Food & Excercise

Anyone besides me SO READY for SPRING!?!?!

It's been an especially long winter around here, I'm sure it's been due to the amount of sickness the Winslow's had this year. It has been yucky. So I'm very, very ready for spring! (I'm not thinking about the allergies that will come with spring - I'll deal with that when it's time) Thankfully we've had several nice days over the last month or so!

It goes like this - one really super nice day - then 3 days of cold and rain. This type of weather is NOT good for me. I'm not one who does too well with lots of gray, cold weather. I do better with warmth and sunshine!

Long term (I know 3 days isn't all that long, but it does seem like it sometimes!) gray weather seems to affect me in may ways. My mood of course - as I said, I don't like the cold and at this point I'm done with it. My motivation also seems to be affected. I have little desire to do much of anything except curl up with a book and read and nap (and for some reason the floors don't get vacuumed, the bathrooms don't get cleaned and the laundry doesn't get done when I read!!)! Not good! It also has an impact on my physical well being.

Last year, when I decided to loss weight, I didn't think I was an emotional eater. Nor did I think I ate when I was boarded or stressed or whatever. Turns out that when I actually started writing down everything I ate, I am in fact an emotional eater. Some of that I've learned to recognize and therefore I've been able to stop eating for no real reason. I've also learned to ask myself - are you hunger or not? Other times it doesn't seem to matter. But with the cold weather we had the beginning of this week (and over the winter), eating right was harder than normal.

I've also come to the realization (which I'm sure I realized before too, but am re-realizing it!) that the amount of exercise I do impacts how much and what types of food I eat. For me, the more exercise I do, the more cautious I am about what I eat. If I have to work hard to get rid of it, I think a lot more about putting it in!!

That being said, I haven't been getting the same types of work outs I was before. We changed gyms back in the fall. It was impossible for me to get to my old gym in Kernersville once Luke started school every day in Greensboro. The Y is right around the corner from the school, so it was a good move to that gym. The problem is they seem to do their group exercise scheduling way different from the old gym, and I got a lot of benefit out of those classes. The schedule changes almost weekly (except for the yoga classes) and so for me, being a person who likes habit, have had a hard time getting into a routine.

This month my goal has been to drop off some of the pounds (about 10) that I let slip back on after school started. So I've been trying very hard to watch what I eat - again, very closely, and write it all down. As well as walk each and every day on the treadmill at the Y. OK, so I don't get there every single day, but I'm trying to get there on a more regular basis. I know that the more physical exercise I get the more mental self control I'll have!

The eating and being healthy thing is so easy for some. And then there's me (and I know I'm not alone), it's just not easy. It's a daily decision - ok sometimes minute by minute - I have to make, and sometimes I make the wrong choices, and sometimes I just don't care that I am making the wrong choices. But then there are other days when I do make the right choices, and my goal is to make those days happen more often than the bad choices days!

Plus with the on-set of spring brings thoughts of swimming pools, jet ski's, boats and sunny days on the lake - all of which means shrugging off the winter, body covering cloths -and getting out my fun summer dresses, shorts, tanks and bathing suits. That's good motivation to eat better and exercise more, isn't it?