Monday, October 29, 2007

The thought behind raking leaves


I finally raked my front lawn on the weekend, I have a fairly big lot due to living in an old neighbourhood so raking is divided and quite frankly front lawn is priority over back. I'm one of those weird people that approach these tasks with a plan. I rake the leaves towards sidewalks so it's easier to pick up. I had great halloween leaf bags, if I get home when it's still light out I'll snap a picture for y'all. I was grooving to my mp3 as I raked and two neighbours complimented my leaf bags. Of course I had to stop, take out an ear phone and say "Sorry?". One hour and 45min of raking, boy did I feel it this morning.


Before I did that I walked to the mall and back with my halloween costume. I'm going to be the dental hygenist from hell. The idea came to me as I was at the dentist on Saturday and my super funny dental hygenist was saying something along the lines of why do people hate us. That gave me the idea. She gave me some masks, gloves and an old x-ray of hers. I bought scrubs at Walmart and a couple travel sized toothpaste and such that I'm going to velco to myself. Our receptionist thinks she has glittery devil horns and I will weild floss and a toothbrush at my colleagues.


So my weightloss meltdown of yesterday does seem TOM related. We had our two week weigh in for the office challenge and I was exactly the same as the start. I do have a complicated week running wise. Can't tonight, Tuesday is hip hop, Wednesday halloween. I'm going to switch in some dvd exercises in as they can take place even it's dark or cold out. Halloween is just a no go as I'm handing out candy and the little guys pretty much start at 5:30pm.


I discovered that saving shows on the dvr and watching them on the weekend is an awesome plan as it doesn't matter how many channels you have there's nothing on the tube on the weekend. Therefore having loads of time to workout.
Signing up for cake decorating tonight, I'm so excited.
Have a groovy day everybody!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Starting from the beginning...again

I knew I would see a gain at WI, I could just feel it. It could because of TOM and retaining water or it could just be me realizing that I haven't been giving my A game.
So when I walked up to the scale I asked my meeting leader for a new weight tracker. I had two spots left in the old one but I wanted an official fresh start. I also bought a new 3mth tracker and I'm going back to basics.

I've had enough of my lethargic attitude to getting serious about getting healthy. I want to be safely at goal by my birthday June 3. I know I could do it sooner but I mean at goal and finished maintenance.

I'm not beating myself over what may seem like failure. Failure is not falling down and getting up, failure is falling down and staying down.

I am up to good things like starting to run and embracing healthy cooking. I know I have the support of all of you who are trying do this as well. I have no doubt we can do this. The lessons need to be learned and it doesn't matter how long it takes but more that it sticks with you and you make a lifestyle change not follow a diet.

Here is to the first step of a journey and there's no looking back.

Have a fantastic day my friends and let's look forward to our victories this week.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

So tired....


Went to the seminar last night, it started at 6pm and there were 4 speakers so it didn't end until around 10pm. When we got out we realized that the rain/snow had started and it was coming down fast and furious. I had a cotton jacket on, luckily I had my mitts. The game plan was to get a cab but considering it was also a hockey home game night and the first real snow there wasn't a cab to be found. The weather was truly ugly, not super cold but visibility was so so and roads were starting to get slick. One company said 20min - no cab. Next company said 1hr. I saw cab after cab go by but none turned into where I was. Then grabbed the public transit train downtown figuring I might be able to flag one down by a hotel or the restaurant strip. I was covered in snow as I attempted to flag one down but some jerk hopped into it. Luckily a bus that I can take came by so I grabbed that and walked the 3 blocks home. I got home at 11:30pm. Today I'm zonked with a late hip hop night on Tuesday and even later night last night. Positive thing I didn't have to shell out any moolah for a cab, boy was I happy to see my house.
This morning there was just a bit of snow on the lawns and parked cars, nothing on sidewalk. Right now it's a balmy 4C celsius so anything remaining will melt.

I think I'll be going to bed early tonight. I should run tonight and the weather looks way nicer, I think I will. I'll go straight home, change into workout clothes and head out for 30min...unless I find myself falling asleep on the bus home. I can use a Friday run as my back up plan.
Have a groovy day everybody!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

2nd Run and Hip Hop Conundrum


When I got home from work I immediately put on my running gear and headed out the door. Unfortunately how I planned my route resulted in my first minute of running to be uphill after that I picked more flat terrain. The goal was to do the 1 minute of running 6 times. 1st and 2nd time went o.k, 3rd time didn't make a minute, 4th time almost made a minute. The 5th and 6th time I made the minute and I added a 7th to make up the other two. It was hard, I just kept telling myself, you can do this and push through it. People tell me it gets easier, I hope their right.


On the hip hop front I found out you can now register for term 2 but I have an issue. The first term cost $170, the second longer term costs $280. That's $450 for 1 hr of cardio once a week. I think I'll retire when this term is over. I paid less than $200 for a one year gym membership and add in Christmas looming and I just can't justify it. I'll just continue on with my Hip Hop abs dvd when I feel the need to get my groove on. I also think that just plain dancing in your living room for an hour is an awesome workout.


Tonight I have a seminar after work so today will be a rest day. Tomorrow my schedule is up in the air. I'm going to start the Wilton cake decorating level one on Nov.7th and two of my co-workers are going to do it too. So the plan is to register for that. Someone we used to work with is getting married in September and has asked my co-baker in the office to make the cake and I volunteered to assist her. So now we're going to perfect our skills and develop our skills with fondant. Of course none of us want to keep our creations so the office will benefit. Maybe we should do a bake sale on those days.
Thursday should technically be my the 3rd running night of the week, the other factor is we're expecting some bad weather and the four letter word "snow" has been mentioned. I've trained in the worst of winter and that doesn't worry me, it's if my neighbours shovel their sidewalks. I'm holding Friday as my sub running day.
I've been recording shows like crazy this week on the dvr. I don't know what I did without this thing. Not having to worry about tape length or the network moving the show is total bliss. I did record Biggest Loser but caught the last half hour after hip hop. I totally can't believe Neil tossed the weigh in to secure Blue team members. I so think that's not the way to play this game. I was impressed with how Jez held his head high and left with integrity. It will be interesting to see what happens next week.
Have a great day!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Full moon on Thursday


The vibe is weird today, everyone I've talked to is feeling out of sorts then I realized full moon on Thursday. I always find personalities get a little funky with the new moon coming and the stranger than usual people do turn up. We'll see how the week progresses.

Second run scheduled for tonight. I'm following the training recommended for the 5K walk/run program in Running for Mortals. So tonight will be walk 3min and run 1min for 24 minutes. You do that for about 3 weeks and then start increasing time. I want to do this so I stick with it. On my own I can start a project, go full speed ahead and then give up. So slow and steady will be my mantra to build up my running prowess for December 31st.

On another note, did any of you catch Viva Laughlin? I saw a bit of the first episode watched about 20min and thought it was stupid. Well it's been cancelled after 2 episodes to be replaced by Amazing Race on Nov. 5th. Yippee...I love Amazing Race.

Also for all you Canadians out there who like Biggest Loser, Slice will be airing Biggest Loser Australia starting Nov. 15th. Rumour has Bob and Gillian are the trainers.

Alright that's about all I've got to say today...I shall report on hip hop tomorrow and how the floor work went....oy vey.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Down 0.8


Finally heading in the right direction and I was a bit surprised as last week was not filled with good behaviour, it wasn't as bad as the week before but there's definitely room for improvement.


I also dusted off my running shoes on Sunday and headed out for my first learn to run attempt in a long time. I did a 5 min walk warm up and then ran 1 min and walked 5min for 47min around my 5.08K neighbourhood route. At first I thought I was going to keel over but by then end I recovered quickly. I kept an eye on my Garmin to keep my times dead on. On Tuesday I might attempt 1 min run/ 3 min walk but for a shorter time frame in accordance with "Running for Mortals" instead of 5/1 ratio of Sunday. I was just pleased I got my butt off the coach and out the door. While the weather remains stable I will be running outside and put off the gym until I need the treadmill. Tonight will be yoga and maybe hip hop abs. Tuesday will be interesting as I plan to walk/run for about 30min and then I have hip hop later that night, I'm really hoping to have really good sleep Tuesday night. Wednesday I have a seminar right after work. Thursday I'll run again. On Friday I'll do some other type of exercise. I will report back here with updates so I have some accountability.
On Saturday I found a winter coat, I'll try to post a picture tonight. I got my painted potter back too so I'll try to post that as well. My weekend was pretty much dedicated to getting back on track with school and I got 92% on the assignment that drove me bonkers so I'm quite pleased with that.
Alright off to read all your blogs...have a groovy day!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Act like a duck

Pottery painting was a load of fun yesterday. Only 5 of us wound up going but a good time was had by all. I painted a square rice bowl with stripes of very light pink, purple, orange and blue. I painted the inside green and then speckeled the outside with yellow. I then used puffy paint to draw stick figures doing yoga poses. I will post a picture when I get back which should be early next week.

I wound up stopping a DQ for dinner and controlled myself but still had a hamburger (no fries just a simple hamburger) and surprise I was down .5 this morning. The body is a very weird thing. I'm seriously looking forward to starting a new week tomorrow and I will be buying a new 3mth tracker to celebrate that. I'm wiping the slate clean and focussing forward...act like a duck and just let it roll off.

I have a serious amount of school work to do on the weekend. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and I'll also be hunting down a proper dressy winter coat. It was a bit chilly this morning and I realized fleece will only get me so far.

I got my Cuisnart Griddler today from the airmiles I redeemed, I'm trying to think of what I can make with it tonight...

I have no idea what I'll see on the scale tomorrow, but I do know this - working out will be a priority next week as will be tracking...everything. This week was better but still not what I want to see.

I signed up for the Resolution Run on Dec. 31st, it's 8K and I want to run it. So that's about 11 weeks to get in gear. I'm quite pleased with myself that I just signed up and ran with it. Now I'm really hoping it won't be stupid cold.

Random thoughts today...next week food plans I need me some accountability. This weekend, hopefully, talking blog. Send me positive techology vibes.

Have a groovy Friday!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

B-Girl...apparently

As hip hop ended last night our very fly instructor said we were now all B-Girls and Bboys (well one boy, normally there's three in a field of all woman).

We had a solid 60min of dancing and we never stopped moving, which now has me thinking I should keep going with semester 2. It was fun, I got seriously lost a couple of times but for the most part everyone got it. Next week we hit the floor, when he said that my mouth dropped open in a "Excuse me" kind of way. Yup, he told us not wear watches and to wear baggy clothes. Let the freak out begin. What that truly encourages me to do is be a workout fiend from now on. I look at myself in that mirror and am not crazy about what I see. I see the slacking off I've been doing...and boyo that stops now.

I read on someone's blog today (I'm sorry I can't remember who as I flew through them this morning) about how we know what happens when we follow healthy guidelines and we see the success. The question is why do we slide? Is it because we're tired of keeping watch, is it because it feeds some emotion? I suppose the mystery will never be solved but rather we should focus on what we're doing right and make that consistent.

Have a groovy day everybody!

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

7203 - That's crazy

This blog has been looked at 7203 times, that blows me away. It always makes you wonder about who stops by. Do they think you're an idiot, that you're insightful, that you're boring, that you're witty or a bit of all mixed together.

I'm a total lurker myself, not that I intentionally lurk it's just sometimes I don't have anything to say or someone else has summed it up beautifully. I usually read all my blogs via bloglines so sometimes it's just not having the time to go to the blog and comment. I do read your blogs every day and feel your pain when things aren't going well and celebrate your victories when things go right.

I still have the talking blog in the back of my head, I had a technology issue that I'm still trying to figure out. On that note, isn't scheduling hard? Like trying to schedule an hour to hit the gym or workout when it feels like a bazillion things are on your plate. You'd probably make yourself a priority if you made the effort but it's still hard. Speaking of...I forgot I had to bake a cake tonight so no gym as I won't have time before hip hop.

I don't think I'll continue with hip hop once this class is finished. While it is fun, it's not a consistent workout and the late hours are totally killing me. By the time 9pm rolls around I want to be in pjs but instead I'm trucking to class. I'm not totally decided on that as I don't know the times for next semester but it's a thought.

Alright not a ton to talk about today but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Ciao

Monday, October 15, 2007

Up 2.2 - Victim of Holliweek

Alas I can't say I was surprised at WI, I certainly wasn't alone. I heard many conversations about gains at the meeting on Saturday.

I know what happened, I tracked but after the fact and not consulting where I was in my day's points. I was bad and then fessed up. However that's in the past and I'm not going to dwell on it. This is a new week and a new focus and I'll take it day by day.

I added up all my points for the week including flex and diviyed them up for the week. I knew Saturday and Sunday would be higher but I'm still going to finish within my points by the end of the week damn it. I will have a loss on Saturday - enough said.

Tonight I must go vote and tried to coordinate with the gym but it's a logistical nightmare. Tada...today my amazon order came and I had ordered Jillian Michael's workout dvds and the newest Biggest Loser book - Fitness Programs. I have no excuse not to do a workout at home tonight. It will also be 20 degrees today so it's a good day to head out for a walk run but I really want to try the dvds. We'll see what wins when I get home.

I'm also going to the gym on Tuesday which is Hip Hop night. I can't count on Hip Hop being a good workout as the intensity of what we do always changes and there's enough hours in between to recover from a gym workout and head to hip hop.

The 10lb challenge started at work today and all 6 of us stepped on the scale and took measurements. I will bring the scale back on the 15th and 30th of each month until Dec. 14th. People can check their progress if they want or wait until the end.

One of our group didn't want anyone to know her starting weight. I feel for her, I wanted to keep this little project very positive and very inspiring so she wrote it down on a piece of paper for now. She did take part in the measurement part. The other 5 shared weights and measurements. On December 14th if you lost 10lb you pay nothing, if you lost 8 you pay $2 and so on. Awesome idea from my friend A, and this way you don't feel like you've lost anything buy not losing 10lbs but it will still motivate to not hand over any money.

I really want to focus on the positive and not get dragged down by negative self talk.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Friday, October 12, 2007

Challenge on top of Challenge


My office mates and I have started a 10lb by Christmas challenge on top of the one I'm doing with my blog friends. We're all feeling lethargic and can feel the winter lull coming. We officially start on Monday and I'm bringing my scale and a measuring tape on Monday. So far we have 5 people and we thought about opening it up to the whole staff but I think I'd rather keep it among us. I find the bigger things get the more complicated they get and you lose the inspiration and get more competitive.

I'm feeling a general feeling of blah lately. Not depression more "whatever" kind of mood. Motivation is so-so, house work is adding up, the paper I need to write has yet to be started. It's just like feeling greyish fuzzy if that makes any sense, sort of out of focus. I know I can shake it and that's my plan this weekend. I just want to be sorted. Get the paper finished, clean my house, rake the leaves and have a food plan and exercise plan for next week. I need order.
The other thing that sort of irritated me today was when someone reveals that they lost a lot of weight, someone inevitably asks - How long did it take?. I find the question irritating, probably because I've been on this weighloss journey for a long time and feel like I'm moving at snails pace. I also feel for the person on the other end of that question. Who cares how long it took? The fact that should be celebrated is that they accomplished it. This attitude is probably also due to my feeling of denouement but still I don't think I'd ask that.
Went home with a splitting headache yesterday so I didn't go to the gym. It was also my Mom's birthday, she passed away almost 5 years ago but it still sorts of hits you. I suppose that's contributing to my general blahness.
Tonight I'm going straight home to get a rough copy done on my paper and a bit of tidying up is on the agenda. Saturday I'm off the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine fest in the late afternoon. Sunday we're supposed to be 17 degrees so I'm raking the lawn and planting tulips.
Here's to the ability to always start a fresh. I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Thursday desperately wanting to be Friday


I realize it's a short week this week but this morning I woke up, realized it was Thursday and hit the snooze button. My motivation to get up is non-existent, I think a lot of it has to do with adjusting to darkness again as the days get shorter.


The seminar/talk I went to last night was about a life balance. The speaker had an awesome sense of humour and used to be a personal trainer. She didn't say anything new but I still enjoyed it. There having a nutritionist at there next talk. I'm going to try to get an invite to that one.


I've retired my lululemon bag for now and flipped back to my MEC backpack for the gym, it's far easier to carry all the stuff I need for the day in something that can be carried on two shoulders as opposed to being slung on one. This is especially wise if it were to snow on the way home, better traction when body weight is equally distributed. It hasn't snowed here yet which is good because I still need a winter coat. I have my sporty Columbia one but I need a dressier "not look like I'm headed for the hills" type of coat. I do love this backpack and it's myriad of pockets and places to attach things, though I'm not a so sure on what attaches to some spots.


I watched the Oprah with Jessica Seinfeld last night. It was quite interesting about the veggie purees hidden in food. The cookbook is called Deceptively Delicious and she does things like beet puree in chocolate cake or chicken nuggets made with broccoli puree and flax seed. While I don't need to hide vegetables from myself I think it's a neat way to get more in my diet. She also had chocolate chip cookies with whole chickpeas in them. They taste tested with a bunch of 1st and 2nd graders and everything went over really well.


I also watched Big Shots on the pvr last night. I don't know about this show. While I absolutely adore Michael Vartan (formerly of Alias), the show feels like a male version of Sex in the City. It's seems like Dylan McDermott plays the Samantha like character and Michael plays the Charlotte like character. I might give it another try but so far I'm not a fan.


Can I say how much I love the PVR, you can zip through commericals super fast.


Hitting the gym today and then I must go home and bake.
Have a great Thursday everybody!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Shake your tail feather

Hip hop was once again loads of fun, there was this one arm movement combined with a lurch type turn into a variation of climbing into a clown car that I didn't quite get. This time we were grooving to a song by Jay Z that I've never heard. This class is definitely improving my ability to search Itunes.

Again I was up until midnight as I just couldn't sleep and tonight I must attend a seminar right after work, I would really like to go straight home and into PJs.

Foodwise I've been very good today and I was doing great yesterday until after hip hop. I always get home hungry and wired. I need to think of some instant grab and point friendly post workout snack that also won't keep me up.

My plan is to hit the gym tomorrow and Friday. I also need to lug home a bag of apples somehow and create a baked good to bring back on Friday. Our office administrator brought in apples from her back yard so now there's a bake-off challenge. Luckily I'm not a big fan of apple based desserts :)

Have a great day everybody!

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

A plan has got to come together

I hope all the Canadians had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that our American neighbors had a great Columbus day.

Saturday weigh in resulted in a 0.2 gain, but hey I'm totally o.k with that I was imagining much worse I can tell you.

I got the opportunity to have turkey dinner on Saturday at my friends house. She made a turkey roll that consisted of white and dark meat, skinless and no bone. I just ate about 2oz of white meat. She also had corn, mashed potatoes with light sour cream, stove top stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoe fries and buns. I didn't go crazy but it was definitely a high point day. The rest of the weekend wasn't so great either but I'm focused for the remainder of the week. Tracker is safely right next to me and I'm ticking things off of my pre-planned menu as I go by.

I went to M&Ms on the weekend a bought bacon wrapped turkey (5pts per serving). I'm going to try one for dinner tonight. I had also purchased tirimasu to bring to Saturday's dinner which I safely left there. I have to dig up my old points list for M&M, they've got some great, easy protein options that I should be investigating.

I have hip hop again tonight and I wonder what we'll be doing. We had a sub last time and I have no clue about the stuff we were doing. I'm hoping that's not the case tonight. It's always fun even if you don't get it but I find I have a much better sense of accomplishment if I actually get some of the moves.

I need to get in the habit of doing yoga again, I can feel my body tightening...does that make sense?

Oh yeah, I joined eharmony for a month. I was intrigued by there heavy advertising of the new Canadian site. So far 4 guys have begun "communication", one dropped out. There are 26 profiles in "my matches" but I'm not in the mood to initiate conversation so I'm just hanging back. I'll keep y'all posted.

Have a groovy day everybody!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Self Sabotage

Hello All,
Well hip hop on Tuesday night was confusing, we had a sub instructor who sort of created as we went and I didn't get much of it. It was still fun, just confusing.
Wednesday I was dog tired since once again sleeping after hip hop is not so easy. Tonight Shaw is coming to figure out my mysterious digital cable issues (ie. I can get channel 24 not 25, I can get channel 32 not 33). Hopefully that can be resolved, while I do get loads of fascinating channels I don't know what I'd do without food network.

What has been happening is a whole lot of self sabotage. I've been conveniently keeping my tracker out of sight and caving to snacks. I don't know what's wrong with my dedication. I know only I can fix it but it's frustrating. All is not lost and I know I don't want to wind up where I was at the start but it's just getting my motivation back. I'll definitely be hitting the gym tomorrow and perhaps tonight depending on when the Shaw tech comes (5-9pm window). This weekend I'll take some time to re-evaluate my food plan and make sure I'm getting enough protein. I know I get seriously snacky without it.

I'm not throwing in the towel whatsoever, I can do this, I will do this and nothing will stop me...

Enough said :)

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Snackapalooza part XXXXXVVVVIIII

Oy vey I hate this time of month, the water retention, the cramps and above all the desire to eat everything in sight. That was yesterday, the eating part. I couldn't stop snacking. Rational brain was saying "You don't need this", emotional brain was saying "Shut up, I'm having it anyway".

I did hit the gym after work and actually ran on the treadmill for the first time ever. I did a 5min walk warm up than ran 1 min, walked 2 and so on for 25 minutes. Then I walked at a fast pace for 40min and 5min cool down and then I walked home from the gym so add another 15min to that. I must remember to bring a baseball cap to the gym though, on the way home I looked rough!

Stayed the same at weigh in which is good because I'd usually see a gain at this time.

I'm really looking forward to hip hop tonight but this class is totally wrecking my sleep patterns. I get home at around 10:30pm, have a glass of chocolate milk (recovery drink for 60min of jumping around). Then I'm up and totally awake and it's not the chocolate milk. This results in me being totally tired on Wednesday. I don't see what I can do, I'll just have to get use to it.

Alright that's all I can think of for now, have a super duper day!