Slip, not a slide

That was the theme of this week's Weightwatchers Meeting and I was the poster child. Yup I was up 1.8.

Living in a hotel from Sunday to Friday for the past two weeks didn't help with eating out for dinner every night and while I stayed true to my Thrive Mix for breakfast, my lunches were prepackaged microwaveable or cup a noodles.

Tomorrow I finally get the company apartment and I'm very excited to be able to cook my own meals. I first need to collect the keys from the other tenant as they've been moved to another building. They're hanging on to this apartment just for me.

It was a stressful week as the project I'm working on got cut short now I've been told the plan is that I return to the Calgary office when I'm done but I was supposed to be done by the end of October. The Project Director tells me on Monday I will probably only be needed for 2 weeks. What!!!! I knew my bosses in Calgary weren't expecting that. So now I'll be there until October 8th and that's to cover my co-workers vacation.

Oh and I'm in the process of trying to replace my roof in Calgary. The roofing company tells me the colour I wanted is out of stock so I picked another colour trying to remember the colour of my stucco. I was happy to see supplies on my roof when I got home yesterday.

It is a pretty boring drive from Calgary to Edmonton, I think you turn twice in the whole 3 hours. I always stop in Red Deer both ways for a bathroom break, snack and gas. Yesterday Gasoline Alley in Red Deer was crazy. I stopped at Mac Donalds (not the best choice). There was no where to park so I had to do the drive thru but then there was no where to stop to eat so I wound up reheating it when I got home. I should have just got a milk shake at Peter's as I had no idea there was one in Red Deer. The most awesome milkshakes.

I tried a new route home this week but at one point I followed the GPS, I was planning on turning on Highway 14 and the GPS said Highway 14s/Baseline so I turned only to wind up in massive construction and every turn off it wanted me to take was close so I backtracked to Highway 21 then to Highway 14 and then to Anthony Henday on the QE2. I will definitely take that route next Friday. But as I'm now in an apartment I'm debating driving home Saturday morning, yes that would only give me one day at home but the drive on a weekend morning is far calmer and less traffic. Plus if I can do laundry there I can do all that on Friday so it's a calmer Saturday.

It was raining on the way home and some crazy people were still going 30 to 40 KM faster than the speed limit.

We shall see, want to hit Costco again when I get to Sherwood Park and then off to pick up the key to the apartment. I really hope the other tenant cleaned it as that would really suck to drive 3 hours and then clean an apartment, grocery shop and meal prep.

Thinking positively.

My goals for next week:
Gym bag goes to work and right after work I either go to Goodlife or Millennium Place. Have a dinner ready to go so I plan to pre chop veggies so I can either make a salad or omelette when I get home. Plan lunches.

Track and drink water.

On to a new week!!!

Not dead, just busy

Well Hello,
Since I last dropped by a few things have dramatically changed.

The major thing I've been seconded to the Edmonton office for the next 3 months. Yeah.....

It happened ridiculously fast I was told/asked well more told to go on Tuesday Aug 4th and started in the Edmonton office on August 10th.

I had been to that office a few times. I really like the people and to be back in a more operational environment for a while is a nice change.

I opted to take my own vehicle. I didn't want to fly and get a new rental every week. There was an option to use a company vehicle but they're massive beasts. Plus with my own vehicle I have a bit more flexibility in going back and forth.

I had very few kilometers on my 2 year old Escape so I figured it deserved to be driven more. Driving more is very new for me. I didn't get my license till I was 25 and bought my first vehicle 2 years ago. I pretty much drove Dad's car and rentals. Yeah...but I love my Escape so this week we did the 3+ hour drive to Edmonton, drove from the hotel to the office every day (transit is not an option) and drove the 3+ hours home on Friday afternoon.

Tomorrow morning I drive back to Edmonton. I still have another week in a hotel until they can provide me with an apartment.

I packed my Thrive stuff and had my morning smoothie. I even picked up a scale to take with me so I could still do my daily weigh ins. Yes the plus of driving is I can pack a lot of stuff.  I pretty much moved my whole Calgary office as my Star Wars stuff goes where I go.

I actually packed my lunch. I found microwavable options for lunch (Chunky Soup and Chili) which I can store in hotel room, I got some mini packs of Sun Chips and some mini oreos.

The kitchen at work has a microwave and an espresso machine. So I brought the Keurig Mini, which I used to have in my office back when I was at site, and I brought a kettle with me. No kettle in the kitchen but I had them talking about toaster oven last week.

I did check out the GoodLife in Sherwood Park but the times of their classes are different then my usual GoodLife so that meant tweaking the training schedule.

Where the office is considered Edmonton but Sherwood Park is closer so this where we usually stay when going to that office and I quite like the area. Years ago I went to a yoga retreat there.

When I drove up last Sunday I went to Millennium Place in Sherwood Park to check out the indoor track. It was a disappointment as it's pretty much a circle with an incline part. So I don't think I'll be getting a membership there. It will be GoodLife, outside and the hotel treadmill while I'm in hotel.

Last week I brought food with me in an insulated bag with an ice pack. I left the ice pack in the hotel fridge freezer - dang it.

This week I'll wait till I get to Sherwood Park to get Fresh food lunch supplies. I plan to go to Costco when I get there tomorrow as I'm told that Costco isn't ridiculously busy.

I do plan on driving back every weekend as I still have my house. This secondment has put a massive wrinkle in my plans for my Dad's house and delayed that project. I really want to come every week to got to my Weightwatchers meeting. I really like my leader and my WW peeps.

I was actually down today, it was .4 but I'll take it after eating out for a week. I became quite fond of the Baja Bowls at Taco Del Mar but the shredded beef one is 12 points. I need to really plan steps. In the Calgary office I can pretty much nail 10000 steps a day with the walk to an from the train station and just running around getting lunch.

I changed my flight arrangements for the Dumbo Double Dare to flying from Edmonton as it just seemed complicated getting back to Calgary mid week to get on a flight. There's still a few weeks till I leave for L.A.

I find myself far more sedentary with driving everywhere. The closest food options to the Edmonton office are a 20 minute drive. My goal for this week is to get outside or the gym after work to get those steps in.

Now you are updated on me, on to my week 2 adventure in Edmonton. I will be back.

Thrive Experience - 2 weeks in

Thrive Experience - Day 19

So as I mentioned in my last blog I decided to give The Thrive Experience a try and I'm officially into my experiment. 

I did find more mental clarity as of day one and the continues, and to me that’s waking up clear headed with a stronger sense of focus.

I did find more energy. Before Thrive when I got home from work and I'd sit down and check what was on the pvr and pretty much veg out and now I find I putter a bit more and straighten up or finish off a project I started but didn't finish in the past. 

On the weight loss front I’m still tracking my WW points and my eating wasn't particularly stellar not horrible the week before last  but I did go over in points just due to bad planning. I never hit the gym once last week and at weigh in on Saturday I had a one pound loss.  I attribute that to Thrive really taking away cravings. 

Now I still have issues with emotional eating especially boredom but over the past few weeks I pinpointed that like never before. This week was particularly rough for a number of reasons. One I'm being sent to Edmonton for the next 3 months. Came as a total surprise on Monday. The other major reason is layoff fears hit a new high again. So this week I had 1.8 gain at weigh in. The Edmonton thing was the major reason as combined with the new layoff fears what will I find when I come back in 3 months. I requested taking my own vehicle. Edmonton is 3 hours from Calgary as I wanted the flexibility to come and go. My plan is to come home every weekend or go to the property. This does cause a massive wrinkle in my life which I really hope they appreciate. 

I have to rejig my training plan but my Goodlife membership works anywhere in Alberta. I can get drop in passes for a facility with an indoor track. I really want to continue going to my WW meeting as I love my WW peeps but I did find a standby meeting there if I need one. I also ordered more Thrive stuff to take with me. 

This is my Thrive routine right now:

I take the capsules when I wake up and 20 minutes later I have the shake and for the first week I wore the regular DFT patch every day. The 2nd Week the Ultra DFT patch. Before I go to bed I took two Balance capsules.

Now I've stopped taking the Balance as I don't want to get too graphic but I think I'll get my fibre in from a more nature source. 

I decided to try the whole Thrive Plus line in this experiment  which includes:

Thrive Plus -Activate – I tried that for the first time on a Monday as my pre workout beverage and then I went to BodyJam, BodyPump and Yoga class and never felt a decrease in energy.  It kind of tastes like a thicker kool aid, I was expecting more of flavoured water. I used one pack in 16oz of water. It recommends 8-16, I'm so glad I went with 16 as I think had I done 8 I would have found this a little overwhelming. I drink it roughly an hour before my workout and find it does give me a boost of energy. 

Thrive Plus Boost  - I added this fruit/ veggie mix to my smoothie starting Monday morning, it has a berry type flavour and mixes super well with the vanilla flavour of the Premium Smoothie Mix. I honestly find this keeps me satisfied till lunch time.  

Thrive Plus Rest –  Haven't implemented this yet but I can truly evaluate if I feel any differently as I wear a fitbit 24/7 I can certainly track if there’s any changes.

Thrive Move – this offers joint support so curious to see if has any influence on my knees,  boy do my knees get angry during the lunges at BodyPump so I'll start this this soon and see if there’s any impact on the BodyPump class.

Ultra DFT Patch (the purple ones on the right) – Now this patch is bigger and supposed to be stronger. I can't say I've noticed a massive difference from the regular patch but I'll need to go back to the regular patch for awhile to truly tell. I do find with the bigger patch I have to think about where I put it i.e. shoulder or arm as if my muscle flexes it can impede how it sticks so the flatter the area the better. Back of shoulder seems to work best for me. 

I am pleased so far. I have felt great, noticed increased energy and far less food cravings. 

The emotional eating is purely in my head and I'm now thinking of this 3 month thing as a chance to remove myself from the emotional office setting and a chance to have a new adventure. 

I took a picture at the gym as a before picture and took my measurements as well. Don't mind the grumpy expression on my face. I was going for beast mode. 

Feel free to check out the products here http://bolsyl.le-vel.com/

In other news I geeked out my Escape a bit more which I have renamed Tie-Fighter. 

 The circles on the window were part of fundraising effort for Noah's Light. I've had the stickers for some time but finally got around putting them on the Escape. Above are stickers representing all the RunDisney Challenges (multiple races over multiple days). I found the Imperial symbol on Etsy and got a little too excited and ordered two by accident so one on the gas tank lid.

And one on the back windshield 

Here we have all the RunDisney Races including Expedition Everest and Tower of Terror 10 miler. Now I haven't done the WDW Half or Marathon yet or the Dopey and the Goofy but I stuck them on anyway. 

I'm excited to continue this Thrive adventure and all the other adventures that start soon. I don't go to Edmonton for another week. So this coming week is all about getting sorted like getting my roof re-tiled, yup had to get that done before the winter and found a well reviewed roofer who can do it next week. 

I will definitely try to blog more often.