Tough slog today.

Damn!  My back is sorrrrrre to day.  I should start stretching more... it's just a good thing to do for many reasons.  I slept like a log last night.  In fact, I even slept through the tail end of Corrie! Now anyone who knows me, knows that I love Corrie, so it's clear that I was knackered last night. I suppose the night time Advil cold and sinus helped a touch too.  I am struggling to fight off a stubborn cold or flu, something that's making me feel tired and making my ear squeak!

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran combined with Kellogg's Guardian cereal with 1% milk.  

Cuppa with milk and EXTERMINATE!  I'm a fiend for this chemical crap.  Help!

1 whole wheat English muffin (130 cal)

1 tbsp cream cheese (45 cal)

1 tbsp nsa jam (20 cal)

1/2 cup homemade potato leek soup

Cuppa

1 ear of corn with less butter than I've ever used!

1/2 whole wheat English muffin

1 tsp cream cheese

1 veggie burger

5 oven chips

Small amount of pan-fried onion & red pepper

1/2 Laura Secord chocolate (25 cal)

1.5 litres water

1/2 can Diet Pepsi

3/4 large organic Golden Delicious apple

Exercise

52 minutes on elliptical - burned 513 calories.  

I struggled today.  I can admit it.  I went slower than usual and really felt it.  At about 1/2 my back really started to hurt and my right foot was beginning to fall asleep.  All very odd.  I got smart and changed the music I was listening to (The Ramones) and moved over to Queen Latifah.  Somehow the Queen always gets me through it.  Of course I'm talking older Queen Latifah, not her stuff now.

I'm really looking forward to watching the Biggest Loser tonight with T.  We were laughing at ourselves because we look forward to Tuesday nights, as we can hang out in our jammies and watch an inspirational t.v. show together.  Such dorks!

So upon review, I think I'm eating too many starches and not enough veggies.  More water. More veggies.  Le sigh.

Cupcake

xo

Cruel and unusual punishment.

I had a couple of things to do this morning before I could go to the gym.  One was to sulk because I was so tired.  Snoring husband = grouchy wife.  Plain and simple.  We're not unique in this way.  The second thing was much cooler.  It involved receiving and subsequently depositing money we've been waiting for. I can deal with that :)

The crap thing about going to the gym 1/2 hour later is that approximately 1 1/4 hours into my workout, the bakery downstairs (remember my gym is in the upstairs of a grocery store) started baking bread.  In the words of Stewy, "Jeesusufferingfuck!" how cruel is that?!  At first my head was in denial of the sweet smell.  It just didn't make sense.  Then as I was lying on the floor doing my crunches I realized it was true.  I was smelling freshly baked, or baking, bread.  That's just mean... but funny too!

I thought for sure I'd have a difficult time at the gym today because my mood was so foul this morning when I got up for the 800th time, but no.  Also I've been having a bit of a pain around my Achilles tendon and I thought for sure it would give me grief.  Actually, I was plotting my excuse for not completing my minimum 500 calories burn-off on the Achilles issue.  What a scoundrel.  As it turns out I rocked at the gym today.  

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

1 litre water (must up the water ante)

1 1/4 cup Wolfgang Puck Organic Thick Hearty Vegetable Soup

1 small oat bagel 

2 tbsp cream cheese

3/4 cup fat-free, sugar-free yogurt (I bought a new flavour today and it's gross!  Of course I hate wasting food, so I'll eat it, but ewwww!)

1 Laura Secord chocolate (50 calories... bad choice because now I don't have a snack for later this evening)

5 organic dry-roasted almonds

1/2 cup whole wheat spaghetti tossed in tomato sauce

3 thin slices of demi-baguette, aka baby baguette with less fat butter

1 cup potato leek soup, made by moi and SCRUMMY!

Cuppa

Exercise

50 minutes (incl. cool down) on elliptical - burned 519 calories

12 reps of each machine in weight circuit.  I upped the weights to the next setting below!  She-Ra Princess of Power!

Added the inner and outer thigh machines (12 reps)

35 crunches - upped by 5

35 leg lifts - upped by 5

10 puke inducers - upped by 2

I've been super productive today and feel great for it, albeit quite wiped out.  I'm fast-forwarding in my head right now to 9 p.m. when I finally sit down with a cuppa and watch Being Erica - I love this show!

Cupcake

xo

Na na na na na na na naaah, I wanna start a fight!

Well not really start a fight, but I sure loved punching the beejesus out of a bag today!  I tried cardio kick boxing and it was great!  I wasn't very adept at the step portion of the class, but I can see how it would come to me after a few classes.  I loved the punching!  It was so empowering.  I will definitely go again.  Punching was even more fun when I closed my eyes and really got into the rhythm of the music.  I know, sounds geeky, right?  I don't care.  I'll be able to kick your ass soon :P

The last two days have been very difficult as far as food goes.  I guess it's likely because of the weekend; my whole routine is thrown off.  This is going to have to be something I work on because I can't be throwing myself off every weekend.  I work too hard during the week to screw it all up in the two days that the boys are home.

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

Couple of cuppas with milk and Splenda (EXTERMINATE!  EXTERMINAAAATE!)

Sandwich: two slices whole wheat bread; 2 slices 'turkey'; 1/4 orange pepper; 2 tbsp cream cheese; 1 tsp whole grain dijon mustard (pure love)

1/2 can Diet Pepsi

1 organic dry-roasted almond

1 Laura Secord dark chocolate (50 cal)

1 large apple

4 'chicken' nuggets

Handful of sweet potato fries (baked without oil)

1 oatmeal raisin cookie that is ridiculously healthy and scrummy (scrummy = super crazy yummy) - 80 cal.

Exercise

Exciting cardio kickboxing class!

I'm tired.  Off to Bedforshire for me.

Cupcake

xo

Biggest Loser this week!

I'll give you 10 guesses to figure out who was this week's biggest loser at Chub Club - yep, it was me!    All that crazed hard work paid off; I lost 5 pounds since last Saturday! YAY!  This result is definitely going to fuel my fire for this upcoming week.  I, like most, thrive on results and today, we have some serious results!!!

Food

Grande vanilla rooibos latte (not a good choice, but delicious)

1 litre water

1 veggie wrap

Couple of spoonfuls of some vile cabbage soup that tasted like a bag of sugar had been poured into it.  

Tall vanilla rooibos latte (very bad choice, but it was a gift)

11 grapes

100 calorie bag of popcorn

Amy's veggie loaf meal

10 dry-roasted almonds

1/2 cup fat-free/sugar-free lemon yogurt

1 50 calorie Laura Secord dark chocolate

1/2 an Ugli fruit - another experimentation in food that went very well.  When I cut it open it looked like pure sunshine.  It was delicious!

Exercise

None today.  I'm taking the day off.  Saturday is always going to be my day of rest.

With pants on, I weigh 191.4.  Yeah, I took my jeans off for the weigh in.  Then we decided to weigh in with the jeans on and take that weight.  The jeans off weight was 190.0.  As big as this number is, it's less than it was last Saturday :)

You know, I feel different.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but I like it.  I rage a lot.  Last night I was depending on husband to get home by 6:15 p.m. so I could catch the train at 6:30 p.m. Did he show up on time?  No.  I kind of knew this would happen, but in the back of my head I believed he'd be on time.  Normally I'd rage something fierce.  Last night, I just worked through it (feeling quite frustrated inside) but I didn't freak out.  THIS IS HUGE.  

Okay, so I'm just about to go to bed and mentally I'm feeling like crap.  I'm hoping I'm just super tired and that it'll all go away in my dreams.  Can I really be falling into the cycle of rewarding myself with food for taking weight off this week?!?!  Today's food intake has left me feeling heavy, bloated and disappointed.  

Note to self:  shut the fuck up and enjoy your success!

 

Cupcake

xo

Friday!

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk 

1 litre water

1 organic Ambrosia apple (skin was way too thick and tough)

Exercise

50 minutes (incl. cool down) on elliptical - burned 511 calories

30 crunches

30 leg lifts

8 puke inducers

12 reps on each of the 9 weight machines in the circuit

When does this get easier?!  I know, I know.  I have to be realistic about these things, but that damn elliptical seems to be getting harder - I swear!  This weekend, or at least tomorrow, of no gym is going to do my body a world of good.  My hip flexer area is killing me today and I just need to rest it a bit.

The good news is, my clothes are feeling a little less snug.  Now I don't want to go and get too excited 'cause there's still a lot of work to go, but small victories are great for motivation.  I'll find out at Chub Club tomorrow just how much weight I've shed this week.  I know something's come off.

Still reading the Dr. Phil book and really enjoying it!  I speak this man's language.  Although some of his expressions are a bit strange.  To paraphrase, "My Aunt was so tall she could hunt geese with a net." okaaaay.  One really good piece of advice was to not think that losing weight is going to be the solution to all of my problems.  I'll just be thinner and healthier.  Funny thing is, I really feel different this time.  Honestly, this is the first time I've ever worked so hard for the healthiness.  Starving myself?  Yep, I've done it.  Taking laxatives?  Yep, I've done it.  Does it work?  Nope.  This time I'm eating healthier, with the occasional treat so I don't go mad.  Then there's the exercise.  Oh the exercise.  This is a whole new world to me.  Do I like it?  Not quite yet.  Do I like the feeling after the exercise?  Kinda yeah.  I just really like being proud of myself, it hasn't happened a lot in my past.

Stay tuned...

Cupcake

xo

 

Whoa! Today was a challenge.

Last night wee man started bawling his little eyes out at 11:30 p.m. and of course we both rushed to his room.  He was complaining of a tummy pain and kept asking me to kiss it better - poor soul!  After getting him all freshened up and a bit of meds down his gullet, I brought him into our bed (all the while wondering if this was setting ourselves up for future disaster).  He had no desire to sleep.  Like, none.  Periodically he would be quiet and lie still and then we'd think he was sleeping.  I'd start to drift off and then all of a sudden he said, "MOM!  Can I watch Max and Ruby please, Mummy, pleeeease?"  Oh good god.  Needless to say, he was hoofed out of our bed and back into his own at 12:45 p.m.

Fast forward to this morning and we are all tired and all grumpy.  I've got some weird cough thing going on, wee man's tummy still hurts and husband just wants to sleep 'cause he's been working super hard lately.  Ugh.

Despite just wanting to lie down and be lazy after wee man was on the bus, I went to the gym. There were several times when I came close to bailing because instead of going straight to the gym from dropping wee man off, I went back to the house to get my gym bag and then ended up in a conversation with husband.  With every word, my motivation (as little as it was today) was dwindling.  Then I got a text from Denise - THANK YOU!  The entire text was "Go to the gym. Go to the gym.  Go to the gym gym gym" and it worked, I went to the gym!  The timing of her text was perfect.

It was hard going on the elliptical today, probably one of the hardest days I've had.  After 15 minutes I thought I was going to die and this kept up until 30 minutes.  After that I mainly moved past how crappy I was feeling.  

I'm a bit nervous about how much I've been struggling this week.  I just need to keep it up!  I can do this.  I know I can do this... unfortunately thought with a twinge of doubt.  Ack!

Exercise

50 minutes on elliptical - burned 512 calories

Food

1 cup Raisin Bran cereal with 1% milk

2 litres water

1 organic Golden Delicious apple

22 organic dry roasted almonds

1 cup fat-free, Splenda sweeteened, lemon yogurt - so good! (approx. 70 cal.)

2 cuppas with milk & Splenda (falling back into Splenda habit... must eliminate!   EXTERMINATE!  EXTERMINATE!)

Sundried tomato veggie burger on a flat bun with pan-fried onions (1 tbsp olive oil for all the onions), lettuce, tomato & salsa. 

4 oven chips

1/2 cup carrot ginger soup

Cupcake

xo

Behold the masterpiece.

Okay, so the whole thing wasn't a masterpiece, but the tempeh toss (the yummy colourful dish on the left) was worth the effort.  The barfy looking soup was just yucky.  It wasn't awful, but the texture of pearl barley kind of freaked me out and the taste of the base was odd.  

Now that I look at it, that seems like a lot of food.  The tempeh toss is served on a side plate, so it's not quite as plentiful as it seems.  In actual fact, I've been trying to serve our dinner on side plates.

I don't know what's on the menu for tomorrow yet.  Instead of menu planning, spent the whole evening chatting with Graham - so nice!

Off to Bedforshire.

Cupcake

xo