So you want a resolution...

Well you know, I have always been into goals and resolutions. And I think that I am one of the few that has had success with New Year's resolutions. I used to smoke. I had gotten pretty good at quiting - I had done it dozens of times. Then one New Year's I decided to quit. I put all of my resources into this one goal. Success was not smoking. Nothing else mattered. My diet did not need to be on task (it wasn't anyway) and exercise did not matter (it never had). A zero in the smoking category was the only number on the score board. I kicked the habit!

However, success came with a price tag that was measured in pounds. I was the heaviest that I had ever been. The next goal was clear. I needed to lose some weight and get healthy. My diet was out of control. I started by just making slight changes. Picking the healthier of two items. I then got serious and got on a strict diet during the week. I packed my lunch everyday (lots of oatmeal) and stuck to a plan. No sugary soda, no sweets, no extras during the work week. On the weekends it was anything goes. I called this diet the 80 / 20 diet plan. As long as I ate clean 80 percent of the time I could eat anything I wanted 20 percent of the time. This worked great. My weight was dropping, my energy level was through the roof and I was still not smoking.

A few months later and my weight loss had plateaued. Time for another change.

So about 3 months later I started exercising. This was a slow process. I started slow and gradually built up my exercising. I rode an exercise bike in front of the TV everyday - I watched a lot of movies. I started running outside. I remember how proud of myself I was when I was able to run all the way around the park without stopping (~0.8 mile). I got to the point where I was running 5 miles every morning. I was feeling great.

Flash forward five years and I still don't smoke, I exercise regularly (I race in tons of events from 5k to half marathons to triathlons and even a scheduled full Ironman triathlon this year) and I still eat a pretty clean diet. But there is a lot of room for improvement. I am going to start a journey this year. I would like to break down the bad habits that I have developed and culture new better behaviors for the coming year. I have heard that it takes only 21 days to break / build a habit. I don't know where this comes from but I am going to give myself 28 days just to be sure.

Tomorrow will be the start of the first resolution.