I love Mondays

I have always loved Mondays - new week, new outlook, new attitude.  Monday mornings are my step class which I just love although I have been cutting my class in half the past few months - I do about 25 minutes of it and then hook up with Meaghan to do big muscle lower body.  That way I get the best of both worlds. I have really amped up my walking too - I've been averaging 15,000-17.000 steps/day and I think thats making a difference.  The weekends are still tricky for sure - I tried to be careful on Saturday at the cottage.  We had a big dinner party and the meal my sister in law served was amazing but sooo not healthy so I ate small portions of everything and didn't get seconds.  She did beef tenderloin, twice baked potatoes that just are soooo good (I had half of one) and her corn casserole which should be illegal its so good.  Dessert was an abundance of things but I stuck to the homemade rice crispy square and stayed away from the gooey brownies.  Her appetizers were to die for as well - huge cold shrimp - I tried to stick with those - had a few cheese and crackers, 1/2 crab cake.  Champagne.  But I looked at that whole meal and said to myself I probably indulged in half of what I normally would have and still enjoyed myself and thats all I can ask.  Tom and I were up early Sunday morning and we walked the dog for 50 minutes along the Lake Huron shoreline - got in almost 8000 steps just in that walk.  Plus Avah and I walked again last night.  So I'm definately moving more.
I think that everyone that is reading this blog is on Michelle Pfile's Support Group and honestly what an inspiring group of women. I just love going on there and seeing what everyone is doing and eating and recipes and suggestions….etc….Michelle has been the most amazing online coach.  Im anxiously awaiting my Shakeology to arrive this week and I just ordered PIYO so I'm excited to try something different - I'm not a huge workout at home gal but I think doing PIYO 3-4 times/week will be a great change.
So on with my week and I will let you know how the Shakeology goes.

Coming in to another weekend

We spend most of our weekends at my sister in laws cottage in Hillsboro and this consists of drinking a lot of champagne and wine, eating a lot of snacks and meals, sitting around visiting, suntanning etc….I decided to take a bit of a different approach this year starting last weekend.  I know that I am still going to eat the snacks and drink but I can modify it somewhat.  So last weekend for every glass of champagne I had, I had a glass of water in between so that cut my drinking down in half.  I tried not to sit myself right in the middle of the table where the snacks are kept and I definately helped myself to less than I normally would.  It helps that my sister in law is in awesome shape so I sort of watch her and eat when she does - lol - she knows that I am really motivated and trying to eat well so she planned a nice healthy meal on the weekend which was great.  And I cooked the other night and made grilled scallops, ribs (I don't eat ribs), a huge salad, a pasta salad and roasted asparagus.  The other change I'm making is to not just sit on my ass all day long at the beach - to get up and move more.  So this past weekend for the first time I went tubing behind the seadoo.  I went with my son and we had a blast - I never do fun things like that.
I plan on doing much of the same this weekend.  Lots of walks at the beach, lots of sea dooing.  My workout pal/trainer Meaghan is home from 3 weeks away (I missed her like crazy) and we did a great workout today - 15 minutes on the cross trainer and then a pretty intense back and chest workout.  I got 18.000 steps on my fitbit yesterday which was awesome for me.  So I feel like I'm back in the game.
Here's to a great weekend of nice weather, great eats and tons of movement.

Feeling great today

I woke up this morning for the first time in weeks feeling great and motivated and ready to tackle my next challenge.  I did 45 minutes of step class today to get in my cardio and my steps for my fitbit.  Then I did a quick 10 minutes of biceps and triceps which is really all you need for those small muscle groups.
I finally took the plunge after thinking about it for a few weeks and signed up for the 30 day Shakeology with the 3 day detox.  Crossing my fingers that I can do it, well actually I know I can.  If anyone has followed my blogs before you know I have tried everything…..I lasted only a few hours with Isagenix but I believe that Isagenix is not the choice for me.  I could never live on 2 shakes a day plus their weird packaged snacks.
My idea for shakeology is that it will replace my egg white omelette in the morning which I DETEST or maybe on days where I have the omelette it could replace my afternoon snack?  Need to ask Michelle about that one - afternoon snack is where I have the hardest time.
I feel like I've really got a good handle on the workouts now, the motivation is back so now if I can get the food in line I'm golden.  I was looking at myself in the mirror today at the gym and thinking god, I have the perfect boobs now that I've been waiting two years for - now lets get the rest together and I could have a banging bod.  Is the crap food really that worth it?  No way…..
I have a good dinner plan for tonight.  Grilled shrimp that I'm serving over my huge red leaf and vegetable salad with olive oil and Olive Me Pear Balsamic Vinegar, mashed cauliflower and spaghetti squash.

And once again for the cheap seats in the back….

Here I am again, so frustrated and annoyed that I am back in this position again.  This time I am 90% blaming the hormones, all the IVF and the estrogen - it has ruined my body.  I was doing so well maintaining all my hard work after Rita last year right up until this past Oct when I had my boobs done for the third time - old implants out, smaller ones put in.  Long story short it was a botched job and I was left with rocks in socks.  Depression big time.  I finally had them fixed once and for all at the end of Apr with a wonderful new surgeon and I'm thrilled with the result.  Now that my boobs are fantastic again, its back to the rest of my body which is in dire straits.  I'm back up to 140.2lbs and so upset about it.  I look awful again, puffy, not cute in a bikini, there is a layer of fat around my tummy and my legs look big.  I've been working out pretty steadily and eating 80/20 but nothing is happening.  I am frustrating the heck out of my friend Meaghan who I train with.  She can't understand why I can't just stop eating crap….and I can't understand it either.  I went back today and read my blogs from when I was with Rita and when I did the 2 week cleanse and how in those 2 weeks I lost 10lbs - bam….it wasn't easy, there were tears involved and detoxing and frustration but after it was over I was able to maintain that weight, add in more foods and felt great for a good 8 months.  So how do I do this again?  How do I make myself detox again?  Why can't I get the incentive to do this?  I am my worst enemy.  My goal is to get to 130lbs again and stay there and then have a wee bit of lipo done around my waist and back.  I know that if I just do this clean eating thing for the next week 2 weeks - no dairy, sugar, grains, fruit - I can get right back to my weight - now how do I make myself do it?
I'm just venting to myself because at this point I don't plan on sharing my blog - maybe with the Fit Pfile's support group but that is it.
I have all the toosl that anyone could ask for - this amazing chat group at The Fit Pfile's, a trainer that works me really hard, my friend M who also works me and is a great sounding board, pilates reformer once/week…I mean what else can a person ask for - well maybe a personal chef to actually serve me the meals and make sure I only eat good stuff…..lol…
Oh and I pretty much gave up diet pepsi which is huge for me.  I don't have it in the house any longer - so its a treat if I go someone and I have one - that happens maybe once/week.
Today I didn't even start the day off right -  I had a bowl of Vector which I crave sometimes….a girl can only eat so many omelettes…..gawd……did 30 minute step class and 30 minute glut/ham workout.  Lunch was a huge salad with red leaf lettuce, broccoli slaw, peppers, cukes, carrots, sprinkle of olive oil and pear balsamic vinegar….unfortunately there was also a handful of my kids bbq ringolos.  I haven't planned the rest of my day yet - the planning will start tomorrow.  I'm so sick of my excuses and little cheats here and there which don't seem like much but add up in the big picture.
Maybe by blogging on here I will make myself a bit more accountable.

Life has taken on a new twist

I'm very excited to say that Coach Rita has taken me on as a client for a month to work with me on nutrition.  This is awesome because she is becoming very in demand now and I'm lucky to be with her. She has made a whole new eating plan for me based around My Fitness Pal and numbers that she has given to me based on my size, goals and needs.
I have decided out of respect for Rita not to blog any further about this since this is her deal and her job and I shouldn't be sharing any of her awesome secrets.  My advice to anyone that wants to get serious about nutrition would be to email Rita and become one of her online clients.
This new program that she has made for me is IT and I am so motivated and excited.

Shakes still don't work for me

As the title states I'm just not a shake person - I too believe that as a human I MUST chew my food...haha...I started my day with the morning white shake and it was great again and full of amazing nutrients.  I then took the kids and dog for a 1 hour power walk/run through the fun trails of Gibbons Park.  We had a great time and everyone was sweating by the time we were done.  That took most of our morning so by the time we got home I was starving and just couldn't face a shake.  So I made my healthy quinoa, veggie, chicken, olive oil and red wine vinegar salad.  Unfortunately I also caved and had some doritos with it - those have gone straight to the garbage now.  We spent the afternoon by the pool and at 300pm I had a healthy snack of 3 hardboiled egg whites and raw carrots.  I'm getting hungry now but will hold off till 600pm for dinner.  Dinner I have already prepped.  I'm having a kale, spinach and swiss chard salad with chopped peppers, cukes, chick peas and cold shrimp (about 10 shrimp) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar as my dressing.  I have about 10 stalks of asparagus to roast in the oven with coconut oil and about half a head of cauliflower to make mashed cauliflower with garlic salt.
I'm at 8500 steps so far today so knowing that I haven't hit my minimum of 10,000 that motivates me to take the kids walking right after supper before showers and then we can collapse on the couch knowing we hit all our goals today.
Coach Rita has asked me to start tracking my food on "My Fitness Pal" so I started that today.  I think this will be an amazing tool for me.  I then have to give her my numbers on the protein, fat, carb, sugar columns each evening for 2 days and she will then give me a guideline of what to eat and when.  fitness pal gave me 1200 calories per day to get to my goal weight of 125lbs.  By the time supper is done and providing I don't do any snacking which I don't think I will I should be on target for my goal even with my little oops of the doritos.  However, I'm sure when she sees my numbers she will see that they aren't where they should be because of the chips.  So I look forward to her feedback.  And knowing that the chips added to my calories and I could have eaten something else better for me and more satisfying is interesting too.
Off to clean out Jack's closet and start to get it neat and tidy and ready for fall.  That will keep me occupied until suppertime.  That's what I need - to keep busy as much as possible.  And when I start craving tonight I have my David's Tea leaves to drink - I love the White tea - Organic Gold Rush - delicious and it helps, don't get me wrong - bedtime will come early tonight to not be starving.

This might be a long post

So this weekend has been a great one so far for me.  As I said in my last blog I'm hoping to start my awesome eating plan again with Coach Rita on Monday - will have confirmation on that later tomorrow.  In the meantime, last week I bought and read my favourite Celebrity Trainer (Harley Pasternak's) book "The Body Reset Diet".  Without going into a whole lot of detail I liked a lot of what he said, disagreed with some of but definitely took away some ideas.  He advocates doing 15 days of smoothies - the first 5 days, 3 smoothies a day in place of meals with 2 quality snacks in between, then the next 5 days 2 smoothies, 2 snacks and 1 meal and then the final 5 days 1 smoothie, 2 meals and 2 snacks and then basically maintain your life like that.  Anyone that has read my blog in the past saw my little experience with Isagenix that lasted a mere 6 hours and was filled with anxiety.  I didn't feel that way when I read his book and I think thats because each shake I would be personally making from scratch and each shake is filled with real food that I bought.  I do however believe, as does Coach Rita, that humans are meant to chew their food and not drink it so this certainly isn't a lifestyle for me, but I thought hey - lets try it for Sat and Sun and this way when I start with Rita on Monday, I am fresh and clean and ready to go.  So his book provides a list of the groceries you will need and its mainly fruits, veggies, vanilla protein powder, some nuts, greek yogurt and almond milk to name a few.  So my grocery list wasn't huge and wasn't expensive.
I made my first shake for breakfast around 900am today and consisted of the following (and he gives a whole bunch of shake receipes for white shakes (breakfast), red shakes (lunch) and green shakes (supper).  And let me say also that doing the shakes came at a time when I've been feeling so sick of all food healthy and non healthy and just bored in general, so this has been a nice change.

Breakfast white shake
5 raw almonds chopped
1 red apple, skin on, cored and chopped
1 small banana (that I froze over night and chopped up)
3/4 cup plain fat free greek yogurt
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon

This shake was delicious and I had a hard time finishing it and felt very full and satisfying and having a shake for breakfast for me is easy peasy.

For my mid morning snack he has a whole range of ideas that include a protein and should be crunchy because its hard not to chew your food for sure and approx 150 calories.  Ideas he gives are things like:
-2/3 cup raspberries with 8 oz fat free greek yogurt
-4 crackers and 2 pieces low fat cheese (he asks that the crackers be 5 gr of fibre and over which is very hard to find)
-3 oz fat free greek yogurt, 1/3 tbsp natural peanut butter and 1 small red apple
-3/4 cup edamame
-3oz lean roast beef and 1 1/2 red bell peppers
-1 apple and 3 slices roast beef
-low fat popcorn
-high protein, high fibre cereal like Kashi Go Lean

Just to name a few

So my first snack I actually ate in conjunction with my lunchtime snack as we were out hiking all morning - more on that shortly.

For that snack I had 4 small multi grain crackers that were only 2 gr fibre - I didn't find one kind of cracker at the grocery store that had 5 gr so I have to look into that more and a piece of low fat cheese.  Along with that was my lunchtime shake - or my red shake.  This shake was:
small amount of water
1 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup frozen strawberries (you can use blueberries too but I hate them)
1/2 small orange peeled
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp ground flaxseed.

Again delicious and I had this around 100pm and I was full until about 400pm.  At 400pm I had my afternoon snack which was low fat organic popcorn.

Then when I should have done the third shake for supper I went out for dinner with my parents.  I chose a huge salad with chicken and I will admit I had a few of my sons fries and a few bites of my daughters cheese sticks.  I still feel like that was a great day for me and if I had been at home I believe I could have done the supper shake no problem.  The supper shake or green shake was:
small amount of water
2 cups spinach
1 ripe pear unpeeled and cored chopped
15 green or red grapes
3/4 cup fat free plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp avocado
1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice

Tonight would have been hard I'm sure after just the shake.  Lots of Davids white tea on ice for me.

The other great thing is that yesterday I finally bought a Fitbit and its going to be a great tool.  In Harley's book he talks about how we as a society work out crazy hard for our one hour a day and then the rest of the day we are kind of sedentary and that was me for sure.  Id do my great workout in the morning and spend the evening on the couch.  So with my fit bit its tracking how many steps I take a day and the minimum they want for optimal health is 10,000/day.  Megan, my dad and I took 8 of our kids out hiking on the trails in Exeter this morning - we did 2 hours and it was amazing.  Even more so because this was my dads first real walk since his hips were done so I was one proud daughter.  As of right now I walked close to 12,000 steps today - woohoo - think of how many I will get after doing a step class and then spending an hour each evening walking.  This fitbit has given me new motivation.  I'm taking the kids to Gibbons Park tomorrow morning and I look forward to seeing how many steps we get in.

So this is where I'm at now - tomorrow I plan to do the 3 shakes and 2 snacks - we are home all day, by the pool, no distractions.  It will be tough but I can do it.  And then hopefully Monday I can have a sit down with Rita and get back on track.

Stay tuned....