Jan 1 is just a day

I heard a radio commercial a few days ago, poking fun at the fact that most people had given up their resolutions already this year. I can't remember the reason the ad was talking about it but it wasn't in an inspirational way but more like 'hey, you already blew it so why not blow it more by doing xyz'. I mean, I live in Wisconsin where there are several bars on every corner, and most serve bar food (burgers, fried food, pizza) so it was probably something along those lines. I get it, misery loves company. It just got me a little irritated though, because changing habits is hard, and most people beat themselves up enough when they don't accomplish what they resolved to in the twinkling light of the Christmas Tree afterglow. I just found it frustrating that the idea is, if one thing didn't work, don't even bother trying, just let the wheels fall completely off so it will be 10 times harder the next time you try to tackle that same hill. OK soapbox. I did not have as stellar a start 2025 as I had hoped. I like to start things on a Monday so it threw me off a little that Jan 1 was a Wednesday. The Sunday prior was my 52nd birthday. My husband and older son brought me out to a nearby city so I could get some paint and we had lunch. I enjoyed a non-keto meal, assuming I would start my goals on Monday, Dec 30. I actually got up Monday and exercised. That's a huge deal for me. Exercise has been the thorn in my side this journey, I just have a mental prejudice about it. So the fact that I went into my freezing cold basement at 4:30 A.M. was a big deal. Everything went good until my husband came home with 3 donuts for me. The night before (my birthday) he mentioned feeling bad that he didn't get me a cake, so he brought me donuts the next day to make up for it. I was doing do good up until that point, but I decided to eat them, 2 over the course of that day, and the last one the next day. I didn't want to hurt his feelings and I decided that I would just start the clean eating Jan 1 like everyone else. I did still workout. In fact, I have done a class on my Peleton app 13 days in a row now. It's been a long time since I've been this active. I was planning to keep last weekend pretty clean or maybe allow one cheat meal. I messed up by getting an off-menu item Friday night. I felt a taco salad was pretty safe, obviously I knew I wouldn't eat the taco shell bowl. But when it arrived, it had refried beans in it. It was my fault for not asking the ingredients. Refried beans are tastey but have a decent amount of carbs. So, knowing it was going to be a higher carb meal, I ended up eating some of the shell. It wasn't that great, to be honest. My dad and his wife came Saturday Jan 4 and they always gift us some of my dad's homemade wine and his wife makes us a big tray of cookies. We have a spread of cheese, crackers and meats to nibble on while we chat. I don't know why, but I indulged in crackers with my cheese and meat. I didn't have any cookies though. My dad's wife ended up getting a sick stomach and they left early, so we went out to dinner ourselves. I had soup and french fries, even though my stomach was feeling bad knowing someone got sick in my house. I didn't bother starting my Bingo game the week of Jan 1 since it was a short week. I was actually noticing some resistance to the idea of it, almost like it was too much pressure. I did at least wrote down some things I'm grateful for. I started Bingo this week and have to say, it's not motivating me like I thought it would. I am kicking booty getting exercise in, which honestly, was the one I was most resistant to. I have made a rule for myself: my sleepy brain is not allowed to decide whether or not I'm going to work out. Every day when I wake up, all I want to do is sleep more or snuggle my dog. I will always be resistant to working out, but my sleepy brain tries really hard to convince me that I don't have the energy, strength or stamina to do anything challenging. Then I pop a caffeine pill, lace up my shoes and turn on my Peleton app and before I know it I am huffing and puffing and jamming to the music. I can only do weight/resistancet HIIT training about twice a week right now because of how sore my muscles get, the rest of my workouts have been interval walking, other kinds of cardio like zumba, or yoga. I neglected a morning workout on my birthday so instead I did a meditation class at bedtime, but the rest of those 13 days have been active workouts. I got some branch chain amino acids to help my muscles recover, and I know as I get stronger I'll be less sore. Today I did a 45 minute interval walk, it's so fun with house music and I get all sweaty and happy. I have almost 12,000 steps in for the day thanks to that morning walk in my basement. The best part about it is, the soreness is from my muscles having been challenged. Those is a stark contrast to the snaps and aches I was having in my hips and knees due to being so sedentary. For most 2024 I had so much trouble with snapping hips and other than walking my dog every morning, I didn't get much exercise. I am so happy with how much better my hips and knees feel after just 2 short weeks of exercise. I'm not sure if I will continue the Bingo thing. There are definitely small habits I want to adopt and large goals I want to conquer but having so many calling to me at once is overwhelming. I did join a Peleton challenge to complete 100 straight workouts in 2025. 2 of my 13 day streak don't count because I did them Dec 30 and 31, but that doesn't make me any less proud of myself for doing it. I feel stronger already. My weight hasn't budged, I'm sticking at 171 pounds. But I can tell things are tightening up. I really don't care if the scale doesn't show me a specific number, but the measuring tape will let me know what's really going on. I decided to reward myself for working out so many days, cleaning my house and making good food choices this weekend. I ordered myself a new glass bottle and a digital measuring tape. One of the reasons I loathe taking measurements is because I never know if I'm putting the measuring tape in the same spot or pulling tighter one time vs the next, then having to write down the figures. This measuring tape takes some of the guesswork out of it because it's attached inside the reader so I don't have to try and hold two ends and still read it. It also comes with an app so you can record the measurements. One thing I keep thinking about, after my rocky start to the new year is, it really doesn't matter when you commit to it. You'll do it when the time is right. I needed a little extra time to get my ducks in a row and now I'm in a good place. So if you already fell behind in chasing those resolutions, don't give up altogether, just reformulate your plan and crush it. Jan 1 is just a day, no more significant than any other day, but a lot can happen in one year if you give up the idea of perfection.