I have never made a serious, specific resolution for New Year's before. Considering I'm turning 36 this year...that is pretty amazing to me. This year I resolved to avoid fast food for the entire year. I define fast food as mostly pre-made burger places. I have been known to visit Mc"unheathly" more than three times a week in the past so this is a big deal. I allow for Arby's or Subway and if I want a burger....I can make it myself or go to a nicer sit down place. I have successfully avoided any fast food for the past 11 weeks :)
Also...Josh and I have agreed to avoid red meat for 40 days. These 40 days correlate to Lent but this is not for religious reasons. Again... I have my own stipulations for this. Because finances are tight..we are allowed to eat any red meat that we had already purchased. And, no, we did not go out on a beef purchase binge ahead of time :) We just had some ground beef in the fridge and some bologna for Josh's lunches. This is a big deal considering I love my red meat and I love having steak...especially on my birthday...and this year... I can't. BUT we will be going out for a nice steak dinner after the 40 days :) I think overall this will help us limit our red meat intake in future which is good for our health and the environment.
It's a nice change and a good way to try more vegetarian meals. We are trying to do Meatless Mondays as well, but we've forgotten a few of them until we are ready to eat our chicken dinner :(
Our next challenge will be to go one month free of dairy. This will be extremely difficult. I LOVE my dairy. I could drink 2 gallons of skim milk a week by myself. Cheese is a food staple in this house. However, I think Josh may be sensitive to dairy and this will be a good way to show him that he may feel better if he avoids or limits his intake. We have already tried some chocolate almond milk and it was decent so now we'll have to find some non-dairy subs for cheese to try.
I have also begun to go on long dog walks. I love to walk but have had difficulty doing this due to meralgia parasthetica. That is a pinched nerve in my hip/thigh area that is aggravated by walking/standing. It has been literally a pain in my side for 11 years and during the 13 miles I have walked in the past 5 days....it has not bothered me. I am flabbergasted!! Only thing that has changed is that I've been unemployed for a year and thus not wearing dress shoes daily, not wearing possibly tighter dress clothes and not sitting at an office desk all day. I hope the lack of pain continues but am a little confused as to why not working has affected me in that positive way :-/
Oh well...I'll take positive when I can get it. All this walking...and not much movement on the scale yet :( but I know sometimes that happens. It's only been 5 days.
