My body reacts in a few different ways to stress.

1. My hair falls out in clumps (yuck)

2. My face breaks out

3. I crave junk food

 
4. I don't sleep well

It always sneaks up on me and I don't realize how stressed I am until I'm munching on french fries at 11: 30 pm and I feel like I've gained 18 lbs. With the exception of tomorrow, I'm still keeping up with my scheduled workouts with my trainer. Its times like these that help me realize that I can't do it on my own. If it were up to me I would never hit the gym during stressful times. I know that seems counter-productive since working out relieves stress but I swear all I want to do is sleep, eat, repeat.

How do you guys deal with stress?

This video made me laugh...and laughing relieves stress!

Skinny

My weekday morning routine is always the same...

Step 1: Hit Snooze
Step 2: Sleep for 8 more minutes (I'm always paranoid that I accidently turned the alarm off so I never make it the entire time)
Step 3: Check emails
Step 4: Respond to any emails from my boss's boss who likes to send emails at 5 AM (so basically I pretend that I've been up working since 5 AM too)
Step 5: Forward good shopping related emails to my mom
Step 6: Get out of bed (15 minutes later...good thing I set my alarm to go off early...I have an additional alarm set to remind me to get in the shower)

Yes. This my actual alarm...and no it still never seems to get me out the house on time!

Usually I don't pay attention to models much further than what they have on and how I can make it work on my not-so modelesque body. But then I opened up an email (from one of my favorite retailers...one I actually used to work for) and I saw this...

 Is it me or is she WAY skinny? I understand that she is on the runway but she does NOT represent the majority of real life women. I don't knock skinny girls ever, but what about the strong, healthy girl? What about the girl that hits the gym up and has the muscles to prove it? What about the girl that has thunder thighs because she can leg press 325 lbs?

No worries model girl...I'll do some extra squats for you when I hit the gym at 6 AM.

The Job

I'm baccckkkkk!!! I'm so sorry for my extended absence. Work has been kicking me in the butt repeatedly but its paid off. Literally. I ended last week with a raise!! Praise the Lord. I'm so happy because I was honestly feeling underpaid and that does work on a girls motivation.

Speaking of motivation, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last week. She is incredibly smart, she just finished her Ph.D and is someone that I've looked up to my entire life. She also does marathons, half-marathons, 5ks, 10ks, half ironmans, etc. Needless to say we could totally nickname her superwoman.

(note to self, never google images "superwoman" unprepared to see some things that can never be unseen)

Anyway we were talking about all the things that we've been disciplined enough to accomplish in life. We can make sure the bills are paid, go to work everyday, keep tabs on our friends and families, study hard enough to get good educations, yet somehow we have issues disciplining ourselves enough to eat right and work out.

Doesn't make sense. I can turn in every work assignment in on time, make all the necessary phone calls, and return every email in my inbox inbetween 8 million distractions in 8 hours or less but I can't make healthly eating decisions or workout consistently? It shouldn't be THAT hard?

It kind of got me thinking. What do I need to help keep me going? What motivates me at work...a paycheck. What motivated me to finish school...graduating so I could get a paycheck. Clearly I'm motivated by money. So why am I not paying myself?

I always say that I'm going to pay myself as I lose pounds, but that isn't promoting healthy weightloss. At work, I get paid as long as I show up and put effort towards my projects and then get extra when my projects succeed.

I'm applying this same principle to weight loss. Everytime I spend an entire day withing my calorie range...cha-ching. When I complete workouts...cha-ching. When I actually lose weight double cha-ching. The thing is, I have to figure a way to pay myself extra...its kind of silly if I'm just going to spend the money on stuff I want whether I pay myself or not. Since I'm in desperate need of a tight budget, any money that is not paid to me as a result of healthy eating and working out goes to neccessities and gas. Thats it.

So there...two problems are solved in one. Here we go!

I BLANK

Happy Friday-Eve!! I am SO ready for the weekend. I have a ton going on, I need a work break, and I want to schedule 2 hours to see the Hunger Games. We'll see how that goes!!

Anyway, because work has been insane not much else is going on. I was reading Ashley's blog and she did a fun game so I'm going to continue it on....

I AM...choking due to the extremely high level of pollen floating in the air. It sucks because I've never suffered from season allergies before now.

I WANT...a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes and a banging body (is that too much to ask?)

A mere $700...justifiable...right?...

I HAVE...lots of clothes that don't fit (blessing and a curse) so I need to go shopping.

I WISH...well I can't tell you because then it won't come true ;-)

I HATE...bad drivers. Sometimes I don't know whats more stressful, my commute to work or work itself.

I FEAR...losing people I love before they know how much I truly care about them

I HEAR...that someone close to me is having a hard time and I hate it. I wish I could take it away and hurt for them so they don't have to

I SEARCH...for the remote. Constantly. I can never find it and when I do that means I don't know where my cell phone is. I never have both.

I WONDER...about my future.

I REGRET...I don't. Learn Something. Move on.

I LOVE...being Young, Fabulous, and Free

I ALWAYS...check my emails, facebook, and the weather before I get out of bed in the morning

I USUALLY...have something sweet after every meal. I try not to deprive myself.

I want to french kiss whoever invented these. AMAZING.

I AM NOT...interested in arguing about Politics. I think its personal.

I DANCE...in the car because I hate driving and I hate traffic and thats the only way to get me through it

I SING...horribly, while dancing in traffic (usually with all the windows down) and I have no shame

I NEVER...want to skydiving or bungee driving. NO. DESIRE.

I RARELY...use swear words. I try to use euphemisms like "fudge" or "arse"

I CRY...at sad movies and at everything during TOM

I AM NOT ALWAYS...as laid back as I seem. I just hide my "frenzied state" really well

I'M CONFUSED...by how stuff works, like cars (I don't know if its that I'm confused or that I just don't care)
I NEED...to get back into good eating habits if I'm ever going to get that "banging body"

I SHOULD...go to bed ASAP since I have training at 5:30 AM

I PROMISE...to have a good weekend!

I hope that you guys have a great weekend too!! 

Extra Credit

There are some things that we do in everyday life that we should get "extra" credit for. Let's face it....I want my extra credit to be in the form of calories burned.

So here are a few things that I think should count as cardio or "extra" calories burned...

Walking in Heels

I'm a shoe lover but I stand up about 60% of the time at work so I rarely rock heels at work but Lord knows I love 'em. It's hard, you have to balance, it hurts your calves, it hurts the balls of your feet, and by the end of the day all you want to do is take them off but for a girl like me that's only 5'2" they are a must.

Sitting in Traffic

(This is actually a portion of my commute...I was pumped to find it online!)
I'm late for work everyday (I could blame it on traffic but its mostly because I can never find an outfit to wear)...however there is nothing worse than being late for work or headed home on a super long day and seeing nothing but brake lights in front of you or some idiot who is driving 45 mph in the fast lane. I faced this today, my horn works. Rant over.

Eating Chocolate

 I don't have a good argument for this one. Chocolate should never count against you.

Having Spring Allergies

All week my eyes have been watery, my throat has been scratchy, I have had a killer headache, and my sinuses have beem draining. It sucks because its SO beautiful out. I guess I brought on myself since I was riding around like this...

Nothing beats the sunroof and 80 degree Atlanta spring weather!

So what did I miss?

Non-Expertise

Recently a friend over at Sparkpeople messaged me and asked me what my weight loss secrets were. I was absolutely flattered that someone thought that I was sucessful enough at weight loss to ask me my secrets. Let me tell you, I am no expert. In fact, somedays I think that I stink at it. However, having been on this crazy rollercoaster since July, I have picked up a few things. So I'll share for those of you that have been wondering what I'm doing.

First and foremost, remember that this weight loss/health journey is NOT easy. It's hard and there are days when you will not want to participate. Something I learned recently, was that you just have to push through the crappy days and then pat yourself on the back when it's over with.

Here are the things that I try to do consistently:

1. Drink LOTS of water. I have 3 water bottles. One for the house/car/gym, one for the car, and one for the office. As soon as they are empty, I fill them back up. Also, for me, drinking through a straw makes the water go much faster. Strange but true.

My current nightstand situation. H2O and chapstick, what else do you need?

2. Snack! I don't plan all my meals, but I plan every single one of my snacks for those times where suddenly I feel like I'm starving. This keeps me from reverting to my old "peanut butter cup" ways. Some of my favorite snacks are almonds, luna bars, sugar free jell-o, frozen blueberries, and carrots with hummus. I always take atleast 2 pre-packaged snacks with me to work everyday

3. Eat breakfast. I don't care how late I am for work, how tired I am, I ALWAYS eat breakfast. It gets the day going and keeps me from going crazy at lunch time. I try to have a smoothie but when I'm in a hurry a toasted english muffin with peanut butter and bananas does it for me. Plus I can wrap it up and eat it in the car if I have to.

My "Go-To" Smoothie

4. Hit the gym. No matter what's going on I'm always in the gym atleast 3 times a week. I'm lucky enough to have an awesome trainer, but even if you don't there is no reason not to get in a good workout. There are tons of great free workout videos, you can walk, run, walk the stairs for 15 minutes...anything to burn calories. And when you are at the gym give it all you've got. There is nothing better than peeling off super sweaty clothes and hopping into a luke-warm shower before bed.

5. Don't completely deprive yourself. I love ice cream and if I go without it, eventually I'm going to break down and you'll find 3 empty cartons of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked around me. I have an ice cream cone every night aftern dinner. NO joke. It's the Skinny Cow brand ice cream with way less sugar and way less calories but it does the trick. Find a healthier alternative to your favorite food and enjoy! (I also treat myself to a soda about once a month too)
6. Don't beat yourself up. If you have a bad day, make a bad decision, skip a workout, it's not a big deal. Shake it off, keep going, and do better the next time!

The last thing I can tell you is something that I haven't even completely mastered but I know it works. You have to find the fine line between tough self talk and positive self talk. When I want to make excuses about why I can skip a workout or why I can eat those peanut butter cups, I have to look in the mirror and give myself a little lecture. Some tough love...but you can't be too tough on yourself because that's not motivating at all. The other side to that is loving yourself no matter what. I try to look in the mirror every morning, tell myself that I'm beautiful, amazing, and blessed. I congratulate myself on my accomplishments and encourage myself for the road ahead. Honestly, if you don't believe you can do it, then it won't happen and as long as you keep going, it will happen!


My progress to date...I guess something is working!



Hey Sexy

You ever just have one of those days when you look in the mirror and think "Damn. I look good!"? Since really battling my weight and being honest with myself about my body it's been a long time for me. But today it happened.

This chapter of my weight loss story starts back in January. I was having a particularly crappy day and my mom was in town so she suggested shopping. Out of the blue I decided to try on these red Ray-Ban sunglasses. I immediately fell in love but they were fully collapsable which was weird. So I called every single Sunglass Hut in ATL (literally) looking for them. Nobody had them in stock so I checked the Ray-Ban website. There they were! I ordered them that night and got my package in the mail a few days later. When I opened it I discovered that I had ordered the wrong glasses! I accidently got orange ones because they looked red on the website. I sent them back and found out that the ACTUAL red ones were available. I finally ordered the correct pair and they came in the mail yesterday!

Cute right?!

So I decided to plan an outfit around these glasses. I wanted to do all black with leopard to really make the red pop. I was in a hurry this morning because I had training before work so I wasn't really thinking and just threw something together.

So the outfit is whatever but look how thin I look!!! DAMN I LOOK GOOD!! haha! What a good feeling to look in the mirror and like what you see. It doesn't always happen like that for me so this was a really good way to start my day! I guess the day that I didn't want to go workout and went anyway immediately paid off (well, if only it were that easy...)

Also my not really a problem weight loss problem of the day is that all my rings are too big. So annoying but I shouldn't complain!

Have a great week :)

I Saw the Sign

So earlier today I got home from work with a headache. Before I even pulled into the garage I had decided that I wasn't going to the gym, despite skipping my workout on Monday for a dinner party. I had about 20 excuses for why it was okay to skip. I started writing a blog about how unmotivated I am and literally complained for about 3 paragraphs. Then I had a thought...

I kind of hated that I was being such a baby. That's when I got tough. I basically yelled at myself, put on my gym clothes and took my butt to the gym.

Okay so, no I'm not motivated, and I could easily take some time off until my motivation returns but what if my motivation doesn't return until I'm back to a size 18, what if it doesn't come back until I've gained back all the weight that I've lost plus some? Then where does that leave me? Where does that put all the hard work I've done for the last 6 months?

So I guess I learned a pretty valuable lesson today. If I waited to change my life, to get in the extra workout, to eat healthy, until I was motivated or until it was convenient either it would never happen or by the time it happened it would be too late. Maybe that is the secret to losing weight and keeping it off forever. I guess we'll see. In the meantime...

So stop making excuses about whatever it is and just do it. 

Fourteen

I'm alive! I know, I didn't blog much at all last week. Work has been INSANE. The company I'm working for is in a very huge growth period and there is TONS to do. I'm doing like 3 people's jobs at once. I also spent the weekend winding down in Charlotte with two of my best friends, which I needed for the weekend. So please accept my apology and don't write me off yet.

Last week, I wrote a blog over at Spark about the horrible plateau that is currently happening in my body. (You can read it here). After doing some research and listening to other people's comments I've decided that I have two problems...I'm not eating enough and my body is holding on to all the food I put in to compensate. So I'm working on it and hopefully I'll start back losing soon.

Since I've started losing weight I've been restricted to stretchy pants. I do not have a pair of jeans or slacks in my closet right now that fits. NOT A PAIR. That isn't a complaint, but it makes getting this fashionista dressed every morning a pain and all my outfits are starting to look alike...NOT CHIC.

Over the weekend I went on a pants quest. I went to the GAP because in the past it's been easy for me to find pants. The sales lady was very helpful (and won serious brownie points when she complimented my progress).  I haven't really bought pants in awhile so I wasn't sure what size I was. All my 16's at home were just a tad big (and end up sagging by the end of the day) but I didn't think I was quite slim enough to be a 14. So I asked to have both. Turns out, I probably need a 15...but since that's not available I had to decide what to do. I tried on the 14's kind of thinking that they wouldn't make it past my hips but LOW AND BEHOLD the heavens opened up and they made it over the top AND buttoned!! WOOOOO! They are mostly made of spandex because they are jeggings but I DON'T CARE!

I rocked them to work yesterday...

Yay for NSV's!!! (Non Scale Victories!)