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!