The things that are so important to me.

Heavy Heart

2011-03-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

I have a heavy heart. I have been doing what I can to help people fighting Breast cancer. I know a couple of survivors. I've watched my next door neighbor fight through her diagnosis, her surgery, her chemotherapy and radiation and now her recovery. I went to Toronto to Run Director Trainging for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. I listened to key note speakers, survivors, scientist and doctor's who are doing amazing things with Breast Cancer Research. It seems like we're doing such great work, I was feeling so positive about it.

Yesterday at work I found out that one of my associates in another department that I know fairly well has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. This horrible, ugly disgusting disease has struck another person that I know and care about. It's not fair! It's not. It plain and simply isn't fair.

The Run for the Cure is in the planning stages right now. There's over 100 different locations across Canada. Do me a favor, do all of those women who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer or who will be diagnosed a favor.

Register! Put a team together, do some fundraising, register and help us beat this horrible disgusting disease! We will win the battle...but we need your help to do so!

cross post to 40 fit and fabulous

2011-01-08T22:44:00.000-08:00

I've managed to go to the gym for 6 of the last seven days. I've worked hard, I've sweat and I've overcome some of my fears.

My husband and I used to belong to a gym that had a women's only section upstairs. I pretty much worked out up there exclusively. It wasn't as busy upstairs and when it was, I could put myself in a corner on the elliptical, put on my headphones and just go for it.

This isn't the case any longer. After hurting my knee last year and it progressively getting worse, the doctor suggested that I get into the water. As our gym didn't have a swimming pool and the REC centre down the street does, we switched over. I stayed in the water for a good six months but I wasn't getting the results I needed in the water, so back to the gym I have returned.

I have been very apprehensive about going into the gym of the REC centre. There are a LOT of people there, not just on the equipment but walking the track, playing basketball or indoor soccer etc. The weight room is usually full of groups of men, grunting, groaning and generally making a lot of noise. I've been very wary of going in there. I need to go in there, I KNOW I need to go in there. I'm a fairly shy person to start with,(all right stop laughing!) I am when it comes to people I don't know, especially when I'm out numbered.

I had an incident happen this week, which almost sent me running with my tail between my legs. My beloved elliptical's were all being used, so I had no choice but to use a treadmill over in the section connected to the weight section. In had just finished my walk, I turned off my ipod but still had my earbuds in. As I was wiping down the machine, I over heard someone say something that almost stopped me in my tracks!

The young man, pushed one of his friends and said "Don't get on that one, the fat lady probably broke it." The small group laughed and went on their way into the weight section. It was all I could do not to run out of the Rec Centre. I was so upset I wanted to throw in the towel.

Last night, my husband and I headed up to the gym. I knew that I wanted to do some weights, I've missed doing them, but I didn't really want to go into the weight section by myself. My loving husband told me that when I was ready to go do my weights, come get him and he would go in with me and ensure that I got to use all of the equipment I wanted to use. I went and did my cardio and then headed over towards my husband at the other end of the rec centre where he was on the bike.

Something came over me though as I walked over to him. I had to do this. I had to get over my fear and just go in there. I told my husband that I would be all right and I plunged into the weight room. I almost walked right back out. One of the men who had been with the group earlier in the week was in there. I steadied myself, walked up to the machine I wanted to use, put on the hand grip I wanted and just got to work. Six reps later, I was ready to use another machine. Two men were leaning up against it talking, I walked up to them and asked them if I could use the machine, to my utter surprise they moved. I could feel the one man from earlier in the week watching me, because yes, I actually do know how to use the machines. When I was done with my the machines and it was time to go over to the free weight section, I turned and smiled at him, from the look on his face, I'm sure he knew that I had heard his friends. With my head held high, I went over and finished my workout.

It's amazing how grabbing the bull by the horns, really does make it possible to conquer your fears.

New blog! Visit my fitness/nutrition blog...

2011-01-07T00:43:00.000-08:00

I've moved my fitness blog over to a new blog, visit me there at http://40fabulousfit.blogspot.com/

New Year, New Blogs

2011-01-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
I didn't fall of the face of the earth, really I didn't! I just fell off the computer, and the elliptical and the nutrition and, well pretty much everything else. Oh well! It's a new year and with that comes a fresh start with a new blog!

This Blog will now be about my passion for fighting Cancer, and what I'm doing to help.

I have a new weight loss, nutrtion and fitness blog. It's called 40 fit and fabulous and can be found at

http://40fabulousfit.blogspot.com/

I hope you'll join me there!

Have a great day! Katie

Happy Halloween~~~~

2010-10-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

How is everyone? What is everyone doing for Halloween? I didn't purchase any candy at all this year, we get so few kids in my complex that I'm not even going to tempt fate by bringing the candy into the house. Instead I picked up a half dozen Tim Horton's cards that I put 2.00 each on and if we get any kids, they can have a treat at Timmies, if we don't , well then my husband has his IceCaps pre paid for the next couple of weeks.

I'm working today and decided at the last minute to dress up. I didn't have a costume on hand so I decided to go as a Participant. Yes, a participant to a Run. Now because I have a team that does the CIBC Run for the Cure, that's who I'm dressed as this year, but on my waist pack I have my buttons from the Weekend to End Breast Cancer as well.

Tomorrow is November 1st and I'll be getting back on line a ilttle bit more. After doing all of the work for putting the Run on this year, when it was all done and finished with, my husband asked me to give myself a break from the computer. In the lead up to the Run in Septmeber and the early part of October I would be on the computer first thing in the morning, as soon as I got home from work (usually for an hour or two) then again for an hour before bed. I'd get up at 530am adn I'd be back on the computer for another hour.

I totally understood where he was coming from. I was tired of the computer. I didn't want to check e-mail (of which i had four different accounts to check), I didn't want to go on face book, (I got tired of doing updates for the run, the activites, creating events, managing the events etc.) So, after three weeks of being mostly computer free, I'm giong to go back to checking my personal e-mail, to reading the blogs I follow and keeping you all up to date with how I'm doing.

This week got me back into the swing of things. I spent 6 hours in teh pool this week, which I am really incredibly greatful for. It felt so good to get my muscles warmed up and moving in the water. I'm going to try going back to the gym to work out as well. I miss the elliptical, I miss the treadmill and I miss the weights. I'm going to make an appointment with my doctor and get his clearance before I do so but it's been four months since I started working the water. I haven't had my knee go out from under me in all of that time so I think it may be a good time to get going again.

Have a great day everyone! Happy Halloween!

Thanksgiving

2010-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

..so how was your Thanksgiving? I ended up having two of them. Yes! Two! I was a little freaked out at first that I was going to have to sit through two turkey dinners, deserts and everything else and I was honestly VERY nervous about it. I decided going in that I would have a plan of attack ready and raring to go. On Saturday I ate very little during the day, I had breakfast, and I had a light lunch(bowl of soup). I got home from work and I was hungry, hungry, hungry! I knew that dinner would be at 7pm so I filled up my water bottle and drank some water. When we went over to our friends for dinner, they had some cheese and crackers out, I helped myself to a few and then put my plate aside. I sipped some water and when it came time to eat dinner. I was very proud of myself. I took a little bit of several things, but not everything. I only had one helping of everything, a little bit of gravy and that was it. I did indulge in desert. Pumpkin Pie! My favorite, it was home made pumpkin pie and I had a little piece along with a little dollop of whipped cream. I was satified. I wasn't over stuffed as I usually get during these types of meals.

I was proud of myself. Especially considering that I had weigh in to do the next morning. I was a little apprehensive on Sunday morning. I didn't get to the gym at all last week as I wasn't feeling well and I was still running around doing Run stuff. I have to say though that I was happy! I stayed the same! Now that may not seem like a huge accomplishment to some, but considering that I had lost 4 pounds the week before, I had eaten out 3 times and I had a turkey dinner. Well, all in all, I was very happy.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day, my husband and I tranferred most of the run stuff from our basement to the storage closet and for dinner we had home made Cream of Mushroom soup. - Non Fat! and sandwiches for dinner. Again we ate light, knowing that on Monday we were heading over to my parents house where we as a family have a tradition of cooking enough food to feed a small army!

My husband and I had a light breaksfast of muffins and tea and then we held off during the day. We headed over to my parents house around 2 in the afternoon and instead of the usual chips and dips and lots of appetizer's. My mom didn't put anything out at all. I was soooo very thankful for that! It meant that I wouldn't graze all afternoon while we prepared dinner and then sit down to a full dinner. By the time dinner time came around, I was very hungry, but common sense prevailed, I took a little bit of most things, and a little bit of gravy. For desert I had picked up a pumpkin pie at my local grocery store and I had a small piece, this time without ice cream or whipped cream. I was truly satisfied. I wasn't groaning from being full or feeling sick to my stomach from being over stuffed.

This was a true Non Scale Victory for me. I'm not afraid to say no when the platters are coming around for the second time. It feels GREAT to be in Control. So what am I thankful for? A loving, caring and understanding family who understands the struggle I'm going through and is helping me over come it!

Aqua spinning.

2010-10-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

So, as you know if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, I have a knee injury that has prevented me from working out on land as much as I would like to. So the specialist suggested I get in the water. I'm fine with swimming laps, but I wanted to kick it up a notch or two as well. I tried Aqua fit a couple of times but the bouncing up and down was aggravating my knee.

Now while I was in the shallow end of the pool, in the deep end there were people on pool noodles and it looked like they were having a lot of fun as well. I asked at the front desk what was going on in the deep end and I was advised that they were Aqua Spinning. It's a more intense workout as you have to keep moving to keep floating, they use pool noodles or waist type floatation devices but you still have to keep your legs moving as though you were riding a stationary bike. Thus the Aqua Spining.

Now, I have to admit I thought at first it would be easy, but let me tell you, when you are sitting on this noodle and you are pedaling away as though you were on a bike, it takes a lot of work. Then you add in the arm movements, the resistance and the constant circling of the deep end of the pool and you get one heck of a workout. I thoroughly enjoy my Aquafit class, and in fact I now have my Brother in Law attending class with me.

Check out your local leisure centre and see if they offer it, give it a shot, I promise, you'll love it!

Whew!!!

2010-10-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

That was a busy few weeks but the Run for the Cure in Abbotsford went off for the most part without a hitch and I am now returning to the land of actually having time to breathe! YEAH! I have a few more run related events coming up, I also have to tidy up my basement! It currently looks as though the Run for the Cure threw up all over my house! My basement has become the temporary storage area for everything until we can get it all sorted, packed and labelled so that the people who need it next year will have it.

Working with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, CIBC Run for the Cure has been an enlightening experience. As with any major event's, you don't go without your hiccups or false starts but we did it! We had a phenomenal turn out at this year's race with over 1800 participants, over $291,000(and still counting) and we had over 100 volunteers help out. It was indeed a sight to be seen and it's something that I am very proud to have been a part of! See some of my amazing committee below!

So now what? Now that the Run is done, life is coming back to normal what's next for Katie? Getting moving again. I haven't done a lot of swimming the past two weeks, simply no time! However, I figure I did enough excercise on Saturday and Sunday make up for that and the next two weeks as well. I will be hitting the pool at 8am tomorrow morning for my aqua spinning class. I'm off of work as I work on the weekend and I'm quite happy to be able to take in an aqua spin class. I've missed going for the past two weeks so this is a good thing to my way of thinking!

So I hope you all have a fabulous Friday, and I WILL be talking to to you tomorrow! Have a great evening everyone!

Doing all right.

2010-09-12T00:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone~~~~~~~~~

I'm still here and I'm doing all right. Work has been insanely busy with product launches, training, new promotions and the usual insanity that comes along with it. I've also been incredibly busy getting ready for the Run for the Cure. I'm the Co-Run Director in Charge of Logistics for the Abbotsford/Fraser Valley, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundaton, CIBC Run for the Cure. As the run is literally 3 weeks away, I have a tonne of stuff to get accomplished and very little time to get it done in. Add to that all of the fund raising events that are happening and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to lose my mind by the time everything is said and done, but it is all good.

I am keeping on track with points and activity. I actually hit a new high of 17 laps today at the pool in 45 minutes AND I've moved in to the medium speed lane. I think this is a good thing.

This coming week is the calm before the storm. I only have one run related meeting and no conference call this week, however next week is when the flurry of activity hits into high gear.

In case you didn't know the Run for the Cure is the Largest Volunteer driven event in Canada. Each run site is put together with a committee of volunteers who volunteer their time, and energy to pull the run together and make sure it goes off without a hitch. You can do one of two runs, a 1km fun run/walk or a 5km walk/run. All of the money raised goes to support breast cancer awareness, support and research.

If you haven't already registered for the run in your area,or would like more information go to www.runforthecure.com find the run site nearest you and see what it's all about. If you don't want to particpate, you can always volunteer or go down to the urn site on run day and cheer on the participants. I guarantee, you won't regret it!

Bad Blogger!

2010-09-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

Yes I've been a bad blogger! I haven't been blogging. I keep meaning to and then before I know it, I'm laying in bed and I'm thinking to myself. I didn't blog again!

I'm sorry....it's been an eventful two weeks and I've had quite a few Non Scale Victories. The swimming is going well. I'm still enjoying it and I managed to find two new tankini tops that will hopefully get me through the winter. I've been busy attending all sorts of product training. It's that time of year in the travel industry when all of the suppliers host their breakfast or dinner training shows. I've been pretty busy with work, and volunteer stuff for the CBCF CIBC Run for the Cure, but my hubby and I even managed to get down to Seattle last saturday to take in a ball game. The Minnesota Twins were in Seattle! It was a fun day filled with lots to do and see.

So that's been the past two weeks in a very small nut shell. Now onto the exciting stuff!

Non Scale Victory #1? I got my Tankini's in SEARS! Yes indeed, I was able to buy not one, but two tankini's in SEARS! YEAH! They were even on sale, so it was like two for the price of one! YEAH ME!

Non Scale Victory #2? I managed to get swimming in every day, even if it meant getting up at 6am to head to the pool to swim laps before work as I had after work training sessions.

Non Scale Victory #3? I managed to eat healthily despite dinner presentations and in the five shows I attended I only had one desert and that was a fruit desert that only cost me 4 points(including the whipped cream!)

Non Scale Victory #4? Even at the ball game, fast food mecca that it is, between the foot long hot dogs, the hamburgers the size of your head, the Ivars Fish and Chips, the Garlic Fries, the Nachos...I could go on and on, I ate healthily. How do you ask? Safeco field has Sushi! That's right, I had california rolls at the ball game and they only cost me 6 points! WAHOO!! Dinner on the way home was a salad with grilled chicken with low fat vinagrette on the side..... Oh HAPPY DANCE!!!
I took in a ball game, ate out Breakfast, lunch and dinner and still had points left to munch on Smart Pop microwave popcorn later that night!

So...how was your week?

Aqua Fit.

2010-08-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking that my Rec centre should be giving me a discount, last week I brought my mom and introduced her to Aquafit. Last night, it was my sister, my brother in law, and my next door neighbour! YEAH US!!! I went to the pool right after work, did 15 laps today! WAHOO!!! Then I got out of the pool to rest for a few minutes before starting Aqua Fit. We had a sub instructor today and I have to tell you, I really enjoyed her better than our usual instructor. She was fabulous! All in all, I earned 17 activity points! How do you like them apples! Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Still no excuses!!!

2010-08-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry...I really am, I'm still here, I've just been so blinking busy! I really and truly have. I have been meaning to get caught up but I haven't had a chance so let's do a real quick recap of the past five days.

1. Wednesday night, I went to aquafit class and my mom, who is terrified of water and hates it with a passion, (and rightfully so, I may add). Went to her doctor and he was happy with the progress of her blood pressure and her diabetes, but told her he wanted her to get moving, even if it was just moving back and forth in the water. So...long story short, and what should be a blog in and of itself, my mom came to aqua fit, she stayed by the wall so that she could hold onto it but she did it and I'm soooo proud of her!

2. Thursday was a typical work day and I hit the pool on my way home from work, managed to do my 13 laps again. Happy day happy day! Stayed on track with points and all!

3. Friday, was supposed to be a day off, but I ended up having to go into Burnaby for a training session so I was up and on the road by 6am, had a meeting with my co run director for the Run for the Cure, came home, made dinner...then took the dog for a nice walk instead of swimming, truth be told, I forgot to hang my suit up on Thursday night, it was still wet on Friday when I realized that my gym bag was still in the trunk so no swimming on Friday.

4. Saturday. I needed to get another tankini top as yesterday's experience was sticking in my craw a little bit, so off my mom and I went to find one. Went to AdditionElle, went to Pennington's and they both had nothing left. Ended up buying a one piece swim suit that I've had to take apart and remake as it was too big for me, but oh well. Saturday night, we test drove that newly remade tankini top and hit the pool. I did 15 laps on saturday. Wahoo!!

Sunday!!!!! Dohm, da dah de dohm....WEIGH IN DAY!!!!
EEEEKKKK!!! The weigh in has not done so good for me the past couple of week so I was a little nervous about it but for no real reason, down almost 3 pounds!!! WAHOOO!!!!

There's something to be said for this swimming after all! My husband and I decided that we were going to do a road trip so we packed up Angus and headed out to Keremeos to buy our canning fruit and tomato's. 40 pounds of tomato's to pack this week and I just don't know when the heck I'm going to get it done! That's another post though...back to sunday, so after driving round trip 546km's, what did Katie do? Did she sit on the couch and veg? Crawl into bed and nap? Start canning? None of the above! Katie went swimming! YEAH ME!!!! No excuses means no excuses and right now, I'm rocking the no excuse thing!

Have a fabulous monday everyone....

Faster...or...better????

2010-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

I'm entering into week three of my new excercise regime swimming. My goal has been to swim 10 laps or 20 lengths of the pool. I have stayed on track and tried my hardest to keep swimming the whole way. There are a few times when I have had to stop as I'm sure I've just swallowed half of the water in the pool, but I keep going once I get my breath back.

Last night I worked until 530, and length swim is from 530 to 630. The first week of swimming, it was taking me almost the full hour to get my ten laps in. I was a little nervous last night as I wasn't sure if I would be able to get all 10 laps in. I arrived at the pool, quickly changed, showered and hit the pool at extactly 545pm. I got started on my laps and just went. There weren't that many people in the slow lane so I don't know really know if I was swimming faster than I have been. Or, if I've just gotten better. I was done my 10 laps in the pool and looked up at the big time clock as I finished my last lap and it was 618pm. I was in the water for not even 40 minutes yet I hit my goal of number of laps!

So the big question today....am I swimming faster, or just better? Am I improving my form or was it the time pressure in my mind that I had limited time to get my laps in? I guess I may have to judge it tonight when I hit the water. What do you think?

Pizza anyone?

2010-08-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

So I had my pizza for dinner last night at my meeting. I had been looking forward to it all day. It has been at least three or four months since I last had pizza. I have learned that it's not all it's cracked up to be. I had my pizza becuase I was hungry and there weren't any other options. It was all right, it wasn't fabulous, it didn't make my body sing with joy. In fact just the opposite! I have to come to the conclusion today that my body, no longer likes pizza. It didn't have a pleasant effect on me in the middle of the night. My body let me know in no uncertain terms that pizza is no longer for me, my body was not happy with me!

So, out next meeting is in two weeks and again we'll be having pizza. I think I'll squeeze in dinner before I head to the meeting. At least that way my body with be happy with me!

No Excuses!

2010-08-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

I have decided after last week's gain, I'm having a week of no excuses. There is no excuse not to exercise, there is no excuse not to eat properly, there is no excuse not to count my points! NO EXCUSES ALLOWED!!!

I have a busy day today, at work all day, and then a run meeting to organize and go to tonight. We're having pizza brought in for the meeting (I'm allowing myself one piece of veggie pizza) but with the timing of getting off of work and getting to the pool, and getting to my meeting, I realized last night that going to the pool would have to fall to the way side today.

I didn't get to the pool yesterday as I was working and we had company over, so I knew in my heart of hearts that I could not miss another day of swimming. No excuses!!

I didn't plan it but this morning when I got up with the dog at 545am, (yes he's an early riser and my husband and I take turns taking him out). I decided that instead of lounging around in the morning as I usually do, I would go to the pool. I did it! I went to the pool, arrived at 630AM, did my ten laps, and left the pool at 715am.

I'm thinking this is the best way to conquer this NO EXCUSES thing I've got going on this week! LOL!

Weigh in day

2010-08-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

So today was my weigh in day. It didn't go well, it sucked. I was up almost a pound. I'm really surprised as I got in a lot of activity and I was careful with my points, but that's the way the ball bounces sometimes. So although I would like to put a big -Xpounds on here, I have to do the opposite and put +1 pound.

I did do pretty good today with my points, I was working by myself at the office and I always struggle with that, but I did drink my water and I brought my lunch with me which helps a lot. It meant that I didn't have to go to the food court or the vending machines. Which means that I stayed on plan even though I was feeling down about my weight gain.

However, today is a new day, the start of a new week so onwards and upwards!(or should that be downwards...you know what I mean though!)

This week may be a little bit harder than I would like. I didn't get my swim in today as the pool doesn't have a morning length swim and I couldn't go afterwork as we had company over for dinner. I won't be able to go tomorrow night after work as I have a meeting for the CBCF CIBC Run for the Cure. I'll have to make it up somehow. Not to worry though, I'll figure it out!

I'm on track....

2010-08-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

...I realize it's been a while....all right it's been more than a month! But! I'm still here, and I'm on track. I've hit quite a few forks in the road in the last month but I'm doing really good again. I'm back on program, back to exercising and doing my best.

If you remember, I did the Weekend to end Women's Cancer's last year for the 2nd year in a row. Around Km53, I got a very sharp pain through my right knee and that pretty much ended the walk for me. It was to painful to walk and I hobbled my way to the medical tent and then took a sweeper van to the finish area where I hobbled down the last 500 meters of the walk to cross the finish line.

Well, I finally got my appointment with the specialist. I'm still on the waiting list for an MRI but with my leg giving out on me constantly and me actually falling off of exercise equipment and hurting my self, may family doctor sent me to see the specialist.

Dr. Rose was very nice, he sent me for a new batch of x-rays and two weeks after our initial consultation my husband came with me to see what the good Dr. had to say. Turns out, he can't quite diagnose me without the MRI. He thought I may have a stress fracture in my knee but the x-rays just couldn't see it clearly. He didn't want to send me for a bone scan as he didn't feel that would help us with the issue.

So what the doctor suggested is that my knee could quite simply be giving out. I'm very active and as he put it, I've got "extra load factors" on my knee. He told me to stop walking, stop stairclimbing, stop ellipticalling and get in the water!

Yes! Me! In water!!!!

To be perfectly honest I was upset! I haven't been in a bathing suit in too many years to count. I stopped swimming when I was about 16 years old and other people at the pool (kids mostly) would call me names as I was swimming. You can only handle being called a whale so many times before you stop going.

So here I am for the first time in over twenty years, donning a bathing suit and going into the water. I did have a bathing suit, it's hardly been worn but I wasn't comfortable with how it looks. It's a tankini, and the top is very nice but my concern is the that the bottom doesn't cover everything that it probably should so I found a pair of shorts I could wear and I've gotten into the pool.

It does amaze me that even though I haven't swam in over 20 years, it all comes back to you pretty quickly. Swimming is like riding a bike. You just remember how to do it. It's amazing isn't ithow our little kid just wants to come out and play? I have to re-learn the breathing techniques, I would love to be able to swim under water again but I'm enjoying my swimming. I try to go the pool at least four days a week for length swim. I'll be heading there tonight when I'm done work.

Question for the day....do you Swim? How do you measure your exertion level when swimming?

Barely Hangin in...

2010-07-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

..it's been a rough week. I've caught myself the mother of all summer colds! I hate being sick and being sick when it's hot and cold inside (air conditioning at work going on and off) just makes it that much worse. I'm going to work and by the time I get home I'm so tired I just sit on the couch like a bump on a log.

I'm crabby and grumpy and I don't know how my poor husband puts up with me but he does. Ah well. I'm probably mid way through this cold thing so hopefully by the weekend it will be a thing of history and I will get back to working out and being active.

In the meantime, I have no appetite, can't stomach food, so I'm not overly worried about counting my points. I'm basically living on toast and apple juice. MEH! Talk to you all later when I'm feeling better. Have a good day everyone!

Busy week....

2010-07-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

I always find it so amazing how time flies by when you have a huge to do list and have a lot of plans. This past week flew by with barely any notice! I tell you!

I meant to get back into blogging every night before I go to bed but it just didn't happen this week. I will do my best to get everything down daily from now on. I promise.

First of all. I got to the gym on Monday, I did 10 minutes of the stair climber, 35 minutes of weights, 25 minutes of elliptical and 30 minutes of stair climber. Then I walked the dog when I got home from the gym. I was exhausted but felt really good.

Tuesday I got to the gym, it was a light cardio day, 40 minutes on the Elliptical.

Wednesday I did not get to the gym. I had every intention of doing so but I just didn't get there. By the time I was done work and doing all the running around to the Storage locker, sorting through boxes and putting kits for the Parade and the Family Festival. It was after 10pm and I was just too exhausted.

I did make up for it on Thursday though. Thursday was Canada Day! I was in the Canada Day Parade as part of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, CIBC Run for the Cure Committee. We entered a float and we walked the Parade route. Not quite 5km's but I figure I probably did about 7km when you count in all the zig zagging from side to side to make sure that people on both sides of the street were getting their goodies etc. Then it was to the Family Festival where we handed out more Breast Cancer Awareness items and put tattoo's on pretty much every child that was there. I swear to goodness!

Friday found me in the car going out to Vancouver to have a meeting about my position as a Run Director for the Run here in Abbotsford, then my mom and I went walking through the shops in Langley before finally heading home.

Today has been a busy day running errands and doing things around the house. Although I did not go to the gym today, I have taken the dog on a 5km walk as well as another walk around the block this evening.

I got a lot accomplished this week and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I'm going to start tracking my food again though. I've not done this in quite a while and I'm seeing the results on the scale. I was only down a pound this week and with all the activity I got in, I figure I should have lost at least two or three.

So here's to a new week starting tomorrow. To my American Friends, Happy 4th of July!

I'm back!!!

2010-06-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, to be honest I got back a week ago today, but between jetlag, catching up at work, catching up at home and the general return to craziness, I haven't had any time to stop by. But, here I am!

My conference went really well. As expected we were busy, busy, busy. I did get in one gym workout, it lasted half an hour. However, I did do multiple hotel inspections, and when you're walking around a mega resort in 40degree weather with 100% humidity. Trust me it's a work out. As well, on one of the Inspection days, the supplier turned it into an Amazing Race game so there we were in teams of 8 running like mad people through resorts to accomplish our tasks. That was more of a workout then working out was. Let me tell you! I will post pictures of it later.

I'm finally over the jetlag. I think it's odd. Take me to Europe with an 8 hour time difference and I'm fine. Take me to the east coast and it takes a week to get over the 3 hour time difference. Oh well. What can you do?

While I was away, I gained 8 pounds. YES 8 pounds....although, I'm pretty sure that ALL of that was water weight as of yesterday when I weighed myself on my regular weigh in day, I am down 1 pound from the week before I left. Considering I got in zero work out time last week and didn't really watch my eating plan that much, I am pretty confidant in saying the 8 pounds was water weight. My fingers, legs and feet can attest to that. I'm finally able to wear my rings again and do up my running shoes. YEAH!

Today's plan, I brought lunch with me, a good balanced lunch, dinner will be a simple stir fry and then we're off to the gym tonight for an hour's worth of cardio and resistance training. I hope you all have a great day!

Last post for a while.

2010-06-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm heading off to conference in the morning, I'll be away a total of 10 days. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends who I haven't seen in a couple of years. (It's been two years since we had a conference). We're heading off to a new destination for me I've never been to this Caribbean Island and I'm looking forward to exploring the people and the culture. I've got my MP3, and my gym clothes packed and I'm going to try to squeeze in a few workouts over the weeks. We've got a packed schedule. However with two free hours in between sessions and evening events I should be able to get some solid gym time or walks in the sand in.

It's been a busy week and I did get my work out's in everyday this week with the exception of last night. However, I did take the dog for a nice long walk so I still got my activity in.

I'll catch you all up to date when I get back. In the mean time, keep up the fight! Have a great week, we'll talk soon.

Tired...

2010-06-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

I am really and truly tired today. I was up extra early this morning, to the tune of 4am. I drove my sister and brother in law to the airport for their flight. They are on their way to Montreal to take in the sights, relax and enjoy some racing!

Needless to say, after getting up that early and then working, my umption in my gumption had certainly left the building without me by the end of my work day. I told my husband when I called to let him know I was leaving the office for home that I didn't think I was up to going to the gym. I got home, we had dinner, we walked the dog around the block. He was ready to head to the gym and I just didn't feel like it.

I went though! I went and I worked out, and I struggled. I was tired, I was feeling it but I did it. I did 10 minutes on the stairclimber, I did resistance training on my legs, I did another 20 minutes on the Stiar Climber, then I did twenty minutes on the stationary bike and then I did 20 minutes on the Elliptical. You see I was tired and I was having a hard time focusing all of my energy on one machine so I moved around today. I don't do that very often, but I did get a really good workout in.

My activity Accountability Chart today:
Activity 1hr:24min:41seconds
Time in Zone 1hr:23min:22seconds
Average Heart Rate 135
Maximum Heart Rate 153
Total Calories Burned 1156.

As you can see from my heart rate and my calorie burn, it wasn't an overly intense workout today, but considering I was on my fourth or fifth wind by then, I think I did pretty good. I'm proud of going to the gym, when really I could have just sat on the couch and been lazy. I made a choice, and I feel better for having made that choice.

Have a good night everyone! Talk to you tomorrow!

Blank....

2010-06-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a title. I don't know what to call this post so I guess I'll have to call it blank.

I'm actually feeling pretty bad right now. I haven't been posting and several of you have sent me messages asking if all is right in my world and it is. It really and truly is, I just haven't been in the mood to write.

I'm going to try to change that this week, try is the operative word. I'm leaving for our National Managers Conference at the end of the week and so this week promises to be a busy one. I'm going to be going to the gym in the evenings with my husband as I have been for the past week and a bit. However, I'm going to have to be dealing with shopping, laundry and packing as well so I'll have to wait and see how I do for the posting part of it.

I'm just back from the gym, not quite an hour ago now, we came home, showered and had a nice healthy lunch of green salad with a grilled 4oz chicken breast cut up through it. It was very yummy for the tummy. I enjoyed it. I'm still a little hungry but I'm going to drink another bottle of water to see if I'm really hungry or I just ate to fast. I'll have to wait and see.

I've gotten a lot of activity in this week, I went to the Gym, Monday, Wednesday and today. I didn't get there on Tuesday as Life got in the way and Thursday I helped out over at my parents house weedwacking the yard and raking up the grass clippings. Saturday, I didn't get there as I simply didn't have the energy. I'm not using that as an excuse but I was falling asleep everytime I sat down. You see I haven't been sleeping very well(for about three weeks) and on Friday night, I finally, finally broke down and took a half a sleeping pill. I don't like taking them; but when on average you're only getting maybe two hours of sleep on and off through the whole night and it's been like that for weeks; you eventually have to bite the bullet and do something about it. My husband asked me to please take one and so I did. Thus the reason I had absolutely no umption in my gumption on Saturday at all. I was groggy and dozy the whole day.

Today I'm much better, I had a good night sleep last night and even had an hour long nap this morning and then off to the gym I went. Today I followed Jillian Michaels advice in her book "Winning by Losing". In it she says to do no more than 10 minutes of warm up cardio before doing your resistance training and after your resistance training do the bulk of your cardio.

This is what I did today. I did 10 minutes on the Stairclimber and then moved into my resistance training. I can honestly tell you,I felt the difference today, I actually felt as though I was challenging myself with my weights, I was able to do more reps then when I do my resistance training after 45minutes of cardio. So how about that...I learned something this week and it paid off!

This post is getting a little long winded, I guess that's what happens when you haven't blogged for almost three weeks!LOL!

Weight loss, in the past three weeks I'm down 4.5 pounds. I'm not thrilled with that number but I'm happy with it, the weight is going in the correct direction so I'm fine with that.

Here are my Activity accountability charts for this week.

Date... Total Activity,.. Time in Zone,.. AVG HR ...MAX HR... Calories
May 31.... 1h 33min .......1h 28min .......143 .....163 .......1422
June 1.... 1h 2min ........59min27sec .....149 .....192........ 960
June 6.... 1h 37min ........1h 22min ......143 .....164........ 1474

Total 4hour 20min 3hour 40min 145 3856.

A pretty good week...talk to you all tomorrow!

Let's get physcial...

2010-05-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

physical..I wanna get physical, let's get into physical
Let me hear your body talk, your body talk, let me hear your body talk

All right, I realize I have just completely dated myself by typing those infamous words to Olivia Newton Johns' song Physical. It was in the early 80's? Maybe. I know that it was played everywhere and the video(who remembersGood Rockin' tonight on CBC with Stu Jeffries?) was scandalous.

Ah well....those were the days. Fortunately the skin tight bodysuit and leotard with leg warmers is no longer how we dress to go to the gym. If that were the case everyone there would have run from the building screaming in terror as I walked in the doors. Instead I was in my shorts, my trust old work out t-shirt and my good runners. It was time to get physical. And physical I did get. I started with a 10 minute warm up on the stair climber. Then I switched over to my weight program. After the first interval, I did another 10 minutes of cardio by using the rower and then back to my last interval of weights. I was cooling down on the Elliptical when my husband came up to get me.

Revitalized and rejuvenated I had to wonder why I had put off going to the gym for so long. It's been a really long time since I was there and I felt so GOOD when I was done!

Of course last night, I pulled a typical Katie move and while reaching into the cupboard bottom shelf, I managed to twist myself into a pretzel and hurt my neck. I think I've strained the muscles. It honestly feels like whiplash. I don't know how I did it, but I did. So alas, today I didn't go to the gym. I am simply too stiff and sore in my neck area, the silliest things hurt, like sneezing (hello allergies!), picking up a pot, petting the dog. All these silly mundane things are hurting me today so I'm going to take it easy today, but alas tomorrow I will be back at the gym! Nothing is holding me back now. Absolutely nothing!

Weigh in was yesterday, and I'm happy to advise you that I was down 1.4 pounds. YEAH ME!

We're back on track and loving every minute it of. Here I am being accountable so we may as well just get yesterday's activity on the page so to speak.

Activity Dog Walk
Duration 50 min
Distance 6ish km's.
Heart Rate. Don't know forget to start it.

Activity Gym Work out
Duration 50min, 35 sec
Time in zone 47min, 02 sec
AVG Heart Rate 128
Max Heart Rate 149
Calories burned 624

Have a super day everyone!

Feeling the Burn

2010-05-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

I am feeling the burn today! Wahoo! First off was weigh in. It sucked, I'm up three pounds. I'm not happy about it. I think I know why so I'm not going to obcess over it. That's just the way it is.

My husband and I went on our first bike ride together today. I was so excited about it. Now, I am in now way, shape or form as good a rider as my husband. Let's face it. It's hard for a 280ish person to be as light and fly on a bike as their 170ish counter part so I know that I'm going to be moving slower, but I tell ya. My husband flies on his bike. It's amazing the speed he gets. When we were going down hill he led the way, when we got to the flat parts I led. I eventually has to tell him to go on without me, I was going to wait here for a few minutes and then turn around.

My legs were killing me! They were burning like nobody's business. I wore my heart rate monitor and it was working hard to keep up with my beating heart, let me tell you! We live in an area with some substantial hills and I don't mind telling you I worked my buns off to get up them.

There is one hill that I havne't been able to make it up yet. That is my goal, to be able to come around the corner at South Parallel Road, turn right and make it up that darned hill.

I worked hard today, I was huffing and puffing, giving myself pep talks as I struggled up that last darned hill but I did it!

Today's Road tally. 5.8km's 35min, 40 seconds, AHR 154bpm, MHR 180bpm(That was coming up the last hill, I thought my chest was going to explode!;-)

It was a great ride. I'm looking forward to the day when I can do that ride in under 30minutes with an AHR(average heart rate) of below 140. It will come, I just have to keep working at it.

For all of you Mother's out there, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Riding...Riding....Riding....

2010-05-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying riding! I really am, when I got home from work tonight, the rain of the past few days was done and I decided to get on my bike and go for a ride. Now, even though it is MAY, someone forgot to tell mother nature and it is frigging cold out there. None the less, I bundled up, long sleeved shirt, under a short sleeved shirt with a jacket on top, long pants, my helmet and off I went. It was exhilirating. I'm loving it. I went down our horseshoe to the right, turned right onto Old Yale road, turned right onto Whatcom road, right onto South Parallel Road, Left onto Old Yale Road, and around Delair park, turned right back onto Old Yale road and finally turned right onto the second half of our horseshoe.

I don't actually know how long I was gone. I didn't look at the time when I left, I do know that the Canucks game had just gone into the first between period segment and when I got back they were about 5 minutes or so into the 2nd period.

I DO know that I worked my buns off. I did have to get off the bike at one point and push it up one of the hills. I just plum ran out of steam! The wind was in my face and I was pedaling for all I was worth but I didn't seem to get anywhere. So, I got off, and walked my bike to the top of the first hill. Got back on at the flat portion, built up my speed and made it up the rest of the hill, including the hill leading up to our complex.

I couldn't beleive how hard it was. Bike riding used to be so easy! At the Gym I can get on a stationary bike and go for a half an hour, or forty five minutes. However, in the real world, on a real road, with REAL hills, and REAL wind blowing in your face, it is so much more difficult.

Here I sit 4 hours later and my legs are still throbbing and are all jello feeling. I know that I was huffing and puffing when I got home, I was sweating up a storm when I got home as well. The next bike ride, I'm going to wear my heart rate monitor so that I can see just how intense my ride really is!

Love it when a plan comes together!

2010-05-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

I really do like it when a plan come together. Nothing is more satisfying than making a plan and at the end of the day it all comes together and everything turns out better than you had hoped.

You see, my husband used to have a road bike. When we first met, he would go on these 3 hour bike rides and thoroughly enjoy them. When he moved to be closer to me, when we got engaged, he moved into an apartment and unfortunately the bike was stolen off his third floor balcony. We never did find out how the heck they did it, but they did.

Flash forward to last week, we knew that we were getting money back from our taxes. You have to like it when the government gives you some of your money back. It's really nice when they do that and low and behold the money popped into our bank account. So we had several discussions on what we would like to do with oure refunds and I made the suggestion that we get bikes. We can go on rides together, it will get us outdoors, fresh air and it's good for us!

When I was a teenager I loved my bike. I had a ten speed bike that I took everywhere, I would go riding for hours and hours. It was great! I was hoping that I would still have that wonderful feeling if we got bikes.

Well! Guess what....we got our bikes yesterday!!!! Mine is lovely purple color, it fits me just right. It has 24 gears(I have no idea what to do with all of them!), and it has a nice wide comfy seat. I got a Trek 7200WSD. Here is a picture from their website.

We bought our bikes and stopped by my parents house to show them our new purchase. I got on my bike and rode around my old neighbourhood and it was exhilarating! I loved the feel of the pedals, I loved the wind blowing in my face. It was AWESOME!!! I so enjoyed it.

You know that old saying "It's like riding a bike, you never forget how?" Well that was me yesterday. I was a little nervous, I'm a lot heavier now than I was then, but it was great! I had a wobbly start but I did good, no crashes!

I was hoping to go for a bike ride this morning before I had to go to work, however, living on the Wet Coast of Canada, it was pouring this morning. Maybe tonight, after dinner....I can't wait to hit the road and feel the wind on my face!

Good day!

2010-05-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late posting this week. I had a great day though. First thing is first. Weigh-in. I was the same, no heavier, no lighter but I'm good with that. I still haven't managed to get myself back into the groove of going to the gym. I really do need to get to the gym!

I know that once I get the umption in my gumption and get going again, I will feel better about it and I will be happy about it. I know it is a mind set and I just HAVE to do it! I know that, I really honestly do but I just haven't gotten there.

I don't know why this is, I actually think it's ironic. Most people when they go on holidays worry about not getting in a good workout, they drop down their physical activity. I went on my holiday and hit the gym 90% of the time. I get home, and I haven't gotten to the gym once yet.

I know, I know. It make no sense what so ever, BUT hopefully if something comes together as my husband and I are hoping it will. I will be getting lost of outdoor activity. More about that later....Have a great day everyone!

Weekly Weigh in....

2010-04-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

yes...it is weigh in day today! I have to tell you, I was excited about it, I know that I've been really good with my points this week. I know that I haven't gotten a lot of activity in due to the blister on the bottom of my foot, but I did get out and move. I walked the dog a few times, I danced around the living room with my hubby. I moved this body of mine and it paid off!!!

I am down 2.2 pounds today.

I am HAPPY about that.

I am HAPPY that I am back on track.

I am HAPPY that it is Saturday!

I am happy with the progress that I have made with my life.

I am actually so happy with it that I'm ready to share my first before and after pictures with you. You see this journey for me actually started in 2004.

In December of 2003, my sister took my mother and I over to Victoria to celebrate my birthday. I had never been over to the Island before and this was my very first trip. When we got home, my sister sent me the pictures, and one particular picture was of my mom and I standing at the car in the ferry line up. For the first time in my life I realized I had a problem. At first glance I didn't realize that it was me. I didn't recognize myself. It was then that I realized how heavy I was and it terrified me. In January 2003 I joined my first gym ever and I joined weight watchers and started on my weight loss journey. There's been a lot of bumps in the road in the past few years. My car accident five years ago set me back huge. I was in physio for over a year, however, in June of 2009, I decided to get my crap together and get back on the weight loss journey.

So here it is....the picture that started my journey so many years ago.

And this is where I am now, this was taken at lunch time on day two of the Weekend to End Women's cancers in Vancouver, I was 48km's into the walk, and danged proud of myself.

Now some of you may be saying, but Katie you're still really heavy. I am, I readily admit I am still heavy, but I can't help to wonder how much heavier I would be if I hadn't done something then, if I hadn't taken charge of my life. Of my weight. Yes I am heavy. I still have somehwere around 90 pounds to lose. BUT, I'm here, I'm alive! I don't know if I could say the same for the Katie in the first picture.

I am HAPPY to be here!

Close Call

2010-04-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

I had a close call yesterday, a very, very close call yesterday. It's brought back a whole bunch of really bad emotions for me and I'm doing my best to deal with it and not fall back onto food. The good thing is, we are all o.k. It brought back flashes from 5 years ago and I had a rough night sleeping last night. I know that everything is all right, but I still kept playing the "what if" game in my head during the night.

After dinner last night, we decided to go for a drive, so my husband, dog and I all piled into my car for a drive. We ended up stopping for Ice Cream at one of the local country dairy farms and we were driving back along the country road on our way home.

The road is a fairly straight road, and yes some people tend to speed on it, I saw the car coming, I could see it was speeding, and then I noticed that she was drifting onto my side of the road. She had her left turn blinker on, but she wasn't slowing down. I lay on my horn and swerved to avoid her, she saw us and straightened out but not before some damage was done.

She knocked off my drivers side mirror and we appear to have exchanged paint from the hood to the trunk.

I am very grateful that it wasn't a more serious accident. I'm not taking anything for granted and one of the first things my husband and I did today after work, was to go to our local pet store. Why there you ask? We got our dog a harness that hooks through the seat belt. Angus comes on our drives all the time, he loves nothing better than a Car Ride. I want him to be as safe as my husband and I are.

So please, if you have an animal that you take in your vehicle, go to your pet store and invest 30.00 in a harness that will not only ensure that the dog can't jump out a window, but it will also keep them safe and sound if they were to be involved in an accident.

Trust me, your cuddly critters will be thankful!

WOW!!

2010-04-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

You guys are awesome. I'm here and I'm getting myself back into my routine. This has actually been a really good week and I've been debating what to post and how to explain my absence. Today I received two comments and two e-mails from people asking me where I was. You guys are AWESOME, thank you for the push and getting me back to blogging.

The truth of the matter is....Katie fell off the wagon, fell on her head and lost all her senses!

The good part...the damage wasn't that bad. I gained two pounds, then lost one pound. So over all...not a bad fall off.

Now...however is climbing back into the wagon and getting back into the activity, to get my body moving again. I'm back on track with my eating. I'm tracking my food, I'm using my points sensibly. I'm doing good there.

Activity on the other hand. I still need a good swift kick in the pants to get me back up to full speed. BUT I'm almost there. You see we had some friends over on the weekend for dinner and then for the men to watch "THE GAME" in this house right now, it's any hockey play off game in any league that is on TV. So while the men headed down to the man cave to yell and scream at the TV and referee's who can't possibly hear them, us ladies sat upstairs talking.

It was a great conversation on what we've both learned about nutrition and exercise over the past several months. During the course of the conversation, it was mentioned that our friend's walking partner was injured and she has no one to walk with. I volunteered to walk with her so on Monday night, after work, before dinner, we headed over to their house where we proceeded to walk at a (for me) very fast past, up hills, down hills, UUUUUPPPPP a hill and then down a hill. A good forty five minute walk, my husband was sweating, I was a little breathless from the pace but we did good. Bad news...I had a pebble in my shoe and I now have a HUGE blister on the ball of my foot.

Did any of you see the English movie. RUN FAT BOY RUN? It was a fabulous movie and it was funny, but there's this one scene where the character gets a huge blister on the sole of his foot? Without a word of a lie, that is the size of this sucker on my foot!

This morning there was no way I could go walking with that blister, so my husband called and we cancelled the walk...well, wouldn't you know it, despite my best efforts to protect it, blister bandages, gauze and tape. The darned thing burst this afternoon. So...I didn't go over to their house to go for our walk, however I did get out and about and I took the dog for a quick walk around our block two times. Pretty good, it equals two km's.

So...long story short....
Eating Right- Check
Moving the body - Check
Back on Track - Check
Feeling good about it- Check Check and Check.

Until tomorrow everyone...have an awesome day!

Why oh why?

2010-04-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

Do I do this to myself? I do it and I instantly regret it and then I do it again!!!!

Let me start at the beginning here....I went to weigh in today. I didn't lose, I didn't gain, I maintained this week. I'm very happy with that considering I didn't go to the gym at all this past week. Physically I just couldn't do it. I'm still fighting whatever this stomach thing is. According to my doctor(who I saw on Thursday) I had e-coli. We have no idea where I got it from, where I picked it up from. But there you had it.

You would think that after being nauseated several times a day, fighting to keep your food in your stomach by having to take slow deep breaths, now that I'm feeling better I would eat proper. I didn't have to fight not to throw up this morning, and the back door trotts seem to have ended so you would think I would eat properly! You would think so wouldn't you?

Not today. Today was not a good food day for me. I don't like admiting it, but that's all part of being accountable here. So here is my being accountable today for my food.

I didn't eat breakfast before weigh in. I never do, came home, saw the accountant to do our taxes up. Went to Buckerfields to get the 1/2 wine barrels for the garden they had on sale. Came home, putzed around and then decided to go up to Zellers to get some soil and peat moss to fill said barrel up. I get in the car and head out and what do I do? What do I do? I go to MCDONALDS!!!!! I was in the drive thru, ordering the sausage and egg mcmuffin and a hashbrown before I even realized what the heck I was doing. I ate it on the way to Zellers and threw the garbage out there. I can't believe I did it!

After realizing what I had done, you would think I would get control of myself and do good the rest of the day. Did I? Heck NO!!! In my little mind, I've screwed up majorly so why not keep at it? So after getting all the planting done for the day,I headed out to the grocery store this afternoon, finding myself hungry what did I do? I went to BURGER KING!!!! I HATE Burger King! I don't know what the heck I was I doing. I ordered the Junior whopper with cheese and an onion rings. Ate that in the car and threw the garbage out at the grocery store. No evidence I did it so no proof right?

What the heck!!! At this point, most reasonable people would get their crap together, give their head a shake and get over it. Did I? What do you think? OF COURSE NOT!!!! After dinner, around eight or so, my husband wanted to go for a treat so we go to Afterthoughts. A wonderful desert restaurant. I didn't really want anything, so why did I order something? What did I order you ask? I ordered their Mint Chocolate Chip Cake! Four layers of chocolate cake filled with mint cream icing between the layers finished off with extra whip cream!!!

I came home, I ate some of it, put it down, a half hour later, ate some more, put it down and now I've finished off the darned cake I didn't want and didn't need.

Why oh why do I do this to myself? I'm now sitting here, angry at myself, nauseated and bloated feeling like crap. ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Day of Reckoning.

2010-03-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

All right, today is weigh in day, but to give you a little bit of background. We got back from our trip on Tuesday night, all was well, Wednesday spent the day doing laundry, grocery shopping and getting ready to go back to work on Thursday. Woke up about 2am on Thursday morning really not feeling well, began throwing up and running to the washroom. I couldn't stop the waterworks so 14 hours later we ended up at the hospital where I had to be given 5 bags of IV Fluids. A few injections of gravol and I was sent home six hours later. Spent Friday in bed, still running to the bathroom constantly but no longer throwing up. YEAH! Today I'm feeling a lot better but still not up to going to work.

I debated going to weigh in, not sure if I should or not but my husband decided he would drive me up and wait for me and bring me home. I went to weigh in and discovered that I lost 4.2 pounds. DOWN 4.2 pounds! Normally I would be ecstatic about that kind of a loss but I'm wondering how much of it is a false loss. Do you know what I mean? When you haven't been able to retain any liquids or food for 36 hours, how much of that weight loss is really a loss?

It's something I have to think upon and honestly I'm already mentally preparing myself for a gain next week as I get better and start to eat and drink again. We'll see though. If I manage to maintain or lose next week, then we'll do the happy dance.

For now, I'll say yeah, and I'm heading back to my bed for a little while. It's amazing how worn out a person gets running to the washroom, isn't it?

I'm baaaacccckkkkk!!!

2010-03-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

After two weeks away, I am thrilled to be home again. Don't get me wrong, please. I enjoyed every minute of my vacation. I enjoyed spending so much quality time with my husband. I enjoyed the ship we were on, I enjoyed our cabin, I enjoyed our ports of call, I enjoyed our days at sea. I enjoyed it all! I enjoyed going to the ships gym almost everyday. (Yes, there were two days that I did not work out), I enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends. I enjoyed the food, the drinks and the company. It was a FANTASTIC Vacation. Totally and completely stress free, sitting back, relaxing and reading a book or two or three or four. It was fabulous!!!

So why am I so happy to be home? I'm happy to see my family, my friends and my animals!!! I sure did miss these fluffy little beasts.
"Duncan"

"Angus"
I missed sleeping in my own bed, with my own pillow. I missed cooking. I really and truly did. I missed making my own meals, cooking things the way that I want to cook them with ingredients that I know. I missed my routine.

I'm looking forward to getting back into the regiment of what it is that makes up my daily life. I'm looking forward to planning out our meals for the next week, to making that grocery list, to doing our shopping and our planning and getting it all taken care of. I'm looking forward to it all. Most of all, I'm looking forward to getting back into my own gym, with equipment that I know, to do my weights without having to adapt from free weights to machines. To using the BOSU and the excercise ball. I guess this means that my lifestyle changes have taken root. How about that!?! I didn't track my points while I was away, but I tried to eat within reason and I tried to make some of the better choices, (We'll just forget about the cheese and the chocolate deserts that I shared with my husband). The reckoning will come on Saturday when I go for my weigh in. I did step on the scale tonight when I got home and I'll be honest, I was pleasantly surprised at how I did while I was away. Two weeks of eating out for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, didn't take as large a toll as I thought they might.

Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz was right....there's no place like home.

Leaving on a Jet Plane.....

2010-03-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

...in just over 24 hours. I'm excited, my husband is excited and we're ready to go! So, I'm signing off for two weeks for fun in the sun. I hope you all have a great couple of weeks. I'll talk to you all with pictures when we get back!

Ready to Rock the weekend....

2010-03-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

I am ready, and raring to go! I'm looking forward to weigh in tomorrow, I'm hoping for another good loss and I dont't see a reason that I won't have it. I've been very good with my points this week, I've gotten in a couple of really good workouts. To top it off I'll be heading out to the gym tonight after dinner for my own last minute work out.

I'm also off this weekend as well! YEAH FOR ME!!! It will be a busy weekend as my husband and I are heading off on Vacation on Tuesday night! YEAH FOR US!!

It's been two years since we have been away and we are looking forward to our trip, 2 days in San Diego then, a 10 night Mexican Riviera cruise followed by one more day in San Diego. We're going to be away for a full two weeks!

I am so looking forward to it, rest, relaxation, sunshine, no cooking, no cleaning, no work, no cell phone! WAHOO!!

I also have a plan in place for sticking to my lifestyle. The ship has a state of the art gym, with various cardio equipment, weights and even some classes. My husband and I have agreeed that we're going to the gym every morning, and we won't be using the Elevators. We'll be using the stairs to get around. We're on the 9th deck, the Gym is on the 11th and the dining room, lounges etc are on the 5th and 6th decks. The Ship has their own "Spa Selection" meals which are low fat, low sodium meals with the actual nutritional information listed on the menu. I am so excited about getting on board the ship and taking in the cruising experience.

Have a great day everyone! I'm off to look at the deck plan again! LOL!!

Great Weekend!

2010-03-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

I had a great weekend! It was the first weekend off in over a month and it was a gorgeous three days away from work. It was great, I was able to recharge my batteries and get my head back into the game! My only regret is I didn't get into Vancouver to absorb some of that wonderful Olympic Spirit but I had the chance to experience right here at home after the Hockey Game! What a game! I'm not a fan but found myself glued to the TV with my husband watching it. When it was over we hoped into the car and headed for South Fraser Way to joing the party! And what a party it was. It was great to see so many people out and about cheering on their country and just being part of the celebrations of a great two week experience.

I also had a great weekend activity wise as well. I didn't go to the gym on Sunday morning, but I did take the dog for a nice long walk, 3km's with a couple of hills thrown in for good measure. When we got home from our walk, my husband wanted to take me out for breakfast. Instead of driving to the restaurant we walked, round trip about four km's. I chose a nice healthy breakfast from the restaurant lifestyle choices menu and had a great walk with my husband at the same time!

Like I said, it was a great weekend. I'm looking forward to a great week this week and the official countdown to vacation starts tomorrow! More about that then! Have a great day everyone!

Happy Saturday!!

2010-02-27T13:25:00.001-08:00

Happy Saturday everyone!!!

It's my first Saturday off this month and it has started out pretty good. I went to weigh in this morning and I'm happy to report that I'm down 2.8 pounds this week. Yeah me! I got in a fair bit of activity, an hour on Wednesday night at the gym with my husband, a nice long dog walk on Thursday night, then my last chance type work out on Friday morning. I did 45 minutes on the Stair climber, forty minutes of weights, 15 more on the Stair climber, and five minutes of stretching. I felt really good afterwards, very energized, it kept me going all day and all evening long.

I bypassed the gym this morning, simply because I wanted to a nice thorough house cleaning. Do you know the type I mean? Not just moving the dust around but sweeping, and scrubbing the kitchen and dining room floors, scrubbing both of the washrooms, washing the walls and light fixtures, washing the Dining room teak table and 8 chairs and then treating it with lemon oil. The kind of deep cleaning that we don't normally do every week. I turned on the music and got to work. I worked up a sweat as I moved around on my hands and knees, scrubbing and cleaning! It was a great work out that lasted for almost two full hours. It was great.

Now, I'm going to sit back and relax, put my feet up and rest until it's time to go to a friend's birthday party. Where we will dance the night away.

Belly Dancing!

2010-02-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

My Belly Dancing class has come to an end. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to get in group excercise. Last night we combined all of the different moves we have learned in the past six weeks and we danced, and we danced and we danced some more!

I had a great time at class, today, my shoulders are still sore from all of the chest lifts and shimmies but I feel so good. I really want to continue with class so I think when I get back from my holiday I'm going to sign up for the next set of classes.

Have you tried a dance class yet? It was just the thing I needed to get me moving and a nice change of pace from being in the gym.

Have a great day!

I am Truly Honoured

2010-02-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have been involved with various Cancer functions for a few years now. I am passionate about doing something about this disease and I do tend to jump in feet first to heck with the results. Back in January I heard an advertisement on my local radio station that the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation was looking for volunteer's in my area to help with the CIBC Run for the Cure. I grabbed a pen and wrote the phone number on my hand as I was driving to work. I called through, spoke to someone and then forwarded my resume and their volunteer application to them.

Long story short. I have been selected as the Co-Run Director for the Abbotsford CIBC Run for the Cure. I am truly honoured to be selected for this position and I am truly hoping that my previous experience and expertise will help this to be a great event.

If you are interested in helping to raise money for cancer research, please contact your local Cancer Society office and ask how you can volunteer. Your few hours a month can make the world of difference to the lives of people living with, and fighting this disease.

A gain...again...

2010-02-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

Yep, I gained again this week. I'm trying to analyze why I gained and the only explanation I can come up with is Water Retention. I have been retaining a lot of water this week. I have literally had no ankles since tuesday, the skin on my hands hurt because my hands are so swollen. I'm chalking this weight gain to water retention. I missed two days at the gym this week but I still had a lot of activity. I didn't get to the gym on Thursday as I had a meeting after work that ran until almost 930. I did take the dog for a twice around the block walk when I got home so that gave me 30 minutes of activity. I didn't get to the gym yesterday as I quite honestly just didn't feel like it. I got home from work, went grocery shopping, costco shopping and petsmart shopping. Took the dog for a walk and finally sat down to relax at 8pm. I just didn't have it in me to get up and go to the gym. I will be there tonight though and that's what matters.

I hope you all have a great day!

Bombing right along

2010-02-17T22:01:00.000-08:00

...I've stayed on plan and gotten my activity in today. I did splurge a little bit, one of our suppliers came by with Purdy's chocolates so I had one maple leaf chocolate for 2 points and afterwards decided, it really wasn't worth it. It really and truly wasn't. I would rather have one of my Chocmint WW one point snack treats.

Ah well. Live and learn.

Today's Activity Accountability Chart.

Activity.......Elliptical
Duration.......49min 15sec
time in zone...46min 30sec
Avg Heart rate....129bpm
Max Heart rate....153bpm
Calories burned...798

Not bad for having to drag myself there. I hope you're all having a great day and enjoying the Olympics from my beautiful Home Province. Katie

I'm baaaccckkk!!

2010-02-16T21:16:00.001-08:00

and I feel good...it's been a great two days. I stayed completely on program yesterday, went to the gym and I have to tell you. I knocked it out of the ball park! I did indeed, I did 30 min's on the Stair Climber on the fat burner setting then I did my weights, doing every kind of lunge and squat possible!Including wall sits. I did some upper body stuff-chest press, tricep pull downs, straight arm pull downs, hammer curls, pivot curls, not too much as that will be Wednesday's work out. I then finished up with another 20min's on the stair climber while waiting for my husband to finish his Spin Class. I have to say, I'm toying with the idea of joining the class. I just have to work up enough nerve to do it.

My activity Accountability for Monday is:
Duration......1hr, 22min 24 sec
Time in zone..1hr, 16min 13 sec
AVG heart rate....133
MAX heart rate....165
Calories burned ..1084

Today was another good day. I didn't take a full lunch to work with me as I have GOT to go grocery shopping this week, but had to wait until today at least, so I had my banana, I had my crackers with laughing cow cheese and when it was time to go for lunch down to the mall food court I went. I have to tell you, malls do not have healthy food choices. Fortunately there is a Quiznos so I grabbed a cup of soup from there and then I went over to the build your own salad place. They do these great vegetarian wraps with what you want in it. By asking, I was able to calculate the points value for the actual wrap, only 4 points, so I had a good well balanced and points friendly lunch. YEAH for me!!! I didn't have the Sub, I didn't have the A&W, I didn't have the Terriyaki Chicken, the New York Fries, the Thai way Express, the Manchu Wok, the Mrs. Vanelli's NOR the KCF/Taco Bell. I'm really pleased with myself.

Tonight was Belly dancing class and believe it or not you can get quite a workout doing Belly Dancing. I only have one more week left in this set of classes and I'm debating whether to do more or not but it is so much fun and a good work out to boot.

Here is today's Activity Accountability Chart.

Duration .....59min 34 sec
Time in zone..32min 57 sec
AVG heart rate...119
MAX heart rate...127
Cals burned......345

Valentines day!!!

2010-02-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

...perhaps today was not the best day to "get" myself back on track. I did good though. Instead of going for a high calorie restaurant dinner, my husband took me to a new restaurant in town called RAIN for brunch. Now, if you live in the Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission, Aldergrove or Langley area. You have GOT to go to RAIN for brunch. It was the best brunch I have ever had, they have a build your own omelet station, a crepe station and a HUGE variety of breakfast foods, lunch foods, salad's and deserts(including a chocolate fountain). All for under 15.00 per person including your coffee/tea and pop. It was great.

I did choose my options carefully, I asked for a small omelet with ham, cheese and mushroom, I had to pieces of bacon, a small scoop of hasbrowns and some fruit. I then also had a crepe. The best thing was, he made it exactly as I asked for it, fresh strawberries, no custard, a LITTLE bit of whipped cream and just a touch of Chocolate drizzle. My bunch cost me 22 points, but I tell ya, that was all I really had to eat all day. After coming home from the gym tonight, I made my husband and I Light Caesar salad with grilled chicken breast, 8 points for dinner for I still came in right at my points!

I tracked everything I ate and drank today! It felt really good to be back in that routine where I wrote down everything I ate while I ate it. I picked up one of the little clickers at my WW meeting yesterday so I used that to tick off the points I knew about when we were out and then looked up the rest when we got home.

So besides tracking my food today, I also got in a fair bit of activity.

I took the dog for a nice walk and then I went to the gym as well.

Here's what my activity Accountability looks like today:

Activity....... Dog Walk.........Gym
Duration .......32min 14 sec.....1hour 6min 25sec
In zone ........17min 42 sec.....1hour 3min 01sec
Avg Heart rate ...121 ...............129
Max Heart rate ...155............... 153
Calories burned...352 ...............948

I hope you all had a great Valentines day! Talk to you tomorrow!

Getting Focused.

2010-02-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

Hi~~~~
It's just me, the person who apparently fell off the face of the earth for almost two weeks. I'm still here...kinda...sorta.

It's been a hard few weeks, mostly work related, a lot happening through head office, I'm short staffed now in both offices as one my ladies is off having knee surgery.

Life has been hectic, it really and truly has, I have not stepped foot inside of the gym since January 29th.

It's horrible I know...I'm finding myself slipping back into my old patterns, even worse I haven't been tracking my points. I thought I was doing all right. If you all recall three weeks ago, I was up 2 pounds, the following week, I lost two pounds, last week I maintained, didn't lose, didn't gain.

This week however, different story, I've gained another two pounds. I'm not trying to make excuses. I know what I've done. I had a packed week this week and I've used that as my reason for not getting to the gym.

On Sunday, I had the day off, I could have gone to the gym in the morning but I didn't. I was tired and grumpy and we were hosting a combination Olympic Torch/Super bowl party. You see the Olympic Torch was going right by my street, so we invited a few friends over to watch the super bowl and go up and see the torch as it passed by. That was Sunday.

Monday I didn't go to the gym, my husband wasn't feeling well so I used that as my excuse not to go the gym.

Tuesday was belly dancing class, so yes I got in some activity, followed by two hours of sitting on the couch munching on veggies and dip while watching the Biggest Loser.

Wednesday, I had my team captains meeting for Relay for Life. It didn't start until 7 and I was home by 830 so I could have gone to the gym, but I chose not to.

Thursday, I was meeting some friends for dinner, at a Greek Restaurant, a really, really good Greek Restaurant. Where I ate way too much food, and had food that I had no business having! Really, did I need to have the melted Greek cheese smeared onto a fried pita? No, but I did. I didn't get home until 10pm, so that was my reason for not going to the gym.

Friday, it was my dad's birthday so over to my parents we went where we had an awesome spaghetti and meatball dinner, with garlic bread and Black forest cake. We then sat and watched the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

So...no gym for me there either, so I really was busy every evening. But do I have to go the gym in the evening? Is there a reason why I can't go in the morning when I'm going to be busy in the evening? There is no reason other than my own total lack of dedication and will power. I'm not a morning person, but still, I should gone in the morning.

This two pounds I've gained back have me really annoyed. I really need to get myself focused and get moving on and up with the whole program. Time is a wasting and it's not going to wait for me.

So here's to a fresh start, a new day, a new week and getting back on track.

Rough week.....

2010-01-30T22:28:00.000-08:00

I had a rough week, I admit it. I followed my points, but I didn't get in any real quality workout time until last night and to be honest by then I was tired, grumpy and my heart just wasn't in it. So the result today. I gained two pounds last week. I'm picked off a little bit, but I know that I'll bounce back from it. I know I will. I know that I'm retaining water as my hands are swollen today and I have no ankles. That means sometime in the past couple of days I've had to much sodium so it is very likely that the two pounds I gained are mostly water. I've been drinking a ton of it this week.

It was a rough week, it was stressful and upsetting at work but I got through it without falling back on food. I'm quite proud of that fact. However, it also kept me from going to the gym, I just didn't have the energy for it. I'm not making excuses, it's just the plain truth. My heart wasn't into exercise this week. Yes, I went to dance class, yes I walked the dog, but no, I didn't go to the gym until Friday night and then it was barely for an hour. I wasn't in the mood for cardio so after just 20 minutes of cardio, I did my weights and headed home.

I didn't go to the gym today either. I just didn't feel like it, I went to weigh in, I did the weekly running around, I made lunch for us, I took the dog for a quick walk through the park and then I sat on the couch like a bump on a log for a half hour or so before it was time to head out to Vancouver where we spent the afternoon/evening with my husband's extended family. We had a great time, we had a lot of laughs and we had great food, home made pirogi and sausage, and cabbage rolls. Followed by cake for desert. It was great, I didn't over indulge, but I also didn't track my points for today. I didn't see the point in it.

Sunday is a new day, new week, new page. I'll get it together, starting off with a trip to the gym in the morning before I go on to the rest of the day.

A special message for my sister Kelly, I'm wishing you the Best Birthday ever! I hope it was a great one!

Grooving to the music

2010-01-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

Do you groove to the music while you're working out? I find that I get a much better and more intense workout when I have my mp3 player going. I've had a few workouts when I've forgotten my music or I've forgotten to charge my MP3 player and it dies on me in the first few minutes. It is times when that happens that I just don't get a good workout. The gym has good music, don't get me wrong but it's just not the same.

So...I was thrilled tonight to see that Jen over at Prior Fat Girl has posted a link to a Biggest Loser Subway free music down load. Here is the link. http://www.podworkoutmusic.com/SUBWAY/ all you have to do is enter you e-mail address and you can download this free music playlist.

Pretty neat huh?

I hope you all have a great day! Katie

How do YOU measure success?

2010-01-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

It's a question that I haven't really though of until today. I have had a very SUCCESSFUL weekend thus far. I went to weigh in yesterday on my way to work and I had a very succesful weigh in. I was down 4.8 pounds! I hit the 25pounds lost in 13weeks right on the nose!! I felt fabulous about that. I had been worried about weigh in and almost didn't go but I am so glad that I did. Success is seeing those numbers come down on the scale. It feels great. It also marked another success for me. I am now back to my pre-accident weight.

Yes, pre accident, Five years ago, a kid was racing a friend down the street and blew a red light. He t-boned my car, totalled my car, forever wrecking my back. I tore my L joint, it connects your lower back to your hip. I am NOW a walking human barometer. I can tell you when the weather is going to change, I can tell you when it's going to rain or be humid. But I'm back! Yes I got sidetracked. When you go from being totally active to struggling to walk a half a block without bursting into tears you feel sorry for your self and I didn't help myself any either. But I'm back! I'm better than I ever thought I would be. I've learned when and how to take medicines to help me along.

In fact, I'm so far back that I've worked on a project this morning. My husband is working and so after returning from taking the dog on a 5km walk in 40minutes(yes!), I showered and got dressed, looked at myself in the mirror and decided the shirt I was wearing was WAAAAYYYY too big for me! A frenzied 45 minutes later. This is what my bed looked like.

This is what my closet now looks like:

I now have three piles of clothes for donations, three sizes that I no longer wear.
Sizes 5X-6X

Size 4X

Size 3X

So as you can see, I've done pretty darn good and I'm very happy.

Here is my activity log for the past two days as well.

Date 23-Jan
Activity Gym Stairclmber
Duration 50min 06 sec
Time in Zone 34min 56 sec
Avg Heart Rate 133
Max Heart Rate 149
Calories 744

Date 24-Jan
Activity 5km dog walk
Duration 40min 55sec
Time in Zone 34min 20se`
Avg Heart Rate 128
Max Heart Rate 153
Calories 498

Da...Da...Da....

2010-01-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

So I've been off line for the past couple of days but that in no way means I haven't been active. I have been! I've been going and working and plugging along. I have weigh in tomorrow so I went to the gym to do my last chance work out. I'm pretty sure I blew it tonight though. It was my brother's birthday yesterday and as he and everyone else had to work today he was meeting people for dinner and a couple of drinks and invited my husband and I along. Knowing the restaurant that they were going to and the fact that there isn't a single menu item on there under 20 points, my husband and I decided that we would have dinner at home,(roast chicken, roasted carrots, potatoes and onions with steamed broccoli. YUMMMYYY!) and we would have a desert between us.

When we got there I ordered an unsweetened ice tea, since they serve Pepsi at the restaurant I knew it would be Lipton Iced tea, which isn't my favorite but I can't handle restaurant water. It's just blechy. Anyway long story short, one and a half glasses of iced tea and more than my fair share of Chocolate Explosion. Yep...I have weigh in tomorrow...did I mention that? I think I did all right points wise despite indulging in a bit too much of the desert(which honestly, wasn't all that great).

Ahh well. I did do a fair bit of activity this week, so here is Wednesday, Thursday and Friday's Activity Journals(Yes I do have three journals for Friday. While swtiching from cardio to weights I accidently turned off my heart rate monitor).

Wednesday
Date 20-Jan
Activity cardio
Duration 1hr 27min 45 sec
Time in Zone 1hr 23 min 05sec
Avg Heart Rate 134
Max Heart Rate 155
Calories 1184

Thursday
Date 21-Jan
Activity
Duration 47min 15sec
Time in Zone 43min 14 sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 145
Calories 590

Friday

Date 22-Jan
Activity Dog walk 3km
Duration 28Min 26 sec
Time in Zone 23min 05sec
Avg Heart Rate 134
Max Heart Rate 159
Calories 378

Date 22-Jan
Activity Cardio
Duration 41min 37 sec
Time in Zone 41 min 25 sec
Avg Heart Rate 135
Max Heart Rate 143
Calories 558

Date 22-Jan
Activity weights
Duration 39min 03 sec
Time in Zone 34min 30 sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 150
Calories 356

So you see, with all of this activity, I'm hoping for a decent loss tomorrow morning.

I'm Loving Dancing!

2010-01-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

Who knew that I would love my dancing class as much as I do. I tell you, I am having so much fun with the Belly Dancing class. Yes, I'm the biggest (read heaviest) person there. When we had to get down on the floor today I was a little worried but I did great! I had so much fun! I can know do Piston Hips, the three dimensional figure eight, the Egyptian Shimmy, the reverse three dimensional figure eight and hip lifts, front side, back and neutral positions! I tell ya, it is a great work out. I will agree, it does NOT get my heart rate elevated into the zone, but it does get it up a little bit, and I still burn calories!

I'm feeling so good today, I made some excellent choices and I'm proud of myself. I didn't take a lunch to work with me today as I knew that I had to drive about 50km's to attend some training. I knew that with how busy we are at work this week, that I wouldn't get the chance to eat before I left, and that I couldn't very well eat a salad in the car on the way there. So when I left the office, I was hungry, it was just after 1pm and I had to figure out what to do. As I'm driving up the road heading for the freeway, I see KFC! It's been soooo long since I had KFC, but I drove right on by it...next came Taco Del Mar...I don't remember the last time I had one of their big beef burritos. They are soooo good...compact, easy to eat on the go... but I drove right on by. Next up was Wendy's, now I've already decided I'm not having salad so there's no point going in there, they don't really have anything else that I would want to have. Then I came to Tim Horton's, in I go, a ham and cheese sandwich, without the cheese, no sauce, no butter, on whole wheat please. I made such an awesome choice! Only six points! I did good! I really really did! Then when I got to my training, what do I see, but a coffee and tea table set up with Cookies, Brownies and Cheesecake, my three favorite things. So what does Katie do?!?!

I go and sit in my seat, facing forward and start sorting through the training material! I did it! I didn't give in to temptation! I was so pround of myself. I came home, had dinner and headed out to my Belly Dancing Class.

It was a great day. Monday was great as well. I took lunch with me, I ate healthy all day, I drank my five bottles of water at work and I went to the gym. My husband and I headed up at 645, he wanted to do the Night Ride class which started at 730 and ran for an hour. We only took one car so I did a full 90 minutes of cardio! I, yes I spent 90 minutes on the stair climber!!!! I feel so good about that accomplishment I could scream it from the roof tops. Did I stop, of course, I had to refill my water bottle, I had to stop to stretch my legs, but I did it! I feel so proud of myself. Not only did I spend a great amount of time on the Stair Climber, but I also increased my intensity on it as well. I moved myself up to Interval level 9 & 11.

It was a great work out! I had fun tonight at Dance class, but I'll be honest I can't wait to hit the gym tomorrow night, Cardio and weights (Depending on how my arm is feeling, it's still really bothering me from Saturday's blood test).

Here is my Activity Accountability chart for Monday and Tuesday.

Date Jan 18th
Activity Cardio Stairclimber
Duration 1hr, 29 min, 33sec
Time in Zone 1hr 23min 01sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 146
Calories 1118

Date 19-Jan
Activity Belly Dancing
Duration 58min 58sec
Time in Zone 0
Avg Heart Rate 118
Max Heart Rate 124
Calories 361

Super Saturday!

2010-01-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

As it is Saturday today, it was weigh in day....however, I missed yesterday's blog entry so here's a brief recap.

I took the day off of work, I called it my own mental health break day. I have a lot of time accumulated and I just needed an extra day off to sort some things out for myself. I started my day off by going to the gym where I proceeded to do my last chance work out. I did 40 minutes on the Stair Climber Interval program level 7 & 9. I feel really good about that. Next came my weights. I did them and I did them, and I have to say....I ROCKED THEM!! I did my ball press ups, I did my step ups, I did my crunches and my pull downs, I did my ball chest presses, I did my hammer curls, I did my triceps pull down 21's. I did my bosu squats with 10 pound bicep curls, I did my plank. I did it all and I rocked it! You know you've worked hard when your shirt is sticking to your back because of all of the sweat. The back of my shirt was soaked! Absolutely soaked. It was actually pretty gross, but I'm proud of that. Later in the day, just for the heck of it I took the dog on a long walk, 3kms in under a half hour. I rocked that walk too!

My work outs this week did pay off. I went to weigh in this morning and I was down 2.4 pounds. I am only 1.5 pounds away from being into the 280's. I don't when I last weighed that little. It's working pretty good and I'm happy with it.

I had my mind set to go to the gym tonight and do a super cardio set. However I ended up passing. I had to go the lab for some blood work this morning and the lab technician, went through my vein. I actually have two puncture marks in my arm and it hurts like a son of a BBEEEEPPP!!! I have this wonderful nasty bruise that circles my elbow and is slowly creeping up my arm. To top it all of, I've had the killer headache from he!! all day and I just couldn't do it tonight. That does not mean that I didn't get any activity in though. I did our grocery shopping, which means I did 12 flights of stairs up and down to get all the groceries up, and then I took the dog for a 5km walk. We did really good on the walk, we did the full five km's in just under 45 minutes. I think that's the fastest we've done this particular route. So, although I didn't get to the gym today, I still do have activity to log in my activity accountability log here:

Friday
Date 15-Jan
Activity Cardio/weights
Duration 1hr 32min 04sec
Time in Zone 1hr:25min47sec
Avg Heart Rate 134
Max Heart Rate 160
Calories 1236

Saturday

Date Jan 16th
Activity 5km dog walk
Duration 44min 05sec
Time in Zone 35min 58sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 152
Calories 554

Hungry....Hungry...Hungry...

2010-01-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is this week, but I am HUNGRY!!! Seriously hungry. I'm proud of myself as I haven't gone for the junk. I'm keeping to my points, and I'm exercising like a crazy person. BUT I'M STARVING!!!

I've ended up going to eating every two hours, a 2 pt snack, some carrot sticks with some non fat salad dressing, a 1pt WW bar, a banana etc. But I tell ya. I'm hungry and it's bugging me.

Part of me is hoping that this is my body finally saying all right, we need to burn some of this fat on the old body here lady so lets get some good stuff down her to burn the fat up.

I have to laugh though, it's not in my head, my stomach is audibly growling at times. Even as I sit here typing this I can hear my stomach growl. I was working with a client today and they heard my stomach growl. I don't know what it is. I'm going to have to ask my leader on Saturday morning what could be causing it, maybe I'm not eating enough protein or something. I'll have to figure it out and let you all know.

Today is Thursday, and that means it's my night alone. Thursday is the night my husband goes off to his weekly Toastmasters Meeting. I used to pop a bag of popcorn cuddle up on the couch with the cat on one side of me and the dog on the other and watch tv. The past two weeks though, I've had a different routine. I leave the house the same time as my husband and I head to the gym where I get in a good hour's worth of cardio. Tonight was no different. It was pretty busy at the gym when I first got there, as my favorite Elliptical was in use I climbed onto the stair climber, also known as my nemesis.

I have never been able to do more than 30-35 minutes on this thing. Usually it's because my feet start to go numb and get pins and needles in them, but tonight after 20 minutes of going strong on it I decided tonight would be the night I would beat the 35 minute mark. So at 25minutes I selected a new workout time, 40 minutes, at 36minutes, still able to feel my toes, I changed the time to 45 minutes, at 40 minutes, I changed it to 50 minutes, at 45 minutes, I reset it for 60minutes! I did it! I did sixty minutes! Well technically I did 65 minutes with the cool down time on it as well. I did it. I really, really did it! I was very proud of myself as at the end of the program it tells you how many calories per minute, your average and maximum heart rate and best of all your distance. I did 4.75miles on a stair climber. I'm pretty impressed with that.

I think, I really do think, I just may have to do it all over again tomorrow as part of my last chance work out.

Today's Activity Accountability chart is here:

Date Jan 14th
Activity Stair Climber
Duration hr 14min 10sec
Time in Zone 1hr 12min 55 sec
Avg Heart Rate 137
Max Heart Rate 150
Calories 1018

Happy Thursday night everyone! I hope you have a great Friday!

Expanding my horizons.

2010-01-13T22:45:00.001-08:00

I am. I am expanding my horizons. I saw an ad in the local Community Events Magazine showcasing all the different classes a person can take in this great city I live in. It was for Belly Dancing. Now, to be honest, I've been thinking about this for a while. I'm not sure where the nugget of wanting came from...but none the less it was there. I asked one of my friends if she would like to go with me as it seems like something fun, we'll get some exercise, learn some dance moves, and it was relatively inexpensive. Just over 10.00 per lesson, and the lessons go for 7 weeks.

Well our first class was on Tuesday. I was a little hesitant as we made our way into the community centre's aerobics room, where there were quite a few little slip sized ladies. Honestly, I probably make a good two to three of them. I just do. I was very self conscious at first, looking in the mirror, looking at our instructor, I wondered what it was I had gotten myself into. I have to tell you though, once the instructor started the music and started showing us our first move. I forgot all about being the biggest one in the room and just thought about having fun, and concentrating on making my muscles do what I now have to train them to do.

It was a lot of fun. I learned three moves, plus I learned about my posture for this dance, and the proper way to hold my arms. I can tell you, by the end of the hour, my arms were killing me!

They were so sore from being held up at a certain angle and certain position for so long. As well, by the time we got home, my legs were burning and my sides were sore. I may not have worked my heart up into a "Cardio" zone but I'll tell you this much. I worked up a sweat and used muscles that I didn't even know i had.

By the time I went to bed, I was whimpering, my arms were sore, my sides were sore, my hips were sore. I was a mess! When I got up this morning, I ached from head to toe. I tell you. I worked hard in that hour last night and I'm still felling it today.

I did do my ten minutes of practicing my three moves and I am again a little sore in the mid section. I guess it's from making those lower abs work! Belly dancing is better for your abs then a hundred crunches a day! I'm not kidding! It was a great work out and I'm honestly looking forward to next week's class.

I didn't make it to the gym tonight as I was at an evening training session but I'll be back at the gym tomorrow and Friday. I have weigh in coming up in just over 48 hours and I really do want this week to count!

Without further ado...here's my activity accountability chart for Tuesday.

Date Jan 12
Exercise Belly Dancing Class
Duration 1hr 7 min 52 sec
Time in zone 7 min 89 sec
Avg Heart rate 90PBM
Max heart rate 175BPM
Calories burned 428

Determination

2010-01-11T20:49:00.001-08:00

I am determind to win this battle!

I am determind to lead a healthy lifestyle!

I am determind to succeed in reaching my fitness goals!

I am determind to do this right!

I was at the gym tonight working away as I usually do. I was on the stairclimber when I watched as a lady walked into the gym, walked right over to the weight tree and started lifting weights that were obviously too heavy for her. She then started lifting them the wrong way, at least I thought so. I caught the eyes of another lady on a machine across from me and she was shaking her head. This lady was going to hurt herself. Within a minute or two another woman walked over and the two were having a conversation, the lady didn't want to hear that she may be doing something wrong, that she may even hurt herself if she isn't careful. She continued what she was doing, stopped after a few minutes and left. I hope that the she didn't take the words of advice the wrong way.

I often wonder why people don't want to be told they are doing something wrong. Then I realized, I haven't wanted to hear in about my weight either. We get so defensive so easily when instead if we really took the time to listen and think about what the other person is saying, perhaps we wouldn't find ourselves in the situations we find ourselves in. Maybe, if I had listened to people when I was younger and lighter, I woudn't be facing this daunting task of losing more than 100 pounds. But...I'm determined to do it! I will do it.

Here is today's Activity Accountibility charts for Sunday and Monday.

Date Jan 10th
Activity Cardio/weights
Duration 1hr 21min 26 sec
Time in Zone 1hr 20min 15sec
Avg Heart Rate 138
Max Heart Rate 152
Calories 1156

Date 11-Jan
Activity Cardio/weights
Duration 1hr 19min 46 sec
Time in Zone 1hr 11min 20sec
Avg Heart Rate 135
Max Heart Rate 147
Calories 1090

I hope you have a great Tuesday! I'm looking forward to it!

One step at a time....

2010-01-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

or should I say one pound at a time? I went to weigh in yesterday morning and I was down a pound. Normally I wouldn't be that thrilled about being down a pound but considering I didn't put my all into the whole process until Thursday, I'm pretty happy with a pound.

It seems like once I got myself out of my self induced funk, I was back on track and raring to go. I logged a fair bit of activity on Friday and on Saturday I knocked it right out of the ball park. You see, Saturday night's in our house is Hockey night. For my husband anyway. I don't follow hockey all that closely, I'll usually sit reading a book while he's watching his game. Last night however I decided to head to the gym instead. I had a great work out! I did 45 minutes on the stair climber, I did the interval setting and I'm up the alternating between level 7 and level 10. This makes me very happy and it really does keep my heart rate up. I then did weights, two reps of everything, the second rep was to exhaustion. The only thing I have to remember when doing this is to watch my face. I do a lot of my weights on a ball, and when you've got a bar above your head and your arms give out, you can do yourself an injury! LOL! I did manage to get the weight bar into place by twisting it so the hooks hooked onto the grab bars up the side but still, I really could done some damage with that move! As it was I ended up falling off the darned ball. It's times like that I'm very glad the gym is quiet at night and there were only a couple of people who might of seen my go butt over tea kettle. Once I picked myself up, dusted off and finished my weights, I cooled down by doing 20 minutes on the Elliptical.

It was a great work out and a great night. The only problem was I was so wired and energized when I got home at 930 that I was still buzzing about the house at 1am when I really and truly wanted to be asleep. Ah well. Them's the breaks.

Here's my Activity Accountability Charts for the past couple of days, add onto it a couple of 20minute dog walks as well and I really did punch up the activity.

Date Jan8th
Activity Cardio
Duration 1hr 11min 11 sec
Time in Zone 1hr 10min 5sec
Avg Heart Rate 143
Max Heart Rate 146
Calories 1122

Date Jan 9th
Activity Cardio/weights
Duration 1hr 34min 36 sec
Time in Zone 1hr 30min 44 sec
Avg Heart Rate 141
Max Heart Rate 159
Calories 1452

Sad news...

2010-01-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

...a friend of mine is about to lose a friend. I'm not being sarcastic or nasty, but a friend of hers is fighting her third battle with cancer. She has fought long, she has fought hard, and the doctors have now given her less than 24 hours.

I know that I'm humbled when I hear about people who fight the good fight, they fight and they fight and they are so happy. I am truly blessed to have two of those people in my life right now. Barb is suffering from PV Cancer. A common cancer in older people but very rare in people our age. Audrey in her fight against breast cancer has taught me the true meaning of grace under fire. Both of these incredible ladies always have a smile, a hug and a kind word for anyone and everyone.

I've often felt sorry for myself the past couple of weeks, my weight loss isn't progressing as I would like it to, I have this never ending cold and work is complicated. But compared to these ladies, their husbands, their families. I don't have anything to complain about.

My heart goes out to the family of Karen, her husband George is in my thoughts. I can only pray for them, that they have peace, and that Karen isn't in any pain.

I know on face book it's really stylish and fun to post the color of your bra for breast cancer. But people, we need to realize that there are a lot more types of cancer out there, and we need help to fight all of them!!!

Please, get involved with your local Cancer Society office. If you don't know where to go, go to www.relayforlife.com that will put in you touch with your local cancer office. Let's get out there and show people how much we really and truly do care.

If you don't want to get "Involved" consider donating to a couple of events. I'm personally involved in the Weekend to End Women's cancer for the third year. Visit www.endcancer.ca/goto/katiesyroid , I'm also the captain of a relay for life team, you can visit us there at https://www.kintera.org/faf/login/teamPageEdit.asp?ievent=330213&lis=0&kntae330213=E419DAB4084C40D88BD3E2FD2C2B513B&page=view

On the Road again!

2010-01-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

...on the road to health and happiness. For some reason as I finished up stretching at the gym, that song by Willie Nelson popped into my head. I didn't think anything of it as anyone who truly knows me, knows there is always a song or two rumbling around the old noggin. I just thought it was extremely funny when I got into the car to head home, and turned on the radio to hear the announcer say,"and now, here's Willie Nelson, On the road again." I laughed and laughed, how prosaic was that!

I thought it was too funny but maybe it's just my mood tonight. It was a long day at work, as so many of them are this day it seems. Stress and worries and so the game goes. I went and saw my doctor about this stupid head cold that just won't quite. He's not overly thrilled about it and I have to go get a whack of blood tests down tomorrow to please him, but he did give me my monthly B12 shot so hopefully that will help with the total lack of energy portion of the program. We'll just have to wait and see.

As previously stated, I did get to the gym tonight and I did work my little fanny off. I used the stair climber for my cardio, 30 minutes on it, I did the interval program, with the lower interval being level 7 and the higher interval being level 9. It did indeed get my heart pumping though, after my cardio I did a half hour of weights, as it's been a while I thought I would take it easy but I'm happy to report I didn't do that. I challenged myself by bumping all of my weights up a level. It was a hard on the first rep, and even harder on the second, the third reps I went to exhaustion as I wasn't getting the full 15 counts in. Pretty good I think. I took a full five minutes to stretch afterwards as it's been so long since I worked out and I do want to be able to move tomorrow. I still really did kick it out tonight though as my Activity chart will show, my heart rate stayed up and my calories burned was great!

All in all, the day turned out pretty all right. I'm not going to complain, I worked hard at the gym and hopefully that will pay off in my weigh in on Saturday. I will be going to the gym again tomorrow night to get in my version of a last chance work out. I have to work on Saturday morning at 8am so I'll be able to go for weigh in(that starts at 730am) but I won't be able to stay for the meeting. This will be the first meeting I've missed since rejoining weight watchers. I don't want to make a habit of that!

Today's Activity Accountability chart:

Date Jan 7th
Activity Cardio/Eights
Duration 1hr 5 min 34sec
Time in Zone 1 hour 1min 5 sec
Avg Heart Rate 142
Max Heart Rate 163
Calories 1022

Struggling

2010-01-06T21:18:00.000-08:00

...I am struggling this week. I'm being honest. I'm not putting 110% in like I should be.I don't even feel as though I'm giving it 90% I really am not. I've got this stupid head cold STILL(3 weeks now!!!) I'm exhausted all of the time and I'm not getting my activity in at all. The queen of excuses is now in the building! I could go to the gym. I really and sincerely could. I SHOULD have gone to the gym tonight, instead, what did I do? I went with my husband to a restaurant called Afterthoughts. Now this restaurant is a special restaurant filled with deserts. Instead of sharing a desert or just taking a bite or two of my husbands, I got my own. With whipped cream on it! Then what did I do? I laid on the couch for two hours watching television. Now, I'm feeling guilty.

My new year has not gotten off to the banner start that I had hoped that it would, but I will get there! I really and truly will. I stepped on the scale a few minutes ago and I'm annoyed with myself. If I don't get myself moving I'm going to end up gaining this week and that's just not acceptable. It really and truly isn't. I'm on track points wise, (with the exception of the cheese cake, but I do get my flex points to use every week, which I hardly ever use)

So, here I go...the queen of excuses is leaving the building and I'm going to the gym tomorrow come heck or high water....If only losing the weight was as easy as gaining it...hmmm.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

It's a new year with a new start and I'm ready and raring to go. I went to weigh in this morning and got the bad news, up four pounds in two weeks. Wow!! How did that happen?!?!? I'll tell you how that happened, it happened by not tracking. That's exactly what happened. In the past three weeks, I didn't write a single thing down in my food journal. Not a thing, zip, zilch, zero! I did not track what I had and that has changed today.

Beside pledging to track everything, I've also pledged not to buy anymore bottles of water. I thought I was doing good for my body but didn't think about the enviroment, yes I recycle, I had three bags of recycling this week, but I didn't realize how much oil and resources go into making the bottles of water. Someone sent me a link and I followed it and I was amazed at what we're doing to our planet, all for the sake of convenience. Well, it's just as convenient to fill up my own Hard plastic or metal bottle myself and carry it around. so please, go to th link below and do their test, see how you can help out our beautiful planet. Let's face it, it's the only one we've got!

Last day of 2009

2009-12-31T14:59:00.000-08:00

The last day of the year always leaves me feeling like there is something I wanted to do and didn't get it done. It really and truly does. I'm not one to make resolutions. I never have been and I don't think I ever will be, however, I always get this sensation on December 31st. Do you know the feeling? It's like when you suddenly realize that your keys aren't in your hand anymore, or your bank card isn't in the proper slot in your wallet and there is that momentary panic? You take a moment and realize that you keys are actually in your pocket and the bank card is in behind something else. Then there is that sense of relief! Tonight at midnight will be that sense of relief. It's a new year. A whole new page to be turned over, and started fresh. It's a new chance to put the past behind, and look forward to the future. 2009 was pretty kind to me. I'm none the less looking forward to the New Year, 2010. WOW! It's amazing isn't it, at 1201am a whole new year begins and the possibilities are endless.

I wish all of you a Very HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

See ya next year!

Cheese...

2009-12-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

that delectable, delicious milk product that calls to me from far and wide. Here I am....look how tasty I am....smell how good I smell? I admit, I have a love affair with cheese. Cheese is my downfall. It really and truly is. You know those blocks of cheese that you can get at Costco, the 1kg bricks that you think should last a couple of weeks at least. I can eat one of those in a week. Really! Truly! If I buy one of them, I can guarantee you that I will be having cheese with everything. I try to be good and get the light cheese, but still I still woof that thing back as though it was going out of style. Chop off a piece here, chop off a piece there, a nibble here a nibble there and before I knew it the brick was done and I'm saying to myself, where did all the cheese go??? When I rededicated myself to my weight loss regime, I said no more cheese. No matter what, I could not have it in the house. One serving is three points. Three! That's a baked a potato! I was really and truly missing my cheese, I always ask for cheese when I go to Subway, which isn't all that often, but it would give me my cheese fix now and then. I then substituted by eating cottage cheese. NOT THE SAME AT ALL!!!! Let me tell you, as a cheese connoisseur there is no mistaking cottage cheese for regular cheese!

Then, two weeks ago, at my WW meeting I heard about Laughing Cow cheese. Have you heard of this cheese? It comes in a pre packaged servings, and two wedges of this glorious cheese is only 1 point! Two wedges! 1 point!!!! Happy day! I now have my cheese fix. I really and truly do, it isn't the same as Cheddar, or Swiss or Havarti, but it really does give me my cheese fix. As I type this I'm having my evening snack of rice crackers and cheese. Very yummy, very satisfying. And best of all...I get to eat cheese again!

I didn't get online last night but I did make myself go to the gym last night and tonight. Hopefully I'll get over this head cold soon and will back up to full speed again. For now though here is my activity accountability charts for yesterday and today.

Date 28-Dec
Activity Cardio at gym
Duration 35min 34 sec
Time in Zone 36min 16 sec
Avg Heart Rate 127
Max Heart Rate 138
Calories 448

Date 29-Dec
Activity Cardio weights
Duration 1 hr 2min 6 sec
Time in Zone 55min, 50 sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 151
Calories 826

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T13:24:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love getting together with family and friends. Catching up, hosting parties, hosting family. It's great all together. It's been a little rough. I've been fighting a horrible cold for going on two weeks now. Every couple of days I'll start to feel much better and then wham! I feel like I have been hit by a tonne of bricks. This unfortunately has meant that I haven't been getting a lot of activity in. I've simply been too exhausted or feeling too terrible. Even now, I feel as though my head weighs 50 pounds.

HOWEVER, I do need to get my activity going again. I didn't have an official weigh in yesterday as Weight Watchers was closed due to Boxing day, so I stepped on my own scale. A little afraid, as I haven't been tracking what I've been eating, simply because I haven't been feeling well. I did give myself permission not to count points on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I didn't count points, but I really did limit what I ate. I chose carefully and only had a little bit of each delectable item. I also made the HUGE decision not to do any baking this year. That's right, I didn't bake anything.

The way I see it, if I bake it, it means I have to eat it. My husband will eat it as well, but we're both doing so well with our exercises and weight loss that I didn't want to put a roadblock in our way. So... I simply didn't bake. The end result. I was up three pounds yesterday. Yep. Three pounds. I'm not surprised really considering I weighed my self the morning after my second Christmas dinner. I do mean full Christmas dinner. I'm also not disappointed. I knew that I was going to gain. I have six days until I have another official weigh in and that is my goal this week. I'm going to lose those three pounds, no matter how tired I am, or how horrible I feel, I'm going to be going to the gym, each and every night. I have work to do and I have to get back to it!

Great day!

2009-12-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a great day! It really and truly was. I was a little concerned going to weigh in, I wasn't sure if I had managed to lose anything last week due to eating out so much. I did lose though! I lost 1.8 pounds! Total weight loss to date. 21.2 pounds. I'm proud of myself. I've worked hard to lose every ounce of those pounds. I want to hopefully be down 25 pounds by Christmas. I'm not compeletely sure how realistic that is, but we're going to give it my best shot.

Saturday was also my Christmas party. I love entertaining, I love having people over, I LOVE having a house full of people. I had all of that yesterday and more. I tried to make a really concious effort to ensure that I had good healthy choices for people and it paid off. I received numerous compliments on my cooking, which I really do appreciate. However, I also got many complements on the choices of food that people had. One person went so far as to tell me she loved the choices. She had been at another party the night previous where almost all of the food choices were high fat, high calories items. She loved the fact that I had this great big platter of Veggies. Instead of having a variety of cookies and cakes, I had a fruit platter, with chocolate fondue beside it, if someone really wanted it. I love the fact that I poured out about 90% of the chocolate. That made me feel really good!

It was a great succesful evening, everyone left happy, and had a great time. I'm already looking forward to my next big party, BOXING DAY BRUNCH! I'm going to try to find as many healthy choices for that morning as well.

This is this weeks Activity Accountability Chart.

Date Week Dec 6-12
Activity various
Duration 9hr 15min 45 sec
Time in Zone 8hr 10 min 23 sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 144
Calories 6622

Gearing up...

2009-12-11T21:38:00.000-08:00

...for weigh in...and Christmas party!

Yes I have my weigh in tomorrow. I'm hoping to maintain or have a slight loss from last week. Seeing as how often I ate out this week, I'll be happy with anything but a gain. I think I've done more than my fair share of time at the gym this week. As this is Friday, I did go to the gym tonight after dinner to get in my last chance workout. Here is my Activity Accountability Chart for today.
Date Dec 11th
Activity SC&E & Weights
Duration 1hour, 44min, 11sec
Time in Zone 1hour, 23min 11 sec
Avg Heart Rate 126bpm
Max Heart Rate 148 bpm
Calories 1290

I did take the dog for a walk today, but it was a very leisurely walk so I'm not counting it towards my activity for today.

I've spent my last official day on holidays getting ready for our Christmas party. My husband and I host one every year and it sounds like this will be a really good one, we're expecting a lot of people here throughout the evening so I hope it all goes off without a hitch. I spent the day cooking, I've made Cheese puffs, a Cheese ball, turkey balls, and devilled eggs. I'll do the rest tomorrow. This year I wanted to stay pretty healthy so I'm doing a huge Veggie platter with two different types of dips as well as a fruit platter. I fully realize not everyone is watching what they eat so I am making a chocolate fondue for the fruit to be dipped in. I've never done this before so I'm hoping it will work out all right. I'm looking forward to having a houseful of friends and family here to celebrate the season.

I will also attempt to get some activity in tomorrow morning. I'm not making any promises as I still have a fair amount to do to get ready for the party. I also have to borrow some one's vacuum cleaner. Ours died a very stinky death this evening so I'll call around in the morning, and see if my neighbors can lend me theirs. Otherwise I will have to go over to my parents and steal theirs. I also have a birthday party to go to. One of my best friend's daughter is having her 3rd birthday party tomorrow so we will pop over there to see them and give her, hopefully, a great birthday present. Then we'll have to hustle back over here to finish up for our own Shindig. I'm really looking forward to it! Have a super weekend!

Hanging in, and hanging on!

2009-12-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting week. It was my Birthday on Tuesday and technically I've been celebrating since last Saturday. It's hard to stay on plan when you seem to find yourself in a different restaurant every day of the week. You see, I also took the week off of work. I have holiday time I have to use up by the end of the month so with only a couple of weeks left I had to take the time off.

I'm been doing a lot more than just eating in restaurants. I've gotten a lot of activity in this week and I'll be posting that in a few minutes. I've been able to spend a lot of time with my mom and dad this week as well. I love spending time with my family and we just don't seem to get together as often as we used to.

Sunday was great, we went to my parents house to put up their Christmas lights. My sister and her husband soon joined us and then my brother arrived home and we had a great time together. I spent time with my mom on Monday, running around helping her with her Christmas shopping.

Tuesday, I have to admit, I was a big old bump on a log. Besides taking the dog for a walk in the morning, i didn't do a whole heck of a lot. My Husband got me two of my favorite movies on DVD so I popped some popcorn and had a movie watching afternoon. Then we went out for dinner to celebrate my official birthday. We went to a new restaurant in town called RAIN GRILL AND BAR. The food was fabulous, I love the look of the restaurant now, it's so cozy, the service was great as well. If you live in the Abbotsford area, you have got to check out RAIN! You won't be sorry.

Wednesday found me over at my parent's house once again. My dad insisted on taking me out for a birthday lunch. We went to a Greek Restaurant here in town and I really did try to make good choices. I chose a wrap for lunch and was filled with dismay when it arrived with....FRENCH FRIES!!!!!(insert dramatic music here)

I did good though, I ate my wrap and covered my plate with my napkin and when a server was walking by, I asked her to take my plate so that I wouldn't be tempted...I was quite proud of myself.(Insert theme song from Rocky here).

Today found me doing my grocery shopping for our Annual Christmas party, I had to go to the grocery store as well as Costco. Needless to say, my mom and I again, ended up in a restaurant for lunch. I chose the Southwest Chicken salad, no cheese and dressing on the side. It was very good.

All in all, I've had a lot of restaurant food this week, I've gotten used to ordering things how I want them prepared, and I've gotten over the feeling that I'm being demanding. I'm hanging in, and I'm hanging on. I'm hoping for a loss this week, I will be happy with a small one. Saturday will be here before we know it.

To help with the loss, here's my activity accountability charts for the past two days.

Date 9-Dec
Activity Dog walk
Duration 28min 15 sec
Time in Zone 24min 13 sec
Avg Heart Rate 129 bpm
Max Heart Rate 143 bpm
Calories 243

Date 9-Dec
Activity Elliptical
Duration 41min 20 sec
Time in Zone 32min 31 sec
Avg Heart Rate 131
Max Heart Rate 145
Calories 589

Date 9-Dec
Activity Dog walk
Duration 19min 45 sec
Time in Zone 15min 10 sec
Avg Heart Rate 121 bpm
Max Heart Rate 135 bpm
Calories 167

Date Dec 10th
Activity Dog walk
Duration 31 min 55 sec
Time in Zone 28min 12 sec
Avg Heart Rate 131 bpm
Max Heart Rate 151bpm
Calories 345

Date Dec 10th
Activity SC & E & SB
Duration 1hour 22min 14sec
Time in Zone 1 hour 11min 22sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 138
Calories 988

Sticking to plan,

2009-12-07T23:40:00.001-08:00

Is really hard this time of the year. It really is. It's not just all of the Christmas festivities, it also happens to be my birthday this week. In just a few short hours I will be 39 and around here, birthdays get a lot of attention.

It started on Saturday night when a friend who as going to the cookie exchange with me wanted to take me to dinner to celebrate my birthday. Now, when I go to restaurants, 99% of the time, I order salad. My friend made the stipulation that I couldn't have salad and I couldn't have a chicken burger. So I was very choosy with the menu and I picked a great points friendly meal. I'm very happy with that, including dinner out, the sampling of some cookies and the nibbles during the evening, I stayed on plan.

Yesterday was the family get together. Now, when we get together for some one's birthday, the deal is the birthday person gets to choose what they want for their birthday dinner. In previous years, I have asked for the triple cheese lasagna, or the knife and fork home made pizza. Not the best choices by any stretch of the imagination. Keeping my new eating plan in place, I asked my mom for either Cabbage rolls or a stir fry, choices that are good and I know that everyone else would like them as well. I also asked my mom not to get a cake. I didn't want it. I would end up eating more than my fair share of it. Instead, I brought over the cookies from the cookie exchange that we all nibbled on through out the day. Family birthday dinner, and I stayed on plan, I actually didn't use all of my points yesterday. Not bad at all.

I'm off work this week, using up the last of my holiday time for the year, so I spent the day helping my mom with her decorating and Christmas shopping. While we were out and about we ended up at Swiss Chalet for lunch. Now, my most favorite thing to order there is the Hot Chicken sandwich,(the one smothered in gravy) with a double order of fries. So...what did I order today? Go ahead guess, I dare you!

I was good, I was very good and ordered the minestrone soup and the Chicken on a Kaiser. NOW, I know what you're thinking, that's still really high in points, especially with that huge kaiser roll they use. Here's the thing, I picked the chicken off of the bun and only ate 1/4 of the bun, with my soup. Yep, I did great!

Add to this great eating plan, I also got a lot of activity in today! Despite the sub zero weather we're having right now (that I'm really not used to, we don't get it this cold here very often) I took the dog on not one, but two walks.

So without further ado...here is today's Activity Accountability Charts. Yes, Charts! I also went to the gym tonight.

Date Dec 7th
Activity Dog walk 3.5km
Duration 28min 57sec
Time in Zone 26min 33 sec
Avg Heart Rate 133bpm
Max Heart Rate 145bpm
Calories 332

Date Dec 7th
Activity Dog walk 2km
Duration 22min 18 sec
Time in Zone 16min 10sec
Avg Heart Rate 121 bpm
Max Heart Rate 132 bpm
Calories 178

Date Dec 7th
Activity Gym, Cardio
Duration 1hr 4min 52swc
Time in Zone 55min 30 sec
Avg Heart Rate 125bpm
Max Heart Rate 139 bpm
Calories 788

Started the day off right.

2009-12-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

I had a great night last night with my friends and the cookie exchange, I did well. I only had a shortbread cookies, a lemon square, a snicker doodle and a rum ball. We then had some cheese and crackers as well. I did great, I kept myself in check and had a fabulous points day yesterday.

Today started off great, had an English muffin with p-butter on it before heading to the gym, where I worked my buns off. My husband got me Jillian Michaels Hot Bod in a box from costco a little while ago, so today I did Work out 4 for my weights.

Today's Exercise routine.
Stair Climber, 30 minutes on Level 8(the whole time!!!!)
Weights: Wide Grip Lat pull down,
Medium underhand Grip pull down
Pelvic Thrust
BOSU Lunges ( She calls for Jumping lunges, I tried but couldn't do them)
Hill walk at incline of 12 for 1 minute speed 4mph.

Terry pulls
Standing Lat pull down
Back kicks with Shoulder press(I certainly don't have the form that they show on the card.)
Hill walk at incline of 12 for 1 minute speed 4mph.

Low dumbbell rows
Step ups (40 on alternating legs)
Butt Kicks (I really did kick myself in the butt a couple of times LOL!)

Incline Bicep Curls
Ball Crunches
One Leg Pelvic Thrusts
Butt Kicks

Dead Lift
Boat pose ( I couldn't do this, I tried a few times and then did 50 crunches)
Reverse Plank(again, I couldn't do this so I did the regular plank)

Elliptical 25 min on Hill Climb level 7(Goes up to level 17 during the program)

So this is what my Accountable Activity chart for today looks like.
Date December 6th
Activity Gym Workout
Duration 1hr 34min 15 sec
Time in Zone 1hr 27min 48 sec
Avg Heart Rate 142bpm
Max Heart Rate 165bpm
Calories 1442

Have a great day everyone!!!

Hard work pays off!!

2009-12-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

It really and truly does. I worked hard at my program this week, I measured everything, I tracked everything, I took care to order food the way I really needed it to be. I dedicated my self at the gym and I worked hard at the gym, and it paid off. It really and truly did.

I was down 5 pounds this week!!! FIVE POUNDS!!!! YEAH!!! I feel so good, in 7 weeks I have lost 19.8 pounds. That's nothing to sneeze at I gauran darn tee you! I feel great about it.

Did I want to go to the gym every day that I did, no I didn't. Did I want to eat how I did, not really but I stuck to my plan and it worked. It really and truly worked. I am so happy!!!

I worked most of the day and came home early so that I could get my cookies baked for the cookie exchange I'm going to tonight. I baked low fat peppermint macaroons. They are only 1 point per cookie so I feel good about taking them. All in all, as far as cookies go, they are a pretty reasonble choice.

Once the cookies were out of the oven, the sun was still up so I leashed up Angus and off we went for our long walk around the block, the 2.5km walk, we did it in under a half hour, considering how many times the dog stopped to sniff or leave his scent I think we made pretty good time. Again, I didn't have to huff and puff my way up the hill. That feels so darn good!

I've also added up all of my time at the gym and put together my weekly activity accountability chart. The first week of being accountable for my activity and I think I did really great.

Here they are:
Date Dec 5th
Activity Dog walk
Duration 28min 45 sec
Time in Zone 27min 41sec
Avg Heart Rate 135
Max Heart Rate 150
Calories 260

Date Week Nov 29-Dec 5
Activity various
Duration 5hr 30min 55sec
Time in Zone 5hr 10min 19sec
Avg Heart Rate 135
Max Heart Rate 152 avg
Calories 3466

A pretty good calorie burn, and I'm not totally sure if the calories are acurate or not. I would love to be able to find a heart rate monitor similar to the MIO, but also lets me track my average heart rate, max heart rate and time, just as my polar heart rate monitor does.

If anyone knows of a brand that they use, please post a comment and let me know.

Have a great day! Katie:-)

Last Chance workout!

2009-12-04T22:21:00.001-08:00

It is Friday night, which only means one thing. Tomorrow is weigh in day! I had a crazy busy day today and worked in both of my offices. I took lunch with me to work but didn't manage to eat any of it other than my mandarin orange. That was it. I was so hungry when I got home from work, my Dear Husband had started dinner for us so in no time at all we were eating dinner. After dinner we were both very good, we got in the car heading to get desert and changed our minds. I KNOW. We changed our minds, instead we ended up at the grocery store so I could get some baking supplies(making a few dozen cookies for a cookie exchange tomorrow night) and we even passed up on the bakery stuff. I had been tempted to grab a brownie but after seeing 500 calories and 34 grams of fat, holy cow, it will be frosty day in he## before I have a store bought brownie again. Instead I opted for a cadbury thin bar, 2 points, that's all, and then I didn't have it until after I got home from the gym.

I worked hard at the gym tonight. REALLY HARD!!! I did an hour of the Elliptical on the Mountain Climb Setting, the ramp at level 5 and the resistance started at level 6 and went as high as level 15. I was sweating up a storm. After my time on the Elliptical was up it was weight time.

Now the thing with weights, is you have to do then quite intensely to keep your heart rate up, but tonight I did it. I challenged myself on everything I did and upped the weights on everything.

Tonight I did: Triceps Press 21's 45lb's(7 wide, 7 med, 7 inner) x3
Straight arm pull down 65lb's 15 rep x 3
Double Ball Press 15lb's 15 rep x 3
Bosu Squats 25 x 3
Ball wall Lunge 25 x 3
Ball Bench press 30lb's x 15 reps x 3
Curl to ball Crunches 30 x 3
Pec Fly Ball Crunch 15lb's x 15reps x 3
Stair runs 2 ups and downs x 3
Lat pull downs 45lbs x 15 x 3
Superman on the ball, 20 x 3

It was a great work out. Here is my activity accountability chart for today.

Date Dec 4th
Activity Weights and Elliptical
Duration 1hr, 37min, 23sec
Time in Zone 1hr, 36min, 33sec
Avg Heart Rate 137
Max Heart Rate 155
Calories 1204

I'm hoping for a really good weigh in, I've put in a little over 5 hours of intense activity in this week, so here's for hoping for the best!

A day of NSV's...

2009-12-03T22:18:00.001-08:00

For those of you who don't know what a NSV is, it's a Non Scale Victory. It's a victory in my weight loss path that is not necessarily related to my weight on the scale. Today, I had a whole bunch of them. I had the kind of day, that makes you think, I can do this, I will do this!

NSV #1. My loving husband gave me a gorgeous pendant for Christmas two years ago. It's a beautiful necklace but when I first got it, it was too tight so I had to purchase an extender for it. I haven't worn it for quite some time but wanted to wear it today so I put it on, looked in the mirror and the pendant was hidden by my top. I took it off, took off the extender and put the necklace back on and it fits perfectly. The pendant is laying right where it is supposed to! HAPPY DANCE!!!

NSV #2. My husband drove my car last, and as he is much thinner then me, he usually moves the seat up and I move it back, well this morning, I just slid right into the driver's seat. I looked over at the passenger seat thinking perhaps he had moved it back but no, the driver's seat was ahead of the passenger seat so it was where he left it. An added bonus, my tummy isn't rubbing on the steering wheel! HAPPY DANCE!!!

NSV #3. I forgot part of my lunch at home today so I decided I would go to Subway to get a 6inch sub. The closest one is about a kilometre from work so on my lunch I decided to walk to Subway. I walked to Subway, had my lunch and walked back all within a half hour! HAPPY DANCE, HAPPY DANCE, HAPPY DANCE!!!!

NSV #4. My husband and I went to a Christmas dinner for a group that he is a member of. It was a buffet Turkey dinner with all of the trimmings! Turkey, dressing, carnberries, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, beans, salad, deserts! OH MY!!! I did fabulous. I took about 4oz of White Turkey meat, 1/4 cup of mashed potato, salad and green beans. I left the rest off of my plate. No Dressing, no gravy, no rolls, no deserts. AND I LOVED MY DINNER!!!!!

I'm so proud of myself. I did go back for seconds, of salad! That's all I had. I feel so good about facing tonight's challenge head on and doing so well at it. There were even little cups of Hershey's Kisses at our table setting, I LOVE Hershey's kisses, but I didn't have single one. I wasn't even tempted!

Then to top it all of, one of the members of the club who attends the same gym as we do, congratulated me on winning the Greatest Loser contest and told me that I'm looking really good.

What a great way to start the holiday season! Here's to many more NSV's in the future.

Plugging Along

2009-12-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

I'm just plugging along on my journey here, don't mind me, coming through! LOL! It's been an interesting week at work, there's some stuff going on that makes life a little stressful. The difference is, I'm not eating my way through it. I'm really not, I've stayed on points, I've stuck to my plan, I'm doing good. I didn't get in any activity yesterday except for a quick dog walk at 630am, it was dark, cold and we hustled around the block! Even the dog didn't want to be out in the cold, so we did our once around the block in just over 15minutes. I'm not really counting it as exercise because hey, it was less than 20 minutes, and my heart didn't get a pumping. I'm trying to be as accountable as I can here and that means I also have to be brutally honest as well. I didn't get any activity in last night as I went for Christmas dinner get together with 12 ladies from the store where I work. I was a little worried about how I would do so I ate my points lightly and then I was very specific when I placed my dinner order. There weren't alot of points friendly foods on the menu so I ordered chicken cordon bleu and asked for them not to fry it, if they do fry it, then please just bring me a grilled chicken breast. I felt really awkward making demands but I've decided during this season (another Christmas dinner tomorrow night) that I have to be. I have a right to be. I'm trying to get used to being demanding. I'll have to let you know how that goes.

Today's activity Tracker

Activity Weights & Elliptical
Duration 1hr, 15min, 13 sec
Time in Zone 1hr,4min, 33 sec
Avg Heart Rate 131bpm
Max Heart Rate 149bpm
Calories 427

I'm not sure if I should be tracking my calories on my Heart Rate monitor, it is much lower than the calorie count on the machines, especially when I take the time to punch in my weight and age into the machines. I really have to think about it. Any opinions on that?

Have a great day everyone!

Activity Accountability

2009-11-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

Well, it's day two of my activit accountability and I'm doing pretty good I think. Here's the grid for last night at the gym and today's activities.

Date Nov 29th
Activity Gym E&SC
Duration 45min 35 sec
Time in Zone 43min 35sec
Avg Heart Rate 133bpm
Max Heart Rate 151bpm
Calories 267 cal

Date Nov 30th
Activity Gym SC&SB
Duration 57min 58 sec
Time in Zone 46min 45 sec
Avg Heart Rate 124bpm
Max Heart Rate 154bpm
Calories 286 cal

Date Nov 30th
Activity Dog Walk/Jog
Duration 25min 10sec
Time in Zone 13min 37 sec
Avg Heart Rate 122 bpm
Max Heart Rate 207 bpm
Calories 146 cal

Not a bad total for excercise in two days. I'll be doing a weekly accountability chart every Saturday night, showing my weekly progress.

Accountibility

2009-11-29T09:58:00.000-08:00

as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Current English.
1. responsible; required to account for one's conduct. 2. explicable, understandable.

I had a few rough days last week, I made some poor choices that were reflected in my weigh in yesterday. It's time that I knock off my whining and get on with it. On reflection, I started this blog so that I would be accountable for my weight loss, the good days and the bad days. I've also decided that I need to be accountable for my exercise.

I took days off at the gym last week, not a big deal, I got right back on track and worked out. BUT did I work out as hard as I should have? I know that when I went to the gym yesterday I was feeling out of sorts. I was annoyed with myself and to be perfectly honest I wasn't in the mood or the right frame of mind to work out but I "Made" myself go to the gym. I put in a really half-hearted effort. I know I did. I wasn't sweating, I wasn't huffing and puffing, I was on the stair climber going through the motions but I wasn't "Working" at it. This was also reflected in my heart rate. Every time I looked at my hear rate monitor I was at 115-125, which is indeed perfectly acceptable, it's in the target heart range, but when you're used to seeing your average heart rate in the high 130's, to have an average heart rate of 118, means I wasn't really working at it.

I need to be accountable for my work outs, so, I'm going to start tracking them on here for the whole world to see. This was, you can see how hard I was working, really see how hard I was working.

So, let's start. It's 10:02 am, and I've taken the dog for his morning walk, we walked a little over 2.3 km's. I did do a little bit of jogging, I would jog from one lamp post to the next, walk for two lamp posts and repeat. UNTIL we started going up the hill. I'm glad to say that I'm not huffing and puffing to get up the hill like I was six months ago. I didn't have to stop to catch my breath, I just walked at a quick pace with the dog.

So, today's activity accountability chart, looks like this:

Date 29-Nov
Activity Dog Walk
Duration 28min 33 sec
Time in Zone 23min 15 sec
Avg Heart Rate 129
Max Heart Rate 150
Calories 157

I'll be back to add more later. I'll be going to the gym while my husband watches the Grey cup. Until then...have a great day!

Disappointed

2009-11-28T17:06:00.000-08:00

as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Current English.
1.fail to fulfil the desire or expectation of, 2. frustrate. adj. disappointed.

I am disappointed. I really and truly am. I went to my weigh in this morning and here's the thing. If I was on the "Biggest Loser", I would have stayed the same, but because I'm on Weight Watchers, and we measure pounds and ounces, I gained 6 ounces.

Now, to be fair, I know, its only six ounces, it could have been water retention, it could have been this, it could have been that. The plain spoken truth is I, yes I made poor choices.

Therefore I am disappointed in myself. I have no one else to blame. There wasn't any one making me order what I ordered at Restaurants this week. It wasn't like there was a gym guru telling me I wasn't allowed in the gym on Tuesday and Wednesday. I made those choices.

Turned out they were bad choices. BUT...I have changed! The old Katie would have used the slight gain today as a reason to splurge. See I can work so hard and not lose anything...blah...blah...blah. The NEW Katie, or I should say the IMPROVED Katie, has said, all right then, you got lax, you didn't follow program and you got what you deserved. NOW get off your duff, get with the program and smarten up.

Thus I have. I have eaten really well today, I went to the gym, albeit for only 40 minutes, but, I did go. I may go again this evening. I'm toying with the idea, we'll have to wait and see how the evening progresses.

So yes, I'm disappointed in myself for not sticking to program and making poor choices. But I'm not disappointed in how I'm handling the slight gain, this weeks gain, means a bigger loss next week. I will persevere.

Sabotage

2009-11-27T22:56:00.000-08:00

as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Current English:
1.Deliberate damage to productive capacity, exp as a political act. 2, destroy, spoil.

I have weigh in tomorrow morning, I've had four really good weeks of losses, I was feeling confidant. Now, I think I may have sabotaged myself. I purposely didn't go to the gym on Tuesday night. I was tired and I decided I could pass on Tuesday, I had gone to the gym every day for a week prior to that. Everyone needs a rest day now and then. However, on Wednesday, I had a hard day at work, wasn't in the mood to cook so suggested to dear Husband that we go out for dinner. We did, we went to Milestones, which I thought would be a good choice. I chose the Mediterranean Chicken. It's a chicken breast served with Goat's cheese and vegetables. Not bad sounding. I got my meal and the chicken was smothered, and I mean SMOTHERED with cheese. I scraped the majority of it off, and ate my chicken breast and veggies, which were chickpeas and I believe it was bok choy. However there was a vinaigrette type sauce on it. Turns out...not such a good choice 680 Calories, 31!!! Grams of fat, and 6 grams of fibre. Now I took off about 15 of those fat grams as I scraped off the cheese and didn't eat it but still! HOLY COW!!! Needless to say, after our late dinner I didn't go to the gym.

Thursday dawned and I went to the gym, great choice, worked out hard for 90 minutes, Elliptical on Hill Plus level 7 for an hour, 30minutes on the stair climber. Thursday I was doing great, eating right, feeling good. Thursday night comes along, I'm bored, I'm home alone. So what do I do? I pop a bag of smart pop popcorn. Not a bad choice, we're still doing all right, until I melted butter and poured it over top. Yep, stop me now right!?!

Friday....I go to get my hair permed, a friend of mine works in a salon in Burnaby, we go for lunch at Red Robin. I look through the menu, I discard the burgers, the wraps and the Clucks and greens. Instead, I again think I make a right choice by selecting their grilled Ciabatta Chicken Sandwich with a side salad, very light pesto, no mayo. Get home this afternoon, look up the points. Yep...not a good choice for me here either. 876 Calories, 54!!!!!!! Grams of fat, and 4 Grams of Fibre. Now, keeping in mind that I took some things off...this was still a BAD choice.

I did go to the gym tonight, worked hard for 45 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes of weight training and 15 minutes on the stair climber.

Still I worry about tomorrow and how it is that when I'm doing well, I do end up sabotaging myself.

The Battle Rages on....

2009-11-23T23:23:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about my battle with weight loss. Today I'm talking about my other passion. My drive to help find a cure for cancer. Those who know me personally know how strongly I feel about this horrid, horrid disease. There is too much of it and I know two beautiful wonderful ladies who are currently in the fight for their lives. They aren't the first I've known, but they are the ones that I'm trying to help now.

You see a few years ago, I didn't think that much about Cancer, nor it's effects. It was something that was removed from me and mine and that was fine. All that changed almost two years ago when a dear friend lost her mother to Cancer. It was the fourth time that year that someone I knew had lost a loved one and that was when I decided that I had to do something. I had to help, no matter what it was, I HAD to help! That was when I got involved in the Weekend to End Breast cancer. To read about that experience go to www.endcancer.ca/goto/katie.syroid There you will find my blog as I worked and trained in preparation for the 60km 2 day walk to end Breast Cancer.

Fast forward 18 months and through the magic of the Internet I met up with one of my old high school friends, I was excited to catch up with her and in turn devastated to know that she had been fighting cancer for the past several years. Her form of cancer is incurable. She takes weekly Chemo treatments to keep the cancer in check, without them she would only have a matter of months to live. Despite that, she is one of the greatest people to be around. She's always happy, cheerful and has nothing but good things to say. I love spending time with her and that's why this year I'm forming a team for the Relay for Life. It's a relay where you and your team walk through the night to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. Our team here in Abbotsford is called Barb's Buccaneer's. Barb is the dear friend who introduced me last year to Relay. It was too late then for me to get a team together and get fundraising done. But this year the call is going out. We need ten team members for the relay Barb is going to be walking with us through the night. I would love to have a great big huge team. So please, think about it. If you're in the Abbotsford BC area, go to www.relayforlife.ca select join a team, and look for Barb's Buccaneer's. We would love to have you!!! As an added bonus, right now, you can register for the Relay for only 10.00!!!! That's less than half the usually registration fee. That's just two coffee's at Starbucks! Think about it, join us, or join a Relay for Life team in your area. You'll feel better doing it!!

Button up Pants!

2009-11-23T16:17:00.000-08:00

I can now wear Button and Zipper pants without any elastic!!! How flipping cool is that. I have only worn pull on pants for as long as I can remember. I think I may have been in my early twenties the last time I wore jeans, but holy smokes I'm wearing a pair of Black pants that have no elastic, no spandex material, but an honest to goodness button and zipper closure. I was so excited about this when I tried them on Saturday! I bought them ages ago (2005ish?) and there they hung in my closet unworn as they were way too tight and they just looked dreadful, or so I thought. I work my new pants out with my friends on saturday and then I wore them yesterday afternoon when my husband and I went to see Blind Side. (An excellent movie by the way, I would highly recommend it!)

It is just so amazing that little things can make me this happy!

I guess I now have to buy a new skinny skirt and new zip up pants!

Successful Day!

2009-11-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, I had a successful day yesterday. Started out with a great weigh in, got all the chores done and then it was "Girl" time. I went to the Christmas Craft Fair with two friends, we walked around the exhibits twice, bought some things, we had a lot of fun. I was very proud of myself for what I didn't buy. I didn't purchase the Fudge, the Jams, the Jellies, the Candies, the Chocolates. None of it. I didn't even sample any of it at all! I was so pleased, in the past I probably would have purchased and sampled my way around and this time I didn't. YEAH! I was very happy with that. Then it was back to our house for dinner. When we got back to the house we were all straving, dinner would be a while as I had to soak the basmati rice. Instead of going for chips etc. I cut up veggies for us and we had a great veggie platter to eat as an appetizer. Dinner was Fajita's with spanish rice, followed by Jello Nonfat Butterscotch pudding. This was followed a while later with some popcorn for watching during the movie.

I had been worried that the day would be a bit of a challege ,but I made it through with flying colors. I had acocunted for my points yesterday morning, carefully planning what I would have and how many points I could use for each meal. I was worried that I would overindulge and go over my points, but I did really well. I even counted the couple of nibbles of cheese I had while I was shredding the cheese up for the fajitas.

It was a sucessful day, and now I know, that I can have my girls nights without having to worry so much about losing control. Now I just have to plan the next one!

Weigh in day.

2009-11-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

Good Saturday morning! It was weigh in morning this morning. There's something about weighing in on a Saturday morning at 8am that just starts your day off right. I think it's because I lost another 2.4 pounds for a total loss in five weeks of 15.4pounds!

~~~~~~~~Happy Dance, Happy Dance, Happy Dance~~~~~~~

It just totally made my morning, from weigh in I went and did my saturday errands which included Safeway, Mad Butcher, Costco and Petsmart. When I got home, instead of trying to haul all of the bags up the stairs at once as I usually do, I took one bag at a time. One bag and I ran up and down the stairs, easier than it sounds but when you have a cat and dog who want to get in on the action it makes it a little interesting. However, ten trips later dodging the cat and running around the dog, I had all the bags of groceries upstairs.

It's amazing how much easier things become. When we first moved into the house two years ago, I would never have considered running up and down the stairs once, let alone ten times! It makes you feel good when you start to do things you never could have done!

Great Day!

2009-11-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

I had a great day! I worked the late shift at work today, which means I worked from 1-9pm. This morning was fabulous. I took the dog for a walk and then headed to the gym. 30minutes on the Elliptical, Level 6(I do the hill climb so it starts at six and goes as high as 17) It was awesome. Then I did my weights. The full meal deal, squats, lunges, triceps, lat pull downs, staight arm pull downs, bosu curl ups, hammer pivots, cross arm lifts, plank, superman, cross knee crunches, ball crunches, sliders, Pec fly crunch, all of them three times, then I did 30minutes on the stair climber, started today on level 6 for about 15 minutes and then boosted it up to level 8. When I was done ten minutes shy of 2 hours in the gym, I hustled home and got ready for work. My work day went awesome. Not only did I make a nice big sale but I didn't get hungry. Not at all. Usually on a night shift I'll start to get nibbly, but that wasn't the case tonight, mind you, I did drink 4 16oz bottles of water during work today, so that may help.

Tomorrow is my weigh in day. I'm looking forward to it and I'm hoping for a really good number this week. I went to the gym 6 out of 7 days. Not too bad if I may say so myself.

I Did it!

2009-11-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

I went to the gym this morning at 6am. I must be crazy! I had planned last night that if I was up I would TRY to go to the gym. When I first woke up, I thought, no, I don't want to. Mind you when I first woke up it was before 530am, after the dog jumped on the bed and cuddled for a few minutes he needed out, so up I got and took him out the back for his morning business. I came back in and was about to climb back into bed when I decided, what's the point? I'm not going to go back to sleep, my husband has to get up in a few minutes and that means I'll spend the next two and a half hours sitting on the couch before I have to go to work.

Instead I got washed, dressed, kissed my husband good bye and headed to the gym. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do when I got there but I figured it would come to me. Well, it turns out at my gym, the ladies only section is much busier in the mornings then it is in the afternoons. Besides two treadmills, the only other cardio machine available was the Stair Stepper machine. Now I didn't feel like walking, I don't really enjoy walking on the treadmill, not sure why I don't but that's the way it is. Instead, I stood at the stair climber, psyched myself up, climed on and started climbing. I did great!!! I set it up for 45 minutes at level 3 to start, moved it up to level 4, then level 5 and by the time I was done I was at level 6. Level 6!!! for 45 minutes!!! The first time I climbed onto that little machine about 9 months ago, I couldn't even do 5 minutes on level 1. Look at me go!!!

On the Road again...

2009-11-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

..well not literally, but I was back at the gym today. My husband and I headed up after dinner to put in a cardio work out. 45minutes on the Elliptical today for a total of 3.4 miles. YAHOO!

I get so excited when I see the mileage creeping up on the machines that I'm on. It give me such a sense of accomplishment. I guess it's because when I take the dog for a walk, it's not just full steam ahead. I have to go his pace, let him do his doggy business, say hi to the other dogs, sniff around etc, that a 1km walk will take 15 minutes or so.

Today I did pretty good. I went knowing that I was just going to be doing cardio today, my hands are still too sore to be of much use so doing weights today was out. I'm hoping that my medication will have kicked back in by tomorrow and I'll be able to do weights and my version of a 'Last Chance Workout' on friday before Saturday mornings' weigh in.

I feel good having gone to the gym, I also have points left over for the day as well, so instead of popping popcorn once again, I stopped by starbucks on my way home and used my points there on a tall 1/4 sweet, non fat, no whip, peppermint white chocolate mocha. It was very yummy and used up 5 points.

I won't be going to the gym tomorrow as I'm doing a girls night with my sister, my mom and some mutual friends, we're going for dinner and then to see a theatre production of Pride and Prejudice. I'm quite excited about it and I already have my day and my meals planned out for tomorrow. It's going to be a great day!

Guilty

2009-11-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 3, causing a feeling of guilt, 4 having commit ed a specific offense.

I was feeling guilty tonight. I haven't done anything wrong, but I didn't go to the gym. I probably should have, I most certainly could have but I didn't. I did NOT go to the gym. I didn't go intentionally. I was sore, and tired, and I chose not to go to the gym. Instead one of my friends came over talk and to watch the Biggest Loser with me. I thoroughly enjoyed having her over, I enjoyed watching the show with someone who enjoys the show. We laughed, we talked, we had a good time. The whole time though there was this little voice in the back of my mind saying,'you should be at the gym', 'you didn't go to the gym.','why aren't you at the gym'.

I was feeling guilty, simply because I made a decision not to go to the gym. I fully realize that I have nothing to feel guilty about. I've gone to the gym at least 6 times in the past week. I know that I don't have to go to the gym every single day of the week. I know that it is perfectly fine not to go to the gym all the time.

It's funny how when we're losing weight that we do this to ourselves. You skip going the gym once and you feel bad. You eat something that you really shouldn't and you feel bad about it and then we punish ourselves. We let the guilt for having done or not having done something take over, and we make ourselves feel bad, sometimes we punish ourselves for it.

Tonight is different though, in the grand scheme of things, yes I didn't go to the gym, I feel bad about it. It's not that big of a deal though. I'll go tomorrow and I'll enjoy it, or at least I'll tell myself I'm enjoying it.

Skinny Clothes

2009-11-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

...we all have them, whether it be a pair of jeans, a dress, a skirt, each and every one of us have our "Skinny Clothes". The clothes that are just that little bit too snug when they were purchased, couldn't quite do up the zipper but we wanted them just that much. When you do wear them and they fit you feel as though you could conquer the world. You know what I'm talking about right????

Well, I have a skinny skirt. I bought it many, many, many years ago, it's a classic pencil skirt, a cute little slit on the back, no waistband and zips up on the side with an eye and hook to keep it all together. When I bought it, it didn't fit, I knew it didn't fit but it was on clearance, I loved the color and I wanted it. So I bought it. When I was first losing weight back in 2005, before I had my car accident I was able to wear my skinny skirt a couple of times. I was thrilled then and very proud to be able to wear my skinny skirt. Which by the way is a size 24. Now I realize, that isn't a lot of people's idea of a skinny skirt, but when you usually by the elastic waistband, yards of material, a size 24 pencil skirt is your skinny skirt!!

Since January, every once in a while, I'll pull out the skinny skirt and see how we are doing. I have to admit, when I pulled it out of the closet Monday morning, I didn't have a lot of high hopes for it. However, I slipped it on(notice I said slipped, there was no pulling, tugging or jumping up and down!), did up the hook and eye and zipped it up. I stood on my tippy toes to look in the bathroom mirror to see how it looked, then went through to my husband's office to see what he thought. He said it looked good, it wasn't too tight, there were no bulges or tight seams. So, I wore my skinny skirt to work.

Yes indeed. I wore my skinny skirt, and I'm proud of it, one more goal accomplished!

Now, I have to go shopping (insert evil laugh here) and get myself another skinny skirt, maybe, just maybe this time I'll buy it in a regular department store!

Setting Goals

2009-11-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

Have you ever sat down with a notepad and pen and thought,'I need to set some goals.'? I am a goal setter. I readily admit it. I set a goal, I envision what I have to do to reach that goal, I work out my plan and start working towards it. This doesn't mean that I always reach my goals mind you. Sometimes I realize they aren't viable for me at that particular point in time, or they don't make sense or they are just all together are unrealistic.

However...when someone tries to tell me I can't do something, that I can't reach my goals, that it isn't attainable, well they don't know what they are talking about. Take for example the first year I did the Weekend to End Breast Cancer. It is a 60km walk through the streets of Vancouver. I signed up for the walk in January of 2008, shortly after learning that one of my best friends mom had been diagnosed with Cancer yet again and had only weeks to live. I decided then and there, at that moment that I had to do something about cancer, not just Breast Cancer, but all Cancers. In the middle of the night, too upset for my friend to sleep I saw the commercial for the Weekend to End Breast cancer, I came through to the computer and immediately signed up for it.

When my husband got up the next morning, I told him what I was doing and he gave me his total support, whatever I needed him to do to help me he would do. It was great, but there were others who told me I COULDN'T do it. I was too heavy, I was too out of shape, I would hurt my knee's, my ankles, on and on the list went. Every time one of those people told me I couldn't do it, I trained harder, walked further to build up my endurance and I DID IT!! I did it not just in 2008, but I did it this year as well, and I've already signed up for next year. I put my training plan in place, I trained for it and I succeeded.

I've come to realize that my weight loss is just like that. I want to lose weight. Great, but HOW am I going to do it? I didn't have a plan, I had a goal, Yes, I want to lose a hundred pounds. A huge amount when I think of it like that but that's what I HAVE to do. So how am I going to do it? Now that I've set my goal, I have to set out my plan, and I have to have mini goals along the way. I started out having a rough day today, I woke up hungry and craving chocolate, the craving bugged me all morning and into the afternoon. I finally satisfied the craving, not the way I once would have by going to the store and buying two or three chocolate bars and eating them. I went for coffee with my husband, we bought an oat fudge bar and split it between us. I knew going in what I was going to do, I had a plan, and that kept me on goal for today. Today's goal was to stay within my regular points allowance, I didn't want to go over and have to use some AP's or Flex points. I wanted to stay on plan, that was the goal for today.

The goal for tomorrow, is the same, stay on plan and go to the gym, spend an hour exercising.

The goal for next week, to lose two pounds at weigh in.

The goal for next month, to reach my 5% of me lost goal.

The goal for January, to start training for my walk, and my run. Yes my run, I've set a goal for myself. I'm going to actually RUN the CIBC Run for the cure next year. All 5km's of it. This year I walked it with some very special ladies. Next year, I want to run it.

For me, it's all about setting goals, and planning for achieving those goals. One day at a time will soon add up to a month at a time. It's not that hard when you break it down that way. At least I'm hoping it won't be as hard.

Proud

2009-11-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

I had to change my weigh in day this week from Thursday night to Saturday morning. I have a few work shifts at night coming up and I'll be missing my weigh in so I think I'm going to make the move to Saturday mornings. I went to my first Saturday morning weigh in at 8am yesterday and found success. I was down 2.8lbs. That's a total of 13.1 pounds in four weeks. That's a pretty good average.

I felt good about my weigh in all day, it carried me through the weekly chores of grocery shopping,etc.

My husband and I decided to go for lunch at Tim Horton's. It is a little over a kilometre away, we drove down, I ordered the mushroom soup and I only ate half of it. That was enough, I was satisfied. Then I made the decision to walk home. It only took 14 minutes, and I once again made it up the hill without huffing and puffing along. I was happy, happy, happy.

After dinner, I made myself go to the gym. I really didn't want to but I did it! I did my 45 minutes on the Elliptical and then moved over to the treadmill where I am trying to learn how to run. Now, I realize so some people that may sound funny. Learn to run? What's to learn, you just run. But Trust me, when you have very rarely run in your life, you have to learn how to do it properly. Especially when you are my size. I had a trainer a few years ago, before I had my car accident who had put together a learn to run program for me. I pulled it out this week and looked through it and started at it.

I walked for the first minute, ran for 30 seconds, walked for a minute to recover, ran for 45 seconds, walked for a minute and a half, ran for 1 minute, walked for 2 minutes. You get the idea. I'm not ready for a race yet, I'm fairly certain it would make me keel over. However, I'm proud of what I accomplished today.

Choice

2009-11-13T22:32:00.000-08:00

as defined by the same dictionary, as before, obviously the only dictionary I have LOL;-)
1a. act of choosing, b. thing or person chosen, 2. range from which to choose, 3. power of opportunity to choose.

The power of opportunity to choose...wow! What a clear message, the POWER of OPPORTUNITY to CHOOSE. I have the power to choose the right thing. I have the power to choose the wrong thing. That's a pretty heavy concept. I have the opportunity to choose the right or wrong thing.

I think for a huge part of my life, I did choose the wrong thing. A lot of time I did choose the right thing. Right now, today, yesterday and tomorrow, I'm choosing to do the right thing for me.
It doens't matter that I am choosing the proper food to eat, choosing to go to the gym or stay at home. I have the power over what I choose to do.

I chose to go to the gym tonight,I was tired, I didn't really feel like going. I could have stayed home, watched tv, a movie, or read a book, but I made the choice to go to the gym. I feel better for it, I moved this tired body of mine around for almost two hours. I did 30 minutes on the Elliptical, I did 15 minutes on the Stairclimber, I did 45 minutes of weights and finished up with 15 minutes on the treadmill. The choice I made today, will affect my tomorrow.

I'm glad I got active today, because I want to choose the better tomorrow!

Rememberance Day

2009-11-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

Those who know me personally know that I have family members, and friends in various military branches in both the UK and here at home. This poem always brings me to tears, especially when I think of those who have the job that Gary and Daniel currently have that others I know have had in the past. Please take a moment today to reflect on those who have lost their lives, loved ones, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin, mother or father to give us the life we live.

THE FINAL INSPECTION

The soldier stood and faced God,

Which must always come to pass.

He hoped his shoes were shining,

Just as brightly as his brass.

'Step forward now, you soldier,

How shall I deal with you ?

Have you always turned the other cheek ?

To My Church have you been true?'

The soldier squared his shoulders and said,

'No, Lord, I guess I ain't.

Because those of us who carry guns,

Can't always be a saint.

I've had to work most Sundays,

And at times my talk was tough.

And sometimes I've been violent,

Because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny,

That wasn't mine to keep...

Though I worked a lot of overtime,

When the bills got just too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help,

Though at times I shook with fear.

And sometimes, God, forgive me,

I've wept unmanly tears.

I know I don't deserve a place,

Among the people here.

They never wanted me around,

Except to calm their fears.

If you've a place for me here, Lord,

It needn't be so grand.

I never expected or had too much,

But if you don't, I'll understand.

There was a silence all around the throne,

Where the saints had often trod.

As the soldier waited quietly,

For the judgment of his God.

'Step forward now, you soldier,

You've borne your burdens well.

Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,

You've done your time in Hell.'

Author Unknown~

Emotional

2009-11-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

as defined by the Oxford dictionary of Current English.
1. of or epressing emotions. 2 especially liable to emotion. 3 arousing emotion.

I have been emotional today. Actually that's an understatement! I HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL today. That's better. Let us be honest. I've been a raging hormonal emotional basketcase for most of the day. Started crying this morning for no real good reason, this gave me a headache which made me miserable. HOWEVER...I did succeed. I did not give in as I once (in the not so distant past) would have done. I didn't cry into a Venti- Extra Hot- Peppermint- White Chocolate Mocha with extra whip. No, I did not. Instead, I opted for a Tall Earl Grey tea, with a splenda in it. I did not reach for chocolate or chips, or a hamburger or french fries or any of the other bad foods I would have chosen. Instead, I made myself a good, well balanced lunch, Salad, cottage cheese, fruit cup, pear, and WW cheese twists. I ate my lunch slowly through the day, one item at a time over the course of a couple of hours.

When I got home from work I made a nice healthy dinner for my husband and I, then I met my brother for coffee, where I once again, forfeited my once upon a time Ambrosia for my soul White Chocolate Mocha, for a tall Earl Grey tea with a splenda. Then...then, I the queen of excuses, the person who had a rough day, didn't want to do it but had to go anyway...I went to the gym at 8pm. I did, I went to the gym and I got on the Elliptical and I went and I went and I went, all the while watching The Biggest Loser while I worked out. For 55 minutes I worked my fanny off, and then I headed home, and instead of popping my usual bag of popcorn for a snack, I drank some more water, and had some fruit. I did great.

Emotional eating used to get the best of me. Upset, heck yes, I'll take that quarter pounder with cheese, super size my fries and a diet coke, or that Large bag of Doritos, plus the Fruit and nut chocolate bar.

Today I got the upper hand on Emotional eating and didn't give in to it's lure. I did it. I conquered, and although emotional...I didn't eat that way. I feel good!

I feel good!

2009-11-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

na na na na na na na. I knew that I would....all right I'm no godfather of soul, but I feel good! Actually, I feel great!!!!

I had a great weekend off from work. I had an epiphany on friday when I got to buy much smaller clothes! (Yes, I am still doing the happy dance about that.) Last night I hosted a dinner party with three guests, I made a fabulous meal, everyone went home satisfied and happy. I was even asked for the recipe for my home made Ceasar dressing and for my pasta! I stayed within my points, I actually had points left over! How about that!

I had a great day today hanging out with my husband, we didn't do much, but we did go and get some books! YEAH! I love books, that's another subject for another day though. I took my mom grocery shopping. I made 2 new recipes from my newest cookbook purchase (The Best of Chef at Home! I highly recommend it). After dinner I was tired, and almost...almost...almost...didn't go to the gym.

However, the queen of excuses, had no excuse today so off to the gym I went, and I had another fabulous work out and another epiphany! Actually it was more like two of them!

The first one, as I'm on the elliptical, my heart rate monitor kept beeping at me, I looked at it wondering what was wrong and it had my heart rate still quite low after about five minutes, so I bumped up the resistance to the next level, waited a few minutes and it was still beeping at me. I had to bump the Elliptical up to level 5 to get my heart rate into the zone! WAHOO!!! For those of you who don't know why I'm so excited about this, it's because I'm healthier and I have to work harder! YEAH!!!

The next epiphany came when I was working with my weights and I realized, I can't watch my form properly. Why you ask? Because my shirt is literally hanging on me! It's too big! When I was doing my wall push up's I glanced in the mirror to make sure that my butt was in the proper position and my shirt looked like a dress. It was billowing out in front of me when I went up and when I went down!

I'm literally shrinking right before my eyes....How about that, that is just one more reason to feel good!

The number 5.

2009-11-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

The number five has come to mean alot to me today.

Yesterday was November 5th and it was Weigh in day. I went to my weigh in at 530 and this week I lost 1.4 pounds giving me a three week total of 10 pounds lost.

Today I went shopping for a couple of clothing items. I normally hate clothes shopping as I always get upset by the clothes sizes and I get mad at myself for needing the largest size in the large ladies store. Today I bought 5 items. And I'm very, very excited about those five items. You see, the last time I bought myself some shirts, I had to buy the 5X. Wow, even typing that was hard, I WAS a 5X, sometimes it was a 6X, if they didn't have any 5's, I'd buy the 6 as a 4 was too small. I've been working out since December, losing weight slowly but surely, so I decided I would be brave and try out the 4's. I figured I'd lost some so why not tempt fate and try for the smaller size. I found a couple of really cute tops for work and carried them back to the change room.

This is when I had my epiphany. My clothes, and I mean ALL of my clothes...are way to big on me now...hehe.

You see I put on the first size 4X, and it was too big, Pulled it off and checked the tag, yes, it was indeed a 4x. I put on the next top, it was also too big. The sales clerk went to get me the 3x, to try that on, and that was too big! I was really excited and a little apprehensive, was the 2 going to fit, would it be too tight...I waited in anticipation as the sales clerk came back and handed me my shirts over the door. These were the coveted 2's. Something that I don't remember ever wearing as an adult, I honestly don't. But here we go, I pulled the 2 on over my head, put my arms in, turned around, looked in the mirror, and promptly burst into tears.

The sales clerk heard me, and asked concerned if I was all right. I called through to her that I was, I was just having a moment and could she please do me one more favour. She said of course, and I asked her to please get me the 1X. The 2X was too big! In tears, I plopped down on the change room chair, grabbed my cell phone and promptly made two phone calls. The first to my husband. I'm in a 1 I yelled. He was exicted for me, thrilled for me even! Then I called my mom....sometimes a girl just needs to talk to her mom. My mom was thrilled for me as well, as was the sales clerk who had come back with the precious size 1X in her hands. She then looked at the new gym pants I had yet to try on and hurried off, she was back in a flash as I was staring at myself once again in the mirror, wearing the amazing 1X shirt. She had brought back three different sizes of the pants, guessing correctly that I had no idea what size pant I wear now either. Two sizes down in pants this shopping trip as well.

I'm feeling great, and riding a high on my clothing expedition when I decide to head to the gym. I plug in my headphones, jump on the elliptical and work hard, and I do mean hard, I'm huffing and puffing, sweating and steaming along. When my time was up, an hour had passed and I had gone 5.12 miles. Yes indeed, 5.12 miles, for some people that may not be much, but for me, with these little legs, 5.12 miles is thrilling.

I'm thinking I need to get myself a lottery ticket tomorrow and make sure that there are a lot of 5's in there!

Fifteen things to do when I've lost the weight!

2009-11-04T06:36:00.000-08:00

I was having a bad day on Sunday, I was working alone, it was quiet and I was bored. On my lunch break I posted on the WW message board that I was bored and therefore wanted to munch. One of the ladies posted back and told me to make a list of ways my life will be better for losing the weight. Well I made that list and then I made another, and then another and then finally this one. A list of 15 things that I don't do now because I feel that my weight is holding me back from doing them.

Things I'l be able to do when I've lost enough weight.
1. Take the dog for a Run.
2. Wear a bathing Suit.
3. Shop in regular clothing stores.
4. Wear a shorter skirt.
5. Go on Amusement Park Rides
6. Go Horseback riding
7. Go Kayaking
8. Sit cross legged
9. Walk up the escalator at work without getting winded..
10. Run the CIBC Run for the Cure instead of walking it.

So here is my challenge. Make your own list of things to do and mark them off, one by one as you accomplish them so that you can see how well you're doing.

The GYM!!!

2009-11-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

The Gym...a place where we go to ritualistically torture ourselves. We know we should go, we know it will help us get healthy, stay in shape etc.etc.etc. We resist going as often as possible. At least I do, I make excuses, oh I'm tired, my knee is sore, my back is sore, I don't have time, you name the excuse, I have probably used it at least once. Here's the funny thing though, you go dragging your butt, you force yourself onto a machine, and thirty minutes later you are done and feeling great. Sometime you feel so great that you restart the machine and do another 30 minutes, then another. You feel great when you are done stretching! You bob along home feeling great, you feel better, you sleep better, you are reaping the benefits.

So why is it then, that I hate going so much. I had to make myself go to the gym last night. I did not want to go, but seeing as how I skipped Thursday(weigh in night no time, never mind the fact that I'm home from weigh in by 630), I skipped Friday( went for dinner and had to go grocery and pet food shopping, never mind that I was home by 8 and the gym is open until 11!) I didn't go Saturday (just had to hand out the treats to all of the little kids roaming the streets in their costumes, oh yeah, we shut it down just before 8, again the gym is open until 11!) Didn't I tell you I was the queen of excuses?!?!?!? I forced myself to go last night, and what did I do? I did an hour, yes an hour on the elliptical, then I was feeling so good that I moved over to the Stairmaster for 20minutes. I stretched and I felt great and I reaped the rewards for it! I felt good and I slept really well.

So tonight I will repeat the whole process, but tonight, lucky me! I get to work with weights as well. I get to lie on a ball and do crazy things with my body. It will be fun, I'll feel good afterwards...but, I'll come up with a few excuses before I make myself go the gym.

Temptation!!!

2009-10-31T22:43:00.000-07:00

as defined by the Oxford Dictionary of Current English;1Tempting or being tempted; incitement esp.to wrong doing. 2.attractive thing or course of action. 3.archaic putting to the test.

I faced tempation today and I persevered! I was faced with multiple temptations today but I held my own and go through each one!

I didn't give in to the free candy in the lunch room at work! I didn't give in to the "fun" size chocolates that were screaming my name as I handed them out to all of the kids who came to the door. I didn't give in to the various "Snack" packs of chips that were being handed out either!

I faced tempation, and I won!!!

Yeah me!!!

Now to get through the next few days without ferreting out those little bitty chocolate bars and bags of chips that my husband so lovingly hid in order to help me out! Tempation...I made it through it the day!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I skipped a day...

2009-10-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

I know, I skipped yesterday. I was feeling disappointed with myself. You see, I went to my weekly Weigh In and meeting. I was hopeful that the two hours I did in the Gym Wednesday would pay off and I would have another substantial loss. I know...I had a MASSIVE loss in my first week back on program so I shouldn't have had my hopes up to high, but I did. I was hoping to see a two or a three. I knew right away it wasn't good when the person filling in my book didn't use her calculator to do any adding or subracting. In fact she didn't even ask how my week had been. Just gave me one of those looks that said please don't freak out when you see this. I peeked at the numbers upside down and did a double take, blinked and looked again. I stayed the same!!! THE SAME!!!! I did an awesome work out on Wednesday night. I spent almost two full hours in the gym and I stayed the same!!!! I was not in a good frame of mind. I tried to not let it bother me while I was at my meeting. I didn't let it bother me on my drive home. I didn't let it bother me while I had my dinner. When did I let it bother me? When I made popcorn, melted butter, poured it over the top and added some white cheese popcorn seasoning to the bowl. I was mad. Then what happened. I got madder still! Man I hate that. I get mad at myself for getting mad and then I go and do something like that. It really wasn't all that bad. I tracked it! I put my points down! I was still good, within my daily points.

Today was a great day. Stayed on track and made all the right choices. So here is to today...and a great tomorrow!

Willpower

2009-10-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

as defined by Oxford Current English Dictionary; control by deliberate purpose over impulse.

Willpower...I excercised some today! YEAH ME!!!

I had the day off of work today but had to go in for a little while as there was a sales rep coming in to see me and my staff. While I was there, another Sales rep arrived, candy bag in tow. I do mean Bag...She had this Big, huge bag filled with candy. The good kind of candy, the Crispy Crunch, Oh Henry, Coffee Crisp kind of candy. The kind of goody that I would normally take a couple and say thank you very much for the treat kind of candy.

Did I do it...NO! I said no! How about that?!?!? Not only did I say no once, I said it twice! Yep!
I said no to free chocolate, to free candy, to CHOCOLATE!!!!!

I excercised my willpower and I felt good about it. I didn't cave, I didn't give in. I stood my ground and made mysel say no.

I'm feeling pretty darned good about that!

Willpower...today I had some!

Change...

2009-10-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

according to Oxford's Dictionary of Current English; 1a) a making or becoming different b)alteration or modification.

I started on this weight loss journey because I wanted to change. That was it. I didn't know what I wanted to change but I knew I had to change "Something" so that I could be different than what I was.

Change...it seems like such a simple word but it is actually quite hard to do. To change yourself, to change your body, to change your habits, to change your lifestyle. All of these things are very easy to say...they are actually very difficult to do. Think about it for just a moment. What if you had to "Change" one thing in your life and by doing that it meant that you could no longer have/eat/drink/enjoy XYZ. Do you really think you could change that one thing? Do you think it would be easy for you to do?

This is what I'm struggling with today. How do I permanently change the things that have made me the way that I am? How do I go about making that change? How do I succeed in making that change?

Change....a six letter word that is one of the hardest things to do in the world.

Energy...

2009-10-25T16:29:00.000-07:00

according to the Oxford Dictionary, current English edition, Energy 1.capacity for activity, force, vigour. 2. Capacity of matter or radiation to do work.

Energy...I wish I had a lot more of it. Today has been one of those lazy days. We slept in this morning, which is pretty unusual in itself. I had a lazy morning, doing not a whole lot of anything. My afternoon has been again, a lazy afternoon. Spent most of it watching tv.

Energy...I have a dog with lots of it. Bless his heart when he gets going, he really gets going. I was feeling bad for being a lazy bump on a log today so I bundled up against the cold and drizzle and out we headed for our walk.

Energy....what I lack, the dog more than makes up for. He pulled me along into the park, running side to side as we went sniffing away. I know by the way he kept looking over his shoulder at me he was saying, 'come on mom move it! Puppy dog wants to run!'

Energy...what I'm going to have to find when I head to the gym this evening to work out. Today is cardio day. 45minutes on the Elliptical and 15 minutes on the torture device also known as the Stairmaster.

Energy...I could sure use some today.

How does this happen?

2009-10-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen someone who appears to be in rough shape and ask yourself, how did they let that happen? It could be the homeless person on the street corner, the drunk stumbling out of the bar, or the fat person squeezing them self into a booth at a restaurant.

How do they let this happen to themselves? I honestly don't have an answer. I mean, personally, I couldn't tell you when I became fat. I don't remember every being "Skinny" to start with. In elementary school I was the fat kid that all the other kids made fun of. In High School, I was the fat kid that no one wanted to hang out with. The funny thing is....I never really saw myself as fat. I just didn't. When I looked into a mirror, I just saw me. Me for who I am. Me for who, I suppose I will always be.

The outer shell never really paid any part on who I was on the inside. Did I like high school? Not on your Nelly. I would never want to go back to that time period in my life. Never, ever, ever. I hated it. I hated it so much that to this day, I don't look back at it with any real fond memories at all. Yes there were things I enjoyed doing. Being in the high school band, the concert festivals, the few friends I had, some of my teachers that I had fun with. But being the "Fat" kid, doesn't mean that you have a lot of fun.

So...how did I become the size that I am? I couldn't tell you, the simple reason being. I just don't know. I came to the severe realization of how fat I was several years ago. My mother, sister and I went on a road trip over to Victoria. I had never been and I enjoyed going with them. I had a great weekend. Until I saw the pictures. I saw one picture of my mom and I, and that was when I saw myself. I mean I really and truly saw myself. I didn't recognize the face of the person in the pictures. That was not the face that I saw looking back at me. How heavy was I? I don't know, you see I was too embarrassed to weigh myself. I didn't want to know how much I weighed. I dieted on and off for several weeks before deciding to join Weight Watchers for the first time as an adult. (Oh yes, I've done Weight watchers before, as a teenager, I've done the Jenny Craig, the Fit for life, the Grapefruit diet, the Richard Simmons Deal a meal. I've done it all.) That was really the journey that changed my life.

I joined a gym for the first time ever, I watched what I ate, I wen to the gym. I got a personal trainer. I did it all and it made me a better person. It changed my personality, the way I saw myself and the way I saw others. It gave me the courage to date for the first time. I am very glad for that little item. This is when I met my dear, loving Husband Gary. With his love, and support, I'm back at it again, this time, I will succeed. Why this time? Because I know who I am, I know where I want to be.

Week One

2009-10-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

Alright, so technically for me it's now week two, but hey, give a girl a break, it's taken me a week to decide if I wanted to let the world in on what I'm doing. I'm talking of course about being back OP or on Plan . Plan, what plan? My weight control plan, also known as Weight Watchers. I re-joined last week after being frustrated and disgruntled trying to do it on my own. I was finding that I didn't have any accountability so did it really matter if I had that bag of chips or that chocolate bar, or cake or pie or...all right you get the idea!

I threw myself back into my plan and here I am, morning of week 2, thrilled to pieces and trying to decide what to do next. My first week weigh in was fabulous. I lost 9 pounds. YES 9 pounds! How is that for being back on plan? I did discover last week, that I need to do a lot of planning to make this work. Planning my meals, cooking meals, planning to go to the gym, when to go to the gym. It all has to be planned out.

The biggest part for me is planning meals. You see, I'm passionate about cooking. I love cooking. I mean, I really LOVE cooking! I love the process of cooking, the gathering of the ingredients, the washing, the chopping, the sizzling, the smells, the textures. Most of all, I love knowing that something I made tastes good. I also LOVE baking. There is nothing better than eating bread you've made yourself. I mean, right from scratch, you've measured the water and sugar and yeast, you mix the flour with your hands, you knead the bread until you think you can't knead anymore, you watch it rise, you punch it down, you knead some more and then an hour later you pop it in the oven. There is nothing better than opening the oven door and hearing the crackle of the crust as it hardens in the oven, the hollow sound as you tap the top to see if it is ready and our course the wonderful aroma of baking bread. The steam pouring out as you cut the first slice.. Hhhmmm...is it any wonder there's a skinny girl in here somewhere fighting to get out?

I digress...back to meal planning. You see I have a wonderful husband who is very supportive in every way, and I want to make this exciting for him as well. I'm trying different recipes, different foods and combinations to see what works best. Last week I made Chili in the crock pot for us. I think it turned out all right, it wasn't too spicy, it was fairly low in points and it was pretty easy to make. All in all I think it was a success. The challenge is finding low point recipes and making them taste good for both of us.

Today is meal planning day. I'm off work today so I will try to plan out our meals for the coming week and then go grocery shopping to get everything in the house so there is no excuse for not eating healthy.

So...week two...here we come!