My advice to others who hope to make a change in their life:

• GET UP and MOVE! Sitting around won't help you lose weight or become healthier. I started out by seeing pictures and motivational quotes on Pinterest and decided that just looking at and pinning those things on Pinterest wouldn't get me any closer to my own personal goals.
• Tell yourself you can! You CAN! My favorite quote ever comes from one of my son's favorite movies, "The Little Engine That Could". "If you think you can, you will. If you think you can't, you won't. Either way, you are right."
• Set goals for yourself. Start small and work your way up. It feels great to accomplish something!
• Get others to help you. Either find people to walk/exercise with you, or just people to motivate you and share your accomplishments with. Sometimes all you need is to hear how others are doing (good or bad) to help you get back at it again. I'm not near done with my weight loss/fitness journey, so if you need a motivation friend, start a private Facebook group with me! :) Most of my miles were done outside on a gravel road and alone, but I had others supporting me. My hubby was awesome. He never discouraged me from going on walks although sometimes he was a little stressed with the kids when I returned. :) I also have some good friends who have helped motivate me along the way through Facebook groups, My Fitness Pal App, etc.
• Take before and after pictures! You might not like how you look in the before pictures, but I'll bet you'll feel much better about them when you see the after/during pictures! Then you'll know you've gotten somewhere. Also be sure to measure yourself. Sometimes the lbs don't seem to be changing, but the inches are!
• Make this your year. What are you waiting for? If you’re not happy in the skin you’re in, do something other than talk about it.

Good luck to anyone who chooses to embark on their own fitness journey!

2013 Goals

1.      Walk 365 miles (again this year).

2.      1 hour of toning a week (52 total hours this year).

3.      Read 365 books to my children this year (ensures family time).

4.      Obtain my Master’s degree!

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted my goal for the next year to be. I want to add in more toning, but also keep up with the walking/cardio. I love getting out in the fresh air and having “me” time. So I decided to keep the same walking goal. This year I won’t be pregnant, so that will eliminate several challenges. I also want to make sure I’m reading to my kids and spending plenty of quality time with them, so I will read a book a day on average to them. Oh and I’m going to be reading some books myself and go back to school online trying to get my Master’s degree.

I’ll keep you posted on how I’m doing! J

Good luck to you on your goals. Be sure to set some and track your progress!

2012 Goal

The task: Walk/jog/run 366 miles in 2012.

I did it! I made my year-long goal of walking/jogging for 366 miles in the year 2012! It's not the toughest goal ever, but it sure got me moving all year long! This blog post will tell the story of my journey through my best year yet and how I was able to meet that long-range goal. I hope it in some way can inspire at least one other person to set and accomplish a goal of his/her own. If I can do it, so can anyone else! I'm not a size 0. I'm not superhuman. I'm just as busy as everyone else (see challenges listed below). As a teacher (busy lifestyle), mom of two kids (including a newborn this year), and sometimes a single parent when the hubby worked out of town often 3 nights a week, I'm just like anyone else. I, too, have laundry, dishes, cleaning, baths, meals, a job, grading, planning, meetings, etc. consuming my time. This was the first year that I did not let all of those things define me. I made time for me. Some days I could not fit in "me" time. Some days I fit in extra "me" time. I just made sure it all evened out.

Challenges:

• I'm a Mom of two children (one of whom was born in May, so I spent January through May as a pregnant momma and the rest of the year as a momma of a baby.) And I have a toddler. So this means diapers to change, bottles to feed, suppers to make, play time, bath time, bed time, etc.
• C-section recovery in May. C-sections are considered major surgery and anyone who has had one, knows they aren't always painless recoveries.
• Extreme pelvic pains while pregnant.
• Pumping/nursing my daughter.
• Housework (cooking, cleaning, laundry, the works).
• I have a full time job as a teacher. Contrary to popular belief, not all teachers leave at 3:00 when the kids leave, and we don't show up at 8 a.m. as the kids get there. Most of the planning, copying, preparing, and meeting happens before or after those hours.
• There were papers to be graded and lessons to be planned nearly all of the time.
• My husband works a full time job and up until December his job caused him to travel 3 nights a week most weeks. So that left me alone with two kids and all of those chores listed above were left to just me.
• Meetings.
• Grocery shopping.
• Cold weather.
• Hot weather.
• Dark early in the evenings.
• Small house.... NO TREADMILL!
• Sicknesses.
• Hobbies.
• Angry birds and Words with Friends. :)
• Pinterest. :) :)
• Did I mention that I have two small children??
• My own ambition.

Couldn't have accomplished my goal without:

• A very supportive husband who watched the kids through a lot of those miles. I love you honey!
• A single and double jogging stroller to sometimes take the kids along for the walks.
• Friends who helped motivate and inspire me, and sometimes light a fire under my butt by reminding me I needed to keep with it (without directly saying that.)
• My Fitness Pal App and awesome fitness pal (Sister-in-law +Kelly Kampeter, who pretended :) she needed to lose weight just to keep helping me get motivated). I owe much of the mileage and weight loss to her.
• Focus and determination to make it.
• A Garmin Forerunner watch to keep track of most of those miles. A few were logged by use of the Nike Running App on my SmartPhone. (Must mention that the Nike App doesn't seem to be as accurate as my Garmin Forerunner watch, surprisingly.)
• Comfortable walking/jogging clothes.
• Motivational quotes and pictures of fitness gurus on Pinterest. I also read a few blogs of other women who had taken their lives back by become healthier people.
• Compliments here and there to remind me my hard work was indeed paying off. Lots of thanks to many co-workers who have complimented me along the way. It feels great when it's the people you see every day and they notice and commend your hard work.

Monthly Miles

                                               Walked                 Jogged                     Total

• January                         50.06                    2                               52.06
• February                       5.43                      0                               57.49
• March                           15.07                    0                               72.56
• April                             0                           0                               72.56
• May                              13.61                    0                               86.17
• June                              26.58                    9.85                          122.60
• July                               26.97                    20.90                        170.47
• August                          6.21                      11.65                        188.33
• September                     34.12                    17.54                        239.99
• October                         46.04                    10.15                        296.18
• November                     21.21                    6.5                            323.89
• December                     26.61                     15.5                         366.00!
• Total jogged: 94.09
• Total walked: 271.91

2012 was not always easy. It was not always fun. There was some sweat involved. And some tears. And some triumphs. And some weight gains and losses. Amongst it all, though, it was my best year yet.

Anyone who reads this can judge me, critique me, or criticize me, but the bottom line will still be the same. I set a goal one year ago and I accomplished it and no one can take that away from me. I am also a better (and slimmer) person because of it.

I named this blog My Best Year Yet with the hopes that I will add to it every year and be able to end each year saying the same thing. I hope to make the most of each year I have left in this world and always be a slightly better person when the year closes from when it began. Here's to hoping 2013 is my best year yet!