A New Year, New Fitness Moves

I am not a maker of New Year Resolutions. However, the very air and the internet being full of them, I find myself reflecting too, on what the past year brought and what I hope to include in this one...or discard of, such as a number of pounds. Overall, I am fitter than I have ever been; I have increased my muscle tone, my strength, my endurance...the only problem is that it is still hiding under a nice layer of body fat. 

Weight-lifting, yoga, bike and other machines are the winter weather, broken-foot friends I meet with daily. I can do more sit-ups and leg lifts than I ever attempted in my younger life...and yet my weight has plateaued. Forever ago. I have never weighed so much outside of pregnancy. It stinks. I do not, though, weigh any more than this time last year. One small achievement.

So what is the next move?  I have the firm intention of sculpting my body into a goddess-like shape in the coming year. I mentioned this jokingly to a friend the other day, but I think it might just be the very thing for 2014, a goddess my age that is. I am aiming for health and strength above all, so that I do not have to interrupt exercise every other minute because of an injury.

How to go about it? We already cook all of our meals at home, except for the occasional date night out and the occasional coffee out...hmmm, those mocha lattes are really full of goodness...and sugar...and calories. Ditch those, substitute with green tea. 

We eat lots of fruits and vegetables, protein in lean meat, nuts, eggs and beans, almond instead of dairy milk, yogurt or fruit for most desserts, not many grains, an occasional rice cake, and water is the beverage served at the table, (besides dinner which usually means a glass of wine). 

No between meal snacking...or is there? Cooking and cleaning and hanging out in the kitchen are adding up to bites of this, a sip or two of the kids' hot chocolate while making it, handfuls of that (normally Ghiradelli chocolate chips), a glass of wine before dinner, some chips with the wine. 

This is a lifestyle problem. There is a lifestyle solution, I just have to find it. I've tried staying out of the kitchen...my darling husband is a great cook, but I need to do some of it, being the main person at home. I am weak, chocolate is a drug, and I love the whole before-dinner relaxation with my husband or while cooking alone. 

Would the French have a glass of wine while cooking? NO. They might have a drink before dinner, but it would be seated and planned. Do Americans usually have a drink before dinner? Ah, it would seem that some of us have a permanent drink happening in our giant-sized soda cups. 

I have a giant water mug from the maternity ward...the nurses finally took pity on me after being there for so many births in a row that they gave me my own mother-mug. It is equipped with a straw hole,  but it is made to sit by a hospital bed and it leaks when moved. Maybe I need to buy some straws or a fresh water bottle.

I am open to ideas that have worked for you. Do you have weak spots and how did you solve them? What are your fitness resolutions for the year?