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!!!

Alternative Universe?

I think I might have been kidnapped by aliens and been given a lobotomy as I seem to have thrown all my healthy habits out the window.

I did not workout once this week, mind you my average day at work was 13 hours so by the time I got back to my bed at camp I was knackered. I'm sorry I could not get myself out of bed an hour earlier to go to the gym.

I have not tracked at all, I sort of half heartily tracked via e-tools but didn't maintain it.

I drank some water, no wear near the 2L I should be drinking.

All in all not the behaviours of a person who wants to lose weight.

You know what it just makes me want to get my act together even more. I'm not liking what I see - the jeans feeling a wee snug and not feeling powerful like when I finish a treadmill workout or zen like when I finish a yoga session.

I need to make healthy habits a major focus. Oh and I've been talking around that for weeks now but the chips are down. Half marathon training starts this weekend.

It's time to take a hard look in the mirror and say "Snap out of it!!!!!!".

Giving up is not an option.

Hugs!!!