Thanksgiving – so close, yet so far! I really love Thanksgiving (I’m sure you haven’t noticed by now) and I think it’s because – for me- it marks the start of this wonderful holiday season. It’s the first of the family gatherings and it just sets the tone for the following to come.  This weekend I decided to get a head start on my desserts so I wouldn’t be rushing like a madwoman this week.  I chose to make the “Pumpkin Ice-Cream Pie”  first since it was a very simple recipe.

To make this recipe even simpler, I bought a 10″ pre-made graham cracker crust instead of crushing my own.  I also made the mistake of buying Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream as opposed to just Chocolate Chip, but it’s chocolate – can you really go wrong with a little more of it?!  I think not!

Step one: 

I couldn’t take a picture of step two because the ice-cream melts really quickly so I had to move fast, but here is the final product:

The recipe also didn’t call for extra dark chocolate chips on the top, but like I said – how can you go wrong with more chocolate  After I finished that I decided to try another recipe I found at eatingbirdfood’s blog, called “Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bars”. I know, I don’t know what got into me on a Friday night, but I was in the baking mood!

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bars

Makes about 15-20 squares

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour **
• 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup non-fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup pumpkin, canned or fresh that’s been roasted and pureed
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, cut into small chunks (or chocolate chips) – I used Ghiardelli Dark chocolate chips

Ready for baking!

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Spray 13 x 9 pan with non-stick spray.
3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl mix sugar, apple sauce, yogurt, oil, egg whites, and vanilla until well combined. Stir in pumpkin.
5. Slowly pour flour mix into the wet ingredients and mix well until everything is combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.
6. Pour dough evenly into the greased pan. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the middle of the bars (about 30 minutes).
7. Cool completely, cut and lift from pan. Enjoy!

It’s fairly common for us to gain a few extra pounds – in my case, around five – during the holiday season. This year I’m really hoping to stop that from happening. I know, you always say the same thing over and over – that you won’t gain the weight this winter and then you find yourself making an unrealistic “lose 10 pounds” New Year’s resolution which you can’t even stick to. Let’s prevent that from happening this year, shall we? This way we’ll be able to make a better, more realistic New Year’s resolution since we didn’t gain any unwanted holiday weight!

Some tips to remember during this magnificent food-filled season:

1. Treat each holiday as a separate day, not an entire month.  I find that if I had just indulged on the day itself (Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year ’s Day) instead of stuffing myself with leftovers for the following weeks to come, I more than likely wouldn’t have put on the extra weight.
2. Just because it’s the season of joy, laughter, parties and fun doesn’t mean you forget about your daily responsibilities (exercise.)  If you want to have your cake and eat it too at your holiday party, there is an absolutely positively non-negotiable exercise policy. Get – over – it.
3. Pick and choose which foods or desserts you definitely cannot go without and have only those.
4. Embrace the gift of giving. It will heighten your spirits and make this season that much more enjoyable.

I understand it’s much easier said than done – especially when you have work parties and friend parties on top of your family parties, but if you change your mindset going into it, your chances coming out of it (weight in tact) are far greater! It’s very easy to make time for dinners, parties and outings, but learn to make time for yourself too. Your body will thank you!!

Related Article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heidi-grant-halvorson-phd/avoid-holiday-weight-gain_b_1091302.html?ref=health-and-fitness&ir=Health+and+Fitness

First and foremost, I want to do a mini recap of my “Setting goals for October” post since we have now entered November – time for new goals, or rather time to achieve the previous goals that were left behind act.

In case you’re like me and have a bad memory, here is a brief overview of my “Setting Goals for October” post.

October Goals Revisited:

• 45min to one hour of exercise or activity most days of the week (It doesn’t matter what -just get moving!) - I did on average 5 days of cardio, not all were 45 min, some were more and some were less so it’s safe to say it balanced out
• Wake up 30 min early a few days to do some cardio before work (I’ve done this before and it really helps keep your energy up throughout the day – it’s just getting out of bed that sucks!) - Truth be told, this happened only once. 
• Grocery shop on Saturday or Sunday to prepare foods for the week (so I can limit eating out.) - Could have done this each week, probably happened twice this month. I definitely ate out more than I wanted, but less than I have in the past!
• Try new recipes! - I give myself an A+ for this one.
• Stick to three meals a day (been on a snacking frenzy this past week and that needs to stop!) - I give myself a D- for this one… snack attack at its finest this month.
• Work on my self-discipline!!!! (Halloween is around the corner and that = candy overdose) - The best I can say here is – WIP (work in progress)

Here’s my calendar full of stickers

I would love to say that I accomplished all of those listed goals, but for the sake of making this an honest blog – I won’t. I also forgot to add that signing up for a race was another goal of mine and I actually signed up for two (thank-you-very-much.) What I didn’t say was that I’d actually run the race… guess the joke was on you! Just kidding My first 5k is this Saturday and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been training for exactly a month now and I think I’m ready to go for this one… it’s the 10k on Thanksgiving that I’m worried about because with my luck we’ll have a crazy snow storm. Crossing fingers.

Let’s focus on November and how to beat those winter blues by setting some goals – and sticking to them There are 23 days or a little over 3 weeks until Thanksgiving. That’s a perfect amount of time to start a workout routine/better eating habits and keep them going throughout the holiday season.

 Here are a few of my personal goals for the upcoming 3 weeks:

1. No sugar – It takes about a week and then you no longer have cravings, but you must do this cold turkey. (Sugar = anything that ends in -ose, white starches (because those are ultimately sugar,) and all sweets.
2. Continue my 5x a week exercise regimen with 3x a week running.
3. Drink 8-10 cups of water a day.
4. Complete my first 5k and 10k

Trick or treat? There definitely were a lot of “treats” – to the point where I don’t think I can have anymore chocolate for the rest of the month. In fact, that might be my personal challenge for the month of November (up until Thanksgiving of course.) Sugar Detox. Who’s with me? It’s gonna be rough, but it will be worth it!

Anyway, I absolutely love love Halloween. Partly because you get to act like a kid and look ridiculous and partly because of all the candy – obvi.

Costume fun: (Playing Card, Alice, Marge and Queen of Hearts)

Marge and Homer Simpson:

My Knight in shining armor

On the workout front, I did complete an hour and a half of cardio on Friday (to make up for not making my Wednesday cardio day) and my four mile run on Sunday – yay –  which was completely canceled out by the amount of BBQ food and Halloween candy I consumed. What can a girl do?!

After dinner plans tonight (because I do plan to indulge at this restaurant) I think I’ll be able to start full force tomorrow with my no sugar detox. I have the working out down, but it’s time to get a handle on my food escapades! I’ll think of tonight as “The Last Supper.” It better be a good one!

Happy Halloweenie

I couldn’t be happier that today is Friday and rest day! With this awful weather – and it’s only mid October, I find that it’s super easy to fall into a rut. It’s something about the combination of cold weather, over-sized sweaters and leave-room-for-more-food- stretchy leggings that cause this reaction. I mean, who wants to leave their house to go workout when it’s incredibly freezing outside? Or who doesn’t crave a salted caramel mocha or two during the day? If you ask me, I’d rather sit on my couch snuggled up in my fuzzy baby blue fleece robe and watch infinite reruns of ‘Sex and the City’  or ‘The Rachel Zoe Project,’ all while sipping on my deliciously sweet cup o’ Joe – and munching on popcorn, obvi!

This behavior, my friends, will create a downward spiral that – six pounds later- you’ll be wishing you didn’t start.  Especially since the holidays are nearly around the corner- which btw, it’s kinda annoying that Halloween hasn’t passed yet and there are Christmas commercials already (even though I really am looking forward to Christmas music!) Why is it that we are constantly looking forward to tomorrow instead of enjoying today? That’s probably too heavy of a topic to be discussing on a Friday. Moving on!

If you’re finding yourself entering this rut, I urge you to pinpoint exactly what’s causing you to feel this way. Is it drama? Is it boredom? Or, is it simply the cold weather? Whatever the reasons may be, they’re ultimately excuses. Excuses are what will keep you from reaching your personal goals! I totally didn’t want to do my two mile run yesterday, but I switched off that part of my brain and found myself driving to the gym anyway. It wasn’t easy and it felt like it was the longest run of my life, but it had to be done. Mission accomplished!

There are approximately two weeks left in the month of October. Are you going to finish the month with a list of excuses or a calendar full of stickers. You are in charge of your life, so don’t keep waiting until “tomorrow” to start exercising, start eating healthy or to start reaching your goals  - “yesterday you said tomorrow!”

On a lighter note, I’m really excited for my cousin Patricia’s birthday celebration – which may or may not include a couple drinks Have a fabulous weekend, darlings!!

Words of Wisdom: