Is there a full moon?

When I worked for a staffing agency I always noticed that weird people and full moons seemed to go together. More on that in a minute.

Yesterday I set my alarm for a couple of hours before I leave for weigh in which is my usual weigh in routine. While adjusting the time I also lowered the volume. I woke up on my own on hour before I had to head out. That was lucky as I easily could have slept on. I was determined to go to my meeting today.

I stepped on my scale and didn't know what to make of it as lately it's been so very off from the WW scale. It wasn't like that before.

On my way to weigh in met an adorable pug named Charlie and then I went to Starbucks to pick up breakfast.

I got a non fat caramel latte and decided to try their "reduced fat turkey bacon egg white sandwich". I didn't know the points when I bought it. It was alright I was trying to watch them prepare it and it seemed to be a reheating sort of thing as the guy just stood there until something beeped.

When I got home I tracked it and the sandwich was 6pts. Made me think for 1pt more I can get an egg mcmuffin and McDonald's that's cooked fresh.

I'm sitting waiting for the meeting to start and this random woman gets up from her seat to sit in front of me (from  the other side of the room) and spins her chair to speak to me. She starts asking me about a woman who had just sat down in the front row. Apparently this is her nosey neighbour and how she doesn't want her to see her. However she really wanted to stay for the meeting because the topic was snacking. She proceeds to tell me a few examples of the nosey neighbour (including one about a murder in their neighbourhood) and this point I'm thinking is there a full moon because the woman talking to me is looney. I'm not sure why she just didn't tell this saga to the woman sitting next to her. I told her to sit directly behind the nosey neighbour a few rows back and then she'll be in her blind spot and not be seen (and also be far away from me).

At weigh in I was up 0.2 which I will totally take I was expecting worse so I'm quite pleased that my poor behaviour didn't cause too much damage. I did buy a new journal and some more coupons. After weigh in I went grocery shopping and got the fixings for work lunch salads. I also went to Walmart and picked up a new scale.

I love the "food watcher" app I put on my iphone. At one point I considered buying some hagaan daz mini bars as they were on sale. I plugged in the NI and for 4.5 pts each totally not worth it.

Got home and used my fancy slicer to make zucchini spaghetti with organic tomato sauce and some reduced fat Italiano cheese.

I sauteed the zucchini in some olive oil with some salt and pepper. This was delicious. The zucchini wasn't mushy and I'll definitely make this again.  I'm thinking of trying butternut squash as well.

Tomorrow I'll be making something with spaghetti squash as I have one that needs to used.

Then I unpacked the new scale (also a WW model) and compared the scales. My old scale was a 1lb and a bit more than the new scale.

I then started sprinkler olympics as all the promised rain over the past few days hasn't happened. I figured if I put the sprinkler on it would rain. Well it hasn't yet.

I bought some cherries today and had some of those as a snack in the afternoon and then for dinner I had a turkey bacon and tomato sandwich

As I'm back in the 170s I get 22pts and right now I'm sitting at 2pts over. I way still have 1/2 cup of the Real Dairy Low Fat ice cream (2pts).  All is tracked in my journal.

I strongly believe in eating your flex points.

I didn't do any formalized activity today apart from walking to and from the grocery store (2AP) which is a workout with a backpack full of groceries on the return trip.

I may still hit the mat for some yoga. I was thinking of doing a personal yoga challenge and practicing every day until the weigh in before Vegas (Aug 11).

I hope you all had a wonderful Saturday until tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

Friday - Thank the stars

It felt like a long week this week, probably due to being on vacation last week. I am very much looking forward to this long weekend for the simple fact of sleeping in and not having to carry my heavy computer bag home tonight.

I had thought of doing grocery shopping on the way home but I got an invite from some friends to join them for after work drinks and even with weigh in looming tomorrow I said why not. Had a lovely time and was home by 6pm.

I'm not really thinking about tomorrow's weigh in. I will accept whatever I see. I am kind of looking forward to a few weeks from now when trips are finished and I can get back into a pattern. I feel like I've had a lot disruption lately and not prepared willing to handle it. The mission is still goal by December.

This coming work week I am packing my lunch everyday and I think I'll pack a salad. I got some ideas from Ms Bitch Cakes and I'll save some money before Vegas as well.

Next Saturday I might check out a hot yoga class with a work friend. I've always thought I wouldn't like it but never tried it, I can't really have an opinion without trying it.

I will be buying a new journal tomorrow and I've decided to track while in Vegas. If I'm going to get to goal I have to be on plan even on vacation.

Stay tuned your focused CowgirlWarrior will be back, right not she just needs to chill for a minute.

Hugs!!

Random Things and New Toys

Hello my friends,
Got home late last night and was too zonked to blog. However I have cute new hair and a new toy:

It was time to upgrade my cell phone so I wandered over to Rogers as I had time to kill before my hair appointment at Aveda. I asked about upgrading to an Iphone. The sales guy asked me if it was Iphone 4 I wanted and I said no. I've heard way too many bad things about the newest version plus I was sort of hoping the 3GS might be reduced because of the new launch. I was right and got a 32gb version for a super decent price. Of course I've spent a lot moments since playing with it. I have the advantage of owning a Ipod touch (which is dying) so the functions are super similar. I downloaded a app that calculates WW points though it's not sanctioned by WW.

Speaking WW, they just launched the monthly pass in Canada. It's gets you unlimited meetings and the use of E-Tools. I think it said $11.95 a week, of course it's not available in Alberta because the people who own the franchise here are no fun whatsoever. They didn't participate in the 5K walk awhile back and we often don't get things that are available at other meetings in North America. Oh well, one needs to make do with what they have.

I know I said on the weekend that I was going to pick up my parcel but I had to sort out how to do 2 loads of laundry with no dryer. Luckily it was nice last weekend so the first load went outside on the drying racks that sure speeds up the process. I had to email the Trail Appliance guy the other day and he told me my dryer might be arriving in their warehouse on Aug 1. So maybe just maybe I'll have my new washer and dryer sometime next week.

I picked up the parcel today and now have this. I bought a zucchini on the way home to make zucchini spaghetti for dinner tomorrow.

Tonight's dinner was some Bush's baked beans which are now available in Canada. I saw it first in the Sobey's in Sundre (pop. 2500) but I did notice today Safeway had a few different versions. It was quite yummy and the nutritional info is friendlier than the some of the other versions.

I was playing around with the camera on the iphone and took a picture of my lunch. This is one of my go to fast food lunches. Small chili 4pts, Garden Salad 0pts and the entire pack of dressing is 2pts but I don't use the whole pack. I put it in the lid of the salad container and dip my fork. The salad now comes with croutons. I didn't put them on the salad but they wound up being my snack as I had to work late today. I get the feeling this new phone will cause me to take more pictures and post them.

Do those Tetley Infusion commercials drive anyone else bonkers? I bought a box when they first came out the blueberry version to be specific. What that commercial doesn't mention is that there's two servings in that pouch and no way to seal the pouch. The NI on my pack is 50 cal for one serving, so that's 100 calories for the pack. Naturally sweetened they say and the first ingredient is raw cane sugar. No artifical flavours they say and the blueberry juice is from concentrate I don't call that natural.
I'm sorry but the Nestea Ice Tea "powder" is 5 calories and one pack flavours a 1L of water just fine and counts as 0pts.

On the weight loss front still having an issue with tracking and I was thinking about picking up a new journal on Saturday to start fresh. I find a reset always helps me. I did walk home from post office and I was wearing my Reebok Easytones, I'll admit I do a feel a bit of a difference when I wear those but my toes do get a wee numb and I think that has to do with them being elevated in this shoe. One of these days I'll do an experiment and do a 5K walk in Easytones and my Mizunos and compare the calories burned

You must wander over to Ms Bitch Cakes blog because she hit goal the other day. I find her super inspiring because she's fought the battles to get to goal. Not only does she look phenomenal her positive attitude just radiates from her blog. I true inpiration that girl is.

If you're having a tough time right now I hope you find your re-set/ re-start button and take inspiration from Ms Bitch Cakes as the end goal is entirely achievable.

Hugs!!!!

Why?

You know when you're on plan and you're eating right, exercising and everything just seems to be falling into place and then for some reason your plan is interrupted and then...it takes you so freakin' long to get your act in gear.

This is where I am. I used to be focused and somewhere I lost that and it's been a challenge getting it back. I know I need to take it one day at a time.

Food wise has been iffy and tracking after the damage has been done. I went for a mega walk on Sunday. I packed my travel yoga mat in my site bag and did a few rounds of sun salutation in my camp room.

When I got off the plane today I thought I should go for a walk but I'm not into it tonight and I'd rather roll out my yoga mat.

I got home and put the sprinkler on and I took out the garbage plus I collected the dry clothes off the drying racks downstairs so quite productive after a long day.

I totally forgot that this Monday is a holiday here, which means I stay home for the week. Which also means I need to do a more thorough grocery shop this weekend. Even though I just came back from vacation and Vegas is two weeks away I'm kind of excited about a long weekend.

My plan for the rest of the week focus on the water, track before I eat and get some type of activity in everyday.

I'm not doing the yoga challenge that a whack of other bloggers are doing but I do want to ensure that's consistent in my life. When I was doing it consistently I could see the benefits not just physical but also mental. It's nice to have that moment where your only focus is on breath or a posture. It clears my head and helps me realize my body and mind are strong.

My weight loss slump will end because I will make it end.

Hugs!!!

What I learned on my summer vacation

Hello my friends, I am back in the big city. Well I got back yesterday late morning but this has been my first opportunity to post.

I've zipped through my bloglines to get an idea of what you've all been up to over the week and cleaned out my email.

First let me get some of the comments/ questions out of the way. Warning I've got a lot to cover today as I've felt a little blogger withdrawal.

A big thank you to Lisa for giving me the "Versatile Blogger" award, I will fill the conditions of that over the next fews day as I have to give it a bit of a think.

Next on to my Dad's cooking, he doesn't necessarily "cook" 3 meals a day. Breakfast for him is toast with cream cheese and breakfast for me was a bowl of Special K. On the first day it was hard boiled eggs.
Lunch tends to be when he cooks so he'll make things like roast (on the weekend), hamburgers, chicken with some type of side dish and veggies. He makes awesome cabbage rolls and a fantastic roast that I've never been able to duplicate. Dinner was always simpler so it could be sandwich or a frozen pizza. I would usually talk him into doing something really simple for dinner as lunches were pretty big. He doesn't think I can cook and I truly believe he thinks I survive on cereal. He thinks my pasta isn't cooked, I think his is overcooked sort of thing.

Now on to my week away- what I learned on my summer vacation.

1. Best laid plans can turn to dust
I didn't workout once while at Dad's, primarily because I had planned for outdoor workouts and I failed to compute wet grass (very slippery) and gravel roads (very slippery). I also didn't write any of my food down. I took this week as a vacation. I didn't go crazy but I just didn't fret about it.

2. I finally understand football
I have tried to understand football in the past but couldn't get my head around it mainly because it seemed like they never get very far with the ball. Last night Dad I watched the tail end of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs the Edmonton Eskimos and the whole game of the Calgary Stampeders vs the Saskatchewan Roughriders. This is Canadian football where there are 3 downs as opposed to the American version which has 4 downs. I was totaly into it and actually started to understand some of the strategy.

3. I bonded with cats
I have never described myself as a cat person, it's not that I don't like them it's just I've never really bonded with any. I pet them and listen to my friends talk about their cats. They do make me sneeze if I'm around them too long. I finally met my "siblings" being the 3 stray cats that have moved in under the deck at my Dad's house.

There's a mama cat and two kittens. My dad calls the kittens pooper and dooper. I renamed them. I named the male kitten (I think it's male) Fred because this guy is fearless and pretty friendly for a wild cat. If you had the sliding door open he would be inside in 2 seconds flat. When I scooped him up to prevent further progress into the house he was totally calm and put his nose to mine and would pur. The female kitten (I think it's female) I named Spook. She is far more timid but also very curious as she investigated all around her plus she's grey and white so more ghost like. I named the mama cat Mama Miao. She never let those two out of her sight and would sit very regally. After a week of learning that I could also put food out for them she started to pur when she saw me but would not let me pet her.

I saw the Dad cat once or twice. I think it was the Dad. Fred and Mama have almost identical markings. Spook and Papa Miao look more alike. Papa Miao was a patient as can be when the kittens were climbing all over him but he always kept a discrete distance from us. The kittens were pretty funny when they chased their own tale or each others. I hope one or two are still around when I go out at Christmas.

Cats come and go out there as stupid human owners who can't take care of them dump them in the woods as opposed to taking them to a shelter. You can totally tell the difference between the ones that are wild or who have domestic roots. Maybe the humans are trying to "save" the cats from being euthanised in a shelter but what they don't seem to realize is setting them loose in the woods provides coyotes with a snack.

4. I am on the Stieg Larson bandwagon
I had heard a lot about the books "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" and "The Girl who Played with Fire". I could not but them down. I read them back to back and loved them. I'd like to see the Swedish movies about them before the American re- makes some out. I definitely want to read the third book.

5. I buy too many books
I need to get back into the library as I buy a book, read it once and then never read it again. I'm talking Fiction here not the self help - weight loss stuff because I do go back to those. The library root takes longer especially if it's a newer book. My other thought was the Kindle for the ease of carrying around factor, but I want to take another look at the cost of a book on that and the availability of material.

Now back Operation Hottie, it's 18 days to Vegas. I've had a rough couple of weeks. I did weigh myself at Dad's on his old school scale and it said I was 165. I know this scale was lying but it was fun to see. Yesterday when I got home I was exaclty the same as last Saturday morning before I weighed in at WW, now this was after breakfast as I knew we wouldn't get to Calgary in time for me to weigh in I didn't follow my normal WW schedule. Last week when I weighed in my scale had a 2lb difference to WW's scale which is huge and not normal so I might pick up a new scale today.

18 days - I am going to be 100% focused over the next 18 days, the goal still being to be at my lowest weight so far on the journey before I go. When I come back the focus will be on goal.

I need to go the post office today to pick up a parcel and I think it's the Spirooli Slicer by World Cuisine. I've been intrigued by all these mentions of veggie noodles and if I can make healthy food fun for me then I'm more likely to stick with it.

On tap for today is also some Winsor Pilates, a walk and some yoga.

I'm back on a plane tomorrow heading for site so I probably won't blog again until Tuesday when I'm home.

Alright that's it for today, I missed you guys and I hope you all have a fabulous next few days.

Hugs!!!

The bouncing ball

It was a drive by weigh in today as I had things to do before I head over to the Greyhound station and off to Dad's. I saw the topic was plateau, and thought of staying but then decided to use that extra half an hour to weed my flower beds.The weigh in people should pass a math test though. I had to start a new weigh in book and the woman wrote that I had lost 29lbs...ah that'd be nice but not with two weeks of gains.



I was up .4lb, two gains in two weeks. It's my own fault, I got a little fast and loose with the tracking and the decisions lately. It's not a plateau, it's stupid decisions and not as much activity as usual.

No more, the focus is turned back on. This will be a challenging week as I will at the mercy of Dad's cooking. He will not let me cook...at all. I cook at my house when he's here. However I did lay down the law a few weeks ago and over the past few years he has started to ask what I can eat and can't.

I recenlty switched to skim milk (who knew I always swore that stuff was weird looking). I would always get that in a latte but it was disguised with espresso. Now I drink it straight up. He's picking that up on the way to pick me up from Olds. He had loads of bottles of water which is also bonus.

The good thing about Dad's house is that there are no cookies, no chocolate, no granloa bars. Not that I have cookies in my house either..at the moment anyway. There is also no corner store. The nearest source of any tempting treat is a 30min drive away. There are no snacks. There are 3 meals a day and one afternoon coffee.

I packed the Garmin FR60 and the Polar heart rate monitor, plus a skipping rope. One activity will be running on the property and I figure I'd keep it interesting by alternating with skipping. Dad has a nap everyday and while he naps I will doing sit ups and push ups in the living room.

I also packed a few books including The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire, Dad has two channels so occupying yourself without the TV is must. It's hard for me as I'm quite attached to my TV.

I will also be without the internet so I won't be posting till I get back unless I can get it to work using my blackberry. I might try that but if you don't hear from me I'll be back next Saturday.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember you can do whatever you set your mind do.

Hugs!!!!

One of the things that make you go "huh"?

I tracked Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I didn't yesterday as I had to sacrifice space in my bag and I was so busy I never logged in online.

I didn't track today either. How is it that when you're on plan it all can just flow and then something takes you off plan and it takes so much energy to get back on track.

Wednesday was a lot of fun at Fort Calgary's Stampede Round Up. I thought 3 Doors Down was awesome. Lynyrd Skynyrd rocked it out but I'm not so familiar with their stuff with the exception of "Sweet Home Alabama". I ran a block and a half to catch the party bus and I was barely winded (whoo hoo).

There were 17000 people all standing on a field at this thing. The major muddy parts were covered in hay. Which was fine until your foot sunk through the hay into the mud. Wearing my ballarina inspired Pumas was not the wisest choice. However it was also my first time to Fort Calgary and mistakenly assumed you'd be able to sit down. Oh no it was standing only from 4pm to 10pm. My feet hurt when I got home.

There was zip personal space as the night went on. Some of the really drunk people were super annoying. My 2 beer rule didn't happen as it did get to 4 (one before we got to the event), people kept handing them to me and it was hot and that was over a 7hr time frame. I wound up with a 5th one but didn't really want it so I wound up pouring it out. I did not want to be hung over today as I have so much to do before I head off to vacation for a week. Some of my co-workers just went all out and I completely lost count how many cans of cooler/beer were consumed. My guess on one person was about 10. What happens at Stampede, stays at Stampede.

Tonight I swung by the bookstore to get a few books (Dad has 2 tv channels), I then swung by Walmart to get a couple of things wihich included a new bottle of OFF for Dad's house (big ass bugs) and then I came home and mowed my jungle lawn it took me 90 minutes. It finally wasn't raining. I couldn't bring myself to weed the flower beds so that happens either tomorrow or Saturday morning.

Tomorrow's activiy will be housework so I come home to a clean house.

I hope you guys had a fabulous couple of days.

Hugs!!

Cats and Dogs

At site the sun was shining and it was probably in the mid twenties. We landed in Calgary and it was pouring. I got completely soaked going from the plane to the terminal and then outside to get my bag then run for a cab. I then spent an hour in the cab (in my soaking wet clothes) as we went bumper to bumper all the way home.

The minute I walked in the door I changed into dry clothes, popped open a chunky soup and put the pot on the stove. I wanted something warm for supper and I added a smidgen of chipotle chili powder and some freshly ground pepper. I then had some of my 50% less fat Real Dairy choclate ice cream with a splash of Starbucks coffee liquor.

I didn't use a single flex point over the past 3 days so I felt 100% o.k with using some tonight. The wretched weather also kept me inside so I didn't go to zumba. I had some work to do as well so I did that as I ate my dinner and now I'm quite content to countdown to bed.

I'm going to my one and only Stampede event tomorrow and that's a concert at Fort Calgary. I need to think of what to wear tonight as western is not my go to style of dress. The weather report says no rain tomorrow so that's a good sign.

My floor is hosting a stampede breakfast tomorrow as well. Really a gong show of a day I suspect. I will factor a few pancakes into my day tomorrow as this will be my only stampede breakfast as well.

I hope you all had a fabulous few days.

Hugs!!

Dusting myself off

The focus is restored and yesterday I diligently tracked, stayed on plan and drank the 2L of water. Today tracked all so far with 1L of water to go.

Thunderstorms are forecasted today so this morning I attempted to mow my lawn but it was still too wet from the night before. I could probably mow it now but I'm not into it. It can wait till I'm back.

I went for a mega walk instead after lunch and burned 415 calories. There was hardly anyone around and I'm guessing loads were inside watching the World Cup. I've been watching it on and off but to be honest I don't really care who wins. I think it's neat that neither team has won before. I was rooting for Germany so I'm pleased with a 3rd place finish.

I'm trying to get my ahead around all I need to wrap up before I head to Dad's for a week.

I am definitely looking forward to the arrival of the new washer and dryer as I hung out all my laundry on drying racks yesterday. Some stuff takes 18 hours to dry, I totally miss the dryer.

My plan for the next two days to pay very close attention to food. I'm leaving the workout gear at home as I will definitely be working a longer day tomorrow so I don't leave a total mess for the person covering me while I'm away.

Tuesday when I get home I think I'll head to Zumba. Wednesday is a stampede concert so the focus will have to be on food. Thursday and Friday will involve workouts. My bus doesn't leave until the afternoon for Olds so I can probaby squeek something in on Saturday as well.

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday.

Hugs!!

History repeating

Well as I expected I did see a gain today 1.8 to be exact which puts me right back at the same weight of the week before last.

I'm disappointed with myself as my food behaviour was ridiculous and I stopped tracking on Sunday. It's not that I ate badly everyday but my good decisions were sketchy. I am proud of myself in terms of exercise I still earned 25 Aps this week so I didn't throw that out the window.

This time will not be like last time. The last time I hit the 160s I went back to the 170s the following week but I never got back to the 160s.

Today is the beginning of a new week and it's 1 month to Vegas.

Goals this week:
Track everything!
2L of water minimum per day (that fell apart last week too)
Focus on whole food
Exercise daily
Get back into the 160s at next weigh in

I did go to the Zumba class yesterday as I thought exercise in air conditioning would be nice. This was a different instructor and she was quite fun. She opened the session by saying "everyone ready to burn 1000 calories in the next hour". Well I burned 597 and that included the walk there and back.

I think the 1000 calories comes in when you know what you're doing and can completely throw yourself into the moves. For me it's definitely all over the map in terms of excursion. When I know what I'm doing fabulous but when you're trying to figure it out your definitely going a little slower. The more I go the more I'll get it.

My one challenge this week is a Stampede party on Wednesday. Well Wednesday all together I guess. My group is hosting a stampede breakfast and then a whack of us are going to concert at Fort Calgary that starts at 3pm. A few of my work friends have been talking about it being a bit of a booze fest.

I will have fun but I'm 100% committed to reaching my goal so I'm not going to let this derail me and more importantly I'm not going to let peer pressure derail me. I will have a drink and a whack of water.

I've already told my Dad that I'm committed to this and won't be eating junk at his house. I'm

I should head downtown today to buy new jeans, I can take off all my existing pairs without undoing them. We'll see how the day goes that might be put off until tomorrow.

Have a great Saturday.

Hugs!!!

They're pretty

I'm the proud new owner of these babies (in graphite steel), went a little over budget because I forgot about delivery charge and taxes  (duh!)  in my original number but they were on sale and I got a great deal. In the end I was on budget. I'll probably need to memorize the manual before I turn either of them on. As I need a gas gryer it's a 2-4 week wait for that but that's o.k. I'm fairly sure I can't use my current laundry detergent in this thing so my Dad just scored extra laundry detergent.

I wound up with a steam dryer even though that wasn't my intention walking in but I am liking the idea that I can throw pillows and comforters into this. I'm totally geeked about the washer sensing what water level is needed.
I pretty much wound up with a may fancier model then I intended but I've heard nothing but good things about LG. The funny part I have a picture of these on my vision board (but red). It's funny how things work out.

The only moment of panic was when the sales guy told me I needed a 220V plug in. That would have complicated my life as I would need an electrician to install that but I got home and looked up the specs and realized he was wrong. The floor model was an electric version so I think he got confused. He apologized and I forgave. Figuring that out made me happy as now I don't need to hire an electrician and a gas fitter.  

I get the sneaking suspicion I might get excited about laundry in the near future.

I slept in until about 6:30am and then I got a strange organization bug. I have a desk in my bedroom that I've had since I was little and it's now more of a vanity but also a collector of stuff in all the drawers.

This morning while watching the news I went through all the drawers and culled the random stuff collected. Two garbage bags worth of trinkets, baubles and stuff came out of there. Then I sorted my papers that need shredding. Then I went and bought the washer and dryer. A highly productive day I must say.

I sort of watched the stampede parade on and off and didn't make pancakes as I thought I still want to be well behaved today for weigh in tomorrow. I think I'll got to Zumba tonight or I might do the dvd. It's hot out there today.

I'm kind of debating going to the Stampede on Sunday as it's free entry before 9am. I'm still not 100% sure I want to go and subject myself to the smell of all the delicious but ginormously bad for you food i.e. deep fried oreo. We'll see I'm wickedly behind in my course work so I should dedicate myself to getting up to speed on that.

Alright that's all I got for now, hope your Friday is fantastic.

Hugs!!

You get what you put in

I think I've been in a parallel universe this week. I've been making bad food choices and trying to compensate with activity but in reality that's not giving it my 100% this week.

This morning while waiting for the bus I actually thought about skipping weigh in this week. I quickly stopped that thought. If I see a gain this week I'll know why. It's better to embrace it and learn from it then ignore it.

I don't know if it was part of my little wig out session when I hit a weight goal or just I've been crazy busy this week and letting my emotions make choices instead of my brain.

Today I worked for 13 hours and then waited 30 min for a bus home.  I got home close to 8pm and made dinner. No workouts today as it's a wee bit too late and I'm exhausted. I'm looking forward to sleeping in a bit tomorrow and then watching the Stampede Parade on TV. I think I might make some whole wheat pancakes for breakfast in honour of Stampede. Then head out to buy my washer/ dryer.

This weekend I need to find some sort of Western wear. My entire city turns into Cowboys and Cowgirls over the next 10 days and while normally I do rather low key western ie. bandana, sheriff badge pin I was seeing people today that were far more put together.

I hope you all had a super fabulous Thursday.

Hugs!!!

888

That's how many calories I burned tonight.

I worked late today as I needed to get somethings done before tomorrow and we have short week again due to having Friday off.

I got home had dinner while watching my pvr'd Losing It with Jillian Michaels. I looked at the clock and it said 7:04 then I realized Spa Lady had Zumba tonight at 7:35pm. This launched a rather frantic changing into workout clothes and a 5 minute search for my locker lock. It takes me about 20min to walk to Spa Lady so I booted it and even ran a block and half. I got there just in time.

I started the heart rate monitor about 15 feet from my front door as I wanted to track the walk back and forth as well.

OMG it was really fun and it is a workout. You get a good sweat on I tell ya. The hour zipped by well we went over because we had to do the line dance twice. There must have been 50 women in the class. There were all shapes and sizes plus varying levels of zumba expertise. I was not alone in messing up some of the moves.

1:45:53/ 888 calories burned/ HR 184-149.

There's another class on Friday and I'm going, heck I might do the Saturday one as well. It's a nice change to just walking around my neighbourhood.

I've decided to go to Trail Applicances to get my laundry situation fixed. They have gas fitters that they use and they will coordinate the whole schmozzle of disconnecting the old one, hauling it away and connecting the new one. I probably won't have it in place before I go to my Dad's for a week but at least it will be taken care of. I'm going to pop down and Friday.

I hope you had a great Wednesday.

Hugs!!

I'm not afraid

Hello my friends,

Well my whirlwind trip across Northern Alberta went well. I survived 4 hours in a car (round trip) and we had a fabulous dinner (not point friendly at all).

I've been having a myriad of thoughts lately. I had an aha moment at work that resulted in feelings of disappointment. You see something has been promised to me mulitple times and I'm finally seeing that I think I've been lied to. Perhaps not intentionally but it drives me bonkers when people make promises they can't keep. Don't do it unless you can follow through is my motto.

So of course food followed in a bit of a downward spiral but I got home today by just after 5pm instead of 7:30pm. I had dinner which was a romp through the kitchen i.e. cereal, laughing cow cheese, rice pudding, fish crackers and a granola bar but instead of plopping myself on the couch I headed outside.

57:05/ 6.89km/ 398 calories burned/ 8:17-5:22 pace/ HR 186-159

Tonight I ran. I didn't follow any kind of interval. I ran for as long as I could then I walked to recover and then I ran again. The one thing I'm actually liking about the running intervals is that it completely clears my head.

As I was wrapping up Eminem came on my Ipod with his new song "I'm not afraid". I heard snippets of this song so I downloaded it off of Itunes.


There are two chunks of lyrics that really really speak to me.

The first chunk:


"I'm not afraid to take a stand
Everybody come take my hand
We'll walk this road together, through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just let you know that, you're not alone
Holla if you feel that you've been down the same road"

This part hit home after reading a few of your blogs and how we're getting really frustrated with self sabotage, lacking effort and letting ourselves down. I realize Eminem is not talking about food with this verse but the message can cover a few things.
I think it's important to remember we're not alone we all struggle with this. If weightloss were easy it wouldn't be a multi billion dollar industry. Results and goals can be realized we just can't give up.

The second chunk:

"And I just can't keep living this way
So starting today, I'm breaking out of this cage
I'm standing up, Imma face my demons
I'm manning up, Imma hold my ground
I've had enough, now I'm so fed up
Time to put my life back together right now"

This part spoke to me not just about getting back on track weightloss wise. This part spoke to me in regards to my dejected feelings over the past few days. In some ways I'm a true Gemini. One side of me completely believes I'm strong, I can accomplish anything and nothing can defeat me. Then there's the other side that feels like a fraud and not quite good enough and destined to fail. This verse triggered thoughts like: screw you, if you can't recognize my capabilities and why I'm a superstar it's your loss - this was aimed at the false promise people I mentioned above and my own self doubt.

I'm done pinning hopes on others or letting myself get in my way. My slate is clean "Cause I'm raising the bar, I shoot for the moon" (also curtesy of "I'm not afraid").

So thank you for this song Eminem.

I hope you all had a great past few days.

Hugs!!!

Where did it go?

My four days off just flew by and I can't believe I'm packing my bag for site already.

Yesterday I had planned to make pizza and it was going to be prosciutto and asperagus which I've been reading everywhere lately. I got the pillsbury pizza crust and thought I'd try to do mini pizzas with it. It says to cut the dough to make 10 minis. Well that didn't go so well as the dough kept splitting where it's supposed to roll out into one piece. After 20min of wrestling with this stuff I finally tossed it and phoned Panago.

Saturday was now going to be a treat day and I at first guesstimated the points but later went back and figured it out. I was over by 7pts in my guesstimation, I was counting the pizza way higher than it actually was. That was a nice surprise. However it was a treat day and a bulk of the flexpoints were used so that means focus and diligence for the remainder of the week including today.

The dog went home this afternoon and we got a walk in this morning and then again this afternoon. She's pretty good it wasn't a whole of stopping and sometimes we got a good clip going. I wore my garmin for the morning but didn't for the afternoon. We did about 6K all together. I didn't do any of the other workouts I planned but I still have the week ahead of me and activity will be a massive focus.

No activity plan this week in terms of what I'll do on what day. The weather will dictate the activity but there will be something every day. Heck 90% of the time I'm making changing the plan anyway.

Now tomorrow is going to be interesting. We have a new flight schedule so I leave half an hour later than before and arrive home roughly 2.5 hrs earlier than before. I scheduled the cab to pick me up at 5am so we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow I don't stay in camp instead I drive to Fort McMurray (2 hrs), have dinner with a group I don't report to (but really want to and my presence was requested), stay overnight in a hotel room (they're paying for) and then drive back to site Tuesday morning (2hrs) to get on a plane at 3pm.

I'm not sure if the half hour later arrival will impact my normal breakfast of oatmeal on Mondays so I packed some in case. I plan to put together a lower point lunch as I expect dinner will be higher. The restaurant had their menu online plus they have a buffet. I'm thinking the buffet might be better as I can control my portions. I'm not packing workout gear as Monday will be one long freaking day but I will be doing some sit ups/ push ups in my hotel room as I did say activity every day. However by getting home on Tuesday earlier I should be able to now workout those days. The one drawback is I will now land smack in the middle of rush hour. Even if it takes an hour to get home from the airport that's still earlier than normal.

167 is my mantra this week.

Happy 4th of July to my American friends and I hope everyone else had a fabulous Sunday.

Hugs!!

Yee Haw!!!!

Now you'll hear that a lot in my fair city as Stampede starts on Friday. However this is not why I'm saying this today.

Remember how I said that I didn't think I'd see a 2lb loss this week. Well I didn't, I saw a 1.8lb loss today which has officially launched we in to the 160s. 168.6 to be exact. I don't consider this my 168 goal as that has to be 168 on the nose but I could probably get there by next week. I am completely thrilled though that's 6.4lbs in 3 weeks.

Of course my points dropped today, I'm now at 21pts per day or how I see it down 7pts for the week.  I'm a third of my way through Operation Hottie with 5 weigh ins left till Vegas. Besides 168 my next goal is 30lbs (that's 2.4lbs from now), the highest I lost last time was 36lbs in total but mind you I was starting at 204. In my head I still consider this my start weight and this is a continuation of the journey before.

Last week I did have some higher point days at the start of the week (Sat, Sun and Mon) and then I was more on plan (Tue to Fri). I do think having a higher point day in my week has kept my metabolism going but I need to keep it to one day not three.
Base points 189
This week I ate 206 pts
Earned 23 activity points
Didn't eat 6 acvity poins

The mega hurdle between now and Vegas is one week at my Dad's house. While he does understand I'm trying to lose weight he's not the healthiest cook so activity will have to be a priority which means I've got to get this run/walk stuff going again as that will be an efficient workout in the middle of the country.

I've already earned 2 activity pts today with my walk to weigh in/ grocery store and back. I got a call from the neighbour asking if I could take the dog tonight. I love their dog but she throws a wee crimp in my plans as when I walk her we have to stop alot. I pick her up at 4pm so that means I need a good burst of activity before then and then walking her will be icing on the cake.

I also need to vacuum which will happen as soon as laundry is done which will be soon. I had planned on Zumba dvd today but I think I'll go outside and maybe try a little running with my walking. It's cloudy today and around 16 which would be good for that today. I can't do a dvd with her in the house because she gets under foot. The neighbours will be home by noon tomorrow so Zumba will happen then.

Hope everyone had a super fabulous Saturday.

Hugs!!!

L'Ennui

Otherwise known as boredom, weariness or listlessness. This what I felt like today, perhaps due to the primarily overcast day. I have a to do list and nothing appealed to me. I straightened up but never quite made it to dusting or the vacuum.

I watched daytime tv and read magazines. I then decided to go try the Zumba class at Spa Lady. The class was scheduled for 5:15pm. I walked there to find that there was no class today. I wound up on the treadmill but today I stayed at the same speed 4 mph and played with incline every 5 minutes. With the walk there and back plus the treadmill 636 calories burned. I had the polar heart rate monitor with me so no tracking distance today.

Despite my ennui food has been on track I did not fall into any bad snacking behaviour.

I caught an episode of Tyra where she was talking about Fiercly Real people in other words not focusing on super skinny models. Everyone in the audience was wearing their size on a button that was attached to their shirt. I'm all about embracing yourself and believing in yourself but I'd say a good chunk of this audience was morbidly obese. Obesity is on the rise in North America so do we focus on encouraging people to be healthier or do we focus on being "fiercly real" even if it puts are health at risk? I know that's a wild and crazy topic and ultimately it's the individuals decision. Can't we be both i.e. focus on getting healthy and loving ourselves every step of the way in the good times and the bad? Is that crazy?


In my own weight loss goals there's a vanity factor but what the far bigger factor is I want to be healthy. I don't want diabetes, or some disease I could have prevented by taking better care of myself. I have no desire to be size 2, I have no idea what size I'll be when I hit goal but my goal is based on bmi not a clothing size.

On that note weigh in looms tomorrow and I'm fairly certain I'll see a loss probably not 2lbs but only tomorrow will tell. Next goal is 168.

Hope you had a fabulous Friday.

Hugs!!!

Happy Canada Day!!!

Happy Canada Day!!!!

This was a cake I made a few Canada Days ago but I thought it fitting to post it again.

I conquered my mega project today with the re-organisation and cleaning of my laundry room. This included a quick walk back and forth to Walmart (4K) because I ran out of garbage bags. This was in the morning and it was quite awesome as there weren't many people in the store.

I treated myself to a tall light coffee frappucino (1pt)  in honour of Canada Day on the way home. I also eyed the cranberry lemon scone but talked myself out of that as it's focus, focus, focus on Saturday's weigh in. It will be the last weigh in in this membership book so I'd like close it off strong.

Lunch was a tomato and turkey bacon sandwich - so yummy.

Found Kozy Shack no sugar added chocolate pudding at Co-op, thanks to fibre it's 0pts. It said new and approved flavour and I see how it now resembles more commercial pudding like Jello. I kind of liked the old version that looked like traditional cooked pudding. It still tasted just as good though.

Now I'm kind of pouped (many many trips up and down stairs) and do want to head out for a longer walk tonight to enjoy the cooler weather. Last night's walk was awesome thanks to a cool breeze.

I am not a fan of hot weather and yes I realize I'm going to Vegas in August. I can handle it for a few days at a time and with air conditioning.

It looks like my cleaning will spread to day two as I do need to attack the upstairs and right now I'd just like to focus on dinner and my walk.

Tomorrow I start calling around to get quotes on uninstalling a gas dryer and hauling that sucker away. If I can get that accomplished and booked then Saturday I go looking for the new one. Is it strange that I get kind of excited about appliances?

I'm kind of craving pizza tonight but instead of ordering (focus, focus, focus) I'll take a WW bagel add some primo pizza sauce and some 2% shredded cheese. Perhaps add a little Capicola ham that I picked up yesterday (2pts for 9 slices).

I hope my Canadian friends enjoyed their Canada Day and I'm sure my American friends are gearing up for July 4th.

Hugs!!!