Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts

THANK YOU!

Happy Wednesday Everyone! I just wanted to take today to say THANK  YOU to all of you that are coming  back everyday to see what I am up to. You guys rock and I love you for it. It really puts a smile on my face to see your comments and to read your emails. I have not been feeling the best lately and I think I finally have a real reason why. Writing this blog helps me escape my stresses and lets me be in a place where I am happy.

Next week I will be back with new topics that are jam packed with information, laughs, and  just good fun reading. This week has been kind of lax while I sort out some personal stuff. I appreciate your understandings and kind words as I sort these things out. Friday I will be explaining a little bit of whats going on, so stay tuned!

I hope you all have a great day and I will see you back here Friday!

Summer Monday's

Monday already? How does that happen? Even with a 3 day weekend thrown in there, Monday always seems to creep up WAY to quick! Not only is it Monday, but it's a summer Monday. What do I mean, you ask? It means you probably ran ragged all weekend long, got no real relaxation in, and now it's Monday and you are right back into the grind. I don't know about you, but that equation is just all out exhausting!

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE summer and all that it brings. I would not trade in the nice weather, summer parties, or drinks on the balcony for anything... However it's the fact that in today's world we try to fit in every event, every vacation, every anything else that needs to be done into 3 months! That's roughly 12 weekends we try to jam pack with anything and everything so we don't miss anything. We then grumble back to work every Monday complaining how tired we are only to put in another 8 to 10 hours in at the office. Does that sound like fun to anyone? Anyone? Didn't think so.



One of the best plans I have come up with in order to help cut down on all of the craziness that is summer weekends is to plan at least 1 weekend a month where you stay home and take some "me" time. If you have a family plan a family "us" time. Follow these simple tips and you are on your way to a little less stressful summer..

  •  Make a list and prioritize it. Include 3 categories. High, Medium, and Low. Add all of the things you want/have to do in the summer. Separate them into the 3 categories.
  • Keep a calender. Look at the list you just compiled and add all of the high priority items first. These normally include things such as vacations, weddings, and family events (birthdays, graduations, ect).
  •  Once you have all of your high priority dates listed out in front of you, it gives a better idea on what the rest of your summer looks like.
  • Take all of the medium priority items and add them into the calendar. These items are normally events like fairs, sports events, and kids events. 
  • Now that you have all of the important dates on the calendar you should look at your weekends and see whats open. Pick 1 weekend from each month to use as your "me" or "us" time.
  •  If all of your weekends are not totally full at this point it leaves room to add items. These are events that may not yet have a firm date, annual things you attend every summer if you get the time, or things you really want to do but isn't a priority. 
  • One of the most important tips I can offer is to learn to say no. You are not obligated to attend every single event that comes your way. You can politely decline if you feel like it is going to be to much. Summer is a time for fun but you also don't want to burn yourself out.
Now even if you cannot commit to taking a full weekend off each month, try for a Sunday. This way you can commit to an event on Saturday and still have one day to relax and recharge. Do what you have to do to give yourself some time away from all of the craziness that is summer time!

What do you think? Do you run ragged every summer only to wish you had slowed down just a bit? How do you balance it all? Leave your answers in the comments! Happy Monday!!



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Fit-Trish: Stress! It's making our bellies bigger!

Welcome back to another week of Fit-Trish: A series dedicated to fitness on a budget. This week is going to a be a little bit different to past weeks. It is 6:30am and I have decided to re-write my post today because I wanted to discuss something that's been slowing me down in my fitness journey.



I have been writing this series now for 5 weeks. I am starting to feel discouraged in my weight loss journey. Not because I am not following my plan I made for myself, but because I am not seeing the results yet. Now you are probably thinking, "Really? It's only been 5 weeks girl?!" Let me explain.

Stress has a huge chunk of my daily life,I know I have written about this before, but I feel it is a very important part of a lifestyle change . Stress can do some funky stuff to our bodies, and weight gain is one of them. I woke up early this morning to research stress and what it's doing to my body physically. I did this because I have noticed my stomach seems to bulge out more lately than it did before I started being healthy.

I came across an article on Women to Women called "Weight Loss and Adrenal Stress." This article is geared towards women and it really hits home. Stress causes weight gain when the adrenal glands are over worked. The body prepares for disaster and starts storing fat and calories. This ultimately leads us to crave more good, lose energy, and that leads to weight gain. This weight gain normally is localized to the stomach area. The adrenal glands will release cortisol in excess amounts when we are stressed. It will stay elevated in our bloodstreams causing our glucose levels to stay elevated in our abdominal calls. This is what is causing the larger waist.

I thought I was doing a better job at managing my stress. Maybe I was for a little while, but I can definitely tell its elevated again and I feel helpless in making it go away. I wrote about some of my stress related symptoms here. Most of those symptoms seemed to have gotten better, but not noticing my stomach growing rather than shrinking gets very discouraging.

I am going to follow these steps listed in the article to see if I can start to maintain and balance the cortisol levels in my system.
  • When you eat matters: Eat smaller meals in regular intervals. Don't starve your body.
  • Have healthy foods on hand: Better snacks choices help reduce the cortisol overload.
  • Supplement your daily diet: Take a daily multivitamin which helps control cortisol.
  • Disconnect: Shut off all electronic devices by 8pm and relax with something like a good book..
  • Sleep: Get to bed by 10pm. Make a goal to sleep 8 hours so our body's recharge and regulate.
  • Exercise: Try to take a 15 minute walk after meals. This makes our bodies and our minds happy.
  • Have fun: Enjoying your time is very important in maintaining stress. Do it often!
  • Don't forget to breathe:  Deep breathes help to calm your body down. 3 or 4 deep breaths often make us feel better.
  • Just let it go: (No not the frozen song.. ) At the end of the day remember yourself. You cannot EVER make everyone happy. You must make yourself happy first. Help where you can, but if you are not happy, you can't really make someone else happy. Always remember that!
Now that is a great list in which I am going to follow this weekend and see how it goes. My best friend will be in town with my goddaughter who is 4. We will be doing all kinds of fun things so it will be easy to disconnect and have some fun. I am going to fight my work stress and let it go.

Have a great Friday everyone. I hope this helped some of you fighting that pesky stomach bulge. Stress is a very real thing and it really does a number on us. Let me know if you are planning to follow these steps or if you have your own methods of dealing. I'd love to hear them!

So sick and tired of being sick and tired

Since September I have not been feeling "good". Food has been my enemy off and on and I am constantly worrying about eating. I am gaining weight left and right and I feel like I am eating less and less. I have been sick more this year than I ever remember.  I have gone through numerous tests, all coming back with the same result: Normal. I have spent to much money and lost to much sleep over this mysterious illness. As much as I don't want to believe there is something seriously wrong with me, it would be nice to have a diagnosis.

Over the past 8 months I started to notice a constant in my life that I am starting to believe is the main culprit for my "illness". It saddens me to believe all of my problems have come from this. This nasty little bugger is stress. I didn't want to believe it at first; because how could stress be the main reason for my problems? I am constantly bloated, my stomach is upset and I get headaches galore. I have trouble sleeping, have pain in my back and often feel like I am having a heart attack. Can something as little as stress cause this? I did a little research and ended up on stress.org where they listed 50 common symptoms of stress. The answers I got were shocking to me.

# 1 on the list was frequent headaches.
# 5 is neck ache, back pain and muscle spasms.
# 14 lists heartburn, stomach pain and nausea.
# 19 chest pain, heart palpitations. and rapid pulse.
# 26 Insomnia, nightmares, and disturbing dreams.

There they all were. All of my symptoms listed on a common list of stress related symptoms. As I looked through the list I noticed others that I have experienced but weren't as severe. I am not a doctor or trying to self diagnose myself, but this seems like the logical answer to my question. What is wrong with me? All of the other tests have come back fine and I am so tired of hearing "Normal". Tired of being sick. Tired of missing fun events because I don't feel well. Tired of avoiding food because I "think" it is causing the pain. Tired of missing work. Tired of spending money on what seems like a lost cause. I am just plain sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Now the main question: How do I lower my stress level?

I have identified the major stress in my life and it's a hard one to get rid of. My job
Most people find that their job and money are the highest levels of stress that they experience. I am struggling with money like most people are, but I mostly blame my stress on my work environment. I would gladly take a lower paying job if it helped me release some of this stress.

I have taken on some new things to try and lessen my stress:
I started taking a 30 minute walk every day at lunch.
I have been trying to leave work at work.
I have started to make lifestyle changes with my diet.
I am drinking more water.
I am learning to breathe it out when things get overwhelming.

So far these changes seem to be making a good impact. I am starting to feel less sick to my stomach daily and I have lost a few pounds. I cannot change the situation at work, so I will change the way I look at it. With me luck because I am going to need it!

How do you all deal with stress? Any major things I should be changing or adding to my daily life? Anything advice would be much appreciated.

I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired ya'll.


Xo Trish
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Neck ache, back pain, muscle spasms
Neck ache, back pain, muscle spasms
Neck ache, back pain, muscle spasms
Neck ache, back pain, muscle spasms