Five Minutes For Me

I’ve been tagged for this meme by John.  This past week I finally stepped on the scale to see where I was. I gained. Oh big surprise there… no exercise, bad food, and no thought of eating healthy for a few weeks, who would have thought I’d gain weight.  *note the sarcasm* Okay, so I’ve been giving this some thought for the past couple days… perfect timing for this meme! Thank you John for tagging me with the biggest health and fitness vice meme!

My biggest food vice has to do with the way I deal with stress. If I can get a hold on the stress in my life, I will be much healthier over all. Since I have no control over some of the things that happen in life, I need to figure out how to deal with the stress in a way, other than heading to the kitchen for a big bowl of icecream or chicken pot pie. Comfort foods… anything rich and creamy and full of fat and calories. I know writing in my journal (this wordpress blog) was a big help for me learning to deal with emotional eating.

My biggest health and fitnes vice is emotional eating.

To keep this meme going I will tag the following people:

Sarah - Weighing In With My .02 cents

The Pounds Slayer

Felicia

Cynthia

Would you like to participate in the meme but I didn’t tag you? Leave a comment or just make a post as if I had tagged you and I’ll add you to the list!

When I last wrote in my journal I was doing okay with my diet and exercise routine. Things have changed drastically in the past couple months. It doesn’t take long to create a new habit and my habits today are taking me down a road I don’t want to go down. I’m gaining weight and losing my health and self esteem.

Last August I started forming good habits… but those habits have gone out the window.

My elliptical machine is no longer center stage… it’s off in a corner of the room and rarely gets used. Okay. It never gets used.

I don’t watch much television so I don’t get up and move during the commercial breaks… as there are no commercial breaks in my life.  Hmmm. I don’t watch much TV. That is good… okay, so I like that change and it is a direct result of my original plan to get up and move during the commercial breaks… to take five minutes for me.

I’ve been eating a lot of bbq burgers and oh my gosh… remember the illegal ribs? Yeah… even those ribs have been on my menu a few times this summer.

My pantry is well stocked. That’s right… stocked full of cookies, chips, pasta, creamy sauces… oh and if you were to open my refrigerator you would find all sorts of your-going-to-gain-10-pounds this week foods like sour cream, half and half, cool whip, regular Hidden Valley ranch dressing, cream cheese, polish sausages, sliced cheddar cheese, blah blah blah… you get the picture.

Hubby and I are spending quite a bit of time together, but we haven’t been walking in weeks.

Alrighty then… so I’m not exercising. I’m not walking. I’m not eating healthy. I have gained some of my weight back, and I have no energy what so ever. Hmmmm…. think something ought to change?

Oh yeah. Something has to change.

I really need to make a few major changes in my life.  

Let me think about where I need to start. I know I have to make some changes and I need to make my changes really fast. Sooooo… in no particular order here’s what I need to do.

• Plan - menus - workouts - time to journal
• Set goals
• add in some sort of exercise
• start walking again
• empty the pantry and fridge of all the junk food
• shop the farmer’s market for fruits and vegetables

On the upside I’m so excited to report my boys are going swimming several times a week. They go to the pool and swim laps. They get a little exercise each day since they are more active. They get out and play ultimate frisbe, football, baseball, and they even play tag or hide and seek with my grandkids. It seems like the boys are doing great as far as exercise. Now this mom needs to get into gear so their menu includes a lot of healthy food.

Okay… so I made some healthy changes and created some healthy habits in my life once before. I am going to do it again… starting today.

One of my greatest motivations for getting healthy is my family. Not only do I want to be here for my children and grand children, but I want them to be healthy too. It seems like the changes I’ve made in my life are having a positive impact on my family.

I’m excited! I had this sinking feeling that I’d failed my kids, and they would grow up to be fat and unhealthy. Now I have hope for their future, as well as my own.  We have a long way to go. We have a lot to learn, but here are some of the changes I’ve noticed in the past few weeks.

• We are going on family walks, instead of me getting out and walking by myself, I have company.
• My boys are learning to read labels. There have been a few family duscussions about what’s in a can of pop or a candy bar, top ramen, green beans, cereal, etc…
• We are exercising as a family more often. I hate to exercise if someone is watching me from the side lines. We had this big talk the other day. Interesting enough, my boys will get up and exercise with me or show me a new way of doing a push up… not that I’m into doing push ups LOL But it’s fun learning with them.
• I got dance dance revolution for Christmas with 2 pads. The entire family has gotten into this fun game. Instead of watching television every evening, now it’s a DDR family challenge! WHOO HOO!

 We have a lot to learn as a family. I don’t want the subject of food, calories, sugar, and fat content to be our main focus, as we sit down to eat every night. But I’m so excited to see my family take an active interest in their health and wellness.  

I found my workout people! Total Body Sculpt with Gilad. Oh yeah! I love it! I’m motivated! Today’s morning workout included a warm up, some hand weights, and we targeted the lower body, abs, and upper body. WOW! Honest to goodness, I might not be able to lift a cup of coffee tomorrow, but I’m downing the water and I cooled down with some extra stretching, so I think I’m good to go.

LOL I just read what I wrote and had to laugh at myself. Of course it targeted the lower body, abs and upper body… it’s a total body workout. DUH lol I have to be honest, I have a variety of weights, but I’m only using the light weights right now.  I won’t worry about that right now. I’m so happy I found something I can do and enjoy.