Best Laid Plans....

Best laid plans have a way of working, just not perhaps as well as one would like.  I had the opportunity to travel for work this past week.  On Friday I went to Victoria to meet with our new Vancouver Island Run Coordinator and show him and the Victoria Volunteer Coordinator how to use our volunteer software.  I had planned my meals for the day and knew exactly what I was going to eat and where.  I had breakfast at home, and as I was driving and taking the ferry, I packed a lunch and snacks to go with me.  I knew that I wouldn't get a lot of walking in so when I found myself at the ferry terminal with almost an hour before my actual ferry ride, I did what any self respecting lady trying to get fit would do.  I paced around the parking lot :)  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317970131

When I arrived in Nanaimo, it was too late to go for a walk, so I settled in for the night, read over my presentation a couple of times and went to bed fairly early for me on a Friday night.  The result was being wide awake at 4am.  I waited until 6 and then headed out for a walk, 2.5km's in 30 minutes.  I was a happy camper with that! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317970112

The rest of the week, although I tried to plan for it, didn't quite go as well as I had hoped.  I worked on Sunday at a trade show, although I did walk around quite a bit talking to people, I only managed to get in 11,225 steps, and that was with taking the dog for a walk!  Monday didn't fare much better I did get my steps in, but I still feel as though I could have done better.  Tuesday was a disaster, I only managed 9,733 steps, no where near my 12,000 per day goal.  I was a little disheartened as I knew that I would be travelling on Wednesday and Thursday and I wasn't sure what sort of activity I would get.

I put a plan together and for the most part I stuck to it.  I was up and on the road at 445am to take the West Coast Express into Vancouver and then the Canada Line out to the airport where I was flying to Prince George.  I knew that I would have to eat out for two days and so I made a meal plan in my head.  I would have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch and then as healthy a dinner as possible.  I think I did all right.  When I got to my gate at the airport I was delighted to find a Starbucks.  Their Perfect Breakfast oatmeal is only 3PP without any of the toppings!  I also picked up a fruit salad which was 0 points as it is not packed in juice or syrup.

I was very happy with that choice.   When I arrived in Prince George and picked up the rental car I drove around to get myself familiar with where I would be staying and where I would be doing my training.  As I was driving from the meeting place to the hotel I spotted a grocery store that I know does salads for lunches.  I headed into the store, picked up 2 banana's, and a spinach salad.  Perfect lunch and snack.   That evening I had no choice but to head to a restaurant for dinner.  I ordered a grilled chicken burger, hold all the sauce and cheese and asked for veggies on the side instead of fries.  I honestly think that my waitress thought I had lost my mind.  She came back to me twice to ask what sort of veggies I wanted.  I told her whatever they had was fine with me.

Well whatever they had turned out to be some carrot sticks, some cucumber slices and some broccoli,  Not bad for a 12PP dinner.

I was hoping against hope that because I managed to get in 12,534 steps during the day on Wednesday I would do all right. 

Thursday didn't work out quite as well as I had hoped.  I only got in 8148 steps. I tried using the fitness centre at the hotel but their elliptical is much smaller than the ones I'm used to and the treadmill....well, to be honest the whole work out was a struggle and a mess.  It didn't not look pretty!

The two flights in twenty four hours affected my legs as I knew they would and I am retaining water like it's no one's business.  I still don't have any ankles tonight.  Water retention is not a good friend when it happens to be weigh in day.

I was honestly dreading weigh in this morning.  I even told my train buddies that I didn't want to go because I knew I was retaining water.  I knew that I wasn't going to have a loss.  I was prepared for a gain, and honestly, I 'm happy with what I did gain.  I gained 6oz according to today's weigh in.  Considering I didn't have a weigh in last week as I was on the road, I'll take that 6oz gain like a champ, knowing full well that next week, I'm going to have a loss!

Travelling on Plan

I missed my weigh in on Friday, I had a business trip I was taking and it wasn't possible for me to make my regular weigh in place, a meeting near my home and there weren't any meetings available that work while I was away.  I did weigh myself at home before I left on Friday but I don't know how accurate my home scale is.  I always weigh more on it than I do at my actual meeting, so after fussing and worrying about the number on the scale I decided to just call this week an even week, no gain and no loss and we'll truly see how I did when I weigh in on Friday.

Now my only concern with this coming weigh in is I will be on two planes within 24 hours, which for me is not a good thing.  Flying makes me retain water like no one else I know.  Even though my flight is only an hour long, it will still cause me to retain water, so I am preparing myself for a gain because of that.

I was away from home Friday and Saturday doing training and orientations over on Vancouver Island and since I was driving, I decided to try to help myself as much as possible and I packed snacks and lunch for myself to have while I was on the ferry going over.  I did really well with my eating on Friday and even though I went out for dinner to a restaurant I stayed within  my daily points target.  I also got me some exercise.  I arrived to the ferry terminal just after 9am thinking that there was a 10am ferry...oops...no 10 am ferry, just an 11am ferry.  So what's a girl to do when she's got over an hour to kill when she realizes that there isn't going to be a 10 am ferry?  She gets out of the car and does laps of the parking area!

I managed to get 20 minutes of activity in by pacing up and down the "Dog Walk" area.  I only stopped because it wasn't that long of a stretch and more and more people were bringing their dogs over for a potty before the ferry departed.  I love animals but I don't want to be dodging doggy bombs while trying to kill time and it simply wasn't safe to be walking the parking lot as cars came in to catch the ferry.  Still, I managed to get in almost 10,000 steps on Friday despite being on a ferry, in an office training for 3.5 hours and then driving up island for over 2 hours.   I had planned to use the hotel gym when I got there but after the 2 hour drive and dealing with the Friday weekend construction traffic.  I was just too tired.

I did get out first thing on Saturday morning at 6am to get a good walk in.  I did 2.5km's in 30minutes so that made me happy.  If I'm able to keep that pace going on in two weeks, I'll be able to finish my 5km walk in under the hour that I'm shooting for :)   My food choices on Saturday weren't exactly stellar but I did all right.  I had some fruit for breakfast and when I got to the ferry to come home I was starving.  I went into the ferry terminal cafe and they had veggie trays and wraps.  I got a veggie tray without the dip, and ordered their turkey wrap.   I deconstructed the wrap, throwing out half of the tortilla so that it would be lower in points.  When I got home, my husband had roast chicken and rice ready for dinner and we at right away.  A couple of hours later, we decided to go for a drive and get a treat as I still had a whole bunch of points left.  I ended up spending 14points on a small blizzard.   I don't know what I was thinking, I could have gotten a mini for less points and I honestly didn't even eat the whole small one, it was too sweet and I felt sick after eating it, but what's done is done.  I managed to stay within my daily points and even had a couple left over at the end of the day.   Total steps for Saturday 13, 270 = 5.65 miles.

Elliptical Intervals

Thursday was my regular gym night.  I head to the gym after I get off the train, to get in what my husband likes to call, my last chance workout.  It's my last kick at the activity can before my Friday weigh in. 

I decided to do something a little different this week other than the usual Elliptical/Stairclimber routine.  The Garmin my husband gave me has a setting for intervals.  I figured why not try it.  I'm in a controlled environment, if I go full out and fall off the machine, at least people will be around to help pick me up off the floor. (This is a consideration, I have been known to fall off Stairclimbers and Ellipticals in the past!  Stop laughing!  It's not funny, it hurts!)

My original thought was to actually do the 30 second bursts of energy on the treadmill, but there were just too many people around and I'm still very conscious of how my body may flop around as I try to job/run.

I hoped onto the elliptical and hit the button on my watch for intervals, warmed up for 10 minutes and then had at her.  When I was warming up, my average pace was 88strides per minutes, when I kicked it up for the intervals, I hit over 200 strides per minutes.  I was killing it!   I was feeling the burn in my legs when I was done the 3o second interval and then was just feeling better when the reset period ended.  When I was done my workout and it was time to get off the Elliptical, I can honestly say I was worried about falling off.  My legs felt like they were made of rubber! 

I think I did a great job for my first time doing intervals.  It made the 40 minutes go much quicker, and I really felt like I got something out of my workout.  I was feeling quite proud of myself as I was wiping down the machine when I was done and as I stopped to grab my bag, one of the muscle guys on the machine beside me nodded at me and said "good job on the intervals...keep it up."    I said thanks and headed up the stairs to leave and I have to say, that one line, from that man really made my evening!

Split	Hours:Minutes:SecondsTime	KilometerDistance	Kilometers per HourAvg Speed
Summary	40:00.    0	3.60	5.4

Fabulous Weekend

Happy Victoria Day!  It as been a fabulous extended weekend which is closing out all to fast, but I managed to jam it packed full of activity!

On Saturday my husband had a White Caps game to go to and I decided that I would go into town with him and while he was at the game, I would walk around.  I often walk the same loop during my mid day walk from the office so I was excited to get out and explore a little bit.  It was a great walk!  I had a great time and I managed to get 8.37k's in.   I had to add a couple of loops in as I was walking because it didn't take me as long to walk from the waterfront to the Stadium as I anticipated.   Along the way, I took in the sights and sounds of the city

The tourists watching the sea planes leaving from the Convention Centre

The lovely fluffy clouds above the buildings.

 A Church Steeple high above the street

Terry Fox Plaza outside the stadium where I waited for my husband

The game is over as the crowd starts to fill the plaza.

Once my husband found me we decided to walk down to Gastown and go to a restaurant that I had gone to with my co-workers.  We enjoyed the Chef Selection tapas menu and then headed home from a long day of activity.

On Sunday morning, I wanted to get out and get another long walk in, the 8k's from Saturday wasn't enough so I got ready and headed out with the dog.  About 20 minutes later my husband came along and picked us up.  I guess I didn't tell him I was doing a long walk...oops.  We went for our Sunday morning ritual to Tim Horton's for his treat and headed back home.  As we were driving along, I asked my awesome husband to let me out so that I could finish my 5km walk.  I watched as he and Angus drove away with Angus barking out the back window at me.

I started out at a pretty good pace and was moving quickly along when I noticed the sky got a little darker than it had been.  I glanced up skywards to see the rain coming, and here I was without a jacket.

The rain cloud was hovering over where I was heading to, so I quickened my pace and set out to see how quickly I could get home.   I lucked out.  I made it onto my street just as the rain started to fall.    The rain didn't stick around long and after dinner we headed out for what has become our after dinner ritual.  A walk around the block.

Today I was heading over to my parent's house to plant some stuff that my mom had gotten for mother's day.  They live about 7.5km's from our house, my husband that may be a little too far for the dog to walk so he dropped us off at the half way point.  We made it to mom and dad's almost 4 km's away in 41minutes!  I was happy with that considering we had a monster hill to walk up!

All in all, it was a great weekend with almost 15km's walked.  I'll take that!

A zipped up jacket.

Friday was weigh in day and I was really looking forward to going to  my weigh in.   I had a busy morning with a couple of meetings and Interviews so the morning went quite quickly and before I knew it, it was time to head out.    A quick glance out the window showed dark rain clouds hovering and I knew that the rain would start to fall at any time.  I grabbed my windbreaker and zipped it up with out thinking and was halfway down the stairs to the street when I realized, I had zipped up my windbreaker! 

I realize to most people, this is an every day occurrence, you put a jacket on and zip it up and away you go.  However, I was given this jacket two years ago for being a part of the Run for the Cure committee in Abbotsford.  I ordered the largest size that was offered and when it came it was too small.  It didn't meet in the middle let alone zip up.  In fact, I hadn't really worn it all that often because it didn't zip up. 

However a few weeks ago, it was threatening to rain so I grabbed it from the coat rack as I headed out for the drive to the train.  It was too warm for my regular rain jacket so I grabbed that one instead.  The rain never developed so I never actually put it on, I just hung it up on my coat rack in my office.  That's the only reason I had it hanging in my office.  So not only was I wearing a jacket that I hadn't worn very often but I actually zipped it up.

This gave me an extra little bounce in my step as I headed for my weight watchers meeting.  When I arrived it wasn't very busy yet so I didn't even have to wait for my weigh in.  I took off my shoes and jacket and stood on the scale and was thrilled to see that I had lost 3.4 pounds!  20 weeks into my weigh loss journey and I'm doing great!  I have had a couple of weeks with a minuscule losses but I'm doing fabulous!

What a great way to end such a great week! 

Wonderful Gift

This has been a great week. I had to buy some more new clothes, I hit a milestone and I'm feeling good.  Today I felt even better.   We had a staff meeting at work today.  We have them every month and at them we give out what are called Bravo Awards.  They are meant to be a kudo's to someone for doing a job well, or helping out or going above and beyond.

I got a Bravo award today.  I received it from a co-worker who was giving me a bravo for taking care of my health and inspiring others with my dedication to my mid day walks and my healthy eating.  It was very touching and meant so much to me.

As I wrote last week, I've often been subjected to rude comments, stares, finger pointing and much more.  But today, that was all whisked away, and I felt so good about myself when my co-worker recognized my efforts.

Then, at the end of the staff meeting the very last thing, another of my co-workers stood up, said that they wanted to congratulate everyone on getting moving, getting slimmer and that it was inspirational, but she wanted to congratulate me on my dedication to my health and being inspiring to other people.  She then presented me with a lovely bunch of flowers, and a Starbucks gift card for me to get my tea with.

It was very heart warming to me and it means so much to me that the people I work with think that I'm inspiring to them.  I feel so grateful for the people that are supporting me and I can only hope that others who are on this journey are as blessed as I am to have so many people standing behind them.

19 Weeks and over 335km's walked equal

Fifty pounds lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was weigh in day!  Despite a week where I didn't get all of my 15,000 steps in every day, I ate out twice and I had a couple of treats through the week I did it!

I have lost 50.6 Pounds in 19 weeks!  Happy Dance, Happy Dance, Happy Dance!

I was so happy when I saw that I had made it I welled up with tears.  My leader gave me a hug and told me it was all right, he understood how I felt.  It's been a great 19 weeks, but it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows!  I've had some rough days, I've had some tough days.  I had days where I didn't want to track and I had days when I didn't want to walk, but in the end it's a lifestyle change and that's what it's all about.

I was very happy to be able to add some more bling to my purse zipper today.

My 10 % key chain with my 25lb charm, my 16 week charm and my shiny new 50lb charm

A couple of weeks ago, I developed shin splints, I knew that my runners are only good for so many miles and I've had these cheap runners a very long time.  So I decided to treat myself to a new pair of good quality running shoes.    I ordered them last week and low and behold today they came just in time to celebrate!  My 50 pound loss present to myself is my shiny new New Balance 840's.  Aren't they pretty?

I couldn't wait to get them on and take them for their inaugural walk this evening.  My husband and I decided to go out to dinner to celebrate my 50 pound weight loss.  Say what?!?!  She's celebrating by going out to eat.  Yes we did, we walked 1.5km's to our local sushi restaurant, had lovely California rolls and some gyoza and walked back home.    My shoes felt so nice and soft, amazingly light.  I can't wait to break them in on my long walk this weekend.  I just hope the rain their calling for holds off until late Sunday night!



Overweight Attitudes

There's a brouhaha going on over some comments made by the CEO of a certain US retailer.  I won't name it here, but it's hard to miss!  To say that this company is in the midst of a public relations nightmare is probably putting it politely. When I read the quote I was a little angry, but honestly not at all surprised.

You see, I've been experiencing what I call "Attitudes" based on my weight, pretty much my entire life.  I'm not lying.  It's the honest to goodness truth.  I experience it on a weekly basis, on the train, in the grocery store, in a restaurant.  People prejudge, and prelabel me on a daily basis.  They think of me as lazy, useless and stupid.  They don't get to know me, they just look at my outer packaging and decide that I'm not worth the time or energy of getting to know.

I'm not lazy,  I'm not useless and I'm certainly not stupid!  I'll walk until I drop, I've twice walked 60km's in 2 days to raise money for breast cancer.  I've walked thousands of kilometers training for  events.  I go and I go and I go until the job is done.  I've had people I work with call me the energizer bunny.  I get the job done, and you know that...if you get to know me. 

I see the pitying looks as I pass people by.  I hear their whispers.  I see their quickly shifting eyes.  I see them try not to stare.  I see them rolling their eyes.  I've seen it all.  I've experienced it all.  From the server who rolls their eyes at my request for a table not a booth,  to the stares of people as I walk through the restaurant.  To the darting eyes as the server brings my meal.

I've not gotten jobs even though I was qualified and a great candidate.  I didn't get a job at a retailer that was doing a hiring fair when I was in my early twenties.  At the interview the man told me I didn't have enough experience.  One of my friends who worked at the same place as I did but is  slender, was offered the job by the same person 10 minutes later.  I had been working at our place of business for longer. 

I often get a half of a pod to myself when I'm on the train going home and my train buddies aren't there.  The reason, quite plain and simple.  People don't want to sit next to the fat lady.  I've heard  people say it as they talk to their friends, urging their friends to walk past, keep looking for 2 seats, even though there's 3 seats available in my pod.  I've then watched them give up trying to find seats, and instead of sitting at my pod, they will stand for the first 25 minutes of the train ride.  Stand for 25 minutes rather than sit next to the fat lady.  It happens weekly.  It happened today, almost a dozen people passed by an empty seat because a heavy person was in the seat beside it. 

I've been yelled at on the street by a man who walked into me.  Yelling that I was to blame for him bumping into me because I was so fat.  As if my size had anything to do with him not watching where he was going while he was texting on his cell phone.

I've been described as the huge fat lady who sits at the back, by a customer.  I've been told I would have such a pretty face if only I lost a few pounds.  I've had total strangers come up to and tell me that they can help me lose weight. 

So while everyone is up in arms about the comments made by a CEO who made millions of dollars last year.  Think about how the person on the train sitting alone feels as people walk past because they don't want to sit by the fat person.  Think about how the snide comment or the whispered words hurt and tear at their self esteem.  Instead of looking away from the heavy person, look them in the eye and smile at them.  You just may make someones day!

8km walk on Sunday

Today was the Vancouver BMO Marathon.  I had a friend who was running the half marathon and for the past few weeks I've been following her twitter and facebook updates as she has been training.  I went to the BMO website to see the route as I was thinking we may head into the city to cheer the runners on.  It was when I was on the site that I noticed that they had an 8km run as well.    For a few days I toyed with the idea of walking the 8km's in the race.

I've signed up for my first race to be on June 8th, a 5km run/walk which I will be walking in.  I know that the course is open for 90 minutes and I've been working to get my time under an hour for the 5km walk.  That would mean, if I did the 8km BMO walk it would take me about an hour and forty five minutes.

I was about to register for the 8km when I started wondering how long the route was open for?  The 8km run was to start at 630, the half at 7 and I wasn't sure about what time the full marathon would start.  On the Vancouver BMO Marathon site they had a box over on the right for an instant chat or support.  I clicked on it and was connected to a great lady named Dana.  I told her I was wanting to walk the 8km's, was that allowed and of course was there a time limit.  She told me right away that they welcome walkers, and she would check the length of time the route would be open for.  A few minutes later she came back and told me that the race starts at 630 and ends at 8am, that's 90 minutes.  I thanked her for her help and discarded my registration page.  There was no way I was going to be able to participate.

At least not there.  On Saturday night, using www.mapmywalk.com I plotted out a couple of routes for an 8km walk and decided I was going to do it.

Sunday morning was a beautiful sunny day, it was a bit windy with no clouds in sight.  I got ready to go and decided I didn't want to take the dog with me for this walk.  I'm not sure if the 8km would be too far for him, and honestly, I walk faster if I'm not stopping every 50 feet for him to sniff around.  I told my awesome husband the planned route and off I went.

I had to change my route once I got going.  There was a farmer spraying his fields with liquid gold and I just didn't want to spend the day smelling like manure. I sent my husband a text with my route change and continued on.  It was a beautiful day for a walk!  It did however get very windy when I was on my long straight stretch.  It was a head wind that I found myself leaning into!  I had a great walk and with the Garmin that Gary gave me I was able to see how long each km was taking me, what my heart rate was, how far in total I had gone and how long I had been.  I am LOVING this device.

I was really eager to get home and look at my splits to see how I did.  I was very surprised to see that my fastest kilometer was actually kilometer 6.  I did it in 11min and 49 seconds.  My longest one was the 3rd Kilometer.  That was when I was leaning into the wind going up hill.  It took me 14min and 10 seconds.

Here is a picture of my splits, I took a picture with my camera as I haven't yet figured out how to get the stats page from Garmin Connect to transfer over:

1	13:49.0	1.00	13:49
2	12:28.9	1.00	12:29
3	14:09.8	1.00	14:10
4	12:11.4	1.00	12:12
5	12:25.9	1.00	12:26
6	12:33.5	1.00	12:34
7	11:49.8	1.00	11:50
8	13:31.5	1.00	13:32
9	:44.8	0.05	14:06

I don't think that an hour and forty three minutes is so bad for doing an 8km walk.  I'm going to work on speeding up so that next year I'll be able to actually participate in the Vancouver BMO 8K.

The best part of all, I earned 14 activity points for my walk and I've done 19,372 steps.  Woohoo!

Out 6th Wedding Anniversary

I woke up this morning and posted this on face book "Six Years ago today, I married my best friend, my confidant, the love of my life.  Happy Anniversary, I love you more than words could ever say."

I married my wonderful husband 6 years ago.  It has been a great six years.  He took me out for a lovely dinner last night.  A little restaurant here in Abbotsford that neither of us had been to but a friend had recommended.  We went to Antonio's Italian Restaurant on South Fraser Way.  If you live in the valley and are looking for excellent food, good prices and wonderful ambiance, this is the place to be.  It's a small family owned restaurant, where everything is home made (or so I suspect) the pasta was fresh pasta, the sauces were amazing.  It was a great night, and when we were planning to leave the house my husband asked me not to worry about my points, just have what I want.  I did just that, but the accountable side of me did have to count them.  My total points for dinner was 38 points, I did dip into my weekly points for the first time, but it was very well worth it!

I started with an appetizer of Mozzarella Cheese in a red sauce.  It was delicious!  It was one flat piece of mozzarella, coated and fried sitting on a red sauce that was heavenly.   It smelled so good and looked so good that I forgot to take a picture of it.  Oops.

My husband and I then split Bruschetta.  It was to die for.  The bread was so fresh and the herbs and tomato were fabulous. (Again, I forgot to take a picture, I'll practice more I promise!)

For my entree, I ordered a Chicken dish (I can't recall the actual name of it) but it was a roasted chicken breast with peppers and onions served with fresh vegetables, and pasta in a red sauce.  It was so delicious!  The pasta was  angel hair pasta, fresh and delicious.  The red sauce was light, not heavy at all.  It was so good!!  After the first bite of pasta I remembered to take a picture!

For desert I had my favorite treat of all time Spumoni Ice Cream.  I love Spumoni and this was amazing, the flavors just popped.  It didn't hurt that I had my wonderful husband to share it with it!

I also received my anniversary present from my husband earlier in the week!

He got me the Garmin 205!  He saw me read about them online a few weeks ago and then last week, through weight watchers I received a coupon for the Running Room.  My awesome husband went up, told them that his wife was a newbie and he wanted to get her a watch/heart rate monitor all in one.  This watch is amazing, but that will be tomorrow's posting.

It's been a wonderful Anniversary weekend and I am so thankful that I get to spend the rest of my life with this incredible man.

Lots of steps equals

A big loss!  I made up for just losing 2 ounces last week by losing 4.2 pounds this week.  I was so happy, but at the same time a little disappointed.   Yes I did just say disappointed!  Not at the 4.2 pound loss,  that was awesome! But at the fact that I've lost in total 49.8 pounds, yes that's right  I missed the 50pound loss mark by 2 ounces!!!  I swear to goodness, 2 ounces is becoming my nemesis!   Those pesky 2 ounces seem to be popping up left right and centre.  It's enough to drive a girl crazy!

I did get a lot of steps in this week.  I made a concerted effort to try to get to at least 15,000 steps a day this week.  If I wasn't at that level by the time I got home, well then Angus Puppy got himself an extra walk in the evening!
Here is my step count for this week.

Saturday 19,441
Sunday 12,870
Monday 18,282
Tuesday 17,118
Wednesday 18,616
Thursday 17,260
Total Steps this week 103,587. 
Not too shabby if I do say so myself!  The goal for next week is to beat that total!

You probably noticed that I didn't include Friday in there, my reason is that depending on how you look at it, Friday is either the last day of the week or the first day of the week.  Seeing as how I go to a mid day weigh in meeting, it's technically both.  It's my old week until I get weighed and then it's my new week when I step off the scale.

It may seem silly, but that's my logic and I'm sticking to it.  I never give myself any activity points on a Friday.  I do however count all of my points.  I don't believe in "cheat days" or "reward days" or "days off".  If you are truly doing this as a LIFESTYLE change and not a diet, you need to truly live it and that means sticking to plan!  It doesn't mean you can't have a treat every now and then.  I had home fries with a turkey burger the other night for dinner, but every french fry was counted out for the serving size and the points were counted for it.

It looks like it's going to be a great weekend here.  The forecast is for Sunny skies and warm temperatures so it looks like I'll be putting on those walking shoes and knocking off some kilometers as I try to get my walking speed for a 5k up before June 8th.  That's the day I'll be participating in the Abbotsford Police Challenge Run supporting Special Olympics.  If you live in the Lower Mainland you should consider signing up for either the 5k or 10k run.  Here's the link to sign up. http://www.abbypd.ca/Challenge-Run

If you're participating in the Vancouver BMO Marathon, Half Marathon or 8K races, have a great race.

Have a great, safe weekend!