ok, here's the deal.

NEW PLAN.

So.  I don't think I mentioned my secret shame this last 2 months or so, but it involves buffets.  Too many buffets.  Primarily delicious Mandarin with its delicious food, more specifically, its waffles.  Mm.  I'm not proud of this, but it is what it is! 

Over the duration of these past 2 months I haven't noticed that much change to my weight.  I definitely wasn't losing weight, but I didn't think I was putting on any either.  To be quite honest, I was quite impressed by my super metabolism.

Until now.

It's aaaall caught up to me.  I feel like over the past 3 days it all just appeared.  And it ain't pretty, my friends!

Luckily, I have a newfound feeling of motivation and, more importantly, a brand-spankin' new gym membership!

So, here's my...

NEW PLAN:

1. Start going to the gym.  Stat.  I plan to go Tuesdays after work, Thursdays after Ultimate (that's right, I'm hardcore), then on Saturday.  
2. I am now (again) officially DONE WITH CHEESE.  Maybe not forever, but at least through the rest of the year.  I did this once before with good results and I'm ready to do it again.  
3. I am going to try (again) walking to work on the mornings I don't go to the gym.  
4. No more buffets.  Until my birthday.  Or someone else's birthday.  It's not my fault they make it free on your birthday!  
5. Continue the battle with food.  Especially breakfast!  I have had a tendency to get a donut or a muffin in the morning.  Or both.  

So I would say that the breakfast thing is probably the most difficult because what can I have with coffee that's both delicious and relatively low in calories?  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Some kind of low-fat cookie or granola?  I have a hard time enjoying my coffee without a snack - although maybe this is the habit I need to break?  Hm.  Food for thought.

Oh!  I should mention something else.  I have been given some funds from a generous benefactor (who shall remain unnamed) for personal training sessions.  Probably just one session a week.  I'm thinking Saturday is the best day for this.  My more detailed plan involves a PT session on Saturday, a BodyPump class on Tuesday, and the circuit or if my PT provides me with a plan then I'll do that on Thursday. 

Good plan, eh?

READYGO.

a new year, a new me!

..or maybe just a slightly improved me.

I'm still walking to work intermittently, although my trips are getting a little shorter. I have taken to hopping on the streetcar about halfway to work, but I'm still walking at least 30-45 minutes in the morning. The big problem is that I am usually running late and showing up at 10am every day is probably not great. I am trying to leave earlier though - I just have issues!

I was a bit of a slacker in December, but I'm trying to pick it up again. Dodgeball season starts this Friday, I'm walking to work more, Michael and I are swimming a bit more, and will try skating more often, too. Also, I am going to seriously reconsider the boxing gym again and try out a few this month.

I also just researched triathlons in Ontario and there is a "Try a Tri" in August, which consists of a 375m swim, 10km bike ride, and 2.5km run. That seems pretty reasonable, eh? I will have to bike and swim more, but I'd like to give it the old college try.

There is also a duathlon in July, I believe. This consists of a 5km run, 20km bike, and 2.5km run. This doesn't seem terrible either - well, the 20km bike ride looks like it might be hard.

If I do one of these, it will probably be the Try a Tri. I'm excited to have a goal again since I've fallen off the wagon over this last little while. :(

I am ALSO trying to eat more vegetarian foods thereby limiting my meat intake. I have decided on Tofu Tuesdays. (I can't think of a better name for it). So I am at present eating an avocado and feta wrap. It better be delicious.

AND Michael made a yummy chickpea curry last night for dinner. I used to hate chickpeas in all forms, but I have decided that I need to try foods I previously disliked and try new foods. It wasn't horrible. I'd eat it again.

We also tried a new vegetable over the weekend called kolrhabi, which is a German turnip. It wasn't horrible. I'd eat it again.

I'm looking forward to trying new vegetables, fruits, and foods. Particularly grain products. I need to find an alternative to white rice. Even though it's so delicious. Mmm rice and meat.

Resolutions for this Year

1. Lose 20lbs by, oh - let's say.. May 1. Reasonable?
2. Walk to work (at least part of the way) 4 days a week minimum.
3. Go swimming and/or skating at least once on the weekend.
4. Find another regular activity outside of dodgeball, swimming, and skating (ie. boxing gym).
5. No meat on Tuesdays.
6. Reducing red meat overall.
7. Triathlon in August!

Easy peasy. Right?!

oh food - why are you so delicious?

I walked to work 4 out of 5 days this week (go me!). Although instead of picking up the pace, I think I've been slowing down a tad. Regardless, I'm still walking in the morning. My mettle hasn't quite been tested yet because it's been relatively mild this past week and I haven't had to walk in the bitter cold yet. But I will persevere! I just have to remember what hats and mittens are and learn to use them! However, I refuse to ever wear longjohns. Never have I ever (unless my mom made me in my youth, but if I don't remember it, it doesn't count!) worn them and never will I ever! I don't know why I have such an aversion to them, but I do.

Interestingly, I feel that despite my walking to work this week, I feel that I have in fact gained weight! How is this possible, I wondered. Then I thought back to my meals this past week. Not good, guys. It's not the food itself, but the vast quantities of it that were available and consumed by me. Apparently, at the hospital, all they do is feel the need to feed us. Breakfast meetings, lunch meetings, snack meetings, cheese meetings, cookie meetings, etc. And randomly once a month or so it's Cake Day! I'm still not sure what Cake Day's purpose is, but I do know that it means free cake. Delicious.

I have to learn to turn down free food. But it's really really hard! There is just such an abundance and it's all so delicious and, did I mention, free?! le sigh

So in addition to walking to work and maybe trying out a boxing class next week, I need to learn to say no.

On a side note, all this free food that is around has made us all dirty scavengers! We just lurk around and wait for the food. Actually, worse than that, we expect free food and get cranky when nothing appears! How dare they eat all the food at their meeting?! It's a sickness.

I used to think that it was just us, but I see it all around the hospital. For instance, on the 18th floor we have an auditorium and it also happens to be the ICU floor. I ran a conference there a few weeks ago and all the ICU staff were milling around trying to sneak food and kept constantly asking if it was over yet so they could pillage the remains. We at least have the decency not to sink to such a level! (Except that one time, but I honestly thought the meeting was over!)

And I've seen it in many other areas of the hospital. It makes me laugh -- except when they're trying to touch my food >:(

Also, working in a hospital, I see sick people all the time. I think it's slowly starting to sink in that if I want to avoid getting sick I need to do all I can to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I know that it's not everything and that my genes play a part and there are countless other factors, but at least this one I can control and do my best to ensure that I stay healthy. Rationally, I'm aware of this and, like I said, it's slowly starting to sink in.

Anyways, on a happier note I accidentally fell asleep at 8pm last night and slept for 10 hours. It was glorious. The less glorious part is that I had to go to work this morning and again tomorrow, but at least I'm well rested!

Don't forget, boys and girls, Christmas will be here in 19 days! *confetti*

i'm ba-a-a-a-ack!!

Yay!

So many things have happened since my last post and I will most likely not remember them all, but well you can't miss what you don't know!

Wow - I just realized it's been well over a month since my last post. I'm sorry to have left you without my pearls of wisdom and energizing humour for so long!

But ok where to start..

Booty Camp

I successfully completed the 4-week Booty Camp session! I lost a few pounds, lost a couple inches, and gained some muscles I never knew I had. I signed up for another 4 weeks and am now entering week 3 of it! I missed a day, but I think I'm going to make up for it this week by doing 3 sessions. I am not sure I will continue on past this next 4 weeks but it was good while it lasted! Kept me motivated and active when I was having trouble doing it on my own.

MarathonS!

On September 27 I successfully completed the Scotiabank Marathon - 5k :D It always seem so misleading to say I did a marathon. I did it in 42:26 minutes. Yes, I run really really slow, but I don't care! I ran the entire way and didn't stop at all! I thank Shyn entirely for this one! If it hadn't been for him I would have stopped at the 1km mark. He put up with my whining for 42 minutes and kept encouraging me. My favourite line he gave me was, "Just think - all that time you spent grinding on WoW has trained you for this! Just keep pushing through!" Ok, that was highly paraphrased, but it made me laugh. Though of course only the people who play WoW will appreciate that, but I think most of you do :D

IRREGARDLESS, I ran the 5k and it was glorious!

Riding this high, Mike calls me at work a few days later and says, "Hey, I have a GREAT idea, let's do another 5k!" I foolishly agree and this brings me to today.

On October 18, 2009 I ran my second 5k! In the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon! Despite not having run since the last 5k, I ran it in 40:00. Dammit. I thought I ran it in under 40. At least I improved my time.. by 2.5 minutes. Boo. Oh well! I did walk a few times for a few seconds here and there, though. Mike stayed with me the whole way and played alphabet games with me to keep me distracted!

Now Sharon posted on my Facebook that she is running one in the spring! Should I or shouldn't I? I hate it up until the last km. Then I start to feel more enthusiastic about the whole thing. We'll see!

Boxing Gym

Since I need constant variety, my next new challenge may be joining a boxing gym. I had originally thought that I wanted to do Judo or Karate or something, but then I realized I don't like to touch people. Therefore, sparring activities are not for me. Then I had a brilliant idea that I could join a boxing gym! I just want to punch a bag. Build some muscle, work on my cardio. I found one in the southeast end of the city that I am going to look into once my Booty Camp is over. I can pay $500 for a year's membership and I can go to all the boxing classes I want. These classes are 2 hours in length and offered every day and involves cardio and work with the punching bags. Maybe I won't sign up for a whole year yet, but I will definitely check out a few classes!

I know some of you might be thinking that if I'm willing to spend all that money maybe I should join a gym instead. It would be about the same amount of money. $40ish/mo for a gym=$480/year. But the question is, Will I go to the gym? I do hate it quite a bit and can see myself quitting after a month or so. Stupid gyms. We'll see if I even like the boxing class and go from there I suppose.

Dodgeball

This is so fun! And way more work than I had originally anticipated! Unfortunately, the first two games we won by forfeit when the other teams didn't show up :/ Then in our third match when a team did show up, we lost! :( But tomorrow we will kick ass, I'm sure of it! I think they're the 7th place team and so we should be able to win win win! :) Either way, it's a lot of fun. We have 5 more games, I believe.

Then my new plan is to rent a school gym for January and play various sports. If that doesn't pan out, then maybe indoor volleyball. Or maybe a new sport?? I have recently had my eye on basketball and learning how to play that. This is partly why I want to rent the gym - so we can play bastketball and see how good or bad it is!

Food

All I have to say is that I love food and am finding it hard to cut back and bad foods are creeping back into my diet. I don't like it! I am hoping that writing this blog again will keep me motivated and in a better mindset about my health and wellbeing in general! I was falling off the wagon so often and for longer and longer that I was worrying that I wouldn't be able to find the wagon again! But I always do. Food is so delicious, though. Mm.

Lessons Learned:

1. I get bored of things after about 2 months and have to change it up. This is why I don't believe the saying that it takes 3 weeks or whatever to build a habit. Oh, maybe it's 3 months to build a habit? Hm. Well, whatever :P
2. My body is stronger than I think. It's the mind that's weak! This was another of Shyn's motivational speeches when I was complaining that I needed to stop.
3. October is very cold :(
4. So apparently I haven't learned much in my month-long hiatus. C'est la vie!

j00 can DO it!

Morning!

This morning was the dreaded spin class. I trudged over to the studio for 7am!

I got all set up on the bike and away we went! It was actually pretty good! Though my knees were hurting a little, I enjoyed it! Admittedly, I did not go as hard or as fast as everyone else in the class (though everyone else seemed like spin class veterans!), I think I still pushed myself. All I know is that I was ready to quit after the first 15-20 minutes, but how embarrassing would that have been!! So I stuck it out. I got my second wind in the last 20ish minutes of the class and actually got "out of the saddle" for some of it and pushed even harder.

I was positively dripping. Gross.

I think I probably could have done more, but I'm pretty proud of myself for having gone and done what I did! Did what I did.. done what I done? Hm.

Anyways.

The good thing about the class was that it made me tough it out for the full 45 minutes because I didn't want to look like a pansy. And that there is so much room for improvement. It makes me want to go back and do more and do better. Good times!

Today after work I am going to a softball practice. That should also be interesting.

So, Chow brought up the issue of my diet these days. First, I have to say, I am hungry all the time. I am usually good for about half the day. Then start to slip.

Take last night for example. Gary came over after ultimate frisbee and we had pizza. And a few wings. It was SO GOOD. I felt like I hadn't eaten in days. I almost couldn't stop eating! HOWEVER, I did not have any pop. That's something, right? The coke was looking mighty delicious, but I refrained. I am off the pop. :D So even though I had a thousand calories - I didn't have a thousand PLUS 200 :)

This morning I had a piece of toast with peanut butter and jam before the class. Then I picked up a yogurt parfait (yogurt, granola/oatmeal, raisins, strawberries) at the cafeteria downstairs and a coffee. Oh and I bought a banana. Now I'm starving again.

I am sure this play-by-play of my food intake is fascinating - too bad. :)

I will try to eat better the rest of the day, but it's hard when I'm so hungry and food is so delicious. And when I'm not at home. Le sigh. Life is hard. :)

PS. Don't forget to read yesterday's post. I posted it late last night, but I did post!

It's-a me! Wario! I'm-a gonna win!

Hahaha. First, I would like to share that there is a Mario Wiki! How fantastic is that.

http://www.mariowiki.com/Main_Page

Anyways, back to me :)

Busy, busy weekend. Filled with a bit of overeating, but also activity! And though it may not have seemed like it, I actually didn't binge as much as I could have. If that's any consolation. :) It's all about relativity, right?

So Friday I finally got to play volleyball again! Apparently taking a few weeks off means one forgets how to play and is dismal. I started getting it together a bit more near the end, but it was a rough start! But fun! I definitely missed volleyball. I'm sad about the end of summer, which spells the end of beach volleyball. But I am really interested in playing indoor court this fall/winter!

Saturday was d-

Urgh. I think I just swallowed a hair. Gross.

As I was saying. Saturday was do or die day. Mostly because, as I had previously mentioned, I needed to finish up week 4, which involved a 20-minute run. Also, it was an especially important day because not only was it the weekend, but since I stayed out a wee bit too late on Friday night, I could not get up for 7am. Therefore, when I finally did get up and was ready to go around 10:30am, I didn't want to! I have never run during the day before. Only in the early morning or in the evening once the sun had gone down. I was scared :( But I knew that if I didn't run then, it would only get hotter in the afternoon and then I was going to be out all afternoon/evening and wouldn't be able to run in the evening. And I'd most likely be out a little late and so would repeat this whole conversation again Sunday morning. And! The more I put something off, the less likely I am to want to do it.

Therefore, with all of this in mind, I finally forced myself out the door around 11am. I armed myself with sunscreen and a hat. It wasn't as horrific as I expected it to be. I think the hat really helped!

I was supposed to run 20 minutes. I tapped out at 15 minutes. Although I wanted to quit at, like, 8 minutes. So it was quite the achievement for me! I walked for a minute or two, then finished up the last 5 minutes. I'm quite proud of myself! /beam

Not only because I ran 15 minutes, but also because I actually went out running.

Let's recap:

1. One month ago I was thrilled to bits when I ran my first 6-minute stretch. Now I have successfully run 15 minutes. If that's not progress, I don't know what is!


2. Last year the idea of running a 5k marathon would have reduced me to tears from laughing so hard at the idea of it. Now it's almost a reality!


3. Three months ago the idea of taking a spin class would have left me horrified at the prospect. Who would subject themselves to such a thing!? Apparently I plan to! Although I'm still dubious about the enjoyment factor. We'll see.

There are probably more things, but I need to get back to work and still have more to write about!

On Sunday we went to High Park and we biked there and back. There was also a bit of frisbee playing. Not terribly active. But! Ara said that I was the most active person he knows! He was probably exaggerating slightly, but it still made me feel warm and fuzzy. ^^

Mondays are rough. I had to force myself out of bed and out the door this morning for my run.

Today's regime was:

5min walk

5min run

3min walk

5min run

3min walk

Much more manageable! Though my leg muscles did protest quite a bit. But even my thought processes have changed. I used to think, "Oh man, 5 minutes??". Now I think, "5 minutes should be easy peasy!". Amazing, isn't it? Granted, it was still harder than I expected it to be, but I did it! Despite the screaming leg muscles. Brutal. I need to stretch more. It just seems like such a time-waster. :)

In addition to all of the above, I discovered that my friend Mai is a personal trainer! She is going to help me come up with a program to do in addition to the running. I'm really looking forward to it!

Lessons Learned:

1. I do much better with following a program (ie. the Couch to 5k program). I think if I had continued on as I was originally doing, I would have quit by now.
2. I have to work further on my diet. I need to make better choices :( Why does food have to be so delicious!
3. I have to stop talking about the people I work for when I keep my doors open. It never fails that they walk by just at that moment. Ok, maybe I should stop talking about people, period. But I feel it's ok to bitch about the people you work for (not with) because it's expected. I just have to find a more private place to do it :P

Happy Monday, folks!

"vanity is my favourite sin" -al pacino

Morning!

Of all the times of the day I prefer to look at myself in the mirror, it has to be in the morning. From what I understand (and what I see to be true), the body is at its lowest weight of the day at that time. So even though I don't think I have lost a significant amount of weight pound-wise, I think the last few weeks have still made a difference. Or maybe my view of myself is skewed because of the morning mirror looks. Either way. It works for me! I think I might be ready to start measuring myself.

Last night I played ultimate frisbee finally. It was slightly easier to run around than it was the last time I played, which was 3-4 weeks ago? I was told that I did run a bit faster and didn't seem as winded as quickly. All good things! Although it was bloody hot last night! And we lost. By a lot. Really a lot.

Oh! I usually got shin splints playing ultimate frisbee, but not a twinge last night!

As I mentioned on Charles' blog, I am all about the small triumphs and victories. So I am a happy camper today all things considered.

This morning I did 3 sets of 10 lunges and squats. I should feel that tomorrow or even later today.

The one thing I have been slacking on is snacks for the day. I am constantly starving between meals, which can't be good for me. I really need to work on this!

Also, I am excited for September when booty camp starts! I haven't signed up yet, but I will soon! Oh, that reminds me, I should also sign up for the 5k marathon :P

I have been considering signing up at the UofT Athletic Centre to use their pool and track in the winter. As long as it is not too expensive. But that would be good. It's close to my work so I could go afterwards maybe. Or zip over early in the morning. So that's an option. Or maybe the Y.

Or maybe I will hibernate all winter and pack on the pounds. So I can struggle through this all over again next summer!