How Do You Approach the Day??

Gawd, how true! This hits home for me in so many ways... there are so many days when I start the day worrying about something, or tired, or just in a general bad mood. And doesn't that just set the tone for the rest of the day??? I was once told by a former boss of mine, that my mood tends to set the tone for the night at work... now, I find it hard to believe that I am responsible for 2o+ people on any given night but what she was trying to say that on the nights that I was up and high energy, that it was contagious and others picked up on that. She may have had a point but I still think she gave me too much credit for the mood of the crew. But I can see where her point does affect my daily life because if I am feeling bad, sad, mad, frustrated... I know my kids pick up on that and I have now started them off on a bad day as well.

I was thinking about this quote though and how it affects my fitness self. Lately, I am just enjoying life. I do have some back burner problems that are simmering... I don't mean to imply that all is perfect but I am not dwelling on those. I know they are there and I am taking steps to work on them. But anywho, back to my point... I did have one, right?... These last two weeks I have just had a completely different renewed sense of exhilaration! I look forward to exercising... whether it is the BodyRev or biking/walking or my strength exercises that I am doing. I love the feeling of euphoria that I seem to have right now. I look at my day and try to decide ahead of time where I am going to fit in some exercise and if it works, GREAT... if it doesn't, I try to adjust. And if I absolutely can't fit what I intended in, then I try to modify... my new motto is... Something... Anything is better than nothing!

Today K2 babysat her little charge at our house... K1 needed new gym shoes (he tried telling me he needed size 14!!! He got a size 12.)... there was dinner to worry about... I only had 2.5 hours of sleep this morning because of the interview... and I wanted to exercise... Normally, I would've stressed about wanting to do it all... I would've gotten myself worked up to a point where I was frustrated, upset and frazzled. But today I didn't let it get to me... K2 did her babysitting job... when the "little princess" left at 4:30, we hit some sports stores and the mall for new shoes for K1 (he is running the mile at school tomorrow and his old shoes wouldn't have made it). We spent longer than I had intended on the shoes but we left the mall with a pair he was happy with and that fit... I wasn't all that crazy about the price ($65) but it was cheaper than alot of the others that we saw... so half full type of thing. I decided to take it easy on myself and treat the kids to dinner at the mall (plus, I got to get my sandwich at B&N). We made it home by 7:00 and after seeing that the kids were settled in with their homework, I and my bike hit the road for the last remnants of sunshine. I had a great 40 minute ride thru neighborhood roads... I pushed myself on some and enjoyed the downhill breeze on others. When I came home, it was time to get everyone to bed. And I still managed to get in 35 minutes of my strength training program in.

The day went really well... and all of this on only 2.5 hours of sleep! But this was a perfect example for me of how a positive attitude can help get so much accomplished. Did I do everything? No... I have dirty dishes in the sink... not many though and they will be done in the a.m. while the kids are getting ready for school. No problem.

I really have to try to remember this... because I know this isn't a life change for me yet...but if I could just get to the point where this could be the norm, how great that could be. Oh, and as for influence... the girls had a much better day... I complimented them how nice it was not to have any fighting going on today.... small skirmishes but no major battles. AND K1 at 8:00 asked if it was okay if he went out and ran a mile... which he did. So maybe my positive attitude had something to do with that.

Think about it... how will you face your busy, hectic day tomorrow?

Food/Mood Log - 25 FEB

Food:
Vanilla Slimfast shake w/skim
1 slice French Toast w/syrup
2 sm pieces of ched cheese
2 choc nougat slimfast bars
1 Tukey/Salami sandwich on whole wheat w/lettuce
1 bowl Beef Veg soup
Microwave popcorn (shared w/J)

Green Tea - 15 ounces
Skim Milk - 8 ounces

Water - 60 ounces

Exercise:
3 hours of shoveling ... HEAVY snow

Mood... Good day... pleasant attitude... exhausted at night but hey! I worked my butt off!!


Good Things:
1) Watching big fluffy white snowflakes fall
2) Exercise from satisfying hard physical labor w/my the whole familly
3) Not having to go into work on a Sunday night

Food/Mood Log - 23 FEB

Food:
Slimfast Shake w/skim & fresh banana added
Turkey sandwich on whole wheat w/cheese
Small movie popcorn w/butter
Bacon Cheeseburger
Fries
Oreo Cake

8 ounce Iced Tea sweet
16 ounces Vanilla Coke

50 ounces water

Exercise:
none... :(

Mood... Good day... nothing out of the ordinary for being tired. However, it was a long day... can't remember too much. I remember calm... relaxation... no agitation... and no strong desire for midday nap. However, tiredness really set in tonight. Long day been up since 5:00a.m. or it could be the Bacon Cheeseburger...

Good Things:
1)Eating movie theatre popcorn
2)Mailing 2 packages that should bring smiles
3)Mother-Daughter talk w/K3 about school, boys and life (her experiences and mine)

Food/Mood Log - 22 FEB

Food:
Turkey & Cheese Chipotle Sandwich
Lemon Raspberry Square (HEY! It's better than the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake that was calling my name!)
Salad w/carrots, tsp cheese, seed mix and low-fat dijon dressing
Spaghetti w/ whole wheat pasta... little sauce w/2 mini-meatballs
Corn
5 Hershey kisses (the bag is finally gone!)

12 ounce Black Iced Tea (sweet)
Venti Chai Latte w/skim

Water - 50 ounces (need to do better tomorrow!)

Exercise:
1 HR walk

Mood... good day... only 4 hours of sleep but seemed to do okay with it. Ate a nice relaxing lunch at B&N's cafe. However, 1 hour later while grocery shopping was getting tired... little sleep? the grocery shopping? or the sandwich?? But when I came home had no problem finding the energy to make dinner, do ALL dishes and some laundry.

Good Things:
1) Relaxing reading lunch at B&N
2) Book browsing and shopping
3) J buying me sugar snap peas

Food/Mood Log - 21 FEB

Food:
Vanilla Slimfast Shake w/skim
2 Fried eggs
2 WW Toast
Salami on whole wheat bread
2 Slimfast peanut nougat bars
1/2 Bnls Sknls Chicken Breast (palm sized)
Mashed potatoes
Peas
Slimfast Blueberry Muffin bar
Turkey sandwich on whole wheat
Veggie Crisp Chips (cheese flavored)
Grapes
10 Hershey kisses (edited... forgot to mention these earlier)

Skim Milk - 8 ounces
Green Tea - 8 ounces

Water - 90 ounces


Exercise:
Legs (3 wts)
Cardio (2 wts)
Arms (2 wts)
Abs (3 wts)

Mood... When I woke up this morning, I was extremely tired! But again, I only had 4 hours of sleep. But I finally had enough sense to eat a nice large breakfast with K3 and afterwards I was raring to go. Since I had an energy spike, I did legs and cardio but then was interrupted before I could get into arms. However, by early afternoon, the sluggishness was back and sleep was needed. After a 3 hour much needed nap, felt much sluggish at first but after a bit became more alert. Ate a slimfast bar for a little pick me up and to help carry me over to dinner. Seemed to help. I had energy to make dinner and do a couple loads of laundry. However, I was extremely tired at work tonight... was it the mashed potatoes?? Was it the turkey sandwich??? Or was it simply because it was 2:00 in the freakin' morning??? Ended up taking a 1/2 hour power nap at 3:30 on my last break.

Good Things:
1) Getting my brand new washing machine (it's HUGE!)
2) Getting a nap in the middle of the day.
3) Mashed potatoes and peas... don't ask me why I love eating these two things together... and I do mean together... I scoop up some potatoes and then get some peas to climb on board and then... yuummm!

An Addendum to Food/Mood Logs

There is a lady from the BB (Cranky Otter) who post 3 things that makes her happy each day. She just recommended this tactic on the BB this week to help keep your focus on the positive. The kids and I used to do this a few years ago. We had a composition notebook that we labeled our Happiness Journal. Each night before bed, we would list at least one thing that made us happy that day. I am going to have to dig that thing up. It was fun to do back then so I have decided to adopt this and add it to my Log each day. It should be interesting to see what makes me happy especially on those bad days.

Food/Mood Log - 20 FEB

Food:
Bowl of Cooked Wheat Cereal w/ 2% (wahhh! we ran out of skim and I had to resort to Jeff's)
Turkey Sandwich on whole wheat w/mayo and lettuce
Veggie chip crisps (cheese flavored)
10 kisses (coconut cream variety)
Chinese Pepper Chicken w/white rice
1 mini Crab rangoon
2 Rice Cakes (white cheddar flavored)
3 Madeline cookies (from Starbucks - 230 calories! Yikes!)

Coke - 12 ounces
Grande Non-fat Chai latte

Water - 70 ounces

Exercise:
Cardio (2 wts!!!)
Abs (3 wts!!!)

Mood... Good mood today... very tired this a.m. but only had about 4 hours of sleep. Worked out after lunch (cardio and abs)... feel energized! I bumped my wts up one each (Cardio is now at 2 wts and Abs is at 3)... I can honestly say that I sweat this time. That's nothing new during Cardio although it was more intense this time but I can't remember the last time that I sweat during Abs... normally it is complete relaxation for me... and it was this time too however, there was SWEAT as well. It felt good! Great, in fact. Maybe that is what my workouts needed lately was to be bumped up a bit... I have been at 2 wts for the 3 main routines since October so probably overdue.

3 Good Things...
1)Doing the nail polish "thing" with the girls... toes for me... fingers for them.
2)Talking to Laura on the phone - we had been missing each other for a couple of weeks and finally hooked up today.
3) Having it reach 40 degrees and sunny! Feels so good!

Food/Mood Log - 16 FEB --- a little late and incomplete...

Accccckkk! I started a draft from last Friday but never finished it... wasn't going to post it but decided to anyway...even though I don't have a complete food listing. Two reasons for posting... 1) the only reason all 4 routines were done is because Andrea from the BB did a shout-out challenging everyone to do either BootCamp (not ready for that yet!) or all 4 revolutions on BR Essentials. Thank you, ANDREA! and 2) this was the day of my Plasma donation and it went SUPER! I don't know if the weight loss figures into it but what I honestly believe is making it easier is my increased water intake. I need to do a separate post on this visit... it was awesome!

Food:
Bowl of cooked wheat cereal w/skim milk
4 itty bitty breadsticks*
2 pieces of cheddar cheese*
2 slim jims*
2 pink sugar wafer cookies*
2 Rice Cakes (white cheddar flavored)

The starred (*) snacks were what I consumed after donating plasma...

12 ounce can of Apple Juice*
80 ounces water

Exercise:
BR Essen dvd
Abs - 2 ts
Arms - 2 wts
Legs - 2wts
Cardio - 2wts

Mood...

Food/Mood Log - 15 FEB

Food:
Slimfast Shake w/skim
Small movie theatre popcorn
2 Tacos (WW soft shell, lettuce, cheese, grd beef)
apple walnut bar
10 Lorna Doone shortbread cookies

12 ounce Coke
8 ounces skim milk
10 ounces hot green tea

Water - 65 ounces

Exercise:
1 HR Walk


Mood... not a bad day... however food intake was just off yesterday. Slept only a few hours after coming home from work. Went to the movies in the afternoon (had popcorn and soda) felt sickish later... I think it was the greasy buttery popcorn on a mainly empty stomach (its happened before). Very tired afterwards (but this again could be because I only slept 3 hours). Have to admit though (whether it was lack of sleep or food choices), I had no energy last night. Didn't Rev at all...gave it a brief thought and just didn't. Need to change that for today and the weekend...

Food/Mood Log - 14 FEB

Food:
Slimfast shake w/ skim
2 pieces whole wheat toast
1 pineapple spear
Turkey sanwhich on WW roll w/lettuce, tomtato, mayo
small cup of baked potato soup
Salad w/carrots, cheese, seed mix and sugar snap pea pods (spray on red wine dressing)
2 rice cakes
2 cupcakes
10 pieces of laffy taffy
6 pieces of Hershey's treasures
10 Water Crackers w/ asiago cheese spread

Venti Chai Latte w/skim

80 ounces of water

Exercise:
BR Essen
Legs (2 wts)
Arms (2wts)
Abs (2 wts)


Mood... For the most part it was a good day... only lows were during a GS meeting (that was after eating the sandwich and soup) where I suffered some frustration but 2 of my girls are really irritating... so was it the food or the girls??? Later lost it with J but that was more due to disappointment about something rather than food, although my response was a bit overly sensitive. Work was good tonight... I was "on" all night... laughing, joking around... but became extremely tired at 4:00 a.m. right after second break where I ate the crackers and cheese... not too mention the 2 cupcakes 3 hours earlier (and, ummmm, the hershey's candy)... so was it the food? or was it the fact that it was 4 a.m.??? With my crazy overnight work schedule and only part-time at that... it is hard to determine if my mood swings are food related or from lack of sleep or non-consistent sleep patterns... I will try to keep an eye on it. It would be interesting to know.

Food/Mood Log - 13 FEB

Food:
Slimfast Shake (w/skim)
Pineapple spear
2 Rice Cakes white cheddar flavored
4 Dove milk chocolate pieces
Ravioli (chicken and asiago filled)w/roasted tomato white sauce
Green Beans
5 Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies

8 0z skim milk
8 0z hot chocolate w/ Baileys

50 ounces water

Exercise:
1 HR Walk
1 HR snow shoveling

Mood is finally improving. Maybe I can finally start to watch how food affects mood now. Yesterday I had a difficult day in the late afternoon... CRAVING something sweet. I walked up and down the cookie/cracker aisle of the grocery store reading the nutrition labels.... wanting desperately something sweet. I finally settled on Lorna Doone shortbread cookies and some Water Crackers. The LD cookies were actually less in calories than the Healthy Choice and the sugar-free cookies that I looked at... what's up with that? I survived the grocery store without buying anything else fattening and escaped. I wasn't agitated or grumpy during this time but the CRAVING was so strong... it was like I NEEDED something sweet at that time. Last night I was pretty mellow... not overly tired or dragging. With having the pasta for dinner, I thought maybe that would have some effect but I didn't really notice any. Will keep watch in the future since pasta is a fairly regular occurence here.

Food/Mood Log - 12 FEB

Food:
2 pieces Supreme style pizza
Slice Marble Loaf (Starbucks but shared with dd)
Turkey Sandwich (WW toast, 1 tsp mayo, lettuce)
Bowl of Black Bean soup (tomato based)
3 milk chocolate Dove candies
Salad ( lettuce, carrots, 1 tsp cheese, sugar snap peas, seed mix, spray on red wine mist dressing)
100 Calorie pack of fudge striped cookies
Veggie Chips
4 bite size 3 muskateers

Grande Chai (w/skim)

Water - 90 ounces

Exercise:
1 HR walk


Mood... day continued on being a lousy day... need to take care of problems at home, I think, before things can improve... Today one of those will be semi-taken care of (for the time being anyway) and hopefully I can move on... Mail call in the afternoon was a help... to know that there are friends (some that I haven't even met physically yet) out there thinking about me... It's a good feeling. Evening was a bit iffy... but I tried to think positive and put my best face forward. Work... started off iffy... my mood didn't help...but things went rather smoothly... my boss actually listened to my idea...it worked and set me off flying... When I left this morning he asked me... "so what's up tonight... you were FLYING... I was so excited to see it." It was nice to be noticed for hard work... it usually isn't in that place. So I really can't see if the food affects the mood these last couple of days due to situations but I am hoping to continue this to see if Alden is correct on it... The man is smart and seems to know what he is talking about so I would tend to agree with him. Maybe I will ask him about it at next "REEEPORT!"

In one way I am proud of myself... there was a time, early in the afternoon, when I wanted to drowned myself in FOOD... something sinful and fattening and sugary sweet... I didn't care... I CRAVED it... but I knew that it was my emotional self trying to find a fix and I refused to cave... I did have the couple pieces of Dove but hey... it wasn't the bag! Which is really what I wanted... I seemed to know that my body/mind was trying to use food as a quick fix to feeling better.

Food/Mood Log - 11 FEB

Food:
Vanilla Slimfast shake (w/skim)
1 fried egg
1 whole what toast
1 pineapple spear
10 crackers w/asiago cheese spread
1 slice pork roast
1 helping mashed red potatoes
peas
salad (w/carrots, 1 tsp cheese, sugar snap peas, seed mix)
1 pkg "100 Calorie fudge striped cookies)
tortilla chips w/chicken dip

skim milk - 8 ounces
Water - 80 ounces

Exercise:
BR Essen
Cardio (1 wt)
Abs (2 wts)


First, let me preface this by saying that yesterday was a full work day, so I was up 24 hours and the food intake reflects that. As for the mood part, awful, horrible day... bad mood... emotions up and down, mostly down... but I know it is not food related... it was (and is) purely situational.... won't write about it... but I am in hibernation mode right now (friends, just give me a day or so, please, to respond to emails)...let's just leave it at... I HATE winter and all the stuff necessary because of it.... apparently, 2 hours is not enough sleep... I am going back to bed...

Food/Mood Log - 09 FEB

Food Intake:
Bowl of Hot Coooked Wheat Cereal
Slice of Meat Loaf
1 Scoop Mashed Potatoes
Sm Bag Movie Theatre Popcorn
3 pieces Pizza (med crust, hamburger, cheese and banana peppers)
Cake shavings (probably enough to equal one piece)

12 oz Coke
Grande Chai Latte (w/skim)

72 oz Water (slightly flavored w/ lemon Propel powder)

Exercise:
BR Essen
Cardio (1 wt)

The day started good but COLD. So instead of turning up the heat, I decided to start the day with Cardio. It warmed me up and got me moving. A phone call from a friend and treating myself to the movies made for a nice rest of the day. Then when the kids came home had to go to Target for a present and other essentials and picked up pizza for dinner.

However, I had procrastinated making and decorating a cake for my nephew's birthday on Saturday and had to start it after dinner. When I was trying to bake the cake I noticed that there would not be enough eggs (12) for 4 cake mixes.... off to the grocery store I went. J was helpful when I returned offering to help... he made the 2 yellow cakes by hand while I made the two chocolate mixes with the mixer. But I lost it over something stupid and it kinda set the mood... it was nice of him to help and I should've just let him do it his way... don't know what I was thinking.

While the cakes were baking, K2 and I read together... we need to finish this book and it is frustrating because I want to know what happens but I promised I wouldn't read ahead. Don't know why... she already read the book so she knows what is happening next... she wants to see me discover everything as it happens. Gawd, I hate promises! But I am keeping it... LOL!

After the girls were in bed, I went back to decorating the cake. It didn't take that long but by the time I was done, I was exhausted. I went straight to bed (midnight), read a chapter and promptly fell asleep.

So looking back on the day, maybe there is some truth to Alden's comments about food affecting our mood. I had a great start to the day and I ate a fairly decent breakfast after exercising. However, my day went south that night and look what I ate for the rest of the day... mashed potatoes, popcorn, soda, pizza... But I also have to look at it this way... was it the food? Or was it situational? I knew I had to do the cake but chose to leave it for the last minute, which left me rushed and unprepared (not enough eggs). Plus, there has been a little problem around here weighing on me this past week and when it sufaces I tend to be all jittery and moody. So I will keep the food log going... it should be interesting to see how this all plays out. I still think that my moods are more based on the situational experiences but we shall see.

Food/Mood Log - 08 FEB

Food Intake:

Turkey Sandwich on toasted whole wheat w/tsp mayo
Slice of Starbuck's Marble Loaf
2 - Steak Fajitas w/ cheese, tomatos, lettuce & sour cream on whole wheat tortillas
Slimfast Blueberry Muffin Bar

Starbucks Venti Chai Latte (w/skim)
Mug Green Tea
8 0z skim milk

Water - 80 ounces (slightly flavored w/lemon propel powder)

Exercise:
BodyRev Essentials DVD
Legs, Abs and Arms (2 wts on each)

1 HR walk

Not a bad day... however, the food intake is low because this was a work day...or should I say night... So I started counting my day from the point that I woke up which would've been noon (so technically turkey sandwich was my breakfast). Wait til you see my log for the days that I work...OUCH... somedays, like Sunday I am up 24 hours so the food intake on those days will be hefty!

As for my mood, it was a fairly good day. Had some feelings of guilt when I received the mail today... a donation that I was trying to contribute to was returned to me since it wasn't received in time for the big send-off. So I felt lousy that I didn't get to participate in that endeavor, however I am working something out to make up for it... that helps to get rid of the guilty issues.

Temper control issues were good today... lost it once mildly with K1, because he made a remark/noise implying that I didn't "understand"... helped to remind him that I was his MOTHER and did not deserve that kind of treatment (didn't threaten the "I brought you into this world and I can take you out" comment... it wasn't nearly that serious). But other than that didn't scream or yell... :) ... at the kids... plus, it was their early day home from school which meant that I had an hour more of their precious time... and all of this on only 4 hours of sleep.

Took some relaxation time today... got in some reading time and of course, a Starbucks visit. I know I should delete them or at least limit those trips but I love that place. Plus, today's trip was with K2 & K3. We went right after a library trip... it was COLD outside and we all had books... so we sat and enjoyed our "treats" and read for a bit. I love these times so nope, can't do it... not getting rid of them... but okay... maybe I can get rid of the Marble loaf. I will go to their website and see if they have nutrition info listed for their products. I probably don't want to see it but I really need to.

Now I am off to shower and read a bit before bed. Good day!