ready2bskinE

Ever notice how a lunch-hour jog quells your afternoon munchies? A sculpting class works too, says a study published in the American Journal of Physiology. Three groups of people fasted for 10 hours, then either ran, strength-trained, or rested. When they rated their hunger afterward, both the lifters and the runners reported far fewer hunger pangs. “When you’re active, your body diverts some blood flow from the stomach to the working muscles, which can reduce hunger,” says David Stensel, Ph.D., a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Loughborough University in England. So start hitting the weights to stop hitting the vending machine!

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Another study asked people to walk away when they were craving chocolate, literally! A group of 20 woman were asked to take a 15 minute walk instead of giving in to their chocolate craving. Afterwards, most reported the cravings were gone, and they were not tempted to eat the chocolate even when asked to open a candy bar, for up to 30 minutes after the walk.

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I noticed that I don’t eat as much throughout the day when I take a morning walk, nor do I crave a second helping of dinner when I exercise directly after work. Hmmmm…. I think there really is something to that study!  Monday was day 4 on my no-binge streak. I was concerned yesterday about my lack of appetite, but I managed to eat a decent dinner (spinach salad, pan-fried chicken breast -used a tiny bit of extra virgin olive oil- and steamed broccoli and cauliflower with 1/2 a baked potato) AND I had a good breakfast this morning (1 scrambled egg, piece of whole wheat toast with a slice of cheese, and a 4oz cup of yogurt) so…. I guess I’m back on track with that.

Unfortunately, every single muscle in my entire body is sore right now! Well, I’m sure there are a few I didn’t get to yesterday, but it’s hard to feel where they might be over all the aching. Lower body especially. My calves are so sore I can’t even walk without feeling pangs every step of the way. Maybe I over-did it….  Think I’ll keep the exercise today to a brisk walk after work and the CoreMax routine. There it is! My abs are the one muscle group blissfully pain-free. I’ll take care of that today though. LOL 

Before I forget, let me get to my family issues…. Y’all it’s my mother in law! She is NUTS!! The backstory (I’ll keep it short) is that she’s NEVER been there for my husband, though she likes to pretend she’s done so much for him. The fact of the matter is, I couldn’t name one thing she’s ever done for me, my kids, or my husband, even if you hard-pressed me. Unless Christmas presents count…. even if she doesn’t bother to watch the kids open them. *sigh*  I guess if a good deed could be done for show, she *might* do it. For us, that is. Now, when it comes to my husband’s sister, or more accurately, her kids, my mother in law is all over it. Well, this past Christmas, her husband got sick of her ways (she’s an alcoholic in denial about it) and kicked her out. Long story short, she met some guy, dated him for a week or two, then moved from Arkansas to eastern Tennessee with him.  Nuts, right? I mean, who does that? So anyway, my sister in law called last night to let my husband know that their mom had come to visit. Actually, she drove through our town, right past our house, to get to my sister in law and my nephews, picked them up, then drove back through here and past our house a second time to take them to stay with her at her mother’s house.  She never even called or anything.  Keep in mind, I’ve never said one cross word to this lady; in fact, I’ve been nothing if not OVERLY nice. I really WANTED her to love me and my kids, and I did everything in my power to try to make that happen. The fact that she doesn’t love me, I can live with. The fact that she doesn’t give a sh*t about my kids really pisses me off.  The part of me that wants to tell her off is growing by the minute (and trust me guys, I’m very non-confrontational, so the fact that I’m actually considering calling her and going off on her is a very unsettling thing for me.)  I’m not sure if it would be better for me to go ahead and get this off my chest, and just be done with her, or just ignore it and her and leave the possibility open that maybe she’ll decide to have something to do with my kids in the future. That’s what I’ve been doing so far, thinking that she’ll come around eventually. After all, these girls are GORGEOUS, funny, and above-average smart, and they’re HER grand kids! But every single time she does something to slight them, I get more and more angry, and I’m almost to the point that I don’t care anymore if they EVER have a relationship. Most of all, I’m just thankful that MY mother MORE than makes up for her with all the attention and love she gives my kids.

Just wondering, what would YOU do in this situation? Ignore her, or tell her off?