Birthday

I can now call myself a 20 something :) I turned 21 yesterday! I had a little family BBQ at my parents house and my sister made me a fancy cake. It was her first time working with fondant, I think she did I pretty nice job. Plus it combined two of my favorite things. The colour pink and bows!

In terms of potlucks, going out and cakes I think I did pretty well this weekend. Yes I did indulge a little, it was my birthday after all. However, I actually served myself smaller portions and stopped when I felt full. That is something I rarely did before because I ate to fast for my body to resister that it had been fed. It may sound a little elementary but I have really had to work at chewing my food fully before swallowing. I am finding I enjoy my food a lot more even if I am eating less then I was before.

Gift wise I got some new makeup brushes from my sister, they are so soft and pretty. I love them! I also got a little picnic set (forks, cup plates) that came in it's own cute little bag. The star of the show was the tent my parents got me. I had mentioned wanting to go camping this summer so it was the perfect gift. Plus it is lime green! I will have to get some pictures up later of it.

Tonight I am going out for dinner at ChaBaa Thai and then to the movies for Sex and the City 2. I am excited to see the movie but sad that it will be over or I will at least have to wait a couple of years to see the next movie. Over the last couple of weeks I watched all six seasons and the 1st movie for the first time. I loved it! So excited. I even bought new shoes ;)

New Sneakers

When I was stretching after the gym on Monday one of the plastic decoration things on the side of my sneakers stabbed me in the hand. I thought I would have to buy new ones very soon.

This really confused me though. I only bought my sneakers about two years ago and they spent much of those two years in the closet. I didn't think they should have so much wear and tear already.

Yesterday it poured and I had to wait at an uncovered bus stop because I was going to my mothers house for my nephews birthday party (I can't believe he is 9!). I was soaked through, especially my shoes. When it was time to go home I didn't want to put on my still wet shoes so I dug in the closet for some old shoes to wear.

And I found my almost new sneakers!

Turns out when I moved out of my parents house last September I took my sister's similar looking old sneakers with me by mistake... I was wondering why they felt a little tight.

I am so excited though! As soon as I put on MY sneakers I knew the difference. They fit my feet like a glove! It makes me look forward to trying them out at the gym tomorrow.

Funny what a "new" pair of shoes will do to a girl. :)

Personal Trainers Not for Me

I am a bad blogger... this is still the longest I have ever stuck with blogging so I am going to stick with it and try to be more consistent.

I had my first and probably last personal training session today. It was a complementary fitness assessment and goal setting session. I really liked learning more about where I am fitness wise, where I could be and what I have to do to get there. Even if it was a little humiliating falling on my face while trying to do a pushup... However a personal trainer costs about 50$ per session from the quick math I did when she told me it would cost 2000 something for 6 months of twice a week. While I value my health I don't have that much money to spend on top of the gym membership I am already paying for.

I am however going to try to take at least 1 of the body pump or the other strange training classes a week as she recommended after I declined the personal trainer stuff. Body pump is one of the classes included in the membership fee and it will count as one of the three strength training times a week she told me to do plus I will learn moves to use on the other days.

She kind of made it seem like I was setting myself up for failure by not going the personal trainer route and that is unfortunate. I know it was probably just a sales tactic but it does put that little seed of doubt in my mind. I am just going to have to spin it in my head as something to prove wrong and that I can achieve the same results without spending 450 dollars a month doing it.

I am sure personal trainers are great and are the best route for many people. I just know that my dutch frugalness can't wrap my head around it without at least trying it on my own first.

Circuit Training

I just got back from the gym. This time I went to the no boys allowed gym closer to my house. It was the same one I went to the Zumba class at and I liked the looks of it better then the one I went to on Friday.

I started out with some run/walk intervals to get warmed up. Then I went to the circuit machines. Their diagrams and controls were so much easier to figure out then the ones in the other gym. I did the whole circuit for 15 reps on weight that felt right for each muscle group. Some were 15-25lbs (arms) and some were about 50lbs (legs). I just judged it by what felt like it was just a little hard at the beginning and by the 14th-15th rep it was more towards the pushing it level. I think I did well. Then I did 10 hard mins on what I think was the elliptical, I did just over 1000 strides I think the machine called it. Finished it off with some crunches and reverse crunches. All in all I think it was a pretty balanced workout. Hopefully next time I can get some more cardio in, a lot of my time tonight was spent figuring out the machines since I didn't want to hurt myself.

When I was walking home I felt so great, so peaceful and proud of myself. Also I don't think I have walked so slow in my life. I was feeling it already haha.

My trip to Planet Organic did not result in any Silver Hills bread as they were out. I will have to go back this weekend since the guy said they should get some by the end of the week. I did however score at Winners of all places. I didn't really know they carried food until yesterday when I found an entire box of peanut butter Clif bars there. The price worked out to just over a dollar a bar. I snatched it right up considering they are usually still close to two dollars when they are on sale.

I also got a bag of this panda licorice that I LOVE! It is all natural and it is the closest thing I have found to dropies (without the salt) in non dutch stores. ♥ it! Plus who can complain when they have such a cute mascot?

I am really looking forward to my first massage ever tomorrow! The girl friend of one of my co-workers is almost finished her schooling at the massage college and they are having a fund raiser. $25 dollars for a 1hour massage. I can't wait!

ZUMBA!

I just got back from my first ZUMBA class! It was also my first group exercise class at the gym. There were many times when I got a little confused and resorted to flailing around a bit.... :) Overall though it was a great time and the hour really did fly by just like everything I read said it would. I am going back next week for sure! Going back next week also means I will be signing up to the gym at the end of this week since my free trial will be running out. That is something I have been saying I would do for a while but this time it is true.

When I wrote my workout on the calendar a few minutes ago I realized that I have already exercised 5 times this month! Count em, FIVE! Considering we are only 10 days into May that is extremely significant for me. My other months probably have about 5 days that I worked out spread over the entire month. So to have 5 already, to have half my days so far this month be days that I exercised is a great feeling.

I think I am almost to the point where I really want to exercise regularly without making excuses. I have to make a trip out to planet organic tomorrow as well as do some other erands and at first I didn't want to because I wanted to try out the FitMix class instead!

Time for a shower and supper.
Tomorrow I will write about my first trip to Planet Organic! There might even be pictures :O
I hope they have my bread >.>

Back from the gym :)

I liked it! I was a little intimidated by the main gym, to many hot guys! haha ;) So I stayed in the little women's only gym room off the changing room. I will eventually venture out into the main room since there is way more variety out there.

I really didn't have much of an idea what I was doing so I did 20mins of running/walking intervals on the treadmill and then a bunch of the exercises from the 30day shred level 1 video. I also did 10mins on the elliptical and tried a few of the circuit machines. Next time I am going to be more prepared and go in there with the first workout from Jillian's Making the Cut Book. I paid for the thing, I may as well use it eh?

I am also going to go to one of the classes in the next few days. I will let you all know how it goes.

Gym time!

I am going to the gym tonight! Finally! I got a 7 day free pass from filling out a ballot at the library yesterday so this is going to be the end of my procrastination.

I have been meaning to go try out the gym for months but I always felt so intimidated. I wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was for anything and I was worried about looking like a total noob and just making a fool of myself. I realize thinking these things is probably silly considering 1. Everyone was new to the gym at one point 2. Everyone there is focusing on trying to exercise themselves and won't even be paying attention to me.

So I going to the gym tonight in all my noobie glory. I also get access to the classes through the free pass so I will be trying out some of those too. I will let you know how it goes.

Oh and another thing, I had to fill out a questionnaire waver thing at the gym. The guy asked what I do now to exercise. I said work out videos like the 30day shred another woman in office piped up and said she thought it was going to be easy but it was really hard and she never got past level 1. I was so proud of myself since I have been considering moving to level 2 soon :D

Down

For the last week and a bit I have been really good in terms of food and exercise. I tried out one of the P90x workouts that I got from a co-worker. It wasn't bad but I found it a little slow. Not to say it wasn't a good workout but I think I like the 30 day shred better. I am going to look for another one of Jillian's DVDs or something like it to mix stuff up a bit. I have done 30 day shred twice since Saturday! I wasn't recording my exercise before Sat but I exercised a few times that week too. Yesterday I realized that it is getting easier! I didn't feel like I was dying by the end :D If I keep at it I should be able to try out level 2 soon. I think I am going to try some yoga tonight to give my muscles a little rest

Food wise I have been trying very hard to eat slower. I read or heard somewhere (I think it was Dr Oz) that you should be chewing your food 20 times. Wonderful visual eh? It slows my eating down a lot and I am able to enjoy and savour the taste for longer too. I have actually started to feel full by the end of a meal this week. I am not sure if this is because I am taking longer to eat it or because I am trying to be aware of my fullness but it is working!

I haven't been recording my weight on the blog recently because it has been 194 consistently. I frankly just wasn't putting in enough effort till very recently. This morning I weighed myself and it was down to 192.2! I want to fit into those pants I bought so I am going to make it happen!

Guess who's back? Back again~

Wow... I have sure been slacking off in the blogging department. The truth is I haven't felt that I had much to report. My weight has stayed at pretty much the same for the last two weeks. Probably because I haven't been very diligent with the exercise, and my food hasn't been fantastic either. There has been a lot of snacking in my life recently and I am still struggling with portion distortion quite a bit.

This week so far I have been better on the exercise front and I am working on the food.

Yesterday when I checked the mail I found a surprise.

The Silver Hill's coupon from Ali arrived! Thanks again Ali :) I already have over half a loaf of Dempsters whole grain in my fridge so I am going to wait on the Planet Organic trip to pick up the new stuff. Looking forward to it though!

I went shopping yesterday and bought a big bag of on sale stuff from Smart Set. My top half doesn't have a whole lot of changing to do size wise and I won't be getting any smaller in size then XL because of my shoulders anyway. So I loaded up! I seriously need more pants but I don't want to buy the size I am in because if I stick to the plan I should be out of them soon. So I bought one pair of dress pants a size down. They were on sale and I really liked them. I could almost get them done up but not quite. I am going to use them as a motivation.

Thats it for now. I promise to get back to you in less then 15 days!

The End of Narly Pasta

Last Saturday I went out with the intention of running but it was more like a marathon walk considering it was over an hour long and I ran for about 4 minutes of that. When I really thought about what went wrong I realized I wasn't pacing myself correctly. I would break into a sprint for a min and then feel half dead by the end of it. I still walked about 7.5kms though so it was still a good amount of activity plus a great way to spend a beautiful day.

Tonight I completed my first real day of C25K! I caught myself if I was running to fast and got a good half hour in. I ran around the area of Spring Garden Road since I had to bring a movie back to the library there. It was a good to get two things done at once but it was a little strange running with so many people around. I think next time I will try to find some streets that are little less populated. One of the great things about living in the middle of the city is there are lots of different routes I can take so that should help with not getting bored of it.

Now dinner. After cleaning out the fridge tonight I decided I am not buying any more food until the majority of what I have is eaten. Should be interesting to see what I can cook up over the next week or so. That or you will see a lot of PB and Toast.

I cooked onion and a chicken breast.

I then added some Ragu Mushroom Pasta Sauce. I really like that sauce for it's taste and the fact that the ingredients are very simple. Plus it doesn't hurt that it is cheap! I also just noticed they have an organic line so I might look into that next time.

Served it over spaghetti with a side of a garlic whole wheat English muffin. I needed to use them up so I brushed each half with olive oil, sprinkled it with garlic salt and toasted it up. Soooo good!

After having thrown out two containers of cooked pasta today that have been kicking around the fridge I tried really hard to cook the right amount. Got the portion pretty much perfect for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. No left overs, score!

I weighed in today and it was exactly what I weighed in last week :P I have a feeling the Easter celebrations may have had something to do with it. Not gaining after the "Good Pie Day" party I went to on Friday is probably an accomplishment in itself though so I am happy :)

A walk in the Sun

Today was beautiful! I went for a little over an hour long walk (with a bit of running thrown in) to and around point pleasant park and back home. It was about 7.5 kms long. I Am going to try to up the running bits next time I go out.
When I got home I ate half a chocolate chip Cliff bar (ate the first half before I left) and chugged some water. I put the Cliff bar in the fridge before I left, was so chewy and cold, just what I wanted at that moment. Going to pick up some more of those!

When supper time came along I had some celery that was on it's last legs so I made some orange chicken and rice. It is loosely based on a recipe I read in a Rachel Ray Magazine in the fall. I don't really measure anything, just throw it in.

I cooked the chopped celery and onions with some garlic and cinnamon and a little bit of evoo.
Added a cubed chicken breast and some orange juice and let that simmer till reduced down.

Then I added it to some brown rice.
I usually make it with cranberry juice. I think I still like that better but it was still really yummy with orange. I even had enough for left over for Monday's lunch! I wonder what it would be like with the POM juice everyone talks about?

Time to get to bed!

A picture finally!

This morning I woke up feeling like crap. It probably had something to do with not being able to fall asleep till after 2 last night due to this bad cold I have had for about a week + not getting in bed when I should. It has always taken me a while to fall asleep. I envy the people who konk out as soon as thier head hits the pillow. I don't know if I will ever be that lucky but I have decided to make some changes in my bedtime routine (did I even have one before?) to try to get the sleep situation under control. Starting tonight the TV and computer will be turned off at 11 on week days. That gives me time to wash my face, brush my teeth get everything set up for the next day and get in bed with he possibility of 7 hours of sleep. Hopefully it will help with the being tired all day situation that comes with getting about 5 hours on a good night.

Like I said I woke up at 6:40 feeling super run down so while still half asleep I reset my alarm to 6:50... or so I thought. I woke up at 7:50 when my alarm went off missing my bus by 10 minutes >.< Thus missing my carpool. I could have taken the over an hour bus ride getting to work late, but I really didn't feel like making the effort. So I called in sick. I feel a bit guilty for doing so considering there is only one more day till the long weekend but I still think it was the best decision for me. Then I slept in for another few hours. When I woke up I laid on the couch for a while until I decided I needed to eat something even if I wasn't really feeling it.

Oatmeal with PB & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams and coconut on the top.

First time eating oatmeal made on the stove and it was great! Even if I did let the milk boil over a bit and had to clean my stove... Then I finished off my Liberté Blackberry yogurt. I realized I forgot to take a picture when I was scraping out the bowl but I think everyone knows what yogurt looks like.

I weighed in yesterday even though I was feeling sick and bloated and I was up by 3 pounds. I secretly weighed myself again today though and those 3 pounds were gone but I will record yesterdays weight. Maybe it will set me up for a big loss next week ;)

Rain Rain Go Away

I weighed myself today and was down 1 pound from last week. It isn't a huge loss but considering I ate out 3 times over the weekend and had a potluck accompanied by a few to many helpings of desert it is still an accomplishment. I made sure my friend who brought the delicious squares took the leftovers home with her. I did not need those lurking in my fridge.

One of the reasons for not having a gain was all he beautiful weather we had the past week. I probably walked for about an hour each day. Of course the day I store the winter coat in the back of my closet the sun hid it's self away again. Supposed to be back for the weekend though!

Now I just need to make some time to sign up to the gym. I got a 5 free day trial from a co-worker so that is a bit of an incentive :)

First Real Week of Tracking

And my first real loss!

I tracked everything I ate and drank last week as well as the exercise I got. After staying within my calorie limit and walking for an average of 20mins every day I lost two pounds! I realize this isn't a huge loss but it is a start. And considering my ball parked goal weight is about 40 pounds below where I am at right now it is very do-able at this rate.

I didn't decide to change my lifestyle because I had a large amount of weight to loose. Some times that makes me feel like the struggles I have with my weight are less valid then other peoples' but that is not true. The truth is since I have been in my teens I have always been a little over weight. I have had troubles with portion control and did not get nearly enough exercise. The weight just kept creeping up. There would be periods where I would kind of try to exercise more or eat better but I never stuck with it.

It was only recently that I realized I really needed to change what I was doing or I would eventually end up with very real and serious weight issues. Part of what made me realize this was stumbling across this blog community. It was through reading the blogs of many other real people that I realized it was possible to live a healthy life for life and still enjoy it. This is a great community and I am glad to be entering it.

PS: I changed my blog name yesterday. I never really liked the old name and it was more of a placeholder till I could think of something half decent.

Crofter's Superfruit :D

Jamie over at Embracing Balance is doing a giveaway for Crofter's Super Fruit Spread! Go on over and check it out. After seeing all of her peanut butter and Jam toast breakfast pictures I picked up some Crofter's Organic Classic Wild Blackberry Spread that I saw on sale. It is great! I can only imagine what the Superfruit Spreads are going to taste like, but I'm going to wait till I win the giveaway to find out. ;)

Sun!

I am loving the weather we have been getting! It has been Sunny for 6 days straight so far and right now it is 4 degrees out. Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 8 degrees :D

At work we just got a corporate rate deal worked out with Nubody's that has been in the works for about a month. The membership works with any Nubody's or Good life Gym. There is a bunch of my co workers who go to the gym during lunch breaks a few times a week so I might choose to go with them. If not there is a woman's gym about 5 minute walk downhill from my apartment so I really won't have any excuses. Plus I am such a cheep-o that I know I will feel like I need to get my moneys worth :)

I am really excited for some of the group classes that are available as well. I have 3 Nubody's within a 15min walk from my apartment so with that comes lots of variety in the classes I will be able to take. I am most excited about trying Fit Step, Fit Ride, Fit Mix and of course Zumba that I have heard so much about.

On the food side of things I have been consistently using LiveStrong's Daily Plate to track calories and focusing on watching my portion sizes. Tracking through out the day has been really helpful for me.

For instance, we had a bake sale today for our run for the cure team. I had a cheese biscuit, a lemon square and a cupcake. I tracked all of them. After eating lunch and drinking only water through out the day I have 740 calories left for the rest of the day. Easily enough for a good dinner and maybe even the little night snack that I always find myself wanting. Because I knew that I would want to eat dinner and I wanted to stay within my calorie range I turned down beef jerky and a Starbucks run. I have also kept myself away from baked treats. When I wasn't choosing to be aware of what I was putting in my body I would have said yes to all of those instead of no like I did.

Time to go watch the advance screening of She's out of my League. I won tickets from Empire :)

Wisdomteeth-less

My surgery went well. Near the end I started to become more aware of what was going on. I remember vaguely wondering why the doctor was flossing my teeth but the laughing gas made me not really care. It was a strange feeling. Oh and it wasn't floss I was feeling, it was the stitches going in :P When I was being brought to the recovery room I was giggling so hard I was crying and I narrowly missed running into a table. It was an interesting day. I pretty much went to sleep as soon as I got to my mother's house.

For the first day I had a protein shake mid afternoon and a bit of Kraft Dinner for supper. I have been replacing white pasta and rice with whole grain versions as much as possible. That was a bit of a step back in that KD is really not the best food at all... but it was squishy and it was brought to me on my couch. So I inserted it into my mouth (best way to describe how I have been eating) and enjoyed.

I ventured out to a 24 hour supermarket last night on the way home to my apartment. No makeup, swollen face and all. Stocked up on some liquidy soups, yogurt without seeds, some soft caned fruit, boxed mashed potatoes, a couple boxes of KD, some chef boyardi and a little thing of ice cream. This plus eggs, oatmeal and lots of peas should keep me alive. I am going to keep to the calorie intake I have set for myself. It really shouldn't be to hard considering how long it takes me to take a "bite."

I also bought some really great juice. It is Sun-Rype FruitPlus Veggies in Strawberry Banana flavour. It tastes great, the ingredient list is readable and there is no sugar added. Plus it is a way to get more veggies in me. There was also a Blueberry flavour. I am sure it tastes great but it really is not the most appetizing colour. The Strawberry Banana bright orange so that coupled with the fact that it has carrots in it makes you think it is going to taste carroty but it really tastes quite fruity. Maybe I will try out the Blueberry next time... accompanied by a blindfold perhaps?

The last day...

That I get to eat solid food for a week D: I am not going on some liquid diet or a fast to loose weight. I don't think I would ever do that. What I am doing though is getting my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow. All four of them at once. Ahhhh!!

I am glad the day is finally here considering the apointment was made 6 months ago and they have been paining me moderatly since before that.

This morning I ate some oatmeal for breakfast for 256 Cals. I also missed the bus I wanted to get so I had to walk for half an hour to work burning about 200 Cals. For lunch I will be having a pb and jam sandwich (Can you tell I was in a rush this morning?)

Tonight I plan to have some steak for dinner! Since I know I won't be able to chew steak for at least a week and I just stocked up my freezer with a bunch. The rest of supper will consist of all the crunchy veggies that need to be eaten up while still possible. I might even have some chips and salsa for a snack as my last bit of crunch.

Maybe while I am living on smoothies and applesauce I might drop a little bit of weight as a bonus. Gotta look on the bright side right?

Chinese Blah

I had to go in to work today to finish up somethings. I didn't end up getting in to work until 2 somewhat because of transit issues but mostly because I like to sleep in and didn't leave the house until 12:45. As a result I was at work till quarter after 8 so I had takeout with everyone else who was in working. I had to much. I really should not have gone back for seconds. When I say seconds I don't mean a bit more rice because it was tasty, I mean a full on second plate. Not good for me and now I feel sick.

From now on when I have to work weekends I will definitely pack a healthy and properly portioned supper so as to avoid yucky temptations.

Now on to more pleasant news.

On my way home I picked up some Liberté Yogurt that everyone talks about so much. It is just the normal yogurt in Blackberry flavour. There was no Greek kind in my supermarket but I will be keeping an eye out for it. It was on sale too so bonus! Can't wait to try it :)

I recently decided to scrap the idea that I should wait till I reach 180 before getting a camera. My blog seems so bare to me and I want to be able to take pictures of all the yummy stuff I am eating now a days.

Now I just need to figure out what camera to get!

Green Chunky

That is what my second attempt at a green smoothie turned into. I need to buy a real blender because my immersion one just doesn't seem to do the trick. It still tasted great but there in something a little unappetizing about having to chew spinach as you drink. Part of it may be that I didn't wilt the spinach this time. I would also like to be able to blend in ice and I think if I tried to do that with the immersion blender it would destroy the poor thing.

I ate it anyway since it was only full of good for me stuff but I will be waiting till I get a real blender before trying that again.

Snow day!

Yesterday we had a snow storm. After waiting at the bus stop for half an hour and seeing no buses other then the one stuck in a snow drift down the road from me I decided to trudge back down the street (the side walks were impassable) and go back up to my nice warm apartment.

I ate the yogurt, berries and granola that I had packed for breakfast. After a few hours of well needed napping I ate my sandwich that I made the night before. It was such an easy morning! After some cleaning and last week survivor watching accompanied with a small bowl of tostitos multi grain chips and some homemade guacamole. I spent 50mins working out to a dvd and made dinner. Steak with onions mushrooms fried in about a tablespoon of evoo and some mashed potatoes. I ate about half of the potatoes that I used to and guess what, I was still full by the end of dinner. I also used a tiny bit of evoo in the potatoes instead of butter. Then I baked some apple cinnamon muffins.

Was a pretty productive snow day.

Today for breakfast I had some yogurt with flax and one of last night's muffins with some almond butter. Very filling for a total of 250cals by last nights calculations. Lunch is going to be a turkey, hummus and spinach sandwich on honey oat whole grain bread for 300cals. That leaves me with 1k calories for the rest of the day, crazy!

Pasta Mountain...

Today I had apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast and it was tasty. Staying up till about 2am last night reading caught with me though as I found myself nodding off around 10 this morning. So I went and got a french vanilla cappuccino from the evil machine in the kitchen. I don't usually drink coffee but I really felt like I needed a boost to avoid face planting my keyboard. Judging by the calories in a same size Tim Horton's one the cappuccino was probably about 250 calories so I skipped the morning snack.

For lunch I had some left over pasta from Thursday's Boston Pizza trip. My sister had a free pasta coupon because of her birthday. They give such huge portions there though. I ended up coming home with about half of it. I only just looked up the nutritional info on their website and I can tell you this, next time I go I am going to check the site before I leave the house. I had the Spicy Italian Penne and it was pretty good. It wasn't 1,530 calories good though! That is almost what my daily intake is suppose to be. I only ate about half so 765 calories for a meal, still not great but much more reasonable then 1.5k. Lesson learned.

Tonight my sister wants to go out for a couple of drinks since she just turned 19 today. Happy Birthday!! We are going to the Argyle in Halifax and I am going to have a mango daiquiri. I always get one when I am there. I might have another drink while I am there but going to try to nurse that as long as possible. Gotta wake up in the morning after all :P

I might have a lighter supper so I can also get some calamari while I am out. So yummy!

Gonna Have my Cake and Eat it Too

My oatmeal only seems to hold me over about 2 an a half hours in the morning. I think I need to find a way to bump up my morning protein intake. Perhaps some nuts or nut butter? If it makes it taste better then that would be an added bonus I eat the Our Compliments Balance oatmeal and they recently re-did the box design. I think they also changed the recipe in some way because it doesn't taste as good as it used to (and I bought a bunch of boxes as they were on sale) I know that the instant oatmeal is not quite as good nutrition wise as the boil it kind but I eat my breakfast at work (because I am lazy in the morning) so I need something convenient.

So far today I have had a cup of tea and water to drink. I have never liked milk in my tea so that makes it a pretty low drink calorie wise.

Lunch is going to be left over pasta and homemade spaghetti sauce with lots of veggies. Green pepper, onion, mushrooms and the secret ingredient spinach. I used the frozen spinach nuggets, the only ingredient on the bag is spinach it is an easy and tasty addition. Next time I make the sauce I will add in some mashed sweet potato like my mother does for extra creaminess. No one makes better spaghetti sauce then my mother!

Tonight is my sister's birthday party so I am going to my parent's for dinner and cake. I am not going to pass on the cake because I am human and I know if I pass I will just think about it all night and try to satisfy the craving with other junk. Maybe just maybe I will ask for a smaller piece though and pass on the ice cream since I don't like it that much anyway. It is all about the little changes right?

I exercised last night with a dance DVD. It was not really high intensity but it was really fun so the 50mins it took flew by. It doesn't have tons of jumping in it like the 30 day shred so I am sure the woman who lives below me appreciated that. I felt bad doing 30 day shred any later then about 6ish and I never seem to want to exercise till later at night. That wasn't working out very well in terms of actually doing it consistently. It is still great though for a fast high intensity workout and I will continue to work it in.

Trying to get back on track

I started this blog so I could be somewhat accountable for the things I eat and the ammount of exercise I get. The problem with that plan so far is that I have been a little terrible with following through on writing recently. (the last 15 days)

So from now on I will try my best to be more accountable.

There is a bakesale at work today for our Run for the Cure team. My goal is to pick only one thing from the bakesale for my afternoon snack. Our team is called Techies for Tatas by the way :)

Portions

I never went back for seconds at the choir dinner! Go me!

Control

I didn't realize how out of it I really was in regards to food until now. I am proud to say that I am now being more aware of what I am putting in my mouth. I am also thinking of the consequences of what I am eating.

Up until I left work yesterday I ate:

• Yogurt, PC blue menu granola and strawberries
• 20 Almonds - This is the portion size that Jillian Michale's had listed in her book for a snack. 20 didn't sound like a lot but when I actually counted them out it was almost more then enough.
• Ham sandwich with romaine lettuce and 4 slices of cheese
• A PC chewy oatmeal cookie

Shortly after eating the cookie an email went out at work that there were "deserts" in the lunch room. And I stayed sitting at my desk!

When I actually thought about it I couldn't justify eating some square when I had just eaten a cookie. In the past I might have tried to lie to myself and pretend that the square could have been small and wouldn't have made a difference. I am a terrible lier though and the evidence of how much squares and all the little snacks I had been eating mattered was easy to see considering how few articles of clothing I own that I have been able to confidently wear recently.

Anyway, I stayed in my seat thinking about how I was going to work out when I got home. I knew I didn't want that time I spent working out to just go to canceling out snacks. It wasn't until later that day that I realized how significant it had been that I turned down the food. I also realized that the day before there were also snacks in the lunch room and I only took one even when there were others that looked quite tempting.

When I got home my apartment was freezing. This was quite odd considering I live on the third floor of a 150 year old building with stone walls three feet thick. As a result all the heat from the bottom floors comes up through the floors and it like like I have in floor heating. I never turn my heat on and usually have to open the windows while wearing a tank top just to survive. As a result of it being super freezing and being at a really good part in Memories of a Geisha I decided to hop in to bed and read for a bit.

Next thing I knew it was 7 o'clock and my stomach was growling. I wanted dinner but I knew if I ate I would feel even less like exercising then I already did. I had made the decision that Tuesday would be an exercise day and I didn't want to go back on that. So after two crackers with PB and some water I turned on the 30 day Shred DVD.

Day 4 whoo! I think the 30 Day Shred is supposed to be done for 30 days straight but #1 Even though the high intensity workout only takes 25mins I sweat so much that I have to take a shower afterwards of course and I really don't have time for that every day. #2 I don't feel like dieing at the age of 20. So three times a week seems like a good amount to me.

Work out schedule so far is:

• Tuesday - 30 day shred
• Thursday - 30 day shred
• Saturday afternoon - 30 day shred

The Saturday works really well because I usually like to go to the farmers market Saturday morning so I am already up and about and get home around noon. If I didn't exercise when I get home there would be a high chance of me coming home after being out in the cold and climbing into bed for a nap and then waking up late afternoon feeling like I wasted half the day. So I am killing 2 birds with one stone. Tuesday and Thursday seem like good compliments to Saturday plus they are my least busy days of the week.

I might be fitting in a day or two of running soon as I have a friend who wants to start running. Plus I am going to be doing run for the cure with girls from work work (Our team name is Techies for Tatas :D ) and while I know you can walk it I think it would be fun to be able to run at least part of the time. I am not sure about this though because I have trouble breathing sometimes even when fast walking in cold weather. This doesn't happen in warm weather or when I am inside though so I am pretty sure it has to do with the cold air. Not sure I want to get all the gear needed to run in the winter outside to go on to find out it won't work for me. This coupled with icy sidewalks makes me think it might make more sense to wait until it warms up to start running outside. Any suggestions or tips on winter running for noobies?

After I was all done my workout I was starving so I popped a little pot pie in the toaster oven and hoped in the shower. I then made a nice big salad with romaine lettuce for the side and snuggled with some TV for the rest of the night. All in all I think it was a good day in terms of progress.

Now to see how the pre choir dinner tonight goes. Wish me luck!

Wow I really need to learn to stay on topic or all my posts will turn into small novels like this one.

Rewarding Myself

I am doing it wrong. I realized recently that I tend to reward myself with food. For instance I was doing quite well yesterday up until dinner when I decided I deserved a Wendy's Burger for dinner because I had eaten well up until then. To continue to think this way is going to end up as a total disaster. Working out and then writing it all off by eating junk is not what I want to be doing.

Rewards still sound like a good idea though, just not ones that go in my mouth. So once I loose 10 pounds from my starting weight I am going to buy a camera. This reward is good in two ways. For one I don't have one and I have wanted one for a while. And two it should make my blog a little more interesting both to read and to write. I will think of more rewards later and post them on the side bar.

I tried out the 30day shred dvd on Friday and it was great. I will write more about it later.

Weigh In

I know I should be in bed right now but I think if I wait any longer to post the results of my weigh in and fitness test I will chicken out.

On my way home from work today I stopped at Wal-Mart to get a scale and a measuring tape among other things that I have been meaning to pick up. I got the Weight Watchers scale which was on sale for 29 dollars. It is nice and simple looking and very light which is a good thing when taking things home on the bus.

When I finally got the battery to stay in the thing I weighed myself. I seem to have gained a bit more then I thought I did. Not the end of the world though, just means more motivation to loose it.

The fitness test did not go exactly as planned either. I can't do push ups. At all. Apparently my upper body does not contain any muscle what so ever. I did average on the sit up test(how many can you do in a minute) and the wall sitting test (back against the wall, legs 90 degrees and hold.)
I am waiting to try the the step test to check your palse. I am going to do that next time I am visiting my parents. There are no stairs in my apartment and I wasn't so keen on doing the stair climber in the hall way. I am pretty sure I will do well in that department though considering it takes about a minute of climbing stairs to get up here and I haven't died yet.

I also took mesurements and calculated my BMR (the number of cals your body needs to keep you alive.)

Here are the details.

Weight: 193.2
Height: 5'9"

Bust:43"
Chest:34"
Waist:36"
Hips:43"
Thigh 27.5"
Arm 13.75"

As long as I don't get home from work at 9 again tomorrow I will be trying out the 30 day shred dvd. Wish me luck!

Beginnings

Hello all :)

I have decided to start a blog for a couple of reasons. One of them being that now I have finished school and have a full time job. Full time jobs mean money and money means that I am going to take a vacation next winter to somewhere much warmer then Nova Scotia. When I am on the beach having a wonderful vacation I want to be wearing a bikini and I want to feel great doing it. Now don't get me wrong, I feel like I am in decent shape and overall I like my body but I would be kidding myself if I thought I was in bikini shape. Up until recently it has been impossible to find a normal one piece bathing suit that fits me properly let alone a two piece. When I found this site though I knew I had to get a bikini from it. I also want to buy some dresses from there but at those prices I want anything I buy to be things I can wear for years to come. This is the fun goal but more importantly I just want to get in better shape overall.

I have a moderately active lifestyle in that I live in the middle of Halifax in a third floor walkup. My fitness regimen therefore consists of walking everywhere and lots of stairs. I don't binge eat but I don't eat as well as I could. Ever since I have been a teenager my weight has fluctuated up and down and right now it is up. Most of my pants are size 11 but I have some size 13 that I have had to wear recently and they are getting to be on the tight side. I refuse to buy more clothing unless it is because everything I have to wear is to big (I would enjoy being forced to do this). So I am going to start eating better and exercising regularly.

To hit the ground running I have picked up the biggest loser trainer Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD and her book Making the Cut. For the DVD all you need are free weights and a mat if your floor is hard. I already had some weights so I picked up a super cute Gaiam yoga mat. It is hot pink with lighter pink hearts on it. I figured I may as well like the look of my mat because I am going to be seeing it a lot in the near future.

I have heard great things about the DVD from friends and the book looked good when I researched it. I have read most of the book already since buying it yesterday and it looks like it will be a great resource for me. It has tons of recipes that actually look very yummy for healthy meals and snacks. I will do a more through review them it later.

The deal with the book and the DVD is that you work out and eat properly for 30 days (hence the 30 day shred title) and by the end of it you should be more lean and toned. I am going to stick to it for 30 days and chronicle my progress here. By the end of the 30 days I am hoping this lifestyle change will have become habit and will be something I can stick to for the rest of my life.

This isn't going to be about transforming my body by magic. I know that it will take hard work and discipline to achieve the results I want. But I do want them and am willing to put the work in to get them. This blog is to make me more accountable. If I say I am going to write about each day I will want to have good things to write. At least that is the plan.

Stay tuned for the initial measurements, weigh in and fitness test! O: