The Winter Blahs: Fighting Back

It's very easy to get down in the dumps in the winter time. In addition to whatever life problems may be weighing you down, add to that the bitter cold and dreary weather and God forbid - SNOW and in no time at all, all meaning and purpose in life seems gone.

Ok, that may be a bit extreme, but I definitely get more easily bummed out when the weather is dismal than  I do in the bright and shiny summery sunshine rays. Or the bright and shiny rays of the West Coast. *sigh, someday* All I want to do is stay and my nice, warm, comfy, cozy bed and press the "off" button on real life and responsibilities. Unfortunately, that's just not an option.

So what's a girl to do, eh? Here are just a few of the ways I shake off the winter (or any kind of) blahs.

1) Put Some Pep In Your Step

Not everyone is a caffeine addict, but everyone likes some kind of warm beverage. One of the best things to do when you're cold - ingest some delicious warmth! Weather it be coffee, tea, hot chocolate or you favorite latte, sipping on something delicious and warm can definitely be a great tool to help you face the day ahead. 

2) Get Glammed Up

Even if you don't make a big fuss of what you look like on a day to day basis, I'm sure you still have some go-to pieces that make you feel like a rock star. When I'm at home, I like to just be comfortable. But when I go out, I like to look good! When I take the time to do my hair and makeup and put on a cute outfit, inevitably I feel better about myself and life in general throughout the day. For you, this could mean wearing your comfiest pants, showing off your snazzy new spectacles or throwing on some lip gloss just for the hell of it. Whatever - if it makes you feel good, do it! 

3) Don't Focus on Your Problems, Focus on Solutions

If you have something specific that's causing your mood to be gloomy, it's natural to put a lot of brainpower to it. Instead of feeling bummed about whatever the issue is, try to brainstorm ways to fix or at least work on the issue. Focusing on the problem itself isn't going to help anything and will only make you feel bummed out longer. Working towards a solution, even if it's only in your head for now will bring about a better mindset, a better mood and will help you take action towards solving your problem. 

4) If All Else Fails, Pretend

You've heard the term "fake it til you make it." Well, that holds true here as well. You don't have to pretend you're the happiest person on the planet. And you don't have to lie and tell people you're doing great when you're not. But even if you don't feel like getting glammed up or being super positive, just don't wallow constantly in gloom. This doesn't mean you can't take some time for yourself to just feel what you feel - but don't stay there. Don't live in the dreary parts of your feelings. 

These are my go-to tips for fighting the winter blahs. What are your suggestions?

xoxo, 

Sweet C

Why I'm All For New Year's Resolutions

Lots of people have strong opinions on New Year's Resolutions. Some strongly feel that resolutions are a stupid idea, while others are consistent resolution makers. I am neither of these. Some years, I make resolutions and some years I don't. I've even been known to go back at the end of the year and manually check off which ones I managed to accomplish. It's always most or all of the list.

Making goals and checklists works really well for me. It is, in fact how I thrive. For others, working with a group of people towards a common goal is what helps them thrive. This is why there are challenge groups, facebook groups and group workouts. As a society, we function through order. There are 7 days to the week. The work week starts on Monday. And for some reason it is just easier to begin something on Sunday or Monday that will continue throughout the rest of the week. We begin at the beginning. It's what we're used to.

This is all that resolutioners are doing. The New Year is a HUGELY celebrated, big beginning. There are a lot of people setting goals and making plans during this time. So, not only do we have the aspect of a new beginning, but there are tons of other people doing the same thing - making resolutions. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be better. Even to the point that we pick out specific issues we know need work, and decide to put effort toward those issues.

If you are someone who can just make up their mind to change and then change, that's amazing. It is truly an enviable character trait. Perhaps you're a person who doesn't really need help from other people once you've decided what you want to do. That's also really great. There are certainly many out there who will make resolutions and will never make any necessary changes to bring them to fruition. That's just life. Not everyone is wired the same way and you can't expect that things that are really strong traits for you will be strong traits in everyone. We're all different. Let's not forget about the resolutioners who WILL in fact accomplish a great deal of their goals. All because they decided to take action at a time that is viewed as cliche for deciding to take action. It's not as if no resolution ever was accomplished. There's not even a way to prove that most resolutions aren't accomplished.

Side note: If you're one of those people who believes that your personal anecdotal evidence of you and your circle's experiences is proof for anything, it is not. That is not data. Your personal experience is never data. It is personal experience. So stop it.

This is one of those areas where I say "Live and let live." Resolutions don't hurt anyone. Sometimes we can be way too judgemental of other people. If you don't want to make any resolutions because you can change on your own whenever you want - great! Don't make any freaking resolutions! If you want to make 20 resolutions even if they're the same ones you've made for the past 20 years - great! Good luck, I hope this is your year! One of my resolutions is to do whatever I want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, so here I say - do whatever you want! Don't let other people's negative attitudes over what you've decided to do hinder you, or else you prove them right. And don't have extremely negative attitudes towards something that really has nothing to do with you.

Happy New Year, errybody.

xoxo,
SweetC

Talk Yourself Into It

      Yesterday was a bad day. You know how some days your life feels like a country song? Not one of the adorable ones where some hot stud wants to make you feel "Wanted", but one where everyone including your dog has left you and life in general seems to be imploding on you? That was yesterday. Needless to say, at the culmination of all of such events, the last thing I felt like doing was working out. And I almost didn't.

     It's very easy to give yourself a pass when you're having a crap day. When you're choking back tears from all the various BS you're dealing with, it's not usually something you want to deal with in a public place. The thing is, I already had my workout scheduled into my day. I was wearing my workout clothes, it was next on the agenda and the gym was right down the street. I would have had to deliberately DRIVE PAST the gym to get home. And believe me, I wanted to. I almost did. I started taking a different route home telling myself that it was ok to skip today because seeing as how my life sucked, it was totally acceptable to go home and cry for a million years instead of working out. I was approaching the last turn that would have put me on the road to the gym. I was not in the turning lane. The light was red in the straight lane and green in the turning lane. The turning lane (next to me) was empty.

And I had a moment.

     Yes, today (and this month) in general are pretty horrendous for me. However, one of my goals in my bigger plan is to achieve a certain body aesthetic that I haven't yet reached. It is very possible, but I keep sabotaging myself. I workout, but haven't been as consistent as necessary. I eat pretty healthy...some of the time, but have also been a little more lax in that area than I need to be to achieve results. Yes, there are times when your workout is not the end-all-be-all to your day - but if every time my life isn't going right I use it as an excuse to skip the gym, I will never see the inside of a gym again.

     In a split second decision, I moved into the turning lane (I looked first!) and headed to the gym. I told myself that I could sit in the parking lot until I was ready to go in, and if I still wasn't feeling it - I could just drive home. I sat in the parking lot and thumbed through my ipod for what I wanted to listen to while I made the decision to stay or go. I chose one of my favorite motivational phrases that happens to be from a song. The song is from a musical from which I get my namesake: Sweet Charity. It's called "I'm The Bravest Individual". Without getting into crazy detail, the reason I like Charity is because no matter how bad things get for her and no matter how poorly she's treated by people she is a genuine sweetheart to, she believes that at any moment, things can turn around. If not today, then there's always tomorrow. And when you get to the end of your rope or when you're really scared, just tell yourself that you're the bravest individual you know. You'll calm down and be able to face whatever is coming at you.

She's the bravest individual she has ever met.

    After crying all the frustration that I had out while listening to the song in the car. I wiped my eyes, sucked it up and went into the gym and completed my workout. Because in the grand scheme of things, if I don't do all I can to accomplish my fitness goals - that will just end up something else that adds to the list of "things that suck right now." I have some degree of control over this specific situation, which is not the case for other things on the afore mentioned list. It's up to me to do all I can in this area.

   The takeaway is this: Even when it's hard, do it. Unless it's impossible, do it. If you don't feel like doing it, start doing it anyway and give yourself the option to stop or continue. Your ultimate success lies with you and whether you decided to suck it up and do it or to go home and cry.

xoxo,
 SweetC

You're Allowed To Feel Good About Yourself For No Reason At All

        It's funny that I always seem to have my "skinny days" on the days leading up to that time of the month. You know a skinny day - when for no particular reason at all, you are just feeling like "hey, maybe I'm not such a whale after all!" Well, I noticed something interesting on my most recent "skinny day." I walked past a mirror (not even a skinny mirror) and thought "Wow, I look better than I expected considering I ate oreo ice cream last night. Wonder if I'm actually losing weight or if I just dressed well today. I should get on the scale to see...."

        Seriously people? Am I the only one? I know I'm not. WTF is wrong with us? Honestly, re-read that situation and really take a moment to think about the nonsense thinking that can happen inside our heads. I looked in the mirror, I felt good about what I saw - but somehow needed to validate that I was allowed to feel that way by backing it up with proof. It wasn't enough to just feel great about myself. Nope. Only allowed to feel good if you actually lost a pound! Not to mention that I was probably heavier than normal due to my impending menstruation. Most likely bloated too. However, I clearly didn't FEEL that way at that moment. I felt great! So why was my first thought that I HAD to verify that by checking the facts?

       It is so easy to make getting fit a numbers game. Counting calories, measuring inches, pounds on the scale... these are all important aspects, but why are they the end all be all? News flash: they aren't. Having a skinny day and feeling great about yourself is an awesome accomplishment in and of itself. It doesn't need to be proven by numbers on a scale or a tape measure. I am learning now to appreciate my "skinny days" and just be happy that I'm in a place where I feel good about myself more often than I feel like a whale. And no, I don't need anything outside of myself to validate that feeling - and neither do you.

xoxo,
 Sweet C

What YOU Want

Because of my interests, I've amassed a large amount of social media contacts in the fitness field. Some of them more knowledgeable than others, and many of them, like me, still figuring things out. A lot of these people can be very intense at times. They set very lofty goals and go full throttle after them. That's great. I have nothing against people attacking their dreams with all they have. It's important to remember though that their goals and their methods to achieve them are just that - theirs.

I am bombarded daily with posts about double workouts, number of calories burned, number of calories eaten, temptation foods avoided, clean diet modifications and motivational sayings. I constantly see pictures of women with flat and defined abs, very little body fat, big boobs, tight butts, toned arms, glowing skin and shiny hair. Every day I read about the newest supplement, the newest diet, going gluten free, eating organic, plant based diets and cleansing. And admittedly, I'm a part of this. I talk about this stuff frequently as well. So I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with these sort of posts - there's not. But when it's the majority of what you see every day, it can definitely start to warp your thinking.  It just leads me to remind everyone, including myself to

Make sure the body you're working to achieve is the body that YOU want. 

At least once a day, I will see someone post a motivational picture of a woman with toned-to-the-T abs. You can see each and every defined section of her stomach and it looks as though her waist is actually too tiny to wear even a size 0. And that's wonderful that she worked to achieve that body and completely fine that someone else wants to work to achieve the same results. Personally, I don't want defined abs. I like a softer look on women. I like the look of being toned but still having a little fat to squeeze. That's my preference. I can't let what other people see as the perfect body affect how I feel about my own results.

 

   All of these tummies look great to me!



For those people who have the time, energy and willpower to do two-a-day workouts - that's amazing. I've done it for short periods of time before and it is certainly tough. My hat goes off to that kind of dedication. But just because they are down on themselves for not getting to their second workout of the day, I'm not going to feel bad that I worked out once. For 30 minutes. And that I may not get to a workout tomorrow because I have work and have school for 14 hours out of the day and sleeping is more important to me than cardio. It doesn't make me a bad person if I only do 5 workouts a week and if I think that that is a perfectly fine number of workouts to complete on a weekly basis. It also doesn't make me a bad person if I decide that instead of lifting today, I'm going to stay home and study for my test on Friday because at the moment, that is a bigger priority for me. And that's ok, it's allowed to be.

When it comes to achieving your perfect body, it does not need to be what other people think it should be. It should be where YOU will be happiest. If getting down to a size 10 has been your lifelong goal and you are in a healthy weight range with a clean bill of health from your doctor, then who the hell is anyone to tell you that you don't look good enough? Not everyone was made to be a body builder and it's not in the cards for all of us to have a washboard stomach. Is it possible? Yes. Of course if that's what you want to achieve and are willing to work for, it's definitely possible. Is it necessary? No, it's not. Not if that's not what you in your heart of hearts want for yourself.

Thank God we live in America. A free country. Where you're allowed to want what you want and feel what you feel and for the most part do what you like. If you want abs, go get 'em. If you just want to drop a few pounds, then lose 'em. If your idea of fit doesn't "fit" with what everyone else seems to think, so long as it fits with your medical stats, then eff 'em.

The Keys To My Weight Loss Success

So many people ask me questions about my weight loss success. What did you do? How do you get motivated? Where do I start? What do I eat?

The answers to these questions really aren't that complicated. At least not for me. My motivation? Simple. I don't want to be fat ever again. I want to look in the mirror and like what I see. That's all the motivation I need. Where to start? Just start. You know the basics - start with that. Stop eating crap. Now. Stop buying crap to eat. Workout. Do any workout -  it doesn't matter which one. Do something rather than nothing.

The bigger question is - how? Here are my essentials - the things that I know I must do for success.

1) DO THE WORK
I don't have a problem with complaining. I complain all the time. But you earn the right to complain by putting in the work. You don't get to complain about how hard it is or how inconvenient it is unless you're doing it. If you're too lazy to make an effort - then stay fat and shut up about it. Don't complain if you're not putting in effort. What's the work?

Work out 6 days a week.
Log what you eat - all of it.
Eat clean. Cheat minimally. Don't dwell on the cheat - move on.

That's really it. That's the core of it. Learn to master these things and you'll see results. You don't have to perfect right out the gate. I've done this for a decade and I'm still not perfect. Just do your best and keep making your best better. Don't wanna log your food? Don't wanna work out? Fine - don't. But stop complaining that you can't lose weight.

2) LEARN & GROW
You know what cutting carbs did for me? Nothing. Jack squat. My body was not impressed. You know what eating from the top two tiers of Michi's Ladder did for me? I lost 5 lbs. Learn what works for your body by trying it. You can't gauge your own success by someone else's. You are not them. Don't wish you were, just find out what works for you. If one diet and one workout worked for every body - there wouldn't be so many different ones to choose from. Find what works for YOU. But don't just try one thing then give up. Don't be lazy.

3) DO NOT QUIT
Losing weight isn't easy and results don't happen overnight. If this were the case - then no one would have weight problems. If I stopped trying just because I didn't see results quickly - I wouldn't be where I am. If you really want to see results - you have to keep going. Getting fit is not something you do for a while and then you're done forever. IT'S A LIFESTYLE CHANGE. You have to know what's helpful for your body and what's harmful. I'm not gonna lie - I still love me some french fries and pizza and chicken nuggets. I know the bad crap that's in fast food and I find it delicious anyway. However, I can count on one hand the number of times I'll actually get fast food in the course of a month ... a few months at that. A year's time - that's probably both hands. Point is - it's not as often as it used to be.

Bottom line is - JUST TRY. Make an effort. Don't talk about it, be about it. Get off your butt, and do what you know you need to. Once you start and see the fruits of your labor - it makes it easier to continue because you'll want to continue seeing the results! Make a plan. What can you do right now that will put you on a better path? Need help? Send me a message and we'll make a plan together!

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

Weight Loss Transformation Video!

So, I already told you that I reached my goal weight. Well, I promised myself that I would do my first transformation video once I made that weight. So - here it is!

Confetti and Balloons Please!

I can't believe it! I really can't! I did it! This is the most surreal moment I've ever had! I can't stop using exclamation points!!!

I REACHED MY GOAL WEIGHT!



Confetti :)



Goal: the weight that I started this journey trying to reach. The number that I chose in my head when I was 18 years old. The battle that I have been fighting for the past 11 years. I have finally won! When I first set out