Don't Give Up On New Years Resolutions!

Life is like a marathon

Don’t judge a book by its cover

The early bird gets the worm

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Absolute power corrupts absolutely

Some clichés are about as useful as a lead balloon.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

I am the first person to say that I despise clichés and euphemisms. I’m a say it how it is kind of gal (unless of course there is a guy involved, in which case I’m a say it in incoherent gibberish kind of gal) but there is one cliché that I feel people always roll their eyes at: New Year’s resolutions.

But this is one turn of phrase that I actually feel deserves a second chance! (Like the fanny pack!) I hear from people in my life that they are ineffective; they will be forgotten before January ends and that assigning the task of self-improvement to an arbitrary date like January 1^st is destined for failure.

All right negative Nellie’s, be that way.

But I really do think a new year’s resolution is a great idea. I think the reason most people fail or give up is because of the way that they go about them. A lot of people treat a new years resolution like a magical wish. When the final second ticks down on December 31^st some people seem to think that a switch will flip and they’ll instantly have the willpower and discipline of a Navy Seal or the athletic capability of Sammy Sosa or the paper and napkin folding abilities of Martha Stewart.

Just me? Cool.

So on January 1^st, don’t make a wish. Don’t resolve to suddenly be an Olympic athlete, or an astronaut or a competitive whistler. Most people can’t really achieve all those things (unless you are Barbie. She can do it all. In a pink convertible) but you can change a certain habit or attitude to make yourself better, happier, stronger etc.

Whenever I decide I need to change something, it’s usually a vague thought rolling around in my head: blahh I need to save more money but I can’t focus on how to do it. I just know I need to. The idea is in there, it’s just running back and forth like 2-year old and refusing to sit still so I can organize. Weeeeeeeee! So this is a good time to ask some important questions. Take a few seconds and answer these questions and actually write down your response:

•      Why do I want to do this?
•        What is the habit that I would need t o develop/change to make this happen?
•        What do I already do well that I can use to learn and stay accountable?
•        What other resources do I need?
•     What is my deadline? Do I need to break a big goal up into a smaller one?
•         How can I set this up to not be overwhelmed?
• 
  

If you do decide to take on a new years resolution, I do have a few words of advice (from some personal ummm, well, they weren’t successes). If you think you are starting small, start smaller. Trust me. You have time to expand your goal but you won’t be overwhelmed once you get into it.

Focus on the process. It’s easy to get caught up in an initial wave of excitement and then free fall to earth like the Wylie Coyote when your initial efforts don’t produce immediate and amazing results (what do you mean I didn’t lose 10lbs overnight?! I had a salad last night!) So focus on the process and develop a greater competence of the actual activity, habit or skill you want to ultimately achieve.

Have a clear purpose. Be clear on what you want to achieve not simply an idea. Resolutions to eat better, get fitter, be happier, or relax more are doomed to fail because they aren’t specific. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to succeed. Describe your goals and resolutions in a way that will allow you to track your progress and measure your success (hello milestones…and my subsequent embarrassingly huge Essie nail polish collection).

Forgive your failures. Your setbacks and failures won’t define your success in the year ahead but how you respond will! Everyone slips up so don’t let those setbacks mean more than they do. Reflect on why it happened, make an adjustment and then channel your inner John Wayne and get back in the saddle!

My resolution this year is to take at least 3 seconds off my last half-marathon time in my upcoming race in April. I also want to focus controlling my temper, I tend to be a wee bit of a reactionary. 

What are your New Years resolutions? 

Oh Jiggle Bells, Jiggle Bells...Where are the Tums?

Dashing through my clothes, 
Tomorrow's the day I weigh. 
I really don't want to go, 
But I scheduled it that way. 
Take off all my Bling. 
Make Sure What I Wear Is Light. 
What fun it is to laugh and sing. 
Don't eat anything tonight ! 

Oh, jiggle bells, jiggle bells, 
Jiggle all the way. 
Oh, why did I eat that pie, 
And sneak that Milky Way. 
Jiggle bells, jiggle bells, 
Jiggle all the way. 
I should have checked the portion size. 
I'm regretting it today. 

With lyrical talents such as this, I could totally be Taylor Swfit (I mean being scorned by a candy bar is just as emotionally complex as being dissed by Jake Gyllenhaal right?)

I went to a holiday party on Friday night and let me tell you, it was on a food mission!

Mini pies!

Mini éclairs!

Mini sliders!

Mini doughnuts!

Mini French fries!

If they are tiny, they aren’t bad for you right? Itty bitty food is just cute and adorable, not caloric and fatty!

That was just in the foyer. Entering the ballroom (fancy-shmancy party) I was assaulted by every fruity, girly, pink cocktail known to womandom (I think they served every drink featured in Sex and the City) AND THEN (There’s more? Oh, yes kiddies, there’s more) quesadillas, chocolate bar, ice cream bar, cinnamon bun bar (I found what I’m having at my wedding) and about a gazillion tidbits of waistline ruin traveling throughout the rooms.

Holidays are great but they can also do a number on your body. Parties start to become more frequent and the foods that show up there become ridiculously decadent (but totally justified because they are seasonal).

Time to prepare for battle. Ready the troops. Prepare the horses. Release the Kraken!

Too much?

We all know the standard party tips. Eat before you go, limit alcohol, keep working out, etc. Everyone has heard them and they are great but I belong to a special forces division of party-goers. We are a highly skilled unit who require just a wee bit more…technical training.

The Black Ops party strategy:

•         One word: Spanx. Sarah Blakely really deserves a Nobel Prize for Spanx. They keep everything tucked, tight and up. Sarah is actually my fave party buddy. Even if I’m wearing a looser dress, if I know that there will be tempting party food or the potential to over indulge (Hey there, holiday buffet) I slip on my Spanx because they are like a modern-day corset. All the spandex usually keeps me from wanting to nosh on any party “favors” all night.
• 
  
•         Read before you go. Now I don’t mean go read Atlas Shrugged before your next tacky Christmas sweater party (not that post-apocalyptic worlds aren’t fun and festive). I don’t like to read about Hollywood gossip but before a party I usually check out Perez Hilton, ESPN (for the gentlemen), Huffington Post and The New York Times. The more I have to talk about, the less awkward I feel (awkward=uncomfortable munching), even if it’s silly things like Lindsay Lohan, the latest food-tastrophe or Duck Dynasty.
• 
  
•          Now I love dark nails (they make me feel too cool for school) but for a party I always make a point to paint my nails a bright, flashy and potentially glittery color. Friday night featured Leading Lady by Essie (think fire engine). They catch my eyes as I’m reaching for food and I swear it makes me think twice about what I’m getting ready to throw back because it’s no longer mindless. I’ve engaged my brain (poor dear doesn’t get enough exercise as it is :)
• 
  
•       Accessorize! New Years eve parties are all about the bling, my dress last year was made entirely of sequins. (Fyi, sequins don't bend so you pretty much forfeit your right to sit down. I'm now a master at perching) Use this as an excuse to throw an armful of bangles or bracelets on. Start with a certain amount on your right wrist and then every time you have a drink, move a bangle to your left. It's just a visual reminder of how much you've had to drink and helps to slow down the alcohol intake a little bit. I love to enjoy my parties but at this point in my life, I want to actually remember them! 
• 
  
•          Finally, perfect your picture pose! It will make you feel awesome over the next couple of days. Because let’s face it, the awesome “you look so skinny…gorgeous…fabulous…amazing” feedback on Facebook is a HUGE motivator for our generation. I literally stalked my first set of “new” pictures. I felt like a celebrity baby making its debut in People. After months of secrecy, finally, Sassy makes her debut.

Umm, I’m a celeb, obviously need a better name. Sassy totally suits me.

Oh, Jiggle Bells, Jiggle Bells, 
Jiggle All The Way. 
I Can't Stand My Thunder Thighs, 
I'm Back On Track Today ! 
Jiggle Bells, Jiggle Bells, 
Jiggle All The Way. 
Holiday Treats Are My Demise, 
Oh Give Me Strength … I Pray ! 

Nertz to you Whole Foods!

$18.99 

You know what you can buy for $18.99?

• 1 1/2 albums on iTunes (oh I miss the days of 99cent songs)
• 9 1/2 tall coffees at Starbucks (or 2 fancy coffee beverages)
• 18 pairs of fabulously fun and seasonal yet understated tacky pairs of socks in Target's dollar section
• This fabulous scarf

Or one 16 oz jar of Maranatha Organic Raw Almond Butter. 

Yeah almond butter or a cute scarf? 

But it's so tasty, creamy and delicious. 

Who needs to pay their rent anyways?

Student loans can wait. 

I need raw almond butter Sallie Mae, why can't you understand that! 

A lot of people talk about how expensive it is to be a healthy eater, let along a vegan or vegetarian. Buying organic food is more expensive, many ingredients used in vegan recipes are harder to locate or more costly, kitchen gadgets tend to be pricier (hello Vitamix!) and the need to go to the store is often more frequent than someone who's kitchen is stocked with preservative filled food. 

But it doesn't have to be if you are smart about what you are buying. When buying organic, I usually try to stick to the dirty dozen (no, not your dad's favorite movie that you were forced to watch over and over again. No? Just me?) 

And yes, Whole Foods is to vegans what Target is to any woman (seriously, I go in there with a list but no matter what, I come out with useless things that I deem absolutely necessary. Pink hippo? Yep.) but if you are watching costs, it's better to limit it for special occasions, special ingredients or when you are having a REALLY BAD DAY. I buy the organic house brands at Kroger and Martins and find that they are actually really high quality. 

I've also embraced the coupon. I'm not up to TLC status yet but I can clip a mean coupon. Mambo Sprouts  offers some great deals on health and organic products and definitely check out Vitacost for savings. 

I buy things that I use frequently (lentils, bulgur wheat, Agar, Chia, Hemp, Chickpea flour, dried beans,  nuts, cinnamon etc) in bulk bins. If properly stored these products will stay great for months and save you oodles of cash in the long run (yay shoe money!). 

Last weekend I went to Ellwood Thompson's (our local healthy grocery store) and purchased 3lbs of raw, organic almonds (I had a great coupon) and proceeded on another money-saving venture: making my own almond butter. 

I had no idea how simple it was. What on earth took me so long to do this? 

Raw Almond Butter

(Makes enough to fill a half-pint mason jar)

Ingredients:

2 cups raw (organic if possible) whole almonds

Gadgets:

High speed blender (like a Vitamix) or a food processor (this is what I use)

Rubber spatula

•  Dump almonds in food processor
• Turn on food processor
• Wait
• Wait
• Wait
• Watch
• Watch 
• Watch some more
• Enjoy the deliciousness and smugly stick it to Whole Foods and their nearly $20 almond butter

The key to this process is to be patient. You will have some moments of self doubt: Did I do something wrong? Should I add oil? Is my blender breaking? Why is it smoking? Am I going to blow up my house? It can take nearly 20 minutes for the almonds to become smooth and creamy but it will happen, trust me. Yes the blender might start to smoke or steam, it's fine. Turn it off, let it rest, scrape everything down from the sides and turn it back on. Just keep doing that until you have the desired consistency. Store in an airtight container. (I use glass mason jars)

The possibilities are endless with what you can add into it. But the best part is it's cheap and easy to do, you know exactly what is going into the recipe and you get self-satisfaction that you are on your way to becoming a little vegan Martha Stewart. 

Unless you are me and forget to put the top back on and your blender explodes and you spend the next two days cleaning almond butter off of your ceiling. 

And dog.

Dear iPone (My tips for becoming a morning exerciser)

Dear iPhone,

 Prepare to meet thy doom. Your incessant “dooh dooh dooh dooh” at this ungodly hour and refusal to actually snooze (5 minutes is not my idea of snoozing), have forced drastic measures to be taken in order to ensure that you never again disturb me from my slumber!

Rawrrr!

You don’t want to make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

Any last words?

What? Someone wants to play Words with Friends with me?

All right, you can live to see another day.

 But I’m watching you.

To say I’m not a morning person is a little bit of an understatement. If I don’t have at least one cup of coffee in my system, you don’t want to cross my path. I don’t want to cross my path. I usually can’t even find my path.

I walked into my dog this morning.

And then over her.

And into the wall.

It’s OK; I gave her ten dog treats.

As much as I firmly believe I shouldn’t be up and about before the sun is, (the earth’s power source isn’t on yet? Well then neither am I) sometimes it’s a necessity. Like this morning.

My schedule is so bizarre this week because of the holidays. Things are closed, hours are weird, my body is emotionally exhausted from family get togethers and my kitchen is still trying to recover from the massive amounts of holiday baking I did. The uncertainty of my day has sort of thrown me into panic mode.

When do I workout? When do I eat? What do I eat? Should I sleep now? Heels or flats? Is there a Santa?!

The holidays are usually when I take the approach of “I fit it in when and where I can” in regards to working out. So when the only Barre class (I’m totally addicted, an official barre-bie. Like Barbie but with better biceps) I could get into was 6 a.m. I took a deep breath, said a little prayer, and hit the “make a reservation” button.

It wasn’t the prettiest start to the morning but I got going (my leggings were on inside out but at least they were on) and the after “glow” was even better this time around because A. I tucked my seat like there was no tomorrow and B. I did it before 7 a.m.

Winning!

Working out early in the morning is a great way to make sure you stay in a healthier mind set for the rest of the day. If you’re like me, it’s easy to say you are going to get up early and exercise the night before, but when your alarm starts chirping you turn into the sleepy yet even grumpier Incredible Hulk and hurl it across the room, muttering technological threats as you drift back to sleep.

It’s dark. Dark=sleep. Sleep=no working out. Sleeeeeep.

Do you like my logic?

Unfortunately, my cell phone insurance doesn’t cover damage due to sleep-deprived rage so I have had to establish a routine to make my bum get out of bed and actually workout.

    

•     When my alarm goes off, I sit up and get my feet onto the floor. If I don’t do this quickly, I’ll talk myself out of getting up. I hit the floor literally the second my alarm goes off, before I have time to think how cozy my bed is. Don’t think “cozy,” think “get up NOW!” No snooze for you!
•       Do what’s necessary to wake up. I lay out my gear the night before, clothes, socks, sneakers, iPod, and even hair ties. It’s one less thing to worry about in the morning. If I can stand it, I’ll even sleep in my running clothes because honestly, in the winter, it’s cold in the morning, I really don’t want to have to change clothes. So I simply skip that step!
•       Buy a lamp. My bedside lamp is my go-to tool for getting out of bed. As soon as I shut off my alarm clock, I immediately turn on my bedside lamp, which is a short distance from my pillow. Even just a little light gets me moving.
•       Just do it!  I tend to over think my workouts. “Do I go now or later? Do I want work out at all?” but you know, the people at Nike might be on to something. I’ve found it’s easiest to stop thinking (seriously, my brain causes more problems than it solves) and just go. Drop everything, don’t think, just run out the door before your brain realizes what you are doing! 
• As noble as it would be to say I should get up early simply to work out, it would be a big fat lie So, yes, sometimes I treat myself like a 5-year old and bribe myself. If I get up and workout in the morning as scheduled for a month, I allow myself to buy something fun at the end of the month! 
• Miley Cyrus said it best, "nobody's perfect!" Plan to fail, meaning have a back up plan, just in case your workout doesn't go as planned. Hey, life happens and sometimes we all just end up hitting snooze, our Garmin dies before even locating a signal or our dogs run off with just one of our tennis shoes (she has a preference for only the right one). But if your plan A doesn't work out, there are 25 other letters in the alphabet. 

Some days it is so much harder than others to drag my bum out of bed (during the winter, Saturday mornings, the night after a Real Housewives marathon...) and that is when I just have to remind myself why I am doing this...and the delicious breakfast that I am going to so totally have earned afterwards.

Because when all else fails, I'm easily bribed with food!

Let Me Introduce Myself

Hi, my name is Cecelia and this is my blog.

In case you were wondering.

My story resembles a Disney Channel Original Movie; An overweight, shy and unhappy wall-flower spends the first 19 years of her life as the invisible girl in a world full of Barbies and Kens. I missed almost every childhood milestone:

Prom? Nope, I had to "work" which was code for "I didn't get asked and am not going to be the one person going alone in a dress from the plus-size department."

Friday night football games? No way.

Parties? Heck no, I was far too "serious" to be busied with those juvenile affairs.

Dating? Well...you know that movie Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore?  I was like her much more awkward and socially inexperienced, shorter cousin.

After my freshman year of college I had my "ah-ha" moment (cue the inspirational music and bright lights). I joined Weight Watchers Online and over the next year lost 78lbs. It was far from glamorous, there were some disastrous falls from the wagon (I'm pretty sure eating six Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches in a row is not staying "on plan") and I'll be the first to admit that it was haaaaaaard (that's three syllables...because one just doesn't convey it...)

A few months later I was fortunate enough to be featured as a spokesperson/success story for the Weight Watchers Online plan. I had my own TV commercial, Internet banners and magazine ads. It was through this process that I started to realize my true passion in life: helping others struggling with the same journey I went through. I write a sponsored blog for Weight Watchers to share my story, strategies and tips for how I survived losing weight in college and maintain my weight loss without becoming a social hermit.

Losing weight is so hard, especially when you are young. I didn't want to be the only one on a "diet" or have people make fun of me. I didn't want to sacrifice my friends or social life in the pursuit of a skinnier, healthier and more fit me. So I set out to change the world's idea that you have to give up all pleasures in order to achieve these goals.

A believer in fitness for all, I've tried every exercise out there (Zumba, Pilate's, yoga, spinning, kickboxing, step, body sculpt, pole dancing, trampoline, cardio ribbon dancing) but my heart belongs to running. I love to run plain and simple.

I also take Core-Barre classes like they're Tic-Tacs.

I believe that everyone can be an athlete, that there is an exercise out there for all and that being active can fix almost anything!

I became a vegetarian when I was 20 but did not take a really vested interest in what I was putting in my body until my Senior year of college. I thought of calories, fat and carbs only. All that mattered to me was that the food I put in my mouth didn't make the numbers on the scale go up. But after really looking at the potential effects some of the ingredients had on my body, I began taking nutrition much more seriously. In doing so I also made the switch to becoming fully plant-based.

So here we go. This is my story. The tale of a coordinationally and gravitationally challenged, ridiculously awkward, yet very entertaining, weight watching, post-grad, plant based, running, fitness and nutrition fanatic.

I'm sharing it with you

Read at our own risk.

But I have delicious pumpkin recipes.

Just sayin....