Fitness

Pick Your Battles

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AHHH the holidays are here again. There’s so much to look forward to this time of year. I love the food (of course), spending time with family, the specialty coffee (I’m coming for you, Sugar Cookie Latte!), My birthday (It’s the big TWO FIVE this year…YIKES), and obviously last but certainly not least is… The weather. Considering that I live in Florida, anything under 80 degrees is considered “Winter time.” I’m currently sitting outside writing this and the thermometer says it’s 68 degrees. It’s so beautiful. Unfortunately, it’s only supposed to be like this for 2 days. Thanksgiving day is supposed to be back in the 80’s. I’m trying not to complain, but COME ON! I just want to be able to wear a dang sweater for ONCE on Thanksgiving. Sigh. Anyways, this is supposed to be a “fitness” post, so I’ll get to it.

I mentioned the food. I love eating (and apparently beating dead horses) **You guys know that’s just an expression, right? Because I talk about my love of food all the time? Yeah, you caught that. Ok. Where was I? I think about eating all day. ALL day. So, naturally this time of year is like Christmas, well, literally and figuratively, as far as eating is concerned.. One thing that I’ve been hearing at work and at home is “After the Holiday’s are over I’ll get back on track”, “My diet starts January 1st”, “I’m too busy to workout this time of year, I’ll be more focused in January”, Blah Blah BLAH… LADIES and GENTS! I want NEED you to listen to what I’m about to say. Those excuses are no longer valid. You can’t put this off. Your health shouldn’t take a back seat, EVER! If you don’t have your health, well, you don’t have anything… You’re all probably like, “It’s just a month Erin, it’s not that big of a deal.” Do you know how far you can set yourself back in a month? Really freaking far! Trust me on this one.

Why would you want to create extra work for yourself in January? Do you really want to feel sluggish and bloated all holiday season? Don’t you want to be happy and confident in all of the Holiday family pictures? I think we’d all have pretty similar answers… My advice is this: PICK YOUR BATTLES guys. I am totally, TOTALLY going to wreck some pumpkin pie on Thursday. But that’s Thursday. Not today, not tomorrow, not Wednesday. JUST Thursday. You know what I am doing today, tomorrow and Wednesday? Getting my pumpkin pie loving butt into the gym! How bout’ Friday…any guesses? I’m getting right back on track, with diet and exercise, until Christmas Eve. Some people have mistaken my love of balance as a 50/50 split. That’s my mistake because maybe I wasn’t clear enough. It’s more of a 95/5 split (eat healthy 95% of the time and “unhealthy” the other 5%). It’s simply impossible to out exercise a bad diet. There’s not even anything good on TV during the month of December. All our shows are on Winter break. Insert sad face here. Grey’s anatomy is over until February, Ladies. Workout around the football schedule guys. One of the biggest excuses for not working out is not enough time, but how much time do you spend watching tv every night? Pack healthy lunches during the work week. Keep each other motivated! You’ve got this. Plus, if you’re eating treats everyday, it makes those special days, well, less special. We must stay consistent. Why not give yourself a head start for January? You can still enjoy yourselves for the holiDAYS, meaning Thanksgiving, Christmas EVE and Christmas DAY, but the whole month of December is not supposed to be a feeding frenzy. Practice self control, guys. I know it’s difficult, but you’ll be so glad you kept it up come January first. Are you with me?!

In all seriousness, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Don’t forget what it’s really about. It’s so easy to forget how blessed we are to live in this country. There are awful things happening all over the world. We’re lucky to be here. Cherish the moments that you have with your family and friends. Say a prayer for those that are not able to be with their families. It’s easy to get caught up in our own lives, take a moment this weekend to really consider all the things to be thankful for. I know I will! I’m thankful for my family, my God and my freedom. What are you thankful for? And what are you most looking forward to eating? 😉

Until next time…

battles

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I'm an NASM Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist. I worked in a gym setting back in Florida for over 2 years, training one-on-one clients and leading group fitness classes. I absolutely loved it, but once we moved across the country to Colorado, I decided to take the opportunity to pursue a slightly different career! My obsession with exercise and love for writing collided, which is how I became a fitness lifestyle writer.

4 Comments

  1. Lori aka MOM

    November 23, 2015 at 5:30 pm

    I think that was directed at me, right? They all sound like my, “around the holiday” excuses! LOL

    • Chinups_and_Cupcakes

      November 23, 2015 at 6:12 pm

      What matters is, if you feel like it was directed at you, you needed to hear it 🙂

  2. Dave

    November 23, 2015 at 5:59 pm

    Excellent post Erin, However I don’t know where you hear I’ll start exercising on January 1st…Nobody I know says that 😉

    • Chinups_and_Cupcakes

      November 23, 2015 at 6:13 pm

      Yeah idk, maybe I made it up…

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