Hot 100 Week 5

Here’s my Week 5 HOT 100 Update!

1. Nurture my Body, Soul & Mind
• I really need to spend some Me, Myself & I time every day and focus on grounding myself. When I am not grounded I find I swing all over the place. I'm unorganized, stressed, a little more negative towards myself and possibly judgmental to others.
• Week 5 (Oct 22^nd-Oct 28th^t): (C) Nah, didn’t do too well on this one. Was busy all week and only had one night where I actually stopped and smelled the roses. Need to really work on this one still.
2. Put 110% effort into my 3x strength training sessions, and 3x Interval cardio sessions
• In the last 2 years, I do not feel like I have worked at my hardest during my workouts. I've just been going through the motions. Now some days my body aches, and my muscles are sore but I still feel I could do more. I am going to try to do my absolute best without burning myself out. And in order to not burn out, I need to make sure that goal #1 is a priority.
• Week 5 (Oct 22^nd-Oct 28th): (A)I worked out OK this past week (395 minutes) but could have done better. Was in meetings all week and couldn’t get out at lunch to walk and end of day was busy (but these are just excuses).
3. 90/10 rule for eating.
• 90% of the time I want to eat organic, clean, healthy meals. As few chemicals as possible. 10% (or less) of the time will be my leeway. Those times where either the supply isn't available or I just need a "free" meal. I loathe to grant myself a free "DAY" as I can quickly undo everything I have gained during the previous six days of eating 100% on track.
• Week 5 (Oct 22nd-290th): (D) Even if one eats healthy, you can still overeat. I’m starting to track my eats again to see how much I am actually eating and so far what I have gathered is not pretty. However I need to take into consideration that this week I was in a meeting every day and lunch was provided so it was kind of out of my hands. Mostly sandwiches were provided so other than too many carbs for me, they were still pretty healthy. I really need to work on this goal and get it right. November is going to be a much better month.
4. Track an average of 10,000 steps every day.  
• Every day is not too much of a stretch. Even on easy days where all I want to do is walk, then I will walk 10,000 steps worth. That's only about an hour of walking really. It can be done.
• Week 5 (Oct 22^nd-Oct 28th):): (B) – It’s not 10,000 but I did average 7500 steps this week. I’m OK with this, know I could do better but still averaging 7500 steps is pretty good considering I have a sit down job.
5. Stop being wasteful.
• Sometimes at the end of the week I throw out more bad fruit and veggies than I should be. I need to learn to only buy what I need for a couple of days and then make sure I eat it. I hate waste and I sometimes over-buy a product and it goes bad by the time I eat it. I live close to a grocery store so I should only buy a couple of days’ worth.
• Week 5 (Oct 22nd-290th): (D) I ended up throwing out a bunch of stuff this week that expired in my fridge. Not a good thing. L

This was a tough week for me to keep on track 100% because of my work meetings. It was also my last week with my personal trainer and on Tuesday night she worked my butt off – literally. She had  a bad day and took it out on me J I guess cause she knows I can take it. I am still walking funny. Curtsy lunges work people – they kill your ass J

I hope you have a great week!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

Turning up the Heat!

I got on the scale this morning. Can’t say I am happy with what I saw on there.

In fact, I’m down right upset about it. The summer just about did me over and although it has already been two months since the end of my holidays, I still have not lost what I gained. It rather sucks but I have no one to blame but myself. Fit wise I am doing really good and have lost inches since my holiday gain. I KNOW muscle weighs more than fat, I KNOW the scale is my enemy but it still has such an impact on my self-esteem it is ridiculous. I am exercising a lot and thank goodness for that or that number on the scale could have been quite a bit higher.


I am thinking of doing my own little personal challenge in the month of November. 30 days in November will fit nicely with 30 days of Jillian Michaels Shred. I’m done with my personal trainer on Thursday and thought if I kept the momentum going with doing 30 days of JM in a row, then I’d likely see some results.

November is also when Mr. Sandra leaves home to do more hunting and I can spend more time on myself and focusing on what I need to get done. Not that I can’t do it with him around but it just nicer having “me” time once in a while. You know, the kind where you can turn the music up and dance while you clean the house.

And I’m going to have to go back to tracking my eats again because I have to figure out where I am going wrong. I need to see that number in my face to make sure that I’ve got my “estimates” right and that my portions aren’t just too big right now. And there is another factor in all of this that I have to get rid of. Back to a once a week “free” meal.

I’m even thinking of taking pictures and posting them. I mean if you all see where I am now then I HAVE to be accountable or face your wrath  for not getting the job done. An in progress before and after picture  And besides, I’m getting tired of talking the talk but not walking the walk. Time to get my shit together.

Look out cause I’m turning up the heat !








I hope you all have a FANTSTIC week.

Ttyl

Sandra

SMILE

I’m sure some of you have already gotten something similar to this in your mail box but I wanted to share it here because I thought this particular one worth sharing.


=========================================================

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.

He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.

The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?

What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind.

The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind.

Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.

Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence.

Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling...

And even more beautiful, is knowing that you are the reason behind it!

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If you appreciate this message, please feel free to share it.

You may touch someone's heart today and forever.

2010 Hot 100 Update 4

Here’s my Week 4 HOT 100 Update!

1. Nurture my Body, Soul & Mind
• I really need to spend some Me, Myself & I time every day and focus on grounding myself. When I am not grounded I find I swing all over the place. I'm unorganized, stressed, a little more negative towards myself and possibly judgmental to others.
• Week 4 (Oct 15^th-21^st): (C)  I did much better this week but still can improve as I need to do something every single day. Sometime to just reflect on the day and let go of anything I need to or congratulate myself of deeds done good! J
2. Put 110% effort into my 3x strength training sessions, and 3x Interval cardio sessions
• In the last 2 years, I do not feel like I have worked at my hardest during my workouts. I've just been going through the motions. Now some days my body aches, and my muscles are sore but I still feel I could do more. I am going to try to do my absolute best without burning myself out. And in order to not burn out, I need to make sure that goal #1 is a priority.
• Week 4 (Oct 15^th-21^st): (A) I did good this week. I got in 505 minutes of exercising. And that’s with not doing anything on two days.
3. 90/10 rule for eating.
• 90% of the time I want to eat organic, clean, healthy meals. As few chemicals as possible. 10% (or less) of the time will be my leeway. Those times where either the supply isn't available or I just need a "free" meal. I loathe to grant myself a free "DAY" as I can quickly undo everything I have gained during the previous six days of eating 100% on track.
• Week 4 (Oct 15^th-21^st): (D) This is about a 50/50 thing. Still not focusing on the right stuff.
4. Track an average of 10,000 steps every day.  
• Every day is not too much of a stretch. Even on easy days where all I want to do is walk, then I will walk 10,000 steps worth. That's only about an hour of walking really. It can be done.
• Week 4 (Oct 15th-21st): (B) – It’s not 10,000 but I did average 8049 steps this week. Two days were about 13,000 so they made up for the ones I only got in 6000 steps.
5. Stop being wasteful.
• Sometimes at the end of the week I throw out more bad fruit and veggies than I should be. I need to learn to only buy what I need for a couple of days and then make sure I eat it. I hate waste and I sometimes over-buy a product and it goes bad by the time I eat it. I live close to a grocery store so I should only buy a couple of days’ worth.
• Week 4 (Oct 15th-21st): (A) I did good this week.

More green this time J
I hope all you HOTTIES are doing great – I’m hoping to get around and say hello this weekend.

Ttyl

Sandra

 

 

Curtsy Lunges Hurt

I finally know what Curtsy Lunges mean and what they can do to your legs (there are a lot of videos out there showing how to do this and I can’t link You Tube from work so you are on your own today). And therefore I’m a hurtin girl these days… well ever since my Tuesday night session with my trainer. Unfortunately I only have 3 sessions left with her and she has been kicking my butt lately. She had me swinging a 20lb kettleball the other day. It was tough but I could do all three sets. The adjustable kettleblock set that I just recently purchased only goes as high as 20lbs. I’m thinking I underestimated my strength when purchasing that baby.

I am going to miss my training sessions because they are really working me these days. I feel like I wasted so much time and money for the first 5 months of this purchased personal training package. But the point of taking it easier in the beginning was to gain strength and flexibility in my hips and legs and now that I’ve done that, I want to push more and it’s almost to the end. HOWEVER this does not mean I won’t push myself all on my own. I plan on still going to the gym on Tuesday and Thursdays after work and using the machines and cardio equipment. I do like the Arc Trainer the best. And if I can, I’d like to get one more session in at the gym during the week but I also like working out at home. I tend to really push myself at home because there is no one there to watch me turn purple in the face J

Mr. Sandra asked if we could work out together on the weekend as he needs direction. He figures he has the walking under control but is not sure what to do on the Bowflex or with the free weights. I feel privileged that he asked me as he used to tell me what to do and how to do it and now he is asking me. AND I think working out together is a great idea. If I can get him into the habit as much as I am now, then his blood sugar, cholesterol and his weight will all go down. He has been walking on the treadmill a couple of times a week and only for about 20 minutes at a time but it is a start and I’m good with that. He was walking in his slippers and I took him to a good shoe store and had him fitted for a good pair of runners. They have corrected his pronation so they hurt his feet right now. He can only manage 20 minutes before his feet hurt too much. I’ve recommended he wear them throughout the day, just walking around not on the treadmill to help him through this transition. I noticed they were under the coffee table last night so not sure if has taken my advice or not but I hope so.

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day and hopefully I can get to some of your blogs today… or this weekend!

Ttyl

Sandra

Making New Friends

I just don’t have anything intelligent to say these days. I’m a busy lady at work and forget all about my home life while here right now. I’m being pulled in so many directions it is hard to keep it all straight. I am NOT stressed though and that is a good thing. I am trying to get out at lunch for a 30 minute walk just to get outside and away from the computer for a time. We have been having pretty nice weather most days (better than we did all summer) so I like to take advantage of it while I can.

Saturday we went to visit a Hutterite Colony. Mr. Sandra met a very nice older Hutterite outside of a hunting store about a month or so ago. They talked and the gentleman offered the use of his land (16,000 acres) for Mr. Sandra and his friend to hunt on. Peter,  out of 101 in his clan, is the only hunter and is quite pleased to have met Mr. Sandra so that he can hunt with him. They are hunting Geese and ducks right now. Pheasants are not so easy to find on this land. They have the same hunting ethics and have gained respect for each other. In fact, Peter won’t carry his own gun out of his home and Mr. Sandra or his friend do it for him. I’m not sure why but it is what it is.

Peter and Mr. Sandra are new best friends and although this is very nice, it can be an annoyance as Peter is ALWAYS phoning Mr. Sandra right now to come on out (2-3x a day). Now nothing wrong with that but….

On Saturday he took me to meet Peter and his wife. I learned quite a bit about their culture and was very impressed with how they run things there. He took me into their church and their cookhouse/eating hall and I have never seen anything so clean in my life. In their Kitchen, every single piece of chrome shined. I was impressed.

Mrs. Peter is an excellent sewer and is making Mr. Sandra a rifle carrier for the back of his truck and is now making me a King Size feather duvet with a cover. It’s how they make money for themselves outside of the colony. That money goes for their own personal needs and wants, things the colony doesn’t provide for. Like extra material for her to make duvets  and dish soap for their dishwasher – things they call a luxury. They live a very simple life but are well cared for!

But back to the best friend comment, they called the other night and want us to go out there now to celebrate someone’s birthday within the colony. We feel like they want to bring us into their fold J Very nice people but not our way of life. Pretty sure they have no idea that Mr. Sandra and I are not married. Not sure how they would be towards me if they knew and maybe they don’t care……

On to other things…. I call it a NSV - Mr. Sandra said something pretty nice to me the other day, he said that whatever the trainer is doing for me and whatever I’ve been working on is starting to work because Mrs. No Ass is starting to finally get one J  It’s those squats, lunges and plies that must be doing the trick. My hips are still tight but I’ve noticed a HUGE improvement in my range of motion in the last 6 months. All that walking and all that stretching is finally starting to pay off!

Now if only my arms would starting tightening, I’d be a happy camper! And of course the needle on the scale….

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day!

Ttyl

Sandra

2010 Hot 100 Update 3

Here’s my Week 3 HOT 100 Update!

1. Nurture my Body, Soul & Mind
• I really need to spend some Me, Myself & I time every day and focus on grounding myself. When I am not grounded I find I swing all over the place. I'm unorganized, stressed, a little more negative towards myself and possibly judgmental to others.
• Week 3(Oct 8th-14th): (C)  I did better this week but certainly have room for improvement. I just need to concentrate on spending quality down time each day to reflect on whatever needs reflecting on. I had an incident on Wednesday night that showed me I am overdue for a good outage.
2. Put 110% effort into my 3x strength training sessions, and 3x Interval cardio sessions
• In the last 2 years, I do not feel like I have worked at my hardest during my workouts. I've just been going through the motions. Now some days my body aches, and my muscles are sore but I still feel I could do more. I am going to try to do my absolute best without burning myself out. And in order to not burn out, I need to make sure that goal #1 is a priority.
• Week 3(Oct 8th-14th): (B) I did pretty good in this area except yesterday. I had a smoking migraine and there was no way I was working out. Any additional blood going to my brain wasn’t going to work for me. But the other 6 days I rocked it. I’m pleased with how well it went. I’ve also changed my workout schedule to include more strength training sessions.
3. 90/10 rule for eating.
• 90% of the time I want to eat organic, clean, healthy meals. As few chemicals as possible. 10% (or less) of the time will be my leeway. Those times where either the supply isn't available or I just need a "free" meal. I loathe to grant myself a free "DAY" as I can quickly undo everything I have gained during the previous six days of eating 100% on track.
• Week 3(Oct 8^th-14th): (D) Nope, didn’t do well again. I’m still digging into junk and ate out a couple too many times this past week. I can also tell I’m in dire need of a cleanse as I am stuffed up big time. My body hasn’t liked something I’ve been consuming and is stuffing me up. Pretty confident it isn’t allergies per se but an sensitivity to something I’ve eaten.
4. Track an average of 10,000 steps every day.  
• Every day is not too much of a stretch. Even on easy days where all I want to do is walk, then I will walk 10,000 steps worth. That's only about an hour of walking really. It can be done.
• Week 3(Oct 8^th-14th): (D) – this one may never be anything other than red or yellow since I’ve decided to increase my strength training sessions and reduce my cardio for a while. But I’m still tracking and this morning I forgot my pedometer at home so I can’t list what my average was for this week. I’ll edit this later and add it in.   
5. Stop being wasteful.
• Sometimes at the end of the week I throw out more bad fruit and veggies than I should be. I need to learn to only buy what I need for a couple of days and then make sure I eat it. I hate waste and I sometimes over-buy a product and it goes bad by the time I eat it. I live close to a grocery store so I should only buy a couple of days’ worth.
• Week 3(Oct 8th-14th): (A) Oh Yeah, that food saver is a money saver as I am finding my produce lasting much longer and I am wasting less.

Looks like a Christmas Tree with all those colors but I’m liking the less red. Still lots of room for improvement.

I hope all you HOTTIES are doing great – I’m hoping to get around to say hello this weekend.

Ttyl

Sandra

 

Dancing gets you FIT!

Had a nice night out with my sister last night. We went to see “Ballroom Dancing with a Twist”. It was a lot of fun to watch and WOW can those people dance.

Here is a description of it:

This ground-breaking show, stars Evan Lysacek (Olympic Gold Medalist and runner up on Dancing with the Stars), Dancing With the Stars Pro's Edyta Sliwinska, Alec Mazo, Jonathan Roberts and Damian Whitewood, American Idol finalists David Hernandez (Season 7) and Vonzell Solomon (season 4), and also Peta Murgatroyd from Burn the Floor. In addition, Ballroom with a Twist will also feature fabulous young dancers from So You Think You Can Dance, Burn the Floor, and High School Musical. This exciting and inspired Dancing with the Stars show pushes the boundaries of ballroom dance, infusing it with the energy and intensity of the hottest new dance styles.

It was great to see how fluid, how fast, and how fantastic they could all move. Those girls have bodies that I only dream of having (ever in my life). Not an ounce of fat on them. Very very slender and fit.  But I guess if I danced like they did day after day (and was about 20 years younger), I just might look like that too J I do believe there is still some type of hope for me – maybe not exactly tight like they are but I certainly can manage fit! And so can all of you!

At one point they had the entire audience stand up and dance along with them. It must have been interesting to watch from the stage, the sea of people trying to move in union. But it was fun and nice to get off that chair for a few minutes and move.

But it did make for a late night.

I had gotten up yesterday morning at 4:00 a.m., it has been quite some time since I’ve managed to get up that early. And I did Level 1 of Jillian Michaels 30Day Shred. Last time I had done the program, I was in Level 2 and since it was some time ago, I thought I’d start back at Level 1 but increase the weights to 7.5lbs. I figured since I’ve been working out with my trainer with weights varying in size, that I would manage the 7.5 just fine. Well I did for the first 2 circuits but the last one she has you do side lunges with shoulder frontal raises – well the 7.5lbs was just too much.  I managed one set, then the next set I put the weights down and just went with the flow. Today I feel it in my arms…. I actually like the soreness. SICK I know J

And since it was a late night, I didn’t get up at 4, in fact 5 was a struggle. But to get to work by 6:30 that is what I need to do. So I brought my gym clothes with me to work and I’m going to disappear in a couple of hours and go down to the building gym and do my biceps and triceps. They shouldn’t take too long if I don’t do too much cardio in between sets. And I will appreciate the desk break in awhile.

Last week was a week of on the phone meetings, this week is a week of reading and research. Nothing can make me go to sleep faster than reading boring technical jargon. And you know what I’m also struggling with? Wanting to eat something to keep me awake while I read this stuff. I have figured out that when I read, I want to munch. Hence why my late night reading can sometimes include late night snacking. It is a HUGE struggle for me and even here at work I find the cravings there and a struggle. Fortunately the only thing I bring to work is apples/Almonds or some other type of fruit so if I do munch, it’s pretty harmless. But the urge is always there…. I’ve still got to work on this issue.

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day.

Ttyl

Sandra

 

Fever - Exercise Fever

I had my grandson over for the weekend and it was also a long weekend for us Canadians (Thanksgiving). I didn’t cook a Turkey this year, it was my Brother’s turn and we had dinner at his wife’s parents place. Basically they and Mr. Sandra’s Mom are the only “Parents” we have. Since my parents have passed, my Sister and Brother and I take turns all through the year on who hosts the special occasion. Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is usually the three of us switching the hosting. This Thanksgiving it was my brothers turn and his in-laws felt they “owed” us a dinner so had all of us to their place. It as a nice night and I enjoyed getting together with my family. We live in the same city but on opposite ends so really don’t see each other enough.

This weekend was the usual for me, cleaning, cooking, cleaning and lots of exercising.

I’ve got the fever again – the exercising fever! It feels good and I’m getting sore.  I’ve decided to increase my strength training quite a bit. I used to do it often and that is when I lost the most weight (and of course inches) so I think it is time to get back into it again. Of course that was 11 years ago and therefore younger. I stopped working out when my Mom got sick and after she passed I kind of gave up on myself for a while….  Anyway….. I think Cardio is important but I think I’ve been doing too much of it and not enough strength training so I’m switching things around a bit. On Saturday I worked on my workout schedule – I HAVE to be organized – and will follow it to the best of my ability. I go see my personal trainer two times a week and have basically been doing ST only those times. It is not enough. Any gains my muscles might get, are lost by the time that I use them again so I’ve got to work them more often. I am done with the PT at the end of October and I cannot afford anymore sessions and I also feel like I can push myself enough to get a good workout in. I’ve learned some stuff over the last 8 months so should be able to get my butt kicked on my own. I do have to utilize the gym though – even with having almost everything I need at home, I am still paying for a membership so need to use it. I also find the gym a good place to learn new techniques, routines, or whatever as I can watch the PTs work with their clients and then copy the workouts.

This is day 40 of my 365 to 50 challenge and I have not lost any weight but I can tell I am losing inches and my motivation is coming back. I’m going to kick this once and for all!

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC week!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

 

2010 Hot 100 Update 2

Here’s my Week 2 HOT 100 Update!

1. Nurture my Body, Soul & Mind
• I really need to spend some Me, Myself & I time every day and focus on grounding myself. When I am not grounded I find I swing all over the place. I'm unorganized, stressed, a little more negative towards myself and possibly judgmental to others.
• Week 2(Oct 1-7th): (D) I didn’t do really well in this area. Every night I go to bed I read – usually non-thinking fluffy books – it’s my alone time because I can’t read sitting on the couch while Mr. Sandra watches TV. I use that time as down time but I always do that so I am not including it in this goal. What I do include is if I use that time to read inspirational books, journal in my motivational journal, color my mandalas or meditate. This week I’ve only done this once. I also didn’t do any mindful walking this week which is what I do sometimes when I am walking out in nature. It really relieves the stress.
2. Put 110% effort into my 3x strength training sessions, and 3x Interval cardio sessions
• In the last 2 years, I do not feel like I have worked at my hardest during my workouts. I've just been going through the motions. Now some days my body aches, and my muscles are sore but I still feel I could do more. I am going to try to do my absolute best without burning myself out. And in order to not burn out, I need to make sure that goal #1 is a priority.
• Week 2(Oct 1-7th): (F)My PT sessions have been all out but I missed 5 days of exercising so I’m giving myself a big fat fail on this one. Next week will be a whole lot better. I’m doing this for ME J
3. 90/10 rule for eating.
• 90% of the time I want to eat organic, clean, healthy meals. As few chemicals as possible. 10% (or less) of the time will be my leeway. Those times where either the supply isn't available or I just need a "free" meal. I loathe to grant myself a free "DAY" as I can quickly undo everything I have gained during the previous six days of eating 100% on track.
• Week 2(Oct 1-7th): (C) Again I could use some improvement here but this is a work in progress. Next week this color will be YELLOW!
4. Track an average of 10,000 steps every day.  
• Every day is not too much of a stretch. Even on easy days where all I want to do is walk, then I will walk 10,000 steps worth. That's only about an hour of walking really. It can be done.
• Week 2(Oct 1-7th): (D) Blah – that 5 days of not exercising I averaged about 3500 steps per day. That really puts my week average way down and it was 6202 for this week L The only thing that saved me was Wednesday/Thursday workouts where I kicked my butt J
5. Stop being wasteful.
• Sometimes at the end of the week I throw out more bad fruit and veggies than I should be. I need to learn to only buy what I need for a couple of days and then make sure I eat it. I hate waste and I sometimes over-buy a product and it goes bad by the time I eat it. I live close to a grocery store so I should only buy a couple of days’ worth.
• Week 2(Oct 1-7th): (A) I bought a food saver on the weekend and have been diligently wrapping all my food so that it lasts longer and so far so good. I’ve only cooked what we are going to eat so I have thrown out a lot less weight. I think this goal will just get easier and more of a habit. Mind you, I am getting rid of “junk” and some of that is going through my food cupboard and disposing of items that are way past their best before date. Muesli that is over two years old does not taste good.

I am not happy about all the red color this week but that just leaves more room for improvement for next week. This was an off week and that’s OK. I didn’t binge eat, didn’t drink myself silly, still exercised my butt of the last two days and was mindful of my thoughts (more or less).

I hope all you HOTTIES have done better than I did this week.

Ttyl

Sandra

 

Yada Yada Yada

Hello my friends, I hope you are all having a fantastic week. I really wish I could find the time to get to EVERYONE’S blogs but lately I have been so busy at work I can only get to a few to comment and then browse the rest in between tasks. Sorry about that!

Imagine that – busy at work J 18 months ago I was so bored at work that I discovered the world of blog land and started my own blog and now have met so many interesting people but can’t find the time to visit everyone. I do like being busy though…. Learning all kinds of new things and implementing new stuff for my company. I’ve probably never really talked about what I do, other than it is a sit down job. I am a server administrator (more or less). I am a part of a team that manages all the servers for my company. We take care of our email systems, security systems, file systems, anti-virus….. and the list goes on. We are upgrading or installing new software for just about everything and it is keeping us busy. I’ve worked here for 22 years and have worked my way up. I started out as a receptionist making under $1000 a month and I thought way back then that I was in money heaven. Now I’m about as high as I can go in the Information Technology group without becoming a leader and that isn’t a career move I want to make because I like the technical aspect of things. I’m not blowing my own horn (really I’m not) but I’m one of the top IT folks here and they will keep me in the company until I retire. About 18 months ago, we lost quite a few IT folks (went from a team of 13 to 5) and although the work wasn’t all that busy then, we are now and have a lot less support folks to deal with it all. I am not stressed but the timeline is keeping us really busy.

However 22 years of sitting on my butt has caught up to me.

After my Tuesday blog of the “Big Fat Zero”, my exercise plans all got thrown out of whack. My PT cancelled my Tuesday session and changed it to last night and quite honestly that made it 5 days without exercising. Blah! I made up for it last night though and will again today. Now I just have to make sure that I keep it going tomorrow and so on. I felt guilty about not exercising. It was weird. I wanted to do it but couldn’t quite make it happen. I’ve got to work on that.

Eating has been so-so as well. I’m finding that I’m not hungry in the mornings lately and that’s an issue for me because I’ve been on the phone in a technical meeting starting at about 8:00 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m., every day and leaving my desk to get food is not that easy (but I do do it). I just throw my headset down and go get water (which I also have not been drinking enough of lately), go to the washroom or grab my lunch.  By the end of these meetings, I’m tired. Using my brain this much tires me out J I need to get my butt out of bed at 4:00 a.m. again and get some cardio in to get those brain juices flowing… but I’ve been having such great sleeps lately that I want to keep having 7 hours of nightly sleep…..

Yada yada yada

Have a FANTASTIC day!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

Big Fat Zero

I had a busy weekend but certainly didn’t take any time for me. I got an urgent text message on Friday morning asking to pick-up my grandson after school and keep him for the night. I have to drive about an hour or so from my work to go get him and then head back home. So right after work I headed straight out and picked him up. I hadn’t exercised on Friday as I was going to go to Yoga but this totally changed that plan. And that’s OK. I love having him around. I thought I’d go for a walk with him when we got home but he wore rubber boots rather than his shoes. His rubber boots are too small for his feet (as far as I’m concerned) and walking any distance would not have been good for him.  Turns out he has good running shoes but chooses to wear the rubber boots home from school as he doesn’t have to tie his shoe laces up. He’s already picking up a lazy trait (and he is only 7). So I decided that I’d take the night off from exercising.

Saturday, we got up and ate breakfast (and I showered) then we headed to the outdoor market to get some fresh veggies. I was planning on making mustard relish later in the day. So we picked up cucumbers, onions and red peppers. Of course, I grabbed other stuff as well and he had 3 honey sticks. He was extremely helpful as I needed green peppers and he went to the vendors himself and asked if they had any green peppers (all of them were out of green peppers). It was so cute as he was taking care of his Grandma and obviously isn’t shy (which is a really good thing I think). After that, I was to take him to his other grandparents for the rest of the day. And since I was close to the new Costco (they built one in this town outside of my city), I decided to take a look. Of course for me, that means buying stuff because really I still needed those green peppers (which turns out Costco didn’t have any either).

Well $400.00 later, I walked out with a FoodSaver device that will help with freezer burn and just overall storage of food (part of my HOT 100 goals is not to waste so much food). And we wanted one for all the goose/duck/pheasant breasts that Mr. Sandra has been bringing home. I also got a nice lovely jacket for the fall, Pjs for the grandson and then some other fresh veggies. I can never walk out of there with just what I went in for.

Then when I finally got home, it was 2:30 in the afternoon and I still had to go get those green onions. Mr. Sandra and YoungSon wanted to go to Walmart so we headed out to grab my peppers and a few other things. By the time we go home, I had a ton of veggies to cut up into small pieces to let it sit overnight. Dinner to make and so on. Can you see where I’m going with this? I didn’t exercise on Saturday either.

Sunday, I got up and cleaned jars, rinsed my veggies over and over again and let them drain, then headed out the door to go pick up my little granddaughter. My son and his GF were finally moving into their own place. They are still sharing a house with another couple but they are out of where they were living which was with her Mom. Now living with one’s Mom when you first have a baby is great as you have a lot of help and advice but it was time for them to get out and get on their own. So I watched little Lilyanna until about mid-afternoon when her other Grandma was going to take over. And during that time, I finished making my mustard relish and processed the jars. AND took a bunch of pictures of her – which I will have to post later as I don’t have my camera here at work.

I was actually free to do what I wanted at around 3:30 on Sunday. But guess what?? I didn’t exercise that day either because I still had a house to clean, laundry to do and put away and so on. So that’s three days in a row that I did not do any exercising. I’ve had to mark down in my 365 to 50 spreadsheet that I did ZERO exercising minutes. My goal is to do something every single day and for three days in a row, I sucked at it! J

So I’ve got to make up for that this week and put in some doubles. Yup, that’s what I’m going to do. Tonight is my strength training session so I’m going to add another 30 minute walk after . Tomorrow, I’m getting up at 4 and going to do an interval session on the treadmill along with lots of stretching. Knowing my PT she is going to work my legs tonight really hard and I will be sore tomorrow. So morning stretching will be a good thing to do. Wednesday night, I’ll be either going to YOGA or going for a long walk after work – not sure which yet as it depends on my work. Thursday will be a repeat of today and so on and so on…… not going to bore you with the details…..

Mr. Sandra is slowly getting into the habit of working out but he didn’t do much on Sunday or yesterday either. It hasn’t become something he enjoys yet but if I can get him interested in walking with me at night, then maybe he will change his mindset and start enjoying it. Besides it is getting dark out earlier now and having a man beside me walking is likely a better choice than walking alone.

Still working on eating right though (him, not me… I’m not having issues).

Well I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

2010 Hot 100 Week 1 Update

Here’s my Week 1 HOT 100 Update!

1. Nurture my Body, Soul & Mind
   
• I really need to spend some Me, Myself & I time every day and focus on grounding myself. When I am not grounded I find I swing all over the place. I'm unorganized, stressed, a little more negative towards myself and possibly judgmental to others.
  
• Week 1(Sept 23-30): I planned on going to Hot YOGA at least 2x but neither session happened. This is a great place for me to de-stress and spend a little time meditating afterwards. But it didn’t happen because of my schedule. I did however spend some time on the weekend, just by myself, relaxing and doing a bit of reading (between all the re-organizing I was doing). I can definitely improve in this area.(B-)
  
2. Put 110% effort into my 3x strength training sessions, and 3x Interval cardio sessions
   
• In the last 2 years, I do not feel like I have worked at my hardest during my workouts. I've just been going through the motions. Now some days my body aches, and my muscles are sore but I still feel I could do more. I am going to try to do my absolute best without burning myself out. And in order to not burn out, I need to make sure that goal #1 is a priority.
  
• Week 1(Sept 23-30): (A+) I saw a definite improvement in this area. I’ve been pushed more in my strength training sessions at the gym and have done some at home to get in my 3x per week. I think I do need to ST more often as my muscle groups have too long of a time between workouts. I’m with my PT until the end of this month and I can’t afford anymore sessions (darn they are expensive) so I’m going to work out some kind of plan to work the right muscles together and 48-72 hours apart. I only managed 1 session of interval training but I did do lots of walking.
  
3. 90/10 rule for eating.
   
• 90% of the time I want to eat organic, clean, healthy meals. As few chemicals as possible. 10% (or less) of the time will be my leeway. Those times where either the supply isn't available or I just need a "free" meal. I loathe to grant myself a free "DAY" as I can quickly undo everything I have gained during the previous six days of eating 100% on track.
  
• Week 1(Sept 23-30): (C) I can definitely improve here. But it is a work in progress and it is getting better as I learn what my body is wanting/needing. I had episodes of not being hungry and being aware of my body’s real needs this past week so it is getting better.
  
4. Track an average of 10,000 steps every day.  
   
• Every day is not too much of a stretch. Even on easy days where all I want to do is walk, then I will walk 10,000 steps worth. That's only about an hour of walking really. It can be done.
  
• Week 1(Sept 23-30): I did 5500 some days, 13000 other days. It averaged out to ~9000 per day when I calculated the 7 day average.. My pedometer is a bit big and bulky and I need to find something less intrusive if I am going to wear it every day. There have been quite a few days that I have accidentally reset it by likely leaning against something and hitting the reset button. Some days I KNOW I have done 10,000 steps and at the end of the night when I take it off, it will only say 900 steps or something like that. (B)
  
5. Stop being wasteful.
   
• Sometimes at the end of the week I throw out more bad fruit and veggies than I should be. I need to learn to only buy what I need for a couple of days and then make sure I eat it. I hate waste and I sometimes over-buy a product and it goes bad by the time I eat it. I live close to a grocery store so I should only buy a couple of days’ worth.
  
• Week 1(Sept 23-30): I didn’t buy anything I didn’t use but I did throw out some stuff at the weekend because it was bad. But since then, so far so good. (A)
  

It’s Friday and I’m going blog visiting. I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Ttyl

Sandra