I have only made one NY's resolution that I have ever stuck to. It was the year where I resolved to never make a NY's resolution again.lol I believe that when you discover something you would like to change about yourself then you should just go for it no matter what time of the year it is. I commend your resolve to change the areas where you feel you need to, Shelly, but remember if it doesn't work out you can always give your resolutions a try again long before Jan 1st 2007:)

Foxy.

lol - now that's a fine resolution, foxy :)

What I love about new year's is that it's this completely arbitrary day... but it's a day, you know? A day to set apart from all the other days, when I can say to myself, "okay, from here on in, things are different." It really doesn't matter which day, ultimately. But dang it, new years is just so handy! :) That said, though, your advice is good advice, because I can pretty much guarantee that I'll fall into old patterns sooner than later :)

Shelly

Well,

I'll probably tried to lose a little weight like most people.

Other than that I'm going to make an effort to be more thankful for the good things in my life. It's so easy to focus on the bad and not the good.

Although I think my wife and I have a good marriage it is easy to be caught up in the everyday chores of life. We are going to try to have more "Dates" and just generally have more fun.

Larry

I've never had one before, but I came up w/ a good and hopefully realistic one.

I am no longer going to clean my plate when I'm eating. I don't care how hungry I am or how great the food tastes, I am never going to finish it all. I am not going back for 2nds or 3rds either.

I've done very well so far. Last night it consisted of leaving 5 pieces of sweet-n-sour chicken for the dog, today it consisted of scraping all of the mayo off and leaving two bites of my hamburger.

I know it's not a huge feet, but it doesn't hurt and it's realistic for me for now. Maybe it will be the start of good things to come. :-)

Yay! Tisha! Your resolution is alot like mine!

You know what has worked for me? Reducing my portion sizes, and sipping water or wine or whatever for about five minutes before taking another portion. Often, I would eat beyond my hunger simply because the food was sitting there on my plate. But if you take smaller portions, eat more slowly, and wait at least five minutes before getting seconds, chances are you'll find that you don't need seconds. Why torture yourself looking at something you want to eat just sitting there on your plate, when you can be satisfied with one full, but not gargantuan, portion?

I've been eating this way for a few years now (North American eating habits are hard to break: load up the plate and eat until you can't eat any more). My cousin tuned me into it - it's a habit she picked up when she moved to Montreal, where eating habits are bit more french (France-french, not French Canadian). Anyway, wouldn't you know it, a diet book came out recently with this very suggestion. "French Women Don't Get Fat" is the title, I think.

Another fantastic trick my cousin taught me (which is also apparently in this book) - walk whenever possible. For instance, campus is about a 45 minute walk, 30 if I speed it up. That's not that much time out of my day. Sure it's a hassle for morning classes, but after class, it's nothing to get home at 6:30 instead of 6:00. I mean, what do I miss with that half hour? Reruns of Full House? And this simple little trick can amount to an actual workout if you're used to being fairly sedentary. As long as your heart rate goes up, and is kept up for at least twenty minutes, you're going to start burning some serious calories. A mini-trick I use while walking to burn even more calories is to try not to change my stride or my speed when going uphill.

Anyway, I think it's great that you're taking care of your body. It's hard! The hardest part for me is finding time to cook. I hate processed and packaged foods (they all taste so salty!), but finding the time to make my own soups and sauces and stuff from scratch is sometimes impossible! Actually, no, I lied. That's not the hardest part. The hardest part is making myself work out. I HATE going to the gym... absolutely detest it. And I find it so much easier to sit on my butt and read or watch tv, or to go out for a drink with friends, than to work out at home. I guess it's just a habit you've got to get into, huh?

It sounds sort of goofy, but I have a tip that helped encourage me to work out at home...back a few years ago when I was in great shape. *sigh* I should get back at it!
What I did was deny myself music most of the day, and play music when I worked out. (Got the treadmill, stepper, and weight set downstairs, but that needs revamping now.) I really like music, so it kind of psyched me up for exercise if I didn't have any on for most of the rest of the day. That put sort of a self-indulgent factor into the workout. Ok, it's odd, but it helped.

RESOLUTIONS-- yeah, I made one this year, although I unofficially started right around Christmas. It's vague and not measurable, which is the best kind, because you feel good as long as you're striving-- you don't "fail".
My goal is to be less wasteful.
I've heard a lot recently about how much food North Americans waste, and it's really sickening. I can't do much about the pre-consumer end, but I can do my part otherwise. (Tisha- it's not a dig about leaving food on your plate! It's a lot less of a waste to give it to the dog than to eat it if you don't need or want it!) I know I've never been among the worst offenders, because we have a compost pile, plus bunny and some chickens to recycle peelings (and in the chickens' case, the "iffy" stuff) but I'm going to try really hard to stay on top of it all-- keep the dry goods rotated so nothing gets old, only buy what I know I'll use in the near future, NOT let the broccoli get yuckky in the bottom of the refrigerator...you know.
I'm going to work at keeping clothes-buying for little DD in check. Just because a T-shirt is cute and just because it's marked down to $5 doens't mean I need to buy it for her when she already has a large drawer stuffed full of T's.
I'm not going to pretend that I won't be buying "stuff" that isn't essential, but I'm going to give a good long thought to whether I'll use those non-essentials enough to make them worth buying and storing. I'm going to walk away from those pretty candle-holders, or the dish sets :(, and think about it for a couple days.
I'm going to remember that I don't need to duplicate things just to save myself running to the other end of the house to get what I need. For eg., I have way more pairs of scissors than I need, just so that I'll have them handy when I want them, in the kitchen, in the office, in the bedroom, in the sewing room, etc. I probably won't get rid of those I have, but I'll make it a point not to do much more of that sort of thing. Rather than buy a second stapler for DH's office, we'll share the one we've got, ...like that.

Jen, people like you make me proud to be a part of Gardenweb. What a thoughtful resolution!

As far as food goes, I think it's harder to be conservative with grocery-shopping if you don't live in a larger city. It's easy for me to buy food only one or two days ahead of time, so that nothing goes unused, because 1) there are grocery stores and health food stores on every corner, and 2) I'm only feeding myself and whoever might happen to be coming over for dinner on a given day. I rarely buy impulse items that sit in my cupboard forever, because when I go to the store, it's to buy something for a specific meal.

But for someone who lives in a town with one supermarket (and those are usually not downtown, because the property taxes would be astronomical), or who has to feed a family of four or five... well, going to the grocery story every day or two can be pretty unfeasable.

Thanks, too, for the workout tip - it's a good one. I love to dance - just boogie around the kitchen. If I deny myself dance during the day, it might just get me in the Mood For Movement come evening.

Shelly

They were broken before New Year's Eve was over.

1- Exercising & cutting back on food & sodas & upping intake of water to lose approx 75 lbs.
2- Quitting smoking.

I have thought about loving my body more almost every day this year-that was a good one Shelly. I am thinking about joining weightwatchers with DD-she needs to loose more weight than I do but maybe we can support each other to love our bodies more. I am trying to cut down on coffee-only one latte instead of 2 or 3 a day(we have oour own machine) Along with this I am trying to drink more tea and appreciate an afternoon and night cup of tea.

I am also trying to be more organized and a more effective boss.

I reread this thread when you replied, toots, and realized that my "Mood for Movement in the evening" comment might be more appropriate on the "boyfriends in a box" thread :)

But about the weightwatchers resolution - kudos to you! There are some really fun teas out there, too. I once found one called, and I'm not joking, "Horny Goat Weed Tea." It's delicious.

Libby, don't give up just yet - you've still got 11 months left in the year to make those resolutions work.

Well, I'm not one for resolutions, but generally, I going to try to be more social, spend more time w/ other folks for fun (I tend to prefer to be alone, when not working, more condusive to artwork, etc...) maybe make some new friends.

Wanting to have more laughs, see more movies & generally lighten the load a bit. Also do more museums (I live in NYC, I don't really take advantage of all the culutural offerings it has to offer). A new museum opened recently not far from my office, want to check that out; also return to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) after its huge renovation when it was temporarily housed in Queens.

Back to losing some weight (I lost 12 lbs. in the fall, gained back abt 5); got to go back to drinking TONS of water.

Libby, don't be discouraged, ditch that soda & double up on water, it can make an AMAZING difference. The last boyfriend I lived w/ lost what looked like a beer gut (he didn't drink) by switching from soda to water &/or home brewed ice tea. I don't keep soda in the house, unless the drinker finishes it or all or takes it w/ them. Jim must have lost at least 10 lbs. from just that one change alone.

Also Libby, perhaps try not to look at it as 75 lbs., why not consider it as either 15 lbs. several times or 25 lbs. (the same way); can seem less daunting & might make it easier.

Also, I think I need to change jobs, but I'm exhausted from what had been a long period of unemployment & a grueling job search. Short version, my boss is a beast & can get quite psychologically abusive. Interestingly, he's a divorce attorney, who'd go to bat in a minute for a wife divorcing an abusive husband; yet seems not to notice that an behaviorally abusive boss can be just as damaging ... (sighing deeply)

Good luck & perseverance everybody (myself included)!