No. Calories Needed

Happy New Year!

Here’s the new-and-improved plan for 2012.

1.  There will be DAILY posts, here at No. Calories Needed.

2.  I will lose 50+ pounds.

3.  I will eat consciously – enjoying foods that I like – and foods that are, you know, real foods.

This year’s motto – no gimmicks, no excuses.

Getting in better shape is goal # 1.  To that end -

1.  I will (continue to) walk 20 to 60 minutes per day.

2.  I will get back into my running routine.  I missed running this past year (and, really, stopped most of my health-related blogging, because of a terrible combination of lower-back pain – and kidney stones.  I will not bore you, but most of my lack of enthusiasm for the whole “weight loss” thing came as a result of those kidney stones.  It took some time to figure out what was causing them, and I am prayerfully-optimistic that they are gone, for good.)

3.  I will workout – 3 to 5 times weekly – with a focus on strength and flexibility.

I am not exactly sure how I will document my weight loss.  I can’t decide if I’ll start with the numbers from January 2011 (a very hit-or-miss year, both blogging and weight loss wise) or if I’ll just start from January 1, 2012.  Let me think, for just a second… Yes, I will start with numbers from January 1, 2012 – and pretend that last year (blogging and weight loss wise, mind you) never happened.  Here’s to a brand new day!

First weigh in report will be next Monday.  Gulp.

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

As I mentioned over at my other site – No Credit Needed – I am planning to build a raised bed garden this spring.  One of my goals with the new garden is to grow my own fresh fruits and vegetables.

It is relatively easy to save money at the grocery store by using coupons and a grocery store price-book to track prices – but it’s still relatively expensive to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

This year I plan to plant cucumbers, zucchinis, cantaloupes, watermelons, green beans, snap peas, peppers, and (possibly) potatoes.  We rarely eat tomatoes and corn doesn’t provide a very good space-required-return, so I won’t be growing them.

We live in the south, so I might try my hand at planting some peanuts, but we shall see.

I recently built a compost bin for vegetable scraps and yard waste – and I’m going to try to make the garden as organic as is possible.  Good soil amendments are the foundation for a great garden.