Friend Making Monday

I've only taken part in this once before but I'm a fan of Miss Kenlie who created this.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: http://www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Summer Fun

1. What is your favorite summer fruit? Berries of any type, love raspberries, strawberries, blueberries

2. Do you know how to swim? Sort of, I'm good at backwards and dog paddle

3. Do you prefer sun or snow? It can be sunny and snowing ya know. I do like summer but the sun tried to kill me (skin cancer) so I'm weary and careful. Not a fan of super hot weather at all.

4. What temperature do you like most inside your home? I think in Celsius so around 20.

5. Is it humid where you live? Dry as a bone.

6. What is your favorite food to put on the grill? Burgers

7. Do you prefer to wear a one-piece or two-piece swim suit? Own both but my two piece is a tankini so still covers. I have a goal to rock a bikini one day.

8. What is your favorite summer drink? Ice tea, love the Mio Ice Tea flavor.

9. Do you prefer the pool or the ocean? Pool, too many things in the ocean, like to admire that from the shore.

10. What are you looking forward to most over the summer? Reading in my lawn chair in the back yard.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! Happy Monday, friends!

Down but not dead - full disclosure

When one decides to write a weight loss blog it brings a lot of conflictions. Do you share everything including when you fall off the wagon, do you only post successes? I must always remember I started this blog for me so followers will come and go. 

Well I did say in my little blog into that this was the good, the bad and the ugly. 

When I posted about how I rocked the program and got 2.2 loss and then I said I hope I don't blow it. 

I never should have said that, what I should have done is gone forward full of positivity and "I will rock this attitude. 

That didn't happen. 

As I've mentioned before I work a compressed work week right now 40hrs in 4 days. This week was long. We have quarterly town halls and I get to go to 9 of them. I track the questions asked and make sure we're communication the answers consistently. 

This also means a whole lot of meeting that go until 7pm and I did not plan well this week at all. 

I got a run in on Monday, that was it. 

I stopped tracking by lunch time 3 days in a row. 

I'm disappointed and frankly ashamed that I took a great week and through it out the window. It was all my own fault. 

That brings me to today I didn't set my alarm last night so I missed the first meeting. I weighed myself on my home scale and saw a gain of 3lbs and opted to not go to the 2nd meeting. Instead I went to pick up a race pack for race I won't be doing on Sunday. 

Now that's all the down and gloom I'm going to write about now it's time to put my attention forward and consider this a blip. I have a new week ahead of me, last week is in the past. 

Now on to happy news - I won a pair of Reebok shoes

I entered a twitter contest from Reebok.ca and designed a pair of shoes on their website and I was the weekly winner. Those shoes are now on their way to my house. I think they're perfect for my soon daily trek to the C-Train station to get to work Downtown. 

I won't be running the Scotiabank Half tomorrow, I didn't train enough and I failed to plan. All these trips to Edmonton messed with my normal go to training program and I could have come up with a back up plan but I didn't. I thought about going and just walking it as I thought the Edmonton trips would be finished but I'm going to Edmonton tomorrow. 

I went to get the t-shirt I paid for and check out the expo. I have to say that's getting better from the first time I did this race years ago but I just went to pick up the t-shirt as I didn't feel like I really deserved to enjoy the expo as I wasn't racing - that's was in my head. 

Front of the shirt

The back of the shirt. 

I didn't realize Calgary has the oldest marathon in Canada and next year it turns 50. 

Hmm, that will 2 days before my 42nd birthday. 42 sticks in my head as that's how old my mom was when she had me. 

Lately I've been doing my nails, this will be week 3 when I take off last week. 

The first week it was dark blue with a turquoise accent nail, last week was purple with star sticker accent nail. This is after 6 days of wear not bad huh. I've been doing base coat, top coat and using OPI Chip Skip. I'm thinking the Chip Skip is kind of genius. 

Well this afternoon I had to zip to Walmart and I picked up this. 

I'm thinking pink nails this week with this on the accent nail. One thing I must remember when I go to Walmart is make sure there's a bar code and there wasn't on this little bottle and I got boy cashier who didn't know what this stuff was called. I said Nail Polish. 

Tomorrow I'm going to try to squeek in a run as the hotel treadmill is defective - top speed is 4 miles. 

My goals this week:

Track every day and plan out the day ahead. 

Min 9 cups of water per day

It's back to basics week. I'm down but not beaten. 

Hugs!!!

Week blew by

The other good thing about coming back to Calgary and working a normal work week is I'll blog more.

This week went by fast and it was busy.

My boss came up to site on Wednesday with my replacement and I have to admit it had my emotions all over the place. One when my boss comes to site it's a little like hurricane. Then it really hit me that I won't see some of these people again, we have people from all over Canada and sure I might see the Calgary based folk. I won't see the Edmonton, Saskatoon or East Coast folks.

Then I had to change my flight as I need to be in Edmonton for two more Mondays after this Victoria Day long weekend. Then I had to call to cancel my normal flights after June 21st. That actually made me a little sad.

Friday I had to head downtown to get my hair cut and realized that my next appointment in 6 weeks can be on any day as I'll be based in Calgary.

Then I headed out for 4 mile walk around the neighbourhood as I need to get my training into full gear for the  Dopey run end of August.

Went to weigh in on Saturday morning, up 1.2 yup those wiggy emotions. However there are 35 days till I come back to Calgary so game on.

Saturday afternoon had a coffee with M and saw little baby B again, she's 3 months now and utterly adorable.

Today I went to Star Trek with an old work friend, awesome movie by the way and I see myself seeing it again at some point.

Then I came home to take out the garbage and put the sprinkler on. It's been threatening to rain all weekend but it's just spitting and the lawn needs water.

In between moving the sprinkler I started cutting down some rogue trees in my back yard. I have to admit my back yard is neglected. While I've been working up North it hasn't been my priority as I haven't even taken the patio set out of the shed.

Well I'll be home this summer so it's time to take control of the backyard. Hopefully the weather is nice next weekend as I'd like to get most of cleaned up so I can put the patio set out.

Well now your up to date on my life.

Tomorrow I head to work so it's time to turn off the sprinkler and start the wind down process must be to bed early.

I really hope all of you are doing well.

Hugs!!!

Now just don't mess up

I still find Mother's Day a little rough despite my mom passing away 11 years ago. I do want to wish all the Moms out there a wonderful Mother's Day.

This is one of my favourite pictures, I still remember this day. I didn't know she was looking behind me when the picture was taken.

Today I focused on chores to keep my mind busy. I did my laundry, washed dishes, finally raked the lawn, plucked out the dandelions (can't believe they're already around), fertilized the lawn and now I'm watering it.

I have soaker hose type of sprinkler so I call this sprinkler Olympics as moving it takes effort. It's 50ft long.

This was all before noon today. I can already feel where I'll be sore tomorrow.

Yesterday was weigh in and I lost 2.2 lbs and I nice solid launch into the 180s, gee funny things happen when I follow the plan. I tracked all 7 days and used 39/49 of WP. I was super happy about this as I haven't had a 2lb loss in awhile.

It all comes down to how much effort I put in. Now my focus is don't mess it up this week. Keep the momentum going and focus on my goals. It was quite nice moving 11 glass beads from my pounds to go jar to my pounds lost jar. I use 1 bead per .2lb. I added two paperclips to my paperclip chain.

Now my routine is to stop off at Starbucks on my way to weigh in. Yesterday was warm so I was wearing a hoody and put my Gold Starbucks card in the pocket. I had it in my pocket with my iPhone now I did have the momentary thought of hmm maybe I should but that in the zippered pouch on my backpack. Well about a block before Starbucks I realized the card was not in my pocket and I probably knocked it out when I was changing songs on my iPhone. Well I continued to Starbucks and weigh in and thought I'll retrace my steps when I go home.

Well luckily I found the card on the sidewalk about a block away from house. Of course I got a new card at Starbucks thinking if I had lost it I could transfer the balance. I've lost the gold card before and it takes awhile to get the new one in the mail.

It turns out I don't need to go to Edmonton tomorrow as the meeting was cancelled. I do now have to get up at 3:30 am tomorrow to catch my usual early flight to work. I haven't done that in awhile. That's all about preparation. My clothes for tomorrow are all ready folded next to my bed for tomorrow and the alarm is set. Now I just need to pack my lunch, put my breakfast on the kitchen counter (I just have a WW chocolate smoothie as I can't eat at 3:30 am)

I really want a nap but that can't happen or my sleep tonight will be awful and I need to be in bed early.

The good news about taking my normal flight is I have no excuses about running when I get to camp.

I do wonder if I'll see an offer letter this week letting me know what day I return to a home office based role.

Well enough of my rambling, I do hope you all enjoy your Sunday.

Hugs!!!

I did it

I bought 100 bottles of Mio on Ebay, what can I say the US has way more flavors then Canada and this saves me weight in my suitcase when I travel. My current favourite is Peach Tea. They don't expire and will probably share with my friends. It was actually cheaper even with shipping then what a bottle costs in Canada. The funny part was a few more flavors launched in Canada as well. We now have lemonade, blackberry cherry and two of the electrolyte versions.

I've actually tracked every single day, I finally tracked despite my crazy schedule with the 3 hour road trip to Edmonton on Sundays and all the meals out until I return to site Monday night - that is a major victory for me. During the meeting on Monday I tracked using the app on my phone as it was very discrete.

I've also been doing well with water thanks to the Plant Nanny app.

I was focusing on back to basics by really focusing on tracking. Activity wasn't great as I've been so tired. I know that's due to the craziness at work plus finding out I was going back to the home office 6 months sooner then the original plan so a wee bit of stress about that. I was focusing on quality sleep and in bed early all week.

Downloaded the Cool Impossible by Eric Orton to see if I can learn somethings to improve my running.

I found my new favorite Keurig coffee. It tastes and smells like coconut...yum

My home scale is showing the 180s but we'll wait and see what tomorrow's weigh in says. The anchors I put into effect last weekend have been working as well.

I've had some slips but still have 10 WP left and caught myself, for example I didn't plan my lunch well on Sunday so by the time we got to Red Deer I was a hungry. I bought a bag of Doritos, we always stop at the gas station with the Tim Hortons. I stayed mindful and ate half the bag, tracked it and tossed the rest when I got to the hotel.

At breakfast the next day which is the hotel diner, I realized you get half an eggs benedict -one egg. So I got that but asked for the sauce on the side and had it with a side of sliced tomatoes. I think I'll keep doing that while I need to go to Edmonton.

This is my typical view in Edmonton, it's the back of the Labatt's beer plant and train tracks. I do prefer the track side as they call it as the trains go by periodically and they give you earplugs in your room. The other side faces Gateway and there's traffic constantly including fairly frequent sirens.

It's looking like the Scotiabank Half on the 29th is a no go due to work as I may need to be in Edmonton all day Sunday. It's still up in the air.

Today I'm focusing on keeping sodium down and finishing off the week strong.

I've started to pack up my camp room slowly and preparing for my return to the Calgary home office. I still don't have an official start date but I did see the request go in for somewhere for me to sit in the building as it's pretty full. Now that said mid-June but who's to say if that's mid or end.

My back to work wardrobe shopping will have to include some Western wear as I'll be there in time for Stampede. Though I am keeping that wardrobe building plan till after FitBloggin as there is a Nordstrom Rack very close to the hotel and I'm focused on losing as much as I can before I start buying clothes.

Nothing quite like clothes shopping to kick up one's motivation.

It's funny to look at all the stuff I've accumulated up as site I do have doubles of everything so all I had to do was carry a backpack back and forth.

Now when I first went up there I was lighter as well. I didn't realize I had 6 pairs of jeans but as I dug around the abundant amount of storage we have in our rooms sure enough stuffed towards the back of a shelf were 3 pairs I haven't worn in a long time. I took those home.

I wore one of the those pairs today as I thought I'd see if they fit. They fit but are a little snug so I wore them to go grocery shop. Yes I finally grocery shopped on a Friday so I can plan my meals for my 3 days off. I'm also trying to enjoy my Fridays off before I need to start working them again. Mind you there's been loads of time I've had to go in on Fridays.

I am looking forward to being able to plan out a whole week and blog a bit more frequently as my hours won't be quite so crazy. I was planning to go to Zumba tomorrow but I seriously need to rake my lawn so I think that will be my activity tomorrow.

I walked to Walmart and back and that's about 40min in total. I'm still going to do some yoga.

I'll be back tomorrow to report on weigh in.

She read my mind

I went to weigh in today and I do believe my new leader is Nikki who was also a leader with UK WW.

That makes me super happy as the last leader did nothing for me. I was debating changing to a different meeting and found myself dreading going. I really like Nikki, she's funny and sparks good dialogue.

She talked about anchors today and that got me thinking about all the tools I used in the past that helped me be successful.

We also talked about how no one can make you follow the steps to weight loss. You can receive the tools but it's your choice to use them.

I bought a new 3 month tracker intending to start fresh. I got home and decided to finish my old one off. There are 2 weeks left in it.

I then flipped back through the pages and clearly saw how tracking drops off by Wednesday. Another thing we talked about is when you don't track everything or cheat a bit the only person you're cheating is you. Going back to the it's up to you to use the tools.

I got my paper clip chain, each paper clip represents one pound lost. I remembered how long it use to be. Where I had it now was behind the door to the basement. I moved it to my bedroom where I have to walk past it everyday.

My glass jars of beads - one for pounds to go the other for pounds lost was behind my perfume bottles. I rearranged things so those jars are front and centre.

I dug out my WW 10% key chain with the 25lb charm. Right now it was in my backpack. I put it in the ziplock I keep my tracker in as everyday that will be smack in front of me reminding me I can do this. I will do this.

Talked to an old friend and told then I'll be back to working in Calgary full time. She said you'll have to make all your own food. Yes and I'm looking forward to it. Grocery shopping and meal planning for 3 days wasn't easy for me nor was being at the mercy of what the camp chefs chose to offer.

I think back to the post I wrote yesterday as I was so focused on the past.

Today I'm focused on the future. I also had a 100% OP day. Day 1 done.

Bring on Day 2.

A sense of ennui

I say ennui because it's not full out boredom or sadness, it's more a weariness I've been feeling for awhile actually a long while. I recognize it and how I need to get out of it. I can see my way out of it just the journey has been hard. It almost inspired another letter to myself but I've done that twice.

I'm on the cusp of some new things that do show me a rope to dig myself out of my self imposed hole.

The big part is the new job, the other big part is in one month I turn 41. I distinctly remember thinking before I turned 40 that I was going to get this weight loss thing done by the time I turned 41...yeah that didn't happen. I also remember thinking that at 30...

I'm still single with no kids, a handful of friends and I still need to lose weight.  I find my sense of self so tied to my weight. Yet I know I'm capable of completing this challenge that's dogged me for my entire life.

I don't want to go down the road of why have I wasted so much time with the weight loss and that so many could have lost what I need to lose by now. Of course they could also have regained and lost and regained at lost so perhaps I should be thankful that I haven't done that.

However it's 2 years since I was at my lowest weight and that was a few months into my fly in fly out schedule maybe the camp life, crazy hours, what can be a fairly stressful job add in not having 100% control over my food helped the slow creep back up.

Yet I still have faith that I can do this so that let's me know I still can and I still will.

Today I had to head into head office to attend a meeting. This trip felt different as I know I'll be back in that building in 2 months. I did have an office in that building for a brief period before. It was before I went into my current job and before the floors were renovated.

Today I walked through the company gym. It's way bigger then the old one and a bit of a deal at $10 per pay period ($20/mth). One thing I noticed walking through the gym was that everyone who was working out was super fit. I had thought to join when I returned to the building but then I started thinking of my Spa Lady membership that I kept while as site as it was pretty cheap at $22/ mth.

Yes the gym on the 3rd floor is handy but so far I've only used the Spa Lady one sporadically as one I only have access Fri - Sun but it would be on way home every day when I'm back working downtown. It's open later, has more classes and doesn't make me feel intimidated (which is what I felt when I walked through the work gym today).

Tomorrow I go to weigh in happy that it's a new week as it feels like a clean page and a firm grip on a rope to brighter thoughts.

Hugs!!!

Well that's a huge weight off my shoulders

Yet another crazy week.

This going to Edmonton every Monday is a challenge, dinner out Sunday after a 3hr drive, breakfast out Monday, catered lunch and then dinner out again before flying back to site.

What I need to do is make sure when my WW week starts on Saturday to keep that day totally OP and then have WP in my back pocket for these trips.

I didn't master that last week. I did pack workout clothes only to find the hotel treadmill was a junker. I have been keeping up with the squat challenge still need to do my 100 after I finish this blog.

I haven't been very focused on WW lately and a lot of that has to do with job stress. They're going down to one HR person at site. So my co-worker and I will go back to Calgary. I knew the plan for him, my replacement was hired a few months ago but other then going back to Calgary there was no plan for me.

My current boss who perhaps needs some sensitivity training had asked where I wanted to go in the past, I told her and then she suggested something that had nothing to do with what I just said.

My uber boss (her boss) told me this was all about development. Yet my boss has told me "I was being shopped" meaning my future return to Calgary was mentioned among the HR team at my company. When she told me that all I could think of was what if no one "buys" me.  I was told I was coming back between September and December then it was after Christmas.

I did share with my boss that all this was freaking me out - she said not to worry there were a lot of mat leaves coming up....my development is dependent on a mat leave?????

Well yesterday I was chatting with her on the phone and she told me that a role has turned up and how she thinks it's really good for me. Now based on my history with her at first I was skeptical but she sounded genuinely excited. She wouldn't tell me what the role was just that the leader wanted to take me for coffee today. Now I was popping into the home office today to assist my boss with a project. Of course all night I was wondering what this role could be and who the leader was. She told me I knew them and my experience in my current role would be a benefit and it would get me more face time with Calgary folks as I've been hidden at site for years.

Well I met the leader today and it wasn't anyone I had suspected. The role let's me stay in my current org so my uber boss doesn't change but it's all about projects. I'm seriously intrigued. I would get to manage projects, make decisions and help out all the people I know now. Now it's more helping other HR folks as opposed to a client group but lately I have been feeling I could use a change. What I loved about being a recruiter was that I was busy all the time, in my current role it's very much off and on, and I'm thinking this role would be more like when I was recruiter - in theory every job opening was a project.

Now the deal is not 100% set but it would give me even more career options down the road like project management (I'm told a PMP would be supported) or into a specialized discipline in HR as opposed to generalist.

Going back to Calgary has some definite advantages.

• Not having to get up at 3:30am on Mondays
• Being able to have 100% control over my food as I'd be back to preparing everything myself. 
• Being home every night
• Not getting on a plane twice a week that I swear does something to you
• Being able to go the gym and participate in classes
• Having more WW meeting to choose from when I can't make Saturday
• Getting more exposure at work
• Being able to pick stuff up after work and not having to leave everything to the weekend. 
• Not having to leave everything to the weekend i.e house cleaning and errands. 
• Getting the 15 paid days off a year and actually get paid for 11 stats. 
• Seeing my Calgary co workers more
• Don't have to pay people to shovel my sidewalk
• I can actually do a 12 week workout dvd program without disturbing the people the who live below me in camp and have enough energy after work to do it. 

Now there are also cons

• 25% dock in pay as I lose my site assignment uplifts, mind you their taxable so perhaps that's no all bad (trying to be positive). I don't have any control over being sent back to Calgary.
• Paying for all my food as now I only need to feed myself for 3 days, mind you a week is easier to plan
• I will miss my current client group but it's not like I won't be able to still see what happens. 
• Having access to the food court again and so so many options.
• Being able to go to Starbucks every day (if it's planned into my day not a total con)
• Working Fridays again, mind you working an 8hr day as opposed to a 10, 11, 12, 13hr day. 

It's not like I can stay at site, but hey if I pursue Project Mgmt you never know.

I do want to focus on all the positives as the move could now be sped up dramatically and I could be back in the Calgary office by June.

This does take a huge weight off my mind so now I put all my focus on weight loss as I don't need to worry about what happens to me which can bring out some emotional eating.

So game on as I'll need to refresh my corporate wardrobe, my t-shirt and jeans won't do in the head office.

Hugs!!

A week that made your head spin

I was in Edmonton on Monday, sitting in a boardroom all by myself as I waited for my colleagues to come out of another meeting. A friend sent me a text saying she was happy I wasn't running the Boston Marathon. Now I had not seen any news so I thought the text a little odd and I responded with something along the lines of "You have to fast to run that one". Of course this made we wonder what was happening so I hopped on to google to find out what happened.

My first though went to Dani  as I've been following her excitement as she trained for this event. After a quick check on Facebook I learned she was o.k and so was her family who was watching.

My next thought was what hell spawn would do this at an event that has no political nor religious element. Who would purposely maim and kill at a peaceful event that unites people from around the world in the pursuit of a dream. More then 2000 Canadians were signed up for that race. This touched people all over the world.

Of course events happened fast with the apprehension of the 2nd suspect, however no punishment will give people their loved ones back nor repair the damage so many people experienced.

What it did show we was how strong the human spirit is. All over the world people gathered to pray for Boston. Even today in my city 4000km from Boston had a run in support of the people hurt that day. 1000 people showed up. I would have to but I didn't find out about it until I was sitting waiting for my weigh in to start.

I know have a crazy goal to run Boston one day, the city needs to know we are still behind them.

So here's where I get a little random to recap my week.

Now I lost 1lb at weigh in so I was pretty happy with that. I also learned my ridiculous leader retired, suddenly and never came back to the meeting to say good bye. Can't say I'm upset about that as I never really got anything from her however I'm sure others connected with her. I really do like our sub Nicky, who was supposed to get my meeting originally. She's requested to keep it and I hope she does.

The weigh in lady told me I earned a 5lb star, I told her I'm not taking any stars until I'm back to and surpass 168 as when I hit that point I kind of freaked out and started to back peddle. She asked me if I wasn't going to reward myself at all and I told her I had my own stickers for now. She then followed me and asked if I was afraid of being attractive. That threw me a little and I honestly told her there was a time I was but I believe I'm over that now. I told her I've been fat my entire life so I didn't know the person I was turning into to. My security blanket was disappearing so that freaked me out. My will to succeed at a goal that has alluded me trumps the security blanket.

On Friday I went to Cirque de Soleil Amaluna, it was lovely but I did get reprimanded by the camera police before the show started so could only snap one quick pic of the stage. I was in the 2nd row so pretty close.

At the intermission I posted "Cirque de Soleil - the land of zero body fat" on Facebook.

Tomorrow I'm off to Edmonton again, I had been worried about the 3hr drive with my boss as I had no idea what we would talk about for that long and I still don't know what my next job is however I still have the current one to focus on for at lease another 7 months. She did mention 3 areas to look into or learn more about. So I'll do that.

The week at work was crazy busy and flew by as it had loads of last minute report requests in the middle of a crazy time. Luckily all the HR cycles are now finished so I can concentrate on all the little things that have been pilling up.

I am striking distance of getting back to the 180s. Persistence, patience, purpose and intent will pay off.

I hope all of you are well.

Hugs!!!

Fly by week while hunting demons

This week flew by.

I took the above photo on my phone as we were landing at work. When I looked out the window I could see a rainbow circling the shadow of the plane in the clouds. It didn't show up well but do you ever feel like your chasing a rainbow?

Super late meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday was mostly spent doing an aspect of my old job by helping out with interviews. I did love my old job and while I do love my current job there are things I miss about the old job. The biggest thing is I was a rock star at my old job and this one I feel like it's two steps forward and one step back.

I knew the Tuesday meeting would be emotionally charged so I was worried about it but in the end it went really well. Now I get to repeat it with the next shift this coming Tuesday.

On Wednesday I just wanted to get a decent nights rest.

On Thursday I flew home.

On Wednesday I started working on this monster spreadsheet that's part of an important project. Nothing quite like staring at little tiny boxes for hours upon hours. The tiny boxes continued all afternoon on Thursday.

I never made it to the gym once. Instead I read. I have been working my way through Jillian Michael's Unlimited, even reading a chapter then going back to read it again. I'm working on why I continually sabotage myself and why in other aspects of my life I achieve my goals so why can't I do that with getting to goal weight. I know this is not a quick answer but rather work through each demon as it surfaces.

I continue to be fascinated by cross fit and need to fit that into my routine even if it's on my own due to my crazy travel situation.

Tracking got a wee abandoned by Wednesday.

That week is finished on to a new one.

I am very much looking forward to weigh in tomorrow because Weight Watchers International officially takes over from the dinosaur franchisees. The dinosaur franchisees didn't take part in the 5K Walk, didn't stock pedometers and I'm guessing didn't stock a few other things. Didn't take part in the monthly pass option. I'm really looking forward to more consistency with other provinces and states across North America.

I seriously need to do my taxes.

Now you're up to date on my world. How has your week been?

Hugs

An evening with Jillian...yeah that Jillian

Yesterday I went to Jillian Michaels' Maximize Your Life

When I first heard about it I thought it was going to be a US only thing but I was super happy to see Calgary on the list of locations so I bought a ticket right away.

I got there early and debated on buying any of the sway. There were t-shirts, a hoody, sweatpants, her workout DVDS and books, plus they were selling BodyMedia - I saw a lot of people buying that.

The cutest part was while we were waiting for it to start her daughter came out of the wings and was dancing away and then waved to all of us. So cute.

It opened with a video that flashed images of things like chicken farms, workouts, genetically modified something or other.

Then she came out and I always forget she's 5'2. She asked how many of us where there because we felt lost. I had to stick my hand up for that one and so did many others. The first thing I wrote down was when she said "Destiny is a choice not a chance". She talked a lot about how you do things for your why. I'll get to more on that in a minute.

She talked about her trick to successful weight loss - Calories In and Calories Out.

What I enjoyed about her was she was very down to earth and she broke her session into 3 sections:

Calories In
Calories Out
Self

On the calories in she talked about focusing on quality vs quantity, told us to check out her website to look at a list 10 additives to avoid, look up the Clean 15 (veggies and fruit with thicker skins and not as likely to be effected by pesticides). Encouraged us to find an extra $20 bucks to focus on organic dairy and meats.

What I like about her is she doesn't talk about being perfect in fact she said the 80/20 rule is just fine. 80% Health and 20% treats or have a treat every 5th meal which is something she also says in her Slim For Life book.

On calories out she explained the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which are the calories we burn just breathing based on height, weight and sex (mine is 1601.26). Active Meta Rate (AMR) your BMR adding in how active you are in your regular day as I have a desk job it's 1.2 and multiple that by 1601.26 and it's 1921.5.

She said we should be focusing on 85% intensity, to calculate your maximum heart rate take 220 - your age. So mine is 180 and 85% would be 153. The best workouts use body weights not machines and do the work for the why and HIIT (high intensity interval training)  training is excellent and with this you would go above the 85%.

I also liked that she didn't tell us to sign up for anything and you could get the info free off of her website of look it up online.

Then we had an intermission and she closed off the evening with Self.

At this point we talked more about the why. Why do we stop ourselves from achieving things? Earlier on she showed us what she calls the Responsibility Sandwich and it was sandwich of words like shame, regret, fear, judgement. I'm sure we've all felt some of those I know I certainly have. Shame that I haven't succeeded at getting to goal yet, regret that I didn't do something sooner, fear of not succeeding and feeling judged based on my appearance.

She brought a member of the audience on stage who had volunteered to do this. They talked about what was holding her back from accomplishing what she wanted to. At one point the audience member said she wanted to be happy and Jillian asked her to define happy. She actually talked about that a lot about how we don't dive beneath the surface of why we do things. She even used the example of how on the Biggest Loser ranch when she asks the contestants why are they there and they say "to be healthy". What is that she said, what does being healthy look like to you, what does happy look like for you, what does successful look like for you?

I didn't take any notes during this section as I was just purely soaking it in.

The biggest part that I took from this though was the power of belief. You are worth it, imagine it and believe it. Be present in your life.

I think I'll revisit her "Limitless" book.

Hugs!!!

Inspiration in the strangest places

My day and a half work week flew by and I must say Bon Jovi was awesome. The made an announcement that Richie Sambora would not be performing and at that point the crowd booed but then they said they were donating $100K to the Calgary Homeless Society, then the crowd cheered and clapped.

Thankfully they played some old tunes which I am far more familiar with and at the encore they played Wanted Dead or Alive and Jon said - You Sing, then the Saddledome sang the entire first verse. It gave me chills.

I had an aha moment when they played "It's my life".

It's my life, it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive

I found that particularly profound and in relation to my weight loss journey or lack there of lately.

I almost signed up for the Dopey Challenge, that's a 5K, 10K, Half Marathon and Marathon in 4 days. I stopped myself as that's a much better goal for 2015. Let me get through the 3 Halfs I have in 2013 first.

Today I went to get my hair cut and I also bought a new journal. A journal that's easy to take with me when I fly out. The one I have now is a little big. This is probably my 20th journal as I never finish them. I decided I need a fresh head and therefore a new journal.

I also saw this

Do you watch Game of Thrones? While I started out a Winterfell fan the spirit of Daenerys Targaryen became my favorite. 

The Calgary Comic Expo is coming soon so it's my city's answer to Comic Con, I've debating on what to wear. I'm not a costume person but I knew I needed something. 

A $10 T-Shirt to the rescue, I think I'll modify it a little as it's a men's shirt.

I'm going to shake the cobwebs out of head and get this fitness train rolling.

Hugs!!

They had me at Pepper Jack

I was wandering down the frozen food aisle and my eyes fell on these

The other week I saw someone at work heating one of these up and asked how they were. They said they were good but what I didn't realize was it has Pepper Jack cheese.

Back in the day McDonald's used to have this Western Bagel Omelette that was my absolute favorite and I think it was the cheese.

So I picked up a box thinking it would be handy as dinner when I fly home as I often have breakfast for dinner usually that's cereal or take with me and make for breakfast on the days I fly up.  Well Friday morning I decided to have one.

This was what it looked like straight out of the box. They're 5 PP so not bad and better then the Smart Ones I reviewed last week.

They're about 200mg higher in sodium then the Smart Ones but I liked the 12g of protein. Again this prepackaged frozen food.

Looked like this out of the microwave and the taste.....


OMG this was so good, I'd even rank it higher then a fresh Egg McMuffin or Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich. It had a touch of spice which I love. I'm officially a fan of these now, not for everyday but like I said in a pinch or when I'm tired and more likely to do something stupid like order pizza. I need to get some Pepper Jack cheese so I can just make this at home.

Today I got the other kind that doesn't have ham and has veggies in the egg and still has Pepper Jack still 5PP and 200mg less sodium.

My Easter was super low key and I kept Sunday a rest day and started watching Homeland. We just got season 1 on TV here in Canada and I had 4 episodes on the PVR. I really like it.

Today I had to run to the grocery store again as I missed a few things, I found this today.

I love, love, love, love coconut. Now in Canada we don't have Chobani (though perhaps soon) so the selection of flavored Greek yogurt isn't quite so profound. This is my new favorite by far for 2 PP. Liberte has a great coconut one too and in a lower fat version but not easy to find and not 2PP.

I went to the loonie (dollar) store in search of stickers as I put a heart sticker on my tracking page if I had activity and a smiley face if I tracked and then I put the same stickers on my calendar so I have a snap shot of how I'm doing.

Well I saw these stickers which would be perfect for my FitBloggin name badge.

Last year I thought I was one of 3 Canadians at FitBloggin and it turns out there were more of us so this way I will be easily recognized. Just hoping I can find cowboy inspired stickers to tie with  @cowgirlwarrior

Today I walked to the mall and back which is just over 2 miles and then later I headed out for another walk just under 3 miles.

My right side is feeling better after my fall the other day, both palms have healed nicely and now just dealing with a little muscle ache. I was far more sore the next day.

My run/walk will resume on Wednesday when I go back to camp.

Tomorrow is Zumba and Bon Jovi so I should rack up some serious steps with all the dancing.

Hope you enjoyed your Easter and are off to a great week.

Hugs!!

Back on track

Hope everyone had a great Saturday.

Mine started with weigh in where I stayed exactly the same and I'm going to take that as a blessing as I'm fairly certain I'm PMSing right now that I also like to refer to as snackapalooza.

I decided not to go to Zumba today and instead try to squeak in my long run for the week. That was rather ambitious as I do walk to weigh in and back and add in wandering around Walmart that already counts for some distance.

I managed to do 6 miles this afternoon I was supposed to do 7 miles. According to my FitBit I did 10 miles all together and

I walked 20,000 steps today and got a badge with Fitbit! fitbit.com/user/24LLC9 #Fitstats so I'll count that as a win.

The back on track part was I had a goal to do 3 half marathons in 2013. I opted not to do the one I had signed up for in February as the winter weather i.e. ice and too much treadmill time sort of messed up my training. I learned to stick to short distances in the winter and go for longer distances in the spring/summer and fall.

Today I signed up for the Stampede Half Marathon other wise known as the Stampede Road Race, of course my city is pretty famous for it's Calgary Stampede. The race takes place on July 7th, so still about 8 weeks before the Disneyland Half and about 8 weeks after the Calgary Scotiabank Half. The other interesting thing about this race is it's capped at 1850 participants. I'm sort of used to thousands at all the other runs I've done.

This makes me super motivated to train better as depending how this goes I may just try for a full marathon again next year. Perhaps even the Dopey Disney Run which is a 5K, 10K, Half and Full in 4 days and gets you 6 medals, that would be more of a long term goal for January 2015.

I still need to get through the Dumbo in September. I did the 5K and Half on the same day at Disney Wine and Dine so one never knows.

Tomorrow is rest day but will involve housecleaning.

On Monday I think I'll head the gym for the weight class and yoga, then on Tuesday go to Zumba before the Bon Jovi concert and get a short training run in on Monday.

I start going to Edmonton on Mondays as of April 15th with super late flights back to site so Monday will no longer be run day. I need rejig my training plan.

I feeling pumped.

Happy Easter.

Hugs!!!

Wipeout

Long week this week.

I did hit the treadmill on Monday and challenged myself to stay on there while I did my camp laundry. So that meant staying on during the wash and dry cycle.

I did it.

No speed medals but I technically completed the training I was supposed to do on Sunday.

My FitBit was impressed.

The weather is definitely warming up which is a nice change. Up at site we have exactly 3 seasons - snow, mud and dust. Looks like mud is starting to kick in.

Which means I can retire by poor site Sorels, they're starting to crack but they held up well to almost 4 years of Northern Alberta winters, now my mud/dust season hiking boots must also be retired this year so I got some shopping to do.

I did buy a cute more city pair of Sorel's (pink) that if I am at site another winter will do in a pinch. The latest news on my return to the Calgary office is sometime around Christmas. I do know that could change on a dime.

Tuesday and Wednesday were 13 hour days due to late meetings so no gym time and of course I flew home on Thursday. Normally I would run/walk again on Wednesday.

I do have to say the sunsets are pretty darn spectacular the further you are away of civilization.

And you can see the mud season effect on the buses. There's still a monster amount of snow to melt up there so I expect a long mud season.

Now to my title, it was beautiful today so I headed out for a run walk feeling great. I was about 20 minutes in where I adjusted my form to be more chi-running (leaning forward) then my foot hit a crack in the sidewalk and I went dooowwwwnnnnn. I tried to gain my balance but no go. I'm not hurt but I scraped up my palms and saw that the skin was broken. So I cut my run short so I could go home and wash my hands. I then discovered the impressive bruise on elbow. My knee came out unscathed as I had felt I scraped that as well.

Tomorrow is weigh in and a return to Zumba, with another run/walk planned for Sunday.

I have extra long weekend as I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off. Did I mention I'm going to Bon Jovi?

I plan to check out some classes at the gym that I normally can't take as I'm not here.

I do hope all of you had an amazing week!

Hugs!!!

No run mojo

I was supposed to do 6 miles today.

Let's go back to yesterday where I tracked all that ate after I ate it and my treat day turned into a disaster pretty much using the bulk of my weekly points. I was guesstimating and I guessed pretty wrong. I do have a challenge with weekends. 

Now move on today where I probably wasn't fueled so well for 6 miles. I lasted 4.62 miles. My Gym boss died after the 2nd run interval and I really didn't want to look at my watch constantly so I winged it. Well winging caused my chins to be angry so I switched to walking.

I'm happy I went out as it took a whole lot of mental effort, I went out a few hours after breakfast as I was waiting for the weather to warm up a little, now that was probably a mistake as well as at mile 4 my stomach was grumbling like crazy.

So when I got back I planned out my day in advance and I did the same thing for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll plan out Tuesday.

There has been a lack of plans lately and that needs to change. Particularly my planning on the weekends, as have 3 days a week that are fairly unstructured I need to add structure. My work week is almost easier as I have a pretty set routine.

As of April 1, I'll need to go to Edmonton once a week, then fly back to site then fly home. This is just for the next few months and planning will be super important.

I know I can do this, I will do this.

Hugs!!

I am an efficient napper

I'm still loving my FitBit and wear it daily including every night to measure sleep.

I have noticed an interesting trend, I'm definitely a tosser and a turner based on the data it can range from close to 10 times to over 20 times a night.

However when I nap I'm super steady.

Only 2 interruptions during yesterdays nap. I tend to nap at least once over the weekend.

Only woke up once during the nap but super tossed and turned with 23 interruptions

Then here it was 3 times vs 21 times overnight.

Apart from napping I did go to weigh in today and suspected I'd see a gain. I was up 1 lb, it could have been worse.  It was a wild week with unexpected late meetings and then working in Calgary for a day where it just reminded me that I'm to be back in the corporate head in roughly 6 - 8 months with still no clue as to what the job will be. So when I got home on Thursday I wanted chocolate. I bring Hershey kisses to work at site as it encourages people to come talk to scary HR. I never dig into the bags at home until this Thursday. I managed to make some series damage in little foil packets.

I also didn't earn quite as many activity points last week. My WW source says Activelink is coming to Canada and I'm still intrigued even though I have the FitBit. I really like the determining your base line and aiming for over that.

The good news it's a new week and I have 6 miles on the training schedule tomorrow. The weather should be o.k, with windchill near -10c.

The meeting was as per usual with the my ridiculous leader. We talked about drinks so she took us through a painful exercise listing what we drank during breakfast, lunch, dinner and social. The painful part was there didn't seem to be any point in the exercise.

She then asked who had plans for Easter, who was going to friends and then I was shocked to hear her say "Who doesn't celebrate Easter". A few people put up their hands when she realized she shouldn't have asked that. I was floored as that was hugely inappropriate.

Towards the end of the meeting she said she would have done the topic differently but had to do it this way. I do hope Weight Watchers Int'l starts the training of the franchisee leaders soon. There was a line at weigh in with only one scale open as she was chatting with one woman at one of the scales.

There's another plus to coming back to Calgary is I'd have more choice of meetings but for now the Saturday morning one just works best for me.

As I left the meeting to go over to Walmart I walked past this

 Note the bunny ears and cotton tail on the Volkswagen....too cute 

Sometimes you need convenience - Smart Ones

Hello,

Earlier this week I was contacted to see if I'd be interested in writing a little bit about Weight Watchers Smart Ones. I quite like Smart Ones so I said sure and in full disclosure they did offer to pay me for this.

If you're not familiar with Smart Ones, here is a link to their Facebook page Eat Your Best Canada

As I travel a lot having something convenient, fast and tasty to prepare makes my life a wee easier especially as the points are right on the box so no calculator needed.  For example when I fly out on Mondays I need to pack my lunch so I quite often take this one:

I love Fettucini Alfredo and pre Weight Watchers it was probably one of my favourite choices at a restaurant (at up to 30 Points Plus per serving) so I was pretty happy to find a version that was far lower in points. This is also an option for me when I fly home and need to put together a quick dinner. If I make it at home I'll add some steamed broccoli as there's a good amount of sauce. This one is by far my favourite Smart Ones.

Today I decided to try something I've never tried before....Smart Ones morning

On my way to weigh in I swing by Tim Horton's and pretty much order this for the exact same amount of points. So having it handy in my freeze was appealing and two come in the box.

It looked like this out of the box. Cooking instructions were easy as all I had to do was take it out of the plastic, wrap it in a paper towel and microwave for 1:15 minutes then let it sit for 30 seconds flip it over and microwave for 25 seconds and tada:

I added the tomatoes for a little colour.

Taste wise it was pretty good, certainly different then a freshly toasted English muffin but it did come out of the freezer. I would keep this on hand even for a quick dinner as sometimes I have a breakfast food for dinner.

I'm certainly impressed with all the different options available in Smart Ones so check them out on Facebook just click the link  Eat Your Best Canada. 

Do you use Weight Watchers Smart Ones and if you do which one is your favourite?

Hugs!!

Can't believe it's almost been a week

Since I last posted. No excuse really other then being busy at work and trying to squeeze in workouts.

Let me back up to Saturday, there were no evident changes in the meeting since it was purchased by Weight Watchers Int'l. I suspect they will come.

Had a great weigh in as I was down 1.8 lb. So that meant not only did I get rid of the damage of my co-workers goodbye party which caused me to avoid weigh in the week before but I also beat my last recorded weigh in from 2 weeks ago.

Then I went to the gym and did the 5 miles for my training plan, it was brutal as the treadmill resets every half an hour but I did it.

On Monday I got contacted to see if I wanted to do a review of Smart Ones by a marketing agency and I accepted the task. That will be tomorrow's post so stay tuned.

Of course Monday was also the Biggest Loser finale.


Now I know Gina wasn't the most popular contestant but I couldn't help but cheer her on. I really like to see the people over the age of 30 and 40 succeed (inspiration) and she definitely came around.



Not surprised Danni won but wowsers by just 1 pound was a shocker of a moment. She was a beast and I say that with the utmost respect. She got out of her own way and succeeded. Original source of the photos was realitynation.com.

What I'd love to see from this franchise is another where are they now specials.

Tuesday I hit the treadmill again and it was a rough run as I have late meetings on Tuesdays. I stuck it out for 30 min which follows the minimum of my training plan. On Monday I had an unexpected late meeting and got back to my room just in time for the Biggest Loser finale.

Flew home on Wednesday and thought we might not take off as a winter storm warning blew in. It was crazy it was the first time in the almost 5 years I've been flying for work that they told us to the hold hand rail on the way into the airplane. However we made it and it was gorgeous in Calgary with +12 and sunny.

Today I headed into the Calgary office as I had meetings, the weather sure shifted as it was snowing with cold wind. Today was also the day I had the coffee date with the guy from Jr. High. This is the one the psychic thought was the immature person in my life.

The coffee was o.k, we talked for the whole hour and had some laughs. I could tell when we first me he sort of sized me up. He told all about his past relationships which I wasn't expecting as I was thinking this was coffee with a friend. Not sure what will come of it if anything but it was a pleasant chat.

Had plans to leave the office by 4:15, that turned out to be an hour later and when I got to my home station I thought I might as well do some grocery shopping tonight as tomorrow the wind chills are double digits.

All in all a good week, I do hope all of you had a good week.

Hugs!!!