Feel Good Friday

Good morning, girls! 

There are 2 common pitfalls to trying to have a healthier lifestyle ESPECIALLY at this time of year- and I fall victim to them both. First would be comfort foods- things that make us feel all warm & snuggled up, reminders of homestyle cooking & baking from when we were kids.  Second would be letting yourself go all out on the weekends (or during holiday parties)- losing the momentum and drive you  had built up during the routine of Monday through Friday.

For the first, comfort foods, see if you can snatch your thoughts before they get you to turn them into actions and eat away at the comfort foods.  WHY is it that you want them?  I am no psychologist, but they just kept saying over and over on the Biggest Loser, especially Rudy, that you have to know WHY you over eat and WHY you gained weight before you can learn how to stop it, how to lose the weight, and how to keep it off.  Recognize and acknowledge those struggles in your life, they are real, and you need to accept them and tell yourself that was ok for then, but today is a new day and find a healthier thought process and outlet for your feelings.  If you turn to comfort foods strictly for the warmth because you're freezing, try some of these other warm yummies that are also lo-cal and healthy: Superfast Comfort Food Recipes.  Or the hot cocoa recipe from Meghan a few months ago that's made w/ Splenda:

Ingredients:

2 T. cocoa powder

1 T. sugar (or use Splenda at the end to taste)

2 T. water

6 oz. skim milk or soy

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. almond extract

Try flavoring it with cinnamon for a little change.

In a small saucepan, stir together the cocoa powder and the sugar. Add the water and stir well. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a low boil and the sugar dissolves. Stir in the milk, vanilla and almond extract. Reduce the heat to low and stir until warmed through. Makes one serving.

Second, for letting lose on the weekends, perhaps it's because you're too denying during the week of little treats (within your calorie allottment) that you binge when the weekend hits.  Have a little piece of dark chocolate every day if that keeps you from devouring an entire Texas Sheet Cake in one weekend (  :) personal experience there).  Another reason is maybe it's the fact that everyone's home & not at work or school.  Is there a way you can get your family on track w/ your fitness goals, too?  Share with them how important this is to you, even with the kids present, and how if they can help you with eating healthy meals on the weekends and letting you get in good workouts, how much that would mean to you and how happy that would make you.  Chances are, you've decided in your head they wouldn't care before you even talked to them about it- maybe they'll surprise you!  Give it a whirl.  Another reason is maybe you get in longer runs and longer workouts on the weekends and so you feel more "entitled" to "reward" yourself.  Yes, you should feel like a million bucks after completing a tough or long workout.  But beware of that mentality of entitlement and reward.  Check out this Time article that cautions against consuming TONS after a workout, MORE than you even burned during the workout: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin (one we've shared on here before).  Can you reward yourself with a quiet drive away from the kids after your workout?  Or dropping by Target/Kohl's to pick up an inexpensive new Yoga top?  Or drop by Jamba Juice and splurge on a small yummy fruit smoothie?  Can you reward yourself w/ a nap?  Try to find non-bingeing things that you can do.  I really liked this article about how to change your un-healthy thought processes into healthy ones going into the weekend: What's Your Diet Doing This Weekend?

I post this today because this is what I struggle with.  I don't really know why I am not as good on the weekends as I am during the week, but I'm trying to figure it out and I'm trying to challenge it.  With it so cold, I'm trying to find healthy at-home recipe solutions to warm me up and give me energy. 

What are your thoughts, experiences, tips, tricks, advice on this????