Indulgence

Following my last post, I've relaxed the rules a little bit and have been enjoying a few treats. I had an omelette for breakfast on Friday, shared an ice cream cone with Cate yesterday afternoon and even had a few Doritos last night while watching a movie. The best part was that the scale stayed about even the whole time.

Today was a little too indulgent and I am now feeling the effects of such a high-cal day. I'm burnt out and didn't make it to the gym. We had hubby's family over for dinner and so I made some fresh Chicken Burgers accompanied by a Grilled Corn & Avocado Salad as well as a random pasta salad that I concocted out of leftovers in the cupboards (veggie rotini, red pepper, onion, dried cranberries, parsley and a garlic hummus dressing). Both were a hit and I was able to send home leftovers with our guests, however there is still a bit of the avocado salad left and it is calling my name...

As a part of this new resolve to try to increase my metabolism, I'm trying to decide whether or not I should cleanse tomorrow. I've listed the pros and cons below:

Pros:

• I could do BodyFlow at 9am and that is the perfect cleanse day exercise
• Hubby is cleansing tomorrow
• I don't have any plans that would make it difficult
• I shouldn't cleanse on Wednesday if I want to try the new Saunders Farm exercise class (right Trish?)

Cons:

• I don't want to ruin the progress I've made on the weekend by introducing more calories and maintaining the weight.
• Most importantly, the leftover avocado salad will not last until Tuesday...

What do you think? I could use some guidance...

On A Break



Happy with the
change in shape...



I know I've mentioned it before, but I'm anxious to see a bit more of a change on the scale since I've started my new exercise routine. I have definately seen a change in my figure, but I have gone to the gym 5-6 days a week consistently for over a month now, and I'm only down a pound or two in that time. Stop me now if I'm being too whiny...

I've also become more conscious of my eating habits and I've started tracking my calories (eaten and burned) through My Fitness Pal. It's kind of like Facebook for weight loss. You can connect with friends and see their progress through a news feed. You can also adjust it to meet your own goals. It calculates the calories by adding up the calories you've eaten, and substracts the amount of calories you've burned for net amount. I've set my daily calorie goal to 1200 and out of the 13 days I've been doing it, I've acheived that goal 9 times. I love that I can input things from my iPhone through their app.

I heard some good advice recently about what to do when you hit a plateau - I think it came (originally) from Jillian Michaels.  Basically, she recommends that you increase your caloric intake by 10% and you take a break from exercising for a few days. This should be enough of a shock to get your system going again. The advice is based on the theory that you metabolism has slowed down and needs a kick start. This is exactly what I think is wrong right now, and so I'm following her advice and giving myself a break. I sure hope it works!

Have any of you hit a plateau in your weight loss journey? What did you do to get things moving again and stay focused and motivated?

Fairy Tea Party

Yesterday, we took advantage of Maddie being at Grandma & Grandpa's to allow Cate and I a special trip out to a Fairy Tea Party. The party took place at the Children's Garden in Robert F. Leggett Park (corner of Main & Clegg). It's an enchanting little community run garden that was just perfect for the event and made the perfect setting for me to try out my new "nifty fifty" lens that I bought for $40 off Kijiji. We made delicious oatmeal cranberry coconut cookies to share, and even got to bring a few home for the rest of the family.



Heading into the party

Fishing for stars

Beautiful girl.

I couldn't decide which shot I liked best... this one

or this one?

The girls

Fishing for stars

Look at those wings.

Trying to use the scissors.

Watching the crafting pro.

Fairy Princess Cate

Bubbles!

I love that this shot is overexposed - It's whimsical

Stopping to smell the flowers

Secret garden

Contemplating the jump.

Leaping fairies

Trying to sneak away.

She was so excited to get her face painted that she waited very patiently in line.

The finished product...

Story time

Time to head home.

Urban Adventures - City Chase 2011

Yesterday, hubby and I did one of the coolest things we have ever done together (aside from getting married by Elvis and having babies at the speed of light) - We participated in the 2011 Mitsubishi City Chase!

First thing in the morning, we packed Maddie up and shipped her off with Grandma for her first sleepover -Cate was already over at my folks' place the night before. Hubby and I put on our awesome City Chase t-shirts, packed our backpack full of water, protein bars and sunscreen, and hit the road.

All the Chasers gathered at City Hall to kick off the event. Goodlife was one of the main sponsors and facilitated a Zumba warm-up. Hubby and I were dancing along for the first 10 minutes, but it was scorching out and and we soon retired to the shade for fear of using up all of our energy before the race even started.

Team Carew - Ready to go!

The basic rules of the race are that you have 6 hours to complete the race. You have to get all of the mandatory chasepoints and then some to come up to a total of 10. After 5 hours, they no longer enforced the need for mandatories. You are not allowed to obtain help from people you knew on course, however, help from strangers on course, or people you knew at home is perfectly acceptable. You could only walk, run or take the bus, no bikes, rollerblades, cars or taxis. Our goal for the day was to finish within the 6 hours and if we had time to stop for a pint, then great!

Team Squires - The Competition

After a not-so-short opening address, the race began with a dash to Lisgar Park for the clue sheet. I scored the precious yellow sheet and snapped pictures of both sides and uploaded them to a Facebook event I had organized ahead of time so some of our friends could help us solve the clues from home (completely legit, btw). We quickly scanned the sheet and decided to head towards Queens St. for our first Chasepoint.

Chasepoint #1 - Spin-O-Rama

Live the Goodlife, don't be mean
Head over to the location on Queen
Move your legs to begin
This is going to be a spin.

We weren't the only ones to head to this chasepoint first, but we were lucky that the wait wasn't long. For this challenge, we had to hop on a spin bike and cycle for 7 minutes - easy peasy! It actually worked out perfectly since we used the time to do some more planning (hubby was in charge of the clue sheet and I checked things out on my iPhone). As we headed out onto the street, we realized that another chasepoint was just down the road.

Spin!

Multi-tasking

Chasepoint #2 - Super Server

"_______" Canadian Mounted Police
Tree an acorn comes from
Number of countries in Interpol
Establishment in which money is kept

We walked up to the Royal Oak on Bank street and had to face our longest wait of the day... a little less than 10 mins. Luckily, they had a water table, which was greatly appreciated since it was already super hot. For this challenge, we had to pick a card and relay between team members to reproduce the drink that matched our card. Easy enough to do, and so we were off to the next one.

Chasepoint #3 - Hide and Seek (Mandatory)

Armed with a Blackberry you'll begin your grand tour,
Follow the GPS closely at the Rogers near Gilmour.

We ran down to the Rogers on Bank at Gilmour and they had a stand ready for us. They handed us a blackberry and we had to take pictures of nearby stores based on a list they gave us. They were all within a block, so this chasepoint was also another quick one.

We continued down Bank St. while trying to figure out where to go next. As we walked by Frank St. I remembered that one of our support people mentioned a chasepoint on Frank St. We took a left turn as I searched on my iPhone for the corresponding chasepoint.

Chasepoint #4 - Lucky Flip

At the park named after the Canadian National  Badminton Champion in nineteen thirty, you'll play with some animals, but not one birdie.

As we approached, I became so very grateful to be teamed up with my hubby because all I could see were large snakes and tarantulas! Luckily, only one of us had to complete this chasepoint. Hubby flipped a coin to determine whether he would be subjected to the snake or spider - spider it was! He then rolled a die to find out how long he would have to endure it... he rolled a 6, so 60 seconds. Here's a picture of hubby being tough as nails...

Taking one for the team


We ventured back to Bank St. thinking we would catch a bus out to Brewer Park for the first of the mandatory chasepoints. We walked up to the McEwen on Catherine to get some water when I remembered one that another chasepoint was on Catherine St. Perfect - it was on our way and only a couple blocks down the road.

Chasepoint #5 - Work That Pole

etG yxse ta yxi3ts endac dan tnsifse

You guessed it... for this chasepoint, we had to do some pole dancing. In groups of six, we were taught a number of moves including the sexy crawl and the fireman and had to run through them a couple of times. Sadly, I think hubby was better than me (maybe because he has spent more time "studying" it?), especially because I was covered in sweat and sunscreen and I had no grip whatsoever on the pole. We got lucky here because there were two teams comepeting together so they let us jump ahead so that they could stick together.

We headed back on to the street and started walking toward Brewer Park. I checked google maps and found that a bus was coming in a couple minutes, so we took a few minutes to chat with another team at the bus stop and give our feet a break. We had already ran over 5 kms at that point.

Chasepoint #6 & #7 - Urban Rat

PNEYGBA HAVIREFVGL ORGJRRA YRRQF NAQ FGBEZBAG UNYY

A B C D  E F G H I  J  K L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

We let the bus take us into the Carleton University Campus since we raised over $50 and had to collect a chasepoint for that and we were also able to finish another chasepoint at the same location. This one was probably the one that took the longest for us (about 10 minutes). When we arrived, we got a sheet of paper with 10 clips of pictures and questions for each one. We had to go through the tunnel between Leeds and Stanton house and answer questions about the murals. It took us a bit of time to find the right ones based on the tiny black and white images in the dark tunnel. This being hubby's alma mater, he felt the need to point out the spelling mistake on the sheet as we left.

We were now 2 hours into the race and only had 3 chasepoints to go - we were ecstatic! We headed over to Brewer Park for the next one.

Chasepoint #8 - Flick Your Wrist

House of PainT headquarters is in a park.
Find out which one and you won't be in the dark.
Flick the disc, it'll be a lark.

When we arrived at Brewer Park to see our friends Ryan & Katie finishing up. We didn't get a chance to say anything more than hi, so we headed over to start tossing the frisbie. The first part of this challenge required us to throw and catch the frisbie 15 times - sounds simple enough... Unfortunately, my skill in softball does not translate to frisbie and the darn thing ended up a few teams over more than once. It got to the point that one of the volunteers came over and gave hubby more frisbies so he wouldn't have to chase them down after I threw them into nowhere land. The second part involved one of us (hubby, obviously) trying to knock a plastic cup off a stick with the frisbie - 5 or 6 tries later and it was done.

I checked the bus schedule and found out that the next bus would take us to the vicinity of our last 2 chasepoints. Of course, the route did not match the map on the bus stop, so when the bus took a right off Bronson, we jumped off and started running to the next chasepoint. At this point, I had been checking twitter to find out if anyone had crossed the finish line yet, and they hadn't. I tweeted that we had 2 left to go and got some great responses that encouraged me to keep running.

My VERY sore feet

Fueling up

Chasepoint #9 - The Great Arch

(chinese characters...) Somerset (more chinese characters...)

We reached the arch at Somerset and Wellington and had to count various items on the arch. Luckily, the volunteers were forgiving and by the last question we were playing a guessing game with them rather than counting. We were trying to move it along because I knew the next bus was coming in a couple minutes to take us to our last chasepoint. We got our stamp and RAN to the bus feeling like we were on top of the world...



The Arch!


And this is where it started going downhill...

While on the bus, we started chatting with a couple other chasers. They were talking about the 6 mandatories they did... What?? 6??? I thought we only had 3 to do??? I checked our clue sheet and sure enough, we had to do 6... Even worse, I realized that the one we did at Brewer Park was NOT the mandatory. Apparantly there was another one inside the rink and THAT ONE was the mandatory...

I felt defeated. The Leo in me felt that the world had let me down and I lost motivation to continue. We had completed 9 chasepoints, only one of which was a mandatory so that left us another 5 to go! Hubby was his usual self and just kept on trucking, trying to encourage me to keep going.

Chasepoint #10 - Master of Faster (Mandatory)

Columbia Canada had released a clue on Friday night via Facebook -  here's the link.

We arrived at Parkdale Park for the Columbia Canada obstacle course. This was the most intimidating chasepoint so far since it required you to step through tires, crawl under a mesh tarp, do 10 squats with a weight bar and then climb a 10 foot wall... yes, you read that right... I do not like heights. Walking close to the railing at the mall makes me nervous.... Despite my lack of motivation, I got started on the obstacle course. By the time I got to the wall I took in the advice that I got earlier in the day (don't think about it, just do it) and I DID IT! Felt awesome and terrible at the same time.



The Wall (not us though)

I was at a crossroads of what to do. We had finished 10 chasepoints in an amazing time (the first 10 teams hadn't even crossed the finish line yet), but we had another 4 to go. I wasn't sure I was up for it, but decided we could head over to another mandatory nearby. We hopped on the bus and as we approached Preston, hubby said there was one there. We didn't have time I google it so I trusted him and we jumped off after he said "Well, Preston St isn't that long". Fifteen minutes of walking in the hot sun later I told him I gave up. I suggested we go for a pint and plan it so that we show up at the finish line at 3:01pm with our 10 chasepoints. He agreed, but suggested that we try to get this last one in...

Chasepoint #11 - Rock em' Sock em' (Mandatory)

Here is your chance to focus and pull through, one punch, one kick, and maybe a drop of sweat or two. Check in with "LE MADDOG" and "The Professor".

We arrived at the N1 Thai Kickboxing, which happened to be right beside The Prescott. We went in and Rob volunteered to do all the work. He had to do 300 punches, 100 kicks, and 100 knee kicks. I think he thought that if he stepped up for this one, I might go along with doing the rest of the chasepoints. After the kicks and punches, he was obviously getting tired so I offered to do the knee kicks and he didn't decline. We finished up and I think he realized that he wasn't going to change my mind.

We headed next door to The Prescott for a pint, but skipped the meatball sandwich ;)

As we enjoyed our well deserved beer, we plotted our route back to the finish line so we would arrive at 3pm on the nose. Nearing the end of the glass, we realized that the bus was going to show up on Carling Avenue in 7 minutes. hubby tracked down the server to pay the bill and we were off running to make the bus.

Re-cap & Re-hydrate

The bus dropped us off at Slater and Metcalfe at 2:50pm and we slowly walked from there trying to kill a little time. We got to the stop light across the street and decided to cross a little early - what were they going to do? We sauntered over to the finish line at 2:55pm feeling a little defeated, but perked up when they announced that we were in the top 80. We watched the next few teams come in behind us but are pretty sure that we are still in the top 80 after them. The official results should be out on Wednesday this week - I can't wait to see how we placed!

In total, we covered 21.79 kms in 5 hours, of that, we ran and walked (very fast!) for about 9kms. I find that pretty incredible since I only joined the gym a month ago and I can't think of an occasion when I've ever run that much before. The whole time I felt strong and fit. I was proud of what we were doing and happy to have these memories to look back on and tell our kids about.

Completed!

LESSONS LEARNED:

• READ THE RULES. Take a bit more time at the beginning, especially if this is your first race. I would not have expected 6 mandatory chasepoints, plus 1 more for the money we raised, only leaving 3 more to choose out of 27.
• USE YOUR STRENGTHS. I am a details person and hubby isn't. Hubby has more endurance than I do and doesn't get bogged down in the details.
• USE WALL POSTS. The Facebook event was a great idea, however, a lot of the information was spread out in the comments on photos which made it really slow to open every time I was trying to find more information. Ask your off-site support people to include their findings on the event wall rather than with the pictures.
• KEEP AN OPEN MIND. You're bound to make a couple mistakes the first year. Forgive yourself and move on. Don't get angry/emotional/bitter because it's not going the way you want it to. Just remember that you're here to have fun. I gotta work on this one...

I can't wait to do it again next year!



Update - The Official Results are in and Team Carew placed 78th out of 525 teams! Watch out fellow Ottawa Chasers, we're looking for Top 20 next year!

20 Minute Challenge

Tonight, we participated in the Running Room's 20 Minute Challenge. It was a family affair and hubby met us on his way home from work. We also met up with some friends and their girls. The kids had a great time (despite the scorching heat) and were pleased to run to the finish line to collect their juice and timbits!

Here are a few pics in our very flattering fluorescent orange hats!



Ready for the walk!



Waiting for Daddy...



Family photo!
Ignore Cate's mouthful of water...
The other picture showed her choking on it...




BFFs

It's crazy to think of how much fun we had and that only a couple of months ago I would have never (realistically) considered doing something like this, when in fact, it was the perfect solution to the end of a cleanse day! I am so glad to be on this journey of self improvement because I can see the positive effects it has on my family every single day.

Oh yeah... 3 more sleeps until the Mitsubishi City Chase...

We are anticipating a first and second place finish (Team Carew first, Team Squires second, obviously)

Think you can give us a run for our money? Not doing anything on Saturday? Find a partner and sign up here!

Want to sponsor Team Carew for the win? You can do so here! Just go to "Pledge an Athlete" and search for "Team Carew"!

Reflections of Motherhood

I thought this video was cute and wanted to share...



It also got me thinking, what would I say to myself?

- What is now scaring you the most, will soon be the most empowering experience of your life.

- You don't know what you're missing yet.

- She is worth the tears, nausea and months of bedrest.

- It's easier and harder than you think.

- Don't forget to take care of you.


What would YOU say to the pre-baby you?

Milestones

Well, it's official. Hubby has lost 90 lbs. 90 freaking pounds. In less than 5 months. It's amazing and frustrating at the same time. I'm thrilled for him, but a little sad that I still have so far to go. I can see that he is starting to give himself little breaks here and there, which is fair, but it also means that the battle has become harder for me. He is still trying to lose another 10 (to reach an even 100), but when you get so close, you can afford to cut yourself a little slack. I on the other hand, have another 35-45lbs to go. I haven't decided yet what the final goal will be since I've never actually been there...

It's been slow for me too. In the last month, I've been lucky to lose 4-5 lbs. I know where I'm going wrong food wise, and I understand that muscle weighs more than fat... blah, blah, blah, but overall I've still been good and I want to see some results on the scale so I don't feel so guilty for eating popcorn at the movies tonight... Please magic weight loss fairies, take a few pounds with you back to fairyland.

Ok, enough whining for today, let me move on to the bright side.

With hubby's renewed dedication, he has started running every morning before work. He has even registered to run a 5K in the Fall. He has been using google maps to plan his route and determine how many kms he runs and how long it takes him. It has become one of his favourite topics of conversation.

I, on the other hand, am not a runner. I do not find it enjoyable, and well to be perfectly honest, it bores me. I am the type to jump from one cardio machine to another every 10 minutes to keep my interest. That being said, I am also a little competitive and all this talk about running has been stewing in the back of my mind all week. So, today on my way to the gym, I decided that as a warm-up I would run for 10 minutes straight without stopping. I attempted to talk myself out of it a few times, but I pushed out those thoughts and got on the treadmill, took a couple steps and then just started running.

At first it started to burn a little in my thighs and calfs, but I learned last week on one of the stepping machines that if I just keep going, it will go numb. Sure enough, after a couple minutes, the pain had subsided and that is when I started breathing a little heavier. I just tried to stop thinking. I cranked up the Black Eyed Peas tune and just went with it. At the 6 minute mark I realized that my laces had untied themselves. Damn it. I stopped, tied them up tighter and jumped back up to run the last 4 minutes. Unfortunately, the pause meant that I had to work through the burn again, but in the end it was worth it! I ran for 10 mins almost straight. The last time I did that was in grade 8 gym class.

I also noticed that I burned more calories running for 10 minutes than doing the bike for 20 minutes. Maybe my old gym teacher with the heavy eyeliner and push-up bra did have the right idea afterall...

Planting Seeds

I believe that this is my time. I believe that this is the RIGHT time. To take advantage of the opportunity that I have been given to put my life back together; To create the life that I want to live for the rest of my life; To develop the new “normal”.

This time, my maternity leave is as much about me as it is about Maddie. I am putting me first for once. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do spend all day waiting hand and foot on my kids and often feel like a doormat, but there is one certainty on a weekday and that is that I get to go to the gym. That’s right, it’s a privilege. It has become a staple of our morning routine. Cate depends on it for interaction time. I depend on it for adult time. Maddie, well, it helps her to be comfortable with lots of different people and less attached to Mommy (and I’m ok with that!).

It took me a while to get to this point. My track record with exercise isn’t great. I get bored quickly and am an excellent negotiator - I can talk myself out of anything in ten seconds flat. The turning point started about a year ago when I started following my friend Katie’s blog about getting back into shape. I was newly pregnant at the time and in the throes of morning sickness (a huge understatement btw) – a perfect excuse to stay sedentary. Once the morning sickness became more like a constant state of nausea, I lived by the philosophy that I should remain inactive due to my previous high risk pregnancy. By the time it became clear that Maddie wasn’t coming out early, I was far too pregnant (and large) to start anything. Heck, at that point, thinking about picking up Cate’s toys off the ground left me out of breath.

After Maddie’s birth I was up and moving right away (it certainly helped to be home within 4 hours of the birth). I was determined that this postpartum period would be different. I would not be helpless and I could do everything that I needed to do. Sure enough, I recovered quickly and by the third week, we bought an elliptical machine off kijiji. At the time, I spoke openly about not being a “gym person”. The idea made me uncomfortable and susceptible to judgement by skinny people. I don’t have a huge problem with how I look, so why would I put myself in a position to let others judge?

Needless to say, the elliptical routine lasted about a week until it started getting warmer and our bedroom felt like an effing sauna. Good enough excuse for me. I would find my exercise elsewhere – like walking to pick up Cate from daycare. Perfect! It was about an hour walk at a good clip pushing the double stroller. This lasted for a few weeks, although I was a fair weather walker and with a wet spring, the walks became fewer and farther between…

Notice a pattern here? Does it sound familiar?

You may be asking yourself – Well if she found an excuse for all these other things, what is going to keep her going to the gym?

Well, you have a good point. I can’t make any promises that the circumstances won’t change, BUT, I can tell you that I feel very sure that I will keep this up for the rest of my Maternity leave. The challenge will come when I go back to work, but I hope that by that point it will be a way of life, not to mention that I am lucky to have a Goodlife only 5 minutes away from my office for a perfect lunch time workout.

The gym now feels comfortable, friendly and energizing all at once. I don’t feel like the skinny people are judging me, but rather cheering me on and wondering how the hell the chubby girl can do that crazy yoga pose better than they can. I love the sense of community and belonging and feeling like I am doing something good for ME. It gives me the patience to deal with Cate’s lack of potty training and Maddie’s teething meltdowns.

My goal today is to plant a seed in all of you reading this who consider themselves not to be “gym people”. Consider it. Find a friend who will go with you. Just go. Get moving. I can guarantee that you won’t regret it. I wish I knew how good I feel now.

I know that this needs to be a decision that you make yourself, but I’m hoping that I can give you a push in the right direction. I’ll be your gym friend.

Is this your time?

Come On

It's a beautiful Saturday morning. I just got back from the gym and am now allowing myself some time to browse the web while I sip my (decaf) coffee. I wander over to the Ottawa Citizen and am shocked by the headlines.

First I see this one -
Horse euthanized after breaking leg during chuckwagon races

I open it up and can barely read it. The image of the chuckwagon with only three visible horses makes me cringe. I rode horses for years and the thought of people using animals in these types of activities disgusts me. Anytime I've seen a chuckwagon race, it scares me. I think to myself, "here we go again", after the numerous animal deaths last year at the Stampede. I did not actually read the article and navigated back to the main page.

I work my way through the headlines to find this -
Director of rabbit sanctuary shocked after intruder kills 20 rabbits

I open it up assuming that it's going to talk about a wild fisher/wolf/coyote that killed these little rabbits. Nope. It instead it describes what a person, an actual human being, did to these poor rabbits who were given up by their owners. I quickly close that page feeling ill and disturbed.

I keep scrolling and I see this -
Police shoot deer after it is hit by car

I refused to open it.

Honestly, is animal cruelty interesting news? I realize that people need to be aware of what's happening in order to better educate, but talk about a mood killer. I neglected to mention the other headlines that included stories of rape and murder. I will give credit to the fact that the four featured articles were not grusome, and a even a couple were feel good stories, but come on.

On a beautiful Saturday morning I want to read about:
- fun things to do in the city to entertain me;
- recent discoveries to educate me; and
- great acheivements by people to inspire me.

What do YOU want to read about?

The Pouch Eliminator

One of the novelties of losing weight is trying on clothes. I have big rubbermaid bins of clothing from years past that I try on every few weeks to find the next couples of pieces that fit or are getting close. I did this last about a month ago and took out a couple of pairs of pants that were close to fitting. Both pants I could slide all the way up, but for some unknown reason, when I did the button up, I looked like a big old oatmeal muffin...

I've noticed a huge shift in the way clothes fit. Before children, I would find out that pants don't fit as soon as the waist hit my thighs. Now I'm in a whole new world that gives me hopes as they make their way all the way up, sometimes even zip right up, it's just that darn button that keeps them at the bottom of the pile. For that same reason, once the pants actually fit around the waist, they get a little baggy in the legs and hips (ie. droopy bum syndrome).

With that being said, it's obvious that one of my main goals right now is to focus on my core (ie. pouch) to help me fit into pants properly. My dear friend Katie showed me this nifty little exercise that targets exactly what I (and every women who's carried a baby) need to do to make that duffle bag shrink into a small change purse.

I did this exercise yesterday and miraculously today I fit into one of those pairs of pants. I can't say for sure this is the reason, but it certainly didn't hurt!

Living the Good Life

Hubby and I have been talking a lot lately about how much we love the changes we have made to our lifestyle. We're setting great examples for our kids and we really do feel good. We allow ourselves to indulge every now and again, but for the most part, we are not finding it very hard to stay on track.

I had a moment of truth last week when I was filling out a health and lifestyle questionnaire at the gym. The question was "How are your eating habits?" and the possible answers were a) Poor, b) Average, and c) Excellent. I was happy that I could confidently say that my eating habits were excellent. It felt great to write that down with four months of proof to back it up.

Can you keep it up for 3 weeks?

I read something a while back that said that if you can keep something up for 3 weeks, then it becomes a habit. I kept that in mind all throughout the first 3 weeks of the IsaGenix program and am doing the same for these first 3 weeks of working out at the gym. It's really not that hard since I'm loving it so far. I love it so much, that I even went in today to burn off some of the calories from the pile of ribs we ate at our Canada Day celebrations last night.

That aside, I have been stuck in a bit of a weight loss rut lately. I'm pretty sure that the shift from fat to muscle is playing with the numbers on the scale. I'm not too concerned about it since I know that all the choices I'm making are the right ones, but I am anxious to see the numbers go down - atleast a little bit...