Things I Will Do Differently in 2013. These are *not* resolutions.

Well, here we are at the start of another year. I can't believe it's been almost 365 turns of the sun since I started pestering you people with my health facts and dietary foibles. And, yet, you're here today, for reasons unknown to most of mankind. Which is why I would like you to take a moment and answer this simple multiple choice question below and write your response in the comment box:

I continue to read the Waist Management blog because 

A) I have gleaned a lot of information about my food choices that keeps me coming back for more.

B) I am constantly looking for ways to justify my love of Oreos and Snickers. You had me at hello.

C) I don't really *read* the blog, per se. I just like the Doodle Buddy pictures. Although my 5-year-old is a better artist, frankly.

D) Actually, my life really is *that* boring.  

Well, whatever keeps you here, welcome back. I hope we'll have a great year together. Can I let you in on a secret? I'm planning some pretty awesome new articles and features for the blog this year. And I'm pretty stoked about it. I hope you will be, too, once they are revealed in all their weird glory.

Can I let you in on another secret? I'm planning some pretty awesome new features for myself this year, too. To be truthful, 2012 was pretty sketchy for me. It had its high points, like running my first half-marathon, but it had its ugly points, too, like the whole Cinnabon escapade. I didn't really believe that the whole Mayan apocalypse thing was going to happen, but, when I look at the year in review, it didn't seem like I was doing a whole lot of planning for the long term, either.

I want this year to be different. And, no, I'm not talking about resolutions here. You should know by now how I feel about those. I'm simply talking about purposeful healthy living starting now. Or maybe Monday. IDK. And <--that is why I had to come up with a game plan. Here are three key steps I'm going to take to make this year better than the year before:

1) Eat less register candy. Um....somehow this shouldn't be enough of a problem to make it to my list, but it was in 2012, my friends. I don't even know what started the rash of last minute additions to my grocery basket, but I think I managed to eat more candy in 2012 than I had in the past decade combined. This might not even be an exaggeration.

Jennifer's 2012 Grocery Basket:

Sing it with me now: "One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong...."

We all have little habits that can add up to big problems. Consider this fact: Just 10 jelly beans a day--or 100 extra daily calories--results in packing on an extra 10 pounds in the course of a year. Frankly, I probably should have tried jelly beans before I indulged in those Snickers. Or M&M's. Or whatever the flavor of the month happened to be. But that little fact *does* help explain why my legs have a little extra jiggle in them, doesn't it?

This year is about eliminating just one vice and seeing what happens. That might be register candy for me, and soda or that dangerously delicious Carrabba's bread for you. But I bet we'll both be surprised when we drop weight almost automatically by eliminating just one thing.

2) Have more fun. Does anyone else find themselves waiting for the weekend to arrive and then getting to the end of it without having done a single fun thing? That was pretty much our 2012. Well, actually our Saturday schedule look something like this:

Step 1: Get up and run our local causeway at 7:00 am. This is not my idea of sleeping in on a Saturday.
Step 2: Watch Netflix the rest of the day. And, yes, we *just* discovered Netflix last year. Hello, 21st century.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, there's just one small problem with that plan: a sedentary lifestyle--especially one that involves a lot of TV watching-- slows down your metabolism and basically cancels out the benefits of vigorous physical activity. You read that right. Our hours of Netflix slowed down our metabolisms enough to cancel that extra burn we felt we got on our 3 mile causeway run.

While spending time with our TV land friends was all well and good for last year, the Hubs and I were talking about getting out and adding a bit more variety to our weekends this time around. While our primary motive was simply to get out of the rut we found ourselves in, as we make plans to go to a trampoline gym and use the indoor ice rink (the only way a Floridian will ever have a chance at the Winter Olympics), I realized something else, too: sometimes burning calories can be pretty fun.

I think most Americans--myself included--limit their concept of exercise and calorie burn to a regimented workout time. But that's not really what an active lifestyle is all about. It's really about creating time for enjoyable activities that have the fringe benefit of counting as exercise. Believe me, I have no idea how many calories I'll actually burn clinging to the wall of the ice rink as I get passed by a bunch of six-year-olds, but it really doesn't matter. The point is that I will be having a good time not thinking about exercise, but getting the benefits of it anyway. Besides, if I burn 100 calories more than I did watching Lost  marathons, I'll be ahead of the game.

Fun fact: An hour of ice skating can burn up to 500 calories. An hour of drawing yourself clinging to a wall in an ice skating rink can only burn like 30, the same amount you expend blushing each time another child passes you on the rink.

We all have things we like to do, yet never seem to find time for. My encouragement to you in this time of new beginnings is to get out there and do it! I don't care if it's nature walks, gardening, family ping pong matches, or joining a bowling league--this year's challenge is to rediscover a fun activity that keeps you moving without feeling like a chore.

3) Eat more fiber. Well, something has to replace all that register candy....
Last year, I started being more conscious of adding more fruits into my snacking routine, and adding my company's fiber powder to just about any liquid, and I can't even tell you how much better I feel. With all the research pointing to fiber being a key in insulin control, reduced cholesterol, a cancer preventative, and better blood pressure, what's not to love about it?   It may not be my most exciting goal ever, but I'm pretty sure my body will thank me for it, both in the short run with a flatter gut, and in the long run with better health. Now that we've dodged the Mayan apocalypse bullet, it seems worth planning for the future again.

Positive Peer Pressure to Help Keep Me on Track: I'll admit that my resolve to eat less register candy might be a little weaker if there wasn't a super cool competition that my company is hosting to incentivize it. The Hubs and I are signing up for the USANA RESET Challenge: Destination Transformation, a flipping awesome 90-day stint that rewards 30 winners with a trip to an exclusive wellness spa in Baja, Mexico. We love to travel, and the word "spa" works wonders on the Hubs, so we are all in. And you can be, too. It takes a simple sign-up, and a before-and-after picture, along with a weekly online weigh-in, and you're pretty much there. And let's face it, even if we were not among the lucky 30 winners, we'll have joined a community dedicated to getting our health back to where we want it, and that is its own reward. Though, if we find out that one of my readers has surpassed us in a fight for the prize, there may be some revenge exacted in the form of an unflattering Doodle Buddy picture in the blog.

Here's to a healthier 2013 for all! Don't forget to answer the survey question.