Will Run For Ice Cream

All across blogger land, there are these things called linkups with cutsie little names. But I came across the Friday Five 2.0 via another blogger friend. It looked like fun, and I thought I'd join. Each week there is a theme ( loosely followed ), and this week the theme is whatever you want to write about. So for my very first Friday Five 2.0, I'm going to give you ( drum roll please ) 5 Reasons To Set Goals. Let's face it, if you are anything like me, without a goal ( and a plan ), things just don't happen. So here are 5 reasons to set goals.

I know you've been sitting there holding your breath wondering what my goals are that I've been talking about lately on various social media posts. I watched the Velveteen rabbit with Lil Man (can you believe I'd never watched it. I'm sure I read the book, but I don't remembe r). Anyway, there was a quote that really stood out with me. I jotted it down quickly in my phone notes because I didn't want to forget it.  See, I let fear stop me a lot.. and I mean a lot. And I let others' opinions often stop me from trying.  What if they are right? What if I fail? So a lot of times, I don't even try which leads to having very low self confidence in myself. That being said, I've been feeling a burning desire in my gut to really follow my dreams in a lot of areas in my life and see what happens. 

As I unwrapped the Godiva truffle, I trembled a little. I kid you not. The velvety chocolate melted in my mouth. And I honestly thought I would eat just one. I did the first time. But as the day went on, I had another, and another until by the end of the day I wound up binge eating about 8 at one time. I felt horrible physically and emotionally. It was my first binge of all or nothing in almost a month. How could I so easily slip back into old habits? I ate an entire bag. The following days consisted of brownies, cupcakes and cookies. And I felt sick... physically sick. I was bloated, my joints swelled and hurt, cranky, extremely moody with extreme highs and lows. I was no longer sleeping through the night, and by the 3rd night I woke up with night sweats. If you are disappointed in me, trust me I am even more disappointed in myself . And I told myself it was time to get a grip. I'm on my 1st day of no sugar. I don't have a predetermined amount of time that I wi

I have been compensated in the form of a gift card/money/coupon and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free. All opinions expressed are mine and honest in nature. I love my gym membership. In fact, I'm able to go to several different gyms for one monthly price. I love it. I enjoy group classes. I also just enjoy going to the gym. But.... I also love my home gym because the reality is sometimes I just can't make it to the gym. Sickness happens. Weather happens. Life happens. And because I have my home gym, I'm able to workout anytime that I want to. Also, if I'm in a bind without a lot of time, working out at home saves me the drive time of going to the gym. One of the the latest pieces of equipment that I've added to my home gym is the plyo box from Rep Fitness  I chose the 3-in-1 box. The options were 12x14x16, 16x18x20, 16x20x24, and 20x24x30". I chose the 16x18x20. Well, let's just say that I didn't realize just h

Amy here.. and I'd just like to admit that I am my own worst enemy. Yep... me... sure from time to time people will throw in a cross word here or there... but usually it's me who abuses me. It's me who allows other's opinions to keep me from following a dream. I honestly don't want to remember all of the abusive self talk that I've told myself. The reality is .... it's lies... all of it. Those negative, fearful, hateful antagonist words are lies. For me, I believe they come from fear. It's often the fear of failure that keeps me from trying. And it's often my negative self talk that tears down my self confidence. So what am I going to do about it?

I've written so much lately about eliminating processed sweet junk food ( How I Am Going To Overcome Sugar Addiction ) that I haven't said much about what else is going on in my life. Well this week, a friend and I went out on the Appalachian Trail and then branched off onto another trail. I hiked this trail back in the spring. So I knew it went straight up. It was difficult in the spring. It was more difficult with the cold temps and the ice.

I would say no sugar this past week, but that's not completely true. ( Confession Time About Eating Sugar)  but I have for the most part kept it in check. What I have struggled with this week was stress eating and eating just because. You didn't think that after 26 or so days that I would never struggle again did you? I didn't. Yes it is easier to recognize what I'm doing and stop the behavior. But there are still times that I find myself struggling not to eat out of stress or just because. I'm not reaching for cookies, but reaching for something even healthy just because I'm stressed or bored or whatever emotion still isn't something that I want to do. And I found myself eating several times this week past the point of being full and yet I continued to eat just because. I reached for snacks at night just because. So it looks like it might be time to pull the coloring book out more. It's hard to go for a walk at 9pm as a distraction ( or it is for m

I said that I wouldn't eat sweets until the 21st, but the dark chocolate was just calling my name - constantly. The baker's chocolate did help, but I was still seriously craving dark chocolate. So I had a piece of Ghiradelli intense dark with sea salt and almonds. It was the sweetest tasting creamiest thing I've had in a long time. And one piece did the trick. The following day though I really wanted more which makes me concerned that moderation may be hard. Anyway, yesterday I had a piece of Ghiradelli intense dark, and later that day we made our gingerbread house. I did take a nice lick of the icing, and to keep from eating more, I had another piece of the Ghiradelli intense dark with sea salt and almonds. It was the most sugar I've had in over 21 days. We also had the waffle house for lunch. But I've been eating carbs ( bread here and there and potatoes ). By last night

Full Disclosure: I received a discount for providing a review of CoSchedule . My opinions are completely my own based on my experience. This post also contains referral and/or affiliate links.  I have been blogging for years. But one thing that I struggle with is consistency. For the last couple of years I have used a paper calendar. I liked the layout and that I could keep up with my monthly social accounts and follower counts. However, I couldn't find a printed calendar this year. The only ones that I could find were ones that I could print myself. And I just didn't want to do that. So I started looking around and I heard about CoSchedule . I thought I would give it a try. Why not? They have a free trial. So I thought that I would give it a go. One thing I should mention is that CoSchedule works with wordpress. I obviously don't have wordpress.  I use Blogger. But honestly I did not find that it was a hindrance. I was still able to use the headline an

Please Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you make a purchase using the links in this post.  It shouldn't come as a surprise that I am a Skirt Sports Ambassador ( FYI, 2017 apps are open. Click here to apply ) I am totally in love with Skirt Sports gear. I workout in it. I wear it to run errands. I wear it to school functions. I even wear it to church.  And one of my favorite skirts is the gym girl ultra . Image Source Skirt Sports

Well, my nutrition this past week, in my opinion was less than stellar. I had pizza 3 times! Granted it was one 'slice', but their slice is actually about 2 large slices. I was hungry for it. I planned my running route to start and end at the local pizza place one day - hey - just telling it like it is. And I thoroughly enjoyed my cheese pizza. And 2 more times this past week, I enjoyed more cheese pizza. So yeah I can't say that my nutrition has been on point . But I can say, that I think I'm getting better at listening to my body. I know in time I need to transition some of the things that I am eating to healthier choices. But truly small changes are working for me, and that's what I'm sticking with. With last week's Weigh in ( Why I Am Weighing In ) I was at 127.8lbs. Since I started weight training, and since I had pizza 3 times this week, I didn't really know what to expect when I stepped on the scale. I was prepared to see an increase, but I a

I have been compensated in the form of a gift card/money/coupon and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free. All opinions expressed are mine and honest in nature. I was NOT asked to write a review of this product.   As my disclaimer states, I was not asked to write a review about Stridebox , but I liked the product so much I thought I'd do a quick shout out. In case you've never heard of Stridebox, it's a monthly subscription to running ( I would also say fitness ) related products. Basically you sign up ( $15 a month ) and each month you are sent a cool box. Inside it's always a surprise!

For anyone curious about how this all started, you can read that here ( How I Am Going To Overcome Sugar Addiction ) And to recap, I'm eating fruit. I'm eating carbs. I'm eating my fruit flavored Greek yogurt (and yes I know there is sugar in that ). What I am NOT eating is sweet junk food and baked goods. But after 14 days, this is what happened:

This post is sponsored by the Voice of Play My son will play outside at any time and in any weather. When he was little, my family couldn't believe that we played outside all year. I heard "Isn't it too cold to be outside?" You have to remember that our families live in Mississippi and Texas. And although it does get cold there, most days it warms up during the day, and then repeats the process the following day.  Pennsylvania weather was an adjustment for me in that some days it just doesn't feel like it warms up very much in the winter. But that being said, it doesn't stop us from getting outside.  And honestly it shouldn't stop you either as long as the temperature isn't dangerously low.  We dress in layers. We wear hats and gloves when we need them. We keep moving. I try to find activities that will keep us active and moving while we are outside.

When I started this journey with ditching the sugar ( How I'm Going To Overcome Sugar Addiction ), I decided to step on the scale. I didn't want to see how bad I'd let the weight gain get to, but I wanted to see a new starting point. 130.2 ( at least 20lbs or so over my normal weight ). And during this time of focusing on removing the sugar, I haven't focused on weight. And I don't intend to allow myself to focus on weight at this point either. But, I don't want to replace sugar with another type of food.

I thought I'd give a brief update on how I'm doing with sugar. Saturday was a struggle. I wanted some cookies. I wanted the bowl of candy bars, and for a split second I almost caved and gave in. But I wasn't craving the taste ( although I'll admit a gooey chocolate chip cookie sounds good right now ).  What I wanted was

Day 7 - did I just type that? No, seriously - did I just go 7 days without sugar? Is this even real? I have tried for years and years and years to try to give up sugar.What was different this time?

And here we are at Day 6. Today has been one of life's stress days - nothing major - just normal every day life. You know.. like being out of certain things that I didn't know we were out of.... dirty dishes, laundry, attitudes.. you know.. just the little life stressors that often sends me reaching for chocolate. But the reality is, eating a snicker isn't going to magically put chicken breasts in my frig that I needed today. It's not going to fold all of the laundry, clean the floors, clean the kitchen, make lunch or anything else that I was stressing over. And that temporary moment of pleasure won't last. In fact, it creates a pattern that I've been struggling to get rid of. So, no I didn't eat the snickers or any other junk food. I wasn't hungry. I was stressed .