Hello Treadmill

Yesterday I tracked everything and finished with 29 pts which is my base. It's funny how some days it's so easy to stick to those points and some days not so much. I stepped on the scale this morning and just back into the 176s.

At weigh in yesterday I was asking my leader if any changes to the plan were coming as it's typically in December that this will happen. I've seen some stuff on the internet saying the weekly points might change as in change based on your weight just like your base points. She couldn't say anything but apparently the Canadian leaders have a pow wow of some sort coming up where this type of stuff is revealed. If there are changes coming the US will see them a couple of weeks ahead of us.

The plan today was to head to the gym and begin half marathon training. I opted for 2min/2min intervals and did 3 miles in 40min. The way I laid out my training plan originally it should start on Wednesday but starting a wee early won't be bad thing. It's 3 miles for this week. Next Sunday it's 4 miles. As I go I'll work on my intervals.

Then I went to Walmart and Safeway. Recently at my Walmart there seems to be a German section with an entire array of mustards (6 different kinds - what can I say my people love mustard), Tschibo coffee, red cabbage and etc. I love Tschibo coffee and it was very reasonably priced as well so I bought a lot of it for my Dad and myself as normally it's kind of expensive. The other thing I found was this.

In English that's Plum Butter and the ingredients are plums, sugar and citric acid. It's 1 ProPoint for a tablespoon and it's so yummy. It's completely smooth so goes on toast... well like butter. The other thing I like is it's not super sweet and tastes like plums.

I was waiting in line at Safeway when my eyes caught something new. Now every time I go to the US or know someone who's going to the US I request this:

Now just put "Juicy Fruit" where it says Wrigley's and shazaam they're now in Canada. I saw the Apple Pie, Orange Crush and Strawberry Shortcake version at the checkout I was in. Now I'm not sure if all the flavours are available in Canada but the Apple Pie one tastes exactly like the real thing. I also enjoy the Orange Crush, Key Lime Pie and Mint Chocolate Ice Cream. I wasn't fond of the Strawberry Shortcake version.

Right now all my packs are at work and pretty darn handy when the I get snacky especially if it's for something sweet. Now if only Blue Diamond will launch the Wasabi Soy Almonds in Canada I'd be delirious.

Another thing I'm starting to try to curb after dinner snacking is to have a cup of decaf tea. I really like Celestial Seasoning's Candy Lane Tea, it's green tea that tastes like a very mild candy cane.

I keep a pack at home and one at work. I'm going to make sure to put some in my camp room as it's a nice little wind down to the day.

I'm taking tomorrow off so my plan is to go to Iron Reps at the gym and stay for yoga, more on that tomorrow.

I hope you all enjoyed your Sunday - Hugs!

Dear Self

Dear Self,

I feel compelled to write to you today as I think you need to hear/read what I have to say. You've become complacent. It's not that you don't know this yourself but I'm here to ask you why.

You haven't been focused lately and more recently you seem to have given up. Remember all those Halloween candy wrappers you've tossed into your desk garbage for the last two weeks. Quite frankly you know better so what gives?

The thing is you can do this, heck you've done it before after all remember the first time you walked into the doors of the Weight Watchers meeting and seeing 204 on the scale. You battled, you were focused and you haven't gone back to that number. You came close oh you know that but you battled again and succeeded and have never gone back.

You are strong, you are more then capable of achieving this goal. You should believe in yourself.

It seems this 170 area is a challenge for you, you've been floating in the 170s for weeks. Today you weighed in and was at 178.4, you were 178 last week. I don't want you to get hung up on the number.

You also told your leader today that you lost your mojo and need to find it. You also told her you would not be ruled by the number on the scale it's data and a start.

She told you that focusing on the number may not fire up your mojo maybe you need another goal. She then told you about another member at another meeting who decided she wanted to go to San Francisco so she calculated the distance from Calgary to San Francisco and when she cycles those kilometers off at the gym she's going to go.

That's great but not really you're thing. You do have the half marathon but the goal for that is more upright, uninjured and enjoy it. It's a little unrealistic to think you're going to hit goal in 3 months as well.

During the meeting she talked about choosing to focus on a better you. She used the example of do you want Hawaii or beer.

That caused a little light bulb to go off in your head. You have something else...Vegas in June for your birthday. I know you've been to Vegas multiple times but think about all those times you've gone and you felt uncomfortable at the pool. You usually run around all day in shorts and t-shirts and had to tug those shorts down as they start to ride up due to your thighs being a too close. By the end of the day you're rumpled and kind of a schlep. You see pictures when you get back and feel frumpy. All the pictures you took were of stuff  and not of yourself.

This time is going to be different isn't it? Let's look at this shoedazzle.com collection you've been accumulating  and that picture of the Herve Leger dress on your vision board. I know you want to succeed.

This time you want to rock a bikini at the pool and you want to get dressed up for the night time. During the day you'll wear cute shorts and t-shirts and never have to worry about your shorts riding up at the inner thigh. You'll want to buy clothes at the outlet mall and not think oh no I want to be a smaller size first. You will be at goal this time so if you want that dress - you'll get it.

So when those cookies tempt you at site you need ask yourself - this or Vegas? You need ask yourself are you living your best life?

Yes you can work some crazy hours but that doesn't mean that you can't eat right and if you can't get a treadmill one night all is not lost.

You can do this, you will do this. When you go back to work on Tuesday you're going to toss the leftover candy. I mean really is the candy going to get you Vegas?

I believe in you.

Me

And it begins...winter that is

When I woke up today at around 7am, I looked out the window and saw a bit of snow outside. Then it started to snow again and all heck broke loose. Travel advisories, reports of accidents and one my co-workers texted me to say she had been on her bus for an hour and had traveled a few blocks.

I really wanted to head downtown today as I wanted the new Kobo Vox. This is now my 3rd Kobo. I'm geeked that I can access facebook and twitter on it. I got a little worried when I was setting it up after I got home as it would error when I tried to log into my Kobo account. I called their help centre and found out the site was down so that's why I was having issues. I tried it again 15min later and shazzam works great. It's an android tablet so you can also download apps, magazines and newspapers. It's way cheaper then an Ipad, doesn't mean I'm over coveting an Ipad but this will hold me over.

I headed it out at 9am, my bus was about 20min late but I got downtown in about 45min so not bad at all.

Lately at work I've been noticing an awful lot of people with their own coffee makers at their desks. At site we have the choice of one type of coffee. With the weather getting colder and the sky staying darker I too want my own coffee maker so I researched the single pod varieties and I was drawn to Keurig.

So I searched online and found this one on sale at Sears so I got it shipped to my closest Sears store and it should arrive around Nov. 21.

Today when I was downtown I popped into The Bay as I needed eye make-up remover and I've recently fallen in love with the Clinique version and then I remembered they had an entire single cup coffee maker section. They were selling this one for the same price as Sears but had none in stock. I did leave with the automatic frother as I miss lattes.

I also got a pack of hot chocolate cups and a Timothy's holiday sampler plus the k-cup which allows you to use your own coffee.

I'll never leave my office. Merry Christmas to me :)

Getting home was pretty easy but I also wasn't leaving in rush hour.
My only concern is tomorrow morning might be a bit of treacherous walk to weigh in as the snow was slush and it will be -10C overnight.

Oh well I'll walk carefully. I did pull out the Sorel boots today as I wasn't taking any chances. Mess with Ms. Winter and you'll lose. Tomorrow I'm completely back on the Weight Watcher wagon. Starting with the weigh in. As I have Monday off I also want to spend sometime this weekend figuring out meal planning and freezing some stuff so when I get home and on weekends it's not me snacking around the kitchen because I can't decide what to make for dinner.

Goofing off is done.

Hope you had a safe and fun Friday.

Hugs!!!

Alternative Universe?

I think I might have been kidnapped by aliens and been given a lobotomy as I seem to have thrown all my healthy habits out the window.

I did not workout once this week, mind you my average day at work was 13 hours so by the time I got back to my bed at camp I was knackered. I'm sorry I could not get myself out of bed an hour earlier to go to the gym.

I have not tracked at all, I sort of half heartily tracked via e-tools but didn't maintain it.

I drank some water, no wear near the 2L I should be drinking.

All in all not the behaviours of a person who wants to lose weight.

You know what it just makes me want to get my act together even more. I'm not liking what I see - the jeans feeling a wee snug and not feeling powerful like when I finish a treadmill workout or zen like when I finish a yoga session.

I need to make healthy habits a major focus. Oh and I've been talking around that for weeks now but the chips are down. Half marathon training starts this weekend.

It's time to take a hard look in the mirror and say "Snap out of it!!!!!!".

Giving up is not an option.

Hugs!!!

Yard conqueror

My workout today consisted of cleaning eavestroughs and leaf wrangling. I say wrangling as when I got to that part the wind was crazy. It would be totally calm one minute then gust like crazy. It wasn't very productive so I mowed them.

The eavestroughs were a workout lugging the ladder around my house and lots of climbing. I also unclogged one of my down spouts. Plus had to tighten the screws one of the brackets. Yes my Daddy raised me to be independent.

I consulted my training plan and it doesn't start till the 9th. That doesn't mean I can't start now. I had thought about going for a run today but I knew if I did that the motivation to clean eavestroughs would be difficult to cultivate. It had to be done today as snow is flying soon like flurries tomorrow.

I keep forgetting that I have an extra long weekend next weekend as I booked Monday off due to next Friday being a holiday.

Food wise so far is a battle as I always find weekends to be a bit of a challenge if I don't have a plan but I'm making a dent and getting my groove back. The battle is won one day at a time.

Cancelled the organic food delivery as their new delivery day does not work for me.

A little sad to not being home tomorrow to hand out candy. I'm hauling another stash to work tomorrow. Last week I brought up 6 bags. Tomorrow it's 7. I must take a picture of my office treat bowl. Last week it was down to practically nothing by Thursday. All these boys definitely like treats.

Alarm is set for the wee hours as I am back on a plane to work tomorrow.

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend.

Hugs!!!






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This is war

Not in the way that I want to blow anything up or anything but I need to think like I'm going into battle.

My motivation is still flimsy, good days and bad days, bad days are winning. You can tell that by my lack of blogging lately.

The thing that bugs me is that it's completely ridiculous and within my control. I finally came to the conclusion that it's stress induced, that is irrelevant as I am in control of how I feel and if I let someone or something get to me that's my problem as I let it get to me. Then of course being a emotional eater it's an excuse to have not so great food behaviour. I've often dealt with stress just fine kind of acting like a duck - just letting it roll off. Lately it's been harder so I need to keep my eye on the ball and give no notice to distractions.

The battle that I need to prepare for is half marathon training officially begins next week. All my grand plans up to now have fizzled and flopped of sort of pre pre training. Now I need to get serious.

Last night I opted to go out for drinks with friends and I did think I'd just have one as weigh in is tomorrow. Then I decided to have another and another and decided weigh in was not happening today and I also knew we'd have a sub leader.

Those type of excuses also end today as new leader starts next week and based on what I say last week I think she'll be a positive influence. I'll say it again the WW plan works when you follow it, when I don't follow it I obviously don't see results.

In another news I've revamped my skin care for the coming winter. I could feel my skin drying out over the last few weeks. It's not a cheap venture as I have to get duplicates of everything so I can have one set at home and one set in my camp room. I'm going back to a Origin's Perfect World moisturizer, White Tea Skin Guardian and trying Plantscription eye treatment. I went to Sephora today and picked up Clinique's new Turnaround Night Cream. I also left with a magnetic nail polish that's super cool.

I had been trying cheaper brands but I found they just didn't measure up so it's back to what I know.

I'm focusing on proper cleansing as opposed to cleansing wipes and speed vs. quality. Again you get what you put in.

Did a whack of walking today as when I got home from Sephora I then decided to go to Walmart and pick up a few things. Wow, I will go back to my routine of going to Walmart after weigh in as 2pm is an absolute zoo.

Alright, I will be accountable to all of you my blogger friends. Excuses begone, this is war.

Hugs!!

Where did the last 2 days go?

I can't believe it's already Tuesday night. It's been a fast week so far.

Monday it was super foggy when the plane got close to our landing strip. I'm talking Harry Potter ominous foggy to the extent I didn't think we could land. If we couldn't land that would mean a 2hr bus ride from Fort McMurray.

Miraculously we landed but moments later the fog got worse. Other planes that day not so lucky. One that left 15min after mine took 6 hours to get to work due to delays, waiting for buses and that 2 hour ride.

Monday was long. Up at 3:45am and got to my camp room at 7:30pm. I had to stay up s little to watch Castle. I've more recently found that show and it's funny. I think I now have a crush on Nathan Fillion.

Today late meeting resulting in getting to my room at 7:30pm again. It was a good day. I absolutely adore the group I support.

I hauled up Halloween candy this week and my treat bowl. Heck I'm working on Halloween so I'll hand it our at work. It's very popular. I had a very full bowl Monday morning and there is a significant dent today. I will be restocking for Monday.

This morning it was actually snowing. Oy vey it looks like I'll be winterized next week just to be careful.

Tomorrow should not be a late day so I can actually go to the gym. My hamstrings have been uber tight. So I must focus on the post run stretching.

Alright that's all I got. Hope you all had a great last few days.

Hugs


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I think I might like this leader

I did not go to the gym on Friday, instead I more or less had a pajama day and caught up on Days of our Lives. I didn't feel any ill effects from being out with the boys the night before I just really wanted to chill.

Saturday I went to weigh in and was down .6. I did not have a stellar week by any sense of the imagination so a -.6 was o.k with me. I definitely get what I put in and last week I didn't put in much.

The new leader is super super outgoing and at first I didn't know if I was into that. Through the meeting I really wished I had a notebook with me as she must have said multiple things that I wanted to note down. I used to bring one with me so I think I need to do that again. She's outgoing but also seems really invested in helping us. She told us she just doesn't want us to lose the weight but also not find it again (been there did that) She even told us about a day she has last week where emotional eating reared it's head and she said life happens. No kidding but the other thing is it's one day. You can recover. I think I'll like her. She's on vacation next week but then will be back the following week. She did mention there are 9 weigh ins till Christmas and that was sort of a kick in the pants.

I had a bit a crazy point day yesterday so a bit of an auspicious start to the week. I was very snacky all day even though I had a good protein breakfast with the reduced fat turkey bacon egg sandwich from Starbucks and my grande non fat caramel macchiato - this is my go to WW breakfast that I eat at the meeting. What messed me up is I knew I was going out to dinner so I was trying for a really low point lunch but thought Greek yogurt alone could sustain me so of course that didn't so the snacking began. Dinner was high points (half a cheeseburger, fries, wine, beer, martini, ice cream) that's for sure but you know what it's okay. I tracked it all and know that the rest of my week needs to be more focused kind of like the 80/20 rule.

I did go to the gym yesterday for a run/walk and tried doing 2min run/ 1 min walk intervals. I have one week till I officially start half marathon training and coming to the realization that C25K must go on the back burner. I have to workout for myself what interval will work for 13.1 miles or 21km. The C25K days are low on mileage. The workout went pretty well I had to take a longer walk break midway and wound up running for 15min in total.

Today I went again and ran for 16min total. I started with the 2/1 ratio but then switched it to 2/2. I was super hot in the gym today. The air conditioning is not so great and it was pretty busy. Tomorrow at site I will run again my mission to increase the intervals and run for longer periods by adding intervals. The half marathon training will focus on distance so it will be an experiment to test out what intervals I can maintain for a long distance. I will also attempt adjusting intervals as I go. My Sunday runs for now on should be outside unless there's one heck of a good reason to do it inside i.e. - 30C. I really can't imagine doing 10 miles on a treadmill.

While I was waiting for the meeting to start on Saturday I did give myself a challenge to stay on plan for 30 days. So that's staying within my points (including weekly) and tracking every day. Last week I tracked for 3 days and then gave up. I've been wobbling for far too long but I don't want to get into a should of, could of mindset. What's done is done I'm on to the present and future.

I also realized I need to give myself some rewards to work for. Previously I was thinking I didn't deserve any reward until I got back to 168 (lowest weight to date on WW) but while sitting there on Saturday I realized I was doing myself a disservice. I need to suck it up and I love techie stuff.

The goals and rewards:
170 - manicure/pedicure
165- new Ipod Nano
160 - manicure/pedicure
155 - Xbox 360 with Kinnect
150- manicure/ pedicure
145- Ipad2
130-140- Tiffany Key


Now the reason I kind of skipped over 135 is for the longest time I considered 140 my goal weigh and then I changed it to 130. I have no idea what I'll feel like at 140 so maybe that will be my goal weight and part of me wants that so I can stop paying and get to goal, do maintenance and then maybe shoot for 130 if that's right for my body. When I get to 145 is probably when I can best judge how much further I need to go.

My workout plan for the week is:
Monday - Run/Walk - goal run 18min
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - Run/Walk goal run 20min
Thursday - yoga
Friday- Run/Walk goal 22 min and Iron Reps
Saturday - Zumba and Iron Reps
Sunday - Run/Walk - goal run 24min

Every 2min increase in running is adding another interval.

Bring on the week.

Hugs!!!

Crazy week

Oy vey it was a bit of a crazy week and probably not the best week to declare "I'm focused" as I wasn't.

What I am looking forward to is pretty much from tomorrow till Christmas I should be able to focus on momentum. I honestly believe momentum in regards to healthy habits is huge. I lost my momentum weeks ago and it's been an uphill battle ever since.

Monday was a right off, Tuesday was a right off, Wednesday was a right off and today was a right off. Right off in terms of crazy schedule and late days plus just a wacky week.

All that changes tomorrow. Tomorrow I can go to the gym and I am in control of my food. No catering or team dinners so way more controllable.

Now life will happen, there will be situations outside of my control but at least for now I can build momentum, get the train back on the tracks in a way.

So I do hope you all had a great week and be prepared for me to bring it.

Hugs!!!

Last hurrah now down to business

I went to weigh in yesterday, paid the membership fee as it was a better deal then surrendering coupons. Weighed in at 176.6, a 3.8lb gain. Yup that's what I expected. When I got home from Kingston it was closer to 178 so some better habits returned. It just shows I must stay diligent.

I was surprised to learn we're getting a new leader next week. I guess my old leader Tony quit two weeks ago - apparently due to all the travel he does for his day job.

Now I have seen a few leaders. I'm hoping this new person is fun.

Then it was off to the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Fest, I thought it was better this year but it seemed food wise there was a whole lot of lamb and seafood - neither being my favourite. However I certainly found stuff to eat :)

I did find some cool beverages like a Bellini in a bottle - yummy, also enjoyed this cider that was numbered I think 12 was Strawberry Lime - very yummy, Maple Vodka - yummy and probably good with pancakes and I also liked the Canadian Club pre mixed with ginger ale or cola in cans.

Loved that the aisles were wider but by 8pm it was pretty crowded. Fantastic people watching at this thing and that's probably one of the highlights of going.

I just factored in that I used all my WP and hit my daily target so now the mission is really on to track properly as I have no wiggle room for the rest of the week.

I tried something new for breakfast. I've read a lot about steel cut oats on the blogs but have never really paid attention until I passed these yesterday.

Of course they take longer to make then my instant oatmeal. I started a little late as I was supposed to meet a friend for coffee today and I was running behind so I had toast with some nutella as I just couldn't wait for the oats to finish. Just before leaving she texted that she wasn't feeling well. So I went to the gym and did another week 3 of C25K as I haven't run since Sunday. When I got home I had the steel cut oats for lunch. I like them.

The challenge will be the prep time as I live alone, hauling out the slow cooker for one portion seems a little overboard so I'll just keep it in mind for my Corrie watching fest on Sundays.

The run went alright. When I hit the second set of 3 min it was hard and I had to stop midway through. I just walked for a few more minutes and tried again and got it completed. So I guess I ran for a whole 1.5 min extra.

I work in Calgary during the day tomorrow and fly to camp at 5pm so my plan is to get there and then change  and hit the gym and run again. After all that I'll go find dinner.

Hope you all had a great Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Bit of a bummer

I got my spud.ca order today - yippee. In the container was a note saying they're changing the delivery to my neighbourhood to Wednesday - not so good.

I've already emailed them about it but their little note was a bit misleading. It starts with "we are adding another delivery day to our schedule along with a new website launch". At this point I'm thinking cool but further down they state "This means the date of your delivery will change from Friday to Wednesday" - crappola. It's one thing to ask a neighbour to keep milk for you, it's a whole other enchilada asking them to store a Rubbermaid container full of groceries.

As I don't land in Calgary until 7pm ish on Thursdays, Wednesdays are just not an option. So providing they say I can't keep Friday I'll have to put more of an effort into scheduling my days off and make sure a grocery run takes place on Fridays.

On other news I got my hair cut today and as the stylist talked about my hair I had a strange epiphany about my weight loss journey.

Apparently my hair lacks protein (probably all of me lacks protein must re-look at that) but I am trying to grow it out to my collar bone. I'm now just at the shoulder. Stylist Tim said I'm at the difficult part right now in growing out hair as it hits your shoulder. Oh yes even though I straighten I now have little flips at the end by the end of the day. The epiphany part is when he says it takes patience to grow out your hair. Meanwhile I'm thinking so does weight loss.

Tomorrow I return to weigh in, my last weigh in was Sept. 24th. According to my home scale I've probably gained 5lbs in 3 weeks. Not proud of myself on that and when that happens I go into avoidance mode. I'm not going to do that though, I'm going to face the scale tomorrow and like I said a blog ago. I need to get serious but what's important is that I also remember patience.

While I love the weight loss reality shows I sometimes think they mess with my head. A 12lb loss in a week is completely unrealistic. In reality losing 1-2lbs a week is completely healthy but every once in awhile you just want this to go faster.

When I have a true heart to heart to myself I just haven't been consistent with my efforts. It's consistency that will get me to goal.

That will change.

Hope you had a great Friday.

Hugs!!!

17 hours

That's how long I've been up so far today.

Up at 4am, in cab by 4:40pm, plane leaves 6:10am, got to work and swooped straight into meetings. I checked my email for the first time at noon.

Then it was meeting after meeting. I got to camp by 7:30pm. Had dinner and I am know laying on my bed and typing to you.

I had my first glass of water 5 min ago.

Today was just crazy. Tomorrow looks busy too but no late meetings so I can run.

Heck I have yet to track anything. Quite impressed that I stayed coherent and relatively intelligent as I was running on fumes by 4:30pm.

I did bring the coolest thing I found in Kingston with me. It's a collapsible laundry hamper. I found it in the Queen's university bookstore. It's perfect for my camp room. I put my backpack next to it for scale. It has handles so I can carry it to the laundry room. Collapsed it's the size of a small dinner plate. I love it.



Hope you all had a fabulous Tuesday.

Hugs!!!



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Dusting off the running shoes

I did head out today and it wasn't until I was 5 minutes in that I decided what to do.

The 5 min warm up took me to the mailbox and then I decided to try day 3 of C25K again. I had just started this week when I got the cold.

Every other time I've attempted C25K I stop at week 2 so I didn't want to restart at week 2 unless I absolutely had to.

It was rough but I did it. This was the first run for my new Mizuno shoes and my first run outside in a long time.

Week 3 was two sets of 90 sec run/ 90 sec walk and 3 min run/ 3 min walk with a 5 min warm up and cool down.

I will look at my watch every 30 seconds so today I used landmarks. I could look at my watch only when I reached a certain point.

The stats where:
28:31 min
2.17 miles
Pace 13:10- 9:56 mi

I go back to work tomorrow and my backpack isn't packed just yet but everything I need to take with me is next to it.

Tonight I'm going to try something different to deal with not being able to sleep the night before I fly out.

When I was in Kingston I met one of the other participants who travels a lot. She told me to take one pm advil or Tylenol. I found the advil and I tried it once last week and all seemed good so I'm trying it again tonight.

Have a great evening.

Hugs!


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112 days

Until my half marathon in other words 16 weeks and 16 weigh ins. It would actually be 111 days until the last weigh in before I leave for the half marathon. 111 what a good day for a re-start/ recommitment and a new day one huh?

I still had a food holiday yesterday so today marks a recommitment to the plan, essentially I've had 3 weeks ish off plan. I stepped on my scale this morning and boy do I have work to do. I'm hoping some of what I saw is due to water retention as TOM is looming. A little wishful thinking never hurt - right?

I have renewed focus on water today as well as that has been sorely lacking in the last little while.

I'm just finishing off making some turkey chili and then an hour after lunch I'm heading outside for a run. I need to reboost the running as well and think I need to go with 4 days as opposed to 3. I'm trying to plan that out with my weekly travel. The best way to swing it would be run Friday, Saturday, Sunday (my days off) and Wednesday (my days at camp). Now that would be running 3 days in a row which probably isn't ideal but as long as I listen to my body it should work. That makes Monday and Tuesday cross training days. Thursday will be a rest day as that's the day I fly out and flight delays can happen.

I need to put my serious athlete hat on.

When I came home from my Dad's place I tried taking some action shots with my iphone. Not too easy and they often turned out a little blurry or I missed the shot completely but I wanted to share this pic.

Those are the Rocky Mountains and you can see they have snow. I just thought it was pretty.

I'll come back later and update run stats for today.

Hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving or Columbus day Monday.

Hugs!!

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canadians

A bit of an untraditional thanksgiving this year mainly veggie samosas and too much pie.

Today I wanted to blog about what I'm thankful for and in no particular order.

I'm thankful for the roof over my head, the food in my fridge, the city I live in, my friends and family, my job, the company I work for, the country I live in, the air I breath, for being able to walk and run and for all of you sharing your journeys to being healthier.

Hugs!!!


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Back to a routine and building a plan

I head home tomorrow and on Sunday morning I'll be reunited with my Bodymedia and will start tracking again.

I've been away and off plan for two weeks. Next week will be a boot camp inspired return as I need to come to my senses.

My eye must be on the prize from now on. It's far too easy to lapse into bad habits.

Right now I'm visualizing a skinnier me crossing the finish line on January 31st at Disneyland.

I'm thinking about using spud.ca again. It's a home delivery organic grocery service. The prices are super similar to my grocery store and winter is coming. They deliver to my area on Fridays. I'm kind of liking the idea. Lately I've been leaving the grocery shopping to Saturday and add in weigh in plus the gym it gets complicated.

Plus I want to eat cleaner.

I also must return to running. I left at just beginning week 3 so I'll let my body tell me where I need to start from.

As the gym is closed this weekend I'll have to go outside and I haven't done that in awhile.

It's not a restart but more of a boost.

Hope you had a great Friday

Hugs!!!!



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Your time is limited..

so don't waste it living someone else's life - Steve Jobs

I find I now find out breaking news via twitter, I'm not sure if that's sad or a sign of the times. Of course Steve Jobs passing away is on every news story around the world. By the way I was on my iPhone when I read the news.

I don't question the genius of Apple or Steve Jobs, after all I own an ipod shuffle, ipod nano (the version before this one), ipod touch, iPhone 3 and an iPhone 4 (the phones were not due to a burning desire to own the newest, I had to change providers due to working remotely)  and I desperately covet an IPad 2 (right now hoping to win one via work) and the new iPod nano (it's a reward on my weight loss goals which I'll post on another day). Though I've always drawn the line at a Mac computers as I actually prefer PC. 


The quote above has been mentioned multiple times and what I find interesting are the words "someone else's life". I interpret that as more not realizing your potential. I don't think I'm living someone else's life but I do feel I don't reach my potential and in away I'm coasting. 


I lead a relatively quiet life. I'm shy when I'm uncomfortable and not fond of crowds.Once I'm comfortable I get out going - maybe it's a Gemini thing.  Perhaps it's due to being an only child as I've always been pretty good at occupying myself - rousing games of monopoly with stuffed animals comes to mind and no I didn't always win. My last two boyfriends were found online, I've been single for awhile as I'm not ready to jump back into that world. I might try it again, we'll see. I do work with 95% men but that's dangerous territory as not many wear their wedding rings. I go to an all female gym so that rules that out (it's cheap and makes sense only being able to use it 3 days a week).

Add in the complications of working in far Northern Alberta for 4 days a week. I have zip idea of what's going on in Calgary as we only get Edmonton news up there. (The whole flying to work for 4 days every week was a source of many questions while I was in Kingston). The working away also has interesting impacts on the social network at work. There are two of us a site and our Calgary based team socialize together a lot so they have a separate culture from the two of us at site. I do find I make the majority of my friends at work. The people at site live all over Canada.

While waiting for my luggage at the Calgary airport when I flew back from Kingston I saw a poster for an exhibit of movie costumes at the Glenbow museum that I would have liked to see. It ended 2 days beforehand.

While in Kingston, I got a daily copy of the Globe and Mail (Canada's national newspaper) and I read it everyday. I haven't been that on top of world events in awhile as twitter is not known for a whack of detail and in all honesty it's following Anderson Cooper that gives me the details on that.

If I win this IPad I'd subscribe to Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald as I need to keep informed not just on news but what's going on in my own city. I could subscribe online right now of course and I still might do that but my work internet is archaic (they're working on it) and lunch time would be a great time to catch up on world events. You know I might do that this weekend.

I'm not completely sheltered as the weekend after next is the Rocky Mountain Food and Wine Fest and I'm going to that with friends as it's an awesome way to sort of taste test local restaurants. I do find working away for the most of the week I do go out for dinner more often due to lack of groceries.

I need to shake myself up a bit, as in get out of my comfort zone in regards to weigh loss and general life. I need to get out more. I will definitely go to Fitbloggin 2012 and on a least one of my 3 days off a week I should do something like go to the museum or the zoo or a festival that's going on - heck even a movie wouldn't be so bad.

When I return home this weekend my gym will be closed on Sunday and Monday and I really need to do housework after barely being home for 2 weeks. I'll have to scope out if there's anything going on over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

I think the moral of my post today is I need to stop getting in my own way.

Hope your week is going well thus far.

Hugs!!!!

Too much time to think

There isn't a ton to blog about when I'm at my Dad's house in the middle of the country. The major highlight this week has been the installation of Telus Satellite TV before that it was 3 channels and only 2 came in clearly.

The other highlights of my day are feeding the wild/ domesticated cats that live outside. I'm strangely attached to this motley crew. Fred (the oldest male and my favourite) has discovered he likes to be scratched behind the ear. The others won't let you touch them. The rest of the time is spent reading or sleeping so it's kind of like being on retreat.

The other exciting part was now that we have satellite tv out here we now have time shifting so I could watch Biggest Loser at 6pm.

I apologize in advance if I give any spoilers away.

I'm not a NFL fan, heck I just barely understand CFL. I prefer my sports to have simple scoring like hockey, puck goes in net you get a point or soccer - ball goes in net you score a point.

What I did find inspiring was the 50 year old retired football (incredibly fit player inspiring the blue team and Jennifer who on crutches still loses 16lbs, what about the 60 year old losing even more. Now those loses are completely unrealistic in the real world where you don't have 6 hours in the gym but still it goes to show that no matter what your circumstances are you can be successful in getting healthier. I saw a bit of the red team trainer on Rachael Ray and I think he said something along the lines of "there's no excuse unless you're making an excuse".

It makes me think of the last 3 weeks. I had a cold that led to a week in Kingston and then a week at my Dad's. I go home on this weekend and I'm looking forward to truly being in control of my environment. I could have exercised more control in Kingston and I do the best I can at Dad's (He's 88 I"m not going to disrupt his lifestyle to suit mine).

I do find the black team to be pretty inspiring. I'm not 40 for another 8 months and I strongly believe age is just a number that doesn't mean I'm not going to fight ageing every step of the way. A primary way of doing that is of course focusing on your health.

I won't get home in time to go to weigh in so I'll be paying the registration fee on the 14th and then I'll have 16 weeks till my half marathon.

When I get home I have to be game on. I've been coasting for far too long. I still completely believe in Weightwatchers and I am successful when following the plan. The trouble happens when I so so follow the plan or completely abandon the plan as I've done for the past 3 weeks.

The trick is not to give up.

Hugs!!!

The constant traveller

Today I was off to Dad's house. When I got home last night I tried to stay up for a bit as I was trying to acclimate back to mountain standard time.

Woke up at 6am which was alright as I had to do laundry to repack for Dad's. I also needed to zip into Walmart to pick up somethings to bring with me.

I did want to finish laundry before heading out so I caught up on Biggest Loser. So far I'm leaning towards Jennifer on the black team. Mainly because she's never married and no kids which I totally relate to. Is it just me or do you think the blue team will be picked off? I hope not as I think it's important we all know it's never too late to take care of yourself.

My Walmart is still under renovations so it's a bit of a scavenger hunt. Today I see they moved the candy aisle and directly behind it is now the dental stuff, fitting I suppose. I had breakfast at MacDonald's as there is no point in groceries as I'm gone for another week.

I was looking at the monopoly game board and a little old lady handed me another one. Not sure why.

I did not manage my time well as I missed weigh in. I did step on my home scale and I did some damage in Kingston.

I was walking home when another little old lady flagged me down and asked me if I was Shelley. Nope but she liked my black owl lulu hoody.

Then it was off to the Greyhound station. Always interesting people there. A girl having a scuffle with all her stuff in a locker and a guy using garbage bags as luggage yet also had a laptop with him that he carried in the box it came in - not a new box.

On the bus there was a total moron. The guy smelled like whiskey and sat in the very first row. These to Chinese ladies sit behind him. They were talking and then he turns around and says "are you going to talk the whole way?". The ladies apologized and moved, I can't say that's how I would have responded. Then he proceeds to talk to the driver for an hour. Moron.

Read a new mag I found in the shop by my gate in Toronto. It's called Off the Couch, from the same people who publish Oxygen. It's got some inspiring stories.

Now at Dad's and the cats came to say hi. Fred recognized me and purred. He let me pet him, just a reminder these are the " wild cats" my Dad started feeding so they're now his cats. Mama Meow no longer appears pregnant so not sure what happened there as we're holding at 5 cats. 2 of them avoid us (Spook and Max) 2 semi friendly (Mama and Dusty) if you have food and of course Fred.

Hope all of you had a great Saturday.

Hugs

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Quick note

Hello my friends,

Right now i'm waiting for the flight to Toronto and then it's a 2 hour wait for the flight to Calgary.

I think I've managed to eat myself through Kingston as this course fed you 3 meals and 2 snacks a day.

I had massive sleeping issues for the bulk of the week but got decent shut eye the last 2 days.

The biggest amount of activity was today. I walked along the lake for a bit before the wind tried to knock me over. Walked up and down Princess street ( street of stores). I have a hard time buying things in Ontario when at home all I have to pay is the 5% government sales tax rather then closer to 12% in Kingston as they have provincial tax as well.

Met great people on this trip and even though I sought sleep over festive drinking I still had a great time. The course was pretty fantastic too.

When I get home it will be unpack and pack for Dad's house.

Then after all that it will be get completely focused on the half marathon and getting to goal weight.

I hope you all had a great week. I'll be back soon.


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Day 2 no 3 no 2

All day I thought it was Tuesday, probably because yesterday messed me up as I normally catch up on Coronation Street instead of traveling to the other side of the country.

The first full day if the class was cool and further bonding with the other participants. This is a labour relations course and it's fascinating to see how different the public sector is from the private sector. I had to argue a point on behalf of the union (something I've never done before) and I won :)

Explored a wee bit of Kingston at the end of the day. Wound up stimulating the economy by buying another Lululemon Define jacket. This one is black with a subtle print. I realized my scuba hoody is a too warm for here and the return trip.

Went back to the same restaurant as last night and it's actually called Casa. Pasta two nights in a row, not good but the food is fantastic.

Slept terribly again as I woke up at 3am. Then thought well it's 1am at home so fall back asleep already.

Gym was sacrificed for sleep as my cold resurfaced probably due to all the sniffly people on the plane.

Passed another participant on the way back to the hotel and they asked me if I was going out again. I said no I was heading to bed then they said but this is our last night. We have 4 days to go but this was our last free night as the days get pretty long now. What I thought was funny was that I will probably never see the bulk of these people again..unless I take another course which I totally want to do. Hello Boss want to send me to another one? I'll work on that when I get home.

Hope your Monday was fabulous

Hugs!!!

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Hello Ontario

Slept badly last night as I wasn't tired. I went to bed at 10pm and then woke up every hour. Apparently I just do this with any early flight.

At the Calgary airport I had a breakfast wrap from Jugo Juice. I did really want a breakfast sandwich from Tim Hortons but once past security in concourse A Tim's only has muffins, bagels and lunch sandwiches. So jolted for Jugo as it was a whole wheat wrap with a better source of protein.

When I landed in Toronto I had 30min to make it to the Kingston gate. The flight to Kingston had pretzels. This what I don't get. On the 3.5 hour flight from Calgary you have to buy food on the plane. Yet the 39min flight to Kingston you get pretzels.

Air Canada managed to break a foot on the bottom of my suitcase so this bag will officially be retired after I get home.

The cab driver pointed out 2 prisons on the way to the hotel, including a federal one where "the super bad stay" - his words.

Kingston is super pretty though and totally reminds me of Halifax.

Had the opening session of the course and have already met some neat people. Afterwards 5 of us went in search of dinner.

First went to Chez Piggy, a landmark apparently. First the tried to squeeze 5 of us on to a tiny table. Then we moved to an inside table and had the strangest server. She took one person's drink order then wandered off. So we went somewhere else. We went to Olivea which was awesome. I had the carbonara, maybe nor the best choice but I was a longtime between meals.

Got back to the hotel and found the gym. Two treadmills and a bike- not great but oh well.

Now going to bed but I have workout clothes laid out for tomorrow and alarm is set for 5:30am but if I make up early I'll go earlier. Not sure how busy it will be. Breakfast goes till 8:30 tomorrow so I'm hoping people sleep in.

Hope you all had a great Sunday.

Hugs!!!


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A 4 day cold?

So Monday afternoon I start to feel a little off, Tuesday I wake up with a sore throat, Wednesday the sneezing starts, Thursday the sniffles and a bit a runny nose, Friday a few more sniffles and today almost nothing.

Maybe the copious amounts of Vitamin C and the focus on rest has worked.

Of course the copious amounts of rest has wreaked havoc on my training plan plus I haven't exactly been paying attention to food.

Thursday when we landed K and I headed to the Regal Beagle and shared a platter that had nothing but things that appeared to be deep fried. When I don't feel well my healthy habits go out the window and I go with what I feel like having rather than what I should be having.

Thursday night I tossed and turned and at about 1:30am I took some Buckley's Night Cold/Flu caplets and then slept till 9:30. Then it was off to the mall as I have no clue what to pack for this week course I'm going on.

At site I wear jeans, t-shirt and hoody, when I work in Calgary it's business casual i.e. dress pants, cardigan.

I have no casual non work clothes. I walked through multiple clothing stores and came home with a red cardigan. I despise clothes shopping. I'm hoping I like it better when I'm at goal. The strange part is back in the day when I worked in a clothing store it was a totally different story. I think as I became more conscious of my size I lost interest. Of course that doesn't pertain to shoes or for some reason workout clothes. So I'm packing business casual with a little super casual.

Friday night I had dinner with M at James Joyce and I had a beautiful steak salad, by leaving on Sunday and then only being home for one day and then gone another week there is no point in getting groceries.

I honestly thought I'd see a gain at weigh in today but there was no point in avoiding it. It's better to face the demons. I didn't set my alarm last night because I knew I'd still wake up in time for the 2nd meeting but I wanted to continue with getting rest to really make sure this cold goes away.

I stayed exactly the same at weigh in, that's 3 weeks in a row. Today probably a blessing but I am packing workout clothes, especially as I don't know what the food situation will be at this training. My plan is to hit the hotel gym in the morning.

I think I'll leave the BodyMedia at home for the week and just use WW points while I'm in Kingston.

I do need to take the computer to my Dad's house the week after as I have to log into a work webinar while I'm there. The more I think about the less I want to lug it on the plane especially going through airport security. Heck I'll have a blackberry and an Iphone with me.

After weigh in I popped into Walmart for some last minute trip stuff. I had to pick up a few exercise bottoms as I didn't bring home the ones I have at camp. They had some cute workout clothes and tanks and shirts for under $20 bucks.

Now I need finish laundry, pack, colour my hair, do a self mani - pedi so it will probably be pizza for dinner for simplicity sake. Panago has a new lite veggie that I might try.

The course is intense with many long days but I might try to blog with the Iphone a few times.

I do hope all of you enjoyed your Saturday and if I don't have time to check in a great upcoming week.

Hugs!!!

Feeling blechy

Yesterday afternoon I started to feel off. I had a few sneezes and just felt like a cold or something was coming on.

I was also a bit freaked by the threat of an Air Canada strike as I've been really looking forward to this course I'm going to on Sunday.

I got to bed early last night and woke up with a sore throat...crap.

So I took an advil, gargled with Listerene and avoided milk. So far so good the sore throat is no longer sore. The sneezing is getting more frequent.

I made an executive decision to have another early night. Today was to be a run day but with the prospect of flying to Ontario on Sunday has me more focused on feeling better. I've done the being sick and in a hotel room before and don't want to do it again.

Hopefully this is only a 48 hour thing. I still have a run planned for Friday.

Hope all of you are feeling well.

Hugs!!!


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I should compete on amazing race

What a morning. Yesterday I set my alarm but I didn't turn it on. I woke up at 5:30am and freaked out. I was supposed to be up at 3:45. Had two missed texts from my cab driver. Of course I keep my phone on silent.

I jumped out of bed and frantically got ready while calling the cab company.

I managed to get my lunch in my bag and then hopped in to the cab. Got to the airport but they closed boarding. I did ask the cab driver to wait 5 min which was good as I just wound up going home. Called our flight people to see if I could get on another. I did call them on the way just in case.

So I came home had breakfast and also put my light timer on (didn't get to that the first time). I also would have left without my tracker, though I am tracking on the WW app and the book. Got on the 10:30 flight. I got to my desk by 1:00pm. Just over $100 in cab fare for those 3 trips.

I've been flying out on Mondays for almost 2.5 years and this was the first time I missed the plane.

I discovered later that my original flight hadn't even boarded yet when I got there this morning.

Had to tweak my food plan for the day a bit. For example I had nutella on my toast instead of PB.

Still on plan though.

I don't do well when I'm rushed. I'm such a planner so my whole day was off and I was tired. My extra sleep evaporated in the craziness of this morning. I am kind of proud that it didn't result in a chocolate feat.

Hope you had a more peaceful Monday.




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Week 3

Every other time I've attempted the Couch to 5K plan I usually give up around week 2. I don't think I've ever done week 3 before. Well I did today.

I went to the gym as it was easier to time it on the treadmill as today was 90 sec run/ 90 sec walk and 3 min run/3min walk do it twice. Yes I went to the gym for 19 min of a workout well with cool down 25 min. It was good I picked a bad treadmill as all I look at was a wall that had a sign. I should have gone two over so at least I could look into the big workout room.

The 3 min parts were a little rough but I did it..twice. I'm kind of proud of myself. Now I get to do it again on Wednesday.

Not much else going on today, just in the process of laundry then it will be get work bag sorted as I once again I fly out Monday morning and my alarm will be going off at 4am.

I hope of all you had a great Sunday.

Hugs!!

I'm the boss

Hello my friends,

At today's WW meeting I picked up the weekly flyer and saw that the theme was "you're the boss of you". That came at the right time for me. My tracking derailed a little starting on Wednesday. I did go back today and filled everything in and whoa it's a miracle I stayed the same today.

I was back at the first meeting of the day today which is definitely the one I prefer. More people go to that one so there's always a good dialogue. Today we just reviewed last week's meeting with the sub but it was good a reminder. Like always count alcohol to what the book or online tracker says, don't use NI as the sugars in alcohol don't necessarily show up in the NI and of course whether it's lower in calories or not it's not exactly a power food.

I really like the quote at today's meeting.

"It doesn't matter what you can do, what matters is what you will do" and we talked again about "Want Power vs Will Power".

The whole I'm the boss was a good reminder as I was dipping a little too much into the candy bowl on my desk this week. Ridiculously so on Wednesday and Thursday combined with other not thought out decisions and that's directly linked with my stressful work situation. However, I did have a choice and the power was mine.

My leader encouraged us to eat the weekly points and to make sure we do eat some of the activity points. If you earn 2 maybe not but if you earn 8 maybe you want to eat at least half.

That got me thinking, so when I came home I looked up the wendi plan again and decided to try that this week. If you're unfamiliar with the wendi plan check it out. It's no different then the regular WW plan it's just how you distribute the points.

I'm not doing it to try to break a plateau as my lack of progress is completely engineered by myself but more to have a structured way to use my Weekly Points. So today was my high point day and I'll follow it for the week and see what happens.

My tracking calories on the BodyMedia is secondary to WW. I do track both but I pay more attention to points vs the calories as there is definitely good calories vs bad calories-of course the WW don't factor in calories on the ProPoints plan.

I spent half the day in the gym today. I did 8 sets of run 90 seconds, walk 2 min or the final day of week 2 of C25K. It felt really good so I am going to move on to week 3 tomorrow...eek.

Then I went to Zumba for an hour. I really have no idea what I'm doing in this class but it's fun. Our instructor has this wicked Romanian accent and sometimes I have no idea what she's saying. Today she's telling us that at some point we'll have to swish and buh buh...okay..????

The good thing is probably 90% of the class has no idea what they're doing either so you fit right in. It was still a good workout and I find it ridiculously fun.

I also went to the 60min Iron Reps class, I went a little down in weights this week as last week I was losing form last week which is never good. It was still rough as my muscles were exhausted.

After Iron Reps I zipped through Safeway for a few groceries. I really need to get my act together with only 3 days at home a week. Any food shopping should happen on Friday.

Oh and there was also the 40min of additional walking just going to weigh in and then back home after grocery shopping.

According to BodyMedia 177 minutes of activity, 140 mins Moderate and 37 mins Vigourous.

By the time I got home at 2pm I was done. I went to Walmart in between WI and the gym and picked up Inside Fitness magazine. It has some really interesting articles and even though it seems really aimed at body builders they have good general nutrition/ workout info as well. Plus I liked that it was Canadian.

Hope you all had a great Saturday.

Hugs!!

Still here, just busy

Hello my friends,

Didn't meant to disappear for a few days but time just flew.

On Tuesday I didn't do yoga according to my training schedule instead I played badminton. I haven't played in a few weeks so I met up with my Sensei (co-worker who convinced me to play and sort of coaches me). We played one game and he smoked me but I do see improvement in my skill. I got a few birdies past him.

Wednesday I was a wee bit stressed. That's actually been going on for a week as I'm dealing with an issue at work. It was supposed to be run night but when I got back to camp I was tired and feeling crampy so I went for dinner and when I got to my room I laid down on my bed and stayed there. I watched the season premiere of Survivor and the season finale of Big Brother (So happy Rachel won). Also polished off the remaining peanut butter I had in my room.

Then I regained sanity and threw out the rice cakes I have in my room to go with the peanut butter as well. I don't really need to keep snacks in my room as I eat dinner before hand. I'll keep the snack size healthy popcorn.

Thursday was fly home day and I had another co-worker with me who lives in Fort McMurray so we went for dinner at the Keg. The only thing I like at the Keg is the filet mignon. I did leave food on the plate as I didn't quite finish the filet and had a quarter of the garlic mashed potatoes.

Food wise this week has not been angelic however tracking has been stellar so I'll get this right.

Today I had to pop into the Calgary office to deal with this issue a bit and I wanted to be in earlier then later. I was there by 11 and left by 12:45. I then headed down to Eau Claire Running Room as I needed Body Glide. Due to the abundance of food I had over the last few days today I was really listening to my body. When I woke up I wasn't hungry so I didn't have breakfast. By the time I got to Eau Claire I was hungry so I stopped in at Good Earth who in the past had the most incredible Mac n' Cheese. I ordered a small version and got a microwaved heated mac n cheese that reminded me of a frozen meal.

Boo Good Earth, that was the most pathetic thing I've seen.

I then went in search of Body Glide, well first I picked up this. The picture doesn't do it justice as it's kind of a bright pink. Now I'm not really a pink kind of girl. I like the colour but I don't own a lot of it. I own another fuel belt that's black with 4 smaller bottles and in my past racing experience I always felt like I was wearing an inner tube. There was a purple one but it had neon green on the back and that didn't appeal to me at all. So pink it is.

I had been looking at this for awhile as this one is one size fit all so I figure  a good idea if I'm shrinking, it's really light and the bottles are a little bigger so that's good too. I also picked pink sort of for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon. I don't usually plan outfits for races other then what's suitable for the conditions but I'm going girly girl for this one.

The other advantage to this colour is it will aid in visibility when I'm out and about because I have to really start running outside and not just on treadmills so it will be useful outside of just being girly girl.

My original mission was the Body Glide so I get to that section and discover they now make a "Women's" version. I didn't see any difference from the original and the Women's expect for the pink lid and the $2 more expensive. An employee came around then and noticed me staring at the packages and confirmed my suspicions. Yup, no difference. So I grabbed two smaller packs of the original so I can have one travel version.

I then went to the Core a.k.a downtown mall and came up empty. I had wanted a paperback German/English dictionary as the only one I have is hardcover. So if I'm going to take it to camp with me I'd like something lighter. Nope I'll have to get that online probably.

At that point I hit two more stores looking for something and came up empty so I went home. Now I'm zonked.
Today is also a run day but the whole having to go into work threw me off. So my plan now is after weigh in to go to the gym earlier then normal get my run in, and then do iron reps. I'll do a longer run to make up for Wednesday. Not ideal I know and I can't get in the habit of messing with my plan.

So now you're up to date and we shall see what happens at weigh in tomorrow.

Hope you had a great week,

Hugs!!!

O.K maybe I should start with beginner

According to my Bodymedia I slept for 4 hours and 26 minutes last night and boy am I feeling it. I just need to resign myself that I don't sleep well the night before I fly out.

On the training schedule today was pilates. I brought DVDs with me and these were Mari Windsor. I think it's the newest version as it came with stuff like a body bar. I've used it once so far so not so familiar with that contraption.

I hooked up the HDMI cable to my computer and the TV in my room and popped in the DVD. Well it took awhile to get that going just to get the DVD to play.

I picked the Quick Start for Weight loss to start with (catchy title huh?) Wowsers, first I had to stop it to figure out what the heck they were doing with the bar. Then I had to get up because the DVD stopped. Then I had to move stuff around my room so I didn't whack anything with my arm.

I didn't finish the DVD, I think I got about 20min done but I'm tired. Now sadly I'm watching Bachelor Pad.

Next week I'll bring a more beginner Pilates DVD and work my way up.

The pie auction was a massive success and my pies went for $60 and $65. A Costco pumpkin pie went for $125. It was hysterical people from the same team where trying to outbid each other. All in all we made about $77 per pie or just over $2500 for the United Way.

The one part I didn't factor is that while the pies were out of my house all 33 pies were all over the building literally every kitchen had 2-3 pies.

My dinner pretty much wound up being pie. The homemade blueberry one that was in my kitchen was totally worth it.

So when I went to camp I just grabbed some veggies to snack on, I did get into the peanut butter in my room after the whole pilates disaster. So not the best plan perhaps and maybe I should have just embraced eating some WP points today. It's all tracked and really not a terrible day.

I've left my yoga mat rolled up on the chair in my room as yoga is on tap for tomorrow.

Hope you all had a great Monday.

Hugs!!!

Positive Self Talk well maybe more tough love

Yesterday I failed to mention that while I missed Zumba I did go to Iron Reps. Every 3 months or so they change it up. It's still one body part per song i.e back, triceps, biceps, lunges, squats but the songs will change and the exercises will change. Quite often they won't necessarily start with the whole new routine but sub it in overtime. On Saturday we did the whole new class as the Saturday instructor Robyn is a bit of an Iron Reps queen. I don't if it was because I liked the songs better but I enjoyed this one more. It was tough though.

Today was run 1 of Week 2 of C25K. I decided to go to the gym and do it on the treadmill as it was a wee bit too warm for me this morning. I started a little experiment last week and did my run portions slower. Normally on the treadmill I was doing about 5.6. I often found that I was getting tired early so lately I've dropped it to 5.2 and find that much better so I kept with that today.

At one point I thought I don't know if I can actually get to the 30min as I look at the clock every 30 seconds during the run portions. I shook it off and told myself to have faith and just focused on the lyrics of the song I was listening to. I also told myself it will take work to get to goal so I shouldn't expect it to be easy and if those people on Biggest Loser can run so can I. All in all it went well. I'm also being very conscious about stretching afterwards. I don't always do that...I know not good.

Due to my super long day or typical Monday of being up by just before 4am I have yoga on the training plan. Due to my late meeting on Tuesday I have Pilates and then Wednesday will be the next run day.

I went to the gym the moment they opened today as I had to bake pies. We're having a pie auction at work tomorrow and I was on the hook for two pies. I made Caramel Apple and Chocolate Peanut Butter. I cheated a bit with the Caramel Apple and used Pillsbury dough. It leaked a little and the crust is a little cracked but it looks homemade and I have no doubt will taste great. At first I thought there was way too much filling for the pie but put it all in there. Then I made the Chocolate Peanut Butter one. I found the same thing that some components seem to be way too much. Maybe it's because I was using aluminum pie plates and not glass or ceramic. Oh well there now in Rubbermaid containers in the fridge which I'll take with me on the plane tomorrow. I'm hoping they don't get banged up too badly in overhead.

I did have my day perfectly planned out but when I'm at home I find evenings to be tough. I got snacky and of course TOM is pending any day now so that's probably why. I tracked it all and used WP. So far this weekend I've used 22 WP and earned 15 AP.

I'm setting a little goal to not use any WP on Mon to Wed. I won't use any on Friday as it's the day before weigh in. Thursday is the day I fly home and also a super long day so I'll leave it as option.

My Sunday routine is mostly done as my clothes are laid out for tomorrow, my lunch is sorted for tomorrow, my work bag is packed and I've blown dry my hair so it's a quick straighten in the morning.

Now I wind down and hopefully sleep better then last week.

Take care of yourselves,

Hugs!!

Serendipity

It's funny how plans can change.

Yesterday I went downtown to meet my friends and I got to the office and they were all gone. I had emailed earlier in the week that I'd meet them there and they said they should be able to go at 5pm. Well it was 4:45pm when I got there. A quick text message revealed they had left early and where already at the restaurant. I was momentarily annoyed and then started thinking if they've been their awhile the drinking and appies have started.

For the bulk of the day I wasn't looking forward to this get together. I love the people but these nights typically start as a drink after work and then it turns into a pub crawl. The food plan is usually "let's share appetizers" and it's a vicious circle with regret the next day. I did have a plan. I had already scooped out the menu and knew what I'd have. If I was going to have drink it would be one and then only water and I planned to leave early. The thing is I've had this plan before and it never quite pans out as you lose track of time and get lost in the moment. I just wasn't feeling it.

I'm really focusing on my commitment and that means managing my environment.

So as I sat in the lobby of the building I realized I didn't really want to go to this thing last night. So I texted an apology that I wasn't coming and went home. When I got home I had a text from another friend asking if I was up for a movie.

That appealed to me far more. I had dinner at home, we went to the late showing, I had no movie snacks at all.

We saw Crazy Stupid Love and both really enjoyed it. Of course getting home at midnight made me super tired.

This morning I had set the alarm to go to my normal meeting but I was so tired so I opted to go the second meeting. My original plan was to go weigh in, leave and get breakfast and then go to Zumba. Before I left I looked up the meeting topic and saw the theme was back to basics. I walked there I started thinking I should stay for the meeting. That would mean missing Zumba and waiting another half an hour till breakfast. I decided to stay.

Weigh in was up .8, but I'm o.k with that as earlier in the week I was higher and again it's just data today. This gaining a bit each week is ending now.

There was a sub- leader as Tony was elsewhere. She had spunk and she gave us a quiz on the ProPoints Plan , out of 12 questions I got 11 right. The only one I got wrong was about water. My answer was you should have 6 glasses a day, of course the caveat was it doesn't necessarily need to be water - 3 of the 6 should be plain water. There where 4 of us that tied for the top score so there was a tie-breaker. Which is lower in points a Tim Horton's Multigrain Raspberry Muffin or an Apple Fritter. I knew I should have gone with the donut but I was momentarily fooled by the word Multigrain. All muffin is cake. Oh well the prize was a sticker. For the record the muffin was 11 points and the apple fritter was 8 points.

It just goes to show how easy we can fool ourselves whether it's by the name of a product or not measuring things we use all the time and the amount starts to increase over time.

I need to not over complicate things. Just keep it simple like track, stay hydrated and workout. I do completely believe in the WW plan it's worked for me in the past still 31.2lbs down from my original start weight so I just need to have faith.

It's kind of funny I have these things called Angel Cards, I use them to pick an inspirational message to focus on. I haven't looked at them in awhile. The other night I pulled Trust, Faith, Transformation and Love. I don't know why I picked 4 but these words are good anchors.
Trust - myself and the process, weight loss is work and takes time. I'm not going to lose it all overnight.
Faith - I can do this, I know the tools and I can do this
Transformation - It's time to focus on new behaviors and let go of past negative influences
Love - I need to remember I do this for me, to show myself respect and love.

That's all I got for today. I hope you all had a great Saturday.

Hugs!!!

Decisions

I've been thinking about my blog post yesterday and the part that said I would weigh in today as opposed to my regular meeting on Saturday morning.

The only reason that I thought about doing it today ( which started on Tuesday) was because I was going out with friends tonight.

Yesterday I also talked about going in with a plan tonight.

So now I'm thinking why would I weigh in today, maybe I should do it at my normal meeting.

A part of me just wants to get it over with so I can clear my mind.

I'll have to make a final decision within 2 hours and a bit.

When it all comes down to it the importance is that I go this week.

Today or tomorrow isn't really the issue.


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Float no more...training starts now

I'm a bit of a fan of Big Brother and while I've missed a few seasons I've been following the current one. I realized today I've become the worst possible thing in the game. I'm a floater.

On the weight loss front lately anyways. Oh I've been tracking my calories but not getting the deficit I need between calories burned and consumed. Sometimes it hurts to plunk in the calorie info as I did tonight. I blew off last week's weigh in because I didn't want to see a gain. The equivalent of putting my head in the sand.

Tonight after landing I went with my friend K to a near by pub for a beer, nachos and deep fried pickles. Hence the hurt while plunking in the info but it's better to face it, learn from it, get over it and move on.

Yup..these are not the actions of someone who wants to take getting healthy seriously.

When I'm good I'm good, when I go bad it's so so bad and sometimes it feels like digging myself out of a ditch to get it back together. It's been plaguing me for awhile now and enough is enough. I don't like how I feel and I'm determined to finish the half marathon strong. Come hell or high water I will be a hottie for that trip to Vegas for my birthday. Heck I want to be a hottie at the Christmas party.

The floating ends now.

I'm going out tomorrow as well but will behave better as I'll have a plan (novel concept huh?). I'm still going to weigh in tomorrow at noon and I'll embrace whatever number shows up there.

I have a souped up training plan for the half marathon in January.

Tada...

This is from tomorrow till January 29th all laid out. Technically it started today but I got 6 hours of sleep last night and 3.5 hours the night before so after I type this I'm off to bed. I plan to hit the yoga mat tomorrow morning to compensate for missing it today. I have two copies of  the plan this one for home and one for my camp room at work. I love stickers so one gets plunked on this when it's completed. Simple and straightforward.

Here's September, so it's the C25K plan with a whole lot of yoga, a little Pilates and smidgen of Iron Reps and Zumba. I'm starting the C25K plan at week 2 as I can already do 2 min walking 1 min running. I have to admit as I typed up these calendars I got nervous but I can do it damn it. The yoga is not just for a stretching component but I need to center myself and yoga helps me do that.

The 8 weeks of C25K plan transitions into the 12 weeks of half marathon training seamlessly. There's a few challenges in the way. At the end of September I head to Kingston, Ontario for a week as I'm on a course but note that's in the plan above. The following week I got to Dad's for a week. Plus in December there'll be one week at Dad's as well. Life does happen.

Luckily I have a travel yoga mat and portable dvd player. I'll deal with the running at Dad's depending on weather or maybe I'll buy a treadmill and install it at his house. That would take a whole lot convincing... it's just a thought.

I also got my Chapter's order today

I liked Shrink Yourself so much I bought it in paper so I can write notes, and as I had a gift certificate I decided to research a more primal diet. Not so far from WW as the new plan does highlight protein as does these plans. I wanted a bit more guidance of what to eat. After reading Gary Taubes book "Why we get fat". The science and my own personal experience is starting to gel. I want to earn all my 10%  key chain doohickeys plus I still believe in the program so WW meetings are an absolute necessity not just for the doohickeys but also for the support.

The number I see on that scale tomorrow will not derail me, depress me or stop me. It's just data.

I hope you all had a great Thursday.

Hugs!!!

Walking Dead

I think I would have made a good zombie today. I slept poorly last night and was wide awake at 3:15am. My alarm is set for 3:45am. By 3:20 I came to the realization that I might as well get up.

Had a breakfast of a WW bagel with peanut butter. In retrospect I should have nuked an egg and some turkey bacon and made a more substantial breakfast.

I brought leftover Knorr cream of veggie soup with added cauliflower for lunch. You know how I was saying I should focus more on protein. Epic fail on that as I was a snacking fool all afternoon. That was probably also influenced by oncoming TOM and tired.

By 4pm I was super knackered. Gym went out the window in favor of dinner then getting in my pjs.

On a more positive note I took a more detailed look into my training plan and have decided to go with the Hal Higgdon half marathon training. It's similar to what I've done with Running Room before. It's a 12 week plan. That leaves me with 9 weeks. After being so inspired by Enz. I'm going to revisit C25K. I have all the plans printed off now I incorporate into a grand scheme.

Let's face it all my grand plans so far have been iffy. I need to get serious and consult wiser sources then me.

I'm so tired I don't want to turn on my computer to sync my bodymedia. Heck I'm posting this with my phone.

High likelihood I'll be going to drinks on Friday with a few friends which now has me planning to weigh in on Friday at the noon meeting. I can't avoid the scale anymore either the music must be faced.

Besides it only gets better from here. Bring it!

Hope you all had a great Wednesday.

Hugs!!!!


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Not exaclty according to plan

I woke up at 1am this morning and had a hard time getting back to sleep. So I grab my iPhone and start to update my twitter follows and if they have blogs add them to my blog roll. Yeah, not sure that was a great idea. I did however I eventually did fall back asleep and woke up at 10am. Noooooo this now messes up my day.

The reason I felt this wasn't a great idea was I need to be in bed early tonight due to flying out tomorrow. Late sleeping will probably not help that. That also negated my going to Zumba as I had a mega to do list and want to have wind down time so I can be in bed early. Not to mention it's completely thrown off my food plan for the day as I was having breakfast at 10:30am. It probably didn't help that I had a nap yesterday. I didn't plan on it, I laid down with a book and shazaam woke up an hour later. There will be absolutely no napping today.

Alas, I've weeded the flower beds, watered the flower beds and am now on load 3 of laundry. So that involved some manual labour and stairs multiple times with a few more rounds to go.

The other night I attempted to kill the wasps who created a nest in the ground just outside my gate. I went out when it getting dark as it's best to do this either early morning or evening and realized today that I aimed the Raid nowhere near the nest. Duh. Now I know exactly where those buggers are so on Friday I'll get more Raid and launch another strike.

I got a message from my cousin in Germany on Facebook suggesting I go to San Francisco next year to cheer them on in dragon boat racing. I'd so love to do that. 2012 Vacation is now looking like a bunch of mini vacations and many trips to the US. Well many for me.

Disneyland in January, Vegas in June or July and San Francisco in September, now I also intend to go to Fitbloggin next year as I heard/read so many good things about this year so make that 4 trips to the US. I normally go maybe once every 2-3 years. The good thing is with have 3 days off a week that actually doesn't take up a lot of vacation time as by the end of this year I'll have zero vacation carry over and back to the basics next year. I look at that list and is that not inspiration to get to goal - fabulous shopping in all these places too.

I haven't seen my cousins in years so this also gives me a year to brush up my German. It's wicked rusty as I never really use it. My Dad and I have always spoken English as when I was little my parents didn't want me to have an "accent" so English was the language of the house. They used German to talk about me. I did take it in high school and never realized I had such a huge advantage by knowing a lot through osmosis. I did go on to have a Bachelor's degree in German and Russian. Of course I use neither in my current career but that degree did get me the CHRP designation so it was good for something. My cousins are on a dragon boat team so I would suspect I'd be hanging out with them and their team. I already have a textbook ready to pack to take with me tomorrow. Even 30min a day of review would not be impossible.

Tomorrow is a run day so I'll be hitting the treadmill at camp and maybe a little Badminton. We'll see about the badminton as fly out day is always a tiring day.

I hope you all had a great Tuesday and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!

Back to normal

Now I'm wondering if I was feeling an allergy thing. I'm not super allergic to anything except a wee sensitive to cats and I did see my friends cat (and he was shedding) the other day but I was feeling off before that or maybe it was just a seasonal thing. I think the mega amount of sleep I've been getting as fixed everything as today I felt totally fine. I've also been really good about taking my vitamins.

It took awhile to get out the door today, I wanted to add a new playlist on my iPod specifically for running on the treadmill so it's not the same old songs I've been listening to. My pace is totally influenced by the tunes especially if I'm slowing down they pep me up. Then I had to update my iTunes. Well I didn't have to but I hit the button so at that point I was committed.

I went to the gym and I'm loving running in my Lululemon scoop tank. I find it gives enough support and I don't overheat. I'm would like to pick up more but I keep talking myself out of it as I want to get smaller and they're not exactly cheap. The only pro is I'd have some to take to site but then the gym I go to in Calgary is all women. Would I feel as comfortable wearing it in front of a whack of guys? There's girls at site that do and it's a respectful environment it would just be my own insecurities. Hmm..I'll hold off for a bit longer.

Instead of bringing straight up water today I decided to start mixing in some Gatorade. I'm trying to also figure out appropriate fuel for the half marathon (yes 4 and bit months from now but I'm a planner). I've used Gatorade in the past so I figure it's a good place to start. When I was at MEC on Friday I picked up a 500ml Nalgene bottle. I love my aluminum bottles but I'm iffy about mixing stuff in them and like to keep it straight H2O. The 500ml is pretty easy to cart around and has a small opening so easier to drink out of at the gym. I have the Gatorade powder in fruit punch and mixed one scoop per instructions with 500ml of water. Well I had a few intervals to go and I took a swig and launched into a coughing fit due to the strength of the taste. Well that kind of killed my intervals as I hit pause on the treadmill and composed myself.

I added more water to my bottle on my way out and it was way better - lesson learned. I realized Walmart could wait for the weekend but I did needed a few things to take to work so I popped into Safeway again.

When I got home I synced the bodymedia to my phone and realized I had hit all my activity targets for the day with the walk to and from the gym plus the treadmill.

I also noticed today that if I don't have protein in my meals I get snacky. I had zucchini fries for dinner inspired by the recipe in the new Kraft What's Cooking magazine. I still used the extra crunch Shake'n Bake but used egg white as opposed to a whole egg baked for 20min at 400 and voila!. They were really good and super easy. About half an hour later I was into the Liberte coconut yogurt (the lighter version which), 2 Reese's Peanut Butter cups and a bit of cheese. Calorie wise still within my goal but completely random.

I still have tomorrow off so I'm going to pay attention to that and see if it makes a difference.

The scale is heading steadily down which is good and I really want to be lower then my last WW weigh in on Saturday so eye must be on the prize.

Not sure what I'll do activity wise tomorrow. I made no dent in the housework so far so that's a must tomorrow there's also a Zumba class at the gym at noon. I haven't been to Zumba in a few weeks. That would make housework the morning's priority and laundry is at the top of the list. Of course I could just do what absolutely needs to be done and leave the rest for when I come home at the end of the week.. I am really good at procrastination.

I do need to focus on ramping down in the late afternoon early evening tomorrow as it will be an early flight on Wednesday. My Dad thinks I'm nuts for taking Monday and Tuesday off so that I fly up Wednesday and back on Thursday. I did remind him that for about a year and half ago I did that every week as I worked 2 days at site and 3 days in Calgary. Speaking of my Dad apparently he's sick of 3 channels and getting Telus optik installed at the beginning of October. I'll be going to visit him on Sat Oct 1 so two days before I need to come home it will be installed. Just enough time to teach him how to navigate it. It's been a long time since he had satellite TV.

I hope you all had a great Monday.

Hugs!!

Maybe a 24hr sort of thing

Felt better today wonder if it was all the rest and taking that Emergen-C stuff before bed.

Did take it easy today just to be sure.

Went to Safeway and got some groceries.

Tomorrow the gym is open so I plan to be there close to when they open at 9am. Then I need to zip into Walmart for a couple things.

I've opted not to cook up a storm this weekend and instead use my next two days off to focus on housework and some yard work. I'm not feeling cooking inspired so that's why I changed my plans.

Tuesday activities are TBD at this point.

Still tracking strong.

I do have a hard time hitting my bodymedia activity goals. I don't hit them often enough so I need to sort out what I need to do to get those.

Hope you had a great Sunday.

Hugs!!!


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Definitely fighting something

Slept pretty well last night backed up my bodymedia as I had far less "lying down" spots where I toss and turn. I think I needed it too.

Slept in and woke up around 9:30, weighed myself on my scale and saw the effects of last nights dinner reflected in the number. Not phased about it, it's just food. Wasn't feeling 100% as I definitely feel like I'm coming down with something as this has been going on for days. . It's mini symptoms right now like sneezing, coughing. I decided not to go to my meeting today opting to stay in pjs.

I had a glass of milk so I could take my vitamins. I don't like taking them with water as I can then taste it. I stayed up for a bit and went back to bed around 11am. I woke up again at 2pm.

I stayed in my PJs till 4pm then decided I should go for a walk. I just did 30min around the neighbourhood.

I think the rest helped as I felt better. Still tracked all my points/ calories today.

I'm happy that I do have another 3 days off so I can hopefully head off whatever I'm feeling.

I do intend to grocery shop tomorrow and depending on how I feel go to the gym.

Right now just listening to my body but also putting mind over matter.

Hope you enjoyed your Saturday.

Hugs!!!

Good friends

Positivity still reigns even though it was an off plan day.

Had a glass of milk for breakfast as I slept in. Then it was off to meet my friend P at Bumpy's.

I must of walked past this place a bizillion times without realizing it was there. Had the best latte I've ever had. Plus an apple streudal muffin. Afterwards we walked over to Jelly Modern Donut as I've never been.

The good part is I walked a lot today. The bad part I didn't get a run in. When I got home there was a thunderstorm. I was so tired I had a nap.

Later it was dinner at Loungeburger with M...yeah just got home.

Now feeling iffy about weigh in tomorrow. There will definitely be a gain just due to dinner. Yes, yes that shouldn't stop me. I think I'll leave it to alarm clock roulette. I've been zonked all week which makes me think I'm fighting something. I've been around a few sick people lately.

I'll still track my data and tomorrow will definitely be a run day.

From now on I'm in training mode.

Hope you had a great Friday.

Hugs!!






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Something about a new month

The first day of fall isn't until September 23rd but I definitely feel fall in the air. 

Fall is probably my absolutely favourite season. It's the fall clothes, the fall weather,  the fall colours on the trees and my favourite holiday Halloween. I love fall. Lately with the sun setting earlier and rising later plus a wee chill in the air in the morning it definitely feels like fall. 

There is also something about a new month that brings a sense of optimism and fresh start. 

I'm gung ho to get back on track and realize that my little rut can be overcome. Heck I've done it before and I can do it again. Life happens, what matters is that you dust yourself off and keep going. 

The Bodymedia has me thinking a little differently as well. One I'm pretty active in my normal life. I'm also finding the counting calories interesting. For example one Hershey's Kiss doesn't really register as a point in WW. There are roughly 23 calories in a Hershey's kiss. So when your goal is specific number of calories 23 makes a difference. Have I mentioned that I can be a bit of a perfectionist?

I still like the points as it makes it simple to track your day but this is an interesting exercise. 

My half hour early flight wound up getting us home right in time for traffic so time was actually won. Wound up going to a pub for dinner with K and her friend T. It was a nice night with a trip to Chapters and Starbucks. 

After that I used my recent collection of gift cards on a new Lululemon hoody and a few books from Chapters. I didn't have gift card when I was in the store earlier. Rebooted my KOBO as it was having a few issues but that was super easy and fast. 

Tomorrow I meet my friend P for lunch and it will put me very close to MEC and I think I need a new fleece jacket this fall. I also need to run tomorrow so that will happen. 

I am determined to let a positive mind set rule. 

Hope you had a good day,

Hugs!!!