Happy New Year!

Wow!  What a year 2012 was!  I'm always amazed how fast time flies and here we are again, with 2013 already to go.

I like New Years.  It gives us a chance to renew, recommit and reconnect.  Its a great time to set goals, analyze the past and set a course for new and better things to come.  Before we look forward, lets look back a bit.

While 2012 headlines were filled with  too many tragedies, storms and the downfall of a sports icon, we also saw great triumphs of the human spirit and things that left an inspiring mark on the year.  One of my favorite moments was watching Felix Baumgartner make his record breaking freefall.  The fact that we got to see it live and hear his words as he stepped into the atmosphere, just made it all the more dramatic.  Red Bull can sponsor some wacky stuff but this feat to me was on par with many of the great adventures of our time including Steve Fossett's records and roving Mars.

I hope in the New Year we can remember those we lost but look forward to making our world better.  Hopefully we continue to find the things that will inspire each of us to do good, reach our goals and treat people better.

With a new year comes new goals.  I'm willing to bet that most of us have some sort of weight related aspiration to attain in 2013.  I started my weight loss plan about a month ago.  While the past 2 weeks have been difficult with so many parties and family dinners, I'm happy to report that last week I managed to maintain my weight from the week before.  Counting calories really makes all the difference and the numbers don't lie.  I've mentioned MyFitnessPal before and I'll mention it again, because it truly is the tool that has helped me reach my goals.  Its great to have all the nutritional info available right there on the site and planning your food and exercise for the day becomes second nature.  It takes less time than checking your email and your results are front and center for you to analyze.

With counting calories, food quality becomes so important.  You start to realize that in order to make it through the day on the calories you're limited to, you can't waste 50 of those calories on a mini Twix bar or a heavy lunch with no nutrients.  Feel free to "friend" me on the site if you'd like.  My username is "sailtowery". Then we can track each others progress and reach our goals together.  Having a partner in any quest is helpful!

Many years ago, a reporter in a Porsche press conference asked Dr. Ferry Porsche what his favorite Porsche car was.  One of his executives, Peter Shutz, sensing some discomfort is Dr. Porsche simply said "we haven't built it yet".  (Excellence Magazine #200) What that says to me is that no matter how great we may have been in the past, its nothing to what we may yet become.  May 2013 be your best year yet!