Learning How To Balance

With the time falling back this coming weekend it's going to get dark earlier and earlier - which in our house brings on the urge to hibernate!  BUT... I keep telling myself that a 30-45 min workout is less than 4% of my day!!  And with all the resources I have there are NO EXCUSES!!   I really struggle with motivation in the winter months... but I've joined some challenges and I WILL stay on track!  I found a great article on Body & Soul with a few tips on how to stay motivated during the winter months:  Set a goal! - keep them simple and small Focus on the benefits - how great you feel! REWARD YOURSELF - when you reach one of the goals you've set - celebrate!   Another article from FITBIE gave readers tips - “I mark my daily Outlook calendar with my workouts as if they were actual appointments. It helps me make sure I plan around them and don’t bail at the last minute.” – Jesse Y., Phoenix, AZ   “This may sound silly, but I keep a dress in my clos

How to Survive the Holidays...One Bite at a Time! October through December can be a minefield of challenges for those who struggle with the  eat-repent-repeat cycle . Food is everywhere, from your television to your child’s  trick-or-treat  stash. The constant exposure may eventually lead to cravings, overeating, holiday buffet-hangovers, guilt, and vows to do better tomorrow—or on January 2nd.  The best strategy is to eat what you love  fearlessly . While that may sound counter-intuitive, studies have shown that labeling the foods you love as forbidden can actually increase their power over you. When you think of the foods you love as "bad," you may feel guilty for even wanting them, and deprived because you’re not supposed to eat them. As a result, you may yourself visiting the break room in search of holiday treats.  Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat Banish the special occasion mentality.  You'll be less tempted to overeat during the holidays if yo

It's important to keep yourself motivated and to reward yourself for sticking with it and reaching your goals!! Here are some non-food reward ideas! First - Here’s how to set up a good rewards system: * Choose some benchmarks and reward levels. (small rewards, milestones, and BIG GOALS) * Make the reward meaningful to you. * Small rewards can be used for meeting smaller goals. (maybe for tracking each day) * Don’t use food as a reward. * Plan to celebrate. Sparkers Ideas: * Buy yourself some flowers * A pretty candle or bath stuff. * New make up * Start a reward jar…put in strips of paper each with a small reward and pull one out each     time you reach a goal. Or you can put in $ for each goal you reach and then have     money saved for a bigger reward when you reach a bigger goal. * A new book * New nail polish * New jewelry, earrings * A movie * Going on a day trip somewhere cool * Have a spa weekend at home just relax for a full weekend take the kids to grandma. * G

I've moved over to SparkPeople for tracking food/exercise and trying out teams and challenges.  I'm ♥ing it so far.... I like My Fitness Pal - I've used it for a long time but I've noticed my attitude has been stale lately... bored... unmotivated... blah!  So I thought I would shake things up and try a different site, different teams, different challenges...  They have great motivation cards... see to the left. So to start they have a stage based SparkDiet... the first stage is "Fast Breaks" - Helps you focus on smaller goals - which are stepping stones for PROGRESS!  The first step in FAST BREAKS is "knowing what you eat" - I feel like this is for the beginner - one who never tracked their food before. I've been doing this for a while (on another site *gasp*) but what an eye opener! There are pros and cons to tracking your food though. When your tracking and eating healthy.... big smiley face. When you mess up, have a bad day, and you ST

Assignment #1: Post Exercise Plan (9/29/13) Strength Training - Mon/Wed/Fri 30 minutes  Cardio -  Mon-Fri 30-50 minutes -  (5-6 days each week)  (will plan schedule on personal spreadsheet)  * Walk on trail at lake   * You Tube (Jessica Smith, Pop Sugar, Fitness Blender)  * Turbo Fire  * Turbo Jam  ********************************************************* Assignment #2: Post Eating plan (9/30/13) I will be following something similar to what @STEPBYSTEP1955 is doing:  1. Eat between 1200 and 1550 calories daily - tracking on SP  2. Eat protein with every meal  3. Eat starchy/simple carbs earlier in the day; only fibrous carbs after 5pm. (this one peaked my interest so I'm hoping to learn more and master this one)  4. Eat the recommended fruits and veggies daily  5. Practice portion control - Stop when I'm satisfied!  6. Limit my sweets - already a goal of mine  ******************************************************** Assignment #3: Update your Spar

I ♥ Chalene Johnson!  She is so motivating and gets you fired up!!  I love her blog too...Learn steps to help you develop willpower.   How to Have Willpower You know those people that just don’t seem to be tempted by the same things that the rest of us are? They go to a party and don’t even notice that there’s cake on the table, while the rest of us are left drooling, trying to hold ourselves back from devouring the whole thing. Why is it that willpower is so difficult for some of us, and for others, it seems to come naturally? Well, first, let’s define “willpower.” Willpower is having the strength or resolve to carry out your own desires, plans, and goals; it’s the desire to make something happen – to ignore all obstacles, and just get it done. Notice I did NOT mention anything about “ability” in this definition. Willpower has nothing to do with your circumstances; it has nothing to do with having the “right” genes, job, education, living in the right neighborhood, kno