Bye Bye 220s

I am out of the 220s and I feel like Onederland is in sight. 20.2lbs to 199 by October 30. Can I do it? YES!!!

(I also need a pedicure!!)

Thanks so much for all the comments I received from you about the C25K. It was so nice to read them all this morning.

And I have 3 more Followers!! I feel like a real blogger now :)

Will post more later - I have to climb down from Cloud Nine to type some minutes - but I'll be back!

C25K & Me

Have you heard about the Couch To 5K Running Program? If not, check it out here.

It's a program to get you from being a couch potato to running 5k in 9 weeks. Each week has 3 workouts. The workouts are about 20 minutes long. They start out walking with running intervals interspersed through the walk. In Week 1, the "runs" are 90 seconds about every 3-4 minutes and they get progressively longer. Each week has 3 workouts and its recommended you take a day off in between workouts.

I have been "thinking" about doing this for almost a month.

Today, Chubby Chick's 10 minute challenge gave me the push I needed to start. I started walking on the treadmill at a semi brisk pace (for me) of 2.0 mph with the intent of doing 10 minutes for the 10 Minute Challenge, as I neared the 10 minute mark, I was warmed up and just getting comfortable so I thought..."Let me try it, if I can't do it, I'll stop.". By the second interval I KNEW I was going to finish.

I did end up walking quickly, rather than running, through the last interval but I am so pumped that I did so well on my first go round. I can't say I "loved it", but I am determined to give it my all and finish the program, although I will probably spend 2 weeks at each level, at least for the first few weeks.

Official weigh in tomorrow. Something less than 220 would be a wonderful surprise!!!

Are you up for a 10 minute challenge?

Ten Minute Challenge


Thanks to Chubby Chick at Journeying to Lose 200 Pounds, I've decided to join her in this challenge.

I am so "all or nothing" when it comes to exercise. This is strange because I am not like that about anything else in my life. I believe in baby steps, I believe in something is better than nothing, I believe in one day at a time, I believe in little things add up to big things...but not in exercise.

So this is going to be my challenge to myself to do 10 minutes of exercise every morning or evening, no matter what OTHER exercise I may do. I'm either going to do 10 minutes on the treadmill or 10 minutes stepping. For stepping I just do use my bottom step of our stairway in the house. It's a good height for me, I'm only 5' tall and I find that actual "steppers" are too high for me and although I know its good to challenge myself to step higher, feeling like I'm going to fall everytime I step up and down is not conducive to keeping at it!

Want to join me (us)? 10 minutes a day is nothing! I spend more time than that in the shower, more time than that on my blog, more time than that making dinner, more time than that putting away groceries....I *am* worth 10 minutes a day just for me, and so are YOU :)

Smiley Face

This is me, this morning!

I normally take my synthroid as soon as I wake up because it has to be taken on an empty stomach.

So this morning - I didn't take it.


I can breathe! I am wide awake! Compared to the way I have been feeling the last two weeks, I am so energized and full of life!!!

Quick Health Update

I posted a few days ago and quite a bit over the last week about feeling so tired and lethargic and was wondering if it was overmedication of my thyroid or diabetes meds.

I had my bloodwork done on Monday because I am seeing my endo next Tuesday but she is on vacation til then so I thought I'd have to just suffer it out. Today was the worst day yet, I actually fell asleep at my desk and was having such a hard time breathing. I wasn't in pain or distress, it just felt like I had to take really deep breaths or yawn to get enough air in.

I called my family doctor and went to see her this afternoon. The first thing she did was check my blood work..and yep...I have too much synthroid (to control hypothyroidism) in my body. One of the symptoms of surplus synthroid is shortness of breath, rapid heartrate and fatigue.

She said to cut back to 5 pills a week. This is great news! In March I cut back from 7 to 6 a week and now I am down to 5. She said as I lose weight and control my blood sugar better, my thyroid will function better. It will probably never be "normal" and I will always need some kind of medication to supplement it but the lower the dosage the better.

She said if I skip the next two days dosage, I should feel better by the weekend and then discuss again with my endo next week to get her insight, but definitely the dosage is too high.

I am very thrilled and this is definitely a great Non Scale Victory!

Non Scale Victories

Last night I got myself caught in the "losing 100 lbs is going to take forever" trap. I was feeling unsuccessful and unmotivated and wondering if I'd have the strength and motivation to keep this up until I reach my goal weight.

So I had to remind myself that this was a life time journey and if it took a year or two out of my life to get to my goal, along the way, I would be healthier and happier and probably have a longer lifetime at the end of it.

I started looking for some non scale measurements.

BMI - loss of 6.6 points
This one is amazing. Here is a BMI calculator.

I'm 5'0".

At 250 lbs my BMI was 48.8 (starting weight)
At 225 lbs my BMI was 43.9 (10% goal weight)
At 221 lbs my BMI is 43.2 (current weight)
At 199 lbs my BMI will be 38.9 (my next goal)

Waist - loss of 3 inches
Jan 31 - 44 inches
July 28 - 41 inches

I can tie my shoes!
To clarify, I have been able to tie my shoes since I was 4..but for a long time I couldn't reach my feet, I would have to put my foot up on a stool or step, because my stomach would be in the way .but now I can bend down and reach my shoelaces. Soon I will be able to paint my toes :)

This blogpost is one I go to whenever I feel like this. And each time I read it, I am re-energized and motivated and reminded that I can do this.

15 Week Challenge - Week 5 - Challenge - Cooking with Whole Grains

Wholegrain Goodness!

This week's challenge is cook something with whole grains. This recipe has three whole grains; brown rice, oats and whole wheat flour.

This is a recipe I've used many times and will come in handy if you have leftover brown rice from some of the other recipes that may be posted. They come out sweet smelling and delicious. I like them best warm from the oven or warmed briefly in the microwave with some preserves or cream cheese. They have a nutty, dense texture.

My favourite is with dates and apricots. It's really very versatile and easily suited to your tastes. Sometimes as a treat for my boys, I use dried cherries and mini chocolate chips.

The recipe is also easily customizable - sometimes I use applesauce in place of half the oil and add more oats and cut back on the flour. I've played around with it a lot and always had good results. I've also made a savoury version with grated old cheddar cheese and chopped green onions.

Makes 12 muffins (1 muffin = 4 WW pts - will vary depending on your "fruit", but I usually get 3-4 points each time per muffin)

Ingredients

• 1 & 1/4 cups fat free plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup liquid egg substitute (or 1 egg)
  
• 1 & 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup roughly chopped dried fruit
  
• 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (leftovers work great here)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 400F. Spray muffin cups with non stick spray or lightly grease, or use paper cups.
   
2. In a large bowl, beat yogurt, brown sugar, oil and egg with a spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients, except for fruit and rice, until flour is just moistened.
3. Fold in dried fruit and rice.
4. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups. (Cups will be very full, but they don't rise much).
5. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown and toothpick inserted in the centre, comes out clean.
   
6. Immediately remove from pan to cool.

I whipped up a batch tonight so I could post some pictures for you all. Here you go, enjoy!

Batter









Ready for the oven









Cooling









Yummy!

Weekend Recap

It's Sunday night already?

How do weekends go by so fast?

Yesterday was a pretty quiet day, household chores, groceries, laundry....and I had my first attempt at making "Larabars". They came out quite nice, although my food processor's motor died part way through so I only ended up making 4 bars. They are delicious though. Still really high in points so I need to work on combinations that are a little more reasonable. Will keep you posted.

Today I met Tina (Nowmotivated fr0m the Weight Watchers Canada site) and we went to Mount Nemo Conservation Area to hike. The trail was incredible, lots of ups and downs and at one point, a bit of rock climbing. I used lots of muscles I had forgotten I had. Throughout our hike we could hear the thunder getting closer and decided to turn back at the half way mark to avoid being caught in the bush in the rain.

As we were on way out of the bush, the rain just fell in torrents. We had about 10 minutes of wading through monsoon like rain and inches deep water on the trail. At one point there was a particularly loud clap of thunder with a bright flash of lightening that made us both jump and yell. I think we scared the dog the most! By the time we got to the car, our clothes were so wet that they were dragging us down and our shoes had water sloshing out of them.

Thankfully we both laughed about it and it did give me something to blog about tonight! The scenic trail was beautiful and at one point it felt like I could see all of Burlington from how high up we are. Next time I will take my camera.

Another work week ahead. My manager is on vacation this week so it should be a quiet, hassle free week :) I'm looking forward to it. I have to get my blood work done one morning, but other than that - no major plans. I made my lunch for tomorrow already - I'm so proud of myself :)
Roasted zucchini, tomatoes, onions and garlic tossed with olive oil and herbs. I will heat it tomorrow (or maybe eat it cold) and toss in some feta. MMM delicious!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Once again it is raining in Toronto.

Not a light summer drizzle..oh no..a full downpour. I admit the grass and trees and flowers look so pretty when we have lots of rain. But do we need SO much in the only two months of nice weather we get all year? It is unseasonably cool this summer, and I don't mind that, under 25C is fine for me but the rain? I truly am sick of it.

Ok...moving on :)

I really didn't feel like eating breakfast this morning. It is always a challenge for me..but when I am in a hurry even more so. I have two "go to" breakfasts when I don't feel like eating and am in a hurry. The only criteria, is quick, high fibre and high protein to keep my blood sugar balanced until mid morning when I can have a snack. My two "go tos" are Weight Control Oatmeal by Quaker and Nestle's Carnation Instant Breakfast (No Sugar Added). This morning it was oatmeal in banana bread flavour. In other posts, I've said how much I dislike oatmeal and that is so true. But reality is, it's filling, quick and easy.

Lunch was Wendy's. I didn't bring my lovely turkey sandwich I made last night and I still wasn't hungry but knew I had to eat. My coworker, who doesn't drive, asked if I would take her to Wendy's so I did and just ordered my lunch too: grilled chicken sandwich and fries. To my credit and surprise, I threw about a third of the fries out when I realised I STILL wasn't hungry and I didn't need to eat the fries after I'd eaten the sandwich.

From that point on, the day pretty much went downhill, in terms of food and exercise.

When I got home I was (again) absolutely exhausted so I lay down for a bit. (More on this later). When my husband and friend arrived home, we ordered pizza as I just had no energy to cook. I ate two slices and then we went to Coscto where I had an ice cream sundae. Feeling like crap, can barely stand up I'm so tired - but I can eat ice cream?

I tracked everything and since I had so many WP left over, it all fit into the grand scheme of things, but I hate "wasting" points. If I'm going to use that many points, I like to use them for something decadent that I can't have any time, you know?

I'm starting to wonder if this lethargy and fatigue is related to my thyroid or blood sugar levels. The last few weeks have been a brutal cycle of exhaustion and sleep deprivation. My blood sugar has been the lowest EVER since I was diagnosed with diabetes and I'm wondering if I am over medicated now that I have lost some weight and am more active. I know, in the past, when I have lost weight my endo has lowered my thyroid medication as well. Fortunately, I get all my blood work done next week and will see her the week after so maybe I will have some answers - because this is just not a good cycle to be in.

I am off to bed. TGIF tomorrow!!!

Wednesday Ramblings

I am feeling much better today.

A good night's sleep makes a world of difference to me, but food wise, I planned a lazy eating/cooking day.

I decided to start the day off and be nice to my body so I had a Green Monster for breakfast. What is a lazy Green Monster? 1 cup of milk, 1 pkg Carnation Instant Breakfast (NSA chocolate), 2 cups of spinach and half a banana with some ice cubes to make it nice and frosty. It was delicious, I drank it on my way to work.


For snack this morning, I had a Power Flax muffin from the Oh She Glows website.

For lunch I had a frozen entree. I only eat them 2-3 x a month but when I am stressed for time and imagination, they come in handy. I got this one at Metro and it looks like their answer to the PC Blue Menu products. Meatloaf is total comfort food :) It wasn't bad for a processed meal.


For an afternoon snack, I had some delicious seedless green grapes that I picked up at Loblaws on one of my bathroom breaks.

Dinner tonight was roast turkey breast, peas,corn, mashed potatoes and gravy. Delicious..and there is some turkey left over for lunch tomorrow :)


After dinner settled, my hubby and I went for a walk around our neighbourhood. We were out about 45 minutes and clocked up another 1.85 miles. He's been walking alot since he came home from the hospital in April since he can't drive yet. He is getting stronger on his feet and his balance is improving.

I've been researching Larabar recipes and found a couple that look good, so I'll try them out tonight or tomorrow. I looked at them in Loblaws today and found the cinnamon roll one that another blogger mentioned and also a chocolate one that sounded delicious. At $1.99 a bar, they are not overpriced compared to other bars, but I did notice that the ingredient list still contained alot of "stuff" other than fruit and nuts. They are also high in WW points which I guess makes sense because of all the nuts. I'm going to fiddle with some recipes and see what I come up with. Stay tuned!

It would be nice to hit my 30lbs lost this Friday, but last week I had a big loss (5.4 lbs) so I am expecting a very minor loss, if any at all. It will happen eventually, I know..I just want it to happen NOW :)

Tuesday feels like Friday

Today feels like Friday. Honestly. It is going to be a long, long week.

I woke up this morning with an upset stomach. I hate that feeling where you don't want to be more than 10 steps away from a washroom. Lucky for me, our washrooms at our construction trailer are out of order this week because they are putting in a permanent water line to the site, so going to the washroom means walking 4-5 minutes to Loblaws down the road. Lucky me.

The day passed pretty uneventfully, I had a ton of work and a training session at lunch time. I managed to get through the morning by drinking very little tea and eating nothing. By lunch time, the smell of the pizza was overwhelming me and I had one slice. Then I had another, then another, then another. Yes, that would be 4 slices. The only saving grace was that it was veggie pizza, light cheese on a thin crust, this is my favourite pizza and my coworker ordered it just for me - all the others were heavy on meat and cheese and crust. Strangely enough, the pizza did settle my stomach. I guess the bread soaked up all the acid churning around in there!

Once I started to feel better - I was hungry!

Then I had a rice cake and bag of low fat microwave popcorn. I ended my work day at 20 points of my allotted 27 - practically 100 % of processed carbs.

Coming home I had no idea what I wanted for dinner. The boys are out for the evening so its just me and Den. I stopped at the Loblaws near my home (not the temporary washroom Loblaws near my work) and browsed the aisles. You know that saying "Never go grocery shopping when you're hungry"? I now know why thats a good idea. Everything looked good. I ended up getting strawberries, grapes, low fat Cool Whip, VitaMuffins. Nothing yet for dinner. I kept wandering the frozen food aisles, Chinese, Asian, Italian - finally I lit upon frozen fish fillets.

I have never tried HighLiner, Healthy Bake Multigrain Breaded Fish Fillets. I liked how the picture on the box looked and the nutrition info looked good so I brought them home.

What to go with them? Risi e bisi - a childhood favourite. Basically a rice and pea risotto. I didn't have the patience to make risotto tonight so I just mixed some fresh peas with steamed rice.

And since I had my Italian heritage on the plate, I figured I should give a nod to the other half of my heritage and had a Bick's Pickled Onion. Lovely dinner for 5.5 points.

I couldn't get a good pic of the nutrition info for the fish - but here it is from the back of the box:

2 fillets: (3 WW pts)
160 calories
3.5 g fat
7 g of fibre

This is a salad plate, not a dinner plate!

So all in all today, I've used 26.5 points. I have lots of WP left over for the week so I can have a small snack of fresh strawberries and Cool Whip before bed with my last diabetes pill.

Hell's Kitchen starts tonight..if I can stay up that long. I am just so tired tonight. I seem to have these strings of days - 3 or 4 in a row - where I can't sleep at night and am just dragging all day. And even though I am sooo tired, I still can't sleep until I finally crash.

I do have alot on my mind the last few months and I'm sure that's all it is..but it just saps the energy right out of me.

15 Week Challenge - Week 4 - Goal Setting

I think Amy can read my mind! This is another challenge is that is exactly what I was doing anyway.

Over the weekend I had set some goals for myself and revised some others.

Short Term

My first short term goal was to lose 10% of my Weight Watchers starting weight, which was 25lbs. I achieved this last Friday. My reward for that goal was to buy myself a portable dvd player so I could watch Lost while on the treadmill. It's so cute :)

Yesterday I set a goal to walk 100 miles by my 42nd birthday on October 30th this year. I have set up a ticker at the the top of my blog page to keep track of my progress. I'm at 7.03 miles right now. When I reach that goal I will reward myself with an I-Pod. Not sure which yet, but I've got a few months to investigate.

My other "birthday" goal is to be in Onederland. 199lbs or less by October 30! That's 22.2lbs in about 14 weeks, it's ambitious, but not impossible! I've set up a spreadsheet to keep track of that. Here's the link: Halloween Knockouts

I also joined a group on the Canadian WW site to help me stay motivated, called "Halloween Knockouts".

We check in daily and encourage and support each other. We've all set individual goals for October 31st (I've just revised mine to be October 30).

Another short term goal is to start the Couch to 5K program. I had wanted to start last week but decided I should start with walking and get a little more in shape first. I definitely want to start that before the end of August. When I complete that program, I will give myself some new workout clothes as right now I just wear old sweat pants and an old teeshirt. I've downloaded podcasts to use while I'm doing it.

Go Figure - Fitness Clothes for Women, size 10 and up

Couch to 5K Running Program

Once I've reached these goals by October 30, I'll set new ones :)

Long Term

Right now I have two long term goals. Of course my weight loss goal is one. I originally set my goal weight at 135. I'm 5'0 tall so that falls at the top of my "healthy range" according to the standard charts. However, I've never been tiny. Even at 17 I was 130lbs and was fit, healthy and looked great, wearing a size 6-8. I'm not sure I could get to 135 now I'm in my 40's and stay there. My doctor suggested aiming for 145 right now and seeing how I feel and look when I'm there and if that is easier to maintain to stick there. So...that one may change. Here's my spreadsheet to keep track of that: Final WW Goal

Secondly, I want to get off my diabetes meds. That means eating well and exercising regularly to keep my blood sugar under control. It means being faithful to the program and never slipping up. With no meds, if my blood sugar goes up, its very difficult to get it to come back down, so the key is to keep it low. This won't automatically happen when I reach my goal and it may not happen at all, but it is definitely something I am working towards.

Thanks Amy, I had all this rambling around in different places but putting it all in one place is definitely going to help keep me organized and focused.

Getting Faster

Today was a pretty lazy day. Sundays usually are, I try and get all the major chores done on Friday night and Saturday so Sunday I can watch the Food Network, read and cook to my heart's content. Today was pretty much like that.

For breakfast I had Arnold's Sandwich Thins with an egg and baked beans. I love baked beans, they are my total comfort food. I ate canned today but I usually make up a big batch following the GI Diet recipe. They are low on the glycemic index and high in fibre and sooo delicious and last in the fridge about a month so I can eat them every few days.

Lunch was some Chapmans Madagascar Frozen Yogurt with fresh strawberries.

Dinner was homemade chicken and vegetable soup with homemade biscuits. Delish!

I checked my blood sugar two hours after dinner before I went on the treadmill and it was 4.8 which is pretty low, especially right before exercise, so I had a Power Flax Muffin that I had baked this morning and then went up to the treadmill.

I beat my last time for a mile by 2:13, it was previously 28:55 and tonight was 26:42. In 30 minutes I got to 1.13 miles. I was sweating so much my shirt was literally drenched. I did a pyramid:

7 minutes at 2 m.p.h.
4 minutes at 2.5 m.p.h.
6 minutes at 3.o m.p.h.
4 minutes at 2.5 m.p.h.
9 minutes at 2 m.p.h.

I hooked up my little portable 8" DVD player that I bought myself for reaching my 10% goal and watched an episode of Lost, I'm on Season 2 so I've got lots of walking ahead of me. I wanted to watch the whole episode but I was really pushing myself to get to 30 minutes, I don't think I could possibly have managed 40. But I will eventually!

I'm off to have a long, hot bubble bath and then watch my last 10 minutes of Lost before I go to bed.

Niters all and have a wonderful Monday.

Dog Day of Summer

I hope everyone had a nice day.

Tina and I walked along the Burlington Waterfront Trail for 3.5 miles in 1.5 hours worth 5 activity points. Go us!! It was the perfect day, blue sky, sunshine and the lightest cool breeze off the lake. We're going to try and plan something for next weekend too. It is great to have a walking buddy occasionally. The time just flew by and I never would have walked that far on my own.

That stretch of the trail is so beautiful. At one point it goes through an area with cottages on either side, like a little town right on the lake. It reminded me of the settlement that is still on Toronto Island.

Her dog Sadie was adorable. I am not an animal lover but I took to her right away. She was just the right mix of energy and friendliness without knocking me over :)

Eating was pretty good today. Coming home from Burlington, I felt my blood sugar was dropping so I stopped at McD's and got the new Mediterranean Chicken Wrap, I only ate half of it and then I felt better so I threw the rest out - just the half was 3 points.

For dinner we had homemade chicken fingers, sweet potato fries and some grilled zucchini. I have started to grind up Fibre 1 Original cereal and flax seed and mix it with regular breadcrumbs to add a fibre boost to the chicken fingers. No one has noticed yet :) The boys said tonight the chicken was extra crispy and I like the texture better too.

This evening my friend and her husband stopped by to drop off a belated birthday present for Iain and they brought their dog - Lucy. Lucy is just 4 months old and really, really, exuberant. But they had her on a leash and we sat out in front of the house and she just played and gamboled around.

I have never spent so much time with dogs in my life as I did today.

For a snack just now, I microwaved a frozen Dark Chocolate Vita Top with some Smuckers Sugar Free Fudge Topping and then topped it with some Cool Whip Free - 4 points of chocolate yumminess in a bowl. I meant to take a pic but I ate it before I remembered!

Saturday Morning

Morning everyone!

I woke up this morning to birds tweeting and lots and lots of sunshine although the breeze coming through the window is a bit coolish.

I just had a yummy breakfast. Saturday is the one morning where I indulge and eat whatever my heart and tummy desire. This morning it was 2 slices of crisp bacon and a fried egg on a toasted Arnold's sandwich thin. Six delicious points! I could eat another one..but I won't :)

I am just heading out for a walk with another WW message board member, nowmotivated, aka Tina. I'm meeting her at her house in Burlington and we and her dog, are going to go for a walk along Burlington's beautiful waterfront.

Have a great day and I'll check in tonight.

Benefits of 10%

I found this article on the WW site about the benefits of losing just 10% of your current weight.

http://www.weightwatchers.ca/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=2&art_id=113

10% Happy Dance

Yep, this was my scale this morning.

I've lost 28.8 lbs so far! And made my 10% goal which was 25lbs.

I am overjoyed, thrilled !

A journey of 10,000 steps starts with a pedometer.

This morning I put on my pedometer and wore it all day.

Just walking around at work, home, and Wal-Mart (I purposely parked as far as way as reasonably possible) I racked up almost 5,000 steps. I was pumped.

When I got home from work I was so tired, emotionally, physically and mentally. I love the company I work for, I love my co-workers, but my job? It's not challenging at all, and I find when the day is slow and unstimulating I come home in a funk. That was the case tonight. I just wanted to curl up and sleep. I ended up eating a slice of leftover pizza, left the guys to their own devices for dinner and went and had a nap. When I woke up it was 9:30 and exercising was the last thing I wanted to do, especially since I was comfy in my pj pants and tee shirt.

I told myself I would do 1o minutes and if I couldn't continue I would stop.

Well when I got to 10 minutes - I said, "Just go to 15".

When I got to 15, I realised my time was going to be better for the 1 mile than yesterday if I kept going...so I did. By the end my legs were jelly...but I went for 30 minutes, a total of 1.04 miles! Huge improvement on yesterdays time.

Here's me at 15 minutes - telling myself I could keep going if I just put one foot in front of the other. (Thanks for taking the pic, Iain.)

Here's the one mile mark, 28:55 - that's over a 3 minute improvement from yesterday. (Sorry about the flash)

And...30 minutes!

And finally, sweet reward!
A Green Monster with yogurt, milk, strawberries, flax meal and spinach.

I need to work on the flash settings on the camera.

Anyway, I am off to shower then BED.

Total steps today, including my mile on the treadmill is: 7986.

www.priorfatgirl.com

Jen over at priorfatgirl.com is one of the blogs I read every time there is a new post.

She is huge inspiration to me that I can get to goal and that it is possible to fit this healthy lifestyle into MY lifestyle for the rest of my life.

So.. as cool as she is, she is having a giveaway this week. Go check out her blog!!

http://www.priorfatgirl.com/2009/07/happy-hump-day-giveaway.html

I did it!!!

I did it!!

I used to be a power walker about 12 years ago, up until Liam was born. The last 5 years I've been unfit and in a non-exercising mode.

Tonight was my first go back at the treadmill. It took me 32:03 minutes to walk a mile. Not impressive, I know...but a start! I jogged for 1.5 minutes every 7 minutes..whew that was hard!!!! And 200++ pounds pounding a treadmill on the second floor - my boys were worried I was going to go through the floor into the living room below!

I am just so pumped that I did it.

15 Week Challenge - Week 3 - Challenge

So this week's challenge from Amy is to eat clean for one entire day. The Workout Wednesday challenge is spend 20 minutes walking/running, that is, in that 20 minutes, some of it must be spent running.

Both of these are perfect for me for two reasons.

1. I had planned to start the Couch to 5K program this week.

and

2. Last week I was so unmotivated and uninterested in the whole weight loss/healthy living thing and was just going thru the motions but not really putting into any real effort into it. The clean eating challenge forced me to focus on food and eating. This really kick started me back into the right mind set.

I will post #1 later tonight or tomorrow..but here is #2.

Two things that I noticed about eating clean for an entire day: I drank way more water than I normally do because I didn't have an open can of diet pepsi on my desk all day and I kept craving coffee so whenever that happened I would drink water. Secondly, I ate way more protein than I normally do as I had to replace the carbs (bread, crackers, pita, etc) with something to stop from starving all day!!!

So breakfast was a smoothie. I wanted to make a Green Monster but didn't have any spinach so I had to settle for a strawberry smoothie - plain yogurt, soya milk, strawberries and ground flax seeds.



Morning snack was a hard boiled egg and my favourite apple, Royal Gala.





Lunch was a roasted green pepper stuffed with lean ground beef, black beans, tomatoes, onions and carrots with sides of mashed turnips and butternut squash.



Afternoon snack was another apple (we were low on fruit at home) and some cheddar cheese.



Dinner was whole wheat pasta and oven roasted vegetables (peppers, zucchini, onions, garlic and tomatoes) tossed with some EVOO.




A big thank you to Amy for this week's challenge and for organizing the 15 Week Challenge.

Middle of the week.....

Today is a new day. Today I am feeling so much better about everything. It feels like a fresh start.

Yesterday was the “clean eating” day challenge and I totally rocked it. The only thing I missed was coffee (or more likely the caffeine). I drank only water or milk all day. I drank way more water than I normally do when I have a diet pepsi on my desk on all day. I also found that I ate way more protein since I wasn’t eating bread or any other processed carbs. I think it was exactly what I needed to spur my motivation and break my run of “bleh”. It forced me to think about what I was going to eat, it forced me to plan and it forced me to be accountable….all things I had let slide over the last week.

And I feel so amazing today! By the end of yesterday I was feeling tired – most likely caffeine withdrawal – but this morning I woke up before the alarm and jumped right out of bed instead of hitting snooze a couple of times. I made a delicious shake for breakfast and drank it slowly instead of gulping my breakfast the way I usually do.

Hopefully I will be on this streak for a while.

The Wednesday Workout Challenge is to run today. I’m going to do that one! I know I said I would do the last two and then didn’t – I was really overwhelmed by them and although I did do about half of the second one it was still really way above my fitness level. The challenge is go out for 20 minutes and run for part of it. I’ll let you know how I do. I will try and get one of the boys to go with me.

Two more days til my weigh in day and I am pretty sure I am going to hit my 10% goal. Then my next goal is 199 by October 30^th. That’s not just a random day that’s my 42^nd birthday.

15 Week Challenge - Eating Clean

I will write more about the challenge later..but for now I just want to say…I WANT A CUP OF COFFEE.

There I feel better…..(not as better as I would feel with a cup of coffee though).

I’ve eaten clean all day, no sugar, no caffeine, nothing processed and will continue until I go to bed tonight…but I am missing my coffee.

Weekend Update

Where is my motivation?

I saw it last about 7 days ago.

If you find it, can you send it back to me?

Seriously, last week I was so out of the loop regarding the whole weight loss/getting healthier thing. I just seemed to not care. I still tracked everything I ate – more from habit than anything else but I didn’t care. I wasn’t thinking about eating healthy, I was just eating. I wanted to be “normal”. I wanted to be able to eat whatever I wanted and enjoy it and not worry if I will gain or lose this week.

A few months ago, I accepted that this is for life. That it will always be like this. That even when I reach my goal, I will still have to monitor what I eat, monitor my weight (because it doesn’t take long to put on 10lbs and then 20 and then a 100 – I’m not exaggerating!) and be conscious of everything I eat. I guess occasionally I am going to get overwhelmed with it all – like last week. Forever IS a long time.

Hopefully I am in a better frame of mind starting today – missing sleep is so bad for my emotional state and last week that was the root of my problem, I think.

Saturday, Den and I went to Buffalo and I stocked up on “Hungry Girl” staples. There are products that she uses throughout her recipes that are not available here so since I had to go to Buffalo anyway, I went into to TOPS (love that store) and just shopped away. It was a short trip, we left at 6 and were home by 3 and I did pick up a few clothes at Dress Barn because they were having a massive sale. I also got a pair of jeans because the two pairs I have are too big. I got a size 18!! I was so thrilled. I almost didn’t try them on because they were on sale and only had size 16 or 18 left. But then I thought – the pair that are too big are a 20 – 18 must fit! And I was right.

We had lunch at Red Robin – not point friendly at all but so delicious. My favourite is the blackened chicken burger but I add salsa to it so it is sooo spicy hot and good. I don’t eat the top bun normally and use a fork and knife to eat it because it is so messy and I only ate half my fries because I was so full. Back in the day (about 6 months ago) I could eat the whole thing and have extra fries so perhaps I am learning something after all and making subconscious changes.

Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself if I have a week where I feel like I can’t be bothered?

Maybe I should celebrate that this is the longest I have stuck with a weight loss plan in over 12 years and it is working.

Maybe I should concentrate on my successes and not what I think I’ve failed at.

Maybe…I should just take one day at a time and not think about its going to take another year or more to get my goal.

I am so hoping to reach my 10% goal this Friday. I’ve gone up and down past 225 over the last few weeks by 1-2 lbs but when I see it on Friday it will be “official”, and hopefully stick.

My next goal after that is to get to 199 by my 42^nd birthday – October 30. So that would be 25lbs in about 13 weeks, its not impossible – but it is ambitious.

TGIF

This week has felt exceptionally long!

Thank Goodness today is Friday.  I went home last night and crashed, got up and had something to eat, then crashed again. I do feel like I slept better but I still feel draggy and lethargic.  Hopefully I will snap out of this soon because it sucks.

For breakfast this morning,  I had oatmeal. I don’t know what I want for lunch and I didn’t bring anything. We are walking over to Loblaws at lunchtime so I will pick up something there. It is convenient having it just a block away.  I don’t feel like a frozen dinner today so maybe I will just get some fruit and one of their prepared salads, the spinach/strawberry one always looks good but I’ve not tried it yet or sometimes I buy a small rye bun and 50 grams of some kind of lunch meat and one slice of cheese and have that with an apple or orange. I’ll see what tempts me while I am there J

For dinner, I didn’t make the chicken parmigiana last night so its either that tonight or homemade pizza.

The scale showed a 1.4lb loss this week since last Friday. I weigh myself every day. I know its not recommended when you’re following WW, but it makes me feel better to see the numbers and know how I’m doing. I don’t get upset when I see it go up 2lbs in 24 hours because I *KNOW* I didn’t eat an excess of 7000 calories in 24 hours so I know its just water retention and I need to drink more water to flush it out.  Day to day I see quite a few fluctuations but I “count” from Friday to Friday and everything that happens in between is just a guideline. For example, on Wed I was 224.8 which meant I had reached my 10% goal but I wait until my weigh in day of Friday to see where I am.  I also average it over a month and if I continue to see 1-2lbs loss a week I’m happy. This means some weeks I may not lose at all and that doesn’t bother me because I know it will “catch up” at some point over the month. Seriously, it makes this numbers game so much easier to bear.

As I’ve mentioned a million times, I’ve been going home exhausted every night so have not done any exercise at all. I know I just need to START and then I will be fine but I can’t seem to find the will inside me right now.

I did look into rejoining the YMCA and going back to aquafit – I loved that so much when I used to do it 3-4 x a week.  I’ll talk to Den about it tonight and see what he thinks.

Thursday Blahs..

 

So I’m at work – day is almost over and I’m in such a blah mood.

 

The last few days have been so stressful and I am not sure why. I haven’t slept well at all, last night I did but I crashed and it wasn’t restful sleep but  I have to admit I did feel better this morning than I have all week…physically that is.

 

Emotionally, mentally I’m just blah. Nothing seems exciting today. I met a friend at Wendy’s for lunch today and nothing appealed to me. I ended up ordering a Jr. Hamburger and a side salad and didn’t finish either. Normally I love getting out of the trailer at lunch time but today, blah!

 

I have no idea what to do for dinner, I vaguely remember promising the boys I’d make chicken parmigiana – but now I am thinking about it – what a lot of work! I’d love to go home, curl up with a book and a pot of tea and not talk to anyone or do anything, you know? 

 

I need to do this week’s 15 Week Challenge workout yet (Thank you Amy! – this one looks much less overwhelming than last weeks) and do my park workout and post and plan meals for next week so I can get groceries on the weekend.

 

I had planned to go to Buffalo on Saturday to pick up some food items that are impossible to find here, but right now – even that seems daunting and normally I love the day away and the browse around Barnes and Noble, some quiet time at Panera’s with a book and just browsing my faovurite stores. (Shopping is not in the budget this month).

 

I’ve been doing ok staying OP with WW and I track every day without fail, even if I eat crap.  My weight is coming down, slowly but surely and soon I will reach my 10% goal. So why am I feeling so blah about this whole process today?

 

I need to find something that will prompt me to blog every day, even if it’s just a few lines. It really helps to keep me motivated when I do. I read others’ blogs but then can never think of anything to write about that will be interesting. I guess I have to remember that this blog is mostly for me, so whatever I want to write about is ok J

 

I think I will come up with a few categories for a couple of days so I don’t have to think about the “what” part and can just type away.  “Food Find Fridays” immediately comes to mind and I always have lots to write about food!

 

Today I am tired. I haven’t slept well the last few nights and today it has caught up to me. I feel “fuzzy”, you know when you feel like everything around you is moving at hyper speed and you’re in slow mo?

 

I am also trying to come into work at 7 so I can leave at 3 to beat the traffic. Coming in is not a problem around 8 but going home around 4-4:30 takes forever!  This morning I was here at 7:45 so I’m going to do that for this week and then aim for 7 next week.

 

This morning I was so unorganized, I forgot my diabetes meds, my wallet (including license and insurance) and my sunglasses.  If I am going to leave earlier I need to get more stuff ready the night before.

 

Without my diabetes meds, I will feel pretty crappy all day as my blood sugar will be too high but thankfully I am not insulin dependent so it’s not a life or death thing.  Hopefully I won’t get pulled over for anything on my way home tonight and won’t need my wallet and it’s overcast today so I shouldn’t need sunglasses….I am hoping this means the day can only get better from here.

 

Yesterday was a pretty good day on program.  I ate well although I didn’t do any exercise. I went to bed at 9 ‘cause I was so tired but then tossed and turned all night and when the alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I was still wide awake. 

 

Amy at www.amysquesttobeskinny.com posted the results of the first week of the 15 Week Challenge. Lots of great motivation looking at the stats!!

 

This week’s challenge is do a workout at the park – I think I can handle that. The article she linked to suggested using a park bench for step ups. I’m not sure how that would work, I’m only 5 feet tall, the bench is well above my knee – I don’t think I could use that as a step J  I will find something to do at the park and if I can get Liam to go with me, he can take some pics and I will post them , I am not promising though!

 

Eats for today:

 

 Breakfast - Carnation Instant Breakfast with chocolate soya milk (3)

Mid Morning - Hungry Girls’ Blueberry muffin (2)

Lunch - A chicken/veg wrap and roasted carrots/edamame (8)

Mid Afternoon - Jello pudding (1)

Dinner – Grilled haddock and vegetables (2-5 depending on which veg I do)

 

……but I will see how I feel when I get home, I may just have some soup and leave the guys to their own devices so I can take a long hot bath and go to bed early.

 

I may try taking a sleeping pill tonight. My doctor gave me some while Den was in the hospital because I wasn’t sleeping and I only used 2-3 so I have lots left. It would be nice to just crash and wake up feeling refreshed and energized tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Vacation over...

...well it wasn't a real vacation, I just took from Tuesday (June 30-July 3) to Friday off and now its Sunday already and tomorrow is back to work life. UGH! Sundays seem to go by so quickly, don't they?

I did enjoy the time away from the office and was semi productive around the house. I cooked alot!
The last few days I have been feeling really hungry so I've been eating all the time it seems, but when I look at my tracker I haven't eaten over my points, I've just been grazing alot so maybe the little meals I was having weren't holding me over so I was eating less food more often rather than more food less often!

I was so hoping to get to my first 10% goal by the end of June , that would be 225 lbs. I'm so close I can taste it! Definitely by the end of July! I walked for about 20 minutes yesterday but haven't done any exercising today so far, unless you count walking around IKEA for half an hour trying to decide which frying pan I wanted to buy. Just in case you're interested, I ended up getting the mid priced one - $29.99 and am hoping that my 15 year old son will finally stop using a metal spatula on a teflon surface. I just threw away two frying pans that were completely scratched up from him doing that.

I just took Hungry Girl's Blueberry muffins out the oven and the whole house has this wholesome, wheaty, sweet smell..mmmmm. I shared one with Iain and they are so good! They will be my mid morning snack for this coming week at work.

Den has a headache so went to lay down for a bit, Liam is still asleep from an all night horror movie marathon so it is just me, sitting here, trying to entertain myself. I am actually also menu planning. Today is grilled beef strips with sweet potato hashbrowns and edamame and tomato salad. Tomorrow is grilled chicken with beans and rice and Tuesday is grilled halibut with some kind of salad..that's as far as I've gotten, haven't even started my lunches yet either.

Do you ever feel like all you think about is food during this journey? The last few days have seemed that way to me, if I wasn't eating, I was cooking, if I wasn't cooking I was reading cookbooks, or going through the pantry to see what we have on had, or planning menus or buying groceries or frying pans!

Oh, I did want to mention that I picked up "Hungry Girls 200 under 200" cookbook. At first I was disappointed that so many of the recipes use ingredients that are difficult, or impossible to find here (here being Toronto). The US definitely has many more fat free / sugar free products than we do. I don't think we have less obese people than the US does, but I guess our market share would be much smaller. Anyway, I did find quite a few recipes that use basic ingredients and those that I need "special" things for can wait til after I've made a trip to Buffalo where I am sure I can stock up on "Hungry Girl" staples at Super Walmart or Tops.

So far I've made, Blueberry Muffins and Fab Five Banana Pancakes, I also made an oatmeal breakfast inspired by the cookbook but didn't use the actual recipe. I sometimes use recipes as a guideline or an idea to start me off and then wing it from there. I love how I can enter a recipe in the WW recipe builder on line and it will calculate everything for me.

Ok I am just rambling here...have nothing really to say, can you tell?

I am looking forward to reading Amy's new weekly challenge post later today or tomorrow and have enjoyed reading all the recipe makeovers from the other participants - lots of ideas for point friendly meals.

15 Week Challenge - Week 1 - Recipe Makeover

This is my alternative to pub nachos and is easy to make and delicious! The whole recipe is 7 WW points based on the ingredients I used, your points may be slightly different depending on specific ingredients (but should be close). This is enough for a satisfying dinner or big enough to share as an appetizer for two.

2 low fat 6” corn tortillas
100 g low fat ground turkey
30 g low fat cheese, grated
½ cup fat free salsa
¼ cup chopped red onions
Non fat cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Spray a cookie sheet with non stick spray.
3. Spray each side of tortilla with the non stick spray.
4. Cut tortillas into 8 wedges each.
5. Place tortillas in single layer on cookie sheet.
6. Cook in heated oven for about 5-8 minutes, turning once halfway through (watch them carefully as they go from crisp to burnt very quickly!).
7. Leave wedges on the cookie tray to cool completely.
8. Turn oven down to 350F.
9. Cook turkey with your favourite seasonings ( I used salt, pepper and chili powder) until done.
10. Stir in ½ cup of salsa.
11. Arrange cooled tortilla wedges on cookie tray so they are close together and some slightly overlap.
12. Spoon turkey/salsa over tortilla wedges evenly.
13. Sprinkle with chopped onions.
14. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
15. Bake in oven until cheese is melted.
16. Eat!!