Mommy Corner: Empty Nest Syndrome?

Flossie Alexander

Empty Nest? Or New Opportunity?

As Tiffanee and I walked up to the school I said to her, "Do you realize this is the last first day of elementary school that we will ever have?" And she says with a smile, "Ya, that's weird mom."  It is weird to me too with her being the last of 7 kids in elementary school with 3 in college now.

Can you say EMPTY NEST SYNDROME comin' my way!?

Millions of mothers and fathers every year experience sending their baby off to school for the very last day of the first day of elementary.   What does this mean with our kids growing up?  With my own experience, I know once they hit middle  school, it seems that time flies by super-fast.  There aren't many parties to host in school anymore or field trips that need chaperoning anymore. Our kids develop and independence.

We start to feel the breeze of free time floating into our space for the first time in years. I started realizing this last year when I sat in my house alone and everyone else was off doing "their own thing" and I had no idea what to do with myself.

The bottom line: what this really means is we will start having more time to focus on ourselves.

Getting to that YOU Time

With your new found "YOU TIME," do an inventory of where you are health wise:  Do you feel good about you?  Is it time to join some social groups to get you out and making friends?  Do you need to join a gym or get a health/weight loss coach to create a new you?  Do you have the career you want? Have you accomplished everything you wanted to do when you were planning your future at 18? Where do you want to be in 5 years when your baby is on his or her way to graduate from high school? Where do you want to be in 10 years?  How do you want to retire from the working world?

The "Where do you want to be?" question is something I ask myself EVERY day now.  When you come to that moment when your world has been interrupted by your kids pitter patting off into their own world and you realize the colors on the walls aren't as bright as they used to be, it is time to create the YOU world and get back to accomplishing everything you ever wanted.


Be Healthy Every Day, You Are Worth It!

Flossie, Fitness and Nutrition Editor

Size Acceptance - Love Who You Are - What does that mean?

By: Flossie Alexander, Fitness & Nutrition Editor

When I got up this morning and signed into Facebook, I seen that someone put on my page an invite to a “Size is Sexy Party.” I had seen another one come out a couple of days ago for another invite to a different size acceptance party that had music set to it that wasn’t so flattering, at least to me. The music on the video this morning was awesome and very flattering. With the body acceptance movement in full force, I ask, being a BBW myself, what does body acceptance mean to me.

Having been an overweight girl most of my life, I always thought I was that way because my grandmother always told me I was “big boned.” I thought that was the reason why I was overweight. Even until up to 5 or 6 years ago I accepted that was why I looked the way I did, even though all the signs were there that it wasn’t, truth I was ignoring. Having grown up in a very poor family, the way we looked, felt, the way we treated our bodies was far from what we were concerned about. We were more worried about where our food was coming from every day and not about how much cardio we put in or weights we lifted. I actually thought gyms were just for rich people. I took that attitude into my adult years because I was conditioned to think that way.

I was on a conference call a while back for a book that is coming out for “Big Boned Women” and a lady made the comment, “before I was a big boned women,” and it stopped me for a moment. What does that mean to her? What is being big boned? What does body acceptance really mean? Why are we the way we are? Are we making the choices because of survival? Because we don’t know any better? Or because we take that road because it is easy and that choice is there. For me, all of these questions apply to me and I think of them every day.

After my doctor told me at the age of 33 that my blood work showed that I was pre-diabetic, I would have double knee replacements before the age of 40, my cardiac enzymes were elevated and at risk for a heart attack, the truth could be ignored no longer. I had to start making choices to do what is right for me no matter how hard it was if I didn’t want to fall apart before I was 40. If I didn’t, where would I be at 60?

Over the last few years I have been searching the meaning of “body acceptance” and searching for that confidence I was meant to have. Not through books or TV talk shows but through real people. What I do know is, to me, body acceptance is loving me for who I am yesterday, today, and tomorrow and treating me the best way I know how with the knowledge I have at the moment that is forever changing.

For me, body acceptance is coming out of the survival mode, slowing life down, and doing what I didn’t know to do in my younger years and that is taking care of me and my health from knowing good nutrition to hitting the stairs at the college because I need to get my “cardio” in for the day! Body acceptance is to me, doing what is right for my body and not taking the easy way out because that choice is there.

Body acceptance, to me, is after doing all the right things and knowing I will never be smaller than a size 12 because I am big boned and petite was never meant for me. Body acceptance for me is after doing all the right things knowing I have a bigger rear than the girl next to me because that is how my body was meant to be. Body acceptance to me is loving me for who I am with the knowledge I have and doing all the right things for me physically, mentally, and spiritually. What does it mean to you?

Be Healthy Every Day, You Are Worth It.

She's So New York wants to know: What does size acceptance mean to you? Are you happy with your size? If not, what are some of the ways you're changing your eating and fitness habits? Have you changed your diet and started an exercise regime? Discuss!

Your Summer, Your Way: Popsicles Done Right!

By: Flossie Alexander, Fitness & Nutrition Editor

The first thing that I wanted to say to you wasn’t about popsicles. However, it is 4 a.m. as I write this sitting here preparing and planning for the day, and I was thinking how hot it has been and how great it would be to have something cold. Being a mother with seven children and very health minded now, I am always on the look-out for healthy items or recipes that I can tear apart and remake healthier. One of those delicious delights I found was from one of my clients. It is very fun to see a person blossom and really get fired up about healthy choices.

Summer Delight by Michelle – Wichita, Kansas

1 small can of frozen orange juice

2 Bananas

1 small can fresh apricots

1 large can crushed pineapple

1 tbsp lemon juice

3 or 4 tsp Sweet’N Low

Blend in blender and freeze in muffin cups or popsicle trays.


Be Healthy Every Day, You Are Worth It!

Enjoy!

Meet the Family: Flossie Alexander

All this week, She's So New York will be introducing to you all the SSNY family: Cutting edge, insightful, and are here to share with you their passions. Meet our new Fitness and Nutrition Expert, Flossie Alexander!

Before

“I have battled weight issues all my life until I finally said “enough” and educated myself and overcame the constant ups and downs you get with yo-yo dieting. During my heaviest weight, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and was on the cusp of having full-blown diabetes mellitus. I struggled to walk more than 10 feet and was looking at knee replacement surgery by the age of 40 if I chose to continue to follow the path of obesity. Weight loss became a priority. I needed to lose weight now!

After

I tried all the weight loss diets many people do to lose weight, feel better and find a new passion, but they never helped me and I always found myself worse off than when I started. I needed to find a weight loss solution fast. In November 2006, I began to find the answers for myself and discovered a process for creating a healthier lifestyle that changed my mind, my body and my life. I have taken what I learned and gained the expertise to successfully share it with thousands of others.

Lifestyle coaching when applied to fitness, eating, self care and dream fulfillment leads to a transforming experience that changes perspectives and attitudes. You discover a new way of looking at being active, eating well, taking care of yourself and listening to your heart. With step by step Nutrition And Fitness Coaching, you get new tools, techniques and strategies to make changes and make them stick just like me! With the help of an experienced guide, the process leads to greater well-being. It is an enjoyable way to get healthy, fit and fulfilled. It empowers you to trust yourself and offers you the joy of movement, the pleasure of eating, and the wonderful feeling of reaching your personal best.

 Ms. Alexander is the Owner/Founder You Can Now! Coaching Nutrition And Fitness, L.L.C. and will be helping the SSNY woman reshape her life through the inside out! Have any fitness or nutrition questions? Send them to besonewyork@gmail.com!