Happy Halloween

Hey Ladies-

Finally blogging again!! About time huh? Well I've had a great couple days. My mom and youngest sister are visiting. They arrived Thursday night and will be leaving Sunday afternoon after lunch. Thursday was pretty low key since I was tired from working most of the day and running Swim & Gym until 6pm. I got to showcase my scalloped potatoes and ham in the crockpot though.

We went down to Des Moines to shop on Friday. I did a good job of managing my money. We went to Lane Bryant and they had some gorgeous, fancy clothes. I almost bought some but decided that I wouldn't wear them enough to benefit from the purchase. They were too fancy to wear to work. I splurged on some more candles at Bath and Body because they have some great fall scents. I finally found some good sunglasses too. I've needed them all year. We dined at Macaroni Grill. I wanted to introduce it to my family since it always impresses me. Very tasty.

We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house Friday night for supper. Afterward Alissa and I went to the Haunted Forest. It was pretty decent this year. Very worth the money. I seriously consider the act of visiting scary and "haunted" places to be a hobby of mine. I cannot wait until I can travel to different states and visit famous places....including Michigan! We are leaving in about an hour to go across town for Trick-or-Treating. We always go to west Ames to our other Aunt's house because the neighborhood is safer.

After lunch today we went on a great walk through some of the parks in Ames. We had Chinese for lunch so it felt wonderful to keep moving. If I had just gone home, I know I would have napped. It reminded me that Gavin and I should be out walking more often and enjoying the crisp fall weather. Shame on me.

I've had some good thinking time this weekend. With family visiting, I've not allowed myself to work so much. I've been thinking about some feasible goals to start accomplishing. I'm sick of being overweight. I'm sick of getting winded. I'm sick of not liking how clothes fit. I need to make those goals, stick to the goals, and get back on the right track again. It will be interesting to do so when we have a bowl of candy here. Willpower will be a great challenge but I can do it. Luckily I haven't been craving sweets for awhile. It's those darn salty snacks that lure me.

Hope you're both doing well and enjoying this holiday! I love Halloween!

Exercise and......the flu?

I know exercising and being more fit leads to a healthier immune system. A professor at ISU (you remember Kohut, right Nicole?) published information about how exercise and the flu are related. Enjoy!

http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2009/oct/exercise

27 candles on my birthday cake...

Actually I don't think I'm going to have a birthday cake this year, but if I were and I wanted to set off the smoke detector I would light those babies up and watch 'em blaze! Maybe it's because I haven't hit that dreaded big 3-0 mark yet but unlike many women, I LOVE getting older! I firmly believe that every year gets better and better. Twenty-six was a good year. While there are certainly things that I would change, mostly the proximity to my loved ones, I have to admit to having many self-discoveries in my 26th year of living. This was the first full year that I have spent away from home. It's almost scary to think that in my 26th year of life I only saw my mom 5 times and my dad twice...TWICE!! I look back on the last year and I had a variety of experiences. I made new friends and lost a loved one. I had times of sadness/homesickness and I had times of elation knowing that I was on my own and life was completely in my hands. I could continue on about year 26 but it is now in the past. I am moving up and on!

I love birthdays because it feels like a chance to start fresh. It's a new year and you have 12 months in which to work on goals and work towards any outcome you can imagine. It's like out 2nd chance to make our new year's resolutions happen! I will honestly admit to not being where I thought I would be at the age of 27. I always thought that by this point I'd be a boring married person. It's silly, I know...when will I ever be boring?!?!? If you had asked me 10 years ago where I thought I would be, I guarantee that I wouldn't even have come close to describing my current life. It's funny how unforeseen things can change your life outcome so much.

Recently, I have spent a lot of time thinking about things in my life that I like and things that I dislike. When I think about the things that I dislike, I realize that half of my major dislikes can be fixed. Obviously, one of my major dislikes is that I have sucked at this lifestyle change. I did really well for about 3 months and then it's been half-hearted attempts. My goal for this coming year is to really hunker down and get back on track. I know that I've said that a lot lately but there have been some things that have happened recently, not even to me or people that I know personally, but I've seen how quickly life can be over. So, after today (you can't focus on lifestyle changes on your birthday) I will be getting back on track. I've been doing well recently and I hope to continue on down the right path! It's now or never ladies. I hear that it gets harder the older you get and let's face it...I'm getting older!!

Tattle-Tale

Hey Ladies-

I am blogging today so I can tattle on myself. My lifestyle choices have rapidly gone to shit over the last couple months. I need to write out my complaints so they can stare me in the face.

1) I am emotionally eating A LOT. I've been very stressed out with work. Even parenting has gotten a little more difficult with Gavin's schedule and keeping him on track.

2)I'm becoming impulsive. This is related to the emotionally eating. For example, I will be driving home thinking about my day. I'll think about the stress and also start thinking about yummy food. Then I start craving the yummy food and decide to eat it, which makes me temporarily feel better.

3) I messed up my October budget due to eating out too much or buying non-necessities at the grocery store. The checking account is looking rather scary.

4) My treadmill is now a storage unit. I don't run on it. I just set stuff on it so my living room isn't cluttered. At least I'm not hanging clothes on it yet but the situation still really sucks.

5) I want to go back to Weight Watchers but I don't want to repeat history or spend money that I shouldn't be spending.

6) I have no idea how much I weigh and it bothers me. And it scares me.

7) I need to go to the doctor and have a full physical done to see what shape my body truly is in....I'm wondering about my blood sugar again.

8) I am out of shape. You should have heard me when we were hiking at Effigy Mounds and Pike's Peak. Thank god my mom knows CPR.

Okay, that's enough tattling for now. I keep postponing my concerns with my lifestyle and I need to stop doing that. It's all going to catch up with me whether it's going up another clothing size, turning diabetic, or keeling over when walking up a hill. I need to face my issues and really tackle my emotional eating. I need to wrangle that problem pronto so it doesn't escalate further.

Thanks for listening/reading!

Short lesson from a football player...

I love watching football, I think that both of you know this. I have not been able to watch football in over a year because I didn't have TV. However, this week Comcast came out and set my television up so I was able to watch my game last night! GO HAWKS!!! Anyway, as much as I love to watch football and I love football players. I am just awed and amazed that they can do what they do on the field with the running and throwing and hitting. I am most impressed by the way that they can take a hit or fall without dying. I've spent many a game on the sidelines as an athletic trainer and it's amazing that they come back from day to day let alone year to year. Now as much as I respect and admire the physicality of most football players, I generally HATE it when they start speaking on camera. Have you ever noticed how most football players just sound dumb? I know that they're not but they just sound that way. What you also have to consider is that most teams only let they're smartest players talk on camera. Only occasionally, when he's Rhodes scholar or something, do you get to see a lineman speaking to the press. It's usually a QB and someone in the receiving/running corps. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame these young men at all. Under normal circumstances I'm sure that they know how to speak fluent English and grasp the basic concepts of sentence structure, but they drag these young men directly from the field immediately after a loss or a win. There is celebratory bedlam all around and they're supposed to focus and deliver a clever, inspiring, uplifting, bragging or apologetic message...yeah right! Sorry, I'm getting off on a tangent. Basically, I've heard a lot of really ridiculously dumb post game interviews. Last nights with Stanzi though, the QB from Iowa, he made two statements that got me thinking about us.

When he was asked about his feelings on the the way Iowa has been playing, especially the tough games that they play (winning the last 3 home games by a total of 6 points) he responded:

'We're going to have to fight adversity, and we've had to do that a lot in our football games, and that's just going to help build character. We're excited about the record, but there's still a lot of football left'

Apparently yesterday when I was asking why the world is hard, I forgot to mention that it builds character. You know, I truly believe this. If we have to struggle to achieve things, if we have to fight tooth and nail to reach one goal we're in that same mindset for the next.

Stanzi was also asked about the thoughts behind having to sweat out victories and his questionable pass in the the first series of the game. His response:

'Everyone staying together. That's what it comes down to. You can't focus so much on a little play. If everyone sticks together, that's when we can be at our best.'

Again, I have to agree with him. When you're working so hard for something and you fumble, if there are people around you fighting towards the same goal they can help you get back on track. To me, this is one of the most important factors to success. If we fall, we need to know that our team is working right along beside us and can give us a hand up, brush the grass off our back and give us a hard slap on the ass (football boys really like the slap on the ass).

Having said that, one of my main goals for the coming weeks is to become a better player on our team. I will strive to stop fumbling the ball. I will work to become a solid player so that when you stumble I can offer you a hand up as opposed to being on the ground already!

OK, I shall stop metawhoring (a term from a really delightful book I read once) and let you enjoy your Sunday. Have a great week ladies!

Falling: the end or the beginning

Happy weekend ladies! I hope that you are both getting in some rest and relaxation today and tomorrow. I know that there seems to be such limited time to get the important things done that rest and relaxation get pushed onto the back burner but I really hope that you can squeeze in a bit. I had the good fortune of being able to sleep in this morning and it was glorious! I got the rest of my fall/Halloween decorations up, ran the dishwasher and now I think I might watch a movie. Oh yeah, I also hung up 2 skinny outfits!!

I've been meaning to blog for a few days now because I saw this video and it seemed like it would be such a great message for all of us. It seems like lately we've all felt a little defeated. We've been stressed, sick, sometimes lazy, eating poorly, sleep deprived etc. I believe the technical term is that we've fallen and can't get up! Falling is such an interesting phenomenon. We're often taught from a very young age that falling means the end...we're finished. Think back to playing Mario Brothers. If you run off a cliff or fall off the floating log that's it. The END! That feeling of finality is also very present in our lives as we try to make changes. We do great and then one day we slip. We're stressed because someone at work is a nightmare. An unexpected expense scares the hell out of us. We get in a fight with our significant other. Our dog dies. The reason for the fall is not terribly important for the moment. The fall itself is how we respond to that fall is what we need to focus on.

When we fall, what do we do? The old adage of 'if at first you don't succeed try, try again' seems like a really good sentiment to hold onto. However, sometimes we get really tired of trying and trying and trying. How many times can we be expected to try, try again before we drive ourselves crazy? Why is falling so easy, yet getting back up so damn hard? That is the million dollar question. I'd love to give you an answer but I don't think there is one short of one of my mom's favorites, "because life is hard." So, having come to this conclusion, how should be go about picking ourselves up again? I think Aaron Lewis had it right when he said that getting back up becomes the problem.

I think that one way to expedite the process of getting back up is to change our perception of the situation. Instead of looking at falling as an end to our success we need to look at it as a start to the next attempt. If my horrid co-worker stresses me and I come home and eat too much rocky road, I need to forgive that offense and start fresh. By stumbling, I don't undo all of my good work. It's not like in Mario where a fall means I have to go back to the beginning. It's more like pausing the game. If I fall and quit the game then I do have start over at the beginning. If I just pause it, I can pick up right where I left off and keep moving towards the princess (or in real life towards my target weight)! Obviously comparing to a video game isn't going to make the path easier but it does offer an interesting perspective.

Anyway, that's what I've been contemplating these last few days. I feel like it's helping me to move on and I hope that it can help inspire you also. Speaking of inspiration, this link is going to direct you to a short youtube video. If nothing else it helps to remind us that there are others out there who have accomplished their goals. Others who are worse off than we. If they can do it, we most certainly can also!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFJ3OVgVQvI

More Tips from a Calendar

I have pieces of that tear away "Biggest Loser" calendar all over the place on my desk so I need to present them for you so I can throw them away. I need to straighten up everything here in front of me so this is a good place to start.

1) Just a friendly reminder to not drink your calories. I admit I slip on this a lot because sometimes drinking a Gatorade tastes a hell of a lot better than water. I still buy my fizzy water drinks from Hy-Vee and those rock since they are zero calories. I need to be mindful of this tip as I enter the hot cocoa and hot cider season.

2) A suggestion to hang up a "skinny outfit" so you are reminded of that type of motivation each day. I had to chuckle because a lot of my skinnier clothes are in a Rubbermaid tote in my closet. I should just set that out and trip over it each day so I get my reminder.

3) Craving-Control Technique: Just walk away! If you're craving something (something not so healthy that is) just walk away for 15 minutes and distract yourself with something else. Go grade papers, clean something, take a quick walk, etc. If you return after that time, and still want that food, then eat it. This always gives you time to decide why you are craving it. Are you truly hungry? Are you stressed? Are you bored? I definitely need to try this out more.

4) Do not eat food out of it's original container. You usually overeat if you do this. Put stuff in bowls and on plates. The same goes for Tupperware containers. If you haven't portioned things into containers, you shouldn't eat from them directly.

5) Ice Cream! Statistics show that people eat about 23 pounds of it a year. What words should you look for when purchasing ice cream to try and make it more healthy? Look for phrases like "slow-churned", "cold-churned", or "double-churned". When it's churned it means the globules of milk fat are evenly dispersed so the richness is distributed in each bite without all the fat in each bite. I personally like some frozen yogurts but unfortunately they wreck havoc on my digestive system. Regular ice cream isn't so mean to me.

I ordered an amazing ice cream from Schwans this week. It's called Autumn Treat. It's pumpkin ice cream with cinnamon swirls and pecans. It's very good. It's also rich so I can't eat a lot at once. I never thought I'd enjoy pumpkin ice cream (I don't like other pumpkin products) but I love it.

6) An excellent quote..."It's not how many times you fall down; it's how many times you get up." Just something to think about as we struggle and succeed with different aspects of weight loss.

Passing time...

Hey ladies, I'm sitting here waiting for the mail to come at work so that I have something to do. I was just going to play Bejeweled to pass the 25 minutes, however, epic fail...Bejeweled is currently undergoing maintenance and can't be played. So, instead of playing a mindless game I decided to blog. Now, before you feel offended that you were my second choice for time killing time, take heart. I don't normally like to blog with such limited time. However, today I make an exception!

I don't have much to share since my last blog on Sunday but I was thinking about something concerning goal setting and thought I would run the idea past you to get opinions. When I mentioned my feelings on goal setting in the last blog I was thinking about how I do like short term goals. I've also realized, rather recently, that I also get bored with my goals. This is a problem. So, what's my solution??? I think that random goal generation might be the ticket. Kind of like a random number generator in research. More specifically I want to sit down and write out many goals (10 minutes of stretching per day, 5 fruits and veggies per day, journal every night etc.) and then place them in a hat or a bowl or peanut jar...the vessel isn't that important. Then, on Sunday night I pull out my goal for the week. That way, I have 1 very specific goal to work on for the week. The following Sunday, I get rid of that goal and start working on something else all together. What I like about this idea is that it not only allows me to keep working on fresh goal, this plan can easily progress from one goal per week to multiple. For example the first month I do one goal per week. The second month maybe I'll start with 1 goal, then the following Sunday I'll pick another and do two goals. A week later I get rid of goal 1 and draw a 3rd and work on 2 and 3! I don't know why but I feel very good about this. So, what are your thoughts?

Besides thinking about goal setting, the beginning of my week has been a little slow. We had a lab meeting at work this morning so I had to be here 30 minutes early...ewww! It wouldn't have been so bad but that means I was out the door by 6:40...ick! On the plus side, I did have time to go and get my flu shot today. I feel all protected!! They're also really pushing the H1N1 vaccine here so I might be getting that in the near future. I was reading that it's an inhaled vaccine...icky! I will take a shot any day over an inhaled medicine. Sigh...

Alrighty, I should take off and go get the mail! Have a great day!

One day at a time...

Happy Sunday ladies! I hope that you have both had time for rest and relaxation this weekend. All in all, I've had a very nice weekend. Yesterday morning I was up early and volunteered my time at the Young ICD Conference (for kids with implanted cardio defibrillators) here in town. It's a conference that the hospital does every year for young men and women who have ICDs. They have speakers (usually kids and teens) talk about experiences that led to the implantation of their device (usually somebody arrested and was saved through emergency response) and also have speakers who talk about receiving shocks once the device is implanted. It was a really great experience and I can't wait to help out again next year! I didn't even mind getting up before the chickens!

Today has been a slow day. I slept in which was amazing and got up and cleaned my apartment. I have been needing to do a good cleaning for some time and accomplished that today. I feel full of energy and I can't decided it it's because I got enough sleep this weekend or if it's the pot of coffee that I drank this morning :) The rest of my day is devoted to laundry and making a pizza for dinner...yum!


I am happy to report that my primary goal is coming along well. I haven't had any pop and really haven't had much of a desire. I want to keep that as my primary goal for the month of October just to make sure that I get the craving under control before I allow small amounts into my diet. I have no intentions of never drinking pop again but I really want to reserve it for random occasions. Along with my lack of pop drinking, I will also continue to keep up my cooking at home. It's going pretty well but there is still room for improvement!

I've decided that in order to maintain my progress I need to stop focusing on the ultimate, yet very distant overall goal. I really seem to do better when I focus on things 1 day at a time. When they have them out in stores again, I want to get a day planner so that I can do daily goals and keep tabs of things on a daily basis.

Alright, I should get back to my laundry! I hope you have a great week and enjoy the lovely fall weather (assuming the lovely fall weather comes back)!