Category Archives: Nutrition

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 7

Good evening!

Welcome to week 7, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!! Where does all of the time seem to go??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Emotional Eating!

I am not sure about you, but I sure am guilty for eating, not because I am hungry, but because I am needing something emotionally. For example, I got home from a not so pleasant day at work not to long ago, and went right to the cupboards and ate two cookies. With nary a thought about, why I was eating those cookies. Was I hungry? What was I really needing? Were those cookies going to satisfy whatever those needs were?? Uhm…no, no, and no!!

What I am learning, as I go through this get fit journey with you, is that sometimes to have any kind of success, you first have to figure out why you do what it is that you are doing. It is all about pain and pleasure.

I believe there are two kinds of forces in this world that sway you to make a decision either one way or the other. Pain and Pleasure. What pain are you trying to avoid, and what pleasure are you trying to gain? Think about it, I ate the cookies because I was trying to avoid the pain of having to deal with my day, and to gain the pleasure of tasting some really yummy cookies.

How else do we use pain and pleasure in our get fit choices?

I am not going to get up to exercise because I want to avoid the pain of having to get out of bed early, and gain the pleasure of sleeping for an extra hour. I am convinced that this pain/pleasure principal applies to EVERY CHOICE WE MAKE!!!

HOMEWORK: Write down 5 choices you make every day, and what pain you are trying to avoid, and what pleasure you are trying to gain from each choice. Look at your answers, if you were to change you pain/pleasure that you associate with these choices would your physical life improve.

Underneath each choice, write what the reality of what you are doing here – this might be eye-opening for you.

For me, my homework would look something like:

Choice #1: I let Jason make my breakfast, snack, lunch and dinners, and whatever he makes I’ll eat
Pain I Am Avoiding: Having to take time out of my busy day to plan and do the work for this myself
Pleasure I am Gaining: It feels so good to have someone do all of this for me. I feel spoiled!! 😉
Reality: I don’t think it is wrong to have Jason help me in this way, but ultimately I have to be the one to be responsible for what I put into my mouth. I need to speak up and let him know what I want in my lunch box, so he doesn’t always have to guess, or over pack my lunch box.

Choice #2: I choose not to take time out of my work day and go exercise like most of my co-workers.
Pain I Am Avoiding: I am avoiding looking silly, sweating, or getting sore
Pleasure I am Gaining: I think that I can spend that hour a day doing more work at my desk
Reality: I think the reality is that the longer I sit at my desk, the slower my metabolism is going to get, the more weight I am going to gain and in 10 years, when I have all sorts of weight related sicknesses, I am going to look back and say, “why I didn’t I do something about my health when I could have?”.

Choice #3: Watching more than an hour of television every evening
Pain I Am Avoiding: Having to deal with chores that need to be done, or having to deal with negative emotions the might have emerged from my day
Pleasure I am Gaining: I get to zone out, and just stop thinking for myself
Reality: I spend more time watching other people “Live” than I actually do living myself. These people on television are not my friends, they don’t know who I am, they are not even real! Sheesh!

Choice #4: I choose not to get out of the house of the evening and go walking, or swimming with Jason
Pain I Am Avoiding: It feels like too much work
Pleasure I am Gaining: I make excuses for myself to not have to go out, “I have earned” being a lazy hermit somehow. So it is almost a sense of entitlement, plus I just LOVE being home.
Reality: I am really missing a great opportunity to not only increase my physical fitness, but to also spend some quality time with Jason. Realizing that makes me sad.

Choice #5: Not getting to bed early enough that I get at least 8 hours of sleep every night
Pain I Am Avoiding: I have this weird feeling that if I go to bed early then I will either “miss something”, or I will just have to wake up sooner to go back to work again
Pleasure I am Gaining: Uhmmm…getting to do one last chore, or cross off one last thing off of my to-do list
Reality: Who am I kidding?? This just makes me more tired, and irritable the next day, and it gets progressively worse until I get myself some sleep – that is not helping anyone!!!

What would your choices look like? Let me know in the comments above!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Saturday Evening of Firsts!

Good evening!

Today has been such a SPLENDIFEROUS day!!! After getting off to a rousing start this morning, my husband was feeling froggy and decided to head out with me to do the few errands that I was wanting to get ran, and we got them all done and was back home by about noon – UNHEARD OF!!! WHOO! HOO!!

Anyway, we did quite a bit of grocery shopping, and even though Jason had woken up with his back feeling better, he had overdone it. I knew we would have to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon, which was cool because that kind of left me time to do some of the things that I had wanted to get done today anyway!!

After all of our errands, we were going to sit down and watch some tv, but I have decided that I have to wean myself off the need to “numb out” to the tele, so I asked my body what it wanted to do instead. I realized, I was really, really tired! So, I did the unthinkable and took a nap, Jason joined me and it was so sweet and peaceful. We woke up after a while feeling much better, his back and my energy level, and I knew it was time to get some cooking done!!! YEAH!!

I was very excited to start making croissants from scratch! I pulled up my croissant recipe, and realized, that it is going to 7 1/2 hour to prepare, so I had better start on them the first thing tomorrow morning – I will take pics of my progress. Change of plans!! So, for today, I decided to make a white sauce, something I had never done before! After the white sauce had thickened, I did a very Paula Deen kind of thing to it, and added about a cup of cheese to the basic recipe and, once melted stirred in some cooked whole wheat pasta – it was pretty tasty! I wanted to health up my white sauce, you know exchange some of the unhealthy ingredients with some healthier substitutions, so I used whole wheat flower, which made it a little grainy, so I will have to experiment with that. I also used skim milk – which is something my mom used to do all the time, so I was pretty pleased with the results. My sweetie didn’t seem to disapprove of it, although that is hard to decipher whether something is good or not because he is like “Mikey” and will eat just about anything!! LOL! But that is ok, I still love you, Baby!!! 😉

A friend of mine gave me a tea to try this week, more specifically a green tea. I have been looking for one that tastes halfway decent because I am hearing more and more how much it is good for me. Well, I am SOOO IN LOVE WITH THIS TEA!! I am going to pick up some more tomorrow morning – I had to find out online where it is sold, because I couldn’t find it at my grocery store this morning. This tea is called Mighty Leaf Tea, and the flavor is Marrakesh Mint Green Tea!! It is so delish!!! Which is really saying something because I don’t normally like green teas!!! I can not wait to have a stash of this in the house!! YUM!! 😉 I am going to pick up a few boxes of this, and gift one back to the friend who gave me the sample, as a thank you!! I really appreciated his generosity!! 😉

We did finally sit down to watch an episode of Bones this evening, and as soon as I am done blogging tonight, we are going to take our things and go head over to the pool to get some swimming in! I need to limber up for class this week, and I think the hot tub will do Jason’s back some good!!

Then when we get back, we may watch a movie while I do some crafting!! I am making all homemade gifts for Christmas this year, so I really had better get a move on!! I have a LOT of people on my list this year!!! 😉

It is so nice to just be, and not worry about what I “should” be doing, and just do what I WANT to be doing!!! What a novel concept!!! All-in all, I have to confess, this is a damn near perfect day!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 6

Good evening!

Welcome to week 6, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been Six weeks already??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Staying with the Program When the Program Gets Tough

We are at six weeks in our get fit journey, and I don’t know about you, but there have been a few times that I want to throw in the towel. WHY? I don’t know, there are lots of reason at different times:

  • I’m tired
  • What’s the point?
  • This is taking so much time
  • The weight isn’t coming off fast enough
  • This is too hard
  • Blah! Blah! Blah!

Have you dealt with any of this yet?? Or is it just me? I thought tonight would be a good time to talk about this. To get this out in the open so that we can push through this sixth week so we can keep going on our journey to get fit. How can we make the lulls easier??

  • Get support, reach out and talk to someone who will genuinely cheer you on and help motivate you to keep going!
  • Do at least one thing that you didn’t think you could do before. Once you accomplish that task it will empower you to keep going!
  • Change it up! Is the reason you are wanting to quit because you are bored? Try a new activity, recipe, or something that you have been wanting to do but haven’t taken the time to do yet!
  • Look at the “old you” versus the “new you”. For example, the old me would have eaten that whole box of cookies in one sitting, changes to, the new me was able to eat just two cookies, and walked away.
  • Find something fun to do as exercise, so you trick yourself into burning more calories. For example, tomorrow night I am starting a belly dancing class, something fun, but something that will also get me moving!!
  • Remember why you wanted to get fit in the first place. Me wanting to be able to walk all over Paris without getting tired is great motivation for me to keep going!

What are your thoughts on sticking through to your journey of fitness? Have you had any inclinations of quitting, or giving up? What were some of your reason? Do you have any ideas to add to help the group keep on keeping on?

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and how all of you are doing. If there is anyone new who has just stumbled onto this blog, feel free to join the discussion in the comments section. This is not a closed group – the more the merrier!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 5

Good evening!

Welcome to week 5, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been Five weeks already??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Before I get on tonight’s topic, I am VERY HAPPY to report that I have lost 7.2 pounds since our very first week!!!! YEAH!!!

Tonight’s topic: Tracking Your Way Towards Progress

By no means am I an expert in this area, but I am coming to realize that tracking your journey could be the key to your fitness success. The primary benefit of logging your diet and exercise is motivation. It is much easier to stay on track if you can look back after sticking to your program for a period of time and see that you’ve lost several pounds or shaved a few seconds off your routine neighborhood run; and if you should keep your weekly weight on a simple chart, then you can see that descending line or the ascending graph of your weight loss progress. These visual cues are reminders that you are taking small steps each and every day toward your larger goal and it’s working.

Having your diet and exercise plan in writing greatly increases your chances of sticking to them versus simply trying to “cut back” on unhealthy foods or “exercise more”. Defined goals and plans to reach those goals will ensure that you achieve what you wish. Sometimes your mind will tell you that you’ve been exercising regularly when you can look back at your training log and see clearly and definitively that you’ve only averaged one workout per week for the past month. I find that when I track my food, I actually have eaten more than what I thought I had, or eaten more of the wrong things, then what my memory could recollect, which is why writing it down has become key for me.

Whether your goal is to lose 10 pounds by next summer, lower your blood pressure by 5 points, or shave 30 seconds off your weekly club 10k time trial, you will need a plan. By tracking your exercise times, distance, diet, measurements, feelings, and any other thoughts or goings on a daily basis you will be in a much better position to understand what you need to do to reach your goal.

There are many ways you can start tracking your progress. There are many online tools that you can use, my personal favorite is LiveStrong.com Thier . Or, you can keep your details in a journal, spiral notebook, or some other paper-based device – the choice is yours. I personally track my food and exercise using LiveStrong.com’s My Plate (which is free, btw) and I journal for the most part either on paper, or on my daily blog, which most of you already read. 🙂 I weigh and measure every Wednesday morning, and I LOVE keeping that progress in a simple Excel graph! Being visual it is GREAT motivation to keep doing a good job!
So, tell me what you think?? Is tracking your progress something that you might want to do? If so how, and what are you going to start tracking? Also, how has your Kaizen assignment been going from last week? Also, I want to know what is working, and what isn’t working with our Chunky Dunker’s Club. Do you have any ideas that might help us make our group more successful? I am always up for suggestions!!
With that, I am going to wrap it up, and we can open up our discussion in the comment section of this posting!
Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Tired Tuesday Evening!

Good evening!

I think my body is still trying to recuperate from being so sick this last week, because for some reason I am really achy and if I were to close my eyes right now, I would be out like a light!! So, I am going to keep this short! 😉

I wanted to make sure I posted my Kaizen activities for today:

  1. Got up on time
  2. Brushed my teeth
  3. Walked 2 blocks from parking lot to my office
  4. Walked up 3 flights of stairs
  5. Had a healthy breakfast
  6. Tracked my breakfast
  7. Walked down 5 flights of stairs
  8. Walked 2 blocks to lunch and then back again
  9. Had grilled chicken instead of beef at lunch
  10. Requested extra veggies with my lunch
  11. Walked 2 more blocks to get from office to parking lot
  12. Drank about 2 liters of water today
  13. Had some extra vegetables with dinner tonight
  14. Ate an orange for dessert
  15. Started reading a health/nutrition book this evening
  16. Doing kegals while blogging! 😉
  17. Brushed my teeth again
  18. Flossed
  19. Will do a stress relieving meditation before bed
  20. Took some time to stretch before bed

Today was a day about hope, love and gratitude. There have been a lot of stressful things going on in my life, at both work and at home. Today was a day that I chose to change my perspective and focus on all of the blessings that come my way everyday!! There are a lot of things and changes going on at work right now that we are hoping will really help make our jobs more enjoyable, and less stressful. My home is clean, and my husband loves me like crazy, and I love him right back! We have every need taken care of, plus some for helping others with. We are blessed!

We are blessed! We are blessed!
and today, I am just soooo thankful!!!

Before I go for the evening, I wanted to remind you that tomorrow is our Chunky Dunker’s Club meeting!!! I will try and post by 6:30 tomorrow evening! Don’t forget to hop on so I can hear how everyone is doing!! I am excited to weigh in the morning and let you all know how I am doing too!! 20 pounds is the goal!!!! YEAH!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Spending the Night With Ruby!

Good evening!

I am needing some chearleading to stay on the straight and narrow with my fitness plan this evening, so I am spending some time watching some Ruby!! I love that girl! She is just such an inspiration to me, and I just hope that I can finally start seeing that blasted number go down on that scale. This episode is the one where she realizes her dream of going camping for the first time! I love this episode, and I just ADORE camping!!

I must tell you, Jason makes camping soooo much fun! I love the zen, the quiet, the peace, and being in the great outdoors! I just love the whole experience of camping!!!

Anyway, back to Ruby and getting back on my own wagon of getting fit! I did do some Kaizen actions today, and I really do want to share them with you today!!

Kaizen actions:

  1. I have drank about 2 liters of water today
  2. I had a healthy breakfast
  3. Walk two blocks to and from lunch today
  4. I had a very vegetable heavy lunch today
  5. I literally took a break just to breath when things got a little stressful at work this afternoon
  6. I did some extra walking after work today
  7. Had a large salad with dinner
  8. I took some time after work to have a really GREAT laugh with my sweetie – a few times tonight!!
  9. Throughout everything I have done today, I have really tried to keep perspective and remain thankful for the blessings that I do have
  10. I did some stretching before going to bed
  11. and I did a 10 minute meditation to get me ready for going to sleep.

So between seeing this list, and the inspiration of watching Ruby making progress, I know I can do this – little by little. Ruby reminds me to not give up on myself – that I AM WORTH IT!! and that I can wake up every morning and find it inside of myself keep taking my baby steps!! God bless you, Ruby!! You keep going girrrrl!!! I know I will!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: If I can do this, so CAN YOU!!!! Don’t give up on yourself!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 4

Good evening!

Welcome to week 4, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been FOUR weeks already??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Keizen or Constant and Never Ending Improvement!!

At work today, I had an 8 hour class on the Japanese concept of Kaizen (pronouned Ky-zen), which literally means “Good Change”. The basic concept of Kaizen is the idea of making minute changes to your processes to create a different outcome than where you may already be heading. Otherwise, constant and never ending improvement through baby steps!! I LOVE THAT!! I thought that this would be PERFECT to apply to our goal of getting fit and healthy.

I had studied Kaizen as it relates to fitness in the past, and one of the things I had read was, if you are having troubles exercising, do one thing – one small thing, just to get the ball of momentum rolling. This doesn’t have to be a big action, I would actually encourage you to do one VERY TINY action. For me, it is simply the act of putting my tennis shoes on, as if I am going to go for a walk. That’s it! Not the walk, just putting on the shoes for the walk. If today was successful, for tomorrow, I might make it my Kaizen goal to put on my tennis shoes, and then add a 5 minute walk. Nothing too big, or scary!!! I can commit to TINY ACTION!! If today doesn’t work, try something else, but just keep trying ANYTHING!

For some of you I know that you might be thinking that exercise is not an option, so maybe your TINY ACTION might be to raise your arms above your head 1 time! Can you do it twice tomorrow? How about 3 times? If you find that it 3 times is too much, then go back to 1 time, until eventually you ARE able to do it 3 times, 5 times, 10 times, etc!!

You can apply Kaizen to your eating habits too! Maybe today you decide you will have diet soda instead of regular, or maybe you will get really brave and have none! Maybe you can eat one more serving of vegetables than you did yesterday, or maybe substitute one unhealthy ingredient out for one healthy one instead. Do you see what I mean!?!?! We can all DO THAT!! 😉

The idea behind this is that if you do enough TINY HEALTHY ACTIONS every day/week/month you will EASILY be on your way to your most AUTHENTICALLY healthy and fit self!! I fully believe that! I don’t always act on it, but that is what we are all here for – to SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER!!!

This week, my commitment to you, is that I am going to carry a small notebook with me every where I go, and ANY TIME I DO ANYTHING that is good for me, or promotes a healthy and fit lifestyle, I will write it down and share it with you every evening! How does that sound?? I would encourage you all to share any TINY ACTIONS or KAIZEN TASKS that you may be taking any and every day! They will quickly add up, and you will have LOADS of proof that YOU CAN GET FIT AND HEALTHY!!!

I dare you to literally take that FIRST TINY STEP! I would love to hear in the comment section what that TINY step might be!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!

Before I go, I was hoping to share a health-ified recipe with you this evening. I “borrowed” this off of one of my FAVORITE sites, Eating Well. They have all sorts of GREAT recipe ideas, and I would HIGHLY recommend going out there and checking out their site!!

This recipe is from their article, 10 Spring Diners in 30 Minutes or Less – you know how much Mamma likes getting in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible!!! 😉

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Aquavit Seasonings

The seasonings traditionally used to make aquavit—a Northern European distilled spirit—vary with every recipe, but they usually include pork-friendly seasonings like caraway, cumin and fennel-so why not combine the two? This easy, pretty dish is great hot off the grill or made ahead and chilled.

8 servings

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes (including 30 minutes marinating time)

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 bay leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • 2 1-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed

Preparation

  1. Combine caraway, coriander, fennel, cumin and bay leaf in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder; process to a fine powder. Add salt and pepper.
  2. Place 2 tablespoons of the spice rub in a small bowl. Combine the remaining rub with dill in another small bowl.
  3. Place 1 tenderloin on a piece of plastic wrap. To butterfly it, hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and slice through the meat to within a half inch of the opposite side. Open like a book. Cover with more plastic wrap and gently pound with a mallet or heavy skillet to 1/2-inch thickness. Repeat with the second tenderloin.
  4. Spread half of the dill-spice mixture down the center of each flattened tenderloin. Roll the pork, jelly-roll style, to create 2 long cylinders; tie kitchen string around each in several spots to keep them rolled. Rub all over with the reserved (no-dill) spice rub. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 6 hours.
  5. Preheat grill to medium-high or preheat the broiler.
  6. Oil the grill rack (see Tip) (if broiling, line a broiler pan with foil and oil the foil). Grill or broil the tenderloins, turning several times, until just cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 145°F, 14 to 18 minutes.
  7. Transfer the tenderloins to a clean cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes before carving into 1/2-inch slices.

Tips & Notes

  • Make Ahead Tip: Prepare the spice rub (Step 1) up to 5 days ahead; store in an airtight container. Cover and refrigerate rolled tender loins for up to 6 hours. If serving cold, grill or broil the pork, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. | Equipment: Kitchen string
  • Tip: To oil the grill rack, oil a folded paper towel, hold it with tongs and rub it over the rack. (Do not use cooking spray on a hot grill.) When grilling delicate foods like tofu and fish, it is helpful to spray the food with cooking spray.

Nutrition

Per serving: 130 calories; 3 g fat ( 1 g sat , 1 g mono ); 74 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 24 g protein; 1 g fiber; 207 mg sodium; 475 mg potassium.

Exchanges: 3 1/2 lean meat

WOW! I am sorry for the SUPER long posting tonight! YOU KNOW ME!!! Anyway, I look forward to hearing how all of you are doing this week with your health and fitness goals, your thoughts on Kaizen, and if you might try any TINY action tomorrow! and if anyone has just stumbled onto this blog, please feel to join in on the commenting, this is not a closed group!! – THE MORE THE MERRIER!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Recipe Pic, Week 4

Another Lazy Sunday!

Good morning!

It looks like it is going to be another lazy Sunday around my house today! My hubby is still sick, but apparently going to fight it, until I can finally convince him to get back into bed!! The dogs are happy, fed, and snuggled up against my side while I blog this morning – I really love that.

It is rather quite this morning at my place. The only sound going right now, is the sound of the heater blowing, which is kind of nice when your week is full of crazy hububb-iness!! The sky is the limit for what I can do today, but I think I am leaning towards going swimming, to give my body a good stretch and workout!

Talking about taking care of my body, well – I have been tracking my food with a daily calorie goal in mind, and for me, that is going to be my bread and butter for getting fit and healthy. It seems to be the only thing that makes the scale tip in my favor – which really makes this girl HAPPY!!! 😉 Water has always been something I like to drink, but I find that when I drink AT LEAST 2 liters a day – OR MORE, that is when my scale likes to cooperate with me too!!! So I am trying REALLY HARD to stay on top of that!! As for exercise, right now SWIMMING is my saving grace. It is the only place in this world where I feel not only weightless, but graceful!! I can do things in the water that I could NEVER do out in the real world – not at the weight and size that I am. With the addition of my friends and family for support, I know that fitness is something that I can and will achieve!!!

OK, I am not sure where that tangent came from, but let’s talk about books for a moment! I would love nothing more than to spend a few hours reading today, but I am having trouble finding a good book worth diving head-first into, to be enveloped inside of it’s delicious story!! This is soooo ironic because my library consists of over 1000 books from which to choose from, and most of which I have never even have read yet. Part of my problem is my self-appointed guilt that I feel whenever I start to read a book and don’t like it – for some reason I feel like I have to read the entire book, no matter how much I feel like I am just trudging on! In some kooky way I feel like I am somehow being disrespectful to the book! OK, TOTALLY CRAZY, I KNOW!!! LOL!! 😉 I will have to just suck it up today, and start reading. I just know I have quite a few gems in this collection that, once I find, I will be kicking myself for not having found them sooner!!!

Another thing I was just thinking of, was my sis, Nette, is remodeling her house. Most of the family is helping her, except me. You see, everyone knows that if you want design ideas, decorating tips & hints, a shopping buddy, I am your girl, BUT if you need some manual labor of any kind, you might as well call someone else (sorry, sis!!!). 😉 This may stem from the fact that I NEVER like to get my hands dirty! This has been a long standing joke in my family! Ever since I can remember I have HATED to get my hands dirty!!! My dad says, that I could have been covered from head to toe in all sort of mud, dirt and grime, but if my hands got dirty, I would come running over, crying, until someone wiped them off and then I would run off to play some more with the rest of my filthy self! All of the witnessing adults would look at each other as if they had just come into contact with an alien species, and laugh their heads off!!! Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I STILL HATE to get my hands dirty – TO THIS DAY!!! I am not sure what that is all about, but I have a nephew who is EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!! So, I am TOTALLY SURE that it must be something genetic!! Well, at least that is my story, and I AM STICKING TO IT, well, as long as my hands don’t get dirty in the process!! LOL! 🙂

Thanks for sticking with me this morning, as I see my post today is pretty random!! Now you have a sampling of what it is like to be inside of my head – scary right??? LOL! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 3

Good evening!

Welcome to our 3rd weekly meeting of the The Chunky Dunker’s Club!

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic is Finding your own personal motivation:

I have to confess! I had every intention of doing all the right things this week; eat right, exercise, drink water, meditate, take time for myself, etc. etc. etc. I found that what actually happened is that I just kinda dabbled at everything. Not too bad, but not to good either!! You know what I mean? I walked once or twice, or I drank water on this day, but not so much on that day – I think I realized that I haven’t yet come up with a compelling reason to get into shape. I know I want to, but why do I want to??? I want a reason that when I think of IT JAZZES ME and gets me excited about doing all of these healthy actions that I may not necessarily want to do. You know, something that makes me WANT to GET UP AND DO SOMETHING!!!

So, I thought a little bit about it, and I decided to write one paragraph that describes what I want to do/be/have now that I am fit (dreaming in the present tense). Here is my paragraph:

I have had such an AMAZING time on this health and fitness journey that I have been on for the past year. I can’t imagine EVER going back to my old life!!! I have been able to do and accomplish more than I ever dreamed possible! If you would have asked me a year ago if I thought I would ever be able to run a mile again, I probably would have laughed out loud. Now, not only can I run a mile, I can actually run 2 in one go. ISN’T THAT AMAZING??? The new me can now keep up with all of our nieces and nephews, which has made getting together with them so much more fun! I feel better now then I did as a teenager!! I am stronger, more flexible, and have WAAAAAY more energy than I thought I would EVER have. My sweetie and I are like young lovers again and we are preparing for our trip to Paris. HONEY, we are going to be WALKING FOOLS when we get there! There is going to be NO STOPPING US!!! We seem to be able to walk for HOURS without puttering out, just ask the old us if that were even possible, UHM….NO!!!! You could have NEVER said that about the old us!!! I am really proud of all of our accomplishments! I can’t WAIT to see WHAT IS NEXT IN STORE FOR US!!!

When I read this paragraph, it TOTALLY motivates me to get up, to make the hard choices, and to not procrastinate!!!! I know that I am worth this, and so are all of my friends and family. Those with us now, and those to come.

Your assignment this week is to write your own paragraph. Write your paragraph as if you have already achieved your goals, it should motivate, inspire you, and cause you to WANT to take ACTION!! I can’t wait to read them all!!! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!!!

GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!
😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

How to Be a Bombshell!

Good evening!!

I am spending some quiet time this evening reading my Self Magazine. They have this GREAT article in it about Sofia Vergaras. Have you heard of her??? She is someone that has recently caught my attention! She is the saucy mom on the television show, The Modern Family. This article is called,

Sofia Vergara’s Rules of Attraction: Start your engines, ladies. The Modern Family bombshell shows you six ways to put a little va into your voom.

Now with a title like that, who could possibly resist??? I know I can’t, AND my va could TOTALLY use some voom – so here I am, honey!!! 😉

Instead of copying her 6 steps to Va-Va-Voom-ness, I thought I would paraphrase and make them my own!!!

  1. Tap into your inner Latina – Confident people have a way of carrying themselves that makes other more attracted to them. Latin women are very comfortable with their bodies and their sexuality. We aren’t afraid to show off a little bit more. Be proud of who you are and what you look like! If you have 5-10-15-100 pounds yet to lose – dress those pounds like you are SOOOO PROUD to own them!! They will eventually go away, but you will still be rocking your FIERCENESS!!
  2. Flaunt your assets – Go look in the mirror and decide what physical feature of yours you like the best, and HONEY PLAY IT UP!! If it is your eyes, wear some smokin’ eyeliner and mascara every day, or if it is your decollete then always rock v-neck tops that feature your best asset! But, again, it is about being proud of who you are, and what you have and just WORKING IT!!
  3. Laugh away stress – In my opinion, nothing can make you look more tired, and run down then when you have lost the lightness in you, that laughter and a sense of humor bring. Be able to laugh at yourself and be happy even under the worst conditions. When you see people in difficult times, that’s when their true nature comes out.
  4. Eat what you crave – Constantly denying yourself is decidedly not sexy. Find a small way to indulge every day, but then balance that out with other healthy habits. By doing so, not only do you feel like you have just had a treat, but it will make healthy habits easier to stick to because you will not feel like you are depriving yourself of something that you “can’t have”.
  5. Know when to say no – Take time to take care of yourself. You are not a machine, or the Energizer bunny! You NEED to have downtime to pamper yourself, and to re-energize from all that life may throw at you! It is hard to feel sexy when you are too busy looking haggard from running around like crazy, and constantly being on the go. Don’t be afraid to say no to someone who may want you to volunteer for one more activity, or trying to add one more thing to your to-do list. You will feel empowered that you took charge of your time, and you will look more relaxed and attentive for that next event where you are able to get in there and lend a hand.
  6. Trade sit-ups for Salsa – Doing a physical activity that is fun, in my opinion, is not exercise, it is fun!! so make sure you get involved in activities that make you happy, while causing you to work up a good sweat! Dancing, swimming, sports with friends, biking your neighborhood, all fun. As my niece likes to say, LET’S GO PLAY!!!

I hope these tips motivate you to go out and give some of these a try. They are simple ways to feel your absolute BEST, and you never know you may just get a date with some hottie while you are out living in your new sexy self!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉