Happy New Year

I wish you all a Happy New Year and I am looking forward to the new year and all the great challenges we will complete.

I AM going to be one Hot 50 Year old lady come September and I need all of YOU to hold me to it!

Have a wonderful night/day.

Sandra

Final Hot 100 Update

Well here is my final post for the Hot 100 for 2010. Click on this link to read my goals on for week one and one thing I must note – I just posted for the last 14 weeks a list with spelling mistakes in it … how sad is that

To summarize it all, I have finally realized where I need to improve in my wellness goals.  This past year has not been all that successful for me and that is because I was playing with it. I wasn’t taking myself seriously enough. I thought I knew what I was doing.. but alas… I’m still learning.

For this challenge I focused on working on more “Me” time and to a good extent, that worked. But I could do so much better and will continue to work on it in the years to come because it is very important to your well being. I need down time, I need to de-stress, I need to be happy and free in spirit.

My exercising was on and off and that happens with me but it was never completely gone. I did something each week. Maybe not 5x a week but I always did something. In the past it might have become months and months of inactivity. Walking in the Kidney March in September showed me I can do anything I want to if I set my mind to it cause believe me, it tried very hard during that first night in that tent to try to convince me that I could not do the walk. But I not only finished it, I felt great after.

Eating – well to be completely honest with myself and with you, that has been a joke. It wasn’t until I started to really watch the calories that went into my mouth that I realized I’d only been fooling myself that I was “eating for life”.  Well I guess I was but it wasn’t going to be a long life. I AM on a diet until I get to the weight I want to be at, and then I can "lifestyle eat”.

Steps – that’s a work in progress. Now that I got my Fitbit it is helping me get more active during the day. It increases my activity requirements each week so I have no where else to go but up…

Wasting food – that is an ongoing lifetime thing. I really have improved but can still do better.

So that pretty much summarizes my take on the Hot 100 Challenge. I really love the friendships that grow out of these things and the support you get from everyone. I especially love the fact that Steve goes to all this work for people he doesn’t even know… thanks again Steve for being such a powerhouse of support to everyone.

I wish all the best today, the last day of 2010 and looking forward to new challenges and friendships in 2011.

Have a fantastic night.

Sandra

Hot Yoga and Water Bottles….

Hey have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Bikram Hot Yoga!

It has almost been 1 year since I first went. It was last year on New Years Day. I can still remember how hard it was, and when you don’t go for a couple of months, how hard it can be again. I’ve managed to go 4 times in December (only once a week) but I really plan on picking that up again.  Starting the second week in January, my goal is to go at least 3x a week. It just makes me feel so much better: I sleep better and my hip doesn’t hurt so much. In the end it helps me exercise more to my fullest.

However some of the poses still hurt as much as they did on day one. This one in particular. When you have a desk job and type all the time, your elbows are always bent – this pose has you lie on them elbow up, palms down and lay your fat body on them and try to lift your legs. First two poses are one leg only – this picture is the third. I MAY get my legs up an inch or two but it hurts so much I have to quickly get off. I do remember it not hurting quite so much in February after I  had been regularly going so I still have HOPE!

I bought one of Bikram’s beginners book that shows all that poses in better detail and although I only read the second chapter last night, he has injected quite a bit of humor into it and I can’t help by laugh while I read it. Often the instructors quote him and some of the comments I thought they exaggerated but after reading this book, I have no doubt he actually talks like that. He can describe a pose exactly like you personally would be feeling it – like you are going to break in half.

So the above position that I hate so much , this is how he describes it:

“The undulations, heaving's, rolling's and grunting as you try to maneuver your arms into this new and unusual position are marvelous to see and hear.” ... he goes on with how to best get into the position then continues… “You will thus have both arms nicely pinned and you will feel like a trussed goose.  Your head will be bobbing around trying to look casual..”  The above is the third part of this particular pose to which he comments “The third part of the Locust is usually voted the “Pet Hate Number One”.  To this I shall simply say that eventually it will be as easy as falling off a log. Until then, if you have been fussing about your aching elbows with the first two positions, lifting both legs and your hips off the floor will give you something NEW to complain about”  I have to laugh when I read this because it is oh so true

Also while there last night, I bought a new water jug (surprise surprise, I have about 20+ different water bottles).

I like this one because it has two openings – smaller one on top, larger one to base. And inside that one is a screen for tea. So you can have either hot or cold with this puppy. I freeze my water before going to Yoga so that it stays at least cold through the 90 minutes but I don’t think I will risk freezing this one. I never do it full, only about half to allow for expansion. Maybe if I left the lid open I would be safe… what do you think?

 

I am finally able to take some time this week to organize my desk, and read some blogs. I am enjoying everyone’s recap of 2010 and what their plans are for 2011. I haven’t decided yet if I am doing a re-cap or not – I did one last year… so maybe I will again…

Well I hope you are having a fantastic day !

Sandra

My Angels

Aiden (7 yrs old)
I get my little man the day after Christmas (Boxing day) until I go back to work. Which is today. As he gets older, he is a ton of fun to be around. He has quite the sense of humor and comes up with the funniest things these days.
He feels like he is the luckiest person around as he gets two Christmases. Those are all his presents under that tree



Lilyana (6 months)
And this little angel I got to see a couple of times over the holidays. She is always full of smiles and a wonder to be around.  For a Christmas present my son created a music DVD of her moving in her mommies tummy, just after birth (minutes after) and through until today. Some were video’s some just still pictures. I tear up each time I see it…. It was one of my best presents.

More on Interval Training

I first thought about doing more interval training when I first did the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. It is interval training.  She talks about it during the 20 minute sessions.

A co-worker of mine who is into fitness and who’s wife is my biofeedback specialist, pointed out an article that we both got that week from Mercola Peak Fitness. He calls it “Peak 8” and it involved 30 seconds of intense, fast as you can intervals with 90 seconds of rest. All in total only 20 minutes. Then you do not eat any carbs for two hours. When I first tried it, it worked for me because it takes me two hours to get to work after I workout first thing in the morning. However, I’ve been having a hard time getting up at 4:00 lately and haven’t been following through with it.

Then there is also this site from the Mercola website:  Interval Cardio on Treadmill for Fat Loss.

And like Helen mentioned in the blog comments from yesterday, Jackie Warner in “This is Why You’re Fat” recommends 20 minutes of intervals.

There are tons of articles about interval training out there and there have been for years. For me, that is enough proof that this will work.

Now I just have to work on getting back into the habit of getting up first thing in the morning and getting it done. If I wait until the end of the day, the workout isn’t as intense… or doesn’t get done.

I hope you have a Fantastic day!

ttyl

Sandra

Interval Training

Seems to work for me these days.

I’ve been reading over the years how interval training was the best weight loss tool out there. Long, slow, and steady workouts were not the thing.  Humans weren’t made to run long distances, we were made to run for our life get away from the predator as fast as you can! Short FAST spurts. I personally would have gotten eaten as I always work best at slow and steady endurance and not so good at speed. When I did my C25K earlier this year or even the Learn to Run program I started last year, I was slow as molasses. My friend (and also boss) did the L2R program with me and we would meet downtown at 5:30 in the morning and go for a practice run. We didn’t run any faster than 4.2- 4.5mph. Most of you could WALK faster than that. But for both of our 5’2” frames, 185lb bodies, 4.5 mph worked.

Just recently I decided to give the interval training a try again. I’ve been using the C25K Week One program because I have it on my iTouch and it does the timing for me and I just have to change the speed. I should be doing 1 min fast, 1 minute recovery, but the first week is 90 seconds of walking in between and it is so much easier to just follow the already programed prompts than to be watching the clock myself. This way I just have to focus on one foot in front of the other and not how many seconds are left.

So this morning I was on my last minute of running and I decided to hit 5.5 mph on the treadmill. Now I realize that running on  the TM is so much different than running outside but inside is my winter choice. So TM it is… anyway…. 5.5mph is freakin fast for me. However this morning I experienced a very weird feeling.

I felt like I was floating, like it wasn’t all that hard, like I was in a rhythm.  it actually felt “peaceful”. Very strange for me… but it was oh so cool…

Now I don’t think that feeling would have lasted longer than that minute but I know from making it entirely through a C25K program and able to run a full 30 minutes at 4.5 mph, that with work and practice I CAN run 30 minutes at 5.0 or 5.5, or 6 .0 or 7.0 mph (you get the drift). I probably could work myself up in speeds.

However I don’t like running all that much and would rather do strength training.

So I’ve decided that for 2011 I am going to focus on interval training, no longer than 30 minutes 3x a week and then in February when I sign up for the 2011 Kidney March, I’ll be back to the LONG (several hours at a time) walks. But I MUST keep incorporating the Interval training and strength training in there.

That was my problem this year. Once I signed up for the Kidney March all I did was walk. And ate like I was 30….

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week!

ttyl

Sandra

Hot 100 Wk 13

I’m late

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 13 (Dec 17^th-23rd): (D) A lot less tense this past week but not enough me time – in fact less than normal. Mr. Sandra’s youngest was with us all weekend and right up until today (Boxing Day). And it was his birthday on the Monday but on the weekend I planned a little party for him. He used to always tell me his Mom never got him a cake for his birthday so for the last few years, even if we didn’t have him on his birthday, I always made sure we did something that ended in a cake. This year we went bowling as well. And Mr. Sandra’s daughter (24yr old) came out to stay for the week before Christmas. She is living in another province right now and came to visit for Christmas. Anyway…my point really is that is I spent very little me time and lots of keeping others happy time :)
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 13 (Dec 17^th-23rd): (B) I worked out on the weekend, went to Hot Yoga on Tuesday but the rest of the week was a wash. I really need to pick it back up again now that the busy holiday season is over. I will have more “Me” time and that means I can get my exercise in. 
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 13 (Dec 17^th-23rd) (C) I sure did not do as good as I could have this week. Eating the Chinese food on the weekend certainly didn’t help.
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 13 (Dec 17^th-23rd): (C) Some days I managed to get some good steps in, other's just wasn’t there. Need to really pick this up. MY Fitbit is really showing me 2where I need to work on getting more active.
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 13 (Dec 17^th-23rd): (C-) My extra fridge kicked the bucket and although I mostly just had liquids in there, I did have a bunch of veggies and fruit I threw out a lot. The freezer portion is working but not the fridge part. Sucks for Xmas leftovers…
   Ttyl

Sandra

Sodium Gains

Who in their right mind would eat Chinese food the night before they were going to weigh-in for a challenge?? Ahhh… that would be me. Talk about bad choices. We had gone out bowling for Little Mr. Sandra’s 12^th birthday (which is actually today) and when we got home the vote for dinner was to order food in. And their choice was Chinese food (I was out numbered). So although I didn’t eat too much of it, it was sodium laden enough that I showed a 1lb gain yesterday morning from the previous Sunday. I should have shown at least a 2lb loss this week (I went the wrong way).  Sometimes I wonder at the logic that goes on in my head…

So since today is actually Little Man’s B- Day, we are getting together with his Grandma and big sister who is here from Ontario.  The restaurant we are going to has pretty healthy choices for meals so I should do pretty good keeping my calories where I want them. But for water on the weekend… I didn’t drink as much water yesterday as I should have because my bottle on my cooler ran out and I refuse to drink from the tap. Yes I am fussy but if I can’t stand the chemical taste of it, then I won’t drink it. Today I’m on track (easy at work to do) and will be picking up 2 bottles after work so that I always have one on hand when the other runs out. They are 18 liter bottles and I go through at least 2 a week.

I had a massage last night at home. She came over and worked on my shoulders and neck to see if we could get rid of this headache of mine. It truly is starting to get quite annoying these days. Even taking Advil or Tylenol does not seem to be helping at all. She said that my muscles were the tightest she has seen on me yet. Needless to say I am a little tender today but I really needed the work through. Freakin headaches….

I hope you all have a FANTASIC week and are all caught up in your Christmas shopping!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

 

 

 

 

Hottie Update #12

Hot 100 Week 12

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 12 (Dec 10^th-16th^h): (C) I didn’t spend as much “me” time as I needed this week… unless you call wrapping Christmas presents “me” time…  I’ve been really really stressed lately and really need to work on this. I’ve had a headache all week that is due partially to the weather but I’m pretty sure it also relates to the fact that my shoulders are up around my ears. Tense, Tense, Tense…
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 12 (Dec 10th-16thh): (B) I worked out on the weekend as per my usual, then the gym on Monday, Hot Yoga on Tuesday and nothing since. So I’m not giving myself much credit for this week because the effort was only half there. I chose to go Christmas shopping instead. Once I get that out of the way, then the stress will lessen, but then again, the stress will lessen if I just work it out…. Oi vey!
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 12 (Dec 10^th-16th^h): (A) I am still on track for this. However on Wednesday we had our floor Christmas potluck and I ate as best as I could but without knowing the calories. I’m pretty sure I was over by about 200 calories on this day but I am also not worried about that.
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 12 (Dec 10^th-16th^h): (C) My fitbit is cool. I’m averaging about 6500 steps this past week – could be a LOT higher and I’m going to work on this one.
       

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 12 (Dec 10^th-16th^h): (A-)  Did good again this week!

I found this week to be tough because I felt like I was going to explode all week. My mood was volatile and I just felt moody and crappy. It’s all stress related and I know that so I didn’t take it out on anyone. Nope, not  a soul knew I was in such a bad mood. Lucky Mr. Sandra  (hee hee).

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Ttyl

Sandra

My Fitbit

I really like my Fitbit. I’ve not quite spent a week with it so really still trying to analyze some of the data it shows for me.

I like the fact that it records my sleep pattern. It really confirms that I do have a 3-4 hour period where I am out completely. That it takes quite a bit to wake me up and that is the time that Mr. Sandra must come to bed. If he comes to bed after that window, then I have a hard time staying asleep because of his snoring, coughing etc. Now I have proof to show him – come to bed during this time  :) !!!

But it isn’t 100% accurate in the actual sleep hours itself. Last night as an example, I didn’t sleep much. I laid in bed but didn’t move and so it thinks I am sound asleep. The device is movement based so if you lie there on your back trying to get back to sleep for hours, well it thinks you are asleep (that would be between 1:30 and 3:30 seen on that graph). But that’s OK, I can deal with that… or start waving my arm when I am awake so it knows I am awake.

And as for activity, well I have a sit down job and I am very inactive during the day. This thing shows me how much so…

Here is an example of last Friday which is a day off from exercising.

Not a whole lot of movement during the day.






And this other one is yesterday.

I didn’t end up exercising per-se but vacummed and shampooed my rug. It was a lot of one step forward, two steps back and I did it for 3 hours between 9 and noon. It did not recognize those steps very well but you can tell I was up and about almost all day. That is how I have to see if I can get the weekday to look like.


When I get up to go for my 100/perday trips to the bathroom, I’ve got to take the long way around the floor to get there, and the long way back. Go out at lunch for a walk, that sort of thing. I won’t be wearing it during Yoga because you don’t move much in a vertical direction and I get soaking wet so don’t want to risk the electronics in it. I will just be logging it as an activity.

Based on the reports (of course I had to sign up for the premium access), I’m about average right now. Considering it is not a full week, I didn't do too bad. But I do know I need to increase my activity level during the day  and will work on it from now on…



I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Ttyl

Sandra

(194.0 -6 from last Sunday )

Hot 100 Week 11 Update

Wow this year sure is going by fast!!

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 11 (Dec 3^rd-Dec 9^th): (B) I didn’t spend as much “me” time this week but I’m still feeling relaxed and non-stressed. This is a good state to be in.
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 11 (Dec 3^rd-Dec 9^th): (B) I worked out pretty good this week and got in one Hot Yoga session. Was going to go last night but ended up going Christmas shopping instead. I know – relaxing versus crazy shopping but I feel less stressed getting the shopping done. I’ve got 20 people to buy for and usually I wait until the last minute. This year is different and I’m feeling a LOT less stressed about it. I’ve been getting in 3 Interval sessions and am really enjoying doing them. My speed spurts are getting faster and faster and boy do I sweat. 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 11 (Dec 3^rd-Dec 9^th): (A) Because of Allan’s challenge (and my determination to get this right), I’ve eaten pretty good all week. I did mess up on the weekend because we were “Kid” free and had sushi twice, and went out for beers but since Monday I’ve been right on track. OK, well maybe not 100% on track because last night I had popcorn after dinner. Mr. Sandra just isn’t taking me seriously enough with this and waved a bowl of popcorn in my face and although at that moment I did say “no thank you I’ve had my calories for the day”, later on I did grab a couple of handfuls. It was on my mind at that point and seeing the bag out on the cupboard, well I gave in.
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 11 (Dec 3rd-Dec 9th): Well I got my FitBit and started to wear it on Wednesday. So from this day forward I will have some statistics.
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 11 (Dec 3^rd-Dec 9^th): (A-)  I’ve done pretty good this week not wasting the veggies but eating them all J

I hope you are all having a great week!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

 

While the Cat is Away...

This is what goes on at my house during the day. :)

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

LOOK What I got!!

And not a day too soon :)

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Day 1 of Gettin Serious

Well actually it is Day 2 but I’ve joined in with Allan and his friends and joined in with his Phase III Challenge (SSDDC) and today is the official Day 1. If you don’t read Allan’s blog, and if you want to read some no BS posts, then I highly recommend reading his site. He’s lost an amazing 152lbs in 206 days… Wow!  I’ve been following along quietly for a while now and he tells it as it is and does not add any frills in case he hurts any ones feelings. He is honest and has such a way of putting things that he has made me realize I have been fooling myself for the last year – if not longer.  I need to read/hear what Allan is putting out there.  So I’m challenging myself to fully participate in his challenge and eat at a caloric level that my body will start losing weight.

 

Part of this plan is to drink a ton of water. I’ve always drank a lot of water but sometimes I fall off the wagon and only drink 1-2 liters a day. Of course that would be non-Hot Yoga days. Those days I ALWAYS filled up with water all day long because I knew I was going to sweat it all out. But the last couple of weeks I’ve made a good attempt at drinking the amount he recommended that I drink. It wasn’t easy at first but now I am finding I am thirsty all the time so drinking it isn’t an issue. Right now I am averaging about 128 ounces of water a day if not more depending on if it is a YOGA day or not. Which means, my second office (the bathroom) is being frequently used.

 

So yesterday I ate perfectly on track and ate good healthy clean food. Today is going to be a repeat of yesterday, and tomorrow, and the day after and so on and so on.  

 

Yesterday I got up at 4:15 and did my 30 minute interval walk/run, then at the end of the day, I hit the gym and did 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer and another 45 minutes working my legs on the machines. I don’t know why but I am still self-conscious doing lower-body exercises in the gym that just involve free weight workouts like squats, lunges, etc. I was OK with the trainer but not so good on my own. I like the structured machine workouts around all that beefy muscle that’s in the gym I attend (by the way Deb… I said “hello” to your poster again last night J ).  I do lots of free weight lower body workouts as I think they are much better than machines but I do it at home.

 

Tonight I’m going to Hot Yoga after work. My body needs a good detox and stretch and that’s the best place on earth to do that!

 

I hope you are all having a fantastic day!

 

Sandra

 

197.2 (L) I still can’t believe it is that high but at least it is down from Sunday.

 

Playtime is Over!

Ok folks, I've had enough of trying to be nice to myself :) I'm done with pussy footin around my "diet".The way I have been eating and drinking is not a "way of life", "how I'm going to do it until I die" thing. If it is, then I will just continue to put the pounds on. Eating intuitively is not for me. Maybe once I get my diet under control and eat at what levels I'm supposed to eat at, then it is a "way of life" but right now it is not working for me. I need to set limits.

I am so embarrassed to say that I weighed in this morning at 200.1 lbs. That is disgusting for my short 5'2" frame. That is almost a 15lb gain this year from trying to do my own thing by not being on a DIET.  Sure I've been eating clean, I've been pretty good there. I've had the cheat meals once or twice a week (80/20 rule) where I may eat something that's not good for me but generally I've been pretty good. I am just eating too much of a good thing.

I did exercise a lot, and still do, but I can't eat what I worked off and then some. My body just doesn't have the muscle mass yet to burn off what I'm putting in my mouth. If I want to workout like an athlete then I must eat like an athlete - but within my limits.

I have no one to blame but myself and I've not wanted to blog lately because I knew I was doing really bad (and I've been super busy too). But it's time to face the music, the firing squad, the reality and truth of it all. I'm not going to lose this weight by being nice to myself. I've got to get down to business and get my shit together. My 365 days to 50 is not going as planned.

So there ya have it, I'm done with fooling myself and it's time to hit the scales.... food scales that is...

I hope you are having a fantastic weekend! You will see more of me as I need to be accountable and putting it out there like this is going to make it so...

ttyl

Sandra

Hot 100 Week 10 Update

I just can’t believe we are at week 10 already. Wow how time flies!

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 10 (Nov 26^th Dec 2nd): (A-) I’m doing good here, and also starting to feel better because of it. I’ve spent two session in Hot Yoga spending the last 10 minutes or so meditating while my body is recovering from the Yoga Session. Most folks just want to get out of that room as fast as they can but I like to spend a few minutes to see what comes up in my mind and work through that. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Depending on where my ego is at the time.
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 10 (Nov 26^th Dec 2nd): (C )I’ve done much better this week and have been working out almost every day to some degree. I do need to increase my interval sessions though as I only did 2 this past week.
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 10 (Nov 26^th Dec 2nd): (B-) I did great all week except on Grey Cup Sunday – I ate junk and felt like junk for the rest of the day and into the next day. It is amazing that eating the wrong foods, how much it affects your body when you really aren’t used to it anymore. I absolutely felt sick afterwards and couldn’t eat much of anything.
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 10 (Nov 26^th Dec 2nd): (C) Nope, not wearing it.
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 10 (Nov 26^th Dec 2nd): (B-)  Still working the non-waste thing. Have been doing pretty good..

I’ve done well this week and am feeling better about everything in general. However for reasons unknown to me, I did have a tough time sleeping almost each night this week. Not sure if it is just the stress of work or the stress of Christmas coming. Whatever it is, I have to somehow fix it. You’d think with a lot of exercising I’d be dead all night long but unfortunately that is not the case.

 

Hope all of you are doing great!

Ttyl

Sandra

 

p.s., have I told you how much I like Bikram Hot Yoga J

 

Hot Yoga & Headaches

I drank tons of water yesterday, peed all day long and then I went to Hot Yoga last night. I think I lost 4lbs just overnight because of all the fluid loss from drinking/peeing/sweating I did yesterday. Tomorrow it will be back to normal.  I’ve been drinking lots of water but yesterday I drank even more because I was just plain thirsty. I’m sure I was up to 4+ litres of water in total for the day.

Hot Yoga was interesting as I haven’t been since the beginning of the month and last night the room was exceptionally hot. And I didn’t do as well as I could have. But everyone is going to have those days where things just don’t click. I felt a bit nauseous and dizzy. Kept me from doing some of the poses. And my darn hip is still really tight. Another part of my old body I’ve noticed hurting since the summer is my left ankle. I can’t put any pressure on it if I am kneeling down. It’s like the calf muscle is so stiff my ankle feels like it is  going to break. Left ankle, right hip? Hmmm… Think I may have been walking funny with all the walking I did in preparation for the Kidney March in September? I’m thinking so, and now I have another ache and pain to deal with and deal with it I will. More Hot Yoga and stretching.

We are having fairly warm weather right now (above 0 degree Celsius is warm around here) and although I much prefer that to the freezing cold temperatures we had last week I get headaches from it. I am susceptible to changes in the barometric pressure. I live close to the mountains and when the warm weather comes over the top, we get what they call “Chinooks”. This brings warm air over from the West Coast. But it brings horrible headaches for me L When we go to Mazatlan in May, that is about the only time I don’t get headaches. Sea Level versus an altitude of 3500 feet makes Sandra’s head feel much better! Maybe I should think about permanently moving South?

Oh well, I’ve lived with it for 49 years, I guess I will survive J for a few more.

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC day!

Ttyl

Sandra