Dear Ladies..Please Stop Skipping Meals

I've had quite a few people lately tell me that they are trudging to lose weight. The first questions I ask is, "Well, how often are you eating"? Five women this week have all replied, "Well that's just the thing, I'm only eating once a day"! So I figured I'd share some thoughts on this. Your body has no idea that this is 2014- your body is functioning the same way as it would have if you were born 2,000 years ago. We are very primal beings and our body has some pretty basic functions and concepts that regulate it. 

First, you have to eat within two hours of waking up. 
If you are one of many people who are not hungry in the morning, you figure you'll save the calories by skipping breakfast altogether. Actually what you are doing is telling your metabolism that you are still sleeping. You are basically saying to you body is "stay asleep, don't increase my metabolism, don't burn any calories". So that is what your body does and throughout your day you burn minimal calories. By eating first thing in the morning you say, "HEY WAKE UP and burn some calories! That initial meal jump starts everything for your whole day. 
Breakfast doesn't have to be big or well thought out. During the week I am a huge fan of hard boiled adds, oatmeal, and Greek yogurt. It can be something small- but make it something high protein. 

Second, you have to eat often. 
Skipping meals sound like a great way to save calories and be more of the productive super woman you are. However, by skipping meals your body goes back to those caveman instincts and thinks you might be starving. Your body has no idea when you will eat again and therefore it cannot afford to burn frivolous calories. SO- you body slows it's metabolism and the next time you DO eat- your body will hoard every calorie and ounce of fat! This is a basic fear concept- "I have no idea when our next meal is coming so I am going to conserve EVERYTHING so we don't die. By eating every 4-5 hours your body is assured that you are not starving, that it can freely burn calories and fat. Eat!
Now please don't take this as me saying eat a high meals every 4-5 hours- no. Ideally your meals will be around 400 calories and 1-2 snacks of 150 calories. Again, whole grains, vegetables, fruits, high protein. 

Lastly, find out what works for you.
Experiment with foods. See how long you can stay full by eating eggs for breakfast, then the next day see how long you are satisfied with oatmeal, etc, etc. You will find that your body works better and more efficiently with certain foods over others. 

And….. I'm Back

Well it's been quite the hiatus. I'd love to say it was all fun vacation leisure time but truth be told there have been a lot of family related events/tasks/commitments- some happier than others. When you get bogged down with life events, stress, and well..craziness- where do you find your outlet? Is it work? Exercise? Spending time with friends/loved ones? I think that can be very different for each of us. 

No matter what your outlet is -I urge you to find it and be aware of what works best for you. A few things I have learned over the last few months is how to find balance, how to let go of what is unimportant, and find time for myself in each day. That's what ultimately keeps me happy and sane. I tend to stress over things like laundry, making a healthy dinner, making sure the house is clean, making sure I am on top of everything with work, making sure I am keeping up with this blog, working out more often than not, etc, etc. I'm sure you are all the same- however there just isn't time in each day to check each of those things off the list and that's where I can sometimes get frazzled. I sometimes think of my day or myself as a failure if I don't accomplish all of the above mentioned things in a seamless manner, all while looking cool, calm, and collected. That was until a few months ago when I found my balance. Through some ups and downs in my family life and through much endless support from Adam I was able to learn that I am not a superwoman- nor do I need to be. My house won't always have all the laundry done, it won't always be spotless (far from it), and there will be nights when I say - "let's order pizza- I'm tired" AND THAT'S OK.  I think in this era of Pinterest and craft wizards and supermom's who blog about making homemade butter and bread- we normal people can be left to feel a little ..well..subpar. I urge to to let that feeling go- if you are anything like me and want to be everything, do everything- you know how it can be..I have realized that age 30 I am who I am- I'm not a Betty Crocker stay at home mom who doesn't sleep, finds joy in scrubbing floors, and always has makeup/hair done for my husband-it's just not. I'm a hard working career woman who enjoys spending time with my better half and my dog, trying new recipes, drinking wine, laughing and being happy- and when there's time left over to do the mundane chores I will. 

Here's what I found works for me… 
1- I set goals for each day- and there are no more than 3 of them. 
2- I take an hour to do whatever I want everyday- some days that is working out and some days it's planting my ass on the couch and looking on FB
3- I say "who cares' about something everyday- maybe the laundry needs doing and I don't have time today or maybe I over indulged on Chinese food last night- regardless I let it go..I'm human

I write this today as a transition back into blogging- it's been a few months and while I've been silent on the front- I have been gathering a ton of ideas I can't wait to write about. I think today's blog was more of a therapeutic release for me and hopefully some of you can relate and learn to let go of the silly things in life and learn to enjoy the here and now. My goal for this entire blog is to reach people on a personal level and give people the motivation to be strong and move closer to their goals- we all have set backs, but what's important is that we learn from them and become better. 

Much Love,
Brittany