Tuesday Recap:

Workouts:
1/2 hour circuit on weights,
45min aerobic/strength training class.
1 1/2 hours of volleyball.

Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Steal Cut Oatmeal with Coconut and Walnuts
Snack: Quinoa Protein bar, apple
Lunch: Bacon Vegetable soup, 1 slice 12 grain toast with butter, few cashews, few little egg chocolates (as I filled eggs for a Easter hunt..maybe had 3)
Snack:Wagonwheel
Diner: Small bowl of soup and one slice of toast, 1/2 cup Banana/mango/berry smoothie. Dessert: small bowl chocolate chip mint ice cream.
Snack: Handful sugar snap peas

Drank lots of water.

Big accomplishment of the day.....passing up a $3.99 ice cream sale at Metro...stood there for about 5 mins trying to decided on all the amazing deals and eventually just walked away! A big part of losing weight starts at the grocery store for me, if it's not in the house, I won't eat it! (and as we can see I will eat junk food if it's around!)

Monday Recap - Week 2 start!

Breakfast:Corn Flakes and an Orange
Snack:Quinoa Chocolate Chip bar, Apple
Lunch: Hummus, Carrots, Tacos, homemade Granola bar, few chocolates
Dinner: Bacon Veggie Soup, 1 dad's cookie

Workout: 45min Step class, weights, abs.

Week 1 Weigh in

Quick Sunday recap

Breakfast: (Brunch) 2 Finnish pancakes with (i suspect) fake maple syrup. But to my credit I passed up the whip cream, sugary strawberries, and sausages. My kids (3 and 6) actually ate way more then me!

Snack: 1 slice of tangelo ( I resisted cookies even though I was starving!) Let myself get too hungry, but I was out and didn't want to eat junk, but when I got home I couldn't stop eating!

Early Dinner: Pinapple Chicken pasta, carrots and hummus, steamed asparagus, toasted pine nuts.

Dessert: 1 choc chip quinoa bar, 1 square of 85% dark chocolate, 4 cookies and cream chocolate hearts. (this was a bit much I know!)

Okay today is the day! Today I get to see if my week of work paid off. And here it goes!

Here are my numbers last week vs this week...

Hips 40.5"....today 39.7
Waist 34...today 31.9
Upper Hips 35.5...today 36.6 (this number is higher because I measured a different spot, I'm going to track just under my belly button)
Weight 143 lbs...today 141
Height 5'7"...still 5'7" lol

The week in review.

Did very well with exercise, 5 times at the gym cardio and strength plus 3 1/2 hours of volleyball plus some walking!

Water..needs improvement, it's hard for me to get in my 8 glasses. It's about all I do drink but I need to work on it!

Fruit/Veggie servings per day...fairly good, but will strive to do better this week.

Eating after 8:00 rule ( i have for myself) a perfect week!!! This is such an accomplishment for me, and if I can keep it up it will make all the difference I know it will.

Refined foods..I ate some taco chips, some cookies, ate out at Tim Hortons and McDonalds, (even though it was a whole wheat BLT and a salad, respectively.) This was an odd week for me, I ate out 3 times, which most weeks I don't eat out even once.

McDonald's for lunch, not exactly "clean eating"

Breakfast: 1 french toast with pure maple syrup, 1 sm glass of "orange monster" (frozen bananas/mango, vanilla soy milk, passion fruit juice)

Lunch: McDonald's Chicken Caesar Salad and a small Chocolate milk. This lunch alone was a tone of calories and my salt intake for the entire day. I actually am the one who picked McDonalds, just because it's so fun for the kids, most restaurants have kid's menu's with bad food anyway, at least this way the get to run and play. I'm not a fan of McDonald's but they certainly have a smart marketing ploy to make if fun to go there.

Dinner: Hummus and veggies (carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, sugar snap peas) and a whole wheat pita (had to make up for the McDonalds lunch!)

I went grocery shopping today and my bill was so low! $63...I got a huge bag of ripe bananas for $1.70 and I peeled half of them and stuck them in the freezer for smoothies! Pineapples were only $1.99, I got a free 5 pack of juice boxes because I had a coupon from some cereal. My most expensive purchase was 3 beautiful lift the flap board books at 40%! They were each under $6 and will make terrific gifts!

No exercise today! Sat and Sun are my rest days...family time, we did go bowling with good friends. I could use a break, my left knee was sore this week, nothing major just a slight discomfort, I just don't want to ignore what could be a bad injury if I don't let it heal.

Off to drink some water...haven't had nearly enough today!

Quick Post

I'm happy with my day again...

I took my mom shopping and didn't know that I would be able to make the gym but I was able to squeeze it in! Got 30 mins of "mix 3" cardio in and 3 sets of 12 ab raise reps.

Breakfast: steal cut oats
Lunch: BLT on whole wheat (and half of a egg salad sandwhich) with a chocolate milk.
Snack: Taco Chips (again not a great choice, but baby steps)
Dinner: Tacos (lean hamburger, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, hard shells)
Dessert: home made granola bar, 1 square 85% dark chocolate.

No eating in the evening again!! Yay me :) Hungry though. Debated making hummus to have with carrots, but decided to stick with the no eating after 8:00 rule I set for myself. (which I plan to make exceptions on Wednesday night so I can still go out after volleyball, provided I'm good throughout the week)

Can you lose weight eating chips and cookies????

Breakfast: chocolate chip oatmeal, flax, walnuts, coconut, soy milk
Lunch: Quinoa Soup
Snack: Taco chips and cookies (this was the end of the bag, so glad to get these out of the house)
Dinner: Brocolli, Pinapple Chicken and noodles
Dessert: 5 Stawberries and a small chocolate mint stick

Exercise: 45 step aerobic class, 25 minute brisk walk outdoors with the kids.

I've been doing awesome at not eating at night, yay me! So far I've not snacked at night at all, and that is what I'm hoping will make the difference, plus I've upped my exercise a bit. I've gone every day this week and most days I've exercised twice! I haven't completely given up treats but we'll see what my numbers are at the end of this week. I don't expect to see huge changes, I know it's a gradual process.

off to drink some water....

Another great day!

Breakfast: oatmeal/chocolate chips/walnuts/flax/coconut
Snack: Homemade granola bar
Lunch: 1/2 quinoa power bar, pear, orange
Dinner: quinoa soup, small bowl of taco chips 2 cookies for dessert
Snack: 1/2 cliff bar

3 hours of exercise!

45 min step class with weight training
15 min speed walking to warm up for volleyball
2 hours volleyball, fast paced and lots of fun!

I didn't really eat dinner, I kind of had a few snacks then had a late lunch at 3:00 which ended
up being my dinner, I had planned to save my calories for going out tonight after volleyball, but I played an extra set and decided to go home (it was after all 10:30 pm when we finished..not a great time to eat!)

Day 2

Today was a good day.

Breakfast: Oatmeal Blueberries, Coconut, Walnuts
2 hr workout: 1 hour weights, 1/2 hour mix 3 on elliptical, and 20mins on step climber
Lunch: Orange, Apple, Power bar (homemade with quinoa, oats, and choc chips)
Snack: Small bowl of fruit (melon, strawberry, blueberry)
Dinner: (above photos) Pumpkin black bean veggie burger, with cheese on a wholewheat flat bun and sweet potato fries (baked) Pictures and Recipes from here.

Dessert: 15 calorie chocolate/mint stick
Evening: 1 1/2 hour volleyball game.

Now it's almost 10 and I'm going to watch tv...if only I can stay away from snacking! I think I should be able to do it! I've got my water on hand, got to get in my 8 glasses.

Day 1 in OJB

Okay so here is the challenge:

1. This will be a 6 week challenge. I think this is long enough to see results & make it a habit!
2. Check in every Monday with measurements, weight, & updates on your week. The good, the bad, & the ugly. Nobody is going to judge, we’re all here to support each other and do the very best we can!!
3. 8 glasses of water a day! You can count unsweetened tea for this also, so long as its sugar/caffeine free.
4. 5 servings of fruits/veggies a day. Minimum.
5. Intense calorie burning high intensity exercise 3-4x week to get those results you want to see. I’m sorry, but honestly, 2 workouts a week won’t cut it.
6. Ab/toning exercises 3-4x week.
7. Avoid processed, fried, sugar laden, junk, refined foods as much as possible. This will make a *huge* difference in your health. If you want to know what difference it will make, my switching over to a clean diet combined with regular exercise allowed me to lose 50lbs in less than 6 months! I honestly believe that cutting the crap from my diet was the biggest & best thing I did for my health & weight loss!

And here are my numbers...
Hips 40.5"
Waist 34
Upper Hips 35.5
Weight 143 lbs
Height 5"7

Okay so that is like torture for me...not because I mind posting my numbers, but because I NEVER measure..EVER. However, in the spirit of this challenge set out by Carla I'm going to embrace my "numbers".

Looking at the list here are the things I will need to work on.

#3 Drink 8 glasses a day of water. I'm sure I'm dehydrated, I don't drink enough, luckily for me about the only thing I do drink is water, it's my beverage of choice, so I'll just need to get more of it.

#5 My meals are generally quite healthy. But it will be good for me to make sure I'm getting enough veggies and fruit!

For breakfast today I had steal cut oats with blueberries, coconut, and walnuts. Lunch hummus and whole wheat pita and an orange. Dinner was a fantastic Curry lentil quinoa soup that I totally recommend trying! (photo from Zesty Cook.com) a small slice of garlic bread and a quinoa power bar for dessert.


#5 and #6 Fitting in exercise is easy for me, I love to go to the gym and I love to play volleyball. I'm good already on frequency but increasing my strength training would help, and focusing on high intensity cardio would be good too. I can get distracted by chatting at the gym, time flies but I'm not putting my all in it when I'm talking during a workout. Today I went to a 45min aerobic class, at one point when the instructor had us do 10 squats with arm raises (and weights) and I literally laughed out loud when she said, "just 20 more" I couldn't believe she was serious! Who does 30 reps without a break? I wonder if I'll be feeling that tomorrow! But it's that kind of strength training and push that I need.

So whats the real problem...#7!!! In particular snacking. Once I put the kids to bed and finish with my busy day, I eat! At the worst time, and the worst foods. It's my downfall. I love to sit down to my favorite show, relax and eat all kinds of bad foods, processed foods, chips, ice cream, cookies, popcorn whatever. I'm pretty sure if I gave up tv I'd find it much easier, but I don't know if I can give up two vices all at once! It's like I feel entitled, I worked out, I can afford to eat whatever I want ...wrong! I know it's not good for me, and I know how good it feels to be 10 lbs lighter. I'd love to be 130 again, that's a perfect weight for me. I'd like to say that's my goal, but even as I type it I can't believe I could get there in 6 weeks. But you don't know until you try!