THANK YOU for all that fabulous, heartfelt comments. Writing yesterday’s post was exactly what I needed to start to moving forward and reading your comments helped me see (yet again) I am NOT ALONE and that is powerful stuff.

Funks are never fun, but they are an inevitable part of life, at [...]]]>

THANK YOU for all that fabulous, heartfelt comments. Writing yesterday’s post was exactly what I needed to start to moving forward and reading your comments helped me see (yet again) I am NOT ALONE and that is powerful stuff.

Funks are never fun, but they are an inevitable part of life, at least for me. Here’s a few things I’ve been doing to get my groove back.

Face the Feeling

That’s what yesterday’s post was all about. I meant what I said about "getting out of my own head." I’m convinced if I had an outlet to share all my messed up thoughts about my body and weight issues earlier I would have never gained so much weight in the first place. Once I started blogging, I got all the stuff swimming in my head OUT and I realized I’m not all that different than anyone else. A lot of people feel the way I do. I would have never known if I didn’t take the leap and face the feelings I was going through. Of course you don’t have to be crazy and do it publicly like I did/do, but get them out of your head. Write an anonymous blog. Confide in a friend. Go to a group. Seek professional help. Whatever makes sense for you and your situation.

Reach Out and MAKE Things Happen

I’m not one to normally sit around and wait for things to happen except when I’m in a funk. Then I shut down. I stop calling people. I pull back on my social media outlets. I not even as talkative as I normally am. Today, however, I made an effort. I called an old friend. I talked to my mom. I even tried to set up a play date. It didn’t work out BUT again, the act of reaching out is what matters here. What’s the quote? “Too many people go through life waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen!”

Discover (or Re-Discover) Your Creative Outlet

I think I take for granted how happy making things makes me. I’m not the craftiest person, but I do like to draw with the Little Guy and cook (der.) Both are a creative outlets. The whole cooking process from coming up with an idea, organizing the ingredients, taste testing, even photographing and calculating the nutritional information, all of it, gives me an amazing sense of satisfaction. Even more so when I share it and inspire someone else! Sometimes when we get into a funk we don’t want to do anything at all, but what we really need is to focus on the things that provide us happiness. Mary Lou Cook says, “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” Just remember you can’t be in a funk if you are having fun!

Get up, Get out, Move More

This isn’t about weight loss or training or sculpting the perfect abs. This is about being in touch with your body. When you are in a funk and stuck in your own head, you tend to forget you have a body and it can do amazing things! Get up and go for a walk, hit a class at the gym, pop in a yoga DVD, climb a rock wall, roller skate, hike, play a game of catch in the backyard, go bowling! I don’t care just MOVE. Today I walked and walked and walked. The fresh air and exercise did wonders for my soul.

Smile

I know it’s cheesy and it’s hard to do when you are in Funkville, but make an effort. Blast your favorite happy song, find things online that make you laugh, ask your friend to tell you a joke. Today, for me it was making Little Bean laugh. How can you be in funk surrounded by this sound?

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I took that picture today and it made me smile. Exactly what I needed to help pull me out of this funk.

I hate blogging when I feel this way. I’m just so… so… bleh. I’m not sure what’ up with me. I had a great day yesterday. I mean seriously… GREAT! [...]]]>

I took that picture today and it made me smile. Exactly what I needed to help pull me out of this funk.

I hate blogging when I feel this way. I’m just so… so… bleh. I’m not sure what’ up with me. I had a great day yesterday. I mean seriously… GREAT! I got my butt kicked at Bootcamp, went to the little guys T-Ball game, made lunch for my boys, went the little guys first soccer game, played some putt putt, had dinner out with friends and then hit a local carnival for rides. It may sound crazy busy and rushed but it wasn’t. We had a wonderful time and spent the whole day together as a family. We really loved every minute of it.

This morning started with a running event. I ran the 6k Port2Fort today and checked off April on my 1 event a month running goal this year. I ran it a little slower then last year but that’s ok. I still had fun.

Chart taken from Nike+ website after sync. Click here to see how I did it.

After the race I spent most of the day with the little guy cleaning up. My house has been in a state of disarray these last few weeks and I can’t help but think this is contributing to my funk. So I caught up on laundry, organized the pantry, cleaned out the fridge and straightened up overall. All while jamming out to loud music and dancing around with Little Guy. We had a blast! Afterwards we went out for our bubble blowing session and then hit the grocery store.

Another GREAT day!

SO why the funk? Well I can’t help but this it has to do with my diet. My little Note to Self on Friday didn’t really work. I’ve been in a eating frenzy. Just feeling stuffed after every meal. I’m catching myself mindlessly munching. I’m not drinking my water like I normally do. And I’m hitting the candy. Big Time.

This is why I started the concept of Sensational Sundays. Even though I feel a bit out of control while this funk. I will not let it spill over into my week. So after dinner I packed lunches. Cleaned up the kitchen and I’m about to hit the hay super early. Nothing combats the funk more then a little bit of pre planning and a good nights sleep. I have my water bottle standing by and I’ll be sleeping in my workout clothes to squish in a pre-work workout.

I’m ready to beat this funk! So even though I do hate blogging when I feel this way it’s exactly what I need. It keeps me conscious, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

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It was like I just wanted to check out for a few days. [...]]]> I’m feeling much better then I’ve been these last few days. I’m not sure what was up with me. Unmotivated is an understatement. I was down in the dumps. Lazy. Uninterested in everything. In a funk, as I like to say.

It was like I just wanted to check out for a few days.

So I did. I did absolutely nothing on Sunday. Nothing.

At first I felt bad about it. Then I realized we all need some check out time. It’s good for the soul. :)

This morning I still woke up a bit down in the dumps but throughout the day as I got more and more productive at work I felt better and better.

I swear I’m a productivity whore. I thrive on accomplishing things. It’s a strange personality quirk, I know.

Anyway, something popped into my head on my drive home today and I just have to share.

You know that saying, "devils in the details" as in it’s the small details of something which make it difficult or challenging. Well I was pondering life and thinking of ways to stay on plan and be productive when a new phrase came to mind. . .

Progress is in the Planning

When I get into these funks the only way I pull myself out of them is by planning. I make lunches, create menus for the week, write up shopping lists and to do’s. Anything to help me feel a bit more productive.

Without fail I start to feel better. Especially when I get to reap the benefits of that planning.

Take today for example. At work I enjoyed all the healthy snacks I packed in my lunch the night before. I made progress because I planned. Even though Sunday I totally didn’t feel like packing a lunch. I did it because I knew it would would be a small step with big a payoff the next day. If I let the funk take over and went to work unprepared I would have spent money on an overpriced over-caloried crappy lunch. Which would have made me feel worse and brought me further down my path of funk. Simply by taking 5 minutes Sunday night I laid plans to help me make progress instead.

Does that make sense?

Probably not. I’m getting anxious as I want to head to bed early tonight. I better sign off.

Before I go I’ll leave you with a link to a post I wrote at work on SpeakHealth, my new favorite soup recipe I made up this weekend and my food journal for the day.

Table provided by Roni’s Food Tweet, Eat, Post Generator.

I’m off to pull out my running clothes. I’m PLANNING a morning run before work. :)

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Now… do what you can to prepare for the week and get day 1 of that challenge underway while watching Mad Men! :)

Pick and choose or add your own, we all have our [...]]]> I don’t know WHAT is wrong with me. I’m heading into Funkville and I hate it. This happens now and then. I’m not sure why, probably a combination of things…

• Every Day Life Stresses
• Lack of Sleep
• Change of Season
• Feeling Overwhelmed
• HORMONES

Pick and choose or add your own, we all have our own reasons for being in a funk. We also all have our own ways of dealing. For me it seems to be…

• Eating
• Staying up late
• Getting Lazy

Those are the things that I tend to do when in the funk. Funny thing is I should be doing the opposite to get out of the funk. It’s a vicious cycle as doing them actually sends me deeper into Funkville.

Case in point… Yesterday I skipped the gym and last night after dinner I ate. And ate. And ate. It was a mindless, constant pacifier for my funk. It started with a bit of peach sorbet. When I say "a bit", I mean the ENTIRE pint. Then a handful (more like 2 handfuls) of peanut M & M’s grabbed from the pantry on my way to bathroom. On my way back I picked up the bag of pretzel sticks and proceeded to stuff them in my mouth handfuls at a time to the point of uncomfortable fullness. Finally I said "ENOUGH" and as I headed to bed early I had to fight the urge to bring something with me. I was totally ready to search the pantry for another snack.

Needless to say, this morning I feel poo poo. It’s the morning after. Part of me wants to skip breakfast. Fast away the mindless calories I ate last night. But I know where that road leads. That’s the wrong move. It continues the cycle. No No No Instead I’m going to face the funk head on…

• Poured BIG glass of water
• Shared an orange with the toddler
• Read my own Fighting the Funk Posts
• Wrote this post (writing is totally therapeutic for me)
• About to make a healthy breakfast
• Accomplishing something off the "to do"
• Going to the GYM!

That’s my morning plan. I’m halfway thru and I’m starting to feel a little better. These are the kinds of days that can turn in weeks or months if you let them. The most important thing I learned about the weight loss and maintenance thing is you keep trucking. The only way you fail is by giving up. Even though I want to veg in front of the TV all day I know from experience that making the harder choices in life have a greater reward.

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While trying to get myself out of the funk, I decided to organize [...]]]> AACK! I could complain about a lot of things but I don’t want to get into them. The point is, I’ve been in a FUNK all day. And what do I want to do to solve that funk? EAT! Of course.

While trying to get myself out of the funk, I decided to organize my pantry. It’s in desperate need. In doing so, I found a box of stale chocolate chip cookies. These cookies are a huge weakness of mine. They are big, full of chips, and soft, in my opinion, all the best qualities a cookie can have. Well, even after discovering they were stale I STILL proceeded to chow down. WHY? Because I’m in a funk and that’s what I do. I try to “cure” the funk with food. I’m not quit sure why, but I do.

This time though, I caught myself and I TREW THEM AWAY. Then I proceeded to eat a nice big bowl of homemade chicken soup. I figured it would fill me up (I’m not really hungry, mind you) and be a much better choice to cure the funk craving.

Well it worked for awhile and then my brain started turning, “Hmmm it’s football saturday, we can order a pizza, yeah. That would be good, a PIZZA. Maybe we’ll get a side of those chicken tenders too. And I’ve always wanted to try one of their new desserts.”

Ok, I’m not kidding, that’s EXACTLY what when through my head. That is the way my brain works when I’m in a funk. It’s like I start to scheme and plan how I can consume the most frivolous calories. That’s my solution, I guess? Or maybe it’s a symptom. I’m not sure.

Anything can start the funk, feeling sorry for myself, mad at someone, lonely, ugly, fat, distant, really it could be anything, but the cure I always seek out is the same. Food.

My logic, sane, self (she’s able to somehow stay afloat in my funk-afied brain and I hear her more and more the longer I’m on this journey) realized early there was no way I could pick up the phone to order that pizza. It would be a disaster. So instead I decided to make what I wanted out of what I had. I made pizza.

Does that make sense? Let me explain.

Now I’ve said this before. For me, the actual act of cooking food starts to satisfy the craving. I think there is something about the short delay in preparing the food that helps. If I just grabbed a bag of chips or ordered the pizza I’m instantaneously satisfy the craving. That’s too easy. I don’t want to make it easy on myself, I’d rather go with hard. Hard decision are normally better for me in the long run. If I have to work for it then the time I’m planning, preparing and cooking all lead to the satisfaction.

So instead of ordering a pizza that’s made with hordes of full fat cheese, greasy meats, non-nutritious white flour I decided to make my own. Today I went all out and made my Thin Crust Whole Wheat Pizza Dough but I could have made Tortilla Pizza, or English muffin pizza. I could have made in on a pita, in a crepe, in a wonton, as a salad or even on top of eggs. Even when I don’t have sauce I make do and sometimes a craving can turn into some quality family time. Can you tell I have a pizza addiction? All these ideas came from curing pizza cravings.

My point here is (and I swear there is one) the next time you are confronted with a funk, a craving, or a “I just want something” mood, get creative. Don’t just give in and and take the easy way out, Make What You Want out of What You Have. I think you’ll be ultimately more satisfied if you do.

I wasn’t going to post this but I made a commitment to journal for my 8 week challenge, so here you go. I’m really making an effort to do what I say I’m going to do.

Want a food journal like this for your blog? Try the table generator.

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I didn’t make it to the gym, I wasn’t up for a run, so I took a nice long walk alone [...]]]> OK, my “Fight the Funk” day is coming to a close. I’m not going to lie, I’m still in a bit of a funk. I started the day better then I’m ending it.

I didn’t make it to the gym, I wasn’t up for a run, so I took a nice long walk alone with my headphones. It was great! AND much better then watching TV for that half hour (which would have made the funk a lot worse!)

I realize my blog has turned into a self help outlet but boy did I need it. I’m taking 3 days off this week and heading to the beach with the toddler. I’m hoping a few days away will snap me out of the ‘you know what’. I’m not going to even say it again.

Tomorrow I plan on posting the question of the week and then I’ll be signing off until the weekend.

Hope you all had a funk-less Monday!

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