ten weeks

wow... ten weeks, and it still doesn't feel real. I know I shouldn't, but I keep waiting for things to go wrong... this is simply too good to be true. I can't wait until my ultrasound next week, I just want to be sure everything is okay. For now, I'm just holding my breath...

I had a lower back pain for the past two weeks. I continue to run anyways... and man, am I slow! :) I don't care, as long as I'm out there, moving, it's all good.

I really can't complain otherwise - I've had no morning sickness, no unusual cravings/aversions. I get really sleepy in the afternoons, and go to bed at 9pm, but that's really all.

Eating wise I've been pretty good (all things considering). I have a sweets/treats day - Friday, which, occasionally spills into the weekend. :) I eat as healthy as before, not loosing any weight, of course! I know the weight-gaining part is necessary, and I'm prepared, but I know it will be hard for me. So far I've weighed myself twice at home, and the gain was reasonable (2-3lbs), but when I was at the doctors office I told them not to tell me their number. I just want to go by the morning weight... for now, at least.

On Wednesday I'm leaving to go visit my parents in toronto. God help me. I'm sure my parents and my in-laws will be feeding me to death!

I've done it

well, I've gone and done it!

I'm six weeks pregnant, but it's still very surreal, mostly because I don't feel all that different (except for the frequent pee breaks, and sore bo.obs!). I'm cautiously optimistic that this might mean that we'll have a baby in March.

I'm not sure what to do with this blog... obviously, I'm not loosing weight anymore LOL, quite on the contrary! (I'm not gaining yet, but I will). hmmmm....

thusday (but really it's friday)

I'm so glad the long weekend is almost here!

Although I have to study for my French class (finals next week), I'll still enjoy it. I'll be so happy two weeks from now when this course is done! It really isn't as much fun as I thought it would be... I think next level I'll take at a community centre or a private school, not a college - it was too much info, too fast = no fun! Of course I also realized that I enjoy learning Italian much much more than French. But French is more usefull.... what to do, what to do...

I have a quiz tonight, and I'm procrastinating... I've lost all of my enthusiasm! I have so much that I have to learn for this quiz, so what do I do? nothing. *argh*

I just had my lunch, and I'm craving something sweet. I'm going to have to wait this one out... I did something terrible on Tuesday: we were having our dinner at the crappy cafeteria (with the vending machines around us), and before I realized it, I was munching on a "crunch" bar. WTF? I don't even remember when was the last time I bought a crappy chocolate bar... it might've actually been high school! I blame it on TOM, which was so weird in the first place - it was like 2 1/2 weeks late, with TOM symptoms the whole two weeks. whatever. It's done, and over, moving on.

my new motivation

I've been a bit of MIA lately... kind of busy at work, and kind of bummed about what the scale showed me last Friday - I was up 0.6. :(

I don't want to make excuses, but I suspect that I either gained some muscle during Feb., or my body is simply preparing for TOM (I had terrible cravings for sweets as a bonus!). I'm bummed because I'm still not really in a loosing mode, more like maintenance.

I know what I have to do - need to cut overall calories for the day, and add more cardio, dammit! Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Well, cutting back on calories is hard, because I am working out pretty hard about five days out of seven, and when I work out, I want to it (and it's not like walking on a treadmill kind of workout - I'm talking lifting heavy weights with little breaks in between, and doing intervals while running).

But I do have a new motivation - I just booked our vacation to Nice, France! We leave 1st of May.

My goal will be to be down 5 pounds between now and May 1st. Let's say 2lbs by the end of March, and 3lbs in April.

How I will make it happen:

- continue weight-training on Mon. Wed. Fri.
- continue 40 min cardio on Tues. Fri.
- add a 20min run on treadmill after dinner on Mondays and Wednesdays
- go for a run on Sunday (1hr)

I don't want to promise that I will cut the food drastically, but I do want train myself to be mindful while I eat, and really enjoy the food (preferably in smaller quantities).

I just got this book - "French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating For Pleasure". I've been wanting to read it for awhile now - and the timing couldn't be more perfect, huh?

TGIF!

So glad this week is over!! I was in a total funk since last Saturday - couldn't get enough sleep, was tired, hungry. I foresee a lot more sleep this weekend!

We had a mid-term exam in our French class yesterday. I was so stressed about it, and now I'm so glad it's done! I think I did okay (not that it matters really... how am I going to show my marks?? LOL).

I forgot to do a weigh-in today. I guess I'll do it tomorrow. I don't think anything has changed.

I know what I have to do... I'm pretty sure that I have to eat less. I guess I just don't know how I can manage that! I get so hungry when I workout this hard... but then it looks like I'm not burning the fat layer. I can see that there's more muscle, and maybe that's why the scale is not moving, but it's very frustrating. Why does this have to be so hard, such a constant struggle?

Anyhow... I will take pictures tomorrow and post them over the weekend.
Later!

my new love

For the past couple of weeks I'd been having the same breakfast, every weekday. Oatmeal. I love it. It's so yummy, and you can add all kinds of stuff to it, and kind of "reinvent" it each time. My favourite additions are: peanut butter, flax seeds, blueberries, wheat bran, honey, hemp protein powder, soy milk.

But I do realize that I need to branch out a bit, it's not good to eat the same thing every day!

I love oatmeal because it's fast to prepare in the morning (I use the quick-cooking oats, but I do also want to try the steel-cut ones, because they are better for you, less processed).

Anyways, two days ago I tried my husband's red river hot cereal and I think I fell in love! :) It's very yummy and filling, and only 120 calories per serving! (it feels like much more when you eat it!). I make it with 1/2c of water and 1/2c of soy milk. I confess, I do add a tsp of sugar... :S 'cause it's very very plain otherwise (I would've added honey, but we were all out).

The reason I'm so surprised that I loved it because it did not look appealing to me at all! The lesson to me is - try the food first, and THEN decide if you like it or not... :)

P.S. I am NOT chickening out of the pictures! I will post them at the end of the month! :P
I don't think I'll see any improvement in my "problem" areas... but I think I definitely see more definition in my arms. I'll take a lot more pictures of my arms this time, because I only took two last month...

Monday

Well, the new week is here. My weekend was pretty good - we went to a birthday party on Saturday. I think the last time I partied until 3am was New Years eve... which, to think of it, wasn't too long ago... hm...

Anyhow, we had a good time, I met some people from DH's work. I was pleased with myself because I had very little alcohol (and this party was mostly about drinks, some cake, some cheese, and lots of dancing). I wish I didn't have any though, because I had a glass of wine on Friday. I'm trying not to have any alcohol at all, but I do have a half glass of wine on Friday sometimes (this is part of my pre-pregnancy resolution).

Speaking of resolutions. The end of the month is near, so that means I have to evaluate my progress. (right, Randi?) :)

My resolution to become dairy-free is on track. I've switched to soy milk now, and the only yogurt in our fridge is the Mediterranean kind for my DH (as for cheese, I didn't eat much of it to begin with). I can't say that I feel much different, but I didn't expect to either - but not worse, and that's the important thing. :)

So now my breakfasts and lunches are completely vegan, but I do have chicken or some kind of animal product at dinner occasionally, and I'm okay with that. I found this blog recently, and I think my outlook on food has become much likeJenna's: I believe in whole, unprocessed food, lots of veggies and grains, no dairy and occasional poultry and fish. I'm comfortable with that. I don't have to go to extremes of excluding all animal products from my diet, and that means that I can still enjoy some of the same foods as my husband. In cooking food, my focus has changed from "what are we going to have with this chicken?" to "I'm making this awesome veggie dish, should I also cook some meat for DH?".

As for my work-outs, I'm waiting for the weather to become warmer, so that I could run to work, as oppose to walk. My lunch workouts are great, and I did add more cardio (so I workout ever weekday, plus my walking to and from work)... but the weekends are still lacking the intended runs... :( I didn't say I was perfect!

Busy Wednesday

I'm glad it's a short week! I'm kind of busy at work, which means that the time goes by faster... which is good. :) And this also means that I need to make this post a quick one!

Yesterday I was in some kind of funk... I had a major migraine on Monday, so I went to sleep at 8:30pm, woke up yesterday at 7am, and was sleepy and tired all day! I have no idea what was that all about, because I feel fine today. I spent Monday morning working out while doing laundry - the ultimate multitasking exercise! But it was way too hot in the exercise room, and that's why I think I got that headache.

Eating-wise I've been doing okay. I was totally surprised at how good my lunch was today. I prepared some tofu in the morning, and took a stalk of broccoli with me (I was running kind of late at that point). I cut up the broccoli and steamed it in the microwave. I didn't expect it to be good... but it was! Just plain, old broccoli, and nothing else, not even salt!

I do have to confess that I gave in a bit on those valentine's chocolates in the office... I had three hearts, but they were very small, and plain (no filling). I'm actually happy that I had them, they'd been taunting me for a while. I'm also happy that I didn't eat and eat, but only had enough, and stopped. That's major progress for me! :)

Food for today:

B: oatmeal with blueberries and flaxseeds
S: carrots with hummus
L: tofu, chickpeas and broccoli, apple
S: banana
D: calf liver w 2sm potatoes, green salad

TGIF!

This week went by fast! And it's going to be another long weekend for me... yay for the new holiday in Ontario - "family day"!
Although my hubby will be working :( I'm sure I can find something to occupy myself with... like doing my French homework, because DH is kind of kicking my ass in that department (not that he studies more, but he knows more French than me because he had it for a couple of years in high school).

I still refuse to eat any of the cheap-o valentine's chocolates at the office, but this is a temptation I really don't need. I know that this wouldn't bother a lot of people, but when I know that something sweet is out there... by the printer, accessible, it kind of tortures me. But it is easier not to have any, than to have one, because than I can't stop. Note to self - think of the good chocolates at home!

The scale this morning said 148. Hm... that would be like 0.6 down. I don't know if that's really a loss, or just regular up and down fluctuations. I dunno, I guess I'll take it as a loss.

This is unrelated to anything, but while I was eating lunch at my desk yesterday, I spilled some dressing on my keyboard. I freaked out that it's going to die on me, so I poped out some of the keys to wipe it.... gross!!!! My keyboard is white, so every piece of dirt and splat is visible... but inside... oh man, there were crumbs, fluffy dust bunnies, and something that looked like eyelashes.... eeewe. I've moved to this workstation a few months ago, and knowing that this was other person's crap in my keyboard grossed me out even more.... So, now I have to do a major cleaning! (oh, and it still works, as you can see).

Food for today (although now I've lost my appetite, I think!):

B: oatmeal, bluberries, 5g flaxseeds; grapefruit
S: banana, red bell pepper with hummus
L: broccoli with chickpeas and a bit of tofu (prepared this morning!)
S: pear?
D: trout fillet (baked), some veggies, quinoa

it's almost friday

Happy Valentines Day!

I was busy at work today, plus the internet was down... so, no blogs for me! Life is so boring without internet! :)

Well, my hubby gave me G.odiva chocolates yesterday as a val. gift. It's a small box, and I had two truffles yesterday. I only have two more left! I'm all about quality, not quantity! :) Hopefully this will not set me back too much, though! (I didn't even touch the cheap-o val. chocolates at the office, because I know that at home I have two perfectly yummy gorgeous truffles waiting for me!).

I had a weight training session at lunch today. I went up to 50lbs on the squat (I do the one where you stand under a racked barbell, this way I can lift more... I think). The weight room was kind of busy. The funny thing was that the radio station that was on played valentine's day tunes, like really cheesy love songs, and the room was full of guys that were lifting weights, and two women - my co-worker and I. I guess the guys didn't change the music for us... LOL :) although I would've preferred something else...

My hubby and I have our night class tonight (French), so no valentine's dinner for us... but it's all good, at least we are together! (and French is a romantic language, right? if only we could speak it!).

Food for today is:

B: oatmeal: bluberries, 1tsp peanut butter, flax seeds
S: almonds, pear
L + D: 1/2c chickpeas, wheat berries, veggies, crab sticks - all mixed into a "salad" (I'm eating this for my lunch and dinner)
S: mango juice + hemp protein powder

Great weekend

I had such a good time this weekend! I showed all of my favourite places to my sister, we ate, we laughed, it was good... it makes me kind of sad that we live in different cities now... I think we could become much closer now that she's in her twenties as well (she's going to be 21 next week! where does the time go??), and I have a couple more years before I turn 30 (eeeek! 3 more, to be exact).

The good thing was that we didn't overeat at all. Instead of going out to eat, I made 'fun' food at home, and that was much much better! So, Saturday night we made sushi, my first time, and it was sooooo good! No raw fish, but we had some tofu, avocado, cucumbers, carrots, and fish roe. Yum! Sunday we skated on the canal... well "skated" is not the right word, because after about fifteen minutes on the ice we decided to rent a sleigh, so we pushed each other around in that. It worked out very well: first of all it looked like we could skate, we took regular breaks (our feet were hurting like crazy!) so we could stay out longer. Overall it was quite a workout... we ended up skating/running on ice for 2 1/2 hours! And whatever sweets we had, we shared - um... hello beavertails!

Monday we had some baked good from this French bakery for breakfast, but then we didn't have lunch, because we shopped until 3. Came home, made a healthy "snack" of broccoli and tofu, and then prepared a dinner, complete with a vegan chocolate brownie/cake. It was sooooo good!

So I don't feel guilty at all! Of course, we'll see what I'll say on Friday, but I can't say that I regret any of this. I didn't overindulge, but I didn't restrict myself either.

But I am looking forward to going back to my routine. It looks like I will only have two weight training days this week, the rest will be cardio. I'm going for an interval run on training today at lunch, and then I have my usual walk to and from work.

The food for today:

B: oatmeal with blueberries, and 1tsp peanut butter + soy milk
S: 25g almonds, pear and 1/2 red bell pepper
L: salad with crab meat and egg (yum!), + 1 piece sprouted grain bread
S: banana
L: salad, 2 chicken drumsticks, 1/2 cup of some kind of grain

p.s. I didn't mean to offend any people who love to live in Ottawa by my last post... sorry! I'm still adjusting, after almost two years living here... it's just very hard to find something to do without having a car, which we don't. I am beginning to like Ottawa in the summer, because of all the outdoor activities... but when people come to visit me, I don't really know what to do with them! lol :)

The same

I did a weigh-in today and I stayed the same. I even pulled out my regular "manual" scale just to double check! (I usually use my digital one that gives me 0.0 accuracy). If this means that I'm gaining muscle, or retaining water, I'm okay with that. I really don't want to discourage. And that's why I'll be posting my weight progress together with my pics and measurements once a month. My only hope is that the will be progress, if not, needless to say, I'll be very very pissed...

I'm going for another weight training session today at lunch. I'm thankful that I'm somewhat recovered from Wednesday's workout. I also did a quick run on treadmill yesterday, in addition to my usual walk to work and back. I did some intervals for 15 min, and steady pace for 10, plus cool down.

The test went okay, by the way. I know I at least passed.... yeah, I know, I'm really ambitious! LOL But, seriously, I just need to pass the course, because I'm taking it for "fun". It was my husband's initiative to take the course, since it will be really useful to have French for his work (he works for the govern.ment), and I wouldn't mind learning it, but it's not really critical in my job. Also, I didn't want to be alone for two nights a week. We kind of always do everything together, it's good and not... we really have to find some friends to socialize with! But it's not easy, when all you do is go to work, and then home. Plus, both of us are kind of shy around new people, and are overall introverts... :) And we really really enjoy each others company! You'd think after eight years of knowing each other that would change... but luckily not.

Anyways, that's enough rambling for today! I'm looking forward to the weekend! My sister is coming tonight, and we'll hit the streets of Ottawa for some fun tomorrow!! (If you'd ever been to Ottawa, you'd know that that is an exaggeration of grand proportions.... :) this is not the most exciting city!)

Food for today:

B: high-protein oatmeal
S: carrots and hummus
L: chicken w beets and brussel sprouts
S: carrot juice w protein powder, banana
D: tbd

It's almost Friday

It's Thursday, which means it's almost Friday, which means I'm closer to my long weekend of fun!! :)

My sister is coming to visit me from T.O., so I took Monday off. And now I have to think of how to entertain her... hmm... She's not all that crazy about working out like I am, but I'm going to have to sneak a couple of workouts anyhow that weekend - sorry sis! I did suggest trying to make sushi at home, and she was all for it, so I went to this Japanese/Korean food store and went a bit crazy with the supplies - I got 100 sheets of nori (!!! that will last me for years, I think), a couple of pounds of rice, some chopsticks, and a mat thingy. I did forget the most important ingredient - wasabi! Doh! I have to go back and get that, and also some stuff for the inside... I'm thinking carrots, cucumber, avocado and teriyaki marinated tofu.

Which reminds me - I made baked tofu yesterday! I was awesome. I basically put soy sauce, some honey, ginger, garlic, and a bit of balsamic vinegar in a dish with tofu, baked it for 30min at 400F. The texture was totally different than the time that I tried it in a miso soup that I made (which kind of brought on a mild gaging reaction...).

Also, yesterday I had a totally vegan day! No dairy, no meat! I really really think I can do this, I just have to get my husband to get used to the idea (I will still cook meat for him separately).

My workout yesterday was intense... I so sore all over today. Who knew that a dead lift with a heavy enough weight could work your WHOLE body??? I'm going to go for a quick cardio session today, since I have to study a bit more at lunch for my French class that I'm taking at night (we have a test today, and I haven't studied at all yesterday! I was so tired and sleepy!). oh, and the workout was from this book "New Rules Of Lifting For Women", I love the workout programs there!

And I did take the pictures yesterday! Pretty gross... I took them of my stomach, in my favourite jeans. So I guess my goal would be to be able to wear the jeans sans the love handles...

No mooo milk?

Happy Tuesday!

The weekend was okay. I actually went for my run on Saturday... which turned out not to be a great idea, since we had a snow storm on Friday, and the path that runs along the river behind our apartment building wasn't plowed (obviously), but for some reason I decided to run there anyways... so somehow I did something to my left knee, and I was in pain for the rest of the weekend.

Eating-wise it was okay as well, even though it's TOM, and I was craving sweets, but we don't keep anything "dangerous" in the house anymore, so I had to make do with an orange and some whole wheat toast with jam.

Also, I still hadn't taken my "before" pictures! I don't want to ask my hubby to take them, 'cause he'll think I went complete nuts (read: obsessed), plus he thinks that half the time anyhow. So I think I'm just going to do them in the bathroom mirror... tomorrow morning.

Now, onto the milk thing. There were a lot things that influenced my decision to not consume dairy anymore, like this British show on Discovery Health channel. It was about this organic farmer that brings five junk-food addicts from the "city" to see where the food actually comes from. I don't need to tell you all about animal cruelty that sometimes is involved in getting that chicken or beef on your table. Milk and eggs are not an exception, even though the animals are not killed in the process.

Also, this video was forwarded to me by my friend on F.ace.book. I did a search on this girl and found her blog, where she writes this about dairy. So I was inspired to do my own research, and while there are two sides to this argument this and this support Kris's arguments. So, I will really do this for my health.

Ultimately, I'm leaning towards becoming a vegan. It's a big decision, and it will have an influence on other people, like my husband. I'm known to make rush decision and have an all-or-nothing attitude, so I want to make sure that I'm well prepared when I make the complete switch to a vegan life (that means consuming only plant-based food, no animal products). I'm slowly introducing foods that, I'm sure, will become my staples later on... like tofu, and soy milk. I already love and eat all kinds of grains, and fruits/veggies. I've stopped eating yogourt, and almost cut out all milk products. Although I am tempted to just jump into it, in this case, I think slower is better. :)

12 weeks, 9.6lbs to lose

I've been ispired by Randi's post in which she challenged people to post photos of themselves each month to show their progress (and finally reach their goals... ).

So, I did my weigh in today, posted my stats, and will post pictures at the end of the month (as painful as that may be). My weight had been fluctuating steadily over the past two years between 145 to 149. I work out hard and eat healthy, unprocessed (some organic) food - but my body is just comfortable in this weight range. In order to lose these 9.6lbs I think I need to be really strict with the amount of calories I eat and add more cardio to see results. My BMI is 24.6, so it's just in the upper range of "normal weight". I'm tired of being almost there, dammit!

Today is the start of Week 1.

The goal is:

- lose 0.8lbs a week
- eat less (reasonably) overall, and eat less carbs, especially at dinner. Include more veggies, and stop drinking milk/eating dairy products by end of February (more on that later).
- learn to like one new veggie a month (and incorporate vegan recipies every week)

The plan is:

- continue my HIIT workouts with weights at lunch 3-4 x week (45min)
- continue to walk to and from work (6.6k)
- add two runs in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays
- add a short run on Saturday, and a long run on Sunday

Once I can handle this, I'll add a third run during the week. In terms of food, I'll get back to tracking it daily.

Today I went for a run on a treadmill (intervals, 45min) even though my "workout buddy" is not here. Yay for me! Today is my third week of working out every weekday (I took weekends off... but no more!).

Am I scared that I'm not going to loose anything at the end of the month? yes. Do I think I can do it? YES! There's no reason for me not to lose those pounds!

Food for today:

B: egg, whole wheat slice of bread, veggies, grapefruit (6)
S: 50g almonds, red pepper (2)
L: curry w yams, tofu, chicken (5)
salad (1)
S: apple (1)
D: tilapia fillet, salad + a grain (6)

ch-ch-changes...

I've read Christy's post this morning, and that got me thinking...

In the past two years, I had made significant changes to my diet. I have to admit, though, that it was my DH's initiative, not mine. We started reading labels on all kinds of foods that we were eating, and with that, eliminating and substituting some of our staples. It started simple enough - we looked for hydrogenated oils and other yucky stuff that shouldn't be consumed (like trans fats, etc). And then, it was anything artificial in the ingredients list that would turn us off from any particular item: artificial flavours, colours, added sugar, glucose, fructose... you get the idea.

And then I realized that I have to give up eating sweeteners. Mind you, I wasn't even eating that much, just one with my one cup of coffee a day. But I learned to love coffee with just milk. That's it, just milk. I really didn't want to go back to adding sugar.

Since we moved to Ottawa a year and a half ago, we started eating more organic food as well. And fish. (We live close to downtown, so we are very close to the Byward Market, where we go to a fish store to buy fresh fish, and veggies from the farmer's market, when they are in season).

So we are eating fairly well overall, I think. (If you're wondering why I'm not stick thin.... well, it's because my sweet tooth doesn't give me a break, but I'm dealing with is as best as I can). And my husband is in a very good physical shape - he is actually always worried that he's loosing weight! I wish I had that problem...

Anyways, since we decided to try and get pregnant some time in the future, I decided to give up a couple of other things that I know are not doing my body any good. Alcohol. It's been about three weeks. I know that I could have it in small quantities (I only had a glass of wine on Fridays, really), but I now choose not to. I figure, it will be easier later. And caffeine. Buy buy my one cup a day of coffee! I've been coffee-free for two weeks... and I'm actually okay! I drink a bit of green tea in the morning, and that's it. My latest drink of choice had been a piece of lemon and hot water... it actually tastes good, I get to drink something hot, and it's good for me!

In the next post, I'll write about my next challenge - re-thinking animal products.... :)

ouch and other things

My gluteus maximus is in serious pain today. I did a new variation on the lunges yesterday (see here), and I did it with a 15lb weight in each hand. So today I hurt.

The pain didn't stop me from going to my lunch workout, where I did my circuit training. I feel good (mostly when I sit.. lol).

Today is also Day 5 of my "no more coffee" regime. I'm doing okay, I just wish I was just a bit warmer, so that I wouldn't crave something hot to drink (I really want a tea, but the kettle at work is broken).

Also, I'm soooo hungry today. It seems like some days I'm okay, like yesterday, and some days I could eat everything in site. The funny thing is that I'm not as hungry after my workouts, although, I go into them starving... what's that all about? I'm hoping it means that I'm burning fat! lol :) but I'm not really sure...

DH and I are going to our very first French class tonight! I'm worried about buying food for dinner (I'm usually starving at five o'clock, and ready to eat just about anything in sight), so this morning I made lunches, snacks, AND dinner for myself and DH. I just hope it's going to be enough.

Here's my food for today:

B: 1c kefir, 30gr cereal, 1/2c milk, 1/2 grapefruit
S: carrots, pressed cottage cheese with flaxseeds
L: salad with white beans, 1/2 pita
S: apple
D: tortellini salad (modified from ESBM)

so cooooold!

My god, it's freezing today! As I'm typing, my fingernails have a lovely bluish tinge to them...

Despite it being -22c in the morning, I walked to work... and was laughing (in my head) at all those suckers that were jam-packed in the passing buses. :) I usually walk so fast, I get a sweat going most of the time - today, I was just barely warm (if I walk fast, I can get to work in about 35 min, about 45 if there's snow on the ground). The good news is that I have all of my toes intact!

This weekend I got back to planning the meals for the week - yay! I feel much better when I go home to make dinner, and I know what I'm going to make. Also, DH and I signed up to take a French course at Algonquin College, so two nights a week we are going to have dinner "on the run". There's no way that I'm going to be buying crap to eat... so that gave me the extra push to get back to meal planning.

Also, today is my 4th day without coffee. I've decided to quit caffeine completely. I still have a cup (or two) of green tea in the morning, and I'll probably have to cut that out eventually as well. I was never a big coffee drinker, I would just grab one cup before I go to work, and I would have a couple of espressos on the weekends. But since we are going to start trying to have a baby in a few months, I thought I might as well get rid of this habit now. I'm doing okay so far, although I did have a pressure-like headache at night yesterday, and the same today.

Food for today looks like this:

B: millet porridge, 1/2 orange
S: pressed cottage cheese with a couple of teaspoons of yogourt
L: green salad w 1/2c beans, 1sm tortilla
S: carrots, apple
D: flank steak, green salad, 1/2c spaghetti

APs: circuit workout at lunch-45m, walk to work and back-60m

Friday

I'm glad it's Friday! It wasn't a particularly stressful week or anything, but it's always nice to be off work, isn't it? :)

It was a good week too. Today was the 5th (!) day in a row that I went to the gym. I'm happy and sore. :)

My workout buddy (aka co-worker) even went for a run on wednesday! The weather was beautiful, sunny and crisp. The workout today was "arms and abs". Let's just say I'm looking forward to the weekend for some recovery time...

My eating has been reasonable. I still can't bring myself up to writting things down... but my chocolate intake had decreased drastically since last week (mainly due to the fact that I almost finished off the last basket of goodies in our office... :S ).

I even stepped on the scale this week as well. It was scary. Terrifying actually. I had no idea what kind of damage I've done during the holidays. But it looks like I'm 'only' up one pound since the last time I weigh myself, which was about two months ago. I really don't think that I didn't gain any weight, I think I must've lost some already, since I've been pretty good about going to the gym and not overeating at dinner and after dinner snacks.

But I need to get serious about dropping these nine pounds. I've been going back and forth between 145 and 147 for ages now! I have a bit over three months to do it. 3lbs a month doesn't seem unreasonable, but I do know how hard it is for me to loose once I get to 145lb. My body just doesn't want to be any lower (this kind of sounds like an excuse, but it's true...). So, starting next Wednesday, I will post my weigh-ins here... to motivate myself. I will also start posting more of my food intake.

Also, today is my Day 1 of "no more coffee" regime! I was drinking half regular and half decaf coffee for about a week and a half now, so today was my first day of no coffee at all! I'll keep you posted on how the next week goes. :)

More on goals

Ok. It's official. I'm training for Ottawa ING 1/2 Marathon! Yay!

The "week 1" of my training will start January 27th... so I have three more weeks to go. Meanwhile, I have to see how I can fit in the runs into my schedule. I have a feeling that I'll do the weekday runs in the morning, before work. I really think it's the best time. I will probably need more winter gear, though... because I think it will get colder before it gets warmer. Wednesday we had -23c in the morning! (made my morning walk to work fun, I tell ya!). Even my iPod is beginning to think this is ridiculous temperature!

Anyways, my second fitness goal for this year is to do a real pull-up (well, I want to go for, like, ten... because I don't think "1" pull-up is a serious goal). I'm talking a real pull-up here! with a bar and me hanging on it! I know it doesn't seem all that challenging... until you try it. Right now, I'm ashamed to admit, I can't do even one! I just, kind of, just hang there... it's bad.

So, I've included tons of arm exercises in my weight-training routines. I can do a lot more push-ups than I used to. I also do chest press with dumb bells, as well as lat pull-down machine (I can do 60lb comfortably, 80lb if I try and push it... but, I gotta tell you, I weigh more than 80lb!). :)

Today I'm doing the "arms and abs" routine, that I made up all by myself! (with the help of some books and google, of course). I'm really big on full-body exercises, and try to use the machines very rarely. Here's what it looks like (take about 30min, plus warm-up and cool-down):

-> full body "get-up" (basically, I can do this very ungracefully, with a 10lb dumbbell in my hands.)
-> sit-ups on the ball
-> push-ups
-> chest press on the ball
-> triceps press
-> "wood chop" with a cord machine
-> squat thrusts (sometimes substituted by just jumps from the floor up... 'cause it gets very hard, very quickly!)
-> biceps curl
-> plank
-> sit-ups
-> triceps push-ups
-> throwing of medicine ball with squats

I don't know how I'll do today, since I'm sore from yesterday's workout, plus I'm in other kind of pain too (tom). But I do have to work-off all the chocolate that I've been eating lately... well, somebody's got to finish it*! lol

*note to self: start cleaning up your diet... hm... starting Monday... I think...

happy new 2008!

I know... it's January 3rd, but Happy New Year anyways!!!

I have big plans for my New Year's resolutions. I actually want to sit down on the weekend and write out my long-term and short term GOALS. So, not just "I want to be a better person next year" thing that I do every year. I think right now is as good a time as any to see what I really want from life and make a plan to make it happen.

In terms of my fitness goals, I'm going to start training for a half marathon again (I'll do the one in Ottawa). I'm still undecided if I want to repeat the Running Room clinic again, or just do it by myself this time. And I'll continue my lunch-time HITT training, since that is working out for me.

I know I have to track my food. I know I do. But I have not done it consistently for so long! The evenings are my downfall. As soon as I get home, I completely forget about it! I don't know if I should put journaling as one of my goals, since I have this feeling that I'm just not going to do it... Aw well, I'll give it a try!