Other People's Opinions

Other people's opinions. Every now and then they are forced upon us, whether we ask for them or not. This really becomes apparent when you become a new parent suddenly everyone, including those you don't know, feels the need to give you advise on how to best raise your kid. You know, because you have no idea when your baby might need a diaper change or a nap. (Thank goodness that lady at the grocery store was there to say "Wow, your baby really needs to take a nap!" I would have totally kept her up for the next 24 hours...) I know this might seem off topic for this blog, but just hang with me. I will get to my point. Eventually.

There is nothing like someone offering up their opinion about various parts of your life, your personality or your body size to really make you question yourself. Sometimes it might be someone whom you thought was a friend who wrongly judges you and puts you down, or talks about you behind your back. It could also be someone who is involved with the care of your children at a daycare center or manager of a store you frequent who might clash with your personality and say something that makes you feel horrible about yourself. (like saying you have an abusive personality and your kids should be expelled) Or it could be a passerby at the mall who says something about your physical characteristics to their companion. "hey, check her out, she's cute" "really? did you not see the size of her arse?" (suddenly I felt the need to run to the nearest mirror to check the size of my arse. Even though it might be bigger than I want it to be, I have to check just to make sure it hasn't suddenly gone on a major growth spurt)

What I am trying to say is, sometimes, all you need is an inconsiderate, unknowledgable, judgemental person to assault you with their opinion to send you reeling into bad habits. In the past, I have gone on an eating rampage because I overheard someone say I was huge. I have also second guessed my emotional feelings and wondered if I was being too harsh with a friend because she chose to judge me, my fiance, my lifestyle and blab her opinion about it all to everyone she knew. (and coincidentally, most of those people she blabbed to, I knew too. I still work with some of those people...) She was my best friend at the time and when I confronted her, she lied to my face. Needless to say, we are no longer friends and to this day I'm still a bit sad about it. I wonder if I should have just kept my mouth shut. I might still have a friend. But then when I really think about it, who needs a friend like that? That is not a friend.

So, my tip for the day is if someone judges you or gives you their opinion, just smile and say thank you. Then walk away. You know in your heart the kind of person you are. And they surely do not have the right to pass judgement on you. Don't let them get you down. You are a beautiful person and those who do know and love you would agree.

I'm in Love!

I'm in love with a workout. I know, the words 'love' and 'workout' should not be used in the same sentence, but it's true, I loved it! It had everything I like in a workout. It was challenging, involved kicking and punching, complicated enough to make me laugh at my uncoordinated self, yet simple enough to get my uncoordinated self coordinated. I also felt like I had just worked out fairly hard. I was sweating, which is something that does not happen very often. I am not a woman that sweats, glistens, glows or however else you might describe it. So for me to actually break a sweat, I know I have just worked hard.

The workout I just did is called Kenpo X from the P90X series. It was a kickboxing cardio routine and it was awesome. Even though the routine lasts for an hour, you are so busy you hardly notice how long you have been at it. Thats another thing I like. A workout that kicks boody and goes quickly. Also, even though I know I just worked really hard, I feel energized. Which is good because I have a whole day in front of me that includes things like doing laundry, working, cooking, cleaning and of course, soothing an uber cranky toddler who is a teething beast from heck today. I need all the energy I can get!

Last week I had outlined a goal of working out twice a day this week. Um yeah, that has not happened. I have been incapable of getting out of bed early. Mostly because of the aforementioned teething toddler. He has been waking up durning the night again and waking up early and only being soothed by being held. When he gets like this, he is very picky as to who holds him. Sometimes its Daddy that is the parent of choice. Sometimes its me. But whoever picks him up out of bed is the one he will stick with for a while. So, the mornings have been extra challenging this week.

So while I did not succeed at my challenge of workout twice a day, I have kicked my workouts up by starting the P90X workouts. I have also been walking the mall after I eat lunch. So over all I think that I am burning more calories than usual and I have been working on my diet. I think the scale just might be my friend this week. We will see!

Okay, so this week in review. I officially went down a clothing size, I kicked up my workouts a notch and I did better with my diet. Lets see if I can do it again next week AND get my lazy non-morning self out of bed to exercise in the mornings. The challenge is out there. Now lets do it.

Lost: 1 pound and 1 clothing size

Lost: 1 lb and 1 clothing size. If found please do not return. There is no reward and I do not want them back. :-) 

I have to admit, I was afraid to get on the scale this morning. I hadn't weighed in since Friday and I really had not paid much attention to what I ate over the weekend. I'm usually pretty relaxed on my strictness of diet on the weekends, mainly because I'm with my family and I do not want to deprive them of the foods they like. Though, trying to get my son to eat has proven to be a challenge lately. He was my good eater. Now he is showing signs of becoming picky. Sigh. But then I got on the scale and its like someone threw confetti. The needle settled on the number below what I have been staring at for the past week. Yahoo! Happy Dance!

Anyway, I am so happy that I can fit into the next size down. It definitely helps to stay motivated and know that all this hard work is making a difference. I have to admit though, that even though that smaller size fit, I am still in disbelief. I don't feel smaller. Even though I am. Even the evil scale says I'm lighter. It's kind of a weird feeling not believing your clothes and scale. I will just have to trust them I guess...

Yesterday I started what is supposed to be a difficult work out regimen. I was surprised at how easily I completed the video. I think what makes it harder than what I have been doing is these workouts go for an hour. I'm used to only doing 30 minutes. But I felt really good doing the workout and yes, there is alot of room for improvement. These should definitely challenge me, which is what I've been wanting and I'm looking forward to tonight's workout. I love a challenge. I think I would like my day job alot better if it would challenge me more often.

Speaking of challenges, I find it very challenging to get my carcass out of bed in the morning. I want to add some time for a short cardio workout in the mornings, but that means I have to get up earlier. I had every intention of doing that this morning, but then my son woke up early and was crying this poor pathetic cry. It was a cry I have not heard very often, but when I hear it, I know he needs some soothing. I think the poor little guy is teething again. So I did not get to exercise mainly because he was not willing to let me not hold him. He was grabbing at my legs and body, making it impossible to do anything but hold him. So, after I eat lunch today, I am going to go for a walk and hopefully boost my metabolism a little. It won't be as much or as good of a workout, but its better than nothing. Better luck tomorrow I guess!

This Week in Review

I realize it is only Thursday, but this week has just seemed like the longest week! Also, the weekends tend to be really busy for me so blogging on the weekend doesn't happen very often. So that is why I have decided to do a "This week in review" post.

If you don't want to read about my week in detail, here is a quick look: I have kicked my workouts up a notch and paid close attention to what I eat. My sleep number has apparently changed and my son has been uber cranky. I have had no motivation to work or clean. On the upside, I save a butt load of money by switching to Geico. Ha Ha! Not really.

Okay, for those that might want a few more details here is the rest of the story.  I decided that I needed to kick the plateau I have been on by adding more cardio to my exercise routine. I've been alternating Jillian workouts and adding in 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer. Either next week or the week after I am going to add an additional 45 minutes cardio. So the schedule will be 45 minute cardio in the morning and in the evening I will do a DVD workout followed by 45 minutes on the elliptical. Its going to be tough. I will feel like I'm exercising all the time, but I think the results will be worth it. After all, swimsuit season is lurking around the corner. My biggest fear with this schedule is that I won't be able to juggle all the other responsibilities in my life. Meaning giving my kids and husband the quality time they need and deserve, applying myself to work and still having the energy to clean.

Eating wise, I don't plan on changing much. I am having problems meeting my calorie goals again. I don't consume enough, yet I feel like I eat all the time, but the foods I eat are low in calories. I guess I need to incorporate more, but what? Maybe some peanut butter on my veggies? I suppose I could have yogurt with my fruit. Only problem with that is I'm not a huge yogurt fan. The other struggle is my husband has a naturally high metabolic rate. That makes it hard because he needs to consume alot more calories than me otherwise he loses weight. He is not a big man and if he loses weight he looks sick. So he does tend to eat sweets and hamburgers from McDonalds alot. (I wish I could figure out a healthy alternative that he would like!) It makes the balance of how we eat as a family a bit challenging.

My son has been so cranky. He is either teething or growing. Or maybe both I suppose! He has been an absolute monster after 6:00 pm lately. Its like he is tired, but if I put him to bed then it creates two problems. 1) I don't get to see his handsome little face because I don't get home from work until 5:30ish. 2) he wakes up before dawn and is ready to party. I am not a morning person. That schedule does not work for me. He has been napping in the afternoons, I just don't know what is going on. Maybe is just getting ready for the clocks to be moved ahead an hour. Ugh!

That has been my week. Hope your week has been good to you. If you would like to share your week I would love to hear about it! Or if you have any tips for me, I would love to hear those too!!!

Calling All Super Heroes!

Do you have a super hero inside you call upon to help you make it through a tough workout? Or change that nasty diaper that could quite possibly destroy nuclear waste? I often call upon my inner hero to make it through my workouts. Sometimes I feel like super woman afterwards because I simply cannot believe I just made it through the routine without fainting, peeing myself, puking or flat out dieing. (I’m sure my family members are quite thankful for all that too!)

No matter what it is you are doing in life, you will inevitably come across some task that is daunting and may have you wondering if you can complete it. I come across those tasks every day. Whether it’s a challenging file with a situation I have never seen before or a child that has dispensed black nail polish all over her sister’s bedroom. (note: that was not my child, that was a friends child. I am thankful that it was my friends child and not my child. I don’t even want to know what it takes to remove black nail polish. In fact, I think I will place a ban on any future purchases of black nail polish.)  Sometimes you have to find the determination to not only get through the situation, but to solve the problem. That’s when you call your inner super hero. Or maybe it’s a super beast. Or just beast. Growl.

Losing weight can be a lot like problem solving. First you have to figure out what needs to change to bring about the desired change. Second, you have to make a plan of how to solve the problem of implementing change. Third, you have to start acting on your plan. Fourth, you need to observe and sometimes troubleshoot why the plan is not working and adjust something. If you think about it, weight loss is a science and you get to play mad scientist!  If you make it into a game, it could be fun and therefore seem like less work. Sometimes I mess up my hair and use an evil laugh when I am imputing my data into the various databases to calculate how many calories I’ve eaten and burned. (this does two things for me: 1) its fun 2) it makes those around you wonder about you)

So the next time you are doing something challenging, put on your super hero mask (because they all have a mask of some sort) and set to work. Just don’t put on a cape. As it was pointed out in the movie ‘The Incredibles’, capes can lead to an early demise.

Bad Day

Yesterday I had a bad day. It wasn't the kind of a bad day where anything and everything that could possibly go wrong goes wrong. And not like a Monday bad day either. But it was one of those days that it seemed every time I talked to someone, I would either hurt them, offend them, make them mad or disappointed. Apparently it was just my talent of the day. Unfortunately part of the job I do requires me to sometimes upset people or maybe even make them mad. And then I have to be the bad guy who makes them fix their problems so they can finish their transaction. Normally, that doesn't bother me too much. I am usually amused at how childish people can act when its pointed out to them that they messed up and have to fix a problem. But yesterday, I just wasn't up to it. Additionally, it seemed that every time I talked to my husband, I would say something selfish or stupid and upset him. I couldn't tell if he was angry or hurt, but I knew that I had done something wrong. By the end of the day I was a sobbing mess. (and I will just cut to the chase here and say yes, its that time of the month for me!)

I don't have these types of issues every month. Just once in a while I will get a cycle that is a real (pardon my french) bitch! I feel like Jekyll and Hyde. One moment I am fine, calm, relaxed. The next moment I am ready to cry for no good reason. The next moment I feel super duper happy! Then back down to crying. Oh and there was that one moment when my coworkers had a discussion on how I was scowling. (I think they were trying to figure out which one of them ticked me off) Argh! You know, it really stinks being a woman sometimes. But it is days like this that make it especially difficult to eat healthy and exercise. I must admit, even though I was a hot mess yesterday, I did eat healthy and I did exercise. I am so proud of myself for that! A month ago I might have only eaten healthy. Two months ago I would not have eaten healthy or exercised. So I am really happy with myself that I managed to do both when I surely did not want to.

Normally bad days or roller coaster emotional days send me into an eating binge. I am so happy that I did not go that route this time. I feel better about myself for not giving into temptation. I used to be a huge emotional eater. But I have managed to find other ways with dealing with my issues that do not involve food. Its tough, especially on those days when I'm feeling down in the dumps and all I want is a nice freshly made brownie with some vanilla ice cream on top. And sure add some whipped cream, hot chocolate sauce and a cherry while you're at it. But afterwards, I still feel empty and my mood has not improved. I often feel worse than I did before I indulged because now I have the additional negative feeling of guilt. It's a terrible cycle, and friends, if you are an emotional eater, you need to find a better way to deal with your feelings. You need to identify what triggers your emotions and you need to find a way to work through them. Just know that eating is not the right way.

Food is for life, not solving any psychological issues you might have. There is a group or team on Spark People that is devoted to Emotional Eaters. I do like to look through the boards and often find inspiration to keep healthy. They also offer support. Its nice to know you are not alone in this world and that you can beat this. If you suspect that you are an emotional eater, I strongly suggest you check spark people out. (the website is www.sparkpeople.com) If nothing else, maybe it will give you the boost you need to start working on yourself.

I had a great workout last night. I did not do a DVD or a streamed workout which was nice for a change. Sometimes I just need to be free from being told what to do. When that happens, I put on my favorite hip hop/dance station on Pandora Radio and turn on my Online Stopwatch and work through some interval training. I do everything from several variations of jumping jacks to push ups to toning moves to dance moves. Basically, as long as I'm moving at a high intensity for as long as I can go, I'm happy. Last night I managed to go 45 minutes. It was awesome. I felt alot better about myself and my mind was clear. It made spending some quality time with my husband so much more enjoyable.

Today's workout was awesome too. I decided that I was ready for Level 2 of Jillian's Shred It With Weights. Oh boy, was that 30 minutes of hellish torture. She not only kicked my ass, but she handed it to me. It was great though, I love a challenging workout. I think this DVD will definitely help me get to that next level of fitness. I'm also quite sure that my body is going to be screaming at me tomorrow. But that's okay, its the good kind of pain.

Today was a better day. Tomorrow will be a great day.

I Lost A Pound!

I did it! I lost a whole pound! Woo Hoo! Since I weigh myself every day, I have to rejoice every time the scale needle drops a bit lower. All this rejoicing is just terrible. Ha ha! Last week I dropped 3 lbs. I had to celebrate 3 times. I really don't know if I can keep up all this celebrating. Its just so taxing....

How did I do it? I think it might be a combination of exercising and eating a minimum of 1200 calories every day. Oh and drinking a ton of water. I've completely given up sodas. Which was hard. I absolutely love Coke. I don't love how it makes weight loss slow way down. I've also limited myself on my chocolate intake. Oh, how I love chocolate. I must stay strong though. I have about 30 more lbs to lose. I know I can do it.

Today's exercise is going to involve housework. I have a ton of laundry to do. Sigh. I swear the stuff reproduces! Thank goodness I have two flights of stairs to go up and down while taking the laundry to the laundry room and then taking it back up to the bedrooms to put the clean stuff away. I think it would be just too much work if I didn't have all those stairs to go up and down. I also need to vacuum. My kids have been trying to create a new surface of floor by leaving crumbs everywhere. Or maybe they are just leaving trails behind them so they can find their way back to the kitchen. I'll probably also do a toning workout and an official cardio workout, just to be sure that I'm burning enough calories.

So today I will be celebrating a lost pound by doing housework, exercising and taking my kids shopping for new pajamas since they insist on growing. Sounds like a great day to me!

Super Bowl Madness

I love a good football game. Especially when my favorite team is playing. Too bad they didn't win. But it was a good competitive game between two old school teams that play hard and with their hearts. That's the kind inspiration we should all incorporate into our lives.

This year we had a small party at our house. One of my passions in life is cooking. I sincerely enjoyed every minute of chopping, slicing, dicing and cooking. I especially enjoyed the tasting. I love the creativity of cooking. I love looking at each ingredient, thinking about what it tastes like, then imagining what that flavor would be like if I mixed it with another ingredients flavor. I love experimenting with food. I especially love it when my experiment tastes as good or better than I thought it would. But what I really love is, sharing my culinary creations with others and watching them enjoy the tastes. It just gives me a real boost. Anyway, this year we had a Mexican Fiesta. It was awesome. We had tacos, fajitas, mexican rice, taquitos, stir fried veggies, cheese and crackers, fruit, chips and dip and cookies. There was so much food, it was a bit ridiculous. It was all good though and there were no epic fails. I think everyone enjoyed themselves and no one went hungry. That's for sure! (special shout out to my friends who brought all the meat, veggie and fruit trays and cookies!) Did I mention that we had cookies?

I think over all I did okay in healthy eating yesterday. Yes I did partake in a few not so healthy things. Like ranch dip. Mmmmm And then there were the fried taquitos. But they were made with chicken and just a little bit of cheese and I didn't completely deep fry them.  I tried to have just a little bit of everything. After all, it was the Super Bowl. Which in itself is like a holiday. Besides, today is Monday which means, all healthy habits start up again. Today I am being extra good with my food intake. And I plan on exercising tonight. I think having a splurge day every now and then is good for the soul.

If there is one thing I have learned over the years, if you fail or fall down, you just have to get up, dust yourself off and continue on. There is no sense in beating yourself up about it. Just get up and move on.

In other news, Saturday I decided to start the 28 Day Boot Camp Challenge from Sparkpeople. It's funny, I did their work out on Saturday and felt totally unchallenged. I did their workouts yesterday and felt totally unchallenged. Then I got up this morning. I was sore! So evidently I was challenged. I decided to do the challenge to switch up my workout routine. I've been having that feeling that I was starting to get bored with some of my workouts and thought that this might be a good way to incorporate some new exercises. Its a nice set up really. They offer seven days of toning workouts and then you have to add in 30 minutes of cardio workouts 5 days a week. You can stream the toning workouts online, or you can print off the workout to do to your own music or if you are somewhere that you cannot stream the workout. They also have several cardio workouts you can stream. The workouts are in 10 minute intervals which make it a little bit easier to fit into a busy lifestyle. Hopefully this will help me to get down to that next pant size!

Winter Blahs

Do you have the winter blahs? I do! I realize that I just got back from beautiful Mexico, but I feel even more blah than usual. I think its all Mexico's fault. Why did Mexico have to be so nice? We came home to a blizzard. Yes, the snow is pretty, but let me tell you friends, its COLD!! Not a fan. My daughter told me no less than 3 times yesterday as we were grocery shopping "Mommy, its too cold. We need to live somewhere warmer." When a 4 year old tells you that its too cold and that you should move somewhere warmer, I think you need to listen. LOL I doubt we will ever move away from this place, but I would not mind having a 2nd home somewhere tropical. (Note to husband: Please make more money so we can have a 2nd home somewhere tropical)

How do you beat the winter blahs? Sure I have read the various articles that always come out this time of year. They all say the same things. Like try to get outside and exercise, or do something fun. blah blah blah. I have no solutions. I just try to cram my days full of stuff to do so that time goes by quicker. Then spring will be here faster. (in my mind it makes sense. :o) ) 

Since going to Mexico I have been obsessed with cooking. Last night I made some awesome sandwiches. I love to take recipes and make them healthier. Last nights dinner was inspired by the Pioneer Woman. Love her. Love her recipes. Love her pictures of food. She makes me so so hungry. Anyway, I made the "MM Sandwiches, PW style". I did not use as much butter as she calls for in her recipe and I used extra lean beef. They were so Delicious. I cannot wait for lunchtime today so I can have leftovers. If you would like the recipe, here is a link to her recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/the-mm-sandwich-pw-style/
The only thing I changed is the amount of butter. (I only used 2Tb's total) I believe that you have to keep some of the good stuff (like butter) in recipes, but you don't necessarily have to use as much as called for in the recipe. Sure, maybe my sauce wasn't as rich tasting as hers, but it still tasted awesome. And it brought my calorie and fat count down to more reasonable levels.

I have no idea what is for dinner tonight. We typically reserve pizza for Friday nights. Our daughter is a pizza fanatic. She loves pizza. She would eat it for every meal if allowed to. In fact, that is how pizza night happened. She would ask for pizza for every meal. So finally we had to sit her down and tell her, 'honey, we can only have pizza on Friday nights.' She was devastated. But now it gives us all something to look forward to. I don't usually make the pizza, because lets face it. Homemade pizza is rarely as good as your favorite pizza place. Our fave pizza place is Franco's. Its a tiny little local place. Franco is from Italy and makes all the sauces, breads and doughs himself. What I love about Franco's pizza is that it is not greasy. Granted, we don't get the greasy ingredients like sausage or pepperoni on our pizza, so I'm sure that plays a factor in the lack of greasiness. But I do think that his pizza is maybe a smidge healthier than other pizza places.

Anyway, I'm not sure that pizza is in the cards for us tonight. I just spent alot of money on groceries yesterday. Not sure I feel up to spending money on more food. So we may just stay home and have something else. We will just have to wait and see. (which, that is my daughters new favorite phrase. Apparently I say that to her alot. She added it to all of her statements yesterday. So funny!)

So I guess maybe cooking is my cure for the winter blahs this year. I don't know, but I do know that I am really looking forward to warmer weather! And no snow!

Vacations can be healthy?

I recently went on a dream-like vacation in Mexico. It was heaven. I've never seen water so blue and beautiful. I've never eaten food so fresh and awesome tasting. I don't remember the last time I slept as much as I wanted for 4 consecutive days. I also don't remember a time when I could just be me and not have to be a mommy too. Which got me to thinking. Vacations are healthy. We should definitely vacation more often.

One of the reasons I think it's healthy to take some time off from the daily grind is it gives you a chance to recharge your batteries. In a life filled with 'To Do' lists, stress and demands it's easy to lose that sense of who we are. Not to mention the constant feeling of weariness, tiredness and crankiness which results from lots of missed sleep and stress from daily life.

This most recent vacation was a no children vacation. My Mother in Law was awesome and watched our kids for us while we went on this much needed time away. It has been a really long time since my husband and I had time to reconnect with one another. He is a busy man with the traveling for his job and trying to finish up his college degree. And I am a busy woman who works full time and tries to be a good mom to our two kids. There are days that are so fast paced that its bedtime and I've barely spoken a word to my husband. I know this is probably the case with most couples with kids. So needless to say, it was so good to spend some real quality time with my husband and get to know him again.

What surprised me most about this vacation was how easy it was to maintain my healthy eating. The food the resort offered was impeccable. They had a breakfast buffet that offered a ton of fresh fruits, yogurt, fresh baked breads and a cook that would make an omelet for you with the ingredients that you picked out. Lunch was another buffet that offered fresh fruit, salad, a variety of fish and seafood items, as well as freshly grilled pork and beef items. Being the seafood lover that I am, I made it my personal duty to eat as much fish and seafood as I could. (I'm the only person in our household that loves seafood. So I don't get it very often.) The best part was the food on the buffet was prepared in the same location as the buffet and the cooks were continuously making more right in front of us. So you never had to eat something that had been sitting out forever. It was also refreshing to see how they prepared the food. You could see exactly what went into the food. It was reassuring to me to know that there was not alot of butter or oil being used to prepare the food I was eating. There were no artificial ingredients or lots of salt being added. It was the best tasting food I have had in a long time. It also gave me a ton of ideas of things I could make at home. At dinner they had restaurants that would offer a certain type of food. There was a Mexican, an Italian and an Asian restaurant. The only one we did not eat at was the Italian restaurant. (they didn't offer food that my husband would like. It was mostly vegetarian and seafood fair. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy) The restaurants offered a good variety of foods and the portions were not out of control huge. While the food was not cooked in front of you so you couldn't see how it was being prepared, you could tell the ingredients were top notch and the food tasted as if it came directly from heaven. I swear I heard angels singing.

In addition to eating lots of good food, we managed to get some daily exercise in too. While the resort did have a gym, we did not step foot in it. Why would I go to a boring old gym when I could walk along a beautiful sandy beach? Or swim in the ocean or in one of the gorgeous pools? Not to mention all the stairs to get up to our hotel room. We never took the elevator. So no matter how many trips to the room it took, we always took the stairs. We also did a couple of excursions which gave us the opportunity to do lots of walking.

By eating the fresh foods and all the exercise we got, I did not gain one pound on this vacation. Which is awesome. Not to mention I got a tan and found myself once again. Now, I know this vacation was alot different than other vacations I've taken. There has only been a couple that allowed me to eat properly and to exercise often. But I think from now on, I am only going to plan vacations where we can get lots of exercise and eat healthily. After all, you can eat good food and have it still be healthy. And exercise does not have to be a chore.