Spring Break Leaving You With a "Hangover"?

I had the most wonderful Easter and "Spring Break" this year with both daughters home for a nice, long visit. The weather was perfect, everyone was in good health and humor and we had some high quality time together. And then they left...the house was empty again only this time I felt even more alone than the first time they left. I have named this the Empty Nester Spring Break Hangover. 

You know how when you haven't eaten cake for a while and then you take a little bite? It seems like the best thing you've ever put in your mouth. So sweet and delicious and you just want to let it linger on your palette forever. But then the sugar rush kicks in and your glucose levels go crazy followed by the rapid drop and fall when the short term rush runs out. That's kind of what Empty Nester Spring Break Hangover feels like. You have the warmth and excitement of having your kids home again. You get on that love-high with the shopping, cooking and lots of noise in the house. It's such an awesome feeling in part because it reminds you of your past "normal". It takes you back to the world before empty-nesting and life feels right again. You are back in your comfort zone and it feels good! This is what you know and are good at, right? You get to be a parent again and suddenly your life is back in control.

Problem is, it's just a tiny piece of cake. You only get this for a short period of time. Then everyone leaves and poof. The bottom drops out. The rush is gone and replacing that is the sudden realization that no matter how much you try, your life will never be the same. Not for real. You'll get this in little spurts here and there but never on a full time basis again. Wow. Hangover kicks in and you, well at least I, buried myself on the sofa wrapped in a blanket for 24 hours with bad food and even worse TV to try and recover.

So here I am trying to get back on track. The bad-food hangover combined with the week of splurging added up to about 3 pounds in the plus column. Once again it's time to get back in control of this diet/exercise thing and focus on the future.

Here is my plan for treating my Spring Break Hangover:

Get Rid of the Crap - Time to clean out the frig and the pantry. Go through the leftovers and toss anything that doesn't follow your diet plan. For me it wasn't that difficult because my children are healthy eaters, but I still had more than I usually have like leftover take-out and doggy bags from restaurants, and some leftover home-made mixed berry cobbler.

Get Back on Track - Vacation of any kind can be an exercise-buster so afterward you have to make a real effort to get back to your new-normal routine. For me my Boot Camp was renewed for another 12 week session. But I have discovered that I need more than that to lose the kind of weight I need to lose so I've added a 30-minute abe workout three times a week. I've done 2 so far and I can really feel it, not in a good way yet! I skipped my first Boot Camp class of the new session (see above, the part where I was on the sofa for 24 hours basking in my after-spring-break depression) but seem to have recovered nicely with two consecutive sessions under my belt and a new attitude.


Replenish Your Supplies - Make your grocery list, the new-normal one with all of the healthy stuff, and get to the grocery store asap. For me the whole key to eating healthy is having the right food at the ready. I have found that after a splurge period it works better for me to add some zing to my diet - so add some ingredients you haven't added before to spice up your quinoa or do a root-vegetable roast with some new spices. Basically your taste buds need a little treat to get you back on the wagon. I am including some new recipes below to help you out with this.

Retail Therapy - If you can afford to, it may be time to do a little shopping. If you've lost some weight or your house needs a little face lift, this would be a good time to treat yourself with some little reward for all of your hard getting through your empty-nesting phase. As my Mother recently reminded me, you've spent the last 20 years or so treating your kids to shopping therapy so maybe it's time to give yourself some attention. I looked in my closet the other day and was appalled at the array of really ugly clothes I've accumulated along with the extra pounds. Really sad how drab and unattractive was wardrobe has become. So while I am not ready to go all out with a new look (since I still have over 30 pounds to lose) I did dabble with a few new items, 4 pant sizes smaller I might add.

Make a Next Vacation Plan - Start planning your next visit with your kids. Maybe you go to them this time and let them show you around their town. Or go some place that neither of you have visited before. Either way it will make you feel better to put something on the calendar letting you know when you'll see them again and it will give you all something to look forward to.


Change it Up - It may also be time for a little mix up with your home decor. Make the house more you. If you're like me your taste has probably changed a bit over the years and your home style may not have kept up. So take down a few old pictures or prints and change out the frames, or add a side table here or there. Maybe change out your bedroom curtains and bedding. It may also be time to turn one of those extra bedrooms into an office, study or sewing room. It may be a simple as taking your kids room from "teen" to young adult. That's what I've done and it made me feel better, so who knows, maybe it will work for you too.

As promised, here are a few Replenish Recipes to help you get back on track. I really love this new tea recipe and it's so good for you you'll hardly believe it tastes this great!

Iced Green Tea Surprise
6 bags of green tea, any brand will work but it needs to be green tea only, no flavored tea
1 lime, washed and sliced
1 cup of juice (Pomegranate, Grapefruit or Cranberry)
1/4 cup of Syrup ( I use Maple Agave syrup blend from Trader Joe's)

Seep the tea in boiling water for 30 minutes. Remove tea bags and add syrup and juice. Fill pitcher two thirds of the way and fill with lime slices and ice. So refreshing and good you'll forget it's actually healthy!

Stuffed Quinoa Balls
If you like meatballs but don't eat meat this is a great substitute. If you like meat but are trying to cut fat, this works great as well. Try these with pasta sauce and veggie spirals for a hearty meal.

1 cup of cooked quinoa
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 tablespoon of cilantro, dried or fresh
1 cup of roasted eggplant, skin removed and mashed
1/4 cup of plain greek yogurt
1 small onion chopped
Dash of hot sauce
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 cup of whole wheat Panko crumbs
Cooking spray

Saute garlic and onion in saute pan treated with cooking spray until tender, about 5 minutes. Combine all ingredients accept Panko crumbs. Roll into balls and coat with Panko crumbs. Put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes but can be stored for up to one week. When ready to cook, heat olive oil in a pan and saute Quinoa balls on all sides until golden brown, about 10 minutes total.

The Camera Adds 10 Pounds...

Have you ever noticed that no matter how slim you may feel when you see a picture of yourself you look so much thicker? I'm convinced that the camera really does add pounds, maybe more than 10. I have been feeling so much thinner lately and the scale is showing marked improvement. But still when I see myself in recent photos I look ginormous! When I look in my mirror at home I don't look that way so what gives? Here are a few conspiracy theories that I'm working on...

1. The camera really does add 10+ pounds - so maybe due to the way lenses are constructed the camera, any camera not just video, adds weight to your image. If this is true could it be a government conspiracy? I mean, there is a lot of emphasis right now on health and wellness and it seems like the BMI measurement required to be "healthy" keeps getting lower and lower. So maybe in an effort to control even our body image the government has mandated new lens technology that morphs our body's into heavier versions of ourselves to evoke the need for us to lose weight. Could be true, right?

2. Our mirrors have been manipulated by the government to evoke a serge in retail therapy - consider this; if we look smaller in our mirrors at home wouldn't that entice us to shop for clothes? With the economy still in the crapper I can see why our government might get in cahoots with retail establishments to contort our mirrors and get us out of the gyms and into the shops. If we look better we are far more likely to buy clothes, after all. Nevermind the sizes marked on the clothes. That's all a part of the conspiracy. You can't really judge by size, you have to try on the clothes and then you see yourself in those amazing morphed mirrors and you believe! Could be true...

3. Our vision has been taken over by the government - now as someone who watches a lot of Sci-Fy television I can tell you the government can do ANYTHING they want for real. So who's to say that they haven't used our cell phone devices to secretly inject our eyes with morphed vision so that we, and everyone around us appears larger, or smaller than we really are? If they want us to shop, they make us look smaller to ourselves so we'll feel better about buying clothes. If they want us to lose weight they make our images appear larger so we'll work out more and eat less. It's easy to see how this one could be true...

4. Or maybe I was just so large to begin with that I hadn't looked at photos of myself and this new, still heavy image is way smaller than the original - sadly, this is the most likely scenario. When I think back over the last 5 years I have not really allowed anyone to take a photo of me. On the rare occasion that someone snuck one by me, I'm pretty sure I refused to look at it. So even though I don't love the images that I see of myself now, I feel confident that I look a lot better than I did a year ago. Maybe, just maybe, the government really doesn't have anything to do with it?

Here are a few tips I've discovered lately about making your work out work harder for you:

• To lose weight you need to do more than cardio - I've always thought that to lose weight you need to run, walk, ride the bikes or elipticals at the gym and avoid strength training at all costs. Turns out that isn't the case at all. To lose weight you need to combine cardio with strength training and core exercises. The reason for this is that if you just do cardio you are only burning off easy carbs, not the hardcore fats that have attached themselves to your body. It's reccommended that you do 60 minutes of combined exercises three times a week with additional cardio at least one more time a week for at least 30 minutes. 
• You need to eat to lose weight - by starving yourself with less than 1200 calories a day your body will shut down, your metabolism will shut off and you will start storing fat rather than losing it. There are lots of diets out there to help you keep your metabolism in check. I am following the under 30 fat grams a day plan. Works well with lean protein, whole wheat carbs and lots of fresh fruits and veggies
• Force yourself to exercise even when you are tired, stressed, depressed - it actually will help you keep your mood in balance. I find it's easier for me if I have a routine and if other people are counting on me. If you aren't in an organized program, get a work out buddy and make a commitment with them to work out on certain days at certain times. That way if you have a bad day and want to bag out on the exercise you will feel pressured to keep your "date"

You don't have to give up everything you love in order to lose weight! Keep some calories or fat grams aside once a week to splurge on your favorite "naughty" food like a glass of wine or beer, a frozen yogurt or a piece of cake. You can't live forever without having some fun in your diet so plan for it and it won't derail you.