I Scream You Scream We All Scream For……

I will be first to admit I’m an emotional eater and will even be quoted joking saying, “I eat my feelings” but its true.  I use eating as comfort, stress relief and to celebrate.  I can think back to finals in college and would run out to the 24 hour grocery store around 1:00am and pick up a cherry pie with a pint of ice cream and finish it before the sun came up while studying.  In my mind a promotion equals a big dinner and a bottle of wine (or 2) maybe with some ice cream.  If I’m feeling blue nothing beats a couple pints of ice cream, see the pattern? It starts with Ben & rhymes with hairy’s…..

Maryann Tomovich Jacobsen’s topic about rewarding your child with food, I feel is spot on.  My parents love to celebrate and reward with food.  It’s an instant gratification reward and as a parent you want to make your child happy (and make them do something without a drag out fight). I don’t hate them for it but I feel that I have an unhealthy relationship with food in part because of it.  I am what rewarding a child with food looks like 20 years later……

Being the father of a 6 year old I’m having trouble not becoming my parents.  I have such an emotional connection to food that I find myself repeating my parent’s mistakes.  This past weekend was the last weekend before school started and one of the first things that popped into my head was to make a big deal about it and tell my son we needed to go get ice cream to celebrate the last weekend before school. What was I thinking! I am constantly fighting back events or moments like this because I know the effects they had on me.

Then you add in the “Grandparent” factor. My son sees my parents often and he falls victim to the same rearing that I did. Actually he hustles for it…..  It’s been very hard trying to break my parents of their habits. Is it just me or do parents not take being parented very well? I’ve lost more than I’ve won I’m sad to say. It’s not their fault I’m sure they were raised the same way and were rewarded with food when they were children.

This topic has been on deck a lot lately with LO and I and this article is just one of thousands on the subject. It makes me realize that I need to fight for my sons healthy choices, just as much as I need to fight for my healthy choices, and fight I will do.  It wont be easy, just the other day we were having breakfast and the waitress asked my son what kind of toast he wanted. LO answered wheat while my son answered white.  I then broke the tie saying wheat, but guess what came out of the kitchen.  Even a total Stranger was willing to have her tip suffer because she wanted to make my son happy.  Yep, white toast was on that plate.

Just like with myself I’ll never give up and never stop improving for me and for my son.

Photo via Pinterest

Wary Weekends

The run that wasn’t…..

So the past weekend was a mixed bag for me.  Saturday started off right; I got up and prepped to run 8 miles for my long run.  I can create all sorts of excuses but I cracked at the 3.5 mile marker……  The rest of the weekend was an up and down challenge.   We attend the LPGA Futures Tour (with championship pavilion passes!), took my son camping over night (I didn’t have a S’more!) on his last Weekend before school started and even got a little time at the pool in between storms.

Weekends are the hardest time for me when training.  All work week long I drink lots of water and implement healthy eating and then the weekend comes with beer and cheeseburgers…… oh don’t forget the pasta salad.  I will thank ichoosetolivestronger for giving me the recipe to bake Kale Chips at home (well LO baked them).  I didn’t realize how much I would like them!  My son even liked them so much they’re packed in his lunch for school today.

I had a very event heavy weekend and for the most part had a fun time, but when I fall off of my healthy menu and don’t hit the training goals I set for myself I end up feeling kind of empty on Monday. So after my first full week I can’t say it was a total success.  What I can say is its forward momentum that I will build off of.  This week will be better than the last and today will be better than yesterday because that’s my expectation of myself!

Friday the 31^st will be the next numbers day, see if I’ve made an impact yet, stay tuned.

How do you beat the weekend? Really I need help…….

Your Shake Weight will be Jealous

I became part of “The Movement” well before my injury.  My good friend who also happens to be the Director of Fitness at my gym introduced me to TRX.  I looked at the TRX bands and images of Tony Little danced through my head.  I might have made a sarcastic comment, but then the workout began.  Lets say TRX earned my respect that day. Nothing against Tony, I’m sure you understand.

After that, I started using the TRX suspension trainer at my local gym so much that I contemplated buying the system for my garage and just canceling my membership.  All I can say is, I should have, but I’m a sucker for a sauna…… DAMN YOU SAUNA!

After my injury TRX is still proving its worth and results for me.  I have limited motion and strength in my shoulder, but with the versatility of the TRX system I can adjust the load on the exercise as I need and it’s even helping me stretch out and increase my range of motion. So not only am I increasing strength (slowly) but I’m helping increase my range of motion (My PT is very happy with my progress so far).

If you haven’t used the system I recommend it highly.  The video above has a bunch of clips by TRX one after the other.  Once you get with the movement your Shake Weight will be rusty with jealousy, collecting dust on the shelf.

Sorry Shake Weight.

What Do You Think?

Changed up the look, is it better or worse?