Thanksgiving

Today is the Canadian Thanksgiving and it is all about gratitude.

I have so much in my life to be grateful for I don't even know where to start. I am going to list some of things I'm grateful for into my gratitude note book. I challenge you to grab a sheet of paper (if you don't do the gratitude notebook) and write down 20 things your grateful for today. It will make you feel awesome! I promise!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our attitude

I always talk about gratitude, because it so important, but so is our attitude. Sounds simple right? If we can choose our attitude it will adjust our mood, our out look, our life!

Our thoughts really do shape our lives. People scoff at that notion, but is so true.

Think about it.

If you obsess over fear, you only find more fear.

If you dwell on lack of money, you find more financial woes.

If you worry about things, your bring more worry and anxiety to your life.

If you believe that your life will be miserable and bleak that is how you will feel.

If you are thinking that life is unfair all the time, you will see more things around you to prove that thought right!

If you are angry you find more to be angry about!

I'm not saying that we have to be happy 100% of the time because the past few days in my life have been a definite roller-coaster of emotions, but I will come out on top!

Why?

Because ultimately I can choose my attitude and realize that what I pay attention to will grow stronger in my life!

So tonight is the "new moon" and one of my friends said Jenn thats a time for new beginnings. Sounds good to me! Every day is a new beginning, but why not start it tonight :)

Week 3

Well Oh my gosh... this is not going well, i think the hardest part right now is that i have no routine. Let me rephrase that. The baby has no routine so therefore I have no routine. Although I have been pretty good about preparing healthy snacks and meals, it goes well for a few days and then the wheels totally fall off and i go into complete carb survival moded. A bagel here, bowl of cereal there.

A lot tougher then I thought to get exercise as well, by the time hubby gets home and we have dinner and do the evenings with the kids and get them off to bed I certainly don't feel like going for a walk. Add that to baby's cranky time from 8-10pm and i feel guilty leaving him to deal with that.

So I am taking it a day at a time trying to make good choices but the odd day I just totally give in and it is a cookie and/or beer kinda day.

I think I have lost a couple of pounds, I have noticed it a little in my face.

The worst part is that it is SUMMER people, I only have 2 pairs of shorts that fit me right now and I refuse to buy anymore, all my t-shirts are a little tight. AND THAT SUCKS. and we won't even talk about a bathing suit.

you would think that alone would be enough motivation to help me stick to eating properly, but i have to tell you the cravings for carbs and junkie foods is crazy.

What do you do when you are craving things you know you shouldn't have???

shann

Week 2

Last week was an attempt to clean up my eating habits and get some more exercise. The exercise went pretty good, getting in atleast 30 mins a day and a long walk on thursday for over an hour.

The clean eating went well till Thursday and then I lost my mind! A case of poor planning put me in the position of being hungry and craving sugar and carbs. It wasn't a horrible cheat, a few chocolates and some kind of processed fruit snacks I keep for the kids.

However, then came friday and all the rain and the water in our basement and cleaning and going through wet boxes and cleaning out part of the basement and sweating my patooty off and then... I popped the button of my shorts. Well that was it I cracked a cold one! which led to another one. Only two which isn't too bad but then my MIL made homemade pizza for dinner, oye! the smart option 2 pieces and a big salad. My choice 4 pieces of pizza and a few cookies for dessert.

Saturday was not much better and Sunday more of the same poor meal planning and not eating at regular intervals left me starving and shovelling anything and everything in my mouth.

I still lost 2.5 lbs and I think that was due to the 5 days of clean eating before the 3 days of disaster, plus the exercise.

I do see a bit of a difference in my face which is the last place I gain so the first place to lose it.

So it is Monday and we are back on the wagon so to speak. Planning meals and snacks and grocery shopping this afternoon. Portion size and reading labels will be an additional focus this week on top of the clean eating, and exercise. Maybe a few toning exercises.

In the spirit of full disclosure I also decided to purchase and follow the 7 day Jillian Michaels Detox and Cleanse program which I two more days left and I think it has held true to the claim of reducing belly bloat, we'll see when I post a photo on Wednesday.

Here's a great 100 calorie snack 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and 1/2 of blueberries. Yumm

BEFORE

This is one of those uncomfortable moments in a persons life when you just have to grite your teeth and do it, because you know it can only get better from here. Here is my BEFORE photo. I had a baby 8 weeks ago, the swelling and water retention have gone down and this is what I am left with, About 20lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight and if I want to be honest about 30lbs over a comfortable fit weight I can maintain without dieting.

I gained the most weight with this pregnancy almost 40lbs, which is not a huge gain compared to other people, so I have heard, but it was alot of weight for me. Especially since I knew exactly where it came from. this pregnancy I craved sweets and lots of them. To tell you the truth I ate so many sweets I am surprised my pancreas didn't just give up jump out of my body and head for the hills.

It is 4 weeks before my birthday and Friday the 13th in Port Dover. If I had a magic wand I would be back at my pre-pregnancy weight and fitting into my skinny jeans. However, this is the planet earth and my goal is a little more realistic. I am hoping to lose about 10 pounds, tone up my legs and butt and fit into my regular jeans for my birthday. Here's how:

*Toning exercises everyday
*atleast 20-30mins of walking or cardio of somekind everyday
*once a week a long one hour walk in my target heartrate zone
*eating 4-6 servings of fruits and veggies
*paying attention to my servings sizes of protein and carbs
*no alcohol during the week
*more water
*no candy, cookies, desserts (ie pie, cake, etc)
*larger breakfasts, smaller dinners
*reading labels and doing the math to make better choices

I will be posting my thoughts, progress and if I am brave a few more photos.

Please let me know if you have any tips, ideas or comments.

Should be an interesting few weeks

dealing with ignorant people

They are out there and no matter how positive you are to them they are still INCREDIBLY rude towards you. Sometimes for a reason in the past and other times because they just deem you not "good enough" or such. (that attitude just makes me howl, by the way)

This morning I was walking when two women I know came towards me. I said "hello ladies" with a smile. The one smiled and said hello and asked me how I was, the other one looked at the ground and kept in her conversation, not once making eye contact or looking up to acknowledge anything as we walked past each other. In fact I'm sure she tilted her head the other way so she didn't have to look at me! (not kidding)

Now I know most of you are thinking, so what. Well it is a small town and I know both of them well. One through school and other through hockey. The one that didn't acknowledge me well she would fall under this ignorant people category. She often doesn't acknowledge me and trust me I'm no fool. I know not everyone likes me, but most people acknowledge me if I have said hello. (like me or not!)


The reason I'm sharing this here is because as I giggled while walking I thought to myself that behaviour could have ruined someone else day! I remember walking with a friend and something similar happened to us and my friend was pissed off for the rest of the walk!!! Her good mood turned sour all because of one rude person!

So how do we deal with it?

1. I always make a point of saying hello and making eye contact to everyone, even those like that. Kill them with kindness I suppose, but really why should I not. It takes more energy to be nasty then it does to be nice!
2. I send them light after they move on. To me sending pink light or love to them will help them not be so "hard".
   
3. I smile and keep on going.
4. I'm thankful for a handful of really good friends in my life.
   
5. I then put that rude person out of my mind.

Does it work?

It does for me.

We run into people every day in our lives that are rude to us for one reason or another.

Next time you are dealing with someone who is rude to you, try it! You never know your mood might lift and you will walk on happy! ;)

Move it or lose it??? part two

Hop on over to A Balanced Lifestyle Health and Wellness to read the rest .... here