Friday, February 29, 2008

Perfect

I think I shouldn't have said that. I may have jinxed myself. But things really are going perfect for me. Sorry no post yesterday, all will be explained.

Let's begin with the WI. Today is the last day of the month. review of goals told me to:
weigh 136 by the end of the month

Well the scale was beings super weird this morning. Fluctuating more than 2 lbs while I was standing on it. and it's a digital scale. It showed readings of 137.4 a couple times, 137.2 a couple times, 136.4 once (and flashed the 138 at me before settling down). It was bizarre. I'm going to go with the 136.4 since it's the lowest number. It might be harder to get a loss next week, but I don't want any fake losses anyway. So with that, I'm 0.4 lbs from my February goal. I don't think that's too bad at all!

I was also supposed to eat a veggie and protein meal with no starches twice a week. I didn't really keep track of this. So that's bad. But I know that I've adopted a new supper go to. And it's just that, a meat and a veggie. It's becoming more of a 4 times a week or more thing, but not at the beginning of the month. Averages out to a check.

And I wanted to track foods. I know I didn't do this perfectly. Definately not on the weekends. However just the idea that I was supposed to track has helped get my mind in the game a little bit. In the past month I've gone from pecking and randomly choosing snacks and suppers to having an idea and generally sticking to it for the whole day. Example, I no longer stuff food in my lunch kit and decide at lunch what I'm going to eat. I pack it with an idea in mind, and no overstuffing. Suppers are still kinda tricky (forgot to plan today) but I (usually) don't wander around the kitchen eating almonds or a banana or whatever while I decide what to cook. By writing it down on here I at least give myself an idea. For example today i'm thinking it might be nice to eat out or at least order something. (don't worry I won't go nuts, no fries for sure. but maybe a sub? something like that)

So overall I give myself a B- on my goals. I didn't exactly do them perfectly at all. But I still got the benefit of them if you know what I mean. They served their purpose.

Here's the other perfect thing that's going on for me lately. I had a doctor appointment yesterday to see the results of my bloodwork. (hence no post). Well super long time readers might know that I was diagnosed with high cholesterol about a year ago and that's what really started to kick my butt in gear about getting in shape and being healthy (and subsequently losing 20 lbs). I was so embarrased to be only 25 with high cholesterol (granted it's hereditary) and thought that just painted me as a lazy fat slob who didn't care enough about her health to take care of herself (which really wasnt' the case anyway, I exercised a couple times a week at least and ate quite healthy even before). but never the less those yucky feelings were motivation for me to join this great journey with all of you.

So yesterday I got my results back. I'M CURED! if you can be cured then I totally am. All my numbers are now in the low end of the acceptable range. And my ratio bad to good is not even average risk. IT'S BELOW AVERAGE RISK! Even with my terrible family history of this, I am BELOW AVERAGE RISK now! YAY! I was so excited yesterday! I treated myself to a tub of light cool whip at the grocery store for eating with berries this weekend. Plus I bought myself some cute mini kitchen gadgets (a hand blender, coffee grinder, and a minichopper from Extra Foods, $8.50 each.)

And today is friday and I get to listen to my awesome podcast this afternoon. Plus the work that has taken me months and months and is getting embarrassing that I'm still not done is just FLYING all of a sudden. I'm meeting my sister for a work date at the university tomorrow so I can finish edits on my thesis and probably will hit the gym while I'm there. Plus we're going to Starbucks. PLUS it's March and that's my birthday month and there's only a few weeks until Easter! Things are soo good!

Tomorrow I will take pictures and try and put them up here on Sunday. Also this afternoon I'll try and come up with some March goals. It's exciting because the scale goal is going to be in the lower 130's. Somewhere I've never been! tough but exciting! Hope you guys are doing just as awesome!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I am super

I am feeling super. The scale didn't tell me I'm super but I think I am anyway. I am feeling lean and tight. Probably mostly because I am still really really sore from my monday workout. YES! And I've got another big workout like that tonight (though slightly fewer squats thank god). Then I have thursday to hope that the water my muscles will be holding on to will go away. (chugging water is the only cure for this right?)

Food is good today. I don't feel as good about lunch here. I'm eating leftover spaghetti from last week (ew?). lean meatballs and veggie filled sauce and whole wheat spaghetti with only a little bit of cheese. But I just feel like it's not the best choice for a hard core loss week. oh well. It's done. Breakfast was an english muffin. Morning snack a banana and carrots. (the last banana in the house, and I didn't eat them all!) lunch the spaghetti, and some grapes. Afternoon snack will be more carrots and an apple and a cheese string maybe. Supper might be some fish with left over peas and maybe rice.

Hubby has lost 5 lbs since his heaviest. which is good. But that's in like 2 months. He started working out at noon and wants me to design him a little workout program. Fun! However he's only got 30 minutes and has to be back downstairs working. He's doing the "manly" things like bench presses, shoulder presses, and flies. All good things. But his goal is fat loss so he should be doing some full body moves like squats and lunges and deadlifts. He does sit on the bike for 15 minutes and I think he counts that as his leg workout. The problem is that his job is physical. So he can't be just exhausted going back to work. I think the main thing with him will be doing something rather than nothing. Whether he's doing the perfect thing for fatloss isn't as important as just sweating for 30 minutes. (though I think he'd be wasting his time if he did nothing but bicept curls and crunches). That goes for all of you.

So I've got to evaporate 1.4 lbs in the next couple days to see 136.0 by friday. I am working hard for it though. There have literally been no snacks or chocolate or crackers or candy or basically sugar or processed foods this week. I've hardly missed it, aside from the convenience. But it's not much harder to grab a handful of carrots and toss it in the lunch than grab a kashi bar. Yes I've been eating the same thing just about every day, but it's stuff I like. I think that's probably a good idea. Buy a bag of grapes and eat it all week. The next week buy a cantaloup and eat it all week. not a problem!

Anyway, work's a calling and i've got a few of your blogs to read yet! Here's to a super wednesday!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

......

Don't know what to say, just jump into it.

Yesterday was a pretty darn good day. Work was good, weather was good, had a nice visit with hubby over supper - not in front of the tv. had a good workout, stuck to my food plan. very good.

I made grilled steak since we had some marinating from FIL since friday. Mmm, I think it was elk though I'm not sure. I really can't taste the difference unless it's bad. Had that and a whole bunch of steamed asparagus with becel spray. That's it! It was still just about a full plate and thank goodness steak takes a long time to eat (cutting, chewing etc). I really really wanted a banana afterwards, especially since they are the perfect ripeness right now. But I didn't! I told myself it could be post workout snack and left it. Did dishes and cleaned up the kitchen with hubby right after eating and that helped distract. Made my green tea (which is totally cheating green tea, it's really lipton Green Tea To Go. But it's still sorta green tea right?) and chugged that until I forgot about food. Walked the dog, changed for class. I ate an access bar from Melalueca. It's this protein bar sort of thing that's only like 100 calories and it's supposed to help you burn fat during your workout. I have a bunch still and since I wasn't stuffed from supper like I usually am I had it before class. I don't know if it really does anything. But it tastes like a chocolate bar and only has 100 calories so I'm ok with it.

Then class was good. Instructor was just getting over a migrane so didn't want to bounce around, therefore we only did the weight portion of the class. Which was ok with me. I worked it hard and it was great. I almost died in the squats, could barely get up, had great form. Did die in the bicepts, I had to drop the weight and switch for the last like 4 reps, pitiful. If I'd have known there were only 4 left I'd have hung on. Even the deadlifts were extra tough. I really focused on good technique and had my 2 10 lb weights. UGH! In a good way! Like a happy tough grunt. UGH.

Came home and ate a bowl of yogurt with all bran and a banana cut up in it. Very good. Nice and healthy. Not too many calories.

I'm a bit sore today. Not really muscle sore, but I feel muscle fatigue as if I just finished the class. I guess that's what a week off will do for you. I'm wearing my tight jeans too. They fit, they're just tight in the thigh where my giant thighs are. I usually avoid these jeans but I thought they'd be a nice reminder too stay focused. I'm not feeling skinny exactly today, but I do sort of feel tighter and smaller and better than a month ago. I guess we'll see at picture time. (probably doing pictures this saturday morning, stay tuned).

Food today:
breakfast - omega 3 granola with milk. a big high in sugar I guess but it's 1/3 fruit and nuts and delicious. And I only had 1 cup and it kept me full.
lunch - ham sandwich with lettuce and mustard. grapes.
snack - apple and cheese
supper - steak again. Maybe steamed beans this time.

Also hitting the gym for a run after work. I'm going to make up a triathalon training thing this week. I found a couple in magazines that I'm going to adapt. It will be nice having a plan to stick to and not just deciding that day what i'm going to do at the gym.

Anyways, work to do!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Weekly goals

Weekly goals this week are required. It's the end of the month, my first month with goals, and I am not looking like I'm gonna make it. So here's the plan:

Exercise every single day. Class, gym, class, gym. Friday even, maybe run outside.
Bring at least 1 less thing than you usually do for lunch. If I bring a Kashi bar as a just in case, I'm going to eat it before the apple since it's yummy. Leave it out.
No desserts. Not even fruit. Drink a green tea. Then if you want that banana have it. Pretty sure that tea will satisfy.
*note - I have a banana eating problem. Yes it's fruit, but it's a starchy fruit that I like to put peanut butter on and eat 3 or so a day.
Half plates of supper will be veggies. More veggies than other. (I often do the half plate veggies and then overlap with the meat and side.)

That should do it I hope. I can't really control the scale, but those are healthy things that will work in the long run.

I think I'm going to go have some green tea now.

A wonderful weekend (focus on the positive)

I had a...fun weekend. I ate...alright. That about says it all doesn't it? For some reason I felt like eating a chocolate bar on Saturday. And I ate like 3 breakfasts on Sunday but no lunch. I dunno, it might balance out. I think it was overall a bit high on calories, especially for the lack of activity. All I did was walk the dog twice. Mellow. However I was standing/running around most of the day saturday.

I bought this cookbook at Costco (what's with that! I gotta stop it!) and it's called the Big Cook or something. anyway it inspired me to make all these ready made meals and freeze them so there's no thinking during the week. I packaged up:
6 bags of 1 dozen chicken wings. Not for me, for hubby. This way he can have wing night with me sometimes and save some money and get quality time in.
2 meals of pork chop parmasean
1 chicken stir fry w/ veggies
1 teriyaki chicken
1 homemade chicken strip meal
2 marinated chicken breast meals
1 polynasian beef meal
2 ham meals
3 wonton soup "concentrates" (yes homemade wonton soup with homemade wontons. tastes good, but annoying to do!)
I also divided up some Canadian bacon into "meal" sized portions.

I think there was some more meals as well but I can't remember it all. Not to bad at all huh? I spent saturday morning shopping at Superstore. I bought some really nice pjs on clearance as well. Microfleece brown. Nice. And an $8 workout top. No built in sports bra, but still nice. Plus weird things like tofu and a jar of roasted red peppers. Just some different things. I also saw all sorts of reasonably priced, really nice furniture pieces I want. Bookshelves and stuff. But saved it for another trip.

Then I spent all afternoon chopping and mixing my meals. It was really cool. Now I won't have to think about food for like 2 weeks minimum. Not to mention hubby brought home leftover marinating steak from the lake and lots of fish.

I also did some major overhaul cleaning on my pantry cupboards and did again like 9 loads of laundry. My brother came over last night too and he made some celery/potato soup which was ridiculously good that we ate for supper and I had for lunch again today. Plus I helped him go through his pictures from his year in Australia and picked out good ones to print or put in frames etc. I taped 2 curling games this weekend and the Oscars so I'm going to have nice supper watching tv for a few days this week. (both are good for doing 2 things at once while watching. Maybe dishes or organizing pictures for scrapbooking or exercising.)

Speaking of exercising, classes are back this week. I'm expecting to be nice and super sore from it because of my lack of hard workouts. Well I did hard cardio but like no strength stuff. (Can't wait for my birthday and barbell shopping. Though right now I have no where to keep it.)

Perhaps some of you saw Angie's blog where she talked about buying this dress? Well if you actually watch the little video with it you might be in as much awe as I am. So I went online and bought the dress 3 times. I can hardly believe it. But I bought a slightly different one, I think just the material is different though. And it was on clearance. So I bought 3 (was just gonna do 2 but $50 is free shipping...) for $18 each! Awesome! I got a brown, black and teal one. The black one in a large and the others in a medium since I'm between sizes. Even if the dress is all tight and shows rolls or something I can just wear it as a shirt (!) or a couple kinds of skirts (!). AMAZING!

Anyway. I've got some blogs to catch up on, not to mention I'm already sneaking in thesis work in with my work work (finally got edits back! now it's a race to see if I can get it through the committee and defend before the end of the semester...)

Urgent Bulletin!!!

Only 12 weeks until May Long Weekend!!! That means 12 weeks until bikini season. (though here it's still too cold in May for swimming. It still means summer season has begun though!)

Let's start pushing out a pound a week shall we girls to get ready?

Friday, February 22, 2008

A brief note on hubby.

so hubby is still attempting to lose weight. He is doing it like a bad dieter I think though. The kind who still eat bad food, but then skip a meal or something? Well he's getting better. And he's trying. I don't know how much weight he's lost, if any in the past month. But let me tell you about his yesterday.

He recently went to Walmart and bought a new pair of work jeans. In a size 36 I think. That's a size up from his previous depressing size (He's about exactly the same height as me, 5'4.5" and weighs about 170. Granted alot is muscle, but he really shouldn't be weighing higher than like 155 I think.) Anyway, so he realized that he really has to step it up and seriously try and lose some weight, depressed with his new fat clothes. So yesterday at noon, he didn't really feel hungry or had an upset stomach or something, so he went upstairs at his work at first intending to nap, but then ended up working out! He works in a lumber yard and they just built a new store with a small gym upstairs! Basically the same stuff you'd see in a small hotel gym, a bike, a treadmill, a bowflex or something. A few dumbells. So he worked out for 30 minutes instead of eating lunch (they only get half hour). He told me that and I could tell he was so proud and thought I'd be so impressed. It was good and I was impressed, but I told him that he still has to eat lunch. He needs fuel for his workouts. He just needs healthy foods. He did buy a sub for supper instead of the regular bar wings or pizza. So that's another plus. and he used light mayo instead of regular which also told me so proud. Funny guy.

but he's going ice fishing this weekend and packed tons of snacks and beer and i'm pretty sure ice fishing is all about drinking anyway. We'll see though. Our BIL is doing LA weight loss and so has to kind of eat veggies and stuff. We'll see if any of that rubs of on hubby. i'm doubting it. I think BIL cheats a lot when SIL isn't around.

i'll let you know how it's working for hubby next time he weighs in.

an early one - or not

So I thought I'd post a bit early today since I'm waiting for a model to run before I can do anything really. So I don't know how time zones work for everybody but maybe people will get a chance to read this before the weekend as well this way.



Weighed in this morning. 137.4. Up about a lb from yesterday but down like 1.5 from last WI. Progress, even if it's not the progress I was hoping for.



I just updated my little graph from the beginning of the year. I'll try and slap it in here...

edit - turned into a late post. Work got in the way, then somebody else needed to use my computer. I hate that. He just jumped on when I had all this stuff open still and probably saw all my blog stuff or my loss graph or whatever. Eeek. at least he didn't say anything. (I'm sort of doing this weight loss thing in secret, just gradually looking better in the office. Close friends know.)

So I decided I don't want to pull up that graph right now at work. I'll do it later this weekend. Remind me.

Anyway, my point was, since the new year, I have fluctuated up and down a lot in January, February at least has had a net loss. Not much according to my last WI but a loss still. Hopefully next week (the 28th!) will show me what I saw yesterday at a maximum. And I can be definately in weight loss mode again.

I think it's starting to hit me. Ever since last weekend when I was swimming with my friend. While I'm super comfortable with my size and shape in the office or on the weekends etc, I'm not comfortable in a bathing suit. I have lost lots of weight, but not enough to make that more comfortable. I was sort of feeling like I was good enough, just a few tweaks, but now I have renewed interest in losing at least 6 more pounds. I should plan a bathing suit event with friends once a month, just to keep my goal in site. I should also buy a new bathing suit. But one thing at a time.

So food today is going to be iffy. Breakfast was an english muffin with peanut butter. snack was a few mints and a cheese string. Lunch however, our office for the first time ever, ordered pizza for everyone. Thank goodness I only had 2 slices. We were quotioned (is that a word?) 4 each. I could have kept going, however my stomach was full. (my mouth wanted more though. It's been AGES since I've had greasy pizza. Pizza hut.)

Anyway, I've got afternoon snack of grapes planned. But supper I'll try and make light. It's gonna be just me. Hubby and SIL are going home this weekend (ice fishing, no thank you. I could stay home with the girls but I don't need an entire weekend being bored). So I'm going to get things done around the house and get a couple workouts in. I bought this cookbook at Costco yesterday (why do I keep buying cookbooks? I have enough! I only make recipes from the internet or my own head anyways!!). Anyway this cookbook is about doing a big swap with a few friends and making like 8 meals of the same thing, freezing it in individual ziplock bags, ready for the slow cooker or barbeque or whatever, your friends doing the same thing with another recipe, and then swapping out so you have 8 different frozen meals ready to go. I don't think I'm going to do the swap with anybody, I just want to know these recipes that can be put straight in the freezer and then just thrown in a slow cooker for 8 hours. Sounds perfect to me! (too bad some of you didn't live near me, you might be interested in doing this. I just don't really talk food and stuff with people I know in real life. we'll see though)

yesterdays food was good. However supper might have been a bit big. Hubby called saying he had bought a sub for himself so I might want to grab something for myself too. Well I should have just gone home and had leftovers like I'd planned. But a sub sounded really good, plus when somebody puts the idea in your head like that it's hard to forget. So I got myself a footlong turkey breast on whole wheat with cheese (I usually leave off) and lots of veggies and honey mustard. A pretty good choice overall. I still went home and steamed up some beans and ate a plate full of them before I could have my sub. But then I ate the whole sub anyway. Eek. And a banana for dessert. Very healthy, lots of veggies, some protein, sauce was even not bad. Cheese could have done with out but hey, I got the non processed kind. It was just a lot of food. Oops. I think that may have contributed to the higher scale reading. That and forcing and extra 1 litre of water down right before bed.

Oh, and the gym beating I took hours early. Well not really a beating. I did my HIIT. HARD! I did 16 minutes, 1 minute sprint (14-15 km/hr) and 2 minutes recovery. With a low incline (2%). It was nice and tough. I got so sweaty! Then I went and did my chinups, with only 40 lbs counterweight instead of 50. good. Then I tried to do some squats with a barbell but there wasn't really any good place to do it. I ended up just doing it next to the rack but I was sort of in the middle of nowhere and felt self conscious about it. I used either a 35 lb or 70 lb barbell. I didn't know if each side was 35 lbs or total. Isn't that dumb of me? I really should have payed more attention. I know I wouldn't be able to curl 70 lbs so I could have done that as a check. nope. idiot. Oh well, I'm pretty pleased with myself for doing barbell squats period. I could have used more weight, however I was scared of dropping it or not being able to get it off when I was done. Can't wait until my birthday when I buy myself a barbell set! yay!

Anyway. I guess it's back to work time. Get this blog off the screen in case i'm interupted again!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

I'm just not feeling like working. I'm feeling like planning. I want to plan things. Or else do mindless work so I can listen to stuff. Instead I've only got sort of thinky work to do. (report writing, way in advance so it's not urgent). oh by the way I finished that urgent report and had it reviewed and very very few edits, so that's huge progress for me, yay. I'm sort of on the crash from the last few days of uber-productivity.

So I'm not going to feel bad about slacking for the next half hour. I'm sorta waiting to hear back from the client, also to meet with some guys here at work so not completely lame on my part. anyways.

Planning, what do I want to do planning for? Big things! For example, I was thinking of my SIL's wedding and of maybe throwing her a shower or something. However I'm way early, the wedding isn't until October. But I love planning...

So then I thought my other SIL is having a baby in about a month and a half. So planning a shower for her and her baby is possible, but really that wouldn't be happening until late May or later. Plus I don't think I know as much about baby showers (having never had one) so I just feel less prepared for it.

But then maybe we'll plan a scrapbook party. I'm in this group for my SIL where I have to buy some scrapbook junk every month minumum $25, but then once a year I get to be the recipient of the free stuff. Basically like a tupperware party is held every month and I spend $25 each month and then once a year I get to host the party when everyone else spends $25. It's a genius move for anyone who has one of those Tupperware, Party Lite, Scrapbooking, etc home business things. She's guaranteed a party with $250 in sales every single month without doing any stinking work. Here's how it's dumb though, if I just had a party myself once, and spent the full $25x12 months ($300) at my own party, I'd be getting way more free stuff. Annoyed.

Anyway, March is my birthday month, and is also my hosting month. Now you don't have to do anything for a party, but you can throw one if you want to invite people and increase your sales. Cool. Last year I did have a party and it was mild. I hate doing things like that and nobody shows up. Like the sex toy party I had years ago. Also, this is worse since I think SIL sucks at being a consultant. She doesn't give you the things that the catalogue says you get for being a host. She has some draws or whatever but all the things are from the Dollar Store not from the actual company she's selling for. She is so disorganized about the instructions for projects planned. As in, she doesn't plan anything, just brings all the cool stuff from the company and says she'll show anybody anything they want to see. Which kinda makes sense because that way people can see whatever they're interested and might be likely to buy. However, nobody knows what they want to see because they've never seen it before. Also, they end up wanting to see every single thing and that takes way too long and everyone's doing other things at the same time and it's like a kindergarden class! Plus since she's only into card making, not using pictures and making pages (ya know, scrapbooking?) she doesn't ever show anything about the products for making pages, just cards. And I am the opposite, I make cards because I feel like I have to, it's sort of work though. But it's how I use up scraps and I can't imagine paying for a card.

So while I'm bitching (not planning after all...) this same SIL is crazy. Why would anybody install a reverse osmosis system (water purifier) in their house? Well they're doing it because they're sick of hauling water jugs around. Sure, but why would you need water jugs? If it's taste alone, you're retarded. Shut up. We live in Canada, the place that has the most clean water than anywhere in the world. Particularly here in Sask where our population is low, and there's not many industries etc polluting and we've got over 100,000 lakes (no joke!). PLUS, you live in a city which probably has the safest water in the province. WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU! Chorine in the water is mostly used up by the time you drink it, besides it's low enough to not hurt you. The flouride in it is for your stinking benefit! Ok so you don't like the taste. well you get used to it honestly. You get used to any water. You should see what kind of water my grandma used to like. BOO YOU SIL!!! Spending like $300+ on this stupid thing. whatever. you annoy me.

So I guess I didn't feel like planning. I wanted to bitch. Sometimes you gotta do this. Hubby doesn't get it, he always either defends whoever, or is like "well great, should we not go visit them? What do you want me to do?" and the answer is, I want him to be like "yeah, they suck".

Anyway. Almost end of the work day. Phew, thank goodness. I'm not feeling cool about being here right about now. Not even feeling like going to the gym but I will...

oh food:
b - english muffin with peanut butter
s - nothing
l - hamburger soup, grapes, berries
s - cheese, apple, granola bar
s - ? I'm going to cook up a whole schwack of veggies and eat a FULL plate of this, and maybe leftovers or something.

Maybe I'll do timesheets or something to kill the last few minutes.

Self Sabatoge

Dramatic title.

I dunno if I was really self sabatoging yesterday or if I just had an off day and sucked a little. I felt good and skinny all day thanks to that lovely 136 from the scale (Shannon saw it too! must be something in the water). Then go home and make the supper I had planned. leftover green beans and spaghetti and meatballs. With the sauce being a leftover frozen special sauce full of veggie purees and more veggies. Unfortunately I was eating alone since SIL was working and hubby decided to go straight into the garage instead of coming inside. So I ate in front of the computer, trying to figure out how to record streaming broadband video (any tips computer nerds?).

Anyway, goofed off on there for an hour. Then decided I needed a snack. Ok I can have desserts, I waited an hour after supper and still wanted it. So I had an english muffin with margarine. I was still pissed at having dropped my breakfast that morning. Yummy. However not satisfying the sweet thing. So I also ate half a hollow chocolate egg (the kind that has fuzzy peaches inside?). Boo me. I knew it was a boo me while I was doing it. And was telling hubby about how I was so pissed since I felt skinny all day. Why? but I don't really want to psychoanalyze it.

Anyway, the scale didn't punish my for it this morning. But who knows how the rotten scales work, it'll probably be mean tomorrow on WI day. Anyway, I saw the 136.6 again. Yay me. Hopefully I can lose the remaining 0.6 next week and meet one of my February goals!

No exercise yesterday. Hubby and I had to talk finances. We're setting up a new budget thing, right now we're on a free for all. He keeps track of the accounts and spends what he thinks we can afford (January frivolous spending for him: $650, after he'd already cut back significantly. Just at the bar or whatever. January frivolous spending for Randi: $150. On post Christmas clothing sales.)

So now we're setting it up so it'll be even, only $500 a month frivolous spending each. But that's going to include all clothes, make-up, bar trips, eating out etc. I'll be fine. I don't even get a haircut every month. And I'll be able to save up for a few months and buy a laptop and a piano eventually. As we were going I'd never be able to because I want the money there and then pay cash. Hubby always wants to buy things on payment plans and finds the money later. Leaving us as saving no money. Oh plus we're going to save $400 a month in combined "savings" and "misc". As in, we figured out gas and groceries etc but we might have forgotten something, therefore misc. The savings are for if the car breaks down or oil changes which are sort of irregular. Not to mention we're doing a little trick with investing and the mortgage and everything and putting away an extra $40,000 for retirement (before interest). I feel so much better. Hubby feels so much worser but knows it's for the best. That's why the whole night was blown talking about this, hubby was bringing up all these whatifs and stuff. Like all of his hobbies are more expensive than mine, hockey, hunting etc but will have to come out of his $500. I said, well no we can talk about things, like his hockey fees can maybe be joint, but any new equipment he wants will be his own. The same with my fitness classes and gym membership then. But he wants a quad one day and that's like $10,000. He'll never be able to save up his $500 a month for that. And I said, well maybe the "joint" would pay for half and he'd have to do a payment plan from his fun money for the other half. I figured we'd just meet each thing as it came on, but still not be sticky. If he buys toilet paper and kleenex and also grabs a magazine, I'm not expecting him to pay separately for it. It's going to be more or less $500 a month. I'm so excited. It will hopefully ease my spending guilt. (and I'm not the one who spends!)

Anyway, that was not fitness related at all.

I'm going to the gym today. Planning on just doing some intervals for 20 minutes and hitting the weights. Maybe not a good idea if I'm trying to see a happy number on the scale tomorrow as there will be water retention, but hey, the greater good.

Also, Lost should be on tonight. However with American Idol taking over the world I'm not sure. If it's on, that makes me happy. If it's not, I'll get some sh*t done and that makes me happy.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Yahoo

So I'm having a good day. A little stressful but I'm loving it. Was working on this dull slow stuff, got a call today and had to shift gears to do this other thing that's busy busy and due sometime tomorrow. Day goes so much faster this way.

Why yahoo for a title? why such a good day? Stepped on the scale today, saw 136.something. Can you believe it? Seriously, one super good day will reward you!

Here's what I'm talking about. Monday I went to bed hungry. I ate enough, I just ate supper early so I was due for a snack. Well supper was just hamburger soup which I really don't know any nutritional info about so maybe it wasn't enough for a supper. Anyway, I didn't have a snack, went to bed with a grumbling tummy. I think every single time I do that, just like once a week, it helps give me a loss. Probably I eat at maintenance all week except for that one day, but it works for me!

oh and hamburger soup is usually the best soup ever, but mine is sort of weird. It's just soup made with ground beef and veggies and I put barley in and beans this time. But I used way to many tomatoes, and no canned tomatoes which are much thicker and concentrated, so ended up weird. But really it's just veggie soup with ground beef. hamburger and in hamburger meat, not as in a burger. though that sorta sounds good too. But pickles?

Food today:
b - 3/4 of an english muffin with margarine, dropped it on the floor. banana
s - nothing, day flew until noon
l - hamburger soup, grapes
s - cheese stick, apple, carrots (any or all)
s - spaghetti and meatballs and some steamed veggies. I'm all about the steamed veggies lately.

Yesterday I went to the gym after work for almost 2 hours. Ridiculous! I started on the bike for 15 minutes, then went straight to the treadmill. part of my tri training! yay! Did 25 minutes of intervals on the treadmill. 1 minute at 13.5+km/hr, 2 minutes at 10.5. Very sweaty. Nice and pooped. then did some strength stuff with my sister. Chin-ups. Still feel pretty strong at that, though I did use counter weight. Then we did some free weight junk, dips, I tried to convince her to come try the squat rack with me (never done it before!) but she has 0 interest in anything with a barbell. boo her. We did a nice cable pull sort of thing that felt pretty tough. But she totally sucks and used like 15 lbs to my 60. ha! To be fair she knows she has no back muscles and that's probably why she got scoleosis and is trying to increase it. (her bones rub together because she doesn't have any muscles behind her shoulder blades. ew) Anyway, enough about her, more about me.

So after gyming, I went to the grocery store. Just needed some easier quick healthy lunch grabbers. I'm always running late in the morning lately. So I was soooo impressed with myself in the grocery store. I literally only bought fruits and veggies, yogurt, milk, cheese and cooking spray. $50 worth though! I bought frozen beans, fresh asparagus, broccoli, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, apples, pears, more apples, bananas, baby bananas, grapes, oh and a weight watcher cookbook. Not cause it's WW! Funny, I just talked about bashing them yesterday! But it's 5 ingredients or 15 minutes and I liked that.

Proving my point about WW, about 1/3 of the recipes I would consider unhealthy. A whole section of desserts and snacks, which sure you're going to eat them, but they aren't health food. Plus the whole appetizer/drinks section seemed unhealthy. There were dip recipes that were 2 pts a serving, but that didn't include the crackers or whatever you're dipping. However I really really like the breakfast part and the side dishes part, lots of good ideas for veggies which I'm not obsessed with. (yesterday I steamed some beans with this spice grinder I got at Costco and ate it with leftovers, beans were my favorite part by far.)

Anyway, my point is it's shaping up for a good WI and my February goals are looking more reasonable! Yahoo!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

foodddddddddddd

back on the tracking wagon:
b- smoothie with protein powder, water, mixed berries
s - cheese string, cookie
l - hamburger soup, grapes, kashi bar
s - carrots, cheese string
supper - will either be leftover ragout or some kind of spaghetti and meatballs.
the end.

I'm excellent.


The lovely and wonderful Candace has awarded me and my blog this lovely giant E for being great. and "too cool" and she put it, and I agree. Thanks, I'm awesome. Even though I think bad things about WW sometimes. hehe.

Candace is working on being the best SHE that she can be, having accepted the gospel truth that strength training has got to be a part of that. She's doing it as we all should - for her health, and so that when men see her on the beach they begin drooling and staring. Duh.

So who should I nominate? Well I'm gonna throw this award out to Vanessa (Wheebles). Unfortunately she's invite only so if you aren't checking this girl out then you need to email her or something to get invited. Or maybe she doesn't want you. I dunno. Anyway, she's completely cool. doesn't pull any punches or hold anything back which I love. Also, while I'm very very impressed with so many of you bloggers and your incredible losses, I only had about 30 lbs to lose total and am stuck on that last tiny little bit (even though I'm at a fine weight right now really). As such I can just relate to Vanessa much easier, and if she can go from just slightly overweight, to bikini body, maybe there's hope for me too. That seems so weird and I feel like it's maybe insulting but hopefully she gets what I mean.

And I think I'll also through it out to Cara who is almost always the first one to throw a comment on my posts and who is always so positive and ready for any random idea that I have. Besides I'm so jealous of her stomach and if I link her maybe she'll tell me what her real secret is. ;) Also she hates tracking food but is doing it, and gets all bummed when she misses workouts etc. Again, another very relatable girl.

So obviously with the 70 some blogs I read on a daily basis I can't link to all of you, nor can I even comment on all the blogs. But let me just say that if you're reading this, and have ever commented ever, I'm probably reading you. And you ALL inspire me to not suck. So thanks!

lovely thank you.

So I had a lovely weekend. Full of snot and sleep. I was sick through my long weekend. boo. Oh well, at least I could sleep all day. I wasn't so sick that I'd want to stay home from work because I wasn't really incompasitated, just felt yucky.

Anyway, do you think that sore throats make you gain weight and snotty noses make you lose? After my sore throat went away (greatly aided by lots of liquids and halls and candies etc to suck on) I got a snotty nose and spent sunday monday filling garbages. Well I stepped on the scale this morning and not only did I lose that stupid pound from last week, but another half a pound a long with it. (I know it's not really possible to lose 1.5 lbs of fat in 3 days but whatever). I'll take it.

Exercise classes are cancelled this week due to the school feb break. So I'm hitting the gym today and maybe the rest of the week. Might just try and do a jump rope thing at home. I love jump ropes. Good for HIIT too I hear.

So my weekend eating was on plan and then so off plan at times. I made a big batch of nutriwhip (light) and ate it all with nothing but frozen berries. It was amazing. I don't know if that's on or off plan. But I have no guilt over it and I'll do it again every day if I could. Hubby had people over after his hockey on Sunday night and I was hungry so ate several handfulls of chips. Also there was saturday night when I was my sickest and having a pitty party since hubby went out and I was stuck at home all day and night. And I ate a chocolate bar. only half, then the other half monday. Oops. But not completely terrible really.

I also did some cooking. I made a big pot of soup yesterday, hamburger with lots of veggies and beans. However it was kind of bland. I threw in some salt and random spices to try and make it better (hey does anybody know how to use spices? I only know the Italian ones go with spaghetti etc, basil, oregano etc. What goes in soups?) We'll see, it's lunch today.

I also made pork hock ragout. My grandma used to make it all the time at Christmas. I always thought it was just leftover turkey in gravy with meatballs (which is EXACTLY what it seems like) but it's actually pork hocks which are totally sketchy to cook with. But I gave it a whirl and it turned out alight. Pretty sure that can't be good for you as all it is is gravy basically. Oh well.

I was puppy sitting for my SIL's dog this weekend too. Taz. Cutie. Well Taz and Daisy were play fighting all weekend. I wasn't sure how much was play and how much was a dominance thing but they were never yelping so nobody got hurt. Just tired out. Plus Daisy got sick again. I don't know if she's alergic to Taz or what, but she barfs and gets sick every time they play! I think I try and spoil them a little bit and give them lots of treats and do tricks and stuff with them for treats, plus Taz isn't that interested in food and Daisy goes nuts for it, so she eats hers and Taz's share. Anyway, my puppy is sick now at home. Hopefully she's alright, she didn't go out this morning for a pee and didn't eat anything or drink anything since last night. Basically she didn't wake up this morning to do anything except walk to a different blanket to sleep on. Poor baby.

Anyway, lots of blog reading to catch up on. I'm going to do my best to be extra extra on plan. Or at least in a calorie deficit if it's going to be some bad foods (cookie this morning at office meeting, however didn't pack large lunch and hitting the gym hard tonight). It's almost the end of February already! Nearly picture time again and I'm not feeling any different!!!

Friday, February 15, 2008

up a pound, ho hum

Well I guess just a pound isn't terrible after my weekend. Oh well, i've lost this one before, I can do it again.

So I ate a tart last night. Just one, and I had only a small bowl of chili. However I also ate a cookie this morning at work. A pretty pink valentine's day one this guy's amazing wife made. She's very Martha. But that was in lui of my banana and carrots. Let me start at the beginning:
Breakfast - yogurt with fibre 1. Combatting sore throat. Was also going to eat a banana on the drive in. Never.
Snack - cookie. Was going to have carrots, plans changed to banana when I didn't eat it. But ate a cookie instead.
Lunch - leftover couscous and fish. Yum. (it's just some kind of white fish. Basically cheapest the store had. I'm not fussy. And the couscous was just a box that you cook like minute rice). Also will eat banana, yogurt.
Snack - grapes, figs, cheese. Turns out I brought a lot of food today. I'll have a hard time not eating all of it. Afternoons are the worst. Let's hope I'm busy.

supper - not sure. Not really feeling like cooking with this nasty sore throat. Just feel like eating soup. Maybe chicken noodle soup.

So I went swimming yesterday right? I totally swam for 1 km straight! I'm amazing! yay! I was super quick. Well I guess it wasn't straight. I didn't do the turns at the end. I just stood up, turned around and kicked off. So that's a bit of cheating I suppose. But whatever. I only did 1 25 m length of breast stroke, and that's cause I was thinking of being done at 750 m. Changed my mind and got back into back crawl or front crawl. I'm awesome! Did all my swimming in approximately 20-25 minutes too. Sweet.

So I'm still not decided on what triathalon I'm going to do. But at least now I think I can do the longest swim without drowning so it'll just be about total endurance for the whole race. I wish somebody else was doing this with me. I may have to do an Edmonton tri so I can go with the friend's we visited. I just want somebody else to not know what they're doing too. I don't even know who to ask about the bike thing (mountain) or how serious the changes are. I'm sure I'll find somebody when I decide on a race.

Then scrapbooking didn't really happen. Just visiting with my friend and her baby. Such a cutie. She's 2 months old already but still just 9 lbs. She was a month early so that set her back a bit. But she's a cutie! Sorta fussy and I sure hope my kids aren't like that. But she made all these adorable faces and didn't freak right out when I held her. Did at first but I managed to move her and calm her down. I am soooo not used to tiny babies. I don't think I've really held one that small since high school or something if then. I always was just given a baby in the proper baby holding position and then somebody took her away and I didn't move. But I could switch arms and turn her around and stuff. Fun. Maybe next year.

Ok, weekend plans. None. I've got a holiday monday and am looking forward to it. Just sleep and playing with the puppies (we're puppy sitting SIL's dog.). Maybe some fun scrapbooking or rearranging furniture or something. It's going to be tricky to eat well when I'm at home since I tend to eat when I'm bored. However I've stocked up on grapes and berries and bananas and might make a hummus or something so all my treat snacks will be fruit and veggies. One of my favorite treats is a bowl of berries so it won't be a sacrifice or anything. Plus lots of yogurt for my poor throat. Send me healing powers!

Anyway, blogs to read. Podcasts to listen to. (a good one is Never Not Funny if you're interested.) Lunch hour is only so long. (an hour.)

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Try this

How's this for the healthiest meal ever award?

baked fish with this spicy smokey seasoning
lemon couscous
steamed asparagus
glass of skim milk

That was my supper last night. Delicious! Easy! I couldn't quite leave it at that though. I needed my post supper sweetness and since hubby just had a tart I craved one. However, I asked him if I had one bite would he finish the rest, he said yes and it was done. Glad he likes them. They shouldn't be around for much longer. I'm taking about 6 over to my friend's house today for dessert. She's making supper. Then we are scrapbooking and I am playing with her baby! I think I'll have 1 tart. I don't know how I could bring them and not even eat 1. We'll see. If I'm stuffed I will use the excuse. What do you think guys? Would I be going off plan if I eat a tart tonight at my friend's?

Food today:
b - oatmeal with banana and cinnamon
s - nothing
l - leftover couscous and fish, grapes

other food for the rest of the day: (either snacks or with lunch, we'll see how hungry I am)
small yogurt, cheese string, kashi granola bar, figs, carrots, apples

Here's why there's so much for snacks. Because I'm swimming today! Busy busy day.

First I work up at 5:30 with a supper sore throat, couldn't sleep. Got up got a Strepsil to numb my throat, tossed and turned and slept through the alarm. (luckily it's set too early) so woke up just in time. Packed a ton of stuff, scrapbook stuff, lunch, swim stuff, getting dressed again stuff. Did forget the stuff I was supposed to give my sister. Still felt like crap so had some daytime pills. I forgot those turn my brain off. I don't sleep exactly, but basically am asleep with my eyes open. Oh well. The morning flew by.

Class last night was much easier than monday's. I forgot to mention the revelation I had Monday. I ate pretty bad on the weekend. Well particularly monday on the drive home. So I was struggling in class. It was amazing how much the bad food affected my workout. Ridiculously. Well after 2 days of eating great, class was awesome yesterday. I had energy, pushed myself, awesome. Well my SIL had eaten crappy for 2 days and had a terrible class! Just 3 days proves my whole theory. How weird. So even more motivation to eat awesome. (remember it!)

So today after work I'm going to go to the gym and hit the pool! yay me! Excited! But it's going to be a quick one because I'll only get there at like 5:10 and have to be at my friend's house at 6:00. And that's going to include showering and everything. I have the hardest time getting redressed after swimming. I hate dry skin and swimming is super hard on me. I'm amazed that I swam so much as a kid because the after math is such a big deal for me now a days. Anyway I'll deal with it. I can probably swim for almost half an hour. Should be good enough.

So this Valentine's day I won't even see my husband since by the time I get home, he'll be gone to hockey. Hm. I'm not really sure if we've ever spent a Valentine's day together. Oh well. We'll have this weekend. i'm really looking forward to this weekend. I can finally unpack my bag. Monday is a holiday here too and SIL is gonna have to work so it'll be just the 2 of us. (not that she's bad or anything, I just like my space sometimes.)

Ok that's all, gotta look up directions for my friend's place tonight.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Well here we are again

So before I forget, I also ended up eating birthday cake yesterday and not my yogurt. I was still starving. Then I had the best supper ever, stir fried veggies (probably like 2 cups at least) and teriaki chicken breast. (yay no starch! well there were peas and stuff in the veggies but you know what I mean). But I needed something afterwards so I had a handfull of skittles. Boo. They were sitting on the cupboard open just asking for it. Gotta talk to hubby about putting away his junk food. Also ate a tart later. That's right a tart. I made cranberry apple tarts for a dessert I have to bring to a friend's thursday night. They're really not terrible as far as desserts go. Super easy too. Bought tart shells (dunno how bad these are) apple and cranberries chopped up, tossed with sugar and a bit of flour. I should have used Splenda not sugar. The teeniest bit of butter dolloped on top (I was using a pie recipe and just shrinking everything. so it was like half a skittle of butter on each). They taste pretty good too. I like cranberries.

Anyway, and today's plan is:
breakfast (running out the door late) - 2 mini source yogurts (35 cal x 2) and a Kashi granola bar (130 cal)
snack - carrots, lots
lunch - chicken breast, grapes (lots), figs
snack - cheese string and a yogurt
supper - fish and maybe couscous and more veggies.

So last night was fun. I made that awesome meal, then made tarts and scrapbooked. I only did one page, mostly I was organizing myself to go to my friend's (who had a baby) and scrapbook tomorrow. Tonight I've got class so I won't have much time to pack it up. I felt very organized and on top of it, but then went into the living room and saw it was still a disaster from our weekend, and I still havent' unpacked my clothes and done laundry from it. Oh well. At least I'm on top of one thing.

This new dude at work is annoying me. He keeps asking me questions, since I knew him from school. Not realizing that I was low man on the totem pole before he started so I don't know much more than he does. I'm trying to answer him or whatever but am not sure I'm giving the right explanation and I know everyone can hear me because our walls are so thin. Boo. Ask the boss, that's what he's for.

Thanks for the feedback on the triathalon. I'm pretty excited to swim tomorrow and see how far I can go before tuckering out. I'm sure I can do at least 8 laps and that should be 400m no problem. Based just on my unsureness about the changes and the bike thing and just how serious it is, I think I'll do a beginner one, a try and tri or something. Even though I think I could do a longer distance.

Ok well I don't really feel like I've got much to tell you. I decided that I was going to be so on plan for the rest of this month it would blow you guys away. So just check me out alright?

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

add a cheese string to snack in the afternoon. (I'm starving! might have to add an apple as well)

blew it?

So this weekend i'm pretty sure I blew whatever loss I had last week and whatever losses I might have for the next, oh say 5 months. Man did we eat. First of all, I forgot about road trips and how they are detrimental to your health because they're boring and eating is fun. So sweedish berries, veggie chips, trail mix and more all got devoured in the 10 hours of driving. Plus we ate good at our friend's house. They made us steak and potatoes and veggies and muffins and chicken parmasaen, and eggs benedict. Plus we ate out at the Olive Garden and devored the breadsticks. At least I cut my pasta in half and only ate that.

Shopping was fun too. Expensive but fun. I forgot how expensive my husband is. We probably blew $800 including gas and meals and stuff. Ouch. I bought a pair of $15 jeans, a $10 belt, some stevia (fake sugar), a few organizing things at Ikea, some various kitchen things and a plant stand. Oh and a jump rope. It was $20 at the Nike store, so a bit much but I could never find the kinds I wanted before. But then an hour later I saw a $7 one at Walmart, oh well. Hubby bought a billion things but it was all stuff he really wanted mostly. Like there's a goalie store there so he bought a goalie hockey bag which he's always wanted, beer is cheap so he stocked up 6 cases. etc etc. boring.

we went to the water park at the mall. Fun, a little scarier than I thought it would be. I'm getting old. Hubby did pretty good too, he's not a ride person, hates even the ferris wheel. So he thought he was going to have a heart attack but did alright. ;) I did not feel my hottest standing in line in my tankini. I need to get a new bathing suit. But I don't want to until I'm at goal (just 10-ish lbs to go, come on already!!!). But by then, my bathing suit will look nice again. Hmf.

So I did not track on the weekend, I could pick out the big meals for you and some of the snacks, but there was a lot of picking and snacking that I'm sure I won't remember. But I'm back on the wagon. I started good today, eating healthy food and nothing but:

breakfast - 2 toast with peanut butter
s - carrots
l - spinach salad with veggies and italian dressing, grapes and honeydew melon
s - figs, yogurt
supper ?

Very vegalicious. I bought a bunch of bags of mixed frozen veggies so I'm going to make like a pound of that for every meal. Half the time that's my favorite part of what we're eating so I gotta remember to do that and cut the other food in half.

The friend's we were staying with had the coolest thing for a couple trying to workout together. It was a fitness competition thing. Basically a calendar with stickers (so you can make your own) and reward cards). If you exercise or go to the gym or whatever on that day, you get a sticker. If you go more than 3 times in a week, you get a 3 point sticker (not sure if you guy 5 times if you get 3 1pts and 2 3pts or what exactly but you could make up the rules your self). Then each week the winner gets to pick a reward card. The rewards are things like the other person has to cook your favorite meal or give you a massage or do dishes for a week or whatever. (there was a HUGE reward card stack, I can't imagine what they'd all say). I just thought that was so awesome and I was so jealous that they'd do that together (the guy was totally kicking the girl's ass too! I can't even imagine!). I sort of suggested doing that with hubby and he said "you win". Even if he'd want to do it, I just exercise way more than him and would kick his butt. The couple is planning on doing a triathalon this summer so that resparked my interest in a triathalon. So this thursday I'm going to try and go swimming. I found a couple races around here in June and when you think of it, that's really coming up fast.

The distances are:
Super Sprint - 300m Swim, 6k Bike, 3k Run
Sprint - 500m Swim, 10k Bike, 5k Run
women's only - 300m swim/10km bike/3km run
Team and Individual 1.5 km swim, 25-30 km bike, 10 km run. (Sprint distance is half.)

So I'm not sure which I'd like to do. I know that I can run 5 k in about 30 minutes, and I heard somewhere the sprint one was about 30 minutes per thing. I think I could handle that, but I've never ran 5k after already working out for an hour. Might be tough. So the super sprint or the women's only with just 3k run sounds better. I dunno.

But my friend suggested I come do the race in Edmonton with them too, so that's an option. I'm excited to start thinking of it and I want to see just how far 500 m of swimming is, try it on thursday. (what's a pool length? 25? or 50?) Plus I don't know how serious the transitions are and stuff if it's just for fun. Also, I only have a mountain bike, not a street bike, is that ok? Would I look dumb? I know it would make it harder but I'm not buying a bike for 1 race. Anybody out there done a triathalon?

So I have to finish checking up with all of you now. Hope you stayed on track better than I did!

Friday, February 8, 2008

WI

137.8. So it looks like a loss of 2.2 lbs, but really it's not, there was a mysterious 2 lb gain last week that went away like the next day. Though I am happy with the 7 there, I haven't been seeing that in awhile. Progress, albeit small. But it sets the attitude on to possibilities and I think that's key. (when I was losing weight I was never suprised and always assumed I'd lose at least 1/2 a lb, now that I'm stuck, no matter what I'm doing I'm HOPING for the scale to move, not expecting it. I don't know how it affects things but it does.)

We're off as soon as I throw some clothes on and poke hubby enough to get out of bed. Food is up in the air all weekend so it's going to be hard to track. don't worry I'll feel guilty over this.

Hope you guys have great weekends!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

only 1/2 of a good day left!

YAY! only 5 hours left and it's home time for my weekend! And the afternoon is even sort of fun work (well it's super boring, but requires no thought, just cut and paste, so I can listen to podcasts all afternoon! yay!) Then tonight is also going to be super fun since LOST is on! I can't believe it's been a week already, it flew. I'm so confused and Lost myself (I wonder if that's why they call the show that, sort of a double meaning or something...). Is Charlie dead or not? who else got off the island, and why didn't everybody? etc etc. soo good.

food:
b - small carrot bran muffin and Kashi cereal with figs
s - carrots and hummus
l - 1 triangle of a quesadilla, honeydew melon, figs
s - yogurt, apple?
supper - dunno.

Yesterday for supper I made quesadillas. I haven't made them since halloween (don't ask why I remember that). But I really should make them more often. They're really healthy if you watch the cheese. Just like a wrap, but way more filling. I just cooked chicken breast strips, onion (didn't have any peppers otherwise they'd be here too), mixed it with salsa and put that on tortillas (1 per person) sprinkled with cheese and folded in half and broiled for a few minutes. It was super quick, hardly made any dishes, and really is very healthy. and GOOD! I made myself a special one with hardly any cheese and ate the whole thing. Hubby got a big one with more cheese and couldn't even finish the whole thing. So how about that? I also only used 2 chicken breasts for 3 people. Can't believe how full I was after too.

Then there was step class. I always have my step on the higher level, I'm the only one in class. the instructor started this time with it on a higher level but switched about halfway, saying that I might want to too, but it's alright to leave it if I wanna go crazy. I sort of felt weird, hadn't she noticed that I've had it like this for 5 weeks now? Whatever. I just don't feel like I worked out if it's on the lower one, but the difference is only like 2 inches so it's still not really high or anything.

Your comments have inspired some of my own comments:
As for food as a gift. I also dont' appreciate getting chocolates or whatever (I appreciate the thought, just not the tempting food). However, these people we're visiting I dont' think ever think about "diet" food. They're naturally slim people I think. However when I get stuff like that, it's easy enough to get rid of if I really dont' want it. Send it to work or something. Big deal. However I think a part of me likes the sabatoge other people's diets thing. I know it's so bad but I'm a bad person. ;) If they get fatter, I look skinnier. (you all think it, and are secretly glad when one of your skinny friends puts on 5 lbs, I know it). Also, I don't keep that stuff around my house (cupcakes etc) and dont' eat it ever, except when I go visiting or have a party or something. I go off diet during these times and it's planned and I want to. Otherwise I'd go around craving bad stuff all the time if I never got it. So this weekend I'm planning on treating myself a little bit, maybe getting donuts on the road, definately eating some cookies. But then when I'm back home I'm over it. It's just how I roll.

As for thinking I am bikini ready and your sweet compliments, Jenn you are now my best friend and favorite person ever. I do agree I have awesome arm and back muscles. However I think I may have tricked you a little bit with my pictures. You all are going bare tummy and I have not. I promise my update picture will be bare tummy. It's not as rock hard as the rest of me, trust me. I'll go strapless all day, but bikini, just not yet...

As for Edmonton, I'll be hitting the mall (maybe 2 days, one day shopping, one day swimming and rollercoastering and seal watching (do they still have the seals there?)), Ikea, Whyte Ave and maybe Helly Hansen (I think hubby would like it). Thanks for the ideas.

Workouts are ending up being a bit scarce this week, that's ok though, happens sometimes. Priorities right, and this week my priority is getting ready for my trip. So tonight is home to pack and get ready (make some road cds, print some maps etc). and of course Lost, maybe I'll try and get a little workout in while watching that. Elliptical maybe? Squats etc on commercials? Ok done. Good thinking Randi. Thank you.

I gotta go eat now. Plus I have to buy my monthly Melaluca purchase (it's our last one and we're getting out, otherwise I'd fill you all in on the company. Basically it's more environmentally friendly, safer, healthier, cheaper (sorta), better products, it's just there's a minimum monthly commitment and I'm tired of it). Hope you all have great weekends!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

a double post?

To make up for lack of post yesterday? Too bad I don't think I have that much to say, well let's see what falls out of my brain today anyway.

So I'm getting sick of my bad soup. Well it's not bad, but it's not good. It's just stewed tomatoes (homemade) with a little bit of beans and little bit of chicken stock and blendered and milk added and dill. It's not bad. But I like good old canned tomato soup and this wasn't much like it. I've got one meal's worth left. I'm not sure if I'll eat it for lunch tomorrow or just dump it. 3 times is enough I think.

Suppers have been less than healthy, but I did write it down (by the way, I wrote yesterdays food down in the blog post that I lost...I did write it down...oh it was basically the same as today)
B - toast w/ peanut butter
s - grapes
l - weird tomato soup, carrots with hummus
s - yogurt, melon
supper - not sure yet....

I suppose I'm not supposed to eat meat today. Though I'm not sure if I'll follow that because when it was "invented" meat was a treat and a big expense and whatever, and in that way, I don't really think I'm going to...oh whatever, we'll see. Like you're supposed to be able to eat fish still, but fish is more of a treat for me than meat. And we had fish sticks last night. Fish sticks and oven fries and green beans. I did better about defining the end of the meal (oh wait that might have been discussed in the non-post). I tend to snack a bit while making supper, then snack a bit when cleaning up. I need less grazing at supper time. Glad I've identified this though. I credit logging my food. Great, guess I'll have to keep this up.

So I'm going to Edmonton this weekend (aka a bigger city) for a visit with one of my best friends. Of course we're also making a shopping trip out of it. We're going to Ikea and the West Edmonton Mall (aka a big mall with indoor water park and roller coaster etc.). I also want to try and find a Whole Foods store since I've been hearing so much about it from all y'all. Does anybody else know Edmonton and have any recommended stops? We're going to have some time just hubby and I while the other dudes are at work (since we took off friday and monday) so we'll have to have something to fill our time.

I was sort of annoyed this morning when I had no comments with suggestions, then I realized I didn't post this yesterday. sorry for being mad at you for no reason. But make sure to give me ideas now (especially you fort mac people who I know make Edmonton trips).

Wanna hear what I decided to shop for?
Some jeans since - yay - mine are all getting too big. I can wear them one day out of the wash, but after that I need a belt.
A belt - yay - all my brown belts are too big and I don't want to just punch more holes in them
Boots - just fun. Nothing about being skinny. Black ones, hopefully cheap. I only have one pair of brown boots from like 6 years ago at payless, they're falling apart.

That's about it really. Hubby wants to buy a new stand thing at Ikea, and if I can find an appropriate table thing for our hallway I'll get it. I'm sure I'll end up getting stuff at Ikea but I don't know what yet.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a bit of snack food for the road. (5 hour drive each way). Some cheese strings, some trail mix, Kashi granola bars, more green tea singles. Plus I bought stuff to make food to bring. As in I made tortilla rollups and cookies last night to bring. I'm thinking of making cupcakes as well, sort of a valentine's day thing. I love giving food. Any ideas of other nice hostess gift sort of things?

Oh yeah, so we'll be leaving friday morning. I'll do a WI before we go I'm sure, but no post friday. And as that is 2 days from now without any amazing changes, I will not be bikini comfortable. Especially later in the day. First thing in the morning for 10 minutes maybe (anyone else notice how much thinner you are here?). So I'll bring my tankini's, and maybe buy another one if we find any cheap (yeah right). This girlfriend of mine is a naturally tall lean girl. The kind who don't really have any boobs, but don't have any fat either. Opposite of me genetically. So comparison pictures will be judged harshly by yours truly. However she's skinny in a way that doesn't annoy me so that's nice. And she's got broad shoulders and hips so it's not like she wears size 2 so shopping with her will be alright.

And pictures will also show this major zip that I've got on my chin. Then I picked at it and popped it and now have this red scab on my face. Awesome. Why do I do that every single time? After I did the damage I remembered the warm wash cloth on the area trick to make it pop naturally. It did help a bit. dumb dumb dumb.

anyway, I think I'm done. I wanna hear back from you about the places to go in edmonton and what to bring as a gift for the couple for letting us stay there and everything. Also, whatever else you want to comment on...

booooooo

dudes, I'm pissed. I wrote a nice big blog entry, but in an email because people were in and out of my office. But then I never posted it and thought I did so I erased the draft this morning. So it's gone. Booo...



However I am planning on writing a nice one today as the in and out of my office is over.



So talk to you later.

Monday, February 4, 2008

how was your weekend?

It was fine thank you. I did 7 loads of laundry. And that's about all.

I loved it.

not true,
we went out friday with some friends. The girl (who i'm supposed to be friends with and visit with, cause of course I wouldn't have anything in common with the guys right?) is alright. But so girly and dramatic. Well I guess she does have some drama in her life. Her mom left her dad and just left the city and everything. (sort of went coo-coo) and joined this other family and asks for gifts back that she gave them etc. but she keeps coming back every few months saying sorry and now she's back. But only for 3 days and then she flies the coop. So yes, this must be hard on her daughter, my friend. But my friend just needs to just realize what's going on and cut her mother out. Harsh but true. Because this girl is a nut case now too. She is drinking away her problems. "I'm having mom issues, let's go out tonight and get smashed". So basically I have no tolerance or acceptance of any kind for this so I just visited with the guys. (hello, being an engineer I probably have more in common with them than this kindergarden teacher anyway - don't get me started on how retarded schools and teachers are).

So I had a salad for supper on friday and diet coke for the rest of the night. Even though I wanted a treat, we were in bars and there's no healthy treats in bars. Everyone else was having wings and nachos and stuff. Not me! Another diet coke please.

But the rest of the weekend involved a bit of shopping, and a couple movies, laundry and sewing. I made a baby thing. Can't remember what they're called, but basically a bag that a baby wears (arms but no legs?). Anyway it's stinkin adorable. But I need some twill tape before I can finish it. sheesh.

hubby and sil went home so it was just me and Daisy. Nice. we were having some major car issues around our house too. My little brother's car is frozen or something so it wont' start. He got it towed out to our house to put in the garage so it can thaw. Then SIL tried to start her truck after it was parked all weekend and the battery was dead and wouldn't start so I had to give her a ride this morning. But my car almost didn't start. Sort of funny since last week it was -50 and last night and today it was only -28 but we had these problems this week not last.

Oh, I also went to church by myself on Sunday. I grew up going to church every sunday, not even a question. But then on my own, just don't go any more. I keep meaning to, but hubby would sooner sleep in, and I am easily talked out of it. But I went. So I'm please about that. I'd like to go at least once a month.

Yesterday I also did a crap load of cooking. I made tomato soup (which sort of just tastes like tomato sauce. Not like the canned soup I like.) But I also made some sundried tomato hummus (which I'm enjoying right now). And an apple oven pancake for breakfast (so easy and good, probably not that healthy, but no worse than regular pancakes. Apples, melted butter, then a flour, egg, milk dough poured on top and baked 30 minutes. SOOOOO GOOD!). Plus I'd bought figs and tried to find some kind of recipe for them (good for you with lots of fibre, plus yummy). So I invented a baked oatmeal, fig and protein "cake" (just those ingredients plus water, plus I boiled the figs with a little splenda first to soften). Best thing ever.

Anyway, I'm busy at work a bit. Big deadline friday so I might be a bit sparse on the comments. I'm reading though I promise!

food (snooze)

Food today:
b - oatmeal w/protein powder and figs (baked all together, this is actually leftovers, sooo good. Like a cake or something.)
s - banana bread (office meeting snack. So good, with nuts and chocolate chips.)
l - weird tomato soup (homemade, a bit funny but still good) Carrots and hummus, cantaloup
s - yogurt
s - ???

And I tracked all weekend. Even my nachos for the super bowl. (I sort of felt odd feelings, like it was ok to eat bad food as long as I wrote it down. I have never felt like that before...)

Ok leave this as a separate boring one.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Feb 1 - a brand new day

So I had a great little day yesterday. Lunch wasn't the GREATEST, but it was alright. (I was gonna get a salad and should have got the spinach salad which looked good, but I got the buffalo chicken club with lemon rice soup. no fries, so that's really the only real good part, oh, and just drank water) But I went to the gym and had a really good run. (still got a blister folks, but my foot wasn't quite healed from the last blister so that may be affecting it. Plus it's in a weird place, almost on the arch of my foot, I didn't get any blisters up by the toe where I usually get blisters, so there may be something to these wicking socks still). the run was really good. I find it hard to do intervals on the track since there's a lot of people to avoid, and they look at your like your crazy when you sprint past them and then start jogging and they have to pass you. So I just did a steady state thing, estimating 5k ish, running for 34 minutes. (probably more than 5k since I usually do 5k in less than 30 minutes.) But I just love once I pass the 10 minute mark and then tunes kick in and you're just in the zone.

The yesterday was also awesome because even though I got home at 7:00 (I usually eat by 6) I still made an awesome healthy supper instead of just cereal or something. I stirfried some veggies up with just broth and soy sauce and grilled a couple chicken breasts in roasted red pepper salad dressing. I also had a small bun and my fancy pants yogurt for dessert. WHILE WATCHING LOST! yay! I also had a diet coke. thursday night is a night where I want a treat (because of tv) but I don't want to eat one because of WI on friday. So, hence the diet coke.

I thought it was just awesome. So I was terribly upset to wake up to a WI of 140.0. A gain of 2 lbs. Obviously something is up because I didn't have a really bad week or anything. Thank god I'm not the type who'll get depressed over this. But I do have to admit I was a little choked.

But then I remembered that I don't care.

Well about the scale. I do care about fat. So I took measurements. I'm up slightly from the last time (which was Dec 5th when I had a WI of 135). About 1/4 inch on all my measurments. I wish I took more pictures before Christmas. Because I feel like I have more muscles than I did then, which would explain the gain, but I don't really have proof. Lesson to all of you! Take pictures frequently.

As I am about it. Once a month. For my new monthly goals.

For February I will:

weigh 136 by the end of the month (I wanted to say lose 2 lbs, but since I had a weird 2 lb gain this week it looks like 4 lbs.)

eat a veggie and protein meal twice a week (minimum) salad with tuna, or stir fry. No starch.

Track foods. (I know I know, I hate this, but I don't have to enter it anything except write it down in a notebook or something)

Ok so that's good. I'm debating not doing the track food. But I did pick a good month for it since it's shorter. I hate tracking food. I hate the counting, the "dieting" associated. But I know it works, and I know it should help. Ok I can do it...I know that I'd be further along on this weight loss thing if I ate less (well duh) but I mean I eat good food. Really good. Next to no snack food (packaged stuff) I make "real" meals all the time. But I just eat too much. the end. stop it. I need more veggies and less fruit. (seems weird but there's a big nutritional difference right) More protein less starches.

Anyway, those are the goals. My pictures end of the month will be of my food log, the scale, and of course the head on and profile.

anybody else wanna share?

good read

Have you all added this blog to your list? There's always something good here. I like this prediction post.