Tammy 2.0

What's a vacation for, anyway?

2012-01-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

I mean, we go away to "get away from it all," right? Or so I told myself when faced with my first non-home-cooked meal.
I just got back from a weekend in Victoria, which is a lovely part of Vancouver Island for anyone not familiar. I was kinda worried about trying to stick to this horribly restrictive diet while I was away, but actually, before I even left I had pretty much decided I wasn't going to go all 17 Day Diet-y after all. We didn't take a car over, so we were hauling our bags around with us. It was stressing me out trying to figure out how I could carry grocery's onto the ferry over to the island, or if I could buy groceries when the nearest grocery store is a 15-20 minute walk away, or if I did get groceries, I would have to eat them all there or bring the remains back, and that brings me back to hauling bags around. . so I figured I would just eat what I wanted and try not to go crazy.
I feel a wee bit bad for eating things like pizza and pasta which are so decidedly not on plan. You know what though? I had a great time, and eating didn't become a source of stress.
On the plus side, we walked for hours both days we were there. I just wish it wasn't in the snow! Brrr.
The hotel we stayed in was fantastic. It was one of those Groupon deals, and if nothing else, it introduced me to a hotel I would never have stayed at before. It was the Parkside Hotel and Spa, and it was right near the Royal BC Museum and the B.C. Legislative buildings. Also, the Old Spaghetti Factory was right down the road. Heh. We had gift cards! What is a girl to do??

I did a weigh-in this morning, and here is what the scale gods have decreed for the week:

No change.

I guess I will take that over a gain! We'll see what my birthday does for me this week...there will be cake, after all.

Until then, I am all about the chicken and veggies. Yummmm.

Here are some pics of the hotel:

Really cool atrium with koi pond.

Me wanting this master bathroom. Had a lovely soak in this huge tub.

Amazing kitchen and dining room. We got to cook ourselves breakfast an' everthang.

Cozy living room, and teenagers doing what they do...veg in front of the TV.

View from hotel balcony. You can see the top of the parliament buildings all lit up in the back. It's blurry because I could only stand to be outside for one shot. Brrr!

Me and teenager #1

My Terry and teenager #2. :)

Carbs are my friends, whaddya know?

2012-01-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

Since I have added some carbs to my plan, I have felt soooooo much better! Today I was chipper, awake and had energy all day instead of dragging my grouchy ass around. All it took was two slices of whole grain bread last night and some oatmeal today. Other than those additions, I followed the 17 Day Diet. The extra bits are allowing me to reach 1200 calories, finally.

Tonight I had diced chicken and grilled peppers with crushed tomatoes over s piece of 16 grain bread (only 100 calories and darn tasty). I actually felt like I ate something afterwards.

Of course I can't forget today was weigh-in day. Time to see if the scale gods would smile upon me as they once did. And you know what? I got a great big grin today! I am down 6 pounds from last week. Yayyyy!

I am not fooling myself that next week these fickle gods will show me the pearly whites quite so dazzling again. But I will take any loss I can get!

To recap my week...

Following the 17 Day Diet to the letter was a fail.

I was able to resist all temptations that came my way (oh, except the bites of b-day cake).

I have eaten more vegetables this week than I have the last two months combined. No kidding.

I can't wait to see what next week will bring!

Adjustments

2012-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

I have had to make many changes to my life in the past year, and this past week was no different. Starting my first day back to work I said a big resounding NO to any and all of the junk food I previously happily stuffed into my pie-hole. Well, not so much pie, but anything else was allll gooood. It was surprisingly easy to stay away from my usual pitfalls. Ok, I did look longingly at the trays of warm chocolate chip cookies as I passed near the school cafeteria. Over the past year I would happily go plop down a dollar or two for these delicious morsels. I mean, do they have to be fresh from the oven and ooey-gooey soft? So far, I have managed to ignore them, along with the various pizza sales that go on at lunch time. I was sorely tempted by the arrival of freshly-baked chocolate chip oatmeal muffins in the staffroom on Friday. It was even worse when I went back in later to get something from the printer, and there was one lone muffin left on the plate. No one would know, the devil on my shoulder whispered. Just eat it. Hell with that! I gave the devil a mental flick off my shoulder and cursed the muffin out loud (something to the tune of "fuck you stupid tempting muffin!") and took a picture of it instead.

I know, due to my excellent photography skills this looks like a cookie.

But it is a muffin. Really.

Feels good to resist! But, things have not been all kittens and rainbows and uneaten baked goods with this diet plan.

I have been feeling really drained and light-headed every afternoon. I tried to eat some more protein, as I said I would, but it hasn't helped. I find it really hard to eat any more vegetables or chicken than I already am. Ugh. I was curious to see how close I was getting to the desired 1200 calories/day, so I found a calorie counting website that I liked, and plopped in the food from my week. I had to use some foods that were "close enough" on the available list of foods, and the others I entered manually with the nutrition info on the packaging. I was a bit shocked to see that I was eating between 600 and 800 calories/day. No wonder I was feeling so crappy!! And I guess it makes sense! The fruits and veggies I am eating don't amount to many calories, so the most I am getting comes from the protein. A chicken breast comes in under 200 calories for every one I could find on the lists, so you can imagine my lunches and dinners are very low-cal. Breakfast is ridiculously low-cal if I don't eat eggs- just fruit and yogurt? My yogurt is 35 cal/serving, and an apple is about 65 cal. Um yeah. Not much there. The only way I could see to increase my calories is to eat more protein, but I just can't do it. I can eat more eggs in the form of egg whites, but again, they are just so unappealing.

The other side-effect of this restrictive diet is I have come to sort of hate eating meals. Every time I think of eating more chicken or more salad or more veggies of any kind it is all just so very gag me with a spoon (sorry to get a little valley girl circa 1986 on you). I get crabby and annoyed when faced with what to eat for lunch or dinner. NOTHING appeals to me. I have tried adding the naughty marinara to ground poultry as I mentioned last post, and also salsa the other night. That does help quite a bit, and is better than just a chicken breast. But still, I am so blah about it all! It is demoralizing and making me a crab to be around. This is why I HATE diets. I hate restrictions and that feeling of deprivation. My bf and his kids are having tacos and I CAN'T EVEN HAVE ONE!??! C'mon! My inner child throws a temper tantrum and all I can do is just sit and watch them eat. I tried chicken tacos with lettuce wraps, but it was a fail. The salsa was too watery, and the lettuce was too big and it was just ick. I ended up going with a plate of shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, my ground chicken taco meat and a bit of salsa. Kind of a taco salad without the taco. For lunch the next day, I added salsa directly to the meat and heated it up, put that on my salad and YUM much better. That will be lunch today, too.

My solution to all this is to adjust things a little and add some healthy carbs/starches from the Cycle 2 plan into my breakfast and lunch options. I am going to try oatmeal for breakfast and maybe some brown rice or potato with lunch, or maybe a slice of whole wheat bread. I am still trying to stay lower carb, so portion sizing is important here. I am also going to toss out the "no carbs after 2" rule. I have done some research and most critics can find no scientific bases for this. Most say, it's about the calories you eat, not where the calories come from. Makes sense to me! I will stick to the old "no food after 7 pm rule" though (not a rule on 17 Day Diet). That worked for me the last go-round to avoid ingesting late-night calories. I am also allowing myself 1/2 a bag light popcorn as a snack. It is higher in sodium than is strictly healthy, but I don't get salt from anywhere else other than any processed foods I am eating, which right now is almost none. I have never been one to add salt to any dish that I am cooking or eating.

I am hoping that these additions will bring me up to the correct calories and give me some more dang energy! I haven't walked every day because I just feel like a limp noodle. Glad I didn't burn off too many of those precious calories now.

This plan is still good for getting me back to healthy eating and saying no to bad foods again, but it is just too restrictive for picky-ol' me to be 100% healthy. I will be weighing myself tomorrow morning to see how things are going.

Hope your New Year's commitments are going well out there!

Rules rules rules!!

2012-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I hate most about diet plans is all the stinking rules. When I break a rule or stray from the path, I feel all bad and guilty.

Yesterday while grocery shopping (for the second time this week- more on that in another post), I got all excited when I checked and saw I could have some low-carb marinara sauce "in moderation." I bought the one with the lowest carbs and started planning how I could use it with my lean protein. I am so tired of chicken and salad already, and that prompted me to buy lean ground turkey this time around. I figured I could do the turkey with some diced peppers and onion with a bit of the sauce. Lemme tell ya, it was delicious!

As you can see, I still got my trusty salad in there!

(and is it wrong that I wanted to go in and photoshop out that little splotch of sauce?)

So what's the bad, you may ask. Well, I forgot the rule that I am not supposed to eat carbs after 2pm, and the stupid sauce has carbs. I felt the bad guilties. Cheating already, even unintentionally kinda sucks.

The worst part is that it was my niece's birthday dinner last night, and my mom made her favourite dinner (and mine), lasagna with a big ol' birthday cake for dessert. But thanks to my cheater-sauce, I didn't feel all that deprived watching everyone eat lasagna. The hardest part was probably just the smell of that cheesy goodness baking in the oven. My mom even tried it and said it was really good. Yay me! When the birthday cake came out I was faced with another dilemma. Should I have a bit? On this subject I am of two minds:

1. Don't eat the forbidden sugar-fest. It is not on the plan and therefore eating it is bad bad bad. If I start to eat off plan foods, it could slippery-slope me all the way to a pizza and chipapalooza.

2. Eat a tiny sliver of cake. Life is short, and what diet is completely ruined by a smidge of cake. Complete deprivation of all foods, especially on special occasions could also lead to bad binginess at worst and a feeling of frustration that the plan is too strict at best.

Even my 17 Day Diet partner said, "Just eat the damn cake," or something to that effect. So I ate the thinnest little sliver. And felt bad all over again. Sigh. I can't win.

I did feel better that, after the party people left around 9, I still got on the treadmill to do my 17 minutes of walking. I did it on an incline cuz I am badass like that.

But, I do know that in the grand scheme of things, some errant carbs and a couple bites of cake and icing will not be the end of my healthy eating. This morning it was all about the yogurt and grapes. I have leftover turkey for lunch and my snack bags of cut up peppers and carrots and my 2nd fruit serving of grapes.

My next dilemma is a trip to Victoria next weekend, and then my own birthday the 18th. Um, why did I start this plan now??? Daaaaaaaaang girl, check your calander! It's just such a pain in the ass. Eating like this while away blows! I will have to bring yogurt and fruit with us, or buy it there, then only eat at places where I can get a salad and some protein. We had planned to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner while we were there, and boy do I love me some of that sourdough bread and sinfully good garlic butter. Carb heaven! So I miss that? Then for my birthday, do I eat a friggin salad and chicken and leave out the birthday cake? Blargh! This sucks a whole lotta ass. Reason number 464 why I hate diets. Restriction sucks.

Oh yes, and I stepped on the scale today and I am down 2 lbs since Tuesday, so that is encouraging. I won't weigh myself again until next Tuesday, so we will see what the rest of the week brings. If you need me, I will be over here gnawing on some chicken.

I wasn't sure if I was going to do this, but....

2012-01-05T11:23:00.000-08:00

...here I am! It took a lot of hemming and hawing to get here, gotta tell ya. After so long away, it is hard to come back, especially after gaining weight. But I figured I should stop being a pussy and just DO IT.

So. Yeah. Um. Well. Hmmm. I guess I should just go ahead and tell you (assuming there is still a you out there to read this) how much weight I have managed to gain back in the last year.

40 lbs.

Yup. Nice eh? I was roughly 167 lbs. give or take when I separated from my husband. Now I am 207. Ugh. It sucks SO MUCH to be back above 200 lbs after being below it for nearly TWO years. The worst part is not fitting into all the awesome clothes I bought the last few years and are now languishing in storage bins. Poop. On toast.

So what am I gonna do about it? Well, I will tell you!

I was talking with my boyfriend's mom over the holidays and she told me she would love to have someone do this diet she had read about with her. She showed me the book, and I thought, what the heck! Might as well give it a go. I figured it would be a good way to motivate me and get my healthy eating jump started.

I have become very, very bad a saying no to food. Cookies, chips, pizza were all eaten with little hesitation. I was, however, very, very good at saying no to exercise. That combination made it possible for me to put on over three pounds a month for the last year. I could use the excuse that I had just separated from my husband for a while, and then that I was living part of the week with my new guy and part of the week at my mom's, so no easy way to get back into a routine. But now, the excuses have worn thin, and I have gotten fat.

Which brings me to my plan. The diet I am trying is the 17 Day Diet created by Dr. Mike Moreno. I know, I know, I HATE the word "diet" too. I can't believe I am actually ON one. But, it is something that is helping me eat healthy foods again AND giving me a structure to stick to, so I can say no to eating crap again. For those of you not familiar with the diet, I will tell you bits and pieces as I go, but I recommend you google that shit cuz I am not going into all of it all here. I will wait.

Done? Good. Ok, so I am doing the first cycle of this diet, and I am on day 3 of 17. I am eating lots of veggies, some fruit, yogurt, chicken and drinking green tea and a ton of water. And I am hungry. Well, today, so far not as much as yesterday. I have done very well following the plan the last few days, even when I cam home starving yesterday. I can eat unlimited veggies and lean protein in this cycle, so I am going to try to eat more to avoid the hunger.

So here's a sample of my day:

Breakfast:

cup of hot water with lemon (supposed to aid digestion or some such thing)
cup of green tea
container of fat-free yogurt
medium apple

Lunch:

large salad with peppers, cucumber, tomatoes and 1.5 diced chicken breasts
2 tbsp fat-free Italian dressing
cup of green tea

Snack:

2nd apple
cut up peppers (1 pepper's worth) and baby cut carrots (3/4 cup or so)

Dinner:

More salad with grilled peppers and large sliced, herbed chicken breast (omg, so yummy!)
cup of green tea (you sensing a theme here?)

Snack:

2nd yogurt.

I can eat unlimited veggies and lean protein from a list of foods, and I am supposed to have 2 probiotic servings (I choose yogurt) and 2 servings of fruit. The fruit has to be eaten before 2pm as a part of the "no carbs after 2" rule. Eggs are also allowed, but I can't have any more than 2 egg yolks a week (I think...don't have the info here). I am also supposed to have 2 healthy fat servings (like flax seed oil or olive oil). Next cycle I get to add more foods to my list, and cycle 3 even more foods get added. The first cycle is the most restrictive, but people say they have lost anywhere from 5-15 lbs in the first 17 days. That wouldn't suck.

As for exercise, I am supposed to do 17 minutes of moderate exercise a day (I choose walking). Moderate because the first cycle is so low-cal, it will drain too much energy to do any major exercise. In the next cycles I will increase my exercise.

With exercise, I did fail yesterday. I went to my boyfriend's and didn't get a chance to walk. I felt bad about it, and I probably could have figured out a way. It is harder to find the time when I am there as we are always busy doing things. I have a treadmill at my mom's now, so it is easy to do that the three days I am there. Going to have to be stronger the four days I am at the BF's house, that's for sure.

So that's the plan, for now anyway. Despite my hatred for the "D-Word" I am hopeful that this will help me get back to healthier eating and exercise and saying no to junk food.

And if you think this diet is crap, you are worried for my health, thank you for your concern, but I think I will be ok for 17 days. I won't be eating so low-cal forever, and the plan will get me eating lots of other healthy foods soon. K? K.

Stay tuned for a weigh-in tomorrow! See if anything has come off yet. ;)

Hope everyone in bloggerland is doing well!

xo

Hockey Daze and Choco Craze

2011-06-02T09:57:00.001-07:00

While the rest of the people around me are gripped by hockey mania and are held rapt by the Canucks quest for to bring Lord Stanley's coveted cup home, I am gripped with...what's the opposite of mania? Not that I am not happy for our boys in blue and this town finally getting a real chance at what has been sought for so long. Ok, I will just come out and say it. I just don't really don't like hockey *waits for the lightening strike*. Nothing? Ok, good. It would be hypocritical of me at this point to shed my apathy and actually start watching games. The excitement around here is pretty cool though, I will admit. There are Canucks flags everywhere, and "Go Canucks Go" and "I Believe" with the Canucks trademark hockey stick logo on it. People flock to the streets by the thousands after every game. Canucks fever has gripped every man, woman and child in this town, well, almost. ;)

While the battle for the ultimate hockey glory wages on, I am still trying to do my thing. My life is fraught with temptation...especially in the form of teenagers pushing their chocolate crack in my school. Every day some kid is at my door with this giant box o'choco heaven. Fraaaaaaack. The mint ones are especially amazing. Er...so I hear. Dang them.

I have ridden the bike in the garage a few time now. I was sick this past week, so missed two days. I was well in time to play a double-header on Sunday though. It was a lot of moving and running, so I felt like I got some good exercise. We have a tournament this weekend starting at the horrific hour of 8 a.m. Kill me now. Don't people know this is a beer league?? Eight o'clock is way too frickin serious for people who drink and smoke whilst doing their athletics. But, I will put on my big girl panties and drag my ass out there. Why? Because I kinda love it. My team is awesome. All day long I get to hear dirty ball jokes and jokes about finding holes, you know, really mature shit like that. What's not to love?

The scale says I am about two lbs down.

I will take it!

Wish me luck kicking softball ass on Saturday...ugh...morning!

Tammy Version 2.0

Challenge

2011-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

My good friend Cory, who keeps kicking my lazy ass in gear, has reminded me that we had a weight-loss challenge a while back. Gee, thanks Cory, what are you some kinda friggin' elephant- you never forget anything??

So my challenge is to lose 25 lbs by August. Yargh. This will put me back to my all-time low of 165, which I reached for about five minutes many months ago.

My plan is to reign in the bad eating habits I have fallen back into and get back to regular exercise. I have my bike in my mom's garage, and I think I will keep it there. When the days get warmer, it will be the coolest place to work out. I have also joined a gym in the city my boyfriend, Terry, lives in. He and I must go at least two times a week.

One cool thing is that I have joined Terry's brother's slow-pitch team. They are a very fun bunch to play with, and it gets me moving for a few hrs on Sundays! I love playing ball again. It has been about six years since I have played slow-pitch, and 20 since I played fast-pitch. Wow...I am friggin old. I loved playing ball as a kid, and I was always our clean-up batter. It still is a challenge to hit the slow-moving pitches I get now though. It sucks to not be the batter I once was, but I am trying new things to improve ma skillz. At least I am still doing well on first base!

Wish me luck for my two games on Sunday! Goooooo Guzzlers!

Ok, deep breath, here I go to break through the inertia of laziness...

Tammy Version 2.0

The good, bad and ugly

2011-05-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

So this is what it feels like to be resurrected from the dusty floor in the land of the lost forgotten and neglected blogs. *cough*

I will not be going into any of the gory details of what brought me here, but here are the highlights of what is new with me.

1. I am separated from my husband
2. I am in a new relationship.
3. I am currently living with my mom until my house sells and I can stop paying for half the mortgage
4. I have gained twenty lbs in the last five months.

How do I feel about all this?

1. Horrible for hiring him, but relieved to be out of a relationship that made me unhappy.
2. Very, very happy...he is a sweet, loving man.
3. Frustrated
4. Completely disgusted with myself.

I started to gain weight soon after all the relationship shit hit the fan. I was mega stressed, super emotional and had no routine whatsoever. I exercised not at all and started eating whatever I wanted. Then my cat got sick and I just had to put her down.

I feel so gross...my clothes fit somewhat, but more and more are to tight. I am about a size 12 now from a 8/10 before. I feel self-conscious and just icky.

I have my exercise bike now, so that's a start. It helped me lose my first forty lbs oh-so long ago.

So I guess what I am saying is my life is very different now, and I am slowly getting my shit back on track.

I hope that those of you who once read my blog, and I once followed are all doing well. I missed you.

Until I blog again...

Tammy Version 2.0

Sisters

2010-10-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

I'm living in land o' boxes right now since we are moving in just a few days. I just wanted to share this pic I put together. I had this great picture of my sister and I from a while ago, and she said, "Hey, we should do a new picture now that I have my braces off!" So at my little cousin's wedding, I took a new picture of us. I thought my face looked a bit chubby in the old pic, but wow, I can really see a change in my face with about a 20 lb weight loss. :)

Ain't my sister purty? I am so lucky to have such a great sister! We didn't always get along when we were teenagers (we're only 11 months apart), but she's one of my best friends and a lot of fun to be with. Love ya sis!

Wish me luck with the big move! Next blog will be from my beautiful new house!

Insanity anyone?

2010-10-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

I don't get weight loss. Really. I have "lost" 2.6 lbs in the last four days. WTF?? Not to say that this is REAL weight loss or whatever, but it seems to me like my body really REALLY likes to be around 169 lbs. I have been eating better this week, and I had one nice long workout with trainer-gal...but not much else.

Oh well, we shall see what next week brings, I suppose!

Today I went to a conference for English teachers on my professional development day, and I met a P.E. teacher who has his girls' fitness class doing this workout I'd never heard of. Any of y'all heard of the PX90 peeps workout called "Insanity"? Weeel it certainly seems to live up to its name! This thing appears to make Jillian's Shred look like a day at the beach. The P.E. dude said it kills even really fit people, but it's an excellent workout...very intense. Sounds interesting, I say! Of course it costs like 140 bucks for a 60 day program. Eeep. So Ima thinkin' that this could be an excellent x-mas present. If not I may be able to convince hubby we should buy it and do it together...maybe. Seems to me this might give me the motivation to get my ass working out regularly again, and get me into wicked shape.

Anyway, here's the site..check it out if you dare...mwhahahahaha!

Here are some pics from the last couple weekends:

The most fabulous Chrystie and moi- and yes I'm holding her hand.

Get a gal on my couch, and look out!

Makin' faces.

My turn. Now, that's lovely.

Playing with false eyelashes and wig for my superawesomefantastic Halloween costume

Hmm maybe this look is better?

The gorgeous Lara the night we hit the town and let loose a bit.

Nothin says classy like drinking a wine spritzer from a straw!

Lara's a classy bitch too!

I'm diggin' my shorter hair, thanks Chrystie!

(yes, shorter- it was a few inches longer before)

Love this girl!

Flipping off lame men in general (and one particular lame man in specific!)

I like how I BEND into it. Serious flippage here.

Just wanted to leave you with an older pic. This was...hmm...May/June of 2009 I believe.

I had been doing this for about a month or two. I've come a lonnng way baby!

Reality Bites

2010-10-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Somewhere things changed. Maybe it was after I finally completed my 10k in July and said, "Fuck this running thing," and just half-assed running for the next two months before quitting entirely. Maybe it was after Mexico when I stopped saying "no" to myself again. My "no" muscles are weak now...very weak. I truly believe the more you resist, the more you say no to the unhealthy foods, the easier it gets. Last year I kicked ass at saying no. Junk food, baked goods, chocolate- barely a bite slipped passed my lips. Now? It's all in baby. Not to say I have reverted to my old binging ways and eating giant bowls of ice-cream and bags of cookies. But I am just not saying no.

And guess what? The scale is finally reflecting it.

I seemed to do no wrong in the eyes of the scale gods by slacking off in the exercise department. Then the food ante was upped a bit, and in the last week the scale has responded in kind. Can't really blame it, now can I? Hells no.

So I an now 172.6...which is about 3 lbs up from where I was hovering for the last few months. I would dip down to 167, then up to 169, but never did I pop over 170. Until now.

Fuck.

This is what I have been dreading. I KNOW I have more flab on me, but body composition- less lean muscle, more fat- has kept the scale level for me. Not any more though. Time to get my head out of fairy-tale land where I can eat crap and sit on the couch and not gain weight. This shit just got real.

So what does that mean? Well, mostly it means I have to move more and eat less. Huh, that sounds strangely familiar.

Doing this now before another 2 or 3 or 10 lbs creeps up is key. I could easily wait and stay a lazy ass until I can't fit into my nice, new, small clothes anymore. Been there. Done that. Bought the XXL t-shirt. I can tell myself right now that I still fit into my 29 inch waist jeans (they are low-rise, so yeah, they fit, but I don't have a 29-inch waist by any means!), and my size 8 blazer and size medium tops. Sure, right now. But gimme a few more weeks at this rate, and I will be muffin topping my way out of those clothes. Of this I have zero doubt.

I will have to fight off the hunger demons that now plague me (as they did at the beginning of my journey). Maybe I should hook up with those endless bags of carrots again. Hmm.

K, back to working out regularly and saying NO, HELL NO, FUCK OFF NO to all the sugary and fatty crap that comes my way.

Sporadic is better than never!

2010-10-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Hey peeps! I am here, alive and kicking. The whole house buying saga is coming to an end, and I am SO excited to say we are moving in TWO WEEKS! I am still in shock that we are going to live in such a big, beautiful house. Thanks for all your lovely comments about it!

I have worked out with my trainer girl a few times now, and things are definitely more intense. She is getting me to do 30 seconds of jump rope after each arm or leg exercise. Basically we are doing every muscle from shoulder to calf and then repeating it 3 times. At the end of it, my face was red and I was sweating like a p-i-g. I am definitely not in the same shape I was in June. Sadly, I haven't been running much at all. It got hard! I know, whiny baby, my own fault. Just slacked off and lost my running mojo. I did find a couch to 10k program I could try...but I am worried about when I can run when it gets dark so early. In the winter it's pretty much getting dark when I am done work. I suppose I could use the treadmill at work. Maybe to 1/2 outside until it's too dark, then come in and finish on the treadmill? Hmmm.

I am in a bit of a world of stress with work and house stuff...but when I come through in Nov, I am definitely going to amp things up!

Did I tell y'all what my Halloween costume is this year? Some of you will maybe remember my witchy woman costume...which I have beaten to death over the last four years. This year, I have decided to change things up a bit. I enlisted my mom and her sewing skillz to fashion me into a genuine Disney princess....Snow White. I'm oddly excited to wear this costume! I will take some pics for ya for sure.

Speaking of pictures.... 'cause there are just NOT enough pictures of me on this blog, here's one more. :)

Ahh sepia...what fun to look all antique-y ;)

My Dream House

2010-09-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I never imagined I would end up living in a HOUSE let alone an amazing one. But here we are ONE step away from owning my dream house. I am excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time! We are just waiting for the seller to sign off on our counter-offer (to which he already agreed verbally). There IS a chance that he could refuse the offer, but if he does we do have a back up plan here. Another property is on the back burner right now. NICE house, but not the dream house, ya know.

Here are some pics I took on our last visit. It's not finished, but the seller will get it done fairly quickly once it's officially sold. I seriously LOVE this house! 4 bedrooms, 4 bath, backyard, granite countertops, will have stainless steel appliances. Whoooo!

This seriously screams for kitchen party!

Not a huge back yard, but enough room for a nice deck, and maybe one day a hot tub!

Green space in the back- won't ever be developed!

Mom in the shot for scale. That's one TALL ceiling!

Soak away your sore muscles in THIS lil' baby!

All the bathrooms have the granite counters. LOVE.

Just imagining where the bed would go. ;)

HUGE shower...more love.

Master suite vanity. Extra cupboards...so nice!

View of entry and hubby from the stairs. :)

There are more pics, but blogger (or my dang computer) is making me nuts with the slow download.

Can you see why I love?

In other news, I will be starting back with my teenage personal trainer gal! Tuesdays and Thursdays we'll be in the gym at the school. She has already told me I am gonna get my sweat on. :) Can't wait!

K, cross your fingers for us!

I may end up living in a cave!

2010-09-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

Hey, hey hey! So I wanted to pop on here and tell y'all that I am officially homeless! I know I said we sold in my last post, but there was some drama that ensued after the offer was accepted. I chalk it up to them being newbie home buyers and not having a fracking clue. Also, they brought a friggin CONTRACTOR into the condo, and he proceeded to point out every tiny flaw that, of course, needed to be fixed right away! This resulted in them asking us for $4000 off the price to cover all the fixes. Um. No. You can't expect perfection in a 30 yr. old building people! Thank goodness we were able to work it out in the end, but man, that was some STRESS!

The current stress is to remedy our homeless situation by actually buying a new house! We looked yesterday, and saw some nice places, but we haven't hit on "the one" yet. We really are hoping for the ultimate trifecta, the holy grail of home buying, if you will...location, size and price.

In other news, I did the Terry Fox run at school last week and it kicked my ass. It was only 3.1k, and I couldn't even come CLOSE to running it all. I did that in 21:30...and I was sad. I am supposed to do a TEN kilometer run in less than a month here...holy wake up call Batman! I am going for a run in a bit here, before we head out for more house hunting fun.

My weight is still exactly the same...I went down a lb for almost a week, and went back to my "standard" of 170 two days ago...and here I remain.

If I get my shit together here and do some regular exercise, I KNOW I can drop some more weight. I get more and more fearful the longer I put it off....it's only a matter of time before that scale starts to creep upwards. I am shocked it's stuck at this weight for the whole summer, pretty much.

K...here I go...running time!

Oh, almost forgot! Got a lovely blog award from Sonja at Eyes on the Hourglass...Blogger of Substance it was. :) Thanks babe!

I know I am supposed to nominate more peeps, but really, it's a miracle that I am even blogging here, so let's not push our luck, mmkay?

One more thing...I find it shocking that my blogger friend Lara hasn't got 500 followers all commenting on her shit by now! She is a quality writer, and way funnier than me...AND she's kicking ass with her weight-loss right now. So get your blogging ass over there and FOLLOW her already! Jeeeze. Here's the link...click it...you won't regret it! My Big Fat Blog: A Reporter's Journey to Fitness

And while I am at it...my OTHER amazing friend Cory needs some new readers. His blog does mention his weight-loss/running/working out efforts, but it's often more of a stage for his hilarious rants...must read it! Cory's Rabbit Hole.
Thanks!

xxoo

Not living in a cave!

2010-09-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were wondering there. I have not, in fact, relocated to an undergroud dwelling of some sort with no internet connection. I have just been crazily busy trying to get my condo sold and start working with the teenagers again.

Lemme just say...PHEW!

Condo is DONE. Condo is not only done but the bitch has actually SOLD. Yup. One day on the market, first couple through and we got an offer. Next stop, house shopping. This girl's gonna buy a bran-spankin' new house. Hells yes.

Weight loss? Oh yes, that...lol...well, there has been none. I am still maintaining around 170. I was lower for about a week or so, but it levelled out to this weight and seems to be enjoying the view there or somethin.

I am going to run a 10k in Oct, so have been running a few times to prep for that crazy shit.

Thanks to youse guys who checked in on me whilst I was being a busy (and somewhat lazy) shit blogger.

I hope I will drag my ass back here again soon! Until then...loves ya'll!

Back from Cabo!

2010-08-18T00:45:00.000-07:00

I am back, baby! I had a fantastic time in Mexico with my hubby! We met the coolest people there, and being at an adult only resort was rather...titillating? I saw more boobies in 7 days than I've seen in my whole life thus far. Yes. A lot. Pretty sure Jason didn't mind it too much. ;)

The resort was pretty much what I expected and looked just like the pictures. The pool area wasn't huge, but there as always something going on and pretty much everyone hung out there. The food was better than I thought it would be, which was great...or not so great if ya know what I mean. I definitely didn't restrict myself at my meals! I didn't snack at all, so it was really 3 meals a day...though we did skip breakfast 3 of the days. Just too tired to drag our asses out of bed in time! I think a lot of my calories came form booze, too. We drank a lot the first few days, but then it got a bit much to drink afternoon AND night, so we just had a few in the eve. Still, lots of drinking!

So I'm sure you want to know the bad news, yes? I did weigh myself the morning after we returned. First, I should say when we left I was 167.6...and when we got back I was 172.4. Eeep! I figured some it was water retention because I KNOW they used way more salt in the food than I am used to. Sure enough, the next day I was 170.6. Even better, today I weighed 168.4. I haven't been working out because we are STILL working on our floor! It seemed like we had so much done before we left, but there was some really stupid stubborn mortar we had to grind down, and some glued down transition strips that had to be sawed off. Fun! So more manual labour was my exercise these past two days. I am pretty much eating normally, but I am much hungrier than I was before I left. Damn the good eating! I am really happy the pounds have dropped off fairly quickly, which proves it wasn't real weight to begin with.

I wanted to exercise in Mexico, and I even hauled my gear all the way there. There was a gym there with some decent equipment. Only one problem. NO AC. So with the giant window facing the beach to create a nice greenhouse effect it was stifiling in there. Musta been 30 degrees. No. Way. It was about 35 outside (that's the 90's for you US folk) with like 80% humidity. You could SEE the moisture in the air! Sweaty messy. The pool was the biggest help for that! But, it made it very unappealing to exercise outdoors. I did dance a lot in the evenings, so there's some calorie burning...yeahhh!

Here are about fifty billion pictures of our trip!

Waiting to get on that southbound plane!

And like magic, here is the bathroom of our hotel room!

Ahhh bed...king sized beds are HUGE!

Ahh there, you can see it better without my ass lounging on it.

Love the shower...nice and big!

We hit the Italian restaurant when we got in.

How I spent most of my afternoons. ;) And no, I don't do the tanning thing anymore.

I loved the canopied beds!

The beach was freaking hot nice but not suitable for swimming...unless you are crazy.

View from our pool bed, looking out to the ocean.

Ready to get the party started!

Had to get comfortable to drink my daiquiri.

Our favourite bartender, Antonio. We learned he was too much of a playa to be married.

"Too many ladies" he said. Niiiice. :)

Random shot of the Kama Sutra-inspired art above our bed. Sexy, non?

LOVE this girl. She was the life of the party...most definitely!

Case in point, she's dancing on the bed thingy.

The fabulous Nate getting his freak on (with Chris in the background)

The desserts all looked amazing.

Random shot of the inside of the resort.

Now that's how to do a tequila shot! This group of bachelorettes really knew how to party!

Dinner at the Japanese-inspired restaurant. FUN!

Another fun girl, Maury, and Nate again.

This was our favourite couple, Juliana and Chris from Vegas, along with Maury here.

Chandelier in the lobby.

Entrance to the breakfast buffet/International cuisine restaurant

Jason took A LOT of pictures of me!

This is where the party happened most nights...the round beds were cool.

Chris showing of one of his talents.

Here you can see the alteration to my dress- I have it tucked up in my undies! Lol, it was HOT! Maury started the trend, and a bunch of us were doing it to stay cool.

Chillin after the bar shut down.

One of the fun desserts (Creme of Mint with Stick Puff...no really).

No drink sad face.

Everyone tried to give me pointers, but man, I sucked at this!

This is the town square in San Jose del Cabo

Funny shirt.

Great free gift...grooming of the "downstairs" is important, too!

Be sure to stop at Bla, Bla, Bla Silver Shop!

View from lunch buffet restaurant.

Some of the landscaping in the inner courtyard. This place was very well maintained!

The last shot ever taken on our camera, as Jason dropped it right after this.

So no pictures from the last three days!

Tomorrow we are laying tile down...so more back-straining labour. We are maybe a week away from listing our condo! Whooo! We can go look for new places next weekend, we figure. I have about 10-15 townhouses I want to see. The bitch of living where we do, so close to Vancouver, housing is RIDICULOUS. A ho-hum house built in the 70s goes for over $600 000. So we are going a little farther away to a suburb area where we can get more bang for our buck. I'll keep ya posted!

Hope all of you are doing well, and didn't pine away too much in my absence in the land of tequila!

Ready for my margarita on the beach now!

2010-08-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am going to Mexico on Saturday! Whooo! It's my first time in Mexico, and also my first time at an all inclusive resort. So exciting!

Today I took a walk down to the beach with my bff Lara and her adorable little guy. It's a nice downhill walk to the beach followed by a brutal uphill climb to get back. Phew!

I thought I would share an updated pic with y'all since I've lost about 5 lbs or so since the last pics were taken.

That's Logan with me on the White Rock pier.

He was thrilled to get his pic taken! Later he picked me flowers though ;)

Other than that walk, I haven't exercised much this week. Well, there was the five more hours of manual labour. Oy. I used a wrecking bar to remove the rest of the tile and then chipped away at the most stubborn tile mortar known to humans. It was maddening to take off, and physically exhausting. My back hurt, my hands hurt, and my baby toe hurt from the hammer I dropped on it. Um. Oops. Last night I woke up with the most intense pain in my hand. I guess I had it curled up in a fist as I slept, and it stiffened up. Man...ouchie. I took some drugs and put a heating pad on it and went back to sleep. When I woke up, it was good! My back is ok today too...so I think I got off lucky. When I told the lovely husband about my pain, he said, "Ok, that's it. You aren't working in the bathroom anymore!" Sweet, huh? He's gonna try this Dremel tool thingy on the remaining mortar tomorrow. We're going to tile when we get back since Jason has another week off. THEN we can list this bitch and get the hell outta here!

Well, next you hear from me, I'll be fresh from Mexico! I'm sure I will inundate you with a ton of pictures as well. Here's to NOT gaining back those 5 lbs while away!

Later studs. :)

My new workout- Manual Labour!

2010-08-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

I am so cheating by doing my weigh in today, but I don't care! I am so happy to see the scale go down, I had to share.

I weighed in at 166.4 today! Whoooo! So let's seeee...I was about 172 when I finished work, so I am down 6 lbs!

I can't say I have been working out or watching my calories too much, but I have been working my ass off around the house with painting and demolishing tile. Today we did 5 hrs of manual labour. I scraped and scraped and scraped. Then I scraped some more. It was latex-based mortar and dang she was a bitch to get off! Crazy tedious and physically not a picnic, fo sho. But that stuff must burn some calories! I did do the shred nearly every day up until we started painting, and I ran on Sat.

Now, the big fancy trick is to not gain it all back in Mexico! I am bringing running shoes and workout gear, and there IS a gym there. I think Jason and I will try to hit it a few times at least. I also plan on walking along the beach a lot. If the weather isn't tooooo hot...wait lemme check. Gotta love the internets. Ok, so the weather is going to be in the mid to low 30s (mid to low 90's for you Americans), so I may not be running too much unless it's morning before it gets too hot. This bitch does NOT run in the heat.

I am in the doghouse just a bit over demoing all the tile in the bathroom. Someone was hoping to do it when we get back, but I was pretty determined to get 'er done before we left. Maybe I am naive, but I think we can do it! Yes we can! Don't mess with me when I am determined, I tells ya!

Hope your summers are all going well. I've been a baaaad commenter, but I am still reading up on you all!

Wednesday Weigh-In and the Revenge of the Birthday Cake

2010-07-28T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's not pretty. It's not as bad as it was earlier this week, but still not pretty.

I hurt my knee last Thursday JUST WALKING AROUND THE CORNER. Seriously?!?! I run 10k, do countless squats and lunges with freakin' Jillian and this is how I injure myself? You know, if I'm going to get hurt, the very least my body could do for me is do it while I'm doing something exercise related! Yeesh! So I missed two workouts hoping it was just a muscle and it needed rest. On Saturday I tested it out by riding my recumbent bike. Not too bad...and then Sunday I did Jillian level 2. OUCH with the plank! My shoulders and back were really sore the day after that one, but the knee was fine. PHEW!

Ok, so we've got two workouts missed...let's add to that some seriously bad eating. It was my hubby's birthday on Sunday, so Friday we started the celebrating with a dinner out with friends. I had some pizza, which wasn't so bad, but then we went for blizzards for dessert. I had the smallest one, but still that shit is PACKED with calories...I cringe to even think. The next night was Chinese food, which isn't my fave, but I found some things to eat. Mmm fat and sodium! Of course, we had birthday cake...but not just ANY birthday cake. It was black forest cake from Costco which, as you may know, is big enough to feed about 30 people. There were only 9 of us eating it. Fuuuuuuck. We sent people off with cake, but we still had a crapload left. Here it is Wednesday, and I count 8 pieces left. And yes, I've been eating a bit EVERY NIGHT. Get it outta my house for the love of god! Oh, and Sunday I had a burger and fries at the new Denny's here...and Jason had his free b-day meal. So is it much of a surprise that today I weigh....

168.6

Fuckity.

Stupid.

But, it was worse...I was up a full 2 lbs earlier this week. I was actually up a pound the day after I weighed in, if you can believe it.

So anyway, I have a week and a half before Mexico to drop a few more pounds. I am definitely eating better, and I think I will have to say NO to that freakin' cake that never ends.

I am nearly done summer school- just the rest of this week! It's been pretty fun, and I will miss the kids. It's weird to only teach them for a month and say goodbye! Meanwhile, we are trying to get this place ready to sell. Today we cleared off our deck and disturbed a few hunnert spiders. Big fat ones, little scurrying ones...oh how my skin did crawl! What's worse is we had to drag all this insect-infested crap through our condo to get it to the dumpster. The strata is cleaning the decks (thanks 'cause we just power washed it) and gave us ONE day to get everything off it except the BBQ. Asswipes. 2.5 hrs, and a bunch of creepy crawlies later...we had 'er done. We were actually going to do just this on the weekend, so I guess it was good to do it early. We will finish the painting this weekend, and hopefully order some new carpet for the bedroom and get the last of the tiling done. After that, it's just a bit more de-cluttering and scrubbing the place down!

Ok lovelies...kick some ass out there like my friend Lara who is down five lbs in her first two weeks! Go Lara! If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you really should! She's a great writer and has an amazing story.

Weigh-in Wednesday...what say the scale gods?

2010-07-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

The scale gods are fickle assholes, as anyone knows who worships at their alter on a regular basis. They are notoriously capricious and oftentimes hateful. But. Once and a while, the scale gods get up on the right side of the bed and smile down upon us and reward our hard work. Ahhh glorious.

This week, I have been smiled upon.

I was up earlier in the week and thought my BBQ eating and drinking and no working out all weekend would be my downfall. I caught a glimmer of hope yesterday when I weighed in and saw a loss. Ahhh could it be? Would it last?

Yes, yes it did. I weigh 167.6.

It's only a little over a pound, but I will take it! Any little bit helps! I think doing the Shred and running is really a good thing here. I didn't do two workouts yesterday, but I did Shred and go for a 1/2 hr walk with hubby. I was just wiped in the eve and even fell asleep on the couch for like an hour. I didn't want to push myself and get all burned out from exercise. So maybe the double will be every other day. It would be quite stellar to be under 165 by the time I hit Mexico on the 7th.

Ok, so that leaves me with mentioning this cool giveaway that the hilarious Candice at Life According to Candice is doing. She's giving away this new Maybelline lip stain that apparently rocks her universe. I luuurve lip stain as an alternative to lipstick, so I am hoping to get lucky on this one! Knowing my usual luck, this shit isn't even available in Canada yet. Always the way with cool new products.

I am going to go high five myself over the loss, and then SHRED!

Who worked out twice to day? I did!

2010-07-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

Last you heard from me I had done a bout with Jillian and was mightily afeared of the repercussions on any heretofore unused muscles. The verdict? Not so bad! The only muscle pain I had was in my inner thighs. This is a far, FAR cry from the aftermath of my first Jillian experience. That first time was brutal...I could barely walk and sitting down for any reason was torture. I am so dang happy that those same moves that left me a whimpering mess barely phased me this time. I attribute this to the running, and I can only assume that running doesn't work the inner thighs so much!

I did the Shred again today, after a weekend of painting with my mom and some most excellent socializing at a BBQ. I didn't do tooo badly at the BBQ, but man the food was yum! *WARNING* The following sentences are about food- if you do not wish to hear about this please move onto the next paragraph! Cory made this delicious snapper with a spicy rub all nice and crusted on there. I really want to make this dish! The host, Mike (you may remember from his role as "door guy" and my awesome driver during the road trip) made the best pasta salad I've ever had along with an amazing teriyaki chicken. The worst of it was my chocolate chip cookies. I made some for the BBQ, and we turned them into delicious ice cream sandwiches. Mmm wow. Sorry if you are hungry now, but I warned ya!

That being said, it inspired me to do the Jillian today. I also haven't run since...um...Thurs? So I decided to do TWO workouts and ran around 9:15 p.m. I did my quick run again, and it kicked my ass. Man, running fast is hard! But I really do feel great doing it (other than the panting and wanting to die, as I just mentioned to my friend Chrystie). I am really hoping that eventually this pace will feel normal. How freakin' awesome would that be? I can just haul ass around town for my runs? Sweet.

I am considering a repeat of this tomorrow. Weigh-in is Wed, and I am expecting a gain, or no loss. Oh well, I am feeling stronger and have more energy these days, so I will just go with that!

Some pics for you to enjoy...

This is the forbidden photo I took all ninja-style at Bard on the Beach. Take that ya old bag picture Nazis! (no idea why it was forbidden to take pics!) It doesn't do the backdrop justice. You have to imagine the mountain that is beyond the trees.

Mike and Chrystie, a couple of the usual suspects. :)

Cory and his beverage say "cheers".

My two new most favouritest peeps...Mary and Sari (with a glimpse of Cory's youngest progeny)

This rather eccentric- yet bitchin- collection comes to my via Tricia at Fight Fat Phobia. I won an award for "effort" by being the only one who did up a video entry for her contest to win 300 things. I know you are all coveting my Jonas Brothers mini note pads.

She's so sweet! And I'm a wiener!

One of the new throw pillows I got at Ikea that I love. They give me happy.

Feeling sassy!

Me- 1 Jillian- O

2010-07-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

I finally faced off with Jillian! It took me a few weeks to get around to her, but I did level 1 of the 30 Day Shred for the first time in about six months. I was nervous, as anyone would be when dealing with the workout Nazi. Mostly I fear the sore legs that come as a result of all the squats and lunges.

I remember the first time I did the Shred back in December of last year. DANG was that hard! I huffed and puffed my way through it wanting to DIE. This time...meh. Not so much! The cardio part had my heart rate up a bit, but I was by no means breathing hard, even by the 3rd round. I couldn't believe it wasn't harder! But, I have been running for what, three or four months now? It's just really cool to see how much better my cardio is now. Yayyy for running!

But about those sore legs...ummm yes....I think perhaps I will have those. The strength part was still a bit harder. I SUCK at push ups again. Fuck. I was getting pretty good at those (still girly style) when working with trainer girl in June. I am happy to be working my arms and legs that way again.

In an ideal world, I will do Jillian in the morning and do a run in the eve. Right now with the man's sched. that means a late dinner and then a later run- last time was about 9:30. So that's not ideal, but I'll give it a try as much as I can.

I just had to share my cardio victory with y'all! Whooo!

Have a great weekend- mine is all about paintin and some socializing...a lunch and a BBQ with friends. :)

See you next week (I'll be the one hobbling, prolly)!

Caught on video!

2010-07-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share this CNN online video clip with you. The reported dude is just bad at his job, but you can see a lot of awesome costumes for the Underwear Affair...including Borat guy. Imagine following that sweaty, hairy ass for 1/2 hr or more!

What's more, you can catch a glimpse of MOI gesticulating at my new friends, the oh-so-sexy Sari and Mary, at 46 seconds and a little of my leg/torso at 2:33. Sadly, this is pre-costume, but still...you see me!

Check it out here.

I know. Goosebumps.

The other news of the day is that I emailed the people at the Canadian TV show The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp. It's a weight loss program aimed at people like me, who only have about 10 lbs left to lose and need some help. In the show, that help comes in the form of former B.C. Lions football player Tommy Europe (check that bod, wow!) and a nutrition coach. The participants get their asses kicked around by Tommy for 4 weeks in the hopes of dropping the pounds and fitting into a target outfit in heretofore unknown smaller sizes. I freakin' love this show. My favourite part is when Tommy catches the chubby vixens doing some nasty eating or drinking and he gives them his "Butt Kick", and the poor girls are turned into whimpering piles of goo vowing to never cheat on her diet again. Ahhh that's entertainment!

So yeah, I put my name in the hat, but who the hell knows what will ever come of it. It may be they aren't filming now, or I don't fit their profile, or whatever. I just thought it would be fun to see what comes of it. Ya never know!

That is all.

Exciting purchase!

2010-07-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

It sits there it's glass surface quietly gleaming (in my hallway because there is no room in my bathroom). A statement to precision an accuracy. What is this marvel of modern technology? Why, it is my NEW SCALE! Yeahhhh! And when I weighed myself on it three times in a row to test it, it gave the exact same weight. WOW.

This is the fabulousness here:

Now that I have an accurate scale in my possession, I will now commence to post my weekly weight again. This is an important part of my whole weight loss plan since when I don't post my weight, there is no accountability's. I haven't weighed myself accurately in nearly a month. Lemme tell you there was some trepidation in my heart when I stepped on that slick new scale for the first time. Fewer workouts...maybe a little lax eating. What would the scale tell me?

168.9

Yup, a loss! Whoooo! I am in the 160's!

So I guess my weigh-in days are Wednesdays now. Let's see what this week brings!

Today wasn't stellar...so I hope that it isn't going to set the tone for the week. I didn't work out today. Boo. I basically was running around all day and night. Tomorrow may be another busy morning...so may have to put off the workout until after work. I really don't like doing that. I did have a nice night run Tues. night though. It was getting dark, so I booted it for about 2 miles. I like running faster a lot better than slower, that's for sure. When I did the 10k I kept a slower pace, and blah. I like the feeling that I am going a little faster, widening my stride, feeling like I am covering a bit more ground, feeling my muscles push me along. It still kills my lungs a lot more than the slower pace, but hopefully that will improve as my body gets used to going faster. If I don't have time to run for 30 minutes (about 5k for me) I run faster. I feel like the extra cardio push with the increased heart-rate makes up for the shorter distance.

I have to tell you about my most excellent night! I went to Bard on the Beach, a partially outdoor theater, with the mountains as the backdrop. It was so cool! The play was Much Ado About Nothing, and it was hilarious! I really enjoyed the acting and just seeing Shakespeare done the way it is supposed to be done. I forgot just how different it is to see the plays come to life since I'm so used to just seeing words on a page.

Anyway...that's all for me. I'm gonna go admire my scale some more. :)

A fabulous new blog for you to peruse!

2010-07-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

I am just so excited I have to post again! My friend Lara has just started her own weight-loss blog! Whoooo!

I've known Lara since jr. high school, and we've been best buds since gr. 11. She moved away on me for TEN YEARS, but when she was able to move back here with her little guy it was like she never left. That's the kind of friendship we have! Lara is the kind of friend every girl hopes to have- she's kind, considerate, a great listener; she's always got my back and she's a helluva lot of fun to hang out with. Not to mention she's an amazing home chef! Dang can that girl cook.

This is us around 1997, I think. Neither one of us was fat back then!

We are so friggin' cute!

And here we are 13 years later...still pretty darn cute!

She's been struggling with her weight for a while, like me, but unlike me she is doing this shit while working as a broadcast journalist full time and being a single mom! Not an easy task, as you may know or can imagine.

I hope all of you will check out her shiny new blog, My Big Fat Blog- A Reporter's Journey to Fitness and follow her on way to weight loss! It's so hard starting out and committing to this shit...so please comment and let her know you are out there. She's a great girl with a fabulous sense of humour, and I know you will love her blog!

Ok, now I have to go work my stiff, sore ass out! Lara's already done her shred for the day (kick ass!).

Now GO follow the link!

Underwear Affair is over, and 10k is just a 5k on steriods!

2010-07-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

I DID IT!!!

I ran 10k yesterday for the Underwear Affair! And I survived despite the run being in July and it being freaking HOT out. I was originally just going to run 5k, 'cause that's what I trained for, but decided at the last second to go hardcore and do the 10. I am glad I did, but man was it miserable!

When I hit the first km marker I was like, seriously?!! That's all?!? Ohhh lordy I'm in trouble! I ran straight through the first 2k at least, and then had to walk a bit. At around 4k there was a water station and I had a few sips, which seemed to be a bad move 'cause that's where the nausea hit...followed by feeling all light-headed. It sucked, but I had to walk until that passed and then I ran until I felt sick again. Did that for about 5k. My face felt like it was on fire, but my legs and lungs felt fine. I really think I could have run more if it wasn't so hot. My friend Cory came back to run with me after finishing his run in the kick-ass time of 50 minutes! And that's with him stopping for a beer! Yup, some dude on a restaurant patio offered him about 1/2 a beer, and he took it and downed it. Tooo funny. But anyway, I was on the bridge at the end of the course when he found me, and he pushed my tired, dying ass to run the last kilometer or so. I even had some in me to sprint the last bit! It was really cool of him to do that, and really, it was his encouragement that had me doing the 10k in the first place! Thanks Cory. :)

I am pretty happy with my time, but I know I could have ~~dragged ass less~~ run more in cooler weather. But, I did manage to do the 10k in 1 hr 13 min. Next time I will do it in under an hour...that's my plan. I think if I actually train for it (and I don't wear lingerie, say), I will do much better. This time I had only trained for 5k, so it was the longest run I've ever done!

Today I'm a bit sore, but not too bad. I didn't injure anything at least...small favours! I saw a few people limping around after the race. Eeep.

It was a good experience all in all, despite the misery I felt during the run. And it did kind of light a fire under me since now I really want to do a 10k under an hour.

Now I have to start exercising every day to lose some of these stubborn-ass 10 lbs. Only 27 more days until Mexico! My friend Lara is starting a weight loss blog soon, and we will be encouraging each other along the way here. I will be linking to her when she gets her first blog post up!

Here are some pics from the race!

Some mental preparation going on here...

Just chillin' before the race.

My tag to time my run. Notice it was for the 5k walk, but hell with that!

My bows!

Ta Da! Lingerie + sports bra + running shoes= SEXY!

Gotta show off the bows!

The team! Hawt. ;)
Kim, Chrystie, the infamous Cory et moi!

Just before the race inside the Seaforth Armoury.

And they're off!

Sari and Mary, my new (sexy) friends, just right of centre in black and pink corsets!

The outside of the Armoury...very cool old building.

Annnd I'm done! Sooo hot, sooo tired. Just wanted to pass out and die!

(We didn't get a pic of me finishing though...booo.)

Tiny injury I discovered upon taking off my socks...bad nail clipping job I guess!

There you have it, my friends! I hope you are all doing well as summer gets going here. Just three more weeks of work for me, then MEXICO!!

I is aliiiiiiive!

2010-07-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were worried, I have not, in, fact expired. I have just been really busy and not feeling very bloggy. Sorry. :(

So let me sum up the excitement that is my life...

1. I finished teaching for the year...the last weeks were a whirlwind of insanity and that's with NO KIDS AROUND. I couldn't believe how busy and stressed I was! Fuck that noise. I just wanna sit in my room and slowly start to put shit away and half-assedly start planning for next year. Is that too much to ask!?!

2. I played golf. Again. For the fourth time ever. Each year the staff do a social thing, and we always pay golf. What saves it from being a boring crapfest is I get to do it with cool people (hey Asha and Kim!), wear costumes and best of all, DRINK! We decided to dress up as "Ladies Who Lunch" and wear nice dresses. It was pretty hilarious to see us golfing all dressed up.

Hottest. Golfers. Ever.

Practicing...boy do I need it!

Love these girls!

3. I started summer school...teaching gr. 8 and 9 ESL beginners. So far, so good, but spent a LOT of time planning for this shit, and now we have to reign it in big time 'cause there are some really weak kids in the group. Le sigh.

4. I have continued to run in a begrudging manner. Still not enjoyable...nope not even a little. Oh, ok I will admit it feels really darn good when I STOP.

5. I have not lost or gained any weight in oh, um....let's see....hmm...SIX MONTHS.

6. I am gearing up for my Underwear Affair run on Saturday. AHHHHH! First run! AHHHHH again! People dress up in crazy outfits- mostly undergarments with varying degrees of coverage, so I need an outfit! I am leaning towards fishnets, black boyshorts, and my sports bra all covered with this teddy-type thing with a front closing bra trimmed in pink. It's semi-transparent but still covers a lot, so even though my stomach is kind of exposed, it's kind of not. Yes...that makes much sense.

7. I am going to Mexico in a month! All inclusive, natch. :) Very exciting! Plus, the fact that I must wear a bathing suit for extended periods has me a bit freaked out.

8. Hubby and I are trying to get our asses out of this tiny condo and into a bigger, better, faster, stronger domicile. Most likely a 1600+ sq. ft. townhouse with a yard of some sort. That means we are getting off our lazy asses to do the 500 things that need doing before we can list. Yay...I love painting, de-cluttering and tiling! But, if it gets me my new home, where I may actually have enough space to have PEOPLE over...and hey, maybe a GUEST room...I will bloody well do it!

9. I almost forgot! We went to Whistler for a quick getaway after school was finished. It happened to be Canada Day as well, so we had some free entertainment! Love the hotel we were in, too. It was right on the Village Stroll (main walkway through Whistler Village), and we could even watch the Canada Day parade from our balcony! Cooool.

Jason missed the ~~giant heave~~ graceful leap onto the bed.

We likey balcony!

Jason's ready to get his patriotism on!

True North Strong and Free! (so say the boobs, so say I)

Last pic to commemorate our lovely, relaxing mini-vacay.

10. Oh, for the weight-loss thing I am going to start working out every day again. The increased exercise seems to work best for me. I am thinking running on day, then doing shred or bike the other. I also want to do weights in my building's crapass "gym" after my runs. Gotta keep the arm boobies nice and toned (right Cory?). ;)

Hope y'all can forgive me for being MIA for so long. I have been peeking in on you from time to time. :)

Later!

A bad case of the Ishoulds

2010-06-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

Yup, I've got it pretty bad. It's a terrible disease the Ishoulds. Really, it's just another manifestation of lazyassery.

I sit around and say:

I should go run.

I should do some sit ups before I lose my lil' two pack.

I should go to the gym in the building and use the weights there.

I should face Jillian and do the 30 Day Shred again.

I should try to eat something healthy.

I should drink some more water.

I should, I should, I should. Blah diddy blah blah blah. Talk is cheap, lady!

The terrible thing about the Ishoulds, is that it rarely translates into any action. There is no will in a should. No determination. And it almost makes the lazyassery worse because I know what I should be doing!

Tonight, I did something though. No, not Jillian...though I still have her on my horizon. I decided to ride the bike for a change. I haven't done that since I started running, so really it's been MONTHS since my ass was in that seat. When I bike I always use free weights to work my upper body at the same time. I started out last year with 2.5 lbs, then 5, and now I am using 8s. I will get 10s sometime as well. I could tell biking uses different muscles than running, 'cause my legs were sore! But then my knee started to bug me...and then it started to hurt. That scared me. I don't want anything to interfere with my running. I am already struggling with a pulled muscled just below my butt that throws off my stride and makes me feel totally gimpy. My run for charity is July 10th-- rapidly approaching! I will post again about that soon.

Mostly I need to get rid of the Ishoulds and get my ass moving more. Just do it, don't freaking sit around at talk about it!

Close on the heals of the dreaded Ishoulds is a little what was I thinking? This past weekend was one of a bit of excess. I went to this acoustic show with some friends, and ended up not having a chance to eat dinner until 9. Did that stop me from consuming, oh...let's say 5 drinks? Nope! Am I new here? Do I think drinking a crapload of booze on an empty stomach is a good idea? Apparently the wild and woolly ways of my twenties are so far behind me that I've forgotten the hard-earned lessons of drunken nights and hung-over days. What's worse is I ordered a drink AT the bar to continue to put myself into the booze soaked hole I was digging. It was half-way through my second, and when I was mostly finished with my food (1/2 of which I gave away) and I started to feel really inebriated. The group of us then left to hit a different bar...happened to be a peeler bar. On the way I kinda sorta had to well...you know...um...yes. That. Ick. The rest of the time at the bar was spent admiring the bathroom and wanting to die. The peeps kinda hung out in the parking lot to chat with some girls that came from the other bar, and I just sorta crashed in the jeep. And wanted to die.

I was basically a write-off for the entire evening, and I have no one to blame but myself. I KNOW drinking on an empty stomach is a bad idea. I have no idea what possessed me. Stupidity, mostly.

So I'm going to be mindful of that kind of action in the future. At 36, I'm just too old for that shit.

While I was out that night, my friend Chrystie offered for me to try on her gorgeous corset. I've never worn one before, so I was curious to see what it would look like. Here are some pics. She said she coulda gone in tighter, but her corset was a bit big for me, though I think it fit nicely...plus I need to breathe! I think I am in love with corsets now! The only prob is the sitting down is sooo uncomfortable. But here it is, please forgive my inability to pose. It's just...wow. Sad.

If I were a bit braver, I woulda tried it sans brassier. ;) Maybe next time!

So off I go, running tomorrow, and Friday I "play golf" for my staff year-end social. We usually dress up in costumes for the event ('cause we take this shit seriously!), and this year we are trying "Ladies Who Lunch"...so nice dresses, some costume jewelry, and maybe a floppy hat or two. On a golf course. Should be fun! I will take more pictures than anyone would ever want to see, don't worry.

Later!

Pride, pranks and purchases, oh my!

2010-06-16T21:01:00.000-07:00

Could it be? No...it can't. It's unthinkable...it's beyond thought. Really the human brain doesn't have the synapses to wrap around this idea. It's impossible....improbable....and some other im/in word I just don't know. But...still there it is. I think it's official. I have completed my last three 30 minute runs of the Couch to 5k program. I AM DONE!

This non-running girl...the same one who has avoided running at every turn in her life. This girl who would rather do anything than run, who thinks people who run in the rain are bat-shit crazy. THIS girl can now run thirty freakin' minutes without dying, collapsing, puking or generally melting into a big mushy pile of UGH. For reals?

Yup.

So I guess I have to say, the Couch to 5k works. If I can do it...anyone can. Well, barring any physical impediments, like bad knees and flat feet like the poor hubman. :(

I am still trying to eat less, and am running every other day, but haven't lost any more weight yet. Damn. It. I also haven't added any Jillian flava to my workouts, which I really need to gather up the balls to do. I know even if it hurts the first few days, it will go away. Running on Jillianized legs scares me though.

Today was the last day of classes at my school...bittersweet time. I am glad I don't have to teach for a while (once again, yay summer school!), but I am sad to see them go for two months, and even sadder to say goodbye to the students not returning next year. Boo. It was a bit funny to see the second grad prank this morning though:

They actually guarded the stairway to make sure no one took it down before class changed and everyone could get a good look at their masterpiece. They did clean it up after..awww sweet grads. This was number two, as I said. Prank number one was a bit odd. A bunch of gr. 12 girls. all dressed in black sweats, kidnapped some boys out of their beds, dressed them in shorts and bras, put panties over their heads and wrapped feather boas around them, then zip-tied their hands to a fence and made them stand at a bus stop while all the kids rolled into school. Oh and there was a blow-up doll in there somewhere, too. Sweet gals. The best part is that they called the boys' parents first to arrange the kidnapping. Thanks mom, for the mortal humiliation.

Here's one of my favourite classes- English 10:

And a bit sillier. :)

And one of me in the cute dress...this is my classroom door. We one a prize for decorating it with POWER, our school code of conduct acronym.

And finally, after all the goodbyes I got off work early and did what I do best...shopped! I scored this top I had eyeballed online at my favourite store, Ricki's. In the same complex, another store was having a sale, and I got a cute vest for $15, and a skirt for the same. The skirt I'll show ya another time.

The vest:

I think vests are super-slimming!

The back is cool, too.

Gotta see the side view...

Hee hee, nice face!

Hey, whassup?

And the top:

Girl needs a new pose!

Tired of my blurry self-portraits. Made the man take this one.

And yes, I know you LOVE my shower curtain!

Hope everyone is having a good week. And THANK YOU for all the lovely compliments on my side-by-side pic. :) Loves you!

A cool side-by-side look at my shrinkage.

2010-06-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

My sister and I tried to re-create the picture on the right, taken at my stagette party. When I saw this picture, I almost fainted. Did I really look like that? Wow. I felt this one had to go on my blog sidebar as a reminder of where I once was, and where I never want to be again. I think there's a pretty noticeable difference! Check out how my stomach no longer hits my upper thighs. Also, you can see my entire face, even with the hair there. Don't even get me started on the fat rolls. Oyyy. So glad to see they are gone!

My measurements have changed a LOT.

Chest 48---40

Ribcage 39---34

Waist 42----32.5

Hips 45----37.5

Arms- 15.5---11.5

Upper Thigh 32----23.5

Calf 17----15

In other news, I won an award! Yayyy for me! :) The smoking hot Jessica at Jessica's Jaunt bestowed upon me the Beautiful Blogger award. Thank you Jessica! As with most of these, there's a catch beyond glowing in the bask of the glorious award winning.

The rules: pass the award on to 7 bloggers and write 7 things about myself that you did not know!

First, 7 things you do not know about me. This is kinda hard, because I've ~~over~~shared so much with you all! So forgive if I repeat. :)

1. I was in an episode of 21 Jump Street when I was in high school (after Johnny Depp left...booo) .

2. My cat tried to swallow a needle once and it cost $1000 to get it out. Technically not about me, but it tells ya I'm a sucker for kitty cats! But now that bitch owes me.

3. I've always kind of resented being tall. Makes it a pain in the ass to find pants long enough (let alone PLUS-SIZED pants long enough), and I was taller than, like EVERYONE in elementary school. It's not so bad now, but man, it messed with my head!

4. I. Hate. Spiders.

5. Horror movies with ghosts, ghoulies and buckets of blood make me very happy.

6. I'm a horribly picky eater. It's kind of embarassing. I blame my parents.

7. Even though I have spent a year living a healthy lifestyle, I am so very afraid that I will slip back into old habits and gain the weight back.

So there ya go! Sadly, that's all I have in me. I will pass this award onto anyone who follows me and wishes to claim it! I know, lame. But if there was an 8, it would be:

8. I am very, very lazy.

So it looks like I am done with trainer-girl for the year. I will take her out for lunch on Thursday, but there are no classes after the 16th. No more teenagers?! Nooooo! I will miss them, but I am glad to have a break from 'em. I get kind of short-tempered and grumpy this time of year. I wish I could say I get a long break from them, but it's off to teach summer school July 5th! Whoo! But, before that I get to go to Whistler and stay here to relax a bit with hubby.

That's all I gots for you today! Take it easy my fine friends.

Boobies, boobies, wherefore art thou, boobies?

2010-06-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I was looking at some old pictures today, and I realized just how much the girls have shrunk! I used to be pushing a DDD, and now I actually own a C cup. Check out the difference. LOL, yes I just gave you permission to check out my boobage.

I squeezed myself into a size 13 skirt for this...check out the fat spillage on the right there. Eeep.

And this is about 210-215lbs

Taken this week at 170lbs.

Pants no longer pulled up past belly button- check. No more fat spillage- check...

aaaand smaller boobs- check.

They really started to shrink about 15 lbs ago. I know, the men are sad...whatever. Girls you know large breasts are a pain in the ass. Sore back, clothes don't fit. Blah. I actually wanted a reduction, but it seems I don't need one anymore!Anyone else experienced this kind of shrinkage?

Speaking of lost pounds, I have lost one! Yayyyy! My week and a half of re-commitment has paid off. One pound ain't so fab, but I'll take it.

Know what else is fab? I ran for THIRTY MINUTES today!! Whoooo! I finally hit the mark after trying for weeks to get back to where I was before I slacked off. I feel like I am back on track and the running is getting easier.

I have had a couple sweet bloggers nominate me for some stuff, but I think I'll save that action for tomorrow. :)

p.s. I just noticed I am 12 people away from 7000 visits to my blog! If you are #7000, maybe lemme know who you are and how you found me. Thanks!

If I were never naked again...

2010-06-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

I probably wouldn't lose another ounce, though that would make showering problematic. I am wondering if this is why I am not doing so well with the last 10 lbs.

In clothes, I look mm hmm, yeah, not bad. In clothes, I think I look pretty trim. I love buying new, flattering pieces for my ever-expanding wardrobe (so much so that I'm actually feeling guilty about it. I should be saving my pennies for our trip to Greece here, people!) Bottom line though, in clothes I don't feel like I need to lose any more weight. Nekkid is another story. I have parts that are still bulgy and my lower tummy, due to being much MUCH flatter, is suffering the consequences of some loose skin. I am really hoping that will go away over time. Not that all is so bad, despite the lack of weight-loss I think my waist is narrower, and my two-pack is a bit more defined. Could be wrong, could be delusional.

Clothed

Clothed a little closer

Now for the scary pics...I took one a month ago, and the other today. This is what reminds me I am not finished!

Top: old pic Bottom: new pic

(I know the angles aren't quite the same)

So maybe I just have to walk around naked a lot to show myself that YES there are still some pounds to lose. Not that I ever EVER think I'll be some hard-body beach bunny-type. Maybe if I did this in my 20s it coulda happened. But at 36, with 36-yr-old skin, not so much.

I felt like crap warmed over last night, so I stayed home today to rest and be a big whiny baby. I don't want this cold to get worse, and work right now is stressful, so I know if I was there I'd be feeling it. This morning was bad, but perhaps my resting is working, 'cause I feel better this afternoon. Yay! I've managed to ward off several colds this year, so I'm hoping this will be another one.

And (sigh) I bought TWO new dresses for my trip to Greece. One is kinda sexy for a night out, and the other is more sweet for day.

Kinda sexy, non?

A bit closer...

This one is kinda sweet n' sassy with the fuller skirt.

I apologize for the craptastical quality of these pics. It's the only way for me to get close to full body, and the flash won't work with the mirror and all that.

You should probably go look at something uplifting now, like puppies, kittens, or dudes getting hit in the junk by baseballs and other airborne objects, to get the image of my abdomen out of your head.

Take it easy y'all and enjoy those kittens! Wait, here lemme help with the first one...

All together now...

Awwwwww!

Oh, oh, oh! I almost forgot! I got my 100th follower! Whooo! Thanks to this gal for joining me!

Germs can suck it

2010-06-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

I feel the ick coming on. Perhaps second to only injury, illness is something that strikes fear in heart every health-seeking weight-losing person out there. Sick=inactivity. Sick=having no appetite and eating poorly. Sick=suckage. And worst of all, sick often= weight gain. BLARGH! I am fairly lucky that I don't get sick often, especially considering I work with a germ-infested heaving mass of teenagers. But still...I am afeared.

I have heard stories of people in blogland getting sick and gaining weight, then struggling to get back on track with lowered energy. NO, I say. Non, nein, nyet. Not happening. Not to me. Frack, if it were only that easy. We'll see if this ick takes hold or not. Maybe mind over germ will work!

So I got another email from the Nutrisystem people. This woman had asked me before for screenshots of my "analytics and metrics". Say what now? I don't speak computer at the best of times. Thanks to my friend, google, I figured out it meant the tracking of activity on my blog. Erm. Ok. I don't really do that. Like what do I care about that shite? I just put in the nifty feedjit thing that tells what city and country people are coming from, but that's just for the cool factor. I have a hit counter, too, but that was just curiosity. I don't have a proper program to give me all the info. Well, I do NOW. I used Blog Tracker 'cause it's free and seemed easy enough to implement. Problem is, the info is all starting from today, so I don't know how useful it would be to the Nutrisystem peeps. I figure they just want to see if anyone reads my blog, and maybe where they are from if they do.

To be honest, I don't really care that much about being chosen. It seems like a good chance to try the system, and I have heard good things, but I've heard bad things too. Dunno. I think I'd do a good job blogging about my experience, which could be interesting for y'all. I guess I'll see what happens!

Today is my workout with trainer-girl. She's so upbeat and awesome. Last time she was down because her sister's boyfriend had been killed the night before. They'd been together for 6 years, so trainer-girl knew him well. Plus, her sis was pretty devastated, so she was worried about her. There's been a lot of shootings around here lately. Mostly gang-related, but dang if it isn't out of character for around Vancouver. Well, I guess not so much anymore. She said she didn't think he was in a gang or anything, but the police seem to think it is gang-related.

I hope I can make this training session work. I'm feeling worse and worse as I write this post. Tired and achy, headache and scratchy throat. Whee.

Tomorrow, I hope HOPE HOPE I can run my 30 minutes! I did a stellar 26 minutes yesterday (that's up 9 from my average of the last two runs!). I was tempted to go for 4 more minutes, but the couple pieces of cheese and carrot sticks I ate at my staff meeting an hour before turned into a giant bowling ball in my stomach. Holy barfy feeling, Batman. Stupid cheese

I think that's all I have in me for today. I'm gonna go battle some germs. Die bringers of disease, snot, fever, sorrow and suffering! Get thee hence to yon wandering teenager (heh heh)!

OH! And 99 followers! Ooooh so close! Who will #100 beeeee!?!??! Tell me, tell me whoever you are!

Truth and Consequences...damn them both

2010-06-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

My weekend...hmm what can I say about it? Well, on Saturday I went out with hubby and some friends, and I drank (alcohol, that is) some. Dinner was a burger and fries, and I left most of the fries (yay!). But then I ate some tortilla chips and some two-bite brownies (boo). On Sunday, I ate a turkey dinner and a piece of pie. Ugh. Full. This morning my scale moved for the first time. IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!! Evil scale. I will weigh in officially tomorrow, so I'll see if that bitch was just messing with my head. I ate great ALL week and one weekend of slight snacking and a larger meal causes a gain? Puleeze.

I did manage to do my run, albeit a bit belatedly. I was supposed to do it Friday but was seriously tired after work and crashed hard on the couch. Lame, I knows it. So Saturday after tutoring, I dragged my butt outside to run. I only had time for a once 'round the block for 17.5 minutes. But, that did show my that in the last four weeks, I've picked up the pace since that run took me 20 minutes before. Whooo! Consequence for not running on Friday was not Shredding on Saturday. I know once my legs are used to the workout, I will be fine doing it any time with no ill-effects, but I am seriously not wanting to have messed up jelly-legs when I have to run. My legs get tired too quickly as it is! I will start shredding though...you know if I say it, it will be so.

I have to run again today, and I am going to make myself go through the park, guaranteeing that I will exceed 20 minutes.

In other news, I am approaching 100 followers! I hope that that lucky sap who clicks "follow" and hits that number will comment and tell me who he or she is. And thank you to all my lovely followers for being there with me along this path to less fatassery (yes, even you lurkers who NEVER COMMENT!).

Here are some pics...complete with multiple examples of the patented "Tammy Self-Portrait", to which I should add "and friend with head cut off". I'm just that good.

Chrystie in her cute lil' bachelorette pad.

Mike!

Hawt.

Chrystie blowing bubbles at the pub. Just 'cause.

Me n' hubby. :)

Me n' Cory- who has bitched about me cutting off his head.
I maintain: The top of your head ain't that great anyway! :P
Besides, I look cute, and that's all that matters.

Yam Fries...I love you

2010-06-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

(Not my yam fries)

I baked some of those sweet orangalicious bad boys for the first time last night, and mmmmmboy were they good! I didn't want to have them with ketchup or solo, so I tried making a garlic aioli. We used light mayo (45 cal for 2 tbsp), 3 cloves of garlic, a hint of chili powder and a splash of lemon juice. Totally delish. I tried to go easy on the stuff because, well, still mayo! I was a bit disappointed that the fries didn't get crispy, but a chat with my friend the home chef and we figured the oven temp was too low. I will try them again, despite the amount of cursing that was done while I peeled and cut the yam. Holy crap was that annoying! I couldn't peel some parts due to the freakish shape of the thing, and then cutting it was like trying to slice into a tree trunk. I shoulda taken pictures of the hatchet job I did slicing them. Oh well, they still tasted amazing...and were super filling! I gave hubby way more than me, and then I was eyeballing his greedily once I tasted them. But in the end, I couldn't even finish mine! The rest of dinner was a spring mix salad with five small croutons (yes, I counted) and light dressing and a small BBQd chicken breast. I was STUFFED.

I have been eating super well this week, and I am proud 'o me. Nothing baked or in bar form for this girl! The great thing is I haven't been longing for baked goods at all. At. All. Total switch from the past few weeks, where I wanted baked chocolate anything for my next fix.

Some of my eating transgressions of the past few months (all things I would say no to before):

buying cookies at Mrs. Fields- 6 minis- and eating them all (did that twice)
buying a giant chocolate muffin every Sat. at Bread Garden while tutoring and calling that lunch
buying a slice of pizza in the lounge every Friday after I'd already eaten lunch.
having two (small) pieces of pie in the staffroom on two separate occasions, and one piece a third time
snacking on yogurt bars, granola bars etc. instead of fruit/veggies
eating handfuls of chips whenever they are presented to me
eating fat-free pudding cups with Go Lean Crunch cereal sprinkled on for dessert instead of my single chocolate square (or in addition to TWO chocolate squares)
eating husbands 90 cal fudge pops instead of my single chocolate square.
eating most of my french fries when out instead of only a few (don't try to take my fries away from me...I'll cut you).
making choco cake in a cup- did that three times? Somthin like that.

So yes, you can see that all these little extras added up to me not losing any weight. And they truly are extras. I wouldn't eat these things while I was losing those 60 lbs. I didn't GAIN weight until I stopped running for that 1.5 weeks. My food and exercise kept me in balance. Now, I am back to trying for a deficit. So far the school scale has me down nearly a pound. I will weigh again on Tues to see for sure. Home scale (you know, the evil fucked up one) shows zero change.

I haven't heard back from the Nutrisystem people, so maybe they took me outta the running already. She asked me for a screen shot of my "metrics and systemics" or some such thing. Wha? I looked up that shit online, thank you google, and figured she means like my hit counter, # of followers, #of posts, etc. I asked her to explain, and she didn't write back. Maybe me too stupid for Nutrisystem people? Oh, so if you hadn't figured it out, I said yes, consider me for the program. I figure I can still say no if I don't like what I hear. A few people have mentioned their food is high in sodium. I checked out some info on a few foods, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert and added up the daily percentages. Didn't come out high, but that's something I'd ask about for sure. The other thing I don't love is all the baked goods. Here I am on the baked goods wagon all happy with myself, and this is what I am faced with: cake, brownies, cookies, muffins, scones? Yipes. Sooo yeah, we'll see where this leads.

I am sad to say that despite my video, I didn't win Tricia's awesome 300 things giveaway. However, because she is such a rockin' generous chick, she is giving me a consolation prize 'cause I was the only one who did a video. Yay! You can check her blog to see what it is. ;)

I guess that's it for me today. Have a fabuloso weekend.

I'll leave you with some pics from the wedding...

Waiting for the ceremony to start. My sister is sooo mature. Hee hee!
Sorry honey for cutting off your head!

The (wayyy too) gorgeous bride and groom. I've known the groom since we were 4.

Me by the fire that warmed up my freezing azz. Ahhhhh.

Shout out to Tricia and a video

2010-06-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

This is my official video to garner entries into Tricia's 300 things giveaway that is celebrating her reaching 300 followers. Whoo for 300! You should follow my advice in the video and check out her blog here. Just could ya please excuse the frizz-o-rama mess that is my hair? I got caught in the rain that day, and really didn't pause to see the aftermath before recording. Ugh.

Love ya Tricia-baby!

Chickened out...for now

2010-06-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

Yup, I chickened out yesterday. I know. Sad. I didn't face Jillian M. and her dastardly and debilitating 30 Day Shred DVD. I did an excellent workout with my 17 yr-old trainer-girl (she's a student in my class who wants to be a personal trainer, so she's working with me to gain experience). She scared me a little after our session though. She said, "Next time I'm increasing the intensity...I'm gonna make you sweat. No, I'm gonna make you CRY." Um. Eeep. Being the sweet girl she is, she quickly backpedaled and said, "Well, I won't make you cry, 'cause that's mean, but I will make you sweat!" Yayyyyyyyy.

So anyway, I dragged my tired ass home and then considered the DVD. The last time I started out with Jillian et al. my legs were useless masses of pain-filled jelly for a few days. So my brain conspired against me and convinced me that doing the Shred the day before a running day would be misconceived at best. Perhaps I should start ~~the torture~~ Shredding on a Saturday as to have a bit of a break before running. I'm afeared of the Shred.

I just read Lyn's post at Escape from Obesity, which you can read here, if you haven't already. She mentioned The Bethany McDonald Memorial Blogroll, which is a place where bloggers can connect and hopefully form friendships and gain support in their struggle to lose weight. Such an amazing idea! So I hope you will take a minute to check out some new blogs, and hopefully follow them and comment on them. Lend your support to a blogger in need, or even one who's doing great and on a roll!

Huh, that's interesting. I just received an email asking me if I'd be a blogger interested in working with the Nutrisystem program. All I know right now is she said I'd receive free food, counselling and a maintenance program. Hrm. I've asked for more info. What do y'all think?

Slip sliding and clawing my way back up.

2010-06-01T14:14:00.001-07:00

I am feeling very neglectful of my little blog these days. Here I am to rectify!

Confession: These past weeks, heck, months I've been playing the game a little less and less. I've been losing it, people. I slipped into maintenance mode a while back before re-committing to lose 10 more lbs (remember the great scale debacle of 2010? If not, read it here. You may need a tissue for the tears of pity). Since then, I've upped the exercise by running the Couch to 5k thing and weight training with my trainer-girl and all that, but the eating pretty much stayed the same. I won't say I've been pigging out or anything, but I have been indulging more. A lot more. I used to eat cookies or other baked goods maybe a few times a month. Now, it's a few times a week! I used to ignore treats and desserts for the most part, and now my greedy ass is circling them like a buzzard lookin' for some tasty entrails (ok, ew). Chips? I've eaten them. Pizza? More than two or three slices to be sure. Chocolate? Oh, I've indulged once or twice. Water? What's that again?? I give in. I cave. I don't say no. And I got so good at saying no! It's so true that the more you say no, the easier it gets, and, conversely, the more you say yes, the easier that gets. Dang it!

I haven't gained a lot of weight due to the nasty eating, but I have gained a pound or two. I took 2 weeks off the running and had two indulgent weekends in a row. First was the partay weekend (no gain apparent at the time), and the second was this past weekend. I went to the US with hubby and we ate at a buffet. I didn't really censor my eating much beyond I stopped when I felt kinda too full (NOT GOOD!). I tried to mitigate this large lunch with a small dinner (a wrap made from light Italian Flat-Out bread, spring mix, chopped tomatoes, sprinkling of reduced fat cheese and a bit of chicken). Although, I think that's the night I also ate some of the hubby's dang Easter chocolate he bought on sale and is hoarding. I still went to bed with a bit of a growly stomach. We also had a wedding to go to on the weekend. I ate a few little crustini appetizers, about 2.5 rolls (omg, so freakin' good hot out of the oven!), my main course of a LARGE chicken breast and a few roasted fingerling potatoes, and the lemon tart dessert. Ugh. Full. Again, small dinner to make up for daytime gluttony.

The aftermath of my indulgence?

I am hungry. All.The.Time.
I crave baked goods daily.
I will give into cravings much more easily.

The worst part? I had all that shit totally under control before I started this mainenance crap.

Oh wait, it still gets worse...I almost forgot. I got super lazy and totally lost my running mojo for nearly 2 weeks. Last time I ran, I knocked out 28 minutes. After 2 weeks, I could barely do 17. CURSES! So I lost ground there too.

This week I have started a new phase. Yesterday I didn't give into any cravings. I ate only healthy snacks, and I ate only one square of dark chocolate after dinner.

Here's the plan:

1. Eliminate the following as snack options:

Yogurt bars (blah with the sugarfest and calories)
Package of oatmeal (see above)
Bag of Smart Pop popcorn (again, too many calories, not enough nutrition)
Cookies/pie/any other crap lying around the staff room
Crap from the vending machine (even if it gives only "healthier choices" i.e. no chocolate bars, and baked chips only).

2. Incorporate the following snacks back in:

Raw carrots
Humus (in moderation)
Bananas
Sliced red pepper
Almonds (10 max)
Unsweetened applesauce
Spring mix salad with low-fat, low-cal dressing

3. Drink a lot more water (at least two full 27oz bottles during the day and cups of home-brewed green tea iced tea in the eve).

4. Keep with running schedule despite being a lazy ass and make up lost ground so I can kick butt in the 5k in July.

5. Incorporate more cardio exercise on non-running days (hellooo 30 Day Shred, my old friend. Can't wait to get my ass kicked by week one again!).

My goal is to lose these pesky 10 (now more like 15) pounds by end of June, or at the very least by July 10th, which is the Underwear Affair 5k run.

Today has gone well so far! I've had a banana and about 4 gorgeous strawberry tomatoes along with my usual Kashi Go Lean Crunch (deliciousnesssss) cereal and meal replacement bar (I know they are too high in sugar and fat, but I'm way too lazy to make a lunch and it's portion/calorie control, and high in vitamins and minerals. Also, I lost 60 lbs eating them for lunch five days a week, so suck it nay-sayers!). I still have to drink more water (almost one full bottle down- way too slow!) and eat my carrots. And yes, I am very hungry right now.

Going to go work out with trainer-girl, and then maybe throw down with some Shred before hubby comes home (good distraction to keep the snack monster at bay!). I lost 6 lbs in Dec. doing the Shred every day, so I am hoping doing it, say, 3 days along with 3 running and 2 strength training days will help!

And awayyyy we go!

Road Trip Redux

2010-05-25T14:56:00.001-07:00

Hitting the road...after the road hit back

I'm baaaaaack! I had a fan-freakin-tastic time on my road trip. We headed out a bit late on Saturday with hopes of blue skies and clear roads. There were two motorcycles with us, so fair weather was key. Um...yeah...that didn't happen so much. A little ways down the road the heavens opened up and dumped on us. The bikers got soaked to the bone (no rain gear!). Quick stop in Chilliwack and a Wal-Mart for rain pants and we were back at 'er. Couldn't get much worse than torrential rain, right? Wrong...so very wrong. As we went up in elevation the temperature dropped and before I could say, "Hey, look there's snow on the ground here," the first flakes were hitting our windshield. Luckily there's a lodge in the middle of nowheresville in this place called Manning Park. But, bad news, the lodge is booked for a wedding! Bu,t good news, there's a hostel across the highway with open rooms. Sweet!

The moment I slapped eyes on our accommodations, I said, "Oh, so this is where I'll be murdered."

It was this boxy, slightly run-down looking building painted a dreary unmemorable colour. The trees surrounding it were sparse and looked slightly diseased. It looked like the scene for a horror movie.

***

EXT. HOSTEL - NIGHT

Honda Civic pulls up and unsuspecting 30-somethings begin to unload their gear into the HOSTEL OF THE DAMNED.

***

To top it off, the caretaker, whom we nicknamed Stryder, looked like a slightly rehabilitated ex-mental patient. Super nice guy...umm...yes.

We settled in and hit the restaurant for dinner. While there, we found out the bar was closed for the wedding reception. Well, fuck! Luckily, Traci made friends with the sister of the bride in the bathroom and got us an in for later. Back to the building of the damned for drinks and some hilarity.

We made our way to the bar late...like 11 or so. The reception was still going, but we were told our "in" had gone off to bed. Not to be daunted by such trivialities, we asked if the bride or groom might let us in. Turns out the groom was a helluva guy, and not only did he let us in, but he also gave us free drink tickets! Score! We partied with the wedding guests and shut the bar down at around 3:30. By then we'd made friends with our Jack Black-lookin' bartender and were getting free drinks all over the place. Somewhere during the night we lost our room key, so upon returning to our .00005 star room, we had to get the scary caretaker guy up to let us in. He came to the door in his boxers...*brrrgggh* and then discovered his key didn't work. We thought we were doomed, but then Mike, who installs and maintains automatic doors, emerged like a bear woken to early from hibernation. We told him our dilemma and he pinballed his way down the hall and out the door. When he came back he had a screwdriver in hand. Mike went for the door, and this ensued:

Stryder: Woah, what are you doing?!

Mike: Don't worry, I'm a door guy.

Stryder: (relaxes) Oh, ok.

Two seconds later, Mike had the door open.

No problemo.

He's a door guy.

What made me laugh was just how instantly Stryder was reassured by Mike's statement that he was "a door guy." Like, what does that mean? Apparently it was all Stryder needed to hear to let a guest go at a door with a screwdriver!

The next day we had brekkie with a bunch of hungover wedding guests. And then it was back on the road.

That emergency stop in the middle of nowhere was the highlight of the entire trip. So. Much. Fun! Plus, with the not murdering, I survived scary hostel!

Here some pictorial highlights for you...

Couple o' sexy bitches ready to get the party started

Ssss...hot ass! And our .00005 star room!

Cory...and not his real hair. Hair hat=Chet!

Sober- a state soon remedied!

This was our customer service questionnaire. Yep, filled out with red crayon complete with little drawings of a stick figure with muscles (a.k.a. arm boobies) and labeled "Gun Show".

Some drinks were consumed...

...and some "packages" were licked.
This poster was "relocated" from the bathroom to above Chrystie's bed. Because, well, the packages!

You takin a pisher of me?!

Crazy peeps.

Crazier peeps!

Wedding crashing with plastic glasses o' booze in hand. Classy.

How many drinks did I HAVE?!

Ghost Rider? Is that you??!?

This sign is hilarious...obviously written by someone who speaks English poorly. But the doorbell adds that touch o' surreal.

Taken from a moving vehicle.

Some of the scenification on the way.

Car shot!

The lovely and talented Chrystie did my hairs for me....love it!

Somethin's funny don't take the pic yet! Ohhh.

Passing the Chet hair around...is it just me or do we all look like lesbians?

How YOU doin?

You know you want some!

Cory catchin me with mouthful of banana, and NO that's not chewing tobacco in my pocket!

"Tourist pic" 1

"Tourist pic" 2 (when I saw this, I thought OMG I look THIN!)

Laughing at Cory up on the balcony

My helmut is shpeshel

Car shot #2! (that's my room key in my bra- hey didn't wanna lose a second key!)

Well, that's it for pics, and if you made it this far, good on ya!

I was brave enough to weigh myself today (Wed.) and I haven't gained ANY weight! Yeahhhh! No working out, and eating road food and drinking and no weight gain is a bloody road trip miracle.

I will work out tomorrow and get back on the running wagon. I am scared of losing all the ground I've gained now! I may just try a 20 min. run to start, and then go up from there. I also want to get my eating under control. I'm giving in to extras and treats way too easily these days. It's a slippery slope, and I gotta start clawing my way back up the hill towards willpower. It's so true that the more you say "no" to things, the easier it is to keep saying no, and the more you give in, the easier it is to give in the next time. BLARGH! Stupid psychology!

I am finally going to post this behemoth that I've been writing for two days! Yeah!

I'm Trippin'

2010-05-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Road trippin' that is! Yeahhhh! I'm heading out on a little road trip with some friends tomorrow. You betcha there will be pictures (and perhaps some drinking...not gonna lie). I am really excited to get away, but at the same time bummed because hubby is staying home. :( He really wants to do some tiling in the bathroom and doesn't feel like he can put it off another weekend. Blah. I feel bad abandoning him, but I really want to go away!

I also feel bad that I didn't run today. Booooo! My leg was hurting all freakin day long, and I couldn't bring myself to run on it. Just couldn't do it. I am hoping to run on the weekend at some pt. though, if not on Monday.

Also have to tell you that I am one lucky girly. My sweet, sweet hubby bought me the cutest necklace for our five year anniversary! I got him a Canucks jersey that he really, really wanted, so he wanted to get me something special. It's not officially our anniversary until the 29th, but he didn't want to wait to give it to me (cute!).

Apple for the teacher!

Stay tuned for pictures and stories from the road trip! Ohhh my liver gonna be hurtin'!

Who's a crazy bitch?? Oh yeah, ME!

2010-05-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

I ran in the rain today, and I came to two realizations.

First, I may have mentioned before that, in my pre-running days, when I saw someone running in the rain, I'd always think, "What a crazy bastard," or some such thing. To me, that kind of hardcore, weather-be-damned kind of attitude was akin to insanity. I couldn't comprehend what would drive a person to go out and do something as unpleasant as running in the first place, let alone in terrible weather!

And that brings me to my realization. I have now run in the rain four times. I am one of those hardcore insanorama running people! And I have to say, as I ran with driving rain pelting my face, water dripping off my hat, my clothes soaked through, and watched as all these people drove past me in their comfy, warm, dry cars, or walked by huddled under an umbrella, I felt totally, comepletely badass.

It felt good.

It kept me going when my legs hurt, and I wanted to stop.

And I wondered, how many of those people drove by and saw my soaking wet ass slogging through the rain, and thought, "What a crazy bitch!"

Yeah, I kinda am.

And I like it.

The second thing I realized was that now that I'm not gasping and blowing like an exhausted farm animal, which caused various fluids to try to escape my body via my nose/mouth, I actually like running in the rain. Say what now? Yes, you read that right! I find it much easier than running when it's even mildly warm out. Plus, I got that whole badassery thing going for me to keep my legs pumping.

So I took this pic to show my feelings about running in the rain:

Note the wet hair and hat- yet- the SMILE is there!

And then I was inspired to write a card for Jack Sh*t's W.I.D.T.H. (Why I Do This Here) thing. He's inspired a ton (no not a weight joke!) of people to write why they are doing this changing lifestyle, weight-loss thing. I realized one of my motivations was this now:

Hells yes. Get out the white coat that does up the back 'cause this crazy bitch is running in the rain with a smile on her face!

Comment away!

2010-05-18T08:07:00.001-07:00

Blargh! I don't know what the delio is...maybe the blogger gods objected to my new layout, but it seems my comments weren't working for the last two posts. Thank you to Amy, kind follower, who let me know before I developed a complex and started to collect my nail clipping in altoids containers. And here I thought y'all just didn't love me. So I deleted my new layout, thinking THAT was the prob, but no. Old layout same problem. I decided to try a different comment option and now it seems to be working!

So if you had an unfulfilled burning desire to comment on my last two posts...GO FOR IT!

Pictures: bathing suit and various body parts...

2010-05-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ack! Bathing suit pictures? Really? I mean REALLY?!?! Am I crazy? Yes, perhaps. Am I asking too many rhetorical questions? Definitely.

So I decided to take some pics of me in the suit. But before I did that, I tried to capture my lovely "two pack" I am sporting these days.

Ta da!

D0 you see it? You may have to squint a little...maybe tilt your head to the side? It's there dammit!!

K, then there's the leg muscle I'm sporting these days...

Unflexed

Flexed (and blurry...yeah sorry)

And did I say something about a bathing suit? Well, here's peek!

p.s.

It's really really hard to post these pictures. Be gentle.

I was feeling purple flowery...it happens.

2010-05-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

The old blog has a new look! I finally took some steps to make it look a bit more interesting. Unless you hate purple flowers. If so, then...well, I got nothin.

I am having a KILLER raging desire to make chocolate chip cookies. I want to eat a carbolicious cookie smoking hot and gooey from the oven. Right. Freakin. Now.

Hold me.

Good news I am not gonna do it. Mostly because I don't have chocolate chips. THANK GOD. It's a good thing, too, because I've eaten pretty well today. Instead of soup or something for lunch I had a giant salad with tex-mex chicken and tomatoes. It wasn't so filling, but it was tasty! I had a Kashi pumkin spice bar later and a handful of almonds because I was starving before dinner. Dinner was tacos with extra-lean ground beef, lotsa tomato, onion and lettuce with a sprinkling of reduced fat cheddar and salsa. Mmmm.

I did my 25 minute run to finish up Week 6 of the Couch to 5k. Sucked. A lot. I came home all red-faced and sooo sweaty. I tried to mitigate the misery of running for so long without stopping with some music and a route through a lovely park by my house. The route helped, but it still sucked. I don't like running...yet. I am hoping the more I do it and the better I get, the less I will want to get my head examined for doing this shit. Good news is I may have a running partner sometime this week. My friend Cory said he was thinking of heading my way to run with me, so here's hoping. (You hear that Cory? Get your ass over here and run with me! I know you are reading this!).

Anyway, this is what I looked like after my run. The flash doesn't do my red face justice. And it looks like I'm wearing lipstick, but nope. Just all the blood rushing to my face, I guess!

This is annoying 'cause my face looked SO red, but you barely tell.

I'm having a bit of knee pain now that my runs are longer. I tried icing them afterwards to see if that helped...not sure if it did anything. I still have some twinges in the left knee. Why am I doing this again? OH YES...I want to run that 10k Underwear Affair! Check out my previous post for that info. I've managed to raise $335 so far. I'm going for $500, so if you even have $5 to donate, it would be very much appreciated! MWAH!

Loves ya!

I need some help!

2010-05-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

As some of you may remember, I mentioned I will be entering a run to raise money for cancer research in July. It is called the Underwear Affair and it is put on by the B.C. Cancer Foundation. You can click here for more information. Maybe there is an Affair going on in YOUR city!

That being said, I need your help! I must raise a minimum of $300 to enter the race. I am very happy to do this for such a worthy cause and because, sadly, most of us have been touched by cancer in some way. I lost my dad to cancer four years ago. Any donation, from $5 dollars to whatever would be very, very appreciated. I am so grateful my generous friends who have already donated $150! I would love to obliterate that $300 minimum! Also, it's a really fun run because we wear underwear to show our support because the focus is on cancers below the waist. My team is called the "Going Commandos" and we have a military theme. Fun!

If you would like to donate, it's super easy...just click here!

I am seriously thinking of trying the 10k run rather than just doing 5k, too!

Open those wallets people, and I will wear some underwear for my run! Oh yes, there will be pictures!

Crap eating...yup, I did it.

2010-05-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend sucked the fat hairy balls for eating. Huh...now that image could put me off my food. Where was that two days ago?! Blargh. It started with dinner out and a movie on Friday. Chicken stromboli and a nice salad with a raspberry vinaigrette. Hmm...well, at least there was a salad. Movie time...mumble pieces of licorice, a few handfuls of popcorn and a couple m&ms. Saturday was mama's day lunch at the beach and greasy, greasy fish and chips...yup ate it all WITH tartar sauce. Later, couldn't leave without an ice-cream cone. Hubby and I both felt like kaka poopie later that afternoon. The greasy food was not sitting well. We grabbed some buns and deli meat for a light dinner at his mom's house. I had a ham sandwich for a belated dinner...and potato chips. Maybe a small bag's worth. Blah. Then dessert was these little coffee cakes with caramel inside. Had two. Wanted three.

Yup, those were some really stellar food choices! Luckily such eating is NOT the norm for me, and I am back to normal now. I ran today, and I will work out with trainer-girl tomorrow.

The beach was gorgeous...so of course, pictures for you!

Standing in front of the giant white rock on the beach
which gives the town its name, "White Rock"

Some talented individual created this, so the ladies had to get a pic!
That's mom with the doggy. :)

Love walking the boardwalk!

Morose Man
(He was sad because the Canucks lost a bunch o' games...but he's better now!)

Niece Alyssa, sister Carroll et moi!

In other news, I did something that strikes fear in the hearts of women the world over. The days are getting warmer, summer is approaching, do you feel that little curl of fear in your belly? Do you feel the prickle of sweat breaking out over your body? Is the dread seeping its way down into your bones? Yup...it's BATHING SUIT BUYING TIME! And I did it. I bought one. It's a sort of royal purple tankini. The bottoms are blah, but I like the top. I think it fits well, and contains the girls properly. Gotta say most bathing suit tops are laughably inadequate. Unless that's the look you are going for. I saw one labeled "D", and I had to try it. Yup, it fit! So mayyybe I will be brave and let you see a pic one of these days. Stay tuned!

I've come to a not-so-startling revelation: I still hate running. It's not fun. Or exhilarating. Or fun. I am doing this Couch to 5k step-by-step like a good little trainee, but it SUCKS. I am running alone now, so it's boring and hard. What a fantastical combo! Like going to the dentist and being made to do math at the same time (sorry if you like math. Weirdo).

Later y'all.

A conversation with myself

2010-05-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

(and my bitches)

Lazy Bitch: I don't want to run. Let's just sit on the couch and surf the net. Maybe eat somethin' sugary and nasty.

Running Bitch: Ohh c'mon, just get your friggin' shoes on and let's get it done! You'll feel better after it's over with.

Lazy Bitch: Ha! Feel better? Nice try, Running Bitch, if you mean feel better as in wanna heave my lungs all over the floor. Couch now.

Running Bitch: You get your ass up NOW and we're going to RUN!

Lazy Bitch: FINE. You clean up the lung hork then.

Running Bitch: Hey, where are our shoes? *slaps forehead* OMG, Forgetful Bitch you left our shoes at school!

Forgetful Bitch: Wha? What did I do now? Did we have a dentist's appointment or somethin?

Lazy Bitch: Well, I'm not going to get them.

Running Bitch: Yes you are...we're going. Bloody hell having to deal with you bitches.

Luckily, Running Bitch won in the end and we all dragged our asses out to run that dreaded twenty minutes.

Know what?

I DID IT!

Yes, sure, I did want to hurl my lungs out onto the floor at the end, and I was sooo overheated (thank you very much universe for making this the hottest friggin day of the year, btw). AND I still feel a bit lightheaded 1/2 hr. later, but

I DID IT!

This Running Bitch ran twenty minutes with zero walking. Who would have ever thought it possible. Not me. No way.

Oh, and I have a bone to pick with one of you! Someone was my 6000 visitor and did not comment and tell me! Frack, man! I ask so little of you! I will get over it...someday. Maybe I'll try again at 7000.

Gonna go pass out now. Buh bye!

Week 5 Day 3 can kiss my grits.

2010-05-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Couch to 5k update: I put the WK5 D2 eight minute run x 2 down like it was my bitch, yo. Yeahhhh. But tomorrow is the super-scary, turn-your-bowels-to-water TWENTY FRIGGIN MINUTE RUN. Which leads me to my rant (if you are offended by the word fuck, well, hope you stopped reading a few words back):

What the fuck Couch to 5k? Seriously, what the hell are you thinking? I ran eight measly minutes last time, and that was HARD. Now you expect me to run my ass twenty?!? What crack were you smoking when you came up with that nonsense? Up until now it's been nice, doable 3 minute increases week by week. Then WHAM you slap me with TWELVE more?! Kiss my ass Couch to 5k. You suck.

Psst! Hey!

This is for you:

Ahhh I feel better now. Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna run that bitch tomorrow, but don't think I won't be cursing the mastermind behind this program with every belabored step!

Other than that, I feel like eating everything. I remember this feeling from when I first started this weight loss thang. I ate more "normally" for a while when I thought I was only 2lbs from my goal or so (curse that scale directly to hades). I managed to maintain my weight for 2 months or so, which is super-duper keen and all, but then I discovered I was 10 lbs heavier than I thought, and I have been "trying" to lose it. Ha. And ha again. What I've been doing is eating exactly the way I was eating in maintenance, and maybe even more. I've been ravenous every day! It may be an effect of the running and weight training, but man. Empty stomach feeling all the time. Hungry every few hrs. So no weight is leaving me since I'm snacking and eating all the friggin time. Not that I'm eating crap exactly, just more food that normal. Blargh. I am going to try the carrot thing again. If you were with me at the beginning, you will remember I ate carrots all the time to curb the hunger. Carrots and baby greens and water will be my staples. I have been mixing some cooked chicken with my greens for some added protein, too. Maybe I'll add a small portion of hummus for my carrots. I hope this will pass as it did before. It's rather depressing to be feeling this way again over a year after I started this. Blargh again.

I don't really have any pics for ya...hmm. Maybe one I can share. If only I could feel this serene before doing my 20 minute run tomorrow!

OH! And I noticed that I'm only forty people or so away from getting 6000 hits on my blog. Maybe if YOU are #6000 you could say hi, and tell me how you found me! :)

Check the counter wayyy at the bottom there to see what number you are! And thanks for visiting. :)

One last thing! I forgot to add this to my original post due to my swiss cheese brain. Tricia, the fabulous author of Fight Fat Phobia is trying to get to 300 followers. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading her mighty fine hilarious blog styling, do so now, and FOLLOW her!

Also, I recently stumbled upon the Jessica, a fantastic blogger with wayyy too small a following for her pure awesomeness (seriously, she posted a pic of her booty- she is a god in my books!). So check her out too!

Little Black Dress

2010-05-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

I went shopping.

I will wait for the shock to wear off.

You good? Ok. This dress was on sale- $29.99, so I had to buy it. It has this cool adjustable hem thing, so I can make it longer or shorter depending on how naughty I'm feeling. ;-) And knowing how much you picture whores (you know you are- don't try to deny it) enjoy a photofest...so here ya go!

I've come to the conclusion that I can't pose. I am awkward. Curses.

And now we're sitting

Um. Yes. I got nothin'

Bye for now y'all! (yes, in the bloggosphere, I am southern)

Chocolate. Evil. Nuff said.

2010-04-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Chocolate cake in a cup. Made in the microwave. Jebus. Why? Why did I hear of such a thing? Ask me how many times I've made it...go ahead...ask.

3

Yes, three times. Fuuuuuuuuuudge. I used to get these intense urges to make chocolate cake, so I'd make a 8x8 cake and eat about 1/2 while molten (huh, wonder how I got fat?). I got one of those urges the other day...so I decided to make a single serving kinda chocolate cake in a mug. Ahh the wonders of the internet. It was actually not bad...but I decided IF I made it again I would cook it less to get that gooey kind of consistency I love. So of course I made it again. It. Was. Gooood. But this scared me! Despite the fact that it was still less cake than the old me would have had, it was CAKE. I made it once more, and then I decided nuh-uh, not gonna do this to myself. Walk away from the cocoa powder missy, and put that sugar AWAY. It just goes to show how easily the old habits can slip back in when you aren't looking. Scary easy.

So I had a job interview yesterday. I want to teach summer school this year. Well, want is a strong word. I feel I must for the money. I really enjoy being a lazy ass and milking every day of my two months off. That's right, be jealous office drones! I get TWO FREAKIN MONTHS of vegetative, movie watching, beach going, trail hiking, friend visiting, trip taking bliss! Of course, I also have to deal with 20 or 30 teenagers at a time all day every day and all their joyous hormonal strife. Good times! This means I hope I get the job, but also kinda hope that I don't. Stupid lazy side o' me!

Anyway, here's the cute dress I wore for the interview...

Hmm kind of wrinkled.

Ok, this one is a bit odd. I noticed the other day that when I had my legs together, there is weird GAP between them....like where fat was once but is no more! It's very weird, but cool...so I thought I'd share it with you. Hope you are not traumatized!

Here's one to take that last image off your mind...playing with the light coming in the windows...

Other than that, I got my butt handed to my by trainer girl today. She took my request for more cardio seriously, damn her hide. Now I am doing jump rope between strength moves. Me an' my big mouth.

Sadly, no weight loss to report. I blame the chocolate cake. Cursed it be. But, tomorrow is Day 3 of Week 4 of the Couch to 5k. Next week, the dreaded Week 5 and the infamous 20 minute run on day 3. AHHHH!

That's all for now, my fine folks...keep yer stick on the ice!

Milestones missed- what was there a shiny thing?

2010-04-26T17:42:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that I let two big milestones just flutter on by without noticing them! Well, here I go making up for that appalling lapse of attention!

1. My 200th post! Yup, I have put fingers to keyboard and sent my blatherings out in to the bloggosphere 200 times. Crazy.

2. The 1 year anniversary of my blogging/weight-loss journey! I started this blog April 22, 2009. During the past year a few things have happened:

I started exercising and watching what I ate
I started drinking water, water, water
I learned that being hungry wasn't the end of the world
I gained muscle and self-confidence in my physical capabilities
I did the 30 Day Shred
I started running, (ME RUNNING!) with the Couch to 5k running plan and am nearly 1/2 way through
I agreed to run a 5k in July
I started strength training
I lost over 60 lbs (and counting!)
I went from a size 14/16 to a 8/10
I've met amazing people and made fantastic friends along this journey

And most importantly, all these things add up to me creating a healthier, more active lifestyle that I can continue for the rest of my days!

So there they are! Two biggies. I can't believe how different I look and feel from that day in April 2009 when I decided THIS IS IT, I'm losing weight for good this time, and hey, why not blog about it? I needed something to keep me motivated and accountable, and it worked! So thank you, my dear readers to following along with me this past year. I love reading your blogs, and I am so grateful you are here with me!

In other news, I finished day 1 of week 4 of the Couch to 5k today! Whoo! I mentioned I was a bit scared of the five minute run in week 4, so i twas with some trepidation that I set off this afternoon. O course, it was raining again. Blah! Wearing a hat helps, but I don't like rain in my face! So I got through the first interval of 3 minutes, and then a speedy 1.5 minutes of walking went by and suddenly Mr. Scary Robot Voice was telling me to get ready for my five minute run! Ahhhh! I asked hubby to wish me luck (he was walking with me) and off I went! I am happy to say that, although the five minutes seemed to go on FOREVER, I got my breathing in a nice rhythm and I did it NO PROBLEM! Yeahhh! I actually felt like I could go on if I had to! I found I was breathing in for 2 counts and out for three. Later, it seemed more natural to breathe in for three and out for three. The only worrisome thing was that my right hand got a bit tingly at the end of my last five minute run. I hope that doesn't mean anything serious!

Doing these two five minute runs fairly easily has really made me less scared about the 20 minute run I have to do at the end of next week!

Take care all...tomorrow I do strength training with my awesome trainer gal!

I won stuff! And...I caved le sigh

2010-04-23T19:00:00.001-07:00

Week three of the Couch to 5k is HISTORY, baby! See ya! Buh-bye. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out! I stared down those three minutes in a cold-steely Clint Eastwood kinda way and did not flinch. I hear week 4 makes people cry, but I know I can do it now. Five minutes? No problem. I did peek ahead at week 5 and noticed that I must run 20 minutes on day three. *gulp* But, I will trust the program to get me there. I hope.

Today was another oh-so pleasant dash through the raindrops. I wasn't thrilled to run in the rain, but I wasn't deterred either (steely-eyed, remember?). I did the run with hubby walking on the way to the store for dinner supplies. Worked out well!

The hat was nice to keep the rain outta my face and off my glasses (sorta). I think my head shrank 'cause the hat seemed really big! Did I have a fat head!?! Freaky man.

What's up with that flash? Yikes!

Mug girl, mug for the camera!

But seriously, I mean bidness.

So that's all good news. Some other news, well I'm not so proud of. I don't even know how to say it. Maybe I should whisper it.

I am twittering.

AHHH! I know! I blame the fabulous Kirstie Alley. Now, there is a gorgeous sexy woman at ANY size. She's a big twitterer, so I checked it out...and set up an account. Such a caver! She's doing great with her weight loss- just announced 30 lbs down. Good on her! Plus, I'm kinda all atingle 'cause she just twitted...tweeted...um....replied back to me!

So, um...yeah...if you wanna follow me, I won't object- just go down to my twitter feed on the right side there. Go on. Do it. You know you want to.

Ok, enough blather...here's some REALLY good news. I won! I won a prize! I won a prize from Tricia at Fight Fat Phobia! She's awesome! Ok, done with the obnoxious overly-happy pants exclamation marks. I am super happy that I won this very cool box o' goodies though! And Tricia is a truly hilarious blogger who is working her azz of doing the weight-loss thing. If you haven't checked her out. GO. NOW. Ok, maybe not now. You can finish reading my blog first. Yes, because there are pictures. You should follow Tricia because she may send you kick-ass crap like she sent me! Behold the wonder! The dazzling colours! The tiny representation of Richard Simmons! (I know, exclamation marks...they just kinda come out like an incontinent poodle that gets really excited when people come to the door).

There it is in alll its glory...and her blog is on my laptop, natch

What you see: A card congratulating me on my pregnancy (lol- see inside the card later), trident layers gum, yummy body lotions, a funky vegetable peeler, some green tea to go, 100 cal pack of nuts, 100 cal Reese bar, melon mango Tic Tacs (yum!), some low cal popcorn, Werther's sugar-free Minis, super-cool cat butt air freshener, kitty-cat coin purse being menaced by a army man. AND the piece de resistance...a RICHARD SIMMONS pin! Yeahhhh boiiiiiii! You know you feel jealousy.

That army man is just vicious!
"Take one step closer to the almonds and the cat get's it!"

Hee hee! She funny lady.

Ooh too much flashy...but what a cool lil' gadget!

I adore this. Seriously. I can't wait to look at this cat's ass in my car every day!

Blurry army man. I have no skills.

So cute! You know you want.

So THANK YOU Tricia, you fabulous woman for making my day! I loved getting this stuff! And can I just say, the nuts, the chocolate and 1/2 tic tacs are already gone? Heh.

That's all I got for you today. I'm spent. Maybe just one more tic tac....ahhhhh.

3 minutes...bah! I laugh in the face of 3 minutes!

2010-04-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

The Bad News: hubby's knees are down for the count and he couldn't run today.

The Good News: he came out with me and walked while I ran Week 3 Day 1 of the Couch to 5k! Whooo!

The Great News: The three minutes didn't kill me, or even maim me a little!

It was so nice of the big man to come and support me while I ran the three minute long intervals I was sooo worried about. He rocks, fo sho. :)

We are also organizing our team for the Uncover the Cure Underwear Affair 10k run. Looks like our team will be the military themed "Going Commando". One of our members, Cory is ex- military and owner of Valley Combat and Tactical, a store that sells camouflage clothes (and much more), etc. so it kinda fits! The five of us have to raise $300 each to participate. !!Yipes!! I gotta get my money-beggin booties on and get out there. Perhaps maybe YOU would like to donate? I will provide a link to help me out later. It's such a worthy cause! Check out the Uncover the Cure link up there for more info.

I really am excited to be running like this! I can't believe I am doing, even as I am doing it. Oh, but it was fun hearing, "Hey, it's Mrs. Carpenter!" and "Hiii Mrs. Carpenter!" as I did my slow-ass jog around the track. Yup, a bunch of students were there finishing up playing Ultimate Frisbee. Figures. This is what I get for living in the town I teach in!

It's ok, 'cause I looked cute doing it!

I wish I could say that with the weight training and running I am losing weight, but alas no. Not so much. BUT I do feel stronger and leaner, so maybe things are happening not related to the scale, yes?

Oh, more pics for you! My little nephew's b-day party on the weekend.

7 yr. olds are notoriously camera shy

The cupcakes are evil. I will just stand here and make sure they harm no one.

The annual "stretching of the child" or...birthday bumps, whichever.

I can touch the ceiling!

What I look like from the POV of someone about 7' tall...or someone 4' sitting on the shoulders of someone 6'5. Yeah pretty sure my math is off there.

K, time to disengage from laptop and SLEEP.

Later y'all.

Running time....what kind of weird black hole crap is this?!?

2010-04-14T21:15:00.001-07:00

Day 2 is done! I survived! Wheeeeeeeee! Yes, I am just that excited I didn't collapse and die. Matter o' fact it was a bit easier today. I hope it wasn't me just being delusional and thinking it was easy so I didn't wanna curl up and die at the thought of doing three minutes next week. Three minutes! Seems like nothin'. Three minutes in t.v. watching time, blogging time, reading time is like NOTHING, a blip, a puff, a little wisp of cotton floating by. Running time is like a stretched out rubber band, a never-ending reel of a movie shown in gr. 10 science class about dissecting frogs, one of those techno songs that goes on forever or is really 10 songs running back-to-back, but they sound exactly the same, so you don't even know it. Running time is very much like "being in the dentist's chair time" or "waiting for the gynecologist with nothing on from the waist down but a paper sheet time". Running time you need to multipy by 10, then add 100.

But I'm sure it will get better.

I worked my arms today with trainer gal (my 17 yr-old student), and she KILLED my triceps. Well done! She is just so sweet and nice, so I have been trying to get her to PUSH more (like evil trainers must do to get us to move our fat, lazy asses). Next time we are going to put in some cardio intervals to keep my heart rate up. Gotta burn those calories so I can kick Cory's ass.

Things aren't going too swimmingly on the weight-loss front. I have to get my body out of its comfy "maintenance mode". I may be down a pound, but I'll have to see what the scale says tomorrow. I do feel stronger though, and MAY have more definition in my arms. Oh! And a really tiny, teeny faint imprint of what could be a 2-pack! Still too much flab to see any more definition, but I know it's hiding under there...the elusive 6-pack. Not that I have any delusions of achieving said 6-pack. I think my body fat percentage would have to be wayyy down for that action. Not really interested in going that low.

Hope you all are doing well...I'm trading laptop for pillow and hitting the hay!

Tile demo broke my husband and then there was the Wk2D1

2010-04-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Blisters, swollen hands, bruises....the man is a wreck. He's been chipping away at this friggin tile mortar for DAYS. All on his week off, mind you. He came out of the bathroom yesterday red-faced, dripping with sweat, swaying on his feet. And it's still not done! Holy hannah what the crap is this stuff made of, and can we build everything with it?!? Imagine the longevity! 10 000 years from now, yup, that shit is still standing. Meanwhile it is driving the man insane. We may actually have to hire someone to do the larger bathroom and foyer; that shit could take a month!

But, being the super-trooper that he is, hubby still slugged out with me on the track for the start of week 2 on the Couch to 5k. I had my Canada hoodie, the iPod podcast with the scary robot voice telling us when to walk/run, and a bit o'frear in my heart. I know the run was only 30 seconds longer, but dang it feels like forEVA. Civilizations rise and fall during that time; entire species evolve, prosper and die out; planets form, go supernova and become black holes. We're talking EONS.

But it ended.

And you know what? I think it got a tiny bit easier.

Shhhhh.

I also realized that though hubby seemed like he could run faster on the minute run, with this one he hasn't been able to catch his breath in the 2 min. walk. But I can. Thank you Jillian, Bob and recumbent bike for giving me good recovery time! Whoooo! So yeah, the running kicks my ass at the very end of the ~~eternity~~ 1.5 minutes, but dang if I am not almost normal by the time I have to run again.

Shout out to Chrystie for doing her last day of week 3 today! Whoooo!

That's all my tired ass has for now...I'm going to try to go hydrate (TMI ALERT!) my pee has been DARK since my little drinking fest (equal parts water to booze, got it Chrystie).

Later!

Anyone have a bra to fit a 52" chest? Someone's gonna neeed one!

2010-04-11T20:31:00.001-07:00

Partied a little too hard last night, but had a lot of fun. My friend Cory and I got our drink on a bit and went to a friend's metal show. Unfortunately it will be my last show due to some stupid high school drama b.s that I won't even get into.

One highlight of the night was getting to meet Cory's friend, Chrystie (hola girl, if you are reading!). Turns out that when I gave him a link to the Couch 2 5k info, he passed it onto Chrystie and she's been rocking it for THREE WEEKS! Whooo! Pretty cool, no? She also told me that we don't HAVE to run the whole 10k in the Uncover the Cure run. We can do 5k and Cory can do the 10! That takes a lot of presssure off the run! I should be fine doing the 5k by July. Ahhh so much better.

I am putting the drama behind me and foucsing on kicking Cory's ass in the 10lb challenge. Dude is SO wearing lingerie for his run. Don't forget to wax that bikini area Cor!

I am running the first day of week 2 tomorrow. Running and extra 30 seconds doesn't seem like long, but I already want to die after 45 seconds of running. SO SAD. It will get better. It will get better. It will get better. If I say it enough times I may believe it.

Yipes.

What is that wet stuff falling from the sky...?

2010-04-07T22:22:00.000-07:00

A large flock of high-flying birds? No. It is RAIN. And I am running in it.

The rain. Me. Running. These things don't mix. No, these things plain ol' JUST DON'T HAPPEN.

And we're not talking, we left to run and it started to rain, oh darn the luck, scenario. Nope. We, the intrepid two, braved the elements to run. So I am just a tad proud of us. :)

Oh, and don't you worry about me running in the cold ick of rain 'cause I roll like this:

I know. Hot.

I also did some upper body strength training with my trainer gal today. I think it went well! She had this whole routine done up for me. We'll see if I'm sore tomorrow for our next session! I also weighed in for my "Last Ten lbs." challenge...170 lbs. At least it give me a nice, round number to work with. 160 here I come beeyotch!

Oh, and I wanted to share with you that we are doing a little DIY project in the bathroom. New tile! Whooo! We forgot to do a before pic, so here's one after hubby has already bashed away some of the old tile. Damn that shit is ug-ly!

Stay tuned for the finished product. Or a picture of a half-finished bathroom with broken tile strewn about. Here's hoping for the former!

And the punishment is...

2010-04-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Yup, did my run last night. But, nothin' is every easy for me (fuck you universe, btw), so despite it being 1.5 hrs from dinner, I got major stomach cramps almost instantly. It was brutal. I was so much slower than the first time and I had zero wind. Being in pain does that to a person, I guess. Hubby did GREAT and kinda kicked my ass, which was a bit depressing. I'm the fit one here! Jebus. I was kinda proud though- at the end I poured it on and ran FAAST for the last min. Then I wanted to puke. I will say that having the iTunes download of the Couch 2 5k thing on the iPod ROCKED! Not having to check the dang cell phone was so nice!

Today my trainer plans fell through as she had an ortho appointment, but she did suggest we try this free spin class at the rec centre. I think I'll try it because spinning is such an amazing workout. At least it LOOKS like it would make me wanna die. I will see trainer gal tomorrow though. AND I will weigh in for my "Last 10 lbs" challenge with Cory. Whooo! If you recall he's kicked my ass in gear and asked me to run the Uncover the Cure 10k to support research to combat cancers below the waist. So we have tied that in with our "punishment" for losing. You may recall that if he loses, he must sport a bra and panties (and a really ugly hat with spiky hair attached...seriously...ugh). Now, I've contemplated my punishment a long time. I have finally come up with something. So, if I lose, I will run with my pale, never-exposed tummy BARE! Ahhhh! Oh, and wearing tighty whities. I know. Hot.

Thanks for the lovely compliments on my new pics. :) Love y'all.

Don't leave me alone, bored with a camera...for reals

2010-04-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

I am still sniffling a little over my scale debacle. Boo hoo! Haven't talked to Cory about our "Last 10 lbs. Challenge" lately, so no new news there. I do think I have figured out my punishment if I lose though. I'm ruminating on that one a bit more 'cause boy, do I NOT want to do this thing!

I am going for a run in a bit, I hope. This would be "take two" of week 1 for the Couch 2 5k. With hubby being sick it was a no-go for a week. I also have the option of attending a fitness class with my trainer gal tomorrow after school. I think I will give it a try! Then, Wed. I meet with her at school to start WEIGHT TRAINING! Whoo! And, of course another run. I think my week is pretty booked for exercise! Plus, I started the Shred again on Sat. I won't do it all the time, but I must say level one was hard again! Damn you Jillian.

I entered a contest for a shopping spree at Reitmans. You can check out my entry photo and what I had to say about my biggest "fit challenge" here. Feel free to leave a comment!

That's all I have in the vault for now...so I will leave you with me playin' with the camera. Oooh such a sexy beast! Lol!

Queen of Squats (and crushing blows)

2010-04-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

My legs hurt. Ow. Sitting down? Not so fun. Standing up? Pain. Walking down stairs? Forggedaboudit. You may be wondering now exactly what I did to turn my leg muscles into contorted knots of ouchiness...so I will tell you.

Yesterday, I did my first session with my lil' personal trainer. We did some testing to see where I am starting. I did awesome with the leg stuff! I did...drumroll please....ONE HUNDRED SQUATS! Yup, superstar. I did the wall sit for a minute too, which she said beat her time by 40! And she's 17 and a runner. Yay for MY old ass!

Hence, now, the ouch-factor.

Despite my wicked leg victory, I am sad today. I knew my scale was off, and I shared with you my trepidation of using Foreign Scale. I was right to be worried. My crapass scale is a whopping TEN POUNDS off. Fuckarooni! I weighed in on the doc's scale when I had an appt. yesterday, and then again on the scale at the school. I used my trainer gal as a test to see if the school's was accurate. She said she weighed 120 (damn her tiny hide), so we tested the scale and yup, accurate. So I stepped on and *sigh* 171. Poopcicles.

Guess what that means? I now need to loose 10+ more lbs to make my goal! When I mentioned that to my friend Cory (he of the 10k run), he suggested we have a 10 lbs off competition. He said if I won, he'd wear a bra and panties for the Uncover the Cure 10k. I'd freakin' LOVE to see that! He's definitely a GUY guy, if you know what I mean- so it's especially funny to think of him, all buff and burly in a lovely bra and panties set. So that takes care of HIM, but I am still at a loss for what I could do if I lose. I could wear tighty-whities for the run, but that's not so embarrassing. I can't really think of anything else! Maybe you have a suggestion, dear readers?

All I know is I am getting off my lazy maintain train and get back on 'er. I can't let Cory beat my ass at this! You hear that Cory? It. Is. On.

Alrighty, I gotta go change my ticker to reflect my actual weight. Fuck. Ok, I know I have still lost nearly 60lbs, but I thought I was SO close to my goal! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Wish me luck, and give me some ideas, willya?

Fitness test? Um, can I use a cheat sheet??

2010-03-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh short weeks rule. Of course short weeks punctuated by nausea and tummy pain not so great, but I'll take it. One more day until the long weekend, and more blissful days off. Not that I hate my job or anything. The teenagers are great, for the most part (I won't deny I have a wrinkle or two with a 15 yr-old's name on it), but I really am built for a life of no work. I need to be independently wealthy. Like now. Any ideas?

So I haven't yet met with my student personal trainer, but tomorrow it is FO SHO! She's going to do some testing...eep. She wants to see my strength, endurance and flexibility as well as weight/measurements and such. I'm a lil' scare of the wall sit test. Um, ouch! Also scared of foreign scale *shudder*. Plus, knowing my luck, my home scale will get wind of my dalliance and be a total prick from now on. Scales are jerks like that.

I did manage to work my lazy ass out today...and I will certainly get a workout tomorrow. I am hoping hubby will be back in running form for next week. Poor guy is still weak from the fever and little food. But at least the scale has been kind and I am showing just above 160. Soooo close to my goal!

S'all I got for now folks!

Best laid plans...frickin' Robbie Burns got it right!

2010-03-29T18:34:00.001-07:00

So ask me if I did my second Couch 2 5k run? G'head. Well, the answer is a big fat NO. Dammit! Hubby wasn't feeling well yesterday and really wanted to do Mon, Wed, Fri anyway. Then not feeling well turns into barfing and fever action all night long. Poor guy! Today at 1 I started to feel ookey too. F-ing germs. So far no yarking for me, but no appetite and a weird gurgly/hot feeling in my tummy. So no running with my stomach on revolt. Blahh.

I did find out something cool today, though. Thanks to comment from the lovely and kind Sonya at Eyes on the Hourglass, I found some audio to help me with the C25k on iTunes...totally free! She saw that I was using my cell as a stopwatch (huge pain in the buttocks, btw) and told me she'd downloaded something to help her keep track of the time. So AWESOME! Thanks Sonya!

Now, I just have to get my ass out there and USE it. I guess if we start next Monday not the end of the world. I have set up a session for Wednesday with my student personal trainer. Can't wait to see what that girl has in store for me! Hope I'm alive for that one. Ugh...I don't want to get sick!!

All I know is Robert Burns can suck it. Awry it is.

What..me? Run? Why, is there someone chasing me?!?!

2010-03-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Ha ha NO.

But, I am doing it people. I have officially begun the Couch 2 5k program.

This program seems perfect for a beginner like me. It appears to gradually introduce running and build endurance. Today, my husband and I made our way to the track to give 'er a try. I used my cell phone as a stop watch to time our walks/runs. At first, I was thinking it was pretty easy. But by the third of fourth running segment...ohhh man. Getting harder! But we both survived it. :) Hubby has some shin/calf pain, so he's going to break in his better quality runners over the next while and give them a try once he figures they won't rip his feet apart whilst running. As for lil' old me, I felt some tightness in my quads for some reason. Weird. No other pain though!

We will run again Sunday after the man gets home from work. Can I just say how FABULOUS it is that he is running with me!?!

I have sort of been dragging me feets about this running thing, but my friend Cory really gave me a kick in the pants to get started. He asked me...now this is slightly insane...to RUN A TEN K WITH HIM!

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It's in July, so I do have some time, but I'm not fooling myself into thinking I can run a full 10k non-stop in a few months. But I can try. :)

The 10k is to raise money for cancers below the waist. It's called Uncover the Cure and we get to wear our underwear as outerwear! Too fun! Plus raise money, of course. My dad died of cancer (his began as skin cancer), so raising money for any kind of cancer hits home for me.

I also did a weigh in yesterday that kinda shocked me. I went away for three days and came back...lighter?!? I ate CHEESECAKE! TWICE! How did this happen? Not complaining, just a tad dumbfounded.

Here are some pictures...

My friend Ashland and her preemie. He's 3 months (but only six weeks from due date).

Posing with the sleepy baby.

He looks like a wee doll!

Bonding with baby Tristan. :)

At the Cheesecake Factory. Cookie dough cheesecake is...OMG...so good!

The wee one bundled up for his first sit around the fire pit.

I borrowed some clothes so mine wouldn't get smoky. I know, HOT.
Looks like me pre-weight loss!

Hat and glasses complete the look!

This is my favourite pic from the trip. :)

I had a really good time in Puyallup. Getting to meet baby Tristan at three months old was fantastic. Next time I see him he'll be crawling around. Such a sweet, happy baby!

Hope everyone is doing well. Wish me luck with day two of the program on Sunday!

Costco clothes and a few other things

2010-03-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

The scale gods surely do make me give my head a scratch sometimes. I worked my ass off to lose a pound in a week in the past, and now I am being a lazy-ass "maintainer" and I lose a pound in a week. Huh. Of course, this pound may find its way back onto my ass and bring some friends right quickly here...so I'll refrain from breaking out the pinatas just yet.

But yes, down to 163 this morning. I forgot to weigh myself Thursday (regular weigh-in day). Hand slap for me.

Had a couple NSVs while shopping lately. I was completely flummoxed at Costco when face with a pile of shorts in various sizes and no way to try them on. Frickin' annoying. They were super-cute navy Calvin Klein (or whatever knock-off seconds Costco gets) plaid shorts. Should I get the 10s or the 8s? Holding them up to my waist was not a help, and after a few pointed sighs from the hubby, I just said fuck it and grabbed the 10s. I didn't want no muffin top. Of course, i got them on and I SHOULDA GOT THE 8s! Yay, but bloody hell that means I have to go back to frickin' Costco for bloody shorts! I don't know about you, but I surely do like that maneuvering in parking lot from hell and battling crowds with ginormous over-loaded shopping carts and then following said crowds into interminable line-ups. Me holding my sad little pair of shorts while some tiny man in front of me buys 65 gallons of milk and a palet of geraniums. I love the Costco if I need bread or chicken, or some other vital staple items, but going to return a pair of shorts just seems like a waste for the hassle of going there.

Ahem, sorry, didn't mean to rant about Costco there....really it's about fitting into SMALLER shorts than I expected.

Then today, I bought a pair of size 7 jeans. This must be taken with a grain of salt 'cause you are supposed to buy this company's brand of 'comfort' (basically pull on, no zipper, but not scary drawstring- don't you worry) pants a size small because they stretch. But still, I love seeing that crazy small size on my ass. :)

I am FINALLY on spring break, baby! I am leaving on Monday for the US of A to visit my old friend Ashland. She had her first baby a few months ago, and I am SOOO excited to meet baby Tristan. I don't know what kind of food I'll be eating, or how much exercise I will get, but I am going to do my best to come home the same weight as I left! Booya!

Wish me luck on my 4 hr drive south. Wheee!

In other news, I went to a movie today with 190 gr. 10 students. We took 'em to see Alice in Wonderland. Good movie! They were awesome, as usual. There were 6 teachers along for the ride, so lots of supervision. The only downer part was getting stuck in the bathroom. Yup, had to do the ol' shake and shimmy under the door. Sweet. This was made much less gross by the fact that the theatre hadn't yet opened to the public, so the floor was clean. THANK GOD there were no teenagers in there when it happened. Though I did manage to scare the bejusus outta my one witness, my co-worker, when I suddenly kicked my rather large purse under the door. She thought it was some weird-ass creature skittering out and screamed. Hee hee. Good times.

So to recap- losing pound, smaller clothes, getting to watch a (free) movie (thanks kids) all morning rather than working, scaring co-worker, SPRING BREAK and visit to see bébé: Good. Getting stuck in bathroom, having to go back to Costco for shorts, and driving for four hours: Bad. I think it's an overall win for the GOOOOOD!

Man this post was just all over the place. Ah well...I'm sure you can handle it.

Later y'all!

The Mystery is History!

2010-03-17T20:31:00.001-07:00

I think we figured out what is wrong with my leg! It's been bothering me for 3 months or so and hasn't gotten any better. Went to the doc today, and it turns out I walk in a funny, silly kinda way. Yup...just like in Monty Python, only without the accent.

I have this bad habit of rolling out on my right foot when I am standing, and it seems I also walk that way too. My right shoe is all distorted from it. The husband has bugged me about that before, but I never associated it with my leg pain! Doc said I need orthotics to keep my foot flat when I walk. Wheeeee! I am also getting a hip x-ray to make sure I haven't damaged the bone from all the years of abuse. I may go to physio as well.

He had to do a bunch of tests on my leg- getting me to push against his hand, etc. to check to see what movements hurt, and after he commented, "You have amazing leg strength!" I guess all that working out has paid off...doc says it, so it must be true!

In other news, I want to eat the house. Yup, drywall and all. Ok, I'd start with what's in the cupboards, but after that, who knows? Friggin' TOM always does this to me! I hate. A lot.

I wasn't sure how my extra snacking this weekend would affect my "maintain no gain" phase, but it seems like I am sitting around 164 again. I hope this means I really have a lifestyle that incorporates healthy habits that will allow me to keep this weight off. It would seriously kill me to gain it back after nearly a year of working to get it off.

Ok, did you hear about the CRAZY woman who wants to gain 400 more lbs to reach some stupid record of 1000 lbs? She wants to be the fattest woman alive. Wow. Sad thing is, she has kids! She's mobile now, but she relies on a scooter for a lot of moving around. I can't even imagine how damaged this woman must be to even contemplate putting her health in FURTHER jeopardy and GAIN weight when she's already morbidly obese. She has a website that encourages people to either donate money or food to help her reach her "goal". Crap on toast, people, that is just sick-o-rama. I see all the other bloggers on here just trying so so so hard to change their lives for the better and lose weight, and so many are succeeding! I wish this woman could read some of those blogs and see that she could go the other way and save her life rather than throw it away. She makes me very, very sad.

Take it easy, ya'll and keep yer stick on the ice.

A survey from my teenage personal trainer-in-training

2010-03-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

OK folks, this shit is going down soon! I am going to get my student trainer working for me! I can't wait to see what she comes up with to whip my ass into shape. I thought I'd share this nice little survey she gave me with you! She's just so darn energetic and enthusiastic! Can't wait, can't wait!

1* Tell me about yourself..

I am 36 and have lost 55 lbs pounds over the last year. I have have a husband (who is also trying to get fit!) and a cat. I live in Richmond in a condo. I am usually a happy person, but I have suffered from lack of confidence due to my weight in the past. Sometimes this meant I would just hold back from doing things I wanted to do, or from socializing as much as I'd like to.

2* What goals do you have ? ( in life & physique )

My goal in life is to be fit and healthy. I want to be able to do things easily and not worry about not being strong enough, or not having the endurance to do them. I want to have a baby in the next year, and I know being strong and healthy will make any pregnancy (and recovery) easier.

My physical goal is to gain overall muscle tone and lose a bit more weight (maybe 5-10 lbs). I really like the new muscle I have built, and it motivates me to do more. I'd like to do some weight training for this reason. I also want to start running. I heard about the couch to 5k plan, and it sounds very reasonable for a beginner.

I really want to keep this weight off, too. I have lost weight before, and I have always gained it back. I have maintained the same weight for over a month now, so that makes me happy! I know paying attention to diet and regular exercise is important for this, and that is what I am doing.

3* Is there/ would you like to set a deadline for when you want to achieve these goals? ( short term/ long term )?

I suppose short term would be the summer to lose more weight. Long term would be to maintain loss and maybe figure out a way to make that easier.

4* Do you have any health conditions/ allergies ? ( if so are you taking anything for it? )

I have no allergies, but I do have a sore let right now. It's persisted for 3 or more months, so I'm going to the doctor to get it checked out. The pain occurs when I move my right leg out to the side. The pain usually is a stabbing one, but it sometimes aches as well.

I did have some knee pain when I was doing push ups on my knees, but a pillow under them solved that problem.

I have had some back pain in the past. Usually now it's only if I sit in a chair for too long.

5* Do you currently do any exercise/ fitness ? ( if so what kinds?/ how often? )

At the beginning of my weight loss, I was exercising 6-7 days a week. Now that I am sort of maintaining it's more like 3-4 times. I do 1/2 hr on a recumbent bike with hand weight, or I have some exercise DVDs. I did the Biggest Loser 30 Day Shred with Jillian Micheals for 30 days in Dec. and lost 6 lbs. (and gained a lot of muscle!). In the past, I have also done brisk walking for exercise. I don't usually work out for longer than 1/2 at a time due to time constraints, my dislike for exercise (wish I liked it!) and sometimes boredom.

6* How often do you eat? ( how much/what time(s) during the day? )

I eat three meals and two snacks usually. Breakfast at 7:20, snack at 10, Lunch at 12, snack at 3:30 or 4 and dinner at 5:30 or 6. I may have a square of dark chocolate or a low-fat pudding for dessert, but I try not to eat after dinner.

7* Does your current diet consist of the all the food groups ?

I am trying to incorporate more fruit and vegetables in my diet, as that is the area that is usually lacking! I drink 2% milk and eat low-fat cheese. Sometimes I have yogurt. I eat oatmeal and whole grain bread and high fiber pasta. For meat, I have chicken, extra-lean ground beef or ground turkey, and pork. My fruits are usually bananas, grapes, kiwi, strawberries, oranges and unsweetened applesauce. Veggies I eat regularly are spring mix greens for salad, tomatoes, corn, cucumber, carrots, red peppers.

I am trying to avoid junky snacks like chips and cookies, so I usually have a banana at work and an applesauce and a few almonds after work. We don't buy chips, cookies or ice-cream for the house anymore (which is very good!).

8* Would you be comfortable/ uncomfortable if we took measurements ( weight, bust, waist & hips )to keep track of during the following weeks, to compare results for progress reports?

Sure. I am scared to weigh in on another scale though! I think it will weigh me heavier!

9* Is there a specific part of your body you would like us to work on the most?

I would love to tone my arms (get some nice definition), legs and stomach!

10* Are you ready to begin training ? :)

YES!!!

Hooligans and shopping addiction...helllllp meeee!

2010-03-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

So I feel like my spring break is being held hostage by my school district. Everyone around here is either on spring break or will be this week. Some even have TWO weeks off. Fuckers. I'm not bitter though. Uh uh. I NEED this time off...it keeps me from killing, or at least scarring psychologically, the teenagers. Seriously.

Take Friday, for instance. A lovely rain-soaked day and we were just blithely going about our first class. Little did we know that a cretin in blue jeans walked our halls with arson on his mind. Some little turdbucket started a fire in the boys' room. In a garbage can. In the BOYS' ROOM. WTF? This lead to the entire school standing in the pouring rain for 1/2 an hour freezing our collective balls off. To increase the shittasticity of this event, the sprinklers failed to turn off, so they dumped gallons of water into our second floor, which then cascaded over the balcony onto the first floor. Some of it even found its way through the ceiling and dripped down the walls into the hallway. Sweeet. We were eventually let back in, though we had to traverse the new lake in the caf. to get to our rooms. Then we got to sit in our classrooms for 1/2 hr more whilst the nice fire dept. vacu-sucked the water up. And did we find this walking poster-child for birth control? Nope. Still at large.

I fear for the next generation.

But, yes this is a weight-loss blog, not a ranting site, so on to that.

Um...so I haven't lost any. On purpose though! Yes, still maintaining. Well, as of today I am. I am still awaiting the repurcussions of Friday drinking and Saturday lasagna dinner, bread, cake, chips and more drinking. Oh, and there may have also been a cookie in there. Definitely more than I usually eat. Felt all ooky in my tummy area after. BLAH. That and the lack of exercise for 3 days in a row has me a bit worried what the scale gods will say. I did work out today though, thank god. But, as of right now I am still 165. PHEW. For now. Eeeeep for tomorrow. Eeep.

Also, I may be addicted to shopping. I really worried about this before. I always said, it's a good thing I can't shop in the "normal" stores 'cause I'd have no money left. Um. Yes. Problem. I keep finding cute clothes, and they are on SALE. What am I a freakin' saint? I can't resist a cropped denim jacket for $15, or a super cute red polka-dot tee for $10, let alone a seriously sexy white pencil skirt for SIX DOLLARS!!!??!! C'monnnnnnnnnn.

I am hoping I will get to start working with my "student trainer" soon! She's not so good with the deadlines.

Hope everyone is doing well out there in bloggerland. :)