Well hello!

Hi friends! If you've been following my blog, you'll notice I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. "Why?" you ask. Well, I'll tell you... Being a person that has been single most of my life, I've never understood why engaged people were so flaky. "Just because you're getting married doesn't mean that the rest of your life disappears," I would say to myself. Well now I understand... You still have to work, you have to plan a wedding, you have to get your home ready for another person to join you (in my case), you want to spend every "free" moment with your other half, and meanwhile you want to do things with your friends before you get married. Amidst all of this I'm finding it incredibly difficult to stay motivated in the health field.

You would think that knowing I have to fit into my wedding dress or wanting to look/feel good on my wedding day would be motivation enough... but no, I'm letting my social/stress induced eating get out of hand! Not to mention, the recent addition of orthotics into my life has completely messed with my back, and therefore my exercise routine. You know it's bad when your trainer makes you text and confirm not once, but twice that you'll actually show up and not cancel your appointment... This is extremely disheartening and embarrassing to me, especially since I've always considered myself to be responsible and dependable. Therefore, I feel extremely guilty posting an entry to help motivate others, even though I know it's mainly to motivate myself.

Sorry to go off on that little venting rampage, but in case you can't tell, I'm struggling a bit right now. I'm very much a people pleaser and feel like I'm letting people down left and right!!! AGH!!!

With all that off my chest, my challenge this week is about acceptance of what you can't control and the desire to change what you can control... acceptance of our circumstances, acceptance of our weaknesses, and acceptance of what goes on around us. (Some would argue that there is nothing out of our control, which may have truth, but how many of us are actually mentally to the point that we feel we are in control of everything?) But this is not only about acceptance of things out of our control, this is even more about acceptance of ourselves (knowing where we come from and realizing our self-worth).  Let me explain... So I've gained about 7 lbs these last few weeks and rather than accepting that it has happened and desiring to move past it, I've chosen to get bogged down in the fact that I'm now way behind in my journey, which sets me further and further back.  Rather than accepting the fact that my back has disabled me from keeping an exercise routine, NOT from eating healthy, I allowed my frustration to set in and gave up on both. And most of all, with the combination of these circumstances and "weaknesses", I've lost view of the person that I've worked so hard to become and love. I would wager to say that no person can achieve and maintain weight-loss if they don't think they're worth it.

I'm going to work hard to change my attitude this week, to realize and accept that there are some things beyond our control, but many more things within our control. I'm going to look at each situation with the attitude that every decision I make is MINE and will positively or negatively effect ME. Rather than the phrase "you are what you eat," I like to live by the phrase, "you feel what you eat." If I eat junk, I feel like junk... If I eat healthy, I feel healthy. Simple as that :)

Hopefully, this week will make us aware that we really are more in control of our circumstances than we think we are and we really are worth treating ourselves to good health!

Vitamins and sleep

Hi friends! I have to admit that I failed miserably last week... I did plan out a menu, but whilst at the parent's house realized that nothing on my menu was in the house :s  Instead of going shopping, I just tried to stay within my calories, which I did until I blew it on Monday. I got really frustrated because when I got home I was up 14 lbs!!! I knew most of it was water weight, but who gains 14 lbs in a weekend?!?! Apparently, I do. Good news is that I've lost all but .5lbs of it, so it was mostly water weight... ridiculous!

However, this experience helped me to come to this week's challenge. Two things that are vital to your health are vitamins and sleep... both of which I did not have on my trip. In our day to day diets, there is no possible way to get all of the nutrients our bodies need, without eating way too much. Taking a multi-vitamin will help assure you're getting your nutrients (or at least more of them) and in some cases can help level out water weight issues... hmm, maybe I should've taken my vitamins.

Sleep is one of the most over-looked aspects of our health. We are so busy all the time that we cut out more and more sleep to get everything done. We need sleep so our bodies can rest and recover and also de-stress. Stress and lack of sleep are two of the biggest obstacles in weight-loss. So try to get around 8 hrs of sleep a night (this number will be different for everyone, but you should feel well rested the next day).

Therefore, this weeks challenge is to find and take a multi-vitamin, if you don't already do so and make sure you're sleeping. Not too hard, right?! Do your best to have a consistent schedule so that it's attainable. Happy sleeping this week :)