Screw New Years Resolutions. Did you know that you can start again any day of the year that you want? I start and stop my fitness goals the way some people flip through channels on TV.  I don’t usually feel bad about this. I fall off the wagon, and I start again. I won an award for perseverance many years ago. I will persevere, and so should you. Just start again, and again, and again until it finally sticks.

Last year I was so motivated to look good in my bikinis for the summer. In February I was soft and squishy and underwhelmed with the way I looked in and out of my clothes. I was motivated to look and feel my best at 25 years old. I went to the gym, I started running, and I made long-term changes to my diet that are now just part of me. I was excited. I wasn’t perfect, but I wore my bikinis last summer and I wasn’t the worst looking girl at the beach or even on television. I mean, have you seen Snooki in a bikini?

But here I am, soft and squishy again. I feel miserable and horribly unmotivated to change anything. Getting back in to shape feels like a chore this time around, but I’m going to do it. Even if I have to treat it as a chore, it’s something that has to be done.

By now the crash dieters and NYE resolvers have abandoned the gym. I’ve started running again, albeit a lot more slowly than last year. And today I opened my nutrition and calorie counter and entered what I’ve consumed so far and what I intend to consume today. I’ll update it again before bed for true accuracy. Right now I have to fit dinner into 300 calories, so I may have to ditch one or two of those chocolate chip cookies that I intended for a snack so that I can have more of a meaningful dinner tonight. Except that today is National Pie Day and I have some blueberry pie in the freezer… pie for dinner? According to Every Day Health, a piece of blueberry pie comes in at 290 calories. Ten extra calories to work with, YESSSSSSS. Let’s just say I have to start somewhere and I won’t be eating pie for dinner very often.

To be clear, there is a calorie target that I attempt to reach/stay under on a daily basis. I tend to screen foods and stay away from foods that have a majority of calories from fat, lots of carbs from sugar, and anything with a lot of sodium. I don’t eat processed/pre-packaged/prepared foods anyway. I eat a lot of fruit and fresh vegetables and I aim for 18-25 grams of fibre per day. The average American diet allows for 1500-2000 calories a day and that number of calories is not meant to be for everyone. Don’t expect that you can consume that much. You can offset it with exercise, but not entirely. You will never be able to out-exercise a poor diet.

I don’t know how much I weigh. I would estimate that I am 125 lbs. Yes that is a normal, healthy weight for a female my age and height. I’m not in this to lose weight, I’m in this to be healthy and look good. You don’t have to lose weight to achieve those things, necessarily. In fact, muscle weighs more than fat so in the end I may end up gaining a few pounds. The point is to understand what kind of calories I am eating and to get the most nutrition to fuel my changing body while I run and go to the gym. I will go to the gym and step on a scale for accuracy, and I’ll take some measurements so that I can track my physical results. There will be no pictures of me in my underwear to make comparisons.

By the way, I need a female gym partner who is hopefully not too gorgeous and maybe a little out of shape. Eventually I’ll need a running partner, too, because my current running partner will be going on maternity leave in the summer. OH! I also got a bike for Christmas and I’d love to do some bike riding…. just not up hills. Okay, I’ll stop being lazy. We can ride on a slight incline.

PS- I went for a run today. I survived. My weekly schedule is planned as follows: Monday- run. Tuesday- go to the gym. Wednesday-run. Thursday go to the gym. Friday- run. Saturday-rest. Sunday-go to the gym and meal plan for the week. Everyday- track calorie and nutrition information.