About Me

My photo
Pittsburgh, PA, United States
I'm an insurance professional with a desk job that has not helped me maintain a healthy lifestyle. I'm on a mission to put myself first and be the person I want to be.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Friday's Goal Challenge

Another new post on Wordpress.  Check it out and join in to win

http://fittofatandbackcarrie.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/fridays-goal-challenge-sign-up-and-win/

Sunday, March 28, 2010

New post on new site

http://fittofatandbackcarrie.wordpress.com/

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

This blog is moving....

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm moving my blog to wordpress, so please follow me there.

http://fittofatandbackcarrie.wordpress.com/

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Baltimore or Bust!

So tomorrow I leave for Fitbloggin ' 10 and Saturday I participate in my first 5k.  Am I ready?  I guess I'll find out on Saturday.  I'm excited, that much I know.  The schedule is packed with so many good seminars and events.  Stay tuned for pictures and stories galore. 

Friday, March 5, 2010

TGIF and many thanks!

I know, pretty lame title for a blog entry, but I wanted to thank everyone that responded to my cry for help yesterday and couldn't come up with anything more creative.  The pitty party is officially over.  I'm fully organized for my sister's bridal shower on Sunday, I have all my laundry done, the cake for the shower is beautiful (Thanks Julie I knew it would be) and I just finished a healthy breakfast of organic yogurt topped with organic pumpkin flax granola.

As you know I haven't been able to run this week but the pain in my shins is disappearing, so hopefully I'll be back to training on Monday.  My ex-husband was a long distance runner and I thought he was CRAZY for running so religiously, but I see now that once you get it in your blood it's horrible to give it up.  Sorry for calling you crazy Joe. : )

I hope everyone has a really great weekend.  I'm heading to eastern PA later today for the big shower weekend.  I'll update everyone and maybe have some pics next week.

ttfn

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Memories

This has been, by far, my worst week in a very long time. We are getting very close to the one year mark of my dad’s untimely passing. I keep telling myself not to dwell on that, but to focus on how losing him pushed me to be a healthier person. I’ve lost 34 pounds which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s half of what I need to lose. I promised myself I would do this slowly so that I could learn all the correct ways to be healthy enabling me to keep off the weight. My lowest weight was 191 this past year and I’m happy to say I am at 193 today. I had gained a bit of it back over the holidays which I think is normal.


So why has this week been so difficult? I’m depressed. That’s just the plain, simple truth. These are the things I’ve identified as my stressors:

1. My sister is getting married in April, so I’ve been working with the rest of the girls to get the shower planned which has been very overwhelming when added to the rest of my already busy schedule. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very happy for her and I feel really guilty even admitting that it’s a little overwhelming.

2. I have developed very painful shin splints, so I’m not able to run this week and I feel like I’m losing valuable training time.

3. I had a business dinner in which I stayed out too late and enjoyed too much wine. I don’t know about you, but hangovers do not make you the best judge of what you should and should not be eating. So I am WAY over my calorie budget this week.

4. Work. I should probably put this first, but I’ve learned to deal with the stress at work, so I feel like this has only added to my depression this week because of the above 3 things making me crazy.


Quite frankly, I’m tired of starting over on my journey. I know that I’m being very dramatic and having a bit of a temper tantrum. I just don’t feel focused at all and I hate this feeling. I need to get some control back. I’m much, much stronger than this.

I’m taking a trip with my good friend Vicki in 2 weeks which I know will do me a world of good. I just keep counting down the days.

I think I’m going to start going back to my therapist, but I want to have a better understanding of what I want to achieve before I just go in and start rambling.

I’m curious…how do you get your clarity and focus back? What techniques and tricks do you all have up your sleeve?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Time Management

I'm midway through week #2 of the Beck book and it's all about time management.  I never realized just how many of the things I do schedule are related to other peoples needs.  Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you I'm on the obsessive side when it comes to scheduling everything.  Ask my close friends how many times I've had to cancel the things I've scheduled for me so that I can fit in something else for someone else.  That's no good.

Losing weight and making positive, healthy changes in your life isn't easy and it requires dedication and the ability to put yourself first.  That's really difficult for some people, including me.  I'm getting better at this, but I'm still always worried about my actions and how they will be viewed by others.  This spills into all aspects of my life, both personal and professional.  I would gladly put my work aside to assist someone else who is struggling. Of course that's a good thing, but not when it gets me all backed up and limits my personal time at home. 

So how does this relate to my weight struggle?  I'm still exploring that one, but the most direct relation is scheduling time to eat healthy and exercise.  That was always last on my list of priorities.  Food is so readily available in convenient, sodium filled packages, who needs to schedule time, just grab it and go.  WRONG WRONG WRONG.  My insides are probably one giant salt lick at this point.

Schedule exercise was not a priority for me at all.  I had every excuse from "I have asthma and it hurts to exercise" even "I'm just big boned, exercise isn't going to help with that".  It was bad.  I hated being active and I understand now it had nothing to do with the activities themselves, but the way being so tired made me feel about myself.  NEWSFLASH.....rinse & repeat might work for your shampoo, but it doesn't work for sitting on the couch watching tv or in front of the computer. 



The irony of time management is that it takes time.  Go figure.  It's time well spent though and definitely worth shifting some things to get it done.  The big bonus is all those check marks at the end of the day showing what you have accomplished.  Be creative.  Do whatever you need to do so that planning your day is fun and rewarding.  I have a difficult time spending money on things for myself that I feel are "extras".  I keep a to do list each day and every Friday I count up how many things I completed and give myself $1 for each completed task.  I bank those dollars until I need them for the extras.  Hey, it works for me and eases some of the guilt.

Do what works for you, but do it.  Don't neglect yourself and don't give up the very important time you need for you.  It doesn't make you selfish, it makes you smart.  What good are you to yourself or anyone else if you #1: can't move fast enough to help anyone, #2: are too tired to move at all and #3: don't like yourself enough to want to help anyone.

As always, be happy and be healthy.  Enjoy these time management links:
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/timemanagement/a/timemgttips.htm

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htm

http://www.getbuttonedup.com/

http://shopping.franklinplanner.com/shopping/index.jsp