Reflections on 2013

As the year comes to a close; I've taken some time to reflect on 2013 and how my life is so vastly different today than it was a year ago.  If someone had told me this time last year, that I would be learning how to run, I would honestly have scoffed at them.    This time last year I wasn't even walking more than a few blocks at a time let alone running them.  To think that I would have lost over 70 pounds was impossible.  To think that I would have completed 5 5km races was unthinkable!
However, I've done all of that and so much more.

I picked up a Success Handbook at my Weight Watchers meeting a couple of weeks ago and I've just started making my way through it.  On page 18 there is an Inspiration Collage, the instructions were to fill the page with images and sayings that inspire you to reach for your best.

This is what I have written down.
My two favorite quotes
"Of course it's hard.  It's supposed to be.  If it were easy everyone would do it!" unknown
"If you're going through hell, keep on going." Winston Churchill

I then listed my comparisons:

Jan 1,2013 more than 330 pounds
December 28th, 2013, lost 74.6 pounds

Clothing Jan 2013- Size 5-6x  Only shopping in 1 plus size store.
December 2013 size 20-22 or 1x  Can shop pretty much anywhere!

Jan 2013 medications: 2xBacoflen, 2x Diclofenac, 1xAllipurinal, 1x Metformin, blood sugar average 9.2
Dec 2013 medications: 1/2 Metformin, blood sugar average 4.8

5km Races in 2012...are you kidding me????
5km Races in 2013, Abby Police Challenge, Rock the Rock 5k, Dani Holmes Kirk virtual 5k, Rubber Ducky 5k, Boundary Bay 5k, Santa Shuffle.

2014 Races already signed up for: Resolution Run Jan 1st, Chilly Chase Jan 26, Vancouver Hot Chocolate 5K March 1st, Shamrock Green Sock 5K March 16th, BMO 8K May 4th.

..and to think, this is just the beginning!!!

I have a long way to go on this journey, but I know that my list of accomplishments will continue to grow and grow.  I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for me!  I do know that it's going to continue to be an awesome ride! 

Hanging in and Hanging on!

It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged.  Life has been hectic!  Getting back into the swing of working full time after being off work for almost 4 months has taken some getting used to.  I am back to getting up at 5am ish (awake at 5, but not always up and at 'em at 5) out the door by 615 and arriving back home at 630 is taking some getting used to again. 

I'm glad to be back to work, glad to see my train friends again and glad to be back to a routine.  Packing my breakfast and lunch is a great way for me to be accountable and keep on track.  I'm still learning my new job and the weather hasn't been great so I haven't been going for my noon time walks. 

It is something that I will get back into as soon as I can.  It's part of the plan and I need to have that plan in place to be successful.  I am getting my exercise in as I have to walk about one and a half kilometer's from the train to the office.  I also walk up the stairs when I get off the train as I have to hustle to get from the train to the skytrain so that I can get to work on time.  The timing is key in both directions as I am not someone who likes to be late, so I have to hurry to get off the train, up the stairs, across the train station and then down to the Canada Line.  Once I get off the Canada Line it takes about 12 minutes to walk to the office.  The going home is key, the timing has been a little tight a few times and if I miss my train home I have to wait almost an hour for the next.  If that doesn't keep me motivated to move it, then nothing will :)

I'm quite happy with how I've handled all the temptations at work this week. I've stayed on plan, by passed the cookies, the chocolates, the candy and all of the other treats. :)

I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my family, we celebrate at my parent's home on Christmas Eve and then we host both sides of the family here on Boxing Day for Brunch.  I have a great plan in place and I'm looking forward to getting on that scale next week and maintaining my weight.  I'm not going to expect a loss, not with it being Christmas week, but I certainly don't want to see a gain.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa Shuffle recap.

It was my birthday this weekend and when my husband asked me if I would like to have a party I told him no.  I would rather have him and as many friends as possible join me for the Santa Shuffle 5K and then meet up for brunch afterwards.  I sent out a facebook message to all of my friends in the area and started an event page.  There were a few people who did sign up for the Santa Shuffle, but in different cities.  It turned out to be just me and my hubby for the race although there were 10 of us for brunch.

We had a cold front move down into the Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley area during the week and when we got up on Saturday morning it was -9 before the windchill.  Considering we had winds of about 20kph I'm sure the wind chill was significant.  We did talk about perhaps not doing it, but this would be the first race that I've signed up for that I didn't complete, and I just didn't want that.  I bundled up as best as I could, leggings under the pants, long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve shirt with the warmest jacket I own, a toque and mittens and we were off.

I knew as soon as we got out of the car that I was under dressed.  I should have brought a scarf as well and maybe worn another pair of pants!  It was so cold that by the time we walked across the parking lot to the race start line, my toes were numb and my legs were stinging from the cold.  We did a lot of bouncing up and down in an attempt to keep warm, the speeches at the beginning were kept as short as possible and it was time to start the 5K Santa Shuffle and the 1K Elf Walk.    I knew while doing the warm up, there was no way that I would be running this event.  It was going to be walking only.  I was already so cold it wasn't funny and by the time we were ready to start my feet and legs up to my knees were completely numb and stinging from the cold. (I guess that's what happens when you wear summer weight pants as that's all that you have)

I guided my husband towards the back of the pack as I didn't want to be responsible for slowing down any of the runners and we started off.  As we were walking we were talking about getting to the restaurant to get a table for our group as the restaurant doesn't take reservations.  Although the race was scheduled to start at 10am, it was 1020 by the time we started.  It normally takes me an hour to walk 5k, add in how cold we were and we knew that there was no way we would be able to walk the whole 5K, and be across town to meet up with everyone by 1130.

When we came to the split for the 1K to head to the finish line and the 5K to head to the road, we agreed that we would just do the 1K this year for times sake.  I was delighted to find out that even though we did the 1K we still got a medal!

I was so cold, this was the biggest smile I could manage.

 Although I was disappointed to not do the actual 5K distance, it just wasn't feasible, and we know for next year we will make it a 1230 lunch instead of an 1130 brunch.  That way we can do the 5K, without being worried about the time.  I will also be investing in some cold weather gear for next year so I don't freeze my butt off again!

New Job, New Challenges.

I started my new job this week,  I've been interviewing for different positions since my contract ended back in August and this week I started my new job with the Alzheimer's Society of B.C.   It's a little further out from my old job so the one thing that I do have to do is hustle.  Depending on when my train gets into the waterfront station, I have 20 minutes to make the trip to my new office.  I have to grab the Canada Line Skytrain, go 4 exits and then get off, come above ground walk one block down and then 5 blocks across.  Getting to work is all right.  I'm not really concerned if I end up being a minute or two late every now and then.  However, when I'm heading home at night, I only have that 20 minute window.  If I end up missing my regular train, I have to wait almost an hour for the next one, which will suck.

I was proud of my self today, when I left the office, I decided to walk a block and run a block, alternating until I reached the street where the sky train station is located.  Yes, I ran!  This time last year I wasn't walking the few blocks to my office because of the effort, and today I ran!  What a difference 11 months and almost 75 pounds make! 

Although I'm now working back in Vancouver, my new office is too far away from my old meeting place.  I also can no longer go to the Friday morning meetings in Abbotsford.  I've really enjoyed the people and the leader at those meetings and I'm going to miss them.  There may be the occasional Friday that I can drop in on, but it looks as though I'll now be attending Saturday morning meetings.

I'll be going to my first Saturday morning weigh in tomorrow, however I can't stay for the meeting.  My husband and I are participating in the Santa Shuffle 5k walk/run to support the Salvation Army.

When we registered for the race, our only hope was that it not be raining as hard as it was last year.  Last year it was so wet, and raining so hard that we both decided to stay home.  Turns out that rain isn't going to be a problem for us this year.  It's supposed to be a clear beautiful day, with only one little hiccup.  The temperature.  We've had an arctic cold front move down into the lower mainland in the past 24 hours and the temperature tomorrow morning without the wind chill is supposed to be around -6.  I realize for some people, that's not cold, but for us, that is frigging freezing! 

I'm a little nervous about doing the 5k in this cold temperatures.  I don't really have any cold weather gear, and considering how cold I was at the Boundary Bay 5K back in November when it was a good 15 degrees warmer, I may be in trouble.

I'm sure I'll get it figured out in the morning, and maybe, just maybe (all right I'm dreaming)  the pineapple express will make a sudden three hour appearance and warm everything up in time for the race!

Fear of chairs.

I've had what I consider to be a slight fear of unknown chairs.  I know to some it sounds dumb, you see a chair, you sit in it what's the problem.  But when you're 300+ pounds, it isn't always that simple.   I have to be thankful that I have never broken a chair that I've sat on.  There are those who have and I think I've come close a time or two, you feel the legs spreading a little bit and I jump up and say I've been sitting all day, thanks I'd rather stand!

Often at outdoor events, barbecue's, gatherings that sort of thing I would often stand, or lean against something rather than sit.  I didn't want to be responsible for breaking someones lawn chair.  I would be mortified to do so!  Those little canvas chairs that push together and you carry around like a back pack, yeah, I've never sat in one of those, although I figured if it didn't break, it would take a crane to get me up and out of the darned thing.  I've felt uncomfortable sitting on some chairs in restaurants, and at other peoples houses

I have a severe fear of folding chairs.  You know the type that most rec centres have, the grey or blue ones that fold out and and you can stack them 50 high.   I've always been afraid to use them, a girl in high school who wasn't heavy had one break on her and I felt her pain and mortification.  I could imagine that happening to me and being teased mercilessly for it.

I sat down in a folding chair recently while volunteering at a trade show without even thinking about it.  Until I was sitting down, then I remembered when I was volunteering at the same event last year, I wanted to sit, I was tired, my feet hurt, my back was aching and I was miserable.  I sat in the chair for all of 30 seconds, because I could feel how wobbly the legs were and I was afraid of the chair going down, taking me with it. 

It seems like such a little thing, being able to have a seat when and where you want to doesn't it.  I'm so glad that I can now do that without thinking about it.  Without being worried about whether or not the chair would hold me. 

Closet Purge and Shopping.

A few weeks ago, I had to go shopping for a dress that I could wear to an interview, all of my work clothes have gotten too big and I had nothing to wear.  Well, I got a bee in my bonnet to do a closet purge, try everything on, and whatever didn't fit was going to the Women's Resource Centre here in town.  So I spent the morning purging the closet.  Clothes were gone through, sorted and bagged up.  When I was done this was what my closet now looks like.

A lot of empty hangers

A few pants, a couple of sweaters a dress and some shirts is all that is left!

The closet has slim pickings these days and I have had to pick a couple of thing up, including new work style clothes.

I went shopping today with my mom and for the first time that I can honestly recall, shopping was a pleasant experience.  I went into a store called Laura in Langley and the salespeople there made my day.  They were helpful, polite, and made an experience that I normally hate into one of the best experiences I've ever had.   Part of it was that I had clothes to choose from.  Everything I picked up either fit or was a little too big.  I had a large amount of clothes in my hands as I was going around the store.  I do like to keep the clothes I"m selecting with me so that I can see what I have and try to coordinate outfits as I go.  Usually it's a struggle with the sales people wanting to get a room started and take the clothes off of you, but when I explained I would rather keep the clothes with me the sales person went to get a rolling clothes rack so that I wouldn't have to carry the clothes with me. Wow! 

When I was ready to go back to try things on, the salesperson rolled the rack right into the change room for me, settled my mom down in a chair to wait for me and came back a few times to see how we were making out.    The customer service level there was fantastic!

I loved my shopping experience today, I felt a little spoiled by the level of customer service and I am so grateful that I can now go into a regular store and have a great selection of clothes to choose from.  That I'm able to put basic pieces together that look and feel fabulous.  I loved the fact that I was able to purchase a skirt, blouse, jacket and dress that are all coordinated, made of beautiful fabrics, are great quality and best of all reasonably priced!

Today's experience may just have made me into a clothes shopper!

Rough Week.

This past week for me was not a good week activity wise.  As in I didn't get a lot of activity in.  I didn't get much walking in, I didn't do my intervals like I had planned out.  I didn't even do my yoga every day.  It was not a good week.  I had a bad week with my feet this week.  So bad in fact that on Tuesday night I literally didn't get any sleep with them.  I didn't get any relief from  my compression socks, or medication.  It was just bad, so bad in fact that more than one person asked me if I was all right on Wednesday as I was pale as a ghost and looked miserable.  I realized on Thursday how bad I must have looked when my dad called me to check on me.   I was at their house briefly on Wednesday to take my mom somewhere and my dad was worried about me I looked so horrible and didn't have that usual pep in my step.

My feet were better on Thursday and Friday but I still didn't get out and do my walking, all sorts of excuses abound!  I was tired, my feet were still sore, it was raining, I was busy, I keep coughing.  All sorts of excuses and that's exactly what it was!  Excuses.  I only earned 20 activity points last week, which is less than half of what I normally earn.   I've know I need to just suck it up buttercup and get on with it!  My feet hurt, oh well, they are still going to hurt if I'm sitting doing nothing.  It's raining out, that's why you have a water proof jacket, a baseball cap and two pairs of runners.  It's dark out, that's why you have a reflective vest and reflective light up arm bands.  No more excuses!  I need to kick it up a notch and get back to the activity level I was at when I was losing weight steadily. 

Despite my lack of activity, I did have a loss this week, I lost almost a pound.  I'm back to where I was two weeks ago, so that's a good thing.  Now, with getting refocused on my activity, I need to get on with the job of losing weight, no more of this losing a few ounces one week, gaining a few ounces the next! 

Here I am - refocused and ready to move it, move it!

Power of a gain.

Sometimes it is little.  A couple of ounces this week, a couple more next week, a pound here, half a pound there.  Nothing can strike fear into the heart of someone on a weight loss journey than that polite look on the face of person conducting your weigh in when they politely close your weight journal and hand it back to you, telling you to have a good week.  Without saying congratulations! 

I always smile back, thank them and then nervously peak at my journal as I walk over to take a seat in the meeting area.  A gain!  A groan!  The panic of going the wrong way on the scale.  That instant thought of what's the point of doing this!

It's amazing how having that tiny little plus sign in front of a very small number can have such a large impact on how you feel, whether you were expecting it or not.  Whether you feel you deserve it or not.

The power of a gain just about did me in.  I had thought that perhaps by the end of October I would hit that next milestone of 75 pounds lost.  I only had a few ounces to go and then I could celebrate.  However that didn't happen, instead I had a gain!  I gained a pound and it had the power to almost ruin my whole day.  I left the meeting in a mood, I was hungry, it was 830am and I hadn't had breakfast yet.  I could go for an Egg McMuffin, or maybe a Sausage McMuffin, and hey look, there's McDonalds right there on the next block.  It would be so easy to just go into that drive thru and place an order.

The power of a gain...an amazing thing.  The only thing more powerful?  The power of knowing that this was a blip, this week will be better, that you're doing something good for you.

I discovered that I'm more powerful than a gain....and that's a great thing!

Boundary Bay 5K

The Boundary Bay 5K was on Sunday.  I was so relieved when the alarm went off at 545am, to silence.  Yes silence.  No rain beating on the roof as it had been when I went to bed on Saturday night.  I had already packed my post run bag with pants, shirt, socks and shoes.  Just in case it was raining I thought I should have dry clothes for the drive home.  Thankfully, I didn't need them.  It was still dark when my awesome husband and I got in the car at 620 to head out to Boundary Bay.

My wonderful husband picked up my run kit for me on Friday when he was on his way home from work, it took an hour to get the run kit but it was worth not having to drive in any earlier!

Run kit ready to go Sunday Morning.

We were aiming to be at the run site for 730, an hour before start time as I needed to exchange the shirt that I received.  Somehow they had me down for a much smaller size than I wear.  I love dealing with Try Events, they are awesome and so easy to deal with.   We were really surprised when we arrived to see how full the parking lot already was with more than 45 minutes to go before the start of the race.  I had to wait about 20 minutes on site to change my shirt as there were a lot of event day registrants and people picking up their kits.  I was so lucky to get the last shirt in the size that I needed.  When looking at it I thought it may actually fit, so I went into the washrooms and put it on.  Low and behold, a tech shirt actually fit me!  Yeah!

A quick trip back to the car to grab my stuff and I was ready to head to the start line.  There were a lot of people there and I have to admit I was a little nervous as I know that I'm slow and having so many true athlete's around me, really intimidated me for a few minutes.  I had a lot of those "what do you think you're doing here" thoughts going through my head but I quickly overcame my self doubt.   It helped to have my husband there for support,  before it was time to get ready to go.

Wearing my Boundary Bay shirt, ready for warm up.

At the start line, a lot of runners at this race!

After warm up it was time to get in line to start the race, the race was full marathon, half marathon, relay marathon, 10K and 5K.  They asked us 5ker's to stay towards the back of the line to let the others get away.   After the start gun it probably took about 2 minutes to get to the actual start line but before long we were off.  It was a gorgeous day and the trail is along the bay, the tide was out but there were still some beautiful views to be seen.

Yep, just me on the trail, with a few people walking behind me.

As I started out at the back of the pack, and I always walk the first five minutes or so it wasn't long before there were just a handful of us on any section of trail at a given time.  There were a couple of ladies in front of me that I managed to pass but I was still at the back of the pack, which is fine with me.  I'm not running the full races yet, although I figure I ran about 1/4 of the way.

Heading back, still the only one on the trail with a couple of people behind me.

It was great to see quite a few people in the community out cheering people on, especially when we reached the end of the trail and were on the road for a little bit.   The energy of the crowd as you got closer to the finish line was great and as some of the 10k runners were passing me towards the finish line there was a lot of energy to carry you through.  I crossed the finish line and saw my wonderful husband standing along the finishers chute cheering me on, it always gives me such a sense of accomplishment to hear my name as I cross the finish line.  My Garmin Finish time was 54:29,  my chip time was 54:16  a new Personal best for me  I'm going to work on getting that time down some more as I really do want to do the BMO 8K in May.

Love my finishers medal for this race!

Next up is the Santa Shuffle on December 7th.  I'm working on getting some friends to join me, so it should be fun for everyone!

Clothes Shopping

I am one of those rare creatures who hate clothes shopping.  I mean, loath, despise, HATE.  There aren't enough words to describe how much I dislike shopping for clothes.  I usually have to be in the mood to go shopping, and I MUST need something and that is why I am going.

I had to go clothes shopping last week.  I've been interviewing for different positions and I'm not liking how I'm looking.  My work clothes are all too big, I put on my "reliable" dress on Sunday, to ensure that it was clean and pressed, and it kept slipping off my shoulder.    I didn't think the off the shoulder look would bode well for the interview that I had lined up for this week.  I headed out on my own to my old stand by store.  I was a little panicked when I saw that they didn't have any skirts currently and only had one style of dress in three colours.  I grabbed a dress in each colour and headed to the dressing room.  I changed into the first dress and cringed, it looked truly horrid on me, but for all the wrong reasons, reasons I'm not used to.  Instead of being too tight and making me look like a stuffed sausage, it was too big!   I almost bought it because of the panic.  I needed something to wear for the interviews and I didn't have a lot of time!

I left the store and saw another one further down the mall.  I know that my sister had bought me a sweater out of that store a couple of years ago but until now,  nothing else fit.  I went into the store and sighed a little bit, they did have a plus woman's size shop in the back right corner of the store and I could see 2 dresses there.  I took the largest one in each size back to the change room and was surprised when I put them on that they were also too big.  I had a different sensation this time.  I was thrilled!

I was technically in a "normal" clothing store and something I tried on was too big.  The sales girl went and got me the next size down.  I was so surprised that it fit.  I couldn't make my mind up between the two dresses so I went home empty handed.  I did however do what every girl does.  I called my mom!  She was available to go shopping with me and we headed out the next morning.  As wewere driving my mom suggested that we go to one of the major department stores to see what they had.  My first instinct was to say that I didn't think they would have anything that would fit me.  My mom pointed out that if the one store I went into yesterday did, then there was a good chance other stores would as well.

We headed to the mall and for the first time in my adult life, probably from the time I was maybe 16, I bought a dress in a regular department store.  I was very hesitant going in, I wasn't sure that I was going to find anything, and instead we found two beautiful outfits and they both fit me really well.  I really wanted to get both but the budget prevailed and I managed to get a beautiful versatile dress for less than what I would have thought.   I was thrilled with the fact that I now have so many different options available to me for shopping.

I've always relied on just one store here in Canada, and one in the States.  Other than making my own clothes (which I've done) they were my only clothing options. When you've been as large as a 6x, you don't have a lot of choices.   I'm excited that as I continue on my journey the options are just going to keep coming.

It was a pretty darned good feeling!

Rubber Ducky 5K

This past week was a hard week, I still have the head cold from he!! and it's been hard to get out and get moving with very little energy.  However, I had the Rubber Ducky 5K that I was doing with a friend and although my original goal had been to run the whole course, I knew by Wednesday that probably wasn't going to happen.

I was volunteering on Saturday morning so my wonderful husband drove into town to pick up our Run Kits for us.  I was very excited when I got home to see this waiting for me!

The t-shirt is a technical t-shirt that wicks moisture which I think is great!  I'm looking forward to wearing it on my walks when in the spring I can go back to wearing just a t-shirt!

On Sunday morning my husband dropped me off at my friends house, at 715am.  I love doing races, but I do hate the fact that they all start so early and because we normally have to drive an hour or more to get to them it means an extra early Sunday morning for us :)

When we arrived at Burnaby Lake the parking lot was already getting full, after using the restrooms we headed over to the starting area where all the tents were set up.  It was a damp foggy morning, and the mist from the fog was already getting us wet, so we were very grateful that the race organizers TRY EVENTS had a warm zone set up for the runners to wait in.  There was a 20x10 tents with walls on three sides with two propane heaters running.  It was so nice!

Before we knew it it was time to go outside and get ready for the warm up.  This is when I realized that I had left my ipod in the car and it was too late to go back for it.  I usually walk/run with music and I know that I move faster with it but oh well.

My friend "L" and I getting ready for warm up.

The Rubber Ducky is a 1/2 Marathon, 1/2 Relay Marathon, 7 miler and 5K run, with a mass start after warm up.   We had tried to stay towards what we thought was the back of the line up but after the warm up was done, I looked around and realized that we were more in the centre of the pack.  I felt bad as I know how important it is to get out of the gate as smoothly as possible and I usually do stay to the back to keep out of the way.  There were quite a few hands on my back as people went around  me but oh well, after a few minutes the crowd thinned out and I felt a little bit better.

The 5K route was around the outer edges of a field and onto a trail.  It was a beautiful trail with the leaves changing color and hard packed gravel which was great, however I did have to stop a couple of times to take stones out of my shoe!  My friend is a faster walker than I am, my running is about the speed of her walking, and I eventually just told her to go on, don't wait for me.  I was able to keep her in sight for most of the way, but I came around a curve in the trail and discovered everyone was far ahead of me.  There was no-one there!

The perks of being slow, you get the whole trail to yourself!

It wasn't long before I started seeing people coming back at me, the 5K route is an out and back.  I found "L" waiting for me at the turn around and we started back together, again after a while I told her to go ahead,  I'd meet her back at the tents.  I was walking and running but I wasn't running very far as I kept coughing so hard.  Eventually I made it back to the end of the trail along the field and I could see the Finish line and the tents, and hear the announcer as he was welcoming people back.

The finish line is in sight! Sort of.

I was very touched when I made it back to the part of the trail that led down to the finishers chute.  "L" was standing there waiting for me!  She didn't want to finish without me and I was very touched that she waited for me.  We walked for a minute and then we ran it in!  I was so happy to have someone to finish with me!  We crossed the line together as we had started and that was a great feeling!

My Garmin time was 55:59, the chip time was 55:22

"L" and I with our finishers medals!

Although I couldn't run the whole distance, I was happy with my time, shaved 3 minutes off of my last TRY Events race.  I have another one in two weeks, so hopefully this head cold will finally be gone and I'll be able to do a lot more running for that one.

It was great to have a friend along for the race today.  It was great to have that support along the trail and to have someone to enjoy it with.  I think I'm going to try to get a bunch of us together for the Santa Shuffle/ Elf Walk in December.  That should be a hoot and a half!

Thankful for so much.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that everyone has enjoyed their weekend.

Friday was weigh in day, I was really apprehensive about going to weigh in as I was fairly certain I would be dealing with a gain.  I went to weigh in and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I actually had a loss.  A good loss, I was down 1.9 pounds this week!  Wahoo!  My leader asked me if I had a weight in mind as my goal weight.  I told her I didn't, and she asked me to start thinking about it.

After weigh in, I had a doctors appointment.  It was a follow up appointment to a medication change a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to talk to my doctor about setting a goal weight.  Thankfully he wasn't busy and we had a chance to talk about all manner of things.  We talked about my weight loss to date, and potentially setting a goal weight.  He would like to see where I am weight wise in January when I will have been on WW for a year, before setting a goal weight.  We talked about my blood sugars, which have been great, between 4-6 every day and because they are doing so well, he took me to 1/2 a tablet instead of a full tablet of one of my medications. Yeah!   He also told me I could come off two of my other medications as well!  He told me he was impressed with how I was doing and if I kept it up I would be off of everything before much longer.  

I was so happy with this visit that I had a permanent smile all day long!

I decided on Saturday I had to try to do some intervals, head cold or not as I have the Rubber Ducky 5K next Sunday.  I haven't done any intervals in over a week so after all our usual Saturday morning running around was done off I headed.  I started out strong with my intervals, running for god lengths of time.  I had planned an out and back route, and had mapped it out so I knew where to turn around.

Where I started from across from where I turned around

 I was feeling pretty good up to that point.  I was breathing hard because of my cold but I was feeling pretty good  Until I turned around.  I then had a head wind that was just strong enough to keep stealing my breath away.  I finally decided I had to stop running.   I just couldn't get my breath and had to keep covering my mouth and nose with my hands to get a breath in, I started coughing and was a little worried about triggering an asthma attack, I didn't have my inhaler with me.  Not to self, put inhaler in pocket when leaving the house for intervals!  I was still really happy when I looked at my splits at home.  I actually remembered to push the lap button on my watch when I started and stopped running!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/389386227

Finally gave up running and walked back!

 Sunday was a beautiful day!  My husband and I packed Angus into the car and headed out to Burnaby Lake so that I could scope out where the Rubber Ducky 5K is being held next week  I was really glad we did, so I could get the lay of the land.   There is a lot of parking and it's free (Bonus!) the route looks to be fairly flat (thank goodness) and it was really easy to get to.  We really enjoyed our leisurely walk around the trail with Angus.  It was such a nice morning.

Today we will be heading over to my parents for thanksgiving dinner.  It will be great to see everyone, have dinner together and laugh around the kitchen table.  When it come time to say what we're thankful for I have a whole list.  My family, my friends, my health, my running and my weight loss.  I couldn't have said those last three things this time last year.  I truly am thankful for all that I have.

Being out of town...not making the best decisions

I haven't been feeling well this week and I'm a little worried about my weigh in tomorrow.  I haven't had a lot of activity as I've been fighting a head cold and I'm simply exhausted.  I took the dog for a walk this morning, just around the big block and it seemed to take me forever, my pace was 15:30 a kilometer and I was so hot, sweaty  and exhausted when I got home I just wanted to lay down. 

This is not good after being out of town last weekend.  My husband and I went up to Kamloops on Saturday to volunteer at the CBCF booth at the Run for the Cure.  We picked up the rental car around 11am and hit the road after dropping Angus off at my parents.  Shortly after hitting the road we were hungry so we stopped for lunch, McDonalds a wrap, some fruit that I picked up and rice cakes.  Not too bad, but I knew that we would be having dinner with friends and I wouldn't have any control over the points.  We ended up having Lasagna with Caesar salad and garlic toast.  Although I was conscious of my points, I was still over for the day.

I had a rough night sleeping, the hotel room next to us seemed to be having a party going on and off until almost 3am, I had to be up at 630 to be ready to head to the Run site.  I wasn't feeling good, my throat was sore and I had a stuffy nose so I didn't eat breakfast before heading to the field.

It was a true pleasure to be at the Kamloops Run site on Run day.  The Run committee and directors did an excellent job of putting the run together, everything seemed to run so smoothly for them!  It was great.  When we wrapped up around noon, I was starving so we went to Tim Horton's for lunch.  I chose a paninni and soup, the WW app on Gary's phone wasn't loading so I didn't know how many points I was spending on lunch.  By the time we drove home, dropped off the rental car and picked up Angus it was past dinner time.  We decided to cheat and order in dinner.  Big mistake for me.  I was hungry when I ordered so instead of just ordering my personalized pizza, I also ordered the restaurants marinara sauce and bread sticks.    Yep...not the best decision considering I had very little activity over the weekend.  I spent all of my daily points and half of my weekly points just on my meals on Saturday and Sunday. 

I woke up feeling sick on Monday and I just haven't had any energy to do anything more than take Angus around the block.  No long distance walks, no intervals, no nothing.  Which is so not good for me.  I have  the Rubber Ducky 5K in 8 days and the way I'm feeling I don't know if I'll be able to walk the full 5K let alone run it, which is what I had originally planned!

Needless to say, I used a lot of weekly points this week, didn't get in hardly any activity, I've only earned 12 activity points, I usually earn between 50-70 so I don't have much hope for weigh in tomorrow morning.  Part of me wants to just skip weigh in, call it a draw and work really hard next week but I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to suck it up and go to weigh in and let the chips lay where they fall.

I've lost a ten year old!

Not literally but physically!   The amount of weight I have lost as of today equals the average weight of a ten year old in North America.   I was so happy at weigh in this morning to get on the scale in my winter weigh in gear (no more summer sun dress for weigh in, pants and a shirt from here on out) and see a loss of 1.6 pounds to bring my total weight loss to 70.9 pounds.

This boggles my mind.  I've lost weight before, but not this much, I'm not sure how much further I want to go. I've been setting little goals for myself through my journey this far and I just have to decide if I want to continue setting the 10 pound goals for myself or if I want to select the ultimate goal and wrap my mind around a much bigger number.  The one thing with defining a final number at this point is my insecurity about it.  It's one thing to say after the fact I've lost 70 pounds, but if I had been thinking back in January when I started this journey, I have to lose 70 pounds I would have found it overwhelming.   Do I really want to say to myself I need to lose another 50, 60 or 70 pounds before I'm done and feel like it's an insurmountable task to take on, or do I keep doing this 10 pounds at a time.  I'm not sure yet.  It's something I have to think on and probably talk to my doctor about.  I weighed over 200 pounds when I was in grade 8 so I really can't picture myself at a weight lower than that although, that's still not what some would consider to be a healthy weight.  I have a while to go before I have to worry about setting a WW goal weight but it is something I have to wrap my head around.

I'm traveling up to Kamloops this weekend, where my husband and I will visit some friends on Saturday and then I'm volunteering for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure on Sunday October 6th.  This is a cause that is very near and dear to my heart.  I'm honoured to have been asked by the Foundation to go up to Kamloops to represent the Foundation at the tent giving out breast health information and talking to people about their breast health.  If you're interested in joining in visit www.runforthecure.com  and click on a city near you. The participation fee is only $40, which is pretty good for a 5k race with t-shirt, entertainment and healthy for you food!  If you're in the Kamloops area stop by the Pink CBCF tent and ask for Katie.  I should be there!

Having a plan and Resisting Temptation.

Last week was a good week, I earned a lot of activity points, conquered the Old Yale Road hill again with a better pace time and managed to do a proper downward facing dog!  I did it!  A real true to form, no modification downward facing dog!  I'm sure it probably wasn't pretty but I did it!  I had a loss this week of 6 ounces.  I was a little frustrated when I saw that on the scale and stayed behind to talk to my leader. I had brought my trackers (food and activity) with me to the meeting so we went through them together.  Believe it or not, I'm not eating enough.  When we added up all of my regular daily points that were left behind through the week, I had basically left an entire day's allotment of points uneaten.  Add in the 58 activity points I earned and she believes my body has just thrown on the brakes.  It's hoarding what it's getting because I'm not feeding it enough.   The plan this week is to eat every single one of my regular points each day, plus a portion of my activity points as well.

I was a little concerned as I'm honestly not hungry and I didn't know how I was going to get in all my regular points plus the others in.  She suggested that I skip the low fat salad dressing and go for regular dressing.  Drink a serving of juice a day.  Add a little bit of honey or sugar to my tea, get my once a week mocha with regular milk instead of fat free.   I'm a little apprehensive, but I'm going to follow her instructions, she knows what she's talking about.  I suppose I just have to trust that the scale will reflect next week's efforts.


It's been a weekend of temptation and I have another day to go, but I'm doing great.  I went to a friends house last night for girls night, which of course included a lot of goodies, dips, and good for you fruit and veggies as well.

I had a plan before I left the house, I ate an early dinner with my hubby, had a couple of glasses of water and planned to just have a couple of nibbles.  When it came time for food, I bypassed  a plate and just took a napkin, which meant I could only take one thing at a time.  I had a few pieces of bread with some cheese spread ( 4pts) and the rest of the evening I snacked on carrots, tomato's and pineapple.  I was very happy with how I did, and that I didn't over indulge.  I drank water most of the evening and had a great time.

Today I took my mom to meet some friends in Chilliwack at Apeldorn's for High Tea.  Again, I knew I had to have a plan going in.  All those delicious pastries and cakes, along with clotted cream and jam, warm scones, finger sandwiches oh my!   I did really well, I resisted the temptation, had three finger sandwiches, two finger scones and passed on all of the sweets.  I was so pleased with being able to say no to the deserts, as I love the items that were on the plates for us.  I ate the fruit garnish on the plates but I resisted temptation and stuck with my plan.  That has made me so happy!

Tomorrow night, it's dinner out at our cousin's house.  I'm bringing desert and since I want something nice and light that I don't have to worry about points for I've decided to bring a berry compote that we can spoon over 1 point sponges with a little bit of whipped cream for those who want it.  It will be a great way to enjoy desert for only 4 points in total.  I'm really proud of how I'm managing to resist temptation.  I'm making the right food choices and it feels really good!

Don't let the mean ones get to you!

I had a rough morning on Sunday.  I had a bad night sleep Saturday night.   My feet were so sore it kept me awake pretty much all night.  I finally broke down and put my compression socks on at 6am.  You know it's not going to be a good foot day when you have your compression socks on before you get out of bed!  Despite my sore feet,  the bad night sleep and the rain, I still wanted to get my intervals done for today.  I had down originally 5km for today, but I knew that wasn't going to happen with my feet being the way they are today, so I changed my plans and did a 3km route.  I was having a really good Run/Walk, my first running interval was 2 minutes long!  I was thrilled and I was doing really good alternating my walking and running, trying to make it even time for time.  I turned along S. Parallel road and was doing well, I took out my one ear bud from my ipod as I was running with traffic (there is no sidewalk and only one side of the road has a shoulder to run/walk on), and I was doing well with the distances I was doing, as well as keeping an eye on my watch for time sake.

I could hear a car coming so I moved further over to the shoulder, the car was slowing down, which surprised me as most don't, then the yelling started.  There were 4 boys/men in the car, and they started yelling at me, look at the cow run!  MOO!  I was a little surprised, and I almost stopped running but I kept going, then they came back!  They turned around in the hotel parking lot and came back at me, yelling all the while.  I was really annoyed, part of me wanted to just stop running, cut through the parking lot to the park stairs and go home.  I thought about it for a few seconds, but I kept going.  I wasn't going to let them get the best of me.  I'm doing something for me, and I have to keep doing it.  I could let this incident derail me, have a little pity party, but I won't.

I deserve better than that! Anyone deserves better than that.  I do get super annoyed when someone feels they have the right to tell me how to lose weight, or that I should lose weight. Why is it that people feel that they can come up to someone who is overweight and "advise them of what they need to do"?

Ty over at this is how ty runs, posted a link to another blog on her twitter feed today and I clicked over.  It was meant to be!  I so needed to read this blog today, and it was nice to see that I'm not the only person who feels this way!  If you have a minute go to http://gokaleo.com/2013/09/20/guest-post-fat-shaming-the-last-acceptable-form-of-prejudice/ 

To me that is exactly what those men/boys in that car were trying to do.  Six months ago, they probably would have succeeded.  I would have burst into tears, stopped whatever activity I was doing, start doubting myself and it would have caused a major setback.

I'm glad it didn't have that big of a negative effect on me.  I kept going on my run, actually getting a little bit angrier about it as I ran.  When I got home, my wonderful husband asked me how my run/walk was, told me he loved me and was proud of me.  That more than made up for a few nasty words from some people that I don't know.  Despite them, I had a great for me Run/Walk and I can't wait to get out and do it again.  If I did this well, being as tired and sore as I was, just think of how much better I'll do when I've had a good nights sleep!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/379620931

I Love Zumba!!!!

When I had my gym membership, I loved going to the Zumba class!  I'm not coordinated at all, not in the least, when everyone goes to the right, I'm the one going to the left! LOL!  I loved going to the Zumba class as it didn't matter if I was doing the right moves or not, I was moving my body and that's what mattered.  Unfortunately the gym changed the Zumba class to an hour earlier and that left me not being able to attend due to my commuting time. 

I forgot how much I loved doing Zumba until today!  I went to the open house at my Weight Watchers centre and they had a Zumba instructor doing half hour Zumba sessions.  It was so much fun!   I loved the music and the movements and the instructor there was really good, showing you low impact and high impact movements.

I would love to do Zumba again, however looking on line for a Zumba class, there really isn't one that I can find without a gym membership.  I found an aqua Zumba, but that really isn't for me.  I just wish I could find one that I could drop in at every once in a while.  Oh well.

This week was a pretty good week, according to my Garmin this week I spent 6 hours, 17 minutes and 32 seconds walking, that doesn't include my Yoga, kickboxing or today's Zumba class.  Not bad at all.  I'm happy with my level of activity.

I didn't have a loss this week.  I'm not surprised as I did a volunteer job yesterday that ended up being 12 hours of sitting, so I didn't get that much activity in.  According to my pedometer I only took 8645 steps all day.  I could feel my feet swelling last night, and my shoes were tight on me this morning so I'm just happy I didn't have a gain from my day of inactivity.

On the Road to Success!

After my successful intervals on Friday, I was itching to go out and do intervals again today to see how I would do.  I'm participating in a virtual 5K this week as well, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone?  Do my intervals and get in my virtual 5k?  My awesome husband kept Angus with him, and agreed to pick me up about an hour after I left the house at the Starbucks down by Costco.  It was a little foggy this morning so I wore my bright orange jacket.  It's so bright that I'm sure you could see me coming a mile away.

You can see how foggy it was, usually you can see across the freeway with no trouble.

I got ready and headed out for my walk/run and was immediately feeling good.  So good in fact that I started running before I had planned to.  I didn't use my watch to time my intervals, I just wanted to go as far as I could with each one and go from there.  I am so pleased with how far I ran today (I figure pretty close to 50% running) that for the first time ever, on my Garmin connect account I didn't put my activity as walking, but I left it as running!

I ran down the hill, to the gas station, walked across the cross walk and up to the freeway over pass, ran over the over pass, walked to South Parallel and then started running.  I set goals for myself as I was running, to judge the distance and to ensure that I would make my goal.  I used the roadside reflectors, or the mileage signs, some telephone poles and some power poles, driveways and barns for distances.  I made it Angus Campbell road, in 35minutes!  The first time I chose to walk this route, I thought it would take me an hour to get there, it only took 50 minutes that time but to shave that much time off by running/walking to me was amazing!

Checking my time at Angus Campbell Road 3.22km's in, loved seeing an average pace in the 10's!

It wasn't long before I came to the part of the road where if it weren't foggy I would have been able to see the Starbucks sign on Sumas way, for reference, it's across the street from the barn that you're seeing over to the right.

The barn is the white roof towards the left of the screen, before the trees.

I was thrilled when I got to this point as I was only at about 43 minutes or so.  I was feeling really well, and still running more than I was walking.  I was feeling so good about it...at one point, as I was running up an incline I was talking to myself telling myself to just get to the top, just get to the top, when I realized I was actually coming down the other side of it.   It felt so good to send a text to my husband as I turned onto Sumas way to start my cool down by just walking to note that I was under 50 Minutes and only had a half kilometer or so to go!

Finished watch time 53:53  Garmin Connect moving time 48.09 average pace of 10:47, Average moving pace of 9:22 best pace of 6:05!

I almost missed taking a picture at the 5km mark for proof for the Virtual 5K because I was feeling so good and didn't think I had gone that far!  It was amazing to think that the first time I did this walk, it took me an hour and 12 minutes to do.  In 6 months I've cut 20 minutes off of that time by walking faster and running.  I feel so good about this, that I can't wait for Tuesday to go out and run intervals again.  Hopefully I'll be ready for the Rubber Ducky 5K on October 20th and I'll be able to run most if not all of it!

Moving right along!

Things are moving right along and I'm very happy with how they are moving!   It was a great week for walking this week,  in the last 7 days according to my Garmin (which I only wear when doing a serious walk or walk/run)  I have spent 4 hours, 28 minutes and 4 seconds walking.  I have walked 17.66 km's during 6 activities.  This makes me happy, happy, happy.

It was a very hot week here, very unusual for mid September, fortunately I'm an early riser so we had our walks completed in the early morning, before the heat of the day.  Something that the dog has been grateful for I'm sure.  I have to admit I'm lucky with Angus, he'll usually walk as far as I want to, he's good with doing stairs, he's good with running (occasionally, when he's in the mood).  However with the heat and his winter coat coming in, this is his usual position when I come out of the shower after our walks.

Thanks for the walk, I'm just going to lay here and recover.

I had a great meeting this week, I was down a little over two pounds for a total weight loss now of 68.9 pounds.  I'm so excited to see a steady loss again!  Last week at the meeting my leader Colleen asked three of us if we could be the weight loss success stories for this week.  She gave us a questionnaire to fill out and asked us to bring either a before picture or an article of clothing to show how far we've come.  I decided to bring my trench coat with me.  I bought the coat last year and when I got it, even though it was the largest size they had, I couldn't button it up properly.  The top button would do up, the middle button would strain if I did it up and the bottom button...well there was no way it would do up.  I noticed during February and March that I was able to do up the top two buttons no problem and I never really even tried to do up the bottom button, just because.  I stopped wearing it in April  and May when the weather got warm and haven't had it on really since May or so.  I put it on Thursday night to see, and it is now huge.  I had originally thought I would be able to take it in, but there is no way that is going to happen, it is simply too large to do that with.

My hands are at the two edges of the coat showing where the buttons are, when I couldn't do them up.

My hands are showing where the two edges of the coat are now, a HUGE difference!

When I was originally asked my impulse was to say no, I'm not a success yet, I've got a long way to go....but it was pointed out to me that I am a success.  I've lost a lot of weight, I've changed my lifestyle.  I'm active and outgoing now.  If there's a day that goes by when I haven't gone for a walk, I just don't feel right.  It felt so good to be in my meeting and be able to share my success so far.   I am a success, and I'm moving right along....in the right direction!

I left Angus at home on Friday, I decided I wanted to do long intervals and I know that just won't happen with Angus.   When I headed out to my weight watchers meeting I took my work out clothes with me to change into after the meeting.  I then headed up to Rotary stadium to do the 5K Route that is used for the Run for the Cure.  I put on my ipod and started out and felt great.  I walked the first seven minutes or so and then started doing my intervals.  I didn't go by time or landmarks today, I wanted to see how I would do just going as long as I thought I could.  It was the right decision.  The majority of my intervals were almost a minute or perhaps a little longer than that.  I felt great, and it was such a sense of pride.  When I time my intervals with the watch, I struggle to get 30 seconds in as I'm watching the clock.  Today I didn't do that I just went and hit the lap button on my watch every time I started running and walking.  It was great!  I'm really proud of these times!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/375042459  I goofed up on the walk and somehow missed a km on the route, I guess I turned too early and didn't get the full park loop in so it was only 4.1km's but I'm happy with how I did!

Reaping the rewards!

I have to admit, I am really enjoying reaping the rewards of all of the hard work I've put into my weight loss journey.  I had a few great rewarding moments this week and I'm so happy with how I'm doing.

Reward #1:
I made it up the Old Yale Road Hill!  This is a pretty steep hill  with an elevation gain of 99 meters, that is by the park I go to all the time.  I've started up the hill a couple of times back in February and March and ended up turning around and coming back down.  Not this week.  This week, I rocked it!  I owned that hill, not only by making it to the top for the turn around down, but I was able to keep my pace consistent as well!  An average moving pace of 12:18 when going up hill, with the dog along, is pretty good in my books!  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370483885

Mid way up the hill, it goes around the bed at the top left.

Towards the top coming back down.

Heading for the bottom!

Reward #2
I had the pleasure of volunteering for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Don't Forget to Check program which launched on College campuses this week.  They are doing pop up yoga sessions while promoting breast health to students between 18-25 (www.dontforgettocheck.ca ) In the email I got advising of the time and place and what to wear, there was a note that a volunteer shirt would be provided.  I've never fit a volunteer shirt before(except for the triathlon), so I emailed Amanda to ask her what color the shirts were so that I could at least try to match the other volunteers on site.  I wore the brightest pink shirt I had and headed up to the University to meet up with everyone else.  Amanda handed me a shirt and told me to at least try it on, she thought it would fit.  Well low and behold, slap your friend, it fit!  I was so happy it fit, as was Amanda.  She told me she wanted to see this great reward on my blog, so Amanda, here it is, just for you :)  I didn't think to get a picture and it's too late right now to wake my awesome husband up to ask him to take one so I'll have to add it in later on. :)

Reward #3
Fitting into an arena seat!  I know a couple of weeks ago, I was thrilled to fit in the seats at BC Place for the White Caps game.  Tonight I took my mom to see Celtic Thunder at the AESC here in town.  The last time I was there it was for a hockey game, I was cramped in the seat and felt like I was wedged in there.  There wasn't any extra room and I was highly uncomfortable.  I was a little apprehensive, hoping for a better result today....well hot diggity darn, wouldn't you know it, I had room to spare!   I was so happy to be in a public place, and not feel like I was encroaching on the people beside me.  It was fabulous.  For once I was able to sit back, and enjoy the show, without trying to make myself seem smaller.  It was fabulous!

Mom and I at Celtic Thunder

I know I'm going to love continuing to reap the rewards of my hard work!

Double Milestone

It's been a great week! 
I've gotten in a lot of activity every day, including a few hundred squats!  I'm loving the new workout DVD I bought last week, and kicked it up from the beginner workout to the intermediate work out.  I'm loving that workout!  I wore my Garmin while I was doing it the other day just to see what my heart rate was like and it was perfect, in zone 4 for the whole workout after the warm up.  I'm also proud of the major milestone I was able to hit this week despite it being an emotional week.    

It has also been a week of Milestones.
Milestone 1.
After almost six weeks of playing with 6 ounces and landing just below that milestone of 65 pounds lost, this week I nailed it! I passed it by two pounds.  I'm now down a total of 67.4 pounds!!!  I am so excited to have finally made it over that milestone of 65 pounds!  Every week my husband does a comparison photo for me so that we can see the process and I try to wear the same clothes every week but the shirt I used to wear has gotten so big that I can't wear it.  It just hangs on me.

This is today's photo, down 67 pounds, taken just after I returned home from my solo 6km walk/run.

Down 67 Pounds and finished a 6km walk/run

Milestone 2
I went for a solo walk/run today.  I wanted to do intervals and I knew that it wouldn't work with the dog, so I left him behind and hit the road.  I walked quickly for the first 7 minutes or so and when I turned the corner onto Whatcom road, I started running.  I haven't been doing well with timing my intervals as I find I focus too much on my watch so today I decided to use landmarks.  The first one was the 2nd lamp post on the street, walked to the next one and then ran to the gas station, then I walked over the freeway overpass to the other side where I got serious.  I ran for 2 power poles, walked for one, and I did that consistently until I hit my turn around point, and then did the same thing on the way back.  I struggled a little bit and I had to keep telling myself I could do this but I did it!  In total I ran for about 17 minutes.  That may not seem that big to some people, but trust me, for me that was HUGE!  It felt so good.  I felt so good that when I turned back onto our street at the end of my walk/run I sent a text to my husband and asked him to meet me at the gate with Angus so I could take Angus around the block for a walk.  Angus was a happy puppy to be able to go for a walk without my trying to make him run with me :)

I also had some really good times in my intervals.  I forgot to hit my lap button when I started running so I will try to remember that in the future so that I can actually see my running split times with my walking times, but when I look at the player on garmin connect it shows me the pace that I was going and I'm pretty happy with that! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/368987045

Walking/Running along the Corn fields

The power poles are a fair distance apart

On my return going over the freeway overpass

I've done two 5km races this summer and I'm signed up for another two in the fall.  The Rubber Duck 5k in October and the Boundary Bay 5k in November.  I'm also going to sign up for the Santa Shuffle in December when it opens for registration.    I'm hoping that I'll be ready to run the full 5km on October 20th for the Rubber Duck 5k.   I have a friend who has signed up to do it with me.  I know that she loves running and she's good at it, so I really want to be able to actually run with her.

Step totals this week:
Sunday       13,553
Monday      15,223
Tuesday      17,829
Wednesday 13,618
Thursday    13,671
Friday         14,437
Saturday     21,066
Sunday       15,880

Non Scale Victories

I am loving how active I have become and I'm loving the results I'm seeing.  This past week was a week full of activity and non scale victories.  I didn't have a scale victory this week though. Those pesky 6oz came back again.  I had a good talk with my new WW leader and she thinks I'm not eating enough.  She wants me to eat either all of my weekly flex points or at least half of my daily activity points.  I'm having a hard time doing this as I've never used them before unless it was for a special occasion but I'm going to give it a shot this week to see how it goes.

Let's start with the Activity part of the week. 

Monday: 5.81 km Walk   30 minute Beginners Yoga - Yes me and Yoga!  Who would have thought that one!   100 squats

Tuesday: 5.22 km Walk with the dog in the morning.  1.77km walk to lunch and back with a friend.  Had a great walk, great sushi lunch and fabulous conversation.  105 Squats.

Wednesday 3.75km Walk with the dog, beginners Yoga...yes, tried it again, maybe eventually I'll be able to do the downward facing dog instead of the playful puppy but I'm trying :) 110 Squats

Thursday 3.88km Walk with the dog.  No Yoga and rest day from the Squat Challenge, my legs needed the break!

Friday 3.32km Walk with the dog, 130 Squats and a 30 minute kickboxing session on a new dvd I picked up called Punch! (Thank you to the ladies at work who gave me a gift when I left to use towards my weight loss, I used some of that gift to purchase this!)

Saturday - Walking around Vancouver with my husband including a mad dash for the skytrain, and walking back to BC Place. 15,325 Steps for the day.  135 Squats.

Sunday - A variety of activity with no true way to measure it.  Volunteering at the Abbotsford Triathlon - set up and tear down of the Transition area including the fencing and bike racks, walking around the area and assisting the public and athletes.  Arrived at 630am and left at 1230pm.  My feet are crying so yes I'm counting it as activity, according to my pedometer I walked 13, 219 steps.  140 Squats.


Non Scale Victories for the week

Tuesday - walked to the restaurant for Sushi with my friend and slid into the booth, something I couldn't have done 7 months ago.  Wahoo!   Did I mention WALKING to the restaurant...not something I would have considered doing 6 months ago!

Wednesday - I did Yoga, for the 3rd time.  I'm not the most flexible person in the world and I worked hard at it and I stuck to it.  I didn't pause it, I didn't modify it, I did it!

Friday - Kickboxing DVD.  I worked hard in that work out, doing the steps, doing the hand movements, bobbing and weaving.  I didn't pause it, I didn't fast forward it, I stuck with it.  I sweated what felt like buckets but it felt so good to accomplish that.

Saturday - This one was HUGE for me.  Truly only someone who has had this predicament in the past may understand why it was so huge for me but for some other people it's probably a no big deal thing.  I went to a White Caps FC Match with my husband....I sat in the seat...I FIT IN THE SEAT... I wasn't crammed in with my sides spilling over the arm rest.  I was COMFORTABLE in the SEAT!!!!   I FIT INTO A STADIUM SEAT!!!!!  This was truly huge for me.  It made me feel so good and so satisfied that I'm making progress. 

Sunday -  This one honestly made me want to cry.  I volunteered at the Abbotsford Triathlon today, the largest size shirt they had was an XL.  I haven't been able to wear an XL t-shirt in probably 15-20 years.  In all seriousness.  I took the t-shirt and when I got to my area with my husband I decided to try the shirt on just to see.   Well hot diggity damn IT FIT ME!!!!  An XL shirt fit me, on top of the shirt I was already wearing.  My husband gave me a high five, a hug and a kiss and told me how proud he was of me.  I have to say...that t-shirt fitting me....made my day!

Coping

It's been a rough week and a half for me.  I'm hanging in there and I'm really proud of how I've done.  In April of 2012, I left my travel job to take on a new opportunity for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, a cause that I support 150% and always will.  It was originally a 12 month contract that was extended to 16 months.  The end of the 16 months came on Friday.  It was my last official day as a contract employee with CBCF and it was a hard day.  To be honest it was a hard week.  I loved working there, I loved the people who work there, I love the volunteers that work there and I loved the interaction with my co-workers on a daily basis.   I've made some wonderful life long friends working there and I've met and made some wonderful friends on the daily train ride in.

It was a week full of challenges, from not eating through my emotions (very difficult for an emotional eater like me), to having lunch out with my co-workers on Thursday, to dinner out with my husband because I simply wasn't in the mood to cook!

I didn't get all of my walks in during the work day but I still got a lot of activity in.  When I went to my new WW meeting place on Saturday,  lo and behold I was amazed to see I had lost 1.3lbs.

I'm pretty surprised by that, I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I'll take the loss any way I can. :)

I'm also glad to know that I've got the coping skills to get through the week the way that I did.   It was a hard week, leaving such wonderful people behind!