Confession

I just ate a huge serving of chips and dip? Why? Because I'm home alone and bored.

I don't even really like chips.

STEP AWAY FROM THE CHIPS AMY.

Saturday Morning Sweats

I went to Attack and Pump this morning. While I'm loving the new Attack release, I'm not sold on the Pump.

I think my brother is coming over for dinner tonight. I'm going to serve raclette again. Its sooo easy, and its also easy to health healthy.

I had a breakthrough moment today at the grocery store. I had picked up a box of cherry chip cake mix and a container of cream cheese icing. After I thought about it, I knew there was no way I'd make an entire batch of cupcakes and only eat one. Needless to say, BACK ON THE SHELF went the cake mix and icing. Yay me!

For some reason whenever I post from my laptop my spacing dosn't work out so well. Anyone have any insight on this issue?

Happy Saturday to all.

Breakfast for Supper

I didn't feel like cooking tonight... so I had oatmeal! :)

My bowl consisted of:

1/3 cup oats

1/2 banana

1/2 cup blueberries

Toppings:

PB chips

Choc chips

craisins

coconut

cinnamon

tsp of peanut butter

It was the perfect way to fuel up after a huge workout. I went spinning and went to Zumba. Zumba is really starting to grow on my, and spinning kicked my ass as per usual.

I'm ready for the weeeeeeekend. I'm mentally drained after a loooong week at work.

Another successful day

Tonight's supper: Roasted sweet and regular taters, steamed broccoli, brie/cranberry stuffed chicken breast and a side salad! Deeeelicious!

Tonight I went to Attack and Pump. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't really feeling Attack. But by the end of it I was feeling a little more motivated. I had miserable day at work, so at least it was an okay ending.

I added up my activity minutes from last week. Its was 660 minutes! If you calculate that into activty points at the moderate level its something like 41!! Thats crazy!

I think

I'm going to hate this season of Lost.

Not a fan of time travel.

-1lb!

Scale was down 1lb today! WOOO HOOO! Now that I'm diligently counting points again, I need to do some experiments with activity points. To eat or not to eat? I tend to earn a lot of them, so its kinda hard to judge. I think my body is often in starvation mode when I'm being a good little WWer.

I didn't feel like sitting around and waiting for step class so I watched Y&R and ran on the treadmill for an hour. I ended up being 8.5k when all was said and done. :)

Pictured above is my supper: 1/2 a Dr. Oetker Speciale pizza and a side of salad.

We got a whack load of snow today. Lucky for me, I have the best husband ever and he shovelled while I went and got groceries. It was almost my lucky day at the grocery store. Pretty much everything on my list was on sale. Blueberries and blackberries were on sale for $1 a pint!

I'm off to have some berries/yogurt and to watch Lost. Until next time!

Cheesy-Carby Goodness

Portion controlled of course. 1 cup Smackeroni and Cheese, 2 cups broccoli with lemon juice and a wee bit of goat cheese.

Delicious!

Titleless Tuesday

I don't feel like composing complete paragraphs nor I don't have the brain power to form complete thoughts so here goes nothing:

• I am addicted to navel oranges. Why are they called navel oranges anyway?
• I still don't fit into my group (read: cult) at work.
  
• My fingers look skinnier. My rings are loose too.
  
• I went to Starbucks today. Bad. But, good news is I resisted those effing cupcakes.
• Did you know my friend and I went to 4 Starbucks' on Friday night looking for those effing cupcakes. Thank God we didn't.
• Speaking of God. Today on the bus I sat beside an old lady who was saying the rosary. I thought maybe I'd say a prayer too. I started to say the Hail Mary. Couldn't remember the words in English. Only French. I had to Google the words when I got to work. Don't tell my Gramma. Please note, I said the Hail Mary every day for my entire time in school, so not remembering the words was kinda like not remembering the words to O Canada.
• What are the odds that I'd sit beside her on the way home too? She said the rosary on her way home too.
• I got home and ran 5.9k in 1:1 intervals. 1 min sprinting:1 min jogging. It was friggin' tough. Jersey enjoyed it though.
• I'm eating Smackeroni and Cheese tonight. I have all the staples in the house, and am lacking in creativity... so cheesy carby goodness it is.

Until tomorrow everyone. Send me some skinny vibes for my WI!

T minus 2 days...

...until I weigh myself again! In preparation, I've pretty much had a stellar day!

B-Orange, cafe mocha
L- Sweet potato soup with crackers, another orange
S- 2 Source yogurts, coffee
AP- Body Pump, Body Attack
D- Roasted butternut squash, steamed broccoli, potato/sausage mash (leftover taters with sausage)

I just need to drink some more H20 tonight, and it will have been a perfect day!

Way to go Nat!

Runners: Go check out Nat's race report.

Ottawa hosted the Hypothermic Half Marathon today. I trained for this race (minus one 18k run) but I'm a bit of route snob, so I didn't actually run the race.

Part of me is kinda bummed I didn't run the race, but the other part of me remembers the last time I ran it... and then the guilt goes away!

WAY TO GO NAT!! :)

Redemption

I punished myself at the gym today to make up for last nights over eating.

30 min run on treadmill.
Body Combat Class.

Tons of cardio does a body good.

Not for the faint of heart...

My dinner party was a success! Tons of fun was had by all. The main purpose of the dinner party was to exchange pictures we all took in Cuba. I'm anxious to look at them!

Deserts included, this, this and and I made this presented in these with a side of strawberries.

I tried all 3.

Ah well. Thats what flex are for right?

A good start to the weeeeekend!

Sometimes I hate sleeping in because I feel like I'm wasting the day away. I think it stems back to my adolescence when my Dad used to get upset for us sleeping until noon!

Andrew is working today, so I got up with him. Started the day off with 2 slices of WW toast topped with PB and 1/2 a banana.

I finally get to test out our new Raclette grill tonight. I'm excited!

I also wanted to talk about Zumba. While I was in Cuba, I was surrounded by amazing dancers. Now, although I appear to be quite girlie (or at least I hope I come across that way upon first appearance!) I'm really more of a butch when it comes to athletics. I like to punch things, play baseball, and get down right sweaty. Dancing never happens, unless I've consumed A LOT of rum!

"What is Zumba? Zumba is a fusion of Latin and International music and dance themes creating a dynamic, exciting, and effective fitness program. The routines feature aerobic/fitness interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms that tone and sculpt the entire body to create a one of a kind workout. Zumba uses the principles of interval training and resistance training to maximize calories burned, fat burning, and total body toning (which we all want!). Zumba targets areas of the body such as glutes, legs, arms, abs, and the most important muscle...your heart! The routines feature aerobic/fitness interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms that tone and sculpt the entire body. "

I went to my second Zumba class last night. Its a lot of fun, and I honestly think it could make me a good dancer! I just need to learn how to shake my hips a little better... and develop a 'booty'. I was thinking, that if I had a few rum and cokes in me I'd be good to go, but that might defeat the purpose no?

I'm going to give Zumba a fair chance. My friend and I have a standing date to attend every Friday night! :)

Steamed perfection

Another fahhhbulous meal made in the steamer! A pecan & goat cheese stuffed honey mustard chicken breast, extra mushy broccoli with a FF cheese slice, and steamed baby taters. Not the most visually satisfying meal, but man it was tasty.

I've also come to realize how f-ugly our plates are... they were Andrew's grandmothers. We have soo many of them. I swear she had every piece that Corel made. I do like how light they are though. Its kind of a need vs. want thing. Sure, I'd love some pretty dishes... but do we really NEED them? Not so much.

I had a great workout tonight. I ran for 20 mins, then did Pump, then Zumba! I think I more then made up for missing yesterday!

Following that I went out for coffee with my friend Tanya and attempted to find some new winter boots... no luck on the boots though.

I'm gonna go watch Lost. I missed it on Wednesday! Happy Friday to all!

Wine and Cheese

Tonight I recreated my latest obsession: The Wine and Cheese salad from Green Rebel.

The description: Spring mix, brie, goat cheese, balsamic strawberries, walnuts, red onions with red wine & honey vinaigrette.

I made my own balsamic strawberries by adding sugar and balsamic vinegar to a bowl of strawberries and letting it sit for about 2 hours. The end result was great.

My red wine & honey vinaigrette consisted of:
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp minced garlic
salt
pepper
1/4 cup canola oil

The finished product!

I also added a chopped chicken breast to make it a balanced meal.

A delicious supper... and much cheaper then the $10 salads I've become addicted to!

Not much else to report. I didn't work out tonight because I read on the bus ride home and made myself totally nauseous. My book was too good to put down though.

I'll make up for it tomorrow. I promise.

I should probably confirm...

...I didn't eat the whole pot of Smackeroni and Cheese.

I had one perfect sized, filling serving! :)

Have a great day!

Comfort in a bowl

...is how I would describe my supper tonight. I made Smackeroni and Cheese from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. I don't make this very often, maybe once a year and the reason is because its ABSOLUTELY friggin' delicious! Sure, its a lighter version... but not when you eat the entire pot!

Today was a good day. Not only did I lose 3.8lbs, but I also hit up the gym for step and pump! Woo hoo!

I should do a shout out to my hottie of a husband who lost 4lbs this week. GO ANDREW!

We hit up Costco and the g. store... so I'm all stocked up on the healthy essentials to get me through another week!

Have a great night!

Woo hoo!

-3.8lbs baby!

Space Hogs

My gym is currently FILLED with skinny, bitchy, SPACE HOGS. I know I rant about them all the time.. but seriously. It didn't help that tonight was the new release tonight at Goodlife. I actually overheard one of them telling her fellow skinny bitch friends that all she'd eaten all day was lettuce with vinegar. Gah. I'm still irritated 2 hours later.

In good news though, the new release of Attack was SUPER fun! I worked up a huge sweat!!

I ate well all day today too. This healthy eating thing is easier then I remember!

Its been a while since I posted my meal plan... but today looked like this:

B- coffee, banana
L- Salad with goat cheese, orange
S- grapes, 2 Source Yogurts
D- Stirfry with WW noodles and chicken breast
S- yogurt with fruit, FF coolwhip and graham crumbs.

AP'S: Body Attack - High intensity aerobics for 60 mins. They say you burn 600-800 cals, but I find that a little high. I give it 4oo tops.

Feeeeesh and Cheeeeeeeps

We picked up a big package of Pickerel fillets at Costco last week, so I decided to make a variation on Fish and Chips for supper.

I bought some tempura batter at the store today, so I decided to coat the fish in tempura along with some zuchinni. I roasted some sweet potato and butternut squash and steamed some broccoli.

I ended not really eating the zuchinni as I was pretty full. It was tasty though.

Overall, not the HEALTHIEST meal ever... but the fish portion was small so really it could have been A LOT worse.

One more thing:

I kinda feel like a celebrity when Mizfit comments on my blog! :)

Well that sucked

...my run today that is.

I woke up thinking, "6k, easy peesy"

That was the last positive thought I had for the day.

There are 5 cm of fresh snow in Ottawa today, and every cm of that snow made today's run almost unbearable. We were forced to take a couple extra walk breaks because of the terrain, so when all was said and done it took us 57 agonizing minutes to run an 'easy peesy' 6k.

Back to reality...

...ok, so this is weightloss/fitness blog so I best get back basics.

When I got home from vacation, I got on the scale for the first time in about a month. During that month, I encountered Christmas parties, Christmas, Boxing Day, NYE, New Years Day, and an entire week in Cuba eating and drinking basically sugar and fat.

The number I saw on the scale was a number I haven't see in YEARS. Literally. Those of you who have been following this blog for a while now know that I suffer from migraines, most commonly triggered by stress. After I saw that number on the scale, I spent the rest of the day in bed plagued with a migraine.

In hindsight (granted its only been 4 days) seeing that number was likely the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.

As most of you know, I LOVE to workout. Exercise isn't the hard part of losing weight for me. Its portion control. I'm journalling every bite that goes into my mouth.

When I first lost the bulk of my weight, I was a Weight Watchers Nazi. Despite being a skinny-mini, I really wasn't a healthy skinny-mini. I was eating a lot of processed garbage, just because it was low in points. I'd workout for hours a day, just so I could eat more. Not exactly what I'd call healthy weight-loss. Weight Watchers is a fantastic program don't get me wrong, but I don't think it focuses enough sometimes on the importance of eating HEALTHY foods... nor does it encompass weight loss for those with high activity levels.

As I've become more educated on nutrition I've come to embrace whole, real foods and try each day to limit the amount of sugar and garbage I put into my body... and this way of eating definitely assists to fuel my body for the high amounts of activity I do. That being said, my downfall is often over eating BECAUSE of the high amounts of activity I do. I must STOP this. This is why I'm chubby.

Deep down, I know I'm a healthy person. I watch what I eat, I do a variety of exercise and as a result I know I have a healthy heart and body to go along with it. BUT, I'm definitely a CHUBBY healthy person.

I'm going to shed a few extra pounds to fit back into that closet of clothes, and to remove the CHUBBY from my healthy person status. :)

Cuba!

What a great week away!

We were a total of six, 3 couples. My cousin Scott and his fabulous wife April and our recently engaged friends Jen and Corey. Started of the trip with a bang by seeing Gold medal winning Team Canada and their coach Pat Quinn at the airport!

Words can't really do our trip justice. We partied hard, sun tanned, rode jet skis, went horseback riding, Disco'ed it up a notch and saw first hand the effects of Hurricane Ike.

An interesting aside though, spending a week in Cuba really made me value living in DEMOCRATIC Canada that much more. Sometimes it just takes a small glance and another country to realize what we often take for granted on a daily basis!

My pictures uploaded in kind of a funny order, but please enjoy! I think everyone is in somewhat of a deep freeze, regardless of location... I hope they warm you up a little!

We went on a day trip, a jeep excusrsion to view the culture. Our tour guide was amazing. He knew our love for baseball, so we stopped to watch the game. They invited Andrew to bat!
This was at a ranch where we went horse back riding.

Our crab friend we met on the beach!

A view of some hurricane damage.

Our friend Corey, drinking and driving! He has a striking resemblance to Colin Farrel.. and was asked several times on our trip if he was him!

The view from my beach chair... breathtaking or what?

Trying to make our move on the sexy Italian man that could dance like a mofo!

Self portrait on the beach. Yes, I'm wearing a Jays (NYY forever!) hat... Its Andrew's. I forgot my visor!

Another shot from the disco.

Our first glance of Cuba!

Motivated!

Motivated is my name!

Perhaps its the buzz of the new year, the BLBE (which I'm kicking myself for not joining) or the fact that I ate/drank pure garbage for 2 weeks straight... but WOWSA. Today I'm on fire. I'm journalling, and the biggest thing; not eating mindlessly.

Its absolutely freeezing outside, and I haven't bothered cleaning off my car since we got home... so I opted to do level 3 of my Shred DVD. Always good for the days when its tricky to get in a workout. What made it realllllly challenging is the fact that my muscles are still a wee bit sore from my Pump class yesterday. Woo hoo!

I've got a big pot of healthy delicious chili on the stove, and I'm about to watch 24 that I missed while I was away. Sigh. I love you Jack Bauer.

Stay tuned for some Cuba pics!

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

What an amazing week away. I'll post more stuff and things later.

First things first. Today is my January 1st, where I start with a clean slate.

Step one: Get my ass to the gym. Body Pump at 12:00pm.
Step two: Procure some groceries. There is a Loblaws at the Goodlife I'm going to.
Step three: Track all my food. I haven't eaten anything yet, but I'll be sure to rock it today.
Step four: Eat only Core foods. I got to my lowest weight ever using Core, so I'm gonna rock it. I PROMISE!!
Step five: Continue my no caffiene kick. I wasn't fond of the coffee in Cuba, nor did they have diet Coke/Pepsi... so I just didn't have any. Lets see if I can keep it up!

Talk to you all later! I'm happy to be home!

Cuba!!

Cuba you ask? Why yes, I'll be spending the next 7 nights and 8 days in sunny Holguin, at the Occidental Grand Playa Turquesa.

Can't stay long to write... but I did get up and go to the gym at 6am ran 6k, walked 1k. Had salad for lunch, and a reasonable dinner.

I'm all set. CAN'T WAIT!

I'm missing Jersey already, but I'm just not thinking about it right now.

Talk to you all next week!

Wimpy

...should be my name. I didn't run this morning. Boo. I could come up with a lot of excuses, but the bottom line is I didn't want to.

I did go to the gym though. Body Combat followed by a 45 min run on the dreadmill. Not too shabby I suppose.

I used my Vita Cuisine Steamer last night for the first time. It was great! I made salmon, broccoli and brown rice. The rice was amazing, definitely the best brown rice I've ever had. It was moist and cooked PERFECTLY!


Here is my bathing suit selection for Cuba... I bought a couple of tankini's. I'm feeling self conscious about this trip because we're travelling with 2 other couples and both of the ladies are skinny and hot. I'n having reservations about actually swimming in them, especially the one on the far right. Those 2 little strings have A LOT to hold up! I need your honest opinions on the one piece... I bought it last year thinking it was cute and modern. However, I wore it camping one weekend and my cousin asked if I borrowed it from my Aunt. Nothing against my Aunt, but she's 65.... and I don't think she'd wear a bathing suit like that. Honest opinions please!

Satuday Check In

After quite possibly the biggest binge day EVER yesterday, today was all about cleansing. Nothing processed has entered my body today.

I hit up Goodlife for Attack and Pump. A solid 2 hours of sweating.

I've been chugging water with lemon slices all day too.

On the menu for tonight, broccoli, salmon and brown rice made in my new steamer.

My fridge is making some weird noises. I'm quasi concerned.

I'm starting to have some anxiety about tomorrow's 18k run. I wimped out last week, so I suspect tomorrow may hurt. Ah well, I'll buck up and tough it out.

Have a great evening. I'm gonna read for a bit before dinner.

Appliance Whore

I celebrated Christmas/New Years with The...my Dad's entire family. It was a great afternoon. I know it sounds a little cheesy, but as I get older I really appreciate the family time.

The day was filled with good eats, good family and hot tubing. It came to an end rather disturbingly though. It was 11pm, and we were just leaving my Dad's. He lives in rural Smiths Falls. There was a RIDE program!!! Andrew had 1 beer (I had no idea how much he had drank at this point) the entire day and he was the driver. They made him pull the car over, and do a breathalizer test! Apparently the machine was frozen, so they had him in the back seat of the cruiser for 10 minutes. I was freaking out, thinking my husband was a felon... He blew a"0" though. Thats my man!!!

We had our gift exchange with my family. I scored some great loot. My favorites: A Tefal Vita Cuisine Steamer (as I type this my cat is trying his best to get into the box) and a Tefal Racelette. Its become quite clear that I am becoming a small appliance whore... but I'm okay with that. I can't wait to try out the steamer. I've been perusing the recipe book, and I'm quite excited to investigate this steaming business. It was a very thoughtful gift on my Dad's part too. He's one of those kinda guys that tries really hard, but dosn't always hit the nail on the head. This is what he got me last year. Bless his heart! My step mom Anne spoiled us (Dad and Anne buy us separate presents) with some very thoughtful gifts: An enlarged/framed wedding picture, a floral christmasy arrangment that she made, some christmas desert plates, a flannel sheet set. I always look forward to Anne's gifts, although simple, they are aways so thoughtful.

Our anniversary was perfect too. We got all prettied up and went to Prime 360 for an amazing (read:expensive) meal. It was 4 courses, and each course was amazing. Andrew surpised with with a beautiful necklace and pendant. I think I'll keep him. :)

Speaking of Andrew, he's at work today so I'm hanging solo. I was gonna head to the gymbo for a lunch time class, but I think I'll run outside with Jersey instead. I also have to hit up the grocery store for some staples... seems as thought vegetables and fruit have been non-existent of late!

Happy New Year to all!