Bazinga...

Yes, today is Monday. Yay Monday! (place sarcasm here)  get my drift? I am very glad that I have a workout schedule and trying to keep busy but it's getting pretty boring as I said in my last post.  Mostly, my workout at home, so again I say that I am looking for a good non boring workout dvd.  I haven't really had time to even start looking for one since poor Inara is teething like crazy, and is very clingy because of it.

I'm finding it so difficult to fit in my workout during the day right now so I end up wearing Inara while I workout and that works for some of my workout but the other part of my workout ( crunches, bicycles etc..)  I am going to have to change my workout hence the video.
Speaking of finding time, I have decided to change my Saturday post to Friday since my Saturday post has been late more that once since we started this adventure and I am really trying to keep up my posts on time rather than  them being late all the time.  My Monday posts will stay the same.

I weighed myself on the weekend and I have lost 2 more pounds which is great, my clothes have gotten very baggy which is great.  I think I am losing more inches rather than pounds right now and that's fine.  I know that if I keep this routine up that I will eventually lose the pounds too.
I have way more energy so I have been walking more , I think I already said that before.
 On a totally unrelated topic on Wednesday it's Damian and mines 2 year anniversary, I am looking forward to it I can`t believe how lucky I am to have him in my life not to mention Inara.  He is very supportive with my goal of losing weight and getting healthy which makes it a little easier and gives me a little more motivation.
I think that we are going out for dinner at Milestones and Inara is being babysat for the first time with Grampa Rob and Uncle Scotty for 2 whole hours !! I`m not sure if I will make it that long but we`ll see.   I  am planning on having some sort of Salad at milestones when we go , they have really awesome salads there is I am sure that I will be able to stay on course with my diet.


Franny

Treadmill One : Fran Zero

Ya so my week was pretty awesome , went to the gym and did my normal weekly routine.  But, this week I screwed up my left knee on the treadmill.  It's not seriously  messed up but I definitely did something to it and it hurt like a son of a gun. that was one Tuesday so the rest of the week at the gym I spent walking on the treadmill and using the elliptical machine trying to nurse my knee back so I can start to run again.
I will not let this injury deter me from running on the treadmill I just have to be more careful with my knees from now on.   I have increased my walking time and steps on my pedometer to 10,000 steps a day and it is a little harder to get to that goal than my previous goal of  7,000 a day.    It helps that Inara is becoming more active so I have to kinda chase after her now.

That's awesome that you are switching workouts it keeps things interesting, I think that I am going to get a workout  DVD and see how that goes for me because the workout that Scott gave me is getting kinda boring.  Actually, it's so boring i could do it in my sleep.  Let me know how you like your new video.  Can you recommend any for me to try ?

Well, until tomorrow.

Fran

Rotate.

     January is coming to a close, and for me that means the start of a new workout. So far I have done the 10 minute trainer, Loosing it and keeping fit with Valerie Bertanelli, and now I'm starting Fit to strip: Carmen Electra's aerobic striptease.

                                          Please tell me I wont need 6 inch heels for this. 


      My doing strip aerobics isn't so far out of the ordinary for me. About 2 years ago I signed up of a pole dancing workout, the actual workout and pole work was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the teacher wasn't that great, she really had a problem with explaining how todo the moves making the class frustrating. I'd be keen to try it again, hopefully with a teacher who has better communication skills.

     This week also marked the second episode of Heavy, so far I'm still liking the show. It's not gimmicky on how it approaches weight lose for the morbidly obese, sighting that it will take years before the subjects will really reach their ultimate goals.
          
       I think that's what many people forget when they start trying to loose weight and change their life style. It will take time to reach your goal in a healthy way, and once you do reach that goal you can't just stop everything. I try to remind myself of this when I feel frustrated or discouraged. A good example being the week and a half that I didn't workout because I was sick, I had to remind myself that pushing myself would only prolong my illness and letting my self get better was what would be best in the long run. It's not important what my size is in a month or 2 months, but once I reach my goal will I still be maintaining that a year and 2 years after.


Tara
    

Walk the walk.

    As I expected my job has forced me to get creative with my walking this week. My walking couch has my current daily step goal at 13000. To put that in perspective the average person takes 3000-5000 steps a day, so I'm walking just a skosh more than that.

      This week I've had to do the bulk of my walking at my workplace. Normally this wouldn't be to much of a problem, but I'm not alone which is out of the ordinary. In a months time when I'm back at this location I will be the only employee there so reaching my step count wont be as difficult. It's actually to my advantage that this week I'm not doing my walking outdoors as it's been snowing everyday this week. I'm also waiting on new boots as my current back up pair are just not cutting it.  They soak through very quickly freezing my feet, they also have to grip to speak of.

       Oh well, only two more months of winter and the snow will start to melt. Then I get to look forward to the joys of the rainy season...... yay.

Treadmill vs Fran

I would like to start off my post today saying that winter sucks, and I am sure that you agree.  It's snowing again, and yesterday was -20 something with the wind chill.  That was not fun.  I am getting really sick of this whole snow thing, I want it to be spring I want it to not be -20 something outside and finally I want to be able to take a run OUTSIDE instead of running on a treadmill.

Yes I have been doing the couch to 5k program and I found that the second week really hard so I am going to try to do the third week but if I find it too difficult I am going to do the second week again and then continue to do the third week next week(does that make sense?)  Anyways, I feel really good my knees hurt from running on the treadmill and just getting use to running again it's been years since I have run.  I think that last time I ran on a consistent basis was when I was in high school and on the soccer team.  wow that was a long time ago.  I also feel really awesome after each session, my leg muscles don't hurt anymore but what I am finding is the other muscles that you use when you run or jog ache.  At least I know that it is working.  

In amongst my weekly workout routine Inara has been keeping me on my toes, she has been teething (she already has 5) and I can see 2 more coming in.  On the plus side I have been walking a lot with her in the hallways so that has been good. My blahs have gotten better over the past two days this snow isn't helping but again just trying to concentrate on the goal is helping me quite a bit.

This week is about concentrating on my diet, I have been following my diet but there have been a few times where I have fallen off the wagon  per say, and I have worked extra hard the next day to even it out , but I still feel bad for myself that I ate off my diet.  That and I need to make my goal for February 11  of losing 6.5 pounds, and that's not going to happen if I keep eating stuff that's not on my diet.

okay, I think that's all I have to say for today.

Franny

TV time.

     As I'm in Japan all the english TV I watch comes via the internet. Sometimes I come across shows that I normally wouldn't have watched. Case in point a new show from A&E called Heavy, a show that describes itself as "the remarkable journey of dangerously overweight individuals as they attempt to regain their dignity and reclaim their health."

                           Is it strange that my first reaction was "ooh, she has orange nail polish."
          
   I'll admit to being dubious about this show before I watched it, mostly because other shows about loosing weight tend to treat it as a competitive segment on a game show. The issue of weight loose on these type of shows is not usually addressed as a long term process, so the people trying to loose weight aren't really helped to change their lives in a sustainable way. If I think so little of weight loose shows you might be wondering why I watched it at all? That answer is simple, itunes offered it for free.

     Imagine my surprise when the show (at least in the first episode) seems to have gotten it right.  Each episode follows 2 people for 6 months, who aren't competing with each other. The trainers aren't abusive, and the weight loose is recognized as something that will take time (years) to overcome. The approach is that of regular exercise and calorie/portion control (sound familiar Fran?). I found the show to be both upbeat and terrifying. It's great to see people really working to change their lives for the better,  but at the same time it's scary because I understand how easy it was for the people in the show to get so big. I think I'm going yo keep an eye on this show, I hope that future episodes will continue in the spirit of the first. 

    As for my own progress this week, it's been less then great. I have been fighting a stomach bug all week so I've only done my hardcore workouts twice this week. I have still maintained my walking (12000-29000 steps a day) but feel like I should be doing more. I know that I just have to wait it out and let myself get better, but still it's frustrating. I just try and remind myself to keep moving forward. 

Tara

blah...

Yepp I have the blahs.  I don't know why , but I have the blahs.  I  am pretty sure that the weather is the cause of my blahs this time around. There is so much snow, I kinda miss the west coast where the winter was much more mild than the Ontario winter we have.  But no matter I still have been going to the gym hoping that my blahs will pass.  Trying to get out of the funk is hard when you are "trying" I know that they will go away but I want them to leave me NOW!!

I have felt the need to really concentrate on my goal of losing weight and getting in shape lately because the laziness in me wants to win.  I am so glad that I have you Tara, and this blog and  that we are doing this together because if it wasn't for our goal to lose weight and get in shape  I would probably still be on my ass and whining about my weight.

So here's to the blahs and beating them!

Sorry this post is a little lame , I promise that the Monday post will be more insightful and filled with less blah.

P.S I hope you are feeling better :)

Franny Pants

Damn you winter.

     Winter is in full swing here and it doesn't look to be letting up anytime soon. Unfortunately winter has claimed a victim..... my boots. I seem to have walked my boot right off the heel. Luckily I have a back up pair, but as those aren't nearly as sturdy I'm thinking I'll be getting a third pair to be on the safe side fairly soon.

                                                         I walk far to much.


   As for working out I took a bit of a hiatus of 3 days. I haven't been feeling well, not really sick but that limbo right before you get sick. This has been going on for 5 days now and I'm still not really "sick". I just want to either get better or be sick now I just want out of this health limbo.

    
        So, here's hoping that I'll be better soon and back to not feeling like I'm going to be sick in the middle of my workout.

Tara

crazy world

Ya so yesterday I hear that Starbucks is coming out with a new drink size called the "Trenta"  which is 1.5 pints or 916 ml.   Cray right ? I mean who can drink that ? That's more than the average persons stomach can hold.  This is just sick !!!

I have a real big problem with all the fast food places not just coming out with new and bigger sizes but full well knowing that this shit is NOT good for you.  And the thing is it is cheaper to eat at one of these places than go to the grocery store and buy something healthy.  It's really sad that eating healthy is expensive.

anyways that's what I wanted to share , that and I am staying on track with my diet but finding it so very tempting to go eat a cheeseburger from one of these places that I was just writing about they smell so good.......................mmmm crap.

I am kinda proud of myself this week I was and still very tired  but I didn't jam out and not go to the gym or skimp out on my walks or workouts at home, plus I did get most of the stuff I needed to get done , done.
 Plus at the gym I am now doing 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and about 15 to 20 mins on the tread mill for my whole couch to 5k training( and I haven't fallen or tripped or any injuries YAY!)  not to mention the rower and the weight circuit.

   My pants are officially too big for me, which is awesome!!  My friend Shannon who I haven't seen in awhile actually noticed that I lost some weight, this made me feel really good about myself.  I kinda was doing the little happy dance in my head, there was a song too.   I haven't weighed myself since the last time but I defiantly think that I have lost some inches.    

 I  have to make this post short but I will put something up on Wednesday ....  baby is needs me

Fran

Roar....

It's me Fran and  yes I'm late again with my post, me sorry : ( for the past week I have been so very tired and I don 't mean I need a nap tired I am exhausted. I am getting my daily walks in whether they be outdoors or indoors, It has been mostly indoor walking which is driving my batty because walking the halls and the mall isn't that interesting however I am getting it done.  That takes me to my first rage of the day, we got some snow  I think we go quite a bit of snow, so naturally thinking  I live on Brant street one of the busiest streets here I thought they would plow the sidewalks.   Tara I feel the same way you do when it comes to snow removal now.

NO , no they didn't plow the sidewalks for 3 F*%$ing days !!!!!  Now I tried to go for a walk the first day which the snow wasn't that bad so I thought , until I got out to the side walk with Inara in her stroller.  I walked a lil ways it was a little bit like offroading with a stroller but nothing too bad.  then I got stuck.  I got stuck and I couldn't get the stroller out I thought about abandoning the stroller altogether and just take Inara out then finally I got it.  Needless to say after that traumatic experience I turned around and went home.  

Even though I have been uber tired I have been doing my workouts and I have been going to the gym , although due do the snow I have been brave and I started that couch to 5k on the tread mill , and so  far so good.  

On the plus side, my Brother said he would take me to the gym more days starting in February so that makes me happy. 

Tomorrow I have to go for my EEG  at the hospital, not super excited about that especially when it's all over and you have to go wash the glue out of your hair. Me Tired  going to have some more coffee now , and Tara no one should have to work on a Sunday that's just icky.

Oh I haven't forgotten about my measurements I will post them this week.

FranO

My hours are a lie.

    So oddly I worked today, the first Sunday I've worked in avery long time. I started my day thinking I would only be working 4 hours, but that turned out to be a lie and I ended up working 7. As a result for the second day in a row I get home ravenously hunger, and pretty much ate my fridge clean.

                                                                     Om nom nom.


    Luckily there wasn't much in my fridge so no harm done. I'd tell you more but I'm just tired so I'll talk more on Thursday.

Tara

We keep odd hours.

      My work hours are not exactly what one would call "regular". I work evenings and Saturday mornings, but not the same time day too day or even week too week. I can start anywhere from 5:00pm - 7:30pm on a week day and 11:15am - 1:15pm on a Saturday, and these times are not including commute which ranges from a 30 minute walk to a 45 minute train ride and a 40 minute walk (both of those are one way trip times).

                                           I spend far to much time on the train. 

       Because of these strange hours I'm finding my workout schedule to be rather wonky. I just can't have a set time each day to devote to exercise. Right now I'm doing it as soon as I get home. This actually has turned out fairly well as Japan doesn't have central heating and I have to turn my space heater on as soon as I get in to heat my place. So working out right when I get in means it feels like my apartment is warming up faster than it actually is.

                                  Sometimes the floor is the warmest place in my house. 


         Unfortunately this also means that I eat at strange times as well. I'm trying to have regular meals and snacks,  but sometimes that's just not possible. I don't know how all this will impact my progress, I'm hoping that as long as I keep up with the exercise and healthy eating that the things will workout..... No pun intended I swear.

Tara

Monday, Monday....do do do

Today I  had to wake up at 6 am which is an ungodly hour to get up in the morning even Inara doesn't get up that early.  This was do to the fact that my apartment building is under major construction and today they have cut the power and water from the entire building for get this the entire F*%$ing day, that means  no elevators no nothing, so I had to come to my father's house.  It's really not that bad I get to see my dad and my brother and watch free movies on the movie network.

I have done my walking for today but that's it, not really happy about it.   I like to keep to my routine but life happens sometimes.  I find that having a routine keeps me sane , that's just me though.

So I have gone and re vamped my diet to go along with my new re vamped workout plan.  It's not much different than what my dietitian gave me just a few little tweaks here and there.  I have gone to the weight watchers bread which in my opinion tastes pretty good  it's just smaller pieces, and I have sacrificed my kraft peanut butter and gone with the blue label peanut butter ( for one tablespoon there is 25 calories) and making a conscience effort to always have salad with my meals.  MMM  greens so good, and I have totally cut out my salad dressing altogether, which I am pretty damn happy about.


 ya other than that there is not really anything else to report ,  I'm running on empty and want to go to bed, I'm not going to see that for at least another few hours...... yawn.....

Franny Pants

Day off

     So today I woke up not exactly feeling my best, and that feeling has lasted through my day. So, I have decided that I'm taking the day off. I have not worked out, I haven't counted my calories, I did get my walking in around my apartment but that was only because staying still made my stomach ache more apparent.

    I'll be back to my usual routine tomorrow, but for today I'm going to hang out in comfy clothes and just relax.

Tara

Razzle Dazzle

 So I have some good news to report , I saw the Dietitian yesterday and I have officially lost 7 pounds since last month!!!  go team me  !!!  So now I just have to keep up with my diet and my workout plan and hopefully this trend will continue.  I honestly, did think that I would have gain a little more since Christmas but non the less I am stoked.

As for my workout plan it's going well and I have decided that I am going to leave it as is for now.   This might change and it probably will, but for now this is what it looks like :

Sunday - gym for 1 1/2 hours + walking
Monday - couch to 5 k program + walking
Tuesday- gym for 1 1/2 hours + walking
wednesday - workout at home+ couch to 5k
Thursday- gym for 1 1/2 hours + walking
Friday- walking + couch to 5k
Saturday- body flow class at gym ( yoga, and tai chi) plus walking

Now that I look at this I think that this workout program is good for now at least until it gets nicer outside which will happen sometime in hopefully 3 months.... but who knows.  One of the things I am glad that I did schedule into my workout plan is the body flow class with the yoga and tai chi I wanted to incorporate some yoga into my workout plan and now it is , this makes me happy.

Yesterday when I saw the dietitian , she told me that every 9 pounds you lose is one dress size.  And apparently everyone knew that except for me.  So now I have a new goal for next month to see if I can lose the 2 pounds that I need to lose to make it a whole dress size plus at least half a dress size which would be 4.5 pounds so altogether  6.5 pounds which I think is doable.

And speaking about pedometers , I have one on my ipod nano which makes me really happy, and have been using it , when I remember.  I have been trying to remember to wear it and turn it on when I get up in the morning but sometimes it just slips my mind.  I have however downloaded the couch to 5k podcasts for all 9 weeks so I am looking forward to starting that next week.  

anywho .... that's all I got for today  oh by the way it's snowing like a mofo outside and here's a picture to show my hatred for this snow.

Frano out.

Back at it.

     So I am officially back at work...... yay....... In truth it hasn't been so bad, save for the loads of snow that I have to walk through to get to work. I've resorted to bringing an extra pair of jeans with me so I'll have something dry to teach in.

                 You have no idea how good Canada is at snow removal, till you're in a country that does it badly. 


     So far my return to work hasn't interfered with my workout routine. The only difference is that I've shifted to from during the day till after I get home from work. Which means I'm now working out at 10:30 at night.

                                                              Because daylight is for suckers. 


     Now, for the walking coach update. I'm 12 days in and so far I'm liking it. I just throw it in my pocket in the morning and go about my day, and what the data has shown me so far is that I walk a hell of a lot. The program comes set with a goal of 3000 steps a day, which I blew through handily. After only a few days I upped my goal to 8000, which I was still able to make easily. After the first week the program evaluates you average daily steps and asks if you would like to change your step goal. In my case it suggested 9000. I upped the goal, and while a little harder to reach I've still made it with room to spare each day. Tonight the program once again asked if I wanted to up my goal, so I now need to walk a minimum of 10000 steps a day. It's at this point that I think I might start to have some trouble reaching my goal. Well not trouble per say, I'll just have to look for opportunities to increase my step count now where as before I just went about my day. At the end of the month I'll give you a more detailed review, but for now I'll say I'm enjoying it.

Tara

what`s that I need sleep .... no you`re lying.

Today is Monday is it not?  God, I hope so... well I guess I wouldn`t be writing this post if it wasn`t Monday but it could be Saturday too.  Yes, no sleep for me, Inara my awesome little darling, is going on this whole I need to be awake ALL the time , I mean she`s not crying or freaking out she`s just laughing and bouncing and wanting to play and at 4 am it isn`t all that fun.  But it could be worse she could have colic and be screaming at the top of her lungs all the time but thank god she is a happy baby , that just wants to be awake.  

So I have worked out some of the details of my new re-vamped workout I do want to add more to it keep in mind but that will come as the week goes on.  This whole lack of sleep didn`t really help my brain work so much.  Okay, so I have worked it out that I will be going to the gym 4 times a week instead of 3.  I am still doing my workout  from home that Scooter gave me plus I am adding jogging to my home workout schedule. Thank you Tara for that link to couch to 5K.  I will be going to the gym Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.  

As for the rest of my plan to re-vamp my work out again that will come later this week. 

Now it;s time to have a little pep talk .... Tara I get that you got the blahs and that sucks :(  but the good news is that you will be home soon yay!!!  and like you said  you are making progress which is awesome !!  And if you continue to keep on this getting healthy journey with me then you will make more progress.  And remember we are going to go out when you get home and look totally FABULOUS(not that we aren`t already)

KOO KOO BANANAS 

 

Franny

Carry on.

     So my vacation is very quickly drawing to a close, and soon I will be back to strange work schedules, train rides, and children who don't understand a word I say. I don't think there will be a change to my workout schedule once I'm back at work. I keep things fairly flexible and only skipped 2 days in the month leading up to my break, both these days being made up for with a double workout the next day. No, my concern is the apathy that seems to be creeping up on me. I admit to feeling like I've already "checked out" of my job. I don't know if this is because I've had such a long break from work, or if I really just don't care anymore.

                                                    Curse my burning apathy!


      Don't get me wrong Japan is nice, but it's just not for me as a longterm place to live. As a result of my perpetual state of blah I seem to be throwing myself into this whole "get healthy" thing we're doing here. I know this seems like a really great thing to get wrapped up in, but I worry that my fixation/obsession will burnout and I'll just stop.

                         Side note: I have a REALLY loud neighbour.... I can hear him snore.




       I hope this doesn't happen. For the first time I really feel like I'm getting results and changing the way I eat and live my life, but as I've mentioned in previous posts I get bored easily and let's just say I don't do bored well.

    So, here's  hoping that all this whining becomes moot once I get back to work.

Tara

Happy New years ?? really It's midnight ?? wow....

So I first will wish everyone a happy new years !! yay !!  And then I will tell you about my new years .... It started out by going to the mall ( which was a really BAD idea) I had to get some new shoes for working out, and I succeeded in that regard but the mall was CRAZY.  I have to agree with you Tara, that new years eve will increase the crazy levels all over the place not just the pubs/bars not to mention bring out the crazies.  I think it's kinda like the full moon deal.  Anywho, got off topic a little there , so I did my walk for the day at the mall yesterday we walked for about 2 hours which isn't so bad, and then we came home which was really nice I really missed my home even though it's really small it's our home.  We had dinner and then we watched Star Trek movies , Will Farrel movies and we can't forget the Back to the future movies.  Don't judge me.  We were tired and there was nothing else on.  Following that We were in bed before 10:30.  I almost missed new years if Damian hadn't said something.  In conclusion new years is just another day.

Now, I want to update you on a few things.  This week was good I finally feel better and went to the gym on Thursday which was awesome I missed the gym and I have been walking which I have also missed and I started back on my diet.  I know that I fell off the wagon so to speak at Christmas and I accept the fact that I will probably  pay for that.  I want to start going to the gym more (Damian said that he might want to join the the gym with me and that would be cool) I have this urge to rev up my workout plan so in the next few days I am going to come up with a different workout plan a more intense one.  I never thought I would say this but I miss shoveling shit at the barn, walking up cardiac mountain 15 or more times a day and pushing giant wheelbarrows full of sawdust up hill.  Back then at least I didn't have to go to the gym hahaha, however I had to wake up at 6 am which I don't have to do now ....I have been blessed with a awesome baby.

Also this week is my Dietitian appointment and we'll see how I am doing.  That will be on Friday so I will include all that on my blog next Saturday.  I am going to do some measurements to see where I am at then I will do some next month the same day and so on.

I got nothing else.

peace out

Fran