Long Walk & Weigh-In

On Thursday, I had big plans for a bike ride.

I rarely go for bike rides, so I was pretty excited about it.

I packed up some healthy bike snacks and I was ready to go!

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. My back tire was flat and I have a feeling it has a puncture. I moped a little about the turn of events, but then decided to walk through Taylor Creek Park instead.

Luckily, the beautiful weather cheered me up after my bike let-down.

I stopped for a picnic and to read a bit. I picked up a sub on the way for a treat!

I had a delicious peach for dessert.

On my way home, I stopped at one of my favourite bulk food stores, Better Bulk, as well as the East Lynn Farmers Market. I picked up lots of goodies, including almonds, dates, kale, raspberries, bagels, and edamame!

All my walking must have paid off, because I was FINALLY down for my weigh-in on Saturday morning. I was down 2 pounds exactly, to 200.2 pounds. Here's hoping it's the last time I'm in the 200's EVER. :)

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Birthday Challenge!

My 25th birthday is in about 8 weeks (October 18). This seems like the perfect opportunity to combine my action plan for getting back on track with some goal-setting!

I'd love to lose 25 pounds by my 25th birthday (and it would be so darn catchy), but 25 pounds in 8 weeks is a bit unrealistic, I think.

So, I am going to aim to lose 15 pounds by my birthday! 15 pounds in 8 weeks is totally doable, right? ESPECIALLY considering they are 15 pounds I have already lost before.

So how am I going to do this? I think I will take it one week at a time. My action plan for the rest of this week (until Friday) is:

• be active every day
• have a salad for one meal every day
• track, track, track!

So far, so good! I've been faithfully tracking (including the, um, 5 beers, 2 shots, champagne, chips, and pizza consumed at a party on Saturday night), and I've been rocking the big salads.

Today, my friend Martina came over and we worked out at an outdoor track near my house. We were Booty Camp buddies, so we did some Booty Camp style drills that included running laps, skipping, lunges, squats, tricep dips, and more. We're also considering signing up for a 5k together!

This will be more than just big talk - I will follow through! I actually feel good enough about where I am now to declare this to all of you, rather than just fumble along hoping it happens.

Have a great week!

The ugly truth.

202.2 pounds.

That's what I weighed in at this morning. This is not really surprising to me, but it's still hard to accept.

When I joined Weight Watchers meetings on November 7, 2009, I weighed 201.8 pounds. On May 1, 2010, I reached my 10% goal, and an all-time low of 181.6 pounds. So I've regained just over 20 pounds.

This has to stop. I can't let it go any further than this, and I won't.

I'll report back in the next couple of days with my action plan! It may or may not involve signing up with a friend to run a 5k.

Toodles!

Grocery Haul

Happy Friday!

In an effort to offset the damage of 1.5 weeks of gluttony before my weigh-in tomorrow morning, I bought some healthy groceries yesterday (it's been awhile!).

I included some "treats" to help motivate me.

Yum, watermelon!

I don't have high hopes for my weigh-in tomorrow morning. I have a strong feeling I will be at least as much as (if not higher than) what I weighed when I started going to meetings in November. Yes, folks, it's that bad. I've regained about 20 pounds!

But it's never too late to get back in the swing of things! Do I spot a pink Green Smoothie in my lunch from today?

Alongside chicken & avocado on a pita and some raw cauliflower. :)

I will report my weigh-in tomorrow morning, no matter how ugly. It's time to start being accountable for my unhealthy ways!

In other news, my dad is home from the hospital! I really have NO EXCUSES to be eating junk.

Have a lovely weekend!

Back in business.

I've missed you, dearest blog of mine!

I've had a few things on my mind lately that have kept me very busy.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been in the process of interviewing for a pretty exciting job. I had a phone interview, a written test, and an in-person interview (for which I had to prepare a 3 hour lesson plan).

It was all on the stressful side, but it's over now and I know I did my best. I don't know yet if I got the job (and I'm really trying not to get my hopes up), but no matter what, it was a good experience and I'll be that much more prepared the next time 'round!

Through all of that, my dad has still been in the hospital recovering from his heart attack. He had a defibrillator implanted on Friday and will hopefully be returning home soon. I've been visiting him most days.

I wish I could say that I've been 100% on-plan and exercising through all of this, but that's frankly just not true. I also missed my meeting yesterday because I was out of town. However, the week before was mostly good and I was actually down at my last meeting! I'm hoping to start fresh NOW and make up for some lost time this week, now that my life seems to be getting somewhat back in order.

It's also the end of the semester for the courses I'm currently teaching. On Friday, I taught the last class of the term, and now I have a little break until their final exam on Wednesday (which I have the joy of marking).

With my rare bit of free time, I visited with a couple of university friends this weekend in the country. The visit involved, among other things, a corn maze (that I danced through at times):

baby goats:

and Saved by the Bell:

All in all, a much-needed weekend of fun. :)

Hopefully, I will start blogging more frequently and, more importantly, taking care of myself with healthy eating and exercise. I know in my head that's a better way to deal with stress than, say, ordering Chinese food, but sometimes my actions don't reflect that.

I am relaxing now with So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Good night, all!