Get Fit Friday - So... I have choices....who knew?

So next week is my weigh in. 

Things never seem to go as planned. Actually I KNOW this is all up to me. Honestly, I just don't WANT to go to the gym. There. I said it. I don't want to go.

Why?

I suppose it's because I'm lazy. Or I'm sabotaging myself. Or I'm lazy. Or I have social anxiety and it freaks me out to go into the gym with a bunch of people that I don't know (or that I do know)... or I'm lazy.

I'm SUPPOSED to be gentle with myself in situations like this. I'm not supposed to call myself names or beat myself down.

Here's the insanity...
I KNOW I will feel better if I go.
I KNOW I will enjoy it if I go.
I KNOW my body will appreciate moving after sitting at my desk all day.
I KNOW my mood will improve with working out.
I KNOW my muscles will appreciate being used.

There is no down side to going to the gym.
Not one.

Okay, maybe one..

There are people there.
And I am worn out by the end of the day.

Okay, maybe 2 reasons.

Neither of them are good reasons tho.

I want going to the gym to just be something I do... like taking a shower or drinking a monster in the morning. I want gym time to be part of my concrete schedule, like my time at the bank or church.

One of the things I discovered that I do not like is "being fat" and yet... I am. So what gives?

It cant POSSIBLY be that hard to switch my mindset from "I want to sleep" to "I want to feed my body good food and work my muscles so that I will be strong and trim."

Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of the fact that I am the one thing I am in control of. I am in complete control (now more than ever) of what I do... or don't do. Somewhere along the way I stopped making proactive choices and started just reacting to my environment.  I think that I have felt so helpless and hopeless in so many areas that I lost sight of the one thing I can actually control... myself. I can control what I do and what I eat. I can control lots more than I have given myself credit for these past... oh, say 20 years.

Thing is, I DO have choices. I am not 4. I DO have a voice and I CAN make choices.

I'm not a victim. I'm not helpless. I don't have to feel hopeless...unless I choose to.

Well now, that IS an unexpected paradigm shift.


Feeling excited,
K

Thursday's Thoughts on: What I DON'T enjoy

A while back, I started a list of questions that I'm trying to answer over...well, however long it takes to get them all answered. I've discovered that I "know" the answers to all of them, but I 'm not sure I BELIEVE the answers I "know" is correct. So, I'm working through that; I'm looking past the answers I've always given to see what I really believe.

As with all my writing, this is for me. Writing gets my scrambled up thoughts and emotions into print and seeing them in print often helps me put them in proper perspective.  Anyway, here's this week's question and (hopefully) answer.

What do I NOT enjoy?

Last week I recorded the things that I really enjoy. These are things that I enjoy no matter what. They are not dependent on someone else's opinion or feelings. As I dug deep in to the things I enjoy and scrutinized the reasons I enjoy certain things, I learned that there are things I DON'T enjoy. To be honest,  I am discovering that I am really quite boring and that perhaps I would do well as a hermit...or a hippie.

As with the things I enjoy, my first obstacle to this post was to determine whether or not my feelings about certain things were really my feelings or the feelings I've adopted from the people I value. This has been such an interesting journey into myself... I don't know that I have ever stopped to consider what I like, want value and enjoy or, conversely what I do not like, don't want, don't value, and don't enjoy. I've spent MUCH time figuring out what the people in my life value, what they enjoy, what they like and what they want me to be... and have adapted to meet those expectations...at least as I understood them to be.  This whole process of looking into my own soul has been very...freeing.

Okay, here goes...no filter....

I don't enjoy being put in situations that require me to appear to be something I am not.

I don't enjoy large crowds...or small crowds...or crowds in general.

I don't enjoy feeling like I am a disappointment to people I value.

I don't enjoy being fat.

I don't enjoy being 2nd.

I don't enjoy feeling rushed.


Does "Things I don't like" also fall under this? Well, this is my little world, so I'm gonna say it does...

I don't like to be judged harshly, to have my past held against me, or to be dismissed or underestimated.

I don't like to be around people who are negative, especially if they use the "I'm just realistic" reasoning to justify pointing out the worst in everything and everyone.

I really don't like to be late (I know -  this is a surprise to me as well).

I don't like to be around people who feel the need to force others to accept their belief system about...whatever. You can believe what ever you want. I can do the same. We can totally and completely disagree with each other, but understand and respect that we each believe what we believe just as strongly as the other believes what they believe. No one HAS to adopt the way I think, feel, or see the world. In fact, someone NOT accepting the way I think, feel or see the world doesn't change me in the least... unless I let it or want it too. Whew...that could be a long post all on its own.

I don't really like meat all that much. I actually feel better when I don't eat meat for a few days.

I don't like clutter...or chaos...or things that are disorganized

I do not like racism, bigotry, or prejudice. Not at all. I do not like blanket assumptions made over an entire group of people based on their religion, heritage, gender, or ethnicity. I wish very much that people in general would form opinions about an individual person based on that particular person's merit. I am not sure that this will ever be the norm. Also a post in itself and will have to wait for another day.

I don't like to be around angry people. Maybe this goes along with not liking to be around negative people. Some people naturally look for ways to reconcile, compromise, and find common ground. Others naturally cast blame, point fingers, scream and yell. I don't mix well with the latter.

I don't like to spend time with people who talk about how much they know, how busy they are, or how important they are. These things, given time, will be obvious. I think this is like being a lady... if you have to tell people you are, then you probably aren't.

I don't like injustice and it makes me sad that our world is so very broken. It breaks my heart that so many people are abused, used, and taken advantage of. Again, another post for another day.

I guess this list isn't that different from everyone else's. Many are the "expected" answers to "what don't you like?" and I had to stop and determine for myself if I REALLY don't like these things or if I've been conditioned to give PC answers.

Finally, I don't think I like chocolate all that much. Or Peanut butter.

Just my thoughts,

K


I wanna know....
Do you stop and ponder why you feel the way you do about things?
When was the last time you stopped and evaluated how you feel about some of the hot topics in the media?
How easily are you swayed by those who push their opinions on society?
How deeply do the goings on of the rich and famous and the political activists affect you?

Other questions I'm pondering....

What determines my worth?
What is consistently causing me stress?

What do I LIKE about me?

What do I truly value?

What is holding me back?

What will make my life easier?

Wednesday's Weekly Recipe - Meal Prep

In my dreams, I am a very organized and orderly person. My home runs like a well oiled machine. I have plenty of hours in my days, including time to relax, do my nails, read and journal. My laundry is always done. No one ever asks me where a specific article of clothing is, and they CERTAINLY never ask if said article of clothing is clean! My kitchen and bathrooms are sparkling. Everything is neat and tidy. Most of all, I am MUCH less stressed... because everything works the way it "should".

Real life is not a dream. There are plenty of people and situations that wreck even the most well planned week... but there ARE things I can do to ease my load.

In light of the chaos that has been my life these past few weeks, I've finally decided to really give this whole "meal prep" thing a shot.

I have not tried it up to now because it is obviously a bit time consuming on the front end. HOWEVER, it is possible that, by setting enough time aside so that I don't have to rush, I might actually ENJOY this time. My plan is to turn on Pandora and enjoy the process, reminding myself of how much easier my life will be during the week!

I will try to eliminate as much stress as possible by planning my meals out on Thursday, making the grocery list Thursday night, and shopping either Friday after work or early Saturday morning. (Just having our meals planned out will be a huge stress reliever for me! I HATE walking in the door after work and having no idea what I'm going to cook for dinner!)

Before I start, I want as many pointers and tips as I can get. We all know that Pinterest is WONDERFUL... in a perfect world sort of way....and I have gotten lots of stuff pinned to my "Meal Prep" board... but alas, my world is far from perfect.

Over the next few weeks I'll share this experience, along with recipes that work well for my meat and potatoes family and our rushed lifestyle. I am also working a new eating plan, so that will make this a bit more challenging for me. (anyone else tried "NOOM"?)

If you prep your meals, I'd love to for you to share what works for you as well as things you tried that didn't work so well! You can leave your thoughts, ideas, recipes, and tips in the comments below or you can email me and I will share in a future post!!!

I have tried a few EASY things that helped ease me into the idea of prepping my meals...

This is a (short) list of  things freeze well, and are SUPER time saving!!!
Spaghetti sauce
Chili
browned ground beef  (just pull it out and you can have tacos or hamburger helper in a matter of minutes!)
Soups

Ya gotta start somewhere, right?

Just having ground beef (or ground turkey) precooked is a HUGE time saver.  I can easily have a meal ready in 30 minutes or less.

Send me your recipes! I'd love to try them myself and share them here!

More next week!
K

Tuesday Tips and Tricks... for the working mom... week 2

Over the next few weeks, I want to share some amazing time saving tips I found online. This list is totally copied. I don't use all the tips, but am including all in case you might want to try something I didn't. 

This week, tips on :    Housework

While few people enjoy housework, most people enjoy living in a clean home. Housekeeping doesn't have to be a chore that takes up your entire day, though. Check out these 10 blogs for housework tips and tricks that will save you time and energy.

• Dividing the chores up between everyone in the house is a smart time saver according to Today's Work at Home Mom.
• Remember the “ABC” rule: always be cleaning. Keeping a tidy house doesn't take long if you clean as you go according to Mamiverse.
• Keep your sponges clean and germ-free by putting them in the dishwasher every time you run it. Find this tip and others on Baby Zone.
• Clean out your refrigerator to keep an inventory on what you have and put items on your grocery list that you need so that you don't waste time running to the store picking up staples repeatedly. Learn how on Life as Mom.
• Take a tip from JPW and set a time limit of 30 minutes for everyone to work on a room in your house.
• Break your 'spring cleaning' list down into tasks that you can spread out over the year and do one task per week like the blogger recommends on Mums Make Lists.
• Clean your dryer lint catcher with soap and water so that it will take less time to dry your clothes, thus allowing you to do them faster and save time. This and other tips can be found on Healthy Home Mom.
• Don't let things stack up; make sure that you keep up with your daily chores because they will multiply quickly according to Dr. Julia Chicken.
• Clean your bathroom in a quick and methodical way on a regular basis. Keeping it up weekly will decrease the amount of time you have to spend doing it, as seen in this video on Clean My Space
• Find a simple way to clean your kitchen by checking out the seven cleaning steps on Living on a Dime.

Motivation Monday

Oh my GOODNESS!

I so needed this today!

One day at a time.... One step at a time...one decision at a time...

Have a great week!
K