Friday, February 24, 2012

On a Roll, but not a doughnut!


This is day 5 of my new start and I’m doing much better this time around.  A few things in my life have really made me think that NOW is the time to get my butt moving and get healthy.  Recently my Aunt unexpectedly passed away.  She wasn’t extremely close to me, but I did see her at most holidays.  She wasn’t a fit person and she didn’t care for doctors.  She was what my family would call a good German…. Meaning she loved her meat and potatoes!  She was young, or at least too young to pass in my mind.  After losing her I started to think about my own choices and how not only was I choosing my future, I was choosing a portion of my children’s future.  My aunt had 3 sons and two of them had already had children and the third one’s new wife is pregnant.  She will not be there for them to grow up.  Is that what I want for my children? 

This week I made a vow that I will learn to use self-talk to work through my temptations and my slips.  I have to say that I’m proud of a number of situations that  I have worked through.  I have stayed on track with my eating and I have made an effort to get in some good exercise.  Here is what I am proud of:

1.     Yesterday I had what I would normally consider slip ups.  I ate a mini chocolate bar in the afternoon and then a second one.   When I got home I had made dinner that would have put me over my calorie count for the day.  I first started to think that I would just give up.  That would have led me to feel guilty and then I probably would have done poorly the next day and the next, until I just stopped my plan all together.  I figured I was WAY over on my calories, so why count them.  However, I ended up telling myself that I needed to see what the real damage was.  I entered in all of the nutritional (or lack of) content into my app on my phone.  I realized I wasn’t over as long as I cut my dinner portion in ½ and then made a choice to forego the bread I had prepared.  I did that and I wasn’t really hungry after the ½ portion, so I knew I’d be ok.  I was so happy I didn’t just throw in the towel because when I do that, I end up eating a ton more calories because I view a slip-up as an end to that day’s counting instead of assessing the damage and moving on with better choices from that point forward.  This is the FIRST time I have ever gotten past that feeling of dread of being “bad”.   Two mini pieces of chocolate didn’t do me in and it’s OK to have them.


2.     I made time to workout in the evenings and I spoke to my hubby about my commitment to working out.   He has been fully supportive and has taken on the 3 children even when he was really ill just because he knew I needed my time to fulfill my exercise goal.  I chose to do Jillian’s 30 minute shred because it’s quick and yet a very effective workout for someone just starting out.  I know I’ll need to add more time later, but for now it’s great!


3.     This morning we had staff meetings and I am in charge of ordering the doughnuts for the entire staff.  This means that I have to deliver the boxes of yummy goodness to each building and then attend all of the meetings were the deliciousness is sitting waiting for my hand to grab one.  During past situations I would have had 2.  Today I told myself that I didn’t need one.  I talked myself through each meeting.  I told myself that they smelled good, but that I had already had breakfast and I wasn’t hungry.  Then I removed myself from the room as soon as the meeting was over.  It worked!  I didn’t have any and I was completely fine with it.  I don’t feel deprived or left out. 

It’s only been 5 days, but I am extremely proud of what has been happening.  I am a much better mom and wife when I feel good about my progress.  I’ll be weighing in on Sunday!

M

Monday, February 20, 2012

Starting again and again and again

So I hope that this is the first of many posts.  Today is day #1 of getting back on track.  Too many things have happened in the last month and sadly I just didn't stick to it.  I think I tried to start off to quickly with exercising after having my baby.  This week he is 9 weeks old and I am finally back into my daily schedule.  I think that will help tremendously.  I need a schedule to keep myself busy, but it also means that I need to work really hard to find ways to get my exercise in.  Yesterday I had a date with Billy....Billy Blanks the Taebo king.  I bought a new DVD with hand weights.  Today I took a short jog outside.  I know I need to get more in, but I want to start slowly and I just need to do a little even if it doesn't seem like I'm doing much.


I have several topics for this post, but frankly there is too much to include in one post.  Look for upcoming posts about the following:


1.  Running in COLD weather (at least I consider it cold!)
2.  Being allergic to running (hives and all)?
3.  Sticking to a plan and not giving up when you slip up
4.  Running shoes; do I really need a special fitting?
5.  Signing up for races
6.  Finding time for exercise
7.  What to eat when the family is eating out


I'm BACK!