So I've been holding off on writing until I had my new plan in place. It is almost 2 weeks later and I really do not have anything new to talk about, yet. Busy schedules have made it difficult for me to get time with Krista (check out her new blog at: http://welcomechangenutritionandfitness.blogspot.ca/ ) and get into classes at Create Balance. This is good, but not enough.
Stay tuned. Krista and I are planning on getting together this week, and work out a new plan to help get out this rut I've gotten myself into.
It is interesting how we tend to stop taking care of ourselves when we get busy and stressed. Something else I need to work on...
There is more to being healthy than eating well and exercising. My goals are to Nourish, Empower and Strengthen
Monday 24 September 2012
Thursday 13 September 2012
Time to reassess
I started this blog 3 1/2 months ago, May 20th. My goal was to loose 40lbs, or drop 4-5 dress sizes (which ever came first) and find better life balance through Pilate's training, eating better and enjoying more down time with my family and friends. These goals have required making changes in my life, some were easy and others I am still working on. I've also experienced some successes. My measurements at 8 weeks showed improvement, inches lost in my arms, thighs, hips and chest. My energy is definitely better and I am getting great support from friends and family. However I am not where I would like to have been at 3 months.
I started running 1x per week in July, that really helped and encouraged me to get in more cardio. So I got up to 2x per week running for a half hour or so. In August my exercise schedule was challenged, and even more so the first 2 weeks of September with adjusting to back to school.
If you check out my Exercise page, I really have not updated it since the middle of July. Vacations and travel have gotten in the way of private Pilates session and participating in classes. I've stopped doing a food journal (again) and have not been taking my supplements. No wonder I am feeling moody and tired this week - I'm also PMS'ing which does not help.
This is not out of the ordinary. What I am experiencing is the same as anyone else trying to improve their life, make changes and LOOSE weight. I am not feeling discouraged (only hormonal). I am still committed to making these improvements, I just need to look at the obstacles I am experiencing and come up with a plan to overcome them.
My commitment today is to reassess my goals and how I plan to achieve them!
I started running 1x per week in July, that really helped and encouraged me to get in more cardio. So I got up to 2x per week running for a half hour or so. In August my exercise schedule was challenged, and even more so the first 2 weeks of September with adjusting to back to school.
If you check out my Exercise page, I really have not updated it since the middle of July. Vacations and travel have gotten in the way of private Pilates session and participating in classes. I've stopped doing a food journal (again) and have not been taking my supplements. No wonder I am feeling moody and tired this week - I'm also PMS'ing which does not help.
This is not out of the ordinary. What I am experiencing is the same as anyone else trying to improve their life, make changes and LOOSE weight. I am not feeling discouraged (only hormonal). I am still committed to making these improvements, I just need to look at the obstacles I am experiencing and come up with a plan to overcome them.
My commitment today is to reassess my goals and how I plan to achieve them!
Monday 10 September 2012
Not bad for a Monday morning
I don't want to jinx anything but my talk with Isabel last week about letting me leave without tears seems to have worked!!!! Thank goodness!!! I did have a back up plan for this week - thanks to my extremely knowledgable and resourceful girlfriends. Even though today worked I may get started on two of them just to help ease Isabel's anxiety.
One suggestion was from my friend who is a nurse. She used this to help her daughter with the same issues and she got this idea from the Children Hospital. It's called bravery beads, each time you are brave, you get a new bead and eventually they've made themselves a pretty necklace, or in the case of my friend and her daughter they made a bracelet. I've come to understand with Isabel, the anxiety is about the fear of the unknown. Back to school with a new teacher, new care givers, and new friends...and all of the insecurities that come along with that. She needs to be pushed to try.
The other idea was from my friend who invests time in researching how to be the best mom she can be. (Actually they all do - way more than me). Her son is a worrier and has high anxiety. She purchased a workbook called I Bet I Won't Fret. She has found this very helpful in providing her son with the skills to help him cope when he is feeling anxious.
This brought us to a very interesting subject. Are we doing too much for our kids? In our efforts to support, nurture, educate and prepare our children for the real world are we actually making it harder for them to independent. Which of course brought up some fun stories about our childhood and how our parents survived.
I loved the story one friend shared. She has a boy and a girl. One morning Dad mixed up the water bottles. The pink Hello Kitty bottle went in their son's school bag. That night when he got home he told them that the mix up hurt his feelings. To which her husband apologized for hurting his feelings... Then she speculated how her Dad would have handled such an exchange - "Be grateful you had water to drink! Next time you can use the water fountain."
I think what it all comes down too is that we all to the best we can with what we have. Yes, we parent differently from our parents. Our parents made mistakes and we all turned out relatively well. We will make mistakes too and our children will survive and learn from them just as we have. On the bright side, if we really screw up we will end up with a creative kid who will end up being a musician or actor and make tons of money and support us one day!!
One suggestion was from my friend who is a nurse. She used this to help her daughter with the same issues and she got this idea from the Children Hospital. It's called bravery beads, each time you are brave, you get a new bead and eventually they've made themselves a pretty necklace, or in the case of my friend and her daughter they made a bracelet. I've come to understand with Isabel, the anxiety is about the fear of the unknown. Back to school with a new teacher, new care givers, and new friends...and all of the insecurities that come along with that. She needs to be pushed to try.
The other idea was from my friend who invests time in researching how to be the best mom she can be. (Actually they all do - way more than me). Her son is a worrier and has high anxiety. She purchased a workbook called I Bet I Won't Fret. She has found this very helpful in providing her son with the skills to help him cope when he is feeling anxious.
This brought us to a very interesting subject. Are we doing too much for our kids? In our efforts to support, nurture, educate and prepare our children for the real world are we actually making it harder for them to independent. Which of course brought up some fun stories about our childhood and how our parents survived.
I loved the story one friend shared. She has a boy and a girl. One morning Dad mixed up the water bottles. The pink Hello Kitty bottle went in their son's school bag. That night when he got home he told them that the mix up hurt his feelings. To which her husband apologized for hurting his feelings... Then she speculated how her Dad would have handled such an exchange - "Be grateful you had water to drink! Next time you can use the water fountain."
I think what it all comes down too is that we all to the best we can with what we have. Yes, we parent differently from our parents. Our parents made mistakes and we all turned out relatively well. We will make mistakes too and our children will survive and learn from them just as we have. On the bright side, if we really screw up we will end up with a creative kid who will end up being a musician or actor and make tons of money and support us one day!!
Wednesday 5 September 2012
September = Order and Chaos...
Back to school for me means back to schedules and order. The family calendar is starting to fill with activities and evening routines now consist of cleaning out school bags, signing forms, and more importantly watching the clock to ensure all is complete by 9pm, including bed time.
Back to school also means bad mornings! I have the usual struggles as other moms in getting Isabel out of bed. Once she is up, she's pretty good. She usually picks out her clothes the night before and makes her own breakfast. There's a bit of a struggle to get her to put her shoes on and out the door - but that's my fault I let her put the TV on while she's having breakfast, so she is distracted and does not want to leave the show she is watching (that's easy to fix). The challenge comes when I drop her off at school.
Drop off = frustration, guilt and anger (embarrassed to say). We are 2 days in and I am struggling to hold on to my sanity!! I've had Isabel in daycare since she was 8 months old, she is now in grade 3. She has always struggled with saying good bye to me, which I can appreciate, but you would think that she would be used to it by now, I've always come back. Each day this week I've had to get someone to hold on to her while I pry myself away from her grip. Today she had a strong hold on my arm - which hurt. I start off very patient, we talk about it the whole ride in, I've given her a necklace from when I was a kid and told her that it will help when she feels anxious. Still she gets upset and holds on and the longer it last the patience turns to frustration and then to anger. By the time I get to the car I am fuming. The whole 20 min ride into work I am racking my brain, trying to figure out how I can fix this. By the time I get to work I am still worked up and the tone of my day is set. UGH!!!!!!!
Writing about it is helping. I guess I am concerned about the anxiety she is feeling. She is struggling with coping with her feelings. We've talked about it and she has said she cannot help it. She was worried about going back to school because kids tease her, call her a cry baby and princess. So all summer we talked about being brave and not accepting negative comments. People who tease want to see you react, so show a strong face in front of them and wait 'til you get to the washroom to cry. You cannot stop how you feel. Feelings are important and justified. She is a sensitive girl, very empathetic - it is in my opinion a beautiful quality she possesses - but unfortunately it seems to be working against her right now.
The anger is melting away, now I just feel sad. Hopefully a good talk tonight will help.
Check out the Chicken Zucchini Enchilada recipe on my recipe page. I've been getting such great support from everyone from Create Balance - this treat from Stacey was much appreciated!
Back to school also means bad mornings! I have the usual struggles as other moms in getting Isabel out of bed. Once she is up, she's pretty good. She usually picks out her clothes the night before and makes her own breakfast. There's a bit of a struggle to get her to put her shoes on and out the door - but that's my fault I let her put the TV on while she's having breakfast, so she is distracted and does not want to leave the show she is watching (that's easy to fix). The challenge comes when I drop her off at school.
Drop off = frustration, guilt and anger (embarrassed to say). We are 2 days in and I am struggling to hold on to my sanity!! I've had Isabel in daycare since she was 8 months old, she is now in grade 3. She has always struggled with saying good bye to me, which I can appreciate, but you would think that she would be used to it by now, I've always come back. Each day this week I've had to get someone to hold on to her while I pry myself away from her grip. Today she had a strong hold on my arm - which hurt. I start off very patient, we talk about it the whole ride in, I've given her a necklace from when I was a kid and told her that it will help when she feels anxious. Still she gets upset and holds on and the longer it last the patience turns to frustration and then to anger. By the time I get to the car I am fuming. The whole 20 min ride into work I am racking my brain, trying to figure out how I can fix this. By the time I get to work I am still worked up and the tone of my day is set. UGH!!!!!!!
Writing about it is helping. I guess I am concerned about the anxiety she is feeling. She is struggling with coping with her feelings. We've talked about it and she has said she cannot help it. She was worried about going back to school because kids tease her, call her a cry baby and princess. So all summer we talked about being brave and not accepting negative comments. People who tease want to see you react, so show a strong face in front of them and wait 'til you get to the washroom to cry. You cannot stop how you feel. Feelings are important and justified. She is a sensitive girl, very empathetic - it is in my opinion a beautiful quality she possesses - but unfortunately it seems to be working against her right now.
The anger is melting away, now I just feel sad. Hopefully a good talk tonight will help.
Check out the Chicken Zucchini Enchilada recipe on my recipe page. I've been getting such great support from everyone from Create Balance - this treat from Stacey was much appreciated!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)