All posts in category Fall

I am Thankful for 24 Days….

Sweat it Out:
Elliptical 1 Hour (Tuesday’s Workout)

I am actually thankful all year round, but for the month of November I am going to try to focus on one thing I am thankful for everyday.  Not every day is going to be insightful and deep.  In fact, yesterday I was thankful that I have not been sick.  It seems everyone has, or is getting over a cold and I have been blessed to not have one yet (although I fear I am jinxing myself by just saying that).

Today I am thankful for vegetables.  After gorging on Halloween candy my body is SCREAMING for some nutrition!

New Month New Goals!!!

Each month I try to make 5 goals to accomplish for the month, and after birthday parties and Halloween, I am ready to clean the slate and start anew!

1. Remember that the holiday is one day each month, and not the WHOLE month!  I don’t know about you guys, but the holidays are just a big blurry eating fest, but really there are only about 4 days that you ACTUALLY celebrate.

  • Halloween:  Over and done with, thank goodness!
  • Thanksgiving:  Coming faster every year it seems.  One day a year to stuff yourself silly?  Totally doable as long as you dont’ stuff yourself the entire month of November.
  • Christmas Eve/Christmas:  Those two days should count as 1 day, and this year I will be in Arizona visiting my brother.  So there will be no snow outside to excuse myself from exercise.
  • New Years Eve/New Years Day:  New Years day should be a day to wipe the slate clean and focus on goals for the New Year!  But watch yourself on New Year’s Eve.  Luckily, I do not drink alcohol, so a sugar hangover will be the only thing I will be suffering from.
So the theme of this goal is to indulge on the holiday not the entire month.  There is no reason to get off track and overeat the entire holiday season!
I am realistic in thinking that it is ok to eat fun holiday food…..on the holiday.  Ok, nuff said.
2. Eat more vegetables.  I really like veggies, they are just not as convenient as fruit.  One great thing is that we are finally getting another Sam’s Club membership (we have no Costco, BLAST!), and that helps me to buy produce in bulk.  I find this method works for me because it is cheaper, readily available, and already prepared, for the most part.  It will make it easy to roast some veggies for lunch if I know I don’t have to wash, cut, and prepare them.  just throw them in the oven and go.
3. Finish Phase 4 of “The New Rules of Lifting for Women”.  This goal should be easy to accomplish considering I am LOVING weightlifting right now.  I am also LOVING the program, so no unrealistic expectations there!
4. List one thing a day that I am thankful for.  Whether big or small we can always find something to be thankful for and this is the month of counting your blessings!
5. Learn the Body Bugg system and figure out goals to go along with it.  My Body Bugg should get here on Friday and I am counting down the minutes.  My last goal for the month is to learn the system, figure out my calorie burn to calorie consume deficit, and start tracking!
  • What is a goal that you have for the month of November?
  • Do you struggle with the Holiday season and overeating?  If not, what helps you at this time of year?
7 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Fall, Goals, Holiday, Indulgence

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on November 2, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/11/02/i-am-thankful-for-24-days/

Fire Up For Fall: Week 7

Hello and Happy Monday!  Just a side note for those of you who didn’t have a chance to catch a read over the weekend, check out Faith, Fitness, Fun for my Self Love Reflection guest post!  And if you are a new reader thanks for reading, let’s be friends, K?

For those of you who are new I am apart of the FIre Up For Fall brought to you by Weight Wars.  You can read about the challenge here.

Today I have 2 inspirational messages, the first is more for my Monday:

This is the best message for me since I am getting back from vacation, and the first day back is always the hardest.  it doesn’t help that today is Halloween and I have to pass out candy.  It also didn’t help that I ate HORRIBLE for the last 4 days.  But I am putting that in the past and focusing on the future!

And my message for everyone else:

There is no such thing as instant gratification when it comes to weight loss!  Slow and steady wins the race.  I have to keep telling myself this every time I forget that this is a lifestyle change, and it is for-ev-er (insert kids voice from Sandlot).  Which is fine, I’ve come to terms.

Five Questions!

1. What have you done to help achieve your goals?  I’m not gonna lie.  Being on vacation my goals kind of took a backseat.  The good thing is that I have already made most of them and so I am thinking a reassessment is in order for next week.  I did go to the gym 1 day out of the 4 I was gone.  The gym I went to was disappointing, and no matter of me saying “suck it up” to myself made me go again.  No excuses, no B.S., I just plain didn’t go.    I should have adapted to the situation and just went.  Live and learn!

2.  What have you done this week to make yourself feel fabulous?  My hub’s bought me boots that I have wanted for about a year.  As I have mentioned in the past,  when I had the little munchkin a year ago, the hub’s and I didn’t make a budget, and ended up in some hefty debt.  We tightened up, and made some difficult (but good) changes and I am happy to report that we have dug ourselves out finally!  We had rewards credit for Nordstrom, and he surprised me by buying me the boots I have been wanting.  I can honestly say that the boots paired with my new jeans that finally fit make me feel fabulous when I look in the mirror!

3.  How do you pull yourself out of a slump, or prevent yourself from falling into one?  I try not to lose time on wasted emotions.  When I say emotions I mean feelings that are counterproductive, and there is nothing I can do about them. A good example is stress when sleeping.  I can usually turn my brain off if I have a conversation with myself like “its the middle of the night, there is nothing you can do to fix that problem right now.  Sleep is the best thing for this issue”.  This way of thinking usually prevents slumps.  For me either I am working towards my goals or I’m not.  I try not to get down on myself, because that just makes it worse.

4. Are you naturally positive, or do you have to work at it?  How do you keep yourself positive?  I am a naturally positive person, but I think it helps that my hub’s is always questioning everything.  One of us has to stay positive!  I believe positivity is the only way to achieve your goals.  Without it I would get nothing done.

5. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?  I have not been that many places in my lifetime, but I think my dream destination would be a European tour.  I have always wanted to go abroad, but just haven’t had the chance.

  • What about you?  If you are not participating in FUFF, tell me an answer to one of these questions in the comments!
6 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on October 31, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in About Me, Budget, Challenges, Fall, Finances, Fire It Up for Fall, Indulgence, Inspiration, Motivation, Positive Self-Talk

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 31, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/31/fire-up-for-fall-week-7/

Fire it Up for Fall: Week 3!

Weight Wars

Week 3!


The one thing I am loving about Fire it Up for Fall, is the people that I am making contact with, and looking for inpirational photo’s/quotes every week.  I am finding so many motivators, it is hard to narrow it down to one.  I love this saying because losing weight and feeling healthy is on my mind everyday.  Whether I’m successful at my day, or not, as long as I don’t give up, I will get there!
This weeks questions:
1. What have you done this week to help get you to your goals?  I feel like I have had about 3 days of total fail, but the one thing that stands out is my Friday workout.  I am stiffer than I have been in a while and I know that if I have more workouts like that I will reach my goals.
2. What did you do this week to make yourself feel fabulous?  I went on a much needed date with my husband for our 9th anniversary.  My hub’s has been working so hard lately that it is hard to have alone time, and he makes me feel fabulous
3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?  What are your goals?  Ambitions?  I know it may sound plain and traditional, but I see myself with more kids, having healthy pregnancies, and living an all around healthier life.  My goals are to lose the 120 pounds I set out to lose from the beginning, completing my first marathon, and hopefully beginning a program to get my personal training certificate.  I have some lofty goals I want to achieve!
4. Give us a tip or a fact.  About anything, what is something great that you think everyone should know?  ALWAYS EAT BREAKFAST!!!  The day’s that I do the best eating is when it has started out with a good breakfast.  It is truly the most important meal of the day, and starts your whole day off right.
5. Fun Question:  What was the most recent dream you remember?  The only dreams I remember are bad ones, so I will not scare you with the details of my last one.  I can always tell when I have a good one, I am in a good mood when I wake up.  I wish I could remember more details :(
After basically falling of the healthy eating wagon the last almost 4 days (seriously!?), I am ready (and need) to have a good week.  I am hoping that a lot of it is water retention and that I can shape back up by weigh in day.  If not, at least I will know why.
Happy Monday everyone!  Check back later for Friend Making Mondays!
4 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on October 3, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in About Me, Challenges, Events, Fall, Fire It Up for Fall, Goals, Inspiration, Motivation

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 3, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/03/fire-it-up-for-fall-week-3/

Starting October off Right….

WITH GOALS!!!!!!  If anybody actually follows my nightly stat’s you will notice that I have been pretty inconsistent with posting them these last few days.  This must stop!  I am going to be the first to admit that I have had a rough weekend eating wise, and my exercise mojo wasn’t at its peak last week.  So I will take this opportunity of a new month to get myself back on track.  This time of the month is hard for me and I’m hoping that after the completely random day of snacking I had on Saturday I can get control over my eating and regain control.

I have been thinking a lot about baby steps.  This could be because my daughter is now a walking machine.  She starts to get going pretty fast and then falls straight on her butt after losing her balance.  Ugh, what a metaphor for life.  I feel like just when I start getting momentum, I lose my balance and fall straight on my butt.  I think the most important thing is that you have to keep getting back up, and another major aspect is to forgive yourself so you can move on.  It seems that we are so hard on ourselves when we don’t live up to our potential, but to err is human, and we need to remember that!

I am so thankful that I have a new day everyday, to try and fix the things I’m not doing so good with, and to perfect the things that I’m doing well with.  Monthly Goals are just one more thing that can help me reach my full potential and be my best self!

5 Goals for October!

1.  Track everyday for the full month of October and continue with nightly stat post’s.  It seems to help that I have to hold myself accountable by posting my tracking nightly.  The hard part is that I need to be consistent for the WHOLE month!  Cheat days, binge days (haven’t had one of those in while), and days when I am totally on point with my eating.  This is quite possibly the key to unlock my weight loss success.  I also am loving the little kudo’s that Livestrong gives me when I track consistently.

2.  Reach my 16th Weight Watchers meeting.  This should happen within the next couple of weeks.  They give you something for attending 16 meetings and I will be the first to admit that I’m excited for a little milestone.

3. Reach my 10% goal for Weight Watchers.  I only have 4 MORE POUNDS to hit this goal and I am DYING to get there!  Not to mention the feelings it will bring with it (more detail post about that when it happens).

4. Incorporate more vegetables in my diet. I think veggies are a weight loss miracle and I need to get more in my diet.  I am good with the fruit, I could eat it all day long, but Veggies are where the gold lie!

5.  Get my gym on 6 days a week. I am scared to death of getting sick after this last week!  That’s all I need is a wrench thrown in my spokes to ruin the habit I have going.  Plus, I start “The New Rules of Lifting for Woman” Phase 3 on Monday!  Did I mention that my friday workout left me feeling so sore I can barely walk?  I don’t know what I did differently, but every muscle in my body is sore (the good kind of sore).  I am excited to start some new exercises and get into some more intense lifting moves!

I am excited to get started on these goals and can’t wait to see the outcome!

What’s a goal you have made for October?

5 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on October 2, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Challenges, Daily Stats, Fall, Goals

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 2, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/02/starting-october-off-right/

October is Here!

I would have to say that October has got to be my most favorite time of year!  I am instantly uplifted just by knowing that it is October 1st today. So I thought I would have a fun Saturday post (Lord knows I need it today!) on all of the things I LOVE about October!

1. Cooler Temperatures!

Source

I am an extremely sensitive sleeper.  If the temperature is not exactly where it needs to be, I have a hard time sleeping.  I love the fall because it’s time to open the windows, and turn off the air conditioner .  It doesn’t hurt that you save a little money on your electricity bill as well.

2. Leaves Changing Colors!

One thing I really miss about Utah is the Alpine Loop.  It has the most amazing display of autumn leaves, you can’t beat it!

3. Pumpkins!

I actually decorate with pumpkins all year round.  I love the way they make my house feel.

4. Fall Scents!

I keep then going 24/7.

5.  Halloween (duh!)

I am determined to dress up this year.  I usually am a spectator, but now that I have my little one, I’m planning to get more into the Halloween spirit!

6.Hoodies!

I practically live in hoodie’s when the weather changes.  They are SO comfortable.

7.  Fall Clothing in General!

Yay for jackets and tights!  I have some fishnet spanks that have done their time in the drawer.  Not to mention, now that I’ve lost some weight I can now fit into a few more articles of clothing in my closet!

8. General Conference: Happening this weekend!  I’m just gonna go ahead and out myself as a Mormon.  This is the time when the leaders of our church get together in Salt Lake City and share spiritual messages throughout the entire world.  An added bonus is that you can watch it on tv, so it’s pretty much like being able to go to church in your jammies.  Being spiritually uplifted in comfortable clothes, that is definitely a win in my book!

9.  It’s my mama’s birthday month!

That good looking lady is my mom.  She is turning 29 this month (isn’t she a hottie?), one of my top supporters, and she’s just a pretty neat lady all around!

10.  The newest addition to add to my list of why I LOVE October:

My baby girl is turning 1 year old on the 25th!

I am so excited you would think it was my own birthday!  And let me just add that she is a walking fool right now.  I am so proud of my little munchkin!

There are just a few reason’s why October is my favorite time of year.  Now I get a chance to start fresh with a new month and make some new goals (more tomorrow on that)!

What is your favorite time of year?

6 Comments
by Shrinking Carrie on October 1, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in About Me, Fall, Random, Seasons

Posted by Shrinking Carrie on October 1, 2011

http://shrinkingcarrie.com/2011/10/01/october-is-here/

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