Finally — the holidays are over! I’m grateful for being able to return to a normal schedule, and I’m hoping to get back into the groove of losing, soon.

I admit that I’m disappointed; I had hoped to lose weight during the holidays, but that didn’t happen. While I didn’t gain, I am still dealing with water weight fluctuations that leave me feeling frustrated and a little defeated at times. Now is one of them, but recognizing that helps. Getting back into the routine of weight loss, getting back in control, is a good feeling.

So many people set resolutions for themselves this time of year, and many of those resolutions have to do with losing weight. While I’m happy to be ahead of the game, I’m also looking to the year, ahead; what do I hope to accomplish? I’ve been giving some thought to setting weight loss goals, and I’ve decided to shoot for being a total of one hundred pounds down in another year. I’m already 32 pounds into that, so another 68 pounds; that’s around 6 pounds of loss a month, which I think is a reasonable goal.

Mind you, I won’t complain a bit if it’s more than that!

Regrouping for January, I realize that what I really need to do is get back on track with the basics: eating the right amount of carbs and calories (for me), drinking enough water, taking my medications and supplements as they should be taken, and getting enough rest. It’s surprisingly easy to stray from any of these four, and at present, I might have only one of the four under total control. Unless I am doing all four, I can’t expect the scale to move in the right direction.

Much of this is about using the tools available, and over the past couple of weeks, I haven’t been doing that. I have a smart phone; and anyone with a smart phone already has just about everything they need to help them keep on track. I’ve been using MyFitnessPal for recording my foods; Water Your Body to remind me when to drink more water, and track the total; and calendar reminders for taking medications. I need to reset all of these tools to help keep me on track, because really, if I pay attention to them, keeping each of these is easy.

So why don’t I? Why do I find it amazingly easy to fall *out* of the habit of simply using these tools? It’s a subtle form of self-sabotage; call it laziness, procrastination, whatever — it all amounts to defeating my own goals. Doing the small daily things that help keep me on track is mandatory for success.

That’s my short term goal for the month: doing the small things that result in weight loss.