A Small Victory

I had a really bad day today at work. This really is becoming the norm, but I really got frustrated with more things that are not changing. Things that I don't feel comfortable discussing here, but sometimes I wish I could vent my thoughts! Regardless, I realize that the source of my food weeknesses and my laziness stem from stress on my job. Chris told me the other night that he thinks that I require quite a bit of "down time." This was just an observation, and not a judgement, but I really think that my job takes so much out of me that it's really changed me in so many different ways. I find myself mostly wanting to stay at home these days, and not be social, and that really isn't me at all.

Regardless, tonight I decided after a particularly bad day that I wasn't going to just retire to bed in front of the television so that I could do something completely mindless. I had a really really good food day today. I had yogurt, granola and blueberries for breakfast, a trader joe's meal and grapes for lunch. An apple and popcorn for an afternoon snack, and a small turkey sandwich and peas for dinner. I did really well. I didn't stress eat. I didn't overload on snacks around the office.

I knew I didn't have the energy to go to the gym, so I decided to FINALLY try the workout dvd I bought a few months ago. I started at the level one workout for 30 minutes. It was awesome. Just what I needed. I got my heart rate going, and I was sweating quite a bit. And you know what? My stress levels are way lower for it. Yay me!

This video recommends 4-5 times of doing this a week for six weeks. I'm going to do my best to keep up with this, and still incorporate a couple of trips to the gym each week. Work does not promise to get any better anytime soon, unfortunately, so the best thing I can do is help myself get my stress levels back down when I return home from work, right?!

What does everyone else do to relieve stress instead of eat or veg out in front of the TV? I could use suggestions to mix it up!