Resolutions: January Update

January has been both a good and bad month. Here's a recap of the resolutions I wanted to work on this year and my updates on how I've been doing with each of them. Overall, I've been making progress in each department, but not to the level I want. But, I'm still proud of myself for taking the initiative to try and better my life, and I can say I genuinely have been trying in each category. Lot of room for improvement, but definitely a few steps better than last year so far.

#1: Weight Loss

Ayyy, okay. This one has been tricky. I knew this would be my hardest goal of the year and it really is proving to be quite challenging due to multiple reasons. If I had to estimate how many pounds I think I have shed, I would say about 2-3 pounds. Yes I know it doesn't sound like much and hell I don't even know if it's accurate. But I will say that even though my waistline hasn't decreased dramatically, I have learned many many many things this month about the way my body works and what works and doesn't work for me. 

The biggest lesson I've learned this year is realizing the roadblocks that prevent me from losing weight. I've come to realize that my biggest roadblock to losing weight is FOOD. Fucking food. I will admit that a few years ago I had a nasty fast food addiction and even though I think I have overcome it, it's still something that keeps cropping up with stress. I realize that my biggest triggers to eating junk food are 1. being stressed out while studying, 2. being home at my parent's house which contains 99% processed food. Luckily, both the situations can be improved with some work. I'm thinking about studying in my apartment for the next week. I realize that even though the library is where I get most studying done, it's bad for my diet because I get stressed out super fast and come up with some shitty excuse to binge eat at the hospital cafeteria. But, when I study at home, I'm limited to the food I have at home, which is all healthy. Plus, it's really really good for saving money as well, which is another resolution of mine. The second situation can be improved simply by going home less. I need to learn to be independent and that's one of the ways I can start doing it. I love being with my parents and brother because they're one of the only people in this world who love me and accept me for who I am. But, it's really unhealthy because my hygiene goes down, I eat really bad at home, and it deters me from growing up and facing my problems here in Oakland. So, I think I need to restrict my long-term home visits to 1x a month or so and come home 1x per week for Zumba and an evening with my parents. 

Secondly, I need to stop eating out so much. I love seeing my friends, but all the dinners and eating out aren't helping me with my weight loss at all. I need to restrict my outings to dinner 1x a week and then meet up for coffee or something light if I have other social commitments. Luckily, I don't think I have too many social activities planned for this month because it is so busy and stressful.

I just bought my dress for the medical school formal and it's a little tight so I'm hoping that gives me some incentive to lose a little bit of weight this month to look sexy and toned in the dress. I'm really really really hoping for a 5-10 pound weight loss this month now that I've realized my two biggest setbacks.

#2: Capturing memories

Ehhh I've been okay at this I suppose. I have been taking a couple pictures of each memorable/social event I go to. For example, I took photos of my friends' birthday party, my Superbowl cupcakes/, the Chinese New Year party, but I never seem to get any of me with other people. It's always just of other people and random things. That's something I want to improve on this month....learning to ask others to take pictures of me with my good friends so I can cherish those pictures and memories forever. 

#3: Keeping up with old friends
I've been doing a fairly good job with this one so far. I haven't hung out with too many old friends because it's been such a busy month for me, and I've been studying a lot more than usual. But I have messaged/Facebooked/texted a number of them. I've also gotten lunch with one of my good friends, Liz, a couple times this month which was tons of fun. I love catching up with old friends :) Hopefully I can keep the trend up in future months.

#4: Processed foods, refined sugars
Doing okay with this one. I went to my parents' home for 2 weeks in the middle of January because of the cold temperatures. They don't really buy a lot of wholesome, organic-y food so I wasn't eating all that well. I did eat dinner at home though, which my mom made fresh every night. My breakfast, lunch, and snacks were mostly all processed though unfortunately :(

#5: Sleeping 7+ hours a night
Yes! Finally a resolution I did well in this month! I've been sleeping roughly 7-8 hours most night and it feels absolutely amazing. Sleeping properly definitely keeps my mood high and my spirits well, and helps me focus on school much better. Best change I've made all month.

#6: Credit card expenses
Ummmmm....not so well unfortunately. I was buying a lot of books and groceries for baking, so unfortunately this wasn't all that well. Also, I've been going home a lot so gas expenses were high this month. I'm really really really gonna try harder at this in February though. Hoping to also start using more cash for tiny expenses like coffee. Also, I'm hoping to stop buying so much food outside and eating out so much, which will definitely help my weight loss goal. As far as beauty purchases, I did buy some goodies at the end of January because of the good coupons and deals going on, but this should mean that my Feb-March beauty expenses will be less.