I want to start this post off by saying Happy New Year to you all! With every brand new year there is the opportunity to start a better path in your life. Really a new year isn't the only time for this, every brand new day is just as good a time to start as any. I think it is fairly common to set new goals and start new projects at the beginning of the year. I mentioned that my big goal in 2019 is to continue my journey to get healthier and lose weight. In general I want to just continue to grow as a person and improve myself. I think really that is the basic drive behind everyone's goals, to be a better person. 

I want to dedicate this post to offering some advice that may guide you with your overall goals. Some are health/fitness tips and some are just overall wellness tips. Sure I have so much room to grow and improve myself, I think everyone does, but I wanted to offer some wisdom as to the things I will be trying to apply to my life. A lot of this will be things I have already mentioned in previous posts, but I think you will see why I bring them up.

First and foremost I think one of the most important things you can do for your body is drinking enough water. I was lacking in this department over the last few weeks and to say I felt yucky would be an understatement. I personally get headaches, sleep horribly, and overall just do not feel great when I know I am not drinking enough water. It honestly is so simple to do too. I know some people don't think so, but I would say you need to just find a way that makes it easier to get your eight glasses a day in. For some it means adding some flavoring to the water. For others it means a special bottle that marks how much you need to drink by certain times in the day. I personally have a 20 oz water bottle that I know I need to fill and drink at least 4 times a day before I leave work. There are even devices now that can remind you to drink water during the day. Trust me if you make an effort to make sure you are getting plenty of water, especially if you know you do not drink nearly enough, you will feel so much better.

Next I would say that you need to sit down and come up with a game plan for yourself so you can reach your goals with ease. I personally know I am going to stick with Monday-Thursdays at the gym. Within those days I will do cardio on Mondays and Wednesdays and weight training on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My personal trainer is awesome enough to write out a plan for me to do on my own on Tuesdays and I get to work out with him on Thursdays which makes things much easier. Another great thing to plan out is your meals and when you will doing your meal prep. If you haven't considered meal prepping I highly suggest you do. If you have all of this mapped out you are probably going to stick to your plan a lot better. 

If your goal is not fitness related planning is still a very useful skill to utilize. For example ,I plan this blog as well. Every Sunday is my day to post on this page which makes it much easier for me to stick to. I love writing for this page so it isn't a chore or anything, but even if you love to do something if you do not have a plan it will be easy to put things off. Before when I did not have a posting schedule for this page I would just write whenever I felt like it. This led to huge gaps between posts. The same thing will likely happen for you. Set time aside every week or every day or whatever works best for you to dedicate to your goals.

The biggest thing when working toward goals to remember is to never be too hard on yourself, and reward yourself along the way. Now I do not mean if you are losing weight to go out and reward yourself with a treat. Sure that is okay sometimes but one thing I learned during Whole30 is that food should never be that big of a reward. Since I have been on this journey and sticking to it I decided to buy myself a new Fitbit as I think I have mentioned. I figured buying myself a newer and better model was earned since I now am pushing myself so much further than I thought I would with my workouts. I have a lot more use for the features on this new model now. I rewarded myself with something that is going to push me even closer to my goals. Do not beat yourself up when you back track or slip up as well. You are only human. We all make mistakes. Do not let a few lbs gained completely deter you from losing them again and even more afterwards.

With your New Year goals I want you all to just take things one step at a time. I am not perfect and I by no means am going toward my goals without taking a step back once and a while. Do your best to move forward and enjoy yourself along the way. Life is truly about the journey after all, not necessarily the destination.