Time Management to Reduce Stress

I am a nonstop, workaholic, go from sun up to sun down and beyond kind of girl.  That being said...everyone needs a break eventually.  That's how I roll.  I go really hard for a long time and then I'm done.  I can't make myself do anything.  My body (especially my brain) needs a break.  I wonder if other people feel like this as well?  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  

Right now, I am really struggling with time management and it's causing me a LOT of stress.  I feel completely overwhelmed and I am trying to find a way to sort it all out.  Everyone is busy with (insert your activities here).  For me, I work 40 hours training for one job (soon I will be on my own and will have more flexibility), commute 1/2 hour each way to do that, own my own separate business with my DH (which is time and space consuming) and am in the middle of a healthy lifestyle overhaul (also very time consuming with my obsessive nature).  That being said I love my life. I have a wonderful partner with the patience of a saint who would do anything to support me.  I am successful in business.  I have a great family.  So, I guess my point with that is that I am blessed and I know it.  That doesn't change the fact that I am beside myself with trying to balance all of my endeavors and maintain some semblance of sanity.

It just feels like there are not enough hours in the day.  We are taking steps to streamline some of these things because I am in lock up.  I can't function well under this level of constant stress and I take it out on the one I love the most.  That just isn't fair and is completely unacceptable to me.  So we adjust.

I used to smoke.  I've mentioned this before.  It was my stress reliever.  Considering I no longer have vices, I really need to come up with a better way to deal with stress.  I think the only way around this is to have a plan.  The first step in my plan is to eliminate and consolidate.  That goes in all areas of my life.

The relevant piece here is how it relates to my healthy lifestyle.  I have taken that WAY beyond what is necessary and it's time to cut back.  I feel like I am CONSTANTLY doing something related to my weight loss/health improvement program. Between tracking, planning, logging, measuring, eating, avoiding eating, working out, blogging, reviewing forums and networking -- I don't feel like there is any time to do anything else. I'm not saying that this level of intensity hasn't been beneficial but I am at a point where I need to scale it down a bit. I still have another 60 - 70 pounds to go so I have to maintain some of it but I need to cut back.  So, I eliminated 1 of my 3 blogs.  All it had was a recap of all the other blogs and tracking that I do.  I have most everything in My Fitness Pal.  I also am not going to update my Daily Burn Tracker.  I have plenty of trackers as it is.  

Another part of this is my workouts.  Typically, I get up early in the morning so that I can get my workout in before my work day starts.  There are times when I simply don't.  Those are the days that are especially difficult since I then have to take time away from my DH and our business to get my workout in.  He knows and I know that it's important to achieve these goals but it feels like such a burden.  I guess if it were easy then everyone would do it.  With the obesity level today, that's clearly not the case.

I am hoping that I can streamline some more things in my life so that I can spend less time stressing and more time enjoying.  That's a hard one but...I'm still fighting.

Diet Bet: Complete!

Whew!  That was a close one!  I finally weighed in this morning and I was verified as losing 8.8 pounds in the 4 weeks!  Made it by a measly .3 pounds.  But I made it!  I earned it.  I am always a little cautious when I have to weigh on a day other than Sunday since midweek weigh-ins aren't usually a good thing for me.

I look forward to the next one.  I am going to do a 6 month one now so I can keep it going.  If you haven't already joined a diet bet, I HIGHLY recommend it.  Chris & Heidi Powell are doing another one starting March 11th called Spring Fling.  In addition, the 6 month one is The Transformer - I think that's the next one that I am doing.  The camaraderie is awesome.  Just that extra motivation - that person saying good job is enough to make you push forward.  I am a sucker for positive reinforcement!

I also like to be recognized and make money.  I think that's the other major draw.  I can be motivated to accomplish my goals and if I succeed I am rewarded.  Not just by my smaller size but monetarily as well.  It's a win win!

Hopefully, you are accomplishing your goals.  If you need a hand, let me know and I will do my best to help!

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is of course a commercial holiday designed to sell jewelry, chocolate and flowers.  I can get behind that from a business perspective; however,  I feel that you should have Valentine's Day every day with your partner.  You shouldn't have to wait until February 14th to show you care.  This year - I am taking a different approach.  I am saying Happy Valentine's Day to me.  This year is about making myself a better person.  A healthier person.  A person that makes time to help other people.  A person that loves...deeply.  And that love should include me.  I had a nice surprise this morning.  A sweater that when I initially bought it over a year ago was button popping tight.  Clearly, that is not my style -so, into the tote it went.  Today, I took out that nice cranberry colored perfect for Valentine's Day sweater and guess what?  It fit - perfectly.  What nice Valentine's Day gift to myself.  Can't wait 'til I see what I give myself for my birthday! 


What is your favorite gift to yourself?  What was the greatest surprise you've received on your journey?  Let's talk about it.  Thanks for being a part of my journey!

Making Choices

Every single day - we make choices.  Would I rather wear the red shirt or the blue one?  Should I stop at the store before work or after work?  Would I rather eat everything I think I want or have a healthy, fit body?  That's the bottom line.  It's a choice.  I choose what I put in my body.  I choose if I want to be active or if I want to be a couch potato.  I choose to love myself for who I am.  I choose to take action to get the results I want.  So can you!  Yesterday was Superbowl.  That is a holiday in my house.  I LOVE SUPERBOWL!!!  I don't watch football the rest of the year but I do take the time to watch the "best of the best" (even if they don't act like it).  With that, comes potlucks with the ooey gooey "goodness" that is cheese dips and chips and little smokies and beer.  Massive quantities of beer.  That's usually what my Superbowl looks like.  Not this year.  I am on a mission.  A mission to change my life no matter what the cost.  Sure, I had beer.  2 of them.  That was more than plenty when I don't typically drink beer anymore.  My snack?  A serving (yes I counted) of Garden Herb Triscuits with an AMAZING pico de gallo type fresh dip (1/2 cup).  It was a "free" day for me.  I ended the day around 1,700 calories.  WOW!  I made a choice.  I decided it was in my best interest to enjoy the game without the hangover of insane quantities of fatty foods and lethargy inducing beer.  My methods won't work for everyone.  I just know that for me to be able to feel confident in my plan I need to stick to it.  I am proud of what I have accomplished so far and need to continue to make choices that fit this new lifestyle.  I won't say never - about anything.  It's unrealistic.  But for right now - my choice is healthy.

You are what you eat

I LOVE TO COOK!  There...I said it...it's out there.  I like to come up with unique concoctions that taste amazing.  I sometimes will just go through the pantry and just throw things in a pan regardless if they make sense or not.  You would not believe what that looks like sometimes.  I can't think of a single time that it was terrible.  Interesting - but not terrible.  The main reason I make concoctions is that I get bored really easily.  When you eat healthy non-processed food, there are only so many things you can eat.  That being said there are a least a million different combinations of those foods.  That's where my concoction creation process comes into play.  Vegetables go with vegetables.  New things come to life with minimal effort and look beautiful with all the colors and textures.  Can you here the proverbial "Ahhhh".  I can. 

In fact, because I love to cook so much I am going to be putting up recipes that reflect my style.  I refuse to eat things that don't taste good.  I refuse.  The most common complaint about "healthy" food is that it doesn't taste good.  Mine does.  Sometimes I get ideas in my head, then I find a recipe that's kind of close and tweak it to make it healthier or just add things that I think would contribute to the flavor.  That totally counts as a concoction (I just love that word).  For example, tonight I wanted chicken enchiladas.  I also wanted to be able to sleep tonight knowing that I ate in a healthy manner.  Enter Gina.  I follow her healthy recipes on skinnytaste.com.  Amazing!  Check out the original recipe here!  I just added extra chicken and used regular diced chiles instead of the chipotle kind.  Oh and of course I added extra cilantro because...well...quite simply I LOVE cilantro.  I love cooking with cilantro because it smells great and gives a flavor and kick you can't really get anywhere else.  It's in my top 3 "go-to" seasoning/herbs along with garlic and fresh basil.  ANYTHING will taste better with one of those three items - GUARANTEED!

So...when you're tired of eating the same thing over and over.  Make a concoction.  You won't regret it!