Second chances

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For most situations, I tend to believe in second chances.  That is why I have decided to forgive and forget and give BEETS a second chance.  I HATED them growing up, but lately I hear how good they are and the health benefits to eating beets, so I picked up a bag of mini beets (are there such a thing?  or are they all small?) at the grocery store and will try them this week.  That will be my new thing for the week...ewwww, I am not looking forward to it, but I have discovered so many other things in the past two years that I thought I didn't like but as it turned out I did, so bring on the beets!  Any suggestions on how to cook them or what to do with them?  All I know is they're dirty looking round purple things...that's it.  Maybe they'd be good dipped in chocolate...hmmm

Oh boy

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I am beginning a second week (starting today) of no sugary-treats.  After not having them last week for 5 days, I went a little nuts yesterday.  Food-wise it was not a great day.  In every other aspect, it was a great day!  Started out rainy and ended with a beautiful sunset over the water at my friends' place in Seabright.  I don't regret yesterday, but I do wish I'd made a couple better choices.  This week my plan is, again, no sugary treats (with one exception today - I want to make another Tim Hortons Ice Cap and put a bit of 95% fat free cool whip on it...just a bit) and I am also aiming to NOT use my 49 points - only doing this because of yesterday and I really don't know how far over I went...  If I am still hungry, I will have to get out and earn more activity points - this frightens me a tad as I've never used activity points before!!

Onward and upward!  Counting today, I have two more days of vacation left.  I made one pot of soup this weekend and plan to make another "soup-ish" meal today or tomorrow.  I am thinking maybe chili as lean ground beef was on sale at the grocery store.  I think I'm going to go buy the cans of low sodium beans and such so that it's not too high in sodium and then I'll pump up the flavours with spices.  I wish I had some Epicure garlic in the house!  Hopefully soon :)

The end is near

Pin It I don't mean this in an ominous way, I mean it in the Weight Watchers sense.  I had am AMAZING loss this week (2.4 pounds!!!) and am thrilled to say that I am now 21.6 pounds away from goal weight.  I start a new weigh-in book next week.  Each book has 16 weeks in it...my plan is to end this book at my goal weight... that would mean an average of 1.35 pounds per week... tough, but do-able!  Taking into consideration my 3 weeks away in Sept, this should put me at goal by December 10 :)  I might give myself a couple of extra weeks due to vacation, but my firm deadline for hitting goal is December 24 - Merry Christmas to me!  I am sure I could go all crazy and be really strict with exercise and food (more so than I am now) and lose it faster than this, but I've learned over the past couple of years that faster is not always better - especially when it comes to weight loss.  I don't want to go crazy these last 20+ pounds, get to goal, and then go back to my normal (WW) eating and have my body say "What the heck??!!"  I want to continue doing this in a way that is healthy and maintainable for a lifetime.

I am not sure if this week's great loss had anything to do with my no sugary snacks during the week or if it was just time for my body to give up some weight... but I am debating doing another week of no sugary snacks.  I wonder if my body "reacts" in some way to sugar...?  I haven't had a loss like this in....hmmm, I don't - May I think...and before that it was too far back to remember.  We'll see...I might do every other week as sugar-free(ish) and see how that goes...I love my sugar!!

On another note, I have booked my trip into London for two days during my England trip.  Staying in the Westminster area at the University of Westminster residences (so cheap and central!!).  I have so many suggestions from folks on things to do while I'm there that I just hope I have enough time to do it all!  Thankfully I've been to London before, so there are some things I don't need to do again (wax museum, Harrods, etc.).  I have a few things on my list that I really want to do - a couple walking tours among them.  The place I am staying is only 0.6 miles from Buckingham Palace, so perhaps the Queen will have me over for tea with Wills and Kate ;-)

Celebrating beyond the scale

Pin It I recently read another Sparkpeople.com article that I found inspiring.  It was talking about rewarding yourself and encouraging yourself when things are not going so great.  One thing the author brought up was about how we berate ourselves when we "fail".  He said that if we did that to employees every time they slipped up, we wouldn't have very happy employees now would we?  This rang so true!  Some of the things I say to myself when I mess up I would NEVER ever say to someone else!  Why should I treat others or speak to others and better than how I treat/speak to myself?  I shouldn't. Period.

The article goes on to talk about rewarding yourself and this got me thinking.  I tend to reward myself only for weight losses, not for other milestone achievements - like walking over 7km in just over an hour.  If you told me YOU had walked over 7km in just over an hour, I'd be over the moon for you and doing my dance of joy for you.  For me, it was just another walk.  Don't get me wrong, I was happy about the accomplishment, but I didn't celebrate it like I would a good weight loss or someone else's accomplishment.  I have decided that this is wrong.  I think we need to start rewarding ourselves (NOT with food!!) for non-scale victories (NSVs).  We often hear about NSVs at our WW meeting or in the blogosphere, but until today I never really celebrated my own.  That's going to stop.  Today I am going to go to the dollar store and buy myself a wall calendar and some fancy, shiny stickers.  As most of you know, I am such a charts and graphs girl, so I am going to reward myself with a bunch of stickers on my calendar for any day that I have ANY NSV happen - increased time on my walk, increased distance, walking vs taking the car or the bus, fitting into a new size (did I tell you I poured myself into a pair of size 10s this week?  It wasn't pretty, but the zipper went up!), tracking 100% for the day, or whatever that victory may be.  I think we all need to celebrate beyond the scale.

Do you celebrate NSVs?  How do you celebrate?  I think we should start a list...here's a good start:

Take yourself to the movies
Get a mani or pedi
Buy stickers and a calendar and stick away!
Plan a ME day
Buy a new article of clothing
Plan a girls night out
Paint your own nails
Plan a weekend getaway
Plan a BIG trip (for a big NSV)

Laughter burns calories...and sausage fingers

Pin It Did you know that laughing burns calories?  I'm sure it's not enough to actually LOSE any weight, but hey, it's kinda fun to think about :)  Do you find yourself laughing on a daily basis?  I don't think I do...which is sad - there's lots around me to laugh about!  I think I will look for more opportunities to laugh from now on...every little bit helps on this journey to lose weight ;-)

I had my best walk time yet yesterday - 7.11 km (approx 4.42 miles) in one hour, six minutes.  That's great for me!  The only problem is.... if I work out 75 minutes (my old time) I earn 7 activity points...if I work out for less than that, it's only 6 :(  Oh well, if that's the biggest problem I have this week I guess I can live with it.  I love walking this time of year - especially in the evenings.  It's the one time I am thankful that our summer weather kinda sucks (not as hot as it used to be!)...the only thing that needs to change is the humidity - it gives me sausage fingers when I walk!  You know what I'm talking about, right?  Those rings that used to spin around your fingers are now cutting off your circulation and you fear you might have to have the ER cut them off?  Yep, that's mine...not quite that bad, but oh my - it's like an alien has invaded my hands!  Oh well, I don't think it hurts any, so I guess I'll just burn more calories and laugh about my sausage fingers :)

Oh crap!

Pin It I flubbed up.  I ate sweets today - totally by accident though.  I was looking for something "carby" and was aiming for crackers...I grabbed a box of what, in my mind, were crackers...and as I'm eating these cinnamony good "crackers" I realized DOH!  They're COOKIES!  Ok, back on the wagon...

Are you really fooling anybody?

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People often talk to me about their weight loss efforts and oftentimes I hear people say that they just can't lose weight or that the weight doesn't come off fast enough.  I think when we (including me) start to feel this way we need to do some reflecting.  Do we honestly track our food?  Every BLT (bite, lick, taste)???  Do we track our liquids (and point the ones that need to be pointed)?  Are we working out as much as we should be?  Are we getting out healthy requirements (dairy, water, oils, etc.)?  For the most part, I suspect we can dissect things and come up with a reason why our losses have slowed or stopped.  I know a friend of mine who is on program states that she isn't losing like she'd like to be - but I also know that she's not tracking snacks, nibbles, etc.  It's shocking how quickly those things can add up!  If I'm snacking consistently or taking bites of things regularly, I will track it.  Today I had lunch with a friend and stole two of her french fries...these I dont' track - I also don't do that on a regular basis.  BUT if I'd had say 6 or more, I would have counted them as that is looking more like a serving...really, how would you count two tiny fries?? lol  I guess I could figure it out, but as I've said before, I track religiously, so the odd french fry doesn't bother me.  If I'm home and I've made say a pot of soup and I've sampled it and sampled it to get the flavour right, then I would put down an appropriate point value, depending on the number of BLTs I'd taken :)  Right now my own weight loss has slowed considerably.  I am blaming part of that on being somewhat close to my goal (24 pounds) - some experts call the last 20-25 pounds "vanity weight" - not that you're vein for trying to lose it, but our bodies often will resist losing it, wanting to hold onto it.  Part of the problem is me too.  I do not do strength training like I should - I will admit, I hate it.  My cardio is right where it should be, but grrrrr, I hate lifting a weight (whether it's a dumbbell or my own body weight!) and sometimes I take the attitude "nobody can make me!!!"  I guess all that to say, I'm not fooling anyone but me.  If I don't properly track or exercise, nobody else will care - it doesn't bother anyone else if I'm not on program 100%...I'm only fooling myself!  I think it's time to stop...  I think I need to hit the gym today instead of the trail...maybe I'll walk to the gym...  Maybe I'll sit on my butt and watch TV and continue to lose slowly... whatever I do, I reap the rewards or suffer the consequences of my decisions...

Do you track all the time?  Are you 100% truthful with your tracker?

Progress—not perfection

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I recently read an article on Sparkpeople.com called Moderation in All Things (By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert).  Below is an excerpt from that article that I particularly liked:

To be successful, you don't have to always make perfect decisions and have perfect days where things go exactly as you planned. If you eat more or exercise less than you wanted to one day, you can make up for it over the next several days if you want, or you can just chalk it up to experience and move on. Remind yourself that what happens on any one day is not going to make or break your whole effort. This is not a contest or a race, where every little misstep could mean the difference between winning and losing. It’s your life—and you’ll enjoy it a lot more when you can keep the daily ups and downs of your eating and exercise routine in perspective. 

I think all too often we do think we have to be perfect in all we do when, in fact, we really should be striving for progress  (aka improvement) not perfection.  Just because we're not perfect on any given day doesn't mean we can't make up for it the next day.  We are way too hard on ourselves and I think sometimes that does more harm than good.  I've written before about being an all or nothing girl and I think it stems from this feeling that I need to be perfect... I remember hearing over the years "if you're going to do it, do it right" - but that doesn't necessarily mean perfect now does it?

My progress as of late has been increasing my walking from just over 5k to just over 7 k (and increasing my time by only about 15 mins!).  I am proud of this - if someone told me 6 months ago that I'd be walking 7 k on a regular basis I would have laughed at them!  Yet, here I am!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  This is my Friday - I'm OFF for the next 6 days - yay!  I need to come up with some new blogging topics/ideas...any suggestions?  I'll have lots of time to write over the next few days :)

What is SHE doing here?

Pin It For those of you who attend Weight Watchers or something similar, have you ever looked at someone at your meeting and wondered to yourself "why in the world is she here?? she doesn't need to lose weight!!!"?  I have to admit, I've been guilty of that in the past.  A few weeks ago, the leader at WW pointed this prejudice out to us - what we don't always think of is the fact that these "skinny" folks used to be bigger.  These are more than likely people who are at goal - maybe even lifetime members!  As I've mentioned in the past, this particular meeting that I go to has a TON of lifetime members who attend on a regular basis.  Never, in all my WW attempts, have I been aware of lifetime members until I started attending this meeting on Saturday mornings.  I would guess that we have at least 6-8 lifetime members (at goal) who attend on a weekly basis.  This is so encouraging! 

So the next time you see someone at a meeting - remember this:  you don't know their story - you might think they only have 5 pounds (or NO pounds) to lose and don't NEED Weight Watchers, but you don't know where they've come from (maybe they've already lost 50 pounds before you met them)!  I guess this brings us back to what we learned in grade school - you can't judge a book by its cover.

It's back!!!

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Welcome to my work-week of no sugary-snacks.... I did a week of this back in February I did a 5 day stint of this and saw a bigger drop on the scale (1.5 lbs maybe?) - I need to do something to get the ball rolling again.  These losses that start with a zero just plain suck.  I know it's not a bad thing to lose it slowly, but I would love to see, just once in a while, a bigger loss!!!  So, here's the plan for this week:

Monday-Friday is the timeline.  Here are the details:

No sugary-snacks for the entire 5 days.  Sugary-snacks include, but are not limited to:

• Ice cream (and any variation)
• Cake
• Cookies
• Chocolate
• Brownies
• Angel food cake
• Pudding cups
• Granola bars

I will allow myself to have my smoothie (milk, mangoes and a bit of sweetener) and possibly a bit of 95% fat free cool whip mixed with fat free yogurt to dip my fruit in if I am craving something sweet.  I am thinking I might actually make "popsicles" out of my mango smoothie to have as a nice sweet treat...now I just have to buy some popsicle moulds :)

I don't want you to get the wrong impression - I don't sit around eating these sugary treats all the time.  I do, however, like to treat myself nearly every day - but I also count the points for what I eat.  I just think I need to switch things up with my body and may try to shock it into dropping a couple of pounds.  I am also committing to do three workouts this week that are NOT cardio focused.  I only have to work two days out of the next 8, so this should be totally do-able.  I'd like to be able to find some kind of playground workout that I could do too...without looking silly (36 year old woman on the monkey bars without any kids...perhaps I might need to borrow the nieces for this venture!).  Another goal for the next couple of weeks is that I would like to get my 7 km walk down to 70 mins.  Tonight I did it in 75 mins, 53 seconds, which is my best time yet....but now that I've reached that time, it's time to beat it!

So there you have it folks.  Tomorrow begins the start of no sugary-treats week 2.0.  Stay tuned for some possible grumpiness!!

The girl in the corner

Pin It Today at Weight Watchers my leader (Fiona) talked to me again about working for Weight Watchers once I get to Lifetime status.  Part of me LOVES the idea.  Part of me is terrified!  Deep down I can see myself being a leader - but then there's the part of me that is afraid of public speaking :)  I used to be the girl who went to WW and sat in the corner and didn't say a word...or worse yet, did not stay for the meeting at all.  This time around I sit in the second row and participate willingly (so not me!).  I think over the years I've come out of my shell a bit.  Perhaps I can work up to actual public speaking... hmmmm.  Fiona told me that WW provides training for you and you can work as much or as little as you like - that's good as I can't see myself giving up my full time job for this, but Fiona offers a great point - working (even PT) for WW is an amazing way to keep your weigh in check once you get to maintenance.

The more I think about this, the more excited I get.  I've known for a while now that I am meant to do something with what I've learned over these past almost two years.  To get to goal and then do nothing to pay it forward seems like a waste.  I really feel that it's important for kids to learn the values of healthy eating and I can see me doing something along those lines...although I don't believe that WW is the place for kids...I'm just spit-balling here - no real plans, but I do have thoughts and ideas in my head.  Some have suggested I write a book - or at least an article for WW magazine.  Not sure about either of these as I'm not really a writer - I just write here and it's all very informal.  I do enjoy writing though...so long as I have an idea of what to write about :)

I think one thing I will do to get ready for the possibility of becoming a WW leader is to take a course in presentation skills.  There is one offered through Harvard Manage Mentor (Harvard Business Publishing) as part of the HR course I am taking which will count towards my certificate - two birds, one stone, yay!

Anyone out there worked for WW or any other weight loss companies before?

21 things I've learned in the past 21 months

Pin It Here are some things I've learned in the 21 months I've been on this weight loss journey...some of them I am still working on ;-)

1. Eat less, move more is not necessarily the formula for losing weight - I eat more now than ever, I just eat differently!
2. A strong support system is essential for losing weight
3. Keeping a food journal keeps you honest with yourself
4. Portion distortion is a serious offense!
5. Water is key
6. A workout friend is a great idea
7. Exercise is important - start when you begin your program - don't wait like I did...believe me, it will help you tone along the way...and boost your weight loss.
8. The occasional gain is normal
9. A loss of 0.5-2 pounds per week is healthy - stay the course and don't give up
10. The less you have to lose, the harder it gets!
11. Roasted veggies are amazing!
12. Don't weigh yourself too often - it's discouraging (I'm still learning this lesson...)
13. Find a support group (group of friends, Weight Watchers meeting, etc.) of like-minded individuals - if the first group you find isn't a good fit, try another one...don't give up...group meetings are important
14. This is a lifestyle change, NOT a diet.  Learn how to make this work all the time.
15. Don't take "days off" on a regular basis.  So many people take a day or a weekend off on a regular basis, PLUS they use all their weekly points...and then they wonder why they are not losing... have a splurge day, but use your weekly points and/or activity points - write everything down!
16. Make social events about the socializing, NOT the eating
17. It is possible to eat out while staying on program - look restaurants up online, look for key words on the menu to avoid (creamy, fried, butter, etc.) and go for healthy options (poached, grilled, steamed) and ask for sauces and dressings on the side.  Ask for nutritional info and make sure you have your calculator with you to figure out the points (if you follow WW).
18. Find some "go to" meals that you can make quickly for those times when you have no time.  Make sure you have key foods in your fridge/pantry all the time - oatmeal, peanut butter, eggs, veggies...scrambled eggs make a great supper!
19. You don't have to work out for an hour for it to be worthwhile (another lesson I'm still learning...I'm an all or nothing girl, but am working on it!)
20. Keep a journal (or blog if you're more public) about your journey - go back and re-read it from time to time to inspire yourself or just to see how far you've come.
21. If I can do this, ANYONE can do this!

Oh happy day!

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So far I am loving today.  It is so nice to have the day off - I didn't even mind when my troll neighbours woke me before 7am!  I was out the door for my walk by 9:15 and walked about 6.5kms in total.  Used my new fitness trainer app, which worked great (it even mapped the walk for me...once I got it figured out!).  According to the app, I burned over 400 calories!  Boy is it hot out there though.  I rewarded myself with a Tim Hortons coffee on the way home.  I've got two loads of laundry in and am going to do some grocery shopping and a bit of cleaning this afternoon and then I'm meeting a friend for dinner and a movie - we haven't seen each other since March!!  I'm excited.  Going to see Brides Maids...not sure I'll enjoy the movie, but I will certainly enjoy the company of my dear friend.  Well, I should get to my cleaning before the day escapes me.  Hope everyone is having a fab Friday!!

There's an app for that!

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It FINALLY arrived!  I ordered my BB upgrade from work on June 13th...and it finally arrived today!  I am SO excited.  I've been wanting a new pedometer, but nope, wait for the Torch, there's an app for that!  I wanted to get an eReader...but wait, there's an app for that too!  I wanted to try out some kind of e-trainer for when I'm walking (tracking intervals, etc.)...there's an app for that too!!  My iPod seems to be circling the drain, but WAIT - I can sync my new Torch with iTunes!!  (yes, I know that's a phrase coined by Apple, but BBs have apps too!)  So far I have added music to my Torch, added the Kobo app and loaded a few free books (Anne of Green Gables was free!).  I've also added a personal trainer app that tracks steps and (supposedly) pace and total calories burned (not sure how it'll do this part since it doesn't ask you for personal info!)  Tomorrow I am off (yes, finally!!!) and am going to try this particular app on my walk.  Hey, it also has a camera!  My blog will be littered with photos now! (more than usual, I should say).  So far (other than the teeny, tiny keyboard), I love this new BB!  It's all slidey and touchy!  My old one made a great paperweight ;-)

So far this week my eating has been on track, fitness is good (should have 35 activity points by the end of the week if tomorrow's plan goes well).  Water has been great too (but water is never a problem for me).  Tomorrow I plan to make some squash soup (photos to come!) for lunches for next week.  I really have to do better at planning my lunches - that seems to be my weakness... I try to make leftovers to bring, but I don't so much make "recipes" as I just cook what's needed for supper that night. 

Happy Weekend everyone!!

My Dad stole my sneakers....

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and other excuses not to exercise!

Haha, my poor Dad. The folks were over on the weekend and he mistakenly took my sneakers home with him thinking they belonged to Mom.  Honest mistake.  After deciding that this, in and of itself, was not a good enough excuse not to exercise, I decided to wear another pair I had at home.  Unfortunately these were  bit on the snug side and I barely made it through my 7km walk.  I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get my sneakers back for tonight's workout when I remembered - my old sneakers are under my desk at work.  I guess I no longer have an excuse not to work out.  Not sure if I'll walk tonight or hit the gym - hoping to walk and add to my Boston mileage.

(Love you Dad!!)

I hate my elbows

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Does anyone have any elbow toning exercises to share with me?  I have body issues like probably 95% of the world, but today I noticed a NEW issue that I'd never seen before.  We have mirrored elevators at work and today (for some odd reason) I noticed my elbows in the mirror.  Oh my nerves!  When I hold my arms at a 90 degree angle they're OK, but hanging down from behind they look like a deflating elephant leg! *sigh*  How does one tone their elbows????  I thought the upper arms were bad enough...here we go.

Summer has arrived!

Pin It Mom and Dad and I took the kids to the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park this afternoon.  It was finally a beautiful (hot!) sunny day!  A great time was had by all - we even had a peacock strutting his stuff for us :)

We BBQ'd (well Dad did) steak, potatoes and mushrooms/onions for supper.  For dessert I made blueberry/raspberry shortcake (allergic to strawberries, otherwise we'd have had that).  It was SOO good.  Picked up some of the individual angel food cakes from Costco (2 points+) and topped with thawed berries/splenda and 95% fat free cool whip for a great 3 point+ dessert!

Slimmer this Summer Update:

Things are not going so well.  I've stuck to it food-wise but my exercise has been seriously lacking.  I was down 0.3 pounds this week for a total of 111.1 :)  This coming week I seriously need to up my exercise and continue behaving with my food. 

My brother to the rescue...and going Greek

Pin It Operation Put-BBQ-Together is officially complete.  I must say it was a successful, although very drawn out, mission.  I began the mission, as you may recall, last Sunday afternoon and promptly gave up.  This morning my little brother kindly came to my rescue and completed the mission.  We christened the new BBQ with Costco Chicken/Turkey sausages (spinach & feta) and Butterball turkey hot dogs...lunch of champions!

Tonight I tried a new concoction.  The idea came from Hungry Girl's email newsletter. She suggested using fat free Greek yogurt and sweetening it with drink crystals (like Crystal Light) - about half of a single serving packet to one cup of yogurt.  Mix together and enjoy.  I added a sliced banana to mine tonight and it was awesome!  I used Chrystal Light Raspberry Peach drink crystals.  I think I will try a lemonade one and add raspberries...I'm a sucker for lemon and raspberries mixed together :)

I think I'll walk to Boston

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Not literally of course!  One shorter walk at a time is the plan.  The distance as the crow flies from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Boston, Massachusetts  is 655 kms or 507 miles.  If I continue walking the route I walked last night (or similar) it will take me about 92 walks to get to Boston.  Roughly three months if I walked every day.  I don't plan on walking every single day, but I think I could get this done by the new year...what do you think?  This means I would walk just over 27 kms each week.  I have no idea if I'll complete this venture, but I'm willing to give it a try!  I love the cities of Boston and New York...but Boston is closer :)

Anyone want to join me?  You don't have to take the same route as me, but it might be fun to plan a "long-distance" walk!

Pre-weigh in tips

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This is purely for fun...mostly...well, a lot of it... ok, here goes, a list of things to do before you weigh in to ensure the best results:

1. Pee
2. Wear your lightest clothing - as little as possible, while still maintaining some decency (if you weigh in at a public location...if you're in private, strip it all off!)
3. Shave your legs (yes, men can do this too)
4. Shave your underarms
5. Remove all jewellery - that ring can be HEAVY!
6. Pluck your eyebrows
7. Pee again
8. DO NOT EAT (I weigh in in the morning - I recommend eating something if you weigh in later in the day)
9. Remove your contact lenses
10. If you wear glasses, remove them - don't worry if you can't see, someone will tell you what the scale says
11. Pee again
12. Get a hair cut
13. Avoid foods high in sodium for about 2-3 days (or longer if you are prone to retaining!) before weigh in day
14. Remove your shoes
15. Give blood
16. Wear your lightest undergarments (none if you're a brave soul!)
17. Exfoliate (dead skin does not count as weight - get rid of it!)
18. Cut finger/toenails
19. Go #2 if you can
20. Pee again
21. And finally...pray!

Do you have any pre-weigh in rituals to add to this list?  Feel free to add to my list whether you have real weigh in rituals or fun things to add :)

Happy Friday!!!!  Tomorrow is my weigh in day so the salt shaker is in the cupboard where it belongs and I'm off to shave/wax/pluck as much as I can.

Holy Cow!

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Tonight I had the steak that I bought for my "red meat fix" a couple of weeks ago at my trainer's suggestion (she didn't suggest steak necessarily, just that I add a bit of red meat to my diet every once in a while).  Unfortunately I ended up with a dead BBQ, so into the freezer my steak went.  As you may recall, I did buy a new BBQ this past weekend (got to step 10 of 19 in the putting together phases before I gave up).  My brother and the kids are coming over on Saturday and he's going to help me finish putting it together.  I was going to wait for the BBQ to be finished to have my steak, but today being the day today was, that didn't happen.  I had planned out my supper - I was going to have a couple scrambled eggs and one of my Costco sausages...they were mouldy!!!  Grrrrr  I had chicken at lunch for lunch so did not want to have chicken again for supper.  I had fish last night.  I thought about having some beans, but nope, no beans in the house.  I had shrimp...but shrimp and eggs...ewww  So I cooked up the steak on the stove with some peppers, onions and mushrooms.  It was good...would have been better on the BBQ, but still good.

So here is my fear now.  I think I've been avoiding red meat because in my mind, red meat is "heavy" and I feel like it will stick around in my body and not digest as fast as chicken or fish.  I have absolutely no science or expert opinions to back this up, it's purely my feelings.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?  Anyone have any FACTS on this??  ;-)

Well, I'm off to do my physio routine and then I'm going to bed...turns out I have to work tomorrow :(

NOTICE: Coyote Sighting in the Park - Run!

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In case I haven't told you yet, I've lost the will to run.  I was, however, prepared to run if need-be in Point Pleasant Park :)  According to their website, there has been a coyote sighting in the park... Hey, isn't there a bounty out on coyotes??  Crap, if only I had a gun.  Alas, during our lovely walk through the park, we did not see any strange animals...just strange people and dogs...some really FAT dogs.  I think the park is a good place to people watch. 

So, back to my will to run... this desire to run comes and goes for me...I will go months with no desire to run at all and then all of a sudden I get the urge.  So I'm waiting for the urge to return.  In the meantime, I will continue walking up a storm.  I've heard this week (from two difference reliable sources) that hill walking actually burns more calories than jogging!  This is great, since most of my walks invite incline :)  I may take up running again, but I think I'd like to look into taking an ACTUAL running course, not trying to go it on my own with an online plan...I really need the accountability.

Happy Tuesday everyone...one more day til Hump Day!

Maintain, lose or gain?

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When you go on vacation, do you go with the intention of trying to continue losing? Do you try to maintain? or do you allow yourself a certain amount that you'll put on while you are away?  Originally I thought I would get to goal before my trip, but, alas, it is not to be.  I am OK with that.  I have been so looking forward to this trip and part of what I am looking forward to is the food.  England has the most amazing Thai and Indian food I have ever eaten (and I've been to Thailand!).  I also love the fish and chips over there!  I know when we are home we will eat fairly healthy as my friend is into healthy foods at home, which is awesome.  She ("Anonymous Ann" to you all) is going to introduce me to steaming veggies and I'm going to get her hooked on roasting veggies (and using blogger so that she's no longer anonymous!).  I also know that I will be doing lots of walking while I'm away.  Anonymous Ann also has a treadmill (for rainy days) and a bike with a GPS thingy for me to ride, and they have developed/built (what do you call it?) a walking (biking?) trail in her neighbourhood (not just for me- I think they put it in for all the folks to use! ;-) 

So after talking that all out, I'm not really concerned.  I realize that I will eat stuff that I would not normally eat at home, but I think if I try to stick to my 10/10 rule and eat healthy 2 out of 3 meals most days, I should be able to successfully maintain.  I am happy with maintaining.  It's funny - when I went to SE Asia last summer I thought I'd allow myself about 5 pounds to gain...I lost 6.8 pounds while I was gone!  Who knows what'll happen on this trip :)  I know that I don't want to let food ruin my trip -whether it's by obsessing over staying "on program" or by completely derailing my eating plan.  I will find a happy medium I think.

What do you do when you travel?  Plan to gain? Stay the same? lose?

Stay tuned for my upcoming post on "What's wrong with me?" as referenced in last night's post.  I'm about 90% sure I'll post it if you'll promise to be gentle with me :)

I am woman, hear me roar...

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Meow!

I have a more in-depth blog post written on this topic, but I'm not sure if I will publish it or not.  It is kind of a personal post and I'm not sure if I'm ready to bare everything to y'all... we'll see.

I've hear recently that some think I am too independent and that may turn guys away...  I guess today was an example of me showing my independence.  I installed my air conditioner, went to Home Depot and bought some weatherstripping stuff to close off the gaps (gotta keep the rain and flies out!), installed that.  Went to Wal-Mart and bought my new BBQ (reg $129 on sale for $78!!), carried it into my apartment and started putting it together.  I've officially given up on the BBQ.  I wish I'd been able to complete it myself...not because I'm that independent, but because I hate bothering people by asking them to help with these things.  I'm afraid I'm going to have  to ask for help...I'm on step 10 of 19 steps and it took me 2 hours to get that far...up next is the gas part, which scares me a bit... time to call in reinforcements.  As for the air conditioner and it's make-shift weatherstripping...Tuesday will tell the tale on that one - supposed to rain (shocking, I know!)

I can't get this silly pic to rotate...
no wonder I can't put the BBQ together!

Not guilty!

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I actually lost this week!  Only by the Grace of God :-)  This is a new week with a clean slate.  I am going to continue eating my 49 points as well as eating 10 points per day of "pure protein" (chicken, fish, eggs).  I am going to try and come up with a challenge for myself for the week too... maybe no sugary treats  for the work week...stay tuned - I'll keep you posted.

Went to the market this morning to meet some friends who came in from out of town.  What a zoo!  I had my nieces with me and one of them said "this is worse than Costco!".  I think part of the problem was the Jazz Festival taking place near the market - I suspect a lot of the traffic was from that.  I picked up a few things - homemade guacamole, pico de gallo, thai chicken soup and a lemon poppy seed scone.   I picked up some mini fancy cupcakes for the kids too - we were going to take pictures of them, but they kinda got smooshed on the way home :)  The chicken soup was a bit of a letdown - I had to add a few dashes of hot sauce and some red chili flakes to get any flavour out of it... but the scone.... definitely a 10/10 in my books.  I love lemon and this had a real lemony flavour to it...soooo good.  Worth the 7 points too! 

Well, I'm off to spend the afternoon with my girlies - right now they are crafting with my card making / scrap booking supplies....someone might as well be using them!!!

Tonight's odd supper combo

Pin It Do you have odd things for supper sometimes? 

Tonight's supper was stir fried broccoli, mushrooms, peppers and onions with haddock thrown in:

This week for lunch one day I had scrambled eggs, broccoli, green beans, cucumbers and hummus...how's that for strange?

What's your strangest meal?

One day til sentencing...

Pin It Only one day until my sentencing weigh-in following my Canada Day weekend jollies...I've been behaving very well food-wise this week (as per usual), but my exercise left a lot to be desired.  Will end the week with only three good workouts (plus one piddly 30 minute walk) and only about 20 activity points earned, which is sad considering I've been earning 30+.  Must get my act together next week in this area and hopefully yield a good loss next week ('cause we're not expecting much out of tomorrow!!!).

My trainer and I were chatting last night and we got to discussing red meat.  I don't eat a lot of red meat (maybe once a month, if that).  It's not that I don't like it (I do!!), I just always feel that chicken and fish give you more bang for your buck nutrition-wise.  She thinks I should be eating a serving of red meat once a week - if only for the iron aspect.  I have decided that I would like to have steak every weekend :)  Now don't think I've gone all highfalutin on ya... my idea of steak is the stuff on sale for $2.49/pound, not a t-bone steak!  I am thinking, if I can get my new BBQ on the weekend, I might have steak and corn on the cob for supper on Sunday.

Ok folks... off to work now.  Wish me luck for tomorrow morning!  I'll be happy to stay the same, thrilled with a loss of any kind (shocked!) and accepting of a gain...just hope it's not too big!!