Changes in the air

On my normal Saturday weigh ins I have a routine. I get up a few hours before I have to leave. I go to Starbucks first and get a latte plus some sort of breakfast. Today I did not get the usual muffin that I eat half of. Instead I got the oatmeal.

I was being helped by a new employee who first couldn't find the oatmeal and then was about to hand it to me unmade as in the pouch of oatmeal. She then added water and wasn't sure if it was enough, another employee showed her the fill line. That oatmeal took a lot of work this morning. I got the brown sugar and nuts to add to it. Bringing the whole oatmeal to 6pts. The nuts counted for 3pts, and that pack was far more than I put in my oatmeal I make at home. It did keep me full for a long time as I was meeting friends for lunch at 2pm.

With oatmeal and latte in hand I headed to my WW meeting and when I walked in the door it looked like they were going out of business. The shelves were bare.

I immediatley thought new plan is coming. I know they're updating the 3 month journals and every few years they re-jig the plan. So we'll see what the next few weeks bring. I did a little online research and found the notes from a WW investor call saying something will be soft launched in Q4 of this year (which means soon) with a bigger launch in Jan 2011. I like the rejigs as it creates a bit of excitement and fresh start.

The scale said down .6, which is alright. I was bored to death in the meeting today as all we talked about was halloween candy and we started almost 10min late. I like my leader but he has no time management skills. There were 3 people who got to goal today which was fabulous. All joined this summer which kind of sucked. Now they needed to lose between 18 and 25lbs to reach their goals. I kept thinking I joined again in January and I'm 25.6 down. It should be more. I put that out of my head as there is no point going into woulda, coulda, shoulda head space. The important thing is to focus on the week ahead.

After the meeting I went to MEC in search of mitts and boots. I found both.

These are the boots - functional, fun, comfortable and good to -32C.

These will be the city boots. The middle of nowhere boots need to be ordered online but at least I now know I'm a size 7 in Sorels.

Met up with the girls at American Apparel were everyone was putting last minute adjustments to their halloween costumes for tonight. I am happy to stay home on my own tonight as tomorrow my mission is to clean my house from top to bottom and then hand out treats to the kids. We had a late lunch so no need for dinner tonight. In fact I'm heading out for a mega walk in about half an hour.

I did a whack of walking today -8th ave and 10th st to 4th ave and 4th street to 17th ave and 14th st. It didn't feel like enough of a workout today.

I hope your Saturday was super fabulous.

Hugs!!!

Little Miss Organized

Got to work today and saw big treat bags hanging on people's office doors. I didn't have one on my door which at first I thought a blessing and then thought I was snubbed. Turns out someone stole the bag off my door, who does that? The Halloween fairy responsible for the bags found me a replacement which I thought was super nice.

The work Halloween pot luck lunch was a massive success and there were some very creative dishes i.e. peanut butter balls that looked like eyeballs. I didn't eat that as it freaked me out. Two -bite brownies are evil.

It was good that I had to run off to meetings on the other side of town as there were many not so point friendly options that looked awfully delicious. I wasn't 100% pleased with my cheesecake so I don't know if it was a popular option. I tried a smidgen and it tasted fine but it didn't meet my expectations. I turn into a bit of a Martha when I bake.

I went grocery shopping right after work as there's a new Co-op right across from our other office. I managed to stick to healthy options with the exception of one treat - Liberte Medittarean Coconut yogurt. I also tossed a container of 0% greek yogurt in my cart, I've never tried this.

Now I'm in the no food zone as weigh in looms tomorrow. Zip idea as to what the scale will say but I accept whatever the result is and I need to set me some goals for next week to get this train going in the right directions. If you follow the plan it works, if you don't follow the plan...well you know how it goes.

1. Track everything
2. Water, water, water
3. Scheduled activity

I also need to remember why getting to goal is important to me.

1. Health - my dad has had colon cancer and my mom died of alzeihmer related  something
Both can be fought with living a health lifestyle
2. Self esteem - I know this is not related to weight loss alone but it's more the mental part and believing I deserve to succeed.
3. Vanity - Oh yes I'll admit that's in there. I want to dress to show off as opposed to hide. I'm not talking hoochy mama but stuff like tuck my shirt into my waist band or wear leggings.

I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween Friday...mwhahahahahaha!

I love halloween but I can't wait for it be over

Mainly it's about the halloween candy, those mini bars are evil. The don't look like much but it's hard to stop at one. The good thing is I've lost my interest in chocolate thanks to that.

The cheesecake is now completed and getting that chocolate spider web on was not easy. The chocolate was wicked runny and I made a bit of a mess of it and of course it started to solidfy the moment it hit the cake but heck some strategically placed Wilton pumkin decorations and shazaam it doesn't looks so bad.

I'm knackered though. Worked late today and tomorrow isn't looking so great either.

I'm very much looking forward to the weekend. This weekend I need to get some new winter boots as last years need to be retired. I'm thinking Sorel. I kind of want two pairs sort of a city version and a middle of nowhere version but I need to price it out.

I need mitts as I've been running around with the mini ones - not quite good enough and highly irritating when using an Iphone as you have to take them off to do anything.

I might need a new winter coat after all so I might check out the new Columbia Omni Heat. I realize it's not quite winter but I like to be prepared. Now is the time when the weather is totally unpredictable.

Today as I was walking to the food court I passed a Hallmark that was putting out the Christmas cards.

It just seems like time is flying lately and I can't believe 2011 is looming. A part of me is dreading that as I might once again have a new year's resolution of getting to goal. I'm in a holding pattern right now and it's been like being stuck in mud. It's all me that I know but I haven't quite unlocked what the heck is stopping me. I need to make that a priority because the only thing stopping me from being succesful is me.

It could be worse, right now I'm maintaining at least it's not gaining but I'm not happy standing still.  Operation LBD is still happening with 5 weeks to the Christmas Party and 13 weeks till the end of the year (based on weigh ins).

I'm going to focus on positivity and banish the dark clouds following me around. I can do this, I will do this and absolutely nothing is going to stop me.

Hugs!!

Pack mule or it felt like it

This morning I headed into work with my computer bag (lululemon backpack) and my gym bag also lulu

Which looks like this except mine is grey with a bit of a print on it. I was lugging some stuff I tell you. This bag isn't exactly small.

I hit the gym after work and did 45min on the treadmill at a good clip. I brought my heart rate monitor but forgot the foot pod so I went without. Then I swung by the grocery store to the get the ingredients for the cheesecake. I walked home with the workout bag and the groceries. Computer bag stayed at work. I was a pack mule pretty much all day.

I made the cake while watching ANTM and it's now in the oven. I had intended to make a Bailey's cheesecake but I didn't have enough so it's a Bailey's/Starbucks coffee liquor cheesecake. I think it will work.

Tomorrow I add the spiderweb. I'll come straight home tomorrow to finish that off and then hit the yoga mat as we need to reconnect.

That's all I got for today.

Hope your Wednesday was rather spectacular.

Hugs!!!

Winter is here...

In Northern Alberta anyway, got off the plane yesterday and it was -6 not including the wind and oh there was wind.

This morning there was frozen snow on the ground, which means it's winter boots from now on when I head up. It was a wee slippery today.

I didn't pack any workout gear this trip. I ran out of room with my lunch and some office supplies so I paid close attention to food. It's time I start thinking about a slightly bigger bag to accomodate more of  a winter wardrobe plus workout gear plus flannel pjs.

I brought the instand oatmeal on Monday for breakfast and I brought a tablespoon of brown sugar, 3 walnut halves crushed and a pinch of coconut. OMG my oatmeal was fantastic, it kicked it to a whole new level. I felt full for a long time as well. This is thanks to all you bloggers especially Jamie.  Lunch was a Lean Cuisine lasagna.

Today for lunch I grabbed a salami sandwich as it was the only thing that appealed to me. I took it apart, took off the cheese and half the salami. There was 8 slices on the sandwich. I put a wee bit of miracle whip on one side of the bread and then mustard. The bread was whole wheat. Slashed the calories on that baby and it was still good. Breakfast was my Tuesday usual which is cream of wheat.

I was super hungry when I got home so I ordered pizza from Panago as I had no desire to cook. I got a small ultimate pepperoni (maybe not the wisest choice but there were loads of mushrooms and not as much pepperoni) on multigrain thin crust. I also got a garden side salad.

The leftover pizza will be dinner tomorrow. The gym bag will come to work tomorrow as I need to get my workout mojo on. I must try to embrace the treadmill. Well maybe tomorrow I'll try 20min on the bike, 20min on the elliptical and 20min on the treadmill. My problem is I hate the ellipitical more than the treadmill. Well hate is strong it's more I feel awkward on the elliptical. We'll see but a workout of some sort will happen.

My size 12 jeans feel a little loose which is kind of exciting.

There will be no going out this week so I might weigh in on Saturday so I can go to the meeting. 

We're having a Halloween pot luck on Friday but I can't stay long because I have to be across town for meetings half an hour after it starts. That might not be a bad thing as I won't be tempted for 90min.

I hope you guys had a super fabulous last few days.

Hugs!!!

Winter is coming.....

I say this because I just checked the weather forecast for Northern Alberta so I'm prepared for my trip tomorrow. I saw the word snow and minus temperatures. It's only saying -1 but that means mitts and toque are coming fron now on. Minus one with wind can feel pretty cold.

Today I zipped to the library and to the grocery store and I walked there and back. Then I finally hauled the patio set into the shed. This always signifies the start of winter for me.

I'm intigued by the commercials for Columbia's new Omni Heat jackets. My winter gear is still good for one more winter so no excuse to buy a new jacket. Well we'll see how the weight loss goes as the cold weather will just keep coming and not really be over until March-ish. So maybe a new jacket will be needed further on. All of it is looser just not loose enough to go down a size when layering is important.

I'm also planning my food for tomorrow as I need to pack breakfast and lunch. I'll bring oatmeal as usual but this time I'll bring a few walnuts to add as well as the brown sugar. My morning snack will be strawberries and if needed afternoon snack a granola bar. Lunch will be a Lean Cuisine lasagna and applesauce.

I plan to weigh in on Thurday this week.

When I get back I need to make a cheesecake for a Halloween pot luck at work. I'm going to make a Bailey's cheescake with a spider web on top made of chocolate ganache. I'm pretty positive I have meetings on the other end of town during the pot luck but I'm hoping to get to enjoy a part of it.

Now I have tea steeping and matching my saved episodes of Rubicon on the pvr.

Hope everyone enjoys there next few days.

Hugs!!!

Good plan...gone a wee awry

Yesterday I noticed I was walking more normally and didn't feel all that sore, which was awesome. Now I need to get my butt back in the gym.

Had a pretty busy day at work and then it was off to chill with the girls. We finally did our "girls night". The plan was an early night just a little social time with two drinks max (already planned points wise). Then that went out the window.

One of our friends couldn't meet up till a bit later so the two of us who were planning on going then stayed and then the wine happened. I'm cool with a glass of wine but not loads of it and I wouldn't say it's my drink of choice but before we knew it the 4 of us got through a few bottles. I was definitely feeling the effects and not feeling all that great so I got myself in a cab and crashed on the couch. I think I walked in the door close to 2am.

I did move myself to my bed at some point, woke up at 7 and thought about weigh in. Got up weighed myself saw a wicked good number that's thanks to being massively dehydrated. I realized I was in no condition to go to weigh in so I went back to bed and thought I'll go the later meeting. Well I slept through that. For the rest of the day I've pretty much focused on rehydrating myself and shaking off a monster headache.

This is starting to be a regular Friday thing which is both bad and good. The good part is these people started out as co-workers and are now really good friends. I enjoy spending time with them and loads of laughs happen. The bad is uber late night, the alcohol and then the recovery day. I don't think I've gone out this much since university. I need to set some ground rules for myself like stick to the two drinks and then drink water.

There's nothing wrong with a drink after work on a Friday  but I need to keep weight loss a major focus for me. I did not put all the hard work in to just negate it. You can have fun but stay on plan as well.

The other day I was downloading some new songs off of itunes and I saw a Tarot application. I take everything with a grain of salt but I've always enjoyed Tarot. I  did  a few different readings with the app and I keep getting the same results which are hard work will pay off. For me that means career and goal weight.

If the comsos is sending me message then my lesson is the hard work must not stop.

Hope you had a great Friday and Saturday,

Hugs!!!

Stairs and I are still not BFFs

Oy vey,

I'm still sore in the quads from Sunday, how is that possible? Yesterday I stopped off at Walmart on the way home and got some epsom salts, eucalyptus bubble bath and the tylenol for muscle aches. I felt a wee difference today. Once I start moving it's all good. I walked home from the mall and then went for an hour walk yesterday before the soak. What's driving me bonkers is when I sit for half an hour and then get up it's "OMG I'm 201" all over again.

Yes, I know it will get better and the important thing is to keep at it. Tonight I worked late so no workout.

I decided to weigh in on Saturday this week as I miss the meeting. I miss having my regular weigh in uniform and all my weigh in day rituals. Thursdays will be for when I can't make Saturday.

Had an interesting conversation with a higher up the food chain person today that once again floated a new position in front of me that would have me at site for 4 days and then off for 3 days. While that does totally appeal to me my brain starts to plan i.e. arrange snow removal, should I get a security system, should I get a post office box, I need a notebook to blog. I'm all about logistics. Now this has been promised in the past so I won't believe it till I see it.  A part of it scares the bejeezus out of me as I think I'd be brilliant at this job but it's all about proving it. My dad seems to getting more serious about selling the property and moving in with me. Which is great but he and I together 24/7 not such a good thing as we're both really similar and stupid stubborn so only being home for 3 days could work really well. There's a whack of work that needs to be done on his house before we got to that point.

On the weight loss front it would mean super diligence as you have access to healthy food but also very tempting treats i.e. pie every day. There is a pretty darn nice gym though. The other bonus totally saving on groceries.

It's just a "what if" now so I'm not getting my hopes up. I will focus on the task at hand. Though it's funny that the head honch said "Believe, conceive, achieve" to me today as that's a mantra of mine. What I really need to do is apply that mantra to getting to goal.

I hope you all had a super fabulous few days.

Hugs!!1

Stairs are my mortal enemy

Remember how I said I did two sets of the lower body workout because I didn't want to cause myself mega soreness.

I have mega soreness in my quads especially and everywhere I went over the past two days involved stairs or getting up from a chair. Today everytime I had to get up from my desk it took mental preparation for the screaming muscles. I tried to go downstairs with no witnesses so they didn't see how awkward the whole process was.

One of my work friends told me I was walking like a penguin..a pregnant penguin. I turned to her and said "Did you really need to add the pregnant could you not have stopped at penguin".

What I do remember from working out with trainer is that the soreness will go away.

The talent show at site was awesome but resulted in a pretty late night so no workouts yesterday and today it took over an hour to get home in the cab thanks to crazy traffic and I'm zonked. Frequent stopping and starting in a vehicle always makes me feel icky.  So Day 3 of weight training will happen tomorrow. Plus there will be a chunk of time dedicated to walking the treadmill to ease out the quads.

Apart from that not much to report.

Hope your last few days were awesome.

Hugs!!!

Jello knees

Just had to stop by to comment on day two workout. It was entirely lower body with the exception of an ab exercise. The book said two sets so I followed that. I skipped cardio at the gym as I had a lot of running around to do all involving walking.

I'm glad I did as when I left the gym my knees felt like jello. Even now going down stairs I can still feel it.

The weights and all the walking turned into 550 calories burned.

I'm so curious what the results will be by the time I get to day 30.

Alright I'm out, talk to you on Tuesday.

Hugs!!!

Feeling some muscles

I haven't really done weight training consistantly until I got a trainer for a few months. I never really knew what to do and always felt a little intimidated by that part of the gym.

When I first joined Spa Lady they created a plan using the machines and I did that for awhile but I found it kind of boring. I remember seeing an episode of X-Weighted where Paul (the trainer) said free weights are more effective because you're using more muscles and conditioning more of your body. I looked into that a bit more and there was a lot of evidence that was true. I considered the use of the machines sort of my introduction to weights.

A little while ago I decided to try weights again and I looked up a workout I had from the trainer I worked with. I couldn't move for 3 days after doing that. It felt like going from 0 to 60.  The sad thing about strength is you lose it if you don't use it.

So as I told you the other day I'm doing the "Smart Girls Do Dumbbells" 30 day plan. I didn't want to make the mistake of going all out but to rebuild the strength. I did day one using two 5lb weights.

I opted to do the intermediate level by doing 3 sets and 12 reps of each exercise as I was using lighter weights and I'd see how it goes. For some exercises like side raises the two 5lbs was plenty. For classic forward curls I could have gone heavier. The other exercises of day one were v-backs. bench presses, kneeling one arm rows and traditional crunches.

I then hit the treadmill for 30min of fast paced walking and I also walked to and from the gym (18min each way) so I got  a good workout in yesterday

I can feel it today but I can move without looking like I'm injured in some way.

Today when I head over to the gym for Day 2 I think I'll use heavier weights as the exercises today are lunges, deadlifts, squats and heel raises. The ab exercise of the day is reverse leg lifts (I'm pretty bad at these but can only get better right?)

I also pick up a few things at the grocery store and pick up a book from the library which are both near the gym so now I just need to decide the sequence of events.

Hope you enjoy your Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Amazing race kind of day

Hello my friends,

I can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday.

I weighed in Thursday morning and was down 1.2, which brought me back to being down 25lbs since January. Now the mission is to keep going lower.

Thursday after work I had dinner with a co-worker I haven't seen in ages and that was great. I got home and I was bagged so no blogging.

Last night went to the Rockymountain Food and Wine fest and there were some cool findings and some disappointments.

A slow braised pork sample that turned out to be all fat - tossed it
A chai cupcake with maple icing - the icing was definitely made with shortening - blechy

The cool things were port and champagne together - delighful
A sparkling wine with fruit - I tried the passion fruit and it was fabulous - not super sweet at all and refreshing.

The thing we all kept going back for was the "Moscow Mule" at the Russian Standard vodka booth. This was vodka, ginger beer with a touch of lime. Kind of mojito like but a whole different spin. I need to find ginger beer.

I didn't have any true aha food finds. Except maple syrup on bacon is really good.  We all then went next door to the casino where we all lost money (not a lot)  and I decided I'm far luckier in Las Vegas. We then went to a fun hole in the wall bar to listen to a band from New Brunswick. One of my friends is from there and it was like going to a family reunion as eveyone there seemed to also be from NB. I got hugged by some strange old man and that was my cue to go home.

Today of course it's totally on plan after the "day off" of plan at the fest.

I had a bowl of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal and then I was out the door and headed downtown to my office to pick up my computer so I can take it to site on Monday.

Then I plotted my way from downtown to the trophy place. I took a bus I've never taken before that winds it's way through Mount Royal (Calgary's oldest fancy neighbourhood). The houses are beautiful.

I got the trophy store and it was busy in the there, they sell all sorts of special event stuff and halloween was in full swing. The trophy for the talent show on Monday looks awesome.

I had a few minutes to kill till the bus that would take me back closer to home so I popped into the Glamorgan Safeway and found my absolute favourite tortilla chips El Molino Fibre Select that my local Safeway hasn't had in months. These have 10g of fibre per serving and flax seeds in the chips.

Walked home from the bus stop which is next to the gym I'll be going to in about an hour to complete day one of "Smart Girls Do Dumbbells"

Lunch was some quick nachos made with the Fibre Select chips, 2% Tex Mex cheese and salsa.

Now I need a wee rest and then change and head to the gym. I might be back later and give you all the rundown about that, if not it will be tomorrow.

It's 7 weeks to the Christmas party - game on.

Hope your enjoying your Saturday!

Hugs!!!

The tale of the shoes

The tale of the shoes. On the left my torched outdoor pair, in the middle my indoor now outdoor pair and on the right the brand new indoor pair.

In other words Mizuno Wave Alchemy 9, 8 and 10 from left to right. Not a whack of difference between 9 and 10 but the 10 version does feel lighter.

Here's a close up of the torched pair, you can really see it when you compare it to the new pair.

Alas I didn't get a chance to try out the new pair as my gym bag just came home with me due to putting in an extra 1.5 hours at work. I had so much to do and being away from my desk for 4 hours didn't help. The training session did go extremely well and everyone enjoyed the cookies.

Came home had a salad for dinner and now it's total food cut off until after weigh in tomorrow. When I went to pick up my shoes at Running Room I walked past a very yummy smelling food court and had to chant my way out "weigh in tomorrow" sort of thing.  It's definitely a bit of an adjustment to weighing in on Thursdays. I've been weighing in on Saturdays since day one of WW.

My 30 day dumbbell challenge will start on Saturday as I have commitments after work tomorrow and Friday. I'm interested to see if that some how super charges the fitness/ weight loss. I'll of course talk about on here.

I hope you guys had a fabulous Wednesday.

Hugs!!

Logic is dead or maybe just having a sick day

At least it seemed that way today. Today I had about 4 interactions with different groups that had me thinking logical people had been kidnapped by aliens and replaced by ridiculous people.  I really started thinking perhaps there was a full moon today. Then I realized it's Tuesday pretending to be Monday. Everyone now has the same amount of things to accomplish in 4 days where they would normally have 5.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Tonight I baked 3 packs of the Pillsbury pumpkin cookies for the two training sessions I get to help facilitate tomorrow and Thursday. I figure a halloween themed thing would be good and cookies will make them happy to sit there for 4 hours listening to me. I had debated halloween candy but I think that's more dangerous.

I have tracked everything so far this week and keeping my eyes on Thursday morning weigh in.

I got an out of the blue dinner invite from a co-worker who I used to share an office with and now we work in two different cities. I'm looking forward to that. At first I got worried about dinner out Thursday and food & wine fest on Friday, then I realized I'm weighing in first thing on Thursday not Saturday morning. I'm not tossing those two days out the window, it just means to plan the day out .

I own this book "Smart Girls Do Dumbbells" (available at Amazon where I got the picture). It's a really good resource for free weight exercises. It's been awhile since I flipped through it. I've really been thinking that I need to be more focused on weight training. I'm pretty good at encorporating cardio but not so good with the weights.

The thing I've never done is follow there 30 day plan. With a little less than 2 months left in Operation Little Black Dress I want to give it a go.

I'm going to start it on Saturday. I don't want to start tomorrow and then have two days interrupted. or maybe I will start tomorrow as each day varies the exercises so you're not working the same muscles back to back.

I got a call from Running Room that my new runners are ready for pick up so I'll grab those at lunch tomorrow and I think I'll bring the workout bag and hit the company gym.

I started watching BL tonight and then got a phone call lucky I was recording it on the dvr so I'll catch up on that later.

Hope you all had a great Tuesday pretending to be Monday.

Hugs!!!

Whoa

The other day when I was preparing to head out for a walk I felt something odd on the bottom of my runner. I flipped it over and looked at the sole and literally said "whoa". The sole was completely worn down on one side and then I checked the other shoe and it was the same thing. It was time for those runners to be retired.

So my indoor pair is now my outdoor pair and I ordered a new indoor pair from Running Room for instore pick up. I like to keep two seperate pairs so I don't need to pick out the rocks when taking the outdoor indoor.

Stepped on the scale this morning and it's showing 2lbs down from Thursday. Now the mission is not to mess it up.

I had my traditional Oatbran for breakfast then checked my email. I had an email from Women's Health about speeding up your metabolism. The article I read was all about protein.

I know protein is important and it's always been a challenge for me. For lunch I decided to make a home made egg mcmuffin and then thought I should try this for breakfast tomorrow. So I'm going to and see how long it keeps me full. For dinner I wanted spaghetti so I had one cup with 1/2 cup organic tomato sauce. I added about 1/3C of my left over turkey taco meat to add some protein.

This afternoon I headed for another mega walk and this time my pace was faster. I did 8.2km in 1hr 12min. It was cooler today at about 10C but quite comfortable for a walk.

I hope you guys had a fantastic Monday.

Hugs!!

Turkey Dinner - Deconstructed

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians.

The traditional Thanksgiving dinner has never been the norm in my house. In fact we really didn't celebrate Thanksgiving as the traditions celebrated were usual German not North American with the exception of Halloween (well that was big for me not so much my parents).  In my house Christmas is the mega holiday.

As I had made turkey/ stuffing mini meatloafs last week I decided to go a different path to a turkey dinner.

I made ground turkey tacos. I used the new Old El Paso Smart Fiesta pack. The taco shells have 5g of fibre each. I topped them with the salsa in the box, a little light sour cream, chopped tomatos and some 2% Tex Mex cheese. I'm not a bit fan of lettuce on my tacos.

In the glass in 1/2 cranberry juice and 1/2 diet ginger ale.
The tacos are about 3 points each.

I've never been a pumpkin fan and the only pumpkin pie I remember liking was a whipped pumpkin pie. I'm thinking I liked it because of the whip cream not so much the pumpkin. My Thanksgiving dessert is more my angle.

I found the Jello Mousse Temptations in the grocery store today. I think they're recently available in Canada. They have no added sugar (no fake sugar either) and they're 1pt each. Here I inverted one on to the plate, added some fresh rasperries and light aerosol whipped cream. It's not quite half a cup of raspberries so if I count those as zero it's a 2pt dessert.


Tomorrow I might have another version of Thanksgiving meal with a couple of the mini meatloafs (that are now in the freezer), some roasted brussel sprouts (roasted is the only way I like them) and I picked up some cranberry sauce today.

Yesterday I went for a 1hr mega walk and clocked in a little over 6km - burned 338 calories. Today I walked to the grocery store and back which is 2 activity points. Tomorrow will be another mega walk.

I just chilled the rest of the day and caught up on some stuff on my PVR like Rubicon and Mad Men.

Right now I'm waiting for the Amazing Race as I've got money on the two doctors. I put off all chores today so that will be tomorrow.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

That was fun but I'm not 20 anymore

I really enjoyed my night out last night and I managed to last until the wee hours, but I have a feeling the group kept going after I left which is great. I don't have that kind of energy anymore :) It was a great group and there was lots of laughs and even a wee bit of dancing. We even got a bit of walking in when we left one place on to another.

I woke up on my own at 8am and so was so happy with my decision to weigh in on Thursday as I had breakfast stayed up for a bit then had a nap. Weighed myself on my home scale this morning and strangely I was lower than yesterday. Which is o.k with me of course but it's game on starting today.

I updated my trackers to reflect current weight and the actual date of the Christimas party. It's one month, three weeks and 4 days away. A lot can be done in the space of time and I plan to make use of it. Since the party lands on a Saturday I'll probably weigh in on that day to reflect the progress of Operation LBD.

Had multigrain Cheerios for breakfast with a glass of milk (3), a grilled cheese sandwich (6) and tomato soup (1) for lunch. I have 8pts left for the day. I'm aiming for a wee lower point day today.

When I finish typing here I'm changing into work out clothes and heading out for a mega walk. Activity is a big focus for the next 3 days as I'm home alone with the fridge.

I'm putting off grocery shopping until tomorrow so I can make a plan for the rest of the week. I won't be going to site this week so I need to fend for myself on the food front.

I hope everyone enjoys their Saturday. Might be back later to post workout details.

Hugs!!!

Something has to change

I'm having a case of deja view on the weight loss front.

Getting to 168 and then creeping back up into the 170s. Last time this happened I stayed in the 170s for quite some time and then creeped up to within 8lbs of my original start weight of 204lbs.

Something has got to change. Today I decided to change my weigh in day to Thursday mornings as opposed to Saturday mornings.

The dowtown location has a 7am weigh in time on Thursdays which works for me as I only work a few blocks away and I can keep the first thing in the morning weigh in. This will make me pay close attention to weekends and the days I'm at site.

I'm not making this a forever change just yet. I'm going to test it for the next 4 weeks to see if it shakes me up a little. By going on Thursdays I can't stay for the meeting so I'll look to the blogs for updates on that. I do want to celebrate successes at my old meeting.

The other thing is I need to make tracking a priority. I started off well this week and then abandoned it by Wednesday. It was risky to weigh in today as I knew I'd be up a bit (.6 to be exact). For one thing it was two days sooner than regular weigh in and my normal weigh in uniform of yoga pants and a t-shirt was replaced by dress pants and a short sleeved blouse.  I kind of had halloween candy for supper last night and I can tell TOM is coming. The candy caused the "I need a shake up in routine" idea. I'm heading into bad patterns and old behaviours. I'm getting complacent which is not good.

The Christmas Party date was announced today and it's Dec 4th. That's 8 weigh ins from now. I can achieve some pretty good results in 8 weeks but it's all about being focused and believing I can do it. The little black dress (or maybe a different colour) will happen.

Tomorrow and next Friday will higher point days but then I remembered the Wendie Plan. Shaking up the points per day isn't a disaster. It's all about planning the day but factoring in the week.

I can do this, I will succeed and resistance is futile.

Hugs!!

Yo

Didn't post last night because I got sucked into Biggest Loser and was then knackered.

Not terribly suprised Tina got the boot after her "I want to stay", "I want to go home", "I want to stay".

Is it just me or does this cast lack some get up and go?

I'm still trying to shake some of this cold off. Right now I have the cough that won't die. Highly irritating and aggravated by activity- also irritating.

It seemed like a really long day today and I'm zonked. I tried a new Smart One's frozen meal for dinner. Well new to me anyway it was the Sante Fe Rice and Beans. I really liked it. My other fave is the broccoli fettucini one.

I'm heading out Friday night for a girls night which I'm very much looking forward to but now I'm trying to figure out weigh in. Do I weigh in early or face the consequences on Saturday morning....decisions, decisions.

Next Friday I'm going to the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Fest so again will run into an issue with weigh in on Saturday morning.

I'm starting to think I might just need to switch to a different weigh in day. I wouldn't mind having the ability to sleep in on Saturday mornings. I'll have to look into that.

I'm hoping by the weekend I can resume activity. I do miss workouts which I'd never thought I'd hear myself say.

I hope you all had a fabulous couple of days.

Hugs!!!

It all turned out

I have been a laundry fiend for most of the weekend. I do notice a difference in the clothes with the new washer. For one thing it spins them more dry than before so even if I do need to hang dry it it dries pretty darn fast. I'm now finding excuses to do laundry, how weird is that? I threw a load of blankets/ bed sheets into the dryer and forgot to put the static stuff in. They came out fine that surprised me.

Kudos to all who ran the CIBC Run for the Cure. Awesome cause and all your efforts will be appreciated.

I've had a rather productive day including one load of laundry, but I also made the Turkey Meatloaf Muffins and deviated from the recipe a bit by adding some red onion and southwestern chipotle chili seasoning.

I also made a chickpea and black pea salad with celery, corn, red onion and red pepper.

Then I walked to the library stopped in at Walmart for a few things I forgot yesterday and then home again. All in all it was 4.72K round trip.

I got home and the coughing fits started. It feels like out of nowhere but I'm still a wee stuffed up. I had some chamomile tea with honey and a hot bath to see if that calms it.

Yesterday food wise wasn't easy and I did wind up using about half my flex points. My mistake was getting a piece of the lemon poppy seed loaf with my latte. I got home and looked up the NI...10pts...what!!! I was surprised by that. My runaway train of the past week was difficult to stop but thankfully there's flex points. The one good thing is I tracked everything.

Today is way better as I planned it much better (no surprise 14pt breakfast). Which again points me to the lesson that I must plan.

I  watched Robin Hood with Russell Crowe today and thought it was pretty good. Right now counting down to the Amazing Race. At site we're having a little contest to pick the winner. I put my money on the doctors. I love time shifting on the digital cable as I can watch it at 6pm as opposed to 9pm local time.

Then I must pack for site which includes assembling my breakfast and lunch.

I hope you all had a great weekend, I'll be back on Tuesday.

Hugs!!!!

Not as bad as I thought

Up 1.8 at weigh in and I'm good with that. To be honest I was expecting a higher gain.
For the past week I really haven't had any water going more for OJ as I tried to boost my cold fighting powers. I picked up my tracker this morning and see that I haven't tracked for 12 days. 1.8lbs is perfectly o.k. Of course the mission now is to irridicate those 1.8lbs plus a bit more.I'm tracking today that's for sure. I earned 4 activity points so far today by walking.

It was good to be back at a meeting but my leader has one major flaw. He has zero time management. The topic of the week always gets the last 5 minutes and he always goes over the 30min. Today there was a long discussion of the differance between a sweet potato and a yam. I didn't exactly find that fascinating.

Next week they're talking about Thanksgiving. I was brought up with German traditions and Thanksgiving isn't one of them so it's never been a major deal to me. I've always enjoyed being invited to turkey dinners as I would never put that together for myself. I had a bit of light bulb moment when they brought up Thanksgiving as it made me think of a WW turkey muffin recipe that's super simple and good low point protein option. It's more like a meatloaf but it's pretty much 1lb ground turkey, a box of stuffing and one cup water put in muffin pan and there about 2pts each.

I went grocery shopping right after WW and picked up the ingredients for that plus the new Old El Paso Smart Fiesta taco kit. It's says for 1/5 of the box is 2pts. So two taco shells (empty) are two points and it's got 5g of fibre.

I'm trying out the new washer and dryer today too. I just put my very first load into the washer and I was riveted. I've never had a front loading washine before. What I find interesting is the load I have in now is my work clothes so it's more half a load and the machine tells me it will be done in 1hr. My old washine would wash in closer to 40min but of course all it did was spin. This new one spins slow, spins fast, stops for a second then spins again. I'm intrigued to see if I'll notice a difference in the cleanliness of the clothes.

Tomorrow I need to go to the library. I've never tracked the distance to the library before so I think I'll put on the garmin and use it as a workout walking there and back.

Alright hope your Saturday was wonderful.

Hugs!!

Can a dryer drive you to drink?

It was a rather strange day today.

Late last night I got an email asking if I'd give up my morning flight to site for a higher up and I responded today saying sure I'll go on a later flight. I got my flight confirmation and a thanks and thought I don't need to lug my computer home tonight. Then about 2 hours later I got another flight confirmation for my normal morning flight. Apparently another spot for me was found. So computer and I went home on the bus just in time for all the high school kids to get on the bus as well...fun.

I zipped out of work to make it home in time for the LG guy. I was responding to emails and saving things to my memory stick while trying to put my converse runners on.

Dryer guy showed up with a new panel in it's box. We take it out of the box and it's the wrong panel. It was the right colour and looked like it belonged to my machine but the display was smaller and the buttons were a different size. I remained positive but a part of me wanted to knock my head in to a wall.

However we wound up using the part from the new panel to fix the old panel and some fancy epoxy fixed the two plastic doohickeys that came off. Those plastic doohickeys are now on that thing way better than they were originally.

Turned the dryer on and tada it works. Service guy left, I went downstairs to position the dryer a bit better as it wasn't quite sitting right when I see that the metal guard that covers the cables on the back is not on. It needs to be screwed on under the top part of the dryer and service guy missed it. I ran upstairs in hope the van was still outside but of course not. I phoned the service number in hopes they could catch him but no.

I now have another service appointment for this Wednesday. When the service guy phone I'm just going to double check if that back part is an absolute necessity. I just want to be done.

There is no reason why I can't use the dryer so I'm getting my laundry on. I thought about starting it tonight but with all the added drama I just don't want to go there.

I started a grocery list for tomorrow and I'm mentally preparing myself for weigh in tomorrow. As of that weigh in it's game on until goal. These last two weeks have shown me how easy it is to fall into old patterns when not being focused. That ends now.

Unlikely I'll hit goal by my original date of Dec. 11 but I can get as close as I can by then that's for sure.

This means planning and I've been hit and miss about that. My biggest weakness is losing interest in the plan by mid week.

When I was in Europe we didn't plan our meals for the week as it was done a few days at a time. Stopping of at the market a few times a week to pick up a few things was common. I'm adopting that approach this week. I can plan a few days ahead and not go off plan. Maybe I need to break my week into smaller chunks so I can keep food on plan but also interesting.

I need to remind myself of why I want this. I want goal bad.

Hope you had a drama free Friday.

Hugs!!!