Seven Days Later

Well I’m definitely less grumpy, less melted down, and feeling less sorry for myself this week.  Not sure I’m more motivated, but the plan I laid out worked so that’s a step in the right direction.

Eating the same thing for lunch all week was no big deal at all.  In fact, it was good enough that I just made another batch for this week.

Quinoa with roasted veggies, steamed spinach and goat cheese.  Easy peasy.

The fun part of the week was trying out new smoothies every morning.  I got into the routine of deciding what kind I was making the night before (while laying in bed), whipping it up after walking my dog, taking it to work to stash in the freezer for half an hour, then sipping on it for an hour or so. 

A little weird to break out the frosty breakfast at the same time as I had to start scraping ice off my car windows, but tasty nonetheless.

(I posted all of my smoothie creations on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter).

The biggest helper was involving the girls I share office space with.  Letting them know that I was determined to avoid snacks that I didn’t pack or plan really made life easier.  I felt supported and at ease when presented with potential sabotage.

• On the very first day some generous jerk left Tim Horton’s muffins up for grabs in our coffee room.  There was a salted something chocolate or other in there and I just stared at it with disdain.  Then high-fived my office mate when we didn’t cave. 
• The next day a meeting got cancelled so they put the deli trays out for the whole office.  My favourite egg salad on squishy white bread tried to call my name, but I mentally punched it in the throat.  The delicious bakery cookies got themselves a dropkick in my brain too.  Another high-five.

Overall I’m really happy with how everything went down and I’m just going to head into this next week with a similar plan and thought process.  My birthday is on Thursday so Michael is going to take me out for dinner, and while I don’t want to deprive myself on a lovely date dinner I’ll try not to throw myself into a massive dish of creamy pasta or a steak & potato the size of my face.

A buttercream topped cupcake I would gladly faceplant into though. :)

A huge shout out to all of you that left me supportive comments, tweets, likes and messages.  I miss the old days of blogging where we all chit-chatted and shared our struggles.  Sometimes the whiney blog posts are the best ones!

Motivated Monday

I had a run of blog posts about Embracing Mondays a while back.  In which I would wake up with full enthusiasm for the week ahead...with a workout plan and a menu full of healthy meals.  I still have those thoughts on Mondays but the motivation wanes by Wednesday and my desire to think about cooking or making healthy choices is all but totally gone by Friday.  All I can think about is a fat glass of red wine, and curling up on the couch for 36 hours straight.

This weekend I had a little meltdown about this. 

I knew going in to my new job that I would probably struggle with maintaining balance, but my decision to keep my other job multiplied that situation exponentially.  I hadn’t taken into account the amount of time I was losing.  The time I would spend meal planning and preparing, recipe perusing, Tweeting, blogging, blog reading, and working out, is GONE.

Without spending a lot of time here whining about the situation, I decided that I just need to acknowledge that my days have changed and I need a new game plan.  Just giving up and going for convenience eating, giving in to cravings for unhealthy treats, and completely ignoring any form of working out is not me.  And after three months it hit me emotionally.

So I asked Michael to be my support buddy, I worked my brain around eating the same things for lunch all week to save time with batch prep, and I made a super simple at-home workout schedule.  That’s it.  Those three things are what will save me from myself.

Oh, and I told the girls at the office that I will be avoiding any and all snacks that I didn’t plan for.  That place is a sweet lover’s paradise (or hell!). 

What I ate today (and will eat tomorrow!):

• Green Smoothie inspired by #CLEANrestart – ice, banana, spinach, vanilla protein powder, flax meal, coconut oil, unsweetened vanilla coconut milk, unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
• Coffee with almond milk.
• Light Rye Wasa with TJ’s Sunflower Butter.
• Quinoa with roasted root veggies, wilted spinach, and goat cheese.
• Grapes.  Almonds.
• Scrambled eggs with yellow pepper, red onion, spinach, black beans, ground turkey sausage, cheddar, salsa and avocado.  With whole grain toast.
• Organic strawberries over plain yogurt with hemp hearts & grated dark chocolate.

All things healthy, quick to prepare, and easy to duplicate for another day or two.  And above all…delicious!

And now…the stretches my chiropractor gave me for core strengthening and a round of upper body weight training.  Thanks for listening…if anyone is still out there.  :)

The New Plan

It has been a long while since I have posted about workouts or fitness fun.  That is because it has been a while since I have worked out or did anything really fitness related.  Doh.

As I flipped through my calendar yesterday I found that I haven’t been to the gym in over 5 weeks, and prior to that I had a 3 week lull.  What the heck happened?  It was all ‘hip-hip-horray, let’s workout every day’ for January, February and March.  Then…pffffffffft. 

I have no excuses or explanations.  Maybe I burned out, maybe I was annoyed at the lack of results, maybe I was really hoping to lose 10 pounds even though I said I was more concerned about getting fit, maybe I got busy, maybe I got lazy.  Any and all of these things could apply.

The good news is I seem to have found my motivation.  I think.  I’ll be honest and say I still feel a little wobbly on it.  I’ve been kicking ass for two whole days (ha!) but still have the feeling that it could run off the rails at any moment.  I’m taking my own advice and trying to simplify things this time…focusing more on eating right, eating less, drinking more water and not worrying about trying to get to the gym 5 days a week.  Less beer, more walking.  I think I got a wee bit overzealous with my plans the last time around and experienced a case of burnout.  I missed one or two workouts and that just pushed the motivation out the window.

This past weekend I stood in front of my full size mirror in my sports bra and my short-shorts…and took pictures.  Pictures of how tight that bra is.  Pictures of my soft shoulders.  Pictures of the snugness of those shorts.  I then changed into my all time favourite pants, which I damn near lived in a couple of years ago and took pictures of how I can no longer do them up and the insane muffin top I get if I do squish myself into them.

I now have ‘goal pants’.  I’m admitting that I really do want to lose the extra weight I’ve gained and held on to in the last two years.  I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter to me…I’m not overweight…but it does matter.  It was hard work to lose weight in the past and it was hard work to keep it off and become fit for four years.  I now realize I feel bad for letting it go.

Well, I refuse to feel bad about this anymore!  I have one of those ‘before’ photos taped to my bathroom mirror as personal inspiration and it’s time to get serious.  Gulp.  I will be comfortable in my own skin!  And I will be comfortable in my favourite pants!

All images from {Pinterest} of course!

None

That's how much accountability I've had this past two weeks...NONE. Hands down biggest fall from the wagon I've ever had. Seriously people, once I got to my Mom's it was like all bets were off. I was eating bloody shortbread cookies for breakfast with my coffee. And chips n dip like I would never see them again. Not to mention that my Mom makes the best turkey sammiches on squishy white bread. Yikes. I will know the damage for sure when I weigh in on January 2nd.

I chose January 2nd because it's going to take until at least then to get through a few more obstacles and to do a proper grocery shop. Good news is that I've heard the snow has subsided in Halifax so I will be able to hit the gym hard for a few days before getting back to work....and then DBF is back to work too (and not at sea for a couple of weeks) so I can go back to my early morning workouts when I drive him to work. I'm pretty excited about it!! I also got a copy of the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD (thanks Mom!) for those days when Mother Nature chooses to keep me from driving to the gym. In fact, my plan is to use it in combination with my gym routine so as to speed the return of my less-squishy tummy. Actually I'd like to go beyond where I was. No sense in staying at a mediocre place!

I know I've gained a few pounds but nothing too hard to get rid of. My concern isn't so much my weigh-in as it is the state of my body at the moment. I've certainly lost muscle mass and my tummy is soft and my rear love handles are trying to creep back in. Not OK!

This is not a New Years resolution, just a long-delayed accountability post. I've been getting so comfortable with the poor choices that I didn't even hear that little voice in the back of my head reminding me that what I was eating was a bad idea. Today I heard that voice tell me to get my hand out of the cookie jar when I reached for a third cookie and man was I glad to hear it. Time to pay attention!

Seriously

Yes people, seriously it's time to get serious!!

The last month has truly been a free-for-all. I can't remember the last time I actually stayed OP. I think it happened once since my Mom's visit...and that was a month ago! I have no one to blame for what I saw on the scale this morning but myself. 156. Ugh. That's up another 2.2lbs from last week...and as high as I'm ever willing to go. It's so sad that I spent all of August bringing myself down to 150, only to let it go racing back up again. Well not any more dammit!

DBF left this morning for 33 days at sea. Yuck. The only good part is that now my menus and schedule are totally flexible. Funny how he was on a diet and lost 10lbs in just over two weeks, but I managed to gain. My gym time went out the window because I was staying home to spend time with him in the evenings, and my eating habits sucked because I was paying more attention to what he was eating than I was to myself. No more distractions!

I already went to the gym this morning after I dropped him off (with a full-on head cold that started yesterday...but I had a plan and I wasn't changing it just because I am sick!). HIIT on the cross-trainer, followed by my full strength training routine. Later today I will go for a walk, and then tonight I have a chiro appointment so I'll have to take it easy.

After the gym, I stopped at Sobey's and stocked up on massive amounts of produce and other healthy things. I overdid it once again, but I definitely have no excuses for good lunches or dinners for the next week. Veggies are the main ingredient, with the meat and sauces being the side dishes. Time to burn off some of those extra pounds!

I'm going to make up a split batch of bran muffins tonight for snacks. Half dozen zucchini & choc chip. Other half dozen pumpkin & pecan. Yummmmmm.

Seriously.

Today's goals: 3 litres water, stay OP

Today's eats....

- pre-gym: 1/2 Fibre Source granola bar
- post -gym: other 1/2
- Red River cereal with pumpkin & brown sugar
- 1 serving Bolthouse banana berry smoothie
- coffee
- 1/2 ww pita warmed and stuffed with ff roasted turkey, 1/2 oz real cheddar, salad greens, tomatoes & honey dijon
- apple with light Laughing Cow wedge
- roasted buttercup squash, salad, & Nutrigrain chicken nuggets
- grapes if I'm snacky
- maybe a taste-test muffin

Fresh Start Monday - Retake!

Although I'm still weighing in at 151.4, I feel like today needs to be a true restart. Points/calories wise I think last week sort of evened out by the end of the weekend, but it certainly wasn't my healthiest week ever. Exercise was almost non-existant. There may have been a greasy carborama appy platter at Boston Pizza. There most definitely was a few late evening bowls of cereal that definitely weren't planned for. A Mars bar was eaten in under 30 seconds due to starvation while shopping and I don't even like Mars bars.

Mamma is gone now and DBF is doing freaking great on his new menu plan, so there are no excuses for me! I leave for a business trip in Las Vegas in exactly one month. So today commences OPERATION VEGAS BODY!

A few points I thought I'd write down to keep myself accountable...

- Lattes need to be treats, not daily requirements
- Water is my friend
- Take advantage of the good weather while it's still here (walks after dinner and such)
- New workout schedule (due to stupid work meetings buggering up old schedule)
- Tues/Thurs early morning HIIT & strength training, Sat or Sun HIIT & strength training, Mon/Wed noon cardiofest
- Stick to the menu plans!

On a positive note, we had a lovely goodbye dinner out on Friday night before Mom left and while she and DBF enjoyed steak and potatoes (he planned his treat night into his new menu plan), I ordered a seafood plate that was light and freaking to die for. Served with salad, it was perfect and I didn't feel overstuffed or saturated in carbs. No wine for me either!

Also, while DBF enjoyed a boys day yesterday I ran errands and did some shopping, and as the good little girl I am I toted my gym gear with me and at the end of the afternoon I hit the gym! Treadmill hill inclines powerwalk, followed by full strength training routine, including my 100 crunches. (I had actually tried to go to the gym on Saturday morning after dropping Mom off at the airport super early, but it wasn't open yet! and of course, my motivation died and I never made it back there when they were open.)

Today's menu plan...

- coffee
- Liberte Muesli yogurt cup (choco crunch)
- fresh pineapple
- homemade butternut squash soup, 1/2 english muffin with Becel
- Gala apple with light Laughing Cow wedge
- Kashi cherry/choco granola bar
- Tomato Basil Turkey sausage, grilled and served with spinach salad
- glass of skim milk
- Special K vanilla almond with vanilla Almond Breeze
- 2 litres of water!

Fresh Start Monday

As promised!

So, first things first...weigh in. Apparently .4 pounds feels like 5 pounds. That's right, I'm only up .4 pounds. (note stunned look on my face!) I'm stoked about the great number, but I still feel lumpy and lethargic. Sometimes it's not about the number, it's about the feeling. And my current feeling is UNHEALTHY.

Today, it stops.

DBF is home now. Yaaaaaaieeeeeeeeee. (Picked him up at the airport at 2am, so of course I'm super tired for my fresh start...but I'm trying not to let that effect me too much.) Mom is still here, but I am back to work for four days so we will be on a more normal eating routine. Homecooked dinners and my normal breakfast, lunches and snacks. No more Cheetos!! I banned the "vacation snacks" since I am no longer on vacation. Conveniently the last box of malt balls mysteriously disappeared (into my tummy...not really a mystery!) last night, so no temptations left. I even made a batch of bran muffins last night...1/2 dozen blueberry-flax-honey, 1/2 dozen banana choco chip.

So here it is for today:

- Bolthouse Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- coffee
- PC BM multigrain flax bagel with light cream cheese & a smear of yummy homemade raspberry jam we bought at the Farmer's Market
- chopped freaking good fresh local canteloupe
- hummus "pitza": toasted ww pita spread with hummus & topped with tomatoes, spinach, shredded carrots, mushrooms & light cheddar
- chopped gala apple with Liberte vanilla yogurt
- grilled pork chops with mushrooms & onions, corn on the cob with a smidge of real butter, leftover spaghetti squash with parmesan, glass of skim milk
- blueberry bran muffin & decaf tea

I REALLY want to go to the gym...but dudes, I'm so freaking tired I don't know if it's a good idea. My eyes are drooping as I write this, and I have one of those crazy lack-of-sleep headaches that I usually only get after a night of partying. I'm going to try my damdest to get there right after work though, so I can enjoy my yummy dinner and get to bed at a reasonable time.

- 20 mins intervals on cross-trainer (30 second sprints, 1 minute fast paced recovery walks)
- full strength training routine (I'm soooo missing my 100 daily crunches!)

Good luck to everyone else that is embarking on Fresh Start Monday!!!

Blood Sugar

Well that was certainly an awful start to the day.

I sat last night and wrote out my fitness plan for the week. I packed my gym bag, filled my water bottle, laid out my gym clothes, and set my alarm for an hour early. I even wrote out my menu plan for today so I wouldn't be humming and hawing about what to eat.

My alarm went off this morning and I only hit snooze once. I got up, washed my face, pulled my hair back, set up the coffee maker, and got into the car by 7:45 as planned.

Got to the gym and started my new Mon-Wed-Fri routine of 20 mins of HIIT...today on the crosstrainer. Pushed myself and got through it all hot and sweaty and feeling great. Headed over to the weight area to work on my strength training. I rewrote my routine last night....combo of favorite exercises from the two routines I have from my trainer sessions...got through the first two machines, but as I was starting my second set of tricep pulldowns I started to feel woozy. This reminded me that I had forgotten to drink my planned smoothie before I left home, but not eating before a workout isn't at all unusual for me so I thought nothing of it. But the wooziness didn't pass so I decided I'd better take a break.

By the time I got to the changeroom I was having full on spins. I went to a bathroom stall so I could sit down somewhere private...plus I thought I might puke. I was extremely lightheaded and I think I may have actually passed out for just a second because I wound up sitting on the floor of the stall. I sat there for a really long time until my breathing and heartrate returned to normal. Then I stood up and had to lean there for a while longer until my head stopped spinning.

I washed my face and towelled off, but I was all sweaty....like cold sweats. Basically I felt disgustingly drunk.

I managed to cool off enough by pulling my hair up and changing out of my runners....so I decided to go outside. Sat in my car for a while, and thankfully was able to drive myself home.

Got home, went straight to the fridge for the juice I should've had earlier....then straight to the couch where I fell asleep right away and slept for two hours. Woke up, still felt like human jello so had a bowl of fresh pineapple and then a chocolate granola bar. Obviously I'm assuming my blood sugar must be all out of whack for some reason....so I was trying to pump it up quickly.

I ended up going back to sleep for another hour, then forced myself to get up and at least check on work. 3.5 hours behind. Lovely.

Since then I've had a big bowl of cereal, lots of water, and I'm now considering some Advil and some more protein. I still feel like shit....like I'm hungover...which obviously isn't the problem.

I know people get nauseus or sick from working out too hard all the time, but seriously....this was no harder than I've ever worked out and I hadn't even made it 2/3 of the way through. WTF? It was fricking scary that's for sure.

Anyway, I'm hoping that eating will cure the issue and I'll be feeling back to normal tonight. I guess if I do, the rest of my activity will be mowing the lawn in the cool evening air....or maybe it will be continuing to lay on the couch with my laptop and bad movies. I am hoping for option A.

What a freaking piss off that this would happen on my big day of re-committment and gym excitement. Argh.

(Oh, and to top it off, of course I forgot to weigh-in....so I don't even know if my days of OP have panned out.)

Day Two

It's so nice out today! Sunny but not too hot or humid. Thank God! That will keep me motivated to work out after work. Of course, it makes me NOT motivated to work. hehe.

I can't believe I binged on that cake last night and buggered up my first day on track. Meh. I did get out for a quick walk with the dog, but he is sick so it didn't last too long. Oh well, today is a new day and hopefully my evening workout will keep my mind off the snacking. I threw out the last of the chips and snacks, so I don't think there is anything terribly bad left for temptation. I even cut up all of my strawberries and cleaned up all the grapes, pulled them from the stems and put them in little containers so they are all ready for snacking. I wrote out my menu plan for dinners this week and I have to say I'm pretty stoked. I planned in a dinner out, but so far I don't have anything special on the horizon so I might take that opportunity to try the lobster sub at Subway or maybe a McLobster (so ridiculous I just have to try!).

Today's big plans...

- coffeeeeee
- Bolthouse Berry Smoothie
- choco chip All Bran Bar
- strawberries with last of the yogurt
- salad (made a big bowl last night) with chickpeas and grated cheese
- pre-gym - toast with pb & honey
- dinner is a new recipe for Honey-Soy Chicken Kabobs, with steamed brocolli
- grapes & cherries for a snack

- gym after work: cardio and strength training....I'm going to start riding the recumbant bike as my cardio on strength days (instead of always using the treadmill). Maybe a walk if the dog is up to it when I get back.

Smacking Myself in the Forehead

Total free-for-all, no holds barred weekend. WTF?! Sometimes you would never know that I am actually knowlegable about nutrition, portion control and mindless snacking. Sometimes you would never know that I have willpower and know how to use it. Sometimes you would never know that I have a gym membership that I usually like to use.

Well, it's over. And the scale has leaped back up to 157lbs. Up exactly the same 3.4lbs I had lost last week. WHEN WILL I LEARN?!!

So DBF left this morning for ONE MONTH at sea. Booooo. The only upside to it is that for the next four weeks I don't have to worry about planning "family" meals. I can focus on ME ME ME. I can eat more salads, I can skip red meat, I can work out every day if I feel like it. Look out world, watch me goooooooooooooo!

He had to be at work early this morning, so I ended up with extra gym time so did extra cardio to get my week off on the right foot. I'm going to change my strength days to Tues/Thurs/Sat instead of Mon/Wed/Sat just for something to do. I need to shake up my routine in order to get me motivated to go in the mornings. I will sit down tonight and write myself a weekly schedule for gym and activity, as well as work on combining my two strength training routines into one power-routine. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

After the gym I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some fruit and granola bars. I found new All Bran bars....Cinnamon Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip. Same NI at the original and Honey Nut.

My menus for the next couple of days will definitely be "clean out the fridge" menus as we had a party this weekend and there are remnants that need to be eaten up. I really need to stop loading up the fridge right before DBF goes away!

So today.....

- water
- Bolthouse Berry Burst Smoothie
- coffee
- All Bran Bar (choc chip, pretty tasty!)
- lunch will be homemade spinach artichoke dip (a variation of Hungry Girl's recipe) with crackers, carrots & orange pepper strips
- blueberries & strawberries with a bit of yogurt
- dinner will involve a huge-ass salad with real cheddar
- hummus with crackers
- grapes or cherries
- tea

My workout...

- Treadmill: 5 minute incline warm-up, running 2 mins each @ 3.5, 4.5, 5, 5.5, then repeated, 5 minute cooldown
- Elliptical: interval program, 2 mins @ level 4 - 2 mins @ level 10, repeats for 20 minutes, 5 minute cooldown
- various strength exercises...calf raises, squats, side bends, planks

And there you have it...

I'm officially at the heaviest I've been in at least 6 months. I just looked back through my calendar and nowhere between now and January have I ever gone over the 156lb mark (usually not over 154 if I can help it).....today I am 156.4...boooooooooooooooooo!! My maintenance is supposed to be under 155...my goal was 150, but my body is generally it's happiest at 152-153. Meh. So at least 3 pounds need to take a hike...like NOW!

We had a fun weekend, with LOTS of tasty eats and far too much wine....but today I am back on the straight and narrow. Most of the extra cheese and treats and such have vacated the building (mainly because we ate it at like 11:00 last night!) so aside from a couple of pieces of pizza there isn't too much left to taunt me. I will fit in one piece of pizza as my lunch...and honestly don't care if the rest goes to the trashcan.

I already hit the gym this morning, so that's a great motivational start! I did a sweaty power-walk with random inclines on the treadmill for 25 minutes, followed by a 10 minute random hill ride on the recumbant bike (with a 3 minute cooldown), and a complete set of my strength training routine. I really pushed myself today and was able to up the weights on two more of the exercises. My exercise was non-existant for the long weekend and I'm determined to make it up this week....shouldn't be a problem. :)

On the way home from the gym, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some fresh produce, dairy, lean meats, etc so there are no excuses for dinners and snacks for the next few days. My friends the fresh fruits have returned and I am sooooo on them! I'll be keeping them company with lots of water....and laying off the booze until I can rehydrate and knock off at least a pound or two...sun or no sun I can drink Coke Zeros with fresh lemons and limes if I need a bevvie on the deck!

And my final hurrah for today is that I stopped for my Starbucks treat after shopping, and I only got a coffee. No latte. No Doubleshot. No tasteless baked good. Just good old coffee! Yaaieeeee!

Today's healthy, yummy, super-duper menu plan:

- 1 litre water already down
- 1/2 of a Satisfibre Express natural blueberry bar
- coffeeeeeeeeeeeee
- plum
- 1% cottage cheese with pineapple tidbits & chopped orange
- lunch will be one slice of leftover Costco pizza with another full litre of water
- last of the cherries and 1 apricot
- baby carrots if I need another snack
- dinner is chicken breasts marinated Asian style grilled on the BBQ, served with steamed asparagus with sesame oil, and that yummy Asian slaw. oh, and another litre of water.
- evening snack...either a creamsicle or blackberries with vanilla yogurt

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!