Hill fun!

Tonight brought back painful (er, I mean fond) memories of bear-crawling up this hill multiple times:

Yes, that's right. I was back at Booty Camp. After a nightmarishly slow ride on the Bathurst streetcar, I was a few minutes late, but made it for most of the class.

Aside from bear-crawling up the hill, and running up and down it, at the end we used it to do all kinds of crunches on an incline. I can only assume this made them more effective, as I couldn't really get my feet up off of the ground like we were supposed to. I think I should stick to flatter territory for awhile, still.

I really miss Booty Camp! True, I was way too hot, and it was very tough, but it was nice to be back. But I could really tell that I have NOT been working as hard lately as I was during Operation: Buff.

Unfortunately, it's not feasible for me to be going to Booty Camp right now, grrr! I'll just have to start making better use of my gym membership. Body Combat tomorrow night?! I think so!

New Fridge!

Since last September, this is what I've been dealing with in the fridge department:

But wait, it gets worse. Here's the freezer (you may want to lead small children out of the room for this one):

I know it really needs defrosting, but even when I defrost it, it frosts back up again very quickly because the door does not shut properly. Basically, I've been very limited when it comes to frozen items. This has definitely put a cramp in my cooking!

Thankfully, last Thursday, my prayers were answered and a new fridge has shown up! AND, I don't think I've mentioned that I probably don't have to move out of my apartment after all! :D

I had to put all my food out on the counter during the switch.

Behold:

I am very excited about this. Lots of new, thrilling freezer things are in my future. Frozen peas, I'm looking at you!

In other news, I've been on-track for three whole days now! I went to Zumba yesterday, and tomorrow I'm going to a Booty Camp class with a friend of mine. I'm a bit afraid about how I'll do, it's been so long!

I'm off now to do some marking and other school work. Have a great night, friends!

keep on keepin' on

Sometimes I feel too grown-up for my own good.

I have my own apartment, I pay my own bills, I cook my own meals, I do my own laundry. Although no one has done any of these things for me for years, occasionally I wish I didn't have to be so responsible. While I like having complete control over my own life, and I do think that has helped me immensely with becoming healthier, sometimes I miss the days where I "didn't have" to care so much about what I ate. When times get tough, and I can cheer myself up by buying a danish with my morning coffee, then I'll invariably do that. My healthy routine is often the first thing to go.

I've had some stressors and changes in my life over the past few months, and while I don't think they are excuses for my slight weight gain of late, they are definitely factors. I started my first real job in September, and was living alone for the first time in my life. While these were both really good things for me, being solely responsible for things like rent and hydro was a big change.

I haven't mentioned on the blog that I had a difficult break-up a few months ago. This definitely took its toll on me. For several weeks, I felt I should take every opportunity to eat some delicious food. I think the last few weeks (or maybe even months) of that relationship was when my current plateau began.

Recently, I've begun seeing someone new. This has been a big change, as well. This is only the second person I've dated in my life, so it's all very new to me. And even though it doesn't feel stressful, it's shaking up my routine, and sometimes eating healthy and exercising can fall by the wayside.

On Saturday, I got the new Weight Watchers monthly pass, which includes unlimited meetings and e-tools! I was super-excited to be able to track online again (I was an online member before I started going to meetings). Saturday and Sunday, I tracked diligently. Surely, here was the ticket out of my slump! I thought.

Then, on Sunday night, my dad had a second heart attack (his first one was 10 years ago). He's doing well now, thankfully. Understandably, I've had a stressful few days. I think I've tracked one meal since then.

But am I unable to track because I'm distraught, or do I latch onto any bad thing that happens as an excuse to let everything go? Obviously, things happen, and it's important not to beat yourself up if you're not perfect all the time. But I've been consistently imperfect for months now. And I'm afraid that this is how the weight comes back: one excuse turns into another, and before you know it, you weigh more than when you started.

Ashley put it best: she told me one day that you have to be kind to yourself, but you shouldn't be a pushover!

I think I need to be a grown-up about this, too. It's time for some tough self-love.

Plateau?

I never really thought of my "poor" weight-loss performance from the past little while as a plateau, because I knew exactly why I wasn't succeeding: I was eating too much and exercising too little!

But I just read a great post by Sheryl about plateaus, and how sometimes they are mental: you follow the plan just enough to maintain your weight within a few pounds, but not lose anything significant. I think this is where I've been for the past couple of months.

I could be disappointed that I weigh about the same right now as I did a year ago, or I could be happy about the fact that I've maintained a near 90-pound loss for that entire time.

I think that's definitely something to celebrate, don't you?

Slump Officially Over!?

I recently posted about being back on track.

Unfortunately, I spoke too soon! It only lasted a couple of days.

But now, I'm REALLY back on track, I swear!

I know it sounds like The Girl Who Cried Back On Track, but this time it's been four full days of tracking and exercising. Hmmm, four days isn't very many, but it's more than half of a week! And I'm determined to keep it going and have a great weigh-in this Saturday!

On Sunday, I mixed things up a bit with a brand new vegetable. It was spilling out of my bag!

Can you guess what it is?

It's red swiss chard! Isn't it beautiful? I'd never had it before, so I threw it in some soup. I also tried some sauteed in chicken broth, and I still have tons left. Dare I try it in a smoothie??

I'm ALSO back on the exercising train. Folks, I don't think you realize what an exercise desert I've been in. It reached scary levels.

Each time I work out, I give myself a star on my wicked-cool Where's Waldo calendar.

And now let's look at June:

Isn't that PATHETIC?! I'm really embarrassed by that, but I've already turned things around for July. The past three days, I've been to three different classes at three different Goodlife locations (I'm really making my membership work for me)!

On Sunday, I went to an amazing Zumba class (and ran into the amazing Ashley). Yesterday, I tried my first ever Goodlife spinning class. Today, I made it out to Body Combat!

I also picked up Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth last weekend. I've wanted to read her books for a long time and I'm really excited!

But it will have to wait until I finish my current book - The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Once I get to it I'll let you know!

In other news, I am HATING the heat. I finally bought a fan today, which is helping.

I'm off to make my lunch for tomorrow now! Peace out, homies.

I love my apartment.

And I just found out I have to move!

Last August, I moved into my first big-girl apartment. I was living with my parents at the time (just for the summer), and had only ever lived with roommates. I found a great one-bedroom in East York.

My apartment is the main floor of a house. I have my own little balcony, AND on-site laundry. I was able to pick paint colours, and I found a bunch of great (and cheap) furniture and such.

Anyway, my landlord sold the house fairly recently. I didn't think it would impact me much, but apparently my new landlord wants to move into my unit. I can move into the basement if I want, and he's in the process of renovating it, but I don't know.

So I'm pretty sad about that!

In other news, I am going to have a roommate for the month of July! My friend Krystal is taking a course in Toronto, and will be staying with me. We were roommates for 3 years in university (as well as being floormates for 1 year), so I know we can live together without any problems. I'm also very excited to have a workout/healthy eating buddy!

I've still been struggling with tracking/exercising (which maybe explains the lack of posting lately)... I have a big grocery shop planned for today, though, and I'm determined to go back to my healthy ways. :)