Let's Talk Resolutions

Another day, another blog post for my favorite people. Today I was thinking about New Years Resolutions.

Last December I committed to actually doing my N.Y.R’s and this year I am going to do the same, because I kept mine for the most part this year.

I’ll explain how I come up with mine, decide if they are worth committing to, make a plan, and put that plan into action.

For example, my resolution for this year was to get a 4.0 for both semesters. I knew it was going to take a lot of time and effort, but I really committed to it before creating a plan, and really stuck to that plan (btw, I got those 4.0’s!!)

Another example was to run my daily mile in under 8:30 minutes. I started this one a little later in the year, March, to be exact. I started running every day, I would take a different path or drive somewhere new to practice endurance and to get my mile time down everywhere. At some point mid-April, I did a “test” mile where I ran it on mostly flat surface and had that under 8:30 minute mile.

Now remember resolutions don’t have a date but aiming towards one will give you a push to commit and lay out your plan. ALSO, you may have resolutions that won’t be completed this year, that’s OKAY. We want to look at what we want our lives to look like when this year is over, that means setting a walkway, and planning, I still have resolutions I’m working on, and some that will never end, as they are to build my character and make me stronger.

As for creating my plan, I’m going to give you some other examples, that follow a plan a lot easier than the ones above (since everyone studies differently, and miles are hard af!)

My first example would have to be my eating habits. If you knew me at the beginning of 2021 you knew a girl who had finally just gotten a grip on life again and was starting recovery for an eating disorder. Many people fail to realize that the journey for recovery is hard and long (like just recently I fell back into old patterns and relapsed, I’ll talk about that more soon.) Now, I didn’t eat a lot of “good” foods back then, but that wasn’t my goal I just needed to eat. My goal was to get my habits back in a healthy range, while fueling my body with what made ME feel good. I was going to outpatient therapy, had a dietician, and was running a meal plan for a while. To create this plan, I had to lay out my favorite foods, what foods I wanted to reincorporate back into my life, and what foods didn’t make me feel the best. This took me a while, but I did it. Once that happened, I came up with a plan on what I would eat (with 5-6 options a meal to decide from) and an absolute last result to eat if I couldn’t handle food. The accountability factor was the hardest for me, it was easy when I had doctors breathing down my neck every day or two, or friends who would ask me what I ate. But the deep dark secret is, it’s amazing to have a support systema and really have people hold you accountable, but YOU have to be the one to set yourself up for success. Once you learn how to continuously hold yourself accountable and what works for you, you’ll be UNSTOPABLE.

Let’s move onto a less dark and twisty topic for a resolution. Let’s do some of this year’s resolutions!

My first one, I want to keep my a1c down for my diabetes, if you don’t know what an a1c is, it stands for “glycated hemoglobin. The A1c percentage measures how much sugar is attached to the blood’s hemoglobin protein. The A1c test result gives a measure of how well your body has controlled the amount of sugar in the blood over the past 2-3 months” according to the WebMD (which for once is accurate!) The average a1c percentage for a Type One Diabetic is between 6.0-7.0%, however for the past year I have been at a 6.0 or lower. Last month I was tested, and it came back at 5.1% which means I’m taking care of myself so well, if you tested me, it would come across like I don’t have diabetes at all (blood work wise). It’s been a hell of a lot of work, and I don’t sleep as much as I should, but it’s been worth it to get here.

Let’s talk my plan to continue this pattern and keeping my a1c down. As I know, the more time my blood sugars stay between 70-180 (normal range, but I like to stay between 70-110) the more likely my a1c will stay down. So how do I keep them there? First, I’m going to keep my diet consistent, meaning I eat around the same time every day. Then I’m going to eat similar amounts of food, when I say this, I mean a certain number of grams of protein, carbs, and sugar (not looking at calories because THEY DON’T MATTER). I will also give myself insulin as I’m cooking so my blood sugar and the insulin have time to work together and balance out. That is my plan. Now to hold myself accountable with this one is easier than others, because if I don’t two things are going to happen, 1. My doctor will probably yell at me and will 100% tell me to do better (which I hate btw) and 2. I will feel horrible and sick all the time, like I used to, and I never want to go back to that!

Drinking 64 oz. of water daily isn’t easy. But I want to get back to drink this much. Right now, I drink about 35-40oz a day and will be building this by add 5oz a week until I get to my goal! I’m going to hold myself accountable by using my Hydroflask and chugging the rest I don’t finish before I go to bed.

I want to be totally transparent and honest with you guys, so I’m going to tell you. I wrote this, and did plan on giving you all of my resolutions and goals for this year in this post, but I’m going to write another one so I can have my whole year set up on here too!! I hope you’ll ride this journey with me, because 2022 is going to be a great year! See you next wee