Remember what I was saying about possessed

O.K I can not get my act together.

Mind you yesterday was a really long day. I kind of felt like I spent the whole day waiting to exhale. However today was no better.

I more or less ate what I wanted today and waited till the end of the day to track it- not smart.

I feel a tension headache coming so I vetoed the gym in favour of warding that off. I think it's going to be an early night and I really think rest is what I need.

It's definitely my rebellious self that's been ruling my decisions over the past few days. To be frank I'm annoyed with myself. I know better dang it.

I was going through my blog roll yesterday and Cara at Cara's Weightloss Journal mentioned a book by Gary Taubes called "Why we get fat". I was intrigued so I fired up the Kobo and downloaded it. I just started to read it but I also checked out the link she gave for "How Stuff Works" on the Discovery Channel website that showed how a fat cell works. This is fascinating stuff I must say.

Tomorrow I fly home half an hour early due to a flight change and then I have 5 days in a row off. I had already planned to use this time to do some cooking and freezing so that I have meals ready especially to bring for lunch on Mondays and then stuff for my 3 days at home. The other good news is the gym is open all week including Monday which was a surprise as it is Labour Day.

I can get this train back on track. I will get this train back on track.

I do hope you all are having a good week.

Hugs!!!!

Possessed but good recovery

I was doing rather well yesterday points wise until yesterday evening. I had one heck of a snackapalooza. My dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich and I guess not quite satisfying enough as I then plowed through about 10 tortilla chips, a individual bag of popcorn and 5 - yes 5 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I don't know what came over me. At the end of it all I ate 2001 calories and burned 2036. In other words 46 points. Now I did have weekly points to cover that but we'll see how that goes. No point in focusing on the past best to move forward.

Today I was determined to be more diligent. I was.

I went back to step one of running returning to 1 min run and 2 min walk. It went really well. I wound up in the coed gym. I don't mind it it's just super warm in there. Before heading to the gym I put in a load of laundry. After the gym I came back to my wing to put in the dryer and then I went for dinner. So loads of walking as well. I realized that might be going wrong in trying to reduce the walk part. Maybe I should slowly increase the run part for now.

I tried to sync my bodymedia with my room computer but something didn't work so I'll try again tomorrow.

I got a little chafing from the strap for the first time today but I think that was due to wearing it a little tight at one point.

I hope you all had a great day.

Hugs!!!

3 days off goes fast

As I work a compressed work week (40hrs in 4 days) I always get 3 day weekends. Now that I've been doing that for awhile I find they fly by just as fast as the two day weekends. I really can't account for much though which also happened on the 2 day weekends.

Been watching storm coverage on hurricane Irene. I hope all of you effected are safe. I do consider myself to be insanely blessed to not live an area that's not impacted by too many natural disasters. Even 72cm of snow overnight didn't bring us down. Knock on wood though.

On Saturday I went to weigh in. I weighed in at the 2nd meeting of the day as I've had so much sleep issues this week a few extra hours were much needed. I didn't stay for the meeting I just did a drive by. I was 172 which is a .4 gain from my last WW weigh in. When it's a 2lb loss from when I returned from my Dad's house so I'm happy with that. I then popped into Walmart and picked up a few things mostly for site like face wipes, sports bras and unsweetened applesauce.

Today I was debating on to run or not. I despise running outside in hot weather. Household chores were nagging me and the gym didn't open till 10am so instead tomorrow will be run day. I'm trying to sort out my training schedule as this week will be more back to normal with the exception of a meeting on Tuesdays that will go later. I want to create a consistent plan. I do want to avoid running two days in a row at least for now. I figure if I run on Mon and Wed on the treadmill at site and then do a longer run on Friday that will work. Then the days in between become cross training and Tuesday can be a yoga day. If I got to Iron Reps on Saturday it's a 1hr workout as opposed to 45min on Friday. That means Sundays must now be either a workout dvd or not the treadmill at the gym. My gym has no classes on Sundays.

I do own the WW app and love it, I use that primarily as my Points calculator. For most of last week I tracked in the book and not on the app. I do like to track on the app as well as it lets me double check what I've written down but. As I've said before I'm a data geek. I also like the paper and pen thing so I did pick up a new 3-mth tracker on Saturday. I'm wearing the Bodymedia consistently.

Last night I ordered an extra arm band and USB cable so when I wash it I have one to wear while it dries and I can keep a USB cable in my camp room so I can load info and charge. I've tracked diligently on Bodymedia for since I got it.

Today has been laundry, watering the lawn and general housework. I've already laid out my clothes for tomorrow and have my work stuff sorted.

I need to wage war on some wasps that have moved into my yard so I'm hoping to do that around 8pm ish as it's best early morning or evening. I have avoided naps yesterday and today to ensure good sleep. Tomorrow as always I have an early wake up.

Tomorrow I need to do laundry at camp but I have a play to do the washing while that's going on go to the gym, come back but in dryer then go for dinner and by the time that's all done it's folding and to bed.

Not a thrilling weekend but sometimes that's o.k too.

Hope you enjoyed yours,

Hugs!!

Long Week but my geek is on

This was a busy week hence no blogging. I did give a quick report on Tuesday.
Our Minute to Win It United Way event was hysterical and the stories continued all day Wednesday.

I flew home on Wednesday and worked in Calgary all day Thursday. I'm so not used to a corporate environment anymore. I'm quite used to rolling out of bed, putting on minimal make-up, getting dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and put together then heading to the camp kitchen for breakfast.

Thursday was thinking what to have for breakfast, putting together a more appropriate outfit and of course doing a more full make-up look.

Had a great evening at my boss's boss house and playing with her two Westies. They are so adorable.

Today was off to Aveda for a trim. My mission is to grow out my hair a little longer. It's getting there. This is a post gym picture so not as perfect as when I left Aveda. I think two more inches will be just right.

I then headed off to Running Room to get a new pair of Mizuno Wave Alchemy's as my outside pair needs replacing. I'm now on to version 11, can't believe I've worn these shoes since version 5.

I'm really enjoying the Bodymedia and have been wearing it for 5.5 days now. Here's today so far. I haven't hit all of my activity targets this week as my schedule has been crazy with super long days. Next week will be back to my normal schedule.

I'm really happy I got the Bluetooth version as I love syncing it through the day to see where I'm at.

The Japanese food from Thursday night didn't do me any favours on the weight loss front. Which is slightly annoying as I was doing so well this week.

Today I went to Iron Reps and had planned to do Zumba but I felt off during Iron Reps like a little light headed so I opted to head home afterwards.

The only thing that won't sync to the phone is sleep, that only works when I actually plug the device into my computer. My sleep quality has been 86% since Monday and averaging 7 hours per night of actual sleep.

I have been tired this week and after running around downtown this morning which included a stop at Clinique to get more Repairwear laser focus serum (fighting ageing every step of the way). I tried using L'Oreal's Youth Code but don't like the serum as much as this one. I do like the day/night cream though.  I did have a nice 90min nap when I got home and then had to talk myself into getting up and going to the gym. I think I could have stayed in bed.

I did decide to continue using my 3 month WW tracker as it's way easier to carry around and actually does have enough room to track my snack senses. I had to pack up in a hurry on Wednesday to make the plane and forgot it at work. I think I'll pick up a new one tomorrow as for the past few days I've just tracked on Bodymedia. I'm curious to see how the calories line up with points.

I hope you all had a great week.

Hugs!!!

Long day but too funny

So tonight we had our Minute to Win It event for United Way.

I was running on 2 hours of sleep (could not fall asleep last night) and up at 3:45am.

I just got back to my room and I'm exhausted.

People had so much fun doing the games and I had so much fun watching them and cheering them on.

On the weight loss front have tracked and stayed on an for 3 days in a row.

Hope your Tuesday was spectacular.

Hugs!!!


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An internal workout

My week at my Dad's house was great. I did go in with lofty exercise plans but my strategy changed.

I've been reading "Shrink Yourself" by Roger Gould M.D. Now I started this book before I left on vacation but my usual reading time is right before bed so I rarely get very far before I'm out like a light.

As I waited for the bus to Olds at the Greyhound Station last Saturday I got really into it. I do have to say this is the best book on emotional eating I've read to date.

The book gives a great overview of emotional eating and how it's phantom hunger not physical hunger and what I really appreciated it's got nothing to do with motivation or will power. It's deep in the psyche. I really like the part where he goes into "your inner critic" otherwise known as self doubt. It's the naysayer in your head who whispers things like you won't succeed. this your self doubt talking.

It goes into a lot of detail that I can't really sum it all up for you. I read it twice while at my Dad's and I'm going to read it a 3rd time. Every-time I go through it I can see more into myself.

Later on the book is broken into session as he's a psychiatrist after all. "Conquering the feeling of phobia" is a session that I particularly liked as this part is really getting into defining your triggers.

All in all it's not just about what makes you eat the tub of ice cream but going deeper into how you learned this behaviour and really seeing your triggers.

I've blogged about going deep before after reading Jillian Michael's Unlimited but what I tend to do is get inspired by a book or a lecture and then immediately I go into I must do this now and of course it eventually fizzles.

So I instead I spent the entire week focused on delving into my psyche and why I self sabotage and seem to have this mega mental block at 170 pounds.

One part of the book was a definite aha moment when he talks about goals to lose weight. I've often thought, said, written that getting to goal will help my self esteem and my sense of self worth. That's total and utter bull %$# after I read this part. Weight alone is not 100% responsible for self esteem and it's totally unrealistic for me to think so. He gives a list of whack of "goals" people have and when it gets right down to it. The only realistic goal is to lose weight to be healthier.

The other part that hit home is when he talks about what keeps you fat. That's another part of the psyche that can be due to fear...remember my hang up with 170lbs.

When I got home I went through pictures to see the physical evidence of when I really started gaining and I can pin point it to when my parents separated when I was 13. I don't remember being all that upset that they separated as for peace in the family I thought it was a great idea. What did happen though is my Mom became my primary caregiver and I finally realized she was an emotional eater. Before then I wasn't a fat kid, I was not lean and skinny but not obese either. I can definitely see that both parents where iffy on nutrition. I do totally believe my Mom was doing what she thought best but a soup bowl of whip cream is not an appropriate snack.

My Mom had abandonment issues. She really grew up during WW2 so that has a whole whack of issues from huge amounts of stress, malnutrition and she lost her brother who was her closest sibling. This now explains to me why when I would home sick from school she would take me shopping. Not to buy stuff for me but for company. The ice cream and the pastries where something she did with me.

I don't remember caring about sizes or weight through Junior High, I do remember buying a pair of size 18 white jeans for a Bermuda day. My Dad was with me and I remember him saying something about my weight. I being a typical teenager didn't respond that well to that. He has certainly been critical in the past but again I know he was doing the best he knew how. Lessons he tried to teach me where "Don't trust anyone" and "Don't get your expectations high". I'm sure you can see how that was a bit of a hurdle. Back when I was 13--16 I definitely felt like I wasn't good enough and that I was a disappointment.

Flash forward a few years to just before starting high school. That summer I got up every day and did Charlene Prickett's workout on TV and then went bike riding with my friend. When I returned to school I got all these compliments.

When my Dad was diagnosed with colon cancer was the next event. I think I gained 20lbs during that period from eating hospital cafeteria food and staying by his bedside. My Dad is my rock.

Living with just my Mom from the age of 13 I turned into the parent. I had resentment of being the parent and making sure the laundry was done and doing all the cleaning but then I had guilt about the resentment as well. I loved my Mother but I definitely don't think motherhood came naturally to her. Go forward a few years and she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's that added a whole new level of stress. I think that was the only time in my life I wished I had siblings but that wouldn't guarantee I had to carry the burden myself.

I also went through all my yearbooks. If you ever need a pick me up I suggest you do this. I read all these great comments about me.

I also took notes while I read "Shrink Yourself" and I'll share them with you:

Analyze my motives for losing weight
Harriet - the naysayer in my head that highlights my self doubt
Fear of failure, avoiding challenges, abandoning dreams.
Wanting to stay under the radar, while also wanting to rise above it
Food distracts from anxiety for a moment, isolate stressors
Because I'm fat, I hide.
My feeling triggers: depressed, jealous, bored, lonely, guilty
My self doubts: powerless, inferior
My rewards for a food binge: secure, delay in dealing with self doubt, intensity of feelings
Exercises as an alternative to food: relaxation, have fun, be more active, keep perspective

The good news is I'm not 13 anymore and over the years I've learned that I'm strong, smart and funny. I'm quite happy that I'm 30lbs down from my original start weight with Weight Watchers. Walking in those doors for the first time was the best thing I could have done.

When I got back this weekend I started tracking in a notebook as I needed more room then the WW trackers. I'm adding a component to track when I do have the little naysayer in my head encouraging a snack but also to track when I'm physically hungry for a snack. It's a pause to determine my motivations.

When I got back the Body Media was here. I got it charged up yesterday and started wearing it by 2pm. I did get the Bluetooth version so it can sync with my iPhone. It's worn on your left arm and so far there's been times I forgot it was there or thought it was bra strap that had slid down.

The data was cool especially the sleep tracking. The food tracking part is the same as any other where you have to enter it. The database isn't bad and it's easy to add new items. I still tracking points as well because I want to compare. I set the daily calories at 1400 and then I need to burn 2400 to get 2lbs off a week. You can customize your goals. The burning of calories is not just workouts. You wear this thing all the time so these are total calories burned throughout the whole day and that includes sleeping. There is a goal for vigorous and moderate activity. I discovered my brisk walk was 6 min of moderate and 53 min of vigorous.

I did originally plan to go to Iron Reps today but I had headache that started yesterday so instead I opted for a mega walk around the neighbourhood.
59 minutes, 4.27 miles, Pace 13:50-12:57, 7508 steps. I was happy to see that my Garmin works with just the food pod as I'm now wearing the Body Media for calories burned. I also switched to miles as I'm going to train for this half marathon in miles rather then KM. It's a mental thing. I am a little relieved that my walk pace is fast enough for the half marathon minimum pace.

I leave you with cat pictures of my brothers and sisters at Dad's house.

On the left Mama Meow the matriarch, in the middle Dusty (otherwise known as Motion Sensor as if you're even near the sliding door he appears with a pitiful meow that inevitably earns him treats) and on the right the whole gang from the left Dusty, Max, Mamma Meow, Spook and Fred. Fred still remembers me and purrs when he sees me. He even rolled over and showed me his belly. Just a reminder these are wild cats that my Father decided to start feeding when there were just two kittens (Fred and Spook). I have told him they're now his cats as they come to the door like clock work at feeding times. Sometimes all of them sometimes not. They do a good job at mouse catching on the 8 acre property. I call them my babies and I'm sure they call me "the easy one, just look cute and she'll give us treats".

Tomorrow I'm back to work and this week looks like it's going to be a little crazy. I have a 16 hour day tomorrow, fly home on a later flight on Wednesday and work all day with dinner and boss's boss house on Thursday. I might have to resort for walking around the building every so often as that's pretty much the only way I'll get in any activity for the next 3 days.

Alright my friends, I strongly recommend the book if you have trouble with emotional eating.

I hope you all had a great week.

Hugs!!

Back to the city

Back home after a week in the country and I read Shrink Yourself twice.

I spent the week going through the book and really doing some soul searching on my self derailment on this weight loss thing.

The post is still being built in my head so I'll be back tomorrow.

Hope you all had a great week.

Hugs!!



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Just a quick drop in

I went to weigh in today. Just to weigh in as I had a few things to pick up before I head out if town.

I was up .2 and I couldn't be more delighted. I was expecting far worse.

I then ran through Walmart and felt like it was a scavenger hunt looking for the sunscreen. My store is under renovation so every time I go stuff moved.

While there I realized the change part on my wallet was busted so luckily I was in a mall.

Also got the battery changed on my Garmin foot pod. I had no clue how to do it so took it to the battery people.

I leave you with a picture if the flowers we have at site. I think it's nice that in a completely industrial environment we have planters.




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Reminding myself

I have been rather annoyed with myself over the past two weeks of allowing external circumstances derail me on my weight loss goal. It's not the circumstances themselves but more my reaction to them.

You wouldn't really think I was trying to get fit by my actions this week.

Last night I ordered a Body Media, that's the thing the contestants on the Biggest Loser wear to track calories burned, sleep, activity by wearing a sensor on their arm. I'm not abandoning WW and far from it. I've been looking into this for a long time and decided I needed another weapon in my arsenal. I guess it helps that I'm a techno geek. I signed up for a 6-month subscription to their service as I know that can get me to goal.

I'm not sure if I'm over estimating or under estimating activity and I'm curious about my sleep patterns.

Last night I was also thinking about my ridiculous behaviour and that was after eating the Sheppard's pie at Spur. Today I decided to do a one day cleanse. I'm not a big believer in cleanses as your body is pretty well designed to process food. My motivation was more to focus in on my hunger signals and truly focusing on what that feels like.

Today I've had water, every two hours water with lemon and wee bit of maple syrup. I didn't go all master cleanse and add cayenne pepper. I'm doing this for one day after all.

It's been an interesting day, certainly I've been hungry but then the feeling goes away. I definitely have a reminder of what true hunger feels like unlike boredom, stress or a funk.

As I was reading my home feed on twitter I saw a challenge initiated by Monica to lose 5lbs per month. O.k I know I have an iffy relationship with challenges but I'm looking for anything to get me re-focused (not to mention that half marathon in January),

Tomorrow I head off to Dad's so for a week I'm at his mercy on the food prep. The good thing is he's learned  along the way and will get me skim milk even though he doesn't drink it. He'll ask me before he makes something. That was not the case for the majority of my life but since I've been on this journey he's helpful in his way.

I'm bringing my running gear, it will be a bit different for me as the only option will be to go outside on gravel roads. I'm also bringing my skipping rope as option b if the weather is bad or there's a bear in the area. Did I mention my Dad lives in the middle of the country?

He gets 3 channels so my Kobo is loaded with reads.

Not sure if I'll time to blog tomorrow so if not I wish you all a fabulous week. I'll be back on the 20th.

Hugs!!!

Getting back on the wagon can be hard

So last week I was under a lot if stress and my behavior followed.

This week not so much stress but exhaustion.

Tonight I had two servings of peach cobbler. It was peach day in the camp kitchen. Now I feel uber stuffed. I haven't felt that way in a while.

Tonight my friend/ co- worker says to me "remember you have that race" I responded with serious training needs to start in October. She says I think you should start now. That my friends is tough love.

I do find it tough when my schedule is disrupted. This buddy gig is exhausting. I'm happy to know when I return to work after vacation it will be back to normal.

I don't head to my Dad's till Saturday afternoon so I can hit the gym on Friday and Saturday.

I could have planned to get my butt out of bed earlier and done early morning workouts but that didn't happen.

I have 5 months and roughly 3 weeks till the half marathon. I need to shake myself out of this recent funk.

I know I'll turn this around. Just sometimes it's a little rough start.

The important thing to remember us that you can always turn it around.

Hugs!!

Patience is a virtue

My almost entire day was spent being a tour guide to a guest we have at site.

Don't get me wrong she's super nice but she doesn't stop talking. I'm exhausted. I have two more days to go as her buddy.

I should go to the gym but I need a break from people. I did do a ton of walking today as I was going all over the place today.

I think this evening will be spent on reading Shrink Yourself.

I didn't even have the chance to take any pictures.

I am on vacation after Thursday and heading to my Dad's acreage. I'm packing runners and a skipping rope. The runners for nice weather and the rope for rainy days.

Alright that's all I got tonight.

Hope your Tuesday rocked!

Hugs

Not what I was expecting

I think I got about 2 hours of sleep last night. It was one of those nights were you toss and turn playing a game with your alarm clock. Like “If I fall asleep right now I’ll get x amount of sleep.

I did get a bit of a nap on the one hour flight to work.

As I wait for the cab to take me to the plane I usually have a glass of milk as I can’t eat breakfast at 4am.

When I got to work I made my oatmeal with one tablespoon brown sugar and cup of coffee. I scarfed it down so fast I didn’t take a picture.

The morning flew by and before I knew it – it was time for lunch. I had brought my veggie chili with me and added 1/3 cup of light tex mex shredded cheese. I had started to eat when I remembered to take a photo.

Today was the last cupcake Monday, it’s for charity.

Here is the slightly mauled chocolate cupcake with strawberry butter cream icing.

In the afternoon one of my co-workers shared there fresh blueberry, raspberry and strawberries with me.

For dinner I got creative with the camp menu.

I made a taco salad using one taco and whack of veggies. Salsa was my dressing and there’s a wee bit of shredded cheese in there.

I scooped out the taco meat and put it on top of the veggies and salsa, and then I crumbled the shell. 7 ProPoints for the whole thing.

I also kept up on the water today and drank 3L.

I checked out one of the classes offered in the camp gym called Body Bar. This was weight training mixed with cardio. It was different then Iron Reps as it had way more cardio. I was sweating and am positive I’ll be sore tomorrow.

Now I’m done, showered and watching a bit of the train wreck called Bachelor Pad.

Hope you had a fabulous Monday.

Hugs!

You lose it when you don’t use it

This morning I had a conundrum. I had to mow the lawn today as it just needed to be done. I also wanted to go to the gym to have another go at my run/walk program.

I decided to go to the gym first because if I went with mowing the lawn I’d be pretty tired afterwards.

First I needed breakfast so I decided to try something new today.

This Bob’s Red Mill Muesli mixed with a one container of Yoptimal strawberry yogurt and a glass of skim milk.

Plus a mug of coffee, I’m a Star Wars fan not really an M&M fan but couldn’t resist the mug.

I walked to the gym (15min) and got on the treadmill with the intention of picking up where I left off and that’s 2 min run/ 1 min walk. OMG I got through one interval and realized I needed to take a step back to build back up so I continued with 90 seconds run/ 90 seconds walk. I did that for another 7 intervals and walked for the last 5min so 30min in total on the treadmill. Then I walked home from the gym.

This is how I felt about today’s workout.

I have to make it a priority to keep up the run/walk as I do have the half marathon in January.

I debated buying a Vivanno smoothie on the way home but looked up the NI on my Starbucks app and it would have been 7 ProPoints and that’s with skim milk. So I decided against it and went home for lunch.


The leftover Quinoa and Wheat Berry Salad from yesterday with some grape tomatoes added to bulk it up.
I decided to use those 7 ProPoints that the smoothie would of cost me on a bad weakness for me.


This was an impulse buy on Friday, I seriously need to stay away from this as I love it so much.

I then mowed the lawn, weeded the flower beds and got the sprinkler going as my lawn was bone dry.

Dinner was inspired by an old family tradition. When I was little every weekend the family and I would go visit another German family for Cafe Zeit  (a variety of baked goods and everything had whip cream on it) and it would turn into dinner which was a buffet type deal with a variety of breads, crisp bread, sausage, cheese, pickles, pickled onions, pickled beets and a variety of mustards.
On the plate I have grape tomatoes, mini dill pickles, pickled beets, natural salami, hummus, one pita cut into 6 triangles and some Havarti.

It’s 3 ProPoints for a slice but it’s a good sized slice.

I did get pretty snacky later on but I tracked it.

My work bag is packed and the note is on the hall mirror so I don’t forget to pack my lunch tomorrow.

Now I attempt to wind down so I can get to bed and get some good sleep before my alarm goes off at 4am.

The book I downloaded is called Shrink Yourself by Roger Gould M.D. Another one I would recommend is Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink Ph.D. This one is really interesting on how our brain perceives things like guesstimating the amount we’ve eaten. We’re not so good at that.

Hope you had a great Sunday.

The monsoon has lifted

Had a good night with my friends/co-workers at Joey’s last night, it ended a little emotional for me but it was a good release.

Alas today was a new day and more importantly a new week and I’m committed to turning this ship around.
Woke up at 7 and had a breakfast of Multigrain Cheerios with 1/2c milk and had a cup of milk to drink. Total: 6 ProPoints.

Then I headed off the gym and went to Zumba. We had a sub instructor who apparently teaches the Senior class at a sister club. She was really nice but all over the place. Zumba can seem confusing on the best of days but she’d start off with a move and if people looked uncertain she’d change it or slow it down without really giving people the opportunity to actually figure it out. 5 people walked out a different points and I’ve never seen than before. I didn’t find it as challenging as usual so I tracked it as 3AP as oppose to the regular 5.

I stayed for Iron Reps and that class kicked my patootie. Afterwards I walked over to Safeway and my knees where Jell-O as I tried to step up on to a curb.

This is me post workout after 2 hours in the gym plus the 15min walk there. I literally took this right after finishing iron reps.

I love the scoop neck tank from Lululemon and contemplating if I need a couple more.

It was now 1:30pm so I was hungry hence stopping in at the grocery store so I grabbed a small 1% chocolate milk – 6 ProPoints.

For lunch I grabbed a premade salad called Signature Cafe Quinoa and Wheat Berry layered salad – 5 ProPoints for half. There are two servings in the container.

I was having pizza cravings so for an afternoon snack I went with

3 ProPoints for 34 fish

I also had a couple of these mini meringues and 13 of them are 3 ProPoints. I had 6 using my WW app that turned out as 2 ProPoints.

Spent the afternoon cleaning off my pvr and catching up on Masterchef. I might have tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch tomorrow as that was the final challenge of this episode.

I also picked up my dinner and I brought home the vegetarian sushi made with brown rice.

I love vegetarian sushi and haven’t had some in awhile. There is a sushi restaurant right next to the gym but this supermarket version was great. 6 ProPoints according to the WW database for 9 pieces.

Tomorrow I need to wake up my run/ walk program. Depending on when I wake up I might go outside in the morning but if it’s later it will be the air conditioned gym.

I downloaded a book on emotional eating that got some good reviews so I’ll start that tonight and will post a review. I still owe you guys a review on another book but I feel I need to re-read it to give it justice.

I hope you had a great Saturday! I’m just going to focus on day by day and remember today’s feeling of feeling super good after my workout.

Hugs!!!

I'm writing this week off

Yes, I did have technical difficulties yesterday as the computer I have in my camp room is HP and I'm a Dell girl. I didn't have live writer on my HP computer and the process of posting pictures was taking forever so then I decide to download live writer and by the time that was all said and done it was time to go to bed.

I have never had a week like I've had this week in my entire life. That crisis that surfaced on Monday, that I was led to believe was under control was not. I arrived at work on Tuesday and from that moment on I've been flying by the seat of my pants and feeling like the world was on my shoulders. Add to that I'm trying to support people who feel like they have the entire solar system on their shoulders. At the same time I'm trying to cover for my co-worker who's on vacation.

I tried tracking and took a whack of photos of meals. The thing about stress is it eats you. Tuesday night I was someone's buddy and by the time that day was done I just wanted to go to bed.

Wednesday night I walked into the kitchen for dinner and there wasn't one item on the menu that appealed to me so dinner was fries with gravy and a bowl with chickpeas, olives, tomatoes and beets. I did have salad for lunch that day and the last thing I wanted was a traditional salad for dinner. I put my gym clothes on and went to the gym.

At site the fitness options are an activity in the big gym and Wednesday is badminton (but I find it far too intense as these are highly competitive very skilled player after all primarily men) there's also hockey and basketball. The fitness room (small room) where if there isn't a jam night it has a good selection of free weights (plates and bars) that I could use for to recreate Iron Reps and it's nice if you just want a quiet place to focus on your workout. The women's gym (small room) which has one treadmill, one stepper, one rower and one elliptical and a selection of dumbbells. Then there's the co-ed gym which has more equipment. There are roughly 1000 people living in that camp right now, mind you not all there at the same time.

I got to camp later than usual on Wednesday and wanted to do Iron Reps but I found myself with 4 guys in the fitness room so no room for me. The only piece of equipment I like in the women's gym (treadmill)  being used and the co-ed gym was packed. Oh I could have figured something out but I turned around and went back to my room because the last thing I wanted was to be around people. Of course I attempted to blog but ran into issues.

Thursday I had to be someone else's buddy so I spent the day running around and wound up having lunch in the main cafeteria as I had to take my buddy for lunch. The day was just crazy still stressful but more under control but I could feel all of the tension in my shoulders. I definitely felt myself starting to crumble but I had to keep it together at least until I got home.

When I finally got home I laid down on the floor and I finally had a chance to exhale. I've been running on auto pilot and trying to be there for everyone that I totally put myself on hold because that's the best way I could deal with it. I had a cold beer and made myself some homemade nachos and pretty much snacked. I'm so an emotional eater.

I haven't stepped on a scale all week (and I have one in my camp room) until this morning and I'm up 2lbs.

Today is all about decompression and meeting two friends for dinner as I need people who will make me laugh.

I think I handled this week well in terms of supporting my people and everyone has been telling me how proud they are of me. In terms of Weight Watchers not a good week at all but in all honesty that was not a priority this week.

Tomorrow I have zero intentions of going to weigh in as I'm writing this week off. You might disagree with that and you're certainly entitled to your opinions but sometimes you just need to do what feels right for you.

That does not mean I'm going to eat like crazy today and in total abandon.

I do have intentions of getting back on track and refocusing on my goals and hitting the gym on Saturday. Today I think it will be a nice long walk outside. Next week will also be crazy but I feel better prepared to handle that and not throw WW out the window. The week after that I'm off do Dad's for a week of country life.

I do hope you all have a fabulous day and thank you so much for your support.

Hugs!!

Technical difficulties

Hello my friends

Having issues posting today so I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of today's eats as well as tomorrow's.

Hugs!!

What a day

Alright my friends no pictures today as my day was just plain nuts.

That crisis I mentioned yesterday greeted me full force at twice the speed and it threw me for a bit of a loop. I had to be a super hero today. All day I've felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants.

I had to scarf down a breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar in record time. Got to drink half a cup of coffee.

At lunch I found myself in a camp kitchen off the beaten track that wad equipped for breakfast only. So I had a pb & j sandwich and a banana.

At around 2pm I was offered a left over cupcake from yesterday. I took it.

All in all the day turned out alright and after a whole whack of phone calls and conferences I think I got everything under control. There are a few loose ends but they will be dealt with tomorrow.

Dinner was 1/3 of a steak, half a cup of mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, garlic bread and jello.

I grabbed two oatmeal cookies on the way to my room.

WW was the last thing on my mind today and I turned into Super Vulcan during this crises. Emotions turn off but resurface when it comes to food. For today that's alright. Today is a day where I just need to be.

Tomorrow my weight loss warrior will return.

A new month and enough goofing around

I often write about my goals or intentions but quite often I abandon that at some point. The weird part is the only area I do that in my life is this weight loss thing.

I did keep up with my stickers though. This is my kitchen calendar and you can see the beginning of July didn’t go so well. The little sticker is a smiley face and that represents tracking and the heart represents activity. I finished off the month stronger but I need to focus so I’ve set myself a challenge for the next 30 days in August.

At the end of this month there will be stickers on every single day.

The challenge is post my photo food journal and activity. I did take pictures of everything yesterday but I derailed myself with Haagen Daz at the end of the day. I’m starting fresh with the first day of August.
Strangely I stepped on the scale today and it was lower then yesterday. I had no workout yesterday either.

Today started with a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios and a glass of skim milk.

I had a cup of coffee which I didn’t take a picture of and then faced a bit of work crisis. I’m pretty good in a crisis as I’m not emotional. My logical brain kicks in hard core and it’s think it through fast and take the correct action. However the emotions will resurface later and typically in food decisions.

I got into these and I tracked them. I kept it together till lunch.

Super simple natural salami sandwich on whole wheat French bread with hot mustard and unsweetened applesauce on the side.
Then I got into one extra piece of bread and some hummus - no photo
Then I got into a mini Coffee Crisp

Then it was a Rolo Sundae

Of course I took pictures of the coffee crisp and rolo after I ate them. This all took place between noon and 2pm. I felt I needed to post it in full disclosure and to start this challenge off right. I did track it all and it left me with 2pts for dinner.
Activity was walking to the grocery store and back because I needed to pick up some snacks for site.
Then I got better and kept myself busy and as my plan is to be in bed by 8pm as I need to get up at 4am I had dinner at 6pm
Dinner was a green monster, in the blender is one cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk, a banana, two handfuls of spinach and some frozen unsweetened strawberries.

Blended very well

I do have a tough time drinking things of odd colour so I love my Tupperware Tumbler, keeps it cold as well.

I have one point left so I’ll have a turkey bite for some protein.
All I need to do is take out the garbage and then it’s too bed at 8 with a book so I’ll hopefully fall asleep.
I might need to be a little sneaky about food pictures at site but worst case scenario I just write about it.
I hope of all you enjoyed your Monday and to those in Alberta and Ontario hope you enjoyed your long weekend.
Hugs!!