Killing Christmas Cravings

One of the hardest things about Christmas time when you are trying to lose/maintain your weight is the once a year foods, and the food you have access too.

Fake Hunger

The first thing I am going to help you avoid is “fake hungry.” 

This is when you suddenly have an intense urge to eat, especially when the craving is for a specific food, such as eggnog, chocolate, or a Big Mac. 

This is type of hunger is psychological and if you can distract yourself for about 5 minutes the craving often passes.

Try some of the following ideas to get your mind off food:

·         Email or call a friend

·         Do some window shopping

·         Take a walk

Food Hostage

You're out doing you last minute shopping, when the smell of the food court makes your tummy scream, "YES!!  I NEED FOOD NOW!!!”

Before you find yourself saving, “I’ll have a number 5 with a Diet Coke.” let’s start over before you went shopping.  (By the way, a McDonald’s Premium Grilled Chicken Sandwich has 420 calories, and medium fries are 380 - a total of 800 calories!)

1.      First, make sure to eat a healthy breakfast or lunch before going out.

2.      Take a bottle of water with you or one of those cute metal ones you can reuse!

(They are inexpensive, environmentally conscious, and make an awesome gift!)

3.      Do NOT shop until you drop! Shop just for a few hours.  Day-long shops trips always include a meal at a restaurant.  This usually nullifies all the calories you burned walking around! 

Festive Fare

The hardest part for me is the foods that come but once a year.  Like Eggnog, Aunt Linda’s broccoli and cheese casserole, Lefse, and decorated sugar cookies in Holiday shapes!  How can you avoid something you love, and only get to have once a year?!?!?!  My advice is don’t. 

Obsessing over what you should and should not eat will stress you out!!!  In the end it always triggers a binge that makes you fall off the wagon!!  :(

It is okay to indulge a bit.  Take a very small portion and savor the taste. 

Your first bite should also be your last bite!

Don't Wait until New Year's!

Wow... it’s 9 days until Christmas and 15 days until 2009 draws to a close!

Lots of people will make the resolution to get healthy in 2010.

But why wait 15 more days to start getting healthy?!

Why allow yourself to binge the next two weeks and then spend January working off the pounds you never needed to add!?

Holiday parties often have trays and trays of easy to pick up calorie dense treats.

My tip:  If you can eat it without plate, AVOID IT!!!

Every 500 extra calories is 0.25 pounds added to your belly!!!

Here are 12 Holiday foods in a 500 calorie portion, like the 12 days of Christmas!

12 oz. Eggnog

11 Shrimp Cocktail

10 Filled Chocolates

9 Stuffed Mushrooms

8 Little meatballs

7 Cordial Cherries

6 Lindt truffles

5 ounces cheese!

4 cubes of fudge

3 ounces nuts

2 gingerbread men

and a slice of pecan pie!

Awesome For Hire!

I am now kicking my Bay Area job hunt into high gear!

http://hirejessicascott.blogspot.com/

I have started pounding the virtual pavement, and hope to be working by January!




When looking for a job it is important to take care of yourself.

When unemployeed some people let themselves go, this is the opposite of what you should do!

Staying active not only fights off feelings of depression and stress, but also gives you more energy.

This makes a big difference because interviewers can tell the difference between a person truly "Ready to Rock!!!" and the one that is like... "I want a job."

Sad times might lead to poor eating habits.  Keep yourself safe!  Think about your end goal.
Put up a little sticky note on your monitor reminding yourself what you really want.

Be healthy and safe this Thanksgiving Weekend!!

I am very thankful for all of you who ready this blog and have been so patient as my husband and I transition to a new state.

Take care,

Jess  :)

Wait... How is 2009 almost over?!

I feel so bad because I have really neglected this site. :( I just have not had time to keep it up to date with all the changes taking place right now!

I hope you are doing well!

I plan to get back to blogging once we are settled in our new place.

Halloween Costume Contest!

The company where I got my leotards (www.welovecolors.com) to make my Cheetara costume is having a contest to see who made the BEST costume using their products.







Please vote for my costume!

Follow the link above, and click the little "Like" link.

Note: You need to be logged in with your google id.


There will also be voting on Facebook.

Once that page is up, I will post that link as well.

Thanks!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!









I am going as the Diva from the 5th element this year!

Here is a sneak peak!









I hope to win the company-wide (3300+ Employees) costume contest with this one!!

I will post more pictures later.


REMEMBER TO VOTE!!!

I am a dork...

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am a dork that really likes to keep tabs on things. I have a excel spreadsheet where I record my daily weight and chart it.

Well since I got braces I have been taking a picture with my phone after each adjustment to see my progress. It is kinda neat to see how my teeth have gone from:




To this:

Time Will Tell

I am still in a holding pattern waiting for the moment my future will become clear.

Once I know which path to take I can start the ball rolling, but for now, I feel more like the marble on a roulette wheel.

I am waiting for all this uncertainty to end.

It may be as soon as a few weeks, or it may drag on for months.

I feel lots of pressure, and look forward to the release.

Aaron and I united in California is the goal.

On the Cusp of Change.

Aaron came back from CA, and has moved me into an apartment with a month-to-month lease on the east side of Madison. Most of our belongs are in boxes, only the essentials are out.

We still have a lot of purging to do before the big move.

We are in a holding pattern right now. It is hard not knowing how long it will be until the proverbial ship comes in.

I am trying to stay positive but it's been a crazy ride these last few months!

3 weeks....

The lease is up on our current apartment this month, and the Manager asked if we would be willing to move out early (9/24/09). They want to put in new carpet for the next tenant, paint etc...
She then said we could prorate our last months rent so we only pay for the days we are here! Sweet.

Aaron has been in San Francisco since 8/8/09 and it has been really hard living without him.

Aaron is still searching for work and a place for us to live. He has looked at a few places and he is looking at another one today.

On the job hunt: One company seemed very enthusiastic about hiring Aaron, but they never called back when they said they would, and that was about a week ago. I am beginning to doubt he will hear back from them in the affirmative... but we'll see... Plan "b" is already in full swing.


Once I get out there I will start a job hunt as well. The dream was that Aaron would get a job and I would go into "mommy-mode." But it might be the two of us living in a studio apartment again. ;)

Aaron and I lived in a TINY roach infested studio apartment when we first moved to Madison. Like when we had the full size futon in "bed" mode it FILLED the apartment. You had to crawl over it to get from a desk to the bathroom.

We might be going back to that lifestyle soon, but this time in San Francisco!

The current plan is to find a place and then Aaron will fly back here to help me load up a U-Haul and drive back across country with our slimmed down belongings and 2 cats!

We might throw a "going away" party or two... but that depends on how much time we have.

I have been super stressed but I am trying to keep cool and let life happen as it happens instead of worrying about the future. Worrying won't change what happens, but will make me feel miserable... and who wants that?

I try to focus on what I am doing at this second and not let my thoughts drift off into the "What if's...." I focus on the feeling of typing, the words as they appear on my screen. The hum of the computer's fan and the refrigerator. My own breathing, a passing car... Just keeping my mind in the present and not letting myself make me worry about the things I can't do anything about.

Living alone...

As perfect as Aaron is, there was one thing on which we disagreed...

To simplify it for a blog post: Aaron hates Wisconsin.

He wants to live in a large urban area with lots of culture and good public transit system.

He wants our kids to have opportunities to pursue their interests with a world class instructors.

These are things you can't find in small town in rural Wisconsin, and Aaron refused to start a family here. He even said that he would resent having kids here because they would "trap" him in Wisconsin.

So after years of arguing, soul searching and reaching our early 30s childless, I had an epiphany.

Just like when I realized that being fat and being me were not the same thing;
I realized that I don't have to live my life less than 25 miles from where I was born.

When I thought about it - it didn't matter to me WHERE we lived as long as we soon start our family.

My stubborness to stay in Wisconsin was preventing our own family from being born!

I shared this with Aaron, and soon he had a one-way ticket to San Francisco.

Aaron left last Saturday.

After being married for nearly nine years, I've found living alone hard. I have been keeping myself very busy so I don't have time to freak out about it. When I get stressed - it's like another person takes over my body and tries to make me eat really bad things. I stopped two "attacks" the Sunday after Aaron left.

"Crazy Jess" would start making a bowl of frosting or batter, and I would then stop "her."

I reminded myself that this is an unhealthy coping mechanism, and I should call a friend or workout. I then threw out all my trigger foods: chocolate chips, sugar, and cocoa powder. I have been okay since. :)


Aaron is staying with friends and is on the job hunt. He has some interviews, and is applying at IT temp agencies. (He is a computer programmer.) Once he has a job, he will find a place to rent.
Our lease here in Madison, WI is up at the end of September, so if he doesn't find a job and a place by then, we move to "Plan B."

Our future is really up in the air right now!


I am slimming down our belongings for a cross country move into a much smaller appartment.