Chasing Joy

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Lunch Would Be More Joyful If My Salad Smelled Like Cake

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Does your salad have a smell?  I’m not talking about the salmon, chicken, or dressing that you put on it.  I’m talking about the lettuce and veggies.  Do they have a smell?

Well mine doesn’t and that’s the problem.  OK if I lean in really close to my salad I can smell something. What it does not smell like is stew, pizza, or a pot pie.  Why oh why can’t my salad smell like fried chicken?  LOL  I know you are wondering what I am talking about.

I have always struggled with my weight.  I have written about it many times before.  It is an on going battle.  Since starting my journey towards becoming a mom the battle has intensified.  The stress of the two week wait and the disappointment of the IUI not working has not been good for my eating habits.  I have been trying to get back on track by focusing more on my nutrition to increase my fertility odds.  I have been trying to eat more lean protein, calcium, and vitamin C.

In this spirit I brought a salad into work yesterday for lunch. But what happens about 15 minutes before its time for my salad?  My co-workers start warming up their left over pasta, opening up their take out containers, and bringing back slices of pizza from one of the celebrations that seem to take place every other day.

Their food smells so good.  My salad is suddenly the last thing I want.  I want something warm and fragrant and savory.  Yesterday I weakened and got a cup of soup to go with my salad.  But more often than I’d like to admit I give in, abandon my salad, and get something much less nutritious yet much more satisfying.

All of this could be avoided if only my salad had a smell, a smell like cake, Chinese food, or bacon.

Do you have to deal with this problem at your job?  How do you stick to your healthy meal when the unhealthy stuff around you smells so good?.

A Healthy Body Is A Joyful Body

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H is for Health.

I am less than two weeks away from completing the #100DaysofFitness challenge.   Unfortunately, no matter how much I exercise I won’t be healthy carrying this much extra weight.   Exercise is hard, but I find it much easier to work out every day than to control what I eat.   I’m sure some of you can relate and others of you are like that’s crazy.  We all have different weaknesses. Food is mine.

I decided to join Weight Watchers to help me get control of my eating habits.  I know the program works because I have done it before.   I did the At Home & Online programs years ago and was successful losing about 50 lbs.  I gained it all back plus some after a couple of years.  Then I tried Weight Watchers meetings two other times with not very good results.   I found with the online program slow and steady weight loss was possible.  With the meeting I felt pressure to be competitive and felt embarrassed to be the last person in my meeting to get the 10 lbs lost ribbon.  For this reason I’m giving the online program a try.

Having been overweight since I was a kid, of course I have tried multiple different ways to lose weight.  I have even written about healthy foods and motivation for losing weight on this blog.  But I have had the most success with Weight Watchers online so I am giving it a go again, hopefully for the last time.

Have you ever used an organized weight loss program? Are you or have you ever been a Weight Watcher member? Did you do meetings, online,  or both?

You Would Have More Joy If You Took Your Own Advice!

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For some reason I often find myself in situations where I am asked for advice. This even happened when I was in college.  If I was out with a group of friends and a stranger had a question, the stranger would always ask me regardless of how many other people were around.  I guess I just have one of those faces; approachable, knowledgeable and trustworthy.

I’m sure you have been in similar situations.  You ever notice how easy it is to give advice and solutions for other people’s issues.  Yet your own issues seem so difficult.  I guess it has something to do with the emotional investment.  When you are not emotionally invested, like when it is someone else’s problem, the solution is always so clear.  If it were not for those pesky emotions we could learn to take our own advice.

I admit it. I very rarely take my own advice.  I’m sure I am not the only one. Have you told a girlfriend she could do better than her current beau, yet stayed with a guy who was not treating you right? Have you given you best health and fitness tips right before you spent the evening on the couch with way more than a single serving of cookies, chips, or ice cream?  Have you explained budgeting techniques and the importance of having good personal financing and then went shopping on your credit card with money you don’t have because you were bored and the mall would be fun?   This is just a small sampling of some of the times when I did not take my own advice.

While I love you Joy Chasers, and I hope you love my blog posts, other than the few where I am sharing information about an event or a product that I think you might like, the things that I write are for me.  Meaning, I write to focus on my goals and  to ask you guys for feedback on things that can help me get closer to capturing the Joy I have been Chasing.  Through the blog I come up with solutions and advice on ways I can lose weight, make better use of my down time, and expand my comfort zone.  But just like in the examples above, I often don’t take my own advice.  SMH  (That means Shake My Head for those not versed in text talk)

I think this is a behavior I am long overdue in correcting.  It is time that I start listing to myself and taking my own advice.  Maybe I need to spend some time reading Chasing Joy and not just writing about it.

Do you have a hard time taking your own advice?  If you blog, how often do you re-read your old post, outside of editing purposes? Do you ever find yourself in situations where you the perfect example of do as I say not as I do.  

13 Joyful Reasons to Lose Weight

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I need to lose weight!  🙁  This is not a new statement.  If you’ve been Chasing Joy with me since the beginning, then you know I have been trying to get healthier and learn to treat my body like a temple for a long time. Like forever.  I have not been successful yet.  I say yet because I have not given up.

Last week I read two blogs that resonated with me, Skinny Jeans Dreams and Phit-N-Phat. There were several ideas that stuck with me from these blogs.  Not giving up when you go off track.  Instead of saying to hell with it and binge out after going over my calories or a weight gain, just getting back on track.   Making small changes and doing things that make staying on track easy.

In addition to the above I realized that perhaps my problem has been that I have not really zeroed in on why I want and need to lose weight.  I need to articulate it in a way that can be referenced easily.  I need to focus on my Why!

So here are 13 reasons why I want to lose weight.

  1. I want to feel comfortable to go to the doctor to address any health concerns and not put it off because I don’t want a lecture about my weight.
  2. I want to eat without pain or experiencing heart burn and acid reflux.
  3. I want to have more options when shopping.
  4. I want to feel more confident.
  5. I want friends and family to feel more willing to introduce me to eligible bachelors and not hesitate because they are not sure their guy friends like bigger girls.  
  6. I want to feel lighter on my feet when exercising.
  7. I want to feel in control of what goes in my body.
  8. I want to get healthier as I get older.
  9. I want to remain free of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.
  10. I want to have a healthy pregnancy when that time comes.
  11. I want to have lots and lots of options for my future wedding dress.
  12. I want to not feel self conscious or worry about people making mean comments about my weight. 
  13. I want my Joy to not be limited by my weight.  
Do you need to lose weight, or make any other health changes to have a more Joyful life?  If so have you figured out your Why???

Mini Coopers and Veggies, a Joyful Night

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Check out my book!!!

In my post on the Philly’s 17 days of Fashion I told you about how I’m not bored anymore because I get invited to all of these really neat events because of my blog. Well in addition to attending the kickoff for the 17 days of fashion I was invited to another event this past weekend. (I told you, not bored anymore 🙂 On Thursday evening I attended the Women and Wheels Event by Virtua health. It was held at the Holman Mini dealership in New Jersey.

I really had a great time at this event as. For starters I did not get lost. That is a big deal since I am known to get turned around every time I venture across the bridge from Philly into NJ. This event was jam packed with awesomeness. You could test drive a mini cooper, get a neck and back massage, get a hand massage, talk to vendors, sit in on short breakout sessions, and snack on yummy refreshment, no hors d’oeuvres, shrimp should definitely be considered and hors d’oeuvres. I was invited to Women and Wheels by Virtua Woman, who I met at Bloggy Boot Camp. (See that, if you are on the fence about attending a blog conference, take note of all the cool people I have met at them).

The atmosphere was very easy going and fun. Lots of laughter and chatter going on. At the end people got to win stuff that is always cool. It’s especially cool when I get to be one of those people. Winning!!!

But what I most enjoyed about the event was that I learned something new.  I attended the breakout session with Alene Brennan on seasonal eating and how to transition from summer to fall/winter foods. This session was right on time for me.  As regular readers know I am making healthy changes in order to treat my body like a temple. In her short 15 minute session Alene dropped some major knowledge on us. Here are the highlights:

  • While there are 4 calendar seasons there are only 3 food (or harvest) seasons. Spring, Summer, and Fall/winter.
  • Eating according to the harvest seasons is our original diet before mass production and transportation of food became commonplace.
    • At the Virtua Event!!!
  • When you eat foods in seasons you are eating fruit and vegetables when they are the most plentiful, flavorful, and the least expensive.
  • Eating foods in season allows you to take advantage of the natural cooling or thermal properties of the foods.
  • Foods good to eat as when we get into fall and winter include
    • Root vegetables – potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, etc.
    • Cabbage
    • Broccoli
    • Whole grains
  • When deciding whether to buy organic or non-organic fruits and veggies consider the thickness of the skin and weather or not you eat the skin. Go for organic fruits and veggies with thin edible skin.
  • Check out the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen for a list of what to buy organic.

That’s a lot of info for a 15 minute session.

The final highlight of the evening was when my name was randomly picked from the names of people who attended the Seasonal Eating session.  As winner of that drawing I got to go home with the book If It Makes You Healthy by Sheryl Crow and Chuck White. 

Do you change your diet along with the seasons?  What fall/winter food are you looking forward to cooking when the season changes?

P.S. Make sure you are following Virtua Woman on Twitter and Facebook so you can find out about cool events like this one 🙂

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