Why Tim Horton's rocks

It's not just the strangely addictive coffee, you see last year I bought myself a TimCard (reloadable) as I was tired of searching for change or having to use debit (service charges). Not to mention it speeds up the whole process as it's swipe and go. It got misplaced (probably in the bottom of a handbag somewhere) and I never really gave it a thought as I didn't go that regularly.

The other day I got a new one as I now go to Tim's daily for my two milk/two sugar coffee (3pts I refuse to give up) and breakfast on the weekends I have to work. Well tonight I decided to register my card so if it's lost I get my money back.

I had registered the old card as well but I know it's not lost well only lost somewhere in my house. At any rate I discoverd I could transfer the balance of my old card to my new card ($4.60). Awesome, that at least two more coffees. That just made my day.

Apart from that the day was alright got a fair bit done which means I may only have to work the morning tomorrow.

Saw another slight gain on the scale. I've been a runaway train lately and need to reset. Get back the mojo so to speak which I'm now once gain prepared for. Going back to day one. Which always makes me think of my favourite quote.

"I never look back, darling. It detracts from the now"

OMG, for dinner I had these amazing potatoe pancake type things that I bought in the frozen food section (look more like grated potato then a pancake) at Ikea. They're 1pt for two and I had them with a bit of tzatziki....delish I must say.

Hope you enjoyed your Saturday.

Hugs!

First day off in 8 days

Boy was I running out of steam, we're all working crazy hours. One of my co-workers is on day 11. I hope she takes time off this weekend. I return to work tomorrow and most likely Sunday and then we'll see when the next day off happens. The tail end of the project is in sight and I'm sure all of us are looking forward to more normal schedules.

I have been way off program and not terribly happy with myself. Someone said to me "everything in moderation" yup I know that. My problem has been forgetting the moderation and running with the everything. It's a lifestyle change not a diet so I am back on the wagon.

Today was not a day of relaxing but more a day of getting stuff down. I grocery shopped, did two loads of laundry, vacummed, dusted, mowed the lawn and put the sprinkler on.

Still to do is dishes and clean the bathroom. I'm pacing myself as I don't know when my next day off will be. Lately I've been so zonked by the time I get home, chores are the furthest thing from my mind that's for sure.

Now I have a fridge full of veggies so that will help.

So you think you can dance Canada has begun and I have the last episode on the pvr. I'm not so happy Emmanuel Sandhu is on the show. He bugs me. Alas I'm sure I'll find a favourite.

3 weeks ish until the next Biggest Loser...can't wait.

Hope all of you are well,

Hugs!!!

I'm here

Just smokin' busy...be back later

I did see that coming

Saturday's weigh in resulted in a gain, I wasn't surprised so I'll take it as a lesson learned. Got out of work at a reasonable hour yesterday so a few of us went to go see Julie/Julia. It was great, Meryl Streep is a genius.

Worked again today and I have no idea when my next day off is at all but there is 3 weeks-ish left to go on this project so the end of the tunnel and a return to a more normal schedule is in sight.

Also have no idea when I'll next see a grocery store. Work brought in Saturday's lunch from Subway and today's lunch from Swiss Chalet. Tomorrow will be back to food courts and I'm heading to the salad bar at Sunterra Market. I need to get to the post office to pick up a parcel as well.

One of my co-workers said he'd thought we'd all be burnt out by now, well I did listen to 3 songs on my alarm radio before I got out of bed today. The crazy work hours are starting to wear on people. Mind you once in the normal work week it's not so bad, the weekends are getting tougher.

Alright my friends that's all I got for now, but I hope all of you in storms path are safe.

Hugs!

Snack, snacky, snackiest

This is my work place right now, it's kind of like boot camp (not the fitness kind) more like dig in, head down and get'er done. Which means the snacks are getting out of hand and worse one's complete obliviousness to picking up said snack and noshing away.

It's ridiculous. Yesterday I bought a bag of chips for my team as it was late afternoon and no one was going home anytime, people from other rooms were sniffing about and got wind of the chips - they were gone in seconds. It's like a National Geographic special of some kind with a band of wolves descending of some poor creature.

The other day someone brought the 100cal Ah Caramel's and I had one unwrapped and half eaten before I knew what I was doing.

We've got this bizarre pace of crazy busy or hurry up and wait. The waiting part is killer because that's when you go looking for something to occupy yourself and why not eat.

Add in crazy hours i.e finished at 7:30pm yesterday, 6pm tonight - who knows tomorrow. Will be working all weekend again. So far averaging one day off a week and it's starting to wear a little. Planning is key right now. Last night I was washing dishes at 10pm.

The next time I can get myself to a grocery store I'm grabbing cherry tomatoes, carrots and some other types of bite size veggies. I will want to snack but if I have a healthy option next to me I will still have enough reason to grab the right thing. Stocking up on Smart Ones and Lean Cuisines might not be such a bad idea for the remaining weeks. Better than getting home late and eating your way through the kitchen as you try to think of what you'll have for dinner.

OMG I'm so psyched about the new season of Biggest Loser, in case you haven't heard there bringing previous contestants back again. I was watching Access Hollywood or something and they were interviewing a contestant who's the heaviest yet and I swear I saw Daniel from last season standing on the scale next to her. There going to the single competitor format (the original format) this season and I can not be more excited. I can't find pictures of all of the new cast to confirm who else might be from previous seasons.

Alright that's all I got for now.

Hugs!!!

Yet another suprise day off

Yesterday afternoon it was decided that I could take today off as my area wouldn't be too busy today - I have no idea if another will happen and I will most likely be working the weekend again.

This project will end but I've met so many great people that it will be a bit sad when we all go back to our normal jobs.

My friend's birthday dinner didn't happen as she was off by 2:30pm and I had no idea when I'd be done. It turned into an 11 hour day for me and by the end I had no desire to go home and make dinner. Instead I tagged along with two of my out of town co-workers and we went to the Keg for dinner. Yeah, not so point friendly at all and the Pina Colada (it was very good) I had probably didn't help but it was just one of those days my friends. I was tired and hungry and that given moment I couldn't give a flying fig about points. I had a lovely time with them.

Of course today that's a totally different story and I'm focusing on water and planning a lower point day to compensate for yesterday. I've already been to the grocery store and soon I will clean my house. Some other activity will be a part of today and it's a debate between a walk outside or some pilates/yoga.

I discoverd some new varieties of single serving Kraft Dinner today. (At Walmart for 97 cents each) I picked up Szechwan Spicy (5pt), Extreme Pizza (4pts) and Alfredo (4pts). I had the Szechwan for lunch and it was good and definitely had a bit of a kick. I paired that with some frozen organic peas and a small banana. KD might not be the most nutritional option out there but 3min in the microwave could help those days when I'm to tired to make dinner. I also picked up the waffles that Angie (found in the organic freezer section of my Safeway) was talking about the other day (2 for 3pts) that's not so bad and 4g of fibre. They must have had about 6 different varieties of waffles but these were the Pomegran Plus variety.

So far today I've used 10.5pts. So plenty of options for a pm snack and dinner.

I changed my goal tracker to include my original starting weight when I first joined WW. It's been a long journey but I've never gone back to that number but I still think it's important to recognize where I started.

Have a groovy day!

Hugs!

Home a bit early

Got home at 2pm today not bad since I left for work at 7:30am. Got a lot done today so we'll see what happens next week.

I've had a request to explain the Wendi Plan. In a nutshell it was created by a lady named Wendi who discoverd while tracking on WW that weeks she varied her pts per day she had a better loss. For example she noticed that weeks she had a birthday party (for example) which resulted in a higher point day followed by a lower point day it kicked her metabolism into gear.

Instead of eating your "whatever" pts per day you take your pts for the week add in your flex points and then divide unevenly throughout your week. I first discoverd it when I was trying to break a plateau and have found when I do it consistently it helps in my losses.

Google "Wendi Plan" for more detailed explanations.

Have a groovy Sunday.

Hugs!

Down .3

.3 that may not be much but it's a loss and I'll take it.
Yes last week was not my best but the beauty of today is it's a new week.

The office was full of snacks today and lunch was from Peter's Drive In, luckily it was my high point day on the Wendi Plan but tomorrow it's a low day. I will plan accordingly.

Bit frustrating today as it seemed a bit chaotic and I do need to go in tomorrow. There were people who wanted to come in later but I am of the thought I'd rather go in earlier and leave early. So that's my plan for tomorrow.

Plus if it's quieter in the morning I can be more focused.

Apart from that not a lot to talk about today but I hope all of you had a fantastic Saturday.

Hugs!

Snafu

Maybe I shouldn't have blogged about my good tracking behaviour for 11 days in a row as yesterday was not so good.

Pair repetitive work with snacks being put in front of you = mindless snacking. It also didn't help that I was less than impressed with the lunch I brought to work and didn't really feel satisfied - not enough flavor. This easily leads to snacking for me as I search for something to fill the gap.

I did get home and tracked everything so I'm proud of that. I have in the past just sort of skipped over a bad day and not record it at all. It was right back on the wagon. However I'm not sure how that will effect weigh in tomorrow.

Last night I was so tired and went to bed early then spent half the night listening to the rain pelting overhead. Tonight I'm going to bed early again to have some extra oomph for the work days ahead.

Today was better and I purposely aimed a wee bit low in pts. Tomorrow is my free day (weigh in first thing in the am) and I have to work the weekend. Today we made tentative plans to get lunch from Peter's Drive In tomorrow. If you come to Calgary this is a must place to go but not pts friendy. Everything in moderation as they say.

That's all I got for now.

Hugs!!

Surprise day off

My work schedule continues to be a bit crazy. Monday was spent waiting for information and Tuesday was looking a bit like the same. We were then told that the pace would increase at the end of the week which will mean working Saturday and Sunday. I'm cool with that as we got to go home and take Wednesday off.

Being off early on Tuesday resulted in a hunt for an opportunity for a manicure. That didn't go well as no spots were available in the 4 salons I and T looked at. I did make an appointment for today and then cancelled last night. I own at least 6 bottles of OPI and it wasn't that long ago I had a manicure so I can change the nail polish myself. I'm saving myself $20.

Tuesday also resulted in not having planned lunch as I was running around and found myself very hungry at McDonald's. Not so smart planning resulted in using up the rest of flex pts. That's o.k I just need to be very very focused for the next 3 days.

The tough part is now doing what I wanted to do on Saturday on a Wednesday. When I'm not feeling weekendy. Does that make sense?

Woke up without an alarm at 7am today and then off to the grocery stor and the fridge is ready for healthy meals. I've got today mapped out and I know what I'm bringing for lunch on Thursday and Friday. For me to bring lunch it has to be something I'm excited about so I'm going to make a sort of turkey stroganoff.

I've stopped my grocery delivery service. It was great but when it came right down to it - it just wasn't ideal as I always found myself going to the grocery store to get what they didn't have. I had previously scoped out my grocery store's organic section and everything I love is available there as well. Plus when I re-start my travel schedule that completely changes what I need grocery wise.

I've now tracked perfectly for 11 days and half way through day 12. I walked to the grocery store and back today too.

I've created a list of rewards for every 5lbs on my journey to goal. Small things for every 5lb mark (under $10) and bigger things for the 10lb marks. Right now I'm 5lbs away from my first 10lb goal on my renewed WW journey and that's a workout tote from Lululemon, not a bag but a tote.

One day at a time is my new philosophy.

Hugs!

The lawn is mowed

Yesterday I wound up going a few pts over my super high day due to lunch at a vietnamese restaurant. I guestimated on pt values and then got home and tracked down the real numbers. Couldn't plan ahead on that one as we were all going together and I didn't know where until half a minute before we left.

I must say this is where Daily Plate comes in handy. When the WW tracker doesn't have the item, I just pop over to Livestrong and find the nutritional value. They have a very impressive data base.

I've adjusted my daily pt goals to factor in Saturday so I'm still on track. Today was a normal pt day and I wound up having lunch at Ikea but that's what's so fabulous about WW is everything can fit in. I'm still on track.

I've already plugged everything in for tomorrow. Taking it day by day.

After a wee battle with my lawn mower I finally got jungle lawn taken care of and weeded the flower beds. Discovered the first foot of my lawn was already mowed????? A signal from one my neighbours? The lawn was shaggy not a foot long, I noticed one neighbour had a recently mowed lawn, perhaps they got totally into what they were doing and missed their property line?

Ikea was chance to catch up with my friend P who just returned from a month in Sweden. I picked up a bag of frozen swedish meatballs as a quick protein option (6 meatballs/5pts). I've ground turkey and pork chops in the fridge that I plan to make into turkey meatloaf and shake n' bake pork - also quick protein options for the week. I've got a fridge full of veggies.

I have a plan and I will stick to it.

Hugs!!!

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go

First let me say.....Down 4lbs.....whoo hoo.

I've got to say when you follow the program it actually works. I went over my pts and flex this week that just shows that I probably ate less calories this last week then the preceeding weeks. Though I did wind up doing a Wendi Plan sort of thing with high/low variations on daily pts. So this week I'm going to follow the Wendi Plan and see what happens. It's always worked well for me in the past.

Yesterday was dedicated to grocery shopping and I had meant to mow the lawn but it was still a wee bit wet when I wanted to do it so it can wait for tonight or tomorrow.

Did eat a low point day to off set the poutine fiasco of the day before. However today is my super high pt day ala Wendi Plan (scheduled as far away from weigh in day as possible of course). I will focus on real food as opposed to a day filled with junk. The trick is also to track everything and not have a free for all day.

I'm very leary of all the 2pt snacks out there when you read the ingredients and it's all junk. Just because it's low in points does not mean it's good for you is my new mantra.

Alright I'm off to work but I hope all of you have a fantastic Saturday.

Hugs

The call of the poutine

So my first week back on WW is going alright, I've had some wild days due to lack of planning and some spot on days. Today was a wild one.

The team I'm working with right now includes one of our American co-workers. She's one American surrounded by Canadians. We do tease her a bit like today we told her she spelt colour wrong by spelling it "color". We've introduced her to timbits and explained a Coffee Crisp.

Today we were talking about poutine (french fries covered in cheese curd and topped with gravy - in case you don't know). So we told her we'd get it for lunch today so she can try it. She asked where we got it and we answered KFC. Of course the KFCs in the U.S don't have poutine. She asked us to get her a biscuit - the Canadian KFC's don't have biscuits.

I enter the poutine in my tracker after I ate it....23 points....whoa!!!!!!!!! I don't know what I was thinking, I wasn't expecting it be low in pts but I was staggered by 23. I drank a lot of water today after I plugged that in to the tracker.

She is not a fan of cheese so didn't really take to the poutine. So why do I have to be a fan of cheese??

I'm not beating myself up about it and it's vegetables for dinner. Still one day to go to weigh in and I must be an angel tomorrow. I have the day off because I have to work on Saturday so that might work in my favour as there will be no office snacks near me. Now it's all about damage control.

Beware the poutine.....

Hugs!

I keep thinking it's Sunday...

My timing is off today probably from working the weekend, for part of the morning I thought it was Sunday.

Crazy storm last night with booming thunder and mega winds, I have 3 giant trees in front of my house and at one point I was just thinking "Please don't fall over". Only one flower pot got knocked over so not so bad. It is a bit gloomy today so I opted to stay home and take care of house stuff. I've put off grocery shopping today as I can raid cupboards for a few days. I want to lay low as I have no idea if I'll be working next weekend too.

I tracked everthing and it was ugly yesterday (Tim Horton's, Panago Pizza, Starbucks) so I was even more determined to keep today on track and I have 10pts remaining for the rest of the day - which is plenty. I have a handful of flex points for the rest of the week. I guess I'm following a bit of a Wendi Plan week.

Stepped on the scale this morning to take a peak and it's heading in the right direction. Saturday will continue to by weigh in day.

Cosmo channel is running a marathon of The Fashion Show, think Project Runway. I've got the pvr picking that up as weekday tv sucks.

Tomorrow might wind up being a buy lunch day as I didn't go grocery shopping but I'm going to plan out my day in advance tonight and plug it into the tracker. I think this will also help curb any office snacking as I strongly suspect something will show up tomorrow as it's the first day of the new week.

So far there's been Tim Bits, individually wrapped cheese - gouda, havarti and etc.(God Bless whoever picked the Baby Bell Light), a caramel chocolate cake, cheese ball, chocolate, chips, cheezies and a variety of pastries from Starbucks. Yes...the will must be strong in this place.

For those having a holiday Monday - I hope your enjoying yourself. For those who don't - hope your week is starting off well.

Hugs!!

What a fabulous idea

At work at 8:30am this morning but I woke up at 5am and decided to figure out all the changes I'd have to take care of this morning. That totally helped as I got into work with a plan and all was done quickly. The rest of the time was spent fixing other stuff but all is good.

Left at 2ish and got a ride home from a co-worker that I've now had the opportunity to really get to know and she's fabulous. She came up with the idea to go for a manicure and pedicure on the way home. Awesome, massaging chairs and pampered feet and hands plus a quick eyebrow wax and I'm delighted.

I have the day off tomorrow and I have to catch up on house work and such. I'm living in chaos right now and I'm actually happy to tackle this tomorrow before another crazy week.

Next week I'm bringing my lunch and own snacks plus my gym bag everyday.

Until later....

Hugs!

So tired

It turned out I didn't need to do over everything today just tweak a few things. Today was a normal ish 8 hr day at work with a lot to do first thing and then a whole lot of waiting. At 10min to 5pm a whack load of work landed on my desk. The plan became go home and rest and come back tomorrow.

While I'm not super thrilled about working a Sunday, I am much happier to tackle these things fresh in the morning.

Eating was alright today, we had OPA for lunch but there where snacks everywhere. I didn't go crazy but I could have been better behaved. Tracked everything as best I could.

Now I just have to do it all tomorrow. I'm really really really hoping for Monday off.

Later