Spring Cleaning

Nope.  Not your house (though mine could certainly use a good spring cleaning - and I'd burn calories doing it, too, but that's a blog for another day ...), your weight loss plan or whatever it is you call your journey.

There are certain times of the year that can be used to kick-start us into action.  New Year's is one - a time to "start over,"  "start fresh."  A time of new beginnings.  But Spring works that way too.  It's also a time of new beginnings - baby birds, newly budded flowers ... you get the idea.  Some of us need the idea of a time for new beginnings to get us motivated to start, or re-vamp, our weight loss plans.  For me, it was New Year's.  I started my journey on January 2, 2012.  But spring works too.

So, use this time to either start your journey or re-examine the one you are on.

Look at your current habits.  Are you still doing what you were doing in the beginning when it was all new and you were motivated?  If not, now is the time to dust off those things you've stopped doing and start them up again.

Journaling/blogging/tracking.  It is so important to keep track of your journey.  That's how you know what is causing your weight gain, plateau, etc.  It's such a necessary tool that tracks what you are eating, how you are exercising and what is going on in your life.  It's what makes it easy to catch what went wrong and fix it.  So if you've stopped, pick it back up again.

Tools.  Re think the tools you are using.  Have you let some of them go?  In looking at things now, do you need to start using that tool again?  Do a search on new tools.  As you all know, I'm a big ipad app geek.  Now is the time to see if there are any new weight loss apps out there that might get me on track and help me reach my goals.  If you don't have an ipad, there's lots of stuff on the internet.  Sometimes a tool a fun new thing that makes us want to get back in the game.  If it works, then go for it!  I find it fun trying new ones, even if I don't end up using them in the long term.  I'm always on the lookout for something to help me.

Re-think your goals.  Where are you now on your journey?  Are you where you wanted to be?  Is it going slower than you want?  Have you gotten complacent about reaching your goals.  Now is the time to focus on what your want and make a plan to get there.

Diet.  Have you slipped back into the fast food habit?  Do you find yourself eating things that aren't the best choices?  Now is the time to clean up that diet.  Do some searches for healthy recipes, buy a new cookbook with low calorie recipes.  It might even be a good time for a cleansing of sorts to try and rid your body of toxins and such.  Try to "eat clean" for a week and see if you feel better.

Plan.  Spring is a great time to plan.  A time of new beginnings that you can plan around.  More time outside.  Exercises that can be done outside now that it's warmer.  Plan out changes that you want to make to get your journey back on track.

Don't you just love this time of year?  Take that "spring fever" and put it to use!  Get out there and spring clean yourself!