hot stuff

We're experiencing our first real heat wave of the season as I type this.

On Friday, I was on a day off from work and we were out doing errands and I really felt gross. Moving around in the humid, dirty air, was not fun and really reinforced for me, how important it is to get into better shape this summer. When I am more fit, the heat doesn't bother me as much.

Over the weekend, I must say that heat wave and all, we were more active than we've been in a while. As tempting as it may have been to just sit in front of the television, eating popsicles and enjoying the air conditioning, we got stuff done. On Saturday, I spent four hours (yes FOUR hours!) sorting through clothes. It was finally hot enough to pack the sweaters away and get the summer things out. When I was done, I had 3 bags of stuff (some of it belongs to my hunny) for the Value Village donation bin and 5 bags of stuff for the trash (although I'm trying to find a quilter or textile artist who might want it - it's not good enough for donations but I don't want it to end up in a landfill).

I realized that some stuff I was hanging onto "until I lost weight" was just taking up valueable real estate in my closet and dresser. I kept a few things that I really love which are too small for me (I live in hope!) but for the most part, I realized that when I lose weight and need new stuff, I'll want to buy stuff so there was no sense hanging onto this stuff that someone else could use. Getting that done felt amazing. Having room in my dresser again is such a treat.

In addition to that, we took the puppy out to a park in the country we really like. We were up quite early yesterday and I felt like we owed it to him (and to us) to have some kind of outing that required physical activity. He really enjoyed being near the water and walking around in the park (on his leash) and meeting some other dogs. We enjoyed the walking and the gorgeous lake shore breezes and all felt better for having done it. Every Sunday that it's not raining, we're planning to repeat this activity. We won't necessarily visit the same park each week but it'll be good for all of us to be moving around on the weekends.

So yeah, that's it for me. I think I missed a wrap-up last week but things are going okay. I'll definitely have a wrap-up this week so stay tuned!!

Wednesday plus one wrap-up - week 14

Wow, did you think I fell off of the planet?

I did not, I was very much still stuck on earth but just got very bad at posting. Since spring has sprung, I've been spending more time outside and less time in front of the computer.

During my time away, I wish I could say that I was an excellent healthy choice making, weight-dropping shrinking girl. I could say that I suppose but it would be a lie. We went through a 2 week period of really not caring much about our diets. I guess it was the weekend after my last post. It was my hunny's birthday and we just sort of went hog wild. The birthday continued with a weird chip-binge for a couple of weeks. I can't tell you how many chips I ate, it was shocking. Fortunately, I've since gone cold turkey on the chips and haven't touched one in a few weeks. I literally have no will power with chips. I'm okay with microwave popcorn (which I've had) or a handful of baked crackers but chips, I seriously can't stop.

For the past couple of weeks, we've dramatically reduced the number of meals we're eating out of the house. We are grilling dinner more and more often and we're creating some fabulous salads. Overall, I think we're doing well. The way we are tweaking ouy meal plan is making it very sustainable. That's important to me.

I think I'm back on track with the posting thing...I'm going to try anyway, in the meantime, here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending May 28

• continuing to take my vitamins every single day
  
• water goal was not met this week. Due to cold temperatures in the office, drank more tea than water. Probably had more pop than water in the evenings due to fabulous sale priced Diet Coke
  
• did not give into fresh baked chocolate chip cookie tempation at the office this week - I let the triatholon runner have my portion!
  
• exercise has consisted of running with the puppy in the yard, chasing balls and frisbees around, some gardening and walks with puppy
  
• continue to avoid the scale. I don't feel like I've gained but I don't think I've lost either, maitenance has been determined by the pant-o-metre

wednesday wrap-up - week 7

Can I get a high-five? I made it through another week without a visit to the DQ. We did have some rather lovely, new, Breyers ice cream treats which are yummy and lower in calories than a DQ (MUCH lower) so that was a terrific subsititute!

Right now, I'm really jonesing for strawberries of the fresh local variety but I know that they are about 2.5 months away so I'm trying to control that and get a serious grip.

Anyway, I'm perking up a bit and the cold thing I've had for a couple of days seems to be going away so... I'll try to summarize my efforts this week... here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending April 8

• took my new "lady" vitamins every single day this week, even on the weekend
  
• I think because of my cold, I drank way more water than I normally would (and normally I drink a lot). So yeah, water goals, not an issue - skin is looking good for it
  
• work is a smallish source of temptation right now. I gave into cookies last week (as reported) and had a few "treats" there this week too. Fortunately, we're heading into a time when folks will be on the road more and I'll be there alone more so there will be less treats to be tempted by. bah
  
• between work busy stuff and having a cold, I didn't post every working day but I've been consistent with Wednesdays the past few weeks so that's something
  
• still not stepping on the scale but feeling okay about that. Pants aren't feeling horrible and tight at the moment
  
• lots of time outside chasing the puppy and some lovely spring time walking was had this week

getting better

One of the reasons that I decided to make a move last fall and apply for my current job was the pace of the old one. In order to keep up with things, I found myself going into the office up to 2 hours early each day, working through lunches and spending chunks of my Saturdays catching up. Of course, the Saturday catchup only happened on weekends when I wasn't already working, either on site or somewhere else between Ottawa and Toronto.

My current job has a much more sane work load and it's only busy (really really busy like I mentioned above) a couple of times during the year. This is one of the times of the year that it's busy. I don't mind having to do this once in a while because I know that it's not an all the time thing. Being away from the insanity for 3 months though, really made me "soft" so to speak. The longer hours I've worked the past week has thrown me for a small bit of a loop.

Looking back at it now, I realize how lucky I was to make that move. I truly like my job again. In my last role, I loved the work and my team but the pace was crazy. At the moment, I'm on a great team, doing work that is really interesting and I'm not exhausted all of the time. I really appreciate this because it is allowing me the time I need to take care of myself.

I'm glad that I kicked myself in the ass last fall and did this for myself. I feel like I have the time again (not maybe this week) to truly devote to taking better care of myself and my family and that is worth more than all of the money in the world.

wednesday wrap-up - week 6

Gah! As I mentioned yesterday, it's a really slow process this go-round but I'm not letting little slip ups stop me completely. Happily, I can report that I did not give into my strong urge last night. I really wanted to drive to the DQ but am proud of myself for not doing it!

Let's take a look at what's been happening with me... here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending April 1

• bought actual "lady" vitamins on the weekend and began taking them again, immediately. The ones I had been taking didn't have as much calcium and iron and these ones do. I feel better for taking them and I'm just on day 5
  
• Again, I rock the water. I could be a camel!
  
• gave into a couple of stupid cravings: some ketchup chips on the weekend, a couple of too-good-to-be-ignored chocolate chip cookies at work yesterda
  
• Was less than regular with posting on weekdays but I'm getting better
  
• avoided the scale again this week
  
• mostly puppy related exercise this week but I did get some walking in too

trying

Over the past couple of days, I've been trying to be "good" and it's working for the most part. I'm hormonal as hell and would probably do something really illegal for a Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard right now if the opportunity presented itself.

The end of last week and the weekend sort of fell away in a blur. We had puppy issues on Thursday, hunny illness on Friday and over the weekend. Admittedly, there was some mindless snacking in amongst the stress but not enough that I feel terrible about it.

I must say that having the puppy in the house has me moving much more than I had been doing prior to his arrival. Leash training continues and when that's done and he's all happy to be walking around on the leash, I plan to walk with him each morning before work. My hunny can do the evening shift or we can do that together but I'm really looking forward to getting outside and walking with our beautiful new dog. Another by-product of the new puppy is more meals at home so that we're actually here with him (because he's awesome) and that's always better for my calorie count.

Overall, I'm really happy at home, good busy at work and getting back into the groove with my food intake. The exercise thing I'm not worrying about too much because I've been running around with the dog and that just plain old feels good.

Question for you all though, have any of you signed up online with Jillian Michaels? I really love her on the Biggest Loser and was looking at her program but was wondering if any of you cool kids had tried it out yet. When I did the absolute best with my weight loss was when Bev still had the Weigh-better forum going so I'm always interested in hearing about new/newish online resources.

wednesday wrap-up - week 5

Well I haven't been updating much over the past 2 weeks and I did miss two wrap-ups so I should try to get that sorted out now. There isn't much to report but I'll try my best!

Let's take a look at what's been happening with me... here's my weekly wrap-up:

summary - week ending March 26

• Ran out of vitamins and keep forgetting to get new ones or to take one from my hunny's jar so, no vitatmins this week
  
• The water goal was easy. I continue to at least meet my daily water intake goals!
  
• gave into a couple of stupid cravings: little tiny cute lindt chocolate easter eggs on Monday night, a bacon cheeseburger at Wendy's over the weekend (with a fresca)!
  
• I got back into posting on work days again
  
• avoided the scale again this week
  
• was unfortunately, got some walking in and have been chasing after our new puppy so that's fun and movement