I hope your 2020 year has started off amazing. If it hasn’t by chance, I hope it brings you all things looking up from here.

I’ve always been one to surpass the countdown on New Years Eve, which is fine and usually by choice. So when the opportunity arose to the occasion, I took it. However, we did celebrate by booking our next vacation. This is something that helps me stay motivated to stay in-line with my goals. For me, that’s meal tracking, weighing my food intake, and exercising regularly. As I had mentioned before, exercises is my nature for the past 9 or 10 years.. so that isn’t a struggle. EATING though, for the love of food, is my biggest weakness. I love food, I love to cook with rich and delicious ingredients. When it’s time for me to tighten up on my goals and my weight- I go back to food journaling and weighing my food. It helps me tighten my reins, and add that extra “RETRACT! RETRACT!” back to my waistline.

As you know from my last blog, we were in Mexico for a week in December. We had some awesome adventures! The resort wasn’t the best, food was crummy and hard to stick within any goals of any sort. I’d rather have gained weight from indulging in crappy foods that I wanted, rather than the copious amounts of corn nachos. Either way, we made some amazing memories, we nailed our “wtf” look to each other, and we laughed- a lot. I was a little uncomfortable with my weight, just physically. I’m never THAT uncomfortable these days to wear sleeveless shirts, a swimsuit without a cover, or to walk around my hotel room naked though.. I spent YEARS of my life worrying about what others saw, so my confidence that way is the “if you don’t like it, don’t look at it” so I will wear what I like, be naked when the occasion presents itself, and wear sleeveless shirts to sport my undefined arms.

So in a nutshell, my next vacation (Cuba in February), is my ‘eye on the prize’ motivator, but also my reward. Because when I lay on that beach, feeling my best, that’s the ultimate reward!

I encourage you to find something to help motivate you- it could be anything! Brainstorm what you’re interested in, what ignites your spark when you think about it, and go from there. I have traveled quite a bit in my time, I love to travel- because at one time (in my teens), I was embarrassed to. I needed seatbelt extensions, and if it were now- I’d have had to pay for an extra seat! That’s part of my love of travel, I can do so with some organization. In fact, when my partner and I first started seeing each other, they needed to get a passport. That was my prerequisite. So we applied for one, and here we are.

Happy New Year 🥳

Health, and happiness to you and yours.

Christina