Sunday, December 15, 2013

Tis the season to think of everyone else, which is a beautiful and wonderful thing.

Except when you stop thinking about yourself. *sigh* I seem to be doing that, I've put my health on the back burner by not making the time for myself. Even though I do have plenty of time where I could be making the time for myself to get back into shape and be healthier I've chosen to be lazy.

I've chosen to be lazy and have chosen to eat crappy food. Yes I could say "it is the holidays...treat yourself, it's OK" I've been saying half of that, but I know that it is not OK. I feel guilty about it because I have been overindulging, and not in a small, healthy way.

I hate to admit it but I have fallen hard off of my low sugar regime. If I ever didn't think that I was addicted to bad food, I know for sure now, I can't control myself with a little. Not recently anyways, I hope one day I can find that healthy balance, but right now I cannot.

I need to jump right back into being strict with my diet and exercise. This past week I have been trying to get back into some of my old habits, I have been drinking more water and I have had more fruits and vegetables. I also am slowly getting back into exercising.

From now on I AM going to journal all of my food and drinks.

I WILL be in control of my cravings!

I know the first week or so will be the hardest, it always seems to be, but I can get through this. I feel embarrassed writing this post and publishing it but I know that if I am not accountable to you all that this will not work.

So here I am being accountable, knowing that once I hit publish I can't turn back, that I need to do this for me. I am terrified of going back to where I was. Sadly I'm on my way there, but I am turning it around NOW!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Elf On The Shelf: Positive Reinforcement

KBeaner was very lucky this year and received an Elf from Santa!!! I think I may have been just as excited as KBeaner was. She decided to name our elf "Merry", she came up with the idea all on her own and said "Like Merry Christmas" SO CUTE!! 

Anyways...I've noticed a lot of people with the Elf like to point out to their children that "the elf is watching..." when the children are not behaving well. I did that the first day, and then I started thinking, "what if she only decides to behave while it's Christmas time? What if she thinks that's the only time when it counts?" I try to do a lot of positive reinforcement with KBeaner anyways, with her I find that that outlook helps her more than me getting "mean". Not to say I don't yell...I mean I am human haha. 

So now when KBeaner does something nice, or is listening well I say to her "I bet Merry is going to tell Santa how well you listened today!" When I say this KBeaner usually says "YEAH!.... oh but I not all the time...I did this.." and then tell me about something she did that was not too nice. I think try to reinforce the positive situation of the day, making that more important than the small part of the day when she was not behaving, because we all make mistakes. The other day KBeaner was throwing a fit, and was sent to time out, recently when she has a time out it is a big production of her screaming and crying. This time she went and took her time out and then we talked about it, there was no screaming! (I was so excited!!) We talked about how even though she did earn a time out, that I was very proud of her that she took her timeout right away and did not fight about it. That day I'm sure Merry the Elf told Santa about how even though KBeaner did make a mistake she took a break and then had a great day! ;)

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this is that, we should make the Elf on the Shelf (or Holiday friend that comes to visit you)  an even more magical thing! There is so much stress during the Holidays for everyone even kids, let's make it a little easier for them. Enjoy your elves!!