Day 1 of HEALTHY/and SINFUL BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS

Hi everyone!

Thanks to everyone who played with me yesterday! I am late on a deadline so I was up until 3am and up again at 7:30 this morning so anything I type today needs to come with a typo warning — there may be many!

The holidays are coming and often those extra pounds are on top of extra pounds. I've been a faithful gym person all my life and I hate January because of the New Years people. I think New Years resolutions don't work in the gym. Lifestyle changes you can live with do. I also think a drastic diet change on top of a gym routine suddenly added, is too much to take on when its not your norm. Start with healthy eating. Then move to the gym. 80% of what you get in results in the gym comes from what you eat. WHAT not how much. How much matters, but you would be shocked to see how your body changes by feeding it different things, especially more protein..

I've spend my entire life having to workout and be cautious about what I eat because of genetics, and now hormones. Add to that a sedentary job and I spend double the time in the gym for less results. I use to run through the airport in the morning. Run to client meetings. Run back to the airport. Dart to the gym and a baseball or football game, and then do it all over at 5:00 the next morning. It makes sense that I need more gym time but it sucks. The one thing I can say I am thankful for is that I had to work out all my life, thus its a habit. Many people don't have to until they are older and then its not a way of life. That curse of needing to has become a bit of a blessing as I get older.

BUT since I've done this all my life, staying focused and having a cheat plan keeps me solidly on track. 6 days a week I spend way too much time to admit in the gym and I control calories and eat very controlled. On Fridays I pig out and I do mean PIG out and I skip the gym. When I say I work out 6 days a week I mean at conventions, over the holidays, you name it. I am as dedicated as they come.

So during my six days I have some things I really really love that help me feel that I am not overly cheated of good food. Each day I will feature one of those items and on Mondays I will draw a winner to receive a goodie bag with some or all of those items, depending on how well they travel.

So today I am featuring my favorite morning treat. Caffiene and chocolate in one place. Godiva coffee is rich and yummy.

I am also really fond of the Southern Pecan Creamer. I use the regular because its only 5 calories more and a small amount of fat when I don't take in much fat at all during my 6 days. It starts my morning out without feeling deprived.

So to enter to win your goodie bag with Godiva all you have to do is comment here today. And FYI normally I would reply to comments but I am very behind on this book so next week I promise to be very interactive!

For an extra entry you can pass the word on either HOT VAMPIRE KISS or THE STORM THAT IS STERLING by:

Tagging the book with keywords on Amazon

Liking the book on Amazon

writing a review and posting at Amazon, BN, goodreads

Add to your goodreads bookshelf

Tweet it!

Facebook it.

Just post here and tell me what you did. But remember you get one entry JUST for posting a comment. The rest are extra entries.

Yesterday's winner about to be posted at the top of that blog!:)