Challenges

I just joined two challenges on the WW Fitness Board.

I've committed to a goal of 20hours on Wii Fit by February 14th as part of the Wii Fit Challenge. We'll post our stats twice a week.

I've also just joined the "I Challenge You To..." challenge. Each week someone different will challenge the group to complete different tasks. This week it is to record our meal plan ahead of time and record any changes in a different coloured pen, etc. and to complete a minimum 3 sessions of 15min stretching. Yoga does count as stretching, so I can double up the Wii Fit yoga for this one! :)

Lagging...

Small Victories
Saturday when I got home from the market I went out walking for 45min by myself!
Then in the evening when we stopped in to visit the girls, I kept myself from having a drink or chips!
Finally, I convinced myself to wait until we got home to decide if I really wanted to order garlic fingers or not...and then didn't!

Sunday
While I caved and split a small garlic fingers with Mom, I turned down all the drink offers except for water!
Dad said that if I want to go to a gym that he'll pay for it and some sessions with a personal trainer. While I said that I'd buy my own membership in hopes that spending my own money will motivate me, I did agree to let him pay for a personal trainer. :)

Monday
So far today I had a delicious healthy breakfast, but I did cave and eat a Pull 'n' Peel because they're sitting open on my desk. I think I'm probably going to just throw the rest out to avoid eating them.

Getting back in the groove...

Wow.

I had completely forgotten that I had a blog to help keep me on track with my fitness journey, a journey that I fell off of, basically.

I haven't gained back all of the weight that I lost, but I became so lax in tracking what I've been eating for several months that I am back up over 190 again. I highly doubt that I lost weight over Christmas because I know I was bad. Too many sweets and no exercise will do that to you.

The elliptical that I was so pumped to buy last year has barely seen any love. Unfortunately, I find it a bit tippy feeling, so I don't really enjoy using it. This new year I'm actually considering selling it so that we have more space and using the money to help me buy a gym membership that has classes. I've been thinking about joining the Y since that's where my girlfriends all go, but it's super busy and small, though it offers more than the other gyms in town. I wouldn't be able to work out with them for awhile either because they've all been going to hardcore spinning classes for over a year together. We'll see, I guess.

I was on the WW challenge boards for the first time in a looooooooong time today looking for a challenge I can start up. I think I'm going to be participating in a Wii Fit challenge, though I'd kind of like to do a more comprehensive challenge like the BLC ones that I was involved with before. Maybe I will finally make one happen for Jeff and I. It's just really hard to organise things sometimes.

The only bonus to gaining back a bit of weight is that I was finally able to buy some new and required pants! I was down to one pair because I didn't want to buy more until I lost weight, but at the same time I wasn't committing the way that I need to in order to do so!

I'm not making getting fit a New Year's Resolution because those always seem easy to break, so I'm making it just one of my goals, along with becoming more financially accountable to myself. Since we just bought a bunch of furniture, the finance one is a big one.

Well, I'm off to try to be productive!

Under 190 lbs!

I have to say, it's unbelievable that I *LOST* weight during Christmas break! It just doesn't seem possible! Not only that, I think I lost almost 6 lbs. *gasps* I'm proud though, as it means I reached my goal of being under 190 lbs by the new year.

I'm trying to start a competition between Jeff & I so that we will both stay more on track, but so far it's getting everything set up that's being a problem. We've got some idea though.

I'm going skiing for the first time in more than 15 years tomorrow! I'm a bit terrified. I'm quite sure that I may die, but I'm doing it anyway! :) I decided that I really don't have any reason not to go, and it's with a lot of friends of various skiing levels. That should mean that I won't feel forced to ski somewhere I don't feel safe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my snowpants from high school still fit as they are all I have!

With money that I got for Christmas, I bought an elliptical that was on sale, even though there isn't really space in our apartment for it. A part of me wants to disassemble the weight bench here in my office because it doesn't get much use, but we don't really have anywhere to store it, and I'm hoping that Jeff & I will both get into using it.

Well, I'm off to bed in hopes of falling asleep early since we're all meeting for breakfast before we hit the slopes tomorrow.

Wish me luck! :)

End of Provincial Challenge

Well, tonight's the end of the big provincial challenge I've been a part of for 3 months.

It's going to be weird not participating with my team anymore as I've gotten to know them all relatively well, and I felt more comfortable posting with them than any other groups. Hopefully they'll continue the challenges as well!

I ended up losing 12.6 lbs since August 13th. Not too shabby, though I'm sure it would've been more spectacular if I could've made myself get more exercise! I miss walking with Jeff like we did more often this summer. I almost went for a bike ride or walk myself today, but then the sun faded and I lost my motivation. :( Still, I just made myself do weights & abs for 30min.

I just ordered a bunch of the Turbo Jam videos that I've been hearing tons of great things about. They look like a lot of fun, and there were a bunch of extras. Really, for what they would cost to buy in stores I got a deal by buying them from the website, at least until I see how much duty will be. *eeps* I'm hoping that by having workout videos at home that I'll be able to motivate myself more at home, maybe even start working out in the mornings before work. I've realized that I hate actually working out in front of Jeff. I'm not sure why. I don't know if I feel embarrassed or judged or what, though I know that I should be none of those things. He's been nothing but supportive.

I bought a bunch of groceries yesterday, so I've really been eating well. I made a healthy, yummy meal last night for Jeff, Erica & I; butternut squash, potatoes & chicken. It makes me kind of want to get into cooking some more. I think I'll even make myself lunch tonight so I can just walk out the door tomorrow morning...or I'll go to bed around 10:30pm tonight and get up around 6:30am. If I'm up that early then I should be able to get everything done.

I had been hoping to be really productive this weekend since my next two weekends are busy, but Erica stayed the entire weekend. Don't get me wrong, it was FANTASTIC to see her & spend time with her after 4 or more years without seeing her, but I did have things I needed to do. I'm sure I could've done them while she was here, but I felt like it would be rude. So much has happened in each of our lives that we could talk for hours. So much has changed back home as well.

I've hit all of my nutritional guidelines for today, yet without counting my APs I still have 10.5 points to eat and it's already 9pm! That's a bit of the reason why sleeping in on weekends really throws me off. Maybe I'll have a light beer and some whole grain nachos while I write my essay for French tomorrow. Oh! And I have to copy those notes.

Well, until next time.

Shake that groove thang

I just completed 70 minutes of working out!

It's been so long and I have so many things that I should be doing, but I decided to finally get my ass in gear!

50 minutes Fat Burning for Dummies workout video
15 min. free weights
5 min. abs

I'm not really sweaty, but a little sweaty, and I love it! :)

Another One Bites the Dust!

I dropped another pound this week. I think that if I could only get my ass moving that I would be able to lose weight even faster, but I'm still proud of how quickly I seem to be losing it just from diet alone.

My grandfather turns 90 tomorrow. I convinced my parents to go with me to his place and have cake tonight since I have a midterm tomorrow night & work all day. It's such a big milestone. It really made me sad that his other son, grandson (in town) & only great-grandchild couldn't be bothered to join us even though they were all aware & invited. He's really seeming to go downhill though. It's hard to see because he's always been so with it. I think that losing his voice is what's really worn at him because he lost the ability to communicate for the most part. I think that he honestly wishes that he wasn't still alive, and if I was him I would feel the same. He spends every day just sitting in his wheelchair looking down the road, basically. There's no real quality of life anymore. He cried a lot tonight, which Dad finds really hard to handle and gets all defensive about. Being there with Dad made visiting tougher because he gets all edgy about anything that he thinks might upset Papa in anyway, even if it doesn't. It's hard on the nerves.

I have to write an essay for one of my French classes on an exceptional person, real or imaginary. I chose my Grammie. Thinking about her life and thinking about my grandfather's life (opposite sides of the family) have really made me think a lot about mortality tonight. I've been in a mopey mood most of the day anyway, so this hasn't really cheered me up.

I hate that even though Papa is still alive, it's like he's trapped in his body and really already gone. I can't ask him about how he knew that Nanny was the one or how they made it through long distance when he was stationed in Halifax to train sharp shooters during WWII and she was in Fredericton. I can't ask his opinion on Jeff, or our future situations. Even though his body's here, I mourn the chances I should still be able to have with him alive. I mourn that I never really got the chance to know him as a person when I was a little kid, or to really spend time with just him. It kills me to see him sitting there looking kind of depressed and alone in his wheelchair, realizing that people are talking around him but not being able to take part, with bumps that are likely skin cancer on his head and occasionally drool from his mouth. It's hard to see someone who took good care of themselves just letting themselves go. It's hard to realize that this is life in its reality; this is what mortality looks like. This is what we each must face.