Scraptastic Kit Club Online Crop!

Join us this weekend over at the Scraptastic Message forum.  There will be challenges, games, and an awesome grand prize up for grabs!

 

Blowing the dust off the old weight loss blog

Wowsers... It's been more than a year and a half since I blogged here and I'm more than 16 pounds heavier (boo!). At least I was the last time I weighed myself which was February 1, 2013.

In December I joined the Move More Eat Well class over at Big Picture Classes, which started January 1. MMEW is a scrapbooking/healthy living class taught by Cathy Zielske , designed to inspire and motivate you the whole year long, and to help you document your progress. I'm not really participating over there at all, but I am using the digital files and scrapping my progress in a very simple way. I can't seem to get past the first few minutes of each video, and I haven't shared any pics or posted to the gallery, but I actually do find it helpful just to know I could go there for inspiration if I needed to. It's also good just to have committed to a project related to this journey because that will hopefully keep me going through tough times. The class seems to have lots of helpful info for people who are looking for motivation and inspiration to work out and eat well. For me, I just need to do it, not read about it or talk about it.

I started January 4th with the goal of just doing something every day. My One Thing for the month was to move 6 days a week, and I did accomplish that in January. I'm trying to become healthy and figured weight loss would be a happy little side effect. I reset my goal for February to be to work out 4 days a week and think about eating better.

Most of my workouts have taken place on my treadmill. Scott bought me a special clip that attaches my iPad to the treadmill so I can watch scrappy videos while I work out. Although I am an anti-runner, I quickly found that walking on a treadmill is the most boring task on earth, even with video entertainment. I also found that running on a treadmill is not nearly as hard or painful on my knees than running outside on pavement. So this non-runner has been running. I started running one minute runs in each 10 minute interval of a 40 minute workout. Then I moved to 2 minute runs in each 10 minute interval. This past weekend I ran my first 60 minute workout. Now I'm up to 3 minute runs and I'm often doing run2, walk 2, etc. most of my workouts are 40 minutes. I work fairly long hours 3 days a week so I try to workout the other 4 days.

As far as eating well, I've been just trying to make healthier choices. I stopped eating candy several months ago and that has made a huge difference in how I feel, health-wise. I'm trying to only drink water, milk and coffee (can't give up my java) but I'll sometimes have juice (but no pop). I'm trying really hard not to snack in the evenings but I'm still working on that one. I find if I have a project to work on (my YouTube channel or project life) while I watch TV it helps me not eat.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Day 23: Three breathless words

Tram. Po. Line.

Leaving you with the amazingly talented Meryl before she runs up all those stairs...

Link for now. Will embed later:

Winner takes it all!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Young St,Halifax,Canada

I'm a fave!

Ok, I know this doesn't go here, but this is big for me, so I had to share here too... A layout from over on my scrapbooking blog was chosen as a favourite over on Sketchy Thursdays!  This is sooo cool!

Day 17

Why is my motivation so low? Could it have something to do with this:



This has been the view from my office window more often than not since April. I happen to like the rain, but this weather is taking it's toll even on me!

But although I haven't been blogging in the past week (ok, ok, it's been more like 2 weeks!), I have stayed pretty active and haven't fallen off the weight loss wagon (yet). I've been doing a lot of (read: some/a bit of) cleaning and moving boxes, walking the dog (once counts, right?) etc. But no 'real' workouts per se. I don't even try to work out on work days, so that means tomorrow will be an important day for me to get back on the Wii (is this a deja vous, or did I say that last Wednesday?). Anyhow, I'm in that uncomfortable place between commitment and disinterest. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Here's some Glee for a rainy day:

Umbrella/Singin' in the Rain mash up featuring Gwenyth Paltrow



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Young St,Halifax,Canada

Day 5: EA Sports Active

It's been a wild past 3 days, with a thunderstorm that kept us all awake one whole night, a pink-eye scare (she doesn't have it, yay!), work, and a birthday party to plan. I was feeling gross that I hadn't worked out in 3 days, so tonight after the kids were in bed and the laundry was started I popped in EA Active and did a pretty intense but brief workout.

EA Sports Active: The most intensive Wii Workout I've found

This is a pretty good workout game.  I sweat bullets every time I do it, and I think a pool of sweat on the floor around you is a pretty good measure of intensity.  It has a combination of exercise types including some cardio (dance, boxing, running, tennis, baseball, etc) and muscle toning (classic resistance exercises using an elastic band for resistance).  An added bonus is that the trainer in this game acts like they are completely infatuated with your physical prowess.  They give you motivational phrases when you do the exercises well, and my favourite is "you, my friend, are poetry in motion!"  How can you not give those last 3 lunges your all when a buff trainer is cooing over your every move?  There are a few places where you have to do the lunges with the wrong leg in order for them to register, but other than that, there is pretty good feedback and coordination between your moves and the moves of the "you" on the screen.

Here I am, about to go for a quick run, although if I looked like this,
I probably would just sit down and have another beer.

So I get to watch myself run... or, well... the me who wouldn't need to lose weight.  There is a reason I stopped running, and it had a little to do with my knees and a lot to do with the fact that I couldn't get a total body sports bra.  Belly jiggle is a bitch.

Spreading a little Glee:

Reason #137 to love Brittany:

Santana: Hey Kurt, we’re really sorry about your dad’s heart attack.
Kurt: Thanks Santana.
Brittany: I did a book report on heart attacks if you want to give it to the doctor. I got knocked down an entire letter grade because it was written in crayon.

Days 3&4: rest

If by rest you mean two 14 hour work days in a 48 hour period, then yes, I've been resting yesterday and today.



I have a sedentary job... Writing on the white board is the most active I get here. And it doesn't help that the all time best pizza in Halifax is right below my office. I can smell the garlic all day and let me just say it is very hard to restrain myself. Yesterday I had a healthyish lunch (I'm workin on removing the "ish") and my snacks were a pink lady apple, a yogurt tube stolen from Livie's lunch stash, and a V8. I wanted a hero from Salvatore's downstairs all day long. It didn't help that I had my window open (the torture known as summer in the Hydrostone has begun already) and people dining on the patio below me were loudly exclaiming how delicious their pizzas were.

But I got through the day without pizza and was proud of my self restraint in the end. I celebrated by eating not 1, but 2 fudge ice cream bars. I am so nailing this weightloss thing!


Gleehab:
With season finale behind us, I'm experiencing some major withdrawal. I leave you with a link to the vid That I'll embed here tonight:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Young St,Halifax,Canada