Well that's a huge weight off my shoulders

Yet another crazy week.

This going to Edmonton every Monday is a challenge, dinner out Sunday after a 3hr drive, breakfast out Monday, catered lunch and then dinner out again before flying back to site.

What I need to do is make sure when my WW week starts on Saturday to keep that day totally OP and then have WP in my back pocket for these trips.

I didn't master that last week. I did pack workout clothes only to find the hotel treadmill was a junker. I have been keeping up with the squat challenge still need to do my 100 after I finish this blog.

I haven't been very focused on WW lately and a lot of that has to do with job stress. They're going down to one HR person at site. So my co-worker and I will go back to Calgary. I knew the plan for him, my replacement was hired a few months ago but other then going back to Calgary there was no plan for me.

My current boss who perhaps needs some sensitivity training had asked where I wanted to go in the past, I told her and then she suggested something that had nothing to do with what I just said.

My uber boss (her boss) told me this was all about development. Yet my boss has told me "I was being shopped" meaning my future return to Calgary was mentioned among the HR team at my company. When she told me that all I could think of was what if no one "buys" me.  I was told I was coming back between September and December then it was after Christmas.

I did share with my boss that all this was freaking me out - she said not to worry there were a lot of mat leaves coming up....my development is dependent on a mat leave?????

Well yesterday I was chatting with her on the phone and she told me that a role has turned up and how she thinks it's really good for me. Now based on my history with her at first I was skeptical but she sounded genuinely excited. She wouldn't tell me what the role was just that the leader wanted to take me for coffee today. Now I was popping into the home office today to assist my boss with a project. Of course all night I was wondering what this role could be and who the leader was. She told me I knew them and my experience in my current role would be a benefit and it would get me more face time with Calgary folks as I've been hidden at site for years.

Well I met the leader today and it wasn't anyone I had suspected. The role let's me stay in my current org so my uber boss doesn't change but it's all about projects. I'm seriously intrigued. I would get to manage projects, make decisions and help out all the people I know now. Now it's more helping other HR folks as opposed to a client group but lately I have been feeling I could use a change. What I loved about being a recruiter was that I was busy all the time, in my current role it's very much off and on, and I'm thinking this role would be more like when I was recruiter - in theory every job opening was a project.

Now the deal is not 100% set but it would give me even more career options down the road like project management (I'm told a PMP would be supported) or into a specialized discipline in HR as opposed to generalist.

Going back to Calgary has some definite advantages.

• Not having to get up at 3:30am on Mondays
• Being able to have 100% control over my food as I'd be back to preparing everything myself. 
• Being home every night
• Not getting on a plane twice a week that I swear does something to you
• Being able to go the gym and participate in classes
• Having more WW meeting to choose from when I can't make Saturday
• Getting more exposure at work
• Being able to pick stuff up after work and not having to leave everything to the weekend. 
• Not having to leave everything to the weekend i.e house cleaning and errands. 
• Getting the 15 paid days off a year and actually get paid for 11 stats. 
• Seeing my Calgary co workers more
• Don't have to pay people to shovel my sidewalk
• I can actually do a 12 week workout dvd program without disturbing the people the who live below me in camp and have enough energy after work to do it. 

Now there are also cons

• 25% dock in pay as I lose my site assignment uplifts, mind you their taxable so perhaps that's no all bad (trying to be positive). I don't have any control over being sent back to Calgary.
• Paying for all my food as now I only need to feed myself for 3 days, mind you a week is easier to plan
• I will miss my current client group but it's not like I won't be able to still see what happens. 
• Having access to the food court again and so so many options.
• Being able to go to Starbucks every day (if it's planned into my day not a total con)
• Working Fridays again, mind you working an 8hr day as opposed to a 10, 11, 12, 13hr day. 

It's not like I can stay at site, but hey if I pursue Project Mgmt you never know.

I do want to focus on all the positives as the move could now be sped up dramatically and I could be back in the Calgary office by June.

This does take a huge weight off my mind so now I put all my focus on weight loss as I don't need to worry about what happens to me which can bring out some emotional eating.

So game on as I'll need to refresh my corporate wardrobe, my t-shirt and jeans won't do in the head office.

Hugs!!

A week that made your head spin

I was in Edmonton on Monday, sitting in a boardroom all by myself as I waited for my colleagues to come out of another meeting. A friend sent me a text saying she was happy I wasn't running the Boston Marathon. Now I had not seen any news so I thought the text a little odd and I responded with something along the lines of "You have to fast to run that one". Of course this made we wonder what was happening so I hopped on to google to find out what happened.

My first though went to Dani  as I've been following her excitement as she trained for this event. After a quick check on Facebook I learned she was o.k and so was her family who was watching.

My next thought was what hell spawn would do this at an event that has no political nor religious element. Who would purposely maim and kill at a peaceful event that unites people from around the world in the pursuit of a dream. More then 2000 Canadians were signed up for that race. This touched people all over the world.

Of course events happened fast with the apprehension of the 2nd suspect, however no punishment will give people their loved ones back nor repair the damage so many people experienced.

What it did show we was how strong the human spirit is. All over the world people gathered to pray for Boston. Even today in my city 4000km from Boston had a run in support of the people hurt that day. 1000 people showed up. I would have to but I didn't find out about it until I was sitting waiting for my weigh in to start.

I know have a crazy goal to run Boston one day, the city needs to know we are still behind them.

So here's where I get a little random to recap my week.

Now I lost 1lb at weigh in so I was pretty happy with that. I also learned my ridiculous leader retired, suddenly and never came back to the meeting to say good bye. Can't say I'm upset about that as I never really got anything from her however I'm sure others connected with her. I really do like our sub Nicky, who was supposed to get my meeting originally. She's requested to keep it and I hope she does.

The weigh in lady told me I earned a 5lb star, I told her I'm not taking any stars until I'm back to and surpass 168 as when I hit that point I kind of freaked out and started to back peddle. She asked me if I wasn't going to reward myself at all and I told her I had my own stickers for now. She then followed me and asked if I was afraid of being attractive. That threw me a little and I honestly told her there was a time I was but I believe I'm over that now. I told her I've been fat my entire life so I didn't know the person I was turning into to. My security blanket was disappearing so that freaked me out. My will to succeed at a goal that has alluded me trumps the security blanket.

On Friday I went to Cirque de Soleil Amaluna, it was lovely but I did get reprimanded by the camera police before the show started so could only snap one quick pic of the stage. I was in the 2nd row so pretty close.

At the intermission I posted "Cirque de Soleil - the land of zero body fat" on Facebook.

Tomorrow I'm off to Edmonton again, I had been worried about the 3hr drive with my boss as I had no idea what we would talk about for that long and I still don't know what my next job is however I still have the current one to focus on for at lease another 7 months. She did mention 3 areas to look into or learn more about. So I'll do that.

The week at work was crazy busy and flew by as it had loads of last minute report requests in the middle of a crazy time. Luckily all the HR cycles are now finished so I can concentrate on all the little things that have been pilling up.

I am striking distance of getting back to the 180s. Persistence, patience, purpose and intent will pay off.

I hope all of you are well.

Hugs!!!

Fly by week while hunting demons

This week flew by.

I took the above photo on my phone as we were landing at work. When I looked out the window I could see a rainbow circling the shadow of the plane in the clouds. It didn't show up well but do you ever feel like your chasing a rainbow?

Super late meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday was mostly spent doing an aspect of my old job by helping out with interviews. I did love my old job and while I do love my current job there are things I miss about the old job. The biggest thing is I was a rock star at my old job and this one I feel like it's two steps forward and one step back.

I knew the Tuesday meeting would be emotionally charged so I was worried about it but in the end it went really well. Now I get to repeat it with the next shift this coming Tuesday.

On Wednesday I just wanted to get a decent nights rest.

On Thursday I flew home.

On Wednesday I started working on this monster spreadsheet that's part of an important project. Nothing quite like staring at little tiny boxes for hours upon hours. The tiny boxes continued all afternoon on Thursday.

I never made it to the gym once. Instead I read. I have been working my way through Jillian Michael's Unlimited, even reading a chapter then going back to read it again. I'm working on why I continually sabotage myself and why in other aspects of my life I achieve my goals so why can't I do that with getting to goal weight. I know this is not a quick answer but rather work through each demon as it surfaces.

I continue to be fascinated by cross fit and need to fit that into my routine even if it's on my own due to my crazy travel situation.

Tracking got a wee abandoned by Wednesday.

That week is finished on to a new one.

I am very much looking forward to weigh in tomorrow because Weight Watchers International officially takes over from the dinosaur franchisees. The dinosaur franchisees didn't take part in the 5K Walk, didn't stock pedometers and I'm guessing didn't stock a few other things. Didn't take part in the monthly pass option. I'm really looking forward to more consistency with other provinces and states across North America.

I seriously need to do my taxes.

Now you're up to date on my world. How has your week been?

Hugs

An evening with Jillian...yeah that Jillian

Yesterday I went to Jillian Michaels' Maximize Your Life

When I first heard about it I thought it was going to be a US only thing but I was super happy to see Calgary on the list of locations so I bought a ticket right away.

I got there early and debated on buying any of the sway. There were t-shirts, a hoody, sweatpants, her workout DVDS and books, plus they were selling BodyMedia - I saw a lot of people buying that.

The cutest part was while we were waiting for it to start her daughter came out of the wings and was dancing away and then waved to all of us. So cute.

It opened with a video that flashed images of things like chicken farms, workouts, genetically modified something or other.

Then she came out and I always forget she's 5'2. She asked how many of us where there because we felt lost. I had to stick my hand up for that one and so did many others. The first thing I wrote down was when she said "Destiny is a choice not a chance". She talked a lot about how you do things for your why. I'll get to more on that in a minute.

She talked about her trick to successful weight loss - Calories In and Calories Out.

What I enjoyed about her was she was very down to earth and she broke her session into 3 sections:

Calories In
Calories Out
Self

On the calories in she talked about focusing on quality vs quantity, told us to check out her website to look at a list 10 additives to avoid, look up the Clean 15 (veggies and fruit with thicker skins and not as likely to be effected by pesticides). Encouraged us to find an extra $20 bucks to focus on organic dairy and meats.

What I like about her is she doesn't talk about being perfect in fact she said the 80/20 rule is just fine. 80% Health and 20% treats or have a treat every 5th meal which is something she also says in her Slim For Life book.

On calories out she explained the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which are the calories we burn just breathing based on height, weight and sex (mine is 1601.26). Active Meta Rate (AMR) your BMR adding in how active you are in your regular day as I have a desk job it's 1.2 and multiple that by 1601.26 and it's 1921.5.

She said we should be focusing on 85% intensity, to calculate your maximum heart rate take 220 - your age. So mine is 180 and 85% would be 153. The best workouts use body weights not machines and do the work for the why and HIIT (high intensity interval training)  training is excellent and with this you would go above the 85%.

I also liked that she didn't tell us to sign up for anything and you could get the info free off of her website of look it up online.

Then we had an intermission and she closed off the evening with Self.

At this point we talked more about the why. Why do we stop ourselves from achieving things? Earlier on she showed us what she calls the Responsibility Sandwich and it was sandwich of words like shame, regret, fear, judgement. I'm sure we've all felt some of those I know I certainly have. Shame that I haven't succeeded at getting to goal yet, regret that I didn't do something sooner, fear of not succeeding and feeling judged based on my appearance.

She brought a member of the audience on stage who had volunteered to do this. They talked about what was holding her back from accomplishing what she wanted to. At one point the audience member said she wanted to be happy and Jillian asked her to define happy. She actually talked about that a lot about how we don't dive beneath the surface of why we do things. She even used the example of how on the Biggest Loser ranch when she asks the contestants why are they there and they say "to be healthy". What is that she said, what does being healthy look like to you, what does happy look like for you, what does successful look like for you?

I didn't take any notes during this section as I was just purely soaking it in.

The biggest part that I took from this though was the power of belief. You are worth it, imagine it and believe it. Be present in your life.

I think I'll revisit her "Limitless" book.

Hugs!!!

Inspiration in the strangest places

My day and a half work week flew by and I must say Bon Jovi was awesome. The made an announcement that Richie Sambora would not be performing and at that point the crowd booed but then they said they were donating $100K to the Calgary Homeless Society, then the crowd cheered and clapped.

Thankfully they played some old tunes which I am far more familiar with and at the encore they played Wanted Dead or Alive and Jon said - You Sing, then the Saddledome sang the entire first verse. It gave me chills.

I had an aha moment when they played "It's my life".

It's my life, it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive

I found that particularly profound and in relation to my weight loss journey or lack there of lately.

I almost signed up for the Dopey Challenge, that's a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon in 4 days. I stopped myself as that's a much better goal for 2015. Let me get through the 3 Halfs I have in 2013 first.

Today I went to get my hair cut and I also bought a new journal. A journal that's easy to take with me when I fly out. The one I have now is a little big. This is probably my 20th journal as I never finish them. I decided I need a fresh head and therefore a new journal.

I also saw this

Do you watch Game of Thrones? While I started out a Winterfell fan the spirit of Daenerys Targaryen became my favorite. 

The Calgary Comic Expo is coming soon so it's my city's answer to Comic Con, I've debating on what to wear. I'm not a costume person but I knew I needed something. 

A $10 T-Shirt to the rescue, I think I'll modify it a little as it's a men's shirt.

I'm going to shake the cobwebs out of head and get this fitness train rolling.

Hugs!!

They had me at Pepper Jack

I was wandering down the frozen food aisle and my eyes fell on these

The other week I saw someone at work heating one of these up and asked how they were. They said they were good but what I didn't realize was it has Pepper Jack cheese.

Back in the day McDonald's used to have this Western Bagel Omelette that was my absolute favorite and I think it was the cheese.

So I picked up a box thinking it would be handy as dinner when I fly home as I often have breakfast for dinner usually that's cereal or take with me and make for breakfast on the days I fly up.  Well Friday morning I decided to have one.

This was what it looked like straight out of the box. They're 5 PP so not bad and better then the Smart Ones I reviewed last week.

They're about 200mg higher in sodium then the Smart Ones but I liked the 12g of protein. Again this prepackaged frozen food.

Looked like this out of the microwave and the taste.....


OMG this was so good, I'd even rank it higher then a fresh Egg McMuffin or Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich. It had a touch of spice which I love. I'm officially a fan of these now, not for everyday but like I said in a pinch or when I'm tired and more likely to do something stupid like order pizza. I need to get some Pepper Jack cheese so I can just make this at home.

Today I got the other kind that doesn't have ham and has veggies in the egg and still has Pepper Jack still 5PP and 200mg less sodium.

My Easter was super low key and I kept Sunday a rest day and started watching Homeland. We just got season 1 on TV here in Canada and I had 4 episodes on the PVR. I really like it.

Today I had to run to the grocery store again as I missed a few things, I found this today.

I love, love, love, love coconut. Now in Canada we don't have Chobani (though perhaps soon) so the selection of flavored Greek yogurt isn't quite so profound. This is my new favorite by far for 2 PP. Liberte has a great coconut one too and in a lower fat version but not easy to find and not 2PP.

I went to the loonie (dollar) store in search of stickers as I put a heart sticker on my tracking page if I had activity and a smiley face if I tracked and then I put the same stickers on my calendar so I have a snap shot of how I'm doing.

Well I saw these stickers which would be perfect for my FitBloggin name badge.

Last year I thought I was one of 3 Canadians at FitBloggin and it turns out there were more of us so this way I will be easily recognized. Just hoping I can find cowboy inspired stickers to tie with  @cowgirlwarrior

Today I walked to the mall and back which is just over 2 miles and then later I headed out for another walk just under 3 miles.

My right side is feeling better after my fall the other day, both palms have healed nicely and now just dealing with a little muscle ache. I was far more sore the next day.

My run/walk will resume on Wednesday when I go back to camp.

Tomorrow is Zumba and Bon Jovi so I should rack up some serious steps with all the dancing.

Hope you enjoyed your Easter and are off to a great week.

Hugs!!