It is that time of year again when my head swims with hopes for the new year. I have a lot of hopes for 2012 and plenty of goals.
1. Lose weight - this goal is very important to me. I lost a lot of weight this last year, but it wasn't enough to get me where I want to be. For my height my ideal weight is approximately 150 lbs. I would really like to reach that weight this year and feel pretty good about being able to do so.
2. Buy a car - I have not had my own car since getting married over 8 years ago. The car that we are currently using is working okay, but I wouldn't consider it to be "reliable." It is very important to me to have reliable transportation of my own. I have never been able to just go visit family and friends because of not having my own car. I home school so it would be nice to take the kids on field trips or trips to visit family. We don't go visiting as is because of my husband's work hours and me not having a car. Plus if we have another baby it is extremely important to me to be able to have reliable transportation for our family (and for me to be able to go somewhere without relying totally on my husband.
3. Have a third baby - This is something I've wanted for a few years now. I can't afford to wait until I am in my 30's because of my high risk factor. Our finances haven't been good enough and my health hasn't been good enough previously. There have also been some rather serious issues in our marriage that has provided obstacles for having a baby. If I have a good used car and am healthy then this will probably be the best year to have another baby. I figure that if I can manage to lose about 2 lbs a week I will be able to think about getting pregnant in June or July. I have also figured that this would put the birth of the baby after the tax return for next year. The tax return wouldn't cover all the expenses, (a cesarean was in the ball park of $10,000 last I knew) but it would really help. There would still be a lot of preparing that would need to be done, like creating a nursery space. I won't need to be buying too many toys or baby equipment since I didn't use most of that stuff the last two times. Besides the birth costs our only real expenses with a baby would be a new car seat and Dr visits. Diapers depend on whether we go disposable like previously or if we use cloth.
4. Start designing knitwear - This is something I've been thinking about on and off this past year. I think 2012 would be a good time to get into designing. My ultimate goal would be to create patterns for knitwear that I could sell for a small profit (perhaps to feed my knitting obsession). I have noticed that I have a very hard time finding patterns for wearable clothes that are more on the simple and causal side while still being interesting and stylish. I have also noticed that many patterns I find and love are pretty hard to actually acquire. Every time I find a pattern I love on Ravelry.com it is something that is out of print, requires the purchase of a $15+ book, or isn't even available in this country. I don't hope to ever get published in anything, but it would be cool if I could learn enough about designing patterns to create nice clothing for my family and maybe make enough money to buy some yarn on the side. I'm not sure where I will be able to take this, but I still want to dabble and try my hand at it.
5. Start dressing nicer - I have not been very fashionably dressed for a long time. After getting married we didn't have the money for clothes, then I had babies and got fat, money issues continued, depression got in the way and I just gave up somewhere along the way. I don't expect to have heaps of cash for going shopping this next year, but I do hope to make more of an effort to dress more modernly. I do many things to keep my depression at bay, including knitting. I hope to be able to knit some nice things to update my wardrobe. I don't mind wearing cheap clothes and really don't care about the brand at all so long as it fits and looks okay. I hope to be able to cheaply acquire a few outfits that I can mix and match and complement my knitted items.
6. Have more "me" time - Time to myself isn't really something I've had much of. My life is all about being a home educator and mother for my children and being a house wife. I have had very little time to myself since getting married and it is something I am really in need of. I hope to get more chances to take a relaxing bath or go shopping by myself. It would be great if my husband would take the children out of the house so I could take a nap or do something in peace and quiet. Right now the only alone time I get is after the kids go to bed at night, and that just isn't much of a break. I am really hoping that if all goes well and I do get pregnant after June 2012 that I will have time to rest and relax some. I have had hard pregnancies in the past, and my husband has promised to step up more this third time and really help me have time to take care of myself.
7. Better intimacy in the marriage - As is, I don't really get time with my husband. He works long hours and by the end of the day we are both exhausted. I am not talking about physical intimacy so much as emotional. We don't really talk to each other anymore, and when we do it is about the budget, parenting, or other busy stuff. We don't talk about our marriage or what is emotionally important to us. I hate the distance and would like to make more time to just be together. We were initially drawn together because of how easily we got a long and how easy it was to talk to each other, but that has been lost over the years of stress, conflict, and work load. It would be nice to have some intimacy back again.
There are many things that I hope to improve or change during this next year, but those are the big ones.
This year for weight loss I will try to stick to weight updates on the 1st of every month as well as what I have been doing well or poor on and what I'm doing differently. I did finally decide to order a scale, which arrived today. I weighed myself and was pretty dismayed at the number that came up. I had expected I had gained some weight over the holidays. I thought I was probably around 205-210 because my clothes aren't really fitting any differently. Oh heck no! I weighed in at 219 lbs!!!!!! I am not happy about that as it adds more time to my weight loss and will effect when I can start trying for a baby. This means I will have about 69 lbs to lose or 11.5 lbs each month. It is doable, but doesn't leave me much wiggle room.
I will do my official first weigh in of the year tomorrow. I hope to go over my eating plan some and what I plan to do regarding my diet and how to control bad food choices.
I have been reading in "Good Calories, Bad Calories" again tonight. I needed to give my hands a break from knitting and seeing as how tomorrow is the New Year it seemed appropriate. I am over 50% done with the book and running into very interesting stuff. I just read a section talking about the similarities between fasting and a low-carb diet. They both affect the metabolism the same way. If you are fasting after a couple days the hunger goes away and your body pulls the needed energy from your fat and muscle. If on a low-carb diet your body does the same thing only instead of pulling all the energy from your body it is using what you are eating and there is no hunger just like when fasting. You can go from fasting to eating low carb and suffer no ill effects and your metabolism doesn't suffer. If you are eating 800 calories per day in fat and protein you won't be hungry or tired, but if you add 400 calories of vegetables and fruit (or any carbs) to it so you are eating 1200 calories per day you will become hungry (ravenously so) and tired and experience mood changes. There are some very interesting points made and some very compelling evidence. It agrees with my personal experience, but it is interesting to have it validated through scientific research even if it hasn't been paid any attention in the medical community. I remember how terrible I felt on a low fat/low calorie diet and how much better I felt on a low-carb/high/fat and unrestricted calorie diet.
1. Lose weight - this goal is very important to me. I lost a lot of weight this last year, but it wasn't enough to get me where I want to be. For my height my ideal weight is approximately 150 lbs. I would really like to reach that weight this year and feel pretty good about being able to do so.
2. Buy a car - I have not had my own car since getting married over 8 years ago. The car that we are currently using is working okay, but I wouldn't consider it to be "reliable." It is very important to me to have reliable transportation of my own. I have never been able to just go visit family and friends because of not having my own car. I home school so it would be nice to take the kids on field trips or trips to visit family. We don't go visiting as is because of my husband's work hours and me not having a car. Plus if we have another baby it is extremely important to me to be able to have reliable transportation for our family (and for me to be able to go somewhere without relying totally on my husband.
3. Have a third baby - This is something I've wanted for a few years now. I can't afford to wait until I am in my 30's because of my high risk factor. Our finances haven't been good enough and my health hasn't been good enough previously. There have also been some rather serious issues in our marriage that has provided obstacles for having a baby. If I have a good used car and am healthy then this will probably be the best year to have another baby. I figure that if I can manage to lose about 2 lbs a week I will be able to think about getting pregnant in June or July. I have also figured that this would put the birth of the baby after the tax return for next year. The tax return wouldn't cover all the expenses, (a cesarean was in the ball park of $10,000 last I knew) but it would really help. There would still be a lot of preparing that would need to be done, like creating a nursery space. I won't need to be buying too many toys or baby equipment since I didn't use most of that stuff the last two times. Besides the birth costs our only real expenses with a baby would be a new car seat and Dr visits. Diapers depend on whether we go disposable like previously or if we use cloth.
4. Start designing knitwear - This is something I've been thinking about on and off this past year. I think 2012 would be a good time to get into designing. My ultimate goal would be to create patterns for knitwear that I could sell for a small profit (perhaps to feed my knitting obsession). I have noticed that I have a very hard time finding patterns for wearable clothes that are more on the simple and causal side while still being interesting and stylish. I have also noticed that many patterns I find and love are pretty hard to actually acquire. Every time I find a pattern I love on Ravelry.com it is something that is out of print, requires the purchase of a $15+ book, or isn't even available in this country. I don't hope to ever get published in anything, but it would be cool if I could learn enough about designing patterns to create nice clothing for my family and maybe make enough money to buy some yarn on the side. I'm not sure where I will be able to take this, but I still want to dabble and try my hand at it.
5. Start dressing nicer - I have not been very fashionably dressed for a long time. After getting married we didn't have the money for clothes, then I had babies and got fat, money issues continued, depression got in the way and I just gave up somewhere along the way. I don't expect to have heaps of cash for going shopping this next year, but I do hope to make more of an effort to dress more modernly. I do many things to keep my depression at bay, including knitting. I hope to be able to knit some nice things to update my wardrobe. I don't mind wearing cheap clothes and really don't care about the brand at all so long as it fits and looks okay. I hope to be able to cheaply acquire a few outfits that I can mix and match and complement my knitted items.
6. Have more "me" time - Time to myself isn't really something I've had much of. My life is all about being a home educator and mother for my children and being a house wife. I have had very little time to myself since getting married and it is something I am really in need of. I hope to get more chances to take a relaxing bath or go shopping by myself. It would be great if my husband would take the children out of the house so I could take a nap or do something in peace and quiet. Right now the only alone time I get is after the kids go to bed at night, and that just isn't much of a break. I am really hoping that if all goes well and I do get pregnant after June 2012 that I will have time to rest and relax some. I have had hard pregnancies in the past, and my husband has promised to step up more this third time and really help me have time to take care of myself.
7. Better intimacy in the marriage - As is, I don't really get time with my husband. He works long hours and by the end of the day we are both exhausted. I am not talking about physical intimacy so much as emotional. We don't really talk to each other anymore, and when we do it is about the budget, parenting, or other busy stuff. We don't talk about our marriage or what is emotionally important to us. I hate the distance and would like to make more time to just be together. We were initially drawn together because of how easily we got a long and how easy it was to talk to each other, but that has been lost over the years of stress, conflict, and work load. It would be nice to have some intimacy back again.
There are many things that I hope to improve or change during this next year, but those are the big ones.
This year for weight loss I will try to stick to weight updates on the 1st of every month as well as what I have been doing well or poor on and what I'm doing differently. I did finally decide to order a scale, which arrived today. I weighed myself and was pretty dismayed at the number that came up. I had expected I had gained some weight over the holidays. I thought I was probably around 205-210 because my clothes aren't really fitting any differently. Oh heck no! I weighed in at 219 lbs!!!!!! I am not happy about that as it adds more time to my weight loss and will effect when I can start trying for a baby. This means I will have about 69 lbs to lose or 11.5 lbs each month. It is doable, but doesn't leave me much wiggle room.
I will do my official first weigh in of the year tomorrow. I hope to go over my eating plan some and what I plan to do regarding my diet and how to control bad food choices.
I have been reading in "Good Calories, Bad Calories" again tonight. I needed to give my hands a break from knitting and seeing as how tomorrow is the New Year it seemed appropriate. I am over 50% done with the book and running into very interesting stuff. I just read a section talking about the similarities between fasting and a low-carb diet. They both affect the metabolism the same way. If you are fasting after a couple days the hunger goes away and your body pulls the needed energy from your fat and muscle. If on a low-carb diet your body does the same thing only instead of pulling all the energy from your body it is using what you are eating and there is no hunger just like when fasting. You can go from fasting to eating low carb and suffer no ill effects and your metabolism doesn't suffer. If you are eating 800 calories per day in fat and protein you won't be hungry or tired, but if you add 400 calories of vegetables and fruit (or any carbs) to it so you are eating 1200 calories per day you will become hungry (ravenously so) and tired and experience mood changes. There are some very interesting points made and some very compelling evidence. It agrees with my personal experience, but it is interesting to have it validated through scientific research even if it hasn't been paid any attention in the medical community. I remember how terrible I felt on a low fat/low calorie diet and how much better I felt on a low-carb/high/fat and unrestricted calorie diet.
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