Heroically Superior Adventures in Fitness!
The Christmas Season is upon us. As a gift, you get extra “Wednesday ’Win’spirations!” A deeply personal post for me, this Christmas song reminds me of my childhood and nights spent in prep for time with family and gifts under the tree. It makes me nostalgic.
Enjoy yourselves as we get the holiday season started!
Wednesday “Win”spiration lasts all week, during Christmas week, didn’t you know?
When asked, I can say that the religious aspects of the holiday are the parts I love the most. Going shopping for gifts stresses me out, and looking at the damage come January to the bank account just makes me want to Facepalm myself.
The religious aspects of the holiday have always been heavily focused on in my family while growing up. If there’s one thing you KNEW you were doing on the holidays, at some time you were you going to be in church praising the LORD. That has still stuck with me even now as an adult. If the holidays were only the secular aspects of Christmas, like most holidays, I wouldn’t even participate.
Having said that, here is one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time. It’s very, very old school, being sung by the great Smokey Robinson himself. But you know, sometimes you need the old school songs. Listening to little Wayne rap out “O Come all ye Faithful” some how takes away from the spiritual parts of this most sacred of holidays for Christians.
I hope you enjoy. It’s a beautiful, beautiful song.
If you’re reading this message it means I’ve probably been disintegrated (again), have been turned into a gerbil, or am knocked unconscious and strapped to a bomb inside of an old abandoned warehouse. In either case, while dealing with those issues, I’m away from the blog for a few days. So I decided to start a new series here: I call it ”SideKicked”. While I am gone, a guest blogger gets to take over for a bit and keep things exciting around here until I make my latest death defying escape. First up to bat: Krysten from Darwinian Fail! I discovered Krysten during one of the many #FitBlog chats on Twitter. I knew that I was going to need help keeping up with the blog for this month. Krysten was one of the first people of whom I reached out. Upon going to her blog and reading her incredible story (which I will not spoil for you here– trust me, go to her blog) you find a woman who has learned to deal with incredible situations with courage, tenacity, and a grim determination sprinkled with just a dash of sarcasm. She is a woman who encompasses traits of the highest quality including, but not limited to beauty, hope, power and stamina in her journey towards fitness and I for one am extremely thankful to have her stop by these parts.
With that said, take it away Krysten!
Hey There Folks!
So, my name is Krysten, popping in here for a quick guest blog spot from “The Misadventures of a Darwinian Fail”. I am health nut and fitness enthusiast just trying to overcome the less than stellar genetics bestowed upon me by dedicating the next year of my life to eating a clean diet and focusing on my general wellbeing. My lofty goal for this year is to complete both my first half and full marathon. So I am super excited to be visiting another amazing Fitblog friend’s site! This is my first guest blog attempt so bear with me…and hopefully you all like it!
During my journey this year I am trying to be brutally honest with myself and recognize my weaknesses. The holidays are my weakness. Don’t get me wrong I adore this time of year. But starting mid-November its celebration central, and all my will-power tends to be suppressed by the festive frolicking and general hoopla of the season. I always end up getting carried away. I get completely lost in holiday merrymaking with friends and family and my resolve to exercise leaves me. I loose my desire to bundle up and head out into the cold Canadian air for my weekly runs, especially when there is a roaring fire and glass of eggnog calling my name. I also eat way too much when surrounded by all the seasonal sweet treats and gut-busting dinners. I confess I can’t resist! Needless to say I always come away with a little extra padding and a New Year’s Resolution to not do it again next year. So this year I am actually planning on keeping my resolution. This year is going be different!
I feel like New Year’s Resolution were created because we all tend to over-indulge during this time of year, so I am hoping I am not alone on this. With the holidays just around the corner (Confession 1: I have already started decorating for Christmas) as a type-A over-planner I am already formulating my Holly Jolly Battleplan. These are my top four tips for staying happy and healthy during the holidays.
1. Continue to Make Time for Regular Exercise
I find the only way I am sure to squeeze in my exercise around the holidays is by lacing up my sneaks and pounding the pavement first thing in the morning. This usually helps prevent me from getting too wrapped up in celebration-modes and ensures I put my health and fitness goals first. I don’t think it necessarily matters when you do it, as long as you do it! I also find I am way more likely to stay on track diet-wise if I make the effort to fit in my exercise routine – so this step really packs double whammy!
Nibblies are a major pitfall for me. There are sooo many yummy appetizers and treats to munch on – that are only around during this time of year making them that much more tempting. So as I socialize I tend to mindlessly stuff my face and before you know it it’s time for dinner and I have devoured half of a cheese ball and all the crackers that go along with it. I don’t think it’s the meals that do me in around the holidays (confession 2: I actually hate turkey) but all the little extras that I eat both before and after those meals.
Okay so obviously eggnog itself is CRAZY calorie-wise. But I talking about all of the alcoholic beverages generally severed in vast quantities during holiday festivities. So obviously most of these spirits are high in sugar and empty calories, but I also find that along with making me incredibly chatty I also get ravenously hungry! After a few cocktails or a couple glasses of wine, I feel less inclined to worry about which foods may be high in calories and whether or not I am actually hungry or just mindlessly munching. Caution gets thrown to the wind, and again half that cheese ball is gone before you know it. So while ‘tis the season to celebrate – if you are watching your waistline it is probably best to celebrate moderately.
You can never guarantee what someone else will serve and most us spend our holidays on the go. Thus, we are at the mercy of other people’s culinary skills and food selections. But we can make sure that when we are home we are getting healthy, wholesome, and well-balanced meals, helping to offset any of our party indulgences. Plus if you spend the majority of your week eating well it is easier to make those little indulgences guilt-free! Win-Win!
Ta-Da! So that is it friends! Just a couple of simple rules I hope will make a big difference for me (and hopefully you too now) during this holiday season!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Love your Favorite Darwinian Fail,
Krysten
