Back at it...again...

What a disaster!  My Biggest Loser challenge at work was a complete failure!  Since I last posted, I didn't lose any pounds or inches despite my strict eating habbits.  I am starting to feel a lot better physically after starting my thyroid medication.  It's been about three months and a lot of the symptoms are dwindling or gone all together.

Now feeling better, and having FREE gym access at my new job, its time to get back at it.  I signed up to do the Color Me Rad marathon in July with some friends.  It may be just a fun 5K walk/run, but I want to run it.  As such, I started the Couch to 5K program again today.  After work I dragged my butt across the office to the gym and did the half hour run PLUS 40 crunches.  It may not sound like a lot, but everyone has a starting point.

We have a 60 day corporate challenge at work.  There are company goals, team goals and personal goals.  Everyone was given a pedometer so we can count our steps and try to reach 100 000 000 steps as a whole company.  Mine is to visit the gym 24 times between now and May 31st.  That works out to three times a week for the next eight weeks.  If I stick to that, I'll be able to accomplish my personal goal and the C25K program which will get me closer to being able to run the marathon!

I feel bad that I stopped working, because I would have seen results eventually.  It's just so hard when its slow going.  I hope that all of you reading this can find a little motivation to keep moving, even if only for one day!

Day 15: Slow and Steady Progress

It's been over a week since my last post, which means I need to focus on keeping up with my goals better.  My eating has been alright the last week, although I did have a couple beer on Friday night after work.  My workouts weren't what I wanted them to be either.  I was bad on keeping up with my Slim in 6, but my boyfriend and I got an Xbox Kinect and have been playing with that.  We did a lot of the Kinect Adventures which actually makes you sweat a lot more that one would think.  We also got the Biggest Loser workout game.  I haven't tried it as of yet, but I hope to tonight.  Life has been hectic getting my boyfriend ready for school.  I'm done work early today, and after I pick him up, we'll have an evening to workout and study.  I have tomorrow off where I hope to get some food prep done, work out and go to the doctor to see about this thyroid problem I have.

My weigh in yesterday was a success because I did not gain despite my sloppy week.  I stayed the same at 206.6, but my measurements show a loss.  I suppose I can thank the Kinect for that.  The group of us at work here has decided to do a recipe swap which I am very excited about.  I went through my weight watchers cook book last night but I didn't really find anything that jumped out at me.  I am planning on making the banana bread I found in there, but in muffin form.  That way my boyfriend and me have some healthy snacks for work and school.

Good luck today in whatever you do!

Day 7: First Weigh In

I had a bit of a slip up this weekend with my workout routine.  I ended up spending almost the entire weekend at my parents place.  I did my best to eat healthy and had my weigh in for the beginning of our Biggest Loser challenge at work.  My coworkers were saying I should have taken last week off because I should be my heaviest today.  Well, I've been my heaviest long enough!  Since I last weighed myself, just before new years, I was 214.8, today I weighed in at 206.6!!  I've lost 8.2 pounds!!  That's a pretty good start towards my 20lb initial goal!  w00t! 

Tonight, after work, I have a few errands to run, and some cleaning to do around the house, but I'm going to be doing my first video of Ramp It Up tonight.  I'm hoping my boyfriend will be interested in joining me.  I will take my measurements tonight and add them to my progress page.

Hope you are all having a fantastic week!

Day 3

I did it! Third day in a row that I did my Slim in 6 videos! I had the day off work and cleaned around the apartment, put away Christmas and did a bit of relaxing. I didn't eat a whole bunch today, so I'm kinda annoyed that I didn't keep up on the diet end of things. Tomorrow is another day, and I didn't have any junk foods.

My best friend came over tonight to workout with me and have dinner. I made a similar pork and mushroom soup dealie, but with more veggies this time. I mean an absolute TON!

The building I live in is attached to the nearby hotel via underground tunnels and a shared parkade. As tenants, we get free access to the pool. We enjoyed a 45 minute swim tonight with some laps and aquacise moves we thought up. Basically we chatted while keeping moving in the pool doing jumping jacks and all kinds of silly things. I feel extremely relaxed and my muscles feel great!!

Tomorrow will be a better day food wise. I made more tuna and white bean salad. I have some soup still frozen on the balcony and leftovers for dinner. Oh! And my ViSalus shake for breakfast. I'm ordering more shakes and I'll do a post about those another day. They really are a great product!!

Good luck tomorrow, everyone!

Day 2: Here's a recipe

Today is day two of my lifestyle change.  I did my workout this morning and feel great for doing it.  I have a super healthy lunch packed today, which I will include the recipes for if you are choosing to join me in your own life change.  I have Tuna and White Bean salad, Weight Watchers 0 point soup, left overs from last nights dinner and a Visalus shake.  I already had a banana and two glasses of water at home before leaving for work.

The salad recipe I pulled from the BeachBody website, as well as some stuffed peppers my boyfriend and I had for dinner two nights in a row.  They were so tasty and incredibly filling.  The pictures provide links to each!

 One serving (about one cup) is 8 points. 

One pepper is 4 points.

I added half a pack of fajita seasoning to the pepper stuffing for extra flavour.  We used ground pork for them, instead of the beef it calls for.  We eat hardly any beef in our house.  We are hunters and eat a lot of wild game which is a lot leaner and has none of the hormones and other nasty things you can find in processed beef.  Our chickens usually come from a local Hutterite colony, but we will be raising our own this year.

A lot of our meals at home are things thrown together in a pot, some sort of sauce and done.  I made the same thing last night, but counted everything out quite carefully only to find it was almost as healthy as the peppers!  It has no name other than what we call the general concoction of meat, pasta and mushroom soup.

400g ground pork

2 large carrots, grated

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Can of mushrooms

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Cups of pasta

2 Cans of Campbell's mushroom soup

Fry the grated carrots, onions and garlic in the olive oil.  Add any spices you like.  I used basil, paprika and a bit of Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  After a few minutes, add the ground pork.

Cook pasta according to directions, drain and add to pork mixture once it is cooked through.  Add the two cans of mushroom soup and mix it all together. 

1 Cup of mixture = 6 points.

I had two cups of this last night for dinner, with a glass of skim milk and I was FULL!  Part of my weight gain issue is that I don't eat enough.  I was really behind on points so that's why I had so much.  It was quite tasty and I was surprised to see how few points it was worth if it was measured out properly.

I hope this recipe works out as well for you!

An introduction to me

NO!  This is not a new years resolution as I don't believe that those work.  They are empty promises you make to yourself after two or more weeks of overindulging to try to justify the binging.  The fact that my life change is happening in January is coincidence.  The last time I made a life change, at least a partial one, was at the beginning of the year.  Let me tell you how I got where I am now.

Almost exactly 10 years ago, my mother and I started Weight Watchers while I was in my last year of High School.  I went from 185lbs down to 157lbs and felt amazing about myself.  I did start working out when I was in University, but quickly gave it up as the stress from exams, test and papers swelled up.  During that time, I had a boyfriend who enjoyed going for beer and wings on a weekly basis and I was more than obliging to help him finish off a tripple platter of wings and knock back a few cold ones.  Slowly but surely, my one cheat day a week turned into two, then three, and the booze piled up too.  When you are in your late teens and early twenties, it seems that all events revolve around booze.  Going to the bar, a lounge, out for dinner, over to a friends place, EVERYTHING!  No one ever thinks about the calories there, because they always go down so easily.

The long and the short of it is I let this happen to me.  I did recently find out that I have a thyroid imbalance which might be the reason I've gained so much in the last little while, but I'm not about to blame the entire weight gain on that.  It was me with every french fry, every second helping and every bad food and lifestyle choice that put me now past my weight of 10 years ago at 214lbs.

A lot of people would say I don't appear to weight that much.  Not many people believe me that I am over 200lbs when I tell them that but it is true.  I seem to carry it in places that are somewhat easy to conceal.  The fact remains that even if I can conceal it and make people think I weigh less than I do, my heart will know the truth.  I mean literally, this could be killing me as I am getting into my very late 20's and creeping up on the scary THREE-OH!  So, what's the plan you ask?  Here's what I'm going to do and this is where I'm going to be accountable for what I will be doing.

1. Slim in 6 by BeachBody...6 days a week for 6 weeks!
2. Charting my food intake using the app on my phone. 
3. Partake in the "Biggest Loser" challenge at work and never have to pay! (i.e. never gain weight during the  6 week period)
4. Post on this blog at least twice a week to keep myself accountable, even if only one person reads this.
5. Get down into a size 8, currently size 14/16.  I never did make it down to size 8 last time I lost weight.  10 was the lowest and only for a few weeks.

I want to be fit, not skinny.  I want to be a better version of me.  I have a bottom heavy build, so I know a size 0 is not in the cards for me.  But I can be lean and muscular, not this sloppy woman I am now.  If anyone wants to join in with me, I'd be happy to have you along for the ride!