Motivated Monday

I had a run of blog posts about Embracing Mondays a while back.  In which I would wake up with full enthusiasm for the week ahead...with a workout plan and a menu full of healthy meals.  I still have those thoughts on Mondays but the motivation wanes by Wednesday and my desire to think about cooking or making healthy choices is all but totally gone by Friday.  All I can think about is a fat glass of red wine, and curling up on the couch for 36 hours straight.

This weekend I had a little meltdown about this. 

I knew going in to my new job that I would probably struggle with maintaining balance, but my decision to keep my other job multiplied that situation exponentially.  I hadn’t taken into account the amount of time I was losing.  The time I would spend meal planning and preparing, recipe perusing, Tweeting, blogging, blog reading, and working out, is GONE.

Without spending a lot of time here whining about the situation, I decided that I just need to acknowledge that my days have changed and I need a new game plan.  Just giving up and going for convenience eating, giving in to cravings for unhealthy treats, and completely ignoring any form of working out is not me.  And after three months it hit me emotionally.

So I asked Michael to be my support buddy, I worked my brain around eating the same things for lunch all week to save time with batch prep, and I made a super simple at-home workout schedule.  That’s it.  Those three things are what will save me from myself.

Oh, and I told the girls at the office that I will be avoiding any and all snacks that I didn’t plan for.  That place is a sweet lover’s paradise (or hell!). 

What I ate today (and will eat tomorrow!):

• Green Smoothie inspired by #CLEANrestart – ice, banana, spinach, vanilla protein powder, flax meal, coconut oil, unsweetened vanilla coconut milk, unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
• Coffee with almond milk.
• Light Rye Wasa with TJ’s Sunflower Butter.
• Quinoa with roasted root veggies, wilted spinach, and goat cheese.
• Grapes.  Almonds.
• Scrambled eggs with yellow pepper, red onion, spinach, black beans, ground turkey sausage, cheddar, salsa and avocado.  With whole grain toast.
• Organic strawberries over plain yogurt with hemp hearts & grated dark chocolate.

All things healthy, quick to prepare, and easy to duplicate for another day or two.  And above all…delicious!

And now…the stretches my chiropractor gave me for core strengthening and a round of upper body weight training.  Thanks for listening…if anyone is still out there.  :)

#EmbraceMonday

Hey everyone!  Sorry for the delay on the Embrace Monday post!  I have to admit that I took it easy yesterday after a busy weekend and ended up tackling my chores today instead.  Tuesday is this week’s Monday!

Thankfully it looks like lots of you found great ways to take on the first day of your week!  Lots of positive vibes going down yesterday!

Oh Ali I knew exactly how you felt.  I might have had a wee nap myself!

Nice work everyone!  Just snipping these Twitter screenshots has made me feel all motivated to keep up with the chores and get a workout in!  Thanks for that!

Today I did cleaned my fridge top to bottom, restocked yummy fresh groceries, cleaned the bathroom, tried to fix my own toilet (wrong piece), vacuumed and mopped floors.  My apartment thanks #EmbraceMonday even if it is Tuesday. :)

Have a great week kids!

#EmbraceMonday

Hey everyone!  I know today is Tuesday but sometimes you gotta shake things up (or you know, fall behind and re-evaluate!).  How was your Monday?  Did you set some goals and work hard to bang them out?

As usual I was already thinking about my week before Sunday was even over.  I have to admit that because I spend my weekends at my boyfriend’s I sometimes feel overwhelmed by chores and things I don’t have the opportunity to take care of on Saturdays and Sundays.  But I really don’t wish to sacrifice our time together so Mondays are now my go-to day. :)

Ya, that filing has been on there for two weeks now.  And it’s still on there.  Talk about a chore no one wants to do!

Looks like a few of you were joining in the #EmbraceMonday fun with me this week…

Love that people are catching on via my other Twitter friends!

Hope the rest of your week is just as fulfilling and fun!  Have a great one and see you back on Twitter next week to embrace another Monday!!

#EmbraceMonday

Hey everyone!  Here’s to another Monday come and gone with a few more to-do’s, workouts, and good vibes!  Even though it’s a day off for many people a few of you still remembered to join in and #EmbraceMonday!

My to-do list was a little shorter this week because I knew I’d be busier catching up on missed work from taking Friday as a holiday.  I listed out my weekly basics like workout planning and my grocery list, but kept the bigger household tasks to a minimum. 

Walking the dog trumped hitting the gym today but I never chastise myself for getting the pupper out for some extra sun. :)

After work I never did end up just sitting on my deck.  Once I got out there I was hit with my Monday motivation and got to sweeping, tidying, cleaning off my comfy chairs and actually tackling cleaning the exterior (ewww) and interior of my sliding glass doors. 

Goodbye Winter grunge!

Sounds like a lot of you were feeling a little down but still rocked your Mondays.  Good work!!  Hope to see even more of you next week.  Tweet along with us! 

And now I shall go remove my nail polish and check two more things off my to-do list before bed.  Nighty night!

#EmbraceMonday No. 1

Hey everyone!  The first edition of #EmbraceMonday is here! 

So glad to see a few of you remembered and joined in today!  In fact, a couple of you even beat me to it (I get a bit of a later start on the computer on Mondays).  Thanks for tweeting along and helping motivate me to dropkick my very ambitious to-do list today. 

I didn’t get to tidying my patio but everything else is DONE!

As promised, here’s some shout outs! 

(I’ll spare you the bazillion tweets I sent in support of my own project!) ha!

Looks like I wasn’t the only one with a motivated, productive Monday.  Good work you guys! :)

Sorry I haven’t figured out how to just get the Twitter hashtag feed to post over here (you’d think after five years I’d have better technical blog skillz) so for now there are no links.  If you are smarter than I am, please help a girl out!

Also, even though everyone used the #EmbraceMonday hashtag not everyone showed up in the hashtag feed online.  Bizarro.  If your tweet is missing, go ahead and RT it to me @balanceblog.

Have a great week, keep up the motivation, and hope to see you and some more folks next Monday.  Good times, good times!  :)

Embrace Monday!

Mondays get a bum rap.  Everyone is always all “booo, my weekend is over…I hate Monday”.  But really, isn’t Monday one of the best days of the week?  I’m not crazy…I promise!

Mondays can be great because they mark the start of something new.  A new day to start over.  A new day to keep going.  A new day to make plans.  A new day to kick some ass.  Mondays are motivating!!

Last Monday I started my week full of energy, enthusiasm and motivation to get things done!  While I got organized and started checking items off my to-do list I was tweeting my way through the day, and wouldn’t you know but other folks noticed my motivation and started tweeting back at me.  Turns out I’m not the only one that starts my weeks out with a positive bang!

Those tweets left me feeling warm, fuzzy and well…extra motivated!  All weekend I looked forward to my pending Monday morning (and I was having a great weekend too!).  My to-do list started forming in my head, I looked forward to writing out my workout plan, my meal ideas, my grocery list.  I looked forward to writing this post and sending out another batch of tweets to inspire and motivate not only myself, but all of my tweeps too!

So everyone, this is where you join in.

Let’s make #EmbraceMonday a real thing!  Every Monday I promise to keep tweeting about my day, my accomplishments, and whatever else fits in the motivation boat.  But in turn I need you all to do the same thing!  I will collect up your tweets each week and turn out a post full of positivity and encouragement to keep us all revved up for the rest of the week.

Sound good?  OK, great!  We have a deal!!

Starting next Monday morning send out your tweets with the hashtag #EmbraceMonday (you can find me @balanceblog if you haven’t already). 

Not on Twitter?

• Post a picture on Instagram (hashtag it, or tag me: bi0nicw0man)
• Leave me a comment on Facebook
• Send me an email (embracingbalance at gmail dot com)
• Leave a comment right here

Let’s make Mondays the happiest day of the week! 

{Note: Previous tweets by me were tagged #MotivatedMonday but it turns out that tag is already is use so I had to create a new hashtag for us.}