2012 Goals.

Regular readers, if there are any, will not be surprised by my goals for this year. Another year rolls by and my goals remain pretty constant.

Last year, of all the goals I set, I managed to complete two of them. I had physio on my leg injury which has now fully healed and my housing is sorted... ish. The rest went unticked in the "completion" column.

So this year, I want to work on the fact my leg injury is healed by getting a little bit fitter, but more importantly, losing some weight. How much weight is another question. I'm scared to step on the scales. I'm guessing at around 2 to 2 and a half stone.  That's 28 - 35 pounds or 12.7 to 15.9 kg for anyone who doesn't operate in these archaic English measurements. It might even be more, but that'll wait until my first weigh in.

That's do-able over the course of a year. Aim for losing a pound per week, and potentially that's 52 pounds or almost 4 stone, if things went according to plan.

There is a slight complication. For reasons that I won't go into here, I'm not looking to lose to much weight or tone up too much. The figures mentioned above would still take me to the upper limits of weight for my height and frame type.

I want to lose my belly and to be able to fit into some old (but unworn) clothes,  but I'm not aiming to become super-toned like David Beckham. I don't look fat right now, despite being severely overweight - I carry it well - but a better diet and more exercise (I'm doing none currently) will lose the excess and distribute the rest better and I'm looking more for an improvement in my body shape than hitting actual weight goals.

That's something I always advocated to FA2 when she complained about her own body. The weight itself (as long as it's not health threatening) should be secondary to your own happiness with your body.

So, the first goal is fitness, weight loss and a small bit of toning up. My tentative plan on this (and I am still working out the details) is to create a good menu for my diet. Eat healthier, but not be too concerned about counting calories - reduce carbs, eat more fruit, cook from fresh, reduce fat where possible and this should all help. To encourage that, I'm trying to put together a healthy menu of quick and easy meals to make - I reckon I need about 15 or so, so I can still eat tasty, filling food without resorting to eating salads etc. which is where any potential diet would fall over within a day or so. Oh, and it goes without saying that I should probably cut the booze out for a while until I've got this new diet routine in place/

Once that diet is underway and my larder is stocked with ingredients so I can throw something together at short notice (I can't plan my eating, hence the need for two weeks worth of recipes), then I will consider upping my exercise levels. I can play football once a week with guys from work. I have some resistance bands I can use at home to do bits and pieces for a few weeks and once this is all underway, I will then think about going back to the gym once or twice a week on top of the football and resistance bands or get out on the bike once the better weather comes round.

All that together should, I think, see the weight drop off steadily. As I said, that's the rough overview... I still have to iron out the details, but I hope to be starting something within a week or ten days.

That's the main goal for this year. The rest are, like last year, secondary or in the list of things that fall outside of my control - travel (insofar as I want someone to travel with), meeting people (i.e. dating), trying new things, saving some money etc.

So, a belated Happy New Year from me and I hope 2012 is a good one for you (and me).