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All posts in category Distractions

Idle Hands

I have a horrible tendency, if I’m not paying attention, to sit home all day with the TV tuned to TBS watching reruns of shows that I have seen dozens (or more!) times. I try to keep the background noise tuned to PBS for Hanna in the morning because for some reason Sesame Street is a comforting noise, but by the end of the day it always goes back to TBS.

What is it about the show “Friends” that makes it so I can’t turn the channel? I’ve seen each episode over 10 times (confession: WELL over 10 times each), but it feels like sinning when I turn the channel, or heaven forbid turn the entire TV OFF.

When I was in Utah last week and I was discussing the woes of being a Stay-at-home-mom with my own mom, and how I can let myself actually sit in front of the TV all day long and not accomplish one single task, she told me a secret to when she was a SAHM: Projects.

I know, it seems so simple yet I cannot pry myself away from Friends long enough to come up with some projects that I need to get done. So I have forced myself to sit down and come up with a list of things that I either need to get done, or would like to accomplish.

First off, I am not crafty. I mean, I AM crafty if I need to be, but I don’t want a house full of homemade displays and such, but there are plenty of projects I can do for Hanna that have nothing to do with my house. Of course I turned to my Pinterest arsenal and got to planning. The only thing is that I need a sewing machine for most of them (pffft. whatever sewing machine). I may have to see if I can borrow one from a friend.

Hanna has a quiet book that I let her play with in church and she loves it, but I think she is getting tired of the same old pages over and over again. So I’m going to add some fun pages that I found from this website:

I thought the potato head quiet pages look awesome and have loads of different playing possibilities.

I would also love to make her these felt “paper” dolls that can be found on this website:

Another suggestion that my mom had was to slowly paint my cupboards. I eventually would like to paint most of my house, but I am going to start with my kitchen cupboards, which I want white (right now they are grey). I think I can get it done with 1 gallon of paint so now I just have to start sanding them down. That should keep me busy.

Along with those things I would also like to:

Finish knitting the baby quilt I started when I found out I was pregnant with Hanna (I am NOT a procrastinator! Ok, maybe I am)
Start taking a weekly trip to the library since Hanna has FINALLY started letting me read books to her (this makes me so happy I could cry, I LOVE books!)
Peeling off all the labels to my old Kombucha glass bottles so that I can store bulk food items in them like shaved coconut, dried beans, lentils, and such.
Cleaning out my pantry so it makes sense.
Putting together a Vegan cookbook binder for all of my recipes that I have printed out and organizing them into categories.
Finish Divergent on audio book, and start another. My 2012 reading goal is happening this year!
Organize my Pinterest boards, which I find ironic.
Re-vamp my blog and give it a facelift. This WILL happen the next time I am in Utah with my Graphic Designer brother. And of course make it easier to navigate and organize it.
De-clutter the garage (this one may have to wait until next spring)
Go through Hanna’s room and re-arrange it, put old clothes in storage and get rid of some toys. I literally have not done anything to that childs room since we moved 4 months ago.

Along with that list I feel like I have LIVED in my kitchen the last few days so a recipe roundup will definitely be making its way for What I Ate Wednesday tomorrow. I will also have a recipe for a chocolate cheesecake that I will be sharing, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your eating philosophy) it has lots of dairy in it. I am making dinner for our church missionaries tonight and every time I suggest a Vegan dish my husband gives me the stink eye. On the menu: Chicken Enchilada’s with roasted green beans and Hershey’s Chocolate Cheesecake for dessert. Side note: Whatever is left after the missionaries leave goes in the trash, or to a neighbor (don’t you wish you loved by me). Here’s hoping my stomach doesn’t get too upset!

BTW: Dustin is doing stellar on his one week challenge so far!

Later friends!

7 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on July 17, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Change, Distractions, Indulgence, Kombucha, Making It Happen, Planning

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on July 17, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/07/17/idle-hands/

48 More Hours

48 more hours and I promise that I will stop whining about this move that we have been enduring, because it will finally be complete! I’ve had a lot of time to think, since I have spent at least 3 hours of each day this week driving back and forth from the old house to the new house. I’m pretty sure the shocks on my car (what’s left of them) are about to give out any moment with all of the shite I’ve been hauling.

What have I been thinking about, you ask? I’ve been thinking about the positives that will come from this move. So in the true fashion of bloggers, I have come up with my Top 10 Reason’s I’m Excited to Move list!!!

10. It’s oh so quiet. In my current home we are packed into our neighborhood like sardines! I have neighbors on one side that play music EXTREMELY LOUD at ALL hours of the day, and night. They have parties on weekdays, and because we are a corner lot everyone parks in front of our house. Very annoying. The neighbors on the other side have a garden which they water 3 hours a day (not to mention some questionable plants that require a locked gate, if you know what I mean) which floods into our back yard and creates a swampy mess all summer long.

Our new home is in a small town. I looked up the population and the responses averaged out that there is definitely less than 10,000 people. Our neighborhood is in a covenanted area, and the HOA is strict about a lot of things. When I got out of my car today is was dead silent. You can hear nature (probably because we live on the side of a mountain, far away from the interstate), and you can hear yourself think.

9. Lack of restaurants. I wasn’t to stoked about this in the beginning, but the idea has come to grow on me. There is limited places to eat. In fact, the only two fast food restaurants they have in my town are Subway and Wendy’s. And I have to drive at least 15 minutes just to get to there. No places to eat means that I can’t flake out on my home-made dinner plans to go get fatty foods.

8. There is a great walking path, and they actually have sidewalks! My current home is located off of a busy road and I have to brave oncoming traffic if I want to take a walk with the jogging stroller. I can’t help but think I am putting myself and Hanna in danger when I want to get some fresh air.

There is a walking path within walking distance of my new house. I clocked the total distance with my car today and it goes about 3 miles. That is a nice distance.

7. Free Activity Center. I guess I technically pay for this with my HOA, but it is nothing close to what a gym memberships cost, and I can’t wait to check it out (pictures and post to come).

6. Small town living. My hub’s grew up in small towns all over and he is actually excited to get back to the small town life. This will be a new experience for me, but I have heard a lot of great things.

5. A new adventure! Moving somewhere new is always a new adventure, and I am learning to accept it with open arms.

4. New House, New Habits. I don’t know about you, but a change in environment is a great way to jump-start a change in bad habits.

3. I get to meet new people. I love being in my comfort zone (who doesn’t), but I have found that you don’t progress unless you put yourself out of you comfort zone. Being in a new town means that I’m going to have to make some new friend, a perfect remedy for comfort.

2. Spend less money. Some days when I’m bored I head out to the mall and spend money. It’s usually not a lot of money, but after a while it adds up. The nearest place to really go shopping is at least 20 minutes away, and thinking about driving to an anti-climactic destination like Wal-mart takes the wind out of my sails. I keep telling myself that this is a good thing.

1. More family time. For the last 4 years Dustin has been spending about 2 1/2 hours a day commuting (that is after working a 12 hour day). Now we will be living in the town that is centrally located to all of the water plants that he oversees. This means he doesn’t have to leave as early, he gets to come home for lunch, and he gets home earlier. Hanna will have her dad around, and I will get to enjoy having my hub’s around a LOT more. Also, there will be a scheduled routine in my future, and I thrive on a consistent schedule.

Have you ever experienced a move like this? Do you have anything to add to the list?

3 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on March 22, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Change, Distractions, Moving

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on March 22, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/03/22/48-more-hours/

I Would Love to Tell You…..

I would love to tell you all that we have successfully closed and moved into our new home by now, but in the true fashion of home purchasing, the closing didn’t get done until a week after we thought it would and didn’t receive the keys until yesterday afternoon. I’ve been driving around with all of my kitchen stuff in my car for the last day and a half ready to go to the new house (all but my Kitchenaid and Vitamix, I’m not crazy!), and today will finally be the day that we get this party started.

I am so ready for this to be over. Do you have weird little things that you do when you are stressed? Have they changed over the years, because mine sure have. My jaw gets really tight and my teeth start to hurt. Also, when I sleep I roll my eyes as far down as they will go (without knowing it) and I wake up with a headache. Stress does strange things to a person.

On the weight loss front…..

I would LOVE to tell you that I have been staying on track, and working hard towards my goals, but that hasn’t been happening either. Last week, I was so intensely stressed that I ate anything and everything. I couldn’t get enough! This week I finally took a step back. I focused on feeling those stressed feelings and not just trying to feed them. Lucky for me the scale hasn’t changed from the gain I had a couple of weeks ago. I can work with that.

Another thing that has been on my mind…..

This thought is usually at the front of my mind: Hanna wants to eat everything that I am eating. When I started my weight loss journey it was for me, but it was also for Hanna. I wanted to instill in her different eating habits than the ones I currently had. Every time I eat something in front of her now it makes me think if I am being a bad example and what would be the better decision for her. I am so glad that I have this thought because it definitely makes me want to be a better person.

The rest of this week will be filled with moving and cleaning, which should be great physical activity. I can’t wait for this week to be over so that I can re-focus and start making a dent in my goals!

2 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on March 21, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Distractions, Goals, Moving

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on March 21, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/03/21/i-would-love-to-tell-you/

A Loss and a Gain

‎”Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.”

Thank you again Livestrong.com for another inspiring Facebook status! I sure needed it after the past week.

In the wee hours of the early morning on Wednesday, Dustin, Hanna, and I set off for Las Vegas after getting news that Dustin’s Grandmother had a stroke. My husband has been truly blessed in his life, and although I do not feel it is my place to give out information about his past, I have to say that his family is amazing. In high school the Larsen/Beighley clan started feeding my husband, and ended up not being able to get rid of him. I call his family Dustin’s “surrogate” family, but to Dustin they are thicker than blood. So when his granny went to the hospital from pneumonia this past week, it was not a hard decision that we needed to be with the family.

After many twists and turns throughout this week Granny decided it was her time to go this morning. She (along with every. single. member of the Larsen/ Beighley Family) was one of the most selfless people I was blessed to know. She gave service to anyone who needed it and always put others before herself. I celebrate the life that she lived, and also the work in the after life that she will be doing. I am so blessed to know that there is a heaven above and a Heavenly Father waiting with open arms. I will miss you Granny, and I can’t wait until the time that we will meet again!

And in regards to the “gain” portion that I mentioned in the title….

In stressful times I eat. You can tell how stressed I am by the amount of food that I eat. This week started out great, and by Tuesday I was down 3 pounds ready to win this weeks weigh in for Monica’s Birthday Challenge, and then the week started to go South quickly. As soon as I knew we were going to be traveling I started to crave food. Spending time in a hospital made me crave food. Being in a place that had thousands of options to choose from made me crave food.

So what did I do? I ate. I ate my feelings. I ate my sadness. I ate my frustrations with eating too much by eating more.

And then I had a little break down, and a pity party for myself.

Then I put on my big girl panties and I weighed myself. If you do the crime, you do the time, and I needed to see the number that was going to show up:

That my friends is a 13 pound gain since the beginning of February. Wait. Wasn’t my goal to lose 5 pounds a month? Hmmm. I seem to be going the opposite direction.

I tried to tell myself it’s because I have only pooped twice in the last 5 days (going out of town in hard on my digestive track), or that I have a lot of water retention and salt hanging around in my system. While all of these things are true, and the weight loss will come quickly with those first few pounds once I get back on a healthy track, it is still a gain. It is still a step backward, and it is still frustrating. My first thought is that I have to come up with a plan of action, but the plan is simple and needs no long thought process. Track food. Exercise. Drink Water. Sleep 7-8 hours. Repeat.

4 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on March 4, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Commitment, Distractions, Dustin, Family, Food Binge, Frustration, Indulgence, Poop, Weigh in

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on March 4, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/03/04/a-loss-and-a-gain/

Isn’t A Reward Suppose to be GOOD for You?

Life has been hectic lately (hence, the no posting). One of the reason’s I have this here old blog is to keep myself accountable, and for that reason I am writing this post.

When I say I have had a “bad day” it usually means eating wise, and I don’t usually go any further than that. My hub’s was wonderful enough to watch the baby while I got an early gym session in this morning, and he also had a chance to catch up on all 2 of my blog post’s this week. His comment to me was this: “you tend to keep things really positive on your blog, but you have to remember that the negative is there and sometimes you have to write about it”. I totally agree.

We have both noticed that I have kind of gone of the deep end these last couple of weeks, and it all started when I got that stomach bug a few weeks ago. Since then I have eaten what I want, when I want. This includes things like:

Hagen Daaz(sp?) Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
Discounted Valentines day Chocolate
Cake
More Ice Cream
Olive Garden
Cafe Rio

The list goes on and on. Sometimes the only consistency I have is inconsistency. I’m doing awesome one day and then jumping off a cliff another. It just seems in times of stress I turn to food.

This past week has been frustrating. Hanna has been sick and the drainage from her sinus’s created a double ear infection. She has been ornery and whiny. She won’t eat, and it just seems that if she won’t eat it then I will put it in my mouth instead. Her naps have been short and so has my fuse. Sometimes I feel inadequate as a mother (I know all of you mom’s are nodding your heads in agreement). Why won’t she drink milk? Why won’t she eat regular meals like the rest of us? Why is she whining so much? Why is she sucking up juice from a straw and then just letting it fall out of her mouth onto the floor? Argh, where is a spoon, I’m eating Ice Cream because I deserve it after the day I have had.

Why is it that we feel we deserve crap to eat when we are trying to reward ourselves? Isn’t the point of a reward to do something GOOD for yourself? Not to mention the fact that I feel like shit after I’ve eaten it anyway!

I have to say that the beginning of this year is when I felt the best I have felt in a LONG time. I know that perfecting my healthy diet will be my ultimate challenge this year. Eating Plant-based has really made me feel good about myself, but change is sometimes hard to maintain. I know that there will be times when I want to eat crap just because that is what I’m use to, but those are the exact habits that I need to change.

I need to use this time in my life to help me grow new, healthy habits. I CAN lose weight in times of stress and I need to stop telling myself that I can’t. My body believes what I tell it too.

Boohoo. Wah. Pout.

Ok, I’m done.

New Challenge!

I’ve decided that a new challenge is just what I need to get me out of my eating funk, and so when I saw that Dacia from Thirty-four & Fabulous was hosting a weight loss challenge I jumped at the chance to participate! It is called Monica’s Birthday Challenge (click to link). It will last 8 weeks and that starting date is TODAY! It also requires a picture documenting your weight. So here it is (did I mention that I have gained over 7 pounds in the last 3 weeks?).

I will say this about this mornings weigh-in: I’ve been doing HEAVY lifting this week and I know that I have quite a bit of water retention from my muscles trying to get repaired, and I ate Cafe Rio/Ice cream last night at a pretty late hour. I also say this because I know that the scale should be showing quite a difference next week, and a lot of it will be water weight.

Anyway…..

Non-Scale Victories

I have not noticed any of my clothes feeling tighter (phew!). I also did 3 strength training sessions this week, and I have noticed some major changes in my muscles already. I also did 2 60 minute sessions on the Elliptical and 45 minutes of the Elliptical on the strength training days. Good week for the gym, bad week for eating.

But we’re going to fix that.

3 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on February 25, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Distractions, Frustration

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 25, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/25/isnt-a-reward-suppose-to-be-good-for-you/

Recharged and Back to Basics

After an entire week of overindulging I have to say enough is enough. I feel that my healthy battery has been re-charged and I have seen my evil ways. It’s time to get back to basics.

Get on the scale. I have a fear of the scale when I have been naughty. Does anybody else do this? I need to face the music and seeing the number on the scale will start this week out where it needs to start. Besides, most of the weight will be water weight anyway and I should be able to get rid of most of it by the end of the week.
Re-start NROLFW. I need to have some sort of plan when I go to the gym and I don’t want to lose all of the muscle I gained when I did New Rules of Lifting for Women first time around. I am not going to wait for my move to start the program again, and I can let this program help me with the struggle I have been having with the gym lately. I am going to add a few more moves that aren’t in the book to keep it interesting. I am also going to get to the gym earlier. The longer I wait to go to the gym in the morning, the easier it is to talk myself out of going.
Track, Measure, Weigh, Repeat. I will be doing daily stat’s post for this next week since it seems to help me stay accountable for what I am eating. I will weigh and measure my food as exact as I can for this is the only way that I have seen positive results on the scale.
Drink lots of water. Flush out all the chocolate. Also, I haven’t been sweating as much at the gym and I think it’s because my water consumption has been lower and my salt intake has been higher.
Meal Plan, and then stick to the meal plan. I have been meal planning since the beginning of the year. It has helped with my eating and my budget, but lately it seems that I have made a plan and then not stuck to it. Some of the dinners that I had planned on making just didn’t sound good when it came time to make them. The fact is, when you eat fat, sugar, and salt, you crave fat, sugar, and salt. It may be a rough couple of days getting back on track, but sticking to my meal plan is a sure-fire way to get there.
Positivity. So I lost a week, that’s ok. The important part is that I start again. I forgive myself for the foods that I have eaten, and I tell myself that I am a strong woman who can do hard things. I know I can get back on track, I just need to re-focus my energy in the right area’s.

I am only going to get more stressed out in the upcoming weeks with the move coming on and I can’t let it completely de-rail me. It is just another excuse hurdle that I need to jump over. Life will always get in the way of weight loss and conditions will never be perfect, so I have to keep pushing everyday.

This Week’s Meal Plan:

Monday: Tomato Basil “Cream” Pasta

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows (this is also Angela's Picture)

Tuesday: Meatless Fajita’s. This is a fast and easy recipe where I just removed the meat entirely from the meal. I sauté green peppers and a red onion with fajita seasoning and then put over black beans and brown rice. Top with mashed avocado and it is a yummy plant-based dinner.
Wednesday: Butternut Squash Soup:

Click picture to link with All Recipes.com (picture is also from allrecipes.com

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner. Does anybody else LOVE breakfast for dinner?

Click picture to link to Oh She Glows for recipe (picture credit is also Angela's)

Friday: Vegan Combo Pizza. I will be trying out non-dairy cheese and non-animal pepperoni for the first time. Dustin is thrilled (insert sarcasm font).
Saturday: Planned date night where we get to go out to eat.
Sunday: Meat meal for the week, Healthy Hamburger Helper. Dustin and I have been huge fans of Hamburger Helper since we have been married so when Janetha over at Meals and Movesfigured out a way to make it healthy I had to try it out (plus, Dustin deserves some meat at least once a week for being so obliging to my weird eating habits I’ve picked up).
Click picture to link to recipe (Photo credit goes to Janetha over at Meals and Moves)

So there is my plan for a successful week! How do you set yourself up for success?

5 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Change, Daily Stats, Diet, Distractions, Goals, Indulgence, Meal Planning, Plant Based Diet

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 19, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/19/recharged-and-back-to-basics/

Where’s the Motivation?

I’m sure I’m not the only one nodding their head when I say it is tough to get back into your healthy routine after being sick and having a lot of stress going on. Where’s the motivation? Here is my testimony on motivation: It always comes back, you just have to be patient through the times that it’s not there.

Yesterday it wasn’t there. We put an offer on a house, and the stress of it made me fidgety. I kind of walked around the house like I didn’t know what to do with myself, and then ended up organizing all of my misc. 3 ring binders, sheet protectors, and tab dividers (I know I have mentioned before how much I LOVE office supplies).

So why didn’t I just go to the gym you ask? I was lethargic from all of the horrible foods I was eating to get myself “feeling better”. I wasn’t looking forward to having a sluggish workout that would be challenging at an easier level.

This week I need to focus on getting the checks and balances back where my body needs to be. Dairy has been clear and present these last few days and my body is mad at me!

The thing is, I know that my life is going to get hectic this next couple of months so I really need to be on my game. I need to keep up the momentum I have going. I have had such a wonderful beginning to 2012, and I only want it to continue. I am happy with the change of lifestyle that my diet has brought on, and it keeps me motivated to know that if I eat good I can sustain that level of energy I feel every morning when I jump out of bed.

I am blessed in the fact that the gym is not a hard thing for me to do everyday. As a stay at home mom I have the time to go to the gym without a whole lot of distraction. The area that is hard for me is eating. I especially have a hard time when my life gets crazy and stressful. I kind of shut down, and have no desire to cook healthy and opt for the convenience of fast food.

I will say that since the beginning of the year I have had my eyes opened, and I find it hard to justify convenient foods anymore. They really aren’t convenient. I have decided that journaling is more important than ever in these hectic times. I’m taking a page out of Aimee and Marion’s book and making my food journaling public.

I’ll make sure to keep these post’s interesting and they won’t be everyday, just 2-3 posts a week including a What I ate Wednesday post. Today I am notivated, but who knows what tomorrow will bring. I am arming myself with the tools to get through the un-motivated times, and with that comes success!

8 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on February 7, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Diet, Distractions, Energy, Health, Motivation, Planning

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on February 7, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/02/07/wheres-the-motivation/

Today Was The Day…

Right now I am sitting in my house listening to the dryer run and hearing the gentle lull of my dishwasher. I love the sounds of things cleaning, that and when the furnace kicks on. Those sounds remind me of how entirely blessed I am in my life.

Today was the day.

Hanna woke up at 4:30 this morning from a poopy diaper that she had been sitting in for at least a few hours (I already berated myself on my mothering skills, you don’t need to go there). I cleaned her up and put a MASSIVE amount of Desitin on her bum and tried to get her to go back to sleep. After 20 minutes of crying it seemed as though she had gone to sleep. Just as I was drifting off into a state of sweet slumber, I heard the screams again. I knew that she was not going to be going back to sleep. I got up and decided that it was time to start the day.

My normal beginning of the day routine is to flip on the tv while I do numerous little chores around the house, or I get caught up on FaceBook and my google reader. All of this while the tv is blaring in the background. I have my tv schedule memorized and no matter what I’m doing it is always going in the background.

This morning I told myself that today was the day. No tv until after Hanna’s nap time (around 2). This is a pretty big deal for me. I have to be honest with the fact that I am scared I am turning my daughters head to mush. Until recently she walks around the house playing with various toys and didn’t really pay any attention to the box of noise. But lately she has been stopping and watching. I told myself that when she stops and watches it was time to cut back.

First thing this morning I gave her a bottle and she slurped it up happily on the ground while the tv was off. Then I decided to get out my scriptures and try reading while she played. I have been trying to study my scriptures daily and I usually wake up before she does and get it done or wait until her nap time. I thought that it would be a good thing for her to see me doing this daily (you know, set an example). She played quietly while I read, and I found it very peaceful.

Around 7:30 I decided that I could keep up the no tv, and started some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and made Hanna some eggs and a banana for breakfast. With no tv on she actually concentrated on eating and I got an entire egg into her stomach!

Here it is 9:00 and the no tv rule has been going strong since 5:00 this morning. That is HUGE!

Baby steps. I know that watching tv is when I do a lot of my mindless eating. TV has become such an addiction for me since I have become a stay at home mom, and it is yet another habit that I want to desperately break.

Today is the day that we find out about whether or not we are making some major changes in our living situation and next week starts a whirlwind of events. TV is not something I can be bothered with right now, I have a lot to get done!

How much tv do you watch?

When do you find you do the majority of mindless eating?

5 Comments

by Shrinking Carrie on January 27, 2012 • Permalink

Posted in Addiction, Challenges, Distractions, Mindless Eating

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on January 27, 2012

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2012/01/27/today-was-the-day/

I Like My Routine

Sweat it Out:
5 min. Arc Trainer
5 min. Elliptical
40 min. Different Elliptical

I cannot say enough how HUGE of a creature of habit I am, and very particular about what my habit is done on. I belong to Gold’s Gym, and I am blessed to be able to have a travel pass so that I can use the gym they have 2 blocks from my mom’s house. This morning I woke up at 7 and put my gym clothes on first thing so that I could go get my workout in and not have to worry about it the rest of my day.

I got to the gym and this is the first time that I didn’t have trouble getting in with my travel pass. The stars were aligning and it was meant to be. Little did I know that when I got into the cardio area, it would turn into a story of Goldie Locks and the 3 Bears, or in my case Goldie Locks and the 3 horrible Ellipticals. This gym had NOT ONE of the cardio machines that were in my home gym, which I thought was strange considering they are the same kind of gym.

I started on the Arc Trainer, because I use to love that machine. I couldn’t keep the beat with my music and the movement felt very foreign and did not flow right. I jumped off of that machine and then tried an elliptical. This machine was on its last leg and made grinding noises when it started moving. By the third machine I was thinking to myself “you know, it was really hard to get here this morning considering I am on vacation, and I better be able to work this third machine or I might just throw in the towel”. The third machine in no way compared to my home gym elliptical, but I needed to move to start my day, and so I powered through 40 minutes of jostling and back fat shaking all over the place, just so i could feel good about going to all-you-can-eat-sushi tonight.

I will admit that I had a better day because I started it with a workout (even if it was a crappy one). After I got ready we decided to go shopping and spent 2 HOURS walking around the mall. I did find a great pair of jeans (because my current fave’s now have holes in the crotch), but couldn’t bring myslef to buy anything else because I know that I will lose more weight and they won’t fit after a while. This mentality is a great money saver, but I”ll just end up spending it all at Nordstrom at the MAC counter (oh, how I love you MAC!).

I ended the day with over 13,000 steps on my pedometer, and my goal was 10,000 so I am on a roll! So far this vacation has been pretty manageable, and I am just hoping that I can keep it up!

Do you like to shop? I like to shop, but not for very long. 2 Hours seemed like a LONG time in the mall and I was definitely ready for a nap when we cane home!
What would you buy if money wasn’t an issue? Lots of shoes, handbags, & makeup!

1 Comment

by Shrinking Carrie on October 27, 2011 • Permalink

Posted in Challenges, Distractions, Workout

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 27, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/27/i-like-my-routine/

And She’s Back!

Sweat it Out:
Weights 60 Minutes
Elliptical 30 Minutes
5 hours of house cleaning!

Today feels like I am finally back to the daily grind. I ate well, tracked everything, and worked hard at the gym. I knew today would be tough (cravings, the more carbs you eat the more you crave them) so to keep my mind and body distracted, I did a much-needed deep house cleaning. I have a lot of things to get done this week, so hopefully I will stay distracted!

Here is how the day rounded out: