Blog Resolutions 2016!

Happy 2016 Everyone! New Years is always one of my favourite times of the year, because it's full of anticipation of a new year, and a new life. I'm a big fan of the whole 'new year, new me' idea, and whilst I know it can be ironic that a lot of us give up our resolutions only a mere few months in. However for me this time of year always gives me the little kick up the bum that I need to start making some changes in my life, so why not just go with it. At this time last year I wrote out my Blog Resolutions for 2015, so let's see what they were and how I got on...

1. Take More/Better Photos: I wouldn't say that I particularly see this one as a success. In 2015 I traded in my old DSLR for an upgraded one and then didn't really use it to it's full advantage. I have used it to film Youtube videos, but when it came to taking photos for the blog I resorted to using my iPhone, and I don't really have a good excuse. I even bought an 'idiots guide' book for my camera so that I can learn to use it more successfully, but haven't even picked that up...

2. Blog at least 10 Times a Month: I would call this goal a success. Honestly I didn't really think about it too much, I just posted whenever I had ideas, and tried to make sure that I didn't leave the blog for long periods of time. As it turned out there were only THREE months when I posted under 10 times. So 75% of the time I was on target, which is great for me because I never normally blog enough, this year seems to have been the exception though!

3. Start Posting a Youtube Video a Week: For part of the year I had this going really strong, and then life got in the way, and I stopped posting Youtube videos altogether, this is something that I really hope to remedy in 2016.

4. Network More: This is another of the goals that needed a bit more work. I'd still say it was an improvement on 2014 as I definitely went to more blogger events, shared my content more and commented on my content. I still think my networking skills have a lot of room to grow though.

5. Reach 250 Followers by the end of 2015: I am more than pleased to announced that I have smashed this goal, and as it stands I have 328 followers on bloglovin' which is a whole 78 more than my target! This is something that I honestly wasn't monitoring at all, so it came as a shock to me when I looked back on these goals that I had managed to do it. Very, VERY pleased with this one.

Overall a mixed bag, pretty much as there always is with me when I write goal posts, and yet I still keep writing them... So onto 2016's Blog Goals!

1. Reach 500 Bloglovin Followers: Seeing as I smashed my last target I am hoping that this one will be just as simple.

2. Write a baking post once a week: Some of my most popular posts of 2015 were my baking ones, people clearly like reading them, and I like making them, so it makes sense to make a better feature of them for this year.

3. Actually Learn to use my camera, and use it for 90% of Blog Photos: Exceptions to this rule are going to be things like selfies, which are so much easier to take on my phone, but for anything I plan to blog about, I should use my camera.

4. Read and engage with more bloggers: This is very similar to my networking goal of last year, except I particularly want to engage with other bloggers content, maybe even find and join some link-ups.

5. Blog at least 15 Times a Month: Seeing as I managed the 10 times a month goal last year I thought I would up it to 15 posts a month, that's pretty much every other day, so I shouldn't have a problem with it, as long as I stick to my features and blogging schedule.

6. Youtube, Youtube, YOUTUBE: I've said this a million times before but Youtube is something that I have always wanted to do since I was a teenager. I got so close to keeping up with it last year, and I don't want to let that slip away so 2016 shall be known as the year of Youtube!

There it is then, my first goals list of 2016, and it's sure to not be the last, keep an eye out for my 25 before 25 goals post that will be going up just after my birthday in February! Let me know in the comments what your goals for 2016 are?

New Year, New Me?

At this time of year you always see this phrase floating around, 'New year, new me!'. We all make new years resolutions or goals that we want to achieve, but how many of us actually stick with them?

I know myself that every year I make the same goal, 'lose weight' and every year I make some form of an effort but then always seem to end up back on square one. Last year was probably my best effort yet and I managed to lose almost a whole stone, but then after having some time off of work, that all piled back on... but you know what? This year, is my year.

I've decided that enough is enough, no more excuses, I need to give myself a kick up the bum otherwise I am never going to get to where I want to be! With that in mind I am making some changes to my lifestyle, that are honestly going to be quite drastic...

Dieting

Yes, the dreaded word... I've thrown the word 'Diet' around a lot in my life, and I have about the same amount of willpower as a goldfish has in long term memory, nil. This time I'm PAYING for my diet, and if this doesn't make me want to put effort in then I don't know what will. I have decided once and for all to go on the Weight Watchers plan, after a long time umming and erring about it. My mum had a fair amount of success on the weight watchers diet after my brother was born losing roughly 5/6 stone, and I'm hoping I can replicate some of that success. 

According to my height my healthy body weight should be 10-10 1/2 stone, but my goal is to get to 11 1/2 stone, as that is what I weighed before I went to uni, and honestly I was really happy with my body back then. This mean's I've got almost 4 stone to lose... Which is a HUGE amount, but I really feel ready to do this. I've set myself the goal of losing 2 stone by Tim's Birthday which is August, and I could reach that target by losing a mere 1 Ib a week, which I feel is doable! The best thing about the plan I am doing with Weight watchers is I barely have to count anything. I am doing something called the Healthy and Filling plan, whereby I have a list of foods which I can eat as much of as I like (within reason), and I only have to count foods that don't appear on the list. A lot of the foods are fruit and vegetables, eggs and potatoes, meaning I can make a healthy diet based mainly on just those!

I will be writing weekly weigh in posts as well, so that I have no where to hide...

Exercise

Another word I dread hearing... Last year was probably my best year for exercising, I had a gym membership, went to Aquarobics classes, and even did the 5k Race For Life in my home town! This year I want to build on that even more. Since the gym we were signed up to went bust, Tim and I had kind of given up on the whole idea of exercise, but all that is about to change as we have just bought an Exercise bike! Using the Christmas money we got from Tim's parents, we decided to invest it into something sensible and bought ourselves a cheap exercise bike. After testing it out and seeing that it seems to work just fine for working up a sweat, we think we've made a good choice. It also means we have no excuses to not get a short workout in...

On top of that to help kick-start my new life of fitness I am taking part in a Blogilates challenge this month. I have followed Blogilates on Youtube for a long time now, but haven't actually been trying out her workouts. I saw she was offering a Beginners Fitness Calender for January for free, and I thought it would be the perfect way to start my year... Each day has up to three workouts which you can simply search for and Youtube and then follow, and then you can tick them off as you go! I've printed my calender off and have placed it by the light switch in our bedroom, so that not only is it easy for me to see, but Tim can also monitor how I am getting on with it. If you'd like to check out the Blogilates Beginner's calender yourself then please check out her blog.

Cutting out the Rubbish

As well as going on a diet, I have made the decision to cut a few things out of my life almost altogether, in the hopes that it will not only help me lose weight, but will also help me feel healthier. So I will be giving up fizzy drinks almost entirely, only allowing myself one a month if that. Not only am I giving up fizzy drinks, but I am also giving up Alcohol! I feel I drink far too much alcohol currently, and to be honest I don't really like the kind of person that I am when I am drunk, so I am limiting myself to drinking only on special occasions, and even then only one or two drinks is acceptable.

I'm hoping that my new lifestyle will be as successful as I am dying for it to be, but I guess only time will tell as to whether I am able to stick to it...

14 Goals for 2014!

Hello again everyone! It's finally time for me to write about my new years resolutions... Normally I only set one resolution, and it's always: 'Lose Weight'. This year I decided to go with 14 goals to accomplish in 2014, you can check my goals out below, or you can watch the video to see me talk about them!

My goals are as follows:

1. Start going to/stick to the gym
2. Lose 1 stone by the end of the year
3. Eat more healthily (less takeaways)
4. Drink more water, and a lot less Coca Cola
5. Get a Full Time Job
6. Move out of my mum's house
7. Start saving money and being more sensible
8. Go on more adventures
9. Watch at least 2 films a week
10. Keep up to date with all my TV shows
11. Complete all the video games I own before buying more
12. Read at least 1 book a month
13. Keep making Youtube videos
14. Be myself, and be happy

I wish you all the best of luck with your own resolutions! Let me know in the comments what your resolutions are, I love to read your comments.