Spring?

I guess it's too soon to say spring is here especially here in Calgary, where snow can appear at any time. However, I do love that's it's light out leaving and coming home from work.

I love that strawberries are everywhere and that they're getting cheaper.

So at Running Room we had a nutritional information night and quite frankly it was a joke. This woman was talking about trace minerals and himalayan sea salt and stuff. Nothing based on any scientific research done in the last 50 years. Nothing about the food guide and a healthy balance of carbs and protein. It was such a waste of time.

Then our fearless leader decides that we're going to walk on the creepy side of the pathway (where very curious people are, lots of places to hide and did I mention not well lit). After we passed quite a few curious people, my friend and I ditched her route and went the other way. We let her know so she didn't worry but I'm sorry if my gut doesn't feel right about it...it ain't gonna happen.

My friend and I walked 8k and we didn't have a piece of cake or a cafe mocha afterwards. We just stuck to water. That's a major NSV for us.

Both of us were up last week so the goal is to keep each other in check and stay focused on the goal.

Tomorrow is my turn to bring dinner and I made the Indian Appalous from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry book. I'll let you know how it is.

Have a great day everybody and stay strong.

Where did the time go?

So Thursday and Friday totally disappeared on me.
Thursday was a crappy work day followed by an awesome 10k walk with my friend. At one point our pace was 6min/km. To me that's smokin' fast considering that at the start of our walk we were doing 10min/km. At the start of the clinic 9min/km was our fastest speed.
Friday was crazy busy, colleague is on vacation and I got half her workload including a very high maintenance account. I have a feeling the week will be stupid crazy.

WI was up .8, not huge but still disappointing. Last week I earned 47 activity points, I'm still figuring out what to do with those. This week has proven that macaroni and cheese from Good Earth is probably not the best choice of a post workout meal and following that with a hot fudge sundae also not a stroke of brilliance.

I've been on WW long enough to know don't dwell, move on, new week and new decisions.

The breakfast pita's were pitched. I might try the muesli or flax one which had way more fibre than the Apple one. These were made by Dempster for anyone who wanted to know.

I love working out on the stability ball, it seems like playing to me but I definitely feel it the next day. Plus it keeps me interested because you do have to focus on staying on the ball at the same time as completing whatever exercise.

I'm anxiously awaiting the Biggest Loser DVD which has shipped so should be here next week. I adore Bob and he is by far my favourite trainer on that show. I wonder when the new season of teams starts?

I swear all this half marathon/marathon stuff is giving me some weird sense of purpose. Not that I have anything to complain about. I have a great job that yes can cause me to want to pull out my hair occasionally, great friends, great old but solid house. Sometimes I just feel like I'm on a hamster wheel, constantly going but not getting anywhere. I'm sure loads of people feel this way. Then all I have to do is watch the news about someone losing everything they have because of a random act of nature and then it hits home of how freakin blessed I am.

Now I find myself all of sudden thinking... I am a long distance athlete...go figure.

Tomorrow the group is switching it up. Short walk plus 1hr of pilates. I've never done an hour before, 20min with Mari Winsor sure but this will be with a live instructor....should be interesting.

To everyone who had a tough weekend food wise, the trick to getting anywhere is to move forward not backwards

Hugs to All

It's Wednesday...

Why does it feel so far from Friday?
Had a goofy night last night. Went to the library then to Walmart where I discovered these apple raisin breakfast pitas. NI didn't look so bad, tracker was at the bottom of my top loading backpack and I didn't feel like taking everything out in the middle of the aisle. So I bought them...they're 4pts each! That's craziness, my first instinct was to pitch them. (I can have an all or nothing mentality...I've purchased a pack of those mini cupcakes, eaten 2 then threw out the rest of the pack.)
Well I had to try one and it was alright, still undecided as to if I should keep them or put them in the freezer for special occasions. Of course this was after the small hot fudge sundae from DQ with peanuts...to appease the craving for a Peanut Buster Parfait.
The snacking continued for the rest of the night. Did 30min of strength training with Gunnar Peterson's G-Force book on the stability ball. I'm disappointed in myself.
Tonight is running room, it's there 1 yr anniversary at the location I go to so there'll be cake...I hope to have the will power to pass on that. I'm planning a totally OP day and the challenge will be to stick to it. The one good thing is my APs have been decent this week.
I will report the results of the battle tomorrow.

Does cold weather make you want to eat more?

So last night we did a very quick 5k around the pathways. My two friends and I lost our group to a bit of a late start leaving Running Room so we started are own way in hopes of running into the group, we never found them out on the path. While we stuck to a level path due to the 20k we did on Sunday and hill training scheduled for Wednesday plus the crappy weather. The rest of the group went off path up a massive hill. Craziness I say with all the ice patches under fresh snow.

We all connected again at coffee afterwards. Our fearless leader thought it was funny that we didn't think a hill would have been on the route due to the workout of the previous day.

OMG our discussion was about weight training with fearless leader demonstrating. If you know anything about weight training you would have laughed yourself silly because the stuff she was showing would probably result in you hitting your head with the weights. She meant well but I really hope no one tries some of the moves at home.

As we walked around the path we were all talking about the foods we've been craving all week ie. burgers, peanut buster parfaits. That made us wonder why we were all craving comfort type foods, our only common denominator was the cold weather.

Do we have some sort of lethargy that kicks in when it gets cold out?

Just thought it was interesting.

Up 1.4....aaaggghhhh

Alright not thrilled with Saturdays WI, even though some of it is TOM related, lack of usual activity, didn't drink as much water and complete disregard for what I was eating...though I tracked all of it. I always have a hard time the week before TOM wanting to eat everything in site and snack all the time. I can be up as much at 2lbs so maybe I had a .6 loss...can you see the justifications starting....more on that further down.

Thankfully it's a new week and I'm on plan thus far.

On Saturday I made the Better Butter Chicken (6pts) out of the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook...it's awesome and super easy...what more could someone ask for :) Saturdays are my high point day so I had it with some rice and veggies, but I think it would be just as good with just veggies to keep it at 6pts. Did the 25min Core Secrets workout for strenght training.

I also made the light and tangy chicken salad off of the Hellmann mayonnaise website, it's 4pts per serving and the recipe makes 6 servings. That works out to about 1/3c, so I flipped it and am having it as 4 servings for 6pts each. Having it on top of lettuce so that's my 6pt lunch. It's very tasty with grapes and mango chutney mixed in with everything else.

Sunday was a 20k walk with the group, it took us 3hrs and 15min and half the route was icy pathways under fresh snow. So considering we were at a snail's pace on those parts we made remarkably good time. Not sure what the plan is for tonight. For the discussion portion our fearless leader will be giving us a free weight demonstration.

I adore my walking group, everyone is great and super supportive. Here's the thing...the majority of the group joined for fitness reasons almost all do to the desire to lose weight. We're all noticing difference in a few people (myself included...apparently my waist appears smaller). There are a few people who are not happy that they're not seeing results. These are the same people who after an 8-10k walk will order a triple hamburger and fries.

It all comes down to justifications. I have exercised therefore I deserve a bazillion calorie meal. Even though the calories burned are a fraction of the meal about to be eaten. I've been guilty of doing this in the past as I'm sure all of us have.

It's wild how our brains work. My friend and I who are both on weightwatchers will opt for Subway or if we want a burger our whole day is planned around that and probably the day after as well. We're thinking I just got great exercise and I'm not going to waste that.

When does that light bulb happen? We all know that weight loss is calories burned vs. calories consumed. How do we stop this food as a reward thinking? When you really think about it it's amazing how many times we reward ourselves or console ourselves with food. Is the battle ever over or is it destined to be a daily fight and self dialogue of how you don't need that donut.

I think it just proves that this is a journey...a rest of your life journey.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all,
Can't wait till I have a green beer in hand, it's so Friday today isn't it?
Have a pretty low point day planned so I can enjoy a libation and maybe some fries...don't know if that qualifies as Irish but I'll just role with it.

NSV for me today. Was going to wear I skirt I really like, haven't worn it in quite some time. Put it on and it was way too big. So great but sad... I really like that skirt. It will encourage me to remember how to use a sewing machine.

Read quite a few blogs today and one theme stuck in my head. Falling off the wagon, being so on plan (no matter what plan you're following) only to sabotage yourself. Why is it that we're so hard on ourselves? I'm totally guilty of that as well, I'll often stop and think why am I getting so worked up over one day or one week when I know I'm going to have to commit to this healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. We are such a complicated species with our obsessions over body image and what other people might think of us. Are super confidant people like that too and just hide it better? Is there a switch that turns on or off?

I suppose I'm just rambling but it's that kind of day :)

The call of the nanaimo bar....

I got talked into purchasing a nanaimo bar on Monday when buying lunch. I brought it back to my office and promptly put it in the mini fridge at work (it's safe there because only 5 people on the floor use it). It has remained there and began to call my name yesterday. This was after I fell victim to St. Patrick's day cookies that were sooooo goooood. The cookies I could handle because I knew I had mega APs coming my way and I was still within my points but the nanaimo bar would have sent me over the edge. After the afternoon war of the inner dialogue...the nanaimo bar is still in the fridge...yeah me! The bar will go home on Friday and probably eaten on Saturday (my super high pt day according the wendie plan).

Running room had a change of plans yesterday, we were supposed to do hill repeats but thanks to an icy fog and wind chill we stuck to an 8k flat terrain walk. There were only 4 of us out of a typical 18. I think all the people who did the 20.6k on Sunday are resting since we do it again this Sunday. I think I'll bring cupcakes for the group. The aps on the 21.5k are huge since it takes a little over 3hrs.

Out of the 4 of us trekking around the path ways I was the only one who's never been married. How this came up was one of the ladies is going through a divorce, another one of the ladies has been divorced 3 times and the last lady sometimes wishes she could divorce her husband. At that moment in time I was actually happy I was single. Not that I bemoan the fact any other time but thought but it was definitely a surreal moment.

Can anybody tell me how you post the tickertape weight loss tracker in your blog? I've tried a bizillion times and I obviously don't know what I'm doing.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Snack attack

Don't you love it when best intentions go completely wrong.
I had planned out my dinner yesterday only to go home and decide I wanted something else. I made an egg white omelette still staying within the points I had but then I needed to have cookies (Thin Addictives 2pts for 3 and soooo good) and a sugar free jello. All in all not horrible behaviour but not what I had planned.
Last night I tried to discover why my kodak easy share dock will not transfer the pictures from my camera to my computer. I've tried everything and find it a little odd that one of the frequently asked questions on the kodak website is "Why won't my pictures transfer".
I have to find another way even if it's getting the pictures put on disk and going that route.
Tonight is the second half of Biggest Loser...I love that show. Just because of the difference in the people by the end. Sure it would be nice if all of us were sequestered on a snazzy ranch, had food provided plus a 24hr gym with hard core trainers.
What I take from that show is the frustrations of the contestants of all the things they've tried before or the triggers that cause them to fall of plan and that you're not alone in what you're feeling.
On the show's website there are quite a few people who submitted their "success pictures" and whole whack of them are following Weight Watchers. I find that incredibly inspiring.

Ordered The Biggest Loser workout and Iron Yoga off of amazon yesterday. Iron yoga is supposed to be an excellent strength and stretching workout. Also purchased a marathon training book for runners and walkers. Now let's just hope I actually use these purchases.

I've haven't budged at the last two weigh ins, which is better than gaining but still maddening.

Alright back to my day and my more diligent best intentions. Running room tonight...hill repeats. Shall report on that tomorrow :)

A wee disappointed

Today is the day that I behave myself.
Running Room was not what I expected yesterday. Our guest speaker was the person leading the marathon clinic (I'm doing the half marathon). On Sunday (which I missed do to being in Banff) my group did 20.6k. Anyone who did that yesterday was encouraged to do a very easy relaxed no more than 5k. Those of us who missed Sunday got to do "fartleks" with the marathon lady. So if you're unfamiliar with that term - it usually means mixing fast pace with slow pace so we were going normal speed for two lamp posts and the as fast as you could possibly go for one lamp post then repeat for 10min. We did about 30min all together, so not the workout I was expecting. Quite frankly I was a little disappointed.
Wednesday is hills and stairs training so that will so much fun...not...but an awesome workout. This Sunday we're doing the distance of a half marathon so at least 21k so that will be interesting.
Tonight I'm going to hunt down the Biggest Loser dvd and do that to make up for the missing cardio.
I have a very healthy lunch planned the bean salad (5pts) slightly modified from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry plus a mini can of flavoured tuna (today lemon pepper 2pts). So that should keep me full for most of the day.
This morning was 2 Eggo Fibre Waffles (3pts) with Becel Spray (0pts) and maple syrup (2pts) plus a glass of milk (2pts).
I follow a modified wendy plan since I find that works best for me so todays target is 24pts. So including planned snacks this puts me at:
18/24pts (6pts for supper)
Water target today is minimun 2L
Activity target today is 45min of some sort of cardio

I shall cease the day and now I will read all my favourite ww related blogs.
Bye for now

Banff..a points disaster

Spent the weekend in Banff with my delightful co workers. It was a prize given to us for being fabulous and making a massive target. We had dinner at The Grizzly House, it was great - not points friendly whatsoever! To top it off had breakfast at Melissa's which is supposed to have the world's greatest eggs benedict. NSV to me for ordering a half order...it was very good.
So today should technically be a chance to start with a clean slate...right? How about no. Met a friend for lunch for some reason chose chocolate milk (which is like what 8pts for 500ml or is it less because it was 1%) , taco salad (7pts) and a nanaimo bar (7pts) . O.K I was talked into the nanaimo bar by the cashier. It is however right now safely enclosed in the mini fridge where it will stay for today. However before that there was donuts in the office and I suffering from breakfast wearing off and decided to have one, forgot about birthday cake for a coworker (had a smidgen).
Now I'm so out of points it's not even funny and do have to eat something tonight from a food court.
Thank "G", I have running room tonight to earn some mega APs. Of course it being the week before TOM, I will want to be a snack banshee...must drink water, lots and lots of water.

At WI on Saturday I stayed the same...again. Had a huge loss of 4.6lbs two weeks ago and now it seems I'm plateauing...I know it's a journey but it's a totally frustrating journey that's for sure.

Right now I pledge to all to get my act together for this week and beyond.

Kudos to everyone who is on this journey

Oy vey, I need to get my act together when it comes to lunch. I've bought lunch all week and it's tough to find healthy choices that don't involve Subway. Today it was Shepherd's pie 9pts per cup, so that leaves about 3pts for supper. Definitely do-able but not ideal.
Out of town on the weekend so staying OP might be tricky good thing is it's only one night.
Really dreading WI tomorrow, I've earned 39 activity points this week but when I step on the scale in the am it's not showing me good things. Guzzling water like a fish today to help.
I'm going to go through the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook in search of something fun to make for lunch next week. I try to bring for 4 days out of the week. I also need to pick up freezer containers so I can make two things and alternate so I don't get bored.
I also to need to research how to do make my blog more fun. Wonder if there's a blog for dummies book out there.
Later and drink your water!

Here we go...
I have been checking out weight loss/ weightwatcher blogs for a few months now and always find total inspiration from these people. We all face the same challenges and to share in victories is so fantastic. It's just so nice to know that you're not alone.

I've been following WW for a few years now. Stayed the same forever! Finally broke the plateau with a 4.6lb loss...totally freaked me out since I haven't seen a loss that big since my first week. Stayed the same last week, which I'm o.k with. I've lost 28lbs so far and have 36lbs to go until goal. I will do it...dang it.

Started training for the Vancouver International 1/2 marathon walk..which is tons of fun. Signed up for a clinic at The Running Room. My group is awesome. We're so inspired that we're going to do the Honolulu Marathon in December. Total craziness, we haven't even completed the 1/2 yet. I find this working towards a goal really working for me. I get sick of the gym, more bored than anything else. For anyone who wants to socialize while they work out I highly recommend it :)

That's all I can think of for now, however I'll be back.