2013 Goals

Happy New Year!!

Time seems to have flown by lately.  It feels like just yesterday it was December 19th and now we're already 5 days into January.  But none the less I am setting some goals for the year.  Not resolutions exactly but just some things I would like to achieve during the next 12 months.

1. Pay off student loans by December 31, 2013 - During my job interview I was asked where I saw myself in a year.  One of my answers was that I hoped to have most of my student loans paid off.  I was told that is a pretty lofty goal.  But after sitting down with my mom (who has a better head for math than I do) I figured out that not only is paying off most of my student loans attainable but I can actually pay off my student loans by the end of the year!

2. Lose 50 pounds to reach my goal weight by December 18, 2013 - I have been "trying to lose weight" for years now and am sadly farther from my goal than when I started.  I have decided to make my one of my goals for the year to reach my goal weight because enough is enough!  I need to stop making excuses and start doing what needs to be done.  I was further sparked to make this one of my goals for 2013 after reading about Lex's 2013 - A Year About Me post.  Essentially she has challenged herself to make 2013 the year about herself and her health, something I need to do as well.  She has goals for each month set and rewards, plus an additional reward if she exceeds her goals.  I have not decided if I will be doing that myself but will definitely keep you posted if I choose to do so.

3. Get organized! -  This final goal of mine for 2013 took a while to come to me since I feel I am pretty horrible at setting goals for myself (probably thanks to never following through on what needs to be done to reach those goals).  I am now a college graduate with nothing to worry my pretty little mind about once I am done with work each day so I have no excuse for the state of my room or bathroom that I mainly use.  I need to get organized!  Not only in the home but also in finances as I would like to sometime in the future move out and purchase a new car.  I've already started that process with setting up a budget and paying off my loans (see #1) by the end of the year.

Three goals are enough for me, any more and I am afraid I will be overwhelmed and things just won't happen.  I own a copy of The Spark which I seemed to have misplaced (see, I need to get organized) but once I locate it I plan to re-read the section about goals and setting them because there was some really useful stuff in there about how to break down long-term goals into medium and short-term ones that help you achieve the long-term ones (I NEED this!).

Another (unofficial) goal of mine is to be a better blogger.  It never ceases to amaze me how into blogging I am but how horrible I am at it.  I want to post a least once a week.  That should not be hard.  Like I said, I have nothing to worry about outside of work now that school is done so I should have no reason to not make a once a week blog post happen.

Talk to me...

What are your goals for 2013?

Holding for the Holidays

Hi there readers!  I once again took a break from blogging without really meaning to and for that I apologize.  I know it is no fun for you to find a blog with a writer that does not publish posts on a regular basis.  I am hoping to change that along with a few other things in my life.

One of the reasons I wanted to get back to blogging is to track what is going on in my life.  One of those things being a program through my employer called Hold for the Holidays.  Hold for the Holidays is an 8-week program that is designed to help me (and my team members) prevent the typical weight gained during the holiday season.

I am on a team, the Skinny Bees, with three other women (two from my department and one from another department).  There is also a second team within my department made up of four other women, the Skinny Clauses.

The goal of the 8-week program is to maintain or gain no more than 2 pounds.  Of course, losing weight is acceptable and for many of us the ultimate goal (myself included).  But to spice things up the the two teams I mentioned earlier are having a little friendly competition to see which team loses the most weight in these next eight weeks.  The team that loses the most weight gets lunch on the other team.

Today marked day one of the program and also weigh in day.  This program is not very strict on the rules for what you can and cannot wear for weigh in on day one and whether you have to wear the same for the weigh in at the end of the eight weeks so I chose to wear my shoes and sweatshirt in addition to my other clothes rather than taking them off.  The plan is I would not wear the shoes and sweatshirt at the end.

Now some of you might be thinking that is unfair and I'm cheating myself.  While it might be true that it is unfair if the other team I am competing against doesn't do the same but when you have a team member like my boss who becomes extra competitive and would not be a happy camper if she lost I'm willing to risk being labeled as a "cheat".  And there is not anyone stopping the other team from doing the exact same thing.  As far as cheating myself, that's not the case since I will be weighing myself in much less and lighter clothing Wednesday morning on my regular weigh in day.

So wish me luck readers and I hope you follow along the next eight weeks to see how my team and I do at Holding for the Holidays!

Questions for you
1) Does your employer offer programs to encourage weight loss?
2) Do you have a plan to maintain or lose weight through the holiday season?