OMG, did we eat a lot last night or what?! Geeeze. First off, I had a glass of wine because my dinner companions were late and I needed to have a drink in my hand so as to not feel obvious just sitting there by myself for almost half an hour. Then they arrived and I ordered a second glass when they ordered their drinks. We decided on sharing a mezza (tapas) platter plus a few extra dishes. It was a lot of food. Most of it healthy (I love fatouche salad!) but of course fairly carb heavy with the pitas and chickpeas and fava beans, etc. This place makes the best freaking hummus though....I dipped almost everything in it. The desserts are to die for too...so we opted to order two between the three of us....I had two bites of the world's moistest carrot cake and about 1/4 of the hugeass piece of chocolate layer cake. I'm still full. We didn't make it to the movie, but I still want to see it.Today I'm trying to get work done this morning because I have to take my car in for it's mandatory inspection this afternoon. Stupid Nova Scotia sticker needed on the window. I need to figure out how I can push the annual renewal to April so I can just get it done with my usual oil change and winter tire removal, instead of having a special trip for February. It's just such a time sucker going there....things that are scheduled for an hour always end up taking way longer.Anyway, I'll probably kill that time with some magazines and tea at Timmy's. The goal for today will be to avoid the Tim's cookies. It's so hard!!No big plans tonight and I'm fine with that. Maybe I'll actually get a workout in...lord knows I need to loosen up after all that shoveling and ice smashing yesterday. My body is not impressed with me right now. I'm already looking forward to warm yoga on Sunday! Girls, we are going right??Haven't put much thought into today's menu....so here it is on the fly...- coffeeeeeeeeee - water (I'm extra thirsty after all that food last night)- Organic Daybreak cereal with unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze- grapes- tea and I'll bring my own Fibre Source granola bar- late lunch of celery, baby carrots, crackers & hummus- leftover shrimp & scallop cake served with sauteed red chard and easy homemade tartar sauce- Source ff lemon yogurt with fresh blackberries- maybe more grapes or something if still snacky(approx 22 points....if I do get to work out I'll add in another protein filled snack)
Man. I think I'd rather have the 4 feet of snow back. I know...bite my tongue! But Jesus. Last night we did get the predicted snow on top of all the ice we already had...then it rained all night on top of the snow, then froze. Yippee. Wouldn't be so bad, but the plow managed to go by a couple of times before it rained so the usual heap of snow in the mouth of driveway was hard and heavy. Had to smash it all repeatedly with the shovel before I could scrape it up. Annoying and heavy. I managed to make a path just wide enough to fit the car through. I'll have to keep working on trying to make it wider...argh.Anywho. I'm here to admit that I'm a slacker. I didn't do any of the exercise options I had laid out yesterday. Basically I made dinner, laid down on the couch, got up to make brownies, laid down on the couch, got up to get some more brownies, and laid on the couch. I suck. Oh well. Did you know that Betty Crocker low-fat brownies are only 2 points even when made with the egg? Nice. Of course, I ate like 5. Then felt shitty. So I saved only the edge pieces that I love and hucked the rest in the garbage. What a waste.Tonight I'm meeting a couple of girlfriends for dinner and a movie...so no activity time. At least I've shoveled the driveway today. And my eating has been good so far....hopefully it stays that way. Dinner is at this great Mediterranean place Mezza. We've eaten there once before and it was excellent. We'll probably order a platter to share....seems like the thing to do. :) Afterwards we are going to see Slumdog Millionaire.Today's menu:- coffee with brown sugar & skim- other 1/2 of big pink grapefruit- quesadilla made with small ww tortilla, 1 oz finely shredded mozza, tomatoes, sprinkle of Ready-Crisp bacon, green onions and fresh basil...served with Pete's salsa (so disappointing) and light sour cream- 1 brownie- 2 fresh Medjool dates- toast with almond butter & honey- dinner out!
I've gotten so lazy about putting in actual links when I'm posting lately. I always have the best intentions of going back and adding the hyperlink to you lovely ladies or even back to my own posts, but inevitably I just hit publish and never come back to fix things up. Since I've been learning about SEO randomly at work, you would think I'd see the value of link exchanging and building. I need to quit being so damn lazy! I suppose that should be one of my non-health related goals. The snow didn't arrive last night but listening to the forecast today I don't think we will be so lucky tonight. We are apparently in for blowing snow, then some icy rain and snow, and some sort of freezing situation. Oh the joy. Blech. Hopefully it holds off long enough for me to hit the gym...I am actually thinking about heading downtown to the fancy new location and checking out a yoga class. I'm really stiff the last couple of days and am really feeling the yoga vibe. If that doesn't work out, then I'll just be off to my regular location for a repeat of Monday's fab cardio workout. And double if...if, if it does snow then I guess Jillian and I will be Shredding once again.Lots of contigencies.Today's menu:- OJ- coffee with brown sugar & skim- 1/2 giant pink grapefruit (so tart and sweet!)- oats with unsweetened Almond Breeze, sprinkle coconut, 1/2 banana cooked in, 1 chopped fresh Medjool date & spoonful of almond butter- leftover steamed veggies, small scoop rice, 2 oz grilled chicken breast (I grilled up a couple last night for a recipe I plan to make for the weekend)- Garden of Eatin multigrain tortillas with Pete's salsa- grilled shrimp & scallop cake from Pete's w/ sauteed swiss red chard & easy homemade tartar sauce- Source ff lemon yogurt with fresh blackberries(approx 26 points)
I made this with a pack of seafood chowder mix from the fresh fish department, but the recipe could be used for any kind of chowder you like. I'm thinking chicken corn chowder for FH when he gets home.I totally winged it on this, using just common sense...totally worked!Chowder Recipe- 1 tbsp oil- 1 tbsp butter- 1/2 cup diced onion- 1/2 cup diced carrot- 1/2 cup diced celery- 2 cloves crushed garlic- 2 tbsp corn starch- 1 cup skim milk- 1 - 1.5 cups chicken stock- 1 cup baby potatoes, quartered & parboiled- 1 cup frozen corn- fresh seafood mix (mine consisted of haddock, salmon & shrimp....use as much or as little as you like...my pack was about 200 grams)- fresh dillHeat the oil and butter together in a large non-stick soup pot over med-high heat. Saute onions, carrots, celery until onions sweat down. Add garlic and sweat another minute. Add corn starch, stir and let cook about 30-45 seconds just to take the pasty taste out...keep stirring while gradually adding milk. I like to add a big splash to start just to get the paste going, then gradually add the rest. Let bubble for a few minutes to thicken, stirring consistently. Add 1 cup chicken stock, corn and the seafood mix. Season with salt and pepper at this point, then stir and reduce heat to simmer. By now your spuds should be partially cooked and you can add them too. Let simmer until fish is cooked. At this point, you can decide whether to add more liquid or not. I added about another 1/2 cup of chicken stock, then topped that up with 1/2 cup potato water. Regular water would have been fine too. Taste to check seasoning and adjust if needed.Simmer until desired consistency. Add fresh dill, stir, and serve.I got 4 x 2.5 cup servings. Yum-a-licious!
Three posts in one day. Oh my! It occurs to me that I blathered on about groceries and my new doctor but failed to give my usual daily update. So here you have it.Yesterday was extremely productive. Not only did I finally get back to my chiro (it's been two months!) and finally hit up the good grocery store, but I also got to the gym for a fan-freaking-tastic cardio session and I amazed even myself with a yummy off-the-cuff homemade chowder.Due to my earlier errands, my work day ran long...but I was smart enough to eat a decent sized late lunch so I wouldn't run out of steam for the gym or have to eat dinner before I could go. Instead, I set about making the chowder while finishing up work for the day so it would be ready to chow down when I got home. I set myself a goal of being at the gym for 7:00pm and low and behold wouldn't you know what time I hopped on the first machine....7:00pm!I was concerned when I got there because the place was PACKED. Mondays in January...doesn't seem to matter what time you go, it's nuts. Again though, I lucked out...when I came out of the change room there was one good elliptical that had just become vacant...perfect, just what I wanted! I hopped on and did a nice 5 minute warm-up, then pushed myself to really get the heart going for 15 minutes on the cross-country setting (basically it's difficulty intervals)...and I finally found the best ramp height for me to work my preferred areas (tush and calves)....finished up with a backwards moderate cooldown. When I finished there the place had cleared out a little so I had no problem getting a treadmill, where I planned to work on running intervals again. I started with a quick paced 2 minute walk and then went straight into running. I had planned to do 2:1, but when I got to 2 minutes I felt fine and kept going ... to 5 minutes!! I know to some of you that's nothing, but that's the best I've done in almost a year. So excited! So, I kept going on the intervals, running 2-3 minutes broken up with 1-2 minute walks....for 20 minutes. Ended with a 5 minute cooldown. I felt exhausted and great. I wanted to do 10 minutes on the stair climber but all three were taken, so instead I did 3 sets of different crunches and called it a day.Came home to a long, hot shower and a big bowl of my seafood chowder and some toast. Yummmm! I had originally planned to do the Shred too, but I'm learning really fast that Shredding and gym on the same days is just too much. Alternating it is! So tonight will be the Shred. We are supposedly getting snow tonight anyway, so this is a good reason not to go to the gym. :)Today's eats are a little buggered up due to a late start and that doctor's appointment that sucked up most of my mid-day. I think I've worked it out though...- Fibre Source granola bar in car- large coffee with raw sugar and 10% cream from Second Cup (this was an NSV...I was fricking starving when I finally got out of the dr's office at 12:45...and I walked straight through the middle of the food court at Pete's)- leftover dill potato salad (1/2 small container)- Garden of Eatin multigrain tortilla chips (1/2 serving...12 chips) with Pete's garlic salsa & 1 tbsp light sour cream- 2 fresh Medjool dates- Ya-ya pear with 1 tbsp almond butter- seafood chowder with toasted tomato sammich- ff Activia lemon yogurt with fresh blackberries & sprinkle of cereal- 99 cal bag of Walker's baked chips(approx 24 points)
Yesterday while out for my chiro appointment I decided to finally hit up Pete's Frootique. People have been telling me all about this place since we moved here a year ago, but inevitably every time I am near one I don't have the time to pop in or I don't need groceries. Well, technically I still didn't NEED groceries but it just seemed like a good idea at the time. :)What a nice place for a change! They are a little more expensive on some items, but most things looked to be of a better than average quality. All of their produce was just lovely! Which is a nice change from the disaster zone I usually encounter at SuperStore. Some of you may remember my huge whine session when we moved here and I discovered there are only two choices for supermarkets and I didn't like either one. Of course, I've gotten over that for the most part but I still get annoyed with the sometimes shitty selection of fresh produce and quality meats.Going to show what a nice display can do for business...I walked out with almost $50 worth of stuff and I really only went in for a look. I got:- green beans- green cabbage (inspired some sort of cabbage roll casserole!)- red Swiss chard (gorgeous, inspired by Angie!)- shallots- lemon- field tomatoes (best looking tomatoes I've seen in months)- cremini mushrooms- a massive pink grapefruit (I wish you could smell through the internet)- a ya-ya pear (sort of a cross between an apple and an Asian pear)- fresh basil, fresh dill, fresh rosemary (I will NEVER buy fresh herbs from anywhere else!)I also picked up:- store-made shrimp and scallop cakes- lean Italian turkey sausages (for the cabbage roll idea)- a variety bag of Walker's baked potato chips (they have an entire section of English goods)- store-made garlic salsa (this is my only disappointment, it was really expensive and only tastes so-so)And because it was lunchtime:- fantastic dilled potato salad- a risotto ball (sooooo yummy!)They had the most fantastic cheese counter I've encountered outside of a specialty shop. Amazing. I had to tear myself away but am now planning some sort of wine n cheese party in my head so I can go back and raid the place. Certainly not a place to do my day-to-day shopping but when I'm in the area I'll definitely be popping in again.
I finally found a local doctor! Thanks Farm Girl for letting me know about this great lady that accepted new patients. Only took me a year...So I had a laundry list of things to talk to her about at this first visit and now have to go back twice, plus hit up two other clinics this week. Yikes. Glad I didn't wait much longer!- PAP scheduled...after the whole HPV situation last year, I need to get this done ASAP.- blood work requested....I have to hit up a separate clinic for that on my own time...I requested the works to make sure my iron, etc are all up to par...been lightheaded a lot lately- plantars wart to be removed...ewwwww I know....but they offer a special clinic twice a month so I can go in and get the little bugger frozen off- asked about the Hep Twinrex vaccine....she said it's a good precaution but I could tell she didn't think it's that big of a deal...her opinion is that we are just as likely to contract Hep here as we would be on vacation....I got the prescription though so I might as well do it- and the biggie....she gave me an x-ray request so I can have that done any time I like and she put in a referral to a sports medicine doctor downtown for me to have my shoulder/arm pain thingy checked out.....soooooo excited about this!!Downside is all of the time away from my desk this takes. There was a huge wait today....like over an hour! (which they claim is highly unusual...we shall see). So now I have a whackload of work to catch up on....and will have to take a few more hours for the bloodwork and xrays this week. Good thing FH is away so I don't mind working in the evenings if need be. It will be nice to get this stuff all caught up and sorted out!
I always mean to take my vitamins but I have to admit that they always fall to the sidelines and I think it really has to do with my disinterest in standing at the bathroom sink with a handfull of oversized pills every day. The only one I ever take with any regularity is Vitamin C because it's chewable and tastes like tropical punch. I should also be taking a multivitamin and a calcium supplement because I don't usually get enough calcium from my day-to-day dairy/veggie intake. I once bought those chocolate flavored chewable calcium squares, which did the trick, but they are like 3-4 times the price of just buying the pills so I tried to switch back. Didn't work. Recently I saw an ad in a magazine for chewable gummy multivitamins for adults and was really excited until I noticed the ad stating they were only available at Target. Boooooo. However, while wandering the aisles at Costco the other night I found them. VitaFusion MultiVites. For about $12 I got a bottle of 200, so that is just over a 3 month supply....about on par pricewise with most any good multivitamin.Now if only I could find a reasonably priced calcium alternative! Yesterday I hit up the warm yoga class at Breathing Spaces with Angie and Farm Girl again. I loved it even more than last time...so invigorating and relaxing all at the same time. We all got 10-class passes so I'm looking forward to going again and also trying out another type of class. So fun!Today I plan to hit the gym for one hour of cardio, then come home and do the Shred.I remembered to weigh in this morning (forgot last week)....I am down 1.6 from two weeks ago but that just puts me back to where I was at the start of the month so I'm still working on another 2-4 pounds. I'm guessing the pack of peanut butter cups I ate last night probably isn't helping! Aside from that and a few drinks on Friday I have been really good this last week though so I'm planning to keep it up!Today's menu...- 1 cup coffee- Organic Daybreak cereal with unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze- 2 x fresh Medjool dates- 1/2 banana- quesadilla made with small ww tortilla, 1 oz skim mozza, sprinkle fresh parm, bacon bits, green onions, tomato...with salsa & light sour cream- baby carrots & celery stix with hummus- homemade seafood chowder with toast- ff vanilla Activia yogurt with blackberries(approx 24 points)
While running errands last night I decided to stop by Costco since I have a gift card left from Christmas. I was hoping for maybe a new electric kettle or some living room lamps, but of course ended up wandering through the groceries and books for the most part. I was determined not to spend the GC on food, but ended up finding a couple of things I normally wouldn't pick up so decided that it was just the way it was going to be. :)First thing I found was a huge-ass bag of cereal. Organic Daybreak by Nutritious Living. This particular product doesn't seem to be on their website, so I'll quote the bag for you...."Delightful fusion of organic grains and honey.... High Fibre, Low Fat, Low Sodium.Wake up and enjoy the wonderful taste of slightly sweetened organic grains. Our crunchy blend of honey-coated puffed whole grains, crispy rice, rolled oats and fibre sticks provides nourishment and a source of energy to help start your day."Per 1 cup serving (40g) - 130 calories - 1.5g fat - 0 cholesterol - 80g sodium - 31g carbs - 7g fibre - 10g sugar - 3g proteinIt is a 1kg bag for about $8, which is considerably better than the price of Kashi Crunch lately so I thought I'd give it a go. I'll be hard pressed to find anything I like better than Kashi Crunch but because of the price I haven't been buying it lately. I had a bowl of this when I got up late this morning...with 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze and it was very tasty. Light and fluffy but still a bit of crunch and a nice sweetness. Not sure about the holding power just yet, but so far so good. I'm looking forward to having it a few times during the week.
First, let me say that I already did my Shred for the day! Yaaieeeee! Two days down...a hundred and twenty seven million to go..... :)Second, my shoulder/arm pain thing is back with a vengeance. It never went away but it got a lot better and I think I just got used to always having pain in my arm. The massage therapy felt good but never helped the issue so I stopped going...mainly due to the cost. I spent over $1000 between chiro and massage since August and I'm still basically in the same place I was before. I do finally have a new doctor though so I'll mention all of this when I meet her on Tuesday (thanks Farm Girl for hooking me up!).Third, I was supposed to hit up the Optimyz Health Expo with Angie and Farm Girl today but our schedules were having trouble meeting in the middle so we are going to try to do it tomorrow instead....then hopefully hit up another "warm" yoga class at Breathing Spaces. I'm excited cuz I missed out on their drippy hot yoga adventure at Moksha last week.Fourth, I have to say that I like vanilla Almond Breeze better than vanilla soy milk for my oatmeal. And Finally, last night I went dancing with my girlfriends and had a great time. I had 4 vodka sodas (yaaaiee for sticking with the lowest cal drink!) and one shot of Baja Rosa (what's a girls night without a shot?). But we danced quite a bit so I think the calorie intake was washed away by the booty shaking. And I did say no to the pizza I was offered even though the smell was divine! Instead I made a piece of whole grain toast with a smear of Olivina margarine when I got home.So I had a nice little sleep in til about 10:15 this morning then got up and made myself a bowl of oats to start my day off right. I let that settle while I read the paper, then did my Shred. Now since my plans have changed I'm going to enjoy some coffee, watch a little TV, then do some errands (I still need weights for the Shredding!). Tonight I will either join some friends for dinner or maybe pick up some sushi for myself after hitting the gym...it's about time I go back and make use of my membership fee!
Oh sure, it's been like three days since I've had a comment. I see there is no love in blogland. hrmmph.This morning has been fairly productive in that I got up and got an hour of work done before I headed out to book our Dominican holiday and get my hair cut. Now I'm back getting caught up on my blogs and emails, so I can whip through the afternoon of work and have a leisurly evening. I think I'll be getting some exercise shovelling the heavy-ass chunks of ice the City of Halifax left in the mouth of my driveway (argh....seriously I got home and there is so much shit plowed into a pile that I had to park at the neighbor's for now...and it's all crazy heavy broken ice and stuff...not impressed). I did not do my Shred last night. I suck. I did work late and then was starving so I ate dinner before I realized that I should have worked out first. By the time I digested it was like 9:30 and I was getting ready for bed. Doh. I will be smarter today I swear! Especially since I picked up this gorgeous cupcake from Starbucks that I plan to enjoy but need to earn. Yum!I also spent some time sorting my fridge and preparing all of the veggies, etc that need to be used so everything is all ready to go for the next couple of days. I love the organized feeling of having all of my salad veggies chopped and ready to rock...makes life so much easier...and leaves me wanting to chose healthy instead of easy. Today's menu...- OJ- Second Cup large coffee on the run with raw sugar and skim milk- Second Cup blueberry oatmeal breakfast cookie (1/2 before hair appointment, 1/2 after) - total 4 points- Starbucks double tall extra hot non fat vanilla latte- carrots, celery, mushrooms & brocolli with homemade low-fat onion dip (I was eating this with chips earlier in the week but wisely I tossed the remaining chips!)- crackers and hummus- dinner is leftover pork loin chop and hugeass salad with goat cheese- Starbucks red velvet cupcake(approx 26 points...no idea on the cupcake)Update...7:15...I am now officially Shredded. Well, for today anyway. :) And I ate that cupcake and although it was good...it wasn't great. Looks can be deceiving. And now I shall eat my salad like a good girl before heading out to join some girlfriends for a last minute girls night out...drinky-poos are to be had. :)
It's snowing AGAIN. Bloody hell. It doesn't look like it will amount to anything, but geeeeeeze.Last night I worked until like midnight. Nutty. My own fault for starting late, but also because there just seems to be a lot of loose ends, etc lately. I've been fairly productive today but I could still easily sit here all night. I'm somewhat tempted to do it just to finally get caught up, but we shall see. I'd really like to get to the gym for some easy cardio and a set of strength training...I'm missing it big time. I'll definitely be doing a Shred if I stay home to work though.The funny part about the Shred is that I have to do it in our living room and we have a HUGE window in there. It's up pretty high, but the way the houses are across the street they can basically see right in. Far enough away not to see anything specific, but they'd definitely notice me jumping-jacking around like a mad fool. haha. Yes, I could close the blinds, but that's effort I just don't feel like doing every day.We finally chose the resort for our upcoming Dominican trip. I'll give all the details once it's booked and there are no changes...tomorrow I figure. I'm so excited and if a beach vacation isn't motivation to Shred and hit the gym regularly then I don't know what is! The drag is that our dates overlap with the beautiful Jen's planned Halifax visit, but with FH's crazy Navy schedule I didn't have a choice. Boooo. Hopefully we can work something out.My fridge is crazy full for some reason. I guess I got carried away with groceries this last week or two, sorta forgetting that FH would be leaving. This is good because this week's grocery shop can probably stay under $20 for milk and a couple of recipe-completing items. This is bad because things are already starting to go bad so I have to carefully chose what to eat up first....ie: opened brand new yogurt last night and it was already expired! oooooops. But it's still good so far because it wasn't open so hopefully I don't have to waste it. I would hate that.Anywho, all that work ain't gonna do itself so back to it I go.Today's menu:- coffee- zucchini chocolate bran muffin- fresh cherries- homemade cauliflower soup with fresh parmesan, multigrain toast with Olivina margarine- marinated grilled pork loin chop, hugeass salad- ff vanilla Activia yogurt with fresh blackberries
Slept in, worked like crazy, went to travel agent, working some more.So, all you get is today's menu:- coffee x 2- All Bran bar- homemade cauliflower soup with shredded light cheddar, piece of whole grain toast with Olivina margarine- homemade chili with corn, light sour cream, salsa and 1/2 serving of guacamole tortilla chips- sliced banana in ff vanilla Activia yogurtTomorrow I think I'll be feeling up to par enough to finally go to the gym...and maybe try a Shred. I feel like I'm starting all over again.
Lex! I just wanted to let you know that I'm so glad you are back, but girl....your blog crashes my IE every freaking time. It's so slow to load and then ends up freezing my computer so bad that I have to power it off and reboot. Don't know why and I'm sad that I can't read your stuff!! Boooo!Does this ever happen to anyone else?
The flemmy throat is hanging on but thankfully the stuff sinuses and runny nose seem to be almost gone. Nice that it's a short illness, but geeeeeze couldn't it have waited until after FH had left?! Ah well....hopefully I'll be feeling good enough to get back to the gym tomorrow or Thursday at the latest. Right now my lungs are still full of junk and my breathing is slightly labored.I spent the day yesterday eating whatever crap I could get my hands on while lying on the couch, watching a Gilmore Girls marathon, and working between episodes. I had a huge nap and then still went to bed before midnight and slept for nine hours. Today I am back to normal on my eating and am working on undoing any damage I did over the last couple of days.It's been super Wintery outside for a while now....Sunday night we had another 15cm dump of snow, followed by rain and sleet all night. It's cleared up a bit, but I saw some white flakes floating around in the air again this morning so I'm prepared to just bundle up and snuggle in. I was feeling the need for chili so I just made a batch of my Mom's chili, using a can of bean medley and added corn. So freaking good...can't wait for dinner! I also made up a recipe for a batch of pureed cauliflower soup to use up a head I had in the fridge...turned out pretty good. That will be lunch this week I think. Yum!Again, I forgot to weigh in this week. I went straight back to bed after dropping FH off for work yesterday and had already eaten by the time I remembered....so I had planned to do it today, but duh forgot again! I think I'll just leave it for the week and carry on with my good eats and whatever exercise I can do and hope for the best next Monday. I try not to live by the scale anyway so this will be a good week to look past it.Today's menu:- coffee- toast with natural PB & 1/2 sliced banana- OJ- taste tests on the chili and soup- cauliflower soup with shredded cheddar & croutons- chili with light sour cream & guacamole tortilla chips- 1/2 banana sliced with ff vanilla yogurt(approx 24 points)
Booooo. I'm a sickypants now. All stuffed up and everything....this better not become a sinus infection like every cold I've had in the last three years!Yesterday went fairly well, but not as planned...of course! I didn't eat the planned fruit throughout the day, and ended up with a tiny dish of leftover rice and chop suey as my tide-over meal. I forgot to put the Emergen-C in my water too. Not that it would have made me feel better but I've had this sample for ages and keep meaning to try it. Dinner was soooo yummy! FH couldn't decide between the scallops n bacon and the crab bisque for his appy, so we ordered both and shared...not the salad I had planned but it's just not salad weather!! I opted for the surf and turf for dinner because the restaurant was offering a freaking awesome deal on the lobster...almost half price at $17.95 for a 1.25 pound lobster. How can we pass that up?! I ordered mine with the 6oz filet and it comes with a scoop of mashed potatoes and some green beans. Topped this all off with some Shiraz and it was a decadent meal. :) After dinner we went for a few cocktails at our favorite bar...I stuck with two vodka sodas as I didn't feel the need for anything heavier than that after our lovely meal.Today I was supposed to try hot yoga with the girls, but this cold has taken a serious hold on my head so I opted to go with the other invitation I had to enjoy brunch with some other girlfriends. I figured sniffling my way through a yoga class with other people trying to be healthy would be poor form. Instead I loaded up on Tylenol Cold Daytime and enjoyed a warm bistro where I had a yummy latte and the brioche french toast with lots of fresh fruit. and water...lots of water.Now it's snowing....boooo 10 more cm on it's way so I'm huddled into the house for the rest of the afternoon. I'm thinking about what to make for dinner and if I had the ingredients on hand I'd be throwing together a pot of chili because it's that kind of day. I don't feel like going out to the store in this weather though so I'm going to dig through the fridge and cupboards and figure something out. It's going to be warm and tasty though!! FH leaves for sea tomorrow so I go back to worrying about fruit and healthy eats after I drop him off...
I totally bombed yesterday. No workout and terrible food choices. Plus, I seem to have picked up FH's cold. Booooo.I did good until late afternoon, when the Carrot Cake Clif Bar I had picked up starting calling my name. I had intended to only eat half with a cup of tea, but alas chowed down the whole thing. Would have been fine if I'd actually found time for my Shred but I didn't. Work had to take priority...I'm still playing catch up from Christmas holidays! Not sure if you noticed but that means I missed all three planned Shreds this week. Damn.When dinner time rolled around I hadn't planned anything. That is never good. We ended up ordering Chinese food. Way to top off my already sodium-laden day!! At least two of the dishes were veggie heavy...not that the chicken balls were anywhere close to a good idea. Top that with two glasses of red wine and a few handfuls of guacamole tortilla chips and I've now blown all of my flex points. At least we had a fun night in and enjoyed the dinner!This morning I'm definitely feeling the effects of catching FH's cold....scratchy throat and sniffly nose. I'm hoping the major symptoms hold off because we do have a date-night tonight. I always seem to be sick for our nice dinners! Because of this, I slept in and missed the gym. Second Saturday in a row. Arrrgh. Hopefully I can kick this habit over the next four weeks while FH is at sea. I always seem to do better going to the gym when he's away because I am not just cuddling up in the living room to spend time with him. This is my goal!!The good part about getting up late is that I don't need to eat as much. I'm hoping to make it through the day with light meals so I can still have a great meal for date-night and not spend the whole time worrying about what I'm stuffing in my piehole. :) We're off to McKelvies....so at least there is lots of seafood and light choices on the menu.Today's eats: - 2 x coffee with brown sugar & skim milk- oatmeal with vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 banana, sprinkle coconut, 1 tbsp dried cherries & 10 choco chips- watermelon- cherries- pre-dinner tide-me-over snack: carrots, hummus, pickles, crackers, light cheddar- lots of water (one with an Emergen-C packet)- dinner: salad appy, something seafoody!, probably wine
As I sit here drinking a second cup of coffee, after enjoying leftover chicken noodle soup, cheese, pickles and crackers...it occurs to me that maybe I should throw a bottle of water into the mix. The extreme cold weather the last few days, coupled with the heat being on full time lately, has really dried me out. My cuticles hurt. So I'm thinking caffeine and salt probably aren't the answer. I am soooo smart. ;)Yesterday was a bit of a bomb plan-wise. I got myself a "treat" of diet Orange Crush (thanks to Angie I've been craving this) and a bag of Swedish Berries. Mistakenly I brought the whole bag of candy up to my office while I finished my work day and oooooops at the whole thing. Gah. 500+ calories. Oh well. Shit happens right? At least I'd had a 500 cal workout in the morning.So today will be a better day...although it's Friday and I do like to have a treat on Friday. I guess I'll have to tough it out...FH is still sickypants so at least he probably won't want treats of any sort and I won't get sucked in due to my lack of weekend willpower. I want to save my remaining flex points for whatever we decide to do tomorrow and/or Sunday. FH is leaving again for a month so we are planning some kind of date night...dinner out and maybe a movie or something. Definitely a few drinkypoos. Breakfast was pretty much non-existant this morning due to getting up later than usual and then heading out for a doctor's appointment. I ate an All Bran bar in the car. Not the best way to start out so I'm trying to make sure to get back on a proper timeline. Today is supposed to be a Shred day but FH is home so that's sort of negated...I kinda want to try to get to the gym instead, but dammit I'm working!Menu plan thus far:- All Bran bar- 2 x coffee with brown sugar & skim milk- leftover chicken noodle soup- 1 oz light cheddar, pickles, crackers, 2 tbsp hummus, carrots- watermelon- planning the roast beef sammiches for dinner (ended up doing ham & cheese last night)...i'm thinking with some beef au jus...a la beef dip!- maybe some salad- tea & chocolate zucchini bran muffin(approx 24 points)
All this extra working out is making me extra hungry. At least I think that's what is doing it. Yesterday I ended up making banana coconut oatmeal for lunch because I was pretty sure the soup just wouldn't be filling enough. I still had my cheese, crackers, carrots and hummus too. I threw in an extra granola bar while I was making dinner and then even after dinner I was out in the kitchen looking for something to fill the hole I still felt in my tummy. And it wasn't boredom eating...just plain old hunger. I stuck to my planned bran muffin and tea.I added dried cherries to the oatmeal concoction yesterday and they were super yummy. They plump up and get almost juicy from the heat and moisture. I think today I'll try raisins and cinnamon instead of the coconut. I'm also out of Almond Breeze so I'm going to try using vanilla soy milk today and see how that works out.Got up this morning (-22 with the wind chill...brrrrrrrr) to take my poor sick FH to work. He totally needs a sick day but had too much important stuff to do at work today. So, up I got with him and since I was already out there I of course made my way to the gym. I did a 5 minute walking warm up on the treadmill, followed by 15 minutes of 2:1 intervals and a 5 minute incline cooldown. Then did lower body strength...leg press, calf raises, squats and walking lunges. Followed by my new usual...three sets of different crunches and 5 minutes on the Stairmaster. Today's menu:- granola bar- coffee with brown sugar & vanilla soy milk- oatmeal with banana, raisins and vanilla soy milk- watermelon- leftover pork stir fry- cheese n crackers- grilled roast beef sammich with light mozza & horseradish on french bread, served with whatever kind of soup FH wants for supper, maybe salad if I'm still hungry- tea & chocolate zucchini bran muffin(approx 27 points)
Holy man, am I tired. Poopered beyond belief. I guess that's what I get for doing two workouts in one day...one of which was a crazy cardio kickboxing class with Angie & Lesley. I knew it would be hard, but boy did it wipe me out! Thanks for trying it out with me girls...next time I'll pick something easier like On the Ball!Thankfully today is my day off from the gym. I'm supposed to fit in a Shred today but so far I'm not seeing the time in my schedule. We shall see...Wednesday timelines are tough because of my weekly conference call. I'd probably die half way into the workout anyway...haha.Last night I opted to switch out the leftover "lasagna" for a quesadilla at dinner time. When I got home from the crazy workout I just wasn't feeling leftovers...so instead I used two small ww tortillas and sandwiched them together with 1 oz skim mozza, 1 oz light cheddar, chopped tomatoes, snipped green onions, and chopped deli ham. Served it with light sour cream & salsa...so good! The leftover pasta in now in the freezer for some other time.Today's menu:- coffeeeeeee (glad I set it up last night cuz boy did I need it!)- All Bran bar (too lazy to cook anything this morning)- watermelon- Campell's Healthy Request Chicken Soup, with cheese n crackers- carrots & celery with hummus- Stir-fry from ESBM, using pork tenderloin and tons of veggies...maybe some rice- chocolate zucchini bran muffin & tea(approx 24 points)
Grrrr....I hate it when the barista rushes my drink and it winds up with way too much foam. I decided to go through the Starbucks drive-thru on my way home from the gym because I hadn't set the coffee maker at home to auto-brew this morning. Since I still had a few bucks left on my last Starbucks gift card I opted for a double tall vanilla no fat latte...yummmm! Except when I picked it up when I got out of the car I knew there was something wrong...it was way too light. And sure enough when I opened it up, it is like half foam. I hate that.Also off on the wrong foot today was my weigh-in. Maybe it's the holiday weight that I had expected to see when I weighed in last Monday...I'm up about 1.4 pounds. I hate it when that happens after a whole week OP and a bunch of working out. Annoying. Hopefully it sorts itself out this week because I'm now officially over my comfort zone.Anywho...On the bright side...I got up to drive FH early again this morning so hit up the gym for cardio and upper body strength. I almost skipped it because I have plans with the girls this evening for FitKick (cardio kickboxing) but then decided that A) I'm already up and out B) the weather is supposed to get bad again today so I might end up missing FitKick C) Tuesdays are supposed to be gym AND Shred so I can skip Shred instead. My arms will thank me for this morning's workout tomorrow I am sure. Ouch. I was wrong about doing Shred yesterday. Checked my workout plan and sure enough it's Tuesdays not Mondays....which was great because I soooo didn't have time yesterday. Whew.Yesterday was mostly OP, but instead of my healthy planned watermelon, salad, etc I ended up substituting the points for those damn cookie bars because they were staring at me. The rest of the plate went into the garbage...yaaaieeee me. No more stupid empty calories thank you very much.Today's menu plan:- the latte as mentioned- All Bran bar- watermelon- smoothie: vanilla soy milk, frozen mango, strawberries- oatmeal with vanilla Almond Breeze, banana, blueberries, sprinkle of coconut- dinner will be late due to FitKick, so carrots & celery with hummus to tide me through- granola bar in my bag for after class just in case- leftover "Last Minute Lasagna", mixed greens salad- tea while I curl up on the couch....FH is working overnight(approx 26 points)
Good news is: I already had a great cardio workout this morning.Bad news is: It's the first time I've worked out since Thursday.No really great excuses for not getting my workouts in over the weekend. Friday I just ran out of time before picking FH up from work...my work was just too busy to take time out for a Shred. Saturday was definitely procrastination....I got sidetracked by thoroughly cleaning and scrubbing our entranceway (salt and gross weather make for a big mess) and by the time I finished I had lost my window of opportunity for the gym. Yesterday we had to skip yoga due to Mother Nature. Ah well. Such is life, right?My eating was OP for Friday and Saturday (I had planned to use my Flex for Saturday night at a small going away party and that's what I did). Yesterday fell apart though....McD's for lunch and far too many leftover Chocolate Toffee Bars. I did however, drink a ton of water! This morning I drove FH to work extra early and then hit the gym for my Monday cardio. On the treadmill I did a 5 minute warm-up, 15 minutes of running intervals, and a 5 minute incline walk cooldown. Then onto the elliptical for 20 minutes of intervals and a 5 minute reverse walking cooldown. Finished with 3 set of different crunches and 5 minutes on the Stairmaster. Later today I have to fit in a Shred workout...probably around noon....depending on work.I forgot to weigh-in before I worked out, drank a bunch of water, and ate a huge bowl of oatmeal. I stepped on the scale when I remembered but it showed me up 2 pounds so I'm going to try again tomorrow BEFORE working out and eating!Today's menu:- coffee with smidge of brown sugar & splash of skim milk- oatmeal with vanilla Almond Breeze, 1/2 banana, fresh blueberries- watermelon- ham, cheese, & tomato quesadilla on a ww tortilla, with light sour cream & salsa- granola bar & tea- leftover "Last Minute Lasagna"...served with mixed greens salad- chocolate toffee bar(approx 22 points)
Whilst visiting back home, my friend's hubby made scones and they were so tasty I asked him for the recipe. He made his with raisins but you can put just about anything in them. I did mine with blueberries, and actually did a half batch of plain for FH. Easy and yummy!And the best part is he already had the recipe calculated for WW and they are 2 points each (batch of 12). (unless you use raisins or dried fruit...then they bump up to 3 points).Easy Fruit Scones1 cup Buttermilk (I used 1 cup skim milk w/ 1 tbsp vinegar)2 tbsp chilled butter (try grating frozen butter)1/2 tsp salt1 tbsp baking powder3 tbsp sugar2 cups flour (I used 1/2 wheat & 1/2 white) (you can even exchange 1/2 cup for oat bran)1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen berries or diced fruitPreheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together, then cut in butter with pastry cutter (or blend with fork if you grated the butter). Add milk and mix just until dough forms. Roll out onto heavily floured surface and cut into 12 (I roll into rectangle and cut with knife, but a biscuit cutter works great too). Bake for 15-20 minutes.(For an extra point, I drizzled melted white chocolate on the blueberry ones. Hell ya.)
Even though it's not a gym day, I got up early and drove FH to work so he wouldn't have to get up extra early to head down and find parking (no on-base parking unless you've got like 15 years service...LAME). So I'm getting an early start on work (and blogging!) and should be able to fit in my planned Shred workout before heading back to pick him up at lunchtime (lucky bugger gets off early).Yesterday I went to the gym at the end of my work day. FH didn't realize that I wanted to go in the afternoon so he didn't come home with the car until around 4:00. Let me just say that 5:00 at the gym is NOT my favorite thing! When I walked in absolutely every single piece of cardio equipment was taken...and there are a lot of machines. Thankfully while I was changing a few people finished up so I was able to grab a treadmill like I wanted. Nothing more annoying than having a game plan and being foiled by the machine of choice being unavailable.I did a 5 minute walking incline warm-up, then 15 minutes of intervals (2 minutes running @ 5.5, 1 minute walking @ 3.5), and finished up with another 5 minute incline walk. I was sweating like crazy. Then did lower body strength training: leg press, calf raises, squats and walking lunges. Completed the session with three sets of different crunches and 5 minutes on the Stairmaster....and stretching of course.Yesterday was also completely on plan! Another pink smiley face for me. That's 4 days down. Oh, and that oatmeal I had yesterday was freaking fantastic. The vanilla Almond Breeze and tsp of coconut really gave it flavor and sweetness. Now I see what all the hub-bub is about!Today's menu:- 1/2 apple with natural PB- coffee with splooooosh of eggnog- another tasty dish of real oatmeal, same as yesterday minus the chocolate chips (don't need them!)- watermelon- ww wrap with deli turkey, light cheddar, tomatoes, honey mustard- carrots and hummus- dinner will be some sort of pasta concoction using the leftover turkey sausages last night, maybe some leafy greens and goat cheeeeeese- being Friday maybe some sort of Flex treat, or maybe just ff vanilla yogurt & berries(approx 24 points)
We had a crazy ice storm last night. I only had to walk from our neighbor two doors over and it was a challenge. On the ground, it just looked like normal snow but each step was a treacherous slide across hard packed ice. Nutty. Even the banisters and everything were covered in a layer of ice. My car looked like a popsicle and I'm pretty sure it was actually frozen shut and possibly stuck to the driveway. If it hadn't been so windy and dark I would have taken a picture because that's definitely the first time I've seen anything like that.So due to that, and the fact that FH didn't have to be at work until 9am today, I didn't get up extra early for the gym this morning. There was no way I was going to spend 30 minutes defrosting and scraping my car (and I'm so not interested in driving on that mess)! Besides FH needed the car by 8:30 and I probably wouldn't have made it back in time. I guess I'll be finding some time this afternoon when he gets home to hit up the gym. It's cardio + lower body today.I finally got a calendar so I just made my notes for the last few days and gave myself 3 out of 3 pink happy faces for staying OP and sticking to my activity plan. Today is Day 4. I dipped into my flex by about 4 points last night at book club. I hadn't intended on having wine, but our hostess just found out she's pregnant and her hubby didn't want to drink alone. :) I had two very small glasses...plus one of the awesome blueberry scones I made and a few pieces of fruits and veggies. I had already planned for the scone, and since I didn't eat my carrots & hummus in the afternoon, the other stuff evened out. All in all, totally successful. Today's meal plan:- taking a stab at the all-popular oatmeal: rolled oats, 1/2 water & 1/2 vanilla Almond Breeze, banana, coconut, flax meal, a few choco chips- coffee with sploosh of eggnog - watermelon
- ww wrap with turkey, light cheddar & tomato- ff vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries & blueberries- granola bar pre-gym- skim milk post-gym- grilled turkey sausage served with roasted baby spuds and whatever veggie I grab at the store this afternoon...green beans I hope!- tea & plain scone with smidge of Olivina margarine(approx 24 points)
I was so exhausted yesterday that I had a little powernap during my usual lunchtime. Felt good, but apparently it wasn't enough because I ended up dozing off while watching TV last night too. Not for too long so I figured it was no big deal...we ended up heading to bed around 10:30 so I read until 11:15 and then aimed to fall asleep. Ya right. Last time I looked at the clock it was 2:40! I actually ended up getting up and going into the spare room to see if it would help...not sure if it did or if I finally just fell asleep due to exhaustion, but either way I finally slept. Then of course because I didn't have an alarm in there I slept in.Sooooo...now with me already having a huge pile of work to catch up on coupled with the fact that Wednesdays are crazy busy due to a weekly conference call I have no time for my Shred DVD. Not happy about this! And by the time I finish work, FH will be home and there's no way I'm clomping around the living room while he's here. Booo. I can't even sub in an extra trip to the gym because I have book club tonight. Drat.Edit: haha, you girls are so funny in your comments! Thanks for the tough love, but you know what? I didn't need it. I opted to put off some work (I'm already so far behind, what's another 1/2 hour) and squeezed in the DVD before my conference call. Of course, then I was lightheaded because I hadn't eaten enough, but I did it! So there. ;)Oh, but I still won't work out when FH is home. Our living room is barely big enough for the actual workout and the jumping jacks shake the house. LOL.Today's menu:- late breakfast of ww toast with natural PB & homemade jam, 1/2 banana- coffee x2 with splooooshes of eggnog- ww tortilla with leftover deli roast chicken, veggies, honey mustard & light mayo- carrots & hummus- quick dinner of soup & grilled sammiches (deli turkey, light cheese slice, tomatoes)- snack at book club (I'm planning to make mini-scones)(approx 24 points)
As I mentioned in my health-o-lutions, I am going to set new workout guidelines at the beginning of each month. Technically things probably won't change much but it's a good time to review what I'm doing, make sure it works and change it up to keep it interesting and fun.The January workout plan:Mon - gym (60 minutes cardio), plus Shred DVDTues - gym (20 minutes cardio, upper body strength)Wed - Shred DVDThurs - gym (20 minutes cardio, lower body strength)Fri - Shred DVDSat - gym (40 minutes cardio, full body strength)Sun - yogaEach gym day will include at least 5 minutes (with the goal being to last longer!) on the Stairmaster as well as 3 sets of various crunches for ab work.In addition I hope to add a cardio class of some sort from my gym...in which case I would use it in place of one of my cardio sessions.
Get this... I dragged my butt outta bed at 6:45 and I didn't even have to drive FH to work today! I had already planned my week assuming I would be driving him in today and didn't want to throw off the schedule already so up I got. Thankfully he warmed up my car for me before he took off. :)So today was the first of three cardio/strength days for the week. I did my cardio on the good elliptical today...20 minutes of resistance intervals. Then I did about 20 minutes of upper body strength...chest press, pulldowns, tricep pulldowns, & pushups (I still need to sit down with all of my magazines and design a few different workouts...I was a bit muddled today). I also included 3 sets of different crunches and 5 minutes on the Stairmaster. Just under an hour...perfect. Thursday I will do lower body, and Saturday I'll combine these for a full body workout.Yesterday went exactly as planned. I did do the Shred DVD at lunch. I'm missing the handweights needed, but I'll pick those up this weekend (Canadian Tire had them for 99 cents!). I was able to do most of the video without them anyway...the only exercise that didn't really do anything without the weights was the chest flies, but I'll survive. It was the perfect length and I was totally sweating at the end. I think it is going to be the perfect at-home workout!My meal plan was almost perfect yesterday too. The only change I made was to leave the chick peas out of my salad, but that left me the points for a granola bar before dinner. I was starving and dinner was going to be late. I also crusted our pork chops with some parmesan...maybe an extra point but totally yummy! My big NSV was that while watching TV last night I didn't feel snacky or crave a treat at all. In fact, I only ate my apple & PB because my tummy actually started to grumble about an hour before bed....which it has been doing a lot due to all of the extra water I'm finally drinking!Today's menu:- 1/2 cup coffee, 1/2 banana pre-gym- Red River hot cereal with 1/2 chopped banana, added flax meal, smidge of brown sugar & spoonful of natural PB- coffee with sploosh of eggnog- ff vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries & blueberries- ww tortilla with leftover deli roast chicken, veggies, honey mustard- carrots & hummus- grilled chicken & mushrooms, steamed cauliflower, leftover risotto- apple & natural PB(approx 25 points)
Off on the right foot this morning! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!First, let me say that after all of this I actually only had about a 2 pound weight gain. In fact, if I'm only worrying about weight (which I'm not) then I'm still within my comfort zone and I shouldn't feel bad. However, I almost couldn't button my pants up yesterday and the back muffin top I worked so hard to get rid of definitely made an appearance so there lies the concern. My muscle and measurements are rapidly escaping me!Not anymore!! This. Stops. Now.Got up with FH (weeeeeeeee.....see this post if you didn't know about this!) at the crack of bloody dawn (wait, nope it wasn't even dawn yet) and drove him to work so I could take my sorry ass to the gym. Last night after I wrote out my health-o-lutions, I made a weekly workout plan for January (which I will enlighten you with in another post) and Mondays will entail a 1-hour cardio session in the early morning AND a lunchtime workout with my Shred DVD (review to come tomorrow).Taking motivation from Tasha I've decided to push for running on the treadmill again. I'd really let it slip and even when I did get on the treadmill I really wasn't going for my full potential. I have crappy lung capacity and I've had difficulty building my stamina, so that's my focus for this month. So I hopped on and did a 5 minute warm-up of face-paced walking, then did 2 minute running intervals (@ 5.5) with 1 minute walking intervals (@ 3.5) for another 15 minutes. Followed this with 5 minutes of incline walking.I then did 25 minutes on the full body elliptical (that's the one I refer to as the "good" elliptical because it's a nicer machine and I like it's stride better). 20 minutes of machine timed intervals at a steady pace with a cardio-level heartrate, followed by 5 minutes of cooldown in reverse. To fill out the hour I have decided to try the Stairmaster. I think I've only ever tried it once before and it was too hard for me. So there's another goal. To be able to last longer than 5 minutes on an easy level!! I set it for 10 minutes, but after 5 I had to call it a day. I was getting lightheaded and the last time that happened I actually passed out...and I'd prefer not to relive that. Instead I took an extra long time for my stretching since it's been over a month since I had a real workout and I know I'm going to FEEL IT tomorrow.It was a great start to the new year! (and I still have my Shred workout to do!)Oh, and can I just say I love routine. Back to work for FH and I today and I can already tell that my eating is going to be better. Nice.Today's menu: (notice the snack-meal-snack-meal plan) - 1/2 banana pre-gym- instant oatmeal with 1/2 banana, added flax meal, splash of vanilla Almond Breeze- coffee with sploosh of egg nog- ff vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries & blueberries- salad with leftover deli roast chicken & chick peas- crackers with goat cheese & red pepper jelly- pork loin chop with sauteed mushrooms & onions, steamed brocolli, & Splendido mushroom risotto- apple with natural PB(approx 25 points)
Yessir, it's definitely that time again. That time when we all stand back and take a good hard look at the things we want and need. The things that we have maybe let slip by or maybe didn't even try for or that maybe just need an extra bit of attention.In my case I'm looking at the same thing as last year. Activity. In the last year my commitment to activity came and went. I've broken it down into three categories and set a goal for each one: gym, at-home, otherGym:This last year I joined the gym, learned from my trainer, put my knowledge to use, and felt pretty good about it. I did get bored and lose interest near the end of the year though, which led to using every excuse I could get my hands on not to go. I have created five goals specific to the gym:1 - Create and stick to a doable gym schedule (even if this means the schedule changes each month in order to fit our lives). 2 - Try to mix things up a little by trying out the free classes at the gym. Minimum once per month...with a goal of once per week when time allows. 3 - Work harder on building up cardio and really pushing myself to do my best.4 - Use the stack of Self & Shape magazines I have to create new strength training routines (create a new body goal for each month to keep it interesting).5 - No excuses. Fit it in.At-home:My at-home activity waned after our beloved Mojo passed on this Summer. Without the dog to walk I admittedly found a lot of comfort just sitting on my butt instead of taking my daily stroll around the neighborhood. To aid in avoiding this in the future I now have the Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred DVD which I intend to use for off-gym days and any days that the weather is too unfriendly for a decent walk. If this turns out to be enjoyable I might look for another at-home activity to help keep things from getting monotonous. The goal here is 30 minutes of activity per day any which way I like.Other:The brightest spot in all of this is that after almost a year here in Halifax I have finally found some friends to do activities with...my lovely blog girls! Together we have already tried a warm yoga class and we are now looking forward to trying true hot yoga and hopefully some more yoga and/or pilates classes. I hope that we make this a weekly thing to help round out my activity schedule. Plans with friends are a major aid in accountability for me...no one wants to be the one to let the group down!So there you have it. Health-o-lutions 2009!
Who was I kidding with my declaration of Jan-2nd restart? It's the weekend and we were snowed in for a day. Ya-Ya, I'm making excuses I suppose...but man, this is damn hard. I haven't weighed in yet. I think I have a mental block about weighing in on a day other than a Monday. Plus, I forgot and I refuse to do it at the end of the day.Hmm....who let Negative Nelly in here?I'm sure it was me, but I don't remember opening the door. Hmmm....health awareness specific dementia is setting in I think.Must. Stop. It. Now.
