Christmas Month

Well, just to prove I haven't abandoned this blog though it may have looked like it. Nano month was followed by Christmas month, and here we are well into January.

What have the past couple months been like health-wise? Well, in November I kept pretty well to the plan. I exercised about five days a week, on average, and kept my weight stable. I didn't experiment much with new recipes because when I wasn't working on the nano novel, I was busy sewing up Christmas quilts for my girls.

That followed through the first half of December, though my exercise became limited to Curves two or three times a week. Though I'd been comfortable going into town at 8:00 a.m. to go to Curves over the spring through fall months (on days when hubby was home and I didn't want to use my lunch hour on it), as the days shortened that became harder. It's a struggle to get up when it is solid dark out, and the roads are often worse earlier in the day before the snowplows have been by. So a couple of times I've gone to Curves after work instead. Getting to Curves regularly has been a struggle. And in December I don't think I used the treadmill at all.

When my vacation time hit, my brain went into sneeze mode and seemed to forget that it was inadvisable to go overboard with Christmas prep. The temptation was especially strong because all the kids were coming home for the first time in like four years, and I just wanted to make a good traditional holiday for everyone. I went crazy with baking, tried a couple of new (closer to GI friendly) recipes. Basically I did way too much. Silly me. The girls needed that as much as I did.

So, what do you get when you cut exercise back to an occasional afternoon walk (or snowshoe outing) and add extra calories from sweets and rich appetizers? Four pounds or so. And interestingly enough, I slept less well, had a bit of heartburn from time to time, and a minor arthritis flare. Related? I think YES.

I went to Curves last Friday. Saturday I treadmilled AND went for an afternoon walk. Today I walked outside in the fresh snow. And with the goodies out of the fridge, I'm back to a sensible eating plan. It's time to get back on track.

The track would be exercising 5-7 days a week and eating a GI sensible diet with a minimum of 7 fruit and veggie servings daily. This is do-able. Forward HO!