vegetarian + christmas, ova' and out!

'ello blogosphere!

well well well...if it isn't the post Christmas blues - 

Yeah, I get them every year...I'm one of those folks that the minute Christmas day strikes midnight I want to tear the decorations and the tree down to the very ground. All that build up, preparation, cookie baking, food making stress mixed with just a bit of the needed festive joy comes to a screeching halt as soon as that Christmas day ends. And I've noticed during this hustling, bustling week of Christmas festivities I have a tendency to preach what i'm not practicing...and that doesn't go over well with my soul. 

All that aside, I did have a very nice Christmas, and had the absolute joy and pleasure of having my grandmother over for Christmas dinner for the very first time. This was an added bonus ofcourse. It was something I will be eternally grateful for. All that said, my mood has been a bit topsy turvey these days, not sure if it is my hormones going into over drive (my bday was yesterday...the big 44!) or its just the holiday blues. Whatever it is, I plan on kicking myself out of this funk somehow.

And one of the best ways I know is to RUN. And so I did, quite a bit in fact over the past week or so. I did a 7.5 mile run on Saturday, my longest since my half marathon in September. Felt pretty good, but boy were my legs screaming for rest by the end. I'm also missing the gym something terrible. It has been WELL over a month (maybe even 2 months dare I admit) and I'm wayyyyy overdue. The indulgences of December and the lack of weight training have me disliking how I feel and what i'm seeing in the mirror. 

No bueno. 

I've also learned that I'm dwindling in the area of self confidence, RAPIDLY, since ignoring thegym and embracing far too many cookies, cakes and pies. I do not like what I see in the mirror right now and that is hard when most of 2013 I was thrilled with my efforts - my mood, confidence and general disposition was better when I was caring for my body the way I know I should.

Granted, there is no use regretting how I chose to live the past month or two, what IS important is how I carry it all forward. And that will be and IS the advice I give others. My running has helped immensely the past week in getting that healthy lovin' mindset back...but boy has it been a struggle.

!!UPDATE to this part of my post from earlier today, I since made the push to get to the gym after work and I am SO happy I did. WOW, what an awesome feeling to be back at it. I was not thrilled that I had to down the weights since my last visit, and the image in the mirror was a little hard to swallow...but i made myself look in the mirror and take PRIDE in the fact I got myself there after too long a break!!

On to my other topic...you know what else is a struggle? Telling people that "I'm going vegetarian". Its ridiculous. Never did I think those three words could cause such chaos in the middle of a simple conversation. My original plan was to start January 1st. But after filling my face with every kind of meat, cake, candy, pie, cookie, you name it...I felt the need to really just commit asap to the vegetarian thing. And I'm glad I did. I'm on the 4th day and so far, not feeling any major changes except for my digestive system acting a little haywire. I'm also reading up on which veggies will give me a much needed boost of protein with no longer needing to dive into a bowl of cooked chicken. I'm also sticking to keeping fish and dairy in my diet. This tends to stump those that are existing vegetarians. I'm sort of in this middle veggie-never-never-land. I've begun accumulating numerous vegetarian recipes and just trying to really wrap my head around the idea that I will NEED to read up and try new recipes and be accountable for my nutrution. Somehow by going vegetarian, I feel more responsible for my body...and its kind of cool to know that I'm not consuming any cute animals in the process.

So, that about sums it all up. When I started this post this morning, I can tell I was in a down sorta place in my head, but 45 minutes in the gym today and I'm feeling so much more optimistic and happy. My belief in the mind, body, spirit connection has never rung truer than it has today.

stay strong!

Rachel