The Brat Fights the Fat

Alea is a Goddess!!

2007-08-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Alea,

Thank you so much for the comment on my last post! (On the off chance that someone other than Alea still has my blog in their bloglines... Alea made a lovely comment on my last post. It made me feel like posting again, without making me pressured or feel guilty for not posting in a long time.)

Where have I been...

In November last year, I got a new position at work. It's been taking up a lot more time than my previous position and it seems that I'm often working in the evenings. Life just seems to have gotten busier and more stressful. I'm not making excuses. I should really try to make my health and weight a priority, but I just haven't been. I've been avoiding the blog world, because I've been ashamed of how little I've done for the last year. And reluctant to make promises to post, that I'm not sure I can keep. Things are going to get crazier before they get calmer too. My son will start Kindergarten in a couple weeks and my daughter will start preschool. DS has also joined the soccer league and DH will be coaching the team (and I'm sure I'll get roped into some role).

So here's the plan...

I will blog when I can, but will not promise more than that
I will run or exercise because I want to and actually do enjoy it (somewhat), and not feel like I have to and therefore talk myself out of it
I will make an effort to eat healthier, but not make it a major issue (trying to avoid the whole guilt followed by F-it attitude)
I will try to focus on little steps in the right direction so as not to get discouraged by the big ugly picture.
I will work hardest on regain control in my life.

I'm hoping that one of the good things that comes out of September is that I will be forced back into more of a routine. I do better with a routine. I'll have to make my kids' lunch/snacks, so I might as well make mine. I'm hoping that soccer will get me out and more active, running around the field with the kids (at practice). And I'm really hoping that work will settle down once everyone is back from holidays.

Thanks for listening! Hope to post again soon!

Girls Day & Goals

2007-06-04T08:28:00.001-07:00

I had a blast on my girls day!! We had our nails done. It was my first time getting fake nails (aka porno nails) and it's taking a bit of getting used to. Suddenly there are new challenges... going to the bathroom safely.... doing up buttons (I'm hating the buttons)... typing (big problem, I'm supposed to be keying budgeting templates this week)... changing diapers (though that's definitely a positive 'cause I'm aiming to get out of that one as much as possible!!) and I'm sure many others I haven't yet discovered.

Did some shopping. Even found a couple of cute tops that look good on me (woohoo!! thank you surgery!!). Got some new makeup to liven me up a bit for summer! Loving the new eyeshadow that I would never had tried if my girls hadn't talked me into it. Thank you lovely ladies for making me step outside my safe, boring little box! Had really bad food (Red Robin Whiskey River BBQ burger - they won't even give you the nutritional info if you ask, so it can't be good) and a couple of margaritas (which made shopping even more fun!!) and then when we started to run out of energy, we hit Death by Chocolate where I had a Devil in Disguise. Very Very Very tasty!! Did a bit more shopping and called it a day. My legs hurt so bad last night I had trouble getting to sleep, but it was worth it!!

As for the goals portion of my title... here's what I'm hoping to have happen this week...
Monday - Water aerobics
Tuesday - Golf lessons (great for the upper body and back)
Wednesday - Water aerobics
Thursday - Running (okay, walking really with the occasional burst of slow jogging, but running sounds cooler).

I've decided that I need to start moving and exercising more, especially since that helps motivate me to eat better. So wish me luck this week and I'll keep you posted.

Rebound

2007-05-31T11:39:00.000-07:00

Well, now that I'm eating again, I regained back 2.5 of the 4.5 lbs I lost. Knew it was going to happen, but happy that I didn't gain all of it back. Haven't had any pop yet, but have had some junk. Oh well. I'm still making more of an effort than I have been recently. Small steps.

I'm really excited about Sunday! It's my friends birthday and we're going to have a girls day. We're heading the mall for some shopping, some lunch and getting our nails done. It's going to be a lot of fun. The whole girls day thing is still a bit of a novelty for me. I've always been more of a tomboy and have mainly had guy friends and non-girly girl friends.

My daughter is very much a girly-girl and we had our first girls day a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun we bought her some new shoes. When we went to get a makeup refill for me, the sales lady gave her a sample tube of lipgloss. OMG does she love her lip gloss. If you can't find her, chances are she's hiding under the table putting on more lipgloss. Well, since she had the lipgloss, we decided that she needed a purse to put it in. We found her a cute little purse and while we were there, she found a necklace that she had to have. So in one day, we hit... shoes, purses, makeup and jewelry.

Not bad for a three year old, eh?

It'll be even more fun to have a girls day with someone who I don't have to crouch down to talk to. :-)

P.S. the speech went well, thanks, for those of you that asked! Glad to have it done.

Best/Worst Diet

2007-05-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

I've lost 4.5 lbs!! Woohoo!!

Unfortunately that's been in 3 days. Yup, I've been horribly, grotesquely sick. I won't go into details (I only to that to my husband and only 'cause it really freaks him out), but it has not been a fun couple of days. I think I'm finally coming out the other side of this nasty little bug (fingers crossed). My kids have already been through it and I'm glad; 'cause they didn't get it as bad and I don't think I'd have the energy to take care of them at the moment if they were sick.

Got in trouble from my boss and my best friend for coming into work today. I probably should have worked from home, but kinda had to come in. We're a big enough company that we have to have a Level 2 first aid attendant on site. We're down a bunch of attendants, so that pretty much left me as the only one this week. Which means that if I didn't come to work, they'd have to bring someone in. It worked out okay and the day is almost over. Besides, at least at work no one is jumping on me.

No all I have to do is figure out how to keep the loss once I start eating again, 'cause I don't think I'll last very long on crackers and water. Maybe I should look at this as a cleansing and try to avoid putting anything bad back into my system. Good time to cut out pop again and junk food. 'Course it's really easy to swear off those tasty treats when you're afraid to eat anything. I'm going to at least try, 'cause I really like the number I'm at right now. :-)

On another positive note, I dragged my husband and my stepmommy to a nutritional shopping tour at our grocery store. It was great (I would recommend checking if your local store offers them), tons of great information and the chance to ask a registered dietitian questions. She gave us some really good guidelines on things like cereal and cheese (e.g. your cereal should have 6g or less of sugar and a min of 3g of fibre). The best part was that my husband was really listening and paying attention. He's not known for his healthy eating (when she mentioned that he should be having 8 - 10 servings of fruits and vegetables, his response was "a month?" - thought I doubt he even gets that much), so any improvement would be great. Especially since he does the grocery shopping and it seems some magical elves or other such beings sneak into his basket and steal the fruits and vegetables that I've put on the list. ' Cause they never seem to make it home. It was also reassuring to know that my son is getting enough meat servings. She had some great meal and snack ideas too.

Now all I have to do is find the time to make a list and actually go shopping.

Toastmaster Speech

2007-05-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow, I'm taking a big risk and doing my final Toastmaster speech (at work - it's a corporate club) about my weight loss journey. Wish me luck!

Here's the planned speech...

Inspiring Me
Good afternoon Toastmaster, fellow members and welcomed guests. The purpose of today’s speech is to inspire my audience. I’m going to twist it a little and instead try to inspire myself, and through inspiring myself, hopefully I’ll inspire you as well. Toastmasters is a journey, you start off unsure and hesitant and as you go along you learn and improve and with any luck at the end of the road you emerge a stronger, more confident speaker. What most of you are unaware of is that my Toastmaster journey was paralleled by another journey and that I brought you along on for the ride as well.

Most of us, at some point in our lives, will or have battled with weight issues. Whether it’s, “I wish I could lose 5 pounds” or struggling to lose 50; whether it’s noticing that time and gravity have changed your body or have danced with the dieting yo-yo for years. I’ve found that we all have different motivations, different approaches and different mirrors. Today I’m going to take you along the path of my other journey and show you how you were involved. I’ll start with my motivations, then I’ll talk about what I did and finally, I’m going to talk about my obstacles and how I have and will get past them.

I started my weight loss journey back in January of 2006 and those of you who’ve heard my ice breaker speech were introduced to my primary motivations... my kids: dirt boy and shoe girl. I wanted to lose weight so that I could keep up with them and so that I could be a healthy happy role model, especially for my daughter. When I look back at how I looked in high school and how I felt about myself. I wish I could go back in time and slap myself. But, since I can’t do that, I’d like to see if I can stop my daughter from experiencing it. I don’t want her to live her life on the dieting seesaw. In speech #7, I talked about another major motivator for me – diabetes. My dad has insulin dependent diabetes and both of my grandmothers have non-insulin dependent diabetes. That combined with a history of heart problems, makes being overweight is a ticking time bomb. I don’t want to die young, nor have my kids worry about me, as I worry about my father. I don’t want my quality of life as I get older to prevent me from doing the things I want to do, and I want to have the energy to want to do those things.

So, how am I going to achieve that? Well, each person is different, but I’ve found a couple of keys to my success. I discovered that I need some form of support and that I need to employ strategies that work for me. In my third speech, Blog It!, I gave a clue to one of my best sources of support. I discovered a wonderful supportive community of people on the internet trying to lose weight. Blogging is a way of chronicling my journey, a way of staying accountable, and sharing what I was going through with others. Seeing that I wasn’t the only one going through these challenges and struggles helped a great deal. We post comments on each other’s blogs offering suggestions, competitions and support; consoling and motivating each other, even though we’ve never met. As a techno geek, this was a great way for me to get the support I need. Though there are many others, including friends and family, support groups and weight loss programs, the important thing was finding what worked for me. This is true in terms of exercise too. Finding an exercise you enjoy can go a long way to increasing your chances of actually doing the exercise. In speech #5, I shared with you my discovery that I could actually run and even more shocking, that I enjoyed it (at least once the endorphins kick in). I’m not saying that it isn’t a challenge to find the time or the motivation to get off the couch and go, just that if you can find something you enjoy, you’re at least increasing your chances. I also discovered that when I exercise, my eating habits improve, whether it’s because I don’t want to undo the good I’ve done by exercising or if it’s that my body craves better food when I’m burning calories, I don’t know and I’m not going to question.

Now before you get to thinking I know what I’m talking about or that I have all the answers, let me tell you about my challenges. I did really well in the first six months of my journey, I lost 25 lbs. I felt better, bought some new clothes and got a little cocky. Then in July 2006, I had surgery. The surgery was successful, and I’m glad I had the procedure done, but it effectively stalled my journey. To tell you the truth, my journey came to a complete and utter standstill. You’ll notice too that the stall in my weight loss journey also matched my stall in my Toastmaster journey, interesting coincidence. Obviously right after my surgery, I couldn’t do much, but even after I was cleared to resume all my normal activities, I didn’t. I was afraid; afraid that if I started running again it would hurt and I was afraid to fail. And I used that excuse for a very long time. I slipped into a vicious cycle of excuses and guilt. I can’t work out because I’m too busy, I slept in. I’ll start my diet on Monday... oops, I forgot to pick up groceries, I guess its McPukes again. I could go on, but you get the idea. The biggest challenge I face is ME, but I’m also my biggest source of inspiration. Why? Because I haven’t given up; because while I have not lost much lately, I also haven’t gained; because my reasons for going on this journey remain the same. And most importantly because this is a journey, a long one, where the destination isn’t significant, it’s that I’m taking the journey, and what I’m learning along the way.

So regardless of what kind of journey you’re taking, Toastmasters, weight loss or life, you might want to keep what I’ve learned in mind. You need to know why you’re taking the journey, accept that everyone needs help along the way; that you need to find the best route for you, not for everyone else. Know that there will always be roadblocks along the way, but as long as you keep going, then you ARE succeeding. Good luck on your journeys.

Fooled You!

2007-05-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought I'd disappeared again. That I'd made the big post about coming back and then fizzled out. Well... HA! Not this time baby! It's been an absolutely crazy week.

At work for the last month and a half we've been dealing with a major issue. One of our systems changed to a different program and some numbers have gone awry. Given that I'm an accountant, numbers going awry is a major problem. We've been working like to dogs to try to figure out what happened and how to fix it. It's gonna probably take another month to sort through it all (I work for a fairly large corp). I won't go into any boring details 'cause, well, they're boring, but I gotta tell you, there's nothing like a major issue to show you just how little you know. In case that wasn't causing me enough stress... I have my performance review today. And for the first time in a long time, I don't think it's gonna be a good one. *sigh*

I have to give a speech at Toastmasters (our corporate club). It's my last one before getting my competant toastmaster pin. It's supposed to be inspirational. Originally, I was going to do the speech on my weight loss journey. Of course that was the plan, back when there was something inspiring about it. Since I've pretty much done nothing for almost a year, it's kinda hard to use that. But I can't think of anything else to inspire people with/about. *sigh*

It doesn't help that my biggest loser type competition has completely fallen off the map. One of the main drivers/motivators of that competition has had a personal issue that prevents her from being as involved. I don't blame her, she has to take care of that, but I miss her inspiration and heckling. I haven't officially weighed in in three weeks, and if I did right now, I'd be up again. *sigh*

Now that I've done pathetic to the Nth degree, on a positive note... I have taken tomorrow off and Monday is a holiday, so I have a four day weekend!!!

Unintentional Sabatoge

2007-05-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

First, I have to say for the most part, my husband is incredibly supportive when it comes to my weight loss journal (with the exception of being a bit of an enable, not that I want him to stop bringing me Slurpees).

Last night I asked my DH to pick me up some Munch'ems, which are a relatively good snack and come in a good limiting snack size. Unfortunately, my DH misunderstood and bought me Munchies instead. Don't get me wrong, the Munchies were delicious, in fact half of the bag went down very well. Yup, ate over half the bag right away. They were very good. *sigh*

It wouldn't have been so bad, had McDonald's not already sucked me in with the McHappy Day. Went twice yesterday. Once for lunch with a friend and co-worker, once on the way home from swimming with the kids. *sigh* At least my continued obesity is helping to support charity this week.

Correlation

2007-05-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

There seems to be a direct correlation between my success in terms of weight loss and blogging. I've hovered around the same point since I've stopped blogging. Sometimes losing a bit, sometimes gaining. Given that evidence, I think it's time I returned to the land of blog. I know most of my readers have long since given up on me and moved on to more interesting pastures. And I know some of my favourite reads and supportive bloggers have disappeared too. But, I will re-embark on this journey again regardless.

My life it seems these days is filled with work and family. My kids are now 3 & 5 years old and very active. My son is in swimming lessons two days a week and to those parents who are veteran taxi drivers for their kids, it probably doesn't seem like much. As a novice just starting out into that world I still find it shocking how much time that takes, not just the driving, but all else that it entails...

Okay, so if DS has to be a swimming at 5, I have to leave work by 3:30 so that I can feed the kids, organize a swim suit and pack a bag for DS, find things to occupy DD (3 yr olds don't sit quietly for 30 minutes), I have to leave the house by 4:30, OMG, why is there never any parking at the community center? Go home people!! Okay, got both kids, where are my keys... okay, got 'em. No don't touch that. Keep up. Come on we're going to be late. You don't have to look in every single window we pass. *sigh* Okay, come on. Strip kid, find instructor. Crud, the last class hasn't ended yet. Don't run. K, please don't sit in the puddle. No, you can't go into the water yet. I don't know why, 'cause that's the rule. Oh thank goodness, here comes the instructor. Find a seat... why aren't there any seats? Go HOME people!! Okay, read Dora for the 1,308,394 time. K, please come back here. Don't touch that. Don't sit in the puddle. Yes, I'll read the story AGAIN. Oh look, J's done. Wrap in towel. Find changing room. Why are there no changing rooms? Go HOME people!! Strip kid. Wet swimsuits are sooo fun to take off. Turn on shower without getting wet ('cause he's not strong enough to do it himself). *sigh* Dry off. Would have been nice if I'd had the time to change out of my work clothes. Shampoo. Soap. No, you have to rinse off first. Dry. Dress. Okay, time to go home, Yeah! No, we don't have to look in every window. Come on. *sigh* Don't touch that. Where are my keys... okay, strap two kids in. Off we go. NO, we can't go to McDonald's! Because I said so. Because we'll eat when we get home. Please, just stop talking. I'll pay you if you can be quiet until we get home. *sigh* Repeat twice a week.

And this is only the beginning... one day both kids will be in multiple things and my life will be a continuous version of this hell.

Oh, and yeah, I caved on the McDonald's thing, which isn't helping the whole weight loss thing.

Payback

2007-02-23T12:12:00.000-08:00

So, my husband has joined this challenge and he's never had any experience with dieting or even attempting to eat healthy. To say that it has been a wake up call for him is a huge understatement. While I've been dieting/trying to eat healthy for the last year, he would often look at me and say/think, "can't you just not eat that" or he'd look at me when I was having something I should with judgement in his eyes. He wasn't trying to be mean, he just didn't understand. Well, last night, if I was a mean person, was payback (p.s. I must be a mean person, 'cause I kinda enjoyed his pain). Picture this...

Scott.

On the couch.

In the fetal position.

Whining. "I'm hungry"

Even though he'd just eaten 3 cups of popcorn.

He was even rocking back and forth at one point.

It's interesting to see a man who never seemed to eat much (besides chips and slurpees) suddenly hungry all the time.

He was even cursing the TV because of all the food ads.

Paybacks a bitch, ain't it honey?!?

Motivation, where did you go?

2007-02-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't been a very good participant in the 2007 Challenge. I especially apologize to Tee as I haven't done anything to support and encourage my February partner. I will try to make it up to her for the rest of the month.

I haven't felt very motivated and I haven't been following any of the guidelines that I need to succeed.

There is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel...
For the first time in the 11 years I've known my husband, he is actually paying attention to what he is eating and is trying to get healthy. His boss has started a biggest loser type competition and we've both joined.

I'm very excited for my husband (though I'm sure his body will go into shock at the introduction of vegetables). It's also good for me. I find the desire to set a good example and teach him what I've learned about eating healthy. I find it much easier to eat healthy myself when he's not bringing bad things into the house (you can call him the Slurpee King). Also, one of the other competitors is really egging me on and I'm determine to blow her doors off!!

I'll try to get back into the blogging world. Though I might need to cut down on some of the blogs I read. Seeing the bloglines pop up saying I have a 151 entries to read is somewhat daunting and I find I'm just ignoring all of them.

Thank you for all of the comments, especially in the absence of posts and reciprocation! I will make an effort to live up to your encouraging words and support and to finally return the favour.

P.S. If anyone want to see the nastier side of my weight loss, check out the blog I started for those of us in the Biggest Loser type competition...

2007 CHallenge Update

2007-01-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, so far I have not done particularly well with this challenge.

Goals:

Stay on points
Exercise 3 times per week
Lose a total of 4 lbs

Results - Weeks 1 & 2:

Way over on points.
Zip, zilch, nada, and rien.
Gained a total of 0.4 lbs.

Results - Week 3

Way over on points.
3 times
Gained a 1.2 lbs.

I think that's why I haven't been posting. It's hard to admit how far from meeting the challenge I've been. I also owe you all pics from my fridge. I'll try to remember to do that tonight. I've started tracking again and excercising, so hopefully I'll see some results soon.

Recap of Week 1

2007-01-08T14:49:00.000-08:00

While I didn't quite meet all of my 2007 Challenge goals for Week 1 of the challenge, I did better than I would have without the challenge.

I did stay within points. I did drink my water and eat better. I did not get my exercise in. Maybe, I could have pushed myself harder and found the time. But after working a 12 hour day, coming home to small kids (both of whom are sick and want Mommy), I just didn't have the energy. I'd get home and cuddle my daughter, who'd fall asleep on my lap. I'd put her to bed and then spend time with my son until he went to bed, at which point, my daughter would wake up. By the time both kids were in bed, all I wanted to do was have a few minutes to myself and then get some sleep. I used to workout in the mornings, but these days it doesn't seem to matter what time I set my alarm for, I can't seem to get out of bed until 6:30 am.

This week should be better.

Wednesday I join a WW group at work. It should be interesting to have WW meeting with people I work with. I have been an online member of WW for years, but have attended meetings. Hopefully it will help.

I haven't taken part in the fridge challenge yet, but will try to that this week. It's a bit of a disaster right now and I'm not as brave as those of you that posted before and after pics of their fridges. Once my reaches the after state, then I'll post the pic. (sorry, but my Mom reads this site).

That's all for now...

2007 Challenge Day #3

2007-01-03T19:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I just got home (7:00 pm) after an 11 hour day. I'm exhausted, but still upbeat. Normally I find my energy dragging by 2 pm, but today I didn't. I think it was a combination of being too busy to notice the time, but also giving my body more of what it really needs. Thanks to the challenge, I've started taking multivitamins daily, I've switched my pepsi to water and cut way back on the junk. I feel better after an 11 hour day than I usually do after a 7 1/2 hour one.

Thanks for all the lovely comments, I hope to reciprocate more once this week is done.

I haven't exercised yet this week, but I'm hoping to do a tape tonight and will try to at least get a good 30 minute brisk walk in tomorrow.

Menu to date:
Triscuits (2.5)
Spaghetti w/ Meatballs & Garlic Toast (10)
Pork Chops, Carrots & Potatoes (7)
Cadbury Thin (2)
Pepsi (3)

Flex points used: 2.5 of 35
Water: 4 of 8 glasses
AP Earned: 0

2007 Challenge Day #2

2007-01-02T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well, today went pretty well considering. It was a crazy busy day and there were many times when I would have normally nibbled on something, but stopped myself. When I did nibble, I made better choices too (one lindor chocolate instead of a chocolate bar, one bag of oreo thins instead of a bag of chips). Depending on what my husband made for supper, I may need to exercise in order to stay within my points for the day, but given the bad habits I had slipped back into, today was a small victory.

The comments from my 2007 co-challengers helped a lot, so thank you!!

Welcome 2007!

2007-01-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

Well, the new year is here and for most of us, the resurgence of the diet. How many of us have dieting as some part of our new years resolution?

This year, I'm not setting myself up for failure. I always fail at new years resolutions, so instead I'm going to steal an idea from Grandma Jo. She always picks something fun, something that I'll want to do. Her new years resolution is to have more fun. I think mine will be to spend more time on the floor. Sounds odd doesn't it, but what I mean is that I plan to spend more time on the floor playing dolls, colouring, roughhousing, playing dinosaurs, etc.

While I'm not doing a diet related new years resolution, I have joined a 2007 challenge. My new years resolution and my reason for participating are the same. My goals for January are to lose 4lbs this month, to exercise 3 times each week and to stay OP at WW (including flex and AP). I think they're reasonable goals, so wish me luck. And wish the rest of the challengers luck too!

This week will be the most challenging of January. Work will be crazy and stressful and I have an assignment due tomorrow. It will be a good test of my resolve. I'm looking forward to getting back to regular posting too. I've missed this. I have been trying to keep up with your blogs, but have been primarily a lurker.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great holiday!

We're Back!

2006-11-18T06:43:00.000-08:00

After a very long day and night of travelling (our flight was delayed 6 hours), we're back in the land of never ending rain. I haven't gone to sleep yet as we didn't get home until 5:30 am and knew the kids would be up soon. We could have slept in Richmond for a bit, but I was anxious to get home to my babies.

Our trip was wonderful! Beautiful beaches, amazing mayan ruins, friendly people, hot sun and lots of relaxing. The resort we stayed at was huge. We were there for 3 days before we even went to the other 3 lobbies and even then we never did see the whole resort. We did two tours: the Coba ruins and Xel-Ha/Tulum.

The Coba temple was amazing. It was 128 steps high (very steep steps too) and believe it or not, I climbed to the top. Of course, about half way up I remembered that I'm afraid of heights. Not a good time to make that realization. Oh well, there wasn't much I could do, but go to the top and then come back down. After the ruins, we went to this amazing sinkhole for a cool down swim. There were stalagtighs/mights that were like 9 million years old. Our guide Jorge, was great and was of Mayan decent. We visited a Mayan village which was pretty neat. I thought it would be uncomfortable wandering through peoples homes, but in their culture, they would have been insulted had we not visited. It was very interesting.

Xel-Ha was pretty cool too, sort of an ecological theme park. There's snorkling, a floating village and drifting down the river in inner tubes. We spent most of the day there and it wasn't nearly enough time. We went as part of the tour, but if we were to go again, we'd just take a cab and do it ourselves. Had our picture taken with parrots and got a little drunk. Almost missed our bus due to a lovely nap in a hammock.

After Xel-Ha our bus took us to the Tulum ruins. Coba was neat with it's huge temple, but Tulum was facinating as it was a trading port city with lighthouses, a temple and palaces. The ruins themselves were worth seeing, but our guide was horrendous, rude and lecturing. He almost ruined the whole tour.

We also took a cab to the Akumul beach for a brief appearance on a webcam there for the entertainment of friends back home. Felt pretty self-conscious, but was fun to do anyway. After ward we went to Playa del Carmen for some shopping. Lots of stores and everyone is trying to convince you to visit their store. Bought some fun stuff.

Other than that, all we did was lay on the beach, eat, sleep and relax. Just what we needed. I'll post some pictures later, after I've had a chance to sort them.

Quick Update

2006-11-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

I leave for Mexico on Friday!! Woohoo! Very excited. If I survive the next 5 days, that is.

I have a hundred and one things to do before I go. My stepmom is taking care of the kids for me while I'm gone and on the days she works, our nanny will watch them. To facilitate that, Grandma Jo will be staying at our house part of the time. Which means I have to clean (really clean) our bedroom and bathroom. I've got to pack and run around getting those stray things you need for a holiday (bug spray, suncreen, etc). Check out our evening schedule for the next bit:

Monday night - Feeding your kids class at the community center
Tuesday night - Assignment due & Riding lessons for Jordan
Wednesday night - Salsa lessons for me, Toddler class for Katie and Basketball for Scott
Thursday night - turn kids over to Grandma Jo and head into Richmond where we'll stay until we head to the airport in the middle of the night.

Picture me laughing hysterically as I look at this list. I guess there goes sleep. It'll be worth it, when we make it to Mexico.

Food and exercise wise, I'm pretty much sucking. I'm going to try to hit the gym every morning before work, but with the lack of sleep... well, lets just say getting up in the moring is a challenge.

Hope everyone is doing well. I've missed you guys and will try to get more consistent with my posting when I get back.

I'm not dead

2006-10-15T18:57:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief (and how I feel some days), I'm still alive.

Things have been crazy busy for a while and will be for another couple weeks.

Note to self: working full time + taking two degree courses + 2 small kids + 1 - 2 extra-curricular activities per person = no sleep + no fun = cranky & tired Krista

I'm holding ground on the whole weightloss thing (which considering everything else is pretty good). The WW at work never materialized and I fell off on tracking points on WW Online, but I have been tracking the nutritional information of what I've been eating using a nifty little program on my PDA (which I usually have with me 24/7, so no excuses). I'm aiming to hit my goal for my birthday next April, which should be a reasonable goal. We'll see how it goes.

I leave for Mexico in 25 days, so I think I'd better start doing sit ups daily if I'm gonna wear a bathing suit. Oh, I guess I better actually go buy a bathing suit. Should be interesting, I'm so white, they'll be able to see me from the space shuttle. This nice white glaring beacon. Yup, it's gonna be pretty scary. But I don't care, I'm gonna go lie on the beach and everyone else can just look away.

Anyway, I best get back to studying if I have any hope of sleeping tonight. Hope everyone (if there is anyone out there still reading) is doing well!

I hate School

2006-09-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

Okay who's idea was it for me to go back to school?!? Oh yeah, it was mine. ~sigh~

Actually, I don't hate school, I just need to be like the little Japanese guy on the show Heroes. He can stop and manipulate time. Wouldn't that be nice? He even managed to teleport himself from Japan to New York. That would be cool too. Think about all you could accomplish in a day if you could stop time or just think yourself instantly to another location. No more traffic. No more road rage. More sleep. Hell, I'd be happy with more than 5 hours of sleep a night.

Anyway, since it's unlikely that I'll learn how to bend the space time continuum, I guess I'll just have to keep at it.

I'll try to post more.

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA JO! Yesterday Grandma Jo got even older!!

T-55

2006-09-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

It's Friday! It's Friday! TGIF!!!

This has been a very long week, but it's FRIDAY!!
Today is our departmental picnic, so only have to do actual work until 10:30 am and then since I was "volunteered" to help out, I get to go shopping for the food 'n stuff. Woohoo! Plus, since I'm on volunteer team, I'm administering the "get to know each other" game and don't have to actually participate. Woohoo! Can you tell I'm in a good mood this morning? Plus it should end early enough that I'll be able to get in my workout at the gym!

My DH was nice enough to clean out the van and cooler for me for today (part of my volunteer duties includes transport), so even though our definitions of clean differ, thanks Scott!!

Speaking of the 30303 Challenge. Grandma Jo sucks!! I was very proud that I got 60 minutes in yesterday, and could she let me bask in the glory?!? NO! She had to go get 70 minutes!! Alright, it's on now!! Did I mention that GRANDMA Jo is getting EVEN older next week!! Hehehe! (she's gonna smack me next time I see her).

Though, I probably had way more fun getting my minutes in. I took the kids to the park and taught them how to play freeze tag. Then we went climbing on the monkey bars (even attempted some chin ups and crossing the monkey bars), did some walking, and tossed around the football.

T-56

2006-09-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking I might need to start going to bed earlier. Apparently, not only can I fall asleep standing up in the shower, but I can actually sleep for a good twenty minutes. Yup, late for work this morning. Didn't make it to the gym this morning, but will have to go this evening. The new week for the 30303 Challenge has started and we have new teams. A couple of my fellow bloggers are on my team so the motivation to do well is there.

Team B is for Bodacious
Jill
BeccaLynn
Lauren
Tara
Liz

And if that wasn't enough motivation, I'm competing with Grandma Jo!! And she kicks butt when it comes to exercise minutes (i think she averages about 100 minutes a day - Yikes!!).

Came in fourth (out of 7 teams) last week, which wasn't bad since I was the only member of my team that posted any minutes.

Looks like the WW at work thing is a go. Starting next week. Guess I won't have any exuses left. Crud!

Have a great day!!

T-57

2006-09-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

OMG!! Less than two months until Mexico!!!

I'm taking a Spanish for Travellers class at the local community center. Boy do we ever have a wide range of abilities. There's one lady who's having trouble with pretty much all of it and another who can pretty much carry on a conversation in Spanish. I'm somewhere in the middle and am very glad that I studied French growing up. I can at least roll my R's and have a pretty good grasp on the whole conjugation of verbs.

I went to the gym after class and did my workout. That brings me to 245 minutes so far this week for my 30303 Challenge. Happy to see Alea join us!! Welcome Alea!! And my Grandma Jo is joining the challenge too!! That's so stiff competition as both exercise a lot.

At the gym, tried running (run/walk) for the first time since my surgery. Happy to report that the "girls" felt fine. Though my legs and knees are in a bit of shock. I highly recommend running to Dancing with the stars. They did the Mambo & Quick Step last night, so that increased my tempo a bit. It felt good.

Not so good was the slurpee and small bag of chips I had when I got home. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Just read that Anne has joined the challenge too! Woohoo!

Big Thank You!

2006-09-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have to give a huge thank you to Crystal & Sarah. I've been hearing about the 30303 Challenge on a couple of your blogs and wanted to get in on things as I've done ZIP in terms of exercise since my surgery. I asked Sarah about it and she pointed me in the direction of Crystal's board (where the challenge resides). I'm happy to report, this morning I went to the gym and got a solid 45 minutes in!! Yeah me!! So thank you!!

Now just have to get the rest back on track. Again. ~sigh~

Finally heard a bit more about the WW at work. It'll cost $180, but until we know how many people (if there's even enough), we won't know how many weeks that covers. Apparently anywhere from 10 to 15 weeks. I haven't decided if I want to do it yet. It'll be good for motivation and accountability, but that's a lot of money.

Another fun note (~evil laugh~), my stepmom had her session with the personal trainer and apparently Connie had some wonderful new ways to torture her. hehehe! I love being nice and evil at the same time (I bought the session for her). Good job Jo for keeping it up!

2996 Tribute - Thomas P. Hologan

2006-09-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

A Fallen Hero – Firefighter Thomas P. Holohan Jr.

I’m not a very eloquent writer, but when I hear about this tribute, I felt I had to take part. I signed up and was assigned a victim. Call it fate, call it coincidence, but the victim I was assigned really touched a cord inside me. As the daughter of a firefighter, and a wife and mother myself, I can only image the pain and loss the friends and family of Thomas must be feeling. My thoughts are with them today and always.

He was a firefighter. He was a husband. He was a brother. He was a friend. He was a father and he was a hero. Like many of the heroes from that day, he entered the Twin Towers to try to help and save others. Some might say, that’s what firefighters do, but Firefighters are trained to battle the fires and save lives while minimizing the danger to them. 9/11 was different. Those brave men and women that entered that building would have realized how much more dangerous this job would be and went anyway.

Firefighter Thomas Holohan was 36 years old when he died. He was from Chester, NY and came from a large and loving family. He had three beautiful children and a loving wife. I won’t try to talk about who he was, as I never met him, but reading the stories that friends and families have written about him, I wish I did. I encourage you to follow some of these links and learn more about what an amazing man he was and the legacy of love and friendship he left behind. Thank which ever God you believe in that we have heroes like Thomas in our world.

Links
Thomas P. Hologan
Thomas Hologan: A Solid Rock that Guided his Family
Thomas and Colleen

T-70

2006-09-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

To answer Michelle's question... my title is actually a countdown until my trip to Mexico. T-70 means Time minus 70 days. It's a geeky scientific type way of referencing time in experiments. I just thought that since I'm workign towards a goal rather than counting up (Day 3/70), I'd be different and do it this way. I am, after all, I geek.

Did well today on points. Had a lunch meeting and since I was organizing had sandwiches and salads brought in. It was nice. Okay, the big cookie with white chocolate wasn't so good, but what can I do.

Pizza & Cupcakes here I come tonight!!

(I must confess that I tested two cupcakes last night... oops!)

T-71 Days

2006-09-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

Today wasn't as good as yesterday. We ate lunch at McPukes and while I did go for a smaller meal, it was still not good. On a positive note, I had porride for breakfast rather than cookies. Only used 5 flex points and will try to gain some AP's once the kids go to bed. Tomorrow and Friday will be a challenge... we're having Pizza & cupcakes for my brother's birthday tomorrow and Friday night is Girls' Night In (watching a chick flick at my house). Will try to be good and plan for it the best I can. Anyway, have to go drag the kids to the store for milk and eggs and then have to bake the cupcakes. And they're already cranky. Won't this be fun...

T-72 days

2006-09-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

So the first day back on the wagon wasn't too bad. Stayed within points, even with a couple of bad choices. I was hoping to start working out tomorrow, until I remembered that my DH is out of town from Wednesday to Sunday. Which means that I can leave early unless I want to rack up some nanny overtime. I'm going to try to workout at home in the evenings. At least I have a lot of exercises I learned from the bootcamp that just require an exercise ball and some 5lb weights. Plus with two flights of stairs in our house, I have a pretty good idea of how I'll get my cardio. Of course that means working out in the evening, sometime between... feeding the kids, bathing the kids, getting the kids to bed, homework/studying and sleeping.

I have to say I have a lot of admiration for single parents. The idea of the next 5 days on my own is daunting. And that's with a live-in nanny and kids that not yet in school. Hats off to those who do it day in and day out.

Food for the Day:
Famous Amos Cookies (6)
1/2 Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich (7.5)
Pork Chops with Cream of Mushroom Soup & Potatoes (7)
Corn (1)
Green Beans (0)

1 Multivitamin
2 Calcium Chews
1.5 L of Water

Time to get Serious!

2006-09-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

Well, despite my pledge to cold turkey on pop, i haven't. I've been better with the water (thanks everyone for the slaps), but still haven't been eating very well. Well tomorrow is the end of "summer" fun and time to get serious. Time to get my butt in gear. To actually study. Life is about to get insane again and if I'm not organized and on top of things we'll all drown. So, today, I coloured my hair. Did some exercise. Shaved my legs. Scrubbed my bathroom. Organized some of my pictures. I feel great. It's nice to accomplish something after several days of imitating a slug.

So tomorrow, I'll be back on the WW bandwagon. Wish me luck!

Comic Relief

2006-08-31T10:22:00.000-07:00

If anyone needs a good laugh, I'll try to remember to post a picture later tonight...
I'm finally at the point where I can start working out again. As I was gathering my workout gear, I noticed my "old" sportsbra in the drawer. Since the bra was practically new, it was a shame to get rid of it. On a lark, I decided to try it on. LMAO! It was so big that you couldn't see my breasts under all the spare material. I could actually put a full fist into each cup and still have room. So much for me thinking that they didn't take that much off.

Back to regularly scheduled programming...

I'm doing pretty well with the no pop thing. Have had a few sips here and there, but much better. I'm still struggling to drink my water, but am definitely getting more than I was. I haven't heard anything further in regards to a WW at work, but hopefully they'll get enough interest. I haven't been very good about traking my points, so I need to get my butt in gear.

School starts next week!! My kids aren't old enough for school yet, but I'm back in school again. For those of you that don't know, I'm an accountant. When I got my designation, a degree wasn't required, but newer graduates have to complete a degree before they can get their designation. I've decided to get mine. The CGA's have a degree partnership with various Universities, etc. so it will take me just over a year to get. I decided to go for the BBA with a major in Accounting & IT from SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology). The courses appeal to me. I'm taking things like Internet Applications, Database, Network & Project Management plus a couple business/marketing courses that I managed to avoid during my college years. It's all done by correspondence with two courses per semester so I can still work. It'll mean the next year will be pretty busy, but at least it won't be boring. I hate boring!

Knowing me, my posts will become more regular rather than more sporatic. I tend to be a procrastinator and will probably do posts when I should be studying :-)

Girls Night Update

2006-08-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

So we went out for dinner at the Olive Garden (not very points friendly, but delicious none the less). Had a lovely dinner with the girls and caught up on things. A guy we'd seen outside of the restaurant while waiting for a table came up to us while we were eating to give me his number. He handled it very gracefully when I told him I was married. It was flattering, but a bit embarrassing (especially since my girls teased me a bit).

We hit the casino afterwards to check out the men, I mean have a drink and play some slots. Lost. Not much though, 'cause being an accountant, I'm the responsible type that sets a spending limit before I go in and play until it's gone. Had fun though. Not nearly enough cute guys out.

After the casino we hit the club for a bit of dancing. Unfortunately they played crappy music and we danced to a total of... 1 song. Which really really sucked. I was so looking forward to dancing. We had some fun regardless. And I think we got a bit too much attention when we did a chain massage. We had some good laughs regardless.

Now on a more serious note... Thank you for calling me on the water, etc.! I needed a quick in the butt. I have been making a serious effort to drink more water this weekend and starting on Monday will cold turkey the pop again. When I did that last time, it made a huge difference in my water intake and how I felt. I guess I just can't drink the stuff at all, 'cause having one occasionally quickly crept back up to drinking it regularly. So, back to cold turkey. And yes, Queenie, L & the rest of you, please smack me if you see me cheating. :-)

Time for a change

2006-08-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

Got bored with the old template. New one makes me think about swimming in the ocean, which of course makes me think about Mexico.

Now if only this will help motivate me. I've done nothing towards losing weight since my last post. No exercise. Almost No water. Little sleep. And bad food. At this rate, I'll weigh more by the time I go.

I'm going out with the girls on Saturday night! It'll be the first time the three of us have gone out since L got back from Australia. I can't wait. I hope I've healed enough to dance without pain. I hope I've healed enough to dance period, 'cause midway through the night I won't be feeling any pain and I'd hate to hurt myself. :-)

Sounds like someone is trying to organize a corporate WW club at work. I guess an office with 600 staff (70% of which are women), there might actually be enough to have it's own club. We'll have to wait and see. The feeler email went out today. I've been a strictly online member of WW for years, but it might be nice to attend meetings again, but it might be weird to do it with people I work with. I guess we'll see.

Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!!

2006-08-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

After 6 years of marriage, I am FINALLY going on my HONEYMOON!! Booked it today!! We leave November 10th!!

We're staying here at the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum

I'm very excited!! Can you tell?!?

Oh god, I have to fit into a bathing suit in just over 2 months!! I guess it's time to get serious. I think I need a challenge. But I think I need a team one with something on the line. Anyone interested?

Oh and Queenie, I'm so sorry, but I can't do James Blunt after all. Forgive me??

I lost a week

2006-08-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

So much for me being a regular blogger again. I had great intentions and then life just sort of sped past. Well, actually I think it mostly just ran right over top of me. Work has been absolutely crazy. We're in the middle of launching one of the projects that I've been working on for a year and a half. Except, we launching and then we're not launching and then we are and then we're not and then maybe we are and... ARGH! It's been a bit frustrating and I've officially reached the point when it's either laugh hysterically or cry. I've been laughing an awful lot.

Today is weigh in day... I'm exactly the same as I was prior to my surgery, which sucks because shortly after my surgery I was down 2.5 lbs. Of course, I had almost 800 grams of fat removed during the surgery and didn't eat for a week. It's disappointing to be up. Guess it just means I have to really get my butt in gear. I have two huge motivational factors right now... 1) Going to Mexico in November & 2) If I gain weight, it'll go right back into my breasts and the pain, etc. of surgery will have been wasted. I like having smaller breasts and have NO desire to be that big again. I can't get over how much skinnier I look with smaller breasts. So it's back on track for me!

Went to the David Gray concert last night. It was great! It was an outdoor concert at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby. The weather was beautiful. The music was wonderful. It was great to sit on the grass and listen to music. The best part though was watching my friend. She's the David Gray fan and had asked us to go with her. She's had so much going on in her life and it was so nice to see her that relaxed and enjoying herself. She was so excited to see D.G. in concert as he's so popular in England that it's almost impossible to see him. It was a great night.
(Not so good on the food front though... had fish & chips for dinner and mini donuts at the concert... oops!)

Food So Far...
None yet, but I'm going to go eat soon

Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho! Off to Work I go!

2006-08-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back to work today. Mixed feeling about that. It'll be good to be back on track, to use my mind, to get out of bed before 10 am, but at the same time, I have to get out of bed before 10 am. I was kinda getting used to the life of leisure. Playing video games, reading books, being useless. Sure, I was bored out of my tree, but it was still kind of nice. Now I actually have to start showering everyday and doing my hair and wearing something other than althetic shorts and a t-shirt. *sigh*

Oh and I guess I have to start back on being good. I ate really well the first week (well, once I started eating again), mainly due to the fact that my Mommy & Daddy took very good care of me and fed me nice nutricious and delicious meals. I've been less good the second week as I'm back at home. My DH has been taking good care of me, but his cooking skills are shall we say limited. But now that I'm back to the real world, it's time to get real with the food too. DH will still have to do most of the cooking for another couple of weeks, but I'll be much more involved in choosing the menu and supervising the cooking (sorry Scott). After going through all the pain, etc. of the surgery I don't want to gain weight and undo the results. 'Cause the first place I gain weight is in my breasts.

Plus, now that I can actually see my stomach I'm a lot more aware of it and need to get rid of it.

Post Op Update

2006-07-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Thanks for the well wishes and comments.

So the surgery... I gotta tell you sometimes it pays to be a pain. Because I have a condition that can cause me to faint with seizure-like activity I got lots of special treatment. First one in on the day of the surgery... nice dose of adavan as soon as I arrive. Tucked into bed with some lovely oxygen... best way to have surgery. I don't even remember them putting me to sleep. In fact, I don't remember most of that day. I have a few flashes, I remember waking up in the recovery room, but I don't remember leaving the hospital or coming home at all.

One piece of advice... don't try to go to the bathroom by yourself in the middle of the night following surgery. I felt great, thought I could do it. One minute I'm going pee, the next I'm laying on the floor in my husband's arms. Apparently I was out for a good 8 minutes after passing out into the shower. Luckily there was a garbage bag on the floor in the bathroom to break my fall. Oops.

Tylenol 3's are my friend. Antibiotics that make me nauseous are not.

I have to say to anyone planning on having a breast reduction done, lose as much excess weight ahead of time as you can. When I first went to my surgeon, I was told that I would have to have the larger anchor type incision. Between then and my actual surgery, I lost 25 lbs and was able to have the smaller incision. It's made a huge difference. The women I've talked to that have had the larger incision had way more pain and way less mobility. Talk about a great reward for loosing the weight. I have some discomfort, but I can lift my arms above my head. I can open a pop bottle. I'm also happy to report (and so is my husband) that I still have sensation in my nipples.

My surgery was Friday morning. I spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday at home. Don't remember most of those days and spent most of my time sleeping. On Sunday I went home with my Mom for the week, where I was guarded closely, fed healthy delicious meals and slept 20 out of every 24 hours. It was wonderful. I came home yesterday. It was great to see my kids and to sleep in my own bed. The kids have been great and haven't been trying to climb me much. DH has been taking good care of me and the kids (though I do miss Daddy's steak). My biggest complaint is the nausea. Which I'm hoping will stop once I'm finished the antibiotics.

My breasts look like they've been beaten up, but still look like breasts. The bandages are off, the drains are out. The stitches will eventually dissolve. They're still a bit swollen and I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll look like once they've healed. Everyone can't get over how much skinnier I look with smaller boobs. And while they look tiny to me, they're still a nice size. And they're PERKY!! All in all I'm happy with the results.

Taking the GIRLS for one last spin

2006-07-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

So this is the last weekend before my Breast Reduction Surgery and we're taking the "girls" for one last spin. I'm a happily married woman, but every now and then I enjoy going out with my girlfriends. And if some guys check us out and flirt with us a bit, even better. Because of my "girls," I've gotten a bit of extra attention of the years. So tonight, I'm going out and enjoy that attention one last time. We're going to go shopping (shoes!!), we're going to go to BINGO (never been, should be interesting, maybe I'll win some money to pay for the evening), I'm sure we'll grab some food to soak up the alcohol, maybe to the casino and hopefully dancing!!! None of us will be driving!!!! Wisa, wish you were going to be here!!! I'm going to hurt tomorrow though.

I'm sure I'll miss that benefit, but I'm so looking forward to being perky... to being able to see my feet again... for being able to see if I've got something on my shirt or pants below my breasts... to no more back aches, neck aches or headaches. So tonight is also a celebration of what's to come.

Wish me luck!

Ow Ow Ow!

2006-07-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well, definitely feeling the pain from my meeting with my personal trainer. It wasn't even a full workout. She'd show me what I was to do and then I'd do some so she could check my form. Can I ever feel my abs. Ow! She has me doing this one exercise that had me giggling throughout. It was fun and didn't feel like working out at all. Evil!! Evil!! Evil!! The innocent and fun little exercise is what is causing the pain today. I'll hurt the next person that makes me laugh. Anyway, this exercise involved lying on your back holding an exercise ball above your head. You then toss the ball AND catch it with your feet. Yup that's right, you are actually supposed to catch it with your feet. So once I've retrieved the runaway ball, you're then supposed to get your feet to toss the ball back and catch it with your hands. Once you've retrieved the runaway ball again, you repeat 20 times. Apparently with practice it's supposed to be a smooth and graceful exercise. Scott, STOP LAUGHING!! You too Joanne!! There's a small possibility that it may look graceful when I do it. I said stop laughing!! I think I'll do this particular exercise at home.

I actually did go back to the gym this morning and did a cardio workout too, so I'm on the right track again. I was happy to note that while I wasn't at the level I was before I stopped exercising, I also wasn't at the level I was when I first started exercising. I should be back to where I was pretty quickly and hopefully will get further along.

I'm getting back on track food wise again. Nice healthy dinner last night. Another planned for tonight. Went out for lunch today, but went to Subway instead of other FF (thank you Scott). Drinking water again and cutting back/out pop. I haven't been feeling great lately and I think once I get a couple of days of being on track under my belt, I'll feel a lot better. Some sleep would help too.

Now that I'm back on track, I should be better at posting again. (I hope).

It's Friday!

2006-07-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where did the week go? Wasn't it Tuesday just yesterday?? Things have been crazy busy and I've sucked at getting back on track this week. Had bacon for dinner last night. That's it, just bacon. A lot of Bacon. It was good bacon. Bad me. But it was good bacon. Okay, enough about bacon.

On a positive note, I've set up the meeting with a personal trainer for Monday. We're going to lay out a routine for the next two weeks to get me in the best shape possible for my surgery.

I can't believe my surgery is two weeks away. I'm only freaking out a little bit. I'm also not sure where I should recuperate. I'd given my DH a deadline to finish the stuff around the house prior to my surgery and I'm starting to doubt he'll get it done. (Okay, fine for those of you that know my DH, I've doubted all along). As much as I'd rather be home in my own bed, staying with my Mom for the first week might be a better plan for a couple of reasons...

better food (my Mom, my Dad and my baby brother are better cooks that DH)
no kids (as much as I love my kids and would miss them like crazy, trying to explain to a 2 & 4 year old that they can't hug me or get up on the bed, etc. while I'm recovering is going to be tough)
Related to the last point, I won't be confined to my room (to avoid getting hugged & jumped on by the kids)
my DH would get a chance to see what I do everyday and would get a chance to really bond with the children. Though, I'd worry about my kids survival.
i'd have three people looking after me

Though, I probably don't need to worry about the decision. The chances of DH finishing the list prior to my surgery are next to nil, so I'll most likely be staying at my Mom's. I think I'll have to get her a wireless router though so that I can still work and surf the internet while I'm there.

Have a good one!

Back in Town!

2006-07-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we survived camping! The kids were wonderful. The dogs were wonderful. The weather was freaking amazing. Eating... not so much.

I went up to Golden Ears Provincial Park for 10 days with my two kids, my dog and Grandma Jo, her dog and her camper. Had to share a bed with both kids (and for someone who's never slept with her kids, that was a challenge - and a beating for me, man those kids flip-flop a lot), but at least we were on a bed and not the ground. The kids were covered in dirt the whole time (except for a brief period after their baths) and loved it. We went for great hikes everyday and played in this big field. We went wading in the creek and the lake (glacier fed, so a wee bit cold). Bugs were a bit annoying, but not too bad. Did a lot of walking.

As for food... KD, Ichiban, Garlic Alfredo pasta, hot dogs, bags and bags of potato chips, a ton of pepsi, a fair bit of Rye, sugary cereal. Bad, bad stuff. I'll let you know how bad when I step on the scale tomorrow morning. I'm hoping all the walking and hiking will have ofset some of the eating.

On a good note, I did finally start running again. Three mornings last week, I put on those sneakers and went for a run around the campground. It felt great and I plan to keep it up in the coming weeks. I think I'll also bring in my personal trainer for a session to get me on track to do the most good before my surgery in just under 3 weeks.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

I passed!!

2006-06-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I finished taking my first aid course and passed. I can't believe how intense the course was. I just hope I never have to use it.

Haven't posted in the last couple of days as I was trying to get ready for the test. I won't be posting the again for probably a week. I'm going camping!! Me & the kids & Grandma. DH has to stay behind. Too bad, so sad for him. heheheh. I'm really looking forward to it. Work won't even be able to contact me. It's supposed to reach 35C here this weekend. I'll be glad to be camping and not in a stiffling house.

Doing okay food wise and will try to stay good while camping. At least I know I'll be hiking and walking and swimming, so even if I indulge a bit, I should be okay. I have a 101 things to do before we leave tonight. My DS & Grandma are already up there, so it's just DD & I that need to get organized. I can't wait!! Today is going to take forever!!

Have a great week!!

First Aid (oh, and Day 1 of 30)

2006-06-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, remind me never to skip class again. Since my test for first aid isn't until Thursday, our instructor set up a couple of practice sessions, Mon & Wed 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Didn't go last night. A bunch of people came over to watch the game... I didn't do any studying on the weekend... so yeah, I pretty much just wimped out and didn't go. Got to practice my first aid anyway. My DS decided to pretend he was cutting the grass by wildly swinging a metal broom handle. I'm sure no one is surprised that when you swing a four foot metal pole in a yard the side of a postage stamp, chances are you're going to hit the other occupant of the yard. Yup, he smoked his baby sister in the mouth with the pole. She's all spurting blood our of her mouth and screaming. He's all "it was an accident! it was an accident!" She's got a lovely fat lip but is otherwise okay. All in all a FUN evening. Remind me not to skip first aid class again. It's way more fun to practice on dummies.

So here goes... Day 1 of 30 (starting today as today is also the start of my WW week and 30 days brings me exactly to the day before my surgery).

Food so Far:
Oatmeal (3)
Potato Cheddar Mojos (5)
Pepsi (1)
Bacon (7)
Hashbrowns (2)
Pepsi (2)
Cheerio Mix (4)

Pts: 24/22 (used two APs)
AP: 2
Water: 1L
Sleep: 4 hrs <-- yeah i know. it was my own fault. started a new book. finished it. bad krista!!

Overall not a great day food wise, but stayed within points, drank water (which I haven't done much of lately) and got some APs (been ever worse with these than I have been with the water).

Exhausted, but still Alive

2006-06-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

Last week I took the OFA Level 2 course (Occupational First Aid). It was quite an intense course will a ton of things to remember. It was a five day course (8 am - 4:30pm) with 2-3 hours of homework and reading a night. I wasn't aware of the homework/reading part, so I agreed to do some work in the evenings. Which meant 2 - 3 hours of first aid, followed by an hour or two of work. And thats after taking care of the kids, cooking dinner, etc. Needless to say, it was a tough week. Hence my absense from blogland. I wish I could tell you that I was good while I was gone, but I soooo wasn't. In fact last week was the worst week I've had since starting my WL journey back in January. However, I'm back on track to today and am signing up for Michelle's 30 day OP Challenge. I have about a month until my surgery, so this is my last chance for a while.

Menu so Far:
Oatmeal (3)
Wendy's Jr Cheeseburger (3.5 - only ate 1/2)
Wendy's Medium Fries (5 - only ate 1/2)
Pizza (8) <-- What? It was the Stanley Cup Final, pizza was manditory
Cheerio Mix (4)
Cookies (3)
Pepsi (3)
Rye (2)

Total 32.5/22
Yikes!!

Bailed on Bootcamp

2006-06-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

I didn't sign up for bootcamp after all. Between the first aid course and various other committments, I just wouldn't be able to attend regularly. I will try to get the exercise in anyway though.

We booked our hotel for the weekend. We're actually staying in Federal Way rather than downtown Seattle as we plan on spending Saturday at Six Flags anyway. I'm really looking forward to getting away for the weekend.

Been bad with eating in the last couple of days, but will get back on track today. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Sporadic Poster

2006-06-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been a sporadic poster these days and I doubt it will get much better. Things are really busy and are only going to get worse. Check out my crazy work schedule for the next little while:

Week of:
June 5 - At work as usual
June 12 - OFA Level 2 (First Aid Course)
June 19 - At work as usual
June 26 - Vacation (going Camping with Grandma & the kids)
July 3 - Monday is a stat, work three days, Friday is my Surgery
July 10 & 17 - Two weeks of medical leave

It wouldn't be too bad, but I have a ton of work to do and pretty much just two weeks in which to do six weeks worth of stuff. Should be fun.

Doing okay eating wise. Not great, but still trying to make better choices. Haven't been recording as much as I should be (probably one of the reasons I'm not blogging as much too). Exercise has pretty much been nonexistent, which should make bootcamp fun on Monday. Yeah, I know. Bootcamp on top of the rest of the stuff is pretty insane, but if I don't force myself to exercise during this it'll be worse. Exercise is a huge stress releaser for me. Bootcamp might just save lives. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the bootcamp while I'm doing the first aid. I'm going to try, but it will depend on how long it takes me to get from work to the first aid place. Class starts at 8 am and bootcamp finishes at 7 am. That gives me an hour to shower and change and get there. It might be tight, but I'm going to try. Luckily our bootcamp said they'd prorate the fees for those on vacation and such, so I won't have to pay for the week I'm camping. I know I'll get plenty of exercise that week. Grandma Jo is a walking/hiking fiend and she's turned my son into one too. It will be a nice recharge just before my surgery.
Anyway, enough of my rambling...

Oh does anyone have any suggestions as to where my DH and I should stay for our weekend in Seattle? We're having a weekend away from the kids.

25 lbs!!

2006-05-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! I've hit the 25lb milestone finally! Almost halfway to my goal. Wooot! Wooot! And it's Friday!! Does it get any better than this?!?

Now if only I could shake this evil bug my DH shared with me. Wasn't it nice of him to share!

Will try to post more later...

Field Trip

2006-05-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

Took today off work so that I could take my DS on a preschool field trip. Since they do a field trip a month, I don't normally take the time off work to go, but this one was to the Equestrian center so the kids could ride horses. I love horses (though I haven't been riding in years), so I just had to go. My DS loved it. He wants to take riding lessons now, and I have to admit so do I. It's expensive, but my DS has shown more interest in this than hockey or soccer. I think we'll do one set of lessons and see if he's still interested afterward.

Doing well on points, and while I haven't been working out, I've been earning plenty of APs doing things like vacuuming, building furniture and moving things around. Knowing the surgery is coming closer has really helped with fighting temptation. Anyway, I'm off to read everyone's blogs while I wait for the carpet cleaning guys. Have a good one!

I'm Back

2006-05-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Did anyone even noticed that I was missing? Except, XM that is.

Things have been busy. Haven't been great, but haven't been horrible either. Just haven't been in the mood to blog. I'm caught up now on all your blogs (though I mostly just lurked).

Found out today that my surgery is scheduled for July 7th. eeeeppp! I'm only freakin' out a little bit. Okay, I lie. I'm freakin' out a lot. I know that it's the right thing to do, but it's still scary. There's the whole surgery part, which in itself is scary, plus there's the whole psychological part too. I mean, it's one of the things I'm known for. It sets me apart. It's part of my identity. I'll be average. Normal. I'm not sure I'm ready for that. Sure it will help with the headaches and neck pain. Running will be easier (once I heal). My clothing options will open up. But, I'm going to be in a lot of pain for a while. I won't be able to hug or lift my kids. Okay, yeah, I'm really freakin' now. My DH is not particularly enthusiastic about it either. Can't really blame him, but it doesn't help.

Okay, focus. I have 44 days left until my surgery. I have been drifting along in my weightloss journey, not really pushing. I'm 169 lbs right now and I really wanted to be 150 before my surgery. I might not make it, but I'm going to try to get as close as I can. I'm going to sign up for the next session of cardio bootcamp. It'll run from June 5th until June 30th. I'm hoping that will help. I have a week and a half until bootcamp to try to get in a better starting position (have hardly worked out at all since the last bootcamp ended). Hopefully this will be the motivation I need to get some serious results. Wish me luck!

Food so Far:
pepsi (1) <-- this was before I found out about the surgery and I threw out the rest of it.
Aero (3.5)
Cheeseburger (8)

Pts: 12.5/22 (35/35 Flex Left)

Water: 0
Sleep: 7.5
F&V: 0

Day 7/7

2006-05-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, this week's challenge was shot on Friday and didn't improve over the weekend, but rather than waiting until tomorrow (the next Day 1), I'm going to get back on track today.

Food so far:
Oatmeal (3)
OJ (1)

Pts: 4/22 (0/35 Flex Remaining)

Water: 0L/3L (seriously need some water, I don't think I drank any all weekend)
AP: 0
F&V: 1
Sleep: 4 maybe - finishing up the flooring, DD pukin' on my bed... fun stuff!

Happy Mothers' Day!

2006-05-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Mothers' Day to all the Moms!

I haven't seen my kids yet. They're at various Granparents' houses so that we can install the flooring. Haven't eaten great. Kitchen is full of furniture and well, I figure 12 hours of manual labour earns me a few AP's. If you want to see the floors, I have a couple of video clips on the kids blog. Will be back on track on Monday. Off to paint the room...

Finally! Friday!

2006-05-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

I'm glad it's Friday! My week has been a bit messed up as I took Wednesday off to go shopping with my DH. We didn't buy much as DH is a little resistant to change. We did buy flooring. And we even decided on which style of sofa to get. We haven't ordered it yet, as we haven't picked a colour. The colour it comes in is cream. Can you imagine? Cream sofa + 2 kids + 1 dog = disaster.

I did get one toy though. I lovely PDA. Yup, I'm a geek. Love it! I have Excel with me at all times now. What more could I ask for. It also has Wi-Fi, so I can surf the internet anywhere there is a wireless network. Lots of fun! I can write in cursive on the screen and it converts it to typed text. Way to cool! Okay, I'll tone down the geekiness for now.

Thanks for letting know about the WW application for the PDA, unfortunately it only works with Palm OS, and I have a PocketPC.

Oh, we even finally agreed on the TV debate. I wanted Flat panel (either LCD or plasma), but the largest the LCD came in was 40", which DH said is too small. Sony doesn't make any plasma, so DH was looking at going with the rear projection LCD from Sony (Grand Wega). But it's huge and bulky and ugly and heavy. We've been arguing over it for days. We were finally saved by Sony. Yup, they've come out with a 46" Sony Bravia LCD Flat Panel TV. Now we're both happy. Ooops, sorry, I did say I'd stop the geekiness.

My friend is going away to Whistler for the weekend and I'm so jealous. Wanna know what I get to do this weekend? Move furniture out of the main room, rip up carpetting, lay new laminate flooring and move the furniture back in. Wooohooo! But that's only if my DD stops puking and my son will actually stay at his grandmother's house. He's never stayed overnight with this grandma and is freaking out. Weee! What fun!!

Actually it will be really nice to get started on the plans for our home.

Pts: 4/22

Shopping! Shopping!

2006-05-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

I'm going shopping! I don't know what I'm going to buy, but I'm going to have a lot of fun looking!! 'Course I have to get through the inevitable argument with DH over which flooring we want in the main room. To give you perspective, it took us 2 years to decide on our china pattern and he didn't even really care about that. Our tastes are a bit different and if we presevere, eventually we find a small area of overlap, but it's tough to get there. You should have seen us trying to decide on kids names. It also really sucks that he's a painter. It means he knows his colours and what looks good together, so he's usually right. I hate it when he's right and I'm going to have to argue just on principle. :-)

If we survive that, we might go look at furniture. Should be a stimulating day!!

For those that liked the beach theme, I'm sorry but as much as I liked the beach image, I found it too hard to read. I'll try to find something else soon.

Day 1/7

2006-05-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

I figure I'm just going to keep repeating the 7 day challenge each week. I have a much better chance of not straying too far off the 100 day challenge if I break it down. Well, I added up the points from the weekend and while it wasn't good, I at least didn't go over my flex points.
I was good yesterday though.

Question for everyone...

If you had $1,500 to spend on anything you wanted (not allowed to spend it on responsible stuff, including your kids), what would you spend it on?

Food so far:
Subway Roasted Chicken (6)

Pts: 6/22 (35/35 Flex)

Water: 0.5L/22
Sleep: I don't want to talk about it
AP: 0
F&V: 1

Weekend Post

2006-05-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not so good with the challenge on the weekends. I have no idea what my points are for yesterday. I'll try to add them up. I had a date with my DH last night. We went to see MI III. Anyone else really tired of Tom Cruise. I figured even though he annoys me, it should be a good action flick. The action was pretty good, but was overpowered by the Tom Annoyance Factor. There was no difference between Ethan Hunt & Tom Cruise. I didn't see any acting. Oh well, it was still nice to get away from the kids for the evening. Had lots of fun wandering around Best Buy & London Drug prior to the movie. Lots of cool toys. I think I'm going to buy a PDA. Fun gadget, but usefull too.

We're doing the Richmond thing today and I should go visit with the MIL. Will post more later...

Happy Cinco de Mayo

2006-05-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Day 3/7 and so far still on points.

Angel peed in the backyard!!! Apparently I didn't latch her crate properly, because at 6 am I heard her running down the hall to our room. I took her downstairs and put her outside. Ate some breakfast and watched to see if she'd pee. Nope. So I got her leash and told her it was walkies time. Took her back to the backyard and walked around the backyard with her. And she did her business!! Yeah!! Small steps. Didn't make it to the gym though. Will try to hit it tonight. If not, 90 minutes of dog walking is 4 points!!

Anyway, I've got a meeting in 5 minutes...

Food so far:
Life Cereal w/ Milk

Pts: ??/22

Water: 0
AP: 0
Sleep: 6
F&V: 0

Where's yesterday?

2006-05-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, where did yesterday go? It was such a busy day that I didn't even make a posting. I'm happy to report that I stayed on track yesterday and used 21.5/22 pts. Did use or earn any AP. Drank lots of water and had some nice veggies. Overall a good WW day yesterday. My weight hasn't changed this week, but considering that it's TOM, I'm not complaining.

Today should be a quieter day and I hope to catch up on everyone's blog. It seems like I was the only one that missed posting today as bloglines tells me I have 26 posts to read.

Spent 15 minutes outside this morning waiting for the dog to pee. When I couldn't wait any longer, I sliped on her leash and took her for a short walk. Sure enough, within 30 seconds she'd did her business. Any ideas on how to get her to pee in the backyard?? It's either the house or on a walk at the moment. Since she's almost a year old and is mostly trained, I think it's just a matter of teaching her where it's acceptable to pee. At least we planned on replacing the carpets anyway (I mean who puts oatmeal coloured carpet in a townhouse marketed to young families? Really!!??!!).

Food so Far:
1/2 Chocolate Chip Cookie (1.5)
1/2 Crunchie Bar (2.5)
McDonalds Fries (8)
McDonalds Cheeseburger (7)
Healthy Request Vegetable Beef Soup (3)
Cheetos (4)

Pts: 26/26 (22+4AP) (35/35 Flex left)

Water: 0L/2L
Sleep: 5.5 <-- my son decided he wanted to play at 4 am
AP: 4
F&V: 0

Day 1/7

2006-05-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

Apparently blogger decided to eat my post, so let's try this again...

Day 1 here I come...
Finally got my butt in gear and went back to the gym. It was way to easy to take the week off, but I'm glad to be back at it. I felt wonderful after my workout; relaxed and mellow. Let's hope the feeling lasts all day. Won't be able to workout tomorrow morning as I have to be at a store at 6 am. Yuck! Also have another Toastmaster speech tomorrow. Won't Wednesday be fun!! Oh well, at least I'll be off at 2 pm tomorrow. I hope the weather holds.

Has anyone tried the new Nestea with Splenda. Very nice (a bit sweet, but I like it like that). I've been slipping back into the cola habit, so this is a good alternative for me when I'm craving something with flavour (water gets a bit boring after a while).

Okay this whole eating the post thing is getting on my nerves!!
9:56 am Update:
I have new incentive to kick butt on this challenge. Found out that I'm only 7 1/2 lbs away from a friend's weight. My friend (who we'll call XM) has been trying to lose weight as long as I can remember. I never understood why (I think she looks amazing). I now understand, with my own battles & from reading others' blogs, that goal weight is a personal thing. Anyway, XM's the one who gave me the nickname brat, so I soooo have to try to catch up to her. The Race is On. I think hearing that I was getting close was incentive for XM to get in gear too, so it should be an interesting race. What do you think XM? Can I beat you??

Food so far:
Oreo Thins (2)
Nestea w/ Splenda (0)
Chicken Quesadilla (6)
Chips (4)

Pts: 12/25 (22+3 AP)

Water: 1L/2L
Sleep: 6.5
AP: 3
F&V: 1

7 Day Challenge

2006-05-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble staying on track for a whole week, so I'm challenging myself to a 7 day challenge (Starting Tuesday). 7 days on points. No Flex points. AP will be allowed (might jump start my exercising again). Wish me luck...

Food so Far:
oatmeal (3)
OJ (1)
Beef Dip (8)
1/2 Cookie (3)
Pts: 15/22

Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 5.5 hrs
AP: 0
F&V: 1

Angel is Lovely!

2006-04-29T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well, Angel has definitely bonded with me. She follows me around and gets sooo excited when I walk in the door. When I sit down on the couch, she's like a little rocket and leaps right onto my lap with her paws on my shoulders. She doesn't lick, just stares at you with her face right in yours.

Had a pretty good day. Angel definitely gets me out of the house, even if I don't get much exercise on our walks. She has to sniff everything and then she likes to circle around me and make me dizzy. Still, it was nice to be outside.

Went to White Spot for dinner... we'd planned on going to Boston Pizza. In fact, we went to Boston Pizza, but after 20 minutes of waiting for them to take our drink order... I was too ticked and the kids were tired and hungry. So, when the waitress finally got to our table, I said "sorry, but after waiting twenty minutes for you to finally stop at our table, it's just not worth the wait" and packed up the kids and left. It wasn't even busy and the waitress served customers at the table next to ours that had sat down 10 minutes after us. She took their drink order, brought their drinks and took their food order before stoping at our table, despite the fact that I'd given her the raised eyebrow look and had the menus on the edge of the table. It was very annoying.

Anyway, five hours later I went to White Spot by myself and had the low cal chargrilled chicken burger with fries & a diet coke. I only ate about 8 fries, so dinner was only 11 pts. Ordered the chocolate passion cake, but only ate about a third of it, which is probably another 11 pts. Oh well, it was really good and I didn't finish it. Small victories.

New Puppy!!

2006-04-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

We're picking up our new puppy at the airport tonight!!! I'm so excited!!

Her name is Angel & she's a 1 year old Havanese (Cuban version of the Bishon Frise). She's sable in colour and very cute.

I'd pretty much given up hope that we'd have a dog again. My daughter and I are both allergic and we'd had to find another home for our last dog because of DD's allergies. Well, Angel is one of those hypoallergenic breeds. So she still might affect our allergies a bit, but significantly less than most other dogs. As long as we keep her out of DD's room & vacuum lots (thank goodness for our nanny), it should be good. My DD is obsessed with puppies and will be so excited. For a two year old, she's amazingly gentle with little dogs. It's going to be a bit of an adjustment for me, I'm used to big dogs... dobermans & Rottis primarily. This will be my first puntable dog. But, if I have a choice between no dog and a puntable, I'm all for the puntable.

She's coming all the way from New Brunswick. And she understands French (which freaks DH out, 'cause he's hopeless with french, whereas I'm pretty much bilingual (though a little rusty).) The breader we're getting her from has three kids, the youngest of which is 3, so she's used to kids!! And she's crate trained and housetrained which will make life easier. Have I mentioned that I'm excited yet??!!??

I'll post a picture of her as soon as she gets here!! The kids won't see her until they wake up in the morning!! I'm taking the day off tomorrow to spend with Angel & the kids!! Weee!! We're getting a puppy!!! Weee!!

Update:
We picked her up around 9:30 pm tonight. She's so cute! She was pretty nervous when we first got her (I'm guessing her first solo flight and leaving her family was a bit traumatic), but even with that she was so well behaved. I let her come to me and by the end of the evening she was cuddling with me on the couch. I can't wait for the kids to meet her tomorrow. Night!

Food so Far:
Cheetos (4)
Nestea (0)
Oreo Thins (2)
Subway (6)

Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 6.5
AP: 0

I hate Stupid People

2006-04-26T01:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently natural selection isn't working. There are simply too many stupid people. At work, I'm usually pretty patient and professional (Scott, I said AT WORK, so you can stop laughing now), but I dealt with a woman yesterday that made me want to pull out all my hair and stuff it down her throat simply to stem the tide of absolute nonsense. If you can't figure out how to use a basic spreadsheet, then you shouldn't be in a job that requires you to use a spreadsheet. I'm not talking rocket science here. You enter numbers in the colour boxes. That's it. I'm not asking her to use formating or fomulae or anything beyond keying numbers. My four year old could figure it out. Okay I'm done venting. For now. If I have to talk to her again, I'm not making any promises.
At work we had a "True Color" seminar, which basically is used to identify what personality type you are. It was kind of interesting, but my top 3 (of 4) colours were so close together, I'm not sure it will be much help. For those who've done it, I'm a gold with green & orange a close 2nd & third. My DH is almost all Green, so he found it really interesting and helpful.

Anyway, back to work...

Food so Far:
Oatmeal (3)
OJ (1)
Bacon (5)
Hashbrown (6)

Pts: 15/22 (28/35 Flex Left)

Water: 0L/2L
Sleep: 6
AP: 0

Is it Really Only Tuesday?

2006-04-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

For some reason this posted under Friday's date, so just moving it to today.

Yesterday was not a fun day. I woke up at 4 am with intense IBS cramping. Because of that, didn't come in to work until 10 am (thank goodness for a flexible boss), and felt behind all day. Was still feeling kinda shaky when I got home, so my wonderful DH took care of the kids so that I could have a nap. Went to sleep around 6:30 pm. Woke up at 1:30 am. Went back to sleep at 3:30 am and slept until 6:30 am. Weird sleep, but a good ten hours. I probably really needed it, but I feel like I lost the whole day.
Did pretty good with food yesterday. DH & I dropped the kids off at Grandma's on Sunday evening and did a huge grocery shop (it was way overdue). So now my house has healthy options and meal ingredients. Helps a lot.

Food so far: Oreo Thinsations (2)
Michaelina's Pepper Steak (2)
Cheetos (6)
Dr. Pepper (4)
Bacon (4)
Hashbrowns (4)
Total Pts: 22/22

Water: 1.5L/2L
AP: 0 <-- am going swimming tomorrow (even bought goggles)
Sleep: 10 hrs

You're Right

2006-04-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the wonderfully supportive posts. I let my expectations get a little realistic and then instead of celebrating what I accomplished, bemoned the fact that the results didn't match those unrealistic numbers. I went into this as much to get fit and healthy as to lose weight and I need to stay focused on that. I can know do four bicept curls using my son as weights (he weighs 40 lbs), so that's pretty cool. When I flex my thighs, you can visibly see muscle and they feel hard as rocks. I should have been focusing on that. And now, thanks to you lovely peeps, I will. I'm off to my Mom's for the day (since DH is working & then golfing and I don't feel like battling the beasts by myself all day). Will try to post more later.... must go wrangle the beasts into clothes.

The Results Are In...

2006-04-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Okay... so here's the results of the bootcamp... some were good, some were very disappointing...

I know that some of it was converting fat to muscle, but still, I was hoping for better. Seems like an awful lot of work for little results. Maybe the results would have been better if I'd been able to push harder on the cardio (couldn't do as much due to problems with my shins & knees). Oh well. I'm going to enjoy the next couple days off from exercising and then get right back into things.

My Doll

2006-04-20T11:15:00.000-07:00

Approximately what I'm wearing today... way too many options, but fun to do. Also, sorta what my new haircut looks like. Once I've figured out how the h3ll to style it, I'll post a new pic.

Only one More Day of Bootcamp!!

2006-04-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is my last day of bootcamp. I went to 17 of the 20 classes. That's 17 hours of exercise over 4 weeks. Not bad. We'll do a timed 1 km run and compare it to our time at the beginning. Plus timed crunches & push ups. Then we'll do a circuit while we wait for our turn to retake all of our measurements. I expect my thighs and arms to be bigger (I've gained some serious muscle) and the rest to be smaller. I can't wait to see. My coworkers are signing up for the next session. I'm not. I want to give my legs a bit of time to rest and heal. Then after a couple of days off, I'm going to workout on my own and incorporate what I've learned into my workout. I want to see what I can do on my own and if I can strengthen my legs before going back. I'll definitely go back as it was the best workout I've ever had. I think it'll be good to switch things up for a bit too; do some biking & swimming, etc.

The speech went pretty good. It was the research your topic speech for toastmasters and I chose diabetes. My dad has Type I and I'm at risk. I think that I got a couple of people thinking, so that was good. It was interesting, through my research I found a risk assessment test. Since I've recently gone from sedentary to active, I did the test twice. Once with exercise & once without. By adding exercise, I dropped my risk factor from 12 (high is 10+) to 7 (3 - 9 is low to med). Pretty cool, huh? I guess I better keep it up, eh?

I think I'm going to go have some bacon for breakfast (thanks for sharing your craving, Goobie!)

Oops!

2006-04-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Apparently my body decided it didn't want to workout this morning. I woke up at 6:41 am and bootcamp starts at 6 am. Ooops! Oh well, I did enjoy the extra sleep.

Nothing exciting to report. Plugging away at life. Did better eating yesterday and will continue that today. I was up on the scale, but given my weekend, that was to be expected. I'm not worrying too much about it and will continue to plug away. Only 2 more bootcamp classes to go! I'm going to be glad to be finished. I learned a lot and got a lot out of it. It'll be interesting to see the results. I'll post them on Friday. Wish me luck on my Toastmasters' speech today. Did I mention that I hate public speaking?

Will update more later...

Back to Reguraly Scheduled Programming

2006-04-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

So, I was very proud of myself. I got up yesterday at 5:30 am and went to bootcamp. On my birthday. On my day off. But the best part was being able to go home afterwards and go to bed. It was absolutely lovely to say "have fun at work" to my coworkers that are doing bootcamp with me. It was lovely to crawl into bed as my DH was getting ready for work. I slept from 7:30 am until almost noon. Got up, my friend drove down on her lunch break to take me for lunch (ain't she sweet). Spent the rest of the afternoon doing pretty much nothing. After work, hung out with the kids until DH came home and then miandered over to my Dad's for cake. My wonderful nanny made some unbelievable food (including homemade, from scratch spring rolls - so good, don't want to even guess how many points they were (deep fried), a noodle dish and chicken wings. Took the food with me to Dad's to share with everyone. Great time all around.
I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get a card or present from my DH or kids, but DH did take me to dinner on Saturday night and he had some flower dropped off at my work birthday lunch, so I can't really complain. All in all a great way to spend my birthday.

Bootcamp update:
Apparently, since this is the last week our perky instructor has decided to push us. She wants to see results at our assessment on Friday. Worked my legs so hard that when it was time to do the arm excercises, my legs were shaking when I tried to bend them slightly. Tomorrow is going to hurt. Only three more days to go though!! Yeah!!

Back to reporting what I eat...
Menu So Far
BREAKFAST
Rice Cakes (2)
LUNCH

Pts: 2/22 (0/35 Flex)
Water: 0L/2L
Sleep: 5 <-- did not sleep well at all
AP: 3

Points? What Points?

2006-04-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the whole counting points thing completely flew out the window this weekend. And I'm probably not going to count them tomorrow either. (Tuesday is the start of the WW week for me anyway). I did not eat well this weekend, but also didn't go as crazy as I would have in the past. Hopefully I won't pay too badly on the scale next week. Also didn't make bootcamp on Friday... DH was working and while I could have tried to make other arrangements, I was actually kind of glad to give my legs a rest. They've been bugging me a bit this weekend. I am going tomorrow. It kinda sucks to get up at 5 am on my day off, but I'm planning on crawling (literally) back into bed when I get home and sleeping until my lunch date.

Happy Birthday Michelle!! (and anyone else that shares this day with us!!)

Good Friends

2006-04-13T08:17:00.000-07:00

Good friends make all the difference in the world. I've been feeling pretty down. Mainly due to money issues (we just found out money we were expecting to come any day has now been delayed another month). It's tough when you're expecting the money and you make plans and then nada. A lot of the plan that we've made may not happen now thanks to the delay. Plus money's a bit tight right now (due to the time of year - my DH is a painter) and it would really come in handy. I was so looking forward to not having to worry about money for a little while.

Anyway, last night when I was feeling blah, I chatted with a friend of mine, who made me feel much better. This morning the blues were back with a vengeance, to the point that I was thinking of taking the day off. Then my wonderful bestest friend (in Canada - don't want to offend those currently in Australia!!) pops by my desk and drops off a little present. She was thinking about me even through her own stuff. It's this cute eye mask (for sleeping) with pink feathers all around the edge and it says "Mom's resting - go ask Dad". How cute is that?!? She's a lot like me in that when we're upset, we don't like a big fuss, just quiet support and she rocks at that.

Monday is my birthday (Michelle's too!!! & Purl's is today!!! Go Aries Women!!) and since I've taken that day off, we're going for lunch today. We're going to White Spot, which means I can keep the points down (they have a very tasty chicken burger for 7 pts).

Bootcamp Update...
Melissa has been taken over by SATAN!! That's the only explanation I can think of. She's lost most of her voice, and is determined to torture us for her misery. Our warmup, you ask? 10 minutes of 12 chair squats, 12 standing pushups, 12 karate kicks per leg and running back to the beginning & starting all over again. Wee that was fun. Then we have our usual strength circuit. No big deal, right? I can do this. WRONG!! After each card (which is designed to torture you in itself and lasts 55 seconds), we got to do a full minute of cardio... yup... bicept curls, jumping squats, tricept curls, jumping jacks, scissor crunches, ski jumping... you get the picture. I seriously contemplated just sitting down in the shower and spending the morning there. Maybe even had a nap (though knowing my luck, I would have drowned). Tomorrow is a special class... we're going to a local park to run the trails/hills. I hate hills. I can't breathe on hills. Is it wrong that I'm hoping my DH will have to work so that I won't be able to go?

Menu So Far:
BREAKFAST
Rice Cakes (2)
OJ (1)
LUNCH
White Spot Chargrilled Chicken Burger (7)
Diet Pepsi (shhh, don't tell my Dad I'm having aspertame!!) (0)
Fries (it's my birthday lunch and I need to splurge a bit)

Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 6.5 hrs
AP: 3
Bootcamp Countdown: 13 down, 6 to go.

Late Again!

2006-04-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Apparently my body is rebelling at the idea of waking up at 5:30 am. For the last two mornings I've been late for bootcamp. Just a couple minutes late, but it means I miss the warmup. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in this weekend. (Yes Lisa, Scott let me sleep in last weekend, so you don't need to kick his butt from Australia).

Nothing exciting to talk about today. Sorry.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Rice Cakes (2)
OJ (1)
Lunch
Mac & Cheese (5)
Dinner
Skillet Sensation (6)
Snacks
Slurpee (4)
Chips (8)

Water: 1L/2L
AP: 3
Sleep: 6.5
Bootcamp Countdown: 12 down, 7 to go.

I Turned into a Slug!

2006-04-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know what happened this morning. Everything seemed harder at bootcamp. Things I could do yesterday and last week I had trouble doing today. Class still went pretty fast, but I felt like I only put in a half-hearted effort. It's probably a combination of sleep deprivation and dehydration (Sorry, Alea, I only had 1 L of water yesterday. I'll do better today).

Day ??/100 <-- I've completely lost track of what day we're on. Talk about being a geek, Michelle... I did up a spreadsheet (with graphs) to track how I'm doing on the 100 day challenge. (Scott, stop laughing! There's nothing wrong with doing a spreadsheet) I've had a few ups & downs, but am doing okay.

Will update more later...

The slug feeling went away, kinda. I don't feel like I'm in water, but I also don't feel like doing much. I drank more water and plan on getting some serious sleep tonight and we'll see how tomorrow goes. Tomorrow's class is usually a hard one for me (a lot of running and skipping, which is hard on the shins).

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Rice Cakes (2)
OJ (1)
Lunch
Johnny Special (8)
Dinner
Rice w/ peas (4)
Breaded & Baked Chicken Breast (3.5)
Snacks
1/4 Crunchie Chocolate Bar (2.5)
Cheetos (4)

Pts 25/22 (used 3 AP pts, so flex pts left for the week: 35)

Water 1.5L/2L so far
Sleep: 6
AP: 3
Bootcamp Countdown: 11 down, 8 to go

No More Weekends Off

2006-04-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've discovered that I absolutely can't miss blogging on the weekend. When I don't blog and am not accountable, I make bad choices. I'm pretty sure I'm okay points wise (but don't think I have any flex pts left), but really just didn't make healthy food choices. Of course, the fact that it's TOM didn't help. But, today is a new day.

Had a fun weekend... went on a date with my DH on Friday night (thanks to my brother - he gave us a GC for the movie theater and a voucher for babysitting for Christmas). DH went golfing the first time this year on Saturday, so me and the beasts just hung around and played. Then Sunday we went to DH's grandparents to help the set up & learn to use their very first computer. Can you imaging learning to use a computer at 80+ years. Good for them. They got a kick out of watching the beasts run wild in their pristine, white carpeted house. Luckily nothing was damaged.

The most fun this weekend though was planning how we're going to rearrange our house. We'd thought about moving, but to find something that fits our needs and our budget... it's just not happening. So instead, we're going to try to make better use of our space. Spend a bit of money and completely rearrange things. I think it's going to be quite nice, but a lot of work.

Bootcamp was good today... my shoulders hurt. Paper is really heavy. Anything above my head is off limits. I'm supposed to go and play badminton today too. We'll see if I can lift the racket first before I commit to going.

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
Rice Cakes (2)
OJ (1)
Lunch
??
Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Pts: 3/22 (Flex pts left 0)
Water: 0L/2L
AP: 3
Sleep: 5 ish <-- lots of weird dreams last night (including my DS being chased by an eel and mud shark?? Yeah, don't know where that came from either). Woke up feeling like I haden't slept at all

1/2 Way There

2006-04-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

I'm half way done the bootcamp! Woohooo!! And I get to sleep in tomorrow (pretty please Scott... please, please pleeeeeaaaaaasseee!). I haven't been paying much attention to changes in my appearance, but man have I ever noticed a change in my strength. I can't believe how much stronger I feel. My legs, my arm, my abs... everything. I can now do 50 crunches in 50 seconds. I can do 4 minutes of squats (okay, I still want to cry by the end, but I can do it). We're up to 10 lb weights on the bicept curls. It's a pretty cool feeling. I know it sounds pretty intimidating, but if there's one near you, I would highly recommend giving it a try. Anyone can do it! We have a very nice man in our class that's probably in the 300+ range and he's doing wonderful. Because you do what you can (i.e. you walk when you have to walk or modify the exercises), anyone can do it. It's funny, but even the skinny minis from work that are taking it with me are finding it challenging. They just run faster than I do (though I kick there butts in ab work). I lot of you have said that you couldn't do it and I think you could. Anyway, I'll stop now.

My grandmother moved this week. My grandfather passed away in August and she's sold the house they lived in for 50 years. It's been really tough on my family (my mom & aunts & uncles) as they lived their whole childhood in this house. It must have been like losing him all over again. We all have so many memories in that house. We were a really close family and would all get together usually every summer. I used to spend at least a week there every year and since they lived on the Island, as most of the family did, it was my chance to play with my cousins. I remember playing in the fields. The games and adventures we all had. Making cinnamon buns in the kitchen with Grandma. Grandpa putting me "to work" in my work clothes that I kept there. The city kid romping in the country. 1001 happy memories. I will miss that.

Will post more later...

Okay, I feel better now. On to WW stuff. I'm joining Michelle's 100 day challenge. So for the next 100 days I will...

Stay OP Everyday (I will use AP & Flexpoints as needed, but will not use them all)
Exercise 4 hours per week
Drink 2L of Water per Day
I'm not going to set a total weigh loss goal for this as my body is very slow to lose weight and I don't want to set myself up for disappointment (or start to panic if I don't think I'm losing fast enough).

So, thanks again Michelle for another great challenge. Shall we see who can do the most consecutive days on track?

Menu So Far

Breakfast: Bacon (5) Hashbrowns (3) & OJ (2)
Lunch: Chicken Strips & Fries (7)
Dinner: ??
Snacks: ??
Pts: 17/22 (flex left: 35)
Water: 1 L/2L
AP: 3
Sleep: 5 hrs
Bootcamp countdown: 9 down, 10 to go.

Good Choice

2006-04-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Despite my whining in yesterday's post, not going to bootcamp last night was a good choice. My legs were feeling a lot better today and I was able to push myself more today. Had trouble with my asthma towards the end, so didn't finish as strong as I would have liked, but what can you do, I gotta breathe. Thanks for the posts & support. It helps a lot.

I'm exhausted and it's only noon. I would love to crawl under my desk and have a nice little nap. I love naps. Naps are wonderful. Except when you sleep too long and then can't sleep at night.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Hot Chocolate
Lunch
??

Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 6
AP: 3
Bootcamp Countdown: 8 down, 11 to go.

Late Post

2006-04-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

I completely forgot that I hadn't made a post yet today. Apparently starting work at 6 am on 5 hours of sleep is detrimental to my thought processes. As you can see, I was working at 6 am, which meant I wasn't at bootcamp. I'm supposed to go tonight, but it will depend on whether or not my husband can get home on time. I talked to the ladies from work that are also doing it and apparently today's class was really hard and had a lot of cardio stuff. Given my shins, it might not be a bad thing if I missed tonight. But I hate the idea of missing a class. It feels like cheating. I want to go. But, I don't.l I don't know.

I'll post more later...

I'm lame. I didn't go. I could have. My DH got home with plenty of time for me to get ready and go. I let fear talk me out of going. I've been worried about developing shin splints. I have had them a couple of times in the past (both times I tried to do the Learn to Run Clinic) and it ended up sidelining me for a couple of weeks. I really really want to finish this bootcamp and am terrified that I won't be able to due to my shins. They've been sore, maybe not quite shin splints but maybe the early stages of. I was worried that going tonight and then again less than 12 hours later might make them worse. I don't know if it would have. My DH, who was a jock for 25 years is of the opinion of just work through the pain and ignore it. 'Course he has no knees left so I don't know how reliable of a resource he is on this. Oh well, too late to change my mind now. I will be going tomorrow morning though.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Missed it... was in a store from 6 am to 9 am and just didn't have time (not very awake or organized in the morning)
Lunch
BLTC Bagel (9)
Dinner
LC Skillet Sensation Teryaki Chicken/Rice (6)
Snacks
1 piece of Cadbury Delight (0.5)

Water: 0.5L/2L
AP: 0
Sleep: 5 hrs
Death Camp Countdown: 7 days down, 12 to go

I need a vacation!

2006-04-04T08:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm really ready for a holiday. To go lie on a beach somewhere and read countless books and sleep in and go for nice long walks in the sand. Swim in the ocean. Nap under a beach umbrella. Yup, that's what I need. I'm tired. I'm tired of arguing with my son over whether or not he eats his dinner. I'm tired of getting up really early with not enough sleep. I'm tired. I just want a break. Other than the occassional long weekend, I haven't had a holiday (where I actually went somewhere) since my mini-moon (mini honeymoon - we had one night & two days in Whistler) six years ago. And before that my last holiday was when I was nineteen (went to Mexico with a friend). I'm so ready for another holiday. I just realized, I only vacation once every six years... 19... 25... 31 ('cause I'm going somewhere this year!!) . Should I mention that my DA, I mean DH goes on an ANNUAL golf holiday!! He owes me big time!! In fact, I believe he owes me 5 holidays!!
If you could go anywhere for a holiday right now... where would you go? What's your favourite vacation spot?

Bootcamp update... I hate squats. Enough said.

Apparently, I have a lot of sins...

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Very Low
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Medium
Lust:	Very High
Pride:	High

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
OJ (1)
Rice Cakes (4)
Lunch
??
Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Pts: 5/22
Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 7 hrs
AP: 3
F&V: 1
Death Camp Countdown: 7 days down, 13 to go

April! April! It's April!!

2006-04-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

I love April. It's one of my favourite months. The sun is starting to shine, the flowers are starting to grow. There's usually a long weekend (the first after a long stretch without). Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that my birthday is in April too :-).

It was weird going a couple of days without posting. I don't think I've done that since I started blogging. I had a pretty good weekend. My daughter's birthday gatherings went well. She got some cute toys, some cute clothes, etc. She enjoyed her cakes. My son was a little jealous and cranky, but after we talked about it, he was a bit better.

I won't talk about my eating over the weekend. Won some battles, lost others. It's a new week.

Bootcamp update:
BAD COMBINATION... monday morning... time change... bootcamp!
Getting up at what was really 4 am was not fun this morning. Of course I didn't go to bed any earlier last night, so I think I got about 4 hours of sleep.
Anyone up for a laugh? Picture 30+ women running around a track at 6:30 am with yoga balls above our heads. We looked pretty silly.
It was a good workout. Forgot to do my inhaler until just before I'd left, so it didn't have enough time to kick in before the timed 1 km run. Felt a bit wheezy through the run, but only walked about 10 steps this time. Getting better. I kick but at ab stuff, but suck at the arms and hips. I did find that it was a bit easier, but I'm sure they'll change that.

Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 4 hrs
F&V: 0
AP: 3
Death Camp Countdown: 6 days down, 14 to go.

1 Week Down & 3 to Go

2006-03-31T07:48:00.000-08:00

Actually Purl, I think this is one of the best things I have down (outside of marriage, kids, etc.). I'm not saying it isn't hard to get up every morning and that I'm not sore and stiff and exhausted. It's an amazing workout, very challenging, but at the same time since you do so many things and each class is different, the hour just flies by. And I definitely know I'll see some real changes in my body by the time I'm done.

Anyway... today's bootcamp class:
Who ever knew there were that many different ways of doing lunges and squats.

Regular lunges
Mountain lunges
Back lunges
One leg at a time lunges
Walking lunges
Regular squats
Jumping squats
Dumbell squats
Pile squarts
Squats with leg lifts

Yup, did them all today. And whoever invented the skipping rope should be strangled with it. I have nightmares about being tied up with one of those bloody things. I'm amazed that I haven't tripped and gone flying yet. 'Course there's still 3 weeks to go and they're mighty fond of those stupid black strings of torture. Today's class started with a nice jog mixed with sprints. Weee! Then we did a cardio circuit (squat, skip, lunge, skip... you get the picture). 15 stations, 45 seconds each. If you survived that, you were rewarded with an weight circuit (bicept curls, crunches, shoulder presses, the plank, etc). Again 15 stations, 45 seconds each. Though it was pretty cool, 'cause Reg asked if I did weight training. ha ha ha. Not likely. But apparently my technique is really good and that's 90% of the battle. Yay Me!!

Tomorrow I get to sleep in na na nanana!

Menu so Far:

Skillet Sensation (3)
OJ (1)

Other Stats:

Sleep: 6.5
Water: 0.5L/2L
F&V: 0
AP: 3
Bootcamp Countdown: 1/4 of the way done!! (5 days down, 15 to go)

Only one more day until I can sleep in!!!

2006-03-30T08:06:00.000-08:00

My life has been reduce to counting the days until I can sleep past 6 am. I've already threatened my husband with all sorts of torture if he doesn't get up with the kids on Saturday morning.

I have to be really good with my eating today and tomorrow as my daughter turns two on Sunday and we have two b-day parties happening. Cake and cookies and hot dogs, oh my!

I've been struggling with eating this week. Mainly because I'm just ravenous. I think for the rest of bootcamp, I need to change the breakdown of my points. As you know, I have trouble not snacking on bad things. To combat that, I need to have heathier things to snack on. I'm not a big fruits & veggies person. Allergic to most fruits and some veggies, and just not a big fan of most veggies raw. I don't do yogurt or other milk based products. Any suggestions on other healthy snacks?

Bootcamp update:
Today was a heavy cardio day. My shins/calves were tight at the beginning, but loosened up fairly quickly. I think as long as I avoid any of the jumping activities and do the whole ice/advil routine, I should make it until the weekend when they can rest. I upped my stretching too which should help. Melissa came through with a couple new ways to torture us today. Ever tried to lie on your side on one elbow, legs straight and then tried to lift you hips off the ground. hehehe. I fell over so many times. I just don't have the balance and coordination. I have to say that it's a great all over workout. And by switching it up as much as she does, the class actually goes pretty quickly. And afterward, I don't feel to bad... well, at least I don't until I sit in one place for more than 15 minutes. If I do that, my whole body seizes and I walk like an old arthritic woman. I have to say that I'm entertaining all of my friends, family and coworkers with my whimpers.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Didn't quite get around to eating breakfast (DH was supposed to bring me something 'cause I forgot, but by the time he got here it was lunch time)
Lunch
Mcdonalds Fries & Cheeseburger (12)
Dinner
Skillet Sensation (6)
Snacks
Cripsy Minis (2.5)
Pepsi (2)
Apple (0.5)

Water: 1.5L/2L
Sleep: 7
AP: 4
F&V: 2
Death Camp Countdown: 4 days down, 16 to go (3 weeks + 1 day left)

Back to the Old Challenge

2006-03-29T07:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, it seems the more I try to do the no junk food challenge, the more I crave it. Yup, even after my declaration that I was not abandoning the challenge, I was actually worse. I think that this particular challenge is having the opposite effect for me. It triggers my naughty side... hehe, I'll just have this one little piece of chocolate because I'm not allowed.. hehehe. Thoughts kinda like that floating in my head. So as to not give up completely, I'm going to try to stick to last week's challenge instead as that one actually worked for me. Power to those of you who can give up junk food! And thanks for all the nice comments! Sorry that I haven't been commenting on your blogs. I will try to do so tonight!

Bootcamp update...
I can tell you that running in gravel and trying to pretend you're running on the beach in Mexico isn't nearly as much fun as actually running on the beach in Mexico. It's hard to maintain the illusion when you can see your breath. It was a good workout. Lots of things burning. Hopefully some of it fat. I'm a bit worried 'cause my calves and shins are sore. I've had problems with shin splints in the past and really don't want to get them this time. Not when I'm feeling good and accomplishing something. Any suggestions on how to prevent or treat them?
My doc's response was do less. He suggested water running. Great idea, but it ain't going to get me through the next 3 1/2 weeks of bootcamp.
It was nice to see that everyone seems to be struggling and I'm not the only one that has to modify some of the exercises. Only thought about throwing the weight at Melissa's head once this class, which is a bit of an improvement. It was after she made us do the tricept curls... we'd done ten and just as we're about to put our weights down in relief she says "okay, now do ten pulsing tricept curls... and then she made us do ten more pulses... and then ten more... I was getting a bit annoyed, but then as we're lowering the weights, she says "okay, now ten more full tricept curls". She is SATAN!! And worse than that, she's a PERKY SATAN!! And I won't even get started on Reg, her boyfriend and the other trainer.
For those of you that commented about the bootcamp and said you could never do it... you could. I'm not an in shape person by any stretch of the imagination. It's only an hour and everyone does what they can. In the last class they had one woman that just did it half heartedly and she lost 1/2 in off all her measurements.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
Lunch
Rice w/ Meatballs (8)
Dinner
Cibatta Chicken Sandwich (6)
Fries (4)
Snacks
Cheerio Mix (2)
Rye & Coke (5)

Pts: 28/22
Water: 0.5L/2L
Sleep: 6.5
AP: 3
F&V: 1.5
Death Camp: 3 down, 17 to go.

Well, that was a Short Challenge

2006-03-28T07:41:00.000-08:00

Yup, failed that challenge already. Had a Rye & Pepsi and figured since I was out of the challenge anyway, had a couple of cookies too. I'm not making excuses, I didn't have to abandon the challenge, but here's the story behind the lapse...

My DD is anemic. She has her follow up appointment with the pediatrician on Friday to see if the iron supplements are helping and whether or not it was a diet issue or something more serious. In order for them to determine that, DD had to have another blood test. I'm not sure if I mentioned the last one, but it took 5 adults to hold down one 22 month old and it took two arms. So DA (or aka Dumb Ass or my husband) has known about this for weeks. I reminded him on the weekend. Suddenly after hardly working at all for the last two months he's too busy at work to go with us. Bullshit! It's not like I was asking him to leave in the middle of the day, we were going to do it after work. Anyway, I won't dwell on that. Luckily Grandma is an amazing woman and came with me. It was hell. My DD is very strong and after boot camp, I didn't have the strength to hold her down, so Grandma sat and held her in her lap while I held down the other arm. By the end, we were all covered with a sheen of sweat and I'm sure the poor technician who took the blood had to either go for a drink, a cigarette or a good cry. It was awfull.

So when I got home, I made myself a drink. I'm not giving up on the challenge, 'cause it's a good one. I'll just pretend yesterday never happened and that it's a 6 day challenge.

Oh and get this, you'd think, knowing he was in the doghouse, DA would be trying to get out... apparently not. I had asked DA to put my boots in my bag for work the next day (I go to boot camp and then straight to work, where I shower and get ready). Guess who's wearing sneakers with her nylons today. Yup, very sexy! At least I'm wearing pants and not a skirt. Way to go DA! When I called him on the boots, his response was "I couldn't find them" Ya think maybe it would have been helpful to know that before I was on my way out the door? When I'm already running late? Argh!

Anyway... Bootcamp update:
Today was actually pretty good. Didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought I would. Thanks for all the great comments! Did some running up a bit of a slope, with stairs and then some circuit training... lunges, bicept curls, skip rope, squats, tricept curls, plank, crunches, etc. and then a power walk with weights. All in all not as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently Thurday will be the hardest day to get out of bed.

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
Lunch
Beef Barley Soup (2)
Bun w/ Margarine (4)
Dinner
Lean Cuisine SKillet Sensations (6)
Snacks
Cheerios (4)
Cheerio Mix (4)
BBQ Peanuts (5.5)
Taco Chips (3)

Pts 29.5/22

Water: 1.5L/2L
Sleep: 7.5 hrs <-- might have something to do with feeling better today
F&V: 1
AP: 3
Death Camp Countdown: 2 down, 18 to go

Am I Insane?!?

2006-03-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

Who's wonderful idea was it to start Cardio Death, I mean Boot, Camp and the no junk food challenge in the same day? Oh yeah, it was mine. *sigh* I'd really like some white chocolate right now.

Day 1 of Boot Camp...
Always good to start something new looking stupid. Was slightly off of the locations of the boot camp... thought it was the same place we had our assessments yesterday. Spent 10 minutes in the parking lot looking lost and feeling ridiculous while the rest of the campers were doing their 1km timed run. Figured it out just as they were getting back. Oops! I didn't do it on purpose! Honest! It was a pretty good workout... at least, I'm going to assume the fact that it hurts to drive is a good sign. Thank god the keyboard is low at work. Did I mention my arms have the consistency of over cooked fetticini (spaghetti is too thin to describe my arms)? Have you ever tried to run with a yoga ball above your head? Looks stupid. Hurts. Great fun!! Oh god, my neck is itchy... do you think anyone at work will notice if I rub my neck against the wall?

My coworkers are getting quite a laugh out of this... especially when I whimpered picking up some paper. I hope my kids don't mind if I don't hug them for a month. I'm not sure I could get my hands up to my mouch, so that should help me lose weight.

I'm really afraid of what they'll feel like tomorrow... you know, the next day when things usuallly start to hurt. Oh god.

Did I mention that even the instructors seemed incredulous and did the "wow, you're doing 5 days a week" thing when I signed up. I don't think that's a good sign. I wonder if it's too late to switch.

Will post more late... can't type anymore... owwwwiiiiiieeeee! I want my mommy.

*Update*
Is this wrong?
There are two women that I work with that have decided to join me at bootcamp. They're both very attractive, fit and skinny! Here's the "wrong" part... I'm quite happy to hear that their arms hurt too. One's arms have been shaking all morning and the other one's arms & abs hurt. Aren't I a horrible person. heheheh.

Menu So Far
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
Lunch
Johnny Special Sandwich (7)
Dinner
Prime Rib w/ Vegetable Soup (3)
Snacks
Rye & Pepsi (5)
Cookies (6)

Water: 1.5L/2L
Sleep: 5.5 <-- daughter woke up... was so not happy with her
F&V: 2
AP's: 3 <-- I think it should be more... it definitely feels like more
Junk Food: Pepsi & Cookies<--Damn you Michelle (just kidding, actually this challenge will be really good for me as junk is my downfall).

Days left of Death Camp: 1 day down, 19 to go

Day #6 of 7 Day Challenge

2006-03-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Oh what a night! I consumed 32.5 pts worth of alcohol last night! But I did dance and dance and dance. (chech out the points damage in yesterday's post). Had a guy heading to Yellowknife today offer me a one night stand. hehehehe. It was hilarious. We had a lot of fun. Watched people (people are very strange), danced, gambled (lost $30), drank, talked. A wonderful night! Kudos to my friend that only had a couple of drinks during the whole night as she was DD. It can be tough to be the only sober person in a room full of drunk idiots (myself included), and she was awesome and fun through the whole night! Only have a tiny headache this morning (which is good 'cause I'm home alone with the kids who are way to "chipper" this morning).

Gotta pull my shit together soon though as we have a kids b-day party today and no present yet. Talked my baby brother into coming over today to help (he's 16 and for a teenager he's wonderful). I was 14 when he was born and helped a lot in raising him so we're really close. He's a great kid... honour roll student, championship archer and amazingly creative mechanically. Not that I'm biased or anything.

So to summarize my week so far...
Monday - 22 pts & 3 APs
Tuesday - 22 pts & 2 APs
Wednesday - 22 pts & 2 APs
Thursday - 22 pts & 0 APs
Friday - 50.5 pts & 6 APs (used the 6 AP's & 22.5 Flex Pts - 12.5 Flex pts remaining)

I think I did pretty good considering... still have one kid's party & one adult b-day dinner party to get through this week

Gonna go take a tylenol and eat some cheerios (with Pepsi, just for you Michelle :-P)

Day #5 of the 7 Day Challenge...

2006-03-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

Provided Michelle gives me a pass for missing my AP's that is. It's 5:30 am and the only reason I'm conscious is to go get some those bloody AP's. I haven't had nearly enough sleep. I'm trying to figure out if I can swing going into work for my meetings and then sneaking out for a nap.

Anyone know how many AP's for dancing my ass off? 'Cause I plan on shaking my booty tonight! Will write more later. No really coherent yet.

Wow, I must really be tired... I just posted this on my kids website and didn't even realize it.

Okay, now I'm at least a little bit more awake. Did my workout at the gym. Got 3 AP's so made up one of the two I didn't do yesterday.

Menu So Far
Breakfast
1/3 Hershey Cookies 'n' Creme (2)
Lunch
Subway Roasted Chicken (6)
Dinner
Lean Cuisine Chicken Alfredo Skillet Sensation (6) <-- Very tasty
Snacks
Rye & Coke (35) <-- at least that's the plan :-) ... Actually only had 32.5 pts 'cause I lost the last drink somewhere, picked up someone else's by mistake, but tasted funny so didn't finish it :-)

Water: 1.5L/2L
Sleep: 6.5
AP: 3 + 3 for dancing my ass off!!!
Days to Death Camp: 3
F&V: 1

Day #3 & 4 of the 7 Day Challenge

2006-03-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

I'm all messed up now. I had a nap last night because I had a ton of work to do and need a little refresher before I got started. My DH was to wake me up in an hour (at 8 pm). After he put the kids to sleep, he fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake me until 1:30 AM. And since I had deadlines and the work had to be done, I got up and worked from home from 2 am to 6 am. At 6 am, I had a shower got dressed and left for work. So now it's 8:30 am and I'm ready for lunch. Anyone want to take bets as to how many times I fall asleep at my desk today?

*Update*
Well, after working most of the night, then putting in a full day at work, coming home and being mommy and then putting in another 2 1/2 hours... well, I hate to admit defeat, but I did not get my AP's in today. It's not 10:30 pm and I've been awake since 1:30 am and I just can't do it. I need to go to sleep or tomorrow will be a write off too. If I make up the points tomorrow, Michelle, can I stay in the challenge?

Menu So Far:
Breakfast @ 4 am
Cheerios (3)
Breakfast @ 9 am
Oatmeal (3)
Lunch
Butter Chicken & Rice (4)
Dinner
Chicken Strips & Fries (7)
Snacks
2/3 Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme Bar (4)

Pts: 22/22
Water: 1.5L/2L
Sleep: 6.5 hours (7 pm to 1:30 am)
AP: 0
F&V: 0
Days to Death Camp: 4

Day #3 of the 7 Day Challenge

2006-03-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

Already got my 2 AP's in! Yeah!

Finding it hard to stay OP though. I didn't notice until I started this challenge but my daily points dropped from 24 to 22 and man am I missing those 2 pts. I'm trying really hard not to dip into my flex or activity points as I'm going for a girls' night on Friday night and plan on drinking (at 5 pts per Rye & Coke, my flexies equal 7 drinks... I can have a lot of fun on 7 drinks). The challenge has really helped me fight the temptation to go over my points though, so thanks Michelle!!

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
Rice Cakes (1)
Lunch
Johnny Special Sandwich (6)
Dinner
Lean Cuisine Skillet Sensations (4)
Snack
Rye & Coke (5)
1/2 Hershey's Cookies n Creme (3)
Cheerio Mix (2)

Water: 1L/2L
Sleep: 7 hrs
F&V: 2
AP: 2 <-- 30 minutes on the treadmill (15 of which was running)!!
Days to Death Camp: 5

Day #2 of the 7 Day Challenge

2006-03-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

One day down, six to go and so far so good. Ate just my points (22) yesterday and did 3 AP's. I haven't done any AP's so far today, but will do my standing Pilates DVD tonight.

Had to breakdown and go shopping yesterday. I'm not a big fan of shopping, but my main pair of black pants (size 18) were getting so big that they were sagging everywhere. I bought a new pair of black pants (size 14!!), a new pair of jeans (they were the same brand of jeans I bought in January that I loved 'cause they're the first pair of flattering jeans I've ever owned, but are getting too big) and a couple of new tops. Gotta love Winners (2 pants + 4 shirts = $110).

*Oh I did my WI this morning and I'm down 0.5 lbs. Considering last week, I'm thrilled!

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
OJ (1)
Lunch
Nachos (8)
Dinner
Annies w/ peas & gr. beef (6)
Snack
Cheerio Mix (4)

Pts: 22/22
AP: 2 (Standing Pilates DVD)
Water: 1.5L/2L
Sleep: 6.5
F&V: 2
Days to Death Camp: 6

Bring it On!!

2006-03-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

To help me get out of the blahs (see yesterday's post), Michelle has issued a challenge.
The challenge:
7 days OP
Breakfast everyday
2 AP per day

Bring it on Michelle!! I've already got my 2 AP's for today, in fact I got 3!! And had breakfast (not pepsi & cheerios either)!!

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
OJ (1)
Lunch
Macaroni & Cheese (9)
Dinner
WW Creamy Fetticini Primivera (7)
Snacks
Popcorn (2)

Total Pts: 22 pts

Water: 0.5L/2L
AP: 3 (walking/running on treadmill for 30 minutes + 10 minutes of pilates type exercises)
Sleep: 5.5 hours
Days to Death Camp: 1 week aaaaahhhhh!
F&V: 1.5

Blah Day

2006-03-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sliding back down the slippery slope of bad habits. I've hardly exercised all week. I don't think I've had 3 servings of vegetables this week, let alone a day. I'm not getting enough sleep or water. I had Pepsi & cheerios for breakfast and pizza for dinner last night. I haven't been traking my points. I don't know what's with me. I just feel kinda blah.

I think the pressure is starting to get to me. I've got all these deadlines and I'm starting to panic. At work, I have to give the go/no go decision on a project. I haven't finished testing and if I say go and there's problems it'll come back to me. And it's a major project ~ a new version of the POS system that will be going into 100+ stores. Talk about major implications if something goes wrong. I haven't done enough testing and I'm worried that I'm not going to have enough time to get it done. At home, money is a big issue right now. We're expecting some money to come in by the end of the month, but until then things will be really tight. I'm sure those of you who've had money struggles before will relate the pressure money puts on a family.

I'm also feeling the pressure in terms of weightloss. I've got the death camp coming up and that scares me. I'm not an athletic person and while I'm making progress, I'm scared that I won't be able to do this. That I'll injure myself or worse humiliate myself. I'm worried about running out of time to lose the weight before my surgery. I thought I'd set a realistic and doable goal, but as each week passed with little to now change, I don't think my goal is going to be attainable now. I'm terrified of the surgery itself, even more so of the recovery after. I won't be able to hug my kids or lift them or do a lot of things. I'm scared that all the work I've done to lose the weight will be wasted, that while I'm recovering from my surgery, I'll gain it all back. I'm going to be going from exercising 3 - 4 times a week to not being able to get out of bed without assistance. Hell, I'm even scared that I'll be losing part of my identity by having this surgery. It's one thing that has always set me apart from most everyone else. Krista, the one with the big...
I know that the surgery makes sense and everyone I've talked to who's had it done is thrilled. I'm just being a ninny. Hopefully I'll snap out of it soon.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Pepsi (3)
Cheerios (3)
Lunch
WW Twice Baked Garlic Potato (3)
Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Water: 0L/2L
Sleep: 8 hrs
Days to Death Camp: 9
Vegetables: 0
AP: 0

I don't ususally do more than one post a day, but I felt this warranted it. A friend's site (Kasanika) had this link on it. I decided to check it out. I laughed so hard that sound stopped coming out of my mouth. If you need a good belly laugh, I suggest you check it out. So far my favourites are Betty Davis Eyes and Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.

Back on Track

2006-03-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

Finally got a morning workout in! It feels so good! I dragged my stepmom out for a workout last night too! I'm starting to see some real progress in my running. I read an article in one of the running magazines that my husband is alway buying me and it suggested ignoring the watch for a while and just running by listening to your body. I tried that today and found that I could run much longer intervals before stopping. It felt great! I really enjoy running. All other cardio exercises has me counting the seconds until I can stop, but with running I just want to keep going. I'm worried that I'll get injured again though. I'm trying to take all the precautions that I can. I especially don't want to injure myself with death camp coming up. I've had a couple of people (ones that didn't know I was trying to lose weight) make comments about how good I was looking and saying that I've lost weight. Gotta like that, eh? Great motivation to keep at it.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Really need to start eating breakfast again
Lunch
1/2 Wendy's Cheeseburger
1/2 Wendy's Medium Fries
Dinner
Pepperoni Pizza

Water: 1L/2L
AP: 2
Sleep: 6.5 hrs
Days to Death Camp: 10
Vegetables: 1

Morning Chaos

2006-03-16T12:51:00.000-08:00

I missed my workout again this morning. I woke up with a killer headache and took a couple of tylenol (I'd like to profess my undying love for the creators of Tylenol Ultra - they are GODS!). Just as the Tylenol started to kick in, my son comes in to inform me that our Nanny has "running poop and is puking". He then announces, "I'll get the blankets. Mom, you get the puke bucket. Dad, you get the pillows." He then dashes out of the room to do just that (by the time I got downstairs, he had pillows & blankets on the couch all laid out for our Nanny, with a puke bucket ride beside the couch). By the time I call my stepmom (wonderful women, even if she calls me brat), get the kids dressed and drop them off at her house, I'm already an hour and a half late for work. Luckily my work is flexible and I have some banked time saved. But, I haven't figured out when I'll make it to the gym. I'm at the lab again, so I can't even go to the gym on my lunch. And I don't want to impose on my stepmom longer than necessary. Oh well, I will figure it out. I must get some exercise in today or I will go crazier than I already am.

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
You don't actually think I found time to eat, given the morning I had?!
Lunch
Roast Beef Sandwich
Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Water: 0.5L/2L
AP: 0
Sleep: 6.5
Days to Death Camp: 11
Vegetables: 0

Water, I need Water!

2006-03-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Did I ever fall off the water wagon. I don't think I've had 1 L total in the last couple of days. I can almost hear my poor dehydrated body crying in a pathetic little voice "water, i need water". Great visual in my head too, to bad I can't share it. Not a great day eating. Was at a store at 6 am this morning and worked solid to 1:30. Had half a muffin around 11 and then by the time I headed home I was so hungry and tired, I stoped at the evil glowing arches. I think I've managed to miss each and every one of my daily goals today...

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Muffin <-- don't know what kind, I was so hungry at that point it quite possibly could have been cardboard and I doubt I would have noticed.

Lunch
Mcdonalds fries (7) <-- I even ordered the medium fries. damn you evil glowing arches!! Mcdonalds cheeseburger (7)

Dinner
Skillet Sensation (6) <-- DH's idea. Quick, Easy, Tasty and six points! DH Rules!!

Water: 0L/2L <-- How sad is that. Not even half a liter. Must go drink water, it's not like it's hard to find.
Sleep: 2 hrs <-- way off goal here too (DD was up most of the night with an upset tummy and finally went to bed just as it was time for me to get ready for work)
Vegetables: 1 What are these, I have a vague memory of them I think... could have been a dream though.
AP: Just call me queen of the sloths.

Days to Death Camp: no freakin' idea, not even sure what day today is, but I can tell you it's coming way to soon. I ain't ready!! Aaaahhhh!!

Dancing Dancing Everywhere

2006-03-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comments everyone! And thanks for dancing with me! It means a lot to me (and to my husband). --> My husband has been laughing since he read them last night. He's been picturing a bunch of women around the continent dancing the happy dance and because in his mind you're all dancing just like me, he can't stop laughing. Every time he looks at me he starts all over again.

My husband stopped to visit his Mother on his way home last night and while he was there he read my blog. He stopped and bought me flowers to congratulate me on the loss and hitting a major goal. Ain't he sweet!

Menu so Far:
Breakfast <-- I meant to eat, but I had to be at a store at 7 am and I slept in and was late and then I was at the store, so I just didn't get a chance. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Lunch
Pizza <--- work lunch (will try to be good)

Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Water: 0L/2L
Days to Death Camp: 13 <-- I told a friend at work and now she has signed up too. I have mixed feelings about this. She's really nice, but she's also really skinny and pretty and she'll probably glow during camp, while I will turn bright red (actually it's almost a purple colour), the sweat will pour off me and I look like a derranged escapee from a mental institution.
Sleep: no idea, but not nearly enough
AP: see excuse for missing breakfast... also applies here
Vegetables: how many servings of vegetables in the pizza sauce?

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

2006-03-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

I want you all to picture me doing the happy dance!! Once you've stopped laughing ('cause I look really funny), I'll tell you that I lost another 1.5 lbs!! Woohoo! I don't know which is more exciting. That I lost a pound and a half, that I've hit my pre-pregnancy weight or (and the most likely candidate) I GET A DAY WITHOUT THE KIDS!!! Just a sec, I'm dancing again!! Are you all picturing a white chick dancing to music that nobody else can hear?!? It's not pretty! Woohoo! Gee, ya think I'm a little excited? Any suggestions as to what I should do with this rare day off? Shopping? Sleeping? Reading? All of the above and more?!? Woohoo! Okay, I'll stop now. Hope everyone has a kickass freaking awesome day!!

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Crackers <-- DD shared her cold and am currently swallowing razor blades, but I don't care 'cause I lost 1.5 lbs!!
Lunch
??
Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Water: 0L/2L
AP: 0 <-- stayed home sick today, so might look funny if I show up at gym (which is at work), but am supposed to go running tonight
Sleep: no idea as it seemed like I was awake most of the night with this cold, but plan on sleeping a good portion of the day away to make up for that
Days to Death Camp: 14 (I think)
Vegetables: I promise to get some of these today

Busy Weekend

2006-03-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a chance to do any of my usual things, like posting here or tracking my points. I don't even remember what I did or ate Friday, but I don't think it was too bad (and no, the blank is not due to alcohol... I have nothing to blame but my own memory). Saturday we headed into Richmond and spend the night at my parents. It was our friends 30th Birthday and the grandparents babysat. It was nice to have an evening out with adults. Unfortunately, my DD and I were both under the weather, so it wasn't quite as much fun as it could have been. The upside is that I didn't eat as much on Saturday night as I would have if I'd been feeling better. We went to Theater Sports and it was quite funny. I'm so ready for bed, but I've still got two kids to get to bed first. Hopefully I'll have time to catch up on your blogs before I pass out.

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
Toast (3)
Lunch
Annies (6)
Dinner
Spaghetti (9)
Snacks
Cheerio Mix (4)

Water: 1L/2L
Sleep: 7 hrs <-- Thank you Grandma!! for getting up with the kids this morning
Days to Death Camp: ? <-- I lost track and don't currently have the brain power to figure it out right now
Vegetables: 1 <-- need to do better here

San Fransisco Marathon

2006-03-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

Those of you that read Purl's website know that she's planning on running in the Nike's Woman's Marathon in San Fran in October. She's also hoping some of us will join her. I thought about it. Went to the website, looked at all the information. Calculated how many times around the track a half marathon is and how long it would take me at my current pace. (Sorry, I'm an accountant, I can't help it). It seems doable. I started to get excited. My husband and I started talking about going down for the weekend and where we would stay and things we'd like to do and see. Then I realized that if I'm having my surgery during the summer, I probably won't be able to run by October and even if I could, I wouldn't be able to train. And training would be essential, 'cause right now I usually do about 7 - 8 trips around the track and a half marathon is almost 53. I'm actually really disappointed. It sounds like a lot of fun (well, maybe not the actual running part). I think I will try to set that as a goal for next year though.

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
bacon (7)
hashbrowns (5)
Lunch
Chicken Strips & Fries (8)
Dinner
??
Snacks
??

Water: 1L/2L
AP: 2
Days to Death Camp: 17
Sleep: 7 hrs
Vegetables: 0

Supportive Family & Friends

2006-03-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

My friends and family have been so supportive through my weight loss attempt. It's been wonderful and their support has been essential in the progress I've made, but sometimes...

Most of the time, I'd rather not draw attention to my weight loss attempts. And I know they're trying to help, but having F&F constantly commenting on how much of a difference they see, etc. makes me uneasy. I'm not saying I don't want them to comment and F&F that are reading this, please don't take this the wrong way. I feel like it's adding to the pressure. Often I feel like people that know I'm trying to lose weight are commenting 'cause they feel they should. You know, like when someone has a new haircut and you feel compelled to say something, even if it's not a good haircut. Someone mentioned that my butt looked smaller. I inherited what we call a "pancake ass". In other words, it's flat. It's always been flat, and will always probably be flat. So if it looks smaller to her (which I find hard to believe), how did it look to her before? And what is she doing looking at my ass? I know everyone means well and I shouldn't complain because some people are trying to do this without any support.

Where I was going with this post, but ran out of time...
The other thing I find happening with my F&F is that they appologize for eating in front of me. And while I can see there point and I appreciate the sentiment. It just doesn't bother me. I'm not on a diet, I'm using WW as a tool to help me make better choices. If I want to eat KFC or bacon, I can. Since I don't think it's worth it, I more often than not choose not to eat it. I find that as I let go of the addictions to fast food and junk food, I don't crave it as often and I find it easier to turn down. The way that food makes me feel, both physically and emotionally is just not worth it (most of the time). Though, I appreciate that they're trying to help, I do feel bad that people feel that they need to "eat on eggshells" around me.

On a fun note, I took the kids shoe shopping tonight. Apparently I'd been neglectful in that area since each kid went up a bunch (DS went from 8.5 to 10 & DD from 5 to 6). Oops! No wonder DD cried when we tried to put her shoes on lately. Bad Mommy!

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Completely missed breakfast... cranky DD, late for work, at the testing lab rather than the office where I keep food
Lunch
Mcdonalds Fries (5)
Mcdonalds Cheeseburger (7) <--- Ironic considering my topic about food today
Dinner
Campbell's Chunky Prime Rib & Vegetable Soup (5)
Snacks
Rye & Pepsi (5)
Crispy Minis (2)

Water: 0.5L/2 <--- didn't have my water bottle with me today, trying to catch up
Sleep: 6.5 hrs
Days to Death Camp: 18 (aaahhhh! I'm not starting to panic, really I'm not.)
Vegetables: 0.5
AP: 0 <-- see reason/excuse beside lack of breakfast

Definition is Devine

2006-03-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

So, even though my WI is officially Tuesday, I find that my lowest day seems to be Wednesday. So, of course I couldn't resist checking and sure enough, I'm down a pound. I'll take it!!

The best part of yesterday was noticing the changes in my body. Even my husband commented on what a difference there is. My legs have more definition, which is cool, but the best part is the changes in my waist. My personal trainer has me focusing on building my core muscles (since I don't have any), so I've been doing a lot with my abs and I can really see a difference. Makes my boobs seem even more huge, but I'm not going to complain about that either. And my husband is certainly not complaining about that! He's still in denial about the planned breast reduction surgery this summer.

I can't wait to see what a difference the boot camp will make to my body. Though I'm terrified about going. I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up and that all the other people in the class will be fit and skinny. I'm worried that I'll get injured and won't be able to complete it. But I'm not going to let fear stop me. I hope.

Menu So Far:
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
Lunch
Chicken Quesadilla (6)
Dinner
Homemade mac & cheese w/ ground beef (6)
Carrots (2)
Snack
Bacon (5)
Crispy Minis (4)
Rye & Coke (4.5)

Water: 1L/2L
Sleep: 6.5 <-- almost at my goal of 7 hours
AP: slept in instead (break day)
Days to Death Camp: 19
Fruits & Veggies: 2

No Change

2006-03-07T05:56:00.000-08:00

Weighed in this morning and stayed the same, but considering my weekend, I'm just glad I didn't gain. Will write more later... off to the gym... or bed... no I must go to the gym... or bed... fine, I'll go to the gym.

I'm happy to report, I dragged my ass out of bed and went to the gym. Of course, I'd be quite happy to crawl back into bed now if it weren't for that pesky little detail called work. I'm glad I went though because as I was getting ready for work after my workout, I felt and I think I looked thinner. And I definitely need new pants.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Oatmeal (3)
Lunch
Turkey Sandwich w/ lots of Veggies (5)
Dinner
Homemade Mac & Cheese w/ gr. beef (9)
Cauliflower w/ Cheese Sauce (2)
Snacks
Cheerio Mix (4)

Water: 1.5L/2L
AP: 2 <-- The need to have the exercises in 5 min intervals not ten otherwise this would be 2.5
Sleep: 5.5 hours (oops)
Days to Death Camp: 20
Fruits & Veggies: 3 <-- woohoo! hit goal today

Manic Monday

2006-03-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

The next two weeks are going to be crazy at work. I actually prefer it that way. I have to make sure that I don't let the stress affect my eating. With that in mind I'm going to the grocery store on the way home tonight to stock up on healthy foods. I make much better choices and prepare much healthier foods if I have the ingredients on hand and plan ahead. It's when I don't know what to cook or eat that I tend to fall back on old, bad habits.

Slept in this morning and didn't do my workout, but I'm supposed to go running with a friend tonight. She's running 10 k and I'm just re-starting, so we'll go to the track and that way we can run at different paces. That and it's easier on my knees and shins. I'll try not to hate her for being skinny, beautiful and nice.

Menu so Far:
Breakfast
Oops! Missed Breakfast
Lunch
Beef Stew (5)
Bun & Margarine (4)
Dinner
Pasta w/ peas (6)
Snacks
Cadbury Thins (4) <--- what can I say, it's that TOM
Crispy Minis (2)

Water: 1L/2L
Sleep: 6 1/2 hours
Vegetables: 2.5
AP: 2
Days to Death Camp: 21