Crazy busy week and TGIF

First of all I started my day with an Almond Roca bar, well actually two. Thanks to our receptionist...not the best move but I have to work a job fair today and tomorrow and I need the sugar.

I despise working job fairs because it's throngs of people I can't necessarily help. (IE. Do you recruite Engineers...ah no, Do you recruit IT...ah no. However our other division might be able to help you.) It's just so random and in a market like in my city the odds of someone with the skills set I need is not very likely to attend a job fair. Of course, I could be surprised and perhaps find a superstar so that's what I'm hoping for. I do hope it's busy so the time goes fast.

Of course because I was distracted by the job fair I forgot my runners this morning. I have all my other walking gear down to the gps but no runners. However I'm open to buying a new pair, I was planning on getting a new pair before Honolulu and I do have to break them in. The pair I have now is actually the older model to the first pair I ever bought (they were on sale). But when I compair Model 4 (the current pair) vs Model 5 (the first pair), Model 5 does feel like there's a bit more support. So why not go for Model 6 for the biggest race of my life.

Food wise, it's been a battle of the snack fest, it's amazing how much effect those hormones have over your rational thought process. I've been up two weeks in a row, not by much .4s and .6s but I really don't want to go if I'm up again. I know it will average out, but even saving an hour this Saturday would be helpful since the bulk of my afternoon will be at the job fair. The snacking hasn't been out of control and I've actually made good nutritional decisions it's just keeping within the points part that isn't so great.

I could pull it out of the flames with water, water and more water paired with keeping it together today. Of course the Almond Roca bars weren't exactly planned.

Oy vey 6 weeks less a day until the Marathon and I'd still want to focus on getting to goal.

Update:
My runners are in stock!

Aha moment!

An Aha moment hit me last night as I found myself continuously talking myself out of snacking. It's the dreaded week before TOM where all food is fair game and absolutely no morsel satisfies, where I must ask myself "Do I really need this?". I hate this week because the will is weak. Yesterday wasn't too bad and did a fierce 50min walk. Tonight I must disassemble my patio set (Strength training) and make sure to eat a very flavourful dinner. I find the spicier the food the easier it is not to go snack crazy, but if it's blandish it's no good.

Do you ever get the feeling that you're friends with people for a reason or a finite period of time?A few months ago I would have called Training Partner a good friend now it feels more like acquaintences. I'm really, really getting the feeling that Hawaii will be a more solo/be prepared to fend for myself vacation.

We originally bonded over WW and then cooked up this half marathon/marathon business, but now that she's at goal and the marathon is drawing nearer I don't know if there's anything in common anymore. It's been awhile since we've just hung out as friends as opposed to training.
Last night I said to her that after the marathon we should get together for coffee every so often. Her answer to me was that she'll still walk but not really train until we've recovered from the marathon.

I'm getting the definite impression that I'm a training buddy now. She is under a huge amount of stress and life in general has not been particularly fair to her (if it ever is to anyone) but it certainly seems to be crashing in on her lately. So perhaps I'm just feeling her stress, hopefully she knows that I'm there for her when she needs it but I just wonder if my sole purpose in regards to her is to offer support.

Time will tell.

Recipe, answers to questions and general recap

Let me begin by saying, I walked 27Km yesterday in 4 hours. It was long slow distance day and I feel like I should have woken up at goal weight. According to my Garmin I burned 1966 calories in that 4hrs and I celebrated immediately afterwards by having Taco Time. Not the best choice but I was hungry, I wanted something spicy and I wasn't feeling like Subway.

Stress did not work for me, up 0.6 at weigh in on Saturday but considering my lack luster activity I'm not surprised. This week will definitely be better.

GU Chocolate is freaking awesome! Tastes like a cross between chocolate pudding and chocolate frosting but I was not revolted by it at all and quite enjoyed it. I also tried Cliff Shot Blocks in Strawberry, they taste like jello jigglers and don't stick to your teeth like jelly beans. There's two servings in the Blocks pack. So with that, the gu and gatorade and water I actually consumed the appropriate amount of carbs and stay hydrated so when I finished I felt great. I now know that I need some options carb wise I can't just do goo especially because that Marathon will take me at least 7hrs.

Now my next project will be where I can get a unit pack of the GU and the Blocks in Canada because Running Room is ridiculously expensive. I'm hoping Mountain Equipment Co-op carries it.

More on my handy training tool. I use Garmin Forerunner 201, I like it because it's rechargeable. My Training Partner has a 101 and that thing goes through a lot of batteries especially if you're out in colder weather. It tracks my distance, pace time and calories. The 301 and I believe the 305 come with heart rate monitors. My 201 does the math of current weight and pace to come up with calories. I love it because there's a map function so I can mark things like home and pathway entrances that are hidden by bushes. It's about 2 inches long and less than half an inch thick, it's not bothersome to wear and it tracks the history of all my training walks.

The Promised Recipe:

Beef and Noodle Au Gratin (4 servings - 5pts each)

Ingredients:
12oz Lean Ground Beef (I used extra lean)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of Garlic, minced
1-1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
3oz uncooked broad noodles, cooked according to package directions ( I used no yolk)
1 tsp oregano leaves
1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper
1/2c shredded low fat cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F

In a 3qt saucepan brown beef, onions and garlic on Medium heat until cooked through (8-10min) then remove from heat.

Stir in tomatoes, noodles, oregano and salt+pepper.

Spoon into 1-1/2qt casserole dish, sprinkle with cheese and bake covered until heated through and cheese is melted ( 15-20min)

NI 262cal, 7g Fat, 2.5g Fibre

I added a bit more spice because I find most WW recipes a bit on the bland side.

Alright that's all I can think of at the moment.

Have a great day!

Stress works for me

I've been MIA for the past few days just due to being stressed to the gills. The good thing about that is when I'm stressed I don't eat (not good but at least I didn't inhale multiple McCain's cakes) So WI on Saturday should be good, now all I have to do is keep it.

I have this theory about life/stress. I think we have spheres in our lives like life, work, and whatever else. The spheres can intersect or be seperate.

When all the spheres are good all is good, when one sphere is out of whack it's still good, when 2 spheres are out of whack it's getting dicey, when 3 spheres are out of whack it's a panic attack.

My spheres are home, work and training and over the past few days it's felt like all the walls were crumbling around me.

Home:Fight with my Dad, I only have my father as my mother passed away 4 years ago and my other family is in the old country. It's settled now but it was very stressful as he is the single most important person in my life and whose opinion has always mattered above all others.

Work: OMG so busy, 3 new orders a day (I'm a recruiter) plus covering my colleagues desk. My day flies by and I'm not sure what I've completed. Lucky for me that after a moment of panic my super hero organizational skills kick in.

Training: Lack of and Hawaii coming up fast. My training partner did a half marathon recently and kicked ass. Fastest time ever for her and faster than me. Of course I'm happy for her but for a moment I completely doubted my ability to do this. Now I'm in the mind set of I shall go and conquer and the goal is too complete.

Training partner has bailed again today with the shocking news that she had to break up with a boy. I'm thinking...what boy? She has mentioned nothing, nada, zip o la to me about this boy. I guess on Sunday I'll find out more during the 26km.

So that is a speedy recap and now my spheres are balanced and all good.

I promise the dang recipe on Monday.

A wee bit in the wrong direction

So my long weekend did cause we some issues, up 0.8 not too bad really and hopefully I'll lose it by this Saturday.

The Foodfest was awesome but I did not overindulge in a crazy way. There were numerous restaurants offering exotic option and I'm not an adventurous eater so those were easy to avoid. We spent just under 4hrs there and were wandering around the whole time so I'm thinking some sort of AP was earned. I'm hoping anyway since I slept in and didn't do my 13K on Sunday morning

Sunday went to the farmers market and had a little sample of saskatoon pie but didn't buy any. Had a gourmet Hot Dog and a cupcake for lunch so not the wisest choice but I'm not worried. I'm quite pleased with myself for not buying anything to take home.

Today it's right back on track and I have hamburger helper (Salsbury) for lunch with added veggies. Now I'm thinking I could have made my own hamburger stew sort of thing with Club House Gravy and some veggies or maybe a mock sheperd's pie with cauliflower as the mashed potatoe. Of course the creative chef kicks in after my meals for this week have already been planned.

I left the house without the recipe that I was going to post today so if I have time tonight I'll post it if not I'll post it on Tuesday. It's for Beef and Noodle Au Gratin (5pts per serving). So stay tuned for that.

Tonight is 60min of training and I'm hoping the pathways are in good condition. We haves snow falling and it looks like the heavy stuff that likes to stay around. Training partner is on nights this week (poor thing) so we'll see if she's awake enough to go with me. If not I might do a dvd instead.

Woke up to news that Hawaii got a 6.6 Quake, thankfully it sounds like there were just a few injuries and no deaths. That's a pretty big shake-up and Oahu is one of the places that had power knocked out but it appears that it's been restored. Aftershocks are expected for the next week. How this progresses will make me seriously wonder about Hawaii in December. Everything is paid for and I didn't buy cancellation insurance for my flight so if I cancel I lose out. But if it's money vs. self preservation, self preservation will win.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday the 13th...insert scary music here

Not a whack to report these days, just going to work, coming home and exercising on occasion.

My co-worker is now on her way to Mexico for 2 weeks and I get to cover her desk...whoo hoo maybe not so much. The good thing is whenever one of my colleagues go on vacation I tend to take care of their stuff better than my own. I'm also babysitting her fish Peewee, he's less than inch long and I get the honour of cleaning his bowl soon. Double whoo hoo...not so much.

This weekend is going to be fantastic and not WW friendly in anyway shape or form and I'm o.k with that. On Saturday it's the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Fest and then on Sunday the Calgary Farmer's Market. I'm not to worried about Saturday because the portions are small and the quality outstanding, the real trick is the wine - luckily those are also small but in the end it will be like one outstanding dinner. Sunday I'll be more careful, my friend from out of town is in and wants to go to the Market to pick up some pasta and pies so she'll be more inclined to eat at home than out. I can't be picking up pasta and pies, o.k maybe a pie or piece of pie because they're all homemade and incredible. I suggested to her that maybe next time she's in town we investigate cooking classes. She's on a weightloss quest of her own and from what I remember not so into cooking so I'm hoping to encourage her to embrace cooking..at least that way you know what's going in to it.

As I said not a whole lot to chat about so I wish everyone a fantastic weekend.

Vow to lose 20!

I was reading Rachel's blog today and joined her vow to lose 20lbs by January. I'm not so sure about this week but I guess Saturday will surely tell. My scale is showing a gain and yes I know it's probably due to the weekend and there's still 3 days before weigh in but it's never encouraging to see a gain. It just fuels me to do better.

I did head out for a walk when I got home, a wee bit overdressed for the weather and I was trucking. Went home and had my turkey dinner. Tonight I think dinner will be a small quesadilla (sp?) home made of course with salsa.

I failed at joining the recipe group this monday (I blame the holiday), however I promise to post one this coming Monday.

Apart from a relatively stressful work day, not too much to report.

Looking forward to America's Next Top Model tonight...who should go next?

Discoveries and still no Turkey

First of all, thank you so much for the positive feedback the other day. You guys are amazing and inspirational in so many ways.

The long weekend was relaxing. On Saturday I really enjoyed the return of Battlestar Galactica and stayed on plan food wise. Saturday is my treat day so I stayed within my planned debauchery.

Sunday did just under 4hrs of training (burned 1663 calories), walked about 23km but that included up and down a cliff and criss crossing around to try to make up the distance. Plus my MP3 player's battery died at the half way point. So the last 10km was challenging with no tunes. The rest of Sunday was a bit of a loss because I was tired! Had a nice protein loaded meal after training so by the time supper rolled around all I wanted was a salad. My pace was slower than normal, I had to keep telling myself "long, slow distance not race pace, build endurance". Still haven't found a carb goo/gel that I'm crazy about so (Cara Mia) I will hunt down this GU Chocolate palooza (or whatever it's called) in the hopes that it really does taste like chocolate pudding.

I slept in Monday (which rarely happens thanks to training) and then went to Ikea and behaved myself, bought only things I really needed like dish brushes. Had a late lunch of meat balls there and then of course didn't feel like supper so just had Ryvitta crackers and some light cream cheese. Didn't do my 1hr walk, did laundry instead. I did attempt a strenght workout but that led to my discoveries. Really I should not have slept in and gone for a walk in the morning but I did enjoy the extra sleep.

The Discoveries
1. I need structure in terms of meals. I have a way easier time during the work week with scheduled times for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Snacks. Having breakfast at 9:30am on the weekend and lunch at 2pm results in random snacking at dinner.

2. I don't like to do workouts out of a book, I tried to do strength training via a book and I just got bored with keeping track of form and number of reps. I definitely prefer following along with a DVD so Core Secrets and Pilates are the way for me. Weather permitting I might toss in a one hour walk tonight and some pilates since tonight should be strenght training.

3.Sandwich and soup is boring (when brought from home anyway). Today I brought 1 cup Gardennay Buttersquash soup and 1/2 a sandwich pocket (slightly different from a pita) with a couple slices of pastrami. I had to talk myself in to it with a pep talk. That and chanting "Hawaii", as in need every spare dollar for there.

So in my food timing mis-management this weekend I never got to have turkey so that's tonight. I got a Maple Leaf (?) microwave Turkey(3pts), cran sauce (2pts)stove top stuffing (which I might make in FF Chicken Stock and skip the margarine-(1pt without marg?)) and steamed asperagus (0). Then I will have leftovers for a hot lunch tomorrow...the master plan is coming together...mwhahahahahahah!

Have a great day everybody!

Down 1.6!

Whoo hoo, officially 168 today only 28lbs until goal....I think I'll just shoot for one pound at a time :)

Long Weekend!

For us Canadians anyway. Happy Thanksgiving!

Not too much to report went to the optometrist and forked over moolah for new contact lenses. Restocked on vitamins and a few groceries. Walked home with some heavyish grocery bags.

Now I'm trying to plan my Thanksgiving menu, I'm on my own for that but I really don't mind.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful weekend!

Back on Track

I did exactly as I planned when I got home yesterday. Walked in the door, turned on the Garmin to get a signal, changed, grabbed an energy gel (haven't tried them yet), filled a bottle on my fuel belt with water and headed out. I did a little over 10km in an hour and thirty minutes. Providing I could keep that pace up for another 32km I would finish my marathon in 6hr and 30min..ish (which would incredibly decent for a walker and might even beat a few runners). The odds of my keeping that pace are in question :) If I finish under 7, I'll be ecstatic.

The sports nutritionist I saw many months ago suggested 30g of carbs per hour of high endurance activity. I normally take Gatorade with me but it's not an option in Hawaii unless I want to lug it. I really don't think that's a great idea. So I'm venturing into other options ie Gels. I bought a couple last week: 2 from Cliff, a mocha and a cola. 2 from Carb Boom, a vanilla-orange and a banana peach. Last night I tried the cola, the texture was a bit strange plus I had it in the back pocket of my fuel belt so it was warm. Not quite pudding, not quite icing. The cola tasted a bit weird a bit like coca cola candy. It wasn't horrible but I think I'm going to try and find something a bit more appetizing. I'm thinking I'll probably need about 7 sources of 30g carbs for the marathon so hopefully I can find a few flavours. I've tried the energy bars but I'm not a big fan of chewing and walking. Number one rule of long distance training on race day or a few weeks before the race is trying anything new. I'm not even considering trying the sports drink that the Honolulu Marathon is offering (mostly because I can't find it in Canada so I can't start using it now.) I'm thinking of trying Cliff Shot Blocks, apparently easy to chew unlike the bars. Enough about training...

The other thing I did last night is watch America's Next Top Model. I'm so happy Monique is gone. I still don't have a favourite to win. I think my favourite personality is Brooke. I taped Biggest Loser. I'm seriously looking forward to Sunday which is when I watch all of these show.

Have a super on plan day!

Training plan not exactly going as planned

Where I last left off...my training partner and I were to head out for 60min on Monday. I got a call from Training Partner saying that she did not bring appropriate layers for a very chilly/windy day. So I met her at Good Earth to hand over my share of the Hawaiian Condo money and we had dinner instead.
Yesterday I should have done strength training but had a wicked headache probably due to the weather so I skipped that in favour of trying to get rid of the headache. Eating has been so so for the past few days, I find myself craving comfort food with the chilly weather and the sun setting at 7:30pm. For example, yesterday I was perfectly OP until I talked to my Dad which reminded me of his home made plum jam so of course I had to make some whole wheat toast and have some jam. It could have been worse I could have been craving a blizzard. No matter, I'm still a bit disappointed in myself for that.

In terms of training plan I've now missed 3 days, enough is enough that ends today.

Tonight it's supposed to be +14 so my goal is 10km to get up some distance.
Thursday-Core Secrets and Pilates (40min all together)
Friday- I'm supposed to hook up with Training Partner so I'm going to suggest a longer distance or get up earlier on Saturday and do a quick 5km before weigh in.
I would like to get 20km completed before Saturday.
Saturday-rest day and I'm planning a one person Battlestar Galactica party since the new season starts.
Sunday - I'm on my own for 22km so that means new tunes in the mp3
Monday-Probably on my own again since it's Canadian Thanksgiving, but that will be about an hour and my training plan should be back on schedule by then.

The scale is still looking good because my so-so eating hasn't been too bad.
I'll report back tomorrow in regards to progress.

Definitely check out Pink Bunny Foo Foo's thread today, it makes you think and mirrors what I've been thinking for the past few weeks.

On to success!

Back to 160!

Shocker of shockers on Saturday, I was down 1.4. Plus my friend (training partner) was back at goal. The weightloss gods were smiling down on us.

On Saturday went to a BBQ at my boss's house and I had a burger that was budgeted into my points and it was a pretty good day. On Sunday I also stuck to OP rather well with the exception of water. Made two Splenda Chocolate Mousse pies for a colleagues birthday today. I think this will technically be the healthiest birthday cake we've had. There is whip cream however sweetened with splenda. I got them here relatively unscathed but a bit sloshed around thanks to the bus.
Marathon training wise I was a bit negligent. Didn't do my long distance on Sunday (9.7km) , the weather was blechy and I had so much to do. However, on Saturday I walked home from the grocery store (12 blocks) with 8 bags of groceries. Two bags in each hand and the rest (all the heavy stuff) in my back pack. My shoulders are now sore. I do consider that to be some sort of workout.

I do have my workout layers packed for tonight, the weather is still blechy but it's so much easier to embrace when you know that you're friend is embracing it too. This Sunday my training buddy is off to Kelowna's half marathon...kudos to her. That also means that I have to do 22km by myself on Sunday...must load the mp3 with more upbeat tunes.

Made a WW recipe for lunch this week. Beef and Noodle Au Gratin, it's supposed to be 5pts and 4 servings but I used a bit more ground beef so I upped it to 6pts which is still probably generous. I did use no yolk noodles so I'm hoping that helps. I'll bring this for 4 days and then buy one day.

Apart from that not much to report about this weekend. Today is the work test for the new contacts. Wore them all day Saturday and it was all good with the exception that they're a bit harder to get out of course I was wearing them for 14 hours. Their thinner than my other ones so it's taking a little getting used to.

Have a great day everybody!

It's Friday!

Went to the optometrist yesterday and yes indeed my vision has changes. The guy tells me that I'm barely legal to drive with my current vision. I then asked him then how is it possible for me to read the posters on the wall that are 10ft away. He then corrected his statement and said it might effect night vision...whatever. Of course I hadn't been to the optometrist in quite a few years, well beyond the every 2 years you're supposed to go. I wasn't exactly surprised that it changed.

I was surprised at the cost of lenses and frames. Shopper's Optical no longer includes the price of lenses with the frames and I had a mini heart attack at forking out over $300 for one pair of glasses. I realize that's probably not so bad but I think I'll keep my current frames and just get new lenses.

He also told me that my astigmatism isn't so bad that I could get by wearing normal contact lenses so he gave me a pair of Acuvue Oasys to try out. I popped a pair in at the office and whoa do they feel different from my other ones. Apparently these ones hold moisture better and offer UV protection. They sent me home with a pair in my perscription to try out for a week and then I go back and give my report. If my vision isn't really effected by the non toric then I can go a head with these one, if I notice a dramatic difference then it's back to Toric. I'm going to try them out tomorrow. Handed in my conservative pair of glasses for new lenses and got talked into the more expensive and thinner poly lenses ($184). Yes, vanity reared it's ugly head. When I get those back I'll get the same thing done with my "funky" pair. With Hawaii looming and not any real issues with my current glasses I can't justify new frames.

Went home for supper and opened up a can of Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom, it was disgusting. I think I prefer the low fat version that you add water too. So instead I had graham crackers and pudding cup for supper all within my points. I couldn't think of one thing to make for dinner and it was 7:30.

I really need to give the grocery list some thought tonight. I pulled out a WW hand out that I got ages ago called Today's specials it's got some great ideas in there so I'm hoping it will get me out of my rut of eating pretty much the same thing every week.

Not sure how WI will go tomorrow, I won't be surprised to see a gain just due to what week it is. My mind set is a new week starts tomorrow :)

Have a great weekend everybody!

Uphill Battle

So despite good intentions my supper didn't quite go according to plan. I was out of cooking spray for one thing so had to use oil completely forgetting that I own an olive oil mister doohickey. Then as I watched ANTM I munched on left over Raspberry Loaf that my Dad had bought on the weekend. A bit surreal watching models and eating baked goods. Biggest Loser is safely taped.

Stepped on the scale this a.m and 173 stared back at me so I have a 20pt day planned to shock my metabolism into gear and so far so good, I haven't eaten anything I haven't planned. I have an optometrist appointment after work so maybe I'll pick up a Sub at Subway and either take it home or eat it at the mall. I should definitely pick up cooking spray.

Our phone lines went down at work which put a bit of damper into getting things done. What a great opportunity to blog :)

I also don't have much to say today, perhaps more tomorrow.

Later

The week of the snack attack

I despise the week before TOM, I despise the fact that my inate urge is to seek out snacks and it always takes me a few days to figure out why. Then even though I know why, it still happens.
Blah, blah and more blah. I need to keep it together for the next 3 days. Stepped on the scale this morning and I was up half a pound...not too bad but as said above...3 days to go.

I was doing well until I watched someone eat Dutch Crunch chips in a meeting. I got Ms Vicky chips...bad but not as bad as normal chips at least I paired it with a Canada Dry Sparkling with lemon - love it and is equal to water no salt, no sugar, no apertame. The really crazy part is right now my stomach is grumbling.

I had Special K for breakfast because the egg on toast I planned didn't turn out so well. I was trying out this new microwave egg poacher. I followed the directions and put it in for the suggested time and it wasn't even close to being done. I put it in for a few more minutes and it looked o.k. Then I put it on my toast and it was super runny. Blah! My plan was to have protein for breakfast so the urge to snack would not be that strong. Special K is useless at keeping one feeling full.

Lunch and morning snack were perfectly OP. Then the chips...at least I can modify dinner and did have a good amount of points to play with.

Today is a rest day so I'm happy ANTM is on tonight. If I'm distracted I will not nosh. Have to tape Biggest Loser due to self imposed bed time.

There's a BBQ happening on Saturday so I should focus all my bad eating desires on that day...yeah that's the plan.

Must now go and avoid all things edible until supper (egg white omelette with veggies perhaps).

Out!

Tails of the Trail

I got a call from training partner at the end of the day yesterday saying she had to skip last nights workout. I, being a very focused individual at the moment, decided to walk home. I can take the pathway to my hood and then must access Douglas Fir Trail to get up the densely wooded cliff to where the neighbourhoods are. I've noticed for the past few weeks that all accesses to the trail have been closed due to repairs. I've also noticed how people push the barriers aside and use the trail anyway.

I headed off and went on my merry way wearing a shorter sleeved shirt than normal (planning for a workout without a back pack), of course I now had a backpack to lug home. I walked along the path right behind a woman with a Ironman t-shirt on. She was also walking and quite a distance since I was walking the same path but she had no water on her at all and it was warm. I passed her once but then she passed me, oh well I knew what lay ahead.

All of the accesses to the trail had been closed and reinforced. That meant I had to go to Edworthy park and then make my way up the hill. I got there (having now walked for about 7km) and had two options. First option was a very steep hill that had a dirt path and second option was walk along the long curving road that was an incline the whole way. I chose the road and considered it hill training. Wowsers I was winded when I got to the top and still had 6 blocks until my house. The miraculous thing was that pace didn't suffer at all. I thought I was going the speed of a snail up the road.

Thanks to that hike/walk my pack of mini oreos didn't get me off plan.

I made sure to stretch really well afterwards and actually got up today without any difficulty.

So tonight is strength training. I think I'll do the workout in G-Force with my stability ball and if that doesn't take 40min I'll add pilates.

My goal is to follow my training exactly up until the marathon and I'm taking it one day at a time.

To Success!

Scary Day

This morning one of my colleagues went into a diabetic insulin shock, we now suspect it was a diabetic coma. Thank Goodness he's o.k (been to the hospital and now resting at home) and everyone's first aid knowledge kicked in. The people who work on the same floor are all in a bit of shock. Completely understandable after seeing someone so full of life and energy hit the deck, those of us downstairs have just tried to be there for them. Of course everyone is better knowing he's o.k.

Of course anything else I have to say sounds meaningless in comparison to this morning. My afternoon snack was a mini bag of mini oreos...not the best choice but I have the points for it. 60min of hard core walking involving hills is on tap for tonight and it's been a beautiful day so that should be nice.

I made an oppointment with an optometrist...I haven't been in about 4 years so I thought it's time and that's what medical coverage is for. So I'll treat myself to some new specs and maybe some contacts. I think my twitch (which is much better thanks to a full night of sleep) might be partially do to with my vision changing and staring at a computer all day.

I've discovered a horrible tv time conflict...Ugly Betty starts this week at the same time as The Office and I can only tape one. Due to my vow of seeking proper rest this week I really shouldn't stay up and watch. Both Canadian and American stations have Ugly Betty on at the same time, I was hoping to find The Office on maybe a slightly different time on a Canadian network. Nada, in my fair city no Canadian network carries The Office...I'm traumatized. There is one option of salvation. I have a second tv in my basement but it isn't hooked to cable; however it does have a vcr. I'm hoping the Canadian channel has decent reception on the 2nd tv so I'll tape Ugly Betty downstairs and tape The Office upstairs. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow another office birthday is being celebrated...thankfully I don't need to make it this time.

Until Tomorrow

Too good to be true

So my announcement of crossing into the 160s might be a bit early. Was up 2.2 on Saturday, not sure how that happened but I'm sure the cake-a-palooza might have been a factor. The weird thing is I weighed myself at home first and thought I'd see a stay the same based on that. Normally my scale and WW scale are off by at least a pound and a half (my scale being the higher weight). This Saturday there was a half pound difference...weird.

My leader told me I was looking really good and asked me if I was close to the top of my range. Still 30lbs away but I that was super nice to hear. I told her that I wear fat well :)

Today did 20km with training buddy and I seem to have my carb/hydration plan mapped out. Well it worked today so I know what I have to do for distances up to 20km. The longer we go I'll have to figure it out. I need to research fuel gels, I just don't embrace chewing while exercising.

We saw around 20 Greyhounds being walked on the path way during our whole treck. Apparently one of the groups of people who rescue retired racing Greyhounds were having a get together. They are some regal looking dogs I tell ya.

2 days ago my right eye started to twitch, just the bottom lid every so often and not in any regular pattern. Really annoying more than anything. So of course I hit google to find out the causes. Most likely due to stress and lack of sleep or dehyrdation. I haven't been feeling incredibly stressed but I think my subconscious is because I wake up chomping down on my night guard (pending marathon, cost of Hawaii so close to Christmas). Today I had a nice 2hr nap. Part of my plan this week it to be in bed for minimun 8 hrs per night to see if that helps. Even after the nap it's only twitched once...we'll see how it goes. Plus I know my hydration hasn't been stellar and with activity ramping up I'll have to keep an eye on that as well. Incredible how the body has little ways of telling you to smarten up.

Have a great remainder of your weekend everybody!

Channeling my inner 5 year old

Alright, it's either the pans or my oven or Betty Crocker. However only since using these new pans have I had issues.

I made the marble cakes last night and chopped off the time by 7 minutes and they still burned. So once again I'm trimming off burnt parts. Then I wait for it to cool and start to frost it. The cake starts to fall apart, the more I try to fix it and the worse it gets. It's now like 8:45 and there's no time to start over so I got creative.

Took a big bowl, chopped up the cake and frosting, put a layer of chopped cake, layer of pudding (German cooked chocolate pudding), some chocolate chips and repeat. I practically jogged to Safeway this morning and grabbed some whip cream. Brought the charger and maple syrup to work so I could make the whip cream. Even brought sprinkles to finish the whole thing off. I'm calling it Marble Cake Explosion. Wouldn't it be funny if people started to request it?

Hopefully everyone likes it.

I did earn a few ap at least and do have a walk planned for after work.

Got informed that I got a raise today retro active as of Sept 1....whoo hooo!

I might be back later to report on the cake.

Other than all that, scale looked promising this morning :)

Update:
Everyone loved the Marble Cake Explosion, in fact a few people said it was the best cake the ever had...whew!

A couple of people asked me how I baked a cake in a plastic bowl...duh...it's assembled in the bowl not baked in it.

Adventures with cake

First of all I can't believe it's Thursday, not sure what happened to Wednesday...oh yes Cake Adventures.

So on Tuesday I did bake one cake cut it into 2 layers and then realized there are 20 people in my office. This is not enough cake. So on the way home yesterday I swung by Walmart grabbed two more boxes of cake mix (it's a week night I'm not baking from scratch) and another container of icing. I did make the filling on Tuesday so that was good. I also picked up two 13x9 pans so I could bake the two layers at the same time and the same size and they were cheap. Walked home at an incredible pace because I knew baking, waiting for cooling, filling and icing were in my future. Walked in the door, whipped up the two cakes as speedy as possible. Set timer for the same time I baked Tuesday's cake at.

I scorched the bottom of each of the cakes. I was traumatized. So I carefully cut off all the black and dark brown bits, grabbed one layer of Tuesdays cake and created a not quite even layered vanilla with lemon filling and vanilla icing cake. The cake is on a metal tray. I brought it to work today in a duffle bag that I carefully guarded on the super packed bus. Apart from being heavy, I'm really hoping it's good. The bits that I trimmed off and the odds and ends from creation were good. So my evening wasn't exactly OP either :)

The best part is I get to do it again tonight but this time a marble cake with chocolate icing. At least now I know to bake it about 5 min less and will hopefully have no bits to cut off and munch on.

Tuesday I did do yoga and it felt awesome, last night was the cake olympics (running through Walmart and then speed walking home). Tonight will be yoga and maybe pilates because I have more time. Friday it's walking again but I'm not too sure how I'll get a cake and a back pack on the bus.

Watched ANTM last night and have no clear favourite yet. Not impressed with some of them but it should be an interesting season. My friend from Vancouver asked me to tape it so I'll have to mail that off today...yes I am an amazing friend since I'm an hour away...by plane.

Fell asleep 3/4 of the way into Biggest Loser, woke up with 30min left so I taped that and went to bed. I miss Jillian. The new girl seems cool but a little perky/cheerleaderish. Time will tell. I felt for the people who didn't get picked but I like the idea of home vs ranch. I think it will prove to a lot of people that you can succeed with weightloss on your own. The before and after shots always floor me. Tonight I'm excited about The Office premier but I'll have to tape it. Oy vey I'll have to set my vcr for all these shows that are on past my bed time and hope that Tivo soon comes North. Not sure if I'll watch Survivor tonight. I found it a bit boring last week.

I have my quarterly perfomance meeting today, hopefully they'll just tell me I'm fabulous and be on with it. It's technically the 2nd quarter we're talking about so all goals set in the first meeting still have quite a bit of time to complete.

Have a super day!

Atmospheric interruption

Oy vey I'm tired, doesn't help that I stayed up and watched Men in Trees. Today's weather is whacky, we have fog and it's a bit chilly. All I want to do is put my PJs on and have hot chocolate.

Alas not in the cards tonight. I must do yoga and start Birthday cake #1. It's pretty straight forward- white cake, Sheriff's lemon filling and vanilla icing. Tonight is baking the cake and preparing the filling. Tomorrow will be assembly and bake cake #2.

Last night I made the most awesome dinner. Sauted some onion and mushrooms in a bit of oil and put it in an omelette of one egg and two egg whites topped with low fat cheddar cheese and served with salsa. The only bad thing was I put a wee bit too much salt in the eggs. It was so good I actually thought of making it again. Tonight I think I'll do the onions and mushrooms again but have it with a lean boneless pork chop that's been shake n' baked and maybe some steamed broccoli.

Last night did 50min of fast walking with training partner so that was good. I've now been on plan for 3 days. The scale showed a bit of a gain this morning but I think that's due to the two days of cardio (16 AP in two days) and the salt of last night. Water is going really well today. I have even talked myself out of chocolate bar.

Last night my training partner and I were talking about that renewed sense of dedication you have when you actually start to notice the progress on yourself. I hope I can ride that wave for a while. I was totally craving pizza last night but avoided that. I think I might need to treat myself on Saturday after WI but being on a budget I should probably make my own :) I have a dentist appointment that day too and I hate the dentist.

Now I'm totally rambling...until tomorrow

Lost my TV Guide

And missed Amazing Race! I think I accidentally recycled this weeks copy because I had last week.
I love Amazing Race, I'm so disappointed. Hopefully OLN will carry it and do a repeat sometime this week.

I did buy a new tv guide because of all the premiers this week. I was seriously fretting over it.
Watched Men in Trees...not bad, will watch it again. Apart from that, most of the ones I want to see haven't aired yet. I'm so looking forward to Wednesday for Biggest Loser and ANTW. Plus I think Tuesday has the season premier of Gilmore Girls. I'm such a tv junkie.

Thanks for the kudos on 3lbs and 16k. Just to clear up a few things though I'm a marathon walker no runner. So any distances I mention is walking not running. The reason I walk as opposed to run is running put 4 times your body weight on your joints, walking 2 times. I also have shorter legs and longer torso so running has never grown on me. I do think that long distance runners are amazing, that's hard core to me.

I do walk very fast, beat quite a few runners in the half marathon in Vancouver too...not that it's a competition, I just want to be clear that it's not a stroll either.

Speaking of training, I will complete all my cross training exercises this week ie. pilates and yoga in between all that baking that I talked about yesterday. I haven't been very consistent lately and I'm running out of time. Of course I also have to schedule creatively so I can catch all those premiers :)

The 160s!!!!!

Down 3lbs even this week, putting myself firmly in the 160s. The real test will be not too celebrate with food and go back to the 170s next week.

The weigh in lady was so cute. She looked at me and said "You're down 3lbs!", my response "It's amazing what happens when you follow the plan.

So far so good for the past two days. Did 16k this morning with training partner and I can feel it now. There was a bitter cold wind that turned my hands pink even with gloves on.

Didn't do much this weekend so I don't have too much to say.

My challenge for next week...2 Birthday cakes. Two office birthdays back to back and since I'm baking the cakes I'll have to at least have a bit. The good thing is a few of my coworkers practically inhale the cakes and treats. I'll hold back and let them go first.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Divine Intervention

Went out to dinner last night and on the menu was mention of a Black Forest Cheesecake (picturing in my head the image posted here), being of German stock this cried out to me. So after my salad with dressing on the side I ordered it. It was disgusting. For one thing it was hot, since when is cheesecake served hot. It wasn't cheesecake like whatsoever. It was served with Bailey's Whip Cream, which looked like it came out of a Reddi Whip and melted to a weird liquid in 10 seconds. It was almost like hot cake with cherries in the middle. My friend ordered the same thing and hers was cold...what the? I had a bite and got it taken off my bill, so thanks to that it was an OP day. Perhaps it was divine intervention so I didn't blow my points for the day....

I've been doing so well and I have one day to go before weigh in.

Had to buy lunch today because all my lunch making motivation left me this morning. Had a beef stew with a dumpling so probably not wicked low in points but I'm not worried. It will be a low point supper and I've downed 1.5l of water so far.

Got paid today and my budget/frugal pergatory (or should I say...lifestyle) continues. Technically I'm saving for Hawaii but I should really keep this trend going. It's amazing how "I want it now" I am. Now I stop and think before picking things up and heading to the cash. I can also be found saying "Too expensive" out loud as I put products back on the shelf.
I've already budgeted my bus pass for October and this weeks groceries. I do have a whack of food in my pantry that I rarely get around to because I'm always after fast suppers. I must take inventory and maybe put a post it note on the fridge with potential ideas so point friendly inspiration smacks me in the head when I get home.

I also need to bake two birthday cakes next week...back to back I might add. Luckily the requests are simple but that means lugging my cake carry thing two days in a row on the bus...wheeeeee!

Must go and drink more water...have a great weekend everybody!

Blechy cold rain and (dare I say) snow

Cold rain is falling on my fair city today, as it did yesterday and it's supposed to tomorrow as well. Except the added excitement for Friday might be....wet snow. Yes, we haven't quite reached the first day of fall and snow may be here.

I call it the winter dress rehearsal; however it won't stay and probably melt fast enough. It will give everyone that one day to find their mitts and snow shovels and try to remember how to drive in slippery conditions. There will be about 100 fender benders, I will consult the magic 8 ball later to confirm that later. The best part is then it will be nice for a few weeks and we'll start the winter dress rehearsal all over again until it lasts for a week and everyone adjusts.

When I got home yesterday the desire to workout was not with me, so I weighed myself 172.5. I then exercised because the desire to cross into the 160s on Saturday is strong. Weighed my self this morning after breakfast 171.5...yeah! Tonight, I'm going out to dinner but I know the restaurant well and they have an amazing salad. It will be dressing on the side and water with lemon and I'm good to go. Am I scale obsessed?, perhaps, but it's more to measure progress because it's taken me all summer to lose the same 4lbs.

Watched Rockstar last night and while I'm not that into Lucas's style I did find it interesting that Canadians have won two years in a row. Yay us!

Survivor starts tonight and I'm excited. The first episode always determines if I'll actually follow it through the season.

The only thing that drives me a bit nutty during Fall TV Season is figuring out what new shows to try, so often there on at the same time as a tried and true favourite and the programming my vcr is like organizing my daytimer. I should really look into a pvr.

Have a great on plan day everyone!

So far so good

Whew my week is flying by and it's only Tuesday, which means it will die a slow death by Wednesday.

My scale is being really nice to me. 171 it says which means in WW land under 170. Why is it that it shows me that 3 days before WI? So much opportunity for me to blow it. Last night was a bit of a snack fest but I had activity points so it came out even. That will not be the case tonight as my activity will be 20min of Core Secrets and 20min of Pilates. So that's not earning me much. The desire to be under 170 will be one heck of a motivator.

So excited about the new tv season and my reality obsessive behaviour is salivating over next Wednesday...America's Next Top Model and Biggest Loser debut back to back in my tv land. I'm seriously planning my workout around it...I know...pathetic. Biggest Loser is switching it up by having people on the ranch and people at home compete against each other and then two home people get chosen for the ranch....goose bumps I tell ya.

I'm also intrigued by Men in Trees, Ugly Betty and Eureka. Watched Eureka and I think it's a keeper. Battlestar Galactica starts on Space October 3rd....can't wait.

To prove I'm a total geek...the new Star Wars DVDs are out today with the original 3 movies on DVD. I own every other copy of this movie so I'm destined to own this one. However, in my self imposed budget world it will have to wait.

I've also been having these weird cookie cravings, but I hunted down a recipe for Forget'em Cookies. Meringue base so the WW friendly egg whites and this recipe has chocolate chips folded in. I only have mini chips and I'm undecided about adding them. Not sure when I'll make them but tonight might be good and I can't have any until tomorrow (a walking night) because they sit in the oven overnight...got my thinkin' cap on my friends.

Apart from that not a whole lot to say, must go to the library tonight so may earn an extra activity point by walking home.

To Success!

Things to ponder

I was down .4 today which crosses me once again into the 171 area. It's taking me a really long time to break through the 170s and I think I figured out why, thanks to todays meeting.
It was like a light bulb going off in my head when she said this.

The key to success on Weightwatchers is following the program. Well duh...I thought. Then realized what I have learned to accept as staying on program is sticking to my points for each day. I know that the water and fruits and veggies are factors but I was never as concerned about those as sticking to points.

When she asked us what is staying on plan the group started to discuss. This one woman said that she thinks most of us including herself are only following half the plan ie. the points. I was like OMG she's right.

Do I ever really think about am I getting enough protein, do I hit my water target on a regular basis (not lately).

Wow! I went grocery shopping after my meeting with a whole new attitude.

On a side note: Before meetings I usually hit Tim's for coffee and a muffin (I only eat half). This morning that didn't happen because the line was huge and I ran out of time. Normally I would probably hit McD for breakfast afterwards (not saying I'll never do that again) but today I rethought because it didn't go with the rest of the day I had planned food wise. Saturdays are my higher point day but it's really easy to hog wild on those days. Instead I went to starbucks afterwards and got a skinny latte with sugar free hazelnut syrop. When I got home I made a healthier breakfast.

I so need to take this one day at a time and start thinking of food as fuel (the 80/20 rule). I'm getting a lot of activity so no worries there but I must also be diligent about crosstraining. 3 months from today I'll be in Honolulu mentally preparing myself for probably one of the most challenging things I've ever considered doing....my marathon.

Now I must go back and read week 1 so to refresh my memory on what exactly staying On Plan means.

I will be a success story!

The tale of two Yoga DVDS

I did as planned yesterday. Walked in my front door and changed into workout clothes, then proceeded to pop in a Yoga Dvd. A few month back I found one at Walmart called Geri Yoga with everyone's favourite (or not) Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. I had to admit that what I had seen of her recently showed a super toned body. So I picked it up for $12. It sat and gathered dust (as most of the workout dvds I buy do) until yesterday.
I took off the cellophane and started the disk. I lasted 10min, not because it was hard. It was boring, the pace was really slow, the instructions vague and Geri chatted all the way through it. Her chat consisted of really irritating banter with the yoga instructor Katy Appleton. Well I had enough of that.

I did not give up. Instead I popped in what I consider to be the creme de la creme of yoga dvds (admitting that I haven't tried many)...Namaste Yoga. I love this DVD for a number of reasons. The set comes with 13 episodes at half an hour each. So you never get bored. I think it's filmed in Victoria and the scenery changes all the way through the half hour. The creator is Kate Potter and it's her voice that guides you from position to position. It's great clear instruction and the set up of her workouts have you start at the "heart centre" focusing on breathing, then you do the dynamic flow of moves but always return to heart centre. I never got completely lost and actually felt a sense of accomplishment afterwards.

Tonight the plan is walking, it's supposed to be 40min involving some sort of hill. I live in a hilly-ish neighbourhood but I think I'll do my regular loop of 5.6km which should take roughly 50min. Sunday is only 9.7km but soon that distance will double...eeek. I really should track down some gels so I can start trying them to see what will work in Hawaii.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Enough with Blah on to a new attitude

I'm done feeling sorry for myself and my lack of motivation.
Yesterday when I got home, I immediately changed into my walking clothes and headed out for a minimum of 50min according to my training schedule. It was actually 53min and 5.6km a little slow for me. Made a great salad for supper afterwards. Did have a pudding snack later on but not bad damage done.
I think I did something to my right hamstring muscle when painting the fence because it's not happy. Better today but still sore.
Tonight I will go home change into workout clothes and do some yoga and dust off my turbo jam dvd.
Major victory of the day...I brought my lunch but the same thing I've brought for last two days. Went with my coworker when she went to buy hers but I came back to the office and had what I originally brought...whoo hoo. Saved money and points.

This weekend I think I'm going to try making a couple of casserole type things and then divide into individual servings and freeze. I would have to clean out my freezer before doing that so we'll see how intrepid I get. I do want to make the mexican pie in the ESBM cookbook.

To Success!

Blah to motivation

After my claims of being motivated and all that jazz I fell off the wagon. I went home yesterday stopped off at the libraby and then waited in the blechy heat for the bus because I didn't have enough sunscreen on to walk home. By the time I got home I was lethargic and tired. Had no yolk noodles and left over spaghetti sauce (not horrible) then had a banana with light ice cream and chocolate sauce (horrible). Didn't do any strength training. Just did dishes, took out the garbage and watched Big Brother...speaking of which...Boogie is an idiot. I want Janelle to win just because she's a bombshell with competitive skills and goes into every challenge full force.

Today had a very healthy lunch with me, I might be going out to dinner tonight - have a game plan for that and then I was distracted by a donut. I'm not going to berate myself for a donut alas life will happen but I can't let a blip turn into an all out fall out.

I think I need to start my plan at the beginning of my week, so Saturday which will also be exactly 3 months before my marathon and my normal WI day. I've been good with the walking part of training but I need to kick it in to gear in regards to strength training and flexibility if I can even think about finishing. There's still a few weeks before the long distances get really long (20k and more). So the next 12 weeks have to be serious just to avoid injury. I'm comforted by the fact that Training Partner picked up a book by Hal Higdon that supports what we've been doing so far. She joined and aquasize class which is such a good idea. I should look into my local pool.

Now I'm rambling...tomorrow is a new day!

I love Fall

So the weekend went by in a blur as long weekends often do. Here is a recap of my activities.
Saturday: Weighed in - down 1lb, very happily surprised by that since it's the week before TOM and normally a gain.
Spent the day with my friend from Fort Mac. Saw Devil wears Prada for the second time and then ate really really really badly ie. hot dog and fries and a Peanut Buster Parfait. Got to play with her adorable 16 mth old nephew for a bit too.

Sunday: Up at 7am and painted one part of my 6 foot fence (the long part), took most of the day and what now feels like 400 squats. My neighbours might think I'm crazy because I was talking to the spiders I came across.
Me:O.K I have to paint here so either you move or I knock you off.
The spider: silence
Me: O.K I'm knocking you off.

The rest of the fence is waiting for spring and a paint sprayer because it just takes too damn long to paint between the fence boards.
Also discovered how many people in my hood speed down the alley way.

Monday:
Headed out for my long distance walk which was supposed to be 14.5KM it was only 11KM. I did find the elusive parks that gain access to the pathways, actually discovered a few. All were closed off due to renovations or falling rocks...fine. Then I just did laundry, watered flowers and did household stuff.
Had a wee heart attack because I couldn't find the charger for my garmin. Then found it still in the suitcase I took to my Dad's...whew!!

Today:
Feel like I did 400 squats.

The reason I love fall is mostly due to all the fabulous colours and how it's still nice but not super hot, however today should be over 30.

Since it's almost a new season I also feel a bit of renewed motivation in terms of weight loss. The summer felt like one step forward and two steps back. My training will be hitting high gear soon so activity will be better. I'm trying to save moolah so making my own lunch will also be helpful. I think I need to re-establish my accountability to all of you so I'll be posting my food and activity again.

Today:
Breakfast:
1/2c Original All bran - 1
1/2c Milk - 1
1/2c Strawberries - 1
Coffee - 2
Milk - 2
Snack:
Grapes-1
Coffee - 2
Lunch:
1/2c Chunky Soup - 3
Tomatoe - 0
Carrot Salad - 2 (raw grated carrot with a 1 tbls of ceasar vinagrette dressing)
Yogurt - 2
Subtotal: 17pts
Goal today: 24pts
Point remaining: 7

Happy Long Weekend Eve

Death by chocolate was spectacular...only one option was so so. The rest literally to die for especially this thing called Chocolate Cream. It tasted like homemade chocolate pudding and it was in this cute almost egg cup size little bowl. I did wind up having pasta but only ate half skipped the sauces and just had veggies with it. Thank god I skipped the wine...$8 a glass at the Palliser. I was rail roaded by super expensive coffee...$5 for normal coffee. Alas it was all worth it.
Today I'm back on plan, had to buy lunch but had an awesome turkey sandwith on dark bread with a little mustard and a little cranberry sauce and veggies.

Tonight will probably be soup.

My Friend from Fort Mac is coming in tomorrow so my painting palooza will be delayed a day but apart from that it all looks good for the coming weekend.

I hope everyone has a great and safe Labour Day weekend.

Death by Chocolate

Is Tonight!!!!!!!!
So points are going to be nowhere near friendly and I'm totally o.k with that. I've been careful with breakfast and lunch. Headed out in the rain/drizzle last night to do my 5km. Tomorrow will be low points and another 5km. Can you tell I'm pre-justifiying my actions.

It's been quite sometime since I've gone so it should be interesting.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about:
Death by Chocolate is an abundance of small servings of many, many, many chocolate desserts. There's a chocolate fountain, cookies, tortes, cakes, creme brule and the like. It's all amazing because it's put on by the Fairmont Palliser. The also offer a sort of pasta night. You pick what type of pasta you want (long, short or filled), then choose your sauce base (tomatoe, alfredo, pesto or pesto cream) and then you can choose anything you want to be added to the sauce from about a list of 20 things (ie pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, chorizo sausage-just to name a few). One can get a small order of pasta.

The chocolate alone is $20 but well worth it, due to my self imposed budget for Hawaii I might just be having chocolate for supper. We'll see...the smell of the roasted garlic can definitely sway me towards pasta.

Creative cross training

Yesterday was the first time in a long time that I stayed OP to the point...whoo hoo now I just need to repeat the process :)
Watched an amazing documentary on Katrina/New Orleans on CBC newsworld last night, I love their docs because there never sensational, always interesting and a matter of fact. This one was particularly good because it gave you quite a bit of back history leading up to the devastation as well. I feel so blessed to live where I do, no chance of hurrican or really tornado. The only wicked bad weather thing that can happen here is torrential rain (survived that with no flooding) or an abundance of snow (so far survived over 100cm and no damage...just met all my neighbours as we dug out our houses).

Tonight is a training night and as long as it doesn't decide to pour on our heads we'll be out there. Not that rain would normally derail me but it's a balmy plus 12 with north winds. I'm not interested in getting sick with my world wind plans of painting a fence, window frames and a railing this long weekend.

Last night was cross training...I cleaned like a mad woman for a solid hour and a half. I just kept finding projects. By 8pm I was falling asleep on the couch. So I am counting that.

This morning I saw a bit of infomercial for Turbo Jam...I own this, I have already been sucked in by the merchandising machine. I've done it once. So I sat there thinking to myself...we should dust that off. Then I started to think of all the exercise dvds/vhs I own and realize I never need to join a gym.

Have a great day/night!

Back to civilization

Well I'm well rested and now back into the crazy pace of city life.
Pretty much spent the week sleeping, eating and catching up on all the soaps I watched last summer. It was good :)

Food was a total disaster since but I was only up 0.8 so I was quite happy with that. I didn't even stick to my training schedule. It was all about being relaxed and quiet.

Did get back into the game upon my return to the city. Did a 10k walk on Sunday, was supposed to do 13 but considering I barely moved a muscle the week before I'm not too disappointed. Tonight is 45min so that's very doable. What I really need to do is focus on the strength training.

The only stories I have to tell is of a psycho squirrel who liked to chase away the birds at the bird feeder...yup that was the most exciting thing to happen. Well there was gridlock traffic in the town nearest my Dad's place. No traffic lights so this was due to a large truck trying to make a left turn at a 4 way stop...y'all get the picture.

It's good to be back in the city but I actually started to think that living out there might not be so bad in the years to come. I'm a bit of a hermit normally and have pretty much resolved myself to dying alone (no need for any "I'm sure someone will come along") I'm not dead set on being the crazy lady with 20 cats but I'm not afraid of being alone either. I will attempt the internet dating thing again but I think after the marathon just because it takes up so much time this training business.

:)

Day 7/7 - Counting down the hours

Hello All,
So I was missing in action probably because I was eating. When I'm stressed I eat and I've been mega stressed thanks to work and the craziness that happens when you're trying to get organized before going on vacation. Actually yesterday I was very good points wise not excessive snacking, had to talk myself out of it a few times. Every time I wanted to snack I went and weighed myself...it worked well. Today just due to being busy I'm on plan, no time to snack. Tonight I must mow lawns, water flowers and pack so I won't be snacking either.

I'll be gone next week, I'm off to Dad's so the middle of nowhere with 6 channels well actually 3 but because he's smack in the middle of two major cities you get the locals from both. I'm packing books and my pilates DVD and my portable DVD player plus a few movies.

Training schedule is also going with me to go on his fridge for the week. Not sure if I can do the endurance walk do to location but then I'll just walk every day for shorter distances to make up the mileage for the week. It's early enough in training that I can pull that off plus the endurance distance for this week isn't much. Next week it start to get longer and longer and longer.

I get so tired at his house, I just want to sleep. I'll sleep late, I'll nap and I'll be out before The National. It's all that fresh air and no sounds of traffic. Everything runs in relation to sun up and sun down. I sometimes wonder if I'm running on adrenaline in the city and at his house I can stop and breathe.

He'll be doing all the cooking (he won't let me) so food will be a little hard to control the good thing is he doesn't make too many evil things and I will be stopping at Stupidstore to pick up milk, yogurt, cereal and any other necessity that he wouldn't eat.

I'm not missing any WI so the motivation will still be there that's for sure.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a great week ahead.

Day 5/7 - Big miscalculation

My Stir fry turned into more of a disaster than too much sauce. I had a nagging feeling about the NI for the steam fried noodles. At first look the NI looked good and then I figured out how many servings were in the bag. OMG I was wrong. The NI is for 25g and there's 15 servings in the bag. So this morning I tossed all of it.

I should have realized it with the word fried in the title but for some reason I thought steam was good.

Oh well it's a learning opportunity. Today has been a weird food day. I know I'm an emotional eater and today was mega stress so this morning I grabbed a raspberry delight (granolaish raspberry things) that I'm pretty sure is equally evil to a scone. So I'm not sure how to calculate that but tonight will be a low point dinner and no snacks whatsoever. I have to go to the library tonight and it takes about 20min to walk home from there. Yoga didn't happen yesterday so I think I'll do it today.

Onwards and hopefully downwards!

Day 4/7 - Gene Simmons is funny

OMG, last night I laughed all the way through two episodes of Gene Simmons Family Jewels. I love this show it's Gene at home with the woman and the kids. 23 years of unmarried bliss he says. Of course his signficant other is Shannon Tweed who is Canadian by the way.
The kids are funny, the dog is funny. Gene is hysterical. I vaguely remember the leaders of a summer camp pretending to be KISS but other than that they were slighltly before my time.
Last night one episode was the son (Nicholas) challenging Dad to a driver's test and another had Dad (a notorious womanizer) freaking out over his daughter dating. It really seems like this how they all are at home. They're sarcastic and you can tell love each other very much.
I highly recommend this.

On to training : tonight is Yoga. Of course when I got home from work I was starving so I made a botched stir fry which now means I have to wait a bit before I can do Yoga because your not supposed to do it on a full stomach. The stir fry is botched because I never get it right, it's either too much sauce or not enough. Tonight too much sauce so I added more steam fried noodles which now means it's going to stir fry for lunch all week. Now I can't stop yawning so if Yoga doesn't happen I did walk home from the mall fast because I was trying to avoid getting soaked in the pending rain.

Point wise still did well today I'm quite happy now it's just 3 days to get through to complete a week. Then I'm off for a week at my Dad's house so no blogging during that time and at the mercy of my Dad's fridge but I will be training and my training schedule is coming with me so it can be on his fridge for the week.

Must go drink copious amounts of water to offset the sodium in the stir fry.

Later

Day 3/7 part 1 - Sonya thinks I'm Inspiring

I'm so incredibly honoured that someone thinks I'm inspiring. Especially someone like Sonya, she's having a bambino that's an amazing thing all in itself.

TP (Training Partner) and myself realize that marathon is not that far away. We are now in week 3 of training. Week 1 was fantastic, Week 2 had a whole lot of rest days with bursts of activity in between. So here at Week 3 we know that goofing around is now over. We're serious, we're committed, we're shopping for hydration packs.

Little did I realize that conversations with a good friend would consist of debates over hydration packs "I think we should go 3L just to be safe and the Bushido from MEC feeds through the shoulder strap".
Discussions over carb consumption "So the sport beans are neat and the exact same carbs as gel so maybe for 6.5 - 7hrs we should have a combination of beans, gels and a mix of bite size pieces of clif bars"
Discussions over potential chafing "We should really try every hydration pack on and see how it feels, 7hrs in heat and humidity could get ugly"

We're on the pathway tonight being the fashion police for technical fabric. "I can't believe that guy is running in a cotton t-shirt, does he not know that cotton is evil".

By golly I think we're turning into the two old guys from the Muppets.

We did well tonight, goal was 45min, we did closer to 50min (it's hard to stop dead at 45min - your're usually at an awkward spot on the pathway, we could have gone 22.5 min out and back but we chose a loop instead). Points have been excellent today, hydration good could be better.

Tomorrow is 30 min of Cross Training so I think I'll do yoga. I need some serious stretching.

See ya tomorrow!

Now I'm excited! - Day 2 out of 7 (Week 1)

So WI was a miracle...I stayed the same. Quite pleased with that.
Saturday turned into a personal last supper, I remember doing that the week before I joined WW in the first place.

I made a conscious decision to make this day 1. So day 1 was the last supper but I stayed up late watching Coyote Ugly on ABC so there were many hours between last food intake and sleep.
Today has been wicked OP. I think part of my problem is not looking at what types of food my body needs. Sundays are long distance training day so I met my training partner for the first time in a few weeks because our schedules finally connected. We did a little over 11km at the right pace. Before heading out I had a home made yogurt fruit parfait and a glass of milk, after workout I had a homemade egg mcmuffin and some ham bacon and a home made cafe mocha. That was at noon, so I had my pre workout carbs and my post workout protein and my stomach hasn't grumbled once and it's now 4pm.

Next weeks lunches will be a balance of protein and veggies. I'm thinking of having yogurt with my morning english muffin instead of waiting until 9am to have the yogurt. It's all about statistics my friends.

My training partner told me something really comforting. I was a bit freaked out about going to Hawaii and her whole family being there...you know odd person out. I guess originally her brother wanted to be in Hawaii the same time I was planning to be and TP told him that there would be no time for family time then because her friend was coming (that's me). So now there in Hawaii a week ahead of my arrival as a family and then everyone except her mom and her goes home the day after the marathon. I'll be temporarily adopted for the marathon support but afterwards I know that her mom, her and I will have a fabulous time for the following week.

Wow now I'm excited... a little curious of what I'll be allowed to bring on the plane. If they ban electronics then I better be allowed to bring a book and a couple of mags. 7 hours is a long time to be staring at the seat in front of you.

Hope everyone had a super great weekend!

4 months exactly

Today is exactly 4 months from me standing on the starting line (well behind 27000 other people) of the Honolulu Marathon...whoo hoo!
Which means 4 months away from my goal date of being at goal.

Lately it's been hard to stay OP and I'm not sure why. I took time to self analyze and these are some of theories.
Long weekend - 3 days of 24/7 access to the fridge and no routine like at work.
Plans that go awry - Bring really healthy lunch to work and then wind up going out for lunch (that only happened yesterday) which then throws off your day.
Meal planning - As in perhaps I should do that
Training plans and weather: Last night was a training night, training partner stuck out of town. Thought about walking home but the sky indicated bad idea. There was a vicious thunderstorm but did I go home and pop in a dvd...no.
Snacking after dinner: Meticulously went through my cupboards for low point options made that but then at 8:30pm had uncontrollable desire for an ice cream sandwich.
Water- As in drink it regularly

A part of all this is probably TOM related but I'm dead serious about the next 4 months. You all will be my inspiration. When you have good days I will be inspired, when you have bad days it will remind me that we are all human and that this is a lifestyle not a diet and more importantly I will know that I'm not alone in all this and do my best to inspire you as well.

I'm back on an OP challenge then, which I'll do in 7 day increments, 121 days sounds a little daunting. Saturday is WI so I will start Day 1 then, but the staying OP starts today.

This was on Ironbelle's blog and technically I was tagged so here it goes.

5 strange habits
1) Can not eat any meat that has bones, it there's not a choice I'll eat around them
2) WI rituals - same scale every time and wear the exact same outfit every Saturday
3) My office is crazy neat, my house not so much
4) When I weigh myself at home, I always step on the scale right foot first
5) I also hate Christmas (too many years in retail) but adore Halloween

Hawaii is a GO!

How things can change in 24 hours. So my friend found a two bedroom condo right behind the Hawaiian Hilton Village. I got my flight for $850, originally priced at $876 then jumped to $1006 and then I checked back a couple of hours later and got my $850. Booked in on expedia, did a quick check on all the other sites for the same flight and I saved at least $150 bucks. There were cheaper flights but with mega layovers. Mine is a direct flight...woohoo. Now all I need to do is sign up for the marathon and this is a done deal.

Now my mind is racing, stay op, train, where the heck can I buy shorts in December. My goal is to be at goal by then, I might be travelling with an empty suitcase and buy warm weather clothes there.

This does put me on a budget for the next few months. I have to give my friend the moolah for the condo before October because that's when they charge her card. My original thinking was technically don't need to pay for the hotel until check out. Oh well it's about $571 for my portion which is still pretty darn good so I just can't go crazy at Walmart and be cautious with my "want it now" habits.

I get a room of my own, because there's a kitchen save some money on not eating out all the time plus that's a wee bit easier to stay on plan.

As far as this weekend went, food was hard only because my routine was tossed off. Didn't get a lot done just did a lot of relaxing :)

Round and round in circles

In my attempt to walk 9.7K for my training program I went in search of the elusive staircase that leads to the pathway. The reason this staircase is elusive is because it's not marked and behind bushes in a park. There's a lot of parks in this neighbourhood. The first time I found it from the pathway itself now I'm going in reverse. Thought I found it but that resulted in hiking a large portion of the Douglas Fir Trail with lots of stairs. These are "natural" stairs so wooden frame filled with dirt and the heights are wicked uneven. I got quite the workout hiking down and the back up. Didn't complete 9.7 but I didn't care that little hike but out way more exertion then I was supposed to do so I call it even.

I was up .8 at WI which is fine because it's TOM related, I've been up as much as 2lbs that week so my water was on track. I even had potatoe salad for dinner the night before.

I'm focusing on activity this week for sure and I'll head out for another walk tomorrow and yoga might be in future tonight just to stretch out some muscles a bit better.

Hawaii might be going better. I picked up a Frommer's guide yesterday and have started looking at like I'm going solo. Found a few jewels that they recommended that fit my budget. The tricky part is availability now. There's quite a few that I looked at that are booked solid for the first 4 days of my trip. I've also embraced the fact that if it's not meant to be this year, there's always next year.

I'm supposed to meet up with TP and her Mom tomorrow. A part of me is thinking this is me against them and I'm the third wheel. I've gotten over the fact that if we do two room I'll be paying more by looking for rooms that would be the same price as my half of the original hotel I booked which was a pricier one right on the beach. I found a very promising one and emailed them for info on availability last night...so we'll see.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Food Kleptomaniac

It's not that I'm stealing other peoples food (I do know some people who do this), it's that whatever my intention is this week I wind up with more.
For example this morning - I go to get a cup of coffee and I come back with coffee and raisin toast.
I just don't get my behaviour this week, I know it's partially due to the on coming of TOM but come on you'd think I could talk myself out of it. It will be interesting to see my WI results on Saturday. I'm not working tomorrow, took the day off to spend with my Dad. My Dad is not exactly the healthiest eater on the planet. We're German so at his house every day around 3pm some sort of pastry is consumed. Typically it doesn't happen at my house, plus I don't have any pastry in the house.

I'm a bit bummed today, probably helping the behaviour above.

The Honolulu marathon plans are going up in smoke. I was going with my training partner (TP) and her Mom. A little weird for me since the last time I was in Honolulu was with my Mom before she got ill. Then it started to turn into sort of a family vacation for TP with multiple family members, I totally think that's great for her but I'm not so keen on it...call me difficult. My family isn't close and I have no siblings so I'm fairly independant and not so sure how to interact in a multi family member environment. Technically this is my winter vacation and I can't get my head around spending it with someone else's family, it would be different if I was visiting them but it's the going en masse sort of thing plus they were to be there a week ahead of me. I know their great but it's not the picture I had in my head. It's the feeling of being the third wheel.
Way back at the beginning of this marathon plan, I reserved a room for TP, Mom and me and sort of had a budget layed out. Now TP is suggesting a two room condo or two hotel rooms because we're all used to living on our own and we don't want to drive each other bananas. Valid point but that would double my costs for hotel. She has a point that if we had a condo then we could buy groceries, but yet again it would me and her family.
At the end of the day I'd be looking at roughly $2500 for one week holiday and that is just soooooo much too me and that's not including spending money.
So now I think she and her family should go to Hawaii and have a fantastic time. I'll find a marathon closer to home or wait for the Calgary Marathon in July.

I'm not totally giving up on Hawaii but it seems like it's getting further and further away.

I'll be back over the weekend with a much better outlook...I promise.

The Adventures of Walking Home

Death By Chocolate has been post poned. Which is probably for the best...I think I have some Light Dr Oetker Chocolate Mousse mix at home...I might need to go there with all the thoughts of chocolate dancing in my head.

So I being intrepid and somewhat intelligent decided to walk home after work yesterday. My walking buddy bailed on me and we're off kilter as to training plan. She's a day behind me. I'm a little sketchy on the pathway up by hood. There's an elusive staircase on the side of the cliff completely surrounded by trees that leads from the path up to the neighbourhoods so I went on a quest to find it. Part of this walk is a little spooky because it gets very woodsy and no people around except for the stray abandoned shopping cart. Hats off to the people who push them all the way up there because that's far and not so easy.

I started off my trek with my loaded backpack and at a good pace. Got past the last major bridge which is where my knowledge of the path gets sketchy. Stepped off the main path on to a side one that I thought was the one I needed. After climbing up on a gravel pathway for roughly 2k, I realized nope this isn't it. I knew I would surface in an area I was familiar with I just didn't quite know where. I surface in the neighbourhood 3 over from mine. Which was o.k, the end result just over 7km with mega hill work. I got home exhausted probably slightly dehyrdrated...fuel belt can not go on due to backpack and like an idiot I didn't stop to drink.

Lesson learned: make sure to take a sip of water every 15min and stay on the main path longer to find the elusive staircase.

There will be another attempt probably next week :)

I need me a posse

O.K so Friday the workout gods left me but I stuck to the food plan really well. Saturday was a rest day and I was up 0.6 at WI which I'm totally o.k with. I think my body is freaked out about the yoga and pilates, it's trying to figure out what I'm up to. I really enjoyed the meeting because the discussion was why do we like meetings and what are some of the things you've learned. It reminded me again how it doesn't matter where you are in this journey, the battle is the same. I thought about my fellow bloggers on this journey and how much support there was on here as well. We should really have a convention of some sort :)

I watched all the yoga workouts yesterday so I don't do an impression of a contortionist when I do it on Tuesday.

All weekend I desperately wanted to bake but resisted. Then I remembered I had No pudge brownie mix but no fat free vanilla yogurt so that didn't happen.

I also searched in vain through all my cookbooks for a point friendly ground beef casserole recipe. I found recipes but was always missing an ingredient. That idea is on hold for next weekend.

Sunday I did my 8km walk according to my training plan and I kicked ass. I had one of my fastest times ever which was not the plan. I so walk to the music in my mp3 player. For race time I need put together a killer mix. At any rate I decided that I really should encorporate a heart rate monitor especially when I walk on my own so that I don't over train.

Fell victim to a home made sundae yesterday after dinner and then felt over full as payback. I think I'll skip the low fat ice cream for a while and stick to portion controlled ice cream sandwiches if I need a fix. I can stop at one.

This week will be tough craving wise thanks to the week before TOM thing. So I've stocked my house with low point options and have conducted self mind control so that if I crave something sweet my option will be fruit. Water is my top priority. I've lost during this week before and that was thanks to loads of water, I want to hit 170 so bad.

Last week on one of my training nights I ran into some of the people from the half marathon clinic I did that ended in May. Many people commented on my having lost weight and I just got an email from one them who mentioned again that I looked awesome. I'm seriously thinking of hiring these people to follow me around and tell me I'm fabulous...my own posse perhaps?

I'm supposed to go to Death By Chocolate tomorrow but that might not happen which would probably be a good thing. Even if it is "on" apparently the event is booked, there is first come first serve in the pub area that offers it so we'll see. Today and tomorrow will still be planned around it point wise just in case.

WE WILL BE SUCCESSFUL !!!!!!!!

So so so so so so Happy it's Friday!!!!!

I've deliriously happy that it's Friday for no particular reason. I'm just sick of this week. Ya know?

Woke up to a freaky lightning and thunder show, no rain...just lightnening and thunder. Bright enough to light up my room. So I just lay in bed saying a mantra of "Please don't hit my house". Then it started to rain. My original plan was to bring my walking gear to work and walk home (about 10k) but those storms are coming back and I really don't want to be stuck on a pathway that's at the base of a cliff and one has to climb that cliff in a mega thunderstorm. So I'll wait until I get home and then if the weather holds go for a walk and if not then a DVD workout. I did yoga again last night and stuck to the Exalted Warrior workout, I tried to do another one but I got lost in the warm up. I never watch a workout dvd before I launch myself into the workout. This weekend I'll be watching those yoga workouts for sure.

The scale is playing mind games with me. Thursday morning good progress, this morning "What the?". I know not to be ruled by a number but it still irritates me. My snack-apalooza has probably caught up with me. What's really scary is next week should be the desire to snack craziness due to TOM. I will have to tread carefully me thinks.

I had today completely planned out and started tracking on Fitday. I'm still tracking points and my journal is permanently attached to me but it's sort of neat to see all that broken down in to calories. Shape has a neat free tracker too, but you can't save it only print it. I like the add food system better on the shape site then Fitday but I'd rather it saves the info.

I got off course at lunch with some fries, but I'm still on track point wise even with the dinner I have planned out. I'm drinking water like it's going out of style. I do this all the time - suddenly develop excellent behaviours the day before weigh in. What can I say I'm hoping for a metabolism shake up.

Thank you so much for all the snack suggestions. I think I need to come up with a modified trail mix of some sort. I have fruit cups in my desk at work but I think trail mix would travel better.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Now to figure out the after workout snack

Since my salad from Taco Time was such a disaster I went home and snacked like crazy, over all the damage wasn't bad I only really had fairly healthy things to choose from, but I know I need to focus on a good after workout snack.

I should be conscious of the pre workout snack as well. So pre workout carbs and post workout protein. Ideally I'd like something protein ish that can live in my back pack for the day and doesn't require being kept cool or a large cumbersome container. Turkey bites is an option but they don't taste the same warm. I'm thinking of baking a savoury biscuit of some sort with maybe ham and a wee bit of cheese. So not big but just something to consume afterwards that prevents me from seeking out food like a maniac.

Next week I'm trying an experiment with breakfast I'm going to go back to the homemade egg mcmuffin. Lately it's been one piece of toast and Nutella, today it was too pieces of toast, light marg and a bit of grape jelly. Both accompanied with a glass of milk and a cup of coffee. I have breakfast at 5:45am ish so at 8:00am I have a yogurt by 10:00am my stomach is grumbling.

It's kind of a science isn't it.

One of my colleagues is in a wicked funk today and it's affecting everyone else. I totally understand why he's in a funk but I don't think he realizes how it effects everyone else. I owe him dinner so I suggested that today we pick a night. He said no idea so I said any Tues or Thurs how about Death by Chocolate tonight? ...Very brave move on my part since I'm doing the Death by Chocolate thing on Tuesday with other friends. I do have a sneaky suspicion that tonight won't work simply because I don't think he's in the mood to be sociable...I offered it because he loves chocolate and just maybe it would make him smile.

On the tv show front watched So You Think You Can Dance last night and I don't know who should go home. They weren't all fantastic but I don't think anyone was disappointing enough to go home...o.k maybe Ryan. I found that Natalie out did him but she does that with every partner. It was great to see Benji and Heidi dancing together. I'll have to tape the result show because it's just a wee bit too late for moi. Haven't really gotten into Rockstar probably because I'm not that crazy about Tommy Lee. Big Brother was better because their was some drama with Jase but I'm still not totally crazy about it.

My walking friend will be consumed by Folk Fest so I'm on my own for Friday and Sunday which doesn't phase me but I'm thinking about getting a heart rate monitor so I can have a better indication of what I'm doing especially when I'm training by myself. When we walk together we naturally go faster.

Well I'm totally all over the place today topic wise :)

My Abs hurt

Update:
Did 7.17 KM tonight fastest pace time 5:35min/km, average pace 10:55min/K.
So we're about a minute slower than 4 months ago...not too shabby. It was quite hot in the full sun. Luckily pathway has shaddy bits :)

Stupid move of the night..got a bean and salsa salad from Taco Time, forgot that there was salsa on it and added more...was way too hot to eat...duh!


I did the 20min Winsor Pilates workout followed by a Namaste Yoga workout and today I feel it.
It's been awhile since I've done pilates and I was impressed that my flexibility improved on some moves but it was hard so I know I was rusty. The Yoga was better I had done that workout before but still had to awkwardly get a look at the tv to see if I was doing the move right.

Tonight it's walking with my training buddy, probably about 6km or so. I remembered my Garmin today so I'll be able to track distance, pace and calories.

Apart from that not too much to report today. Staff meeting went better than I expected so that was good.

The mysteries of change

So last night right when I got home I did step aerobics, had to drag myself through it but I did it and then I had a very healthy dinner that only put me over by 2pts...not too shabby I must say for myself :)

Today is going better, I armed my desk with the Cadbury thins so if I need a treat that's my option not going and buying a 7pt ice cream thingy. I'm not the type to eat more than one of the cadbury thins so having a few in my desk is not a problem. Plus I have a few different types so it doesn't get boring.

Tonight I need to swing by my local mall and get some protein options, I have an abundance of fruit and veggies but almost nothing for protein. I'm also going to see if I can find some tops to go with my skirts. There's a store that's like mini Winners which I think I can tolerate a little better. I'm avoiding hemming pants so I need tops to go with all the skirts I used to avoid wearing. Now I'm embracing them...go figure.

On tap for tonight is Yoga and Pilates. I think I'll start with Pilates and then do the yoga.

I'll also walk home from the mall which is roughly 3km so not terribly far but every little bit counts :)

In terms of my title that's more work related. I always find it interesting how people approach change. There are those who embrace and live for it and those who avoid it like the plague. I think I'm in the middle, I'm not afraid of it as long as I know how it effects me. My co- worker is deathly afraid of it and driving me crazy because she keeps using me as her back up. For example "Well CW and I think that....". No way Sista you're on your own. I feel like I need to follow up with the people she's saying these things to in order to state that she's not speaking for me. Tomorrow's staff meeting will be interesting, there's a whole whack of changes in the works and it should be boisterous. Last week turned into a talking over each other match with nothing being sorted. I hope tomorrow is more productive :)

Found pants!

Yesterday I headed to the mall once again and this time I took my measurements before I went and reconfirmed that I am fabulous. Went to the Bay again and found a black and grey pair that fit well, not perfectly but they're not going to fit me for long because I'll be smaller :)

They were on sale and then I got a further reduction at the till. $37 for two pairs of dress pants that are normally $50 each. Whoo hoo! Still no luck on the tops to go with skirts front, I think I need to wait for the new season to officially get in.

Discovered an interesting trend in my snack attack both Saturday and Sunday I had boughts of post 7pm snacking and I know why.
During the work week, I have scheduled snack breaks and lunch breaks. This weekend I had breakfast a little later than usual and then didn't have lunch till I was pretty much starving at 2pm which then totally threw my metabolism and dinner off. I still had supper but would go for something light. I had long periods of time between meals do to staying up later than usual that resulted in mindless snacking instead of planned snacking. I plan my work days in my tracker to the last point practically. I don't do that on the weekends. I think I'll start. It's not a massive deal because I typically have a free day within reason on Saturday and have never had it effect a weigh in badly. I just don't like it when I feel like the snacking is over taking me.

Well marathon training starts today! So weather permitting I'll head out for a walk when I get home if there's a storm than it will be step aerobics.

Here's my workout plan for the week:
Monday:walk 5-6km or cardio (40min or more)
Tuesday:yoga, pilates, strength
Wednesday:walk 6-8km or cardio (if weather sucks)
Thursday: yoga, pilates, strength
Friday:Walk 6-8km or cardio
Saturday:Rest
Sunday:Long walk 8-10km

As the weeks progress the walking distances will change but not the days. I think I'll start posting what I did each day, add a level of accountability.

Update:
Just fell victim to a massive ice cream sandwich, well wasn't really forced...this is what happened.
Me speaking to co-worker- I feel like ice cream
Her - Let's go
Me- I don't really need one...but I am working out tonight
Her-I read that you shouldn't try to justify and just do it or not
Me-No I'm thinking of points can I encorporate into my plan
Her- So can you?
Me- Yeah...let's go

Of course now I feel guilty and I'm not impressed with how I talked myself into that. Yes I could fit into my points for the day. I just need to adjust dinner. I just really wished I could have stuck to my plan without being distracted by ice cream.

I will not be derailed again today. I will drink my water, I will work out, I will have a healthy filling dinner.
See ya tomorrow!