I DID IT!!!!! I JOINED THE YMCA!!! MY FIRST GYM MEMBERSHIP!!

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to join a gym and lose 20 pounds. I am happy to report that I have begun the journey of accomplishing both these goals. I joined the Weight Watchers at Work Program and the local YMCA. Weight Watchers will assist with the weight loss and teach me better eating habits while the YMCA will provide a fitness center with personal trainers to assist me with the firming up process. Also included with the membership are yoga classes, kick boxing, step aerobics, cycling and hip hop classes! How cool is that!!

I made the choice to join the YMCA for several reasons, the first and main reason being it is about a mile from my home. Convenience is everything with my hectic lifestyle! To my pleasant surprise they have a newer fitness center, personal trainers and as an added bonus many individuals I know belong and attend there, thereby bringing added encouragement and support of my efforts!

This has been a very exciting adventure for me. My membership also entitled me to a a consultation with a personal trainer who introduced me to the all the equipment in the gym, assisted me with my weight allocation and gave me a 12 week work out schedule. It has been a fantastic experience thus far!

Since January is the time of the year when everyone makes commitments to lose weight and get themselves in shape attendance at weight loss programs and gyms increase by large numbers. Per the personal trainers at the YMCA this attendance decreases during March and April and in May only the very dedicated remain. Since I want to be a dedicated, successful individual at my new task I really looked long and hard at this decision to make sure I had the necessary tools to be successful. Of course, I also did my research.

I found it very interesting when reading an article recently on MSN Health which indicated that the most successful "gym" individuals are those who attend an at work gym or a community gym such as the YMCA as opposed to Golds Gym, etc. This made me stop and think...what are the differences? Could this be because we are more likely to be surrounded by individuals we know who will support our efforts?

Since I am only at the beginning of this journey support and encouragement are crucial for me. It is awesome to go to the gym and see friends and family there who are doing the same thing. My daughter is also a great support as she is doing this with me! She is actually one of my work out buddies. Even though she is younger, prettier and stronger than me...I am not intimidated! I run your show Bethany!!!

Thanks to my friends and family for your encouragement and good luck to all of you out there who are on the same journey. I will keep you posted on my success.

New Year's Resolutions

I am so thankful that a New Year has begun to bring about reflection on life, goals and accomplishments. The very thought of 2008 brings about a need to search deep within to see what is next in life.

Within the walls of the company where I am presently employed the word "resolution" has been used over a million times this week. Well....perhaps not a million times....but certainly it has been the word of choice. Sentences such as, "My first resolution for 2008 is" or "What are some of your resolutions for 2008?"

After hearing the word resolution numerous times and certainly listening to my fellow employees' resolutions, I felt compelled to search even deeper and to make resolutions for myself...ones that I intended to keep, which have meaning. In order to make these resolutions I felt I needed to look at myself both personally and professionally and look at my family as well. At this point I would put together a list of needs. From this list of several needs, I would choose 3 or 4 which I felt would make me a stronger individual, both personally and professionlly, make me a happier individual, both personally and professionally and make me healthier, again adding to my life both personally and professionally.

Therefore, my 2008 New Year's Resolutions are:

1. To Lose 20 pounds and join a gym.
2. To begin the process of buying a home.
(This may take a little longer than a year but the process has to start somewhere).
3. To bring spirituality back into my life in a deeper form to include more frequent prayer, meditation and scripture reading.
4. To prepare myself to begin a new life with someone special.

So there you have it! My goals for 2008. Stay tuned to see how I do!!!!