Saturday, December 31, 2011

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!!!

Friday, December 30, 2011

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!!!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

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!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

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!!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

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!!

Monday, December 26, 2011

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!!!

Friday, December 23, 2011

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!!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

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!!!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

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!!!!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

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!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

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!!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

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!!!!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, December 11, 2011

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


Saturday, December 10, 2011

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!!

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

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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Monday, December 05, 2011

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!!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, December 04, 2011

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!!!

Saturday, December 03, 2011

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!!!

Friday, December 02, 2011

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!!

Thursday, December 01, 2011

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!!