Tag: Christmas

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General Weight Loss Tips

January Wrap-Up and Looking Ahead

I was reading Caroline’s blog this morning and cracking up over her “it will be christmas again soon” sentiment. January is coming to a close and well, here comes February.

So far this year I find myself every week checking in with my goals. The goals I set at the beginning of the year, and the new goals that develop as the year progresses. I use Sundays as my goal gathering and planning day and find that it helps keep me in check for the following week.

As I look back over the month I see a list of stuff on my calendar that I did do and didn’t do. The first couple of weeks of the year I didn’t exercise much mainly because I was cramming all of my time with extra projects. Each of those days I had on my to do list “do insanity workout” and then finally the last two weeks of the month I did it. I did Insanity every day (with Sundays off). I write this, along with all of my posts, as a reminder to myself that I’m not giving up.

What if I let those first two weeks set the tone for the year? What if I was determined to be perfect, a new person on January 1st? Would I have given up completely on the idea that eventually I’d get into it. And I did.

I’ve said this before, but when I think about why I blog. Why I share my struggles, why after 4.5 years I still come to this place to share where I’m at even if it is sometimes painful and slightly embarrassing…it’s because of my potential. It’s because deep down I trust that each time I try something new, I’m getting closer. Sticking to this one thing, even if at times I truly wasn’t here, or struggling to be here- I knew somehow there was some important growing going on even if it didn’t always feel like.

With that said, I’m just two weeks in. It’s not over, it’s not even close from over. And I have to realize that. That I need more weeks like I’ve had, adding up on each other. There isn’t a stopping point. This is my life now, if I choose to accept it. My life as someone who has to exercise, who has to consider what she is eating. This isn’t a temporary blip, a chapter of my life that ends when I see a reasonable number on the scale. I’m making this my life now.

I’ve gotten to the point where I can honestly say that the desire to be healthy is much stronger than the desire to overeat or not exercise. I’m not saying I’m cured, or perfect, or won’t even overeat again but I’ve never felt that before. I’ve always wanted the easy path. I wanted to still eat everything I wanted, I didn’t want to sacrifice my time. I didn’t want to push myself. Sure I came here, and logged exercise and points or calories. I’ve done that, but I did it in the mindset of “this is temporary, this won’t be my life forever”.

I’ve accepted that this is who I am. Someone who has to watch what she eats, and someone who has to push hard during exercise. This is my life now. I can push myself harder than I thought. I can realistically exercise everyday without getting burned out. I can take time to prepare meals. This isn’t punishment, this is investment.

So as I look ahead to February I see more solid weeks of exercise. More calorie counting. It looks fun and promising. I will eat delicious and whole foods. I will cook as much as possible. I will try new recipes. I will not go to bed without exercising. I will take Sundays off to rest.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Back on Schedule

Back on ScheduleWell today I am finally back on schedule. It has been about three weeks since I have had a regular schedule and man it feels good.

In mid-December I had a week of holidays and as we all know the whole Christmas season is running, working, family and anything else that you can jam into the days and weeks.

Well today was my first day back and there are a few things that made me realize that as much as I crave freedom I still like to have a schedule.

Eating – Every workday, including today, I make my breakfast in the morning and have all of my eating and food planned for the day. Over the last few days or weeks that has not been the case at all and I had been eating and snacking anytime that I felt like it.

Working Out – My workouts have been pretty steady even if they have been inconsistent. I have been just doing weights over the last few weeks except for one cardio workout. Well today I was back but at least I will get a chance to get a couple at least cardio workouts in this week. I usually get my workout in just around noon  and today was no exception.

I hope that as the days get longer I can get on my bike again soon as this is probably the best time and exercise that I get, this is the time that I let my mind get quieter, get some consistent rhythm going in my exercise and it is just plain nice to get outside and enjoy the sun.

Sleep – My sleep schedule has been horrible for over a month now. I did not care about my sleep at the beginning of December and hit the wall just as I was starting holidays. Now over the last couple weeks my kids have kept me running and then after they finally crash I am able to get some time in reading. I am reading that book Eat, Pray, Love and it is fun to read but it keeps me up to late.

And to make matters maybe worse I have been sleeping in late. I feel that I always perform best when I get to sleep earlier and wake up early as well.

How about you? How do you like the year and the days getting back into a schedule? Are you running into the same as me? I know that I miss my wife and kids more going back to work today but this SCHEDULE is exactly what I needed.

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edit: My wife saw the pic of us in this post and got mad. The choice that she liked better is the pic that I put in here now… so much for editorial immunity but my wife always gets final say

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General Weight Loss Tips

Goals for 2011

I love reading the posts that are popping up recapping 2010 and looking forward to 2011. I looked in my archives for my goals for this past year and couldn’t find anything. I’m sure I wrote something down, but I know one of my main goals was to branch out on my own career-wise. And I did that. I created goals as the year progressed and just went with it.

My best friend Ashley asked us all at our Christmas get-together what we have planned for 2011 and I didn’t have a real answer then. There were things floating around in my head, but nothing concrete. I have some goals that I feel like I must do to progress and other goals that I’d like to strive for, but okay if it’s not perfectly executed.

Off the top of my head here are some things that I want to accomplish and strive for in 2011. Some are vague, and some require more planning:

– Get dressed every day. Working from home allows for a lot of PJ work, which on occasion is nice. I like to be comfortable when I’m at home, but would like to take time in the mornings and get ready for the day. I would also like to photograph daily outfits on this blog for motivation and inspiration.

– Let go of sugar. This is my biggest goal for the year and the one I’m most excited about. I will allow treats on my birthday, anniversary and christmas. If I want a treat it will be in the form of fruit, like whipped frozen bananas or date-nut balls.

– Run a 5k in under 45 minutes and/or run a 5k straight through without walking. Our first 5k this year is march 19th, and will do one again at the end of April. Having a goal makes training have more purpose and I like that.

– Work smarter and harder. Say no. Time Management. From May up until this weekend I’ve had somewhere to be, something to do, something I was cramming for and while I do work best with a deadline, I want to space projects out more. I want to stop cramming empty slots of time with stuff that isn’t productive for me. I’ve gotten better at saying “no” this year. I need time to decompress. I very much enjoy time when I do absolutely nothing, but I want to balance it out with better planning and scheduling. I want to get better at waiting until the last minute to make things happen.

– Finish the bedroom. I want to get this room finished by my birthday. Clothes organized and put away, decorated, and just a nicer room to sleep in.

-ooh! Just thought of another one: cook more! I cook a decent amount, but I’d really love to plan ahead more and try out new recipes.