Ok, so I ate like a pig… now what?

English: Macaroni with cheese Català: Macarrons amb formatge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, every stomach was churning, yes even the mouse.
The Ham and Green Beans and the Macaroni and Cheese, had the whole family stuffed, belts begging to be free.

I find it hilarious how many of us claim we’ll do better next year, but one we catch a whiff of what Grandma’s got in the oven. “F, a diet, it’s Christmas.” I do it every single year, but this time I had a secret weapon up my sleeve. This entire holiday season I’ve been doing intermittent fasting. I can honestly say that I’ve not coupled it with the high intensity workouts that would help me lose a lot of weight, but I am starting the year off, no worse than I was before Thanksgiving.

What I’ve learned about keeping the fat belly blues away after this massive Holiday feeding frenzy are the following things:

1. Don’t beat yourself up. – Nothings sets you up for failure more than starting your path to the “get right” with a negative self-image.

2. Commit to something realistic.- The likelihood of you dropping 100 lbs. in the next few months healthily is very low. Don’t start off aiming for something you’ll never see. Commit to something like adding workout days to your current schedule, watching your diet or eliminating something that you know you have a hard time-consuming in moderation.

3. Hold yourself accountable.- Praise yourself for the days that you keep up with what you’ve committed to. Make-up the days that you miss…. swiftly, not later the next week.

These are just a few things that help me. I considered adding a before picture to this post, but I buy clothes that make me look fab at all sizes so you won’t be able to see what needs to go until there’s actually something to compare it to. So, let’s make a date 3/26/2014 I’ll post how far I’ve gotten on my plan. This is the year of my Dirty 30 and I’m taking it to the beach, so I have to get right.

Do you have any tips? Anything that really works for you? Feel free to post a link to your blog in the comment section!

Love you guys 🙂

Related articles

• Ok, hands up who ate too much….. (anubis1966.wordpress.com)
• Christmas Thoughts (justmarri.wordpress.com)
• Comfort Food – Our Favorite Macaroni & Cheese (weekendswiththerusniaks.wordpress.com)

Learn to Enjoy the Journey

http://www.citypoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/enjoy-the-journey.jpg

There are so many people that want to skip the middle. They want to become the next Tyler Perry, but they want to skip the dedication that would drive you to sleeping in your car for what you’ve been called to do. They think that their past is enough of a reason for them to be in a season of breakthrough, RIGHT NOW. There is no such thing as one day it all just swept me away. There were points of preparation that people utilized properly that gave way and made room for a win. I remember my karate days, my father would make me get out of the house on a Saturday and ride my bike, or do some cardio to increase my endurance and his lecture would always contain “This is where you win the medal”. I’d like to say that I never forgot that lesson, but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you can go back to around 2008 and see for yourself. Here’s what I’ve learned on my journey and I think that it may be helpful for someone.

So how do you find yourself in the middle of a downward spiral?

1. You get so enamored  with your self that you forget about being open to opportunities. There are people all over this world that know more than you. Even when you spent a lot of time and money on your education. If the only thing that people can get out of you is a chance to hear your pitch, nobody is interested in seeing you win…. they just stop caring. Listen a bit more than you talk and people will feed you the keys to your success…. if you let them.

2. You ride the high too long. You get a win and you stay happy about that small victory long past the expiration date. Wins sere as excellent platforms for new goals. Absolutely enjoy the moment, but the next moment should be spent determining the next destination on the road and finding out what it will take to get there. There are some people that have the Al Bundy syndrome (90s sitcom reference) and they relive that touchdown over and over rather than hitting the gym and building a career.

3. You give up too soon. Not everything that’s awesome is going to jump off immediately, most things that are awesome start off just a little lame, mostly because it’s not had time to be associated with the people that will love it the most. Don’t be so quick to fold just because you’re not an instant success.

4. Criticism kills you. You either get too defensive or you dismiss everything that isn’t someone falling all over you as people “hating”. Sometimes, there really is something wrong with what you’re doing, and sometimes there are people that can help you find a better way.

Find a balance, and keep your energy positive. This life is hard and scary but if you find a way to push through, you can do anything you come up with. Just stop glossing over the stuff in-between that matters.

Love