Welcome to another night in Carol's Corner. I hope all of you enjoyed the back to back feature stories that Carol's Corner was priveledged to be able to share for you my readers. I am recovering quite nicely from my automobile accident.My neck is much much better than it was and I am back at it with my workouts. The winner of naming this ensemble is Angie Wonderling with ,”Sweet Magnolia.” I really like this whole outfit and everything about it.

I used a combination of color tones in all my jewelry.

The black FitCuff went really well with the beautifully colored FitBit Band.

 

This has quickly become one of my favorite watches and one I found for a song which makes it even better.

 

 

 

 

 

I thought the above made a good lead in for tonight's topic and I have a surprise for you. You might say we have a guest blogger for tonight's discussion which is written by Jill Haley from ” Steps For Success.” I asked her if I could use this for my blog and she said certainly. I am going to title it ” Weight Creep.” So here's Jill.

Weight creeps up, it doesn't hit suddenly. We have all gone through it. ( Don't I know it, happening to me right now.) It starts innocently: I can have just one (insert your weakness here). Then it becomes a habit, once a week. Now, if it stopped there, we would all be fine. What happens next is, since we notice that a little binge here or there doesn't make us gain any weight, we let our guard down further. We give ourselves permission to up the ante to twice a week. It makes us feel good treating ourselves, and even then, we are able to sidestep any weight gain. Life gets in the way and throws us curveballs: stressful events,celebrations, time constraints, and before you know it, we are eating more convenience foods and rationalizing our binges.

After a few weeks of this, we may be afraid to step on the scale. After a few months of this, we avoid wearing the skinny clothes and start wearing more comfortable, stretchy clothes. And then, we tell ourselves, I don't want to live if I can't eat the way I want-life is to be enjoyed and I don't want to give up all the food I love. We start keeping candy and cookies and chips in the house and eat them every day without portion control. We eat mindlessly in front of the television. We make excuses to downscale our exercise routines. It goes from 4 times a week to 3 to 2, then we give ourselves permission to take a break from exercising.

The holidays come and we want to enjoy all the great food and drinks and fun it has to offer. All the good tips we have learned about choosing carefully, eating protein before we go to a party, don't drink your calories, it all goes out the window.

And when New Years comes, we are back to the same sorry resolutions.

Let's stop this cycle here. It has not gotten away from us this year. If we are doing well, keep up the good work. If we have added a few pounds since January, let's take care of this before the holidays make the task seem insurmountable. We can enjoy things once in awhile, we can enjoy food in smaller portions. If we know something is too irresistible to us, we should stay away or just keep it for special occasions. We all know how to be healthy. Now let's implement it!

Wise food choices 80/20 rule.

Exercise 4 or more times a week.

Plenty of water and sleep.

Let's do this together and we will really enjoy the new year!

Thank you Jill for such an insightful and thought provoking piece. I know that I myself am guilty for letting some added pounds creep on. I am still golden when it comes to my workouts but I have to work harder to get my eating under control. Let's all work hard to get through this holiday season without doing any further damage. Together we can do it. Till next time God Bless.