Happy New Year's Eve

Not a bad turnout at my WW meeting for New Year's Eve, I was impressed.

I was up 2.6 but I knew that would happen and that's still not as bad as when I got home from my Dad's house.

However Operation Butterfly begins today. I'm tweaking my spreadsheet right now actually. Today is the starting point.

It was a great meeting. My leader talked about mindful eating. She said that lots of people at the scale were saying they were bad. So we talked about having a better attitude. Is it bad to enjoy your family and an event? Heck no, she also said it's not what you do for a day that effects your weight loss journey it's what you do for the week, the month, the year. We also talked about the conscious decision to eat vs. the mindless. If you're planning on having a few glasses of champagne that's fine, it's the mindless eating like when I get my hands on a bag of Oreos which isn't so great.

My 8 mile run planned for today didn't quite turn out. I realized Saturday is probably not the best day to have a long run day planned. I walk to weigh in and back plus I had to go to the post office so that was about an hour of walking this morning. My go to breakfast on Saturdays is a Skinny Caramel Macchiato and the reduced fat turkey bacon/ egg white english muffin at Starbucks. That's a way heavier breakfast I'd have before a run.

I tried resting for a few hours and then heading out. When I first head out I realized I wasn't dressed appropriately. Forecast said it was -3, but it was windy in my neighbourhood so it was closer to -12c. I went back added a layer and then headed out. I was just wearing a running baseball cap and after one block my ears were freezing. At that point I decided to do the 8 miles tomorrow. That actually works better for me anyway.

I still managed to earn 5APs today. Sundays were the long distance days when I trained for the other half marathons and marathon so why break with tradition.

I opted to get a frozen pizza from the grocery store instead of take-out tonight. One reason being it will be lower points as I got McCain's Ultra Thin Capicolla pizza (I like the real ingredients)  and  a can of pineapple tidbits so I'm going to make my own Hawaiian pizza. It's 4pts for 1/4 of the pizza so even two slices at 8pts is pretty darn good. Plus I figure the delivery people will be pretty busy tonight, heck I even saved money.

I want to wish you all a wonderful 2012. We are going to accomplish some pretty great things my friends.

Hugs!!!

Operation Butterfly 2012 starts tomorrow

As I weigh in tomorrow I figure it's a good place to start. My goal is to get to goal by my birthday which is June 3 or more specifically on my June 2 meeting day.

It's do able. The only thing standing in my way is me. Well me the game is on.

I went to Holt Renfrew today and used my friends/ family deal. I got a gorgeous pair of Sorel winter boots. They are called Joan of Arctic and they're a beautiful grey tone.

I walked by the sale racks of clothes that don't fit now, like the J Brand skinny jeans. That is why I bought boots. Plus how Canadian of me to be in a ritzy department store and leave with winter boots. I want to be able to rock a pair of skinny jeans and a bikini when I go to Vegas to celebrate my birthday.

Today I also went to the Diabetic Depot and got sugar free Almond Roca and English Toffee for my at work and at home lattes.

I have 8 miles to do tomorrow as per the half marathon training plan. I figure I'll order pizza for dinner (multigrain thin crust). I bought a bottle of pre mixed Bellinis as my New Years Eve beverage. Now tomorrow will be a higher point day for the first day of my operation but that's what weekly points are for. I had originally thought to make dinner but I'm also earning a whack of APs tomorrow as well. I'm going to have a lovely evening with movies.

It's time to finally shed the cocoon and spread my wings.

The operation itself is simple all I need to do is follow the WW plan. That means consistent tracking, following the healthy guidelines and consistent work outs.

Not rocket science. It's achievable and more importantly I BELIEVE I can do it.

Hugs!!!

4 days left of vacation

I'm amazed about how fast time flies. My two weeks off are now down to 4 days well 3 as this one is almost over. I'm looking forward to seeing my lovely co-workers but I'm not going to miss sleeping until whenever I want.

Today was a run day so I decided to do that outside. I tried another one of neighbourhood routes which has me just going around near by blocks. The goal was 4.5 miles or 7.24 km. This route involves going around 7 blocks.

Today was:
1:01:28/4.5 miles/ pace 13.4 mi/hr/ 404 calories burned.

I decided to do 2:1 intervals today and that's 2 min walk/ 1 min run. I'm thinking for a long distance that might be more realistic for me. I'm not going to look back and do the shoulda, coulda, woulda about my grand plans for learning to love running.

I will deal with the cards I have. What I am proud of is I kept the intervals up the Garmin. I did keep an eye on the Garmin to make sure my pace didn't go below 16mi/hr the course minimum at the Tinker Bell Half Marathon.

What I found interesting is my pace outside it pretty darn similar to the treadmill workout of Tuesday. On the treadmill I was trying to do 2:2 and wound up doing that 4 times and walking the rest.

Next run is the long one on Saturday which is 8 miles or 12.8km. I pretty much am planning to do the same route today just twice. I think now that the distances are longer my long run day will move to Saturday as opposed to Sunday. With having to get on a plane in the early hours of Mondays it will be nice to have a rest day in between.

One of my friends texted me around lunch time to see if I wanted to go for an early dinner I had thought she meant around 4 so I said sure but now the plan is more 6:30 to 7. I still want to visit with her but that had me getting snacky.

Yesterday I picked up the package my cousin in Germany sent me. It was filled with chocolate covered marzipan and became yesterday's dinner. He also sent me a whack of 4-ply Taschentucher (Kleenex). I love this stuff it's a Kleenex or a napkin but doesn't scratch your nose.

Today I was doing better with the chocolate until I had this long wait between lunch and dinner. Good thing I ran today. I need to come up with a rule. If I workout I can have one, not 3 just one.

Tomorrow I need to finish my parcel to my cousin so I can take it the post office on Saturday after weigh in. I need some stuff from downtown for that. I also want to swing by Diabetic Depot which has a massive selection of sugar free syrup (like 40 flavours). I want to get some to take to site so I can make sugar free lattes with my mini Keurig and Keurig milk foamer. I'm eyeing the amaretto and Kahlua flavours. I was on their website and boy they carry a lot of stuff so it might be worth a perusal.

I'm not sure I'll be able to drop the Christmas weight gain by Saturday's meeting however I will have at least half of those 5lbs off. Then it's full steam ahead to goal.

I hope all of you had a great day and I'll type to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!!!!

A love letter

To all of you.

I read your blogs (I'm an awful commentator but working on it) and lately we're all starting to think back over 2011. A lot of us are thinking about what we achieved weight loss wise.

What breaks my heart is reading about disappointment and reading your hurt. I wish I could say something or do something to show you your value. Yes I don't know you but I read your blogs and I don't know about you but my blog is me.

You are a valuable soul, you have a purpose and you are worth it.

When I think about my weight loss efforts over the last year it's not like I'm exactly proud but a number will not define me. I need to dust myself off and get back up. I know for myself I am my own enemy. It's my own head that gets in the way of success so how do I overcome that? I need to keep at it. I didn't put the weight on overnight so it will take effort to get off. That effort will come when I initiate it. I need to believe I can do it as that's the first step.

I believe we can all reach our goals. It might not be easy but it it's doable. But anything worth doing takes some effort.

I think to my WW leader who said she hears so many people say they're trying to lose weight. Why try, just do it. That hit me like a ton of bricks. It's not rocket science it's keeping at it. How do you do it? Find your inspiration and what works for you by trial and error.

I know Weight Watchers works for me. I just need to be consistent. I can't tell you what will work for you but there is so much inspiration out there. You inspire me every day.

A quote that has always stayed with me that I think I picked up in a WW meeting.

You get what you put in.

I know I need to put more in and I know 2012 will be great but even before 2012 I'm tracking and getting consistent workouts in. I thought why wait until Jan 1, why not get a week running start.

I figured out what my next goal reward is when I hit 166 it's the Xbox 360 Kinect for sure.

It's good riddance day today and on facebook I posted that I am saying good bye and good riddance to negative influences and self doubt.

We will be successful!!!!!!

I believe in you.

Hugs!!!

Operation Butterfly 2012 and hello again treadmill

While at my Dad's I watched an awful lot daytime TV and the plethora of talk shows (so so so many are out there).

One I sort of liked was The Chew, Clinton Kelly (best known for What Not to Wear) is the host and then there's chefs Mario Batali, Michael Symon (both are Iron Chefs) and Carla Hall (who I remember seeing on Top Chef but she didn't win) and Dr.Oz's daughter Daphne (who apparently wrote a book called The Dorm Room diet).

It's a cute show and I enjoy Clinton as host as there's good banter between all of them. Of course with all those chefs it's pretty food focused. The other day the theme was New Year's and they were asking each other about resolutions. Carla said she had an operation not a resolution and when asked to explain said operations are longer term not as short lived as a resolution.

I liked that. Of course I have had operations in the past and they've been successful to a point. I still like it thought so I'm going to resurrect an operation...Operation Butterfly is back in action. I had a good run with this last time and it entails tracking food and tracking exercise. Super simple, and this time I'll see it through.

So today I'm at one with my 3 month tracker and I went to the gym this morning.

Here are the deets:
The walk to the gym: 17:09min/ 1.08 miles, pace 15:50, HR 141 and 92 calories burned.
The treadmill: 1:00hr/ 4.41 miles, pace 13.38, HR 155 and 331 calories burned.
The walk home: 21:02min/ 1.08 miles, pace 19.30, HR142 and 111 calories burned.

The facts above show I was tired on the way home as that was also after stretching at the gym, the treadmill part consisted of some running. I was doing intervals of 2:2 but after about 3 rotations my tummy didn't feels so good so I walked. I tried to run again later but then stuck to walking. A pace of 13:38 isn't so shabby walking.

I also dusted off my BodyMedia as that stayed home when I went to Dad's so I'm wearing that and tracked on the activity manager of that system as well. I really enjoy the new feature that allows the HR information from Garmin sync with BodyMedia so it analyzes that information with the rest of the info it tracks.

I also stumbled upon a new show that starts Jan 16 called The Revolution, with folks like Tim Gunn (love him a fashion master and mentor from Project Runway) Harvey Pasternak (A Canadian trainer who trained Halle Barry for Catwoman) and Ty Pennington hosts. What intrigues me about this one is it's produced by the same folks from Biggest Loser and each week you'll see a woman's 5 month weight loss journey will be shown in 5 days. It might make the PVR rotation to check it out.

Speaking of Biggest Loser it returns on Jan. 3.

Tomorrow is technically a rest day probably good as my right knee and left hip have not been a fan of running. I'm going to swing by The Running Room and check out compression shorts/ capris. I also need to pick up a parcel from my cousin.

Alright I hope you all had a fabulous Tuesday.

Hugs!!

Time to get back at it

Christmas at my house is rather anti climatic, probably due to it just being Dad and me. It was quiet and nice but by noon yesterday I was done with Christmas for this year.

My week at Dad's was quiet with lots of food and now it's time to get back on track.

I stepped on a scale for the first time today since I weighed in last...yup up about 5lbs, I have some work to do. I'm not surprised as I pretty much did nothing for the entire week and food was not so WW friendly. I knew that going in so I'm at peace with it.

However after Dad went home yesterday I did head out for a run. It's been two weeks since I've done anything run related. Not exactly the best strategy with a half marathon in a month but I was an idiot to try this again in winter.

According to the training schedule it was 7 miles yesterday. I headed out with the plan to go for as long as I could as two weeks of not running plus all that food I figured it would be completely unrealistic to go for 7 miles.

Instead it was 3.29 miles, pace 14:34 (there was a lot of walking with sporadic running), 47:52 min and 301 calories burned.

So from now on I need focus on the training 100% no excuses. I'm going to give it my all and do my best.

Next run day is tomorrow and my goal is 5 miles at the gym. Yesterday I went outside and it was pretty good but some of the roads are still skating rinks.

I had thought to do some boxing day shopping today. My friend who works at Holt Renfrew (think of it as the Canadian version of Barney's) gave me some friend and family coupons so half off if I buy a certain amount of goods. It also works on sale items. My challenge is I don't generally shop at Holt Renfrew and right now I'm just eyeing a really cute yet functional pair of Sorel winter boots which are regular price anyway. I'll probably look at shoes and purses. However after working retail for multiple moons I'm not so into spending time with gobs of people in a mall and the buses are running Sunday schedule today as well.

Instead I'll spend today doing yoga, give myself a facial and do my nails. Tomorrow I'll hit the gym in the morning and then do a little shopping.

If you brave the mall today I wish you luck and I do hope you all enjoyed your holidays.

Hugs!!!

Merry Eve of Christmas Eve

Hello my friends,

Ok I had the urge to blog. I have to share pictures of the cats who I refer to collectively as my angels. I talk to them like they know what I'm saying which is ridiculous as they are not even house cats and still feral.




This is feeding time, my favourite time as they treat me like a rock star and rush the bowl. Clockwise from the top: Maxi, Mama Meow, Dusty, Spook and Fred. I brought them a few cans of Fancy Feast as a treat and Oh boy do they enjoy that.

Here is Dusty scaring me by climbing a very skinny tree to get a better look at the bird feeder.



Then there's Spook the intrepid hunter who likes to sit right in the middle of the bird feed. He's not a successful hunter.





Alright my other musings can wait.

I want to wish all of you a Wonderful Christmas.

Hugs!!!!

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Finally made it

On Monday I finally made it to Dad's and became reacquainted with the 5 stray/farm cats.

They all look healthy and seem to remember me as they don't all run when I open the door. Fred still likes to be petted and Dusty now likes to sit in the food bowl...no idea on that one.

I have a lot of time to think at Dad's and I've been thinking of New Year's. This year I'm having a solo party. I have no interest in going out. I just want a really nice WW friendly evening. I have also been thinking about how weight loss is still on the to do list for 2012.

While not at goal I should still be pleased that I didn't backslide too badly (7lbs up from my lowest weight to date in May) but I did waffle a lot and bounced around the 170s for months (since 5min after hitting my lowest weight in May). When I get home next week I need to be focused. Dad does get me skim milk when I visit as he drinks 2% but I'm still following his routine so I'll have some damage to undo before my next weigh in on New Year's Eve.

I need to focus on the half marathon at the end of Jan especially as I'll miss a week of training due to being at Dad's. There's too much snow and way too slick up here to do any running outside.

When I get home it's no excuses time. I think the universe is on board as I've been asked to be on the Health and Wellness committee at work a few days ago plus this Biggest Loser challenge landing on my lap.

My goal is to be at goal by my birthday in June or before. The goal is healthy and cementing healthy habits. Enough is enough.

So I won't be blogging much this week but I'll be back after Christmas.

I do hope all of you have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season.

Hugs!!!!

Change of plans again

I woke up this morning and looked outside - snow. This wasn't good as I knew it would mean a one more delay in going to Dad's. I got 2cm so far so he will get and has 3 inches (7.6cm) so far, which means the road will be super slippery by Dad's place not to mention plowing with the snow blower will be required for him to get the car to the gate. It's Sunday so highly unlikely his main roads will be plowed by the county and probably not so fun in Calgary either as there are patches of ice under that new snow. Bizarre that it was plus 8-10c yesterday. It's -3c now and is supposed to go to 0 later so that's good. Then of course it will be -10 tonight. It's the vicious cycle of freezing, melting, freezing and melting.

The plan now is we try again tomorrow morning.

I need to get creative with the pantry as I didn't grocery shop thinking I'd be away now. There's no point in shopping today as I'll hopefully be away tomorrow. Got to love Winter.

Not sure what to do today. I could probably vacuum and finally try the new yoga mat from Lululemon.

I updated my "reward" list as after treating myself to two of the things on the list as Christmas presents to myself it kind of wrecked it. I think it's best for me if I think of rewards when they occur. Still on the list for goal is a Tiffany key as I think that will serve as an anchor to remember how far I've come and to not go back.

When I entered my current weigh in my WW app it informed me I was at a 10% loss (again as I have my key chain already). That did get me thinking perhaps I'm gearing up for the Biggest Loser new season and the competition at camp but I gave myself percentage goals. Which also has me rethinking goal weight. I bounce around from 140 to 130 as I've never been either one of those weights I'm heading into unknown territory. I do know I want a buffer in the healthy bmi range and not be right at the point between normal and overweight. So based on percentages a 30% loss from my current WW starting weight is 137.

Oh well I have random photos for you today that I've been meaning to upload.

The sunrise on my way to weigh in last Saturday

The full moon as I was landing at work on Monday

A portion of my beautiful home city at night as I landed back home on Wednesday

Alright my friends I hope you have a wonderful Sunday.

Hugs!!!!

Plans go haywire

I did it, I actually tracked for all 7 days and had 6 WP left. Only earned a handful of AP but what was the result.....down 3.8lbs... Finally.

Funny what happens when I actually follow the plan.

Went to Walmart and got the cats a special treat. A can of Fancy Feast for each of them as a special Christmas dinner.

Then I came home and packed. Got to the Greyhound station just before 2pm. I go to the desk and ask for one way ticket to Olds, AB. The guy then tells me the only bus leaves at Midnight. What????? When did that happen? He tells me November 14th. There have been 3 buses a day before. I think a lot of schedules changed as I was walking in a guy asked me if I was going to Manitoba.

The Greyhound guy said it looks like they're focusing their trips on Red Deer and Edmonton in Alberta.

Then I kept trying my Dad's cell as he was picking me up from Olds. Of course he didn't turn it on till 4pm when the bus was supposed to arrive. So now he's coming to fetch me tomorrow.

I can drive but I'm not crazy about it so don't have a car. Add in the fact I spend less then half a week at home it just doesn't make sense right now. I know one day I will have to hook myself up with wheels.

I truly feel for people who live in small centers. Every Christmas that bus would be full dropping people off in small towns. Why would they change their schedule right before Christmas as well. A lot of these people are seniors or low income.

It's really too bad they stopped the passenger train service so many years ago in Western Canada.

Oh well I'm a day behind but I'll see the cats tomorrow.

Hope you had a great Saturday and a good week.

Hugs!!!


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This can't be rushed

I'm talking about the whipped shortbread cookies I tried to bake tonight after I flew home. I was planning on taking them to work as I took some to site I figured it was only fair to bring some to my Calgary co-workers.

My first mistake - nuking the butter a little too long to soften it

My second mistake - rinsing the double hulled cookie sheets under cold water to cool them down so I could try a second batch - I more or else steamed cookies due to the water trapped in the sheet.

I officially give up.

The batch I made on the weekend was made with love and time and that's the only way it will work.  I will make my Calgary co-workers cookies in the new year.

It can't be rushed sort of like weight loss. It always annoys me when someone asks how long it took for someone to lose x amount of pounds. Does it really matter? I think it's more about losing and keeping it lost. Everyone has their own demons to conquer to tame the scale.

I ran into a co-worker Tuesday night in camp. I was coming out of the gym after playing Badminton and he was coming out of one of the exercise rooms that was showing the exercise DVD Insanity. He tells me he knows someone who lost 90lbs in 3 months doing the DVD. My first thought - didn't believe it for a nano second.

It's about learning the right behaviours and unlearning the wrong behaviours. It's about changing your attitude, your mind and habits. It's about lifestyle - I know that's beaten to death but it's true.

Tracked day 4//7.

Tomorrow's challenge will be working in the corporate office, many distractions but my focus is strong.

Hope you had a good Wednesday.

Hugs!!

Tracked 3/7

I have now completed 3 days of tracking and I have tomorrow pre-tracked including what I'm going to make for dinner when I get home. Shocker!!!

I also need to bake cookies when I get home. It might be a late night.

Played badminton last night for the first time in weeks and I was sweating. Sensei (my co-worker who "coaches me") had me running all over the place and then we played a game against two others. This freaked me out as the 3 guys are really good. I got a few good shots in. Today my arm was a wee bit sore.

Tonight was long meeting night and we had Christmas Dinner at camp. It was delightful. I did use 7 WP but I also drank water like a fish. I never get the traditional Christmas dinner so I had to partake. I did leave food on my plate though and did not eat till stuffed.

Now the plan is to not have any airplane snacks on the flight home tomorrow.

I hope your week is going well so far.

Hugs!!!!!



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Okay

Well the run never happened. Factoring in it's a 12 block walk to the gym I had thought to do a workout dvd. Then I remembered I had to bake cookies, well I didn't have to but I had decided a while ago that even though I now fly to work I'd bring my whipped shortbread cookies to work. Then there was laundry, straightening up, sorting out my work bag and work snacks. Not to forget take out the garbage and recycling and by the time that was all done I was now in wind down mode to be up at 3:45am tomorrow.

The whole running schedule has not gone smoothly and the next two weeks don't help. I'm still committed to this race at the end of Jan. Now I'm just hoping not to be taken off the course because I'm going to slow.

I picked up a 4 pack of mini containers of hummus that I'm going to take to work and eat with snap peas as my afternoon snack. I actually have the next 3 days semi tracked in my 3 month tracker already. I even logged into the website of the people who run the camp I stay in to see what was posted on the menu. I even have a plan for when I fly home on Wednesday.

Yes, I've been kidnapped by aliens apparently.

I'm completely dedicated to getting back on track starting with a fabulous weigh in on Saturday. For me to successful I know tracking is key. For months now I track for a few days and then it falls apart. My primary goal this week is to track the full week. 2 days down, 5 to go. Activity is not a mega priority for me this week I really need to get my tracking mojo back on track.

I went digging and found all my old WW stuff before Points Plus and decided to toss it all. I need to focus on the current plan 100%. I also perused through weigh in books and re-confirmed my feelings of enough. Enough goofing off, enough treating WW like my favourite charity, enough of having no faith in myself - just enough.

Even today I almost decided on a treat that wasn't in my plan today and I stopped myself with saying enough.

Tomorrow I play badminton and I haven't in multiple weeks so I'm looking forward to that.

Alright my friends I hope you had a great Sunday.

Hugs!!

Quick Run Update part 1

There's snow ⛄ on top of ice, that is a wee too treacherous for me.

My neighbours are lovely but they won't be shoveling any time soon as in any time before 3-4 pm.

This means it will be 6 miles on the treadmill today. Maybe not the most fun but I'd rather be safe and do this in the morning.

I'm telling you this so I have to go do it. Gym opens at 10am.

I will be back later with a proper update now it's off to make breakfast.

I also learned how to turn the emoticon doohickeys on my iPhone. 👟 there's supposed to be a running shoe here. Not sure if blogger will display it. Oh well.

Later

Hugs!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Power Start

As I was waiting in line to buy more coupons at WW, I was pulled aside to be given a new weight tracker. I thought this was awesome as I feel the need for a new start. I was up .4 today I definitely need a slap in the head.

Then in the meeting we got our introduction to the New Points Plus which really isn't all that new. My leader said it was 80% the same.

I do like how they're breaking up the introduction to the program into 3 steps. I think it was a hard shift to go from the old plan to the new one just because the old one was so ingrained. I know I've had a hard time for the last while. It's not the plans fault as it's totally my fault.

Today's meeting was quite inspiring. We met Diane our new Head Receptionist who's lost 132lbs. She brought her "old jeans" and she could fit in one leg now. There was one quite funny moment. Our leader asked her what she eats for breakfast. Diane said oatmeal and cheezies, this made the whole room say "what!", what she actually said was chia seeds.

So today we talked about Power Start and that included "my smart spaces". Work is the most challenging for me just being faced with temptation everyday from walls of baked goods to french fries daily. It can be hard but I know I have had successful weeks before and I can do it again.

The big thing that hit me this meeting was when my leader grabbed a chair and then motioned like she was going to step on it. She told us she hears a lot of us at the scale say "I'm trying to lose weight". She said quite plainly there is no trying you - you just do it. You follow the plan or you don't. It's your choice.

After all one of my favourite quotes is from Yoda - Do or do not, there is no try

Shazaam. She hit the nail on the head. I've been waffling for months, sort of on plan but not. The weigh ins prove it. Enough.

If I don't make weight loss a priority nothing is going to change.

So game on.

I walked past the gym today and see the big exercise room is being renovated which means most of the classes have been cancelled. Sort of intrigued about what's happening to it.

My Walmart renovations are finally completed. I found a pack of 4 small containers of hummus and I picked up a big bag of snap peas. That will be my snack for this week. I have 3 days at site and then one day in Calgary.. and then I'm on Christmas vacation until Jan. 2.

One week at my Dad's and then one week at home. Dad's will be focused on thinking, being zen and revisiting Shrink Yourself and The End of Overeating. The week at home will be gym every day.

The work Biggest Loser challenge is a go for Jan. 27 but I can do a lot between now and then.

6 miles on tap for tomorrow. I want to do this outside and hopefully the weather holds. Snow is forecasted but I'm hoping that hits in the afternoon. Worst case scenario it's a treadmill.

Alright my friends, thank you for sticking with me. We will see this journey through together.

Hugs!!

Discovered new things

Mainly I tried my Keurig milk frother today and I am officially in love. In like 60 seconds I had hot frothy milk that I added to some dark roast coffee and tada cafe au lait in the middle of nowhere.

I spent 2 years working in a coffee place through high school and trust me I can make killer foam. This thing did an awesome job.

I need one of these babies for home. Next week I just need to bring some sugar free caramel syrup and I'm a happy clam.

In other news I flung my blackberry across my camp room last night. Completely by accident. It's my alarm clock and I keep it under the 2nd pillow. Now last night I went to bed at 9 and woke up at 11 so I check my email (yes I know I have a problem). I guess I put the thing on my comforter as I couldn't find it and then Shazaam I heard it hit the floor. I am getting a new one on Thursday but it survived. I'm sure my camp neighbours cursed me though.

The other interesting thing today was a major org change announcement. Not sure how it will effect me but I'm sure it will mean some sort of change.

Today is late meeting day so it's a rest day. I'm going to catch the last hour of Biggest Loser then watch the first half when I get home tomorrow.

Hope you had a great Tuesday.

Hugs!!!



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Back to running

I would admit that my training plan so far has been sporadic. I've done a pretty good job at keeping up with the mileage goals but I could do better.

Today I got the confirmation of the logistics i.e. Hotel and park pass. So I missed Sunday's run due to weather. I ran today.

51:54min
4.02 miles
465 calories burned
Average pace 12:54/mi
HR 168 -191

It felt good. I did 2:2 intervals and this was being up at 3:45am plus being a total cookie monster as well.

Now I fly home on Wednesday so that means packing a gym bag and hauling my computer on Thursday but sometimes you just have to do what you gotta do.

Hope you had a good Monday.

Hugs!!!!


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Winter Wonderland

We got a pretty good dump of snow yesterday.



You can see the bunny tracks across the lawn and you can't even tell my neighbour's driveway is under there.

Oh well it's a good day to straighten up and do laundry. I did brave the outdoors to go to Mac's as I needed milk and coffee cream.

I thought today I'd share photos of my favourite Christmas decorations. I actually set them up last Sunday but for some reason the photos wouldn't load.

This is my favourite. It's an advent candle you can't quite see the little propeller thing on the top but as the candles burn it turns. That's a little angel choir around the base.

Tonight I'll light the second candle as of course today is the 2nd Advent.

This is tea light holder with a choir of angels. Yes I have a thing for angels.
I like this because it as the mirror behind and it reflects the light.







This is my Christmas stocking, I can't remember how long I've had this. I was probably about 6 or so when my Mom made it. I would never describe her as crafty but she tried and I can't replace it. Every year I buy a new ornament. Now this year I decided against putting up my Christmas tree as I intend to buy a new one but I'll wait till boxing day for that. I hung the ornament on my stocking instead so it still has it's Christmas debut.

This year's ornament is...you guessed it an angel :)

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday.

Hugs!!!

All dressed up, no place to go - but it's o.k

I did find a dress yesterday and in record time. I went to The Bay as I knew they had an entire floor of dresses, grabbed 4 that caught my eye and tried them on. The first one I picked was the one. Ralph Lauren seems to be my go to holiday dress as the one I bought last year was Ralph Lauren as well. This one is black, classic and can be used for other events. It's funny last year I wound up with the dress I spotted first as well.

I also got all my Apple stuff yesterday. Love the new Ipod, it's perfect as it clips on and I can see what's playing plus it has FM radio. I got the Ipad sorted out today and I'm going to enjoy this.

I had a quick trip to Walmart and wound up getting a second Keurig Mini, this one is for home. I really like it and it was the same price at Walmart that I bought the red one for. This one is black. Now I need to bring some pods home to use. Whipped into Ardene's for some bling for tonight and it was all 70% off so that was a whopping $10 for earring, necklace and blingy barrette.

Then I prepped for the Christmas party, and then spent 2.5 hours trying to get a cab. We got about 6cm of snow plus throw in Christmas party season and it was impossible. So I took the dress and bling off, put on my pjs then washed off the make up and made myself some dinner and got a movie off of video on demand. You know what it was nice. Good thing I went with a classic dress so I can wear it another time.

As the hours went on I had a feeling this Christmas party was not meant to be for me and now I don't need to worry about having a hard time getting home either.

I did weigh in on Friday and I re-found the 2lbs I lost the last time I weighed in. Alas it's my own fault however this week water retention was more to blame but I wasn't perfect either.

Today is 6 months to my 40th birthday. Come hell or high water I will get to goal by my birthday in June. That  is huge fire under my patootie.

So I bought two 3 month trackers as they were on sale due to the new ones coming out with the Points Plus 2012, though the receptionist assured me they weren't all that different. The old ones were 5 bucks and the new one will be 11 CDN. They had loads of boxes in the meeting room of the new stuff coming in. I tried to take a peek but all the boxes were sealed. I needed new coupons as well but they go on sale next week so I'll wait till Saturday.

When I weighed in she recalculated my points and I'm now 26 per day as opposed to 29, now the way she explained it was that I had the option of dropping to 26. I did stay for the meeting but they didn't say much about the new plan as it launches next week. I'm sure all my Weight Watcher peeps will start writing about it as we all start attending meetings next week. Of course mine isn't till Saturday.

I had planned to do an outside run tomorrow but with all the fresh snow that might not be the best idea.

Well I hope you all had a great Saturday, type to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

What am I getting myself in to...

I have an iffy relationship with challenges, sometimes they motivate me but more often than not if I'm not doing well I get discouraged and fizzle, heck a lot of them have been documented on this blog.

At work we're planning a Biggest Loser competition for January. Originally our rec coordinators who work for the people who manage the camp came up with this idea. They also wanted to have a charitable part of it.

Now months ago they tried another fitness competition that ran for 8 weeks and the prize was an Ipod. They tracked weight and took measurements. About 15 people took part who live in one camp and I'm not sure that all 15 people finished the challenge.

I attempted to be a part of the Ipod challenge but it was smack in the summer and I was away for a lot of it so that didn't work so well so I did drop out. Plus I wasn't so motivated by an Ipod I already owned either. \

This time there will be registration fee and it will run for 3 months with half the money going to charity and half the money going to the winner.

The charity we've chosen is to make a little girl's wishes come true through the Make a Wish Foundation.

Registration will be $50 bucks up front (trust me these people make good money and there are a lot big boys). So the good part is even if they drop out the money stays. The driving factor here is to make this little girl's wish come true. Her doctor won't let her travel and her wish is to go to Disneyland or Disney world. The request is to update "an entertainment room". Heck I was talking to my co-worker who came up with the charity and told him we need to also pimp this room out in Disney. If she can't go to Disney we will bring Disney to her. Wowzers I lit a fire that day as that got a team in place to see this thing through.

Now somehow I became the lead organizer, which is a little odd as I have a love/hate relationship with challenges as I said above but when I saw their original proposal I saw holes and that just can't happen. We need to make this girl's wish happen and at the same time help the workforce get healthier.

So I got them to just track percentage of weight loss as opposed to weight and measurements. I want this to be big so no matter what camp you stay in you have a way to participate and if we want a lot of people taking part the tracking needs to be straightforward. We'll do bi-weekly weigh ins as everyone has a different shift schedule and make sure to have at least two if not weigh in locations to accommodate those shifts.

One of the rec coordinators is designing the poster right now and then I want to plaster it everywhere soon. We won't start the challenge until Jan 27 to make sure everyone is back from holidays. I'm building the spreadsheet to track the data. This mission to have all this nailed down before December 15. My goal is to get a lot of people signed up (is 200 out of 3000 unreasonable?)

I think we have a good plan so now we wait and maybe by being involved in the creation of something big it might cure me of the my challenge iffiness.

Now that doesn't mean my own efforts are on hold until the challenge starts. I'm weighing in today and then it's errands and more errands. Tomorrow I will definitely go to the gym before Christmas party prep.

Enjoy your Friday.

Hugs!!

A long but short week...

Arrived home tonight to find the Uggs on my door step which was a relief as I thought for sure I'd find a a little sticker from UPS.

Oh they are exactly what I wanted. They're comfortable, classic and funky. 

I also got the purse I ordered from Shoedazzle, I was planning to use this for the Christmas party on Saturday and was a wee worried when it didn't show up last week but tada it's here. 

Yes that's a skull, I just thought it was seasonal fancy but edgy. I apparently have a thing about edgy/ funky lately. 

Perhaps it's the winter setting in and it getting darker by the minute every day until Dec. 21 when it starts to get lighter a minute a day. 

My Apple stuff shipped in 4 different packages. 2 have arrived and 2 on their way. I'm super happy I arranged to have those delivered to my friend at the office as opposed to missing 4 deliveries. 

I decided to take the laptop I had in my camp room home. One I haven't been using it lately and two the Ipad should be here soon and I'll probably carry that back and forth instead. 

I was in bed early every day this week as it just felt right. This also meant I never hit the gym this week. 

I'm going to weigh in tomorrow at lunch. No matter what the scales says I need to go. Apparently next week we find out more about how they're tweaking the program. I'm intrigued and kind of happy I need a change. 

My worst enemy is complacency, I know the program works yet I'm dragging my feet in getting focused. I get focused for a moment but I need to sustain it. 

Friday I have to pop into the dentist to pick up my new splint, then I want to head over to Sport Check and see if they have a good backpack. My Lululemon backpack that I take to site and back is not so comfortable with a computer in it. I think it will make a good gym back pack with the added feature of being able to slap a yoga mat on the back of it. It's served me well for a year but it needs a break. 

Then I will go weigh in. Then I need to head downtown and find a dress for Saturday. I'm meeting friends for dinner on Friday so that's my upped the weigh in a day. This allows me to plan Saturday as follows - gym and then party prep. 

Alright I will get more focused and get this blog back to focusing on success rather then woulda, coulda, shoulda. 

I hope you all had a great few days. 

Hugs!!

Fairly Productive

Crazy day today weather wise. The wind was insane. They actually shut the downtown core down as windows were blowing out and construction debris was flying around.

I could hear it howling outside and was praying the 3 trees in front yard stayed put. I was pretty lucky, just some little branches and pine cones flying around. My fence, shingles, trees and roof are all intact. Some in the city were not so lucky. I also had my power all day which is pretty awesome. Winds were around 91 km and go higher to 50 stories and it was 150 km hence the windows blowing out.

I spent the day dedicated to housework. I vacuumed floors and furniture, I mopped floors and I used my fancy dryer to clean my down comforter and pillows too. I also did all the sofa cushions. I did a whack of laundry including bed sheets and towels.

I decided not to set up my Christmas tree as it's in a sad state. Instead I set up the rest of the decorations I adore like advent candles, my stocking and the wreath on the door. I took pictures but they won't load today so I'll post those later.

I finally bought a pair of Uggs. I have mixed feelings about these as I do see them a lot but if I could find the right pair I'd do it as they sort of fit the bill for "casual" winter boot. I have my Sorels for serious winter.

How cool are these? I like that they're a little different yet classic.

So my workout today was housework.

Tomorrow of course I fly to work and I need to do laundry there too. However before I left on Wednesday I got it all organized.

I hope all of you had a nice and safe Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Whoops

I slept right through WI, dang it. I was plagued with a chinook headache for most of the day yesterday so took some Advil and went to bed early failing to turn on the alarm for my Saturday morning WW meeting. I even missed the second one. I guess I needed the sleep as I have felt pretty ragged lately. I even had a nap yesterday as well.

The dentist visit went fine and my dentist was very proud of me and my gums (which is a huge kudos from her). She's Polish and says whatever pops into her head. I adore her.  One issue a broken tooth at the very back and on the back of the tooth that I didn't even notice. I do remember thinking something felt a little funny at one point when I was flossing but really it doesn't feel super noticeable. I'll need a crown there but I can put that off till the new year. I knew it was a good idea to up my coverage on major restorations for next year's benefits.

I got measured for a new splint and that's the part I despise the most as they take casts of your teeth. I was a wee freaked when the tech couldn't get the bottom mold out as the cast stuff was pretty stuck to my teeth.  I go back on Friday to pick up the new splint. They also measured my bite with this gel stuff that I've never seen before. That felt icky too. Heck I can handle the freezing needles better then all that gummy stuff in my mouth.

I did brave Walmart afterwards and it wasn't busy at all so that was a blessing.

Today I hit the gym for 3.5 miles and then I picked up the Keurig which finally arrived. I'll take the Keurig to work and I'm impressed with how light it is. Of course it has to come with a short chord so I'll be packing an extension cord as well.

I think I'm more accustomed to the new Garmin. Today I remembered to turn the food pod off for my walk to the gym (the foot pod was on the runners in my bag) so I used satellite. Then when I got to the gym turned the satellite off and the foot pod on. I do love how it automatically loads all the details to my computer. I'm a data geek.

Apparently my go to walking speed is 3.7 mph according to the satellite details.

On the treadmill it was:
49.38 min, 3.5 miles, Avg pace 14.12, 277 calories burned, avg HR 149

On the walk to the gym:
16:33min, 1.01 miles, avg pace 16:20, 75 calories burned, avg HR 127

Took the bus home as I was lugging a coffee maker and I'm tired. I always have to remind myself I'm training in miles vs kilometers. 3.5 isn't shabby. I was hoping to clean today but that might get pushed to tomorrow. Right now my thinking is to make tomorrow just a pure home day. I got some spaghetti squash and I want to make that so I can bring leftovers for lunch on Monday. Do the house cleaning and set up the Christmas decorations. I'm debating on putting up my tree now we'll see what the energy is like.

Sort of impressed with Apple, I got a shipping notification already for the Ipod. It seems like they ship everything separate. The Ipad has the same shipping window but it's in the process of being engraved. I'm getting those shipped to someone at work in the Calgary office. The mail department will sign for the package and bring it to her and then I'll pick it up from her.

I bought a new yoga mat that I'm planning to test out today. It's the first one I've every bought from Lululemon and it's the Align Mat. I like the fact that it has lines on the mat itself so you can check your aligned. My other mats (as I have one in camp room) are all Gaiam. My old mat that's at home may start coming to Iron Reps as padding on the bench. I didn't go to Iron Reps today just stuck to the treadmill as my running schedule has been off the rails I wanted to make sure to run today.

Alright that's my Saturday, I do hope yours is fantastic.

Hugs!!!

Black Friday...

I honestly didn't really become aware of "Black Friday" until last year when I saw the line up at the Apple store on the news. In my defense it's historically been more of an American thing as of course it follows their Thanksgiving. The Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, hardly the time to kick off Christmas shopping.

Well this year I purposely got  up early on my day off so I could go online, no way on earth was I going to line up at the mall. You see the only "Black Friday" sale I was interested in was the one at Apple. The primary reason Apple products never go on sale. Yes, you can buy Apple products at other places on sale on Black Friday but the deal was slightly better at Apple online by a buck. Hey a buck is a buck.

So after much internal deliberation I bought two things on my goal list on the left. My reasoning - they were on sale...so I bought:

With the engraving of "Conceive - Believe - Achieve" on the back and the second thing I bought with much deliberations is:

This will have Hardwork - Dedication engraved on the back. I realize Hardwork is not one word but I like how it looked better. It's Merry Christmas to me and I need to earn these now by achieving those goals on the left. You'll recognize that statement from Dolvett on the Biggest Loser but it does serve as an awfully good mantra. (I got the black Ipad and the green cover).

I sat staring at the shopping cart for about 15 minutes thinking "should I or shouldn't I" the ultimate deciding factor it's on sale and you get the engraving only on the Apple site (I think).

I did get an email from Zinio about sales on online versions of magazines so I did get a few deals there.

I was going to go to Walmart after the dentist today but now I'm wondering if that's wise as I did sort of forget about Black Friday when I created that plan.

Now I have to get sorted to go to the dentist. Will very likely be back later.

Hugs!!

A little random

For two weeks in a row I've flown to work for 3 days then come home and worked in the corporate office. It messes me up.

Mondays I'm always exhausted as I can never sleep well the night before I fly out. This Sunday night maybe an hours worth of sleep tops. So I'm in bed early to compensate.  I seriously think I need to implement the Advil pm plan. I've tried melatonin, meditation and two alarm clocks (perhaps there's subconscious fear of missing the plane) but nothing else works.

Tuesdays are late meeting day and by the time I get back to camp it's gym rush hour. I really need to make more of an effort to make this a yoga night or something zen.

Wednesday I'm on a flight home that gets me home an hour later then my regular Thursday flight. This week that flight was delayed by half an hour so I didn't get home till 8. Now Wednesday is an excellent workout day if I was in camp.

Thursday I'm now coming home in rush hour and darkness. I'm zonked so the plan is early to bed.

Next week I don't need to work in Calgary but for two weeks after that I do need to be in Calgary on Thursdays.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist, I've been lax on that front but hey I have a dental plan so might as well use it. I hate the dentist or more accurately am scared of the dentist.

Today was meetingpalooza, which is the whole reason I was working in Calgary today. I did run a few errands after work as I needed to get to Aveda and Kiehl's.

I really need a new Christmas tree as my current one has branches barely hanging on and lights are out smack in the middle of the tree. My dentist is next to Walmart so I will finally grocery shop on a Friday. Tada, which leaves enough time to prep and cook.

This Sunday is the first advent so it's my tradition to set up all the Christmas decorations which also means that either Friday or Saturday needs to be housecleaning day so everything is sorted. I'm taking two weeks off at Christmas so there'll be one week at Dad's and one week home.

Right now I'm catching up on Biggest Loser and then I think it's to bed.

I wanted to wish all my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Hugs

Well tried to do 5 miles

Today began with a giant cup of coffee and some Multigrain cheerios.

This has got to be one my favourite mugs, I actually have two and should probably bring the other one to work with me. It's the linguist in me that adores this mug.

The mission today was to head to the gym and put in 5 miles on the treadmill, now the walk to the gym and back is about 3km/ 2miles as well. I tried a few running intervals but wasn't feeling it so stuck to 4.0 walking. I have discovered walking to the gym in snow boots is tiring, not as fun as my runners.

I also tried out the new Garmin 405CX, it arrived on Friday and after 5pm delivered by a guy in a Budget truck. Alas Christmas is here as Canada Post is branching out their delivery.

I learned one thing  the first mile in. The pace display was doing some strange things and then I realized the satellite was battling the foot pod as the distance was not lining up with the treadmill. So the satellite thought I was standing still and of course the foot pod knew otherwise.  I turned off the GPS and all was well but it was still about 1.5 miles off of the treadmill.

I also switched the strap of the Garmin to the Velcro version as opposed to the one it came installed with. Nice that they give you the option. I felt it was more comfortable.

I also put my Body Media back on today. I've had it off for the past week and a bit but now that I'm back on the wagon it goes back on as well. The newest download also links to the Garmin heart rate monitor so that's kind of awesome.

The problem with my cheap gym's treadmills is they allow you to workout for one hour and then it automatically launches into cool down. The treadmills in the camp gyms don't do that nor did they when I had a membership to the corporate gym downtown. So I got as far as 4.3 miles and but then figured with the walk there and back I made my mileage. Next time I know to maybe break it in half if I'm doing over 4 miles so I can reset the treadmill to keep going.

I then had to swing by Canada post to pick up my Chapters order which was an additional charger for my Kobo Vox so I can keep one at work. One of the drawbacks of the new Kobo is you can't charge it through your computer. Oh well I still like it.

I then had to quickly pop into Walmart and found these:

Yes, it's Blue Diamond Bold. Could it be that they are finally available in Canada. Note the English/ French, that means it's meant for Canada. I do hope Wasabi/ Soy is coming. This was the only flavour I saw.

It seems with the dessert gum Canada only got 3 flavours at least we got Orange Crush and Apple Pie which are in my opinion the best ones.

Then it was home to sweeping a wee bit of snow of my sidewalk as it wasn't enough to bring out the snow removal people, took out my garbage, did the laundry and washed dishes.

So now in wind down mode as the alarm will be going off at 3:45am as I fly to work tomorrow.

I'm bringing the advent calendar. Now I'm just waiting for Sears to ship that Keurig coffee maker which should be next weekend.

Alright that's all I got, hope you enjoyed your Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Finally heading in the right direction

I'm currently waiting for my WW meeting to start so why not blog.

Let's see Thursday I worked in the city and ate out for most of the day. Lunch was at Cora's and dinner at Lounge Burger. Luckily M and I like the same stuff so at dinner we split a burger. I was not a great on plan day.

Friday was the first cold cold day roughly -20c with windchill. I never went outside. I cleaned off the pvr but also listened to my body carefully and only ate when hungry. Due to the higher amount if food the day before I wasn't hungry till mid afternoon. I did stay hydrated all day.

I went back to following my night before WW habits and had food and beverage cut off by 6pm.

Weighed in today and down 2.2. The leader was singing my praises and I stopped her. I told her yes it's a good week but I have damage to undue.

She then asked me if it was my head that got in the way and I said definitely. I have to admit I was a little freaked out by the scrutiny. I'm used to weighing in and then sitting down with very minimal chit chat with the weigh in person. However it was kind if nice for her to address me by name and tell me to remember I'm worth it and deserve it.

Meeting is starting be back later....

Ok I'm back. In the meeting we had a big discussion about Starbucks and their holiday drinks. Grande egg Nog latte is 11 points. She said something that will stick with me when tempted by Christmas treats. Ask yourself is it worth it? Is it worth the points, is it a risk and will it help you get to goal?

So now it's a new WW week and dang it I want to see another loss.

Hope you enjoy your Saturday

Hugs!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Things that happen when I'm a bit bored

I shop online.







I bought this last night. The reasoning it's gps plus can be used on a treadmill with a foot pod.

I also have a wee addiction to shoedazzle.com.

There was also that Keurig....

Now I'm not always this way but as I'm trying to think like an athlete I need tools. The Garmin pictured above is the 405cx. This is not my first Garmin in fact it's my 3rd. The first two were satellite only. The first was satellite no heart rate monitor. The most awkward thing to wear ever. The 2nd a souped up version that was also less clunky but not exactly comfortable. The 3rd no satellite as I found myself indoors more and the satellite was a little useless. It's getting a wee outdated now.

As I was thinking about the miles getting longer and the winter getting colder there will be a combo of outside and inside plus the new one has way more features. Yes, this how I justify to myself.

This morning started with me dropping my blackberry on my head. I use it as my alarm at work. So it went off this morning and I looked at the email and then responded to the email holding the blackberry over my head as I was still lying down. Then bam I dropped it on my head. No harm done just felt like a moron.

Apart from that the day went fast.

Tonight was a celebratory dinner to mark a milestone at work & then I started watching Biggest Loser.

That's all I got.

Hope you had a fabulous Tuesday!

Hugs!!!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dragged myself to the gym

Despite roughly 3 hours of sleep last night and being up at 3:45am plus not being able to sleep on the plane... I actually put in 4 miles on the treadmill.

It wasn't pretty ran for about 10 min of it. This is what it was:

57:34 min
4 miles
418 cal burned
9:07 - 14:36 miles/hour pace

Not a speed demon but all I wanted was to get the miles in.

I fly home Wednesday due to meetings in Calgary so next run day will probably be Friday.

Oh and the scale is moving in the right direction.

Winter has definitely arrived at work.



This is probably the closest-ish town. Those temperatures don't include windchill so it could be a wee colder.

Hope you all had a great weekend and Monday.

Hugs!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This stops now

I went to weigh in today knowing I'd probably see a gain. My behaviour last week was hardly going to get me a loss. Let's see I didn't need to have pie on Wednesday, I never measured the walnuts I was snacking on throughout the day and the dark chocolate Lindt Lindors that I brought up with the intention of having one per day as a treat. I blew through the bag in 4 days.

I saw a .8 gain today which puts me at 179.2. I am thoroughly disappointed in myself. I know better and I can do better and it's about time I start walking the walk and just not talking the talk. I totally meant every word of finding new focus but the bad habits I redeveloped over the last few weeks just steam rolled right through that.

I watched Biggest Loser when I got home on Thursday and there was a point in the show when the doctor showed up with a brain specialist and talked about the effects of unhealthy behaviour on your brain. For example the increase in dopamine (pleasure) in the brain when an obese person smells/ senses food yet when they eat it decreases so they keep eating to try to to get it back.

The part that hit home for me was you can rewire your brain in a matter of weeks or months with healthy behaviour but falling back into bad food behaviours can get you back to the before in a matter of days.

So this week I need to go back to basics. I do bring chocolate up for the boys and normally it's Hershey kisses with almonds. I like those and when I'm stressed it's so easy to grab them so from now on I'm bringing the plain Hershey kisses which I don't care for and can resist. Some of you are probably thinking why bring it at all but it's my thing to make people feel comfortable.

Tracking needs to be daily. I'm going to up my rewards a little. If I track every day and stick to my daily points, and see a loss at the end of this week I'll get a manicure and pedicure.

I need to shake myself up and I tell you seeing 179 brought me smack back to reality. Sometimes we need that slap in the face.

So now it's focus on the positive and the can do sort of like how a team loses one day but plays again the next day. They can't play like they're going to lose and neither can I. I've got to turn it around that includes thinking positive messages.

I did notice in the weeks "weekly" a blurb that says "next month in your meeting, you'll learn about some changes in the Points Plus plan"...hmm I'm intrigued.

I can do this, we can do this so let's just do it.

Hugs!!

Breaking bad behaviour can be hard

Hello my friends,

I have spent the entire day in pajamas as it just felt like that kind of day. This last week was a little crazy due to late meetings so today I focused on regaining energy as I was tired when I got home last night.

It snowed all day at site yesterday and I realized I should have worn the entire winter jacket just not the inside fleece part and it's time to wear snow boots. I think about 4cm fell and it was windy so it kept blowing in your face of course I had no hood or toque either.

This is what it looked like as we were waiting to fly out.

Brrr.....and a whack of fingerprints on the window.








It was super pretty once we got above the low level clouds. The sunsets and sunrises up north are gorgeous.

I love landing in Calgary at night, the lights of the city go on forever. Yes that line down the middle is traffic for some reason there was a lot it last night which is a bit odd considering it was almost 7pm. 

So WW wise I abandoned tracking half way through Wednesday. Hey, at least I tracked for 4 days that's a bit of a record lately. I did toss the remaining Halloween candy when I got to work on Tuesday but I also didn't factor in that Tuesday would be a long day. Up at 3:45am and finishing the day at 7pm. This happens I just need to be better prepared for it.  The snackfest behaviour continued with no rhyme or reason. 

Yesterday I was chatting with one of site friends and a very common topic lately is that people feel like they need to get more focused on healthy, funny as I've been reading that a lot on the blogs lately, and of course writing about it myself. I was saying it's like me need some sort of health challenge. Our EHS group did one a while back and one girl did exceptionally well and looks absolutely phenomenal. She started talking about Weight Watchers, which I thought was ironic, and then I told her that was my plan of choice; and I had thought that when I get to goal I'd like to lead a meeting at site kind of like a WW at Work. I asked her if she thought people would actually be interested in that up there. She said yes and also for a lot of men. Keep in mind women are greatly outnumbered up there. Now I have a lot of work to do to get to goal and I'm not even sure that would be allowed but...hmm..maybe I discovered another layer of motivation there. 

Tomorrow is weigh in and this week the goal is to track everyday.

I hope everyone had a great Friday. 

Hugs!

Well thank you

A big thank you to Julie for nominating me for this. I have to admit this is the second time I've received this and I'm still incredibly honored.

Now I need to tell you 7 things about myself and nominate 15 people.

Let's start with the 7 things:

1. I can't eat anything with bones, yet I'm a meat eater. It's got something to do when my Dad had chickens and I named them all.

2. I hate my laugh yet everyone else seems to like it. When people tell me they like it I think they're crazy. I'm recognized by my laugh which makes me think I'm Elmo.

3. I'm a pretty good baker which of course is awful as baking is not exactly helpful for weight loss

4. My friends think I should be app. I think it's for my straight shooting positive focused advice. Like when they worry I calm them down. Maybe I'm a people whisperer

5. I'm a total science fiction geek.

6. I work in HR yet I'm a completely logical thinker. Career testing told me I should be an engineer. In a past job they did personality testing on us to see if it could be used as predictive testing for future hires. There was on part where it showed a scale with emotional on one end and logical on the other. When I looked at it I thought I had no dot on the line then I realized it was smack on top of logical.

7. I'm an introvert. Now if you met me in person you might not think so. However when I'm in situation where I don't know people I'm a total introvert however around people I know or super comfortable I'm outgoing. Did I mention I'm a gemini.

Now for the nominations - now I'm pretty positive quite a few of these lovely people have received this award before but oh well it's good to share the love and in no particular order I present:
1. Enz
2. Losing weight after 45 is a bitch
3. Slender Swan to be
4. Running my mouth
5. It's not a diet
6. Weight Watchers Blog
7. H-Woman
8. Angie All The Way
9. Mousaroo
10. Future Fit Girl
11. Live, Smile, Run
12. Monica Wants It
13. Fat Girl vs World
14. Embracing Balance
15.RunnerGirl48

Hopefully you'll enjoy reading their blogs as much as I do.

Hugs!!!

I miss this

You know how I was saying the other day how sometimes it's really easy to stick to your points and sometimes it's hard. Last night was crazy. Nothing would satisfy me so after I surveyed the damage and tracked it (using a healthy dose of weekly points) I tried to figure out what triggered it. I was really hungry after the gym yesterday and had to grocery shop so I went to MacDonald's and had a cheeseburger and fries, now I had the points for it. I had no plan for dinner and thinking about that MacDonald's meal made me think I should go lighter well that kicked off a snackapalooza. Maybe it was the salt of MacDonald's or not having a plan later. Now my plan is to be better sorted next week and do grocery shopping on Friday so the fact that the gym opens at 11am on Sunday I could eat beforehand which I didn't do this week.

I then realized my snackapalooza was probably TOM related as today felt very similar...oy vey. It's like my rational self went out the window food wise.

Well today is not as bad but still not fantastic however I did earn 11 activity points today and 8 the day before.

I can't remember the last time I went to an Iron Reps class at the gym. I've been to the Monday one once before during the summer and remember the instructor saying it would be busy in the fall. I made sure to be there early.

Holy there must have been 60 people in the room, when I go on a Friday or Saturday at lunch time it's no where near as busy. It's at 9:30am, so I'm guessing a lot of stay at home moms, retired folk and maybe shift workers or people who have negotiated work hours to allow the class?

It was a good class, Iron Reps is a weight training class that focuses on one body part per 5min song. So there's a back track, chest track, triceps track, bicep track, shoulder track, squat track, lunges track and ab track. I played it safe as I haven't gone for a long time and stuck to moderate weights. I still worked it to fatigue so it wasn't easy. I enjoy all the tracks with the exception of the lunges. This part confuses the heck out of me. Lunge forward, centre and back. I'm not so coordinated with the lunges so it's a challenge.

I stayed for the yoga class right after. Now I'm a little leery of fitness instructors who lead yoga classes because I wonder how much they actually know about the philosophy behind the poses. This class was taught by a bonafide yoga instructor who also teaches at a studio downtown. She was great.

I loved this, It's been ages since I kept a regular yoga practice, which is awful because when I do it regularly I truly feel the benefits then life gets in the way. I need to change that and get back into it.

This class felt really good. We did an alternate breathing exercise at the beginning where you breath in the right nostril then out the left then in the left and out the right. Interesting as I found exhaling both nostrils were even on the intake breath my left was stronger then my right. It was a really good centering exercise. She recommended doing it when you feel overwhelmed or a bit stressed out as it helps you focus.

What I realized during this class is that I miss going to an actual yoga class with a real live instructor. Since I started flying in and out to work I couldn't do the one in my local community hall anymore. The gym does offer another class on Friday but it's taught by one of the group fitness instructors and it's right before Iron Reps, I think it's better to do yoga after Iron Reps. I have tried this class before and felt the dvds I have at home were better.

I think I should find a class to do on the weekends ideally Friday or Saturday due to bus schedules. Perhaps I'll check out some classes and find a studio I gel with. Plus I do have a yoga mat in my camp room and at home. I need to break out the Namaste yoga dvds again, maybe look into Kate Potter's retreats. I've been once before and really liked it.

So it's an early night for me as I head back to work tomorrow. I was happy to see the gym is open on Friday there will be no classes but it's a run day so that's alright.

I hope you all enjoyed your Monday.

Hugs!!

Hello Treadmill

Yesterday I tracked everything and finished with 29 pts which is my base. It's funny how some days it's so easy to stick to those points and some days not so much. I stepped on the scale this morning and just back into the 176s.

At weigh in yesterday I was asking my leader if any changes to the plan were coming as it's typically in December that this will happen. I've seen some stuff on the internet saying the weekly points might change as in change based on your weight just like your base points. She couldn't say anything but apparently the Canadian leaders have a pow wow of some sort coming up where this type of stuff is revealed. If there are changes coming the US will see them a couple of weeks ahead of us.

The plan today was to head to the gym and begin half marathon training. I opted for 2min/2min intervals and did 3 miles in 40min. The way I laid out my training plan originally it should start on Wednesday but starting a wee early won't be bad thing. It's 3 miles for this week. Next Sunday it's 4 miles. As I go I'll work on my intervals.

Then I went to Walmart and Safeway. Recently at my Walmart there seems to be a German section with an entire array of mustards (6 different kinds - what can I say my people love mustard), Tschibo coffee, red cabbage and etc. I love Tschibo coffee and it was very reasonably priced as well so I bought a lot of it for my Dad and myself as normally it's kind of expensive. The other thing I found was this.

In English that's Plum Butter and the ingredients are plums, sugar and citric acid. It's 1 ProPoint for a tablespoon and it's so yummy. It's completely smooth so goes on toast... well like butter. The other thing I like is it's not super sweet and tastes like plums.

I was waiting in line at Safeway when my eyes caught something new. Now every time I go to the US or know someone who's going to the US I request this:

Now just put "Juicy Fruit" where it says Wrigley's and shazaam they're now in Canada. I saw the Apple Pie, Orange Crush and Strawberry Shortcake version at the checkout I was in. Now I'm not sure if all the flavours are available in Canada but the Apple Pie one tastes exactly like the real thing. I also enjoy the Orange Crush, Key Lime Pie and Mint Chocolate Ice Cream. I wasn't fond of the Strawberry Shortcake version.

Right now all my packs are at work and pretty darn handy when the I get snacky especially if it's for something sweet. Now if only Blue Diamond will launch the Wasabi Soy Almonds in Canada I'd be delirious.

Another thing I'm starting to try to curb after dinner snacking is to have a cup of decaf tea. I really like Celestial Seasoning's Candy Lane Tea, it's green tea that tastes like a very mild candy cane.

I keep a pack at home and one at work. I'm going to make sure to put some in my camp room as it's a nice little wind down to the day.

I'm taking tomorrow off so my plan is to go to Iron Reps at the gym and stay for yoga, more on that tomorrow.

I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday - Hugs!

Dear Self

Dear Self,

I feel compelled to write to you today as I think you need to hear/read what I have to say. You've become complacent. It's not that you don't know this yourself but I'm here to ask you why.

You haven't been focused lately and more recently you seem to have given up. Remember all those Halloween candy wrappers you've tossed into your desk garbage for the last two weeks. Quite frankly you know better so what gives?

The thing is you can do this, heck you've done it before after all remember the first time you walked into the doors of the Weight Watchers meeting and seeing 204 on the scale. You battled, you were focused and you haven't gone back to that number. You came close oh you know that but you battled again and succeeded and have never gone back.

You are strong, you are more then capable of achieving this goal. You should believe in yourself.

It seems this 170 area is a challenge for you, you've been floating in the 170s for weeks. Today you weighed in and was at 178.4, you were 178 last week. I don't want you to get hung up on the number.

You also told your leader today that you lost your mojo and need to find it. You also told her you would not be ruled by the number on the scale it's data and a start.

She told you that focusing on the number may not fire up your mojo maybe you need another goal. She then told you about another member at another meeting who decided she wanted to go to San Francisco so she calculated the distance from Calgary to San Francisco and when she cycles those kilometers off at the gym she's going to go.

That's great but not really you're thing. You do have the half marathon but the goal for that is more upright, uninjured and enjoy it. It's a little unrealistic to think you're going to hit goal in 3 months as well.

During the meeting she talked about choosing to focus on a better you. She used the example of do you want Hawaii or beer.

That caused a little light bulb to go off in your head. You have something else...Vegas in June for your birthday. I know you've been to Vegas multiple times but think about all those times you've gone and you felt uncomfortable at the pool. You usually run around all day in shorts and t-shirts and had to tug those shorts down as they start to ride up due to your thighs being a too close. By the end of the day you're rumpled and kind of a schlep. You see pictures when you get back and feel frumpy. All the pictures you took were of stuff  and not of yourself.

This time is going to be different isn't it? Let's look at this shoedazzle.com collection you've been accumulating  and that picture of the Herve Leger dress on your vision board. I know you want to succeed.

This time you want to rock a bikini at the pool and you want to get dressed up for the night time. During the day you'll wear cute shorts and t-shirts and never have to worry about your shorts riding up at the inner thigh. You'll want to buy clothes at the outlet mall and not think oh no I want to be a smaller size first. You will be at goal this time so if you want that dress - you'll get it.

So when those cookies tempt you at site you need ask yourself - this or Vegas? You need ask yourself are you living your best life?

Yes you can work some crazy hours but that doesn't mean that you can't eat right and if you can't get a treadmill one night all is not lost.

You can do this, you will do this. When you go back to work on Tuesday you're going to toss the leftover candy. I mean really is the candy going to get you Vegas?

I believe in you.

Me

And it begins...winter that is

When I woke up today at around 7am, I looked out the window and saw a bit of snow outside. Then it started to snow again and all heck broke loose. Travel advisories, reports of accidents and one my co-workers texted me to say she had been on her bus for an hour and had traveled a few blocks.

I really wanted to head downtown today as I wanted the new Kobo Vox. This is now my 3rd Kobo. I'm geeked that I can access facebook and twitter on it. I got a little worried when I was setting it up after I got home as it would error when I tried to log into my Kobo account. I called their help centre and found out the site was down so that's why I was having issues. I tried it again 15min later and shazzam works great. It's an android tablet so you can also download apps, magazines and newspapers. It's way cheaper then an Ipad, doesn't mean I'm over coveting an Ipad but this will hold me over.

I headed it out at 9am, my bus was about 20min late but I got downtown in about 45min so not bad at all.

Lately at work I've been noticing an awful lot of people with their own coffee makers at their desks. At site we have the choice of one type of coffee. With the weather getting colder and the sky staying darker I too want my own coffee maker so I researched the single pod varieties and I was drawn to Keurig.

So I searched online and found this one on sale at Sears so I got it shipped to my closest Sears store and it should arrive around Nov. 21.

Today when I was downtown I popped into The Bay as I needed eye make-up remover and I've recently fallen in love with the Clinique version and then I remembered they had an entire single cup coffee maker section. They were selling this one for the same price as Sears but had none in stock. I did leave with the automatic frother as I miss lattes.

I also got a pack of hot chocolate cups and a Timothy's holiday sampler plus the k-cup which allows you to use your own coffee.

I'll never leave my office. Merry Christmas to me :)

Getting home was pretty easy but I also wasn't leaving in rush hour.
My only concern is tomorrow morning might be a bit of treacherous walk to weigh in as the snow was slush and it will be -10C overnight.

Oh well I'll walk carefully. I did pull out the Sorel boots today as I wasn't taking any chances. Mess with Ms. Winter and you'll lose. Tomorrow I'm completely back on the Weight Watcher wagon. Starting with the weigh in. As I have Monday off I also want to spend sometime this weekend figuring out meal planning and freezing some stuff so when I get home and on weekends it's not me snacking around the kitchen because I can't decide what to make for dinner.

Goofing off is done.

Hope you had a safe and fun Friday.

Hugs!!!