Holiday Season....bah

I've been spending a lot of time after work reading other's blogs. Helps me get out of my head a little. In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm a bit neurotic and can easily get lost in my thoughts and ideas and plans and puzzle brain. I've noticed a common theme in some of the great blogs out there and please forgive me ladies but I'm gonna copy you. Take it as a compliment though...k. ;)

First is the lovely Bitch Cakes. Yes, I'm giving credit where it's due...of course I am. I love Bitch Cakes. One of her posts in 2007 was all about a holiday plan that I found after my bestest workout buddy told me that I MUST go through and read her posts from the very beginning. Check it out here.

The other super blogger is the one and only Prior Fat Girl. Her holiday plan post was just a couple days ago. Check it out here.

I love both of these holiday plans so much that I've decided to smoosh them together for my very own 3-Phase holiday plan. Ready for it? Okay, I'm going to give it to you but please note that it is not a completed work yet. There are a few things still up in the air as far as finalizing specific dates and stuff. So, disclosure here is that I reserve the right to change it if I find that something isn't going to work after doing more logistical legwork.

Phase I - Freedom
First, I've decided that I'm not going to count my calories or wear my heart rate monitor or pull out my spreadsheet for 4 very specific dates on the calendar between now and January 1st.

The dates are: Thanksgiving day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve Day, and Christmas Day.

I've never ever given myself the freedom to just enjoy my holiday meals because I was too busy feeling guilty and being tempted to think that it might just be okay to consciously decide ahead of time to chill the F%$# out and just enjoy myself. This is NOT, I repeat NOT a ticket to binge. It just means that I can have pie and candied yams if I feel like it and not feel guilty and beat myself up. Such a foreign concept but I'm gonna go with it. This is about lifestyle after all...right?

I chose these dates as my free days because they are the days when I LOVE to cook. The day after Thanksgiving is the only one that I may or may not take. Usually every year we have tons of left overs and I find it too tempting and feel too guilty knowing that all those left overs are in the fridge and will be thrown away if I don't help eat them. This year though, I don't think we'll have a huge feast with just 2 or 3 of us in attendance so I might just be able to get away with one day...I hope.

Phase II - Exercise
This is the get my over-carbed ass up and back to work phase. Because I've had more than my fair share of years watching my food and weight with great results only to have everything destroyed by the binging and inevitable guilt that follows a holiday season self destruction, I know that it is difficult to get back to the gym. Hallelujah to that! AMEN!

Here's the solution. I am pre-planning my activities for the month of November and December. To be considered adequate pre-planning, I need to make it an unbreakable binding kind of set up because I'm a sneaky little shit when I want to be. So, I've decided that for me...there needs to be three criterion met in order to be adequately preplanned.
1. Specific dates must be scheduled.
2. Any expenses incurred due to said pre-planning must be prepaid, as in paid for before any of the above holidays take place.
3. Someone, anyone, or even better yet, multiple someones need to be expecting me and/or counting on my attendance.

These are the items that I don't have totally concrete yet.

November
So far, my plan is to do the Punk Rope workshop on November 1st which is already paid for and the creator himself is expecting my attendance. Then, assuming that I love it as much as I'm expecting to, I will likely set up an entire month of scheduled classes at community centers in the greater metro area for which I will be the teacher. But, I can't do this part until AFTER the workshop on November 1st. Starting to see my dilemma? And, because I realize that such short notice will make it difficult to set up any kind of fee based classes, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to offer demo classes so people can check it out for free while I'm working with different venues to offer the class for a fee eventually. Like I said...kind of loosey goosey right now. But I'm working on it.

December
Now, for December I have another almost established plan and a plan B just in case. My first plan is to sign up for a kickboxing or martial arts class at least once per week throughout the month of December and of course prepay for it. I checked with one kickboxing gym near me already and they were just not willing to work with me because I'm only interested in a one month deal. Greedy bastards wanted to charge me $125 for 8 sessions. *insert eye roll here*. Whatever! So, I'm still looking for the specifics on this.

Just a note on why I'm thinking kickboxing and/or martial arts. Because I think I need something that is going to be really challenging and high energy to kick my ass so I can basically shock myself back to work just in case I end up feeling totally unmotivated by then. And, because they are activities on my list from my other blog.

Now for the back up plan. Hire a personal trainer at my gym for the month of December at least once per week. I put this as a plan B because I really don't have much respect for or confidence in the trainers at my gym. I've worked with a trainer before (elsewhere) and I just don't see the ones where I am now doing anything more for their clients than what I currently do for myself. AND...maybe I'm just a judgemental asshole but to me, a personal trainer should be fit and most of the ones at my gym have muscle but it's all hidden by a layer or two of fat. Don't want them teaching me how to lose weight.

Also, please note that plan A and B are both in addition to my regular weekly exercise schedule. Please keep in mind too that if/when I start getting some regular Punk Rope classes set up, it may also be in addition to that. Of course, I may need to do a little rearranging. OMG...actually, now that I mentioned that, I realized it may be a plan C too. :) Even better.

Phase III - Food
The third and final phase is all about healthy eating. I've mentioned before that one of my weaknesses is grazing. Well, I've decided that in order to combat that, I am going to start planning my meals for an entire week ahead of time. That means breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack every day for 6 or 7 days will be planned in advance. I'm doing this every week, not just holidays but I think it's going to be key to keep myself on track.

I know this seems like A LOT of planning and you're right. It is! But, it's something I've never done before. Every other year for the past 10 years has been a complete disaster for all my previous efforts. And the one thing I want to do this year once and for all is to end my self-destructive patterns. They say that if you want different results, you have to try different solutions. After all the definition of insanity is trying the same things over and over expecting different results. I'm trying something different here.

Ultimately, I'm doing everything I can think of to set myself up for success. I'm taking full advantage of riding this high point while it lasts and using it to put a safety net in place for myself for the if and/or when the wave crashes down yet again. I'm hoping that all the great things I'm doing for myself will prevent that wave from crashing back down but just in case....I want to be prepared.

What ideas do you have for a safety net for yourself?
What has worked?
What hasn't worked?
What support do you need?

Sorry for the long post and because it's been a long day and I'm feeling a little fuzzy, I'm sorry if my thoughts seem to be rambling. They feel like it to me but who knows. Okay...enough is enough.

Oh...PS I did all my daily activities today...except for the poor guitar. I love you guitar. Tomorrow you're gonna be my bitch.

Good night all.