Focus on a path to better health and not the numbers on the scale.

The New Year is near again, well, we are nearly there.  If you are like me, you have planned to diet and lose weight for weeks to months and procrastinated. You have made plans to abstain from your vices.  Your vice may be alcohol, bread, cake, candy, cheesecake, chocolate, jelly beans, potatoes, or just about any food you might potentially over-indulgent during this holiday season. I have missed the mark and my weight has ballooned.

As I said last year: “Over 40% of us will make a plan for a resolution this year, and over 1/5 will make a resolution to lose weight according to Statistic Brain“.  When it comes to setting up goals for a new year, weight loss is often the most common resolution that people make and fail to keep. I am sure most of my readers and those that roll their eyes when they see this post have made a weight loss re9olution only to fail to meet the goal or keep it off.

Why not do something different this year? Stop being so narrowly focused on the pounds on the scale and instead concentrate on being happy and living more healthy?  Losing weight would be less of a struggle if you just focus on health instead of the numbers on the scale. This year, I am still going to use the scale to track my progress, but my goal is not a number on a display.

My goal this year is going to be to eat out less and when I have to eat out, pick healthier choices. My goal is the number on the tape measure and not the scale. My goal is to eat better and exercise more often. I want to develop a healthy mental and physical state that I can continue for years to come. Unfortunately, I have gotten in a rut and blamed everything but myself. It is time to own up to my mistakes and not dwell on them.

The bottom line: This coming year, I plan to live as I did in Texas. I am going to walk more, eat less, and make better dietary and health choices. If I do that, the numbers on the scale and tape measure will take care of themselves. Good luck with your focus on better health.