The drama of self thought

"The only thing harder than learning from experience is not learning from experience"

This was the quote of the day at my WW meeting this morning. Today we talked about challenges and overcoming them. The meeting started off with people talking about what they've tried before and lessons learned. One woman said something that stuck with me, she was talking about how she hit goal and then thought she was done. She's back because she has work to do. Then Clare asked for all the lifetime members to but up their hands - there were at least 10.

Now I'm still a ways away from goal but I think it's good to realize that what I'm doing is not short term. Embracing a healthier lifestyle is a life long journey.

I was down 0.2 today. I can't say I wasn't disappointed. Then the self thought kicked in and went something like this:

• Was it the one beer before weigh in?
• Did I estimate the cheese plate wrong?
• Did I estimate the Keg dinner wrong?
• Did I get too much activity?
• Is it the messing up on my BC pills a few weeks back that I took two packs back to back?
• Is it that I'm pms-ing?
• Could it be you went over 10pts this week but you earned 20.5 APs?

This is happening at a rapid pace in my head when my leader Clare says to me - You're averaging one pound a week that's great.

In the last 12 weeks I've lost 12.2lbs. Of course I'd like to be averaging a bit more than that but on the other hand I didn't see a gain today and quite often during this time I'd be up 2lbs.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile you know I'm strong believer in learning the lesson and moving forward so that's what I'm going to do.

Shortly I'll be heading out for a mega walk as the weather is lovely despite a wee windy. I've already earned 2 APs today as I walked to weigh in and back with a backpack full of groceries (4.6K ish) Today is also all about the housework. I want to get all the chores done today.

Tomorrow I want to head to the mall to pick up a few things plus get in another walk.

I'm off to site again this week so I'll have to get organized for that as well.

Alright my friends I'm going to change and head out. Might be back later.

Hugs!!!

Good and so so behaviours

This morning I swung by Starbucks for a non fat Cafe Mocha, normally they ask if you want whip or not and I always say no. I didn't even notice this morning that they never asked - new people working. When I got the drink I saw the whip cream so I took to the kitchen on my floor and I scooped off all the whip and rinsed it down the sink.

At lunch my work friends where in search of a snack so I went with them to the convenience store. I bought nothing and just went back to my desk and had a piece of gum.

After work I went for a beverage (a very nice pale ale that totally hit the spot after a long week) and we shared a cheese plate (3 cheeses not huge portions) with crackers (whole grain or something). Well that was dinner. That's where the so so behaviour kicked in. I was very tempted by a strudel berry bar they had but luckily my friend T talked me out of it. I was getting pretty tired so the decision making was suffering.

I came home and changed into my PJs, no walk tonight I'm knackered. I did finally do my taxes and I get about $900 back - that's alright.

Now I'm on total food/drink cutoff until after weigh in tomorrow.

I have zip idea of what the weigh in will be I got the most activity in this week then I have in a long time but I'm battling the evil water retention.

We shall see tomorrow. Hope your day went well.

Hugs!!!

Reduced fat????

While I have been keeping the snackapalooza desires in check I had blank moment at Starbucks this morning. I was ordering my usual latte when I saw the reduced fat banana chocolate cake. I ordered it. The cake part should have technically stopped me. I've been rolling into the office at 6:10am every morning this week so that might have something to do with my blank mind.

I did have my wits about me and before I opened the bag I found the NI and plugged it in. This reduced fat cake is 8pts. I promptly threw the whole thing into the trash. If I want to blow that amount of pts I'd go for the scone.

I was in meetings all day today with a couple of "my boys". I support a group that consists of 97% men and they're all "my boys". These particular boys and I have been spending the last 3 months together on a specific project. Whenever we're together they always buy lunch (expense it). They were part of the chinese food disaster last week so this week I gave them two options for lunch - Wendy's or Subway. My plan for Wendy's was small chili and side salad and my plan for Subway was a 6" Ham sub. We went to Subway and I got a bottle of water with my sub.

Dinner was half a can of veggie chili. At first I thought I'd have the whole can (7pts) but then I thought start with half and see - there's 9g of fibre in 250ml. I measured out 250ml (3pts) and it was filling enough and I polished off with a wee bit of Liberte coconut yogurt to cool off the spice.

When I got home from work I did my traditional (at least for this week) change into workout clothes and head outside. I first decided to weigh myself and I think I might need a new scale. I stepped on to it 4 times and I got 4 different numbers.

Today's workout:

441 calories burned, 1hr12min, 7.28K, pace 9:58-6:05
I really wasn't feeling it tonight but I just popped on the ipod and went. My goal was 400 calories so I just kept adding loops until I hit that. However I was faster than when I did the same loop on Saturday.

I stepped on the scale after I got home and this time got consistent numbers on multiple tries. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

I'm now up to 31.19K for the week and 20.5AP earned. 187/203 pts for the week with one day remaining. I will be going over a wee bit but I've earned a whack of APs. I don't normally buy into the trading exercise for food but for this week I'm going to believe.

I'm having lunch with my coworker/friends as I haven't seen them all week but I already gave the heads up that I want to be "good" as I have weigh in on Saturday.

Alright that's all I got for today...until tomorrow.

Hugs!!

Thank god I asked about the veggies

I was too tired last night to look up the NI for my Keg meal so I did it today and wrote it in my tracker.

At first I couldn't believe my eyes, my Grilled Thai Chicken checked in at over 1000 calories. That didn't make sense to me so I clicked on the detailed info. They were adding in the "typical" sides to this meal to make it that. The chicken alone was 562 calories, it was this by removing the baked potato and the aioli. I still wound up going a fair amount over for the day (thanks to the Pina Colada which are super good at the Keg- not entirely sure why I didn't order the diet coke/vodka comb or just went with water. I was a lemming as everyone else was having an drink. Today I focused on smart decisions and I stuck to it all day.

My days are so messed up with being in Calgary all week as opposed to my two days at site. For most of the day I thought it was Thursday. I also realized I wasn't wrong this is snackapalooza week and I'm handling it incredibly well.

The weather in Calgary took an interesting turn, when I left this morning they said high of 6. When I got home it was a -9 windchill. Tomorrow it's supposed to be +13...bizarre.

As I was once again in the office by 6am I left at 3:30pm as I had a plan for a walk tonight. At first I debated. -9 is ridiculously cold when you're now used to plus 6 but then I thought -9 wouldn't stop me in the dead of winter. So I pulled on the thermal fleece on top of the base layer and my running room jacket plus sweat pants and I headed out. Due to the wind I wrapped it up at 5K though I kept moving to keep warm. If it is indeed +13 tomorrow I'll head for a longer jaunt.

Here is tonight's workout:

311 calories burned, 51:09 min, 5.23K, pace 9:47/7:02

I now have 16.5 activity pts of the week and 23.91K for the week.

I fill finish this week strong.

Hugs!!!

When your plans get derailed by someone else

I left for work at 5:30am this morning and I just got home - 9:30pm. That was not in the plan today and there was nothing I could do about it.

I inadvertently wound up with an 8pm meeting due to delayed flights of one participant and a brand new baby of another participant.

The scary thing was how easy it was for me to find work today between normal home time 4pm and 7:30pm when I headed over the restaurant (the location of the meeting which became a dinner meeting). I'm crazy busy at work so it wasn't so bad having some extra time.

Normally I eat dinner around 5pm so at 4pm I was hungry no way I was going to make it to 8pm and be able to make sound food choices. The spaghetti squash I made on Sunday was for lunch and I realized I might have made the portions a little small. At 4pm I was hungry and I went to Starbucks and got the kids snack pack (sliced apples, small string cheese, animal crackers, raisins). By the time 7:30pm rolled around my stomach was grumbling.

We had dinner at the Keg (Pts Deadly) instead of my favourite filet mignon I went with grilled chicken. The co-worker sitting next to me had the filet mignon but I stuck to my decision. The waitress is explaining the sides - potato something , rice something , potato something, rice something so I asked her "Do you have vegetables?" I finally wound up with a house side salad (dressing on the side). The dressing looked like it was made out of mayonnaise so I only had a smidgen.

No matter how I slice it today it was way higher in pts than my plan and obviously no mega walks.

The thing is this happens, life happens. I'm not happy about how my routine was shaken up but there's nothing I could do about it so there's no point dwelling on it. I'm moving on and the next 3 days will be totally on plan with activity. I honestly think I made the best decisions I could today.

That's all I got - I'm going to bed.

Hugs!!

The power of retrospect

I went to work today with a plan, I packed my lunch, I packed my snacks and I brought the cupcakes.

I did plan one cupcake into my points today and up until 2pm all was good. Then I went to the photocopier which is in the kitchen. The cupcakes were in the kitchen. There were 3 left. So I grabbed one and only after I looked at the empty cupcake cup did I think "Why did I do that?". I mean it could have been worse I suppose but I was still a little disappointed with myself.

I did not have 2 cupcakes in my plan for the day. The saving grace is I technically have 8 extra points if I use all my flexpoints so with that I did not go over for the week. What was kind of funny was when I was waiting for the elevator on the way out. A woman who works on the opposite side of the floor told me she heard my cupcakes were really good. I asked if her if she had one, she said no "I'm on Weight Watchers".

If only I had thought that before I ate the unplanned cupcake.

The rest of the day I just focused on finishing the day on the right track. I took the slow bus home, this is the bus that goes through every neighbourhood between downtown and my house. I forgot my ipod this morning so it was a bit torcherous but all the way home I had one statement running through my head - "I want to go". I really really wanted to go for a walk when I got home. It was overcast and a wee bit chilly but I was hell bent on going home, changing and heading out.

When I did the half marathon walking clinic I'd have these moments I called energizer bunny where you'd have bursts of energy out of now where.

This is yesterday's results:
324 calories burned, 52min41sec, 5.22K, pace 10:05

This is today's results:
370 calories burned, 58min59sec, 6.16K, pace 9:35

I was 30 seconds per K faster today and that's after working a relatively long day today. Not bad I must say. I'm not aiming for speed but the faster I get means better calorie burning. This also means that I've done 19K so far this week and it's Monday. That's something to be proud of. I'm giving myself a goal of 35K this week.

So now the plan is stick to the plan. Today teached me that conscious decisions are the key.

Hope your day went well.

Hugs!!

And all before 1pm

Here's what I've been up to today...so far

Right after breakfast I baked the chocolate cupcakes.

Then while the spaghetti squash was roasting I made the sauce. In this pan I have one can of organic diced tomatoes, grated garlic. diced onion, diced red pepper and diced leak. I'm just using the juice from the can of tomatoes no added oil. I did add a little salt, pepper and basil. In another pan I had the mild italian turkey sausage cooking.

This is the final result of my Spaghetti Squash a la moi. It's now broken down into individual servings and in the freezer. My calculations make it roughly 4-5 pts per serving. It's 4 but I'm adding some of the residual of the olive oil from the roasted squash to make it 5 pts.

Then I started the making the lasagna sauce. This is ground turkey, organic roasted garlic spaghetti sauce, grated broccoflower, diced onion and diced mushrooms with a little chipotle chili power, pepper and a little salt.

 



This is the end result I work this out to be 7pts per serving.

Then I finished off the cupcakes with a vanilla butter cream that I tinted with a wee bit of blue so they look light green in person. Hey Crave makes their Vanilla Buttercream blue I'd thought I'd give mine a little something. Now they're tucked into their carrier and ready to go to work tomorrow. All done by just past 12:30pm.

While this was all going on I also did my laundry and washed all the dishes that the above caused.
Still to come is a walk, not sure if it will be mega or maybe just a 5K but it's supposed to be +14 so I'm definitely going outide.

I did my Garmin/ Nike + test yesterday and it looks like my Nike + is off by .3K.
This was the result from yesterday.

Garmin: 444 calories , Time 1:13, Distance 7.3K , Pace 10:04-5:33 (average and best)
Nike +: 463 calories,  Time 1:13, Distance 7.67K, Pace  9:35 (average)

Interesting huh, I'll be recalibrating the Nike + and then in the next few days I'll do another test.

I also realized I got my dates mixed up. My hormone fueled snakapalooza week isn't this week it's next week so I still have one weigh in before that hits. I'd love to finish of my current 3 month journal being down 15lbs. Right now I'm averaging 1lb a week, not terrible but not as good as it could be.

Alright that's all I got for today, now I'm going to have some of that spaghetti squash and have a wee rest before I head out.

Hope your Sunday is fabulous.
Hugs!!

Down 1.8

I'm o.k with that, I know that might sound stupid and I should be quite pleased  but I didn't do as well this week as I could of. I don't mean weight by that I mean behaviour.

I did track everyday but when I added up the week I was 6pts over for the total week. I did earn 10.5 AP but I'm not swapping them. The chinese food and timbits didn't help on Thurday and last night I had a mini snack attack after dinner.

Water was not as good as it could have been there were a few days when I didn't even hit 2L a day. I am delighted that this means I'm now down 12lbs since my restart with WW and 20lbs since I first walked through their doors.

Last week I tried to hit the same amount of points for the week as my daily pts plus flexpoints which is 203pts. This week I'm going to follow the wendie plan exaclty which is 195pts so that will still be using some flexpoints as per the momentum plan but not all of them.

Today we had a sub-leader but I remember her from when she used to attend that meeting. Apparently she's a leader at the Wed night meeting not sure if it's at the same location. It was kind of neat to have someone new but who still knew the group. We talked about portion sizes and the importance of paying attention to a serving i.e. one can of chili is not one serving according the NI. We also talked how it's important to revisit that NI once in awhile as products change and if you've been eye balling measurements to pull out the measuring tools every so often. One point people often forget is that if you're having more than one portion/serving just don't double or triple the points. You should multiple the calories, fat and fibre and run your pts calculation again. I'm guilty of that and then something that's 1pt turns into 3pts when you double it.

I did walk to and from weigh in today. I didn't do my usual Starbucks routine as there was a fairly long line and I wanted to buy more coupons and pick up a new 3 mth journal before it got too crazy. Instead I went into Safeway and got a small chocolate milk.

I'm heading out for a mega walk today as it's supposed to be +13 and I'll do my garmin/nike + test as well. I just need to wait for my Ipod to recharge and I'll be heading out soon.

I got Punk Rope in the mail yesterday. I love that my skipping rope is purple. I haven't tried it yet as I need to clear some space in my living room. I might do it tomorrow.

I also need to get cooking and baking. I think I'm going to add shredded broccoflower to my lasagna. I'll definitely take pictures of these dishes still forming in my head.

This week will be rough so to stay focused I'm going to schedule my meals to be very conscious of snacking or eating something outside of the plan.

Have a fabulous Saturday!

Hugs!!

Lazy day

I managed to sleep in until 7:30am not too bad when I normally get up earlier for work. I looked out the window and saw that we got a bit of snow. I had thought of running down to Walmart to pick up some odds and ends that I forgot about on my grocery shop yesterday. Mind you that grocery shop did happen without a list. Then I thought I'll be right across the street at weigh in tomorrow so I decided to just lay low. I opted not to walk today and just focus on the basics - tracking and water plus watching sodium levels.

Did have to log in and do a bit of work as next week is shaping up to be crazy.

I caught up on stuff I had on the pvr and watched Days of Our Lives. I rarely see that show so it takes me a minute to get up to speed on what's going on. I finished a book and I thought up some meals.

I'm going to roast the spaghetti squash and add some diced tomatoes, various veggies and the mild italian turkey sausage- I'm still sorting out the particulars. I'm also thinking of making a whole wheat noodle lasagna. I'm trying to plan the work lunches and still have some options for dinners. Next week will also be hormone infueled snackapalooza so I want to be prepared with point friendly savoury and satisfying options.

I saw a super decent number on the scale this morning and tracked perfectly today. I was kind of hoping for a little lower number tomorrow but we'll see what the scale gods have to say.

I've also been thinking of my high point day tomorrow and seeing if there were any cravings I want to get of the way. I will go for a mega walk as well as the weather report is stating +13 tomorrow.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

I'm a bee

This is the song I woke up to today...well it's actually Imma Be the Black Eyed Peas song. I have a love/hate relationship with BEP. I'll like a song and then it get's played to death and I can no longer stand it. This one just bugs me because of the multiple repitions of "Imma be".

Oh a picture with my legs in the shoes will happen, I'm not sure when but I will.

Today was a mid high day and a bit of a challenge as there were Timbits and chinese food for lunch. I kept it low for dinner and I have had a lot of water today. I'm still focused on Saturday.

I did go grocery shopping after work today and went to the Co-op downtown. It's a funky store and I found loads of stuff I wouldn't find at my local grocery store. I got the broccoflower, borscht, loads of lean protein (Lilydale Daystarters turkey bacon and Lilydale turkey bratwurst). I also got leek, asperagus, spaghetti squash, green onions, tri colour pack of peppers and some fruit. They're the only store I know of that carries frozen Saskatoon berries.

I just walked around the store chanting "healthy" in my head. I did leave with one dangerous thing - Liberte Medittarean Coconut yogurt - Saturday is my high point day though. The blogs talk about it so much that I had to get it. I tried one teaspoon of it when I got home because I really wanted to try it. It's yummy but right now my favourite is still Moka.

I also found Hazelnut gelato (pretty low in pts). Now my fridge is full of food to set me up for a successful week at home ahead. I'm bringing cupcakes to work on Monday for my co-worker/friend's birthday so I picked up some ingredients for that. I want to make two types a chocolate/vanilla buttercream and chocolate coconut/ coconut buttercream option. I think I can do it by splitting the batches of cake and icing so it's not a ton of work.

I think I might post pictures of meals this week as all the comforts of home mean it's easier to fall of track.

I'm super geeked about getting to sleep in tomorrow as I'm exhausted. Of course a day at home before weigh in can be a challenge. However that also means I can do a mega-walk. It's supposed to be coolish tomorrow which I prefer when going on a mega walk.

I might wander downtown this weekend to do some shopping as my pants are getting loose. I'm curious to see if I'm down a size.

Yesterday morning I saw a shooting star while waiting for the bus. I've never seen one before so I did make a wish and it was one word - Goal.

Hugs!!!

They're here

I'm talking about the fabulous Kenneth Cole shoes that I was going on about a little while ago. OMG they're high (4 inches), I teetered for a few minutes when I got home and then had to think this out. I live in flat shoes and wear heels very very rarely.

On the way home from work I had to swing by purolater to pick up the shoes and then I had to head to the optical place to pick up my new glasses and then walk home. It was so crazy windy that I felt like I was walking backwards. It didn't seem to matter what direction I was walking it was full on wind. So perhaps putting on the massively high heel shoes when I felt a little off kilter from walking into full on wind was not the smartest move. I need to train for these shoes. They are beautiful though and I think I might be on the verge of creating a fashionista monster....as soon as I figure out how to walk in them.

I do often think of myself as a caterpillar that wants to turn into a butterfly.

I'm so busy at work and while I like it that way my head is spinning a bit as I don't want to forget anything and with Friday being a day off I want to leave on Thursday knowing I'm well set for Monday. I don't think I'll grocery shop after work tomorrow as I do want to go with a plan so I might go Friday and just get it out of the way but we set up for a successful week but who knows. The grocery store I want to go is downtown so it makes sort of sense to do it on Thursday. I'll see what my energy level is like.

Today is a low point day for my experiment week and I'm trying to be very focused. I've followed it exactlty since Saturday and to make sure the data isn't comprimised and it's just a few more days to go. The scale is looking good as well.

That's all I got for today.

Hugs!!!

Mud is defeated

Hello hello,

The rubber boots faired well with a slight chafing on my chins but I can fix that. Most of the mud had dried up but by end of day it was back and I could road test the boots. Soon it will be dust season and I can bring out the hiking shoes.

Food went very well yesterday and I hit the treadmill for 45min. I was tired and my stomach was grumbling like crazy but I did it. I then headed to dinner, shower then bed but I did watch the 20/20 special –The Bachelor - Behind the rose. Slept better tonight even with hearing the person next door.

It’s quite funny to watch what people choose for their food options. Yesterday when I got off the plane I went straight to the kitchen for breakfast and had a bowl of oatmeal. This guy across from me had 3 croissants, 2 fried eggs and whack of hashbrowns. There is some super physical work here so of these people definitely need fuel but this guy was not one of those people. Of course I was a wee jealous about the croissants. Thankful that I didn’t see them before I grabbed the oatmeal.

I need to take my Nike+ out for a spin with my Garmin. Nike + said I burned 309 calories in the 45min and I’m not so sure that compares to the Garmin. Calories would be based on intensity and length of time so I’m curious on if they’re similar measuring pace. Of course Garmin is talking to satellites and Nike + is talking to the doohickey on my shoe.

One of the things I find hard about site is no scale. I am a daily weigher and can handle that, I know many who don’t like it and you have to do what works for you. I approach it in more of an analytical manner and find it fascinating how weight can fluctuate. This is experiment week for me so I’m particularly interested to see what the scale does day to day.

Tomorrow I get to pick up my new glasses so I’m geeked about that. I get a paid day off on Friday and I’m home all week next week so some mega meal planning will have to take place. I’m thinking of heading to not my usual grocery store for some different options like broccoflower, borsht and Lilydale Turkey sausages which my grocery store doesn’t carry. I’m thinking of doing this Thursday after work so it’s just done. We shall see.

Hope the past few days have gone well with you and I look forward to catching up on all your blogs.

Hugs!!!

An experiment

Hello my friends,
I hope your Sunday is going well.

I was flipping through some old ww journals and I came across some of my wendie plan notes. Way back when I would have an additional notebook where I tracked a type of chart that had the total daily points and weigh ins. I haven't done that in a long time but I thought I'd revisit it. This morning I created an excel spreadsheet that I'll use from now until Vegas (mid August).

I also decided to try a bit of a wendie plan this week. If you're unfamiliar with this it's not ww endorsed but it's based on ww. It's taking your points and then dividing them through the week unevenly. So your not eating the same amount of points each day. This person named Wendie discovered she had better weigh in when there was a high point day in her week i.e. Christmas, Thanksgiving. Just by adding the flexpoints here and there is a bit like the wendie plan. The old wendie plan was based on the 123 program so you had points ranges as opposed to set pts plus flex points. For example at my weight now I'd have a range of 22-29 pts per day.

I have yet to figure out what I should be doing i.e. use the flexpoints, don't use the flexpoints. I usually wind up using them anyway but I'd like it to be more planned than a "whoops" scenario. I took a look at my current tracker and did see better results on weeks I ate uneven points.  I looked back at my old tracking in the notebook and saw the same thing. I did a little research on anything involving wendie plan and the current momentum plan and I found this. So this week I'm going to plan my flexpoints in advance to see how it goes. I have 3 weigh ins till my skin check and part a of my general physical. The mission is still to hit the 170s. Wendie never ate her activity points and just planned her heavier activity days on days she had higher points. I haven't been conscioulsy eating my activity pts either using flex over activity.

Yesterday I headed out for a 7.3K walk and burned 448 calories. Since Saturday is my weigh in day I decided to make sure my highest point day landed there. I tried some of the new Delissio thin crust pepperoni and fire roasted tomato pizza. It was awesome and left overs are in the freezer. As today is a lower point day I decided to focus on yoga as my activity. I walked on Friday and Saturday so I thought it would be good do something different today. I'll keep you posted on how the experiment goes.

I've prebooked the cab for tomorrow morning and got out my footwear. You can see what site has done to my red winter boots with the warming temperatures and mud. This week the rubber boots are coming with me. I still needed something that screamed girly. I think they'll work. Plus the mud will just wipe off.

Alright my friends, hopefully I'll get good sleep tonight and not be a walking zombie like last week.

Hugs!!

Never failure, it's feedback

This was the quote of the day at the WW meeting and hit home. I was down .2 today so I hung on to that 5% with my dear life as the past two weeks have been irresponsible WW behaviour. I'm done with that, now it's focus on the goal. I had debated buying a new 3 month journal to start fresh but I decided against it. I've got two weeks left on this journal and I'm finishing with a bang. Operation Hottie is the mantra.

In the meeting we reviewed the 2010 challenge going over the 10 factors i.e. tracking, filling foods, exercise, tracking hunger,controlling your environment, eating out etc. The one I identified most with was be resilient. I got my 5% sticker and Clare said "Aren't you glad you came back" in front of the whole group. I responded by saying "3rd times the charm". It made the majority of the room laugh. I also got an extra little sheet all about hitting your 5%. It has a graph on the page not unlike the one at the front of the journal. They suggest drawing a line on the graph that represents "predicted weight loss". I think I'll do that with my next journal. I think it might be a neat way to picture the goal.

This weekend I'm going to revisit the tools for living especially story boarding and anchoring. I caught a glimpse of the girl who got to goal a few weeks ago. We're the same height and her goal weight is my goal weight. She got lifetime today but didn't stay for the meeting. She had a cute body and I just thought that will be me.

Yesterday I got home from work at my usual time, it was +11 and I decided on the bus home that I was going to go for walk when I got home. So I changed into workout clothes and headed right back out the door for a 6K walk (376 calories burned). It was tough as I wasn't feeling the walk mojo but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other until I completed the route I had in my head.

I'll head out again for a longer one today.

Grocery shopping happened after the meeting and I picked up a package of cottage cheese with fruit. I've never tried cottage cheese on purpose. I've had when it's been wedged into lasagna but I make sure it's never alone on the fork so I can eat it without tasting it. I've always found the texture odd looking. I remember my dad once trying to make perogies with it but all filling fell into the bottom of the pot so I didn't have to eat it. I thought it's about time to give it a try..baby steps.

I'm armed with a fridge stocked with healthy and savoury options. I picked up Baby Bell Gouda, at 2pts each it's a safe way for me to have gouda. I despise the light version normal Baby Bell so I embrace the 2pts vs. 1pt.

I got an email from Punk Rope's creator thanking me for my order  and sending me the instruction manual. He asked how I heard of it. So I told him I found it on Ms Bitch Cake's blog and to give her a shout out. He said he would.

Alright that's all I got have a fabulous Saturday!

Hugs!!!

Finding new inspiration

What I love about the blog world is always finding new people with new inspiration or ideas. One of the blogs I really enjoy is *Bitch Cakes*A Neurotic Glamour Girl's Weight Watchers Experience and Fitness Adventures. You'll also see her on my blog sidebar. Loads of people follow her so if you haven't found her yet go check it out. She also has fabulous style.

I enjoy that she follows Weight Watchers as I do and that she's had great success - very inspirational and I enjoy being introduced to new things.

She often writes about Punk Rope, I had never heard of this but I followed the links and decided to buy the intro pack. I loved jumping rope as a kid and then kind of lost touch with it.

I remember the trainer brought a jump rope into the mix and it felt really odd at first but then I totally got into it. The Punk Rope looks like a load of fun and a good exercise. I'll keep you all posted when I try it.

Made a funny observation the other day. The roll up the rim contest is in full swing at Tim Horton's and on the Canadian advertising it says that 40 Toyota Rav4s are available to win in North America. The other day I saw the American commercial and it's 40 Sport Utility Vehicles to win in North America.

I have yet to win anything yet my co-worker has won 3 coffees and a donut. Of course I don't need the donut but a coffee would be nice.

I've worked late two days in a row which is killing my workout plans but I've been collecting some neat meal ideas that I'm looking forward to trying this weekend and most of them involve cauliflower oddly enough. I will make a serious effort at posting pictures.

I get to move offices again in two weeks into the building we just moved out of in December. While that is mildly irritating it does bring me back into the building with the corporate gym. My visits have been not exactly been regular lately so being closer to it might be a good thing. It too will one day move into the new building (as I get to do twice).

I am mentally preparing myself for weigh in on Saturday. It's been a crappy week  to be completely honest and I need to face the scale. I want to be in the mind frame of "this is what happens when you don't follow the plan" not "you're an idiot". My short term goal has to be to focus on Vegas to distract myself from the sometimes overwhelming long term goal. Operation hottie needs a boost and thinking negatively isn't going to help. Must focus on the positive.

Hugs!!!

Efficient day

Yesterday I had an absurdly bad day with food, it was a day of mini meals which does not work for me. It was mostly driven by feeling tired.

I started today with a plan and that didn't quite happen either. I have two days till weigh in and I think this week it's a battle to maintain.

It's totally due to starting the week exhausted and not quite making up for it but that's not going to make me give up on this week just modify my expectations.

After work today I dragged my friend T to Pearl Optical so I could pick out new glasses and I got two pretty cute pairs (buy one, get one free). They'll be ready by Wednesday.

I also found rubber boots at Walmart and they're black/white houndstooth. $25 perfect. I had seen cute rubber boots at other places but couldn't justify $50 for boots I'm taking to site. Mud I have you now...mwhahahaha!!!

Tomorrow I'm coming straight home and going for a mega walk as it's now light until 6:30pm ish. Love that, I can handle leaving for work in the dark but it's so nice to come home with the sun still up.

There is still a lot I can do with two days before weigh in.

I'm thinking about heading to Planet Organic this weekend. I've never been there before.

Glitterati -I used McCormick Chipotle Chili Powder, bought at Safeway but I'm sure plenty of grocery stores carry it.

Hope your Wednesday went well.

Hugs!!!

Now that's mud

Quick recap of yesterday, I did just a little over 6.5k (400cal burned) and my stomach was grumbling so I headed home for lunch.

Made southwest turkey burgers yesterday as well. I didn't really follow a recipe and wound up making them a wee bit spicy with too much chipotle chili power (first time I used the chipotle version). They're yummy though and had one chopped up to act as a "meatball" in my Smart pasta with organic roasted garlic tomato sauce for supper.

Didn't sleep well at all yesterday. Went to bed at 8pm due super early wake up call. Woke up at midnight and tossed and turned until 3am when I finally decided to get up. Two cabs showed up at 4:30am. I guess the guy assigned to me got a better fare so got a buddy to follow him and pick me up. Wow I was chopped liver at 4:30am. I'm not complaining better to have two cabs then none.

They changed the door we go through to wait for the plane. This morning we were in a fenced off area of a hangar. It was really odd and felt a bit like a holding pen. Not sure if that's a permanent change.

Wowsers by 3pm today I totally felt it the 4hrs of sleep last night. I only watched a bit of the Oscars (got kind of bored) but caught up on all the winners today.

When I got to site this morning you could see the mud but it wasn't so bad as it was frozen. I didn't step outside again until 4pm and this stuff will swallow your shoes. It's now snowing - excellent - this will now hide the mud so all the unsuspecting people tomorrow will step into mud instead of snow.

Of course, I never made it to Walmart yesterday to buy rubber boots. That is now on the top of my list before next week's trip. I changed into my sweatpants the moment I got to camp as the mud on my jeans is now drying so I can brush it off tomorrow. I heard today that there are 3 seasons here - snow, mud and dust. I've experienced the dust and the snow but this my first round of mud.

While I did bring my gym stuff I'm taking tonight off as a rest day  I'm totally wiped. It's dinner and to bed pour moi ce soire. Points are good today now I just need to keep it together at dinner in half an hour.

Hope your Monday was fabulous.

Hugs!!!

The mega walk

A while back I was typing about how I thought of  way to make my walking route a bit longer. Well yesterday I took the plunge to test it out:

9.67k - 1hr37min - 604 calories burned

I love walking around my neighbourhood as I have a whack of distances to choose from. The basic route is just under 5k, and then I can add extra loops. The first loops makes it 6k, the second loop makes it about 7k. My neighbourhood isn't flat either there's a few inclines in there as well.

This means pretty much no excuses as I don't need to dedicate 90min each time. I can adjust time and distance quite easily. I can last about 30min on a treadmill before I get overwhelmingly bored so as long as the weather holds I'm going outside.

That netted me 6 activity pts added to the walk to the grocery store and back, plus the 30min of yoga at the end of the day that resulted in 9 activity pts. I'm back baby!

Not that sore today either but I think the yoga helped with that. I had meant to do a longer practice but I was exhausted.

I'm going to head out again today but not the full route. I'll aim for 7k today. I might be walking down to Walmart (a smidgen longer than the grocery store walk)  and back as well in search of rubber boots.

Food was good yesterday and the plan is to repeat that today.

Might be meeting up with my friend P today for coffee but that is not confirmed so I'm just going to continue with my plans for the day and we'll see what happens.

Vegas is officially booked as Westjet had a seat sale and hotel reservations are made. My other friend P (who's birthday we're celebrating) found a promo at Ceasar's involving their new pool. I hadn't even thought of bathing suits. Well we signed up for that and get a $25 gift certificate for the pool area plus a tote bag filled with odds and ends. So 6 months for operation hottie.

I really need to work on consistency when it comes to the exercise and the staying OP, plus I'm thinking of adding a little pilates as I subscribe to my yoga online and they have pilate classes in addition to yoga.

Alright my friends I hope your weekend is going well.

Hugs!!

Whoops

It's been a busy week and I've felt a little like I've been running on fumes. I was absolutely zonked yesterday. I was talking to my dad at 6pm and couldn't stop yawning.

So I headed to bed just before 9pm and set my alarm for weigh in. I always get up a couple of hours before I leave for WI to let the body settle (trust me it makes a difference).

Well I heard my alarm go off and decided to hit snooze...then I woke up on my own at 10am. I didn't hit snooze I had hit off. I have a sharper image alarm clock that I adore but all the buttons are more touch pad than actually buttons. The snooze is directly in front of the off. I slept through weigh in...duh.

When I got up I weighed myself on my home scale and it was saying .5 up from weigh in last week. Due to the discrepancies between my scale and ww's scale (all over the map) plus the conditions where not the same to do a comparison to last week; I'm counting this week as missed as I'm only counting the WW weigh ins.

I'll be honest with myself it wasn't a great week. I wasn't in the zone, if that makes any sense.

This is a new week, I've been to the grocery store and stuck to my list. I found a new flavour of Kashi granola bars "Dark Chocolate Coconut". I'll be trying that later as a snack. I also picked up a box of the peanut butter ones that Enz suggested. I have today completley planned food wise.

Walked the 2.3k to the grocery and store and the 2.3k back with about 30lbs of groceries in my backpack. A mega walk is planned for after lunch as it's gorgeous in Calgary and should be +9 and I'm rolling my mat out later on for a solid practice. I've been neglecting the yoga lately and it definitely helps me to stay focused and in the moment.

I hope the weather is nice wherever you are and that you have a fabulous Saturday.

Hugs!!

Random food reviews

So I've been trying some new stuff lately and thought I'd share.

These are Maple Leaf Prime Stuffed Chicken Breast - Prosciutto and Swiss

What I liked: Individually portioned with the cooking instructions on each individual package. Love that.

What I didn't like: Way too salty in taste, I'm not sure if it was because of the Prosciutto.

I'm open to trying one of the other types as it clocks in at roughly 4pts per breast (for this version anyway). I'm intrigued by the Portobello, Roasted Red Pepper and Swiss version but have yet to find it in any of the grocery stores I go to.

These are Kellog's Special K Mocha Flavoured Bars

What I liked: Well hello 90 calories and I love Mocha

What I didn't like: I found them way too sweet, I didn't finish the first one I tried.

These are Kellog's Special K Fruit Crisps (I tried the blueberry flavour).

What I liked: 2 bars for 100 calories and they taste like cold pop tarts (my formerly preferred way of eating Poptarts)

What I didn't like: Nothing, not one issue with this one.

I know they're all packages and why yes I try to eat clean every so often the convenience of packages appeals to me.

In my latest issue of Nutrition Action Health Letter (Canadian version) they gave a shout to Bob's Red Mill Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle mix as it has no refined grains  - will definitely give these a try and hoping to find it this weekend.

They also mentioned Kashi Chewy Granola Bars (my favourite is the Cherry Dark Chocolate version) for not having crisp rice. What's funny is my go to snack on the plane ride home from snack is a granola bar (not Kashi) and I actually noticed the crisp rice this time. Next week I'm bringing my own granola bar and it will be a Kashi. If you want more info on the Newsletter go to their publisher's website.

Other than that not a lot going on in my world other than I've been fairly busy and totally disorganized. Had a promising chat with big wig at work so that was alright. Right now all I'm looking forward to is the weekend to chill.

Hugs!

Not dead

I'm sorry to go MIA on you for a few days. It's been a bit of a blur.

First news, the shoes have been shipped are on their way to my house. I got them from the Kenneth Cole website (they ship to Canada). I looked all over the city of Calgary first and couldn't find them.

So Monday was a gong show. My cab was late due to craziness of the night before and all they partying hockey fans. Then the plane was late and it turned out to be an Air Canada charter not the company plane. When the plane arrived I see that it's a Dash 8. I despise this plane. It's small, it vibrates and it's slow. The normal flying time on the company plane is 1hr to site. The dash 8 took 1hr and 40min.

Right now site is all mud. In the morning it's frozen mud by lunch it's soupy, thick mud. It's a wee bit too early for rain boots as you still need the grips of winter footwear but I have a spec of mud on everything. My boots are covered, a speck on my jacket and the cuffs of my jeans.

When you enter trailers you need to put white paper booties over outdoor shoes. It was kind of funny as the day progresses the mud dries and falls off into the bottom of the bootie. At one point it felt like I was wearing mini sand bags. Note to self to bring indoor shoes next week.

I knew then there'd be no getting breakfast at the camp kitchen as breakfast closes at 8:30am. I had to have the snack on the plane which was some type of baked good/ scone like thing and not the Special K had been banking on. A closed kitchen means I couldn't make my lunch and I'd have to eat in the hot kitchen.

The fact that I was now behind did not go well for me and the stress of feeling behind combined with nothing going according to plan resulted in a wee chocolate binge. Didn't get to camp early enought to grab a treadmill (there's 3) so I wound up watching the Bachelor and going to bed.

Tuesday was better but the behaviour of the past few days are not going to help me get to 184 this week. Right now I'm just trying to avoid a gain.

Today has been really good and now I need to keep that up until weigh in. The down 10lbs are showing as I've had a few compliments of looking skinnier.

Now all I need to do is address the self sabotage.

Looking forward and staying focused.

Later...hugs!!!!

Organization Sunday

Alright now that I've tearfully sung Oh Cananda along with the rest of the country after that hockey game, I can now type with a clear head.

Dad left early this morning and I was on a schedule. Immediately started laundry, when that was done headed out for a 6.4K walk. My target today was 400 calories burned as opposed to distance. I then had a Money's mushroom burger for lunch and then settled on the couch to watch the hockey game. Called the cab company between the 2nd and 3rd period to arrange my pick up tomorrow morning.

Had a bubble bath, made dinner (spaghetti squash, organic tomato sauce plus extra vegg), have my site bag 85% packed and now the closing ceremonies start in roughly 15minutes.

Been a wee bit snacky today probably due to parking my patootie in front of a very tense hockey game.

My goal for next weigh in is 184.4 and I am focused on that.

Alright may or may not check in from site tomorrow but I hope you all have a wonderful Monday.

Hugs!

Yeah Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Canada takes Gold in Men's Hockey!!!!!!! OMG what a game, tied in the last few seconds of the 3rd period. I practically ate the blanket on my couch as I never took my eyes off the screen.

That's 14 Gold for Canada an Olympic record!!!!!! Thank the lord above for Sid the Kid.

Valiant effort by the USA hockey team, they fought hard.

I need to soak this in, be back later.

5% off

As in 5% off of my body, it was 186.2 at weigh in so down exactly 10lbs since I restarted WW in January and down 18lbs from my original start weight when I joined WW for the very first time. Kind of fitting that Canada had a golden day with 3 golds and a bronze added to the medal tally

When I weighed myself at home I saw 185.4 so have to admit a wee disapointed that it didn't line up with WW's scale at weigh in. It took me a while to get to 10lbs but I think I'm gaining momentum now.

I didn't get my 5% sticker today as I didn't have time to wait for the leader so I'll save it for next week. Plus this is added motivation to ensure I keep going in the right direction.

I have 5 weigh ins until my annual skin check with my dermatologist and I think I can get back into the 170s by then perhaps 179ish. That's my new goal at any rate. Nothing like standing stark naked in an exam room to get you motivated. I had originally planned to also have my annual physical then but that didn't happen due to having to schedule those almost a year in advance (I'm not kidding).

While I'm still aiming for the x-weighted goal to hit goal weight in July. I have another very superficial goal as well. I'm heading to Las Vegas in August to celebrate my very good friend's birthday. I want to be a hottie by then, so I've dubbed it "operation hottie". This not only includes hitting goal but also learning to walk in 4" heels (just for the nice dinner's out not wearing all the time). Don't get me wrong I think I'm sort of cute but I've never had the confidence to pull off hottie. By hottie I mean fit, confident and fierce. I just think Vegas would be appropriate to unveil my fierce new self.

The shoes pictured above are on their way to my house. I saw these Kenneth Cole 925 technology shoes on Rachel Ray and heard they're super comfortable. I can't find them anywhere in Calgary so I ordered them online and they were on sale. I also picture myself in super cute Vegas dress. Fierceness - here I come.

There is generally a foodapalooza when Dad is in town but today I kept myself in check and while I did use flexpoints I'm cool with that and planned for it. I need to tackle one day at a time and one week at a time.

Tomorrow I have a mega walk planned for around the hood to test out my super expanded route.

Alright I'm wiped and off to bed.

Hugs!!!

Drive by post

Hello my friends,
The men's hockey game of Canada vs Slovakia was uber stressful to watch. I went to bed after the 2nd period and watched the highlights this morning while practically biting my finger nails. Now its Canada and USA in the gold medal game. Thank goodness it starts a noonish pacific time as I'm on a plane again in the wee hours of Monday morning. A late Sunday game would have made one very tired Cowgirl Warrior.

O.k on to business, stepped on my home scale this morning and saw a very decent number but now the true test is when I weigh in at WW this morning in about 90min. My Dad's in town this weekend so I won't be staying for the meeting (feel free to recap your blogs if you go to WW) :).

I had 13.5 activity points this week, mind you all at the beginning of the week.

Now I wait and see what kind of discrepancy I see between my scale and their scale.

I will be back later to share.

Hugs!!!

Chicks with sticks rule the world!!!

Whoo hoo to the Canadian Women's hockey team who took the gold medal tonight. Now hopefully the men will follow suit.

Left for work early again today but this time with my pass. As I passed my neighbour's house at 5:40am they were grabbing their paper and I think wondered where the heck I was going.

Boy, you can get a lot done when the office is quiet and no one else is around.

Was in meetings from 7:30am to 2pm. These long days are leading to some self sabotage. Went to Subway for lunch and got the Chipotle steak and cheese sub. It looked good and the last thing I wanted was turkey or ham. It was really really good.

I am keeping my goal in sight even though I wavered a little. Tomorrow my mission is to be out of the office by noon and focus focus focus on a good weigh in on Saturday.

Alright my friends I hope your Thursday was fabulous.

With trepidation

I watched the Canada/Russia hockey game tonight...we won!!!!! I get way too emotionally involved with these games so I have to sort of watch something else and the flip back every so often. Sometimes the every so often turns into every 20 seconds like when I watched the Canada/US game.

Now it looks like we'll medal in women's bobsled Gold and Silver...whoo hoo. Go Canada Go!

It was funny when I got off the plane yesterday there was a tv where we pick up our bags and the Canada/Germany game was on. Everyone forgot about their bags and gravitated to the tv. The only conversation you heard was people relaying the score to new people approaching the group.

Today I left for work earlier than normal as I had a whack to do and I forgot my access badge...duh. Luckily fabulous co-worker is also in early and rescued me from the lobby. Sort of defeats the purpose of being early when you can't get to your desk. When I got home today I was exhausted. Days on site are long and then followed by another long today, I feel like I'm running on fumes. No walking for me tonight.

It will early to bed for me tonight as I think I'll head in early tomorrow as well. I still have a whack to do. I was hoping to take Friday off but not sure if that can happen. It seems like everytime I think I'm sorted another pile of stuff lands on me.

I did find Virtue/Moir's original dance on CTV. I do have a pvr and checked shaw on demand. I'm not sure I want to watch all 2.5 hrs on a work night. I tried to fast forward through it and it was taking forever. I'll find the other two performances. Thanks so much to Carol and Charm73 for the suggestions.

I took out my garbag and recycling this morning and my recycling bin was practically full with boxes that I didn't put in there. I'm happy whoever is doing this believes in recycling but a wee bit annoying since they most likely have their own bin.

Saw 186.5 on the scale this morning with two more days until weigh in. I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.

That's all I got for tonight.

Hugs!!!

Ladies first

That's how they boarded the plane home today. It was full and a smallish plane (50 seats) so they boarded women first and the boys had to sit at the back of the plane. Quite funny to see the boys faces and how they couldn't sit in the first 4 rows for there quick exits.

Food went well at site and I did a very fast 36min on the treadmill Monday afterwork.

Couldn't watch The Bachelor -women tell all - just couldn't take it.

Trying to find video of Virtue and Moir's performances at the Olympics as I managed to miss every single one.

Plan to come straight home from work tomorrow so I can walk outside while it's still light out.

Alright that's all I got, I'm wiped.
Talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

8km around the hood

I tried the route I had in my head this afternoon and it's 8k exactly, I also hatched plans to make it longer - crazy I know. Burned 500 calories - booyah. Changed the front of my garmin to show calories rather than pace. I don't really care about my pace I'm shooting for calories burned aka activity points.

Food is mapped out for the day and I've started to plan tomorrow.

Good idea on the half a PB sandwich, that appeals to me.

I'm hell bent on 186 or better at the next weigh in.

Hugs!!

In the groove - sort of

I did head out for a walk yesterday afternoon and it was 7.12km with 456 calories burned.

Unfortunately I also had a whacky food day but that's what flexpoints are for plus I earned 6.5 Activity Points so all in all not a terrible day. I need to bring some type of breakfast to weigh in. I always bring my Starbucks Latte but waiting till I get home to eat is too late. Then my meal planning goes out the window. I've tried granola bars in the past but I'm trying to think of better options that appeal to me.

Today I'm paying very close attention to the points and I'm planning another walk. Breakfast was my go to Oatbran as I won't have it again until Wednesday. I'm thinking of going a bit further than yesterday and I have a route planned in my head.

Laundry has begun and I think today's lunch will involve turkey taco in some way. Not sure if I want to go the salad route or actually have turkey tacos. The salad route would be less points of course.

Heading back to site on Monday so it will be early to bed tonight. The indoor runners are in my bag already. I'm thanking the stars above that the Canada vs. USA hockey game isn't the later one.

Alright I will most likely be back to report today's workout.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Go Canada Go!!!!

Back to the start

Well back to my lowest weight since rejoining WW in January. 187.8 stared back at me on the scale at the meeting. I'm cool with that. In fact a loss surprised me a bit.

I've been coasting for the past few weeks. Failing to plan, therefore planning to fail sort of thing. The weigh in lady did say good job to me on my 0.8 loss as apparently quite a few people in my meeting saw gains today. I know I've had my eyes glued to the olympics so sacrificing workouts which I find a wee ironic.

Yes I find the olympics inspiring but so far it's inspired me to sit on my couch.

When I headed out to the meeting this morning it was a wee chilly at about -14 and then I checked the short term weather and saw that it was pretty much going to stay around that all day. I then had the thought well I might not do my 6K neigbourhood walk today.....what!!!! I immediately mentally slapped myself upside the head. What kind of loser excuse is that.

-14, no snow and sunny is not a realistic reason to not go outside for a walk. I walked to and from the meeting (4.6K) and I will head out for my 6K neighbourhood loop today. I need to get my butt off the couch if I want to get back to decent loses.

I am still dedicated to getting to the 170s before my weigh in coupons run out. I should buy more next week as there on sale.

I might report back later because if the walk is going well I may aim for a bit further than 6K. I was feeling the groove when I walked home from weigh in.

Hope your Saturday is super fabulous.

Hugs!

I am Canadian

I was watching the Canadian broadcaster for the Olympic games and caught a story on how everywhere you go in Vancouver there's a maple leaf on someone.

Today at work it was casual Friday and every 3rd person was wearing something that said Canada. There was a quote from American speed skater Shauni Davis saying he didn't know we were that patriotic.

I love it!!! I have always been proud to be Canadian. We have a reputation of being nice and we're a country made of cousins - when I've travelled outside Canada I've had so many people tell me they have a cousin in Canada. We're the 2nd largest country in the world - land wise and still have stretches of land were you won't see a soul. We embrace new technology but are proud of our roots.

I own 4 hoodies that say Canada on them in different stages of wear (one is designated to mowing the lawn or painting as it's old and tired). My newest I wear everday as an extra layer in the chilly air.

Today my office was cold so I had it on for most of the day and all I got were smiles.

I love this country - Go Canada Go

Got an invite to a coffee with one of the directors to discuss my career goals. I'm trying to figure it out if there just being nice to me. You see my work disappointment involved them and I do a great deal of work for them but don't report to them. In all honesty they handled the whole thing not so great. I think they don't want me to be stop being fantastic so we'll see what happens. Have a scheduling conflict with the time suggested so we'll see if they reschedule.

Have no idea what weigh in will bring tomorrow as I've had a hard time resisting ice cream this week (mistakenly purchased Ben&Jerry's on sale) - could it be all of the winter olympics watching?

Makes no differance I'm gung ho for next week and have been working on my visualization. I'm picturing wearing the Tiffany's key when I hit goal. That's my personal gold medal.

Hope you all had a fabulous day - hugs!!!

Busy day

Hello my friends,

Woke up to snow - yeah! - not. It was wet snow which makes everything slippery and is deceptivley heavy to shovel but I was out there at 5:45am shovelling my sidewalk.

When the bus showed up it sort of slid into the sidewalk. I was glad I didn't move until the bus came to a complete stop.

Got to work and it was go, go, go all day and into the night as I needed to get things done. I've just felt like I'm getting wee bit more behind as each day passes so I had to break the tide.

Food was super low all day by accident. Oatbran is my go to breakfast lately at 1pt per serving. I add one tblsp of Brown Sugar and one tblsp of half & half to make it extra yummy and 3pts total. That keeps full for awhile.

I've been on a veggie sushi kick for the last two days so had that for lunch. I picked up a 6in ham sub at Subway with cheese and mustard as dinner to eat at my desk. So when I got home I treated myself a little Ben & Jerry's as I had 7 pts remaining for the day. Mind you dipping a little low wouldn't be a terrible idea as I've been less than perfect but 7 is a lot.

Tomorrow I'm just going to focus on getting organized as I've got a lot of little things that have been ganging up on me. Perhaps I've been a little off kilter due to chaos. Normally I find a little chaos good to keep you on your toes but I feel the need to be in control this week.

Hope you had a groovy day!

Hugs!

Coming to peace

First of all a whoo hoo to Canada's 2nd gold medal, way to go Maëlle Ricker. I'm super happy to see a girl get the gold as well, no offense Alex Bilodeau - I don't think a nicer guy could have won Canada's first gold on home soil. Go Canada Go!

Last night after I posted about my finishing the End of Overeating I started to have a debate
with myself about the mini Reese's Cups sitting in my fridge (I only like them cold) and they were my Valentine's present to myself. They're 5 for 5pts and I had one. Then I wanted to have a couple more so I sat down and thought about it and then decided I would and I'd use flexpoints for them. I didn't feel bad and I didn't feel disappointed in myself all I did was accept that it was my decision.

I want to be a peace with food and I think I took the first step last night. By making a conscious decision it felt differently. I also made a conscious decision to focus on being on plan.

On the way home today I swung by Shopper's Drug Mart in search of popchips. They were on sale so I grabbed a few flavours bbq, salt and pepper, and salt & vinegar. I openend the bbq when I got home and tried a few. I'm impressed the bbq ones have a ton of flavour and they kind of sorta remind me of Cracklins but they're definiely sliced potatoes and they're crispy. Not super kettle chip crispy but satisfying. I think they're a keeper as a snack. These are the bigger bags so the other flavours will have to wait and due to the abundance of flavour I'm quite content by eating only a few at a time and not the 27 chip serving.

Completely off topic - I'm on the hunt for the Canada hoody in red, black and white. I see it everywhere on Olympic coverage and I want it. Wandered into the Bay downtown today and they only had kid sizes. I will not give up.

Alright my friends I should go make dinner.

Hugs!!!

Interesting but the message is familiar

I finished The End of Overeating and overall found the book to be very interesting. The cure to combat urges and cravings is really not all that different from other books or to what WeightWatchers teaches you about dealing with difficult situations, however I feel the book gives you more information to truly understand your response and motivation towards food. Heck I know the WW mantra and that still doesn't necessarily stop me so I need to learn the lesson in whatever way I can.

This is also probably a good book to start with before reading The Beck Diet Solution as it gives you more background and Beck gives you a systematic manner to find a solution.

What I really enjoyed about this book was the science behind what was going on in terms of why you crave and how there are factors working against us. The author is adamant in saying don't call it a diet as it implies short term. I totally believe that, I don't want to be on a diet my entire life I want to learn a new lifestyle. The book also says that you can stop yourself from going off plan but you have to act quickly and by the time you get to "Should I or shouldn't I" it's probably too late.

The major thing I got from this book is the power is within me and it's not about will power. If you rely on will power alone it will be a long struggle. According the book the keys are:
Figure out your triggers - of course emotions are huge and the reaching for food as the answer is probably deeply rooted in your behaviour and even your family so this can take work.
Refuse what you can't control - for me that's ignoring all the snacks in the office
Have an alternative plan - for example if walking past the bakery makes you want to eat, don't walk past the bakery. You know you get the munchies at 3pm - be prepared.
Limit your exposure i.e. social occasion, not sure how do that other than walk out or don't go.
Remember the stakes - this is big for me, I need to remember the goal before I reach for the cookie.
Direct your attention elsewhere - I've done this, I just don't do it consistently like the time I painted my nails to stop myself from snacking. I do find that if I'm reading I'm far less likely to snack then if I'm watching tv. One thing I'll try this week is to pick up a book if my mind starts to head towards snacking when I'm at home
Learn active resistance - this one is interesting and more geared to reacting to the food ads and gimmicks to get your attention. View them as hostile instead of warm and welcoming. That is how I feel about that commercial for triple decker burger - that's just gross.

Another really interesting thing he talks about is "Thought stopping". A term created while one of the sources was working with drug addicts. You can stop the thought a.k.a change the channel if you do it quickly. It's a definitive decision to not respond to the pull of whatever your reward is i.e. cookies. Once gain to be successful it has to happen fast.

What I take from this book is to stop and think before I reach for food and ask myself am I hungry. I would highly recommend it.

Today I walked to the grocery store and back (4.6km) and have made some good protein choices for the week. I made turkey burgers and picked up a pack of sirloin that was cut for shish kabob, I grilled the beef instead as a smaller portion option and easier to portion control.

Yoga on tap for a little later and the gym bag will be packed for a visit after work tomorrow. It is a bit weird not being at site this week as I have to plan all my food for the whole week.

Check out Jamie's blog for a savoury giveaway, I'm intrigued by these Popchips.

Hope you enjoyed your Family Day or President's Day.

Talk to you tomorrow, hugs!!!!

It's a jungle out there

The End of Overeating arrived yesterday from amazon.ca and I've had my nose in it ever since. I'm about half way through and it's quite interesting. So far a lot about the brains response to food and how the food industry is doing everything they can to make us want what they're offering. That's putting it almost too simply as the author has done some pretty impressive research. Also on how much food has changed over the years and the science that goes into making fake things taste real.

How things are modified to be more palatable and even easier to swallow or require less chewing. Making us feel good and work less at eating it.

It all comes down to sugar, fat and salt and how sneakily it's put into the food we eat to make us a want it so our pleasure seeking brains will seek it out. Interesting information on how our brains react and why it's hard to stop from eating half the bag of oreos for example.

I haven't hit the part on how to deal with that all yet but it's definitely encouraging me to be super wary of any processed food and restaurant meals.

I've always been rather suspect of things like non fat sour cream and the 100 calorie this and that - don't even get me started on the WW snack cakes. You read the ingredient list and it's all chemicals. In the book he talks about some of the science behind the creation of food items to deliver the ultimate amount of sugar, fat and salt that makes our brains so very happy.

I'm sort of glad I didn't go grocery shopping today as I feel a wee more savvy about food than yesterday. We all know the dangers of processed food but the extent is worse than I thought.

I went for a 6km walk today, netting roughly 400 calories burned. It was treacherous and there was much slipping and slidding thanks to frost falling off trees on top of ice therefore making it difficult to see. There were about 4 times where all muscles engaged to stop me from falling - does that count as strength training?

Right now I'm trying Prime Stuffed Chicken breast for supper - yes processed but until I finish the book I'm not going cold turkey either. There are some things I can justify and convenience is definitely a draw.

I'm going to keep reading and will probably have more to say, so far I'd recommend it.

I was thinking about doing some yoga tonight as well but right now I'm making dinner and I can't do yoga on a full stomach so we'll see if that happens today. It will definitely happen tomorrow.

So far day 2 of being totally on plan. I want to get into the 170s in the next 6 weeks.

Alright that's all I got.

Hugs!!!

Let the games begin..

I do love the Olympics as I find it an inspiring time and a great opportunity to see sports that you might not be familiar with.

I'm fiercly proud to be Canadian and beyond excited that Vancouver is hosting the games. I'll admit when they first announced it I wondered if Vancouver's normally mild winter weather might cause problems.

It's so sad about the Georgian luge competitor who died in a training accident at a mere 21yrs old. My heart goes out to his family, his teammates and all the competitors in that competition.

Last night we had our Olympic shindig and I watched the opening ceremonies with a critical eye. I'm watching this as an opportunity to show the world what Canada is about. When Calgary hosted the Winter Games in 1988 it was awesome.

My overall thoughts were...meh. There were parts that were spectacular and then there were parts that made we wonder "what were they thinking?".

Nikki Yanofsky's singing of the national anthem gave me goose bumps.

Measha Brueggergosman was phenomenal singing the Olympic anthem and that girl got toned since the last time I saw her on Project Runway Canada.

Loved the choices for the Olympic flag bearers. Betty Fox (mother of Terry Fox) was a particularly nice choice.

Loved the Native People portion and those whales going across the floor of the stadium. I love Haida art.

I realize blue is an Olympic colour but couldn't Nelly Furtado be wearing a red dress and maybe a wee bit shorter heels as she seemed to teeter a little. Despite the fairly obvious lip synching going on I thought she and Brian did a good job. I loved the native dancers especially the hoop dancers as that's pretty cool what they can do with those hoops.

Then there were parts that I thought were a bit off like the "what seemed like forever" Sand portion. The boy had skills on those wires but I thought it was boring.

Yes the trees in Stanley Park are breathtaking but the interpretive dance didn't float my boat.

I love fiddle music but why were they dressed as extras from Pirates of the Caribbean?

The whole snafu during the lighting of the flame, well that was unfortunate. Plus watching Wayne Gretzky on the back of a truck (where the headlights working?) and the longish drive to the second location of the flame.

I just remember watching the Beijing opening ceremonies in complete awe. There just seemed to be a lot of dead space while watching last night.

Now we focus on the games ahead and I wear my red Canada hoody with pride everywhere I go. Go Canada Go!!!

At the shindig they were playing the Winter Olympics Wii game and I think I need to pick that up. I didn't try it but it sure looked fun.

Went to see Avatar today and I enjoyed it but I think the 3-D stuff gave me a rip roaring headache. I'm not fond of Chinook Centre (one of Calgary's bigger malls). Generally when I need to go there I go smack when they open and then I'm out in an hour. Today the mall was packed silly so after the movie I headed home. I could not look around with my head pounding.

Went home, took some advil and then lay down for 40min or so. I feel so much better now.

I am inspired by the Olympics and my goal is to stay completely on plan during the games. Today is going super well. I'm aiming for 186 on Saturday as I want that 5% sticker. I'm halfway through my 12 week journal and the last half to be spectacular.

Hope your Saturday was wonderful, talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!

It's a loss-I'll take it

I woke up at 9:30am today which is super late for me but it was a fantastic sleep in. After I woke up the internal dialogue debate began.

To weigh in or not to weigh in. This went on for about an hour.

This week started off pretty terrible food wise and it's been a battle to keep it together especially because it's snakapalooza week thanks to hormones combined with a little stress. I seriously thought about skipping this week and just weigh in next Saturday.

I finally decided to go to weigh in as I felt missing it might start a dangerous behaviour of just wanting to weigh in if I was going to be successful.

It was a bit odd walking in there and seeing the usual crew. I've weighed in downtown before and that didn't feel as odd as today at my normal location just at a different time. Each group definitely has their own vibe. I stepped on the scale and I was down .4lbs, not spectacular but far better than a gain.

I decided not to stay for the meeting as the topic was taking time for yourself. As I'm single, no kids plus an only child this is not a problem for me. Instead I went to the mall in search of food as I hadn't eaten yet.

The trick to having a successful week for me is to be on plan at the start of the week and just keep going.

I've dusted the cobwebs out of my brain and I'm sorted. Next Saturday's weigh in will be fabulous. Plus I'm in Calgary all week so totally in control of my own food. I want my mojo back as I was doing so well.

Alright off to celebrate the start of the olympics tonight and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!

Good post title?

I can't think of one for the life of me. Complete blank in that department.

Site was fine this week, food was decent and I managed to squeek in some treadmill time though my runner was rubbing against my ankle the whole time.

Took forever to get home as we circled in the air for what felt like eons.

Tonight had the eye appointment right after work - very little change in that area so that's good. I was too tired to look for new frames plus I want a friend with me as I need a second opinion. After walking around the mall in my snow boots I did something funky to my knee. Hoping that works itself out.

At the eye exam the guy doing my paperwork asked me how old I was so I told him (37) and the woman at the next table didn't believe me. She thought I was way younger. I love her.

I've had a stupid hard time trying to get back into the swing of things weightwatcher's wise. Tracking has been difficult this week and I have no excuses.

I ordered the book "The end to overeating". I can't get into Beck. I've picked it up multiple times and something about the format bores me to tears.

I'm hitting goal this year damn it. Tomorrow is my last day at work for four days. I want to use this time to get back into the swing of things. It's time for another round of meal planning and I need to get my butt to a gym.

Alright my friends that I all I have.

Hugs!!

No use hiding

I was expecting a gain this week as my behaviour last week was not how one should approach a weigh in whatsoever.

I weighed myself at home before leaving for WW and I was up .4 - That's o.k I thought I can handle that. I get to the meeting and I weigh in and it says up 1.2 - what!!!!

Again the gain didn't surprise me, it was the discrepancy between my home WW scale and the meeting's WW scale that did.

No matter, I know what caused it and I know how to fix it.

Last week I tracked but I didn't track in real time. What I mean by that is I would track my breakfast and then track lunch and dinner after they'd been eaten. Not smart I must say. My little Oreo incident is a good example, I knew they're 3pts for two in the back of my head but I didn't listen to my head as I ate them. It was later when I tracked them and thought "crap".

As I stepped on the scale at WW I told my leader I had a bad week. She looked at me and said "You've come back recently, it's normal to have rough weeks the important thing is to know what happened". Good point Clare, I know what happened and I'm super fueled to have a kick ass weigh in this week.

I don't want to get in the habit of a fabulous week and then a terrible week but all I can do is take one week at a time.

This week my company is having a Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony shindig on Friday night. I'm taking the day off that day to give myself an extra long weekend. I think I'll weigh in Friday at noon instead of Saturday am. I have a feeling Friday night will be a party and I want to celebrate instead of worrying about the scale the next day.

Acitivity is a priority this week as last week was lackluster. My tracking will be pre-planning this week and to really think about what I'm going to consume. Water wasn't so fantastic either. I always got in a minimum of a litre but not my 2L goal.

So this weeks plan is:
Sunday - 1hr walk outside (it's supposed to be -4 today), 40min yoga
Monday - 45 walk treadmill
Tuesday - 40min yoga
Wednesday - 30min Wii Fit, 40min yoga (I have an eye appointment right after work)
Thursday - 45min walk treadmill
Friday - 40min yoga, plus a walk perhaps as the weather is supposed to be decent.

I'll be day short this week as I'll have 6 days between weigh ins as opposed to 7.
Diligence is a priority.

I didn't stay for the meeting this week as my Dad was coming into town and I was meeting him directly after weigh in. I did see one word on the board that struck home - Resilience - the ability to recover quickly from setbacks.

This is why they call weight loss a battle. I didn't win this week's battle but I will win the war.

Hugs!!!

What gym ?

OMG you guys I haven't been to a gym since Monday and haven't done yoga since Sunday. I have fallen off the activity wagon this week. Not sure why exactly.

Tonight I plugged out 30min on Wii Fit but I'm having an altercation with Oreos.

I don't get it. I'm focused but distracted this week. It's like my head is elsewhere perhaps some self evaluation with the journal is necessary. Perhaps I need to get back into the groove of reading the Beck book. I abandoned it awhile ago so it's waiting to be picked up again.

Not a lot to update today but there's always tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

Back on the plan

Hello my friends,
Got my hair cut at the Aveda training academy today and I love it, left with a funky product that helps add volume called Pure Abundance hair potion. It comes out of the bottle as a powder but when you touch it turns liquid, combine this with the mousse Phomollient and shazaam. I also picked up a travel size Phomollient that I can refill and I'm trying out their Air control hair spray.

Work was alright today, system issues caused everything to take forrrevvverrrr. Nothing quite like waiting 5 minutes for a page to load.

I needed to hit a grocery store after work as I had no fruit or veggies, it was a sad case.

Meant to do some Wii Fit but my controller is dead and I had zip for fresh batteries so it's charging. I think my Wii board needs new batteries so I'll pick those up on the way home tomorrow.

Other than that not a whole lot to tell you today.

Until tomorrow...hugs!!!

Some lessons take time

Hello!
Time ran away from me yesterday as I worked a longer day and everything got pushed back from then on.

Did a ton of walking around yesterday which added up to an hour, this included walking across site to a meeting (15min), treadmill in a super hot room (30min) and having to trek up and down a stupid long haul way 3 times because my camp room key didn't work (15min)- while lugging a computer bag and a duffle bag.

Food wise was not so incredibly fantastic and it started to go down hill yesterday night. Probably because I was super tired being up at 4am and awake until 11pm. Though I did sleep super well as my alarm took me by surprise this morning.

Today was not so hot either as I got a little bit of disappointing news and the lunch options kind of sucked today. I did not pack my lunch in the to go kitchen this morning and suffered the consequences.

I have definitely not mastered the emotional eating, however I did have the flexpoints so all is not lost.

Diligence must return so that I can see 186 on the scale on Saturday. I am confident that I'll do it.

Got the yoga paws today and they're neat. I just tried the hand part on and it's cushioned. I'm thinking I'll love this during downward dog as that always kills my hands.

Alright my friends I'm a little zonked so it's early to bed for moi.

Hugs!!!