New Years.... Yay?

      Ok, truth be told I'm not a fan of New years eve celebrations and I never have been. There's no one big reason for this, just a lot of little one. The biggest reason I guess would be the fact that I don't drink. I have no trouble with others drinking and I'm actually a very good bartender, I've just never wanted a drink. Now this isn't a problem when normally going out with friends to a bar or pub, but on New Years these places become a whole other beast. Much like Halloween these places just seem way more packed than usual, and the crazy levels seem to be off the chart. So these destinations are out for me.

                                                      Future leaders of the world!


    The second and at least for me far more important reason for my avoidance of New Years is that I just don't have any luck with it. I'm not talking about getting a date for the New Years kiss, but rather odd, unexpected, and just plain messed up things happening. I have the same problems with birthdays so I avoid those too.

                                            "Trust me lady, this boring compared to my last birthday."


      You may be asking yourself, "what does this have to do with you loosing weight?" And I would say "absolutely nothing!" In all honesty I just don't have much to update, so I'm just going to use this time to justify my stance on New Years.... I'm bitch like that sometimes.


    And on that cheery note I will say goodbye and happy new year.

Tara

yay for presents and the gift that keeps on giving .....the head cold.

   Yepp it was christmas and it was awesome except for the fact that me and my poor baby got sick on the 23rd and are still currently sick, Inara is getting better thank god, me on the other hand .... well I feel like I am dead.  Yep dead,  my head is all plugged up, my nose is running , my head hurts , I feel icky and I can't hear anything not to mention taste anything.

 This brings me to my next point I have NOT been on my diet and I don't care.  That might sound a lil harsh but I am dying and I cannot even enjoy the taste of eggnog or the taste of turkey and gravy.   This makes me sad : (    How ever I have recently weighed myself and I have lost 4 more pounds woo go team me !!  I am sure that this whole Christmas food bender I will probably gain a few of those pounds back but I knew that was going to happen if I went down this road.  As for my workout schedule it's well not really happening since I am still at my in-laws and still sick, I plan however, that if I am better by Wednesday that I am going to the gym on Thursday and starting my workout schedule at home again on Friday.

I have to go and die now.... but I just wanted to make sure that I wrote something... and here it is enjoy the video clip it's a goodie.

Fran

Gift to myself.

     So christmas has come and gone once again, and this year I bought myself a little something. As I walk huge amounts for my job I was curious as to exactly how much I was walking, so I bought myself the DS walking coach. So, I will be letting you all know how this goes and if I find it to be useful or a complete waste of my time.

                                                            Oooooohhhh, shiny. 


     As for my workouts I have been keeping on track, which for me isn't so difficult being that I'm not spending this holiday with friends or family. I get to spend quality time with my workout videos and pedometer...... wee. Food wise I have been keeping on track. I was sent some goodies form home and I have been indulging but I basically swapped it for my usual chocolate allowance so I'm not worried.

Tara

Rotate!

      So it's has now been one month since we started this little adventure and my workout program (a 4 week program) has come to an end. So, as of yesterday I'm working out with new videos, flipping between a 20 minute total body plus a 10 minute abs video and a 20 minute upper body strength video. All this is in conjunction with about 2 hours of walking a day. At then end of January I'll again switch to a new set of videos. Because I have such a small space to work out in and the fact that I don't really like working out I know that if I were to stay with the same program eventually I would give it up out of sheer boredom.

                                                   Sadly all my silly hats are in Canada. 

      An unforeseen result of this workout rotation is that I find muscles that my last program wasn't doing anything for. Case in point my thighs screaming in pain from when I woke up this morning till now.  I'm so glad I only worked my arms today, my legs could not have taken a workout today.

                                                             MY LEGS!


     Now as promised my monthly update on my belt progress. I am officially on the sixth notch, which I assume to mean my overall measurements will have gone down. I've decided to take my measurements monthly and graph them. I will post that graph every 4 months so the steady (hopefully) overall progress can be seen in a more visual manner then just numbers written in inches.

     So on that note I will say happy christmas, and return to my screaming legs.

Tara

Christmas, Chocolate, eggnog and don't forget the gym

1. Alright, it 5 days till Christmas and yes I have been sooooooo  good with my diet... for the most part.  I made truffles the other day and only had 2!  I am working out harder and longer at home and at the gym but I said that in my last post.  I expect that in the coming days as Christmas approaches that my intake of chocolate will increase however,  I have made up a plan to keep my schedule at the gym the same and try to do my workouts at home when I am at home.  But for now until Christmas I am going to workout when ever I can.  So , this is week 2 of operation fitness increase (ya like my new name for it hey I thought it was pretty rad) and I am not feeling hurty and sore like I did last week still working on increasing my weight on my arms and my abs , but again not going to hurt myself doing it.

I did check out that website couch to 5K and it looks really good , I am going to try to brave the treadmilll one more time to try this program out.  This week is all about the workouts and the eating right , well for the most part.  And  then it's Christmas!! Holy moly ! I can't believe it's here already, I can't wait it's Inara's first Christmas and I'm so excited.  

Other than me working out , walking a ton and doing my home workout not much is going on .... very tired , brain no worky and ya that's all I got.  I will put up a better post sometime this week.

And now for something completely different....

So Fran is a little busy today and will be posting tomorrow. In the mean time enjoy some backin up.

Strawberry fields forever.

        If I were to use one word to describe what grocery shopping in japan was like, that word would be seasonal. In Canada we're spoiled in many ways, one of those ways being our ability to get fresh foods out of season. Yes, you will pay more for these foods and often they're not as flavourful as they would be if you were eating them in season. Japan in contrast is extremely seasonal in it's fresh food choices, as in if it's not the season you will not see it period. But, I seem to have found the exception, christmas time.

                                       "Bah humbug" does not begin to describe my feelings.


      For the last couple of weeks the grocery stores here have been filled with fresh fruit, strawberries, kiwis, grapes, clementines and it all looks amazing. I finally broke and bought some strawberries expecting them to be like the winter strawberries I'd know in Canada, meaning hard, sour, and disappointing. These strawberries are the exact opposite, and I have been mowing down on them ever since.

                                                               So good.


       I fully expect all the lovely fruit to disappear once the holiday season is over, which does make me sad. So in the mean time I'm going to continue to gorge myself on as much as I can get my hands on.

      It's funny that you should mention jogging in your last post Fran, I have recently been looking into something that might interest you, it's a program called couch to 5K. Here's a link to the program you might want to check out.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml.

      I've been looking into it as something to start once I'm halfway to my current goal. I'm wanting to hold off on starting this personally for two reasons. One, I would like t be a little lighter before I start putting extra stress on my joints with jogging. Having danced for years what I was young means my ankles and knees aren't exactly the strongest parts of my body. Two, as I don't have access to any indoor area where I could walk/jog/run I think it would be a safer idea to wait till spring has arrived and gotten rid of the ice on the sidewalks. As you do have access to an indoor area to walk/jog/run starting a program like this sooner rather than later is an option for you, give it a look and see what you think.

Tara

Lunch lady arms

So you ask, "'what is the lunch lady arm?" well the lunch lady arm is by definition from the urban dictionary:  the hanging fat on the back of the arms above the elbow and under the armpit of a woman. No muscle (tricep) all blubber.  Now I wouldn't say blubber I would say flabby, loose skin.

  Not all of us have the lunch lady arm but most women know what I'm talking about.  So now we are all clear of what the lunch lady arm is , yes I too have the "lunch lady arm ".  It's really annoying actually, one of my goals is to diminish or obliterate my lunch lady arm all together by the end of April. That's 4 months away, I figure if I work really REALLY hard that it can happen. And even if my lunch lady arms don't go away entirely I will be just happy with them almost gone.  The reason why I am writing about this is not only does this bother me on a daily basis ( looking in the mirror and seeing the flabbiness that is my arm , but I have had a lot of problems lately finding a coat to wear, since I am in the land of the cold that is Canada I would like to be warm when I go out for my walks and just be warm in general.  Most of the problem is the coats barely fit my arms not to mention closing the Freakin coat  that's an entirely different rant all together.  But I finally won and found a coat that fits..... place happy dance here.


Before I go off  on another tangent I want to tell you about my week and my workout goal to push myself to a new fitness level, and my goal to start jogging on the treadmill.  Well, first I my workouts have been increasingly more intense this past week at the gym and at home.  I have increased the amount of weight on pretty much every machine that I use except for the one for my abs I am still at 40 pounds  there which doesn't really bother me that much.  Next , my goal to start jogging on the treadmill is NOT going to happen.  I tried all this week  to jog on the treadmill it's not that I am not able to jog but the treadmill makes me so nervous to run on.  I really don't want to kill myself, that and I saw someone beef it on the treadmill next to me the other day not a pretty sight.  So instead of jogging on the treadmill I came up with a different solution,  I started to use one of the other machines it's like jogging but it has you using your arms too  I don't know what it's called but I have been using that for 10 minutes as part of my workout at the gym and let me tell you I can feel it.  I plan on increasing the time on that machine as I get more fit, but for now I can barely do the the 10 minutes. 

I have been walking a lot more lately and doing more crunches and leg lunges at home but it had been a little crazy lately.   Anyways, Inara wants to play , so I gotta go .... until Monday.

'Tis the season for altered plans.

       So I have officially worked my last day of 2010, this is both wonderful and problematic. Wonderful, in that I finally have free time and my apartment will get a proper clean out. Problematic, in that I will no longer be walking to work or doing my fairly physical job. But, I think I may have worked out a solution.

                                                     Fun fact: I've solved a rubix cube.


       As I will have time on my hands and no work to keep the insanity at bay I've decided to up my work outs. I will go from 30 minutes to 60 minutes of my videos, and walk for a minimum of 3 hours a day (weather permitting). Hopefully if I can get myself used to this upped routine I'll be able to continue it after work starts up again and keep the dreaded plateau at bay.

                Because doing an image search of "plateau" get really boring results here's a dapper pug.


        On the nutrition front I have decided to stop journaling everything that and eat, and it's caloric count. I've found that I can not keep track in my head, and I'm able to gauge how many calories are in something with a fair amount of accuracy. So, yay for that.

Tara

Tis the Season....

Yes Tara it is the season for all things yummy and tasty, and it is sometimes, okay, most of the time hard to resist the yumminess of Christmas. But , you are right and Christmas only comes once a year so as long as we are careful and don't over indulge we should be good.  I plan on having  my fair share of holiday chocolate and goodies, but at the same time I kinda want to avoid it too, so I  guess we'll have to see what happens.

  Speaking about over indulging, I was bad last night.  I had pizza , not the blue label PC low fat low sodium stuff, the real fatty cheesy kind at the time I thought it tasted awesome , but Today I feel like crap. I feel sluggish and heavy and just plain gross.  I knew I was going to pay for it but I didn't think I would feel like this, in other words I will not do that again.

Other than my pizza disaster yesterday I did have some really awesome news to share with you.  I had the chance to weigh myself on Saturday after I published my post,  but I lost 4 pounds!!!!  but I figure I gained some of that back with the pizza.  Still I am stoked!!! So it's back to my daily routine of working out , walking and the gym this week.  I am going to make it my goal this week to do 20 more crunches and bicycles at home and at the gym I want to try to start jogging on  the tread mill... we'll see how that goes the tread mill might kill me but the other stuff is doable for sure.

In conclusion this week is all about recovering after the pizza incident and pushing myself to a new fitness level.

 Have I mentioned that I have been dreaming about cookies lately ??


Franny Pants

The gift of temptation.

     As it is the holiday season and gifts are starting to be passed around, I felt the need to address the gifts that bring temptation along for the ride. Yesterday I was given two small gifts, one from a student and his mother, and the other from a co-worker. Both of these gifts were food, more specifically chocolates and donuts. As I write this I know that another gift of chocolate awaits me, it was sent by my parents, it's mint, and it only comes out once a year.

                                                            You know you wanna.

    I plan on enjoying all these gifts, and I will eventually eat them all. In the mean time it's just going to sucks having all these foods that I love around. Along that same line I know that this year I'm getting off light. As I will be spending this holiday away from home and in an apartment that doesn't have an oven avoiding a lot of the holiday foods that are high in calories wont be that difficult for me.

                                                          I can't describe the frustration.


          In all honesty I did end up eating one of the donuts this morning and it wasn't even worth the juggling I had todo to not exceed my calorie intake for the day, Timmies it was definitely not. I'm still working hard to train myself to eat within my caloric range without having to constantly check and keep notes. So, till I can just live within my calorie range I think I'm going to face any gifts of food with a mix of dread and lust.

Tara

I have had a really awesome week thus far, I forced myself to make time to workout, went for a ton of long walks with Inara (and might I add holy frick it's cold) , but the one thing I did this week is go to the gym twice !! I know that sounds stupid but  I really didn`t think I was going to be able to make it to the gym at all.  The funny thing is I am really getting into this whole going to the gym I love it , not only I am working out I actually can focus on me don`t get me wrong I love my Punkin, but I never get a chance to have a minute to myself during the day.  By going to the gym it allows me to actually have almost two hours to myself !!!  And at the end of those two hours I can`t wait to get home to see her.

That`s awesome that you have made progress! Yay Tara! It`s a great feeling when you know are making progress , you can`t see it but I am doing the happy dance for you.  And using your belt to see how much  progress is being made it what I used to do on Salt Spring when I had no scale, all I had was me , Jake and my belt. ( I did have clothes on too for those who are wondering)

I too have made some progress  a lot of my clothes are starting to feel baggy and my jeans don`t feel as tight woo hoo!! I haven`t weighed myself yet but I`ll get that checked when I see my Dietitian next which is on the 7th on January.

Well that`s all I have got for now  but  I just have one last thing and that is GO TEAM US!! 

Rock n' roll nerd.

      It's not secret that I'm a full fledged nerd, and more than just a little bit random. So it probably wont come as to much of a surprise that I don't listen to music a lot of the time when i work out. I often listen to podcasts, or audiobooks. It's nice I just turn down the volume on my workout (after the second time I know what's going to be said and when), and listen to something I'm interested in.

                                                            My mom says I'm cool.
  
     When I don listen to music it's often just my ipod on shuffle. That's not to say I don't use a playlist, and oh is that playlist nerd. Honestly I named the list "nerd rock", but it's not necessarily nerdy. The songs are by artist who are internet famous, comedic, or just plain odd. Along with that I also added song I just like a whole lot. So let's play a game, it's called the first 10 songs on shuffle!

    1) Dr. McCoy By Spock
    2) Sex and violence By Scissor sisters
    3) Moon on the water By The dying breed (Japanese version of an anime soundtrack.)
    4) Indigo By Tom Milson
    5) Canvas bags By Tim Minchin
    6) Birdhouse in your soul By They might be giants
    7) Bitchin' in the kitchen By Shock treatment soundtrack
    8) Busted By Phineas & Ferb soundtrack
    9) Snow day By All caps
    10) Here comes your man By Meaghan Smith

    As I said before nerdy and random.

    Some progress news! My belt that I wear daily and use as a gauge for my weight lose is on the loose side. I'm guessing in about 2 weeks I will fully be on the next notch. As the notches on my belt are quite spaced I always have about a 2 week period where one notch is a little to loose and the next a little to tight. It's annoying, but it's nice to know that progress is being made.

                                                                    Better then a scale.


     As for your not being able to have regular workout, why don't you just up your walking. Even if you do 10 or 15 minuets at a time going up and down you apartment corridor with Inara on your hip. Doing this 5 or 6 times a day will add up, plus the added weight of Inara will add to the work out. It's just a suggestion.

Talk to you soon,

Tara

And then there was snow

  Yepp there is snow, but not just that it is getting soooo cold out  so Tara I feel your pain.  I am still acclimatising to the Ontario weather, since I spent so long in B.C where the winters are much more milder and
hardly any snow.  Because it is so f*%$ing cold out side it really doesn't make me jump for joy when we go for our daily walks.  However I have still been braving it.


 I wanted to talk about what music you listen to while you workout.  You know what kind of music gets you motivated.  For me personally it's Kanye West, I don't know why it just get's me up and going.  Some times there is the odd Madonna and a little Hole.  Depends on how much motivating I need that day.  What about you Tara? or anyone that's reading this?

So back to my actual workout schedule it's going to be a touch and go week since my apartment building keeps turning my water off and installing a crane on the roof of the building , yes I said a crane.  Apparently we are getting a new fan or something.... weeeee  I am so excited ( insert sarcasm here) so as for my workout  I am going to strive to do my everyday workout everyday except the days that I go to the gym.  I want to get to the gym at least twice this week but I have a feeling that might change.  I am going to be spending some days over at my father's house and well that can be trying sometimes with my brother.

And on the bright side I am finally feeling Christmasy !!  We got the Christmas tree up and decorated , it even smells like Christmas.  All I need is some egg nog............ mmm nog, oh ya and some chocolate..... mmm chocolate.   It's going to be a good Christmas :)  Ho Ho Ho!

My brain fails me.

     I want to be writing something cleaver for people to read, and I've been trying to think of possible topics all day. Would you like to know what I came up with?

                                                                     Dang it.


     I'm just tired, and I've spent my whole day getting stuff done that I wanted to do yesterday, and it's getting freakin' cold. But, there is an up said. I got a package from home, and one of the things in that package was an advent calendar. And, being that it's five days into the month meant that I had five days worth of chocolate to catch up on. This fact literally had me giggling and dancing around my apartment.

All it takes to make me happy.

   Yes, I know there's only two chocolates in the photo. That's because I was three chocolates in before I realized I would most likely talk about it and would need a picture.  I wish this post had more gravitas, but my brain is just not cooperating. Hopefully I will be more interesting on Thursday. 

Tara

Feel the burn

Hello fellow viewers or I guess readers would be more appropriate.

 Yes Tara you are right we shouldn't be complete Nazis about out diet. I figure on special occasions such as my birthday and Christmas stuff like that that I will loosen the leash on my diet.   But in order for this to be okay with me and my goal I have promised anytime that I do stray from my I'm going to call it "the new me diet" I will work harder and longer at the gym.  I figured that it will cancel each other out.  But I want and I have been sticking with the new me diet.  I think this is as long as I have gone with a diet.

But Yesterday was my birthday yay me !!  and I was a little bit bad I had at dinner :cheese cannelloni ( that I made) and ceaser salad  and I tried to keep the portions size down but it didn't really happen.  And well there was cake too it was carrot  cake but still it was cake.   There now I don't feel so bad.

As for my weekly goal of walking and working out for longer well the working out longer I was able to accomplish but the walking not so much, lets just say this week not including walking and my other workout almost killed me ..... I am so tired.  

On the bright side I have joined a gym yay go team Fran! and the best part is my dad joined too, so I have someone to go with.  Today was my first day at the gym and I wanted to go a little easy on my body at least for the first day(some days I think I should duct tape my neck because it hurts so much it feels like my head is just going to fall off)  but that's besides the point.  So, I did the 1to 9 section of machines that work every major muscle group that was about 20 minutes, ,then I rode the bike for 10 minutes , after that I got on the treadmill  and power walked for 30 minutes.  I let me tell you I was sweating like a pig.   Not to mention , that when I jumped out the treadmill  I was so disoriented  and spinny  it was crazy.  I also did  20 crunches at the end , but over all I was happy with my first workout at the gym.  I am hoping to get to some classes during the week ( at least one).

So my summary of this week went well considering it could've gone alot worse than it did.  And I feel way better physically  I get up and I am more awake and alert, I am wanting to go for a walk or do my workout at home more.  I feel better emotionally too , more of a positive thought process than before I was working out and dieting.

More power to you Tara  !!!  We can do it !!

Franny Pants

Bend don't break

     Fran, your last post got me thinking about the rules we have arbitrarily placed on ourselves for this adventure and how they work with human nature. You mentioned that you had attended a family dinner and still managed to stay on your meal plan (GO TEAM FRAN!!!!), but that you have stayed away from the dessert table. I think this may be one area we might differ in our approach to all this. I have a certain number of calories allotted everyday strictly for chocolate.

                                                                   Secret lover.

    I know it may seem a little counter intuitive, but for me it's the only option that makes sense. If I were to ban myself from chocolate I know it would very quickly become the only thing I could think of, and I would eventually say screw it and binge. I have friends who can have meal plans that allow for one day of off plan eating, but for me that's just not an option. I know that on the one day I would just go too far and negate all the work from the days before.

                                                            You gonna finish that???

    So I built a failsafe if you would into my eating plan. Of the 1500 cals I can eat a day 200-250 cals are devoted to chocolate. Do I always eat that much? No. Am I calmer knowing that I have this cushion? Most definitely yes.

    Though I am very proud of you walking away from the sweets, I know that is something I could never do and I'm glad I've found a way to work this so that I wont have too.

Tara