This past week was a whirlwind when traveling back to my hometown (just outside of Rochester, NY) to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with family and loved ones.  As expected, that celebration consisted of copious amounts of laughter, hugs, grateful exclamations and of course, food.

Over a span of three days, I consumed more pie and cake (it was also my early birthday celebration) than Lindsay Lohan has snorted coke over the past three years.  Okay, obviously I can’t compete with Ms. Lohan, but you get the point. And only once during the trip did I venture to move my body — and that was for a brief “stretching” video I did with my sister just to get the congealed gravy sludge stuck in my veins moving again.

So with a full belly and a content heart, my husband rolled me into the driveway and hoisted me into the car for the trip back home to Boston.  And right then and there, I got down to business.

Will recurring events keep Anne on track?

Last week, BeautyXpose reader Lissa introduced me to SocialWorkout.com, where people challenge themselves to perform a certain number of workouts and record their progress for all to see. While that wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, it did inspire me to do something I’ve never tried — plan out a calendar of regular, healthy activities that recur the same day each week.  Now, the activities I planned aren’t all exercise-oriented, because there are other areas I also need to improve upon when it comes to living a healthy life. So, to balance it out (and to make sure I wasn’t taking on more than I could chew to start), I’ve scheduled three days of exercise, three days directly relating to food choices and one day dedicated to minimizing my stress.

As a creature of habit, I’m surprised I’ve never done this before. In the past, I’ve balked at the thought of planning out meals in advance because, “My life is already so planned out with work, etc., that I want some spontaneity left!” Yeah, so how did that work out for me? But it doesn’t help to focus on the past, so now, I’m just looking forward to the future.  And in my crystal ball, I see a high-powered Zumba video for tonight.

Photo Credits: Cover Calendar – Lavinia Marin; Planner – Hilde Vanstraelen