Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Today was our 1st real snow of the season.  Every year, I get a child like excitement as I gaze with wide eyed wonder at the beauty of the falling snow.  I remember as a kid, when in school, everyone would get giddy as the snow started falling.  Thoughts of "how much will we get, will school let out early, or maybe we will get so much snow that we will have an official snow day tomorrow!!!"  Anyone who grew up in the Midwest, will certainly remember those nostalgic childhood feelings.

 While I was enjoying the new white landscape, I started thinking about how the "newness" of the snow will get quite old pretty quickly.  It's fun & exciting in the beginning of the season.  It's Christmas time & everything is festive, but come the 1st week of February, we all will be getting Spring fever pretty bad & wishing this white stuff away.  We will groan at the thought of more snow & no longer carry that child like excitement with seeing it.  Some of us may even be looking into a tropical getaway.  (or at least dream about one!)  What had once brought great delight, now brings great dread & inconvenience.  This got me thinking about other areas in life where we get the high of new only to shortly after for the newness to ware off.  We start a new diet, and are pumped & motivated & ready to eat healthy, only after a few weeks, we may back slide a bit & then end up looking for another "new" diet to give us that "new" high again.  The same is for working out, or shopping, or even that new Bible study.  When the new fades, so does our resolve & we seek to have it filled again and again.  There is a major problem with this though...true growth & maturity will not form.  Just as a baby learns to walk, there will be falls along the way.  She will fall, maybe even cry, but before you know it, she is getting herself back up & moving forward into reaching her goal.  You don't see her sitting back down after a couple tries & thinking, "you know, this walking thing is over rated, I think I'm just going to crawl everywhere."  We too, must keep our resolve, even when our motivation is lean or when we fall of the plan.  As you continue to stay on the right path, through the bumps & falls, you will grow stronger & ultimately, one day you will reach your goal.  You CAN do it!

Weekend Recovery?

Yesterday I wasn't able to blog due to the fact that I felt like crap.  Feeling better today, thankfully!  So I have noticed that when I feel like crap, I tend to want to binge & eat junk.  (not really the point of getting to feel better LOL)  During that *special* time of the month, not only am I dealing with that, my fibromyalgia tends to flare up causing me alot of pain.  My hubby, being the amazing husband that he is, decided to treat me by getting my favorite sandwich at Hardees.  Yep, the Big Ham & Cheese.  

This sandwich is ultimate comfort food sandwich.  Hot cheesy, hammy, sesame seed bun goodness.  So not only did I get that, but also the beer battered onion rings.  Wow...yeah.  Fast food therapy did me good.  AND I was a good girl and counted the points.  24 points total.  Thank God for flex points haha!  Needless to say, I enjoyed some cold cereal for dinner.

Occasional treats are fine.  Make sure that you count them, & don't go overboard, and remember to ask yourself if it's worth it.  Feeling like crap isn't a free pass to go off your plan or to eat whatever & however much you like.  If you do, when you feel better, you will regret it.  So, enjoy your treats, get some rest, & I will see you back at the gym soon. =)

Cheese & Sprinkles!

Today was an awesome day!  Went to Weight Watchers and lost 4.2 pounds this week!  I was so excited!  I knew this week's weigh in was going to be successful because I had tracked EVERYTHING I ate each day.  I didn't go over any points & I also worked out 3 times.  It's amazing the momentum you can build once when you set your mind to it.  I also knew that today was going to be a challenge for me because of the baby shower I was co-hosting.  A few days ago, I took out my planner & noted the days of December that I saw as potential "food challenge" days, or game days.  I knew that temptation would be right in front of me, (or under my nose & on my fork) and that I needed to have a plan.  Today, my opponent was cake.  Now as my friend & I planned the baby shower, we made sure that we were going to have healthy food options.  We had a beautiful mix of fruit...strawberries, pineapple, and mangoes.  Yum!  (0 pts. got love it!!!) We also had a veggie tray with dip and even some tortilla chips with salsa.  All that fairly healthy.  My arch nemesis though...was the sweet & simple sheet cake that my friend made.  It wasn't anything that you would find in the fancy downtown bakeries or in a gourmet cooking magazine, but it sure had my eye.  Simple white cake with fluffy vanilla frosting.  Okay, I can deal with this.  No problem, right?  She had cute little plastic baby decorations on and....uh oh....UH OH...what was that pretty green sparkly stuff on the white frosting...yep, sugar sprinkles!!!  If you have ever seen the movie Rio, you will know what I mean when I say, "Cheese & Sprinkles".  Yep, it was a cheese & sprinkles kind of moment.  I don't know what it is about adding sugar sprinkles to frosting, but I think it makes the cake or cookie or whatever it is you are eating, taste 100000% better than without it.  It's pretty & it has that oh so very light crisp to it.  It makes it, ah, perfect!  So I enjoyed my 1 square of cake and then sat there licking my spoon making sure I was finishing every sweet morsel of the treat, when the evil thought of having more came to mind.  I, after all, was the one cutting the cake & serving it.  As I sat there looking at the cake & smelling the sweet vanilla frosting, I was reminded about one thing my Weight Watchers leader had said.  "You can have it, but before you do, ask yourself, is it worth it? And if it is, you got to count it."  So, as I was sitting there mentally hyperventallating about my decision, I realized it wasn't worth it.  So I got up, & moved myself away from the temptation.  It wasn't the easiest decision but it was much easier when I had thought it through.

So, when you have a cheese & sprinkles kind of moment, remember to take a moment and ask yourself, is it really worth it?  Success comes making good choices, one choice at a time.

Exhausting or Inspiring?

Exhausting or Inspiring?  This morning while I was at Curves, one of the older ladies working out said that she was going to move ahead of me (she was behind me in the circuit) because I was exhausting her.  She had made a few comments to me that I was going all out...well, I was.  =)  I said with a smile, yep, burning those calories & getting healthy!  She said at her age it's pointless.  So a few thoughts came to me.  1.  I was saddened because she thought her own efforts were pointless.  2.  She felt intimidated by my efforts, and didn't want to see me.  3.  Instead of feeling inspired or encouraged by my efforts, she was exhausted.  4.  At least she was there.  So if we look at the 1st reason, her own thoughts on her own efforts...feeling it was pointless.  I was saddened because it was a very negative way of looking at herself.  We must be ever mindful of well, our mind!  All success must 1st start in our thoughts, and those thoughts are carried out by what we speak and the choices we chose to act upon.  No matter how overwhelming the task ahead may seem, accomplish your goal 1st in your mind and the actual effort will be much easier.  There are enough forces out in the world trying to stop us from being all that we were created to be.  Don't let yourself be one of those negative forces.  The 2nd is that she felt intimidated by my efforts and didn't want to see me.  How many times do you see someone, whether in your personal life or on television, that is working hard to accomplish the goals in their life that you so badly want to accomplish in your own?  Do you push them out of your sight or turn the channel because it's to convicting of your own need to change?  Having the "out of sight, out of mind" principle in your life can be a good thing (like Christmas cookies, that bag of chips & dip, or that available credit card)  but it can also be a negative thing when you are trying to make a positive change in your life.  If I am wanting a closer relationship with God, I wouldn't put my Bible in the closet.  If I'm wanting to eat more fruit & veges, I'm not going to put them in the very back of the fridge.  Look at what you want to change in your life, & be sure that you are seeing your goals & any tools that may help you, many times a day.    Visual representations & reminders are very powerful!  3rd reason, do you look at successful people's efforts as exhausting & discouraging (because it is uncomfortably reminding you that you need to change?) or do you look at them as an encouragement & inspiration?  As a living example that one can change & succeed?  It's all about perspective.  4.  She was there.  Her thoughts may not have been healthy & positive, but at least she was there.  Change won't happen in your life if you don't take the necessary steps & efforts to get there.  Baby steps are better than nothing, and as we know babies don't stay babies forever.  They get stronger & more confident, just like you will.

Let today be the day that you challenge your own mind.  Ask yourself, are my own thoughts sabotaging what I want to accomplish?  Am I lifting myself up or am I tearing myself down?  Be that positive person that you deserve in your life.  No one else can think for you, so smile & tell yourself you are worth it & then go out & do it!