I decided today that I needed a concrete Christmas Savings Plan to get through the next 15 days. The most indulgent, busy, alcohol and cookie laced days of the year.
I know some of the things that are coming up and I know that there will be things that haven’t even occurred to me so I put together a plan this afternoon. I also know that I don’t intend to let myself go completely off the rails and I don’t want to have to ‘come back’ from the holidays fitness-wise or physique-wise. So, in keeping with what works best for me, I made a plan.
First of all I put together an exercise schedule from tonight until December 28th. December 29th to January 4th I’ll be taking the time off the gym completely. Having that ‘holiday’ coming up is like a little carrot dangling there spurring me on. So I have 9 scheduled exercise days over the next 15 days. My challenge is obviously to achieve them all. But there are other challenges over these 15 days also.
With a whole lot of exercise going on it’s easy to let my mindset switch to “I exercised, let’s eat!”. I have a plan for that too! First, on my last day of work before the time off (I’m off for 5, work for 2 and then off for 4) I’m going to the grocery store and I’m picking up the fixings for veggie wraps for lunches, some eggs to hardboil and a bushel of apples and oranges. I’m also planning to make a crockpot full of sweet & sour meatballs and a pot of really simple tomato soup. I’m trying to avoid the ‘there’s nothing to eat here, let’s go out’ mindset.
For the meals out (that I know about at this point), I’ve written down what I’m planning to order. Now, this might seem a bit overboard, but when you’re starved or hung-over or already have been sipping the Christmas cheer, bad decisions can be made. So right now, while I have a strong and healthy mojo working, I’m making my menu decisions. I have two birthday breakfasts, one birthday lunch and a fancy dinner in the space of less than 30 hours. I also predict that there will be extensive wine flowing that afternoon/evening. Since I already know where all these meals out are occuring, I’ve written down what I’m planning on ordering. For meals out that I don’t already know about my plan is to “Stop” and think protein, remove the sauce/starchy carbs, increase the veg.
Another challenge over this period of time is water consumption. The alcohol will be flowing and I’m certain that I’ll be exposed to more sodium/processed foods than I would like. How do I remember to drink enough water? A Water Bracelet. OK….sounds dumb…..but do you ever get all the way through a weekend and come Sunday night you realize the only water you’ve consumed was the melted ice cubes in your after dinner drink? Lack of hydration is a huge problem over two days let alone 15 days. So, my water bracelet…..just a visual reminder to drink up. (it’s a blue hair elastic)
So I think I’ve got the challenges covered……get moving, moderate the food and drink water. None of these things that I’m planning on doing for myself are going to detract in anyway from my enjoyment of this time of year. On the contrary, I hope they enhance and brighten my time off.
I’m so, so, SO desperate for a few days off in a row. It’s not about the food for me, it’s about the morning snuggles, the afternoon cheers and evenings that bookend great days.
Tomorrow night Tara and I are going to celebrate the impending end of what has been an absolutely brutal year. My plan is to order pizza (totally NOT in keeping with all I just said above) because the restaurant is the best pizza in the area. But my plan is to get the waitress to bring me a couple slices and box the rest up without even bringing it to me. It’s more important to me to not feel like crap for this huge upcoming weekend than it is to not get a weird look from the waitress.
Cheers of the season, beautiful people. I’m off to go tanning and spinning because that’s what the right thing is to do.
Fitty vs Fatty 