Welcome 2014, starting the year the right way!

Happy New Year everyone.  I hope you all had a fun, safe New Year's eve!  My husband and I had a great night having dinner with some friends and playing games with them and their two teenagers.  we all knew we were getting old when at 11pm, we decided to call it a night.  My hubby and I had been up since 5am as we both worked and it was just too long a day.  It was not fun to realize that not only are we getting old, but we were feeling old as well!

I don't like to make resolutions as to me they are never realistic or defined. ie.  I want to lose weight,  want to exercise more, etc. They are good for some people but I need to be able to set parameters around it so that's what I have done instead.   For my birthday in December my husband got me a medal holder to hold the medals I have been earning from my races, as well as a gift certificate to a local run store.

It reads "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever"

This past week, I redeemed that gift certificate for a running clinic.  I have joined the learning to run 10K clinic. 

That's right a 10K clinic!  Besides continuing on my weight loss journey in 2014.  I also set the goal to participate in 14 races. I know crazy!  But that's the goal I have set and barring any injuries I should be able to do it.  So why a 10K Clinic and not a 5k?  I have signed up to do the BMO 8K in May.  With that goal in mind the man at the running store suggested I do the 10K so that I would be completely ready to do it.  Training for a 5k is different then going out there and doing 8K so that's the reasoning behind it.  Whether or not I actually sign up for any 10k races is yet to be seen :)

For the 1st time in my life, January 1st dawned and I was up bright and early and joined about 300 other crazy people for a 5k race in a local park.  It was a cold and foggy morning when I first arrived but before long the fog was rolling out and it was just cold and damp.  But it was a beautiful run!

Motivational sign on the path :D

                                          

Crossing onto the docs that go over the water connecting the paths.

Not quite a full 5K but I'll take it!

I  am so excited to see what 2014 has in store for me.

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!

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!

Productive Saturday.

I had a very productive Saturday today.  I started out early this morning.  When I got up around 7am , it was still dry out.  The weather forecast was 100% chance of rain today.  YEAH!  NOT!   When I got up and saw that it wasn't raining I knew this would be my opportunity to get a true long walk in.   

My primary goal today was to walk to the Starbucks a little over 5km's from our house.  My secondary goal was to do it as quickly as I could.  Considering I've not gotten that far, I didn't know how long it was going to take.  My only point of reference was from several weeks ago when I thought it would take an hour to get to Angus Campell road and we made it there in 40 minutes.

With my ipod playing, Angus and I headed out.  We were almost thwarted right away as it was doggy central at the gate to our complex with a brouhaha going on between a Westie, a Lab, a Pug and a Chihuahua.  Of course my dog being the dog he is wanted in on the action and started barking from our side of the gate.  That of course changed focus of the other dogs and the owners managed to get their dogs untangled and maneuvered towards their respective complexes.  I waited another minute or two and then headed out the gate when the coast was clear.  Angus was still a little excited but off we went.  Of course a few minutes later who do we come across but his arch enemies from our complex the two Jack Russel's.  These two dogs bark whether there's anything to bark at or not.  Fortunately when we reached the main road, they went to the left and Angus and I headed to the right.

We had a pretty good pace going, but with the starting and stopping and probably a good 5 minutes of dog excitement by the time we got to Angus Campbell Road we were 4 minutes behind from our last time doing this route.  I picked up my pace with Angus trotting along beside and little behind me and kept plugging along.  I looked at my phone and we were nearing the 1 hour mark.  I knew that my wonderful husband would be on his way to meet us and may very well pass us at any time.  Sure enough, not even two minutes later Angus plopped his behind down and dug his paws in as he looked over his shoulder.  I swear he has the best hearing ever.

My husband stopped and I put the dog in the back seat and looked down at my mapmywalk app that I was using to track our distance.  I was a little disappointed as we were only at 4.45 km's and I really wanted to hit the 5km mark.  I decided on the spot to keep walking.  I told my husband to go on and I'd meet him at the Starbucks.  Less than 10 minutes later I met him in the parking lot.  I was thrilled with my time and my distance!

This link should take you to my walk today.
http://www.mapmywalk.com/routes/view/199064468

Now seeing as how I'd just walked for a little over an hour and we were after all at Starbucks, I decided to give myself a reward for what I had done.  I got myself a Grande, extra hot, non fat, 1/4 sweet (1pump of syrup) peppermint white chocolate mocha with no whip and no drizzle.  I love me a white chocolate mocha.  This drink is how I got my gold Starbucks card automatically :)

Thankfully the rain held off until we headed home.  A little while later, I headed out to do some errands for my parents.  It took me a few hours to get everything done, and when I got home I was honestly tired.  A quick look at my pedometer and I knew why!

Wahoo!  I guess I beat my 18,000 steps on a non work day!  Now that's what I call a productive Saturday!

Was there a weekend in there somewhere?

How can it possibly be Monday evening?  I missed the weekend I think.  I guess that's what happens when you're busy with family stuff.   Mom is still in the hospital, she had her stress test and her nuclear medicine test today so we'll get the results tomorrow and find out if they have to clear any blockages.   Hopefully she'll be on the mend before long.  She hasn't had an Angina attack since Thursday so that's a good thing.

It was a hard weekend to get my steps in.  The weather wasn't cooperative at all really.  On Saturday Angus and I headed out for our Saturday morning walk, we were out about 40 minutes or so before my wonderful husband arrived to pick us up.  I had decided to start walking in the country so when the dark clouds moved in, my husband thought it was best to come get us before we got too wet.  We did some of our running around and then I headed over to my parents house and the hospital.  We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night and had a great time.  I made us fajita's for dinner and it went well.  I did treat myself to a small piece of black forest cake for desert but I stayed within my daily points and I didn't have to use any of the activity points that I earned.  I did 14,313 steps on Saturday.  Not quite my 15, 000 weekend goal but I'm happy with that considering all that I had going on. :)

Sunday was a different story.  It rained, and rained and rained.  Going grocery shopping was a challenge between the rain and the wind.  By 2pm it was still raining and I had a movie date with my husband for the 4pm showing of 42.   My husband did think it was hilarious that I was tucking a banana into my purse for my "treat" at the movies :)

I was thinking after the movie I could get my walk in, however by the time I was done visiting my mom at at the hospital and doing my dad's feet, it was too dark to go for a walk.  It didn't help that I had forgotten to put my pedometer on for our morning grocery shopping, so although the pedometer only has 10,350 steps on it for Sunday I'm thinking I did closer to 14, 000.

Today I worked from home as my mom was having her testing done and I wanted to be close by just in case I was needed.  It's hard working over an hour away from home, even harder considering I usually take the train in which means I have to wait until the first train heads back at 350.  I can tell you from experience there is nothing worse than that helpless feeling of needing to wait to get a train to come home when someone is ill or injured!

As I was working from home and it's a whole 100 steps from my desk to anywhere here on the upper floor I wasn't having much luck getting my steps in.  When my husband and I went up to see my mom at the hospital after dinner I was only at 5800 steps.  I still needed to go to my dad's to do his feet for him so I decided I would walk from the hospital to my parents house.  I figured it would take me roughly a half hour and I was pretty close, it took 28:56 according to the map my walk app on my phone.  Not bad.  The nights not quite over and I'm at 10,655 so although I'm not at 12, 000 where I would like to be, I'm not going to complain.  I'm making healthy choices and after all, that's what it's all about.
:)

Long week, and it's only Wednesday!

It seems like this has been the longest week and it's only Wednesday!  I had Monday off to make up for working on Sunday so it should seem like a short week but it hasn't turned out that way.  With working the weekend I had a lot of running around to do on Monday.  I went to Costco, the market and the grocery store to get our shopping done for the week.  I popped over and spent an hour or so with my parents and then I had to take my car up to get the brakes looked at.  When we had my winter tires taken off last week they told my husband that my brakes were low and we should get them done.

I took the car up and the man at the repair shop told me it would be about 2 hours so I walked over to the mall to do a little retail therapy.  A lot of my work shirts have gotten too big and sloppy looking so I needed to get some new ones.  Once I had selected my shirts I still had almost an hour to go before my car was going to be ready so I asked the clerk to hold my bag for me so I could go for a walk and get some exercise in.  They had no problem doing that for me so off I headed.  I just walked around a two block radius and was about to go around again when the repair shop called me to tell me my car was ready.  It's surprising how our mindset changes.  Six months ago, I would have stayed at the repair shop to read a book, I wouldn't have thought to go for a walk.  It all comes down to making healthy choices.  I'm counting the walking and shopping for smaller tops as my non scale victory this week.

On Tuesday I didn't fare so well in the healthy choices department.  I had 6 different meetings on Tuesday and I was busy playing catch up on email from Thursday onwards.  I honestly didn't have time to get my lunch break walk in. I walked to work from the train and I walked back to the train but I didn't get my mid day walk in and I felt it!  I retain water quite easily when I'm sedentary for too long and by the time I got home from work last night I had no ankles at all and my legs felt like they weighed a ton!  After we had dinner I took the dog for a walk, wanting to get some good steps in, but he was not cooperative at all.  It took us almost 20 minutes to walk what would normally take 8-9 minutes, I got frustrated with him and took him home but by then it was too dark for me to go back out.  I did do over 10,000 steps but I've had such large numbers lately that having a number under 12,000 felt like a disappointment.

Wednesday started out all right, but then about the time I was going to head out for my walk, I got a  text from my sister that my mom had been taken to the hospital with a potential heart attack.  I spoke to my wonderful boss and arranged to leave work an hour early to take the first train home so I felt like I shouldn't take my lunch break.  I did walk with a few of the ladies down to Starbucks a couple of blocks away but it only took us 15 minutes round trip, and that included getting an order filled.  When I got home, it was a lot of sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.  The hospital was very busy and they were only allowing one person with a patient so there was no point going up to the hospital but I didn't want to be away from the phone until I knew what was going on.  They've now admitted my mom so that they can do some more tests on her tomorrow and then we'll find out if she needs to have angioplasty done or not.

I am happy with my choices though, I've stayed on plan meal wise all week, despite being emotional and stressed.   I didn't give in to the temptation in the lunch room (chocolates and cookies) and I didn't eat non discriminately as I would have done in the past with a stressful day.   Although I didn't do a full walk at lunch time, I did hit over 10,000 steps today so that does make me happy.

I'm going to work from home tomorrow so I can spend time with my dad and take him up to the hospital to see my mom, add in walking the dog twice, and I should be able to get close to my work day goal of 12,000 steps.

Lot's of walking going on!

It was a great weekend at work.  We had regional Run Director Training for our fabulous Run Directors who volunteer to organize and host the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.  We hosted them in our office in Vancouver.  We started out on Thursday evening with a welcome buffet dinner at the hotel they were staying at, followed by training in our offices on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I was a little concerned about the weekend as I knew that we were having catered Breakfast,  and Lunch and then dinner out each night.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to control what I was being served so I put an action plan into place and for the most part I stuck to it.

When we went into work on Thursday we drove in so I didn't feel like a dork being on the train with a grocery bag full of food.  I took my breakfast and lunch for the three days with me so that I had options.  I am very glad I did.  Each morning I had my toasted english muffin with some peanut butter and a banana.  It really did help as I wasn't tempted to partake of the bacon, eggs, sausages and potato's on Friday, on Saturday we brought in breakfast wraps and Sunday was quiche.  All of those would have been high in points so I was able to stick to my plan and it helped.

I did eat my cabbage salad for lunch on Friday instead of the huge sandwiches that were brought in, but I didn't exactly stick to plan on Saturday.  The smell of the lasagna was just too much so I let myself have a small piece of it along with my cabbage salad.  Sunday was great as I had my salad and half of a veggie sandwich.  I took the cookie and the pasta salad out of my lunch and left it on the table for someone else to partake of.

Dinners in the evening were a bit challenging though.  Thursday night buffet was good, I chose to have a chicken breast and the steamed veggies, I stayed away from the deserts and I think I did all right that way.  Friday was a different story.  We decided as Staff to have dinner together as part of our Run Team works over on Vancouver Island and this would probably be our only chance to have diner together.  We went to a tapas restaurant in Gastown called Judas Goat.  It's a tiny hole in the wall type restaurant in a back alley that only seats 28 people.   As we were a group we decided to do the chef's menu which is a menu that they bring out single serving sizes of different menu items.  I had no idea how to count the points for what we had so I just took the 20 points I had left after breakfast and lunch.  Saturday night was better for knowing what points I needed and I thoroughly enjoyed my meal at Irish Heather,  another Gastown Restaurant.  I did bypass desert though and felt good about it!

Part of my plan for the weekend was to walk from the hotel to the office and do as much walking around the office as I could manage.  It turns out I did pretty darned good! 

Steps on Thursday, 18,696.  That included walking from the car parkade to the office, my regular lunch time walk, helping set up for RD Training and walking to the hotel for dinner.

Steps on Friday, 16,653. Walking from the hotel to the office, refilling water jugs, helping to set up and tear down breakfast and lunch, doing my presentation, walking back to the hotel the long way (the walk takes 15 minutes to get to the hotel, I added on another 15min's)  walking to and from dinner which was about 1.5km's each way.

Steps on Saturday - 25,780!!! I knocked that out of the ball park!  I started off by walking from the hotel to the office the long way again to get some extra steps in.  I was also in search of a Tim Horton's that was open to get one of the prizes from my presentation the morning before.  Turns out in downtown Vancouver the Tim Horton's aren't open early!  Who knew!  Later in the morning I had to go in search of a store that was open that would carry a specific item as well as get the gift card I hadn't been able to get in the morning.  I also walked back to the hotel and then to dinner and back.  I was amazed at the steps I managed to get in and I was very excited, so excited I actually posted a picture of me holding my pedometer to show the steps on facebook, I was so proud of how far I had walked.

Steps on Sunday 20,033.  That included again walking from the hotel to the office the long way, setting up our Run day simulation, taking it down, helping to set up and take down breakfast and lunch, cleaning up the office and then walking back to the hotel when we had wrapped up.

It was a busy weekend but a great one and I'm very happy with how I stuck to my plan (for the most part) for the weekend.

Jillian Micheals Maximize your Life!

You need to sit back and get comfy as this will be a LONG post.  I'm just warning you now!

My wonderful husband bought me a VIP ticket for Jillian Micheal's speaking tour Maximize Your Life.  It was on Tuesday April 9th and was billed as being a 2 hour conversation with Jillian Micheal's.  Well if that was two hours, they were the longest,  best two hours of my life!  Jillian took to the stage at 730, broke for her intermission at 9pm, went back on stage at 915pm and spoke until 11pm.  Then once the theatre emptied out, she came back out for the VIP Q&A session which lasted about 40 minutes.

The first part of her talk was about fitness, nutrition, weight loss and weight maintenance.  I love the way she presented herself on stage.  There was a stool for her to sit on, but she didn't.  Instead, she paced the stage back and forth and honest to goodness she was looking you in the eye as she was speaking.  She was connecting with every single person who was there.   

It really and truly was a conversation.  People called questions or comments from the audience and she would stop what she was saying and answer them or respond or repeat her self if that was what they wanted.  A friend of mine tweeted "It's like sitting in Jillian's living room talking with her" and that is exactly what it was like.  It was fantastic.

The second part of the evening focused on Maximizing your life.  In this part,  I saw a different side to the tough edged trainer from the Biggest Loser.  I saw the daughter who wanted to have a better relationship with her father.  The daughter full of love and respect for her mother.  The life partner struggling to ensure the relationship stays strong and the new mother trying to keep all of the balls in the air.  It's like she said, when referencing having enough time;  You have to choose your priorities, it's all right to ask for help and it's all right to say I can't do it all! 

We are often the hardest on ourselves and it's our own guilt and shame that tears us down and belittles us for what we're perceiving ourselves of doing wrong.  Communication is key, knowing what you truly want is key. 

One of the biggest things I took away from the evening was "know your WHY?"  Why?  Why do you want to be healthy, why do you want to lose weight.  You have to KNOW what the WHY is before you can succeed.  Don't just say I want to lose weight, I want to be healthy, know why you want those things.  What do they truly mean to you.  What does losing weight mean to you?  10 pounds, 50 pounds, and what is your plan for it?  What does being healthy mean to you?  Is it wearing skinny jeans or bouncing your grandchildren on  your knee.  What is your why?

If YOU believe it, YOU can achieve it!  Don't be a self doubter, say I will instead of I'll try.  I CAN instead of maybe.   YOU can do anything YOU let yourself do!

If you make a poor choice get back on track the moment you realize it.  If you have a flat tire you don't shoot the other 3 tires do you?  You fix the one that's flat.  Pick up and carry on if you make a mistake!  Don't CHOOSE to blow it!  CHOOSE to get control of it!

Weight loss - What is the secret to weight loss?  "It's math people!  Calories out have to be more than calories in.  It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose a pound."  It really is that simple.  Keep moving, stand instead of sit, pace the room when you're on that conference call or phone call.  Stand on the bus instead of sit.  Move your body.  You use more calories standing than you do sitting...and no chewing gum isn't going to be burn more calories!

Nutrition
Fat Free or Calorie free - Forget the Fat Free and calorie free(what truly is besides water), and go with chemical free.  Often things that are labelled as fat free contain chemicals to make it fat free.  Go with the fat in MODERATION and cut out the crap!  If you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't be eating it!

Organic livestock and dairy - yes organic is expensive and no not everyone can afford it, but if all else fails, go organic with your livestock and dairy.  Spend the extra dollars there so you aren't consuming the antibiotics and hormones that go hand in hand with a booming market.  A real cow will take 4 years to get to slaughter, a cow that has been given antibiotics and hormones goes to slaughter in 6 months.  That's the difference! 

Organic Vegetables - again they are expensive but choose your organic veggies carefully.  If you're purchasing fruits and vegetables with a thick peel (ie. Banana's, Oranges, melons etc.) they don't need to be organic. Their rind/peel is too thick to absorb much if any pesticides.  The fruits and veggies you need to purchase organically are: Spinach, celery, cherries, peaches, plums, apples carrots etc.  Things with a think or no skin that get sprayed.    Try to find 20.00 a week and you will be able to afford the organic fruits and veggies you need.   When you're shopping at the farmer's market ask them if they spray, and what it is.

Sugar - In the USA ( not sure about Canada) there are 58 different ways to say sugar on a food label.  Look at your labels, read them, if they have more than one form of sugar in them, leave them behind if you can. 

Labels - read your labels!  Read the serving size on the label.  Is that bag of chips one serving or two?  Is that bottle of iced tea or juice one serving?  Two servings?  Two and a half servings?  Make sure that you're counting the calories for what you really and truly are consuming.

Fitness
Get moving, move your body...the more you move the better you feel!  Google your BMR and AMR and use the knowledge, that will guide you as to how many calories you need to consume and will help you figure out the amount of calories you need to burn.

Stop using the machines at the gym that isolate a single muscle.  They do nothing for you!  That's not how we move in real life so it's not going to help you.  You need to use free weights and use them correctly.  Pay someone to teach you how to do something properly so that you have the right form.  You don't need them all the time, just to get you started.  Whether you're doing strength training or cardio integrate High Intensity Interval Training.    The best way to train is with body weight exercises  Google them and do those rather than using a machine.

You can't spot reduce an area of your body.  If someone tells you they can do it, they are lying to you!  It can't happen.  Cellulite has nothing to do with your weight, it has to do with the connective tissue in your body.  There's nothing that can help it that's all there is to it! 

You don't have to spend hours and hours working out every day unless you actually like it.  You need to have 30 minutes of activity a day.  Get your best bang for your buck out of it.  Move when ever you can, however you can!

It was a fantastic night!  It was worth not getting home until 1240AM  It was worth the 3 hours of sleep I got, and how tired I was the next day.  Would I see her again?  In a heart beat!  I left feeling good about myself, my journey and what I'm doing to get to my WHY!

Non Scale Victories and Weigh in.

After  fighting bronchitis for two full weeks now, I'm starting to feel a little bit better finally.  The antibiotics are starting to help, my cough is getting better but I'm still having to use my inhaler a few times a day.  I'll be happier when I'm back to normal and I can go for my walks without having to use my inhaler and coughing like a maniac for 30 minutes after I'm done.

Despite not feeling well, I've had several non scale victories the past couple of days and I'm really happy to share them.  The first one happened on the train, when one of the other regulars who sits across the aisle from me got on and sat down, we said good morning, then he said to me, "I don't know what you're doing but there's more space between you and the table then there used to be, keep up the good work."  That made me feel really good.

Up to now, no one has mentioned my weight loss to me. In a meeting yesterday one of my co-workers sat down beside me and told me that she meant to tell me I've been looking really good lately, have I lost some weight?  I told her I had, and she said she had noticed a lot of map my walk posting lately and to keep up the good work.  It was a great way to start a meeting!

Today I had another co worker tell me I was looking good and asked if I had lost weight.  I told her I had lost almost 42 pounds, and she was really excited for me.  Then I went to weigh in this afternoon and sure enough, at weigh in I've lost exactly 42 pounds in 13 weeks.  I only lost .2 of a pound this week, but I was expecting that, especially after such a large loss last week.

I'm feeling so good with my weight loss and my improvement in fitness level.  I went for a walk with my husband the other day and usually I walk slower than him, often trying to catch up to him.  On our walk I seemed to be keeping pace with him.  I asked him if he was walking slower for me and he told me no, he was walking his usual pace, I was just walking faster.

Talk about a great week for Non Scale Victories.

Happy Easter!

I hope that everyone has had a happy and healthy Easter.  My family celebrates on Monday so it was just my husband and I today.  We had a fairly low key day.  I took the dog for a walk this morning, it was my first walk in a week and my bronchitis is still with me!. We were gone about 20 minutes or so when my chest got quite wheezy and I realized that I had left my inhaler at home on the desk.  I knew that my awesome hubby was going to come looking for us and pick us up between minutes 30 and 45 as he didn't want me to push it too much.  I sent him a quick text asking him to grab my inhaler before he left the house to pick us up.

I have to admit, I was relieved to see him pull up along side us at 36 minutes.   We had walked 2.5 Kilometers and I was short of breath and wheezing, almost at that point just before an asthma attack.  I HATE asthma attacks.  They scare the life out of me.  I put the dog in the car and my hubby handed me the inhaler.  A couple of puffs, and five minutes later I was able to talk almost normally.  I was coughing a lot and probably sounded like a heavy smoker, but I was good.

This afternoon was just too lovely to be sitting in the house doing nothing so we decided to take the dog and go for a drive.  We left with no particular destination in mind, just took some country roads, a couple we hadn't gone down before and low and behold we found ourselves at the dyke near Yarrow.   We grabbed the leash and off we walked for a half hour along the dyke.  Another 2km's and I was completely satisfied with our activity level today :-)

On the drive home we went past our favorite spot for ice cream and I was willing to spend the points on a treat but they were closed.  Probably for the better, but we noted the distance for during the spring, one Saturday or Sunday the dog and I will walk to the dairy and meet up with my hubby there. 

I had a great NSV (non scale victory) last night, our next door neighbour invited us over for dinner, and I was very careful with my portion sizes, measuring everything out.  Our neighbour had bought each of us (there were 8 of us all together) little chocolate bunnies and after dinner a few people tore into their bunnies, I looked at the package and decided I didn't want it.  As we were getting up from the table I asked one of the other guests if he would like to take my bunny with him.   I was so grateful when he took it.  Desert was served a little while later and it was berry crumble, one of my favorites.  I asked for a small piece but without ice cream.  I love Berry Crisp and Ice Cream.  I felt very pleased with myself for not taking the ice cream and only eating half of my Berry Crumble.

It isn't always easy to make the right choices, but when you do, it sure does feel good! :-)

Total steps today12,230!  Woohoo!

Saturday Morning Weigh In

I had to change my weigh in this week.  I usually weigh in at a meeting in downtown, a few blocks from where I work.  With Good Friday being a holiday and my not going to work, there was no weigh in yesterday.  I treated yesterday as any other day.  Not overly concerned about what I was eating.  I'm still coughing my head off,  I'm not feeling well and I'm going to bed each night with points left over that I haven't eaten.  I also haven't been working out, I haven't gone for a walk in a week now.  I have no energy and it hurts to breathe!  I've been using my asthma inhaler a few times a day, which I'm not used to doing.  I hate using it as I always get a vicious headache from using it, but I have to breathe!   Going to Costco with my husband just to get a few items yesterday wiped me out.  I came home and had an hour and a half nap.  I don't nap!  But nap I did, in fact the sound of my own wheezing is what woke me up!

The only good thing that has come out of being sick for the past week, is my weight.  I went to an early morning weigh in session across town.  No other choice really.  I want to get credit for staying with the program for 16 weeks, so I need to attend at least 1 meeting a week.  When I went in, it was nice, they have an actual Weight Watchers centre here now, which is new.  They had all sorts of products available and you can go in any time to purchase them.  

I waited in line for a few minutes and then jumped on the scale.  I didn't honestly know what to expect.  I knew that I was down a little bit as I weighed myself the other day here at home but I haven't really looked since.

The lady behind the counter was very friendly and told me I'd had a fantastic week, way to go.  She asked if they could recognize my loss in the meeting and I said sure, why not.  I took my book back from her, took my weekly and sat down without looking at the weights she had written down.  (To be honest, I was feeling pretty lousy and this really was the last place I wanted to be at 8am!)  Well, I guess I should have been a little more interested as I was down 7.2pounds!

Holy Cow!  7.2 pounds in 8 days is a lot of weight to lose.  I'm not going to be worried about it, I bet I stay the same next week, as I usually follow up a big loss with a teeny tiny little one.  I wasn't expecting to lose that much weight though!  I'll take it and once I'm feeling better I'll have to work to maintain it!

And the verdict is....

Bronchitis.  I went to the doctor today as I just have not been feeling at all well this week, no energy with a cough that just won't stop.  I worked from home yesterday as I was up all night Tuesday night coughing and thought I should just stay home.

There's a reason why you shouldn't doubt your body!  It inevitably does know when something is wrong with you,  I was tired and so lethargic last Thursday that I really, really struggled with my workout.  Now I know why.  This was percolating it's way through my immune system.  Oh well.  I have meds now and hopefully will be on the mend sooner rather than later.

I have really missed my daily walks, I just haven't had the energy.  I walked from the train to my office on Monday and I honestly felt like I needed a nap when I got there. I  bypassed my walks during my break on Monday and then took the skytrain back to the train in the evening. I just couldn't face walking that far. (It's only 1km).  On Tuesday I skytrained it both to and from work.

Needless to say, my step counts are way down this week!  Friday  9358, Saturday 10,672, Sunday 3689,  Monday 7118, Tuesday 6051, Wednesday 2776, today 3558.  Can you tell when my body gave up and surrendered?  I was feeling so lousy on Friday and Saturday and made myself keep moving.  Come Sunday there was no umption there at all.

I hope to be back up to speed by Monday now that I have some med's.  I'll listen to my body and how tired I am but I'm not going to lose weight if I don't keep moving. 

Thursday and Friday events.

I was really pleased with myself on Thursday for several reasons.  First it was our office St. Patricks Day party, the social club bought some treats and everyone met in the board room that doubles as a lunch room to have lunch, treats and play some games.  I was proud of myself for staying away from the treats, there was some sushi, some sun chips, some tortilla chips and of course some candy.  I managed to resist all of it but 2 pieces of California roll, which wasn't bad at all.

Because I participated in the festivities, I didn't have time to go for my normal lunch time walk that I do every day. I had planned to go to the gym as I usually do on Thursday nights so I wasn't too worried about it.  However around 230 or so I was just really itching to get outdoors for even a quick walk.  I decided to check with our receptionist to see if she had any mail she needed taken to the post office.  As it turned out there was a package that she was asked to take to a building not far from the office, so I volunteered to deliver it for her.  It felt great to get out of the office and get moving.

After work I headed to the gym as I normally do, but instead of just doing my typical 45minutes of elliptical work, I stayed on it for 90 minutes!   It certainly helped that I had my music with me and that there was a hockey game on that I was able to watch.  It was a great game and kept me going!  I ended up doing 7km's on the Elliptical in 90 minutes.  I was thrilled with that result!

Pedometer Reading for total # of steps: 17,433

Friday was weigh in day, I weighed myself at home so I already knew that for some reason I was up from when I last weighed myself on Wednesday.  I could tell by my feet that I was already retaining water and it was only 540am!  By the time I got to my noon time Weigh In my feet were sore from water retention and sure enough, after the 5lb loss last week, this week I was only down 4oz.  I knew that it was fluid retention so I'm not going to stress about it.  I'm just really going to watch my sodium intake this coming week to ensure this doesn't keep happening, where I lose weight during the week but then on WI day I'm bloated.  I hate that feeling in my legs and feet, not to mention not seeing the "Official Result" on the scale!

Pedometer Reading for total # of steps: 10,263

Sunday March 12th

On Sunday morning's my husband and I have a tradition that after he comes home from Spin Class at the gym, and I walk the dog, that we have brunch and then we head to Tim Horton's for him, and Starbucks for me.  Lucky for us they are across the street from each other down near the Costco.

I was so happy with how far we went on our walk yesterday that I told my husband instead of driving to the Starbucks, I would walk Angus(the dog) down and he could pick us up.  According to Map my walk, that would be almost 7km's for us to do and I thought 90 Minutes or so would do it. 

My hubby headed to the gym and I was just getting ready to head out when he called to tell me that it was pouring rain at the other end of town and he would prefer that we not go along the country road in the pouring rain.  I agreed, as you can tell from the picture I posted yesterday there is no shoulder or sidewalk, and barely any room between the road and the ditch.   People drive at a fairly quick speed along there and add in the rain, they may not see us in time.  It bothers me a little bit and I always walk against traffic so I can see what's coming at us, and yesterday even on a clear sunny day there were a few cars that stayed far too close to us in my opinion.

Instead we headed around our neighbourhood.  I still wanted to walk for 90 minutes so we headed up the Whatcom road hill, crossed over and came back down, went around the long block to the park, up part of the Marshall road hill, back down to the park and then home again, all in all we did a little over 6km in 1 hour and 26 minutes.

I was pretty happy with that, considering we tackled quite a few major hills in our area.  I do have to start carrying water with us on these long walks though.  Both Angus and I gulped down water when we got home, and it wasn't warm out, it was cold and rainy.  I'm happy with our walks right now.  So far on the weekends we're averaging just over 5km per day. 

Saturday March 10th

What a gorgeous day!  So different from last Saturday!   The sun was shining today, not a cloud in the clear blue sky!  My goal today was to walk for an hour. I used my mapmywalk.com tools and plotted out a route that I thought would take me and the dog an hour to do.  The key though was the pick up at the end of the walk.  I wanted to go walking in the country and with that it's not so easy to know where to turn around and head back. 

My husband was taking my car for an oil change so he agreed that he would pick the dog and I up at or around the 1 hour mark. 

Well wouldn't you know, it was the perfect day for a perfect walk. great music on the ipod and Angus was cooperative (meaning he didn't want to lay his scent every 2 feet!)  We bundled up and headed out, up and down the hill, over the overpass and onto the country road.   This was our 1 hour goal, a little over 4km's from our house.

When we reached this point I looked at my phone and we had only been walking for 41 minutes, that meant that our ride wouldn't be around for another 20 minutes or so give or take.  Our options were to turn around, or keep going and see how far we could get. 

I decided to keep going, although Angus at times had other ideas!

 (as in I want to stop here or go back, I'm done with this walking stuff)

We had gotten so far by the time my husband caught up to us that I had decided that we would just walk to the Starbucks down by Costco if my husband didn't show up!  He was amazed when he found us.  He couldn't believe that we had made it just over 5kms in an hour!

That's a personal goal of mine for this summer.  There's a 5km Walk/Run in June that I would like to do, the only problem is the route closes after an hour, that means these little legs need to get walking faster.  If today was any indication though, I should be able to do this!

Really? I can't get a break?

Sunday dawned and it seemed like the rain had passed, it was cloudy out but no rain in site!  Happy dance, happy dance, after only getting about 8900 steps in on Saturday (well below the goal of 12,000) I just wanted to get moving!  I also wanted to get Angus moving! When we had him to the vet's for his check up in December he was labelled as "obese" we were told that the 5 extra pounds on him was the equivalent of 50 on a human.  So we cut back his food, cut down the number of timbits treats he gets and he's getting in the long walks with me on the weekends ( he gets shorter walks through the week).  So we get ready for our walk. I bundle up with scarf and gloves, no umbrella as it's sunny, my ipod and we're off.  We got to the bottom of the hill and while waiting for the light to change felt a few rain drops.  I look up...the sky is still blue, clear but there are some dark clouds on the horizon.  We head across the street, and up onto the freeway overpass to get to where I want us to be walking on this fine day and low and behold as get to the next light we're getting rained on.  No umbrella, the blue sky behind us and a dark cloud right above us, at this point the wind picks up so now as we start walking down the country road it's windy, raining and now...glory of all glories...comes the hail.  Yes hail! Luckily it was just a really quick blast of freezing cold hail but looking at my poor dog you'd think I was torturing him.  His head was hanging so low that I swear his nose was touching the ground.  Look across the freeway to where we've just come from and what do I see?

Blue clouds over our house, and nothing but rain clouds heading for us!

None the less we kept on plugging, turned around at the golf course and headed back towards home.  Once we passed over the freeway we were again in the land of blue skies and sunshine.  It was easy to keep going along our walk and we actually enjoyed the morning.  By the time we made it back past the conference centre (the building in the picture above) Angus was quite happy to slow down and smell some boulders.  He does this so that he gets a break from walking and I can assure you he stopped at every boulder along the confrence centre, as well as every bench and bus stop.

All in all it was a great walk,   5.06Km's in 1:11:26.  I'm happy with that, my goal is get under 1 hour for a 5km walk.

Overcoming mean spirited people

Friday had a couple of bumpy parts of the day for me but I came out on top and that's what counts right!  I had to drive in to work as I had an event I was volunteering for and the train simply wouldn't get me home in time for my volunteer shift.  The drive in was horrendous as the "Pineapple Express" came ashore full force, I could barely see 20 feet in front of me between the rain and all the spray.  I made it to work with plenty of time to spare before my 830am meeting. 

I had meetings all morning and quickly bundled up and headed out to my Weight Watchers meeting at noon.  The rain was still coming down sideways and as I had a 1pm meeting I wasn't going to be able to stay for the meeting, nor get my whole lunch time walk in.  WW was busy as always, there are about 100 people who attend the meeting and after working my way through the line up I was really disappointed to find I had only lost 2oz.  2oz!!! Are you frigging kidding me, that's a drink of water!  I was so upset when I left the meeting, although my leader tried to put a positive spin on it for me.  I've lost 27 pounds in 7 weeks, my body needs my weight loss to slow down so it can catch up  But still!  2oz! 

I bundled back up and headed back out into the torrential down pour, beating myself up for such a low loss and was halfway back to work when a man walking towards me walked right into me! Not a gently bump but a WHAM right into me.   Not a polite oops, sorry let me help you get your umbrella back.    Instead he screams at me "I blame you for this!  If you weren't so f***ing fat this wouldn't have happened".  I was stunned!  I was speechless, I heard several people gasp as he's screaming at the top of his lungs at me and I didn't know what to do.  I  was mortified as tears started streaming down my face (yes as my husband will attest, it doesn't take much to make me cry).  By the time I got back to my office I had calmed down but I was still feeling really horrible about the whole incident.  I quickly wolfed down my lunch and hurried to my next meeting, hoping beyond hope that my nose was no longer red and my eyes weren't still watery. 

I was proud of how I handled it.  In the past that sort of comment would have thrown me for a loop, I would have started eating anything and everything I could get my hands on.  Instead, I ate my lunch, went to my meeting and then headed home to do my volunteer shift. 

I parked my car a couple blocks away from the event so I could get my steps in (steps I was short on because 1. I drove to work instead of training it which means I was missing 4500 steps right out the door) 2. I didn't get my lunch time walk in, another 4500-5500 step loss.)  I was really happy though as I walked and walked and walked doing my volunteer shift.  When I arrived I only had 3600 steps on my pedometer.  When I got home I had19,026!  I blew my 12,000 step per day goal right out of the water!  That's one way to overcome the mean spirited people we literally run into every day!