Summer Blubber

As summer comes to an end, I am trying to remove these last five pounds from all the summer festivities. Swim team started for our family in May, and for the next two months it was daily noshing and imbibing that caused me to gain weight. Summer should be the time of year I am more conscious of what I eat and drink, but it turns into all out gluttony. I love socializing with my friends, but 99% of the time, socializing=drinking. It starts out innocently enough, having 3 kids swim, means 4 hours at the pool 5 days a week. As the other moms and I sit on the pool deck, we come up with ways to entertain ourselves.

Thirsty Thursday, the appetizer and featured cocktail hour, was invented during the evening practice schedule. As the kids got out of school for summer vacation, Thirsty Thursday morphed into Friday Brunch. Mimosa's, bloody marys and decadent breakfast casseroles and cinnamon rolls were a weekly occurrence. Once swim meets started, the saturday afternoon "after meet parties" lingered well into the evenings. Sunday afternoons were often spent BBQing at the pool with coolers of Margarita's or Sangria. While I cherish this time of year hanging with my girlfriends, the empty calories add up!

You would think hanging out by the pool dressed in resort wear, I would be a little more careful in my calorie counting. It's funny how fast and virtually unnoticed the pounds can add up. Wearing sundresses and swimsuit cover ups somehow give the illusion of maintaining. It isn't until I try to squeeze into a pair of jeans I haven't worn for a month does it become clear that I have gained some weight! I guess loose empire waisted dresses can become the enemy, letting those calories that have settled on my hips and belly fly under the radar.

As swim team comes to an end, the social events start to slow down, and by mid-August I feel like I can stop the excessive caloric intake. During August, September and through mid October I can kind of get a handle on things, but forget about the holidays! Cookie exchanges, dinners out with the girls and holiday parties really start adding the calories up again. The festive holiday atmosphere really lends itself to overdoing it. Rocky road fudge, egg nog, the list of absolutely delicious but fattening food and drink goes on and on.

I have decided that the month I look and feel the thinnest is in February. Yes, February! When I am bundled up in sweaters and jackets, and the only bit of skin visible is from the neck up. February is typically the hiatus from social events, and I can restrain myself somewhat from overdoing it. Why is it when I would look stellar in a bikini, it is 50 degrees outside? It's not fair!!

When I was in my twenties, calories were not an issue. I could eat cheeseburgers and drink pina coladas seven days a week and not gain an ounce. As my twenties turned into my thirties, I started noticing a drop off in the metabolism, but not that much. As long as I was working out 3-4 days a week, I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted. Now that I am approaching forty, I realize it is a day-to day battle. Now I not only have to watch the calorie intake, but make sure I get a workout in most days of the week. Now I feel like I have to choose between a "liquid diet" and eating, not both! :)

Time to get back to the basics

It’s time to get back t o the basics. In light of the recent displays of bad behavior by celebrities, it seems like we need a refresher course in the “keys of kindness”. As an early childhood educator, I am always amazed how the principles I teach my 4 and 5-year-old students, as well as my own children, really apply to the greater world. While much of the focus in on making sure the youth of America is getting a lesson in getting along, It’s the adults who need to work on their “please and thank yous” and remember to “please wait patiently”.

For example, Sunday night at the MTV VMA awards, Kanye West storms on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for “best female video” because he thought Beyonce should have won. Kanye, did you ever hear the phrase, “ you get what you get and you don’t pinch a fit”, or “life isn’t always fair”, or “you can’t always get what you want”? Instead, he throws a fit like a 2 year old, because things didn’t turn out the way HE wanted them to. It seems like Kanye needs to go back to kindergarten and relearn these things.

Or how about Serena Williams at the U.S. open? She was losing the match and when a call she didn’t agree with was made, she storms over and unleashes a string of expletives at the poor line judge. Serena, did you ever see the movie Bambi, where Thumper’s mother tells all the woodland creatures, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all?” I understand that it can be frustrating to lose a match, but like my mother always said, “there is nothing worse than a sore loser.”

I think sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, but it seems like, the world has gotten a little more self-centered. But not all celebrities are like Kanye and Serena. I watched Taylor Swift on the View this morning and she could’ve gone on and on about how she missed her time to shine at the VMA’s. But she didn’t. She was classy and composed and she is only 19!!!! Obviously, she remembers the “keys of kindness.”