"You look like a pro. Can I ask you something?"

I turned around and looked behind me.  I really thought she must be talking to someone else. Nope.  Apparently I was looking like I knew what I was doing at the gym today - yay!  Now I know she probably just wanted an opener so she didn't feel so embarrassed talking to a total stranger, but she could've opened with something like, "I see from the colour of your face that you have been genetically modified with a tomato.  Can I ask you something?"  But no.  Woo hoo!

Exercise

547 calories burned on elliptical - took about 50 minutes, plus the cool down.  I was definitely struggling a bit today and that is proved by the fact that it took me longer today what I did yesterday.  That being said, I almost barfed yesterday after feeling like I was going to explode my uterus.

Weight circuit - 12 reps each on each of the 9 machines

30 crunches

30 leg lifts

8 puke inducers

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

2 litres water

1 can Diet Pepsi (very unusual these days... drinking it, not Diet Pepsi in general)

10 organic dry roasted almonds

1 large organic Golden Delicious apple

1 Amy's Black Bean enchilada meal (so salty it almost hurt)

Couple of spoonfuls of a tres disappointing soup I made today.  Figures.  I spent a long time making it and it was, um, vile.  Ach well, I know not to make it again :)

1 cup tempeh toss (tempeh, lots of veg)

1/3 cup brown rice

1/2 Laura Secord chocolate (25 calories)

Cuppa 

I've started reading "The Ultimate Weight Solution" by Dr. Phil.  I started reading it just after I got it as a gift from T, but then I slipped up and if you'll all recall, I ended up dribbling caramel sauce on the Doctor himself.  The book seems really great so far and seems like it's written just for me.  The comforting thing about that is, I'm not alone.  Clearly there are loads of people in the world who have the exact same issues as me.

Now I've been going hard at the gym for 2.5 weeks now and it seems like an eternity.  There is a definite sense of dread this week when I get up to go.  I want to shake the doom and gloom. Okay, there's no real doom and gloom, that's going overboard.  I am just feeling a bit of blech when I think about working out.  It's hard!  Yeah, yeah.  

The cool thing is, I am actually proud of all my hard work.  With Callum at school in the mornings, I can go to the gym and prep dinner, etc.  This means I have more time to spend with him when he comes home!  Not to mention all the benefits to him for going to school.

Speaking of prepping dinner, the picture above is our dinner-to-be for this evening.  Yummy! Actually, I don't know if it'll be yummy, but I sure hope so.  In case you're wondering what the cubes are in the measuring cup, it's tempeh.

Tempeh is made from soybeans, but it has a stronger flavour and protein content than tofu.  It's not very appealing when you look at it, but it is tasty.

I will take a picture of tonight's lovely creation once it's cooked.  I also made a pearl barley and chickpea soup.  Crap thing is, I used Graham's homemade taco seasoning thinking it was turmeric.  I sure hope the flavour of the soup is still good.

Oh yeah, thanks for texting me this morning Denise!  

Cupcake

xo

Almost a barf-o-rama!

Glad to report that wee man didn't cry when he got on the school bus this morning!  He was still concerned, but but enough to actually cry.  What a brave soldier.

This morning I set a caloric goal on the elliptical of 500, instead of a set time.  I find I watch the calories non-stop because it feels good to watch them melt away.  These new ellipticals are really killing me though.  I worked as hard as I could, like serious tomato-style (face), and burned my 500 calories in about 50 minutes.  Now I know this is what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks, but it just hit me really hard today.  The cool down and I don't get along.  In fact, I hate the cool down.  When I'm done, I'm done.  I stepped off today and was met with a horrible pain in my uterus of all places.  It was almost like it seized!  Then I felt dizzy and thought for sure I was going to be sick to my stomach.  Instead of doing my mat work I headed straight for the change room.

Who was in there?  The Oakville lawyer's wives.  Ugh.  No this is not a club called the Oakville lawyer's wives, well not an official one anyway.  Just a group of women who are classic Oakville wives.  If you're not familiar with this sect of women, think "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and you'll get an idea.  I bust in, beet red, sweaty as hell, and ready to vomit!  In retrospect, quite funny!  At the time, very embarrassing.  I shot into a bathroom stall which has no privacy other than the doors and wretched.  I didn't puke, but boy did I ever feel like I needed to.  The whole drive home I was on pins and needles hoping I'd get home in time before something vile happened in my car.

Got home, jumped in shower, set alarm and lay in bed for the next 2 hours, writhing around in pain and distress.  When I got up to go pick up wee man I looked in the mirror before leaving and was shocked at how white my face was!  Now I've been known to have such lovely nicknames as 'fog patch' and 'Casper' so under normal circumstances I'm very pale, but this was scary pale.  I feel pretty good now, but man oh man, I hope that doesn't happen again.  I kind of wondered if my blood pressure dropped too quickly.  That combined with that lovely time of the month... maybe made a molitov cocktail out of my body.

Exercise

500 calories burned on elliptical

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

3 x cuppas with milk and Splenda (I really felt like I needed the sweet today)

1/4 cup Ginger Butternut Lentil soup (leftover from last night's dinner)

2/3 piece burrito pie (doesn't reheat well at all)

1.5 litres water

Weight Watcher's yucky yuck yuck meal - that's them all gone now... no more.

3 veggie chick'n nuggets

1 large golden delicious apple

Cupcake

xo

Warm, full belly... of the good type.

The snow is really starting to get to me!  The pile at the end of our driveway is about 7' tall and growing.  It's times like these when I miss the rain.  Did I really just say that?!  Actually, I missed the rain quite a lot when we first moved here.  It just felt so foreign not having the rain. One really great thing about winter here is that it's almost always sunny and that is something that was seriously lacking in a B.C. winter.

This morning was super challenging in many ways.  Wee man got the bus to school today and he was excited until it was time to actually get on the bus.  He dug his heels in and tried to bury his head in my legs.  Without getting into all the heartbreak, let's just say I choked back the tears until I could turn around and not have him see.  It was bad.  Let's hope tomorrow is a bit brighter.  Good news is, when he was dropped off he was in great spirits!  Life is such a series of challenges, for all of us.

I almost bailed on the gym this morning because I was crying and tired, but I went anyway. Normally I would try to do it for myself, but today I had to channel my love for wee man.  

The Oakville location of the gym is much cleaner and newer than the Hamilton one, but it's not got my favourite elliptical!  Boo urns.  Nonetheless I slogged through 45 minutes on the elliptical, not feeling at all gazelle like.  Sounds idiotic, but my fav elliptical made me feel like I was a gazelle or something really light and floaty.  Meh.  I'm sure I'll get there with this new one.

Exercise

• 45 minutes on treadmill = (480 calories)
  
• Weight circuit; 12 reps each of the 9 machines
  
• 30 crunches
  
• 30 leg lifts (legs up toward ceiling; one leg slowly lowered to floor and then back up again, etc)
  
• 8 puke inducers (legs up toward ceiling, toes pointed, trace small circles, each circle taking a count of 10)
  

Food

• 1 cup Raisin Bran with 1% milk (180 cal. for the cereal; approx. 35 cal. for milk = 215 cal)
  
• 1 litre water
  
• Amy's veggie loaf meal (290 cal.)
  
• 1 cup light hot chocolate (45 cal.)
  
• One large organic Golden Delicious apple (approx. 101 calories according to the almighty internet)
• One package of Crystal Light (10 cal.)
• 3/4 cup of Ginger Butternut Lentil soup, made by moi (super delicious!)
• 1 slice burrito pie, also made by moi and yep, you guessed it - super delicious!
• Cuppa
• 1 Laura Secord 72% dark chocolate = 50 cal.

My tummy's burbling and making funny sounds.  

As a side note, there are 3 cookbooks that I use on a very regular basis; How It All Vegan; The Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan.  Recently T very kindly bought me a traveler's size cookbook by one of the same gals, called Vegan a Go-Go! and I'm super stoked about using this one as well.  The recipes in these books are healthy, hearty and are very kind to our earth. If you're interested, please check out the website.  

Cupcake

xo

Hot off the presses!

I just read about my apple-shaped body.  Apparently I need to burn more calories than I take in, if I want to lose this shape that haunts me.  How on earth will I be able to burn more calories than I take in?!  This should be interesting.

Busy Mummy!

It's been a bit strange this weekend.  I mean I got so used to my routine this week that it feels strange to be hanging around the house.  

Exercise

40 minutes on treadmill (at home): burned 363 calories

Food

Small oat bagel

2 tbsp cream cheese

1 pink grapefruit

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

2 slices 12-grain bread

4 slices veggie turkey

Very small amount of light cheddar

1/4 avocado

Lettuce

1/4 red pepper

1 tbsp light mayo (45 calories)

Whole grain mustard... guhghgh... so good!  I love mustard.

1 Laura Secord 72% cocoa chocolate (50 calories)

Couple a cuppas

1 nectarine - SO GOOD!  I was surprised it was so yummy, I expected it to taste, well, out of season!

1 Amy's broccoli pie

1 litre water

I gave myself one day off of exercise this weekend and I felt kind of crappy for having done it. Granted, I couldn't have done it last night anyway 'cause I felt so crappy.  With husband's encouragement I got on the treadmill this evening, but it was super hard and I didn't enjoy it at all.  The wee man was really curious and excited and I couldn't concentrate because I kept thinking he was going to try and get on the treadmill, or do something silly, etc.  It was very frustrating.  Note to self:  go on treadmill when wee man is napping or at school.  I'm kind of torn about that because he should see us exercising and even start to participate.  Then again, maybe I can do jumping and stretching, etc with him instead of exposing him to something dangerous.

It's been a busy Sunday, but a productive one and that is good news.  5 loads of laundry done and one in the dryer right now.  On Sundays I make sure absolutely all the laundry is done, including towels & bedding; somehow this process makes me feel better.  I also cleaned like crazy!  I suppose this sort of counts for exercise too.

Tomorrow's a big day!  Wee man starts taking the bus to school.  Le sigh.  It will be very difficult for me to not cry, but I will try my hardest to be brave for his sake.  I know he'll be okay.  Also, tomorrow I will start going to a different location of my gym.  Cool thing is, it's on the top floor of my regular grocery store!  This is uber convenient because then I can buy my produce for that evening's meal.  I love buying produce as I need it, but usually buy a bunch because I don't want to make unnecessary trips to the store.  I think I'll start meal planning.

A friend of mine and I have decided to make mixed CDs (remember making mixed tapes?) for each other featuring our favourite workout music.  This way we get some new music and a fresh outlook on what gets the other moving - I love this!  As it turns out, we both love to work out to gangsta rap, so it should be interesting to see what two VERY white chicks in the suburbs can come up with.

I'm going to hunt for some more odd veg tomorrow.  The first odd veg worked out so well!

Cupcake

xo

A husband torn...

Husband is off to nerd out in Waterloo.  Going with him are totally decadent, delicious brownies that he made this evening.  When he makes things, he starts from scratch.  For instance, these brownies used melted chocolate and freshly brewed Kicking Horse coffee.  I was pretty sure I was going to cave when I saw them popped out of the pan, sitting so lovely on the parchment paper.  I'm pretty sure he was a bit torn about what to do.  Take all the brownies with him and risk potential backlash for not thinking that maybe I wanted one?  Or leave me a brownie and suffer potential backlash of me asking why on earth he would leave me a calorie-laden brownie when he knows I'm trying to eat right?  Poor soul.  As seen above, this was his solution.  Quite lovely really.

Mother Nature arrived this evening with her evil little present for me.  Under normal visits from MN I would have devoured that brownie in a heart beat, but today I just kind of feel that crappy feeling that only girls can when they're bloated and blech.

Today at Chub Club I was really glad to be back in the swing of things.  The group of women that are members of the club are a great combination of supportive, caring, funny and brutally honest all in one neat package.  As much as brutal honesty can sting sometimes, I can honestly say that I appreciate it.  There's nothing worse than someone wanting to say something and being too apprehensive to do so for fear of hurting your feelings.  I went down 2 pounds over the last 2 weeks and for that I am happy!  After discussing my weight loss goal with the CC gals, I realize I may be setting an unattainable and unsustainable goal.  I will rethink my strategy and set a new goal.

My water intake is crappy today, as is my level of exercise.  I'm still considering getting on the treadmill, but I really can't imagine it's going to happen.  I'm tired and bloated.

Exercise

None

Food

1 slice of spinach quiche

Approx. 3/4 cup bean salad

Small amount of potato salad (used low-fat sour cream)

1/2 litre water

1 large ambrosia apple

Tall 1% vanilla latte

1 stick bubblemint gum

1 Weight Watcher's frozen meal - so gross and unsatisfying

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

1/2 can Diet Pepsi

1 small clementine

Meh, I'm going to go get horizontal.

Cupcake

xo

Friday night gorge fest!

Exercise

45 on elliptical (hill setting): burned 550 calories!

Weight circuit, 12 reps of each.  

Added inner and outer thigh machines, 20 reps each.

Puke inducer tummy exercises.  I count these as I'm doing them, but I never remember the count afterwards, I don't know why.  Actually, it's probably because I'm concentrating on not puking!

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

1 litre of water (Having a 'bad' water day)

2 cups vegan chili

Cuppa

Light hot chocolate

Very small, tasteless apple

8 flax tortilla chips

3 tbsp hummus

1 tbsp salsa

1 wee cheese pizza (Pillsbury)

2 mini veg. samosas

1/2 red pepper

1/2 large carrot

4 pieces veggie sushi (using brown rice)

1.5 dark chocolate squares (75 cal.)

5 veggie 'meat' balls

1 tbsp tamarind sauce

Very small amount of pita bread

I know, right.  A crazy amount of food!  Friday night is our treat night, but we tried to make it more healthy than normal.  I couldn't enjoy the food like I normally do because all I could think about was the calories I was taking in.  Frig.  Fretting over it isn't going to do any good, so I shall do my best to embrace my overly full tummy and move on.

Cupcake (at least I didn't have one of these too!)

xo