How to Survive Thanksgiving .. and all of that food ..

How to Survive Thanksgiving … we think about all of that amazing, tasty food and some of us cringe knowing we are about to throw our eating habits OUT THE WINDOW without thinking twice.

Well, for 2 years straight I’ve managed to survive feeling that I both enjoyed it and did not suffer one way or the other. What did I do? Let’s talk …

1.) Plan the day out, eating wise, ahead of time — This may sound silly but for the most part we know what to expect, food wise, each Thanksgiving … it rarely changes. So, think about how you can eat and get through the meal, or meals, of the day without causing complete chaos to your eating plan. Is it smaller portions, is it picking and choosing? You decide, but it’s good to have a game plan … and then stick with it.

2.) Pre-burn — if you know that you are eating more than normal that day then why not knock out a good workout to burn extra calories ahead of time. Whether it’s outside, at home, or at a gym think about what you can do that day to get a workout in, then you gain those calories on top of your daily allowance to use later on.

3.) Skip the seconds — So you finish your plate and really, really want to go back for more? Try this .. drink a glass of water, maybe walk away from the table, and give it 15 minutes. If you’re still hungry then maybe get a touch more but most likely the cravings will be gone by then 🙂

4.) Don’t feel guilty — I am the WORST at beating myself up any time my eating goes off track. Guess what? If it happened, it happened. The moment has passed. Pick yourself, regroup, refocus, and get back on track.

5.) H2O — think about all of that sodium that we take in over Thanksgiving. Feel bloated? I bet that sodium is not helping. Drink water and start flushing some of that out of your system. It’s a good detox for the system so sip away!

6.) Try and balance those calories out over the long weekend — Things did not go as planned or you ate a bit more than your daily allowance? Well .. maybe you workout a time or three over the weekend and try to balance those numbers back out. Everything helps!

Enjoy the holiday and thanks for reading!

Christina

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Getting My Running Game Back

Oh hello there blog. I have been busy but hopefully I am on my way back.

Let’s talk running.

About a year ago, give or take, I was biking to work when I was struck by a vehicle. Fun. He took off and physically it left me with rheumatoid arthritis in the ankle I landed on, and in an air cast for about 6 weeks. I attempted to run after a reasonable time out of the cast but for the next 6 months I still had lingering pain, most likely from the RA, in that ankle.

So no marathon in 2015 for me. Actually no running races at all and at one point I was sadly debating if my running days were over.

Somewhere along the way my ankle started feeling better… then almost normal. I ran once or twice and would have stiffness the next few days but it was progress.

About a month or more ago I decided to take my ankle for a serious test. I went from no miles / no days to about 3 – 4 miles 2 or 3 times in a week. I just pulled that bandage right off and went back into it! 

The first few days it was a little stiff and then, … nothing. What? 🙂

I did this for a good couple of weeks and decided that it was good … that I could do this … and that maybe I just need to keep running.

I pulled the trigger and signed up for marathon #3, which will be in April 2016.

My goal is this … run 2 – 3 days a week with at least one day having 6 miles (I am already doing this now) between now and the end of the year. Work on strength and getting my pace back. Then, in January switch to a marathon training plan. … and keep going.

I am worried that if I stop now I could risk losing this normal feeling ankle so I am using that as momentum to just … keep .. running!

So, we will see how things go… if the rheumatoid flares up or if things are good.

I am excited to have a little more normal but also equally cautious that this could be a decision that I need to keep monitoring.

The goal is to keep progressing and not get obsessive, which I like to do. It has been hard to limit running to 3 or 4 days but I have so many other moving parts to my life that I really don’t have time for more right now.

I will report back later.

Thanks for reading!
Christina

Finding that Balance ..

So, this is something that I’ve not been so good at lately .. finding that balance.

A little background.

Over the past few months I’ve moved too many pieces to my life puzzle … I’ve changed my teaching schedule a bit (for the better) but have still been subbing way too often (I just don’t know how to say no..).

The big item is that I’ve searched, visited, found, and purchased my next home. Anyone who has gone through that knows that it’s a big undertaking. I’ve been trying to pack and purge the last 14 years of my life (OMG the closets are never ending ..!!)that are in my current home.

I’m now trying to meet, plan, and proceed with renovations that I want to do to the house before I move in. Next up I have to order the flooring, kitchen, etc that I want for the contractors to install, which is stressful.

Then, the fun part .. not .. moving houses. I am dreading that but I think I still have about a month or so before that happens. Next up I have to prepare my current house to sell.

Argh …

So .. to my point. Lots of moving parts but you know what, we all have them. We have troubles, stresses, positives, focuses, achievements .. so my ordeal is not much different than anyone else’s. life.

My downfall is that I have let the chaos take me on a bit of a whirlwind. I’ve slacked off on things that are important to me because I’ve been working on other things. Yes, those things (like packing and purging) ARE important but we have to learn to balance the needs with the wants .. or the end results may not be what we had hoped for.

What could happen?

Ah .. we could crash and burn out, losing all motivation for everything. Too much work, too much focus, and no breaks.

We could lose ourselves in the confusion, leading us to stop making progress because we’ve lost site of the end goals.

We could just stop caring just to ‘get it done’ … now the quality and efforts that we were maintaining will take a nose dive.

.. … well, none of that sounds good to me.

I’ve had moments where I’ve just needed a big nap. I look up and I lost hours of time. I have had moments where I’ve been completely unproductive, which does me NO good. I keep telling myself that ‘suck it up’ and soon you’ll be moved and you can get back to normal.

But I’m missing the point…

We add in curveballs all the time. We need to maintain our stance and adjust our swing a bit. Then take off running with the momentum we have always had.

Thanks for reading!!

Christina

Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

This is a topic that I am not so good with, in some cases .. comfort zone.

When it comes to fitness I am ok with pushing myself way outside of my comfort zone because I walk in with that confidence that I can successfully do so. Other things .. not so much.

Why should we not step outside of our comfort zone?

There are quite  few unknowns with it. It’s a leap of faith and sometimes the result is not what we expected or wanted.

Why should we step outside of our comfort zone?

The result may change who we are as a person for the better. Maybe we get stronger, have better perspective, learn invaluable lessons from it, or gain a new level of personal confidence.

We all started out at one ‘level’ in life and by taking chances we have gotten to where we are now. The only way we can improve upon our ‘today’ self is to roll the dice and see what happens. If we are stronger enough on the inside then we are capable of getting uncomfortable.

Happy day and thanks for reading!

I have tons of playlists on Spotify, by BPMs, by moves (i.e. seated flats, standing climbs, etc). Feel free to follow me as I am constantly adding to my playlists 🙂

Christina

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