Good morning! Today I decided to do a short video update. Please keep in mind I just woke up and do not usually look like I just got run over by a Mac truck – I hope you’ll take the time to watch. :)

Even though I have had a week from hell, I’m still on track. Although my husband really paid the price yesterday for buying one of those funnel cakes at the carnival. He was puking and sick all day yesterday. I had always heard really good things about funnel cakes – you know, like they were “so good.” I had a taste and I was not impressed. That thing tasted like a big grease ball of shit! So, take it away from me (and my husband) and STAY AWAY from the funnel cakes.

The winner of last week’s America’s Nutrition Give Away is:

Cathy from 42 is a Magic Number

In keeping with the subject matter of my video post, is there something that you USED to enjoy doing but have forgotten about? Something that makes you TRULY happy that does not involve food or unhealthy choices?

I must say I’m feeling that I’m being pulled very, very thin lately with regards to my work. I’m in the midst of a huge project that will pay me well but the catch is I have to finish it. It has been my focus and my life the last week or so. And as the economy has dictated (for me at least), I have to put in the time if I plan on paying any bills.

The question this morning is: Should I shower or just work in my pj’s?

What is the point of me telling you this? I’m busy. I’m stressed. I miss reading all of your blogs. I miss posting. I hate excuses. So I’ll just stop now.

I got a call yesterday from the owner at my new gym. She missed seeing me. I haven’t been there in probably 4-5 days. I thought that was very nice of her to call me – what gym does that? It also reminded me I have to make time for ME when I’m busy and work is unrelenting. Heading there today NO.MATTER.WHAT.

How do you cope with a heavy work load and stay focused on YOU?

On another note, I must be moving up just a little in the blogging world. I have been contacted by several companies asking if I’d like free samples of their products to try. Is that what happens to all of you other popular bloggers? :)

One company, American’s Nutrition, sent me a wonderful package of goodies. My favorite thing by far is the Blender Bottle. Oh my, how I love this thing!!!! It has a wire wisk inside of the bottle (which you can remove if you’d like) that helps shake up your drinks! Almost daily I make a smoothie or protein shake, so it’s very useful to me. Sure beats the crappy bottle I used to use – the lid would NEVER screw on properly.

I also was given some of the Full Bars & Aqua Full to try, which were not bad. You all know I’m not a fan of processed foods, BUT if you need something in a jiffy, these may work for you. The products were created by a doctor to reduce hunger.

GIVE AWAY!!!! Full Bars, Aqua Full & Mill Creek Botanical Keratin Conditioner

I do have some extra products left over and would like to give them away. All you have to do is leave me a comment below and tell me how you cope with a heavy work load and stay focused on YOU and I’ll pick the winner at random.

Just like my trainer Dean always says, eating is 75% (or maybe he says 90%) of the equation. You will not lose weight just working out alone – you have to eat well and make good choices.

My workouts are going great, but since one of my main goals is to get this weight off, today I did one of my re-evals and I’ve decided I have some things I’ve gotten lax on and need to fix if I want to see better results.

Things I will fix and adjust starting TODAY:

• My eating needs work. The last several weeks I’ve done pretty good, but I have had some days that weren’t so grand. While I’m proud of myself for not eating any fast food from McDonalds or Burger King since October, I have had my share of Subway (I love those 6″ turkey subs) and been out to eat at other sit down restaurants. It’s really pure laziness. I’m mostly over my cold, so there’s no reason why I can’t cook!
  
• I’ve had too much stress in my life – and everyone knows when you are stressed, it can inhibit your weight loss. I need to let go of it and move on.
• I haven’t been getting my normal 8 hours of sleep per night. I’ve been staying up late watching the Olympics (or working) and before I know it, I’ve shorted myself several hours of a critical element of health and weight loss – SLEEP.
• I also have gotten a little lax in calculating my calorie consumption in my FitDay PC software. Actually I haven’t done it at all in a long time.
  

I haven’t lost any weight this month – I’ve gained – and I think all of these factors are contributing. The first step for me has ALWAYS been acknowledging there’s a problem, and then finding ways to fix it.

I’m looking forward to a better weigh in next Sunday. Wish me luck!

I’m having a much better day today. I worked from home all day long and stayed away from our downtown office. I haven’t even checked phone messages. I just don’t want to. I’m going to call today a “personal development/mental health day”.

One thing that really made my day was the fact that I got the political book that was on my wish list. We have a wonderful, small town bookstore than can special order anything and I always try to buy local when I can. It’s important to our economy and to the businesses in my town (including my own).

Imagine my immense joy that the owner of the bookstore was able to pull some strings and get the LAST copy available of The Politician by Andrew Young from a town an hour away. Apparently it’s a hot book right now, and NO ONE has it. Keep in mind I live in the freaking boonies of northern Michigan.

I’m such a dork, I know. But I’m easy to please. Just buy me a
good novel. With lots of political trash. LOL

I’ve been thinking a lot in regards to the whole gym situation from Wednesday night when my trainer walked out during one of my training sessions because he was having a bad day of my bad attitude the stars not being in alignment.

The thing to keep in mind here is that I love training with Dean, and I think that’s evident in a lot of my posts and I think it’s fair to say he feels the same way about training me. I think Dean is fantastic at what he does and is a great motivator, and above all I like the guy.

Over the last three months, I’ve become good friends with him. I bounce a lot of business ideas off of him, share personal things with him too, so it’s a little more than just a trainer/client relationship. I actually think of him as kind of a big brother – but a good friend above all. Like any friendship, we get along great most days. But as a trainer he has to deal with me at my worst most of the time. Complaining, whining, tired, looking like shit and haggard, unshowered, etc.

Maybe that’s one of the reasons why everything got to me so much and why I took it so personal. I still don’t agree with what happened Wednesday night and how it played out, but it’s over with and it’s in the past. I’ve told him how I felt it could have been handled differently, and he’s told me how he feels about my recent lack of effort in my training sessions, and that he thinks I could be giving it more.

I value our friendship and his expertise in what he does. In keeping all of this in mind during my re-evaluation, I’ve decided to bring down my training sessions from three days a week to one day a week.

In the hopes of keeping myself focused and looking forward to our session, I picked a day that would be the least busy at the gym because I really struggle when the place is packed and we’re training with a bunch of people. (It makes my head spin when it’s busy.)

I’m also going to hit up my P90X too, as I really, really want to do that. I’m intrigued by the challenge and can’t wait to get started. I’m also interested in Sean T’s Insanity. Have you seen that program advertised? It looks, well, ridiculously insane!

I truly believe that Dean has prepared me to be successful and I know a lot of the exercises and movements now, so I think this is going to be a good thing. I always have the option of upping the number of workouts at anytime and I know that he will be down with that – I just need to say the word.

I think this will be a good test for me – to see if I can do this on my own most of the week, and then I’ll get the best of him on my training day. Because the whole goal is for me to get healthy and fit. Plus, I want to be able to do this on my own, and in the best way possible for ME.

Enough of that crap, but I wanted to tie that up since a lot of you were wanting an update. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Do you have any plans? Inquiring minds want to know! :)

Last night I had posted about my night in the gym and how my trainer was having a bad night and left because he said I had an attitude. A few of you had commented, but I decided to remove the post because it really wasn’t important and I didn’t want to add to the situation.

We all have our moments, we’re all human, we all handle stress differently. That includes me, and that includes my trainer who has become a friend of mine.

So I started thinking, what’s the best way to handle stress?

Some of us just need time away. Some of us cry, scream, get mad and run through a full set of emotions. Some of us eat away our stress. (Like I did last night once again, even though I was fully aware of what I was doing. Let’s just say this morning hasn’t been kind to me so far.)

Are any of these ways the BEST way to handle stress? I guess it just depends on your vantage point and your personal preference.

Here are some of the funniest stress relievers I found online this morning:

Sometimes it just feels good to smash or break something.

Wouldn’t a vacation be ideal? I really need one of those.

A good run is an excellent stress reliever for some.

Now this is an interesting take on a stress
reliever ball – a stress reliever “boob”

So how do you deal with the stress in your life? Do you have a unique way of handling things before they reach a boiling point?