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!

Hills, Hills and more hills???

I feel as though I have been having an up hill battle kind of week this week.  My husband has been away on a business trip so it's been the dog and I.  When my husband is home, I ensure that we have a good healthy dinner at the table each night.  I really should have done that this week.  I didn't I usually ate on the fly, at the computer.  I didn't even eat dinner at the table tonight, I ate sitting at the desk as I was getting ready for a call with some volunteers.  My eating hasn't been as good as it should have been.  I didn't go wild, I just didn't eat properly.  Unless you count heating up Brusselsprouts in the microwave at 830 at night proper.  (I don't!)  My husband will be home in about 26 hours and everything will click back into place.

It was an uphill battle all week, I didn't eat properly, I didn't do any intervals at all.  (My pledge from last week not to do intervals with the dog ever again still stands).  I did get out for my mid day walks, add in a dog walk in the morning, and one in the evening and I managed to get a lot of activity in.  Which equaled a 1.2pound loss this week at weigh in!  I was very happy, that's three weeks in  row I've had significant weight loss!

My activity this week was a lot of walking, walking the dog in at 530 in the morning was new for me this week, my husband normally takes the dog in the morning, and I do the evenings.  I was really happy with my steps and I'm trying to keep my km's up as I have another 5k Race coming up on Canada Day.  I'll be doing the Rock on the Rock in White Rock to celebrate Canada day.  On the website it said that the route is a 2.5km out and back flat route.

The day before my husband went away we drove out to White Rock to get an idea of the area.  I found a route map from last year on line and we had a rough idea of where the walk starts and ends, and yes that's flat, but unless the route is different this year, than last year, it's not a flat out and back route.  There's a HUGE hill at the 1.5km mark that goes for 3/4 of a km!

That got me worried, so I've worked a lot of hills into my mid day walks this week, which isn't hard in Vancouver, and fortunately here at home I've got a hill to get off our street, and one to get back on it.

I took Angus this morning up the Whatcom Road hill near where we live.  It's a fairly long steep hill, we walked up to the first cross walk, back down, to the flats, and then up the Winfield Park Trail to get home.  All in all it was a 2.75 km walk that took us almost 40 minutes to do.  Considering I had the dog with me who either kept looking over his shoulder expecting to get picked up and driven home or simply sitting down with that "I'm not going another step" look on his face.  I'm not disappointed with our time.

I'm not taking another step I tell ya!  

Those hill's are a killer for a puppy dog, I'm exhausted!

Steps for this week:
Sunday         12,220
Monday       14,789
Tuesday       12,806
Wednesday  15,665
Thursday     11,101
Friday          14,496
Total Steps   81,077
 

Busy, busy week and a new milestone!

Well, that week went by in the blink of an eye!  I'm sitting trying to figure out how a whole week has gone by without a posting.  I need to keep on top of that.  It was a busy week for me at work, I worked late on Monday night assisting with an Orientation, worked regular on Tuesday, worked late on Wednesday, regular on Thursday and Friday, but I have to tell you that week went by fast.  I did manage to get a lot of activity in, although I did have two days where I didn't get my regular lunch time walk in.  The two days I worked late, Angus got an extra bonus of a morning walk instead of a night time walk.

It was hard to tell if he was actually happy with the morning walks as he was very stubborn.  I should have done my intervals on Monday and Wednesday this week but that didn't quite happen.  It wasn't for lack of my trying, but rather lack of cooperation on the dogs part.  Monday I tried a couple of intervals and pretty much felt like I was dragging Angus along with me.  When I tried to do my intervals on Wednesday....well now....Angus just wasn't having it!

Every time I would start to run, I would just about have my arm dislocated as he would dig in his paws and refuse to move.  It actually became quite comical and I ended up texting my husband a bunch of messages with pictures.

Intervals you say?  HA!  I'm just going to stand here until I'm good and ready to walk slowly!

Intervals? There's no intervals being done here today....not according to my schedule

Give it up human!  Ain't no intervals happening by me today.  I'm too busy sniffing.

It took us 45 minutes to do a loop that normally takes us about 25 minutes.  I couldn't believe that I walked half the distance 2.5km's in almost the same time as I did my 5k on the weekend. 

I was so frustrated with him by the time we got home that it was either laugh or cry.  Then we got to the door to come in, I took off his leash as I always do as we get to the door and what does he do?  He takes off, full speed running like a bat out of heck around the green space.  I only got him into the house by yelling milk bone!  He'll always come in for a milk bone, but then what does he do once in he's in the house, he goes zooming through the house, in a figure out, through the bedroom, down the stairs, up the stairs into the living room and back to the bedroom.  He did that for almost 5 minutes!

When I came out of the shower, this what I found;

Passed out cold, he didn't eve wake up when I left for work 20 minutes later.

This did make me decide that when I'm going to do my interval's the dog will stay home, I'll do my interval session and then I'll take him for his walk.

Friday was weigh in day and I hit another milestone!  I've lost 60.4 pounds in 23 weeks!!!  I know I shouldn't put a time goal on losing weight, but I'm feeling confidant enough to say that I hope to hit 75pounds by August 15.  That's 8 weeks away and at 2 pounds per week, I believe that's an attainable goal for me to hit.  I'll just have to wait to see how it goes.

Steps this week:
Sunday           14,552
Monday          13,100
Tuesday          10,150
Wednesday     14,371
Thursday        14,575
Friday             15,249

Made it through the week!

It's been a challenging week.  A lot of different things happened but I'm really happy with how I've handled them.  I had a bit of a disaster of a day on Wednesday.  I got home from work and about an hour later my husband and I decided to go for a drive.  We opened the door to the garage and were overwhelmed by the smell of gasoline.  We soon discovered that my fuel filter had cracked and fuel was leaking from the car.  A call to the fire department and an hour later the gas was being soaked up by an absorbent material, the fire department was gone, BCAA had been called for a tow in the morning to the dealership and I had made arrangements to work from home on Thursday.

I was happy with how I handled the whole situation, in the past I may very well have sat down and eaten a bowl of popcorn or chips or something.  Instead, I sat and talked to my husband, surfed the internet and played with the dog.  I wasn't even tempted to make something to eat and that made me feel really good.  To me it means the changes I've made in my lifestyle are taking hold and I'm doing good with the options and choices I'm making.

As I was working from home, dealing with getting the car fixed and attending a fundraising dinner at a local pizza restaurant I knew that I had to ensure that I got all of my steps in on Thursday and I did really well.  When the dealership courtesy shuttle was driving me home, I had them drop me off a couple of blocks away so I could get a bit of a walk in, and then when my sister was coming to get me to take me to pick up my car, I walked  few blocks to make it easier for her to pick me up as well. 

Besides attending the fundraiser last night, I also got to do something I have never done before.  I picked up my first official Run Kit for the Abbotsford Police Challenge Run.  I went by Peninsula Runners and picked up my official bib with timing chip.  I was so excited to get it that I didn't even wait to get a good picture of it at home.  I lay the bib and the bag on the car seat and snapped away.  A quick tweet and I was off!

This morning, my friend and co-worker was picking me up as my car still smells horribly of gas and needs to air out.  I walked down to the park for her to meet me  as well, saving her a couple of minutes driving time but getting a 20 minute walk in first thing this morning.

As you know today was weigh in day and after the disappointment of a gain last week, I was hoping for a good loss this week.  Well I wasn't disappointed.  I weighed in at lunch time with a total loss of 3.4pounds.  Wahoo!  I felt so good about it!

I am so excited for tomorrow.  I'm hoping to do the 5km in an1:05:00   That's been my best time so far on my walk with the dog, so I think I should be able to do it no problem.    I'll write up a full report on it tomorrow night. 

Steps so far this week:
Sunday 19,333
Monday 11,688
Tuesday 14,026
Wednesday 15,604
Thursday 12,383

Enjoy your weekend!

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!

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!