Tomorrow is the big day!! Can you believe it! This one team is playing this other team and we are going to celebrate by stuffing as much food into our face as humanly possible!!

HURRAH!!

No, wait. Stop and think about it. Why would we celebrate watching other people being fit by stuffing crap into our own pie hole? How does that even make sense?

And yet, year after year, that’s exactly what we do. According to the USDA, Super Bowl Sunday is now the second largest food consumption day of the year (Thanksgiving is first).

Every year, Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, assistant professor at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City and founder of DietDetective.com, comes out with a list of what he refers to as “Big Game Foods” and the exercise equivalent of what it would take to burn the calories off. Here’s a sampling of this year’s list:

• THREE PIGS IN BLANKETS = PLAYING CATCH WITH A FOOTBALL FOR 68 MINUTES (NONSTOP)
• SIX BOTTLES OF BUDWEISER BEER = DOING “THE WAVE” 4,280 TIMES
• ONE DEVILED EGG = 12 MINUTES OF CHEERLEADING
• FIVE TOSTITOS RESTAURANT-STYLE TORTILLA CHIPS WITH 7-LAYER DIP = 110 MINUTES CLEANING THE STADIUM AFTER THE GAME

You guys. I implore you. Have fun this weekend but STOP and THINK! Don’t let the festivities make you lose sight of your weight loss goals.

If you can go into that party and eat and not feel guilty on Monday, go for it. Enjoy yourself and move on. But if you think they’ll be any amount of guilt, disappointment, shame, or anger on Monday morning, listen to your gut! Don’t stuff yourself! Have fun but also stay focused!

Don’t let this one day determine your success this week!

Because, seriously? Who can do the wave that many times? My limit is about 2500 TOPS!

If there is one truth that cannot be denied, it’s this:

I absolutely, 100%, without a doubt cannot STAND Winter. At all.

The extra layers, the wind, the dry skin, the piles of melting snow left by little boots in the middle of my kitchen floor that I step in every.single.time!

It seriously makes me want to turn to my inner bear and hibernate until the temperatures warm up.

But for some people, that feeling goes way beyond annoyance into full blown depression.

Have you ever heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

The U.S. National Library of Medicine had this to say about things to look for if you suspect you have SAD:

Symptoms usually build up slowly in the late autumn and winter months. Symptoms are usually the same as with depression:

• Increased appetite with weight gain (weight loss is more common with other forms of depression)
• Increased sleep and daytime sleepiness (too little sleep is more common with other forms of depression)
• Less energy and ability to concentrate in the afternoon
• Loss of interest in work or other activities
• Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement
• Social withdrawal
• Unhappiness and irritability

*List pulled from “Seasonal Affective Disorder” found in the PubMed Health section at The U.S. National Library of Medicine.

If you think you might be suffering from SAD, go see your doctor! The treatment options are fairly simple to implement and include getting enough sunlight every day, eating right, and exercising.

Bullet list a must.

• Make packing list for road trip that starts on Monday.
• 10 push ups
• Make muffins for Santa (we learned long ago that he prefers blueberry muffins and carrots to cookies)
• 10 squats
• Go to the grocery store for non-perishables
• 10 lunges
• Wrap presents
• 10 crunches
• Try on church clothes for Christmas Eve service (procratination for the win)
• 10 bicep curls
• Write a Sisterhood post
• 10 chair dips
• Pick up new running shoes from store (the least important thing on my list…so I’m taking it off instead of stressing about getting it done)
• 30 second plank
• Wash and fold laundry
• 10 calf raises on step
• Personal blog post (maybe a vlog?) – Not happening tonight…moving to tomorrow!
• Run 1 mile (what the hell…shoot for sub 10:30…) - Not happening tonight…moving to tomorrow!
• Shower (if I’m lucky)
• 10 more squats

Merry Christmas Eve, folks. Do what you can today to fit in whatever exercise you can. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.

Just for fun, I’ll update this post throughout the day. Accountability, FTW!

I’m always looking for quotes or pictures or shirts or ANYTHING that will give me that little extra boost to (hopefully) get me off my arse to work out. Or help me through that choice between fries or a side salad.

I recently came across a passage in a book (and subsequently, the movie) that has really stuck with me. I’m sure the author didn’t intend for it to be a motivation for poor saps like me, but HOORAY that it was.

Have any of you read or seen The Help? It’s well worth it, in my opinion for reasons other than this one little phrase. But if you’ve read it or seen it, than you might know the passage I’m talking about…

It’s quite simple.

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”

That’s it guys. All of this is true about every single one of you. Yet, for some reason, I think we all forget it.

You are deserving of all of the love and kindness that you give others. You are smart enough to know which choices are good and which choices are lacking in good judgement. You are important enough to take time for yourself EVERY DAY, no matter what the activity is.

The next few weeks are going to be crazy. It’s a quick, slippery slope from now until the New Year. Why don’t you go ahead and give yourself a little gift?

Take time for yourself. Believe that you know the right thing to do. Be kind to your bodies, your souls, your minds.

Beyond measure, you are worth it.

How is everyone doing this fine day? I’m trying my hand at being annoyingly happy because I just received some very tragic news.

SNOW IS ON THE WAY!

Ugh. I realize this in no way effects anything having to do with weight loss or healthy living other than the fact that it makes me very unhappy, LOL!

Anyway, on with the post.

How did everyone do this week? Is our current 10KaDay challenge helping you in your weight loss efforts? Last night on The Biggest Loser, I heard them say that people used to get around 14,000 steps a day, but now we are down to around 3,000. That’s just crazy! Strap on those pedometers, folks, and get yourself moving!

You know what’s really been helping me? The O Fitness Tree. My six year old daughter is doing the challenge with me and she is usually the one that says “Mommy, is it time to do some fitness yet so I can get a sticker?” Or, “Mommy, don’t forget that you still have to go for a run!” She’s really been keeping me on my toes.

Gift giving time is just around the corner, so don’t forget to check out our Shrinking Gift List. You still have a few more days to enter to win the BodyMedia FIT Armband, so don’t delay! Check it out!

That’s it for me, everybody! Have a fantastic week!

When it comes to working out, I would have to say that I’m more of a cardio person. I’m more likely to run, swim, or bike than I am to lift a weight.

Honestly, I see strength training as a necessary evil. I know I should do it, but I just don’t.

Recently (if you consider May “recently”…I’m a procrastinator in evey sense of the word…) I got my hands on the My Fitness Trainer 100-calorie 6-Pack. It’s a set of 6 cards that each have a 100-calorie workout on them. It’s starts with a little cardio and then goes into a series of resistance/weight training exercises.

Each card has full color photographs of the exercises being demonstrated by none other than Carla, the infamous MizFit. (Full disclosure: I may have a little girl crush on her.)

Image courtesy of My Trainer Fitness

Let me tell you, these routines are short and sweet, but they are no joke. Each card (one per day), took me through a 15-20 minute circuit training workout, and I was sweaty and breathing hard and had jiggly arms and legs at the end of each card.

The majority of the moves were familiar to me, although I did have to look up one move on YouTube because I couldn’t get quite understand what I was supposed to do. The exercises are easy to modify for difficulty (or…ahem…non-difficulty).

 Straight from the horses mouth:

What Equipment Will I Need?
All Optional—easy to substitute or modify:Resistance Bands, Dumbbells, Stopwatch or Clock, Jump Rope, Mat, Hula Hoop, Swiss Ball
Substitute with any of the following:Heavy Books, Filled Bottles/Jugs, Soup Cans, or, simply increase repetitions, intensity and/or time.

This is an easy, QUICK way to get a little workout in. The cards are three hole punched and come with a caribiner clip to hold them together. There is also an optional binder you can get to hold your cards. Those options make it super convenient to take with you anywhere. (HINT: Holiday travel…)

My Trainer Fitness makes other 6-Packs, too. Their complete line of 6-Packs are:

• My Trainer Fitness for At Home
• My Trainer Fitness for Outdoors
• My Trainer Fitness for Guys at the Gym
• My Trainer Fitness for Kids
• My Trainer Fitness for At Work
• My Trainer Fitness 100-Calorie Workouts

And you know we want to get you in on the 6-Pack love. We are giving away two different prizes pack! ‘Tis the season, yo.

One lucky winner will receive the My Trainer Fitness 100-calorie Workout 6-Pack, two other My Trainer Fitness 6-Packs of their choice, and a My Trainer Fitness 6-Pack Workout Binder.

Another winner will receive the My Trainer Fitness 100-calorie Workout 6-Pack.

You’ve got 3 ways to enter:

1. Visit My Trainer Fitness, take a look around, and then leave a comment with which products you are interested in.
2. Follow Shrinking Jeans on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway.  Leave a us a comment with a link to the tweet, please.
3. Like My Trainer Fitness on Facebook and leave us a comment letting us know you did.

Giveaway ends Saturday, December 3rd at 11:59pm PST.  Also, you must leave an email address/twitter handle for us to contact you in case you win.  If you do not respond within 48 hours, then we will choose another winner.

I like to think of myself as a relatively fit person. I’ve completed ten races this year, including my first triathlon and three marathons.  I exercise (fairly) regularly, I eat (pretty) right, I don’t smoke, I don’t (hardly ever) drink.

Do I struggle every day? Yes. But for the most part, I’m healthy.

But, you know, as hard as I try to make good, healthy choices, there’s one thing that I don’t have control over, and I never really will.

Never underestimate the power of genetics.

Several years ago, my dad (who was overweight) had his annual physical and they found a problem. His cholesterol and his triglycerides were very high and the doctor pretty much told him that he HAD to lose weight. So my dad did what he needed to do. He cut out sweets, anything with high fructose corn syrup, and started walking every day. The weight just melted off of him. People who hadn’t seen him in a while thought that he was really, really sick because he had lost so much weight.

While he was exercising daily and completely changed the way he ate, that was not enough to bring his triglycerides under control. He went on medication and started taking a daily fish oil pill. Two and a half years after the diagnosis, there were finally back in to the normal range.

He has maintained his weight loss and healthy eating habits and continues to take fish oil supplements to this day, and his triglycerides are still in the normal range.

As soon as he knew what was going on, he got on all six of us kids to go get our bloodwork done. One of my sisters and one of my brothers had elevated triglycerides, too. My bloodwork however was all within normal ranges, and that has been the case for the last two years.

Not so this year. I have officially slipped out of the normal range and into the “borderline high” range. The doctor recommended I limit simple sugars and start taking 3000mg of fish oil pills a day.

This is an awfully long post that really only has one point: don’t assume everything is o.k. just because you have no symptoms, especially if you have a family history of something. It is important that you make yearly doctor visits part of your healthcare routine.

If it weren’t for my dad’s insistance that I have bloodwork done, I never would have done it. I had no symptoms, no evidence at all that something was wrong inside me. And if it weren’t for my yearly check ups, I still wouldn’t know.

If you haven’t been to see a doctor lately, make the appointment as soon as you can. Get the full picture of what’s going on…the sooner the better.

The tribes list will be updated later this evening. Be sure to check back later for the updated list!

The winner of this week’s BODYGLIDE gift pack is: Brooke F. from Exile Island! Congratulations!! Please email your information to Christy to claim your prize.

IT’S FALL! IT’S FALL! IT’S FALL! IT’S FALL!

Now that I got that out of my system, can you tell that I’m excited that it’s FINALLY fall? The ice cream binging days are over. Oh yes, they are!

Only to be replaced by fall comfort food.

Sigh.

My husband and son went to our local farm/pumpkin patch this weekend. The last thing I yelled to them before they walked out the door?

“Don’t forget to pick up a loaf or two of their Homemade Cinnamon Bread!”

As far as I’m concerned, between the months of September and November, there is nothing better than a piece of warm, sweet, homemade bread with a little bit (or lot) of butter slathered on.

Cinnamon Bread. Pumpkin Bread. Zucchini Bread. Banana Bread. Yeah, I’ll take them all.

Now, I was a little bit good… When my husband got home with two loaves of bread, I promptly wrapped one up and popped it in the freezer. But the other loaf didn’t stand a chance.

Oh, and the other thing about fall? Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte.

I’ve tried getting the Nonfat Pumpkin Spice Latte, but I’m sorry…it is just NOT the same. The rest of the year I can manage to get a nonfat latte, but that Pumpkin Spice just doesn’t taste the same with every ounce of fat that Starbucks intended when they invented it.

So those are my transgressions for the week…baked goods and hot beverages. How did you all fare??