Winter Wonderland

We got a pretty good dump of snow yesterday.



You can see the bunny tracks across the lawn and you can't even tell my neighbour's driveway is under there.

Oh well it's a good day to straighten up and do laundry. I did brave the outdoors to go to Mac's as I needed milk and coffee cream.

I thought today I'd share photos of my favourite Christmas decorations. I actually set them up last Sunday but for some reason the photos wouldn't load.

This is my favourite. It's an advent candle you can't quite see the little propeller thing on the top but as the candles burn it turns. That's a little angel choir around the base.

Tonight I'll light the second candle as of course today is the 2nd Advent.

This is tea light holder with a choir of angels. Yes I have a thing for angels.
I like this because it as the mirror behind and it reflects the light.







This is my Christmas stocking, I can't remember how long I've had this. I was probably about 6 or so when my Mom made it. I would never describe her as crafty but she tried and I can't replace it. Every year I buy a new ornament. Now this year I decided against putting up my Christmas tree as I intend to buy a new one but I'll wait till boxing day for that. I hung the ornament on my stocking instead so it still has it's Christmas debut.

This year's ornament is...you guessed it an angel :)

I hope you all enjoy your Sunday.

Hugs!!!

All dressed up, no place to go - but it's o.k

I did find a dress yesterday and in record time. I went to The Bay as I knew they had an entire floor of dresses, grabbed 4 that caught my eye and tried them on. The first one I picked was the one. Ralph Lauren seems to be my go to holiday dress as the one I bought last year was Ralph Lauren as well. This one is black, classic and can be used for other events. It's funny last year I wound up with the dress I spotted first as well.

I also got all my Apple stuff yesterday. Love the new Ipod, it's perfect as it clips on and I can see what's playing plus it has FM radio. I got the Ipad sorted out today and I'm going to enjoy this.

I had a quick trip to Walmart and wound up getting a second Keurig Mini, this one is for home. I really like it and it was the same price at Walmart that I bought the red one for. This one is black. Now I need to bring some pods home to use. Whipped into Ardene's for some bling for tonight and it was all 70% off so that was a whopping $10 for earring, necklace and blingy barrette.

Then I prepped for the Christmas party, and then spent 2.5 hours trying to get a cab. We got about 6cm of snow plus throw in Christmas party season and it was impossible. So I took the dress and bling off, put on my pjs then washed off the make up and made myself some dinner and got a movie off of video on demand. You know what it was nice. Good thing I went with a classic dress so I can wear it another time.

As the hours went on I had a feeling this Christmas party was not meant to be for me and now I don't need to worry about having a hard time getting home either.

I did weigh in on Friday and I re-found the 2lbs I lost the last time I weighed in. Alas it's my own fault however this week water retention was more to blame but I wasn't perfect either.

Today is 6 months to my 40th birthday. Come hell or high water I will get to goal by my birthday in June. That  is huge fire under my patootie.

So I bought two 3 month trackers as they were on sale due to the new ones coming out with the Points Plus 2012, though the receptionist assured me they weren't all that different. The old ones were 5 bucks and the new one will be 11 CDN. They had loads of boxes in the meeting room of the new stuff coming in. I tried to take a peek but all the boxes were sealed. I needed new coupons as well but they go on sale next week so I'll wait till Saturday.

When I weighed in she recalculated my points and I'm now 26 per day as opposed to 29, now the way she explained it was that I had the option of dropping to 26. I did stay for the meeting but they didn't say much about the new plan as it launches next week. I'm sure all my Weight Watcher peeps will start writing about it as we all start attending meetings next week. Of course mine isn't till Saturday.

I had planned to do an outside run tomorrow but with all the fresh snow that might not be the best idea.

Well I hope you all had a great Saturday, type to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

What am I getting myself in to...

I have an iffy relationship with challenges, sometimes they motivate me but more often than not if I'm not doing well I get discouraged and fizzle, heck a lot of them have been documented on this blog.

At work we're planning a Biggest Loser competition for January. Originally our rec coordinators who work for the people who manage the camp came up with this idea. They also wanted to have a charitable part of it.

Now months ago they tried another fitness competition that ran for 8 weeks and the prize was an Ipod. They tracked weight and took measurements. About 15 people took part who live in one camp and I'm not sure that all 15 people finished the challenge.

I attempted to be a part of the Ipod challenge but it was smack in the summer and I was away for a lot of it so that didn't work so well so I did drop out. Plus I wasn't so motivated by an Ipod I already owned either. \

This time there will be registration fee and it will run for 3 months with half the money going to charity and half the money going to the winner.

The charity we've chosen is to make a little girl's wishes come true through the Make a Wish Foundation.

Registration will be $50 bucks up front (trust me these people make good money and there are a lot big boys). So the good part is even if they drop out the money stays. The driving factor here is to make this little girl's wish come true. Her doctor won't let her travel and her wish is to go to Disneyland or Disney world. The request is to update "an entertainment room". Heck I was talking to my co-worker who came up with the charity and told him we need to also pimp this room out in Disney. If she can't go to Disney we will bring Disney to her. Wowzers I lit a fire that day as that got a team in place to see this thing through.

Now somehow I became the lead organizer, which is a little odd as I have a love/hate relationship with challenges as I said above but when I saw their original proposal I saw holes and that just can't happen. We need to make this girl's wish happen and at the same time help the workforce get healthier.

So I got them to just track percentage of weight loss as opposed to weight and measurements. I want this to be big so no matter what camp you stay in you have a way to participate and if we want a lot of people taking part the tracking needs to be straightforward. We'll do bi-weekly weigh ins as everyone has a different shift schedule and make sure to have at least two if not weigh in locations to accommodate those shifts.

One of the rec coordinators is designing the poster right now and then I want to plaster it everywhere soon. We won't start the challenge until Jan 27 to make sure everyone is back from holidays. I'm building the spreadsheet to track the data. This mission to have all this nailed down before December 15. My goal is to get a lot of people signed up (is 200 out of 3000 unreasonable?)

I think we have a good plan so now we wait and maybe by being involved in the creation of something big it might cure me of the my challenge iffiness.

Now that doesn't mean my own efforts are on hold until the challenge starts. I'm weighing in today and then it's errands and more errands. Tomorrow I will definitely go to the gym before Christmas party prep.

Enjoy your Friday.

Hugs!!

A long but short week...

Arrived home tonight to find the Uggs on my door step which was a relief as I thought for sure I'd find a a little sticker from UPS.

Oh they are exactly what I wanted. They're comfortable, classic and funky. 

I also got the purse I ordered from Shoedazzle, I was planning to use this for the Christmas party on Saturday and was a wee worried when it didn't show up last week but tada it's here. 

Yes that's a skull, I just thought it was seasonal fancy but edgy. I apparently have a thing about edgy/ funky lately. 

Perhaps it's the winter setting in and it getting darker by the minute every day until Dec. 21 when it starts to get lighter a minute a day. 

My Apple stuff shipped in 4 different packages. 2 have arrived and 2 on their way. I'm super happy I arranged to have those delivered to my friend at the office as opposed to missing 4 deliveries. 

I decided to take the laptop I had in my camp room home. One I haven't been using it lately and two the Ipad should be here soon and I'll probably carry that back and forth instead. 

I was in bed early every day this week as it just felt right. This also meant I never hit the gym this week. 

I'm going to weigh in tomorrow at lunch. No matter what the scales says I need to go. Apparently next week we find out more about how they're tweaking the program. I'm intrigued and kind of happy I need a change. 

My worst enemy is complacency, I know the program works yet I'm dragging my feet in getting focused. I get focused for a moment but I need to sustain it. 

Friday I have to pop into the dentist to pick up my new splint, then I want to head over to Sport Check and see if they have a good backpack. My Lululemon backpack that I take to site and back is not so comfortable with a computer in it. I think it will make a good gym back pack with the added feature of being able to slap a yoga mat on the back of it. It's served me well for a year but it needs a break. 

Then I will go weigh in. Then I need to head downtown and find a dress for Saturday. I'm meeting friends for dinner on Friday so that's my upped the weigh in a day. This allows me to plan Saturday as follows - gym and then party prep. 

Alright I will get more focused and get this blog back to focusing on success rather then woulda, coulda, shoulda. 

I hope you all had a great few days. 

Hugs!!

Fairly Productive

Crazy day today weather wise. The wind was insane. They actually shut the downtown core down as windows were blowing out and construction debris was flying around.

I could hear it howling outside and was praying the 3 trees in front yard stayed put. I was pretty lucky, just some little branches and pine cones flying around. My fence, shingles, trees and roof are all intact. Some in the city were not so lucky. I also had my power all day which is pretty awesome. Winds were around 91 km and go higher to 50 stories and it was 150 km hence the windows blowing out.

I spent the day dedicated to housework. I vacuumed floors and furniture, I mopped floors and I used my fancy dryer to clean my down comforter and pillows too. I also did all the sofa cushions. I did a whack of laundry including bed sheets and towels.

I decided not to set up my Christmas tree as it's in a sad state. Instead I set up the rest of the decorations I adore like advent candles, my stocking and the wreath on the door. I took pictures but they won't load today so I'll post those later.

I finally bought a pair of Uggs. I have mixed feelings about these as I do see them a lot but if I could find the right pair I'd do it as they sort of fit the bill for "casual" winter boot. I have my Sorels for serious winter.

How cool are these? I like that they're a little different yet classic.

So my workout today was housework.

Tomorrow of course I fly to work and I need to do laundry there too. However before I left on Wednesday I got it all organized.

I hope all of you had a nice and safe Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Whoops

I slept right through WI, dang it. I was plagued with a chinook headache for most of the day yesterday so took some Advil and went to bed early failing to turn on the alarm for my Saturday morning WW meeting. I even missed the second one. I guess I needed the sleep as I have felt pretty ragged lately. I even had a nap yesterday as well.

The dentist visit went fine and my dentist was very proud of me and my gums (which is a huge kudos from her). She's Polish and says whatever pops into her head. I adore her.  One issue a broken tooth at the very back and on the back of the tooth that I didn't even notice. I do remember thinking something felt a little funny at one point when I was flossing but really it doesn't feel super noticeable. I'll need a crown there but I can put that off till the new year. I knew it was a good idea to up my coverage on major restorations for next year's benefits.

I got measured for a new splint and that's the part I despise the most as they take casts of your teeth. I was a wee freaked when the tech couldn't get the bottom mold out as the cast stuff was pretty stuck to my teeth.  I go back on Friday to pick up the new splint. They also measured my bite with this gel stuff that I've never seen before. That felt icky too. Heck I can handle the freezing needles better then all that gummy stuff in my mouth.

I did brave Walmart afterwards and it wasn't busy at all so that was a blessing.

Today I hit the gym for 3.5 miles and then I picked up the Keurig which finally arrived. I'll take the Keurig to work and I'm impressed with how light it is. Of course it has to come with a short chord so I'll be packing an extension cord as well.

I think I'm more accustomed to the new Garmin. Today I remembered to turn the food pod off for my walk to the gym (the foot pod was on the runners in my bag) so I used satellite. Then when I got to the gym turned the satellite off and the foot pod on. I do love how it automatically loads all the details to my computer. I'm a data geek.

Apparently my go to walking speed is 3.7 mph according to the satellite details.

On the treadmill it was:
49.38 min, 3.5 miles, Avg pace 14.12, 277 calories burned, avg HR 149

On the walk to the gym:
16:33min, 1.01 miles, avg pace 16:20, 75 calories burned, avg HR 127

Took the bus home as I was lugging a coffee maker and I'm tired. I always have to remind myself I'm training in miles vs kilometers. 3.5 isn't shabby. I was hoping to clean today but that might get pushed to tomorrow. Right now my thinking is to make tomorrow just a pure home day. I got some spaghetti squash and I want to make that so I can bring leftovers for lunch on Monday. Do the house cleaning and set up the Christmas decorations. I'm debating on putting up my tree now we'll see what the energy is like.

Sort of impressed with Apple, I got a shipping notification already for the Ipod. It seems like they ship everything separate. The Ipad has the same shipping window but it's in the process of being engraved. I'm getting those shipped to someone at work in the Calgary office. The mail department will sign for the package and bring it to her and then I'll pick it up from her.

I bought a new yoga mat that I'm planning to test out today. It's the first one I've every bought from Lululemon and it's the Align Mat. I like the fact that it has lines on the mat itself so you can check your aligned. My other mats (as I have one in camp room) are all Gaiam. My old mat that's at home may start coming to Iron Reps as padding on the bench. I didn't go to Iron Reps today just stuck to the treadmill as my running schedule has been off the rails I wanted to make sure to run today.

Alright that's my Saturday, I do hope yours is fantastic.

Hugs!!!

Black Friday...

I honestly didn't really become aware of "Black Friday" until last year when I saw the line up at the Apple store on the news. In my defense it's historically been more of an American thing as of course it follows their Thanksgiving. The Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, hardly the time to kick off Christmas shopping.

Well this year I purposely got  up early on my day off so I could go online, no way on earth was I going to line up at the mall. You see the only "Black Friday" sale I was interested in was the one at Apple. The primary reason Apple products never go on sale. Yes, you can buy Apple products at other places on sale on Black Friday but the deal was slightly better at Apple online by a buck. Hey a buck is a buck.

So after much internal deliberation I bought two things on my goal list on the left. My reasoning - they were on sale...so I bought:

With the engraving of "Conceive - Believe - Achieve" on the back and the second thing I bought with much deliberations is:

This will have Hardwork - Dedication engraved on the back. I realize Hardwork is not one word but I like how it looked better. It's Merry Christmas to me and I need to earn these now by achieving those goals on the left. You'll recognize that statement from Dolvett on the Biggest Loser but it does serve as an awfully good mantra. (I got the black Ipad and the green cover).

I sat staring at the shopping cart for about 15 minutes thinking "should I or shouldn't I" the ultimate deciding factor it's on sale and you get the engraving only on the Apple site (I think).

I did get an email from Zinio about sales on online versions of magazines so I did get a few deals there.

I was going to go to Walmart after the dentist today but now I'm wondering if that's wise as I did sort of forget about Black Friday when I created that plan.

Now I have to get sorted to go to the dentist. Will very likely be back later.

Hugs!!

A little random

For two weeks in a row I've flown to work for 3 days then come home and worked in the corporate office. It messes me up.

Mondays I'm always exhausted as I can never sleep well the night before I fly out. This Sunday night maybe an hours worth of sleep tops. So I'm in bed early to compensate.  I seriously think I need to implement the Advil pm plan. I've tried melatonin, meditation and two alarm clocks (perhaps there's subconscious fear of missing the plane) but nothing else works.

Tuesdays are late meeting day and by the time I get back to camp it's gym rush hour. I really need to make more of an effort to make this a yoga night or something zen.

Wednesday I'm on a flight home that gets me home an hour later then my regular Thursday flight. This week that flight was delayed by half an hour so I didn't get home till 8. Now Wednesday is an excellent workout day if I was in camp.

Thursday I'm now coming home in rush hour and darkness. I'm zonked so the plan is early to bed.

Next week I don't need to work in Calgary but for two weeks after that I do need to be in Calgary on Thursdays.

Tomorrow I go to the dentist, I've been lax on that front but hey I have a dental plan so might as well use it. I hate the dentist or more accurately am scared of the dentist.

Today was meetingpalooza, which is the whole reason I was working in Calgary today. I did run a few errands after work as I needed to get to Aveda and Kiehl's.

I really need a new Christmas tree as my current one has branches barely hanging on and lights are out smack in the middle of the tree. My dentist is next to Walmart so I will finally grocery shop on a Friday. Tada, which leaves enough time to prep and cook.

This Sunday is the first advent so it's my tradition to set up all the Christmas decorations which also means that either Friday or Saturday needs to be housecleaning day so everything is sorted. I'm taking two weeks off at Christmas so there'll be one week at Dad's and one week home.

Right now I'm catching up on Biggest Loser and then I think it's to bed.

I wanted to wish all my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Hugs

Well tried to do 5 miles

Today began with a giant cup of coffee and some Multigrain cheerios.

This has got to be one my favourite mugs, I actually have two and should probably bring the other one to work with me. It's the linguist in me that adores this mug.

The mission today was to head to the gym and put in 5 miles on the treadmill, now the walk to the gym and back is about 3km/ 2miles as well. I tried a few running intervals but wasn't feeling it so stuck to 4.0 walking. I have discovered walking to the gym in snow boots is tiring, not as fun as my runners.

I also tried out the new Garmin 405CX, it arrived on Friday and after 5pm delivered by a guy in a Budget truck. Alas Christmas is here as Canada Post is branching out their delivery.

I learned one thing  the first mile in. The pace display was doing some strange things and then I realized the satellite was battling the foot pod as the distance was not lining up with the treadmill. So the satellite thought I was standing still and of course the foot pod knew otherwise.  I turned off the GPS and all was well but it was still about 1.5 miles off of the treadmill.

I also switched the strap of the Garmin to the Velcro version as opposed to the one it came installed with. Nice that they give you the option. I felt it was more comfortable.

I also put my Body Media back on today. I've had it off for the past week and a bit but now that I'm back on the wagon it goes back on as well. The newest download also links to the Garmin heart rate monitor so that's kind of awesome.

The problem with my cheap gym's treadmills is they allow you to workout for one hour and then it automatically launches into cool down. The treadmills in the camp gyms don't do that nor did they when I had a membership to the corporate gym downtown. So I got as far as 4.3 miles and but then figured with the walk there and back I made my mileage. Next time I know to maybe break it in half if I'm doing over 4 miles so I can reset the treadmill to keep going.

I then had to swing by Canada post to pick up my Chapters order which was an additional charger for my Kobo Vox so I can keep one at work. One of the drawbacks of the new Kobo is you can't charge it through your computer. Oh well I still like it.

I then had to quickly pop into Walmart and found these:

Yes, it's Blue Diamond Bold. Could it be that they are finally available in Canada. Note the English/ French, that means it's meant for Canada. I do hope Wasabi/ Soy is coming. This was the only flavour I saw.

It seems with the dessert gum Canada only got 3 flavours at least we got Orange Crush and Apple Pie which are in my opinion the best ones.

Then it was home to sweeping a wee bit of snow of my sidewalk as it wasn't enough to bring out the snow removal people, took out my garbage, did the laundry and washed dishes.

So now in wind down mode as the alarm will be going off at 3:45am as I fly to work tomorrow.

I'm bringing the advent calendar. Now I'm just waiting for Sears to ship that Keurig coffee maker which should be next weekend.

Alright that's all I got, hope you enjoyed your Sunday.

Hugs!!!

Finally heading in the right direction

I'm currently waiting for my WW meeting to start so why not blog.

Let's see Thursday I worked in the city and ate out for most of the day. Lunch was at Cora's and dinner at Lounge Burger. Luckily M and I like the same stuff so at dinner we split a burger. I was not a great on plan day.

Friday was the first cold cold day roughly -20c with windchill. I never went outside. I cleaned off the pvr but also listened to my body carefully and only ate when hungry. Due to the higher amount if food the day before I wasn't hungry till mid afternoon. I did stay hydrated all day.

I went back to following my night before WW habits and had food and beverage cut off by 6pm.

Weighed in today and down 2.2. The leader was singing my praises and I stopped her. I told her yes it's a good week but I have damage to undue.

She then asked me if it was my head that got in the way and I said definitely. I have to admit I was a little freaked out by the scrutiny. I'm used to weighing in and then sitting down with very minimal chit chat with the weigh in person. However it was kind if nice for her to address me by name and tell me to remember I'm worth it and deserve it.

Meeting is starting be back later....

Ok I'm back. In the meeting we had a big discussion about Starbucks and their holiday drinks. Grande egg Nog latte is 11 points. She said something that will stick with me when tempted by Christmas treats. Ask yourself is it worth it? Is it worth the points, is it a risk and will it help you get to goal?

So now it's a new WW week and dang it I want to see another loss.

Hope you enjoy your Saturday

Hugs!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Things that happen when I'm a bit bored

I shop online.







I bought this last night. The reasoning it's gps plus can be used on a treadmill with a foot pod.

I also have a wee addiction to shoedazzle.com.

There was also that Keurig....

Now I'm not always this way but as I'm trying to think like an athlete I need tools. The Garmin pictured above is the 405cx. This is not my first Garmin in fact it's my 3rd. The first two were satellite only. The first was satellite no heart rate monitor. The most awkward thing to wear ever. The 2nd a souped up version that was also less clunky but not exactly comfortable. The 3rd no satellite as I found myself indoors more and the satellite was a little useless. It's getting a wee outdated now.

As I was thinking about the miles getting longer and the winter getting colder there will be a combo of outside and inside plus the new one has way more features. Yes, this how I justify to myself.

This morning started with me dropping my blackberry on my head. I use it as my alarm at work. So it went off this morning and I looked at the email and then responded to the email holding the blackberry over my head as I was still lying down. Then bam I dropped it on my head. No harm done just felt like a moron.

Apart from that the day went fast.

Tonight was a celebratory dinner to mark a milestone at work & then I started watching Biggest Loser.

That's all I got.

Hope you had a fabulous Tuesday!

Hugs!!!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dragged myself to the gym

Despite roughly 3 hours of sleep last night and being up at 3:45am plus not being able to sleep on the plane... I actually put in 4 miles on the treadmill.

It wasn't pretty ran for about 10 min of it. This is what it was:

57:34 min
4 miles
418 cal burned
9:07 - 14:36 miles/hour pace

Not a speed demon but all I wanted was to get the miles in.

I fly home Wednesday due to meetings in Calgary so next run day will probably be Friday.

Oh and the scale is moving in the right direction.

Winter has definitely arrived at work.



This is probably the closest-ish town. Those temperatures don't include windchill so it could be a wee colder.

Hope you all had a great weekend and Monday.

Hugs!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This stops now

I went to weigh in today knowing I'd probably see a gain. My behaviour last week was hardly going to get me a loss. Let's see I didn't need to have pie on Wednesday, I never measured the walnuts I was snacking on throughout the day and the dark chocolate Lindt Lindors that I brought up with the intention of having one per day as a treat. I blew through the bag in 4 days.

I saw a .8 gain today which puts me at 179.2. I am thoroughly disappointed in myself. I know better and I can do better and it's about time I start walking the walk and just not talking the talk. I totally meant every word of finding new focus but the bad habits I redeveloped over the last few weeks just steam rolled right through that.

I watched Biggest Loser when I got home on Thursday and there was a point in the show when the doctor showed up with a brain specialist and talked about the effects of unhealthy behaviour on your brain. For example the increase in dopamine (pleasure) in the brain when an obese person smells/ senses food yet when they eat it decreases so they keep eating to try to to get it back.

The part that hit home for me was you can rewire your brain in a matter of weeks or months with healthy behaviour but falling back into bad food behaviours can get you back to the before in a matter of days.

So this week I need to go back to basics. I do bring chocolate up for the boys and normally it's Hershey kisses with almonds. I like those and when I'm stressed it's so easy to grab them so from now on I'm bringing the plain Hershey kisses which I don't care for and can resist. Some of you are probably thinking why bring it at all but it's my thing to make people feel comfortable.

Tracking needs to be daily. I'm going to up my rewards a little. If I track every day and stick to my daily points, and see a loss at the end of this week I'll get a manicure and pedicure.

I need to shake myself up and I tell you seeing 179 brought me smack back to reality. Sometimes we need that slap in the face.

So now it's focus on the positive and the can do sort of like how a team loses one day but plays again the next day. They can't play like they're going to lose and neither can I. I've got to turn it around that includes thinking positive messages.

I did notice in the weeks "weekly" a blurb that says "next month in your meeting, you'll learn about some changes in the Points Plus plan"...hmm I'm intrigued.

I can do this, we can do this so let's just do it.

Hugs!!

Breaking bad behaviour can be hard

Hello my friends,

I have spent the entire day in pajamas as it just felt like that kind of day. This last week was a little crazy due to late meetings so today I focused on regaining energy as I was tired when I got home last night.

It snowed all day at site yesterday and I realized I should have worn the entire winter jacket just not the inside fleece part and it's time to wear snow boots. I think about 4cm fell and it was windy so it kept blowing in your face of course I had no hood or toque either.

This is what it looked like as we were waiting to fly out.

Brrr.....and a whack of fingerprints on the window.








It was super pretty once we got above the low level clouds. The sunsets and sunrises up north are gorgeous.

I love landing in Calgary at night, the lights of the city go on forever. Yes that line down the middle is traffic for some reason there was a lot it last night which is a bit odd considering it was almost 7pm. 

So WW wise I abandoned tracking half way through Wednesday. Hey, at least I tracked for 4 days that's a bit of a record lately. I did toss the remaining Halloween candy when I got to work on Tuesday but I also didn't factor in that Tuesday would be a long day. Up at 3:45am and finishing the day at 7pm. This happens I just need to be better prepared for it.  The snackfest behaviour continued with no rhyme or reason. 

Yesterday I was chatting with one of site friends and a very common topic lately is that people feel like they need to get more focused on healthy, funny as I've been reading that a lot on the blogs lately, and of course writing about it myself. I was saying it's like me need some sort of health challenge. Our EHS group did one a while back and one girl did exceptionally well and looks absolutely phenomenal. She started talking about Weight Watchers, which I thought was ironic, and then I told her that was my plan of choice; and I had thought that when I get to goal I'd like to lead a meeting at site kind of like a WW at Work. I asked her if she thought people would actually be interested in that up there. She said yes and also for a lot of men. Keep in mind women are greatly outnumbered up there. Now I have a lot of work to do to get to goal and I'm not even sure that would be allowed but...hmm..maybe I discovered another layer of motivation there. 

Tomorrow is weigh in and this week the goal is to track everyday.

I hope everyone had a great Friday. 

Hugs!

Well thank you

A big thank you to Julie for nominating me for this. I have to admit this is the second time I've received this and I'm still incredibly honored.

Now I need to tell you 7 things about myself and nominate 15 people.

Let's start with the 7 things:

1. I can't eat anything with bones, yet I'm a meat eater. It's got something to do when my Dad had chickens and I named them all.

2. I hate my laugh yet everyone else seems to like it. When people tell me they like it I think they're crazy. I'm recognized by my laugh which makes me think I'm Elmo.

3. I'm a pretty good baker which of course is awful as baking is not exactly helpful for weight loss

4. My friends think I should be app. I think it's for my straight shooting positive focused advice. Like when they worry I calm them down. Maybe I'm a people whisperer

5. I'm a total science fiction geek.

6. I work in HR yet I'm a completely logical thinker. Career testing told me I should be an engineer. In a past job they did personality testing on us to see if it could be used as predictive testing for future hires. There was on part where it showed a scale with emotional on one end and logical on the other. When I looked at it I thought I had no dot on the line then I realized it was smack on top of logical.

7. I'm an introvert. Now if you met me in person you might not think so. However when I'm in situation where I don't know people I'm a total introvert however around people I know or super comfortable I'm outgoing. Did I mention I'm a gemini.

Now for the nominations - now I'm pretty positive quite a few of these lovely people have received this award before but oh well it's good to share the love and in no particular order I present:
1. Enz
2. Losing weight after 45 is a bitch
3. Slender Swan to be
4. Running my mouth
5. It's not a diet
6. Weight Watchers Blog
7. H-Woman
8. Angie All The Way
9. Mousaroo
10. Future Fit Girl
11. Live, Smile, Run
12. Monica Wants It
13. Fat Girl vs World
14. Embracing Balance
15.RunnerGirl48

Hopefully you'll enjoy reading their blogs as much as I do.

Hugs!!!

I miss this

You know how I was saying the other day how sometimes it's really easy to stick to your points and sometimes it's hard. Last night was crazy. Nothing would satisfy me so after I surveyed the damage and tracked it (using a healthy dose of weekly points) I tried to figure out what triggered it. I was really hungry after the gym yesterday and had to grocery shop so I went to MacDonald's and had a cheeseburger and fries, now I had the points for it. I had no plan for dinner and thinking about that MacDonald's meal made me think I should go lighter well that kicked off a snackapalooza. Maybe it was the salt of MacDonald's or not having a plan later. Now my plan is to be better sorted next week and do grocery shopping on Friday so the fact that the gym opens at 11am on Sunday I could eat beforehand which I didn't do this week.

I then realized my snackapalooza was probably TOM related as today felt very similar...oy vey. It's like my rational self went out the window food wise.

Well today is not as bad but still not fantastic however I did earn 11 activity points today and 8 the day before.

I can't remember the last time I went to an Iron Reps class at the gym. I've been to the Monday one once before during the summer and remember the instructor saying it would be busy in the fall. I made sure to be there early.

Holy there must have been 60 people in the room, when I go on a Friday or Saturday at lunch time it's no where near as busy. It's at 9:30am, so I'm guessing a lot of stay at home moms, retired folk and maybe shift workers or people who have negotiated work hours to allow the class?

It was a good class, Iron Reps is a weight training class that focuses on one body part per 5min song. So there's a back track, chest track, triceps track, bicep track, shoulder track, squat track, lunges track and ab track. I played it safe as I haven't gone for a long time and stuck to moderate weights. I still worked it to fatigue so it wasn't easy. I enjoy all the tracks with the exception of the lunges. This part confuses the heck out of me. Lunge forward, centre and back. I'm not so coordinated with the lunges so it's a challenge.

I stayed for the yoga class right after. Now I'm a little leery of fitness instructors who lead yoga classes because I wonder how much they actually know about the philosophy behind the poses. This class was taught by a bonafide yoga instructor who also teaches at a studio downtown. She was great.

I loved this, It's been ages since I kept a regular yoga practice, which is awful because when I do it regularly I truly feel the benefits then life gets in the way. I need to change that and get back into it.

This class felt really good. We did an alternate breathing exercise at the beginning where you breath in the right nostril then out the left then in the left and out the right. Interesting as I found exhaling both nostrils were even on the intake breath my left was stronger then my right. It was a really good centering exercise. She recommended doing it when you feel overwhelmed or a bit stressed out as it helps you focus.

What I realized during this class is that I miss going to an actual yoga class with a real live instructor. Since I started flying in and out to work I couldn't do the one in my local community hall anymore. The gym does offer another class on Friday but it's taught by one of the group fitness instructors and it's right before Iron Reps, I think it's better to do yoga after Iron Reps. I have tried this class before and felt the dvds I have at home were better.

I think I should find a class to do on the weekends ideally Friday or Saturday due to bus schedules. Perhaps I'll check out some classes and find a studio I gel with. Plus I do have a yoga mat in my camp room and at home. I need to break out the Namaste yoga dvds again, maybe look into Kate Potter's retreats. I've been once before and really liked it.

So it's an early night for me as I head back to work tomorrow. I was happy to see the gym is open on Friday there will be no classes but it's a run day so that's alright.

I hope you all enjoyed your Monday.

Hugs!!

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!!!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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!!!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone