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Health Mental Therapeutic

When to give yourself a timeout.

Have you ever given yourself a timeout? Do you know when to give yourself a time out? As adults we intuitively know when to tell our children to “Go sit in timeout”. We see them slowly start to unravel and then all hell breaks loose. What do we do though, when we’re pushed to our limits? We may tend to yell more. We may become withdrawn. What if we could prevent the mental breakdown from occurring altogether by giving ourselves a timeout? If you haven’t thought much about giving yourself a timeout, read on for what I learned about taking timeouts.

Categories
Exercise Fitness Review Health

Get your workout on at home with Crunch Live!

What’s one of the major perks of a gym membership? The classes, right?! When I was asked to review CrunchLive.com I was excited and curious. Normally when I work out I go to the gym. Depending on my mood AND energy level, I normally do the elliptical or the treadmill. If I’m super motivated walking in, I’ll do some strength training too.  Notice I haven’t mentioned taking a class yet. What are you doing now for exercise? Are you in search of something new? Do you work out at home? Read on to see what I loved about Crunch Live.

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Health

I just want to be healthy.

The Journey to Healthyville is paved with tiny rocks that get stuck in your shoe. The Journey of an obese women who wants to fit into her wedding dress. Part of the Healthyville Series on MyPocketfulOfThoughts.com

My wedding is 128 days away and I can’t fit into my jeans. Houston we have a PROBLEM. When I picked up my dress in March, I tried it on. I was worried that it wouldn’t fit. It fit like a glove, minus the length. My tiny 5 foot 2 and a quarter frame would drown in the fabric so I would have to just take it up a bit. Now. Well, I’m trying not to panic. No. I’m not panicking. I’m not panicking. I’M NOT PANICKING!

I shouldn’t panic right?

I am EXTREMELY anxious though. My weight has gone up and down over the last ten years. I’ve been so focused on numbers and feeling totally defeated when I continue to be so far from my ultimate weight goal. It’s become torture. I’ve felt the effects of extra weight; The weight equivalent to a small child.  I carry it around with me, everywhere I go.

Have I been going about it all wrong?

At the end of the day I just want to be healthy. Something has to change. But what?

Have you quieted the voice within that tells you to quit every time you step on the scale?

I came across this Infographic that describes the cost and perceptions of obesity. Did I mention I was obese? Granted most of my weight adds to my curves.  BUT when my curves require me to update my wardrobe OR causes me to go to the doctors for unforeseen consequences…. well the journey to healthy feels like a losing battle. This is deja vu. I’ve been here before.

So while I think of what needs to change … here’s the Infographic I mentioned.

NEW INFOGRAPHIC: The Rates, Costs & Perceptions of Obesity
Infographic Source: http://www.bistroMD.com

Has your weight compromised your health? Have you been on the weight see-saw like me? Have you quieted the voices that make you quit? Have you succeeded in getting to your healthy weight goal? What has worked for you? What hasn’t worked for you? Do you think I’ll fit into my wedding dress? :-O

Looking to get back on the horse to Healthyville,

Until then,

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Categories
Book Reviews Health Money

[ Book Review ] Help On The Way by Chris Orestis

Help On The Way by Chris Orestis; Book Review featured on My Pocketful of Thoughts on Healthcare and Life Insurance Conversion to a Long Term Care Benefit; https://mypocketfulofthoughts.com/

Last week I mentioned that June was Men’s Health Month. The article I read by Chris Oresti made me want to read his book Help On The Way. Healthcare is a topic that is on my mind a lot lately. My parents are now both retirement age as of this year. Their health is OK most days due to the cocktail of pharmaceutical drugs that allow them to be. I’ll be moving out in November after I get married. They’re well being is a priority. Neither could afford a financial blow due to unexpected medical expenses. It peaked my interest to read about the possibility of using a life insurance policy to pay for assisted living and home care. Read on to read an excerpt and my thoughts on the book. 

Categories
Health

June is Men’s Health Month

June is Men's Health Month, A man at retirement age is at risk of losing his savings if he has a medical issue; - My Pocketful of Thoughts; https://mypocketfulofthoughts.com/
photo credit: vasta via photopin cc

My Papi turned 65 years old this past Friday. On Father’s Day we celebrated all the dads in our lives. While birthdays and Father’s Day helps us think of gifts to honor the men in our lives, do we remember to make sure they’re taking care of their health? If their health is neglected as they age, imagine the medical costs that could create and how that could effect their retirement savings. We want our dads to have a comfortable retirement, right?

Categories
Health

10 Health Myths

Do you ever wonder if the health related warnings we’re told as children hold any truth? Or if they’re just old wives tales? Mami always told me that if I left the house with wet hair I’d catch pneumonia. I’ve left the house and the gym almost a million times with wet hair and I have never had pneumonia. This is not to say that it couldn’t play a factor, amongst many factors, that could lead me to get pneumonia. I just haven’t been able to prove her theory. I wonder if its something that she was told as a child and like all mothers, we fell the need to warn our children? Read on to see 10 health myths you might think are true. 

Categories
Health

How to fight sleep.

Are you wondering how to fight sleep? Do you have a million and one things to do and don’t have the time to do it? Are you in the middle of a project that could make your life better if you had the time? Are you finding yourself on the bring of crawling into your closet, curling up in a fetal position and closing your eyes? Are you trying to squeeze in an extra half hour to get shit done? You’re not alone. In fact we’re meeting today. Right now. Yes, that’s right! Read on to see how I’m successfully fighting sleep! - My Pocketful of Thoughts

Are you wondering how to fight sleep? Do you have a million and one things to do and don’t have the time to do it? Are you in the middle of a project that could make your life better if you had the time? Are you finding yourself on the bring of crawling into your closet, curling up in a fetal position and closing your eyes? Are you trying to squeeze in an extra half hour to get shit done? You’re not alone. In fact we’re meeting today. Right now. Yes, that’s right! Read on to see how I’m successfully fighting sleep!

Since February, I’ve become an unexpected mom. Did you know there were more ways to have children than having sex? OMG, I didn’t either! If you did, why didn’t YOU TELL ME!

Anywhooooo, I’m a little sleep deprived so I wanted to share what I’m doing to fight sleep! I highly suggest you NOT do anything on this list as it will effect your health in a negative manner.

  1. I DRINK Starbucks beverages that have espresso in it. Tip: Ask for an extra shot or two depending on how long you want to be up.
  2. I THINK about your personal finances right before you close your eyes. The Lord knows how much I have to pay in credit card bills and loans from my college years. I have put it in his hands and I believe that this debt is all temporary but it still keeps me up at night. It’s like an eternal alarm is set to remind me that I have a bill due tomorrow and I have to go online to pay it. Except that the alarm is broken. I’ve paid my month bill and its weeks before the next one. Yet the alarm in my head keeps going off. This is my least favorite way to fight sleep because it makes me feeling anxious. Its a similar feeling to leaving the house and wondering if you left the stove on with food cooking on it still.
  3. Create a schedule you can’t control. Children will help you do this. If you don’t have a child you may borrow mine 🙂 If you have more than one child even better as you start to get schedules that conflict and you find yourself doing a ballet ensemble.
  4. Insert what keeps YOU up at night so I may have a larger selection!

I write all this to tell you that you’re not alone. Millions of us are fighting sleep every day to get everything on our list done. We’ve become great at juggling, prioritizing and crying silently on the inside. I know you’re beyond exhausted and now I understand why that guy carrying the two coffees early this morning barely blinked as he crossed the street without looking up. I totally got him this morning!

Just remember that sleep deprivation is dangerous to you, your health and the people around you. Your body needs sleep to heal and repair itself from the everyday stresses. If you are not sleeping enough you will eventually feel the effects and become a zombie. You won’t become the flesh eating kind but you might not be able to tell the difference. You will gain weight. You can have headaches. Your appetetie could change. It’s not pretty, look at my picture above!

This is all temporary. This is all temporary. This is all temporary. This is all temporary. 

This IS all temporary. I repeat this about a thousand times a day. I also look around to see who can help me. Take a minute to look around at the people who love you and would help you out if you really needed it. Figure out when to schedule in some YOU time. Thank you Biba for that pep talk! I’ve been using my MoviePass and heading to the movies a few times a week. Look for lots of upcoming movie reviews. Take a nap. Go to the gym and exercise for 15-20 minutes to get the blood flowing. Scream into your pillow. Leave the pile of clothes to sort through til the weekend. Don’t drink the coffee an hour before you have to go to sleep. Remember to take care of you.

If you don’t take care of yourself no one else will. If you can’t take care of yourself, how can you take care of anyone else? Stop fighting sleep and figure out how to get some more. We’ll talk about your findings next week!

What’s keeping you up at night? Are you a zombie too? Do you look as crazy as me? Please say yes LOL What helps you?

Until then,

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