remember being that, so I have no clue as to if it is achievable or what weight that will be, but if I can do the above I am sure that it will be as I will be stronger, and fitter and most importantly healthier.

Happy New Year to you all, and I hope you find all you are looking for in 2009.

Janine (PS- Have you figured out I love Tigger yet)