Temptations All Around

Yesterday ended up not being quite as planned. After racing home on my bike (in super fast time I might add - heehee), my husband was waiting for me to come to the states with him.

When I got home I was literally shaking I was so hungry. This can't be good. I easily could have grabbed a bunch of junk and eaten anything. But I knew I needed a quick snack and to refuel, so I ended up having 2 small La Tortilla Wraps with Almond Butter. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

After a quick shower we were out the door. The rest of the evening was a bit of torture. My husband has been working super long hours and him & my son have the truck filled with a few bags of cookies and other treats - which of course they were eating. I did end up having 2 cookies, but when the marshmallow cookies started calling my name (and I DON'T like those) I had to throw them in the back of the truck.

We made a stop at Walmart. Holy 100 calorie packs! They had an entire isle dedicated to them - can you believe that? That's insane. I mean for an occassional treat fine, but obviously this is a huge market and people are buying tons of them.

Anyhow, next thing I know, the family has each picked up (and opened) a container of Stacked Lays chips. Now those are good! Mmmmm. I had one and then told them all that they were not to permit me to have any more at all.

My husband wanted to stop at a buffet for dinner, but thankfully it was 5 min from closing so we opted not to go. By this time it was about 9:30 and I was feeling pretty hungry so having to face a buffet was going to be a disaster.

We ended up at McDonald's. I suppose I could have chosen a salad, but I think I still made a decent choice and got a Grilled Chipotle BBQ Chicken Snack Wrap - though it's certainly not worth 6 pts, but it did the job.

So my menu from yesterday was revised as follows:

Breakfast - All Bran Chewy Bar, Mandarin Orange (3)

Lunch - President's Choice Cannelloni, nectarine, Astro BioBest Raspberry Yoghurt (7)

Snacks - All Bran Snack Bites (1) 2 sm. La Tortilla Wraps with Almond Butter (6) 2 cookies (3),

Dinner - McDonald's Grilled Chipotle BBQ Chicken Snack Wrap (6)

Total - 26 points - approx. 1400 calories

Exercise - 65 minutes biking

For the next little while I'm going to calculate calories as well as points, just to have an idea. I'm not ready to abandon the point method, but I think I do need to be careful about going too low.

Rode my bike to work again today. I will have ridden almost 100Km (aka 60 miles) in the last 4 days. And this ain't no casual riding. When I ride, I ride hard. Hills are to be conquered, speed records are to be achieved, sweat is to drip! I can certainly feeling it in my legs and butt, even my abs and upper back.

Pedal Me Crazy & Calorie to Pts. Comparison

Yesterday I skipped my long run. Just wasn't into it and couldn't motivate myself to get out the door. But I was still active. My son came along and we rode our bikes over to my friends place and I took one extra stop afterwards giving me a total of about a 20Km ride. Not that long really, but I enjoyed it. Then it was a few hours of yard work. Never ending on 10 acres I tell ya!


This week the kids are both out of school now, so no need for me to rush after work to pick them up. So .... I'm going to be a bike commuter for the next little while. It's 12 Km each way to my work and takes me about 25 min to get to work and 40 to get home.


I also plan to do my regular workouts on top of this.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - All Bran Chewy Bar, Mandarin Orange (3)
Lunch - President's Choice Cannelloni, nectarine, Astro BioBest Raspberry Yoghurt (7)
Snack - All Bran Snack Bites, 10 multigrain rice crackers, hummus (4)
Dinner (planned) - Baked Tilapia, Chinese Cabbage Salad (5)
Dessert (planned) - Chocolate Pudding cup (2)

Total 21 points

Exercise - min. 65 minutes biking, 30 min run, 30 min weights

For kicks I just counted out the calories in this menu. As for Weight Watchers it comes to 21 points. For calorie counting it comes out to approx. 1150 cal. Doesn't that seem awfully low???

The other day I splurge and had 27 points - which calculated to approx. 1600 cal.

I went back and calculated a number of days and in general they were all between 1050 and 1300 cal. per day. That's counting all the vegetables too, so I'm not excluding 0 pt foods.

I did some searching around and according to most sites they say that I should consume about 1650 cal. to lose 1 lb per week. I know from experience that if I eat that (approx. 27 pts/day) I will have gains on the scale. It also shows that if I eat "only" 1300 cal. a day, I should be able to lose 10 lbs in the next 6 weeks. I can guarantee that's impossible. And ... many sites I've read recommend me not going below 1300 cal EVER.


Are these sites insane? Am I insane? Am I ruining my metabolism for life? Have I already???

Back in the right direction

As of this morning I'm going back in the right direction. Which is great since today is weigh-in day!! I'm down 1 lb for this week.


All week I had seen the scale climbing a bit every day and I was sure I was in for a gain this week again. But this morning it dropped back down again and even before I got on the scale I felt a teensy bit skinnier than I have all week. I even have a pair of shorts on today that are a little loser than they were 2 weeks ago - wahoo!


So bad news ... I still have 2 lbs to lose by July 9th and I had wanted to be there by now. Good news .... it's only 2 lbs, not 3 or 4. I REALLY want to get there before we leave.


Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning & reorganizing our travel trailer. I'm giving it a really good clean-out like it hasn't seen in years. And going through every cupboard and closet and getting rid of anything I don't need. It feels so great when things are in order. Today I have done much the same. I also went on a 26 Km bike ride. If I'm not exhausted tonight I'll do a little run as well.

Last night I had a great salad - green leaf lettuce, cilantro, tomato, red pepper, red onion dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar. I'm not a huge fan of most bottled dressings and this was just perfect. Our Italian friends dress their salads like this - though IMO they use wayyyy too much olive oil. I just put a very thin drizzle on a large salad and it was perfect. It was so good I had it again today at lunch, along with a veggie burger. Mmm Mmmm Mmmmmmmm!

Any idea what this is?

I was at work today and suddenly noticed this....

Any idea what it is????

It's a bruise on my bicep. We were doing a ton of heavy bicep curls last night and I think that may have been what caused it. Could be push-ups too, but I don't think so based on where it is on my arm. I got something like this once before on a different part of my arm. It doesn't hurt at all, and it didn't while working out either. I don't think it's any harm - kind of a war wound for working out hard.

Bad Scale - you're in detention!

BAD SCALE

Well, I did it! I did not step on that scale last night or this morning. Why? Because it's pissing me off and I think it's lying. :) HAHAHAHA

But seriously, I don't understand why my weight jumped up and has stayed up for about a week now. I can't find a logical explanation and I'm sick of getting on that scale hoping that it has come to it's senses.

I am a twice daily weigher, and I'm OK with that. I know that when it begins to frustrate me the scale needs to be disciplined and it gets put in detention.

I'm just starting to stress because I set myself a completely reasonable goal, which is 2 weeks away, and I don't feel confident that I'm going to reach it. I get oh so close to reaching that magic number and then BOOM it disappears like a flashing light. I was wondering last night if I'm not getting there because I don't truly believe I can. But if that's true ... how do I make myself believe?

PRIVATE SESSION

Last night I showed up for the last session of bootcamp. I won't be able to attend the summer sessions, so that's it for a while. Anyhow, I showed up and .... I was the only one there! Normally there is about 10 people in this class. I know that 1 person had a previous committment, and 2 others had to switch to the later class - but as for the rest of them I have no idea.

I SOOOOO wanted the instructor to just call it quits. One word and I would have left. But, nope, she just trundled on with what she had planned. It was a bit awkward at first, but then it ended up being pretty good. This is the substitute instructor who I didn't like when I first met her. But we ended up having some really good conversations. She is a personal trainer, working mostly out of her home or at clients homes, and she sometimes does a bit of work with the city recreation programs.

My friend is working on becoming a personal trainer (and I have to admit the idea intrigues me, but not yet), so it was nice that she shared a bunch of info on that with me. We got talking diet planning and I tried to pry her for some suggestions as to why I'm not losing weight but she basically just offered sympathy ... oh well, can't blame her, she's not even close to being paid to help me with that. It did leave me wondering if I should try to save up some money and go talk to a dietician or something. Although I have no idea to who or where I would seek out someone.

DATE WITH DREAMLAND

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. No school for either of my kids, no work for me, no early morning committments. I'm really hoping to catch up on some of the sleep I have been missing. I shouldn't be complaining because I'm getting about 7-8 hours most nights, but I really find I do better on 8-10, at least for most days. I'm exhausted in the morning and yawn for hours so that's my indication that I could use some more sleep.

Gr. 7 Grad Pics

Tonight my daughter had her Grade 7 Grad Farewell. We went right after school and had her hair done up.

We looked around for dresses for her, but in the end she chose to wear a dress that I wore for my high school graduation. I didn't realize at the time that I was that skinny, though I'm guessing that she's going to be a fair bit taller than me (probably 2-4" taller). There was a bow on the back which she asked me to take off. Here is her tonight, and me from 1990.

Unfortunately I had my camera on the wrong setting and didn't notice until much later so my pictures turned out super bright. The color of the dress is more like the picture of her, emerald green.

I had wanted to wear a dress, but she begged me to wear this purple shirt that she loves, so I complied. Unfortunately there are no pics of me tonight as I was the one handling the camera.

We went to her school for dinner and a little ceremony. Then they stayed for a short dance. I took that time to go home and get in a quick little workout before we went back to pick her up.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - red river cereal, 1 boiled egg (4)
Lunch - 4 c. raw veggies, Cream of Broccoli Soup at Hand, 3 ham/pickle wraps (4)
Snack - 20 pretzels, 3/4 c. cereal, 1/2 c. milk (5)
Dinner - 1 thin sl. veg pizza, carrots, broccoli slaw (7)

Dessert - pineapple, 1" square blueberry cheesecake, 1" square chocolate brownie type dessert (7?) should have just stuck with the fruit

Total Points - 27

Exercise - 35 min fast running

I went to the doctor today and confirmed that I have a bladder infection. I have never had one before in my life and it's rather uncomfortable. So I'm on a course of antibiotics for the next 10 days. Apparently this can cause some water retention so maybe that's an explanation for my recent increase on the scale....

He recommended I also drink lots of cranberry juice, but at 150 cal per cup I think I will get the cranberry supplements because they are supposed to work just as well. I don't need the added sugar and calories.

The receptionist commented on my weight loss. It's been about a year since I saw her last and she said I was looking really good. :)

Tonight I met up with two girlfriends and we basically did a bootcamp style workout. We ran the track, ran stairs, did a variety of strength moves. Since my classes will be ending this week I'd like to continue doing this on my own throughout the summer.

Though, if I'm going to be working out on my own again I want to create a workout schedule so that I'm balancing out all my muscles. I've been very lax in this area lately and haven't been getting really well rounded workouts.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - 2 sl rye bread, 1 oz. cheese - grilled cheese sandwich (4)
Lunch - 4 c. raw veggies, grilled chicken wrap with Light Laughing Cow cheese wedge, Nectarine (5)
Snack - Plum, 1 c. cranberry juice (4)
Dinner - Weight Watchers Meatloaf (6)
Dessert - 1 iced oatmeal cookie (2)

Total Points - 21

Exercise - 90 min running & strength

I've been trying for a few days to make asian salad wraps, per Syl's instructions. But I've been to 3 stores already and they've all been sold out of the rice wraps. I'm going to try one more store and if I can't find it I guess I'll just make it as a salad in a bowl type thing instead. Frustrating.

Tomorrow is my daughter's Grade 7 Grad Farewell. They have a ceremony and a dinner, then we leave and they have a dance. I have NO idea what will be served for dinner. Though I saw someone bringing in a big container of salad dressing so hopefully there will be some salad and/or veggies. I'll just practice portion control and make the best choices I can.

Holy hormones, I know what the issue is now. I've got a massive, painful breakout on my chin and all those mid-monthly aches. GRRR! I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I let that control my eating the last couple of days.

As of this morning though ... no more! Last night I laid out my plan for today. This always seems to help when I have an idea of what I'm going to eat and when. I don't end up so lost feeling.

I also did a list of meal ideas and a few different scenarios of when/where to spend my points. I think I need to add a little more protein to my meals and I need to spread them out a little better. I feel completely satisfied on a serving of Red River Cereal for breakfast, which is only 2 pts. But sometimes I find I have so many points left near the end of the day and I'll end up just eating junk or just eating something to get the points in - which I don't think really is that beneficial for fueling my body.

Yesterday was another great run. Our little group has really split up in abilities and I spend 90+% of my time running with just one other lady. But it's always so nice when we start off all together and then meet up afterwards for coffee/tea. This one lady & I are trying to meet up on a few other days during the week as well. It's nice that we have similar goals and speed.

Today I'm taking a bit of a rest day. So far this month I've exercised 18/20 days, and alot of those have been pretty high intensity. Though my "off" day will still be very busy as my house has been very much neglected and, if the rain can hold off, my gardens & lawns could use TLC as well.

Water retention much???

Apparently I'm retaining water this week. For the last 4 mornings I've been up in weight by about a lb each almost every day. I think this is partially because the last 4 days I've had SUPER tough workouts. I can certainly feel every muscle in my body. Maybe some hormone thingy going on too??? Who knows. I'm also absolutely beat tired.


I guess this weeks weigh in will not be what I had hoped for :(. But, I did pop down under 150 for one day, even if it's far off now (boo boo). I'm going to try to be patient and let my body sort itself out.


Here's a chart of how the past week has gone:

Day - Weight - Pts - AP
Sat - 151.2 - 43 - 3
Sun - 151.0 - 30 - 1
Mon - 149.4 - 18 - 0
Tue - 152.0 - 18 - 6
Wed - 152.4 - 23 - 6
Thu - 152.8 - 24 - 6
Fri - 153.8 - 22 - 10

Gain - 2.6
Avg Pts -25
Avg AP - 4.6

I know logically I could not have gained 4 lbs since Monday morning. Hopefully it balances out.

On the plus side, I met up with some friends for a short run today. One of them I haven't seen for a couple weeks and her first comment to me was "you're looking skinny". So I guess whatever is going on with the scale isn't showing - phewf.

Eating today has not been pretty. My points are OK but it's been a bagel, some chocolate chip cookies, 2 chocolate brandy beans, edamame, some almonds & peans and a lowely peach. Not one vegetable. VERY odd day for me. At least I check the points in check, even if I do feel sick now - blech!

Weird couple of days here, I still have very little appetite and I'm not quite sure why. I'm not going to overly worry about it though because I'm sure it won't last. I ate dinner tonight before bootcamp not because I was hungry, but just because I knew I needed to fuel my workout. And now after class I'm not hungry again, but I'm drinking a hot chocolate as a refuel.



I had planned to ride my bike to/from class tonight but my friend came over to pick up her son and I haven't seen her for a few weeks and we yakked too long. Though it was probably a good thing because yesterday's bootcamp really kicked my butt (or I should say mostly my chest) and it may have been too much to add in the ride as well. Tonight's class was awesome too! I'm going to miss it over the summer. For tonight though, every muscle in my body is sore, good sore.



I'm a little sad tonight. Next week is the last bootcamp class before summer. There is a few shorter summer sessions but I will miss too many to make it worth signing up for. There is a lady in my Wed class that I've been taking sessions with since September. She is super nice and we get along. She came up to me after class to let me know that she has to miss next week and since I'm not taking the summer sessions I likely won't see her. Considering I don't have any friends that I go to fitness classes with, it was nice to have a familiar face to see. After I was driving away I had the thought that I should have given her my e-mail address and we could have met up for a run or something. Oh well, hopefully we both are in some classes in the fall again.



Tomorrow I'm riding my bike to/from work since I have no kids to drop off or pick up from school. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Sleepyhead

Things I've learned in the last few days:

* Packaged oatmeal isn't nearly as satisfying as my beloved Red River Cereal. In comparison it tastes mushy, it's way too sweet & it doesn't stick with you as long.

* Even if you eat under your points target, if you have salty processed foods you will show a weight gain the next day.

* Air popped popcorn with Becel Butter Spray is NOT a good pre workout fuel, even if it does satisfy a crunch craving. This is especially true when you're already feeling tired and it's muggy.

* I can do 20 big girl push-ups in a row, however it takes me a long time and they're not really full push-ups so I'm not quite ready to say goal accomplished.

* Trying to catch a loose horse who has gotten through the fence into a 20 acre hay field and a 10 acre newly planted blueberry field when you're just about ready to go to sleep is not fun.

* You know you're exceptionally tired when you drive 2Km's past your son's school on the way to drop him off there. Makes you understand how people can accidentally forget their babies in a hot car - scary.

* You can find interesting things in your kids closets.

* I really don't notice when I'm driving on a complete flat (for like 20Km on the freeway). But it does make you paranoid that you'll do it again which lead me to checking the tires on my other car and realizing they were rather low, one probably dangerously so.

Here's today's menu:

Breakfast - Red River Cereal (2)
Lunch - La Tortilla Factory Small Wrap with green leaf lettuce, 1 tsp light ranch dressing, hot sauce and 1 oz. southwestern chicken breast, Sliced Cucumber, Hard Boiled Egg (5)
Snacks - 6 small pieces honey garlic pork (4?)
Dinner - Veggie Burger, Wonder+ thin burger bun, 1 oz. jalapeno jack cheese (6)

Post-Workout - Hot chocolate made with 1 c. milk (4) - I haven't had this yet as I have zero hunger right now at 8:00PM

Total Points - 21

Exercise - Bootcamp class

Stuffed

This weekend I let things slide a bit and definitely had my points on the high end. Not outrageous, just higher than usual.

Today though was right back on track and even though I've had less points today than the last two days, I'm sitting here at 9PM still stuffed from my small dinner at 7. It's rather strange. I've been finding that it doesn't take very much food to fill me up for the last little while.

Here's today's menu:

Breakfast - Red River Cereal (2)
Lunch - 4 c. raw veggies, President's Choice Canneloni (4)
Snack - All Bran Oatmeal Bar, 1 c. grapes, 1 slice watermelon, 4 strawberries (4)
Dinner - 3/4 c. pasta with 1/4 c. alfredo sauce, 3 oz. chicken breast, 1 mini carrot (I couldn't eat anymore) - (8)

Total Points - 18 and I'm stuffed

Exercise - Nothing, had alot to do today and am really tired

I've been noticing something different with me lately. For years my husband has always said that whenever he exercises, as soon as he stops he sweats heavily. Recently my son said he has the same thing. I've never had this. I do sweat during exercise, but it's pretty steady and not usually much. That is until now. Just in the last couple weeks I notice I've been having the same reaction. As long as I'm exercising I sweat a bit but not much, and the moment I stop it just goes crazy. I mentioned this to my friend and she said it's because my metabolism is faster. Any thoughts on this??? That sure would be nice if that was the case.

Jun 13 weigh in - 0.4 loss

Down 0.4 for this week. Would have loved a bit more, but at least it's still going down. I worked out pretty hard and lots this week (every day) and my eating was 100% so I'm just going to assume my body is adjusting or something. Not going to worry about it. This week is a "recovery week" for my half marathon training pogram which maybe my body needs.

Ran 13Km with my friend yesterday. She hadn't run distance in a few weeks and was dying to get out. She said it was pretty tough but she was glad that we went together so she didn't stop. I really enjoyed the running and I'm finding it easier to do these longer distances. My head just goes into a zone and I don't really think about the running. Of course it's nice when you run with a friend so you have someone to talk to and to pass the time.

Today I went shopping. Was just going to drop off my daughter, but then decided to shop on my own for a bit. Only ended up buying one dress & a bra, but tried on lots of stuff. It doesn't seem to matter what size you are, the stores will be out of that size in the item you like. A few NSV's, some 8s were fitting well, though not in anything I wanted, and I even managed to squeeze into a pair of Size 6 capris that someone had left behind in the change room. For kicks I decided to see how far I could get them up. I couldn't have walked in them, and barely could breath, but I could do up the buttons & zipper.

Here's the dress I bought...

(hmmm, didn't really realize my hair was THAT short in the back, heehee)

Tonight I'm meeting up with a couple of ladies that I went all through school with (since Grade 1) and I haven't seen one of them for probably 16 or 17 years! Will probably indulge in a few appy's but that's part of life and this is one of those occassions I'm willing to spend a few extra points.

Loving the Compliments

Thanks everyone for your comments yesterday. I know I'm doing what's right and that in the end this is best. Nice to know others are right there with me. :)

Yesterday my MILs friend was over and I think she complimented me about 3 or 4 times. She kept saying "Heidi, you are looking REALLY good". It was awesome!! (insert big huge happy grin) I think it felt extra good because I haven't really dropped much on the scale since I last saw her, but I do feel more toned and I guess it's showing.

Then today I got a call from one of my running friends. I haven't been able to run with them for a few weeks now (though I've still been running on my own). I'm not going to be able to run with them this weekend either. So she called to see if I would go for a run with her tomorrow. She said she called me because she wanted someone that could run as fast and as long as her. Sure was nice to hear that!

The last couple of days I've actually had a bit of a hard time eating enough points. Not because I'm not hungry (though I'm not starving at all), but just I'm not interested in anything. Everything seems boring and I don't want to just eat whatever just so that I'm eating. Guess it's time to break out some new or old recipes and jive up the tastebuds. For today though I'm too lazy :)

Scale Envy

The last couple of days I've been reflecting on the subject of scale envy. You know that silly little feeling you get when you hear of other people who have these big losses and you wonder why it can't be you. It's like if you & a good friend apply for a job, you both have the same skills and experience and your friend gets it ... part of you is ecstatic for them, but the other part leaves you wondering why not me.


I'm really happy with my losses lately - really, truly, happy. But when I've worked my butt off and I see people have losses of 3-7 lbs in a week and I can only dream of those it just leaves you wishing for it. I know there are all kinds of reasons behind these big losses, and I shouldn't compare myself. And really I don't think I do, I'm just venting a little and being a whiny baby. I'm just impatient and I want to be there NOW!


Then there are some people I know who just started following the South Beach Diet. They have each lost between 7-12 lbs in the last 2 weeks. It's just hard not to be envious. Especially since one of them is quite a bit trimmer than I am and she lost 7 lbs without even being totally strict. They're also 10 yrs younger and sadly that does make a difference. We all post together on a forum and I guess I'm feeling a little left out without having the big losses to celebrate along side them.


Anyhow, off with the negative and on with the positive. I'm feeling pretty good today. I actually feel slimmer and I can tell the capris I'm wearing today are looser than they were a few weeks ago. A few weeks back I had bought some shorts that I could barely get done up. They're still tight, but they do up easier now. My goal is to be able to wear those comfortably when we go to Oregon next month. They're perfect beach combing shorts. I've got 1 month to go!!!!


Bootcamp last night was awesome. I'm getting so much fitter! We did a ton of running stairs and I feel so much stronger with push-ups. I think it's time I challenge my GOAL for push-ups. I think I'm pretty close. Actually I think I'm going to have to set some new goals pretty soon as I'm going to accomplish them all pretty soon - woohoo! We did planks last night and it was supposed to be 2 sets of 1 minute each. I started my plank when she was still demonstrating it to the rest of the class and held it right through both sets - so probably about 3 - 3 1/2 minutes total.


Tonight I have bootcamp again, but with the tougher substitute instructor. This one does not believe in any breaks or stretching during class - she's go, go, go! It's pretty muggy so we'll be sweating buckets.

My menu in pictures

The other night my family was scattered all over so we each had something different for dinner. I had a craving for hamburgers so had bought some Yves veggie burgers to give a try. I haven't had them for years and thought it was worth a shot since regular hamburgers are really not worth the points. At only 2 pts per patty though, that is amazing!



I paired the patty with a wonderful product I found in the discount bin at Superstore - Wonder Bread Thin Burger Buns - 120 cal each with 3 or 4 g fibre. They were awesome and only 2 pts. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell they aren't being made anymore so I will have to settle with President's Choice Burger First when I run out. The PC one's are 3 pts each and if they taste the same then they WILL find their way into my basket again.



This burger was SO good. I'm not a fan of meat alternative products. I like my meat. But seriously, how can you pass up a burger that tastes at least as good as a regular burger (if not better) for total 4 pts? Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmmmmm!!!!! Bonus, no one else in the family will touch them.



Breakfast yesterday morning was a lovely farm fresh boiled egg, a whole tomato and some veggies that didn't fit into my lunch container. I despise store bought eggs. These eggs are from my ILs friends, from chickens who eat vegetable scraps and you can not beat the flavour.




Lunch was my big container of mixed vegetables (I swear I could easily eat twice this amount - this is 3 large stalks celery, 1 whole large red pepper, 1/3 long english cucumber and a few baby carrots), 1/2 c. yoghurt and a turkey sandwich on Weight Watcher's Whole Wheat Bread. I don't often buy this bread, but it was on a super sale at my local Co-op store, so I got a few loaves. At 1 pt for 2 slices you can't really go wrong. My son took one look at my breakfast & lunch and asked if I was trying to turn into a rabbit!!! HAHAHAHA. He is a self proclaimed meat-atarian and is anti-vegetables.




Afternoon snack consisted of 1 oz. Jalapeno Jack Cheese and a hard boiled egg






Dinner was a tilapia fillet (I love this fish!) topped with a drizzle of olive oil, cornflake crumbs, cayenne, pepper & lemon juice. Served with a salad that included 1/4 c. kidney beans and a balsamic olive oil dressing. A just a few low fat french fries (too hard to resist).


I even had room for a little dessert. I love myself a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich, but I found Breyers 100 calorie Ice Cream Sandwich on sale the other day and decided to give them a whirl. They are a bit smaller (90mL compared to 113mL) but also 2 pts compared to 3, so a little savings. It was good. I probably still prefer the Skinny Cow, but if the Breyers was on sale again I'd buy them.



We finished off the night with my husband having to go see a client out in Richmond. So my daughter came along and we went for a nice walk along the Steveston boardwalk (forgot my camera which was a shame as it was pretty - check on the link). They shared a mango yoghurt smoothie from Blendz Coffee and then they each had a Gelato ice cream on a waffle cone. I passed on both those items and didn't feel I was missing out. What a great feeling!


Total - 21 points

Exercise - 30 min walk

Busy weekend, lesson learned, job offer and lowest weigh in

I have been busy, busy, busy this weekend. Friday ended up being a bit frustrating as I had to take in our passport applications and be back in time to take my son to the ortho. On the way out there traffic was insane and I almost didn't make it back in time. This messed up my lunch/afternoon snack plans but I'm proud to say I still kept completely on track and didn't let it derail me.

Saturday morning I decided to ride my bike into town for a Weight Watchers meeting - it's about 10 Km each way. When I was just about there I heard a funny pop sound and thought I saw something fly out from under my wheel. But everything felt fine so I kept riding. When I pulled into the parking lot I felt a weird bumpity, bump and ... well you can already guess - it was my tire that popped. A big honking nail!! GRRRRR.

Normally I take various forms of money (cash, debit/credit cards) and on this day I had NOTHING. Stupid!!!! I also had absolutely no tools of any sort. So here I am 10Km from home, no family members are available to come get me, no money to pay a bike shop to fix it, and no tools to fix it myself. Never go out unprepared anything can and will happen.

I phoned my husband to get his credit card number, but he had to come into town to get supplies so I told him to come get me. I walked from the meeting to the other side of town (a few more Kms) and met up with him. Then we made a trip to Walmart and I stocked up on everything I need should this happen again. I got 2 small bags, all the tools, spare tubes, a big bag for longer trips, and a nifty little speedometer thingy (that was just a bonus).

When we got home I had him talk me through how to fix the tire myself. And .. after he left again, I taught myself how to do some minor tune ups. (so proud!)

Since I was now all fixed up, I decided to do another bike ride. I rode down to the area where we do our Sunday runs, then I rode the path we run so I could calculate the exact distance, then rode home.

In total I rode just over 50 Km on Saturday! Plus a 25 min walk across town. Talk about racking up the APs! I'm just loving being out on my bike again and I want to ride everywhere.

Back it up to the Weight Watchers meeting that morning .... the leader approached me after the meeting and suggested I become a team leader. I was surprised. But, it's not something I can see myself doing. And also I don't think I'm the right person. To me if you're going to be a team leader you should agree 100% with the program and I just don't think I'm the model of WW's. In my opinion, to be a leader you should absolutely practice what you preach - and I don't. Besides, if I were going to take a side job I'd much rather be a fitness leader.

This morning my husband and I were both bagged, but eventually we headed out and ran 12Km on our favourite trail. About half way through I could really feel it in my legs & butt - but I made it through.

Tomorrow will definitely be a lower activity day - maybe some upper body weights or a casual walk. My legs need some rest.

Saturday also marked a pretty big day for me. While I haven't yet broken the 150 lb mark ... I did weigh in at the lowest I've been on my progress chart. This is pretty big for me. I'm pretty sure that's the lowest I have weighed since early 2003 - 6 years! In 2001 I lost 30 lbs in less than 6 months, then spent the next year and a half putting it back on, follwed by another almost 15! My whole attitude about weight loss is completely different now than it was in 2001. I can absolutely taste the 140s and I know I'll be there very soon.

Didn't get around to posting yesterday. Was a bit of an odd day that I never really settled into. Ate a few extra things that I know from past experience are my downfalls (swedish berries and fresh yummy bread). I almost didn't track everything, but in the end decided to and it really wasn't all that bad. I had 26 points and my target is 21 - so really not that horrible.

I skipped on exercise too. My son had his 2nd set of soccer tryouts last night so I was going to run while he was there. But when I got there my friends were there and I haven't seen them in quite a while and have really missed hanging out with them. So while I felt slightly guilty that I was missing my workout, I also know the importance of good friends and keeping in contact so I felt this was the choice I wanted to make.

I'm so excited for Saturday when I'll post my weigh in. I weigh myself daily so I already have an idea and if everything stays on course then it is a fairly exciting day.

Tonight we need to get our passport photos done, my daughter has a special event at dance class, and I absolutely must squeeze in a run. I've been researching various half marathons and I've narrowed it down to a few possiblities for late summer/early fall.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - Red River Cereal (2)
Snack - Pear (1)
Lunch- 4 c. Raw Veggies, Spicy Chicken Wrap on a Small La Tortilla Wrap, Mandarin orange (4)
Snack - Fibre One Oats & Peanut Butter Chewy Bar, 1/2 c. yoghurt (4)
Dinner - Tilapia fillet with cornflake topping, Salad with spicy cilantro ranch dressing ** and 1/2 c. kidney beans (10)

Total - 21 points

Exercise - 45 min running

** Spicy Cilantro Ranch Dressing - I'm going to try mixing bottled ranch dressing with Louisiana Hot Sauce with Lime & a good handful of finely chopped cilantro - maybe some cumin too. I just love those flavours! Never made this before but the idea appeals to me.

Here's a couple pics I took today that I wanted to share....

This is outside my front door. I was relaxing (suntanning) for a bit before dinner and it hit me how lucky I am to live on such a pretty property. When the water lillies come out in a few weeks it is just gorgeous - all white & bright pink.

Here is what I had for supper. My plate was so full and I couldn't finish it all. This was 9 points, maybe even 8, but alot of food. I had about 2/3 of it then finished off the rest after my workout.

And just to show Syl that I too look like a duffus in a bike helmet - hahahahhaaaaaa. I absolutely HATE wearing a helmet. Ideally I'd wear it for safety but the reasons I wear it is it's hard to nag the kids to wear theirs if I don't wear one, but after years of not wearing one because I didn't want to mess up my hair ... I've found that it gets alot less messy when I do wear one. I'm vain, what can I say! I'd much rather ride without it as I love the feeling of the wind whipping my hair.

The bike ride to bootcamp was pretty tough. I went out to get my bike and realized they were still cinched up on the truck from our weekend trip - ack!! By the time I got them off I had 15 minutes to get to class. I had to ride so fast, it was hot, and I could feel the sweat dripping down my legs - but I couldn't slow down. Then class was super hard as we did alot of run stairs. I'm sure my face was beet red and I know I was sweating like crazy. The ride home I took a little more leisurely, especially since I was feeling a little bit lightheaded. But it was nice to get that extra boost of exercise. I love biking for that.

It's getting hot in here ... and what works for me

Man it feels great to be back on the losing train again. I've diddled around for so long and right now I feel like it's just clicked for me. I don't feel like I'm struggling, I don't feel deprived, I don't feel desperate. I just feel great and I don't want to stop!

The things I feel that are helping me are:

* Setting a goal with a timeline (to be under 150 by Jul 9th). Normally I don't like these types of goals, because it implies an end, but somehow this just seemed to be what I needed to get going again and keep me focused. I'm not feeling at all that that date will be 'the end' but rather just a checkmark.

* Tracking everything! Even if it's not pretty.

* Preplanning. Almost every night (or early morning) I write out a plan for the next day. It really helps on work days because when I wake up I already know what to pack. I've tried planning an entire week, but my tastes change or someone ends up eating the food I had planned for a certain day and too many things come up. I still make changes sometimes, but having a plan makes such a HUGE difference.

* Being honest here (and maybe not popular) but I've stopped worrying about filling every category according to Weight Watchers Healthy Guidelines. While I do very much agree with them, I find it very hard to stick to them. I know I don't get as much dairy & healthy oil servings as I should and those are my downfall. I still have them, just not as often as I should. I was just finding it kind of stressful to get them all in within my points allowance and ended up feeling like a failure when I didn't, or eating too many points to try to get them in.

* Having an afternoon snack. Trying to get from noon to 6:00(ish) without having something just doesn't work, and by most research isn't healthy. Now I plan for it, have a slightly smaller lunch, and have something light in the afternoon around 3:30-4:00. If I have exercise planned for the early evening (6:00) then I eat more at my snack time and have a lighter dinner afterwards.

Tonight I have bootcamp. It's going to be killer as it's super hot here today 28-30° C. That's pretty smokin' for us, but I love it. So what do I plan to do .... I'm going to add more exercise and ride my bike to/from class. It's just over 9 Km each way, though I may take a 10Km route instead.

Today's menu:

Breakfast - Red River Cereal (2)
Lunch- 4 c. Raw Veggies, hummus, 1 hard boiled egg, 1/2 c. yoghurt (6)
Snack - 1/2 c. 2% cottage cheese, 4 wheat thins, hummus (4)
Dinner - 1 c. beef tortellini, 1/4 c. alfredo sauce with added spice, broccoli & red peppers (9)

Total - 21 points

Exercise - 60 min bootcamp, 60 min cycling

Had a wonderful weekend away. Went up to the Okanagan to visit some family for a few days. Unfortunately we lost half a day on the first day as there was a major accident that shut down the main highway and we go stuck in the very slow detour.


Did two runs about 10K each. The first one was along a quite little trail beside a stream, then we crossed the highway and went up a long, fairly steep hill where there was a gorgeous lookout. This isn't an actual picture of where we were (I forgot the battery for my camera - duh!) but it is very nearby and pretty much the view.






At the top was a nice little garden centre that I want to go back to and explore thoroughly, and I also got to see one of the trestles from the Kettle Valley Railway Trails (Features: This 76 m trestle, the third highest steel girder bridge of its type in North America, features a spectacular view of the Trout Creek Canyon, as well as mountainous orchards and vineyards).


The next day I did another run, this time by myself, down a wonderfully quiet, relaxing country road past some small orchards, small farms, a lake and a golf course. Normally it would have been a very pleasant run except about half way out I became aware that I needed a bathroom, and soon, yet there wasn't anything even remotely available nearby. The return run was rather unpleasant due to that. Unfortunate because I would have liked to have run further.


I had some challenges with appy night, but I absolutely conquered them and was very choosey about what was worth enjoying and what was better left alone. For example, chicken wings, homemade is hit and miss at the best of times, and there are so fatty and high in calories - so those I passed on. The hummus (store bought as I ran out of time) & spinach dip I deemed worthy - the first one because it's healthy and the 2nd because I love it and rarely have it. But I still watched my portions. I was quite pleased with myself.


I'm not going to post this weekends menus (mostly because I'm lazy - haha), but here's what is on today's plan:


Breakfast - Red River Cereal (2) (Mom I'll have to send you some)
Lunch - Raw veggies, homemade hummus, Spicy Lentil Soup (6)
Snack - 1 boiled egg, Crunch N Munch (6)
Dinner - Ham, Small La Tortilla Wrap, Almond Butter, Jam (6)


Exercise - 60 minute walk


Points - 20


This morning as I was packing lunch (and my fridge is near empty), I really wanted hummus - but had none made. So I whipped out the food processor and in less than 5 minutes I had it put together (which I just finished devouring and it is delicious!).