I'm heading off to bed so this won't be much of a post.

I kept on plan, all day pretty much. I skipped lunch again. I'm just so busy in the day right now that I'm getting hungry for lunch. I did work out this morning, although it was a struggle to get out of bed.

I'm finding that lately, I can really feel muscle under my fat. The fat's starting to disappear and the muscle will be popping through soon. I love the way I can feel my muscles in my arms, it's a great sensation.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, this would be more newsy but I'm brain dead. Happy Tuesday all.

It's so easy to stay on program when you literally forget to eat. I forgot to eat again today, I didn't get hungry at all. I didn't even eat my banana. It was weird. I don't feel weak or anything right now but I do feel tired. It was a long busy day, and it's only Monday. yikes!

Here's today's Progress Prompt:

What is your ideal goal weight? How many pounds do you need to lose in order to reach your goal weight? Do you think your goal weight is realistic enough for your age and your body frame? Why?

It depends on whose "Ideal" you choose to listen to. If I look at things like BMI and insurance charts, my ideal weight would be around 140 I guess. If I ever got down to 140, I'd probably look like a skeleton, I can't imagine it. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing for the rest of my life. Eventually, my weight will plateau. Wherever that happens, it'll be way healthier than what I started at and it'll be the weight my body is meant to be. If I could get below 200 ("one-derland" as some of you call it), that would be cool. If it doesn't happen though, I won't be upset. Where ever I end up is better than where I started.

I had a very lazy day today. I did not go into the office, I did not work, I did sleep in, or rather, tried to.

I felt like hammered shit last night. Really ill and achey. I did a couple of loads of laundry in the early evening in between curling up in a ball on my bed. This morning, I woke up and finished the laundry, between cat naps. I'm feeling better now although a little tired. We went out and did some errands this afternoon and had lunch out. Since we've been home, we've been lazing around watching tv and I feel better for it.

This week is going to be really busy at work but I'm going to workout every morning. It's one of the things that will keep me sane this week, I know it. This time next week, it'll all be over for another year. I'm looking forward to that. Hope you all had a lazy sunday too!

Blah...I feel blah. I'm having major cramps right now and I feel yucky. I went into the office for a few hours this morning and was able to get a bunch of stuff done. Since I've been home though, I've sort of been dragging my butt around the house. I haven't worked out yet but I think I'll do something in the exercise vein this evening, it should help my cramps go away if nothing else.

I had a goooood weigh-in this week. After last week's maintain, I'm down 2 pounds this week. Even with our eating routine thrown off slightly, the regular exercise is helping me keep on track. So, this week's weigh-in puts me at 74 pounds gone since January 6. I'm feeling pretty good about that!! The other day I wore my new brown cords to work and a couple of my co-workers commented on how my slim my legs were looking. That was nice to hear! I also measured up and have lost another inch from my waist and a half-inch from my hips.

I may go back into work for a bit tomorrow. I have a tonne of laundry to do too but I may try to get at that later today. Right now, I think I'm going to try a nap and another ibuprofen. Cramps suck!

Just a quick note. Today was a really really long day. I did workout this morning but I managed to not get lunch again today. We went out for dinner tonight after work and I didn't actually eat much. Partly because I was really pooped and partly because I was wearing a pair of jeans that are a little tight on the waist. Nothing like snug pants to keep you appetite in check huh?

I'm going to pop some ibuprofen and head to bed. TOM started when I got home tonight and I'm crampy and sleepy. I'm probably going to get into the office for a couple of hours over the weekend but I'm going to take it easy too. I need a rest!!

So I don't have my computer back yet but I do have a loaner laptop from our help desk. I can't print or get my email but I did get a tonne of stuff accomplished this afternoon. Hopefully, I'll have it back tomorrow. It was a huge exercise in frustration.

Speaking of exercise, I've been doing really well at keeping with my morning workout routine this week. I'm managing to get out of bed a few minutes earlier each day too. This is such a switch after the other week when I was having a really tough time dragging my butt out of bed. Tonight, we were watching Will & Grace (the season premiere -- I love that we can watch the Maritimes broadcast at 7 and not have to wait until 9 for it!) and I got up during the commercial to get our blue box stuff together. I was half-way to the kitchen and my knee went all wonky. I'm not sure what that's all about exactly. On Sunday, I knelt on a patio stone briefly and my left knee was bugging me that night. This is my right knee and I'm not what I did to it but it's sore. It's sore when I put weight on it anyway. Sitting here with it bent, it's okay. Hopefully it'll pass by morning.

Eating has been very good over the past couple of days. Partly because I've been forgetting to eat lunch. Yep, me...Forgetting to eat. Odd sounding isn't it? I got sort of hungry around noon and grabbed my banana and some water but other than that, I didn't eat all day. It's not good and I'm going to try my very best to eat during the day tomorrow. As I've mentioned before, skipping meals can lead me to over-eating and I want to avoid that if I can.

Anyway, with Will & Grace out of the way, I'm heading off for an early night. I'm really pooped right now for some reason. Fortunately, the insanity at work will let up in just over a week and I'll be back to my normally schedule posts, workouts, meals, etc. I've not had time to read a lot of the journals I normally read recently and I'm looking so forward to getting caught up. I really miss reading about how everyone's doing. Maybe this weekend I'll have a couple of free hours for some inspirational reading! I know I can use the inspiration!

I had a weird day. This morning, it started out great. I'd had a fabulous sleep last night, got up, worked out, had a great breakfast, got to work early and had a super productive morning. Productive until 11 a.m. or so anyway. My computer has been acting up recently and no matter what I did, I couldn't get it sorted. Eventually I called the help desk. The operating system is basically pooched and the machine needs to be rebuilt. Charming. 7 working days until our big huge event that we work on all year long and I have no machine. They hope to get it back to me sometime tomorrow...sometime. At this point, I'd take anything, a crap loaner, anything that will run so that I can stay in my area and work. Unfortunately, I can't do any of the stuff that needs doing at home or really, at any other desk in the office. I'm trying to not stress about it too badly and will remain positive. I feel bad about bitching about it because our help desk guys are understaffed and overwhelmed most days. I only bug them when I've exhausted all other resources. Keep your fingers crossed for me, I really need to get my machine back, pronto!

Wednesday already? Wow...here's this week's Wednesday Weigh-In:

What has been your most memorable (or important) non-scale victory to date?

mmm...I've had a few good ones and I've reported them here, for the most part. The most memorable one for me was the night I realized that I could cross my legs again. It was so weird...we were sitting on the sofa watching tv one night and I looked down and realized that my legs were crossed. I hadn't been able to do that in I don't know how long. It was just one of those things that I almost didn't realize I couldn't do until I could do it again. It was very cool.

I'm so hungry right now. I was really hungry last night when I got home from work too.

This is good though, I'm not complaining. The past couple of days have been ridiculously low in calories and fat and this too is good. The past two weeks have been really off-track and I'm glad to be back on program. Yesterday I went way under as far as my calories go and today is shaping up to be the same. Partly this is down to the fact that I never seem to have enough time to eat all of my daytime food. Work is crazy busy but I don't feel hungry until I get home. The past two days though, instead of snacking before dinner, I scurry upstairs and putter on the computer and chill out a bit (did I mention that I'm totally spoiled and that my hunny is a chef and that he cooks most of our meals? Yeah, I'm lucky, don't think I don't know it!!).

I'm going to try really hard to not fall too far off the wagon again this weekend. I know that it's just stress that's caused the trip to the DQ and the pizza for dinner on the weekend. At least I kept working out through the slip-ups and fortunately, while I didn't lose any weight last week, I was able to maintain. This week I'm shooting for a loss. I'd be happy with half a pound, anything at all. I know it's only Tuesday but I'm really motivated this week and I'm going to stick to my guns!!

The other day I wrote about a pink wind breaker that I'd not been able to wear in a while. I wore it again today (because it rained again today) and actually did it up. I hadn't tried that on Friday, I just pulled it on and wore it open. Today I did up the snaps and I had room to spare in there. I could actually have worn a sweater under it. Yay!! I'm so happy. I'm also happy to report that I have 5 pairs of jeans in my dresser that actually fit me!

Ooooh, slight change of subject but not really... Dr. Phil. I tape him every day and watch him while exercising. Yesterday, he had an update on his "ultimate weight loss challenge" thingy. He crammed the 13 "contestants" into a house and showed what happened over the first couple of days. When he mentioned it last week, the house / reality show portion of this series, I was sure that he was just going to check folks out medically, have some pep talks and workshops on shopping and cooking and (because hey, this is Dr. Phil) figure out what was happening inside people that made them get fat. Well, he's doing that I guess but he's announced that 5 people will be gone by the time they are done in the house. He's turned this weight-loss challenge into some kind of bad Survivor-esque thing..."Survival of the fattest" I'm guessing. I'll admit, it's like rubber-necking when you see an accident on the DVP, I can't stop watching but I'm less and less impressed with what I'm seeing. I also find it curious that he's still not mentioned his supplements and vitamins. I guess we'll have to wait and see if he'll break down and own up to them, it seems odd to me that he's mentioning his book literally dozens of time each episode and hasn't mentioned word one about them.

Smells like dinner's almost ready (mmm...veggie tofu stir fry on brown rice), must dash and get it while it's hot!

Monday just zipped by. I couldn't believe how quickly it passed. We're now into the final stretch of our "busy season" at work. Two weeks from today it'll be all over for another year with just the clean up to look after. This week, I'm feeling more organized and will (I hope) be able to cope a little better than I did last week. Tonight, we got home at our normal time and I can smell dinner cooking. Fortunately, it'll healthy and hearty and we'll be finished before 7 p.m. Yah-hoo!

Today's Progress Prompt:

Exercise, and diet "buddies" can be really helpful, but too much dependence can also sabotage your routine. How have friends hindered your weight loss success in the past, and what do you do to overcome those obstacles?

I have never had my weight loss program hindered by my weight-loss buddies. I have buddies at work in my office and I have buddies who I have met online. My office buddies frequently fall off of the wagon but they don't drag me with them. I can fall off the wagon quite nicely on my own. My online buddies are also human and I try to help them when they have had a tumble and they do the same for me. My hunny is doing this with me and has been since the beginning (back in January). He's been a great support to me and usually, when I'm really stressed and fall off program, he falls off with me because we get stressed about the same things. I take full ownership for any mistakes I have made along the way but overall, it's not sabotaged anything.

Another great tip from Yahoo!:

Less Fat, More Calcium
Low-fat or fat-free yogurt may have more calcium than full-fat versions -- each often contains nonfat milk solids added for thickness. Check labels. Bonus tip: Kale is the one dark-green leafy vegetable you can count on as a source of calcium. Spinach, beet greens and chard all contain oxalates, which bind calcium and make it unavailable for absorption.

So I did it, I chopped my hair off. Well, actually I didn't do it, a nice lady named Wendy did it, Saturday morning. I have five, 10 inch braids of hair drying out downstairs that I'm going to donate to Locks of Love. I feel good about it, my hair feels really bouncy and healthy and my head feels much lighter. Today I coloured it. Clairol Natural Instincts Indian Poppy Red. It's the first time I've had a colour on it in like 7 or 8 years. I'm really happy about it and can't quite figure out why I didn't do this ages ago but at least it's done now!

This morning, bright and early and armed with strong coffee, I purged my closet. I tucked most of my summer clothes away and pulled out the fall / winter stuff. I made three piles, stuff to keep, stuff for goodwill and stuff to trash. I had huge piles for goodwill and trash. Watching "What Not To Wear" each week is good for the soul, they teach you how to really clean out your closet. The pile for goodwill is all stuff that's too big for me now. This is such a switch. Usually, my goodwill pile is stuff I can't fit into anymore, not the other way around. Some particularly nice things, that I either wore very little or didn't wear at all, I'll put up on eBay. My closet it pretty bare now. The nice thing is that everything in there, fits me. I've really gotten it down to bare essentials, no more fat clothes, once I shrink out of it, it's gone. I'm wearing stuff now that I've not worn in years. My skinny jeans are getting too big on me. It's a great feeling. I don't ever remember them being baggy on me but they are really getting that way. On Friday, I wore a pink wind breaker that I haven't had on since I don't know when. This feels really awesome.

Now I'm just doing laundry, lots of it. I'll have lots to iron later, now that the winter stuff is unpacked. It's not too bad though, we've been in heavy cleaning and straightening up mode here today. I'll probably workout later while we're watching tv. I took a break from it yesterday but I'm ready to get back into some proper exercise today. I like my break but anymore, I'm always anxious to exercise again!

Yesterday was such a blur, I didn't even post here. Not that I would have had anything earth shattering to say but I like to post something at least once a day. mmm...that rhymes. weird.

Work was really busy again yesterday but, at the end of the day, for the first time in I don't know how long, I felt good about it. Everything I need to do next week is divided up into neat little folders with sticky notes on it. I have a list of what I need to do and I have a list of stuff I'm going to be throwing at our student helper. All is good. It's still going to be busy for the next two weeks but at least I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel now. The weather was weird here yesterday too. People were freaking themselves out over this Hurricane Isabel nonsense. It ended up being a very very humid and windy day here yesterday. We got a bit of rain throughout the day, really only in 3 small showers and then, last night it rained again. It sure wasn't as bad as what folks were getting on the coast. It did keep folks home though, oddly. I had to go to the grocery store last night before dinner and the streets were dead, the store was dead, it was lovely from a traffic / shopping point of view.

I was able to keep at my workouts every day this week. I feel good about that. Because our routine is being thrown off lately, I know that I'm eating at bad times and I'm not always eating "well" but at least I'm being consistent with my workouts. I also ate lunch both on Thursday and Friday. I hadn't done this earlier in the week and felt rather frazzled by the end of the day. Next week, I'm going to work really hard and keeping on program. As for the weekend, today's my break day but I may just workout anyway. I'm not exactly sure. I'm also toying with the idea of chopping my hair off this weekend. I'm feeling like it's time. I'm sure that when I do, I'll lose at least 5 pounds but that's not why I'm doing it. It's too long, it's too thick and it's really boring, I need a change. We'll see. I may also end up doing nothing more than laundry this weekend!

Work is still quite insanely busy. In a couple of weeks, this will be over with for another year but in the meantime, it's just down-right nutty. It's throwing my routine off slightly too. If I work a little late, our evening meal gets pushed back a bit and we get to bed later than normal. This is causing me to have a tough time getting up in the mornings but I'm making myself do it and I'm working out every morning. If I wasn't working out, I don't know what I'd do, I'd probably be completely insane by now.

Eating's not been great this week. I've been working through lunch and forgetting to eat. Skipping meals is not something that I've done since I've started this program. I really try to avoid missing meals because, by the time I get home, I'm famished so I'm eating larger meals in the evening than I normally would. I'm not stressing myself out too much about the eating too much in the evenings right now because a) I'm still exercising, every day and b) in two weeks this will be over and my normal routine will be established.

I've learned that routine is the most important thing for my program. Once the routine gets thrown, everything could potentially fly out the window after it. This is why I don't let the odd blip here and there discourage me too much. Sometimes life gets crazy, the routine gets rattled and you can't be "perfectly on program" at all times. That's okay, as long as I stay as close to routine as I can. Afterall, I'm only human.

The week is flying by and I've been having a really difficult time getting up the past couple of mornings. Yesterday and today, I had to literally drag myself out of bed. I think it's because we've been staying up late, watching our home-boy, Ryan Malcolm, on Canadian Idol.

I have worked out the past two mornings but they have been sort of lack-luster, if you know what I mean. This afternoon, I've developed a nasty crick in my neck that I'm thinking is the cold thing that I have been fighting for the past few days. Hopefully it'll sort itself out in short order. I don't want to interfere with my work out schedule or my busy work days (have I mentioned yet this week that this is my busy insanely crazy nuts time in the office?).

Here is this week's Wednesday Weigh-In:

Serving sizes vary so much from label to label. What food has a serving size that really surprises you, or what food really challenges you to stick with it's serving size?

We buy a lot of whole foods and cook stuff from scratch so serving sizes on labels don't really affect me. I mean, I read nutritional content, paying close attention to sugar and fat, but when I'm doing my caloric calculations on Fitday, I just measure what I eat and enter it accordingly.

The only food that I do really pay attention to the serving size when making purchases is cereal. A "serving" of cereal can be 1/4, 1/2, 2/3 or even 1 cup so what might look like a caloric savings on one cereal may not be, if you look at how much you can actually have. If you read things carefully, it shouldn't trip you up though.

So I watched Dr Phil’s season premiere yesterday. I really don’t care for his “ultimate” weight-loss challenge at all. He had 100 finalists in the audience, from over 7000 submissions and today he’ll pick 12 folks to participate in his televised weight-loss program.

It seems really exploitive to me. Firstly, he’s not really selling anything you can’t get from dozens of other sources. Secondly, you know that he’s going to pick people who seem really pathetic, criers; you know the type I mean? I just thought that the whole thing was very sad and the fact that he has lent his name to a bunch of shoddy, sugar filled “diet” products tells me that his motivation is totally financial. He claims to have obese people in his family and that he’s been working on the issues surrounding weight for 30 years. If that’s true, why did he wait until he was into his second season of his program to introduce this? Do you think it is a coincidence that his most popular broadcasts from last season were about weight-loss? It seems as though he’s looked at his demographic research and picked a vulnerable, needy group to “rescue.”

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe he is “starting a movement to battle obesity” like he claims. I just get a bad feeling whenever I see the word “ultimate” flash across the screen. I can’t help but think that he’s going to end up doing more harm than good when it’s all over. Having said that, I’d love to see him prove me wrong!

I got back into my morning exercise routine this morning. I was a little groggy but I did it anyway. At the moment, I'm not hungry. I ate breakfast but my stomach is kind of in knots so I've not had any lunch yet. I may not, I'm not sure. I'm (stupidly) worried about a meeting I have later on. I know, logically, that it's nothing to worry about but I can't tell my stomach that. It sort of fits in with today's prompt topic:

Today's Progress Prompt:
Are you a stress eater? What constitutes it? Since starting your weight loss journey, have you learned to deal with stress in a non-food way? If so, how?

I am a stress eater. In the past, when I'm stressed I would eat. I am also a happy eater, a sad eater, a weekend eater, a time of the day eater. I like to eat, good food. Since I started my weight-loss journey though, I try to replace the food with exercise. Whenever I've done this, I always feel so much better afterwards. Partly I feel good because I've done something good for myself which actually alleviates the stress and partly it's because I'm not going to feel bloated, full and still stressed, like I would if I gave in and ate.

I recall in particular, one day last February. Work had been particularly brutal and stressful that day. I got home and was completely exhausted, mentally and physically. As I lay on the sofa, remote in hand, I looked at my recumbent bike out of the corner of one eye. I jumped up and hopped on the bike. I rode that sucker like there was no tomorrow and felt so good for it afterwards. Work is really busy right now for me and I've found that exercising regularly is helping cope with the pace and the stress. It's way more satisfying than stress eating ever was!

Saturdays are my break day, I generally don't pay too much attention to calorie intake and if I'm going to skip working out, it's going to happen on Saturday. Today though, I was back to my regular routine. I just finished working out and I feel fabulous. I've been riding my recumbent bike, about the same amount of time as normal, but lately, I've been trying to go very fast while I'm doing my circuit. Well, very fast for me anyway. I've been trying to hit between 14 and 15 mph during my ride. Also, I've been doing more repetitions with my weights. A few weeks ago, I moved up from 2 lb hand weights to a 3 lb set. I'm finding that the increased repetitions with the extra weight, is awesome. I really feel the exercise while I'm doing them and I can feel my muscles growing under my fat. I love feeling strong and that's how I feel after a work out, it totally rawks!

Another thing that rocks is new pants. Yep, I finally bit the bullet and bought 2 pairs of new pants. I went to our local Pennington's store yesterday in the afternoon. I had not bought any new pants there since the fall of 2001. The pants I have now are getting pretty worn out looking, not to mention stretched out and generally yucky looking. The past several years, I'd pretty much just bought stretchy pants, with elastic waist bands as they were basically all I could find that fit me comfortably. Yesterday, in the store, I deliberately avoided even looking at those pants. I pulled out a bunch of 5x's and 4x's that had elastic waists but that didn't stretch.

I was really happy to discover that while they were slightly too tight on me, I was actually able to get into the 4x's. As it turned out, I didn't particularly like the styles of any of the first bunch I tried on. In the past, style be damned. If they fit me, I bought 'em. Yesterday, I found myself in a position to be a bit choosy. I ventured back out into the store and found a really lovely pair of brown cords and a nice pair of dressy black pants. Neither of these pairs stretched either! The cords are so nice!! I haven't been able to find cords that fit me nice in a long, long, long time. The dress pants I picked were actually miles too big and I had to go down a size. They are a little tight across the tummy but they fit great otherwise so I grabbed them. I know that the tummy thing won't be a problem for much longer. I also figured that I could both pants altered by my mum in a couple of months when they grew too big too.

The sales woman who was helping me was really trying to push me into trying a lot of different stuff on. It felt so great to explain to her that I'd recently lost some weight and just needed some "interim" pants while I was still losing. She looked a little disappointed, I think she was hoping for a big sale. I'm really looking forward to the day when I don't have to shop there anymore but I'm hoping that the next time I'm in there, I'll be in a solid 3x. I still can't believe that I have 4x pants in my house that fit me. The last pair of jeans I bought (not the ones I'm wearing now but my mega-fat-girl jeans) are a size 7x. The jeans that I am wearing these days, I had thought they were a 34. The other day when I pulled them on, I noticed that they were actually a 32. The non-stretchy dressy pants I bought yesterday were a 30. My size 32 jeans are soon going to be too big for me to wear. I love that!

When I get my fall clothes out and pack away my summer gear, there are quite a few things that I'm going to pack off to Goodwill. I can even think of a few fall / winter items that will be going too. With any luck, by spring time, my closet will be almost empty!! I'm not keeping any fat clothes around this time. Once they become too big, they're so outta here! I'm definitely not looking back this time! This fat is gone for good!!

Well, my week ended on a pretty good note. Friday was really busy but not crazy busy. Fortunately, I only had one meeting to go to so I could spend the biggest chunk of my day at my desk. Also, my student helper was in and I was able to throw a huge pile of stuff at her. She's amazing. I can give her really tedious stuff, like photocopying or filing and she does it quickly, happily and accurately. I still worked late on Friday but I was no where near as brain dead as I was on Thursday.

I'm on Robyn's notify list and on Friday, she sent out an email about Dr. Phil's appearance on a Katie Couric special that night. I'm so glad that she sent it because I wouldn't have watched it otherwise. Now, when Dr. Phil started out on Oprah, I was not a fan of his. Occasionally, I caught the tail end of one of his Tuesday broadcasts and always thought that he was a bit of a bully. Since he started his own show, I have grown to be a closet Dr. Phil junkie. I like his no-nonsense approach to most problems. He's a common sense kind of guy. He tells it like it is: the only way that you are going to fix your problems (whatever they may be) is to commit to a plan and to the hard work that comes with it. He talks a lot about setting goals and time lines, again, common sense. No quick-fixes. I like that.

Around the time that I started finding fitness / weight-loss blogs, I watched an episode of Dr. Phil where he talked about goals and time lines and mapping out how to fix something. Now, I know that he wasn't talking about weight-loss in that particular episode but it got me to thinking about my own weight loss. I certainly knew how to lose weight: eat healthy food and move my body. I also knew that I had to do something about it. I never thought that I couldn't lose weight, I just never wanted to do it, wasn't ready to do it. I did know though, that when the time came, I could do it. I saw lots of blogs by people who were doing just that, changing their lifestyles, getting fit and healthy and they did it without surgery or pills. Again, common sense. I also knew that I would find the support I needed in my partner (because he was going to do this with me) and online. So, I set up an exercise program, got rid of the junk food from our house and changed the way we shopped and cooked. I set goals for myself and measured or weighed myself every week. I knew that it would not happen overnight but that didn't bother me. If this was a lifestyle that I was committing to, I'd do this for the rest of my life. Eventually, my body would get to a healthier weight and I'd be a stronger and more fit person. Again, not rocket science. I didn't have unrealistic expectations that I would lose the weight over night. It's been 8.5 months and I've lost 72 pounds. I've gone down 4 dress sizes and I feel good, physically. As I've written here before, numerous times, I never had self-esteem issues connected with my weight. At any weight, I always felt that I was smart and capable. I still have a long way to go to get myself to what would be considered a healthy weight for someone with my body type but I don't have any doubts that I'll get there, eventually.

Part of the Dr. Phil special was spent talking to fat folks about their weight and the experiences they have had with dieting. I was saddened by these interviews because I know women just like this. They say that they have "tried every diet out there" without success. Lucky for them, Dr. Phil's going to help them (ha!). He's written this book about weight-loss. Katie laid out Dr. Phil's 7-Step plan from the book. I didn't hear anything that I hadn't heard before, that I was already doing and that I could figure out without having to spend a small fortune on a book and meal replacement bars (which by the way are incredibly high in saturated fats and sugar!) not to mention vitamin supplements for different body "types" (i.e. apple or pear shapes). Now, I know that the proceeds will go to the Dr. Phil Foundation to fight childhood obesity but still, it seems like a grab to me.

My feeling is this: if you are ready to get fit, see your family doctor. If, mentally, you're not there yet, try talking to someone (a health care professional preferably) who can help you sort out why it is that you overeat or don't exercise. With your family doctor, figure out if you need to see a nutritionist. Work out an exercise plan. Find some support, either online or in real life (or both!). You don't need to spend a fortune on books and supplements. All of the information from Dr. Phil's book can be found on the web. I've said this before, it's not rocket science, it's common sense. Here are some links to resources that I found helpful when I was starting out:

- Health Canada
- 10 Reasons to Exercise
- Chatelaine's Essential Health + Fitness Planner
- Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation
- Canadian Diabetes Association

Personally, I feel that if you want to buy a book about weight-loss, pick up a copy of Fred's book, Chunk to Hunk: Diary of a Fat Man. Fred has lost a tonne of weight and kept it off and he did it without pills or surgery or Dr. Phil. Fred inspired me, he can inspire you too.

Good morning!! I feel rested and recharged. I got up at my normal time this morning and had a great workout. Hopefully it'll help me get through the rest of the day (or, maybe...today won't be too busy -- wouldn't that be nice?). Happy Friday all!!

Yikes, I was so pooped after yesterday that I totally slept in again this morning. Fortunately, there were no lock induced emergency type things happening so I just raced around, got ready for work, ate breakfast, and dashed. No work out, not this morning.

Today ended up being another, crazy stressful busy day at work. There are some weird things going on at work (ie restructuring talk but no one can say exactly what the means yet). Today was full of meetings and almost no time was spent at my desk. I decided to stay late to try to clear a few things off of my desk. I put merely a dent in it even though I stayed 2 hours late.

When I got home, I was almost completely incoherent and brain dead. My hunny offered to cook dinner and I decided to veg on the couch. I'm happy to report that I didn't ride the sofa, I rode my bike instead...to the tune of 4.75 miles. I also got in a great upper body workout before dinner. I felt great afterwards and am so glad that I took the time to work out some of my stress by exercising!

Hopefully tomorrow morning, I'll be back into a normal routine. I hate how sleeping in throws me off!

Just a quickie post to say that I have survived another incredibly busy, insanely stressful day at work.

I managed to stay on track with my eating and I even worked out this morning. Thank goodness for both of those things or I don't know how I would cope with work right now.

On a good note, the locks are installed and working wonderfully and I spent the best part of the day holding onto my skirt because it was attempting to slide off my hips all day!!

Okay, so today has been completely mad, all day!

At the moment, I'm at home. Why am I at home during my busiest time of the year you ask? (oh, yeah, it's my busy time right now at work -- it will be for the next four weeks!) Well, today started off weird. We both slept in, we were completely exhausted. I'm not talking about a little bit of sleep in, the kind that still allows me to workout. No, this was full-blown, crazy late sleep in.

So I get up, late. I get my lunch made, I scarf down some breakfast. My hunny heads out to start his day. I jump in the shower and, whilst showering, I hear someone banging on the door (which is located right below the shower) and the phone ringing. I'm fairly certain that this is an elusive insurance inspector we've been playing telephone tag with so I carry on with my shower. I hear more hammering on the door and start to realize that it's not the inspector. It's my hunny. I look out the window and see that he's locked out. Dripping wet, I run down the stairs and let him in. The door was jammed. I figured it was because some of those cotton shopping bags had been hanging on the door knob and jammed the knob. I let him in, we carry on getting ready for work. Hunny bunny tests said faulty door knob, all seems fine and we head out.

On the way to the car, I spill part of my coffee on my hand. As I'm wearing a white top, I decide to go back in the house to clean it up. The door knob is pooched. We cannot get in. Now, you might ask, "Shrinking Girl, why not enter by a different door." That's a very good question. The answer is simple: we can only enter and leave by this door -- at the side of our house. The front door, we discovered, can be locked and unlocked from inside but we don't have a key for the deadbolt. Having the whole house re-locked and re-keyed has been on our to-do list for a while but we've never gotten around to it. Until today that is. It's being dealt with as I type. The lovely locksmith, Barry I think his name is, is installing new door knobs and dead bolts on both of our doors and we'll actually be able to use keys on them. Novel idea huh?

So I worked through my lunch, didn't eat my lunch (because I was waiting for a call -- I'd have a couple of minutes notice to scramble home and meet Barry) and I haven't worked out. I'm not actually particularly worried about that at the moment because I have a near splitting hunger headache and I did so much running up and down of stairs today that I probably burned more calories at work today than I would working out. Work is totally insanely busy and stressful right now. Today, particularly so. Thank goodness this doesn't last for longer than a few weeks.

On an actual weight-loss related topic, some navy blue drawstring pants that I reported on a few months back (I'd not been able to wear them before and then "shrunk" into them) are now almost ridiculously big on me. I'm really noticing that the majority of my weight is disappearing from my stomach and thighs. I'm going to have seriously think about buying a few pairs of new pants to get me through the winter. Very little of what I have now will be wearable once the cold weather flies. Yay for smaller pants!!

We had a great weekend. I'm really glad that we took a break from everything, we really needed it and totally enjoyed it. Also, had I decided to stay totally on plan, I'd have been really frustrated by the way Blogger was behaving on the weekend.

When the weekend started, we had not decided that it would be a break weekend, it just turned out that way. I'm happy to report that while we did not measure and count every calorie all weekend, we did not go totally nuts. We had some really lovely meals out and a few treats here and there but it was not a huge pig-out.

I didn't officially workout on the weekend but I did do a fair bit of walking (and some housework!). I must say that I'm happy to be back on plan today. It's nice to take a break once in a while but I have really come to love my routine of healthy eating and exercise.

Today's Progress Prompt:

Do you plan to have/would you consider having plastic/cosmetic surgery once you arrive at your weight goal?

At the present time, I'm not planning on having any. I do understand though, that if you have lost a significant amount of weight and can keep it off for over a year, OHiP will pay for a tummy-tuck. I'm not totally against something like this. If I get to goal and have a lot of unsightly, loose skin, I'll discuss it with my doctor. So far, It's not looking like it will be a problem. Fingers' crossed!

Blogger is still being weird. I've been trying to get into this all day. Very strange.

Today is my break day. I've not yet worked out and I've not really been paying close attention to my eating. Even though it's my break day, I'm not going crazy (ie eating anything and everything). My hunny is taking a break too today. I'm going to cut this short because I can not trust Blogger at the moment.

Hope you all have a great, relaxing weekend!!!

Blogger is doing weird things today. Hopefully I'll be able to finish a post without getting booted off.

I truly can not believe that it's Friday already. Actually, part of me can't believe that it's not already Saturday (although, if it were Saturday, I'd not be in the office right now). This morning, I could not get up. I totally slept in, something I almost never do through the week. I slowly crawled out of bed and, en route to the bathroom, tried to talk myself out of working out, "you don't have enough time...you'll be late for work..." I told myself to shut up, pulled on my gear and did it! I dragged my sorry, sleepy ass downstairs and just exercised. I was really glad that I did it when it was over. Really glad.

The past couple of days have been weird. In the evenings, I've allowed myself to have snacks that are really not stuff that I normally have. I don't know why that is but I'm going with it. I don't go too nuts or anything, it's just odd because they are things (ie fatty stuff) that I am pretty good at avoiding. I'm not doing any major damage to my program though. I'm carefully calculating everything that I'm eating on Fitday. I'm sure that it'll pass. My eating has been a-okay so far today. This weekend I have a lot of running around to do so I should be busy enough that I don't get distracted and start a snacking frenzy.

Is anyone else having trouble with evening snacking? I wonder if it's connected to the days getting shorter...?

Carla left me the following comment, in response to my WIW: "Easing on the work outs while you're sick is completely legitimate in, in my mind anyhow. That's not an excuse. " She's right, it is a legitimate reason for not working out. It's the only "excuse" though, that I'll allow myself anymore. I really want to get this weight off and I know that working out 5-6 days a week is the only way that it's going to happen.

I have lost 70 pounds to date and I have a lot more to lose. I know it's going to take me a long time to get to my goal so if I let myself weenie out of workouts, that is just going to add to it. I'm not a complete hard ass but I am trying to be really disciplined as far as my exercise schedule goes because I know that eating well isn't enough.

I went back to my doctor yesterday for my monthly check-in. I'm down 12 pounds since my last visit and we're both pretty happy about that. I told her about Fred's book and she asked me if I would lend it to her after I had finished it. I told her that I'd be happy to. I'd love to see her start recommending it to her patients.

We chatted a little bit about what I've been doing over the past month and we briefly discussed weight-loss drugs. She told me that the majority of her patients who want to lose weight, ask for pills before they've tried anything else because they're looking for a "quick fix." This didn't shock me really. I've had a couple of people I know ask me about the "websites I'm using to lose weight." When I refer them to Fitday I think that they are disappointed. I'm sure that they think that there is some web page out there which will give them a secret solution to their weight problems. Unfortunately, the simple solution is not a secret, it's just not easy. Nothing worth having is easy though, in my opinion anyway.

This week's Wednesday Weigh-In:
What are your excuses for eating something you shouldn't or for not working out? What is the best and/or worst excuse you've ever heard?

The only acceptable excuse I can allow myself for not working out is when I'm not feeling well. If I'm really sick, if my back is bothering me or if I'm completely exhausted due to circumstances beyond my control, I'll let myself off the hook from working out. I allow myself a break during these times so I don't hurt myself.

I allow myself a "break" day once a week. On Saturdays, I can eat anything I want. I never go overboard and binge though. Usually, I'll have a small amount of chocolate, or we'll go out for a more "fatty" meal than I'd normally have. There are certain foods that I try to avoid (cheese and bread being big ones) but there isn't anything that I don't allow myself to have. I know that it's better for me to give into a food craving than it is to deprive myself. If I really want something "bad" I'll have it outside the house (like going for an ice cream cone instead of buying a container and having it in the freezer to tempt me) in a controlled environment, in a very limited portion size.

Of course, like everyone, I sometimes go away for the weekend and will miss a workout but I've noticed, over the past few months, that I physically can not (thankfully!) eat the way I used to so even when I do have a "break" meal or a treat, I don't go nuts and get off of my plan because of it.

mmm...another yummy tip courtesy of Yahoo:

In Praise of Avocados

If you like avocados but avoid them because they're "fattening," take heart. Avocados' fat isn't the artery-clogging kind. Put 2-3 thin slices on salads and sandwiches to add flavor, and give your heart a healthy dose of monounsaturated fat and vitamin E. Just remember, even "good fat" has lots of calories, so if you are watching your waistline, limit your portion to only a couple of thin avocado slices with your meal.

Today is just whizzing by, at lightning speed. I actually like work days because they are easier for me to manage. On a regular work day, I workout early in the morning and I know exactly what I'm eating for breakfast and lunch. I don't "stock pile" food at work so once I've eaten what I brought with me, it's gone and I'm done 'til dinner. We're going to try to eat most of our evening meals at home this week.

Last night, we had a fabulous dinner and it ended up being very filling and low in calories. We had picked up some beautiful pork loin and did them on the barbecue. They were marinated in balsamic vinegar, garlic and ginger with a smidgen of hoisin and they were delicious. We also had grilled sweet peppers and a tonne of fresh tomatoes. My mum and dad are on vacation so she gave us a huge basket of tomatoes before they left (we're going to raid their garden again this weekend). I love fresh field tomatoes, I could eat them like an apple. Also, yesterday, I did something that I hadn't done in ages...I baked bread. I pulled out my bread machine and made us a beautiful loaf of fresh whole wheat bread. It was such a nice treat to have fresh bread with the tomatoes. It was still warm when we were slicing it and it didn't need any margarine or spread, it was wonderful just as it was. I wouldn't get back into the habit of making bread all the time but it was a really nice treat for us to have last night.

As promised, I started Fred's book while I rode my recumbent bike yesterday afternoon. It's really good so far. My ride just flew by as I read. He's such a good writer, and such an inspiration. I love his no-nonsense approach to all of this weight-loss stuff! If you haven't picked up a copy yet, I would strongly urge you to do so, it's great!

The weekend has been a blur. I had to work yesterday and that has kind of thrown me off kilter. I was expecting to have to work for 4 hours but, in the end, it was more like an entire day. We were working at a luncheon for new students and their parents. Welcoming them to campus I guess. We did get a break to eat and I saw what the students who live in residence, on meal plans, eat. To me, it didn't seem like there were many options for people who were trying to eat in a healthy manner. There was a really nice salad bar, very fresh, with lots of variety, but they only had full-fat dressings. Other than that, there was not a lot of low-fat options. I was a little surprised by this. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for me to live on what they have to offer. I guess you just eat teeny tiny portions of what is available but that's not very practical, in my opinion anyway.

Because work kept me so busy yesterday I didn't work out. I didn't have time in the morning and had intended to do it last night but I was so exhausted, I thought that I'd probably hurt myself if I tried to do any exercise. I'm glad that today is a holiday and I could take it easy. I have been doing laundry all day and puttering around the house a bit. I'm planning to go for ride and a workout as soon as this post is finished.

On Saturday, I did finish up with Good In Bed. I thought that it was terrific. I'm going to start Fred's book today, I plan to get started on it while I'm on the bike this afternoon!

This week's Progress Prompt:

Diet blogs are in the news. Three questions come to mind. Why are there such a proliferation of diet blogs on the Internet?

I don't like the term "diet blog" because I'm not dieting. This is a new lifestyle for me. Diet to me, is something you do for a period of time and then it's over. I know that this is not going to end for me, that I will eat this way and exercise for the rest of my life. I also don't know that I would say that there is a "proliferation" of them but there are definitely a good number. I think it's still a relatively small percentage of the whole blogging community though, overall.

Why do a large percentage of diet blogs disappear into cyberspace and never to return ever again?

I do notice, from time to time, the odd blogger who "disappears" or who at least stops the fitness blog. As a person who "multi-blogs" I can see why some people would give up one or another of their journals for simplicity sake. If someone stops writing (and this is a person who I really enjoy reading about), I will drop them a line to see how they are doing. Sometimes, it's a simple case of them being too busy to post.

Why do we rarely see one achieve her or his goal weight while in *active blogging status*?

I see, more and more, that fitness bloggers are getting closer to goal, or doing maintenance. This is still a relatively new thing and it can take some people a couple of years to get to goal. I expect to see more and more active bloggers reaching goal and I hope that they keep us up-to-date on how they are doing with maintenance.