Slump

Yep...that's right...I've hit one of those. It seems that with the start of the new school year, new extra-curricular's for the children, and then doctor's appointments, I've hit a slump that I'm having a difficult time finding a way out of.

Yes, I'll still do my exercises at home, but it's not as often...that, and we've had about a week of horrible "cheat days" that haven't been kind to me when I visit the scale.

I was so excited because I was down 5 lbs, and now I've gained all but 2 back.

I know that I need to get back into the swing of it, and I did see that one of our other members said that she schedules time with herself, so perhaps I can look into trying that...

It's also birthday season in our family - which is killing me also.

Any suggestions at all?!

Birthdays I'd do a small piece of cake and scrape off the frosting since otherwise I get that whole "depriving myself" feeling and set up for a bad binge.  My family does this whole bunch of snack foods prior to the meal so I go for the veggie tray and stay away from the other stuff as best I can.  Not easy but I'm trying to learn if I slip a little not to punish myself too hard.  Emotional eater and I'm trying to break that cycle.

I'm going to have to try the scheduling time with myself because that would help.  I had to practically yell at myself to just Get Up and Do It and get on that elliptical.  I missed Monday and Tuesday feeling a little under the weather and I had to do something yesterday.  Have to stay on track today and the rest of the week otherwise Monday will be a bad day for me with weigh ins.  I found that putting my exercise routine up on the white board I use for work is helping me stick to it a little better.  I use different colors each day so if it's still sitting there Red on Weds...when Weds is Green day.... I can yell at myself and do something about it.  I only erase when something is done.

I have to keep patting myself on the back for small things.  I've gone up too this week and have been weighing despite telling myself I wasn't going to log weight daily and look at the week as a whole.  Go figure I've slipped since.  Monday I'm going back to daily logging to keep myself in check better.

You'll get through it! Hang in there.

For Birthdays you could make you're own cake instead of buying one.

I Just found this great recipe in my Self magazine for a chocolate banana cake with walnuts and frosting. It looks delicious and the best part is only 158 calories per slice!! I'm actually trying it out tonight so I will have to let you how it tastes.

I'm sorry for your slump but I know things will turn around for you! Best of luck to you and have a great day!

<3

s Jes

Aw, try not to get too down on yourself for hitting a slump, it's bound to happen -  especially if you have a lot of distractions going on.  Scheduling time for yourself sounds like a great plan, I've been fortunate/self-centered enough that I haven't had to try it but it's important to keep your own goals and needs up there too amongst all the other demands right now!

I signed up for the about.com 30 day exercise challenge, mostly because I wanted to try to get into some different types of stretches and workouts.  It's not overly demanding - my own workouts tend to be more so and if yours are I wouldn't necessarily substitute all of the time - but it's a nice change of pace for me and a lot of the stuff they suggest is easy to work into your day if you can make yourself take the 5-15 minutes required.  It's a good balance of things including looking at how you eat, some meditation for stress, and doing little extras when you can.  I'm not sure if it's good for you right now but I've enjoyed it and thought I'd suggest it:

http://exercise.about.com/c/ec/26.htm

Jes that cake sounds delicious!  3 of my favorite foods, be sure to let us know how it turns out.  Now that the weather's changing I'm starting to worry about the holiday season and trying to figure out ways to avoid all the goodies that will be around!

Kspitfire the cake was very good. You can really taste the bananas which I loved! I could do without the frosting tho. The frosting kinda had a wierd aftertaste, at least I thought it did. My mom and boyfriend tried it too and they both enjoyed the cake but thought the same about the frosting. If you want the recipe I'd be more than happy to give it to you. Just let me know. :)

<3's Jes