Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater

I almost threw in the towel on my weekly challenges because one of them seems to be proving to be too difficult. Because I was failing at one then I was a failure at all.

How ridiculous!  Thank goodness I realized what was happening and have put my foot down!

On 4/27, I planned to start checking things off my To Do list.  My To Do list is too long, but for right now I am going to have to accept that fact. Every time I check something off, something new gets added.

It is just where I am in my life right now, and that is ok. I plan to keep an eye on my To Do list, but if it does not diminish at the rate I hoped I will not beat myself over about it.

Too much pressure.

So, to relieve the pressure this week’s challenge will be to meditate for 5 minutes every day. I have a couple of resources, but would love to hear recommendations that are either free or inexpensive.  Please share in the comments!

Update on previous weekly challenges:

On 4/27, I had 218 items on my To Do list and my challenge was to decrease that number. On 5/4 I was horrified to realize my To Do list grew to 222 items. I am happy to report I am down to 200 items on the list.  Slow progress, but that is okay!

On 4/20/15, I vowed to become more active. My goal was to earn 3 Activity Points every single day, unfortunately this week I had one inactive day – but I did earn 1 point that day.  The rest of the week was stellar, earning between 4 and 7 points each day for a total of 30 APs! This week’s goal is earn a minimum of 4 APs per day, every day.

On 4/15/15, I challenged myself to track (food journal) everything I ate. I have tracked every day since…even when I had a steak dinner with a couple of scoops of dessert and a 55 point Mother’s Day brunch buffet!

On 4/13/15, I challenged myself to declutter one corner at a time. Two corners and 4 draws are complete.  Four other draws have been started. And, we opened our summer weekend rental and managed to find a place for everything, so I am making sure we start with no clutter there!

On 4/8/15, I challenged myself to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day.  I seem to be finding full success on an average of 5 days per week, and the other two days are just slightly less. I find the days I am in the car most are the most problematic. I am going to continue to work at this!

PSA of the Day (again)… Stick to your goals!

Journey to Me

I am on a journey right now to become the best me I can be!

By implementing small, manageable changes weekly I am hoping to improve some sections of my life that can use a little improvement. Check out my Challenges section.

My journey to self-improvement started with smooth sailing, but recently some life issues have gotten in the way. I can make excuse, after excuse, but that is how I handled things in the past. Now, I am picking myself up and starting again. Every day is a new day to become a better me.  And that is who I am working to be!

PSA of the Day…Pick yourself up and start again!

Daily Prompt: Journey

To Forgive

Learning how to forgive myself is hard work.

Mistakes or lapses tend to lead me to berate myself pretty badly. So, my new mantra is to be kinder to myself, learn from the mistake, and move on immediately.

I really put this to the test this week.  Recently I set small, but manageable challenges for myself and last week I slipped up a bit. I wrote a post about it on Tuesday and promised to get right back on track.

But…instead of getting right back on track, what actually happened was a bunch of girl friends gathered for some fun eating, drinking and being merry…and I stayed out a bit beyond my bedtime.

So…on Tuesday night I didn’t track my food and drink.

Weigh in at Weight Watchers on Wednesday morning resulted in a .2 lb gain…not horrible for the damage I did the night before, but it did wipe out the loss I should have seen on the scale. Bummer.

The plan was to get right back on track again Wednesday morning, which I did by tracking everything I ate…but, I was exhausted, so I only earned one Activity Point instead of my required 3.

The old me would spend the day criticizing myself and I probably would slip further off track.

But I am forgiving myself…and I am getting back on track (again).

I am drinking my water, tracking my food and moving my butt.

PSA of the Day…be kinder to yourself!

Daily Prompt: Forgive and Forget?

Oops!

I need a mulligan! A redo! Do over!

The last few days I have gone a bit off track. I haven’t been blogging or following my personal challenges as well as I would like to be. I can make many excuses why, but I am not going to…I am just pushing the RESET button and starting again right now with this post.

This week’s challenge is to get back on track!

Update on previous weekly challenges:

On 4/27, I stated I will work to check things off my To Do list.  I thought of everything that needed to be done and added it to my already long list and was horrified that it was 218 items long. Well, imagine my complete shock when the list started to grow the next day instead of shrink!  CRAZY!!!!

My list now stands at 222 items and my goal remains to check of 2 – 3 items per week until I get the list down to only 100 items.

On 4/20/15, I vowed to become more active. I met (and exceeded) my weekly goal of earning 2 Activity Point (Weight Watchers metric) every day. I actually earned between 3 and 7 points each day for a total of 38 APs in the past week. This week, my goal is to earn a minimum of 3 APs per day, every day.

On 4/15/15, I challenged myself to track (food journal) everything I ate. I have tracked every day since…even when I ate 55 points at a party and when I had a steak dinner with a couple of scoops of dessert!

On 4/13/15, I challenged myself to declutter one corner at a time. Two corners and 4 draws are complete.  Four other draws have been started. And, we opened our summer weekend rental and managed to find a place for everything, so I am making sure we start with no clutter there!

On 4/8/15, I challenged myself to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day.  This week I only accomplished this 4 days, but the other 3 days I still drank approximately 6 glasses…so it is all still an improvement. I find the days I am in the car most are the most problematic. I am going to work harder at this!

PSA of the Day… Stick to your goals!

It’s Going Down!

The scale that is! Yippee!!!

I mostly credit the tracking of everything I eat. By writing down everything I am more mindful of what I am doing. Also, because I am forcing myself to write it down I am finding that two things are happening:

1- I realize most of the time when I eat something bad it is not nearly as bad as I thought it was

2- Allows (or forces) me to get right back on track, not the next day or week, but the next minute

I am sure that drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water and getting a little more activity has helped also.

I lost 4.4 lbs this week for a total of 20 lbs!

Very excited! And very motivated!

What tricks help you stay on track and motivated to eat properly?

PSA of the Day…if you bite it, you write it!

Organizational Goddess…yeah, right!!!

I am an organizational goddess….under a full moon, in my dreams, in an alternate universe.

My fantasy is for everything to have a place and to have a place for everything. No clutter on counter tops. No junk draws. No pile of magazines. Etc. Etc. Etc!

I may not be living this fantasy, but I am working hard to declutter and organize one corner at a time.

This week I focused on four bathroom draws that were in dire need. I am shocked and embarrassed by how many expired medications we had in there! There was also a ton of junk and things that belonged in other places.

Lots of stuff was thrown out, other items were moved to their proper location.

Success!!! I have de-cluttered and now need to go buy some draw organizers to corral the rest of the stuff.

Here are the before and after photos (some look better than others, but trust me…this is a huge improvement!):

  

Daily Prompt: The Full Moon

I Have TO DO What???

I have lost control of my To Do list…or more to the point, it is now controlling me!  Help!

I use Toodledo to keep track of what needs to get done, but there are currently so many things on my list that I forgot to call my favorite (only) niece for her birthday! I felt like the most horrible aunt ever when I realized.

Part of my problem is that every time I check something off my list, I end up adding two new things.  Right now my list stands at 218 items. TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN! Yikes!

Many items are recurring and routine daily, weekly or monthly stuff such as get the mail, pay the bills, change the filters, etc. At this point in my life, if it doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t get done!

My goal is to get the list to 100 items in less than a year. I plan to do this by completing 2 – 3 items every single week.

What tools or tricks do you use to get your To Dos to become To Dones?

Update on previous weekly challenges:

On 4/20/15, I vowed to become more active. I met (and exceeded) my weekly goal of earning 1 Activity Point (Weight Watchers metric) every day. I actually earned between 2 and 6 points each day for a total of 25 APs in the past week. This week, my goal is to earn a minimum of 2 APs per day, every day.

On 4/15/15, I challenged myself to track (food journal) everything I ate. I have tracked every day since…even when I ate the 16 point Nutella Pizza and had a party where I ate 55 points!

On 4/13/15, I challenged myself to declutter one corner at a time. Two corners are complete. I moved out of the office and began organizing four bathroom draws that were in extreme desperate need.  I will report more on this tomorrow.

On 4/8/15, I challenged myself to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day.  I have managed to accomplish this every day since then except for two. It seems days that I am spending more than 4 hours in a car create a challenge. On the days that I can’t drink 8 glasses I am still making sure to stay fully hydrated by drinking 5 – 6 glasses those days.

PSA of the Day… Make a list and check it twice!

What goals have you set for yourself?

Who Wants to Barter?

Anyone out there want to barter? I can offer marketing services in return for something you specialize in, I can especially use some help in home decorating!

This post is in response to the Daily Prompt: Barter System

I am not sure how well I would survive in a society based on barter. I think that people who can offer physical services as well as those who offer items of necessity i.e. food, shelter, clothing, etc. would fare the best.

That being said, I have thought often as a freelance marketer to offer services for barter with some people that I know, especially those that can help get me healthier!

I know a guy who opened a new gym for personal training…I thought of asking him to barter marketing support in return for personal training sessions. I have an acquaintance that started her own practice that matches mindfulness with nutritional eating…again, I have thought of reaching out and asking her to barter. Each time I chicken out.

I wish Weight Watchers would barter!

Do you barter services? How do you approach people?

Small Changes, Big Results

Change a little; improve a lot…that is my motto right now.

I am trying to add one new, small habit each week in the hopes of improving some aspects of me.

So, in response to today’s Daily Prompt: BYOB(ookworm)  if I was to write a book, the book jacket would look something like this:

Small Changes, Big Results is an international best seller. After spending a year making small changes to her daily routine, the author, known as SS, saw great improvements in her health and happiness.

Starting from a place of happy, but not all that healthy, SS decided to focus on eating right and moving more. She strictly followed the Weight Watchers program and incorporated exercise slowly, but regularly into her day.

Also recognizing the necessity to declutter and organize her life, SS focused on improving ‘one corner at a time’. This goal was quickly achieved by incorporating easy to accomplish tasks into her daily and weekly routine.

High on SS’s to do list was improving her personal relationships as well at the world that surrounds her. With a little research and advanced planning, paired with tiny adjustments to her schedule, SS found ways to spend more quality time with the ones she loved doing fun and exciting things. She also carved out time monthly to volunteer on projects to help improve her community.

Small changes are not difficult…you can do it too! Join us on a journey to becoming the best you, you can be. You…the same…only better!

PSA of the Day…small changes can create big results.

I Like to Keep it Spicy

The spicier, the better! Wait, what? I’m talking about food!

Just because I am eating healthier doesn’t mean I don’t want it to taste great!

I’ve also learned that I love smoky flavors, especially chipotle. We make two sauces we love on tacos or as a dipping sauce for veggies.