Healthy You Check In, Weigh In and a bunch of blathering

I'm getting to be a bad blogger... sorry. There is just SO much going on in life lately that I'm finding it hard to have the chance to just sit down and reflect enough to come up with a semi-decent post.

First things first: I'm only down 0.6 lbs today. Not surprised. There was a bit too much apple crisp and lasagna in my diet as of lately.

So much is going on.. school is getting busy as I have two finals this week and a major project due. I'm very excited at the prospect of only having 5 weeks of classes left! Woohoo! I'm doing my best to maintain my 4.0 average so that does add a little extra pressure too.

My fiancee was just here visiting for the last four days. He just left about half an hour ago *sniff*. We had a great time, as always but I find it a bit harder to stay OP when he's around. We finally told my mom that we are moving in together when I'm done my practicum. She's less than thrilled (for religious reasons, not because she doesn't love him) but handled it much better than she did when I tried to talk to her about it on my own. The thing is, I'm 29 years old!!!!! But yes, I'm still scared of my mom at times. Sad eh? Regarding the wedding, we are 95% certain that the plan will be a wedding on the beach in either Mexico or the Dominican Republic in December 2009. Now it's just a matter of finding the right resort for the right price range, then preparing "save the date" packages and info to send out to our friends and families.

I also saw my lawyer this morning regarding my divorce and custody/child support issues. It was very encouraging as my lawyer is very optimistic that I will be awarded sole custody!!!!! I can't celebrate until it's a done deal of course, and it's a very long process but I can't help but feel a bit of relief already.

And my job... *sigh*. I'm been the admin assistant for my small church for the last year or so. Lets just say that I don't love it. I've decided to give my notice.. and lots of it because I know it will take them quite a while to find someone else. But the end of January I am done! I'm also going to be taking on some transcription work. This is through my mom's office and apparently there is tons of it if I find that I like it and can do it easily enough. Not that I really have the time for this right now but it would sure be great for down the road!

Anyways.. wow.. didn't plan on writing that much here but it helped me sort my thoughts at the same time. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with everything lately. Just so much going on. That's probably why I haven't done as much cooking as I should have to be a little more successful with Core. Being OP takes so much energy! Am I the only one that feels this? I am always constantly thinking of what I will eat next and planning meals and recipes... I need to try and simplify it somehow so that I can fit it in. Any suggestions? Making a weekly meal plan would help I'm sure but that seems so impossible. Well, I'll work on it this week..

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Bah. I'm pretty sure my 5lb loss last week was a fluke as I didn't see that number again after that. In fact, today I was back up those 5lbs. Although I do admit that I did get discouraged after seeing the number up last week after the weigh in and I gave myself full permission to eat stuff I shouldn't. That said, it also made me think... I absolutely suck at tracking my intake and counting points. I used to do awesome with the whole points system, hence my consistent losses last winter/spring. But I'm just not feeling it anymore... Don't worry, that doesn't mean I'm saying adios to WW though. I've gone core! As of today. I honestly never thought I'd do core, thinking it was way too restrictive of what you can eat but don't really feel that way anymore. So that's a plus, right? That means that my eating habits have become healthier, right? I'm really looking forward to seeing how core works for me. I have no classes today and my car is in the shop so I got groceries yesterday and will spend part of day today cooking cauliflower soup, Core Cornbread and Carrot Cake Cookies. I'll come back with recipes and reviews later..

So menu for today:
B: skim milk, pineapple, FF yogurt
L: two hard boiled eggs, tiny bit of light miracle whip (for points as I can't stomach the ff stuff), half WW pita (1pt), orange
S: Cauliflower soup and cornbread

Healthy You Check In, Weigh in and BIG NEWS!!

Okay, just can't contain it.. I'll get the big news out of the way first. Check this out!!



Yep, it's official! Mike has asked me to marry him at least 5 times in the last few months but yesterday he finally did it up right with a ring and all :) I'm so so so so happy!! Unfortunately, I still have no pics of us together as he gave it to me in the car leaving the West Edmonton Mall parking lot (real romantic, I know) and the only witness was my 2 year old daughter. But hey, at least he has good taste in rings!

Anyways, after being away all weekend (we just got home late last night), I wasn't sure how the weigh in would go as I was staying at Mike's parent's house and not in control of the food, etc. BUT I'm down 5 lbs so I must have made some good choices (and I think more importantly, had good portion control and very little snacking). Only two more pounds until I'm at virgin weight!! LOL

I had originally planned to get in a great workout today as I have no classes but the desire to trek all the way down to school just for a work out has sort of dwindled. I have to unpack, do laundry and just do some overall catch up after being away the last 4 days and having a busy week of exams last week. But tomorrow, I promise, will be a good workout day.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Ahhhh it's Tuesday once again. I've been a day ahead of myself the last two days (thinking yesterday was Tuesday and that today is Wednesday). Maybe that just shows how badly I want this week over and how much I'm looking forward to the coming weekend? I have three finals and a midterm this week... well, one final is down already (had it this morning). It was done online so I already have my mark. I got 93% on the final, which makes my final mark for the class about a 96%. I think I can be happy with that :)

Anyhow.. on to this morning's weigh in. I was down 2.8 lbs so that's definitly in the right direction. Honestly though, I didn't do well with eating on the weekend at all so I'm glad I still had a loss but can't really feel super proud of myself or anything. Plus it's a portion of these same stupid 5lbs that I've lost about 5 times now in the last few months. But I am determined to make this be the final time. The day I reach "virgin" weight and weigh in under 220, I'll be thrilled! Then I'll feel like I'm making actual progress again. Seven pounds to go for that..

The one thing that I CAN feel proud about doing is getting back into the whole routine of working out. I ventured down to the gym on campus last Tuesday and have been there 4 times since then. My friend also twisted my arm into going swimming and I found that I love it! I think part of the reason that I'd been dragging my butt about going back to the gym was that I was bored with it. After accomplishing running a 5K and a 10K this summer, I was sick of running too. So, swimming may just be the new thing for me, or at least a combination of gym and swim.

Anyways, gotta keep it on the short side for now.. got a ton of homework to do. Just keeping my eye on the prize (so to speak) - I'm going up to Edmonton Friday after school to spend the weekend with my man! Hurray!

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Well, there's good news and bad news this week....

Bad first: I'm up 5lbs in the last two weeks. It's no surprise. I've been drastically off track, especially the last week or so with Thanksgiving in there. No excuses, it's been a conscious decision.

Good news: I'm on track today AND (drum roll please) I actually found the gym at school today! It's pathetic but it was my first gym workout in nearly two months. I did 40 min on the elliptical and 25 on the treadmill (ran 15, walked 10). I'm thinking of going back to good ol' Couch to 5K, not starting at the beginning but part way through.

Things to help me stay on track this time:
- I have a friend lined up to work out with me tomorrow and Friday
- I have a container full of yummy, filling, healthy soup in the fridge
- I have a bunch of fresh fruit and veggies to munch on

I'm trying to use up the food we have this week, instead of blowing a bunch of money when there is still plenty here. I'm trying to make a deal with myself of no eating out (including no coffee) and no new groceries other than the stuff we go through more quickly like milk, fruit, etc. With Christmas coming soon, I need to keep myself in check a little more and not spend when I don't need to. Don't we all know that story... LOL

Anyways, here's to a good week!

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

Pretty please can I just fall over yet? I'm sooo tired and dragging my butt around today. Diet has sort of fallen to the wayside the last few days as I have two sick kids and have made several trips to the ER at Children's and the walk in clinic. Unfortunately my older daughter does not seem to be responding to her meds for tonsillitis and a UTI so back to the doctor we'll go tomorrow. It's never ending it seems!

So, for my weigh in today, I'm only down 0.4, which means that I'm 0.6 away from reaching my goal of losing 6 lbs since I recommitted a few weeks ago. Not happy about that as I know I could have done it. The only good thing is that it is enough of a loss to take me back over the 40 lbs lost mark, thank goodness. My next goal is to lose 6 lbs (now 6.6lbs) by Thanksgiving. Yikes.. that's gonna be cutting it close I think, though I know it is do-able if I completely stay OP. Then again, if I manage to catch my girls germs, I'm bound to lose a few extra lbs. LOL. I should not be wishing for that though!! I have a very busy next couple of weeks at school and cannot fall behind now.

Blah.. sorry, just feeling all whiny and complain-y today. I hope ya'll are doing better out there!

BLAH Apparently I can't add either! Still 0.8 to go until I'm back at 40 lbs lost. Ack..

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

I had to cross my fingers as I stepped on the scale today and fortunately, everything turned out okay. After my big loss last week (5lbs), I knew it would be harder to have a good loss this week, plus the fact that I was at a wedding all weekend and totally not in control of what I was able to eat as we were out in the middle of no where. I managed to stay the same so I am happy with that.

The wedding was awesome fun though, after all, I was there with my boyfriend and child-free (for the first time ever!!) so how could it not be fun?? LOL. Tons of driving though - I think it was about 17 hours on the road between Friday afternoon and Sunday night UGH. My lower back is still sore from sitting so much. But all in all, not one complaint. And the kids faired just fine without me, though Grandma is still a little tired.

And what is it about weddings that make you start planning your own? LOL Mike has asked me about 5 times now to marry him but not "officially" - meaning, no ring yet. But, we did decide that planning a wedding looks like way too much work (not to mention money) so we're thinking that heading down to somewhere tropical and getting married barefoot on the beach is much more our style. Anyone done that and have any tips? Apparently we're going ring shopping next weekend when he comes down to visit. And yes, that makes me feel very giddy :)

I'm trying really hard to get back on track food-wise today as I really want to meet my goal of losing 6 lbs by the end of the month, which means I need a loss of at least 1lb this week. I heard that the gym at school is totally state of the art and not all that crowded so I really need to find a way to check that out. My goal is to go at least once this week. Baby steps, right?

Healthy You Check In & Weigh In

It's been a while since I've checked in with the Healthy You Challenge but thought I'd jump back in this week. I also weighed in today since I forgot yesterday. I am actually thinking that Tuesday will be my new official WI day.. works better with my schedule right now since Mondays I get to sleep in a little and I like to weigh myself as soon as I get up and before I jump in the shower. Anyways, today's weigh in kicked butt!! I am down 5.0 lbs from last week!!!!!!!!! This leads me to think that last weeks WI (and rather large gain) was a big water gain, which would make sense seeing as it was also TOM. But anyhow, 5 lbs is 5 lbs and I'll take it!

Everything else is going good school (I got 100% on the test I was so stressed about last week!!) and relationship-wise (we had a huge talk Friday night and now things are sooooo good!!). The only thing I'm still haven't difficulty fitting in to my life so far this fall is exercise. I used to be so good about earning my APs but right now, it's either study or go work out and so far, studying is winning out. In all honesty, I think it has to right now. This program is only 5 months long and I need to make the most of it. Of course that doesn't mean I'm a total slouch.. I do try to do things like walk up the 5 flights of stairs to my classes, go for little evening walks with the kids, etc. It would be great if I could somehow fit more in though.

Anyhow, here's to another OP week!

Healthy You Check In

It's a new month and I'm so glad. June was less than stellar so I'm looking at July as a fresh start. I've been thinking about my goals both for this month and for a little longer term and have decided that:

1- My goal to be down 50 lbs by July 15 is unrealistic. That is 11.2 lbs away. I'm going to change this to August 15. Instead, I want to be below 220 (lose 5lbs) by then.

2- My goal of reaching my 2nd 10% by the end of July is unrealistic. That is 14 lbs away. Bumping that back to August 31.

3- I want to be out of the 200s by Thanksgiving. That means 25 lbs to go by October 13th.

4- Run a 10K at the end of August. Train 3X a week to prepare for this.

5- Rack up 1000 min of cardio in July.

6- No more eating after 8pm.

To go along with this fresh start, I'm playing with the idea of re-designing my blog. I'd like to add in a box that scrolls along the side for my weigh ins because that's getting awfully long. Does anyone know how to do this?

I also have a goal for this week of blogging everyday and reading through all the blogs of those who check in in the HYC today. Looking forward to checking in and saying hi to you all! It may take me a few days but it's long overdue :)

WI #23 and Healthy You Check In

Blaaaaah. Not feeling very motivated this week. In fact, I feel gross, bloated and FULL from all the crap I've eaten the last few days. Gross. And the scale shows it - I'm up 2.2lbs. No surprise there. Not exactly sure where my motivation went but I'm pretty sure that it goes hand in hand with no working out. And the fact that I haven't gotten in a workout in 3 weeks is pretty pitiful.

That said, I'm trying very hard not to let myself get totally down about this... tomorrow is a new day and I'm more than ready to get back on the wagon. I've got an intense workout planned for tomorrow morning and good food stocked in the fridge. I have downloaded a bunch of new tunes and I'm looking forward to getting back into routine.... for a few days anyhow. Thursday the girls and I head back up north to visit M... I've got to find a way to stay on track (or at least relatively so) while I'm up there. And to get some exercise in as well. We can always do walks and M mentioned wanting to take me golfing... not that that is extremely strenuous cardio oranything but better than nothing. Any tips? How do you stay OP while away from home????

Now I'll do my pitiful update on my June goals..

As far as June's goals go...
1- Lose 8lbs by June 30 I'm at 2.2/8
2- Get 1000 cardio minutes I'm still at 0...
3- Try again for 3 runs a week HA! None last week...

Yah.. pretty sad. But I can turn it around. I was THISCLOSE to getting some new 45lb bling last week but I'm a little further away now.. I need to stay focused in order to reach my goal of 50 lbs gone by my birthday (July 15). Crap! That's under a month!! And 7.4 lbs to go... and a long weekend and weeklong vacation in there too. Ok.. breath.. I can do this! Please kick my butt and help me stay focused!! Any tips to stay OP while I'm away???

Healthy You Check In

I thought I'd get this done a little early this week :)

I am so glad to actually be healthy this week! The flu/stomach bug that attached itself to me last week was absolutely brutal and Sunday was the first day in nearly a week that I finally felt "normal" and was able to eat normal food without it sending my stomach into distress. So now that I'm finally getting my head above water this week, I'm realizing holy moly! It's already the 9th of June! This month is flying by! But the last few weeks have been great on the weight loss front but especially on the personal front. I've been able to spend lots of time with my man... which is awesome because he lives 6 hours away. He's down here this week and then I'll go back up to his place next Thursday. My girls absolutely adore him and he them so that makes everything even better. I am just trying to soak up as much time as possible with him this summer because (drumroll please!!) I got accepted into school for this fall!! I had applied to several different programs and was waitlisted on all of them but was just accepted into my first choice last week. Very excited about it!

Things on the diet and exercise front could definitely improve though... even though I've managed to pull out some decent losses, I know it won't last if I don't get back on it. It's not that my motivation is lacking, it's more just a time thing. I really need to work on this this week and find ways to exercise, even if M is here or if I am up at his place. As far as food goes, I haven't tracked either and have made decent choices, definetly small serving sizes, especially of foods that may not be the best choices.

As far as June's goals go...
1- Lose 8lbs by June 30 I'm at 4.4/8
2- Get 1000 cardio minutes I'm still at 0... may need to adjust this
3- Try again for 3 runs a week I didn't run in the last week because I was sick... this week? Hopefully at least two

Healthy You Check In

Not a whole lot to update this week as I was out of town from last Thursday until last night (had an amazing time with my boy though!!) and I seem to have developed a lovely flu in the last 24 hours. Not fun!! So, I missed my weekly weigh in yesterday and this morning the scale showed me down at 219 but I am so dehydrated that I'm sure that's not all that accurate. I think I'll just wait until next Monday to record an official weight. And pray that this horrible bug passes quickly!!

Final update on May goals:
1- At the beginning of April I set the goal of losing 10 lbs by Mother's Day. I did it, actually 10.8/10
2- Run 5K on Mother's Day without stopping. Did it!
3- Lose 5 lbs by May 21 (that's the day I'm going to see M) I ended up at 5.8/5!!
4- Lose 8 lbs by June 2. Since I don't have an official weight this week, I'm not 100% positive how this went.. but seeing as I was at 7.8/8 last week, I'm going to call it a success.
5- Get 1200 minutes of cardio this month. 877 UGH not so good! I've missed several workouts this month but I can say that although my minutes aren't quite up to par, the intensity of my workouts has definitely improved.
6- Run 3 times a week. Only twice last week.. seems to be a bad pattern

New Goals for June:
1- Lose 8lbs by June 30
2- Get 1000 cardio minutes
3- Try again for 3 runs a week

That's all I can think of for now... hope you all have a great week!

Healthy You Check In

Like my new bling? I'm really quite fond of it myself :)

Things seem to be going quite well on both the exercise and eating fronts lately and finally I had a loss that shows it (3.8lbs). What can I say? Love does a body good! ;)

Now that I'm down 40 lbs, the compliments have been rolling in from people around me and while they are of course lovely to hear, I still find myself doubting what they are saying. Yes, I do feel MUCH better than I did 40 lbs heavier. But when I look in the mirror, I really don't see the difference. Ugh! I had read in other blogs about people feeling this way but I never thought it would happen to me. I mean yes, I feel that my thighs and butt are way more firm and I've really just noticed the last few weeks how my tummy feels smaller. But I look in the mirror and what I see is still very unappealing. And it doesn't seem to look any different than it did 5 months ago. But it must!! I don't know why our minds do this to us but it's making me understand (just a little bit) how the mind of an anorexic works. If I went by how I saw myself in the mirror, do you think I'd ever think I was thin enough or firm enough? I really don't know. My clothes tell me I'm smaller, my measurements tell me I'm smaller, my scale tells me I'm lighter... so why don't I see it? I think maybe it's time to do another full length pic of myself to compare to my first one. I've been dreading doing that but I think it's time.

On another note, here's the last update on my May goals:
1- At the beginning of April I set the goal of losing 10 lbs by Mother's Day. I did it, actually 10.8/10
2- Run 5K on Mother's Day without stopping. Did it!
3- Lose 5 lbs by May 21 (that's the day I'm going to see M) I ended up at 5.8/5!!
4- Lose 8 lbs by June 2. 7.8/8
5- Get 1200 minutes of cardio this month. 817 so far.. not quite sure if I'm going to reach this one. I'm out of town starting Thursday and only have one workout left before I go.
6- Run 3 times a week. Only twice last week.. missed Thursday's run because I was out of town

Healthy You Check In

After a less than stellar eating weekend and a minimal loss yesterday, I am seriously kicking up the activity so that I can have a hope of reaching my goal of losing 5lbs by this Thursday. After my WI yesterday, I still had 1lb to go but I did a kick arse 7km run yesterday morning plus a 30 min. brisk walk last night, and pretty much 2 hours of cardio this morning (I ran to the Y, worked out on the elliptical and w/weights and than walked home - all uphill of course). At the moment I'm feeling a little beat but once I eat I should hopefully feel better.

So.. I'm really excited. I get to see M tomorrow night!!!!! I'm driving up to Edmonton after I get the girls to bed (yep, solo) and not coming home until Thursday night. And no, it's not an overnight date LOL! My cousin happens to live quite conveniently close to M's parent's house and that's where I'll be staying. I guess technically it's only our second date but really, it's much beyond that seeing as we spend hours on the phone daily (only a slight exaggeration). If you missed it before, here's how M and I met. So this afternoon I need to go shopping to find something to wear. I did find a pair of capris on the weekend but I'd really like to find a cute skirt if I can.

Actually that talk about shopping leads me to a NSV I had this weekend. First of all, I bought 2 pairs of workout capris in get this, a size large!!!! I seriously don't ever remember buying a size large before. Granted, they run a little big but STILL, a large! Not a XXL or 2X or whatever. WOOHOO! And even cooler, my mom wore a pair and they fit her. I am finally back to the same size (well, pretty much) as my mom. Holy crap! I'm finding that I am on the borderline of being able to shop in many regular stores instead of just the plus stores, for bottoms anyways. I thought I would be thrilled about that but honestly, it's a little overwhelming. Way too many stores to look in and way too many choices. I need some serious shopping time WITHOUT 2 screaming kids in tow.

Anyhow, on to my weekly update on my monthly goals..

1- At the beginning of April I set the goal of losing 10 lbs by Mother's Day. I did it, actually 10.8/10
2- Run 5K on Mother's Day without stopping. Did it!
3- Lose 5 lbs by May 21 (that's the day I'm going to see M) I'm at 4.0/5
4- Lose 8 lbs by June 2. That's one month from today and that's on an offical WI day. 4.0/8
5- Get 1200 minutes of cardio this month. 702 so far..
6- Run 3 times a week. Only twice last week, plus one day of other cardio... umm cuz I got lazy

I can't wait to check in with all of you later today!!

Healthy You Check In

As I sit here typing this, I'm still sweaty and recovering this morning's run but all I could think about while I was running was getting back and posting here that

I ran 6K this morning!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm a little proud of myself. I may not be very fast (it took me about 46 minutes) but I did it. It was just such a beautiful morning outside that I decided not to make my typical trip to the Y, where I've been struggling to stay motivated to run on the gerbil wheel most of us call the treadmill. The 6K really flew by this morning so I've decided that it may be a good idea to mix up my routine and perhaps run outside 2X per week and workout at the Y with other cardio and weights 2X per week. We'll see how that goes.

Anyways, for my run today and for my 5K run on Sunday, I'm awarding myself this shiny new bling:


(Thank you Diana for the awesome new buttons you made!!)

And, due to my loss of 2.2 lbs this week, I get more new bling:



My mantra this month has been "Motivated in May" and it seems to be working!!

1- At the beginning of April I set the goal of losing 10 lbs by Mother's Day. I did it!! Actually I lost 10.8 lbs!
2- Run 5K on Mother's Day without stopping. Done!!
3- Lose 5 lbs by May 21 (that's the day I'm going to see M) I'm at 3.8/5
4- Lose 8 lbs by June 2. That's one month from today and that's on an offical WI day. 3.8/8
5- Get 1200 minutes of cardio this month. 427 so far..
6- Run 3 times a week. Done!!

I look forward to checking in with everyone today!!

Healthy You Check In

Today is going to be a quickie check in as I'm rushing off to go along with T's preschool class on a field trip.

I had a great workout this morning... I ran 5k in 35:10. My previous quickest time was 35:38 so I'm thinking that was pretty good. With the Mother's Day run less than a week away, my ultimate time goal for it would be anything under 35 min but I've been told that it's not a race you can run very fast at...too many people. So my goal will just be (and has always been) to run the full course - no walking.

Anyways, here's a recap of my May goals. (Woohoo! Motivated in May - my mantra for the month)

1- At the beginning of April I set the goal of losing 10 lbs by Mother's Day. Right now I am at 8.6/10.
2- Run 5K on Mother's Day without stopping.
3- Lose 5 lbs by May 21 (that's the day I'm going to see M) I'm at 1.6/5
4- Lose 8 lbs by June 2. That's one month from today and that's on an offical WI day. 1.6/8
5- Get 1200 minutes of cardio this month. 210 so far..
6- Run 3 times a week. Done!!

That's all for now.. I'm planning on checking out everyone's blogs this evening! Can't wait to see how you all are doing!

Healthy You Check In

Do you ever just feel down.. for no good reason really? That's me right now. I just want to curl up in my bed and sleep for a few days and then maybe I'd feel better. Nothing particularly bad is going on right now... just the usual stresses of kids (with an extra dose of 4 year old drama added in there right now - she's driving me NUTS!!), work, etc. I also feeling like I'm getting sick and have an on again off again sore throat. I just feel crappy. So, I'm not sure if this is making it harder for me to get back on track food-wise or if I am feeling crappy because I haven't been doing so hot with my program. But overall, I wish I could just snap out of it! I made great plans to get back on program yesterday as I wrote about but it didn't last past late afternoon. I just wanted to eat everything in sight!! This morning I almost didn't go work out either. I haven't missed a workout in forever so you know this is bad. But I went... didn't run today though, just did 35 min on the elliptical. I'm so scared that I'm not going to be able to get back on program! I wish I could JUST DO IT but it's not feeling quite that simple.

Blah.

Anyhow, sorry for the whining and complaining. I'm hoping to have the chance later on today to read a bunch of your blogs and find some motivation.

Here's the update on my goals for April:

• Hit 10% goal by April 7 DONE!
  
• Lose 10 pounds by Mother's Day (May 11) 7.0/10 I'm 1lb further from this than last week
  
• Get in 3 C25K workouts each week Not doing C25K anymore but I ran 5K 4 times last week!
  
• Do 1100 minutes of cardio Finished that today - I'm at 1105
  

Healthy You Check In

Woo! I love Tuesdays and giving a little update and taking the time to check in on all of you!

Not a whole heck of a lot to report here.. I had a loss this week, (-1.0lb) but it wasn't quite as much as I was hoping for. I was feeling extremely munchy yesterday and I have a feeling that TOM is around the corner. I really should keep better track of when it's expected to arrive but I've never been good at that. I really can't wait until next Monday when I should finally be out of the 230s!

When I posted the other day about M being overweight, I've gotten a few comments about being in a relationship with an overweight man. I agree with what Hanlie said in that when she was with a fat guy, she got fat too... and this happened to me also with my ex (who was not super fat but overweight and out of shape). I have never been thin but I was in awesome shape when I first met my ex. I still weighed approx. 200lbs but I had just finished a summer working as a landscaper so I was buff! LOL I think I put on at least 20-30 lbs that first year (and so did he!).. and well, it just went from there. I would never want that to happen again! I've worked too hard and still have a long ways to go and can't get back into those old habits. But that said, I've always been attracted to bigger guys.. probably because they made me feel small and safe and secure. M is probably bigger than I would normally be attracted to... but his personality is awesome. Anyways... can you tell this whole issue has been spinning around in my head the last few days?

Here's an update on my goals:

• Hit 10% goal by April 7 DONE!
  
• Lose 10 pounds by Mother's Day (May 11) 8.0/10
  
• Get in 3 C25K workouts each week Not doing C25K anymore.. I ran twice last week and then my knee was sore so I did BOSU instead
  
• Do 1100 minutes of cardio I'm at 850 right now so I should make it!
  

I can't wait until next week to do measurements!! Have a good week everyone!!

Healthy You Check In

I think I have spring fever! Warmer temperatures (though I heard we are supposed to get snow this coming weekend BOOOO) and a little bit of love in the air are making me feel super energized and happy. I just really really really hope that we don't get too much snow or at least that the rain/snow doesn't make the road conditions too dangerous for me to go on my date on Saturday! It's a 1.5 hour drive to where we are meeting so will you all do me a favour and keep your fingers crossed that the weather report will change??? Thanks :)

Well, I just got home from another 31 minute run. 31 minutes you may ask? Yes, 31 minutes LOL. You are allowed max 30 minutes on the cardio machines at the Y and I sort of squeak in the 5 minute cool down as well and the first minute of the cool down is still at a running speed (albeit a much slower pace). So yes, 31 minutes running followed by 35 minutes on the elliptical. My knee was hurting for the first 10 or so minutes of my run (maybe I need new shoes?) but seemed to go away. And I improved my distance today - 2.62 miles (up from 2.54 yesterday). All in all, a great workout and a whopping 10 AP.

Now here's a question for all of you other WWers out there. How important is it to eat your APs? I rarely do. And if I eat any of them, it's only about 1-2. Being that a typical workout for me is now 10 APs, should I be eating more? Or should I just wait and see how my losses go? As you can see over on the right hand column where my losses and APs are, there really is no correlation between the two numbers. What to do, what to do...

Regarding my goals for this month:

• Hit 10% goal by April 7 DONE!
  
• Lose 10 pounds by Mother's Day (May 11) 7.0/10
  
• Get in 3 C25K workouts each week Not doing C25K anymore.. but I got 4 runs in last week and will get at least 3 this week
  
• Do 1100 minutes of cardio I'm at 629 right now and seeing as its the 15th today, I'm right on track (even a bit ahead woohoo)

Now, last but not least, I was tagged by Natasha!

Rules of the game:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog
4. Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs
5. leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged

So here's my seven random things:

1. I used to be disgustingly flexible. I could do the splits all three ways and hold my leg straight up and and literally kiss my shin.
   
2. I almost died when I had my first daughter. Of course I didn't know this until two weeks later and the doctor so kindly informed me. I knew my blood pressure had spiked but I didn't actually realize how serious it was.
3. I first got married when I was 20. Yah, ummm bad choice.
4. I used to have an ebay store. I sold mostly new and used kids and women's clothing. When the Canadian dollar started matching the US dollar, I closed up shop. It just wasn't worth it anymore.
5. I was in French immersion in both junior high and high school. Oui, je parle francais. (but not very well anymore)
6. I once met some real satanists. We went to their house on the Sunshine Coast. They had all kinds of weird art on the walls of human sacrifices and other disgusting images. It was incredibly scary and I just wanted the heck out of there.
7. I once stayed at a hippy commune near Nelson, BC. It was actually sort of cool and everyone was very kind... but all of their vegetarian, organic food was not my cup of tea.
   

So there ya go! As you can tell, I've been on quite a few adventures in my life LOL. But haven't we all?

I am going to tag....

Erin
Hanlie
Selma
Heather
Manuela
Briy
Patti

If some of you have already been tagged, sorry! Pass it along! :)

Healthy You Check In

Well, I never would have guessed that I'd get such a pretty new badge so quickly, but my awesome loss that I recorded yesterday bumped me over the 30 lb mark! Ahem, yes, that's 31.2 lbs to be exact. And something I didn't even realize until today was that yesterday was my 3 month anniversary being on Weight Watchers. What a fantastic loss to celebrate with!

My reward for achieving my 10% was to have my hair done... I wanted the works - cut and highlights and it was long overdue as I haven't had my hair cut in over a year. I was looking forward to taking some new progress pics and looking all hot with my new hair but it turns out that I hate it. Ok, maybe hate is a strong word... but it's definetly going to take some getting used to. The highlights are WAY lighter than I had expected.. I was hoping for a warm, caramelly shade but he used bleach! I am just not used to seeing my hair this light and to be honest, I'm really not even sure that it goes with my skin tone. The haircut itself is pretty good I think... but of course I don't like how he styled it. Tomorrow I will play with it and see if I can get it more to my liking. THEN I'll take some pics.

Anyways, as far as diet goes the past week, I've done really well. I've been on program the majority of the time and have honestly had a tough time eating all of my points. Last week it was because of the butterflies in my tummy... this week it may be partially that and partially because I've been kind of busy and just not thinking about food very much. I find myself getting to mealtime and really having to think about eating.. just not much of an appetite. What a huge shift!!

Exercise has been going well too. I did week 6, day 1 of C25K today followed by 35 minutes on the elliptical. Really, my cardio has been going well... but I've been avoiding the strength training for some reason. I mean, I know how to do plenty of toning exercises and how to use the weights for some reason, I've felt intimated to do so. I've also been so focused on just burning the calories that I haven't wanted to slow down and do the strength training instead (because I wouldn't have enough time to get in my current cardio regime and strength training on the same day and I really hate circuit training!). But, I would love to tone my arms up in time for summer... so I've been thinking about signing up for a few sessions with a trainer to get me working on a good strength training program.

Regarding my goals for this month:

• Hit 10% goal by April 7 DONE!
  
• Lose 10 pounds by Mother's Day (May 11) 5.6/10
  
• Get in 3 C25K workouts each week Last week I only got two because Monday was my final fitness test at the Y
  
• Do 1100 minutes of cardio I'm at 338 right now
  

So overall, a great week! I can't wait to catch up on everyone's blogs and see how you all are doing this week!