Blog Swap 2010: Guest Blogger Melissa List

Meet Melissa!

“Action. What will you do next year that you’ve been putting off for too long?” That’s what 20-Something Bloggers asked us in their 2010 Blog Swap, and my partner, Melissa List has some great goals for the year ahead, along with some fierce tenacity to accomplish them! Visit Melissa’s Blog and join her in her resolutions!!

I have three goals for 2011 and while many people choose healthy resolutions…it has become quite the cliché to do so. Everyone says they want to lose weight. Usually an exorbitant amount that is IMPOSSIBLE. People set themselves up with these huge goals and when they don’t meet them within just a few weeks, they just give up. Well, this year, I refuse to give up. REFUSE.

Goal #1: Become an actual RUNNER.

Every single year, I make the same exact plans. To be a runner and to run in a minimum of 2-3 5K races. I say every year that no excuse is allowed. That no injury, stressful event, or illness will get me down. I will train diligently.

Yet, every single year, I fail myself. School work or housework gets in the way. I’m too stressed. I’m getting married and have no time or money to pay for entry fees (That was in 2009!). School was my excuse for 2008, 2009, and 2010. I would begin training, only to get shin splints or let the excuses get to me.

The worst excuse yet was the excess pounds that I was carrying on my frame. Well, this year, I am down nearly 30 pounds. A perfect weight to be running at.

I WILL use my nice running shoes and start training, even if it’s on a treadmill at the gym. I WILL get my body used to it.

Goal #2: Become an even more healthy eater.

I have already cut out MOST fast food because of the fact that sunflower oil, the food I am allergic to, is in everything out there. This is because sunflower oil is cheap, as well as slightly more healthy for you than, say, normal old vegetable oil that fast food restaurants used to use. But I digress… There are a few things I can still eat from these restaurants, but I have discovered that the less I eat from there, the worse it tastes when I DO eat it. So, why not just cut it out all together?

That and soda. How I adore, adore, adore, a nice cold Dr. Pepper. Or Coca Cola. From the “tap” in a large cup of ice is best. But it has no nutritional value, makes me bloated, and the caffeine makes me shaky. Tasty as it is, it has more cons than pros. I am giving myself til mid-2011 to nip this habit completely.

Goal #3: Lose the debt

Last but not least…I want to pay down most of our credit card debt. We have accumulated a great deal while I have been finishing college. NO MORE, I say. No more. I don’t really have a plan yet for it, but I’m formulating one. We’ll see how it goes….

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What kind of changes are you hoping to make in 2011? Health related ones? Maybe you have goals for your relationships with friends, families, significant others?

SHARE. 🙂 I’d love to know what you have up your sleeve!

XO.

Mel