Another year gone. It goes by so fast! When I look at my post from Jan 1 of last year, I talked about how I lost 30 pounds in 2007 (sounds familiar!). I was eating Nutrisystem foods and getting ready to wean off of them to my own eating style.

During the last year I really accomplished a lot:
1. Started running and began running official 5K races
2. Got into my goal decade of the 130s.
3. Hit 100 pounds lost officially in June.
4. Started and graduated an online transcription course.
5. Really focused on building muscle with strength training.
6. Moved to eating more local foods (meat in particular).

In thinking about goals, I think the reason many people don’t stick to them is that they are either not really attainable or they are not specific enough. You really need to make sure that your goals are specific with a specific plan. It’s not enough to say “I want to get in shape” or “I want to lose 10 pounds”. That goal is fine, but then you have to know how you are going to do it.
So, be specific if you want to get in shape, for example. Think, I will go to the gym X times a week and get in 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training. Then get even more specific with the types of routines you will do. That defines your goal and gives it a plan of action instead of a nebulous idea.

Here are my goals for this year:

1. Do a sprint distance triathlon. Specifics – the tri is picked out for this summer, and I have a 3-month workout plan to follow to do the training.

2. Run a 10K race. Specifics – I will continue with running my 5Ks with intervals and then will start adding longer runs once a week to build endurance.

3. Continue my eating plan. Specifics – I will work on my recipes and plan meals so that I make it as easy for myself as possible to stay on plan.

4. I will hit goal of 135 by doing all of the above.

5. I will donate blood 6 times again this year.

6. Work on my Spanish. I have CDs, I need to use them.

Those are my goals. I look forward to reviewing this post again on Jan 1, 2010!