Crooked Eyebrow

Have the holidays attacked us all or what?

With all the food to lure us away from our weight loss plans and the holiday rushing that kept us all from our exercising, now is the time to get back to business. For all of those beautiful souls who maintained their plan throughout the holiday, I stand up and applaud you. We all want to hear how you did it. Inspire us. Tell us what got you through the family buffet line at Christmas!

 The sisterhood’s challenge of dreaming of a light Christmas was just that, a challenge. It is hard this whole “get healthy thing”. It’s hard to change old habits and to start new, healthier routines. Even more so right before the holidays. But you know what? The challenge isn’t over yet! We can still get back to the groove.

How are you going to get back on track? Let’s all toss the holiday cookies away and get back on track together!

Feeling heavy with guilt after stepping on the scale this morning. Although I did really well this past weekend, it seems that I did not have the self control at work. There was Mexican take out, pizza, pop and well….you get the idea.

Each day I packed my lunch bag with a salad and each day that salad came home with me. I ignored every plan I had made for myself and have eaten everything I said I wouldn’t. All because it was “the holidays”. Not good. Not good at all…

So I have mentioned before that I am an emotional eater. I’ve tried to control it and on Monday I lost all control. You see I have fertility issues thanks to PCOS and it pains me deeply when I hear of other women’s pregnancies. It’s stupid and self whatever, but dammit it hurts. So on Monday I heard of yet another happy pregnancy and I lost it. LOST IT. Every time someone makes that joyful announcement I cry for hours. Each and everytime. It was an emotional break down that spun into me eating an entire package of fudge sticks. Yes, the entire package gone. With each tear and heavy sob, in went another yummy fudge stick.

Where does this leave me? GUILTY. Heavy with guilt because not only have I failed myself but I gained weight too. All because I had a moment of emotional weakness I am sitting here feeling awful. Losing weight is important to me. I want it more than anything right now. I want to feel good and look good. I just suppose that this week just wasn’t meant to be one of my stronger weeks.

In the weeks ahead I have this low moment to keep as a motivator for myself. A  “heavy” reminder that I don’t want to feel out of control and guilty for being who I am (not to mention that I need to deal with the other emotional issues at hand).

 There I feel a bit “lighter” after confessing now.

I’m all over the new mini challenge for this week.  You’ve seen it right??  The push is to exercise 5 times this week for 30 minutes(or more). Now that 30 minutes does not have to be done all at one time. While I’m at work I am breaking it into 3 ten minutes sets. Not bad and it usually gives me that little burst of energy I need during my work day.

First 10 minute mini workout:

*There are 3 sets of 10 for each*

wall push-ups

chair dips/triceps dips

squats with raised arms to front

Second 10 minute mini workout:

*3 sets of 10  for each*

Leg lift (each side) and with a kick out – So hold on to the door frame, lift leg and kick out.

lunge (each side)- hands on your hips, step forward and squat. Complete and switch sides

wide leg squats- I step out with a wide stance and point my toes out a bit

Third 10 minute mini workout:(I’m doing this at home later)

*3 sets of  10 each*

Reverse crunch- lay on back, cross feet and keep your hands behind your neck. Only move your lower body and bring knees in

Cross over crunches (each side)- keep your hands behind your head and with your left elbow sit up and touch your right knee. Change sides

Crunches-regular sit ups

So with the broken down versions I am trying to get my arms, butt and abs done in one day. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get cardio worked in there too.

What are your favorite workouts? Let us know how you exercise! Your tips could help the sisterhood!

Last night was  Christmas at my Mother’s house and there was tons of food as usual.  I went there knowing I was going to be good. I planned for it. Before I left I weighed myself  ( i like what I saw too!) and I put on tighter jeans so I could feel uncomfortable if I ate too much. I think it all worked, because I controlled it all. That feeling of being in control is awesome I tell ya!

***I GOT DOWN INTO A SMALLER SIZE JEAN EVERYONE!!!!!!***

Only little adjustments were made. While I tasted everything, it was only tastes. I do have to admit something, I am a pickle lover. Last night for the first time in my life I, Crooked Eyebrow put a pickle back. It was there on my plate and all I saw was a spear of sodium. My mom and sister watched in amazement, they couldn’t believe it either.

Christmas cookies?? I had one, thought it was too sweet and threw the rest away. Did you read that??? I wasted a cookie and it didn’t even fall on the floor. I willingly chose not to finish it. Brownies on the other hand, I had 2 small ones and I savored every little bite.  Now that was worth it…

Normally in a family gathering I would have consumed about 3 cans of sprite and a few bottles of malt beverages. Nope, no pop or booze for me.  It was only water for me. The more I drank water, then better I felt.

So  looking back on last night’s  holiday gathering I know I did good.  I felt good. Quite frankly I shocked myself and I just loved having that feeling of being in control. Fitting in a size smaller jeans helped too. I know I can get used to that feeling!

OH I’m shaking it all right…

I have this problem, the only place I can workout in is my small living room. No big right? I put my 10 minute kick boxing DVD in and get started. Squats, kicks and shuffle here and there. Great huh? I’m moving, I’m getting my blood pumping…

The problem? I shake the entire house. Not good for the ego at all ladies and gent, not good at all.

Oh man, the holidays are here. All the yummy baked goodies are becoming so hard to resist. Up until now I haven’t wanted any, but now? Now? I want them so badly that I can almost taste the sugar on my lips.

So, you know what? I am totally going to have one but I am counting the points and making sure I drink the water to go with it. Then I’m not going to feel guilty for eating any of the food I enjoy and I’m going to carry on with the rest of my day. I’m in this for me. To make myself better, healthier and overall, happier. Although I can’t see any huge results after only a few weeks ,I know there will be a huge payoff in the end. BUT only if I keep going, right? Right.

Life is all about doing things at  the right time. Knowing when to go, when to speak, knowing when to stop. For me this week  was a test of knowing when to stop… eating.

This past week I wanted to snack more, take seconds at dinner, drink endless bottles of wine and scarf down all holiday cookies I wanted. Did I? Nope, not really anyways. Sure I ate yummy Oreo balls and AMAZING cheesy spinach dip, but what I realized is that I knew when to quit. A month ago I would have eaten mounds of  food while eating a dozen cookies with out even realizing it(or at least when my stomach hurt).

Although I never really felt full after meals this week, I did try really hard to pay attention to my “full factor”. Maybe it was  because I was reading up on the WW momentum plan, but knowing when to say “that’s enough and no more for me” was awesome. I still managed to taste all the yummy things I love, but I suppose I just knew when to stop.

I’m so glad I knew when to start letting myself become healthy again  too. Now I look forward to more “knowing when” moments. Maybe soon I’ll know when to buy smaller jeans…

To be quite honest, when I awoke I wanted to stay in my nice warm bed all day. I didn’t want to go to work and I certainly didn’t want to weigh myself today.

I was doubting myself a bit. I knew that I had tried to squeeze in exercise and that this week was really  all about trying to avoid falling back into bad habits. Habits of just shoveling food in when I wasn’t really hungry. Habits of eating an entire pizza and wings. (yes I had pizza this week, but used portion control)

So I stepped into the chilly bathroom first thing this morning and stepped on the all mighty scale. The digital numbers danced a bit and then they stopped. There it was, the biggest mood up-lifter ever. In an instant I felt empowered, I felt that all my efforts paid off. Down three pounds in one week.(insert big smile here)

Now as I pound out my rambling thoughts on the keyboard before I leave for work, I feel encouraged that I can ( and will) lose weight in a healthy, happy, proud way.  Now I want more. I have had a little taste of success and  I’m gonna fight for more. Like fifty pounds more… but dammit, today  I feel proud.

( I was 213.5 when the site started, today I am 206)

Normally if I  have a lot to keep me busy, I don’t snack. Today? holy cow. I should be doing laundry, grocery shopping and a few other things but I have no energy. None, therefore I’m not doing a thing. So I’m sitting and all I want to do is eat, munch and nibble.

Thankfully I don’t have any horrible or unhealthy foods in the house, but I’m having a rough day. One thing I’ll have to learn is how to keep the munchies at bay during a lazy day!

It’s one of those days. A day where by 10 o’clock in the morning I’ve had to repeat “stay strong girl, stay strong” to myself about 5,550 times. Really, that much…

Mood wise I’m doing great but I have this uncontrollable urge to go to the vending machine and eat every hostess cake there is, but I won’t. I’ll stay strong, but it’s not always easy to follow my own advice.

This may sound a little corny but I literally wanted to remind myself to “stay strong” so I did a few exercises while at work. Yup. I felt that I needed to focus on something else rather than caving into my empty calorie cravings. I figure I have done this good in one week, I want to keep it up!

In Between patients I have done the following:

*Chair squats and tricep dips

* Door way/wall pushsups

* calf raises( I actually do this all the time at work when I’m just standing around, you’d think I would have better calves!)

You know what? It worked! I pepped myself up and it got me past my craving while I managed to get a few minutes of extra strength building in. Not only did I gain physical strength, but emotional strength as well.