I have today off, and took yesterday off because of a migraine. I went to the docs and got medicine and am finally feeling better today, though have no energy at all. With my time off, the house is clean and organized, I've been to Target, and have NOTHING to do with the rest of the day. I am so antsy to start my holiday baking. I can bake things and freeze them...maybe freeze them at my parents house so I don't have it here. But I'm feeling weak and I just don't want to start this early and have to deal with trying to have willpower. I am just so bored and it would be the perfect day for baking. Help!! I was planning on the gym but I know I don't have enough energy today.

The best thing would be to g to the gym anyways. Having not enough energy is just an excuse you tell yourself. I know I have used the exuse before, but you always have more energy after a workout and always feel 100% better. Why let your weight loss suffer just make yourself go to the gym it will take up your time and give you what you want in the end which is to lose all the weight. That is the best advice I can give to you don't defeat yourself with excuses.

i agree with nate. go ! its not easy as we speak ive been in my house doing pretty much nothing all day its hard to get up and get going but you have to do it ITS FOR YOU !! not to mention i see weight wise u and i are in the same boat lets make it to 200 by xmas WE CAN DO IT ! ( or at least try ! ) lol

if you have the energy to bake you have the energy to do half hour at the gym.... you just dont WANT to but you deserve it though go do something good FOR YOU . its not easy i know but youll feel better about it tonight than you will if you over on your calories :hugs:

I would also recommend going to the gym and getting in a workout, even if its a way lighter one than you normally do (for example, taking a moderate paced walk where you usually run, or setting your resistance lower on the elliptical). You may find that you have more energy when you get started, you may not (usually I do) but at least you will have tried.

Then, if i still wanted to bake, I'd do it. But the exercise would have given me the endorphin high that would help me keep my fingers out of the batter. Without the exercise, I'd have a much harder time resisting. Exercise, for me, is one of those good choices that leads you to make other, bigger good choices. I probably would not bake if I didn't at least try for the workout first...too risky, for me.

I was watching an episode of National Body Challenge and they had a chef on who shared that she chews gum while baking. Having something in her mouth already kept her from tasting and nibbling.

I have to bake a cake today and I keep putting it off because I don't want it being a temtation for me, even if I can't eat it because its to celebrate an anniversary tomorrow. but I'll give the gum a try.

I would go to the gym first, I find that if I have exercised I eat better for the rest of the day because I don't want to un-do all my hard work.

HTH

I went to the gym!! Thank you all for pushing me to go. Now, I felt like a slug, the workout was crap, and I won't even tell you how long I stayed, BUT I did burn a couple hundred more cals than I would've today. Chunkey Munkey, I am SOOO trying to get under 200 for New Years, but it's a really agressive target for me and I'm not convinced I can do it. But, I figure if I'm under 205 by then, I will consider that a victory as well.

Good for you. I was going to suggest the very same thing. I had low energy yesterday but also was emotionally low. I found that going to the gym and hopping on the reclining bike at a "fat burning pace" was the boost I needed without the hard workout.
It really helped with the emotional low as I was able to decompress with a magazine while keeping my legs going.

I'm a chef and while I was doing my baking training, I too would chew gum to keep myself from tasting. I can tell you that it usually works, and it makes it easier to catch yourself just before you do try to taste something.

I do ZERO holiday baking. If its too unhealthy for you to eat, it is for others as well. Of course my family does not celebrate holidays. But we still get together for meals. Why contribute to the unhealthy lifestyle of others...less pressure for you...more time to work out or relax...no temptation. It really is all about setting yourself up for success.

This is definitely one perspective, and if you can't control yourself around baked goods or while you're baking you may need to give it up, temporarily or permanently.

But, in my opinion, there are no foods that are "too unhealthy" to eat. There ARE foods that I, personally, am unable to eat in a moderate, healthy way. I have plenty of other people in my life who ARE able to eat those things in a healthy, moderate fashion. Those foods are off limits to me, but I truly believe that there ARE no inherently "bad" foods...only foods that are not healthy when eaten in large quantities. A cookie, or even one cookie a day for a week, is not going to kill you (and was reality for a lot of folks since well before the real explosion of obesity in this country).

For me, holiday baking is not something I'm willing to give up, just because some foods are foods I cannot control myself with easily, because my loved ones enjoy gifts from my kitchen, made from real ingredients (butter, eggs, cocoa, etc) that my grandmother would recognize, usually using her recipes.

But that's just my perspective, and I absolutely respect anyone who wants to remove baking from their life. I just don't believe it's essential for weight loss and maintenance, or that a cookie, in and of itself, is a "bad" food.

Good job on getting into the gym. It doens't matter how hard you worked out or how long the point is that you went. Now you know in the future that you can do it and can get into the gym gratz!

Mandalinn
I respect your opinion. I certainly dont discount that food and family go hand in hand for many people. I was very fortunate to be raised by two parents who only used food for fuel, and all very healthy fuel. Our family gatherings were focused around the experience of family, not the meal.I fondly remember our yearly family reunions at the local museums or nature centers. Food was never involved. Now if I had only continued to live that life I would not have 20 pounds to lose....unfortunately my overeating began in grad school...eating while studying...blah blah blah. Certainly no excuse. On the flip side I am not able to relate to the holiday expectations when it comes to baking for others. We did not celebrate holidays. So maybe I am out of line suggesting eliminating baking.

Never seems like it at the time you do it but it's always best to do the right thing...Go to the gym...NO BAKING!!!!

that stuff is usually the bad stuff we need to avoid anyways....So If you have no willpower On your holiday baking~just Say No~Cause foods are like a drug to us over eaters! GOODLUCK!!!!