March Wrap Up

Spring is in the air!

This time last month I was scraping ice from the windshield of my car in the morning.  We have made it past the sloppy part of Spring and this week you would think I was living in Cancun with all the shorts, tank tops and flip flops on campus.  The weather hasn’t been this nice in six months.  I love it!

Three months ago I made some resolutions.  After 90 days of 2010, just how well am I doing?

New Years Resolutions

Diet:  “I will no longer treat my mouth like a garbage can and junk food will find its way to the trash where it belongs.  I will learn about healthy eating, teach myself how to prepare healthy meals and reduce the number of times I visit restaurants significantly.”

In February, I began tracking how much money we spent during the month in an effort to quantify our food expenses.  By the end of the month we had spent almost $600 on food ($400 on restaurants and $175 on groceries).  I decided that my goal for March would be to reduce the amount of money spent on restaurants by 50%.

I also pledged to begin monitoring my soda consumption in the same way as I had with my food expenses.

Here are our March food expenses:

Restaurants: $380.40

Groceries: $296.88

It is obvious that we did not even come close to meeting our goal of reducing the amount of money we spent in restaurants.  Why?  As the month went by, I felt great about how little I thought I was spending in restaurants.  I had no idea that nothing was changing, at least financially.  Each Friday, I treat myself to dinner at Chipotle but aside from that, I really thought I was doing great at staying out of restaurants.  Wrong.

This month we are going to try again to reduce our restaurant spending by 50%.

My battle with soda has taken an unexpected turn and I have stumbled yet again at kicking the habit.  At the beginning of March I was doing better than I had expected but ever since my trip to Germany I have drinking soda like it is going out of style.  I am at the point again where I am not ready to stop.  There is just something rewarding and enjoyable about drinking an ice cold Pepsi on a warm day.

Fitness: “In order to refocus my attention on physical fitness, I have purchased a gym membership and have been exercising on a daily basis for the past couple of weeks.”

At the beginning of March I made a commitment to spend an hour in the gym 3-4 days a week.  Aside from the week I spent in Germany (where I spent hours walking around), I have been able to meet this goal and exceed it.  I have been able to do this because I just quit making excuses.  I’ve often said that there are always excuses not to do something and until you quit making excuses, nothing can change.

In April, I want to continue this routine.  It works well with my schedule and allows flexibility if I need it.  April is the first month of the Hundred Goals’ Hundred Dollar Challenge and I hope this will be the motivation others need to begin to improve their health and fitness.  The deadline to enter for a chance to win $100 has passed but that does not mean you can’t participate in the Challenge.  If you are interested in becoming a part of the Challenge, upload a “Before” photo and post a link on the Hundred Dollar Challenge Discussion Forum.

Personal Resolutions

Travel: My goal is to travel 50,000 miles in 2010.  In March I traveled to Germany which added ~9,300 miles for a total of ~14,300 miles.  Only 35,700 miles to go!

Education: I want to maintain a 3.5 GPA and at the beginning of March I was concerned about my grade in Chemistry.  I failed my first exam, which dropped my overall grade to a C.  My second exam proved to be better, 96%.  I completely redeemed myself and in the process, I began to feel much better about myself and my ability to succeed in Chemistry.  In all of my other classes I am earning A’s and I hope I will be able to push through the end of the semester with the same.  Statistics is my newest concern.  Mathematics is my weak point and it will only get more difficult from here on out.

There you have it!  March was a challenge and I hope April will prove to be more of a success.  Only time will tell…stay tuned!