H2Ohhhhhwow!

We finally decorated the tree today!  It is always fun looking through the ornaments.  I have given my kiddos a Hallmark Christmas ornament every year.  It is a tradition that an ornament is in their stocking on Christmas Day.  My plan (like my Mom did for me) is to give them their ornaments when they eventually leave the nest so that they have ornaments for their Christmas tree in their new homes.  Makes me kind of sad thinking about it.  I love thinking of the memories as we take the ornaments out of the totes.  Not many of these years left with my kiddos.

Today was a good plan day – I stayed within my calorie range.  I drank a V8 Peach Mango Energy drink, ate a banana and a cereal bar.  Lunch was leftover taco salad and tonight we had pizzas, made chocolate chip cookies, and played Christmas music (I love my Pandora Christmas station!).  I won’t be having any cookies tonight though since it is a rest day and I don’t have any extra calories to use for dessert.  It’s okay though because I’m not really hungry.  I’d only be eating them because I love chocolate chip cookies, and not because I’m hungry.  The longer I sit here though, and know they are on the stove the more I want one!  Time to put them away!

Another goal of mine has been to drink water; I am not good at all about drinking H2O.  I have been trying to drink at least 8 glasses a day.  I was reading www.SparkPeople.com today for motivation.  Here are a couple things that will definitely keep me chugging!

“If your body is used to not getting water, it actually stores more in ankles, hips and thighs. In other words, it doesn’t trust you to keep bringing water, so it keeps what it can get, like a thirsty cactus. Once it realizes the water will keep coming, your body will get rid of the stores and you’ll lose weight!”

Wow, I don’t want my thighs to look like a cactus and I don’t want cankles!

Here are some ideas they give to help you get the water in (they recommend 8 cups a day):

• Find the water bottles with pop tops. They’re easier to carry around and use than twist off caps.
• Keep a water bottle in the car.
• Set a rule with your water glass: once it’s empty, it gets filled back up right away.
• Drink orange juice or eat fruit in the morning.
• Get two water bottles, one for work and one for home. Fill up one every day when you leave to go home, and fill up the other before you go to bed each night.
• Order water at restaurants instead of soda. Even if you have something else to drink, have water too.
• Weekends are the toughest, so be aware of your water and fluid intake throughout Saturday and Sunday. Keep more than one water bottle in the fridge so you always have a cold one.
• Follow the example of a SparkPeople member: this woman put a water glass on her windowsill with 8 pennies on one side. Each time she filled up her glass and drank it, she moved a penny to the other side, until all the pennies were moved. Great reminder system!

Hope you all are having a great week.  I am tired, sore, but happy I’ve had four pretty good days!  Progress peeps!

A pic of our Christmas tree!