Blissful Butterfly

Despite my last week or so of disrupted sleep, on the go eating, missed gym workouts and stress, I have not gained any weight. Not exactly sure how that happened, but hey, I'm relieved. I am definitely coming down with allergies or a cold. I've been feeling it over the last couple of days and this evening, it is definitely clear that I'm getting sick. I blame the erratic last couple of weeks that I have had. Today, Kaitlyn and I got up at 7:00 am to go grocery shopping before Michael needed my car for work. We were racing around between 2 stores to buy everything we needed for the week, having coffee together while we shopped. I love our mother-daughter times together. Our cabinets and refrigerator are now stocked with a lot of healthy options. I had this plan to make dinner tonight, then at the last minute decided to skip cooking and order pizza. A couple of Tylenol and tea while waiting for the delivery guy later, still wasn't feeling that great. I feel kind

I am not sure why this always happen, but it seems that one event can spark a chain reaction that dominoes into all aspects of your life. For me, it started 2 weeks ago when Michael's truck broke down. Two shops, 3 tows and a huge repair bill later, we finally, turned the truck into its final resting place at the auto salvage. This started a chain reaction of loss of sleep for me from having to pick Michael and usually one of our children up from whatever location they were stranded in, to loss of sleep about worrying how we were going to cover the repairs and finally, how we are going to get by for awhile with only 1 vehicle to share when we work different schedules in different areas of the metro area. This also led to stress eating and snatched meals to go either en route to or from the pick up locations. Then spiraled into having to miss the gym because Michael needs my car to get to/from class and work. In two weeks since this started, I have begun to feel not only tired an

On Thursday, I rolled out of bed still feeling a little sore from my workouts. I had a fleeting thought of "Do I really need to go to the gym today?", but I went anyway. Usually, when I pull in, the parking lot is packed, but I think a lot of people must have lost the "Do I skip the gym today battle?" because it was almost deserted. After working out, I took the kids out for the day intending only on walking around the mall and picking up a backpack for Kaitlyn. However, by the time I got finished, 8 hours later, they are pretty much finished for school. I kind of consoled myself with the fact that I am returning to work full time in 4 weeks. I had two snack meals while out shopping. When I got home, I was ready to order a pizza or hit a drive through, but instead Kaitlyn and I grabbed Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps and some Sabra Spinach & Artichoke and Roasted Red Pepper Humus. By telling Sophie and Avery that it was spinach dip, they ate some of it and ac

I'm on Day 3 of my 21 Day challenge of following my personal trainer's work out plan. I took advantage of PF's free training sessions with a personal trainer and asked him to structure a workout for me in the same amount of time that I normally work out, but with better results. Sweat was pouring off of me today only half way in. I always try to workout away from others because I'm always self conscious about sweating a lot around others. I am amazed however, about things people do at the gym. As I was walking past the treadmills today, I see people texting on their cell phones, reading books and even a guy drinking a soda or energy drink from a can. I do listen to music or occasionally, watch a tv show. My favorite is to listen to VH1's Jump Start while running. I am not sure why, but at the end of my workout when I'm cooling down with a slow walk on the treadmill, VH1 always plays Foster the People-Pumped Up Kicks. It's becoming my cool down song.

There are two main goals that I have right now: 1) Learning to balance my meals with 1/2 the plate coming from veggies, 1/4 from complex carbs/grains and 1/4 from protein. and 2) Changing my workouts with strength exercises being primary and cardio secondary when pressed for time. Over the last couple of months, I have been eating large amounts of carbs which has been creating chaos with my blood sugar and insulin resistance. There are days where I have felt really ill even though there is nothing really wrong with me. I have had trouble balancing my eating habits especially when I work out because I get hungry frequently. I've been incorporating more protein into my diet and less carbs which has immediately made me feel fuller longer and honestly, I feel that I have more energy. They say that if you do something for 21 days straight, it becomes a habit after that. I am hoping that this is true and my efforts will become automatic after that. I'm also following a calorie