What's your excuse? You ready to let it go?

So I read this article written by Kellie Davis at motherfitness.com the other day and it struck a nerve with me! Love it when that happens when you read an article! This quote in particular really struck a chord!

"I know this guilt disguised by excuse so well because I used it every single day for years."

This is me, has been me for a few months now. I know I've talked about metabolic damage, about how I just keep gaining weight and I'm just not in the mood to track my food, or workout like I used to (pre-competition), don't want to eat vegetables, want to eat what I want, etc. All of these things are true. But they truly are EXCUSES! At some point, I just have to suck it up! And guess what? The time has come. Yes, I believe I have some metabolic damage and yes, I believe it will take some amount of time to work through that. Absolutely! However, in the meantime, it really can't be my excuse for eating french fries on probably a weekly basis or going out to eat often and overindulging each time I do. Nope, I can't do that anymore. So it's time to tighten up the reins.

I don't need excuses or willpower. Nope...what I need is a PLAN! I've been free-falling for a while now and I think I'm okay with not doing that for a while. Until I at least like the way I feel, until I feel healthy again. Right now I'm carrying too much excess weight for me. I feel fluffy and out of shape. In case you aren't sure, these aren't feelings I ENJOY having! Haha!

I don't want to be drastic in my changes since I most likely won't stick to them all if I do them all at once. So I will be implementing these slowly. I'm not doing Donloree's 12 weeks of Fitmas but it's going to be something similar to that for me. These are in no particular order.
1) Weight workout 3 times per week - may include a class like TRX or Leanin' Up which is like a circuit class
2) Steady-state cardio (minimum of 30 minutes) 3 times a week - this actually has more to do with me needing to increase my cardiovascular strength than for any "weight loss" reason
3) Tighten up my food - eat homemade food for almost all meals, maybe go out once or twice a week and then eat "right", meaning no binge eating or eating everything on my plate just because I'm out to eat
4) Cook more meals (dinners in particular)
5) Add in more vegetables, either as smoothies or soup if the actual veggies don't sound appealing.
6) Don't mindlessly eat. Don't eat out of boredom or because it's just "what I do now".
7) Move more. Make sure I'm not sitting on my buttocks in front of the TV/computer/ipod touch every night. Once a week okay...but every night? NOT okay!
8) Be in bed by 10:30pm. That means not getting ready to get in bed. This means in bed, jammies on, teeth brushed and flossed, in bed...book in hand!
9) Foam roll every day.
10) Cook a "fabulous" meal at least once every other week!
11) Make a new recipe once a week
12) Enjoy my meals and workouts and give thanks for both daily!

So, there you have 12 weeks of new goals! Yes, again having a plan is key and having some baby steps to getting there is even more important. I will add one of these each week until Christmas since it's exactly 12 weeks from today. I think I'll be feeling pretty good by Christmas.

This week's goal then will be #2! Steady-state cardio 3 times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes each time.

I guess I'm getting up off the ground (or the couch at least) and moving forward with a plan, a winning mindset, determination, and gratitude. Does that just about cover it? I think so! Anyone care to add anything? Anything you do/say/feel to help yourself stay on track? Any other ideas for mini-goals along my journey to have "better health"? Would love to hear about them! Hope your weekend is grand!