I’m keeping with my resolution theme again this month and also talking about how I did with my April challenges.
Resolution #1: Become a healthier person.
Last month, I challenged myself to go 30 days without drinking soda. I made it 46 hours. Truthfully, while going cold turkey sounds like a good idea, it’s not. Especially when you’re addicted to it as much as I am. I did fine on my first day but by the second day, it got a little crazy.
I’ve decided to stop taking things away from my diet because I don’t like deprivation. It doesn’t work for me. (Does it work for anyone?!) So I’m taking on The 30-Day Shred challenge. I am going to do Jillian’s kick-butt routine every day for 30 days. I won’t say I’m excited about this and I cringe thinking about how sore I’m going to be. But I want to show myself I can do this. And I think it’ll go a long way in helping me with my weight loss effort. As long as I stick to eating right.
Resolution #2: Become a godlier woman.
Since I knew how hectic my schedule would be in April, I charged myself with only conversating with God in April. I didn’t do this as much as I wanted to and sometimes it felt more like an afterthought than anything. I think it’s because I wasn’t really involved with God. He’s been a big afterthought for a while.
So my challenge for this month is to have quiet time with God five times a week. Luckily, my life will be a lot less hectic and busy and it will be much easier to find time to have this quiet time with God. And I hope to make an easy, everyday part of my life that I need. And I’m starting a new Bible study that the lovely Kyla Roma recommended to me! This makes me super excited to start.
Resolution #3: Get in control of my finances.
I resolved to start tracking my spending this month and I have done that. I still want to sit down and make some sort of chart of where all my money went and make a budget from that. Unfortunately, the bulk of my money I make in May is going towards tuition so I really don’t have any big plans with my credit cards because of that.
Basically, my goal for this month is to cut down on those little expenses. The two times I get paid this month, I’ll take $30 out of the bank to have for any expenditures. I can use this for shopping, food, or whatever I feel led to buy. I really want to get into this habit monthly while I’m trying to get control over my credit card debt so we’ll see how this month goes.
(Also happening this month: a new phone! I’ll be able to shop around for a new phone on May 25th and I cannot wait. I’ve been using my mom’s awful Blackberry since I lost my phone in November and I hate it. So I’m going to get a new phone then, when I can get a nice one for cheap.)
I have that Bible Study 🙂 Maybe we could do it together! And good luck with the challenge!!
I used to be a complete caffeine junkie. Anywhere between 3-5 POTS of coffee a day, combined with some soda here or there. A few years ago I just had the realization that I couldn't keep that pace up and quit cold turkey. It was horrible and I was physically sick for a good few weeks. Now? I mainly drink water with an occasional iced tea, chai or coffee thrown in for caffiene but only one. You'll get there with the soda, now if I take a sip of soda I'm kind of grossed at the taste because I dont drink it anymore.
Nope, deprivation doesn't work for anyone. At least, anyone normal.
My route to becoming healthier was to try only to adopt changes in my life that I knew I could sustain. Sure, I could live on salads for a week, but there's no way I could do that my whole life. I'm the worst when it comes to exercise (it's never been part of my life until now) so I started with 26 days (apparently it takes that long to form a habit). Now I exercise at least twice a week, usually three or four times if I'm not busy. And that's good enough for me, because that's something I can keep up with in the long-term.
I love the new blog! That warm mustard-y color is great! I still crave soda sometimes, although I never drank the real stuff, just diet coke, which can actually be worse for you…but the caffeine and staying up until 4am (when I went to bed at 2!) were just too much for me.
The only thing I've been able to cold turkey (hah–no pun intended, I swear!) is meat. I've tried with soda, and really I don't drink that much, but when I give myself a strict rule of no more drinking, that pretty much ensures that I'll want one.
Most important thing with finances-pay yourself first! You should read Automatic Millionaire.
I don't do well on deprivation either, but I try to cut down or substitute….I was bad today though, I had fountain diet cokes and a cup of coffee. Those sound like good goals again. Good luck! I'll keep ya in my thoughts!
Saying hi, I found you through Ashley's blog 🙂
Yes, quiet time with God is a hard thing because it's a hard thing for humans to quiet their mind in general…at least I find it hard. That's when I drive to the beach and look at the pretty scenery, then I have NO CHOICE but to talk with God and say, "hey, you made a pretty awesome world."
Good luck with it all. I struggle with my finances, too. Hardcore.
I am also a soda addict, but I've been doing a lot better. I find that if I have a single diet soda when I go out to lunch with my friends (something we do once a week) I'm less likely to cheat during the rest of the week. I've noticed that since I stopped drinking them several times a day, my teeth have gotten a lot whiter… That's motivation enough for me, since bleach is expensive, lol.
If you want to see exactly where your money goes, try downloading a monthly budget sheet for Excel from Microsoft Office Templates online. I used one for all of April, and it was fantastic. It broke down spending into categories and subcategories, and everytime we spent money, I put the amount in the appropriate category. Looking back on April, I can tell you exactly what we spent our money on. It was extremely helpful in looking at exactly where our money goes and figuring out how we want to budget for the next month. I was also able to imput a projected cost vs. actual cost, and Excel automatically computed the differences to see where we saved money vs. where we overspent.
I'm pretty excited about the 30 Day Shred challenge… I don't have a tape measure to get my current measurements, so I have to buy one tomorrow! 🙂 I was going to do that, but then forgot, so I'm glad you sent an e-mail about it!
Oh man. My food kryptonite is french fries and ice cream. I could swear them off one minute and chug on them the next.
I completely lack self-control.
P.S. What time do you usually do your bible study??
I didn't think I could quit drinking diet pop but I did….I'm definitely going to drink it every once a while. I just needed to stop drinking 5+ cans a day. You can do it! 🙂
Good luck on getting your finances together. I'm trying to work on that!
These all sound like things I should take on myself. Although I am not addicted to soda, I am addicted to candy. I hope the shred-a-thon goes well. Keep us updated!
Nope, deprivation doesn't work for anyone. At least, anyone normal.
My route to becoming healthier was to try only to adopt changes in my life that I knew I could sustain. Sure, I could live on salads for a week, but there's no way I could do that my whole life. I'm the worst when it comes to exercise (it's never been part of my life until now) so I started with 26 days (apparently it takes that long to form a habit). Now I exercise at least twice a week, usually three or four times if I'm not busy. And that's good enough for me, because that's something I can keep up with in the long-term.