How Many Times Do I Need to Pick Myself Up Again??

Yay for me! So I've finally decided to get my butt back in gear and try to start walking again. I had to start slow today by only walking thirty minutes because my foot is not feeling well and I want to take it easy.

I've been noticing that I am back to huffing and puffing again and that in one month's time I have lost my stamina just for walking. Oh well, I'll get it back.

My post last night about my aversion to shopping really made me think hard about how what a dilemma this can be if I am not going grocery shopping. I definitely can't lose weight if I am not eating well and going grocery shopping. This, I suppose, is something that I will have to explore further on another day.

In the meantime, have a great weekend.

Am I The Only One Who Has an Aversion to Shopping?

I HATE shopping. I'm not messing around here. I really, really hate shopping. In fact, I think that I am one of the only women that I know who hates shopping as much as I do. I will literally wear my shoes until they have a hole in them or until my pants are too faded to look professional before I actually go and buy something.

What really bothers me about the whole thing is the amount of time that it takes. It's just way to time consuming for me to go to the mall, find a parking space, walk around and try on tons of outfits that hardly ever fit well. I usually end up being more depressed when I am walking around and trying on outfits because I am always in between two sizes and everything is either too big and frumpy or two tight.

My aversion to shopping for clothes started spilling over into shopping for other things. I think that one of my main reasons why I can't get my eating habits ironed out is because I HATE going to the grocery store. I was just thinking about this the other day-am I really okay with being fat because it is easier to drive through a fast food place instead of taking thirty minutes of my time to go to the grocery store? I think that I have identified a main culprit of me being overweight-I HATE going grocery shopping.

Why am I ranting about all of this? Well, because my boyfriend just asked me if I would go to the black Friday after-Thanksgiving sales tomorrow. Hell no! I told him, "I hate shopping so much and I just wish that I could get everything mailed to me so that I don't have to go to the store anymore".

My little brain started ticking and for some strange reason I looked online at Amazon. I saw that they have great "black Friday" deals, and the great thing is that they are all week long. It appears that Amazon uploads them and changes deals every couple of hours. I was looking at some of the exercise equipment because as I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I am possibly looking to start getting equipment for my house.

They look like they have deals on all sorts of stuff! They had the Mad Men Season 2 for only $20 and I just actually bought it yesterday for $50. You see? You see what happens to me when I actually do go to the store? Check out some of the deals here if you are just like me and you want a good deal, but you hate going to the store. Their deals are supposed to be all week long, like I said.

As I was looking through the deals at Amazon, I also noticed that they sell food. How could it be that I have bought books all these years on Amazon, and I never noticed that? I actually even saw that I can buy Silk soy milk and have it delivered. Am I in heaven, or what? But wait--how does something like that work? What happens if you order something that is frozen or needs to be refrigerated? I'll have to investigate that. Too bad they don't have fresh vegetables that can't be delivered directly to my door, right? Okay, I've digressed.

Anyhow, I can't believe I am so excited about some of the black Friday deals over at Amazon. Check it our yourselves by clicking here when you get a chance. Remember to keep checking back every so often because they change.

Have a happy Friday!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving wherever they are and whatever they will be doing with family or even by themselves. I am so grateful for my readers and the online support community of other health bloggers who are trying to create supportive networks of people who are trying to lose weight and get healthy.

Now, having said all that, let's get down to business! I don't know about you, but I am promising myself that I will NOT be guilty today if I pig out a little and overeat at my Thanksgiving meal. I haven't really been overeating that much before this day and I am going to try to not eat any pies or anything after today until it gets a little closer to Christmas. It's been hard though because we have been having potluck after potluck at work.

As long as we indulge a little today and then get right back on track tomorrow, we should be fine!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Planned Slipups

I've been dying for this "Harvest Pie" that they sell at Coco's Restaurant starting every October. So far this year I have managed to maintain my composure and I haven't set foot in a Coco's Restaurant for a while now, because I just knew that I would break down and have a big, sugary slice of pie.

Well tonight, my friends, I am going to Coco's and I am going to eat the biggest piece of pie that they've got in the place. I am going to allow myself this slice once this November and maybe again on Thanksgiving day. In December I'm allowing myself two slices as well.

So, if I go missing in action, you know that I definitely had a sugar attack and am somewhere bouncing off of the ceiling after eating all the sugar. Yummiiieeeee!!

Good Work News!!

I'm really excited! Today I met with a publisher (no, not an annoying one like the one that I blogged about before who wanted to shove bad food down my throat). Anyhow, I met with the publisher today and it looks as if I am going to potentially be a contributing writer for one of their language arts curriculums!

I am going to keep my fingers and toes crossed, hoping that the deal doesn't fall through. This will be my first time doing something like this and so I am really excited about it!

Of course my co-workers picked a Mexican restaurant to talk business over lunch. I just caved and had a tostada and an enchilada. Oh well! It could be worse.

Well, if I get this gig then I am definitely going to need to make sure that I exercise so that I can manage my stress from my regular job as well as this freelance work.

Wish me luck that it doesn't follow through!!!!!!!!

Ouch!

Why oh why am I continuing to walk on a hurt leg? Yesterday my boyfriend said, "Suck it up and just keep walking. Walk through the pain". Hmm, and today he's going to get it because my leg is killing me!

Just for that, I HOPE (hint, hint) that an exercise bike shows up on my doorstep any time before now and Christmas.

For the record, I KNOW that we should stop and take a break when we are hurt. My boyfriend has been trying to help me stay on the wagon and sometimes has to act like a task master in order to get me to exercise. Sometimes I whine so much and make too many excuses about why I can't exercise, so logically I think that he thinks that my hurt foot and leg is all in my imagination.

Note to self: Stop whining about things because when you are really hurt or not feeling well, people don't believe you. In the meantime, cut back on your food and start going to yoga until your leg feels better. But wouldn't it be so much better if I could have an exercise bike right in my living room? (Hint, hint, hint).

Maybe an Exercise Bike Will Help With My Crosstraining Goals?

It's about that time of year when my parents and boyfriend ask me what I want for Christmas. I usually don't know what to tell them, but this year something has actually caught my eye. Exercise bikes! I have been looking over the fitness exercise bikes on the Sam's Club website and they have got some really great options to choose from including: recumbent bikes, upright exercise bikes, and magnetic exercise bikes.

One of the main reasons why I haven't really been exercising much is because my foot and my leg have been absolutely killing me. When I first started my marathon walking schedule, one of the main things that was made very clear to me was that I needed to balance my walking with crosstraining. I know that I am supposed to crosstrain, but I didn't and now my foot and leg are feeling the consequences. For the past month I have only been able to walk once a week.

I really don't want to go to the gym during the flu season, and so I think that the next best thing would be to get my own exercise equipment at home. An elliptical trainer seems like too much work for my injured foot and leg, so maybe an exercise bike would be the best way to maintain my cardiovascular stamina while my foot is healing. What an excellent way to get in my crosstraining!

In fact, the Sam's Club website has a variety of different fitness exercise bikes for a pretty decent cost. I really like the recumbent bikes with the upper body workout capability, because it's an additional way to increase my heart rate so that I do not fall behind in my cardio as I am trying to heal my leg. The upright exercise bikes with the handles that look like the elliptical trainer handles also look like they would give my flabby arms a workout challenge, and the magnetic exercise bikes that have the heart rate monitor look pretty enticing to me as well!

The bikes can be easily ordered and delivered by the Sam's Club website, so there is no hassle with dragging a heavy bike home from the store. If my parents or my boyfriend is reading this post, "hint hint", I sure hope that in the next month or so I wake up to a big present that has spinning wheels with a nice red bow on it!

You can check out some of the fitness exercise bikes on the Sam's Club website for yourself by clicking here. Wish me luck!

Oops, She Did It Again

Well, I did it again. Once again I put my work first and let my workaholic behavior take over, which negatively impacted my eating and exercise habits. The truth is that my healthy eating habits have been completely non-existent over the past month. For the past month I have also only walked only about once a week.

So much for my walkathon in December that I was supposed to go on, right?

Work has been really tough for me and I have also been working on some independent projects which have taken my time away from exercise. But not really, because I CHOOSE to work on these projects instead of exercise. When, when, when am I ever going to kick this bad habit of mine and get with the program?

Well, I'll try again tomorrow because it's better late than never. Sigh.

Hi Everyone!

I'm just a tad bit irritated over the past week, because it seems like every day I have to go in and clean out the spam that is left in my comments section. For the record, if anyone wants to leave a "hey you might find this site interesting" type of spam comment, don't even think about it because it will get deleted as soon as possible. If you want to advertise on my blog, you can contact me in a professional manner by emailing me at multilingualmania(at)yahoo(dot)com.

As for my personal life, I have been too busy to exercise over the past couple of days because I am working on a few of my education websites that I am really excited about! I have been eating so-so and this weekend I will make sure that I walk!

Off to bed for now! Have a nice Friday!!!

To Eat Meat?-That is the Question

I've never really liked meat, even when I was a child. I can remember ordering meals like fettuccine alfredo with grilled chicken and picking all of the meat out of it and maybe eating one or two small pieces. During Thanksgiving, Christmas or other holidays, I always loaded up on everything else besides the turkey or ham. And I never, ever, ever ate fish until just recently when I started trying to live a more healthy lifestyle.

So why do I keep eating meat if I really don't like it that much?

Well, because it is easier to find and eat quickly. And over the years I've bought into the myth that everyone always tells me about how I will waste away from lack of protein or iron if I don't eat meat.

Now I am starting to get grossed out about the prospect of eating meat for some strange reason. I can't exactly understand why, but lately I have been feeling like meat is so icky and gross. I'm not knocking anyone who wants to eat meat, but it is just not something that seems very appealing to me at the moment. Over the past couple of months, I have been eating mainly salmon and other fish, but then the other day this thought popped into my mind, "If pregnant women really aren't supposed to eat fish because of the mercury in fish, why the hell am I eating it?"

Then I started looking at the signs at the fish counter that were warning signs about mercury, those signs that had been there all along yet I just hadn't noticed until recently.

It seems that the more and more organic fruit and veggies that I eat, I feel better and I am more concerned about the things that I am putting into my body. The other day I went for drinks with a friend and I couldn't even drink half of my drink because I was so concerned that it would mess up my blood sugar and make me feel like crap.

So I've taken the next step about learning to live a meat free life and bought a book about vegetarianism and another about veganism. I would like to learn about the nutritional requirements, substitutes for meat and maybe even dairy, and learn to live without meat for a while in order to see if this is just a phase of mine or whether it will be a lifestyle change.

Who knows what path I will take. I suppose it will all boil down to how my body feels with or without having eaten meat for a while. Wish me luck on my new adventure!

Get Off My Back

Why are there so many people who do not support those of us who are trying to work towards living a healthy lifestyle?? It's almost as if people who want to be healthy are committing a subversive act by taking care of ourselves.

The other day I met with a textbook publisher and she brought a bunch of muffins from Starbucks. She also brought all these creamy drinks that I don't even know the names of. Throughout the entire meeting she kept badgering me to eat the muffins and drink the drinks.

I repeatedly told her, "No thank you, I am trying to cut back on my sugar".

She kept telling me, "But the muffins don't have much sugar".

Then I started telling her, "I am starting to watch what I am eating and am trying to eat in a healthy way".

She countered with, "But the muffins are good for you".

She continued pressing and pressing me. I was almost at my wits end and was just about to lose my temper.

I finally said, "I am just trying to eat more fresh fruit and vegetable. No thank you".

And she said, "But the muffins have fruit. Don't you see the blueberries?"

I finally got a little assertive and told her to back off.

What is wrong with people? Why has this been happening lately? Why is it that when I am eating my veggies and beans in front of co-workers that they have to sit there and tell me that I am hurting myself by not eating meat?

I'm convinced that so many people out there, even the little skinny ones, are really not healthy and they try to sabotage people who try to be more healthy. Geez

I'm Going Crazy

I'm having such horrible, horrible cravings for sweets and bread today. I am having horrible pms and I want to gobble up everything in sight. I've stood my ground today though and I am just sitting here before dinner and I'm trying to control myself so that I can make healthy decisions for dinner. I'm so used to loading up on bread, pasta and other carbs that today I am craving it so bad since I have been trying to cut back on them and eat more fruit and veggies.

Cross your fingers that I can keep my control in check!

Getting Back On Track

I walked today for about an hour and a half. I'm feeling better this week and I feel positive that I am going to get my ass back on the wagon again.

A few weeks ago when I was on vacation, I had a session with my yoga instructor and she talked about my eating patterns with me. We had discussed that I would try to mainly eat fresh veggies and fruit, cut out the bread and wheat and limit foods that have tons of preservatives. I did it for about two weeks and I noticed a notable difference in the way that I felt.

Then for the past couple of weeks I have been eating okay for breakfast and lunch, but I've been eating out and overeating for dinner. Boo.

My mother keeps telling me that when I was a child that I tested positive for a wheat allergy, so this weekend I started thinking about going back to the eating habits that my yoga instructor discussed with me. I've decided that I really want to learn more about what to eat if you are cutting wheat out of your diet. I know that it's a "glutten-free" diet, but it just seems like it would be really difficult to cut wheat out of my diet because it's something that I eat a lot and wheat is in many products. So this is something that I am going to begin to investigate.

This evening I went back to the store and loaded up on organic fruit and veggies. Instead of bread I bought corn tortillas. For dinner I made green beans, edamame, snow peas, broccoli, and lentils. I stirred it all up for like 7 minutes with olive oil and ate it on corn tortillas smeared with some spicy hummus. It was delicious! This evening it occurred to me that I feel much more full by just eating veggies than I do when I have a huge dinner at a restaurant.

So tonight I decided that I would learn a little more about vegetarianism and also being a vegan. I've never been one to really like meat, so I would like to learn the ins and outs of being a vegetarian. I really don't plan on being a vegan, which would mean cutting out all animal products or products that have harmed animals-including something like honey, because it just seems like such a strict diet. Nonetheless I would really like to learn more about both lifestyles.

A couple of weeks ago I saw the actress Alicia Silverstone on the Joy Behar show promoting her new book about being a vegan. I thought that she looked so healthy-her skin looked great, her hair looked great, and she just looked altogether healthy. So today I decided that I would buy her new book to learn more about how she eats as a vegan.

These are all the books that I bought tonight on Amazon:

The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet: This books is mainly about phasing in a vegan diet, but I still thought it would be interesting to learn about veganism and also to try some of the vegan recipes in it.

Flu: Alternative Treatments and Prevention: Sometimes I get tired of listening to everyone talking about getting a flu shot as a way to prevent the flu during flu season, and then I watch everyone sneeze all over the place and wash their hands. I thought it might be interesting to learn about some alternative ways to prevent and treat the flu, as opposed to medication and vaccines. I've heard of people who have such a healthy immune system that they never get sick. I want to be one of those people.

The Immune System Cure: Optimize Your Immune System in 30 Days the Natural Way: I've mentioned the immune system in the previous paragraph. I want to be one of those people who never gets sick.

I can't wait to get my books! Have a great week!!