Well kiddies, they're counting down all over the world. We have to be up really early tomorrow so I'm toddling off to bed now. Happy New Year everyone!! I wish you all the best for 2004.

On that note, I'm posting a final article of the year. Some people are just too stupid to live. Whoever thinks, "yeah, that stuff's gonna be banned, best go out and stock me up some." Sheesh, some people are just morons.

Ephedra Products Sell Fast Ahead of Ban
By JENNIFER PETER, Associated Press Writer

WATERTOWN, Mass. - Products with names like Speed Stack, Ripped Force, TrimSpa and Kranker started flying off the shelves at the Lo Fat Know Fat Gourmet Cafe after the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to ban the dietary supplement ephedra in two months.

"People have been buying it like crazy," co-owner Christopher Pappas said. "They know it's going to be taken off the shelf so they're stocking up."

After months of rising concerns, the FDA announced Tuesday that it would ban ephedra next year and strongly urged people not to take the herbal supplement in the meantime.

Ephedra, used for weight loss and bodybuilding, has been linked to 155 deaths, including that of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler last February, and dozens of heart attacks and strokes.

Across the country, some stores reported sharp increases in sales Wednesday, while others said some customers knew the ban was coming and stocked up some time ago. Some said the demand for ephedra decreased long ago in favor of products advertised as ephedra-free.

GNC, which has 5,000 health food stores across the country, banned ephedra-containing products in June. The NFL banned its players from using ephedra as a dietary supplement in 2001.

"We have customers who have been stocking up for several months, knowing what was coming down the road," said Claudia David-Roscoe, co-owner of Claudia's Natural Food Market in Toledo, Ohio.

In Overland Park, Kan., Russell Wood of Fit 4 Less said that after the ban was announced, one woman wanted to buy two cases of 24 bottles each. Normally, Wood said, he sells 30 to 50 bottles per month.

At the Lo Fat Know Fat Gourmet Cafe, manager Ryan McElhiney, who takes ephedra himself, said one customer spent $369 on ephedra tablets Tuesday soon after the announcement.

Kate Morreale, 22, a regular customer and part-time worker at the dietary supplement store, did not wait that long. She bought two cases of an ephedra-containing drink, called Speed Stack, over the summer when a ban seemed imminent.

"It should last me a while, at least through the year," she said.

today I am a sloth

I did less than nothing today...no exercise, just a little tidying up around the house actually...The few holiday decorations I did have up are now down. They aren't away or anyway but at least they're down. I got it together long enough to go out for a few groceries when my hunny finished work but other than that, not much got done.

TOM hit me today and sort of knocked me on my ass. I guess because I've not been working, I hadn't been thinking about it and had totally forgotten about it. It sort of explains why I had been dragging my butt around on the weekend, feeling kind of tired. I'm sure I'll feel much better in the morning but today, I've been a lump, popping ibuprofen and watching daytime television. Not exactly a picture of health and fitness. Oh well, that's what New Years is for, right?

Today was a bit of a blur... I spent the majority of the day sitting around visiting with different friends in various locations. I sipped many hot water type beverages but didn't do too badly as far as eating goes today. I met a couple of friends for coffee this morning and (how cool is this?) had just a coffee...black! No fancy (read fatty) coffees, no sticky / sweet treats, just coffee. Yay me!! Afterwards, I met with another friend for tea, again, clear tea and one cookie (only because I'd had no lunch and breakfast had just been a banana and a glass of juice before I ran out the door for coffee).

Of course, we ended up going out to dinner tonight (to Chinese buffet of all things) but again, I did okay as far as portion control went. Lately we've been eating out a fair bit more than we usually do. I've noticed though that I'm not eating nearly as much as I used to. This is a huge deal for me and it's not even a conscious thing anymore. I'm still eating crap lately (since my vacation started) but I'm eating crap in small amounts, between eating good stuff. Physically, I just cannot eat the same amount of junk that I used to be able to do and, my system starts to crave whole foods and other stuff that is good for me after a while. I'd always heard that this sort of thing could happen but it still surprises me that it's happening to me. It should make the return to being 100% on plan a lot easier for me this year than it was last year....Fingers are crossed anyway!!

We took a quick trip to Ottawa today. We had to pick up some computer parts from my brother and while we were there we hit the boxing week sale at IKEA. I am practically incapable of going to Ottawa without stopping at IKEA. Sad huh?

Eating was not bad. We were up and out early and stopped at the Timmy drive-thru for coffee and a low-fat muffin for breakfast. I don't know how "low-fat" it actually was, it was a very dense muffin although, it wasn't greasy so I'm sure that's a good sign. For lunch, we had dim sum. We don't have a good place for dim sum here and it was a nice treat. We had a big lunch but we only had stuff that was steamed (no fried stuff). I know that it was still hugely caloric but it was a really great treat. We didn't even have dinner tonight because lunch was so good and satisfying. I haven't done any calculations on fitday but I'm not too bothered by it.

Again, no proper exercise was done today (unless shopping counts). As I've mentioned, I'm not beating myself up about it too badly because I'm sure that I'll get back into the swing of stuff this week.

I was a complete sloth today...Well almost. Basically, all I really did today was make the bed, do some dishes and tidy up a bit. It was SOOOO nice. I didn't get out of my jammies and into the shower until almost 2!! I'm really enjoying this chill out time that I've had recently. I admit that I desperately needed it as I was completely run down and worn out at the beginning of my vacation.

Tonight, our little old guy wanted to go do some gamblin' so we took him down the road to the local charity casino. We won over $200 between the three of us (he won $7.25, I won $15 and my hunny won $180.00). Not bad huh?? Tomorrow we are heading up to Ottawa to see my brother for a quick visit. I hope to spend our winnings at the IKEA store in Nepean on the way home. It shouldn't be a problem!

As you can see, there isn't any fitness related stuff to report, just holiday stuff. Just like so many others seem to be doing, I'm not really worrying too much about stuff at the moment. On January 5 though, watch out, it's return to boot camp!! If I can do as well in 2004 as I did in 2003, I'll be really happy.

Did you survive Christmas?

We did, we had a nice day actually. We went out to my parents for the afternoon. We had a big meal at mid-day and I didn't do too badly at all. We had made a nice breakfast at home in the morning, it was big and hearty and pretty healthy so we weren't too hungry when we got to mum's. I had mostly veggies, salad and turkey...no 'taters, no gravy...Only a taste of dressing. I did have some sweets though, a sliver of lemon pie and some cookies. No booze though, and no eggnog or other fatty drinks. Very good.

I got some totally kickass gifts too. Some DVD's and CD's, some cash and some exercise stuff. I got a nice mat and some resistance bands (a set of two for arms and one for doing step stuff for legs). I haven't tried them out yet properly but I can see that they will be a big help for arms and back and legs..yay!!

For some insane reason, even though it was a gorgeous, sunny, mild day, we actually went out to the malls today. We wanted to see what was on sale at the Futureshop and we also went to the mall. We are looking for a new coffee maker (a particular Hamilton Beach model that has a stainless thermal carafe) and while we didn't find the model we wanted, we did pick up a new computer (a refurbished compaq at FS for an unbelievable low price -- we're going to harvest it for parts). The mobs were pretty insane but I just pushed my way through...Like I used to when I was young and reckless and spent too much time in crowded clubs... At one point, we couldn't find what we were looking for at Sears and we decided to walk down to the far end of the mall, to see if they had what were looking for at the Bay. I remember that we did this last year and that the walk (all bundled up, fighting through the mob) just about killed me. This year, I actually, almost ran because I couldn't wait to get through the masses of humanity who seemed to be wandering around in a daze. When we had gone the length of the mall, and back, with several stops in and out of shops along the way I suddenly realized that I wasn't winded and that I wasn't dying...Like I recall feeling last year. It was very cool!! Next year though, hopefully I'll be smart enough to just plain old stay away from the mobs and go for a nice hike outside somewhere!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I just looked outside and it looks way more like Vancouver outside than it should do. We're having a very very green Christmas this year. Oh well, at least it makes travelling easier for folks. I woke up coughing again this morning, not good. I really wish that this bug would just piss off and leave me be!! I slept okay and I'm feeling better than I did on Monday, this deep cough thing is a new development. I'm not going to let it get to me though!!

I did get my baking done last night and everything is all wrapped up and ready to go to my mum's this morning. My brother is coming into town by train this morning so we'll head over to my mum & dad's around 11:30 or so. Hope you all have a very lovely day, whatever you end up doing, whether you celebrate or not!! Happy holidays!

So, runny nose and all, I exercised this morning. I was a bit of a hurtin' unit about half-way through but I was soooo happy when I finished. It goes much faster when you watch Eastenders on tape too! Anyway, I crawled out of bed and down the stairs and just did it, I'm pretty pleased with myself actually. After, I had a decent breakfast and have just spent the past 30 minutes updating fitday. It wasn't pretty but I think it's pretty accurate. It's now up to date, I'm back to movin' my butt again and I just generally feel like my body is mending. I even weighed myself this morning...I'm up 2 pounds but I'm not beating myself up over it. Considering the amount of abuse I heaped upon my poor old body over the past week, it could be a lot worse. I'm actually a little surprised that it wasn't, truth be told.

Now, I have to finish up my baking. This morning I'm doing shortbread and rugelach. I feel sort of weird about using actual, real butter in my baking. It felt super strange to buy it after many many months of buying non-hydrogenated margarine for the odd time when we actually use it. I know though, that these particular holiday items require full-on fatty stuff (it's what makes them so good!). I'm just glad that I'm using this stuff for gifts and that not much of it will actually stay in the house. Yikes. No wonder I gained a couple of pounds this week!

Anyway, thanks so much for your emails and comments of support over the past few days. It really made me feel a lot better!

Okay, so I feel soooo much better today. My nose ran like a tap today but I actually got out of bed before 10 a.m. for a change. I didn't really go out of the house until after dark today but I did get some baking done for Christmas. It's the only food type contribution I make to Christmas day stuff at my mum's place. I'll finish it up tomorrow. I don't mind doing it actually and the house smells good. I baked two kinds of cookies and two kinds of squares and only had one actual cookie so that's not too bad. Of course, being sick for almost a week now has me right off of my program. I've not really been watching what I'm eating and I've not properly exercised in several days but, no excuses, tomorrow I'm doing it, snotty nose and all!!

I'm still sick. Over the weekend I actually felt a little bit better and was able to get the rest of the shopping (and all of the wrapping) done. This morning when I woke up, I felt like I'd been hit by a bus and spent most of the morning in bed. I haven't exercised in days and while I'm not on a binge, I've not exactly been tracking what I've been eating. I'm really hoping that tomorrow I'll be feeling better because I want to exercise tomorrow. I really miss it. Anyway, that's all that's been up over the past few days...'night all!

Day 26

I think that it is fairly safe to say that the challenge is over for now. I'm still feeling crummy. My head was totally plugged when I got up this morning. All day I was totally cold, couldn't get warm for anything and my knees were achey. Now, I'm so warm my face feels like it's on fire. My resistance was so low today that not only did I not exercise, I even ate doritos!! Tomorrow is a new day and I'm sure I'll feel better than I did today. I can't feel much worse than I do at the moment.

Day 25

My cold seems to be back. I guess it never went away. I've generally felt pretty crappy today and haven't done much of anything. I did actually exercise today though so that's something I guess.

Because I was basically vegging out for most of the day, I have the TV on a lot. I don't get to watch a lot of daytime television ordinarily. I must say that I'm more than a little disgusted at all the gimmick-y weight-loss programs that are being advertised in heavy rotation right now. I am pretty sure that there aren't any more ads than there normally are but I'm probably more aware of them as I've actually lost weight this year (unlike every other year of my life!). The one that really bugged my bum was for some pill. They were saying that the pills were like $150 a bottle and they were for folks with serious weight problems, you know, the folks who are 20 or 40 pounds overweight, not for people who had "5 or 6 vanity pounds to lose." They then flashed a photo of a person who was more like a couple of hundred pounds overweight. How can folks honestly think that a little pill, one that you buy from a commercial, is going to help?!? I guess that some folks are just desperate enough to try anything. I hate to think of what they might actually do to a person. Hopefully, they're just a placebo and not something that would actually harm a person. Just once, I'd love to see someone take an ad out that said, "the best way to lose weight and to keep it off forever is to totally change your lifestyle -- eat healthy foods and exercise -- you'll be healthy and life longer and you'll thank yourself." Of course, that's just plain old work isn't it? It's not as easy as say, popping a pill that you saw advertised during Jerry Springer. /rant

Sorry if I'm grouchy today, I think it's this head cold thing. Other than my cold, things are going okay. I think we're taking the little old guy out for dinner tonight. I'm not 100% sure but I think we're going to Red Lobster. I haven't been there in a couple of years and I'm hoping that I'll be able to find something there that isn't too bad. It is seafood after all, surely to goodness it can't all be deep fried. Wish me luck!

Day 24

I'm feeling pretty good right now. I got up this morning and did my regular workout, ate a proper breakfast and then headed out to brave the crowds. From 8:30 a.m. until about a half an hour ago, I was Christmas shopping. Thank goodness I don't do a whole lot of it because it's a huge job. I'm tired but that's mostly because I didn't stop for lunch. I remember last year when I did this. On top of weighing a lot more, I was really sick with a bad chest cold and I remember having to sit down in the mall frequently. I know that I was pretty beaten up after I got my shopping done. What a difference a year makes.

I think I'm pretty much done with the shopping now. I say "I think" because I have to sort it out and check it against my list. I'm so happy that, at most, I'll just have to run out a couple of times, quickly to finish up. I was starting to feel like a zombie by the end of it all. I know that there are 2 things that we have to pick up at the beginning of next week but the majority of it is done. I just have to wrap it all now!

Anyway, when I got home and took my sweater off, my tshirt was soaked in the back so I did break a sweat out there. I guess Christmas shopping must count as cardio huh??

Day 23

Today was a blur!! I must have burned about a zillion calories doing errands today. I know that I'm completely exhausted and must sleep...soon. I want to get my Christmas shopping done tomorrow so I'll have to start early, like 7 a.m. early. Yikes. Sorry that this isn't much of a post but today was a pretty good day. I exercised and ate pretty well today and was too busy to get into too much trouble. Hope you all had a good, on-plan day too!!

Day 22

So far, so good. Fabulous actually!! Eating has been terrific because I haven't eaten anything yet! Seriously though, I've been up for a while and just finished shovelling. We had our first major snow fall of the year yesterday and last night so it was really piled up when I went out this morning. My hunny did the bottom of the driveway where it was really heavy but I did the rest of the drive, the walkway, the car (it had to have had about 8 inches of snow on it!) and feel great now. When I first came in, my limbs felt like wet noodles but now I feel really good. In past years, shovelling has just about killed me. Today, it was tough (hey, it's heavy snow -- that's hard work!!) but it didn't kill me. My arms were strong, so were my legs...and they did what I wanted them to do and they didn't rebel against me. I may or may not have a proper workout later on, it'll depend on where my day goes. I'm not shopping today (because the roads are pretty horrible) but I'll get a lot of stuff done around the house today. As I said above, so far, my holiday is going great!

Day 21

Still sick but tonight I'm feeling SO much better than I have in days. I didn't have to blow my nose nearly as much today as I did yesterday. I think that the sleep yesterday totally helped. I didn't exercise today but I know I'll be back into my routine tomorrow plus some. It's snowing to beat the band right now so I suspect that there will be much shovelling to do tomorrow. Hopefully it'll stop soon and I'll be able to get out and do some shopping tomorrow. I have my list sorted out and mostly know what I'm after, it's just a matter of getting out and doing it. fun huh?

Day 20

I didn't do much of anything today. Didn't exercise, didn't eat much. What I did do was sleep, a lot. I also wrote out my christmas cards at one lucid point this morning. Other than that, I didn't get anything accomplished, not laundry, not house work, not even getting out of my pj's and having a shower. It's ugly but it's true. Oh well, such is the life of a sickie. I hate sinus colds.

Day 19

I officially felt like poopie for most of the day. My head was heavy and my joints ached when I got up this morning. I didn't workout before work. I popped a couple of Advil Sinus & Cold and went to work, thinking that I'd exercise tonight. In the end I didn't but I feel so crummy that I can't feel bad about not exercising.

We had our small departmental holiday luncheon today. Again I was a very good girl. I had a small piece of chicken and some roasted veggies. I didn't have any of the cheese manicotti, or cheese and crackers, or the buns or the potato salad. I had a couple of pieces of fruit with my black coffee for dessert. They didn't have any diet soda or water available so I had to go get some tap water from the kitchen. Everyone else was drinking juice with sparkling wine in it. I was getting a lot of "c'mon, it's Christmas" from folks but I just ignored them. They had an amazing looking dark chocolate / mint layer cake that smelled heavenly but I didn't have any. As I said, I was a good girl.

My reward for being good is that I have just begun a 3 week vacation. I earned and deserve it and am going to thoroughly enjoy it! Once I get this cold thing done and gone, all I have to do is write my cards, mail 'em, do all of my shopping, wrap it...and oh yeah, bake!! Oh well, at least I'm not at work!!

Day 18

I think I'm fighting a cold or some kind of virus. Both yesterday and today, as the day progresses, my knees and legs just ache. I'm also really stuffy in the mornings and have been blowing my nose a lot. Hopefully it's just overtired stuff and I'll rest up on the weekend and get rid of it.

I worked out this morning, got up at a not bad time. I also ate okay today and am generally feeling better. I went to my doctor today, had a great visit and followed up on some of the stuff we had talked about last month. I got another prescription for the pills I've been taking. I can't believe how sleep deprived I was before I started taking these. Hopefully, early in the new year I'll be able to stop but for now, I'm glad to have them. They are making a world of difference to me.

After my appointment, I went to Loblaws and dropped off my script. I had to pick up a couple of odds and ends for tonight's dinner and decided to get a couple of magazines. I want us to get subscriptions to some kind of fitness mag in the new year but I've not been able to figure out, from what I've seen online, which the best one for me would be. I picked my hunny up a copy of Men's Health and I grabbed a Shape for myself. If we like them, we'll likely subscribe. I think it'll be good to have fitness magazines in our bathroom mag rack instead of just computer and news ones. If we don't like them, we'll try different ones until we find something we like!

Day 17

This morning I actually got up at a decent time and I really worked out. I exercised before going to work even. I felt a lot better about that.

Today was a bit of a challenge. It was our office "end of year" party. They do a big luncheon for staff only (ie no spouses). This year I was very very good. I did not have any alcohol. I did not have any starchy food. I did not have dessert. I had veggies and salad and some chicken. I felt pretty good about that too. We have another "holiday season" party on Friday, again at lunch. I'm going to try very hard to be as good as I was today. Rather than actually losing 10 pounds before Christmas, I'm working on not gaining any. If I lose some, great. If I don't lose any, that's okay too. If I can get through the rest of December without gaining any, wonderful. So far so good. I'm going back to the doctor tomorrow for my regular monthly check-in. I'm thinking that she'll probably support my modified challenge. I don't feel like I'm weenie-ing out of anything, just being realistic. I've got enough stress to deal with right now without adding to it. I'll let you know I make out with her tomorrow. I generally feel better after I've seen her and I don't expect that tomorrow will be any different. Anyway, before I ramble any more, I'm gonna end this. 'night all!

Day 16 - update

I did do my workout when I got home. I wasn't going to do it. I didn't feel like doing it. After I did it, I felt much better. We ended up not having dinner at home, we had dinner at our favourite Vietnamese place. It was a vegetarian meal and I drank a lot of tea. It warmed me up and made me feel better. That plus the exercise makes for a much happier shrinking gurl.

Day 16

I'm about 1/2 through day 16 and am feeling off my game slightly. I didn't workout this morning like I normally do. I just could not get up this morning and by the time I hauled my ass out of bed it was way too late to start. As soon as I get home from work tonight though, I will do it. I promise (pinky swear)! My eating has been good though and we're having dinner at home tonight so I know that it'll be low fat and yummy.

Lately, here and my other blog, I've been talking a bit about how much crap there is going on in my life right now. I wish I could get into specifics about it here because I know that it would do my soul a lot of good to get it all off of my chest but, for many reasons, I can not. I'm sure by now you can figure out what it's related to. While I was heating up my lunch, I made a couple of lists. It did make me feel better to make them, although I cried and felt like puking while I was working on them. I guess they are laundry lists of things that are both good and bad in my life right now. I was feeling like the negative energy in my life was consuming me and pushing all the good stuff out. Once I got the lists done, I realized that it hadn't and that made me feel much better.

Again, I would love to give details but I don't feel that I can at the moment so this will have to do as far as purging goes:

Bad stuff that I'm feeling right now

* In the past 12 months, I haven't lost as much weight as I would have liked to
* I still have a very long way to go with it
* I feel tired, weary actually
* I often feel angry and frustrated
* I often feel unappreciated and invisible
* I often feel like a shit magnet
* I often feel like crying
* I often feel sick to my stomach
* I have a tension headache and a knot in my neck
* For a good chunk of each work day, I feel unhappy

Good things about me:

* I am in a relationship with a wonderful, supportive man who I love more than I could ever say
* I'm healthy, definitely healthier than I was 12 months ago
* I take time, everyday, to look after myself by eating well, taking vitamins and being nice to my skin
* I exercise at least 5 days every week
* Physically, I am a lot stronger today than I was a year ago today
* I have lost weight and been able to keep it off for months now
* I am talented and funny
* I have amazing skills and abilities
* I have awesome friends
* I help people, every day
* Our family is healthy and close by
* I live in a really cool little house

When I first read the bad list, it made me want to throw up. I definitely felt angry tears while I typed it. When I did the good list, I started to smile and feel good about myself. Ordinarily, I have no problem being positive and optimistic. Lately though, the negative shit has been working really hard to push the good stuff out. I refuse to let that happen. I'm working on making the bad list go away because I can control all of it.

I'm sorry if this sounded rambling and stupid but I feel so much better for typing it all out. It's all that negative shit that has me taking those pills at night so I can sleep. It's been a very long year. I made a lot of positive changes but a lot of bad stuff was thrust upon me by others around me. I started this holiday challenge as a way of trying to distract myself from what's been happening lately. It's not really working this week. I'm just tired of the struggle right now. I've made a new challenge though, one that is much bigger than trying to lose 10 pounds by Christmas....by the time my birthday rolls around again (in May), I'm going to have eliminated the negatives and be a much happier camper. It's a promise that I've made to myself and to you all. I'll double pinky swear on that one.

Day 14 and 15

I had today off from work which was nice. I spent the best part of it running errands. Overall, my weekend wasn't as great as it could have been eating-wise, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been either. I'm still a little pooped, drained I guess but I got a good night's sleep last night. I had a touch of a tummy bug this morning. My hunny had it on Thursday and I felt like I was coming down with something last night. This morning I was up at my normal time but wasn't feeling all that great. Tonight I'm feeling much better but, as I mentioned, drained. Whatever it was has worn me out.

Tomorrow I'm back to work and I should be back to my normal routine again and, hopefully, I'll have more to post!

Day 12 and 13

It's odd that I did not post anything for a couple of days but I wasn't in front of the computer much. Last week was a blur for me. Work has been kind of insane and as I've written recently, there's a lot of stuff happening all at once and it's been difficult for me to concentrate. Over the past few weeks, I've been posting in the evenings, rather than at lunch time like I had been doing. The past few days though, by the time I'd get to the machine, my brain would be mushy and I couldn't write. Not that there was much to write about anyway.

The past 2 mornings, we've slept in and it's been great. Yesterday I stayed home and did some cleaning and sorting out. I got the whole house clean and a major dent into some papers that had been piling up in our office. To de-clutter the place has made me feel better. Also, it's been very cold here recently and the sun's been shining brightly for the past two days. The rest and the sunshine have gone a long way to making me feel better.

Friday morning (day 12), I did exercise and my eating was okay. I have to say, sitting here on Sunday morning, I can't really remember much of the day at all. Yesterday (day 13) was my normal break day. I didn't workout but I did do a lot of physical work, cleaning, hauling stuff up and down stairs, that kind of thing. My eating wasn't so great yesterday but it wasn't horrible. I'm sure that today will be much better because I'm feeling stronger and more rested. I also forgot to weigh-in yesterday so I'll have to do that today.

As I said, the days are just fuzzy for me right now and I can not remember ever looking so forward to a vacation and I am to mine.

Day 11

Today was another difficult day. I got through it but it was a huge struggle. I got in a lot of activity but I ate more than I probably should have. I know why though, it's because I'm absolutely exhausted right now; mentally and physically. If I wasn't working out regularly I'm absolutely sure that I would go completely insane. I can not tell you how much I'm looking forward to my 3 weeks of vacation. December 12 cannot come soon enough. I'm looking forward to having some time to myself, to getting some things done around the house and to just spending time with my hunny. It's been a long past few months and I am so beyond ready for this break.

I wish I could write more right now but I can't. I'm brain dead and pooped and am going to, literally, crawl into bed.

Day 10

Today was a weird day. My moods were up and down like a yo-yo. There is a lot of stuff going on in my life right now that I can't really talk about here at the moment. I'd like to, but for many reasons, I can't.

Having said that, today was a struggle. I exercised this morning, ate breakfast and went to work. Somehow, I didn't get around to eating my lunch. I had a couple of errands to do though so I piled on my winter clothes (can't believe that I'm wearing boots and a heavy coat again -- I was in denial, I know it's December!) and did them. The walking outside in the fresh air was invigorating. I felt great afterwards. I had a busy afternoon and by the time I left the office I was starving.

We had to get groceries for our little old guy because he wasn't feeling up to going out. We got his stuff, took it to his place and put everything away. I really wanted him to go out for dinner with us but he insisted that he was not going out but wanted Swiss Chalet. We trudged back out and got take out, went back to his 500 degree old person apartment and sweated while we ate. The whole dinner was stressful (because we were both overtired and hungry and he was not feeling good and therefore grumpy). I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Unfortunately, we didn't resist our better judgment and we ended up stopping in at Timmy's on the way home. We didn't need donuts but we had them anyway. Not sure why, not too happy about it now but it was a emotional eating type thing. I know that. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I know what I did, I know that I shouldn't done it but it happened, it's over and I'm moving on. It's not that I think I'm never going to eat another donut but, I don't want to get into a habit of eating a donut when things are stressful. Anyway, I counted the calories, donut and all, I didn't do too too badly and I did get a lot of exercise today. I know that Day 11 of the challenge will be better. Right now, I'm just bone tired and cannot wait to crawl into bed. 'night all!

Day 9

It was cold today, all day. Really cold. It snowed a little bit last night. This morning I said, "it'll be gone by lunch." This time of year, snow is usually gone by lunch. Not today, it was brrrr....cold, all day. It really felt like winter today.

Oddly enough, the cold didn't bother me too much. Guess I heated up my motor pretty good this morning. It took me a little while to get moving this morning but once I did I got a lot done. I worked out and did a load of laundry before work. Day 9 was pretty good overall. We had dinner at home again tonight and it was great. My hunny had made a delicious tomato sauce on Sunday afternoon so we had whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce, sweet pepper, zucchini and some lean pork loin. It was so good, lots of garlic and onion too. mmm....For dessert, we had some of those Dare low fat cookies, the cinnamon snaps and the lemon social teas. I was surprised by how tasty they were. They are really low in fat too which is nice. I often crave cookies and these will feed that particular craving without a tonne of sugar and transfat.

The water thing has been getting better this week. Both yesterday and today, I drank a little more water than I'd been drinking. It's a slow process but I am really working at upping my intake!! Also, I'm going to try really hard to get up earlier tomorrow than I have the last couple of days. I'd like to have a slightly longer workout but I've been having a rough time getting going the past few morning. I'm off to bed now, hopefully "early to bed, early to rise" will work for me tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Did anyone see 48 hours on Saturday night? They did a show Called "Heavy Burden" and talked a lot about a diet consisting totally of raw foods. It was quite interesting, apparently it's a method of detoxing your body but some folks do it all the time. They only eat raw foods. They interviewed a couple of scientists though who said that for some vegetables, you need to cook them at least a little to get the benefit of the nutrients (otherwise it's just fiber and you poop all the good out). Some folks swear by it and they say that if you're eating only raw foods, you can eat as much as you'd like. It totally makes sense I guess. It's not something I think I could do but it was interesting nonetheless.

They also talked about how non-teenaged females are developing anorexia. There is some stuff about the show on the link I put above. It was quite scary. I hadn't realized that some women develop the disease later in life. They interviewed one women who was in her mid-40's and other who was in her 50's. The one woman they followed had never had a problem with her weight and had been put on a low fat diet by her doctor for health reasons (she'd been having stomach trouble). She eventually developed such a low-calorie / fat regime for herself that she was basically starving herself. She was doing in-patient treatment at an eating disorders clinic when they hooked up with her. Fortunately, she was able to gain some weight there, get help and was able to go home. Again, really interesting. I don't usually watch 48 hours but had seen an ad for this particular show somewhere and was glad that I watched it.

Day 8

Well, I did great today. Last night, I hauled my ass and several boxes of books up and down the stairs here at home. It felt great, I was working up a sweat by the time I finished but I didn't get winded, it was AWESOME!!! This morning, I wasn't a hurtin' unit and managed to workout before heading into the office. My eating was great, all day. I'm really happy. My rings are really getting loose on me, as are my pants. I wore a sweater to work today (my snowflake sweater) that I hadn't worn in a while and I noticed that it's almost too big. Around the waist it's too big anyway, I think I stretched it out last winter. It feels good though, I totally do not mind getting too small for clothes!!

So, other than feeling strong and healthy, there is not much to report tonight. Happy December everyone!!

Day 6 & 7

I'm happy to report that the weekend did not totally kick my ass. This is actually the best weekend I've had in a while as far as food consumption goes.

I wasn't feeling that great this weekend so I did do any proper working out. I never feel badly about taking a weekend off from exercise because I do so well through the week. Anyway, we went out for dinner last night and had a really nice Chinese meal. I'd eaten breakfast late and skipped lunch so I kept things under control calorie wise. Today, we made a "big breakfast" at home. It was really delicious, filling and low in fat. We had "break free" eggs, turkey sausage and home made whole wheat bread. My hunny even made potatoes with lots of garlic and fresh dill. It's amazing how you don't miss the butter and fat when you have lots of good fresh herbs around. It was so good and filling that again, we didn't bother with lunch. We're neither of us all that hungry right now so we'll probably have a very light dinner tonight.

The first week went really well. My goal for this week was to not show a gain this weekend (because of TOM -- I always gain a couple of pounds and then lose it later on). This week, I met my goal and didn't show a gain at weigh-in yesterday! Also, I exercised Monday to Friday before work. I didn't do as well with my water intake as I'd have liked but I'm finding it harder to do this now that the colder weather is here. It's pretty chilly in my office so it's a struggle to get the extra water in. I'm working on it though, never fear. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how week one of my "Holiday Challenge" went. I'm sure that it will go even better next week. I know that I can lose the 10 pounds by Christmas day because I'm off to such a great start. Yay me!!

Day 5

Yes, I did get through Day 5, never fear!! I just didn't post yesterday because I felt like hammered crap all day.

When I got up yesterday, I had a headache and just felt generally yucky. I did a really light workout when I got up and managed to get showered, dressed and into work. By 10 a.m. though, I was feeling really really bad and I went home. The rest of the day, I just sort of slept and wandered around the house. By late afternoon I was feeling much better and today I'm doing okay. It sort of felt like part flu, part allergies. I had a headache and my eyes were driving me crazy, like they do when the pollen is high.

I was quite proud of myself yesterday too, btw. Usually when I'm home sick, I get bored and I start to snack. Yesterday though, I had had my regular breakfast and coffee. About an hour after I was home, I got kind of hungry so I had what I would have had if I was at work, a banana. Around 1, I had lunch (a TGTB frozen meal) and an apple. I didn't snack for the rest of the day and even though we had pizza at dinner, I kept what I was eating in check and remained on plan.

So far, today is going well too. Weekends and days off from work are the toughest for me but I've been keeping busy today getting my Christmas decorations up. I'm keeping positive that I'll be able to remain on plan for the rest of the weekend. I weighed in this morning too by the way. I maintained this week which meant that I may have actually had a loss ...I always gain a little when it's TOM and that all started up today so...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll actually be down a bit next weekend!

...Day 4

Woohoo...I've got day four behind me. It was another perfectly on plan day. I've been a bit crampy today and this afternoon, I felt like I was starving to death (for about 10 minutes -- don't know quite what it was but it passed!). Tonight I feel good, tired but good. The week's been busy at work and I'm pre-TOM right now so I'm kind of dragging my bum tonight.

This morning though, I got up and worked out. I love my morning workouts. I like getting up before the birds, getting into my exercise gear, watching the previous day's Dr Phil and just going. Work has been kind of stressful just recently and I know that I'm coping a lot better than I would have because of the exercise.

So, other than eating and exercising being on plan today (my what a good girl am I!), there's not much to report. Oh, wait, I reorganized the shelves in my kitchen above the washer and dryer tonight -- that's something I've been avoiding doing for ages and ages so I guess that could be considered 'newsworthy.' Demented and sad, but newsworthy!!

Into the Groove...Day 3

Boy, what listening to Christmas music all day won't do for a girl!! That's right, I'll admit it, I've been listening to some of my all-time favourite Christmas tunes through my headset this week: "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues (with Kirsty MacColl), "I want an alien for Christmas" by the Fountains of Wayne, "Santa Claus Is Smoking Reefer" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers.... It's made me chuckle and smile while I've been plugging away at my desk all week.

I think that it's helped to improve my mood slightly, or my continuing Holiday Challenge has anyway. I just feel gosh-darned good this week. Today was the third day of the challenge and I'm feeling great. I had a fabulous workout again this morning. Now that my body has adjusted to my new medication and I'm actually sleeping well again, I'm putting a lot more into my exercise sessions. I'm getting a lot more out of it too, I'm feeling very strong this week.

My food intake was right on track today as well. The one big thing that I could improve upon is my water consumption. I've been working at increasing it and today was a bit better than yesterday but still not where it should be, particularly with the PMS thing and all. I know that TOM is just around the corner and I'll be super happy if, on Saturday, I just don't see a water gain. If I can avoid a TOM induced gain this week, I'll know that the challenge is working.

By the way, Denise, thanks for the nice comment about the challenge. I'm so glad to hear that you'll be joining me in it!! If we can lose weight during the holidays, there isn't anything that we can't do!!

...Day 2

Fortunately, blogger is behaving tonight. I'm not sure if they were having server issues or if it was just my isp but things were definitely wonky last night.

Today was another great day. I got up at a decent time and had a terrific workout. I rode over 7 miles on my recumbent bike. The particular program that I ride on it is pretty gruelling, most of it is at 6 or 7 resistance. I try to maintain a constant speed through the whole ride and it's been really challenging, particularly on this longer program. Overall, I'm really pleased with my progress.

Today my eating was good. At work this morning, we had a birthday thing for one of the girls in our office. We had a meeting scheduled and they had booked a coffee service for it. Unfortunately, a couple of the participants weren't able to make it so we postponed it. The food had already arrived and, as luck would have it, there was a birthday in the office. The service had coffee, tea, bottled water and juice and the most delicious smelling pastries: muffins, danish, croissants. Even though I'd had breakfast, my nose was trying to tell my stomach to have something, because the aroma was heavenly. I was strong though and I'm happy to report that I stuck to my black coffee (that I'd brought with me) and stayed away from the pastries. Most of the time, I find it really easy to be "strong" at work in situations like this. Perhaps because PMS is just around the corner, it was more of a struggle today. I'm just happy that I survived it.

After work tonight, we hit No Frills. We were out of almost everything. I was really happy to see that Source yogurt was on for $3.97 for the 16 pack. I just love that stuff and you absolutely cannot beat that price. We're all stocked up on healthy stuff again, lots of fruit and veg. Tomorrow we take our little old for his shopping and I'll get a few more things then. He likes to shop at Loblaws but I just will not pay their meat and produce prices. I do have to get a few staples there though, things that I just can't get at No Frills. On the way home, we stopped off for an unplanned dinner out. We ended up at Denny's and I'm happy to say that I did okay as far as my dinner goes. I avoided stuff with cheese or too much fat and my calories worked out just fine again today.

With two solid, good days under my belt, I'm feeling really good about this Christmas Challenge thing. I just feel so good right now, there is no way that I can't succeed!!

I'm not sure why but I couldn't get on Blogger last night....so, here is Monday evening's post:

Holiday Challenge: Day 1

I’ve officially started my self-imposed challenge: to lose 10 pounds by Christmas Day. Given that it’s a month from Christmas, I don’t think that this is unreasonable. I’m confident that I can do it. I may even surpass my goal, I’m not getting a head of myself, just saying, ya know?

So, today I kept perfectly on plan all day with my eating. No stray cookies after dinner for this chickie! I carefully tracked each calorie, just like when I first started out back in January. It wasn’t difficult; in fact, it was easier than the way I’ve been tracking things lately. I feel pretty good about it right now. I’ve left myself enough calories for a snack after I’ve typed this up. I generally try not to snack in the evenings but this is a healthy snack and we had dinner pretty early tonight.

Also, I exercised this morning. I didn’t do it for a long time or, particularly well, truth be told. What happened was that I slept in a bit and was rushing a bit. I was actually up really early but fell back asleep. I should never do that because it’s always so much harder to get going once you’ve fallen back. If it happens again tomorrow, I’ll just get up at 4:30 and get moving then. Getting up at 5:45 is just too late!

I know it’s just one day but it’s been a good one and I feel happy that it’s behind me now!

Now, here is today’s Progress Prompt:

People say that losing weight too quickly can be damaging for your health and your long-term success, why? There are many merits to a slow and steady weight-loss, what are the biggest ones for you?

I think that there is a lot of truth to this. I think that losing weight too quickly can cause a shock to your system which is never good. Personally, I know that the slower I lose weight, the better shot I have at keeping it off. In the past, I’d lose a chunk of weight quickly and then gain it back twice as fast. I never gave myself the time to develop good habits; I’d just use short cuts (read slim fast, cabbage soup, etc.) instead of exercising and eating better.

This is the first time in my life that I’ve been able to keep a significant amount of weight off. I’ve lost over 70 pounds since January and have kept it off. Sure, I would have liked to have lost a lot more than that by now but I know that I’m doing this in a healthy fashion. I see my doctor once a month so I have someone else keeping an eye on me and monitoring my health as I continue to lose weight. I’ve been stalled for a few weeks now but the big thing for me was that I didn’t gain everything back. I just stalled. I feel good about that, not great but good. Now, I’m ready to get back on my slow and steady ride. I want to move my body, everyday, and fuel it with healthy stuff. I’ve said this enough times that I know you’re all sick of reading it but this is not a “diet” that I’ll stop doing eventually, this is something that I’ll have to do for the rest of my life. I know that for me, the pace at which I’ve been losing weight is perfectly reasonable and safe and, most importantly, healthy.

So, I ended up taking the whole weekend off from properly exercising. I feel great though. Lately, the weekend's have been a complete blow-out for me. I've been maintaining but just barely. This weekend, I had a few "treats" but didn't go nuts. I managed to keep pretty busy around the house. I mean, no doubt, we were vegging out but I puttered while I vegged. I sorted out piles of videos and CD's from around the stereo, packed up piles of knick-knacks that I've been wanting to chuck out, that sort of thing.

I'm treating tomorrow as if it were January 6 again. My goal is to remain perfectly on program from now until Christmas. I'd LOVE to lose 10 pounds before the end of the year and I don't think that it's an unreasonable goal. I'm feeling stronger and more energetic than I have felt in a good long while and I'm going to use that feeling to get my butt moving again!

I didn't end up working out today at all. What I did do though, was something I haven't done in a long long time, I slept in. Really late, well for me anyway...After 9 a.m. actually. It felt terrific. I think that all of the not-sleeping I did, combined with my work schedule over the past month, had kicked my ass. My focus for this weekend is to get my laundry done and to rest. So far, so good. The laundry is 1/2 done and I'm really resting up. Eating was pretty on track for today too. So, the weekend is basically going really well so far!! Yay!!

I totally kicked ass today!! I feel so good!!

I had a great day at work. It was busy but not as stressful as it has been recently. This morning I flew out of bed and had a terrific sweaty workout. I kept my eating on plan all day and am heading off to bed on a high note. I'm really pleased with myself this week.

Tomorrow is my regular break day as far as workouts go but I think I'll try to exercise anyway. I want to keep building on the good stuff that's been happening this week (and, if I exercise on the weekend, I'm less likely to munch out too much -- weekends can be just brutal!)!!

I'm actually feeling good today. I mean, really good. Yesterday was a brutal day at work and I felt really stressed and upset all day. Today, the atmosphere is a lot better and so is my mood.

Last night we took our little old guy out for dinner and we ended up at East Side Mario's. I did okay though, didn't pig out on that bread or anything. When we got home and I was changing into my knock-around-the-house clothes, I took a good look at the sweater I had worn all day. It was a pretty maroon cotton cardigan that I'd had for a while. I hadn't worn it yet this year and I remember last year, the buttons were almost popping on it. Yesterday, it fit me a little big. The sleeves seemed a bit long and I definitely had room to move in it. When I looked at the tag, I noticed that it was a 4x! Most of my tops are 5x, I hadn't even realized that this one was a size smaller than I had been wearing...and it was big on me!!

That felt so good...and it sort of kicked me in the butt. I've been struggling with a lot of things lately and I've gotten kind of lazy with my program. I know that the only reason I'm not gaining any weight right now is because of my workouts. I'm getting really tired of being stuck at the same weight and I want to see the scale move (not to mention see a 3x sweater be too big on me). I'm refocused now and I am going to really try hard to work my program and not let myself get lazy. I've got a long way to go to get to my goal and I want to keep that shrinking feeling going!!

Hump day, already. So far it's been a bit of a blur, and it's raining. Weirdness abounds today. On Sunday night, I started taking that medication my doctor gave me last week. On Monday and Tuesday mornings, I felt a little hungover. She told me that I might feel this way. I also had a dry mouth, another symptom that she said would likely happen. This morning though, I felt really good when I got up. I found that on Sunday and Monday nights I slept so hard that it was tough to get moving in the morning. I was physically very stiff, particularly my lower back. This morning though, I felt normal and refreshed. I hadn't felt that in the morning in a very long time. I still woke up a couple of times in the night, but just briefly. Long enough to look at the clock and see what time it was but not long enough to disrupt my sleep too much.

So far this week, I've done well with my water intake. Partly because I'm making an actual effort to drink it more and partly because of the dry mouth thing. My workouts haven't been fabulously glorious sweat-fests but I've been doing them so that counts for something. Eating has been okay. I'm still recovering from all the restaurant eating we did on the weekend. Overall, at mid-week, it's not going too badly.

Oh, by the way, did any of you watch Dr. Phil on Monday and/or Tuesday? This week, they were threatening to vote someone off of the weight-loss challenge. Fortunately they didn't in the end. It was sort of lame and anti-climatic but I was kind of happy to see everyone get to stay. One very cool thing did come out of the show though, this week's winning team got their choice of 3 different Precor machines. Apparently, at home participants can get in a draw to win one too (either a treadmill, elliptical or a bike). I may have to check it out and see if I can qualify for the draw. What a cool prize to win!!

I didn't get around to posting on Sunday or Monday because the days were kind of foggy.

On Saturday, we went up to Toronto for this big event I was working at. I started the day by getting up around 4 a.m. and wasn't able to get back to sleep. We left here around 10:30 a.m. and got to the hotel at around 1 p.m. so we made very good time. Traffic was light, the day went along pretty smoothly. Everything at the event went fairly smoothly and I was pretty pleased with myself as far as my energy level and stamina went. There was a lot of walking and running and moving of furniture and boxes and I handled it all really well. I remember last year it was a real struggle to do what I had to do but this year, it was a snap. It's at times like that when I really notice the benefits of my workouts.

Eating was pretty okay even though we had lunch at Mr GreenJeans. My hunny had driven up to meet me and I had promised to take him out for soup after the event was over. He's originally from Toronto and really misses living in a city with a proper China Town. So, at 2 a.m., we traipsed over to the Gold Stone for some congee. It was SOOO good. It had been ages since I had some. You can't get it here where we live. It was a little late to be having dinner but I really didn't care. It was such good food and we really enjoyed it never mind that it was the middle of the night. We got back to the hotel at a little after 3 a.m. but didn't get much sleep. I was happy to get up and out in the morning and head back to town. We had originally thought about staying over an extra night to visit some friends and do some Christmas shopping but the Santa Claus Parade was on and we were totally exhausted and just wanted to get home.

I had decided at the beginning of the weekend that I wasn't going to worry too much about what I was eating that weekend. The main reason being that I didn't have a lot of control over most of the meals we would be eating. This morning, I tallied everything up and discovered that my portion control was pretty good, calorie-wise, and that I didn't actually go too far overboard.

Now, a day late, here's this week's Progress Prompt:

Have you ever been discriminated against because of your weight? What opportunities have you missed out on because of your size?

Oh for sure I have been. I'm sure that there were jobs that I didn't get because I was overweight. I know that when I was in school, there were things that I didn't do because of my weight. Although I loved swimming, I deliberately missed the swimming component of Grade 12 gym to avoid having to change into a swim suit in front of my average weight classmates. I could make a list of things as long as your arm of things that I didn't do back then, because I felt that I was too fat (or embarrassedembarassed by my fat) to do them.

As an adult, my attitude has changed and I try not to let my weight slow me down. It's definitely been easier this year, since I've become more active and have lost some of it. I no longer allow other people's prejudices about fat people make me feel bad about myself. I know who I am and what am I and if someone is going to judge me soley on how much I weigh or what size I wear, that is their problem, not mine.

I've been up for a while. I was completely exhausted when I went to bed last night but had a hard time falling asleep. I woke up ridiculously early this morning yet can't start getting packed ready to go away because my honey is still sleeping and I don't want to wake him up. I did get my list together though so packing will be a breeze. Luckily, I'm not one of those "takes everything but the kitchen sink" type of girls. Afterall, at the very most, we'll be gone 2 days.

I'm leaving for Toronto in a few hours. I'll be working an event there tonight and should have slept in a bit this morning. I won't be getting to bed before 3 a.m. tonight, I know. I'll probably sleep tomorrow. My honey is driving up to Toronto this afternoon so we'll see each other after the event's over. We have stuff to do in TO tomorrow and might stay over another night. It'll depend on the weather.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend being over. I want my regular routine back and I want to be able to sleep, properly, again. I'm going to do my best to keep my eating on track this weekend as best as I can. My boss and I are taking ourselves out for a nice lunch when we get into town (because we'll be working through dinnertime and the only thing we'll be able to eat is pizza). I'm thinking that I'll be too busy for most of the weekend to do too much damage. I haven't jumped on the scales yet this morning but I'm being optimistic (I'm always optimistic).

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll see you when I get home!

I'm taking a break for lunch right now, as I type this. This is the first time in a couple of days that I've actually remembered to stop and take a break. The event that we're working on is tomorrow so things are winding down as we tie up all the loose ends.

I feel pretty good about the fact that I've exercised every day this week. I realized this morning that the time I take in the morning to exercise, eat breakfast and get ready for work is the only time in the day that I have to myself. It relaxes me and fortifies me for my day.

Recently, we have had a lot of stressful stuff going on in our lives. Ordinarily, you have one or two areas that are stressful and the rest is smooth sailing, lately, it seems like family commitments, work stuff, finances...Everything's going to pot. Well not to pot exactly, we're sorting stuff out, we're just in a really messy transitional period at the moment. When I had my doctor's appointment on Wednesday, I sort of dumped on her and told her about all the stuff that has been going on recently. The result of all this stress stuff is that I've not been sleeping much and I've not lost any weight in the past month. I know that I've been eating too much in the evenings and the weekends are quite bad. She and I are both concerned that this stuff might cause me to undo my weight-loss. I know that the only reason I haven't gained a bunch of it back is because of the exercise.

She's prescribed a very mild anti-depressant for me. I haven't started taking it yet because she is suggesting that I try it and see if it helps me sleep. She recommended that I take it on a night that I don't have to be up the next morning, just in case. It wasn't something that I thought about talking to her about prior to my appointment but when I read up on the pill, and it's uses, I realized that it would be a good thing to try. We'll see how it goes! Once we get our plans sorted out as far as our extended family, finances and jobs go, things will sail much more smoothly for me. Getting decent sleep every night will help keep me strong until life gets less nutty.

My new years resolution for 2003 was about minimization. I wanted to clear out the clutter in our lives, in our homes, in our diet, everywhere. I see now that 2004 is going to be a continuation of what I started this year. I feel a lot better today than I have all week. I think that actually having made a plan is a big part of it. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and am really focused on my goals now. Not just for weight-loss but for everything. Perspective rocks!!

Now, 2 days late, here's the Wednesday Weigh-In for this week:

Where do you stand on weight related surgery? Are you in favor of it? Why or why not? Do you agree with it in certain circumstances and what are those circumstances? Would do you it if you had to?

I don't believe that WLS is a good thing, not at all. At my starting weight, I weighed a lot more than many people I hear about who have WLS. Surgery does not address the reason you got fat in the first place. I know that you have to be counselled before surgery but I don't know that they actually treat you for whatever is making you fat.

A good friend of mine had WLS several years ago. She lost a lot of weight very quickly and looked fabulous. Slowly though, the weight crept back on and her metabolism was a complete mess. Her meals must be really small because her stomach capacity is nill; she often eats 8 or 9 small meals a day and has had a tonne of health problems as a result of her surgery. I have read a tonne of horror stories about the health risks of the surgery.

I figure if I can start moving my body and eating healthy and lose weight, anyone can. Once you have the right motivation and figure out what got you fat, you can stop doing that stuff and lose the weight (and keep it off). I hate hearing WLS folks say, "oh I tried everything and nothing worked." Read, they tried a bunch of fad diets and got tired of waiting to be thin. I know that this is going to sound really harsh but I think that folks who resort to WLS are lazy. They don't want to lose the weight slowly so they jump into WLS just like they jumped into cabbage soup or dexatrim. There is no easy fix for weight-loss. It's hard, boring work. It's tedious and it takes a long time but eventually it happens. You'r thinner and healthier and you've done it in a way that isn't endangering your life. I would never consider WLS for myself and I would not support WLS for anyone, under any circumstances.

I'm totally neglecting my blog this week but I'm not neglecting myself too much. I had a terrific workout this morning before work. I was up pretty early because we had this horrible wind storm here all night and I couldn't sleep much. I've kept up with my workouts all week and am pretty pleased with myself about that. Despite all the other stuff that is going on, I'm at least exercising every day!

Today ended up being another crazy day at the office. I forgot to eat again because I was working full stop. I stopped to pee, like twice. I'm way too familiar with my cubicle these days. At around 3:30 p.m., I was feeling quite gross, had a banana and felt better. I'll be so glad when this week is over. YUCK!!! Fortunately, next week things will resume to as normal as they ever get.

Tonight I worked late and we went out for dinner afterwards. We went to EastSide Mario's and had salad and pasta. Not the healthiest thing in the world to do but I figured I was okay, what with skipping lunch and all. I haven't figured out my calories for the day but I'm pretty sure I'm within range.

Eventually, I'll write an interesting post and will finally get to this week's Wednesday Weigh-in. In the meantime, it's past my bedtime. 'night all!!

I have had a really crazy day. I was so busy at work that I actually forgot to eat my lunch. I have stuff to write about, like my visit to the doctor's, but I'm way too pooped to piece together a coherent paragraph. I'll post stuff about that, and the Wednesday Weigh-in tomorrow.

Sometimes fat free yogurt just doesn't cut it, you know? I'm under the gun at work right now and all I really want to do is dive into a barrel of chocolate bars. Instead, I'm drinking my water, eating my fat free yogurt and am doing my very best to just suck it up. In addition to boredom and lack of structure, please add stress to the list of things that will work against me.

Stress and frustration aside, I had a fabulous workout this morning. I rode almost 7 miles again this morning and felt great afterward. I actually had a great night's sleep last night so I was well rested when I got up this morning (yay!!). I'm really working at increasing the amount of exercise I do each week. I try to do this gradually and it's working. I feel a lot more "muscle-y" lately. My legs are starting to look pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I read the following article on the weekend and thought it was pretty cool. It pretty much sums up what I've said all along, find something that works for you and stick to it. I get really distressed when folks get into a battle of what's "better," low fat or low carb. I always wonder, what difference does it make? If you don't find something that is manageable for you, you're not going to stick with it, no matter what it is. Anyway, if you didn't see the article on the weekend, here it is:

Four Popular Diets All Work Well, U.S. Study Shows
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - No matter what diet you are on, if you eat less and lose weight you also lower your risk of heart disease, doctors told a conference on Sunday.

Weight Watchers, the high-fat Atkins diet, the extremely low-fat Ornish diet and the high-protein, moderate carbohydrate Zone diet all help people lose weight and all reduce cholesterol, but in different ways, the researchers said.

"On average, participants in the study reduced their heart disease risk by 5 percent to 15 percent," Dr. Michael Dansinger of Tufts University in Boston told a meeting of the American Heart Association.

"Instead of saying there is one clear winner here, we are saying they are all winners."

And, as might be expected, the closer dieters followed the plans, the more weight they lost.

Those who stuck it out for a full year lost, on average, 5 percent of their body weight -- or about 10 to 12 pounds.

While the dieters reduced heart disease "risk factors" such as cholesterol levels, overall blood pressure did not drop much and the study did not last long enough to see if this translated into a lower long-term risk of heart disease.

Instead, the researchers used statistics that show lowering cholesterol by a certain amount, for instance, reduces the risk of heart disease overall.

Dr. Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado, who heads the Heart Association's nutrition committee, said the message is clear -- lose weight however you can to reduce your risk of heart disease.

WEIGHT REDUCTION

"I think weight reduction trumps a lot of other stuff," Eckel said.

For the study Dansinger and colleagues chose 160 overweight people and randomly assigned 40 to each of four different diets. They weighed an average 220 pounds (100 kg) and needed to lose between 30 and 80 pounds.

All agreed to follow the diets to the best of their ability for two months, although none were enrolled in the full programs that Weight Watchers and Dr. Dean Ornish advocate.

They include exercise, group meetings and food diaries for Weight Watchers and stress reduction for the Ornish diet.

After two months 22 percent of the dieters had given up. After a year, 35 percent dropped out of Weight Watchers and the Zone diets and 50 percent had quit the Atkins and Ornish plans.

Dansinger and other researchers said the study suggested there is no one-size-fits-all diet best for everyone.

"The type of person who is going to go for a low-fat, vegetarian diet is not, in my experience, the kind of person who is going to go for a high-meat diet," Dansinger said.

But for people with high cholesterol levels, the Ornish diet might be the most beneficial, Dansinger said.

"The Ornish diet, low-fat vegetarian, was best for lowering the bad LDL cholesterol, while other diets were better at raising the good HDL cholesterol," Dansinger said. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol is the stuff that clogs arteries, while high density lipoprotein carries fat out of the blood.

"Atkins reduced LDL 8.6 percent, Zone 6.7 percent, Weight Watchers 7.7 percent and Ornish 16.7 percent," Dansinger said in a statement afterwards. He said the Atkins and Zone diets diet raised HDL by about 15 percent, Weight Watchers by 18.5 percent, and Ornish by 2.2 percent.

Ornish said doctors often place too high a value on high HDL levels. "If you reduce fat, there is less garbage, less saturated fat and cholesterol, so your body needs less garbage trucks," he said.

But Dansinger said his study was one of several that has suggested the high-fat Atkins diet, in the short-term, does not raise the risk of heart disease.

Happy Monday

Work is very busy this week. I'm feeling a little stressed and have had a headache all day. I just took an aleve and am going to eat my lunch soon. Hopefully that will get rid of it. I slept in pretty late this morning on top of it. I just could not get out of bed. I had a tough time sleeping on Saturday night for some reason. I lay in bed with my eyes wide open for the longest time. When I could sleep, I dreamt. It was odd. Last night, it took me a while to get to sleep and when I finally did, the weird dreams started up again. I'm not sure what it all meant but I'm pretty pooped today. On an up note, my ankle seems to be better. Other than the headache and the tired, I still feel better than I did last week, overall.

Over the past few weekends, I've been managing to not do any exercise at all. This past weekend, I actually did something on Saturday. Yesterday, for many reasons, was a write-off. I think it was the lack of sleep. My energy was just drained and I didn't really do much. I mean, I finished up my housework and got started on the Christmas craft projects but other than that, I didn't move. I had 5 weeks worth of new Will & Grace's on tape so we vegged out on the sofa and laughed our butts off in the afternoon.

I also will fess up to a fair bit of snacking over the weekend. I should keep busier, I should get more rest. Being tired and unoccupied make me wander through the kitchen more often than I should. Fortunately, next weekend, I'm working and I'm out of town so that will help keep me on track. During the week I do okay but the weekends are brutally difficult. Hopefully, once this week is out of the way, work will get back to a normal pace until the Christmas break. If I can keep myself on plan over the next 5 weeks, I should be in good shape for the actual holidays (crosses fingers), here's hoping anyway!

On a positive note, I did put more miles than normal on my bike last week AND I was able to increase my water intake last week so, go me!!

I read this morning and thought it was interesting. Personally, I'm trying to do an "all things in moderation" type of program that is low calorie and low fat. I know that I could never do a low-carb program. I hadn't realized though, the impact that low-carb programs were having on the market place until I saw that KFC commercial last week, and then read this article today:

Breadmakers Feel Pain From Atkins Diet
By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Maine - Some bakers around the country are seeing a similar drop in business: With millions of people trying the diet created by the late low-carb guru Dr. Robert Atkins, overall bread sales are flat or down slightly, while bread-bashing seems to be at an all-time high.

A sign in Stephen Lanzalotta's bakery reads, "Senza il pane tutto diventa orfano." In Italian, that means, "Without bread everyone's an orphan."

But fewer customers are buying his European-style breads and pastries these days — thanks to the Atkins diet, many regulars are cutting back on carbohydrates. Lanzalotta says the low-carb diet has contributed to an estimated 40 percent drop in business at his shop, Sophia's.

Some customers have even stopped by to apologize.

"They'll say, 'I'm sorry. I haven't been in for six months because I'm on the Atkins diet,'" said Lanzalotta, whose muscular arms are a testament to long hours spent kneading dough.

The National Bread Leadership Council, which says 40 percent of Americans are eating less bread than a year ago, has scheduled what it calls a summit this month in Rhode Island focusing in part on low-carb diets and how to educate the public that breaking bread is still part of a healthy lifestyle.

"It's too bad that we just can't eat all foods in moderation. But no, we have to do something dramatic all the time," said Judi Adams, president of the Wheat Foods Council and a registered dietician, referring to the Atkins diet. "We have to look for this magic bullet."

Estimates of the number of Americans on low-carb diets vary widely, from 5 million to 50 million. Their boycott of bread has exacerbated a sluggish sales trend that was in place before low-carb diets became popular, said John McMillin, a food industry analyst with Prudential Equity Group Inc. in New York.

When Lanzalotta opened his bakery, bread accounted for 75 percent of sales. Now it accounts for just 15 percent. He boosted his dessert offerings and began offering sandwiches to try to make up the difference. He also adapted by selling artwork, including his own paintings.

At Standard Baking, co-owner Alison Pray said sales are nearly flat after previously growing 10 percent to 15 percent a year.

Pray sees plenty of couples stopping by, but often only one partner is eating. The other is cutting carbs.

She's a bit incredulous when customers ask if she produces anything consistent with the Atkins diet. "This one person asked me, 'Can you make a low-carbohydrate bread?' I said, 'I wouldn't know how to do it,'" she said.

Others are adapting. At Anthony's Italian Kitchen, owner Tony Barassa said his customers are ordering Syrian wraps without the wrap and panini sandwiches without the panini. They're also ordering meatballs without the spaghetti.

On Atkins, people can eat cheese, eggs and meat as long as they strictly limit carbohydrates and avoid refined carbs like white flour. White bread, pasta, potatoes and other carbo-loaded foods are blacklisted. The diet was once scorned by the medical establishment, but recent studies have shown that people lose weight without compromising their health.

The Wheat Food Council's Adams, who is based in Colorado, believes low-carb diets are just another fad. And she wonders if they're really helping.

She noted that the nation's obesity rate has continued to grow as flour consumption has declined. Wheat flour consumption has dropped by about 10 pounds a year per person since 1997, she said, calling Americans' tendency to eat too much of everything the real problem.

"We eat 300 more calories a day than we did in 1985," Adams said. "We supersize everything. We eat constantly."

Big Sky Baking Co. in Portland appears to have avoided the worst of the low-carb fallout because its whole wheat bread is the kind recommended for carb-cutters who can't resist a slice every now and again.

Owner Martha Elkus recognizes that times are changing. "The food pyramid has been turned upside down," she said.

Bread bakers aren't the only ones hurting. The pasta industry, the tortilla industry, bagel makers and even brewers of beer have taken their lumps for having too many carbohydrates.

The Tortilla Industry Association held a seminar last spring titled, "An Industry in Crisis: The High-protein, Low-carb Diet and Its Effects on the Tortilla Industry." The National Pasta Association has a "Diet Matters" section on its Web page that focuses on low-carb diets.

Joshua Sosland, executive editor of Milling and Baking News in St. Louis, said it's difficult for consumers to find good information amidst all of the hype that served to overshadow the science behind the diets. Often overlooked is the fact that bread and grains remain an important part of the federal government's diet guidelines.

"Here we have about the most healthy thing in the diet," Sosland said, "and it's being treated like it's poison."

Bakers are changing their products even as they seek to get out the message that bread remains part of a healthy lifestyle.

Flowers Foods' low-carb bread, "Nature's Own Wheat 'n Fiber," has proven to be the company's most successful new product launch to date, said Mary Krier, spokeswoman in Thomasville, Ga.

George Weston Bakeries Inc. has launched "Carb Counting" bread under its Arnold label that carries the Atkins seal. Maine-based Lepage Bakeries has introduced Country Kitchen "Lower Carb" wheat bread.

Panera Bread, a fast-growing chain that offers soups, salads and sandwiches in addition to bread, is also making changes to meet the evolving tastes of its customers. The company is testing three whole-grain breads with fewer grams of carbohydrates per slice.

"Our view of it is not to resist (the low-carb trend) but to recognize it as a real niche," CEO Ron Shaich said.

On the Net:
+ Atkins Web site
+ National Bread Leadership Council
+ Wheat Foods Council
+ National Pasta Association
+ Tortilla Industry Association

happy weekend

The sun is shining and it's an absolutely gorgeous, late fall day here!

Despite the fact that I'm sort of limping around on my stupid ankle, I'm feeling good today. Funny thing about is that it only hurts when I put weight on it. I did ride my bike this morning though and it didn't hurt at all while I was riding. I did over 7 miles again this morning. Saturday's are traditionally break days for me but so far today, I've exercised and kept on plan.

I've been getting into trouble on the weekends lately. I'm not "binging" per se but I am snacking a lot more than I should. It's the lack of routine and I know it. If I keep myself busy, I am less like to eat mindlessly. This morning, in an effort to keep on track, I tore half the house apart and have been cleaning and tidying. I got the downstairs sorted out, the office/computer room de-cluttered and the bedroom dusted (and the bed changed). The washer is humming with load 2 of 4 and I found some Christmas craft type things to work on. I'm forever buying little kits and those ceramic ornaments, the ones you paint, but never do them. I have now pulled them out and have put them on the dining room table. I can sit at the table, work on the ornaments and watch DVD's or TLC instead of mindless snacking. The mindless snacking shall end. The scale will move down next week.

I feel fit and thinner, I just want to see those numbers reflect how great I'm feeling these days!

scale whore-esque

I've been jumping on the scale a lot this week (a la Trish). I shouldn't do it, I know, but I have been. It's not moving and it's pissing me off. It shouldn't piss me off, I know this. My "official" weigh-in day is Saturday but I wanted to see some movement this week. I think I'm expecting to see movement because I feel thinner this week. I think that when I see myself in the mirror, I look thinner. My clothes certainly feel bigger.

I'm feeling much better today than I have all week. I had a fabulous workout this morning and actually got up over 7 miles on my bike (just barely) this morning. I feel strong and healthier than I have in a while. It's a good feeling.

I almost sprained my ankle and wrist this morning at work. I was running down our back staircase on my way to the water cooler to refill my bottle. As I hit the bottom of the stairs, my right foot turned over slightly and I fell into the edge of open door. I scraped my knuckles and my wrist and ankle are a little sore right now but other than that I'm okay. I came very close to totally wiping out though, it could have been nasty (but it wasn't!). It woke me up though, wow, I don't want to do that too often!

Oh, by the way, the "best before" date on my yogurt is now December 13. How disgustingly close to Christmas is that?!??

I'm still feeling like crap. I almost slept in again this morning. When I did get up, I was moving really slowly as my head was pounding and I was stuffed up. I managed to get some exercise in before work but it wasn't a great workout. I was sweating a lot but I know that the sweat was from the cold rather than the exercise. Oh well, sweat is sweat right?

Our little old guy was feeling yucky last night too so we did his shopping for him and took Swiss Chalet take out to his place for dinner. I had a great salad and some chicken for dinner so my eating for yesterday wasn't totally horrible. I haven't lost any weight over the past couple of weeks but I haven't gained any either. I've been working at keeping on program but the weekends and evenings have been a struggle lately. Either one or both of us feels like crap so we don't eat the best. I carefully plan out breakfast and lunch though so they're on track. It's not a total washout, I have more on plan days than not but I'd like to be more consistent and see the scale moving again. At least I'm still exercising, right?

a day late and a dollar short

Better late than never right? Here's this week's Wednesday Weigh-In:

How do you feel about weight and fitness in regards to your lovelife? Would be involved with a person who weighed the same or more than you?

In the past, when I was single, I dated guys who were smaller, larger and basically the same size as me. I can say that it was who they were and not what kind of body they had that attracted me to them.

My hunny is a big guy and we've been doing this together. There is no way that I would have been able to stick with this lifestyle change if he hadn't been along for the ride. We were both big people when we met. For the first 3.5 years that we were together, we were so happy that we didn't we care (or notice) that we'd both packed on about 50 pounds. This time last year, he was diagnosed with high cholesterol. That diagnosis coupled with the deaths of two people we both loved and respected (from heart attacks, in their 50's -- my hunny is 51) shocked us into cleaning up our acts and getting healthy, together. We want to have a really long, active, healthy life together.

I can not imagine how difficult it would be do try to change your lifestyle without your partner being supportive of you. I can also understand how and why someone who has changed their lifestyle around, become fit and healthier, would not want to date someone who does not share that. I'd be really frightened of falling back into my bad habits if I was with someone who didn't respect my lifestyle.

ick

For the first time in several days, I did not have a difficult time getting up this morning. I woke up, sat up and then got up. No problems. I’m not sure why it’s been such a struggle over the past few days but I’m hoping that it’s not going to happen any more this week.

Yesterday I dragged my ass around. I had a dull headache all day and felt like I was getting sick. You know that burning eyes, aching sinus feeling that usually preludes a cold? Add some major aches and pains in my joints and that’s what I had yesterday. I resisted taking anything during the day but I had an ibuprofen at dinner and at bedtime and I slept well. Felt rested this morning although some of the ache is there.

We went for our groceries last night, in the cold and rain, because I was convinced that I’d be sick in bed today. We were out of most of our staples so we really stocked up last night. The nice thing is that I’m not totally bed-ridden and now our groceries are done. Either tonight or tomorrow night, we have to take our little old guy for his groceries. I prefer to get out separately from his. I help him with his shopping and it goes a lot faster if I don’t have to get stuff too. We usually shop at No Frills but he prefers Loblaws. I find it a little expensive but he doesn’t buy as much stuff as we do and he really likes the variety. He’ll probably want to go for dinner afterwards. Hopefully he’ll want to do Swiss Chalet. Last week we ended up at Denny’s after his shopping trip. It’s much easier to make good choices at Swiss Chalet than it is at Denny’s (for me anyway).

Because I wasn’t rushing this morning, I had a fabulous workout. I rode almost 7 miles on my recumbent bike and did a great upper body workout with my weights. I felt pretty good when it was over. About 30 minutes later, I was feeling the soreness in my joints and muscles return. Not fun. My boss went home at 9:30 or so, feeling crummy. It’s in the building I’m guessing. I keep eating my fruit and veg, drinking lots of water and taking my vitamins. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to keep it at bay. I don’t want to get sick. I thought I was over with that a couple of weeks ago when my back flaked out on me. Maybe that wasn’t a cold, maybe this is…whatever the case, work is really really busy right now and I’m working in Toronto next weekend and cannot get sick right now. So there nasty cold germs!!

...rainy days and Tuesdays?

It's raining again. It's also freaking cold! There are freezing rain warnings out for areas north of here. Last night, when I was out with the girls, there was a freezing rain warning in effect too. Fortunately we didn't get it! Last night was a lot of fun. I was able to avoid the nachos and dessert. I had my diet coke with lime, a small salad and a club wrap. Very yummy. The company was excellent too, we laughed a lot. It wasn't too late a night either. I was home just before 9 p.m.

I had really tough time getting up this morning and had a splitting headache. I did exercise but my performance was lack-luster to say the least. The headache has subsided a bit but I feel a cold coming on. I'm hoping that my head is just fuzzy because of the weird weather systems that are happening here.

Anyway, I'm a day late but here it is now... This week's Progress Prompt:

How do you measure success? Has your idea of success changed since you made the decision to become healthier?

I measure success in many ways. It's not just numbers on the scale for me. I use an actual measuring tape to measure success. Some weeks, the numbers on the scale don't change but the measuring tape does (or vice versa). I've measured my success with smaller dress sizes, with increased energy, with greater flexibility in my body.

I don't know that my idea of success has changed since I started this. I think that I have found more things to celebrate since I've been on my program. When I look at how I am living now (more exercise, healthy eating, etc.) compared to 12 months ago, that's a huge success. That I have been able to do this for almost 10 months and have lost a significant amount of weight in that time is a success!

rainy days and Mondays...

It's another rainy day and it's Monday. Yuck! At least it's mild. That's what everyone is saying. I'd almost rather that it were cold and sunny. This weather can really get you down.

It made me sleep in again this morning. You would have thought that I would have been well-rested after a Sunday of sleeping in and napping. I guess I wasn't. Maybe it was that old, "the more you get the more you want" type of thing too. I ended up not exercising last night during premiere night. I did run around, cleaning up, doing even more laundry (yay, it's caught up again!) but I did not properly exercise yesterday. I'm pretty okay with that too. As long as I do it every morning through the work week, I'm happy to let myself off on Saturday and Sunday.

This morning was a rush though, because I overslept a bit. I got the whole workout in but I was rushed as I got ready for work. I figured that I'd feel better afterwards if I took the time to do my whole workout and then hurried myself to get showered and dressed than if I hurried my workout and took a leisurely shower. I was correct in my thinking and I felt pretty good afterwards.

So far today, eating has been perfectly on plan. Can't say the same for the weekend but I'm not beating myself up about it. Tonight we're having a girls' night out for my co-worker who was fired last month. We're going to the local Kelsey's restaurant because it's central to where all of us live. I'm not exactly sure about what I'm having yet but I'll figure it out. I'll be driving so I'm not going to be drinking, that's a calorie savings right there. I know too that I'll not have dessert either. I'll probably go the salad route and try to be sensible. I must say that it's easier to be sensible when I'm out with my just my hunny then with the girls. Cross your fingers for me. I managed to avoid the timbits on Friday, I'll try really hard to avoid the nachos tonight!

I had the biggest laugh last night. We were watching "That 70's Show" (we'd taped the season premiere on Wednesday night) and I was whizzing through the commercials. A new KFC ad caught my eye and I had to go back, have any of you seen it? KFC is promoting their bad old, fried chicken as a good "low carb option" because, a piece of their chicken has only 11 g of carbs. The commercial shows some redneck guy eating chicken and a buddy of his says, "wow, you're looking good." I'm so sure! I think I could actually hear Dr Atkins spinning in his grave while we watched the spot. It's pretty sick, keep an eye out for it!

We had a very lazy day today. We actually slept in until almost 8 a.m. This is practically unheard of for us. We also had a nap this afternoon. It felt great. We must have been pooped or we wouldn't have slept like that. I feel really rested and am looking forward to the week. Work's going to be pretty busy this week and I'm really feeling motivated to stay on track this week. I'm so relieved that Halloween is over. I really didn't like having all those little bags of cheetos and doritos in the house.

I haven't properly exercised yet today but suspect that I will in a little while, when the season premiere of the Simpsons is on. It's been a long old summer and I'm so happy that we have a new episode tonight. One more quick note before I head off to watch tv, I went through the closet in our spare room this afternoon and found 2 old trench coats and a really nice hooded pullover that I haven't been able to wear in, oh, forever. One of the coats and the pullover fit me perfectly!! The other coat, a practically brand new black trench coat, will fit me soon. I'm so happy. I had totally forgotten that I had even hung onto these things and they actually fit!! It's been so long since I wore the pullover that it has a Inbreds button on it from around the time that Kombinator came out, almost 10 years ago. It's true what they say about nothing tasting as good as fitting into stuff that used to be too small for you feels.

I survived

Well it's over for another year. We had a tonne of kids at our place last night. It was really warm here and the rain managed to hold off. We ran out of stuff at around 7:30, we had over 100 kids last night. It was good fun and thankfully, we don't have a million little chocolate bars floating around here today. I don't know how those of you with kids can do it, have all that stuff in the house the morning after. From what I saw, the kids around here took in a shitload of stuff. One kid in particular, had a whole hockey bag full of stuff, insane!

Today was my regular day off. I was a little crampy and blah today so I basically did laundry, vegged out and then cleaned the bathroom. Fun huh? We just got home from Walmart. I picked up some REALLY cheap Halloween coloured (ie orange and purple) mini lights. I've tucked them away for next year. I don't normally workout on Saturdays but we're getting ready to settle in for an evening of television (stuff we've taped this week) and I may just hit the bike when I get downstairs.

I noticed when we were in Walmart that the Christmas candies and goodies are already on the shelves. I can't believe that it's starting already. I shouldn't be surprised but it's going to be a long couple of months. I may try to avoid shopping as much as I possibly can. I just melt for those green and red holiday M&M's....If I can get through the holiday season without giving in to M&M's, I'll be just fine!