Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Ominous Clouds

This morning I was getting ready I told myself do not forgot your laptop. I'm standing at the bus stop at 5:30am for a good 5min when I realize I don't have my laptop.

A very brisk run to my front door resulted and just as I go to the door the bus went by. I retrieved my laptop and then debated waiting for the next bus in 20min or head over to the more major road and get one of those buses. I headed over to the major road and was downtown in record time.

I normally avoid this bus because it's pretty crowded but this morning not so bad. I might try it again tomorrow as I have a schwack of work to do and I'm taking Mon-Wed off next week.

I get to work and go to the bathroom to discover they're closed and the renovations are under way. I (being way too nice) them email all my co-workers to warn them the bathrooms are closed on our floor. I then find out the notice went up on Monday and no one told me. I was irritated by this as it seems whenever I go to site they forget I exist.

However I digress the rest of the day flew by.

I packed 90% of my office and only left out what I need tomorrow.

On my way out on the way home the clouds were dark and it started to snow. This snow was mini balls so I opted to not go for a walk tonight. Rain/thunderstorms are tentatively forecasted and round snow can turn into hail. So now I'm in my comfy clothes watching the weigh in of Biggest Loser.

Last night I had a mini way off program moment. I didn't tell you I had cheesies on the plane (which but me 2 points over). Got home and I had the trial pack of the Kashi Toasted Almond cereal (now 6pts over) not bad tasting. The first one I ever tried tasted like twigs. It didn't stop there, then the Moka yogurt called my name and I just ate it out of the container. I didn't eat all of it and sanity did kick back in.

I'm dangerous when I'm tired and cramps start to kick in. No matter 3 days till weigh in.

Today food is way better and I'm just focusing on the positive.

Hugs!!!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

chatty people

Home from site and I have somehow managed to have a bit of mud on everything. I'm on the plane and I pick up my laptop backpack and there's mud in a little crevice in the handle. I have no idea how it got there. I never put the backpack on the ground.

It might be odd that I like the new whole wheat KD. I don't like whole wheat noodles and I'd buy this stuff again.

I managed to do 45min on the treadmill Monday night. For some reason I go at a much slower pace on the treadmill according to the nike +. I tried to speed up and could hold it for a bit but then would have to reduce the speed. There was coconut cream pie for dessert Monday night and grabbed the smallest piece. I made a conscious decision that I wanted it.

Today none of the premade sandwiches appealed to me nor did making a salad so I wound up the peanut butter jelly sandwich (very thin layer of each on whole wheat bread). Cauliflower to snack on. I have rather odd eating habits at site. While having everything made for you is nice you still like to exert a little independance in your choices.

I also discovered every time I put hand cream on I have to go to the washroom. Just so I can wash it all off.

The plane ride home was a wee bumpy tonight and I was knackered by the time I got on. Monday I woke up on my own at 3am. This morning woke up at 4am thanks to my camp neighbour rummaging around. I was looking forward to napping on the plane only super chatty woman sits next to me to talk to her friend across the aisle. Le sigh. At least I should sleep well tonight.

Found out I get an office in the new building on site which is awesome.

Speaking of offices I have to pack up my existing one in Calgary tomorrow due to renovations.

I got my CHRP certificate in the mail today, it's pretty.

Tomorrow the moment I get home from work I'm heading out for a mega walk. I kind of missed that over the last two days. Thursday the big boss is taking us out for an easter drink. With Friday off I can get a really good mega walk in before weigh in.

You are now completely up to date on my existence.

Hugs!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Reminiscing

I didn't feel like going to the mall today and decided to just stay home and get some more chores done. I did make my list of things to pick up but I can do that after work one day as there's nothing I need immediately. Part of the reason I had wanted to go was to check out some spring clothes but I'm not feeling it today.

The forecast said it'd be pretty nice today and around +16 so I decided to head for a walk in the morning when it was closer to +5. I'm not crazy about working out in warm/hot weather and prefer it cooler. In the summer when it hits +20-+30 I can be found in the air conditioned gym.

Today it was:
316 calories burned/ 5.2K/ 51min55sec/Pace 9:59-6:06. It's a lower point day for me so 3 APs is great.

I was looking for something else when I came across a few old 3 month WW trackers and an old weigh in card from last time I did meetings. For the entire 12 weeks my weight was 172-178, I flipped through the journals and they would be incomplete. I don't know what was going through my head at the time but I do remember hitting 168 and then slowly increasing from there week to week. I stopped going to meetings when my life got more complicated and I was a disillusioned with WW. I did switch to WW online but that didn't help which brought me to re-joining meetings 8lbs below my original start weight of 204.

I realize now it wasn't WW it was how I was following the program or rather not following the program. I don't know if it was just pure laziness or I was scared of never reaching goal or scared of reaching goal. I've always been the funny chubby one and kind of got used to people not having great expectations of me.

Somehow that's been shifting over the while. I'm more concerned with my expectations of me not others. Well that's not entirely true as now it irritates me when I think someone doesn't think I can achieve something. I want to be what a part of me has always thought they could be.

I just finished a 3 month tracker that with the exception of 3 days is completely filled out - the 3 days I was out of town and forgot the tracker. I have 12 weeks of weigh ins where you can see a downward trend.

Of course my true test will be when I hit 168 again and how I deal with that.

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately that have mentioned being upset with thinking they've let their readers down. I read your blogs and I have no such expectations. I will celebrate your successes and probably learn something about myself in the slip ups. I don't believe for a minute that it's a reasonable expectation to be perfect at this weight loss thing. I do completely believe we will all be successful when we're ready. Ready being the operative word. I admire you're honesty when you post about the slip ups that makes you human my friends.

I never started this blog to be read by other people not at first anyway. It was more a way to share my thoughts with the wide world but still retain anonymity. Just typing it into a journal on my computer didn't have the same pull. I'm vague about the specifics i.e. name because I work with loads of people plus deal with loads of people and don't necessarily want all those people finding this blog. The fact that googling my name just brings up my amazon wish list is a strange comfort.

Now I have 59 people following me some of you know me in real life most of you don't - which I find kind of awesome I don't know how you found me but perhaps you feel some sort of kinship with me - which is also very awesome.

I guess what I'm trying to say in all this is I want you to believe in yourself and thank you for supporting me.

Heading off to site super early tomorrow not sure if I'll be blogging Monday but we'll see.

Hugs!!!!!!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

In the zone

My walk today:

8.02km/ 479 calories burned/ 1hr 13min/ Pace 9:49-6:09
That would be an extra 1/2 a km then the other day in the same amount of time.

I wouldn't describe today's walk as fabulous as it was happening but I was in the zone anyway. I call it the zone when my mind goes quiet and I could be thinking about something random but I'm not thinking about how far I have to go or if I think I'm going fast enough - I'm just going. I thought about going a wee bit further but then I realized I was hungry so I headed home for lunch.

Tonight I tried the new whole wheat noodle Kraft Dinner (6pts ish for half the box) it was yummy.

Did not get a whole lot of the chores done as I got distracted by all the stuff saved on my pvr. However laundry is done so I take that as a victory.

Later

Hugs!!!

The drama of self thought

"The only thing harder than learning from experience is not learning from experience"

This was the quote of the day at my WW meeting this morning. Today we talked about challenges and overcoming them. The meeting started off with people talking about what they've tried before and lessons learned. One woman said something that stuck with me, she was talking about how she hit goal and then thought she was done. She's back because she has work to do. Then Clare asked for all the lifetime members to but up their hands - there were at least 10.

Now I'm still a ways away from goal but I think it's good to realize that what I'm doing is not short term. Embracing a healthier lifestyle is a life long journey.

I was down 0.2 today. I can't say I wasn't disappointed. Then the self thought kicked in and went something like this:

  • Was it the one beer before weigh in?
  • Did I estimate the cheese plate wrong?
  • Did I estimate the Keg dinner wrong?
  • Did I get too much activity?
  • Is it the messing up on my BC pills a few weeks back that I took two packs back to back?
  • Is it that I'm pms-ing?
  • Could it be you went over 10pts this week but you earned 20.5 APs?
This is happening at a rapid pace in my head when my leader Clare says to me - You're averaging one pound a week that's great.

In the last 12 weeks I've lost 12.2lbs. Of course I'd like to be averaging a bit more than that but on the other hand I didn't see a gain today and quite often during this time I'd be up 2lbs.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile you know I'm strong believer in learning the lesson and moving forward so that's what I'm going to do.

Shortly I'll be heading out for a mega walk as the weather is lovely despite a wee windy. I've already earned 2 APs today as I walked to weigh in and back with a backpack full of groceries (4.6K ish) Today is also all about the housework. I want to get all the chores done today.

Tomorrow I want to head to the mall to pick up a few things plus get in another walk.

I'm off to site again this week so I'll have to get organized for that as well.

Alright my friends I'm going to change and head out. Might be back later.

Hugs!!!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Good and so so behaviours

This morning I swung by Starbucks for a non fat Cafe Mocha, normally they ask if you want whip or not and I always say no. I didn't even notice this morning that they never asked - new people working. When I got the drink I saw the whip cream so I took to the kitchen on my floor and I scooped off all the whip and rinsed it down the sink.

At lunch my work friends where in search of a snack so I went with them to the convenience store. I bought nothing and just went back to my desk and had a piece of gum.

After work I went for a beverage (a very nice pale ale that totally hit the spot after a long week) and we shared a cheese plate (3 cheeses not huge portions) with crackers (whole grain or something). Well that was dinner. That's where the so so behaviour kicked in. I was very tempted by a strudel berry bar they had but luckily my friend T talked me out of it. I was getting pretty tired so the decision making was suffering.

I came home and changed into my PJs, no walk tonight I'm knackered. I did finally do my taxes and I get about $900 back - that's alright.

Now I'm on total food/drink cutoff until after weigh in tomorrow.

I have zip idea of what the weigh in will be I got the most activity in this week then I have in a long time but I'm battling the evil water retention.

We shall see tomorrow. Hope your day went well.

Hugs!!!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Reduced fat????

While I have been keeping the snackapalooza desires in check I had blank moment at Starbucks this morning. I was ordering my usual latte when I saw the reduced fat banana chocolate cake. I ordered it. The cake part should have technically stopped me. I've been rolling into the office at 6:10am every morning this week so that might have something to do with my blank mind.

I did have my wits about me and before I opened the bag I found the NI and plugged it in. This reduced fat cake is 8pts. I promptly threw the whole thing into the trash. If I want to blow that amount of pts I'd go for the scone.

I was in meetings all day today with a couple of "my boys". I support a group that consists of 97% men and they're all "my boys". These particular boys and I have been spending the last 3 months together on a specific project. Whenever we're together they always buy lunch (expense it). They were part of the chinese food disaster last week so this week I gave them two options for lunch - Wendy's or Subway. My plan for Wendy's was small chili and side salad and my plan for Subway was a 6" Ham sub. We went to Subway and I got a bottle of water with my sub.

Dinner was half a can of veggie chili. At first I thought I'd have the whole can (7pts) but then I thought start with half and see - there's 9g of fibre in 250ml. I measured out 250ml (3pts) and it was filling enough and I polished off with a wee bit of Liberte coconut yogurt to cool off the spice.

When I got home from work I did my traditional (at least for this week) change into workout clothes and head outside. I first decided to weigh myself and I think I might need a new scale. I stepped on to it 4 times and I got 4 different numbers.

Today's workout:

441 calories burned, 1hr12min, 7.28K, pace 9:58-6:05
I really wasn't feeling it tonight but I just popped on the ipod and went. My goal was 400 calories so I just kept adding loops until I hit that. However I was faster than when I did the same loop on Saturday.

I stepped on the scale after I got home and this time got consistent numbers on multiple tries. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

I'm now up to 31.19K for the week and 20.5AP earned. 187/203 pts for the week with one day remaining. I will be going over a wee bit but I've earned a whack of APs. I don't normally buy into the trading exercise for food but for this week I'm going to believe.

I'm having lunch with my coworker/friends as I haven't seen them all week but I already gave the heads up that I want to be "good" as I have weigh in on Saturday.

Alright that's all I got for today...until tomorrow.

Hugs!!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Thank god I asked about the veggies

I was too tired last night to look up the NI for my Keg meal so I did it today and wrote it in my tracker.

At first I couldn't believe my eyes, my Grilled Thai Chicken checked in at over 1000 calories. That didn't make sense to me so I clicked on the detailed info. They were adding in the "typical" sides to this meal to make it that. The chicken alone was 562 calories, it was this by removing the baked potato and the aioli. I still wound up going a fair amount over for the day (thanks to the Pina Colada which are super good at the Keg- not entirely sure why I didn't order the diet coke/vodka comb or just went with water. I was a lemming as everyone else was having an drink. Today I focused on smart decisions and I stuck to it all day.

My days are so messed up with being in Calgary all week as opposed to my two days at site. For most of the day I thought it was Thursday. I also realized I wasn't wrong this is snackapalooza week and I'm handling it incredibly well.

The weather in Calgary took an interesting turn, when I left this morning they said high of 6. When I got home it was a -9 windchill. Tomorrow it's supposed to be +13...bizarre.

As I was once again in the office by 6am I left at 3:30pm as I had a plan for a walk tonight. At first I debated. -9 is ridiculously cold when you're now used to plus 6 but then I thought -9 wouldn't stop me in the dead of winter. So I pulled on the thermal fleece on top of the base layer and my running room jacket plus sweat pants and I headed out. Due to the wind I wrapped it up at 5K though I kept moving to keep warm. If it is indeed +13 tomorrow I'll head for a longer jaunt.

Here is tonight's workout:

311 calories burned, 51:09 min, 5.23K, pace 9:47/7:02

I now have 16.5 activity pts of the week and 23.91K for the week.

I fill finish this week strong.

Hugs!!!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

When your plans get derailed by someone else

I left for work at 5:30am this morning and I just got home - 9:30pm. That was not in the plan today and there was nothing I could do about it.

I inadvertently wound up with an 8pm meeting due to delayed flights of one participant and a brand new baby of another participant.

The scary thing was how easy it was for me to find work today between normal home time 4pm and 7:30pm when I headed over the restaurant (the location of the meeting which became a dinner meeting). I'm crazy busy at work so it wasn't so bad having some extra time.

Normally I eat dinner around 5pm so at 4pm I was hungry no way I was going to make it to 8pm and be able to make sound food choices. The spaghetti squash I made on Sunday was for lunch and I realized I might have made the portions a little small. At 4pm I was hungry and I went to Starbucks and got the kids snack pack (sliced apples, small string cheese, animal crackers, raisins). By the time 7:30pm rolled around my stomach was grumbling.

We had dinner at the Keg (Pts Deadly) instead of my favourite filet mignon I went with grilled chicken. The co-worker sitting next to me had the filet mignon but I stuck to my decision. The waitress is explaining the sides - potato something , rice something , potato something, rice something so I asked her "Do you have vegetables?" I finally wound up with a house side salad (dressing on the side). The dressing looked like it was made out of mayonnaise so I only had a smidgen.

No matter how I slice it today it was way higher in pts than my plan and obviously no mega walks.

The thing is this happens, life happens. I'm not happy about how my routine was shaken up but there's nothing I could do about it so there's no point dwelling on it. I'm moving on and the next 3 days will be totally on plan with activity. I honestly think I made the best decisions I could today.

That's all I got - I'm going to bed.

Hugs!!

Monday, March 22, 2010

The power of retrospect

I went to work today with a plan, I packed my lunch, I packed my snacks and I brought the cupcakes.

I did plan one cupcake into my points today and up until 2pm all was good. Then I went to the photocopier which is in the kitchen. The cupcakes were in the kitchen. There were 3 left. So I grabbed one and only after I looked at the empty cupcake cup did I think "Why did I do that?". I mean it could have been worse I suppose but I was still a little disappointed with myself.

I did not have 2 cupcakes in my plan for the day. The saving grace is I technically have 8 extra points if I use all my flexpoints so with that I did not go over for the week. What was kind of funny was when I was waiting for the elevator on the way out. A woman who works on the opposite side of the floor told me she heard my cupcakes were really good. I asked if her if she had one, she said no "I'm on Weight Watchers".

If only I had thought that before I ate the unplanned cupcake.

The rest of the day I just focused on finishing the day on the right track. I took the slow bus home, this is the bus that goes through every neighbourhood between downtown and my house. I forgot my ipod this morning so it was a bit torcherous but all the way home I had one statement running through my head - "I want to go". I really really wanted to go for a walk when I got home. It was overcast and a wee bit chilly but I was hell bent on going home, changing and heading out.

When I did the half marathon walking clinic I'd have these moments I called energizer bunny where you'd have bursts of energy out of now where.

This is yesterday's results:
324 calories burned, 52min41sec, 5.22K, pace 10:05

This is today's results:
370 calories burned, 58min59sec, 6.16K, pace 9:35

I was 30 seconds per K faster today and that's after working a relatively long day today. Not bad I must say. I'm not aiming for speed but the faster I get means better calorie burning. This also means that I've done 19K so far this week and it's Monday. That's something to be proud of. I'm giving myself a goal of 35K this week.

So now the plan is stick to the plan. Today teached me that conscious decisions are the key.

Hope your day went well.

Hugs!!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

And all before 1pm

Here's what I've been up to today...so far
Right after breakfast I baked the chocolate cupcakes.








Then while the spaghetti squash was roasting I made the sauce. In this pan I have one can of organic diced tomatoes, grated garlic. diced onion, diced red pepper and diced leak. I'm just using the juice from the can of tomatoes no added oil. I did add a little salt, pepper and basil. In another pan I had the mild italian turkey sausage cooking.



This is the final result of my Spaghetti Squash a la moi. It's now broken down into individual servings and in the freezer. My calculations make it roughly 4-5 pts per serving. It's 4 but I'm adding some of the residual of the olive oil from the roasted squash to make it 5 pts.



Then I started the making the lasagna sauce. This is ground turkey, organic roasted garlic spaghetti sauce, grated broccoflower, diced onion and diced mushrooms with a little chipotle chili power, pepper and a little salt.

 



This is the end result I work this out to be 7pts per serving.

Then I finished off the cupcakes with a vanilla butter cream that I tinted with a wee bit of blue so they look light green in person. Hey Crave makes their Vanilla Buttercream blue I'd thought I'd give mine a little something. Now they're tucked into their carrier and ready to go to work tomorrow. All done by just past 12:30pm.

While this was all going on I also did my laundry and washed all the dishes that the above caused.
Still to come is a walk, not sure if it will be mega or maybe just a 5K but it's supposed to be +14 so I'm definitely going outide.

I did my Garmin/ Nike + test yesterday and it looks like my Nike + is off by .3K.
This was the result from yesterday.

Garmin: 444 calories , Time 1:13, Distance 7.3K , Pace 10:04-5:33 (average and best)
Nike +: 463 calories,  Time 1:13, Distance 7.67K, Pace  9:35 (average)

Interesting huh, I'll be recalibrating the Nike + and then in the next few days I'll do another test.

I also realized I got my dates mixed up. My hormone fueled snakapalooza week isn't this week it's next week so I still have one weigh in before that hits. I'd love to finish of my current 3 month journal being down 15lbs. Right now I'm averaging 1lb a week, not terrible but not as good as it could be.

Alright that's all I got for today, now I'm going to have some of that spaghetti squash and have a wee rest before I head out.

Hope your Sunday is fabulous.
Hugs!!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Down 1.8

I'm o.k with that, I know that might sound stupid and I should be quite pleased  but I didn't do as well this week as I could of. I don't mean weight by that I mean behaviour.

I did track everyday but when I added up the week I was 6pts over for the total week. I did earn 10.5 AP but I'm not swapping them. The chinese food and timbits didn't help on Thurday and last night I had a mini snack attack after dinner.

Water was not as good as it could have been there were a few days when I didn't even hit 2L a day. I am delighted that this means I'm now down 12lbs since my restart with WW and 20lbs since I first walked through their doors.

Last week I tried to hit the same amount of points for the week as my daily pts plus flexpoints which is 203pts. This week I'm going to follow the wendie plan exaclty which is 195pts so that will still be using some flexpoints as per the momentum plan but not all of them.

Today we had a sub-leader but I remember her from when she used to attend that meeting. Apparently she's a leader at the Wed night meeting not sure if it's at the same location. It was kind of neat to have someone new but who still knew the group. We talked about portion sizes and the importance of paying attention to a serving i.e. one can of chili is not one serving according the NI. We also talked how it's important to revisit that NI once in awhile as products change and if you've been eye balling measurements to pull out the measuring tools every so often. One point people often forget is that if you're having more than one portion/serving just don't double or triple the points. You should multiple the calories, fat and fibre and run your pts calculation again. I'm guilty of that and then something that's 1pt turns into 3pts when you double it.

I did walk to and from weigh in today. I didn't do my usual Starbucks routine as there was a fairly long line and I wanted to buy more coupons and pick up a new 3 mth journal before it got too crazy. Instead I went into Safeway and got a small chocolate milk.

I'm heading out for a mega walk today as it's supposed to be +13 and I'll do my garmin/nike + test as well. I just need to wait for my Ipod to recharge and I'll be heading out soon.

I got Punk Rope in the mail yesterday. I love that my skipping rope is purple. I haven't tried it yet as I need to clear some space in my living room. I might do it tomorrow.

I also need to get cooking and baking. I think I'm going to add shredded broccoflower to my lasagna. I'll definitely take pictures of these dishes still forming in my head.

This week will be rough so to stay focused I'm going to schedule my meals to be very conscious of snacking or eating something outside of the plan.

Have a fabulous Saturday!

Hugs!!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Lazy day

I managed to sleep in until 7:30am not too bad when I normally get up earlier for work. I looked out the window and saw that we got a bit of snow. I had thought of running down to Walmart to pick up some odds and ends that I forgot about on my grocery shop yesterday. Mind you that grocery shop did happen without a list. Then I thought I'll be right across the street at weigh in tomorrow so I decided to just lay low. I opted not to walk today and just focus on the basics - tracking and water plus watching sodium levels.

Did have to log in and do a bit of work as next week is shaping up to be crazy.

I caught up on stuff I had on the pvr and watched Days of Our Lives. I rarely see that show so it takes me a minute to get up to speed on what's going on. I finished a book and I thought up some meals.

I'm going to roast the spaghetti squash and add some diced tomatoes, various veggies and the mild italian turkey sausage- I'm still sorting out the particulars. I'm also thinking of making a whole wheat noodle lasagna. I'm trying to plan the work lunches and still have some options for dinners. Next week will also be hormone infueled snackapalooza so I want to be prepared with point friendly savoury and satisfying options.

I saw a super decent number on the scale this morning and tracked perfectly today. I was kind of hoping for a little lower number tomorrow but we'll see what the scale gods have to say.

I've also been thinking of my high point day tomorrow and seeing if there were any cravings I want to get of the way. I will go for a mega walk as well as the weather report is stating +13 tomorrow.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Hugs!!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I'm a bee

This is the song I woke up to today...well it's actually Imma Be the Black Eyed Peas song. I have a love/hate relationship with BEP. I'll like a song and then it get's played to death and I can no longer stand it. This one just bugs me because of the multiple repitions of "Imma be".

Oh a picture with my legs in the shoes will happen, I'm not sure when but I will.

Today was a mid high day and a bit of a challenge as there were Timbits and chinese food for lunch. I kept it low for dinner and I have had a lot of water today. I'm still focused on Saturday.

I did go grocery shopping after work today and went to the Co-op downtown. It's a funky store and I found loads of stuff I wouldn't find at my local grocery store. I got the broccoflower, borscht, loads of lean protein (Lilydale Daystarters turkey bacon and Lilydale turkey bratwurst). I also got leek, asperagus, spaghetti squash, green onions, tri colour pack of peppers and some fruit. They're the only store I know of that carries frozen Saskatoon berries.

I just walked around the store chanting "healthy" in my head. I did leave with one dangerous thing - Liberte Medittarean Coconut yogurt - Saturday is my high point day though. The blogs talk about it so much that I had to get it. I tried one teaspoon of it when I got home because I really wanted to try it. It's yummy but right now my favourite is still Moka.

I also found Hazelnut gelato (pretty low in pts). Now my fridge is full of food to set me up for a successful week at home ahead. I'm bringing cupcakes to work on Monday for my co-worker/friend's birthday so I picked up some ingredients for that. I want to make two types a chocolate/vanilla buttercream and chocolate coconut/ coconut buttercream option. I think I can do it by splitting the batches of cake and icing so it's not a ton of work.

I think I might post pictures of meals this week as all the comforts of home mean it's easier to fall of track.

I'm super geeked about getting to sleep in tomorrow as I'm exhausted. Of course a day at home before weigh in can be a challenge. However that also means I can do a mega-walk. It's supposed to be coolish tomorrow which I prefer when going on a mega walk.

I might wander downtown this weekend to do some shopping as my pants are getting loose. I'm curious to see if I'm down a size.

Yesterday morning I saw a shooting star while waiting for the bus. I've never seen one before so I did make a wish and it was one word - Goal.

Hugs!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

They're here

I'm talking about the fabulous Kenneth Cole shoes that I was going on about a little while ago. OMG they're high (4 inches), I teetered for a few minutes when I got home and then had to think this out. I live in flat shoes and wear heels very very rarely.

On the way home from work I had to swing by purolater to pick up the shoes and then I had to head to the optical place to pick up my new glasses and then walk home. It was so crazy windy that I felt like I was walking backwards. It didn't seem to matter what direction I was walking it was full on wind. So perhaps putting on the massively high heel shoes when I felt a little off kilter from walking into full on wind was not the smartest move. I need to train for these shoes. They are beautiful though and I think I might be on the verge of creating a fashionista monster....as soon as I figure out how to walk in them.

I do often think of myself as a caterpillar that wants to turn into a butterfly.

I'm so busy at work and while I like it that way my head is spinning a bit as I don't want to forget anything and with Friday being a day off I want to leave on Thursday knowing I'm well set for Monday. I don't think I'll grocery shop after work tomorrow as I do want to go with a plan so I might go Friday and just get it out of the way but we set up for a successful week but who knows. The grocery store I want to go is downtown so it makes sort of sense to do it on Thursday. I'll see what my energy level is like.

Today is a low point day for my experiment week and I'm trying to be very focused. I've followed it exactlty since Saturday and to make sure the data isn't comprimised and it's just a few more days to go. The scale is looking good as well.

That's all I got for today.

Hugs!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Mud is defeated

Hello hello,

The rubber boots faired well with a slight chafing on my chins but I can fix that. Most of the mud had dried up but by end of day it was back and I could road test the boots. Soon it will be dust season and I can bring out the hiking shoes.

Food went very well yesterday and I hit the treadmill for 45min. I was tired and my stomach was grumbling like crazy but I did it. I then headed to dinner, shower then bed but I did watch the 20/20 special –The Bachelor - Behind the rose. Slept better tonight even with hearing the person next door.

It’s quite funny to watch what people choose for their food options. Yesterday when I got off the plane I went straight to the kitchen for breakfast and had a bowl of oatmeal. This guy across from me had 3 croissants, 2 fried eggs and whack of hashbrowns. There is some super physical work here so of these people definitely need fuel but this guy was not one of those people. Of course I was a wee jealous about the croissants. Thankful that I didn’t see them before I grabbed the oatmeal.

I need to take my Nike+ out for a spin with my Garmin. Nike + said I burned 309 calories in the 45min and I’m not so sure that compares to the Garmin. Calories would be based on intensity and length of time so I’m curious on if they’re similar measuring pace. Of course Garmin is talking to satellites and Nike + is talking to the doohickey on my shoe.

One of the things I find hard about site is no scale. I am a daily weigher and can handle that, I know many who don’t like it and you have to do what works for you. I approach it in more of an analytical manner and find it fascinating how weight can fluctuate. This is experiment week for me so I’m particularly interested to see what the scale does day to day.

Tomorrow I get to pick up my new glasses so I’m geeked about that. I get a paid day off on Friday and I’m home all week next week so some mega meal planning will have to take place. I’m thinking of heading to not my usual grocery store for some different options like broccoflower, borsht and Lilydale Turkey sausages which my grocery store doesn’t carry. I’m thinking of doing this Thursday after work so it’s just done. We shall see.

Hope the past few days have gone well with you and I look forward to catching up on all your blogs.

Hugs!!!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

An experiment

Hello my friends,
I hope your Sunday is going well.

I was flipping through some old ww journals and I came across some of my wendie plan notes. Way back when I would have an additional notebook where I tracked a type of chart that had the total daily points and weigh ins. I haven't done that in a long time but I thought I'd revisit it. This morning I created an excel spreadsheet that I'll use from now until Vegas (mid August).

I also decided to try a bit of a wendie plan this week. If you're unfamiliar with this it's not ww endorsed but it's based on ww. It's taking your points and then dividing them through the week unevenly. So your not eating the same amount of points each day. This person named Wendie discovered she had better weigh in when there was a high point day in her week i.e. Christmas, Thanksgiving. Just by adding the flexpoints here and there is a bit like the wendie plan. The old wendie plan was based on the 123 program so you had points ranges as opposed to set pts plus flex points. For example at my weight now I'd have a range of 22-29 pts per day.

I have yet to figure out what I should be doing i.e. use the flexpoints, don't use the flexpoints. I usually wind up using them anyway but I'd like it to be more planned than a "whoops" scenario. I took a look at my current tracker and did see better results on weeks I ate uneven points.  I looked back at my old tracking in the notebook and saw the same thing. I did a little research on anything involving wendie plan and the current momentum plan and I found this. So this week I'm going to plan my flexpoints in advance to see how it goes. I have 3 weigh ins till my skin check and part a of my general physical. The mission is still to hit the 170s. Wendie never ate her activity points and just planned her heavier activity days on days she had higher points. I haven't been conscioulsy eating my activity pts either using flex over activity.

Yesterday I headed out for a 7.3K walk and burned 448 calories. Since Saturday is my weigh in day I decided to make sure my highest point day landed there. I tried some of the new Delissio thin crust pepperoni and fire roasted tomato pizza. It was awesome and left overs are in the freezer. As today is a lower point day I decided to focus on yoga as my activity. I walked on Friday and Saturday so I thought it would be good do something different today. I'll keep you posted on how the experiment goes.

I've prebooked the cab for tomorrow morning and got out my footwear. You can see what site has done to my red winter boots with the warming temperatures and mud. This week the rubber boots are coming with me. I still needed something that screamed girly. I think they'll work. Plus the mud will just wipe off.

Alright my friends, hopefully I'll get good sleep tonight and not be a walking zombie like last week.


Hugs!!


Saturday, March 13, 2010

Never failure, it's feedback

This was the quote of the day at the WW meeting and hit home. I was down .2 today so I hung on to that 5% with my dear life as the past two weeks have been irresponsible WW behaviour. I'm done with that, now it's focus on the goal. I had debated buying a new 3 month journal to start fresh but I decided against it. I've got two weeks left on this journal and I'm finishing with a bang. Operation Hottie is the mantra.

In the meeting we reviewed the 2010 challenge going over the 10 factors i.e. tracking, filling foods, exercise, tracking hunger,controlling your environment, eating out etc. The one I identified most with was be resilient. I got my 5% sticker and Clare said "Aren't you glad you came back" in front of the whole group. I responded by saying "3rd times the charm". It made the majority of the room laugh. I also got an extra little sheet all about hitting your 5%. It has a graph on the page not unlike the one at the front of the journal. They suggest drawing a line on the graph that represents "predicted weight loss". I think I'll do that with my next journal. I think it might be a neat way to picture the goal.

This weekend I'm going to revisit the tools for living especially story boarding and anchoring. I caught a glimpse of the girl who got to goal a few weeks ago. We're the same height and her goal weight is my goal weight. She got lifetime today but didn't stay for the meeting. She had a cute body and I just thought that will be me.

Yesterday I got home from work at my usual time, it was +11 and I decided on the bus home that I was going to go for walk when I got home. So I changed into workout clothes and headed right back out the door for a 6K walk (376 calories burned). It was tough as I wasn't feeling the walk mojo but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other until I completed the route I had in my head.

I'll head out again for a longer one today.

Grocery shopping happened after the meeting and I picked up a package of cottage cheese with fruit. I've never tried cottage cheese on purpose. I've had when it's been wedged into lasagna but I make sure it's never alone on the fork so I can eat it without tasting it. I've always found the texture odd looking. I remember my dad once trying to make perogies with it but all filling fell into the bottom of the pot so I didn't have to eat it. I thought it's about time to give it a try..baby steps.

I'm armed with a fridge stocked with healthy and savoury options. I picked up Baby Bell Gouda, at 2pts each it's a safe way for me to have gouda. I despise the light version normal Baby Bell so I embrace the 2pts vs. 1pt.

I got an email from Punk Rope's creator thanking me for my order  and sending me the instruction manual. He asked how I heard of it. So I told him I found it on Ms Bitch Cake's blog and to give her a shout out. He said he would.

Alright that's all I got have a fabulous Saturday!

Hugs!!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Finding new inspiration

What I love about the blog world is always finding new people with new inspiration or ideas. One of the blogs I really enjoy is *Bitch Cakes*A Neurotic Glamour Girl's Weight Watchers Experience and Fitness Adventures. You'll also see her on my blog sidebar. Loads of people follow her so if you haven't found her yet go check it out. She also has fabulous style.

I enjoy that she follows Weight Watchers as I do and that she's had great success - very inspirational and I enjoy being introduced to new things.

She often writes about Punk Rope, I had never heard of this but I followed the links and decided to buy the intro pack. I loved jumping rope as a kid and then kind of lost touch with it.

I remember the trainer brought a jump rope into the mix and it felt really odd at first but then I totally got into it. The Punk Rope looks like a load of fun and a good exercise. I'll keep you all posted when I try it.

Made a funny observation the other day. The roll up the rim contest is in full swing at Tim Horton's and on the Canadian advertising it says that 40 Toyota Rav4s are available to win in North America. The other day I saw the American commercial and it's 40 Sport Utility Vehicles to win in North America.

I have yet to win anything yet my co-worker has won 3 coffees and a donut. Of course I don't need the donut but a coffee would be nice.

I've worked late two days in a row which is killing my workout plans but I've been collecting some neat meal ideas that I'm looking forward to trying this weekend and most of them involve cauliflower oddly enough. I will make a serious effort at posting pictures.

I get to move offices again in two weeks into the building we just moved out of in December. While that is mildly irritating it does bring me back into the building with the corporate gym. My visits have been not exactly been regular lately so being closer to it might be a good thing. It too will one day move into the new building (as I get to do twice).

I am mentally preparing myself for weigh in on Saturday. It's been a crappy week  to be completely honest and I need to face the scale. I want to be in the mind frame of "this is what happens when you don't follow the plan" not "you're an idiot". My short term goal has to be to focus on Vegas to distract myself from the sometimes overwhelming long term goal. Operation hottie needs a boost and thinking negatively isn't going to help. Must focus on the positive.

Hugs!!!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Efficient day

Yesterday I had an absurdly bad day with food, it was a day of mini meals which does not work for me. It was mostly driven by feeling tired.

I started today with a plan and that didn't quite happen either. I have two days till weigh in and I think this week it's a battle to maintain.

It's totally due to starting the week exhausted and not quite making up for it but that's not going to make me give up on this week just modify my expectations.

After work today I dragged my friend T to Pearl Optical so I could pick out new glasses and I got two pretty cute pairs (buy one, get one free). They'll be ready by Wednesday.

I also found rubber boots at Walmart and they're black/white houndstooth. $25 perfect. I had seen cute rubber boots at other places but couldn't justify $50 for boots I'm taking to site. Mud I have you now...mwhahahaha!!!

Tomorrow I'm coming straight home and going for a mega walk as it's now light until 6:30pm ish. Love that, I can handle leaving for work in the dark but it's so nice to come home with the sun still up.

There is still a lot I can do with two days before weigh in.

I'm thinking about heading to Planet Organic this weekend. I've never been there before.

Glitterati -I used McCormick Chipotle Chili Powder, bought at Safeway but I'm sure plenty of grocery stores carry it.

Hope your Wednesday went well.

Hugs!!!

Monday, March 08, 2010

Now that's mud

Quick recap of yesterday, I did just a little over 6.5k (400cal burned) and my stomach was grumbling so I headed home for lunch.

Made southwest turkey burgers yesterday as well. I didn't really follow a recipe and wound up making them a wee bit spicy with too much chipotle chili power (first time I used the chipotle version). They're yummy though and had one chopped up to act as a "meatball" in my Smart pasta with organic roasted garlic tomato sauce for supper.

Didn't sleep well at all yesterday. Went to bed at 8pm due super early wake up call. Woke up at midnight and tossed and turned until 3am when I finally decided to get up. Two cabs showed up at 4:30am. I guess the guy assigned to me got a better fare so got a buddy to follow him and pick me up. Wow I was chopped liver at 4:30am. I'm not complaining better to have two cabs then none.

They changed the door we go through to wait for the plane. This morning we were in a fenced off area of a hangar. It was really odd and felt a bit like a holding pen. Not sure if that's a permanent change.

Wowsers by 3pm today I totally felt it the 4hrs of sleep last night. I only watched a bit of the Oscars (got kind of bored) but caught up on all the winners today.

When I got to site this morning you could see the mud but it wasn't so bad as it was frozen. I didn't step outside again until 4pm and this stuff will swallow your shoes. It's now snowing - excellent - this will now hide the mud so all the unsuspecting people tomorrow will step into mud instead of snow.

Of course, I never made it to Walmart yesterday to buy rubber boots. That is now on the top of my list before next week's trip. I changed into my sweatpants the moment I got to camp as the mud on my jeans is now drying so I can brush it off tomorrow. I heard today that there are 3 seasons here - snow, mud and dust. I've experienced the dust and the snow but this my first round of mud.

While I did bring my gym stuff I'm taking tonight off as a rest day  I'm totally wiped. It's dinner and to bed pour moi ce soire. Points are good today now I just need to keep it together at dinner in half an hour.

Hope your Monday was fabulous.

Hugs!!!

Sunday, March 07, 2010

The mega walk

A while back I was typing about how I thought of  way to make my walking route a bit longer. Well yesterday I took the plunge to test it out:

9.67k - 1hr37min - 604 calories burned

I love walking around my neighbourhood as I have a whack of distances to choose from. The basic route is just under 5k, and then I can add extra loops. The first loops makes it 6k, the second loop makes it about 7k. My neighbourhood isn't flat either there's a few inclines in there as well.

This means pretty much no excuses as I don't need to dedicate 90min each time. I can adjust time and distance quite easily. I can last about 30min on a treadmill before I get overwhelmingly bored so as long as the weather holds I'm going outside.

That netted me 6 activity pts added to the walk to the grocery store and back, plus the 30min of yoga at the end of the day that resulted in 9 activity pts. I'm back baby!

Not that sore today either but I think the yoga helped with that. I had meant to do a longer practice but I was exhausted.

I'm going to head out again today but not the full route. I'll aim for 7k today. I might be walking down to Walmart (a smidgen longer than the grocery store walk)  and back as well in search of rubber boots.

Food was good yesterday and the plan is to repeat that today.

Might be meeting up with my friend P today for coffee but that is not confirmed so I'm just going to continue with my plans for the day and we'll see what happens.

Vegas is officially booked as Westjet had a seat sale and hotel reservations are made. My other friend P (who's birthday we're celebrating) found a promo at Ceasar's involving their new pool. I hadn't even thought of bathing suits. Well we signed up for that and get a $25 gift certificate for the pool area plus a tote bag filled with odds and ends. So 6 months for operation hottie.

I really need to work on consistency when it comes to the exercise and the staying OP, plus I'm thinking of adding a little pilates as I subscribe to my yoga online and they have pilate classes in addition to yoga.

Alright my friends I hope your weekend is going well.

Hugs!!

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Whoops

It's been a busy week and I've felt a little like I've been running on fumes. I was absolutely zonked yesterday. I was talking to my dad at 6pm and couldn't stop yawning.

So I headed to bed just before 9pm and set my alarm for weigh in. I always get up a couple of hours before I leave for WI to let the body settle (trust me it makes a difference).

Well I heard my alarm go off and decided to hit snooze...then I woke up on my own at 10am. I didn't hit snooze I had hit off. I have a sharper image alarm clock that I adore but all the buttons are more touch pad than actually buttons. The snooze is directly in front of the off. I slept through weigh in...duh.

When I got up I weighed myself on my home scale and it was saying .5 up from weigh in last week. Due to the discrepancies between my scale and ww's scale (all over the map) plus the conditions where not the same to do a comparison to last week; I'm counting this week as missed as I'm only counting the WW weigh ins.

I'll be honest with myself it wasn't a great week. I wasn't in the zone, if that makes any sense.

This is a new week, I've been to the grocery store and stuck to my list. I found a new flavour of Kashi granola bars "Dark Chocolate Coconut". I'll be trying that later as a snack. I also picked up a box of the peanut butter ones that Enz suggested. I have today completley planned food wise.

Walked the 2.3k to the grocery and store and the 2.3k back with about 30lbs of groceries in my backpack. A mega walk is planned for after lunch as it's gorgeous in Calgary and should be +9 and I'm rolling my mat out later on for a solid practice. I've been neglecting the yoga lately and it definitely helps me to stay focused and in the moment.

I hope the weather is nice wherever you are and that you have a fabulous Saturday.

Hugs!!

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Random food reviews

So I've been trying some new stuff lately and thought I'd share.

These are Maple Leaf Prime Stuffed Chicken Breast - Prosciutto and Swiss

What I liked: Individually portioned with the cooking instructions on each individual package. Love that.

What I didn't like: Way too salty in taste, I'm not sure if it was because of the Prosciutto.
I'm open to trying one of the other types as it clocks in at roughly 4pts per breast (for this version anyway). I'm intrigued by the Portobello, Roasted Red Pepper and Swiss version but have yet to find it in any of the grocery stores I go to.

These are Kellog's Special K Mocha Flavoured Bars

What I liked: Well hello 90 calories and I love Mocha
What I didn't like: I found them way too sweet, I didn't finish the first one I tried.



These are Kellog's Special K Fruit Crisps (I tried the blueberry flavour).

What I liked: 2 bars for 100 calories and they taste like cold pop tarts (my formerly preferred way of eating Poptarts)
What I didn't like: Nothing, not one issue with this one.

I know they're all packages and why yes I try to eat clean every so often the convenience of packages appeals to me.

In my latest issue of Nutrition Action Health Letter (Canadian version) they gave a shout to Bob's Red Mill Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle mix as it has no refined grains  - will definitely give these a try and hoping to find it this weekend.

They also mentioned Kashi Chewy Granola Bars (my favourite is the Cherry Dark Chocolate version) for not having crisp rice. What's funny is my go to snack on the plane ride home from snack is a granola bar (not Kashi) and I actually noticed the crisp rice this time. Next week I'm bringing my own granola bar and it will be a Kashi. If you want more info on the Newsletter go to their publisher's website.


Other than that not a lot going on in my world other than I've been fairly busy and totally disorganized. Had a promising chat with big wig at work so that was alright. Right now all I'm looking forward to is the weekend to chill.

Hugs!

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Not dead

I'm sorry to go MIA on you for a few days. It's been a bit of a blur.

First news, the shoes have been shipped are on their way to my house. I got them from the Kenneth Cole website (they ship to Canada). I looked all over the city of Calgary first and couldn't find them.

So Monday was a gong show. My cab was late due to craziness of the night before and all they partying hockey fans. Then the plane was late and it turned out to be an Air Canada charter not the company plane. When the plane arrived I see that it's a Dash 8. I despise this plane. It's small, it vibrates and it's slow. The normal flying time on the company plane is 1hr to site. The dash 8 took 1hr and 40min.

Right now site is all mud. In the morning it's frozen mud by lunch it's soupy, thick mud. It's a wee bit too early for rain boots as you still need the grips of winter footwear but I have a spec of mud on everything. My boots are covered, a speck on my jacket and the cuffs of my jeans.

When you enter trailers you need to put white paper booties over outdoor shoes. It was kind of funny as the day progresses the mud dries and falls off into the bottom of the bootie. At one point it felt like I was wearing mini sand bags. Note to self to bring indoor shoes next week.

I knew then there'd be no getting breakfast at the camp kitchen as breakfast closes at 8:30am. I had to have the snack on the plane which was some type of baked good/ scone like thing and not the Special K had been banking on. A closed kitchen means I couldn't make my lunch and I'd have to eat in the hot kitchen.

The fact that I was now behind did not go well for me and the stress of feeling behind combined with nothing going according to plan resulted in a wee chocolate binge. Didn't get to camp early enought to grab a treadmill (there's 3) so I wound up watching the Bachelor and going to bed.

Tuesday was better but the behaviour of the past few days are not going to help me get to 184 this week. Right now I'm just trying to avoid a gain.

Today has been really good and now I need to keep that up until weigh in. The down 10lbs are showing as I've had a few compliments of looking skinnier.

Now all I need to do is address the self sabotage.

Looking forward and staying focused.

Later...hugs!!!!