No. Calories Needed

2011 was an amazing year for me and my family.  I am excited about 2012 – and I thought I would share a few of the plans I have for the coming year.  (This article is very similar to one I just published over at my personal finance site – No Credit Needed.)

Writing -

In 2011, time available for writing was extremely limited.  Thankfully, my schedule has settled a bit, and my passion for writing appears to have returned.  I plan to write (a minimum of) two articles per day, one at No Credit Needed and another at No Calories Needed.  I also plan to announce the launch of a new site – one focusing on the spiritual aspect of my life.

Connecting -

My twitter handle is @NCN.  You can follow me here – twitter.com/NCN.  How cool is that?  I have a three-letter twitter handle.  Here’s the deal, though.  See, I signed up for twitter a LONG time ago (in Internet years) – just after the site started.  However, I didn’t see how big of a deal twitter would be – and really cost myself an opportunity to gain followers.  I hope to rectify that, in 2012.

Financial Planning -

This will come as no surprise – but my lack of writing has led to a lack of focus, when it comes to managing my finances.  Making the change from one job to another required a significant commitment, and now it’s time to laser-lock, and put into practice many of the lessons I’ve learned, and written about, over the years.  It’s been stated in a thousand ways – but personal finance is personal – it’s emotional, psychological, spiritual, and intellectual.  I’ve been treading water and now it’s time to get back to work.

Fitness Training -

I made a goal, a couple of years ago, to really focus on my health.  I’ve done a decent job of losing some weight – but not nearly enough.  I’ve continued to run, but I need to run more.  I plan to make 2012 a productive year, a year to make more progress, grow stronger, and be fit.

These are my plans for 2012.  I’ll have more to say in the coming days – with specific “fitness resolutions”.  If you haven’t done so, please consider subscribing to the site, via free daily email or rss.

No. Calories Needed is an independently-operated, single-author, personal fitness blog.  Rock on.

Instead of just keeping a list of goals in my head and then reporting on them at the end of the week, a good weight loss blogger would put his goals “out there” and let others read them – and then do a report at the end of the week.  So, for once, I’ll try to be a good weight loss blogger.

Exercise -

I want to walk a minimum of 2 miles, each day.  I also want to continue jogging, three times this week.

Eating -

I want to avoid fast food, refined sugars, and starchy-foods.

I’m focusing on lean meats, nuts, fresh fruit and vegetables.

Sleep -

Instead of staying up super-late, I’m going to try to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep, and will shoot for 8.  I suffer from insomnia, so this will be difficult, but avoiding late-night snacks and sugar should help.

Blogging -

I gotta blog each and every day.

There you go.  Goals for the week, “out there”.

As for my weight, I’m down about 5 or 6 pounds from this summer, but just can’t seem to hit my stride, but at least I’m holding steady.  I hope you all are doing well.  Rock on.

It’s that time, my friends.  It’s time for good old NCN to give it “one more shot” and lose some weight.  Football season is just around the corner, and I plan on coaching my sons team.  I want to be in better shape, so that I can keep up with him, and provide a better example.  Here’s the plan -

Obviously, I need to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated.  For me, that means two things.  First, I have to give up (once again) sodas.  Second, I need to increase water intact.  This is actually pretty simple to do, especially once I put my mind to it.

Eating, I need to focus on eating real foods in sensible portions.  I’m going to completely skip the gimmicky diet plans, with tons of restrictions.  Instead, I plan to eat lean meats, lot of vegetables, plenty of fruit, and healthy nuts.  Again, this isn’t difficult – but it does require proper planning and dedication.  I usually “fall of the wagon”, not because I love to eat junk, but because it’s easier to eat junk.  That’s a pretty lame excuse, and one I’m tired of making.

When it comes to exercise, I really miss my gym membership.  When we moved to the new house, I let the membership lapse – and I’ve failed to rejoin.  I know, I could just exercise in my home, but going to the gym (and knowing that I’m paying to go) is a big motivator.

I plan to weigh-in (officially), once a week.  I’ve tried various methods, weighing-in every day – and weighing-in once a month, but weighing-in once a week seems to work best.

Speaking of exercise and weight, I have two, very simple, very specific goals.  I want to run in a 5k and I want to lose 40 pounds.  These are both realistic goals, especially considering that just a year or so ago, I was running 2 to 3 miles per day.  I just need to get back on track, focus, and make these things happen.

Which brings me back to “why” I’m dusting of No. Calories Needed in the first place.  I need accountability, and blogging about my weight loss helps, as long as I actually, you know, blog about my weight loss.  So, that’s what I’m doing.

Thanks for visiting, and for those who have yet to do so, follow me on Twitter and say “Hi!”

Tomorrow, it’s up at 5:30 am and off to the gym.  Rock on!

I have a new goal.  I want to lose 100 pounds by October 10, 2010.

I had a great day today, calorie-burning wise.  According to the GoWear Fit armband that I’m now wearing, I have burned over 4,500 calories today!  This is awesome – even if the device is “off” by a couple hundred calories – that’s still a lot of calories burned!

I’ve gone to the grocery store and stocked-up on healthy foods.  I’m going to use a modified low-carb diet – eating lots of lean meats, nuts, green vegetables, and fresh fruits.

If you’ve been reading this site for even a little while, you know I’m prone to “starting over”.  Well, I was motivated by a recent post over at ManVsFat.  So, here I go.  I’m going to give this thing an honest and open try.  Will it work.  Only time will tell.  All I can say is, I have the information, I have the platform to tell my story, and I now have some added motivation.

My goal is 100 pounds.  I’m 5 feet 8 inches tall.  If I reach my goal, I’ll weight 155 pounds.  That’s what I weighed when I graduated high school.  Can I do it?  We shall see.

No more excuses.  No more whining.  Time to get serious.

Rock on.

Starting weight (10-11-2009) – 255 pounds