It All Adds Up.

This may be a silly metaphor- but think about water. If you have a sink with a leaky faucet, you probably don't think much about those drips. Unless the sound is driving you batty of course. But - if that sink was plugged up, all those meaningless drips would eventually present a huge problem. It would take a WHILE but eventually that sink would be close to overflowing. It might catch you off guard if you weren't paying attention, if perhaps you hadn't been down in the basement where the sink was, you didn't see it or think about it.

My point is- all the little things add up over time. We might not see it or feel it or realize it, but if we don't pay attention, and WATCH and TRACK ourselves, our bodies can end up like an overflowing sink. (is this a horrid metaphor? It works for me though.)

Anyone that has been reading this blog for a while knows that the past year has been all kinds of madness for me. That's in the past now and I've got the KO MOJO back, I'm focused and I'm ON. However, one of the things I learned very clearly this year was that if I (we) don't pay attention, and we get in a "funk" for whatever reason~ say it's winter and you stop working out, you're wearing your baggy sweats and sweatshirts all the time, you're eating a bit more, etc. WHOA, spring comes and you go to put on those shorts and HOLY COW you wonder why they are tighter! Well guess what? If you had been tracking your calories and your workouts, you'd realize you were probably eating a lot MORE and working out a LOT less, for a much longer period of time than you were allowing yourself to think. Basically, you're finding that overflowing sink that has been slowly filling up and could have been prevented.

Here is what I know about ME, and the more I've done "research" i.e. reading some great "diet" themed books and reading other blogs etc.- I realize this is true about 95% of fit/healthy;lean people:

• YOU HAVE TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT YOU EAT. Journal, Diary, Online, Offline, Whatever. Write it down, keep track of what you are eating. Otherwise, you will inevitably start eating MORE or allowing yourself MORE cheats than you think. 
• YOU HAVE TO STAY CONSISTENT WITH TRAINING, and you really should track this too. 
• GIVE UP THE ALL OR NOTHING MINDSET. We all "cheat". Get over it and move on. We all have a bad day or bad week. Get over it and workout the next day. Don't wait until Monday. 

Do you know what I had for lunch today? A SANDWICH! OMG!! A Sandwich! On BREAD!! I cannot believe how ridiculous it is that I have forbidden myself from having a freaking sandwich for probably 2 years! No joke. I had lo-fat whole wheat bread, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, deli chicken and one slice of american cheese. NOT fat free. Real cheese. It was a good sandwich and that's it. 1500 calories for the day of what I FELT LIKE EATING. I'm pleased with my choices. Probably a bit more 'carby' than I was a year ago but I'm OVER obsessing about that. 

Here is the cardio I did today. I'm actually quite surprised that this Ilaria workout was NOT nearly the sweatfest that the other one was, which is more focused on lower body. I'm giving this one 3 stars as opposed to 5 stars. Not my favorite; her other one is 5 stars and totally a sweatfest. Love it. 

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is YOUR favorite cardio? How often do you do cardio each week?