House Rules & StairMaster Day Approaches

We've all heard that you should only eat in the kitchen or dining area. The primary reason I've heard over and over is that you're mindful of what you're eating if you aren't distracted by other things while you're eating. I have to admit I've always been one to "overlook" (okay ignore) this advice. I always figured since I pre-portion everything and don't eat directly from a container that I would be okay eating where ever it was convenient. For the most part I think that's been true enough, but...

When we moved into this house (2 1/2 years ago), we made the rule that there would be no food in the living room that could cause stains on the carpet. So beverages and pretty much anything but dry snacks were off limits to the living room. This totally changed my snacking habits, as far as what I was eating... almonds or other nuts became the snack standard.

Now that I've brought this new furniture into the house...

I've tightened the house rules for food even more. NO food or beverage in the living room at all. Call me OCD, but I don't even want to have to worry about crumbs or anything at all on the new furniture... so NO FOOD IN THE LIVING ROOM!

Its no secret, I spend the majority of my hours at home in the living room - aside from the kitchen, its where everything happens in our house. I have to admit that I'm surprised by the impact this new rule has had. Even though the number of calories I consume daily hasn't changed much at all, my basic eating patterns have changed quite a bit. I'm not eating as many snacks. There is more variety in my snacks - more fruits, yogurt, little salads - they are more balanced. Late night eating has almost completely stopped! This is huge because I'm a night owl & with our old furniture I was prone to breaking the rule and having a little ice cream or something when I got hungry late at night. Now, more often than not, I'm finding that even if I'm a little hungry feeling when I go to bed that's okay.

So, it seems, the house rule to protect the new furniture may also help shrink my tush... which brings me to my next topic...

Tomorrow is the first of my monthly "see how many floors I can do before I collapse" days on the StairMaster. Let me just tell you right now, I'm not expecting great results... the number of times I've been on the StairMaster to prepare for this event is dismal at best. I'm just gonna get on there and do my best - what else can I do at this point? To make it as successful as possible... my plan is to go to bed earlier than usual tonight, get up enough before The Boy One to get a refreshing shower and healthy breakfast before he gets up for school, and make sure I down a good chunk of water throughout the morning. I plan to arrive at the gym at 8:00-9:00am which should give me plenty of time to "collapse"before I have to be home to babysit.

I have other BIG news to share... but I'm saving it for another post because I'm mean like that, lol. Hope you're all having a great start to the week!