Time for before and after

Lately ive been looking at myself in the mirror, discouraged saying I dont really see any changes lately.

Time for an update of the before and after picture to be encouraged again!

Feeling much better now, seeing from my own eyes that yes, there has been some changes in the last months

Went "window" shopping today for jogging shoes.... OMG they are so expensive :(  I'll have to wait a little since we are on a really tight budget since I lost my job.  Wont stop me from working out and running I can tell you that!

Hope everyone has a wonderfull weekend!

A little catching up

Havent posted in a couple of days.

Sunday my parents came over and we had a little picnic and went for a walk.  I had searched the internet for a nice walking place and when we got there... mud... more mud... and no scenery what so ever LOL  But we had fun and we were able to catch up a little. We hadnt seen eachother since Valentine's day.  Didnt even get a picture of anything so much there was like.. NOTHING to take pictures of LOL  But in all we had a really great day and my daughter behaved so well.  Not one word of complaining on her part.. She's finally growing up and doesnt whine as much now lol

Ive managed to go walk my 13km 3 times this week.  Ive been doing a walk/run for the first 10km to try and get ready for a half marathon in august.  The first 30 min I use the  C25k app on my ipod and im at week 1 right now.  1 min of running and 1:30 of walking.  Then when that is completed I have another app that I have set up to 1 min run and 2:30 walk.  My best time to the 10km mark is 1:33.  I need to get that time down so badly.  Ive read that a raisonnable time for a 10km marathon is under 1 hour and a good time would be around 40 min... WOW.. thats half the time im doing now.  I so need better running shoes.  When I run, hello shin pain!!  Im guessing thats due to not so good running shoes.  But having lost my job, we are on a very tight budget so for now.. advil keeps me going during the runs lol

This morning I texted my friend at 6am asking if she was ready to come for a run LOL.  She works at 9am and told me she would like to come run with me if it was really early in the morning before her work... So..... Got her out of bed and gave her 10 min to get ready and meet me! She was a really good sport and we had a really nice run.  It was a little slow since it was her first time and I had ran yesterday and was still sore but we managed to do it in only 4 min more then my usual time so THUMBS UP Stefanie, we did great :-)

As for food.  Well I had 1-2 bad days this week.  Ran out of veggies to snack on so I snacked on some not to good foods and the more I snacked on some bad choices.. the more I was hungry.  Makes sense, since my choices where full of sugar.  Other then that ive been doing pretty good.

I havent weight myself in a couple of days.  I plan on weighting in on monday.  I hope I see results :(  Ive been working pretty hard and although for a day or 2 I didnt make the best choices for food, I didnt really go over my calorie intake and with my run/walks have been burning lots.  We will see.

So how did you guys like this week's Biggest Loser?  Im so frustrated at Kayley!  Man so so so many people out there that would want and need to be on that ranch and here she is, and wants to leave it.  Come on!

I wonder if one day there will be a Canadian version of Biggest Loser?  It would be so awesome! Hmmm wonder how we go about to turn that into reality?  Im really surprise it hasnt been done yet.  Or has it and I missed it? lol

So thats about it.. pretty much covered my week.  

I hope you guys are having a good week also!

Cheers!

Great ways to eat your oatmeal!

Well this morning for some reason.. ive been up since 4:30 :-(

Cant really do anything else then surf, so I dont wake up the rest of the familly so I though I would look for low calorie recipes and share them with you.

This is one I will definitly try this morning.  Since I pretty much each oatmeal every morning and running out of ideas how to eat it.

OVEN-BAKED OATMEAL & APPLES

Oatmeal cooked in the oven

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 45 minutes
Serves 4

• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 apple, skin on, chopped small
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of cloves, nutmeg and cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt (don't skip the salt!)
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or honey or agave)
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2/3 cup apple cider

Preheat oven to 350F. Stir together all ingredients. Divide among four two-cup ramekins. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes. Serve immediately. Can be made ahead and reheated in the microwave for 1 minute.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 114Cal; 1g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 1mg Cholesterol; 328mg Sodium; 25g Carb; 2g Fiber; 15g Sugar; 3g Protein; Weight Watchers 2 points

Ok... this is something I would never of though of!  Peannut butter in oatmeal?  It actually sounds yummy :-)

MICROWAVE CREAMY OATMEAL
with PEANUT BUTTER

Oatmeal cooked in the microwave, my every-day favorite for many years

Hands-on time: 2 minutes
Time to table: 5 minutes
Serves 1

• 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup water or skim milk
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt (don't skip the salt!)
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter

In a microwave-safe bowl, stir together the oats, water and salt. (Don’t worry, precise measuring isn’t required once you’ve made this a time or two. Just eyeball the ingredients.) Cook on high for 1 minute, then give it a good stir. Cook on high for 30 seconds, then stir again. Cook for 15 seconds, then stir. Repeat in 15-second increments until oatmeal is full cooked and water fully absorbed. Stir in the peanut butter and serve.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving made with water and regular peanut butter: 169Cal; 9g Tot Fat; 2g Sat Fat; 0mg Cholesterol; 363mg Sodium; 17g Carb; 3g Fiber; 2g Sugar; 7g Protein; Weight Watchers 3 points

I found these recipes on Kitchen parade and they have alot more low calorie recipes, I encourage you to go take a look.

I hope you enjoy and hope you have an excellent, healthy and happy sunday!

Nothing much...

Well nothing much to blog about today....

Dont know what happened.  This morning it was raining like crazy and my husband has an appointement at 8:15... and for some reason that completly got me off track lol  I usually send my daughter to school a 8:00 then take time to have a good breakfast and immediatly get to my workout.  This morning was all about rush rush.. get daughter ready, get ready to leave for appointement then came back and did... NOTHING with the rest of my day.

I didnt even get my 3 meals in... I snacked all day :(  Ok I didnt snack on any junk food.  A low fat yogourt here, some veggies with hummus there, more veggies this afternoon and made myself a home pizza on a whole wheat pita, with low fat cheese and LOTS of veggies on it.  But still I feel like I am totaly off track, not having 3 real meals, no exercise nothing.  Feel like I wasnt productive at all lol

I guess its better then if I had snacked on junk food all day and I highly doubt I went over budget calorie wise and we all can take 1 day a week off from workout no? then why do I feel so guilty?  I feel so bloated also tonight but I bet its my mind playing tricks ah ah!

Ok... enough mind playing tricks on me.. im headed right now to start Jillian Michaels circuit 2 !!! 

The guilt is killing me LOL

Cheers! xxxx

I get it I get it!!

I came across an awesome post today on the Calorie count web site explaining exactly how to count calories to lose weight..

http://caloriecount.about.com/all-need-explained-basic-simple-ft39714

Basicly its ALOT easier then I thought and I realise now this whole thing has been making me have headaches for nothing lol  Bottom line is :

Your BMR + calories burned exercising  

MINUS

Calories you ate...  Tadam!

So my BMR in 1472... plus I burn about 500 cals per day exercising wich places me at about 1972 Calories BURNED... now if I eat 1200 calories.. then my deficit is 772 cals with means I should lose about a pound every 5 days...  Euhhhh...  Ok I need to kick it up some because I want to lose 2lbs per week lol  I need to start burning 728 calories exercising each day... oh boy :(

Ok so now that said... Im exciting to say that I did my first run-walk this morning.. 10km.  Did it on a 1:3 ratio (run 1 min, brisk walk 3 min) and I did it in 1 hour 33mins.  I have 5 months to bring that time unde 1 hour.  Will be doing the 1:3 ratio for about 1 week then will kick it up at a ratio of 1:2... then eventually 1:1 and hopefull before august i'll run the whole thing.

But im soooooo proud of myself.  This is something I would have never done just 1 year ago.

Its 13km in all (I walk around a lake) so I walked the last 3kms and let me tell you my legs where JELL-O!

Well I guess im going to go hit Jillian Michaels ripped in 30 and try out week 2 now :-)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers everyonne!

Had a great evening last night

Last night, while watching the Biggest Loser, I was logged on Twitter and my gosh did I enjoy watching the show and watching the "tweets" about the show fly by! lol I enjoyed reading everyone and I was also able to follow some contestants too! Im new on Twitter and had no idea I could follow so much awesome people.  They are such a great inspiration for me.  I would give anything to be able to sitdown with a contestant and have a chat :-)

Next week's show is going to be so great.  Drama coming up! 

Today, I went for a walk with my husband again.  A nice 13km.  The weather was pretty ok.  It was snowing but wasnt cold at all.  He started off doing these walks with me to encourage me, and he is starting to see all the benefits it bring HIM also! and cant wait until next week to come with me again.  His work schedule only lets him walk with me monday to wednesday :(   So tomorrow, its just me and Mr.Ipod.  And tomorrow starts my training for the half-marathon I want to do in august.  I have a good app on my Ipod for interval training so i'll set it up tonight and see if I can run-walk 10km tomorrow.. Something like run 1 min, walk 2 min and I as I go on in time, change it to 1 min - 1 min and eventually be able to run the whole 10km.

I have until august to be able to run the full 10km.  I know I can do it... I WILL DO IT!

So on that my friends... I wish you all a good evening.  The sofa is calling my name! :-)

Cheers!

Having a good one!

Having an excellent day today.  Started out.. not weighing myself!  lol

Followed by a bowl of oatmeal with half a banana for breakfast then off for a 13km walk with my husband around the lake.  My heart rate monitor (watch) tells me I burned about 1000 cals during that walk but im a little septic about that.  Walking with my husband, I cant really pick up the pace or jog, so my heart rate was around 60-65% all the way.

If it doesnt rain tomorrow we will do it again and on thursday, my husband will be at work so I want to do it me and Mr.Ipod  while picking up the pace and maybe try to walk-job it.

Had a yummy lunch too!  Grilled myself some tofu with veggies and also had some raw veggies on the side with about 2 tbs of hummus. 

Didnt do day 3 of Ripped in 30 last night... I was so so so sore from the 2 nights before and knowing I had a 13km walk to do this morning.. took the evening off and relaxed those muscles in our therapeutic bath!!

But no excuse today.. im hitting day 3!

So in all, im having a really good day.  I hope you are all too!

Cheers!

Stupid scale addiction! lol

I had a great day yesterday... ate clean, watched my calories... did a great workout (cardio boxing) and did day 2 of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 and im so sore everywhere! lol  So why on earth did my scale give me a +1lbs this morning??? Grrrr!

I said I would stop weighig in in each morning... failed that miserably this morning lol  I really have to break that habit.  

Did another 30 min of cardio boxing this morning followed by a good half hour walk with hubby since its so nice outside.  My day 3 of Ripped in 30 will be tonight after diner and i'll try to get a good 20 min of HIIT done on the treadmill.

I read something on Twitter this morning and I loved that quote:

Winners never quit and quitters never win

Really going to keep that in mind from now on, even if those pounds arent coming off as much as I would like on the scale, at least im eating pretty clean, getting alot of physical workout done wich means im on the road to be much much healthier and that... is ALOT.

I hope you all have a great week!

To the facts!

Ok so today I wanted to get down to the facts!

Its 10 months now that I have been losing weight, but today I want to know where I stand with my BMI, my mesurements etc.. so I can use this as a goal. 

1. Get that BMI down!
2. Get that number on the scale down!
3. Get those mesurement numbers down!

 And I cant do that if I dont know those numbers :-)  Ok well I know the numbers on the scale cause I weight myself each and everyday and thats another thing i'll have to work out.  I need to weight myself weekly and mid-point to see if im on the right track and not gaining to reajust myself during the week.

Ok so. anyways...  I went on a BMI calculator site and this is the results I got:

Your BMI is: 26.8 (How is this calculated?)

You are in the OVERWEIGHT weight range.

Goal Setting Recommendation: To move to the next weight range you need to weigh 145.1 pounds to be in the NORMAL weight range.

I need to get out of that "Overweight" range!  I really thought I was much closer to the "normal" range then that :( So it was a good thing to check that out.  

The good thing is when I check my BMI when I first started this at 202 pounds, I was in the range of moderatly obese, so I did make some huge progress but now its time to step it up and get into the "normal" range!

Number on the scale.  156lbs :(  When I stopped smoking 5 weeks ago I was 154lbs.. In these last 5 weeks I have been going up 2-3lbs.. down back 2-3lbs, but if I look at it on the positive side.. I have NOT gained 10, 15 or even 20lbs like most poeple do when they stop smoking.  Im sure if I crank up my workout a little more i'll be able to start losing again. 

So for my mesurements now... EURK..  I hate those but I know they are important.  As Im slowly adding some strenght workout to my routines, I know that if ever I dont see the lbs coming off on the scale, inches CAN be coming off as I burn fat but make muscles.

So here goes:

Chest:  39 1/2 inches

Waist:  38 inches

Hips:  40 inches

I guess that makes me a rectangle body shape euh?

Guess i'll be cranking up on the abs exercises! lol @JillianMichaels "Ripped in 30'' is taking care of that!

So ok.. now I have the facts (numbers)  I can set goals.  Im about 10lbs to be in the "normal" section... and I want to define my waist AND get those hips out of the 40's!

Now I need a plan..... Any of you guys like me?  If you dont have a plan written down on paper, tapped to the fridge or wall whatever to guide you.. you have a hard time sticking with the plan?

I hope you all have a good day, healthy and active :-)

 

Thank you Jillian Michaels!!

This post is to thank Jillian Michaels for kicking my butt tonight!!

I just did my first day of week 1 of her DVD "Ripped in 30'' and I havent worked out so hard in such a long time.

I was seriously lacking  motivation in the last couple of weeks as I wasnt finding anything challenging anymore.

My usual workout (treadmill, stationnary bike, wiifit, etc) was really getting boring and I havent been losing much in the last couple of weeks.

This new DVD has pumped my motivation really high and I now can challenge myself to do this DVD from start to finish and do it 6 days a week.

Tomorrow morning I will take my mesurements and take a "before Ripped" picture and I will FINALLY have a goal and be able to take an "after" picture and pushing myself to get the best results possible.

Thank You Jillian!!

 You change so many people's lives in such such a good way and I know that this will help me get mine back on track and finally tone up and maybe lose these last 25 pounds of the 75lbs I had to lose.

Best way to work out?

I dont know about you guys, but there is so many ways to workout, im feeling pretty overwhelmed.  You google "best workout" and you find so many web pages giving the same promises and declaring that "this" workout is the best, "that' workout is..

So what IS the best workout?  When I first started this weight loss journey.. I started eating well and did some exercise like walking more, treadmill, stationnary bike and that was enough to make me lose 50lbs.  That just doesnt work it seems anymore to lose my last 20-25lbs.  I have hardly moved on the scale in weeks now.  I know I need to increase my workout.  With what tho? lol  zumba, pilates, circuit training, bootcamp, tabata , start running, HIIT?

And lets talk about HIIT (high intensity interval training)..  Ive googled about this, to get a good idea on how to do interval training on my treadmill and I have found so many articles and video's on ''How to..'' but they are so different one from another.  Some say to run 30 sec, walk 30 sec, run 30 sec etc...   Another video I saw was saying to run as fast as you can for at least 30 sec... up to a min if you can... then get off the strap (feet each side) and rest until you catch your breath and think you are good for another round (about 2 mins)  That pretty much seems like the method used in The Biggest Loser by Jillian Michaels and im a big big big fan of her and I might just give that technique a go.

Ive also got Jillian Michael's DVD Ripped in 30.  I am seriously thinking about trying it out.  Ive heard nothing but positive  comments and excellent results from people who are on this program.

What kind of workout are you using and how does it work for you?  What kind of workouts have you tried in the past?

Looking foward to reading your comments.

My progress in this last year

So.... I thought I would post a picture of my progress in the last year.  I need to retake another picture since that last one was taken in October 2010 and I have lost another 20lbs since. 

I'll probably take another one soon.  Actually, I should use this as motivation to take a good picture where you can see good progress!

To be continued......  :-)

Calories, calories.. calories... can anyone help me out??!!

Ok so by now we all know that the key to weight loss is CALORIES!  I totaly get that and I get that 3500 cals = 1 lbs.  So in order to lose a lbs a week, you need to have a 3500 cal deficit.. 2lbs a week.. 7000 cals and so on.

My BMR is 1460 cals per day.. and they say not to go under 1200 cals/day.  So by doing that. im only creating a 1820 cal deficit a week..

If I burn about 500cal a day exercising... will that add to the calorie deficit, putting that to a total of 5300 wich would mean a weight loss of about 1.5lbs a week??  Is that how we calculate it?

So if im calculating this right.. to lose 2lbs a week, and cutting my calorie intake to 1200... i'll have to burn 740 cals a day exercising to lose 2lbs a week.  Thats ALOT of working out!!

If im wrong and totally off track on how to calculate all of this.. please please tell me LOL

Twitter anyone?

Wow I have the feeling im finally in the right century LOL  I signed up for a twitter account.  Everywhere we look, TV, web pages.... twitter twitter everywhere.  So decided to take a look at it.  I was so confused the first 1-2 days but I think im finally understanding it a little more. LOL

I was so excited to see that Bob & Jillian are on twitter.. and The X-weighted etc..  All my TV fav's! If it wasnt for them, I wouldnt be where I am today.. they are such a HUGE inspiration for me.  Im getting to know some really nice people too.  I can almost say that im a twitter addict, as much as facebook.

See ya on twitter!

Well....

I havent been here for a couple of days.  Ive been sooooooo struggling with my weight loss.  Why on earth am I so hungry all the time?  Well I wouldnt say hungry.. I would call it... the munchies lol.  Im also lacking of motivation.  The weather outside is awefull.  We've been having so much so this week!!  All I wanna do is go out and walk, start running slowly.. im so tired of the treadmill.

It was nice outside yesterday and my husband who is really trying to support me suggested we go walk.  We walked over 12-13km.  It was so nice and I was so motivated by just being outside.

Ive also been struggling a little more these past days with not smoking.  Ive been having some cravings, more this week then the last 4 weeks.

I guess its just the winter blues and lack of sun and nice weather.  But summer is getting closer and closer and my goal to lose my last 20-25lbs before summer isnt moving at all.. or hardly.  Im always up and down 1-2 lbs but never can get under the 155lbs :(  Im so close to seeing the 140's.... 5 lbs.. whats 5lbs??  ALOT it seems.