Think About This:

"Today decides tomorrow". I just love that quote. It says so much so efficiently. For a woman trying to maintain her health and figure, it means this: Whatever you do or eat today will effect how you feel tomorrow and the coming days. If you stick to your plan by exercising and eating right, by not falling into old habits, you are certainly going to improve your tomorrow. It may seem obvious, but if it is so obvious, why do so many of us have such a hard time sticking to the rules of good health and well being? It would be wonderful if there was a pill you could take to make you feel as good as you do when you wake up after a day of following the rules. You feel WONDERFUL, your stomach might feel a bit flatter, your state of mine, just so positive. Now imagine the other scenario: you ate and drank way too much yesterday. While you were doing it you knew it wasn't the right choice, but somehow you could not stop yourself. Now what is the feeling the next day? Remorse, shame, guilt. It is one of the worst feelings ever. I think we all know which feeling we prefer, and since there is no pill that REALLY will make you fantastic over the long term, we should really keep in our mind the "Today decides tomorrow" mantra. I certainly have been trying to do that, and it has been working. Making the right choices for yourself empowers you, and empowerment in this area of your life opens up a lot other doors. Think about it.....

Tips for you:

I think I have mentioned I bought Garnier Nutrisse Eye Gel Roller and wasn't that impressed. Then I read in Prevention Magazine (my new favorite-although secretly I feel I am too young to read it, in actuality, I'm not!) that sticking your eye creams or gels in the fridge helps them to reduce puffiness better due to the cold. Makes total sense, why didn't I think of that! I will report back in this works or not.

SOMETHING I DID THINK OF, but also read in Prevention concerns your workouts and levels of intensity. It makes perfect sense, but perhaps you had not thought of this: Think of your car. You use less gas while you are on the highway at a higher, consistent speed. You use more gas when you are city driving, constantly stopping and going, speeding up and slowing down. Did you make the connection with your body? Same idea. So you should stop and start, and vary your workouts. If you are running on the treadmill, start at a moderate pace, then after about 8 minutes, increase the grade and walk up a steep hill at a moderate pace for another 8 minutes, repeat. Then maybe run up the hill for a shorter time at the next interval. If your going to be working out for a set amount of time, you want every minute to count as much as it can. Get some great music, and get going!

That's all the wisdom I have to impart right now. I leave you with this: Have a great holiday weekend, eat what you want, but in moderation. If you do, you'll wake up happy!

Let them eat cake!

Just a funny thing I saw on the web. A magazine asked celebrities what their favorite cake was. Everyone has a favorite cake, right? (Mine is Flourless Chocolate with Vanilla Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce) Well, apparently not Eddie Murphy. He shocked me when he responded (and this is loosley quoted) "I can't do cake, not even a bite! I want to keep my middle trim, and I am getting a bit long in the tooth, etc." NOT EVEN A BITE? Now, that is discipline. I certainly couldn't do that, nor would I want to. The discipline is what struck me though. I wish for my trigger foods, I could just write them off like that. Cake, fortunately, is not one of them. So, I can eat just one bite of cake. I never thought Eddie Murphy would be the one to enlighten me in this way, though! Funny...

Be Mindful

Well, now I am forty. I have to say I feel no different. I do feel kind of embarrassed to tell people how old I am. My only saving grace is that I don't look 40, so I get a kick out of their reaction. I have been exercising regularly, but still hover about 5 lbs. over what I would like. I want to stress to all of you that see my picture and think, she doesn't need to lose weight, this: It does not matter how much you actually have to lose. It matters how you feel about yourself. How you feel in your skin. Each day you make choices which are healthy or not. Those choices translate into how you feel about yourself. I know when I make healthy choices I feel FABULOUS. So why do I continually make unhealthy choices? Many people, I am sure, ask this question daily. I have a few suggestions that I use that help me to make healthy choices. First one is "Just show up" to the healthy action. Like exercise. I tell myself I am just going to get dressed and start. I don't have to do a lot. Not more than 20 minutes. Most times, though, I do more. I tell myself just eat healthy at this meal. That works too. But all these decisions take a determination on my part to be MINDFUL. Mindful of what I eat and how that makes me feel. Mindful of how wonderful exercise makes me feel (after it is over, of course).

So, I have been hearing a lot about Acai berry and a detox-cleansing combo. It has been on tons of pop ups, stating that you have to follow this one rule to get rid of belly fat. It has been on Oprah and Rachel Ray (Dr. Oz?) Anyone know what this is and does it really work. People are swearing by it, but I am tired of trying yet another fix that doesn't work.

That's it for now.

Shopping Continued

So, Shopping! I love it, but do it all too often. Problem is I don't like to spend too much money. Let's just say it would be hard for me, although I have done it, to spend $50 or more on any one peice of clothing. I think it is absurd. However, I love designer clothes and being in fashion, so this creates the next obstacle on the road to looking good. Thus, I am regulary checking Ebay for deals. Usually, they have women's clothing lots for sale. Sometimes the clothes are all new with tags, sometimes a mix of used and new. A designer lot new with tags can go for several hundred dollars, but you'll get 20 or 30 pcs., well below retail. I just got a great lot. All the clothes were used, but in excellent condition. To me, one wash, and they were never anyone else's. (Anyone beg to differ on that?) Anyway, I got about 17 pairs of pants, a wool coat, and the rest were tops ( I think 35 pcs. total) for $71.00 (including shipping). Even if you don't like all the stuff in the lot, 17 pairs of pants to try on! Heaven! They were mostly Gap, Abercrombie, BCBG, The Limited. I can't wait to get the package. I will let you know how it turned out. So, go ahead and try it yourself. Just type in women's clothing lot and your size and see what you get. Lots of fun, and you don't have to leave homw (again, a problem if you like to shop too much).

So, getting back to last night. When I have control at dinner (my witching hour, when cravings kick in to say the least), I feel proud and literally give myself a pat on the back. The moment I wake up, the first thing I think of was "Was I good last night-did I eat or drink too much?) Then I either pat myself on the back or beat myself up and tell myself I am a loser. That I don't love my kids enough or I would take the ultimate care of myself to lenghten my life so I can be here for them as long as possible.

My goal is to eat meals without sampling my cooking 20 times until I am full, and then eat dinner anyway! If I could just eat the meals intended, and not finish the cold ground beef and spaghetti off my kids plate (why, why, why, when I am not even hungry). I find I really have to focus to just make the meal, sit down and eat it, and not put one morsel of food in my mouth until it is time. I have to put my mind to it, or mindless eating will take over! It can be done, but with much effort, and I am certainly not there yet.

Shopping!

Today I did not get on the scale. Too scared. I was pretty well behaved yesterday, didn't overeat, but ate some fattening things. Point is I did not feel out of control and that is good. More in a minute, having some technical difficulties, need to do a test.

Spell Check!

Sorry, I promise to spell check next post! I am just always rushing to squeeze in a post. More on the whole time issue next time!

December 1: No Self Control!

Well, I did pretty well over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I consider doing well eating what I want, but in moderation. You see (take note), when you allow yourself to eat what you want (just in perhaps smaller portions), you don't tend to overeat or self sabatogue. So, I did great. Then when I got home, I knew I had to cool it, and all of a sudden, I was in the binge mode. I don't binge and purge, just eat a ton, then feel really bad about it. So, that is where I am at right now, 110 lbs!

Enough about that. Tips for you: Did you know that if you eat spicy foods, you can raise your metabolism by as much as 23%? I eat spicy foods all the time, but because I like them. I am hoping the that the metabolism thing is really true, though. It is a great perk for foods I already like.

THE LATEST: I was reading a question and answer type article and the question was why did this person weigh more at night than in the morning (sometimes up to 10 lbs she said!). The answer seemed obvious to me: You have a day's worth of food and drink in you. In the morning after "evacuating" as she called it, you have the least amount of waste, water, food, etc. The person writing in thought she might be retaining too much water, but the expert didn't seem to think that was it, as weighing differerenly throughtout the day is normal. Any thoughts out there?