Follow Through Friday - #1

I was reading one of my favorite blogs for inspiration, 24 to 30, and she did a post about a new link up she had joined!

I thought, perfect! I love a good link up, so I thought I would give it a try!

It's a recap of your week and to see if what you accomplished helped you towards your goal or got in the way.

I feel my week has been pretty good.  In my mind, my week runs a bit of a different schedule than the regular...for me, my week starts Wednesday morning...because of my TOPS meeting on Tuesday nights....Wednesday is my Monday.  Clear as mud, right?  But I will review from Sunday on.

Getting on the scale each week gives me perspective and a chance to make changes if necessary.

Goals For the Week

• walk 40.95 km for my walking challenge - so far I have completed 40.42 km and I still have today's to get in.
• Climb 1776 stairs for my CN Tower Challenge - I am on track for that one
• Lose 1.5 lbs - I will see how it goes on Tuesday, but I feel good about it.
• Take a picture of myself everyday - so far so good....will share them a bit further down

Food

I started out the week trying real hard to food journal, but it just didn't work out very well.  I end up having something that isn't easily found in the list of foods, make a guess and get discouraged.  I guess that is part of the problem when you cook more than you eat out.  My plan instead is to just use better judgement for now.  Staying away from the junk.  While I do still have some things, it's not to the same extent as before.  I was also successful in keeping with my meal plan for the week and resisted the temptation to just make things easy and bring home dinner.

Exercise

I have been taking to the treadmill like it's going out of style!  I am not a  morning person, so I end up working out once the kiddo's go to bed.  From about 8 - 9, I walk on the treadmill.  I decided to pick a show on Netflix that is JUST my treadmill show.  I picked "Drop Dead Diva"  I think it's great so far and it makes me want to watch the next one and get back on the treadmill for the next episode.  I have also been climbing stairs.  To keep up with my stair climbing challenge, I have to go up and down the stairs about 12 times a day.  Honestly, there are some days I don't do the stairs in the house more than once, so it's a good challenge.  I have been trying to do them in sets of five.  It does get your heart rate up, if you have stairs at home, you should try making them a part of your workout!

Pictures

I wanted to start taking pictures of myself everyday.  In part to help document the changes I hope my body will go through, but also to help myself get more comfortable in front of the camera.

Tuesday

Wednesday - taken by Abby

Wednesday - with Abby

Wednesday - with mini me

Thursday - this is "the outfit'" for me right now

Thursday

Friday

Saturday - with my partner

Saturday - love from my girl

So, there you have it!  My week in a nutshell!  Go join the link up and share your week too!

Non-Scale Victory # 16

It's a simple one today.

I was browsing on Pinterest and saw this qoute:

My victory is that for once, I believed the end part....I'm a lot more wonderful, beautiful and special then I ever give myself credit for!

So here's to giving credit where credit is due!

Join me at the link up!

CN Tower Stair Climb

I decided it was time to throw another challenge into the mix to get myself moving more each day.

 Of course I can't do a challenge alone and roped in a girlfriend, The Empress of Pounds, to do it with me.

First, let me tell you a little bit about the CN Tower in case you are not familiar with it.

The CN Tower was built by the Canadian National Railways in 1976.  It is 553.33 meters (1815 ft, 5") tall.  From 1976 - 2010, it was the world's tallest free standing structure.  It took approx. 40 months to complete at a cost of $63 million.  Approximately 1.5 million people visit every year.

From the ground floor to the main deck is 1776 steps.

The challenge is this:

Our goal is to climb the stairs in the CN Tower over the course of one week.

I averaged that a set of stairs has 12 steps.    We have to do the set of stairs 22 times a day to reach the goal.  That is going to put us just a little over.  It might seem like a lot, but it's not really.  Plus, it is supposed to be a challenge.

So there you have it.  Our challenge starts today and ends next Tuesday at Midnight.  We are going to blog our results at the end.  Go check out my partner and encourage her on!

The Truth Of Tuesday Night

It seems like it has been forever since I did one of these posts and quite frankly, it has.

It finally feels like all my chicks are in order and that things will shape up nicely.

I'm back to exercising on a regular basis, trying to cut back on what I am eating and skipping the ice cream while hubby has a bowl.

Last time I weighed in at TOPS, the scale said:

242.75 lbs

This week:

243.25 lbs

That is a gain of .50 lbs, but I don't consider that too bad with all the holidays and lack of trying in there.

I have also started to do something new for myself.  It may sound odd or strange to some people, but I have started to make an effort with my appearance everyday.  Mostly my hair.  See, the thing is, for the past who knows how many years, I have put my hair up in a barrette and left it at that.  My reasoning was "I'm married, I don't need to impress anyone"

But the thing is just this....I did need to impress someone,  just didn't realise it was myself.

I got my hair done just before Christmas and some new clothes and honestly felt on top of the world.  I realized that keeping that feeling going would be important to getting my butt moving to exercise.  If I feel sexy during the day, I am going to work harder that night on the treadmill to help get myself looking the part.

The other thing I have started to do was take a picture of myself everyday.  Not unlike a lot of other people with weight issues, I have this total phobia of pictures.  To the point that my kids could totally forget what I looked like.

So I will share some of the pictures.  I don't have one of those fancy phones for "selfies", so I just had to do the best with what I have.

All linked up....are you?

On The Road Again...

I'm singing a little Willie Nelson in my head now as I type this!

My BBFF Julie and I are hitting the road again.  Our last road trip was so much fun that we felt it was worth doing again.  Plus it was excellent motivation and goodness knows I need that.

So, here is the plan for this year.

It all started on January 1 (which means I am already behind, because I haven't done much exercise yet) and will end on Oct. 31.  We both found it to be a bit hectic over the holidays.  The other change is we will only blog once a month about our journey.  For me, I am aiming at the beginning of each month.

Our destination you ask?

We are heading to a couple State Parks again.  We just love camping in the great ol' U.S. of A.

First stop.....

Crowley's Ridge State Park, Arkansas

Atop the forested hills in northeast Arkansas, Crowley's Ridge State Park occupies the former homestead of Benjamin Crowley, whose family first settled this area.  Native log and stone structures constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps set the mood for the rustic warmth of Crowley's Ridge State Park. The park includes two lakes--one for fishing and the other for swimming.

From there, we head on over to our final destination of Devil's Den State Park, Arkansas

If you put together the perfect state park in your mind, it would be Devil's Den. Nestled in picturesque Lee Creek Valley in the Ozark Mountains, Devil's Den is one of Arkansas's five, original state parks built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. In these beloved parks, the rustic-style facilities mirror the rugged natural beauty that surround them. In the heart of Devil's Den, a rock dam spans Lee Creek forming Lake Devil. This eight-acre lake is a serene setting for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and pedal boating.

The number breakdown goes as follows:

The distance from my house to Crowley's Ridge is 1399 km.  From Crowley's Ridge to Devil's Den is 325 km, for a grand total of:

1724 km

 

So in order to meet the goal, I need to walk 5.70 km per day.

The rules are the same.  Half of my km's each day can come from everyday walking (2.85 km), the other 2.85 km must come from exercise.  As I mentioned earlier, I am already behind, having not done any extra exercise....so I have about 25 km to catch up on.  Gotta get on that NOW!

Julie also had me promise to show pictures of my progress.  I will figure it out this time for sure!

So, are you wondering how we came up with the locations?  We pondered a few different places.  One of the the ideas I had in my mind was to walk the length of the Great Wall of China, until I did some research and discovered that it's almost 9000 km long!  I wasn't looking for a challenge to last that long.  Others were too short or not interesting enough.  For me, the destination was not really important, it was the journey and motivation to move every day.  I left the ultimate decision up to the navigator and this was what she came up with.

While I haven't asked her directly, I am assuming our locations are inspired by my favorite show, one I have gotten her hooked onto as well.



I'll explain further...

The main bad guy is named Crowley, he is also The King Of Hell.  

He's the character that you love AND hate all at the same time!

So, I'm going to pop on my Supernatural play list and head on out down the road.  Catch up with ya'll in a few weeks!

Snow Much Fun

It's winter here in Ontario.

Firstly, I must say, despite 2 years of living in the Yukon, I am not much of a winter person.  I don't ski, skate or shovel snow.

I don't like the cold and am starting to realize the benefits of spending winters in Florida.  Julie, can you make room for me?

We have been in the grips of a cold snap for the past week, and by cold snap, I mean -40 Celsius with the wind chill.  It was a pretty crummy way to finish off the second week of Christmas vacation.  It was too cold to even think of sending the kids out to play.

Today was the first nice day in a bit and we took advantage of it.  We live about a block away from the school and they have a great hill for tobogganing.  Around 2 in the afternoon, we bundled everyone up and headed on over. 

The kids love it and the kid in me does to if I'm being honest.

Here is the proof of today:

Me and my girl!

I also decided to get over my "fat girl" fear of photos.  I even asked my hubby to make sure he took a picture of me.  

 

Remember....winter law dictates that warmth is more important in style!

That is what I tell myself anyway!

Here is the video proof that I did go down the hill a time or two as well!

The weather is supposed to be nice next weekend too, so as of right now, the plan is to drive over to my uncle's house and use his front hill.  He lives in the house that belonged to my grandparents and the hill is where I spent my entire youth sledding.   The hill is big and awesome.    We used it on Boxing Day last Christmas and it didn't disappoint.

So, get out there and enjoy it just a little.  I'm glad I did!
 

Road Trip Review - Weeks 21 - 25

It's been since the end of November since I actually posted about my walk progress.  In hindsight, I think blogging it every week was a bit much and I think on our next journey, I will only blog once a month.

I must say, I loved doing this journey with Julie.  She has become a great friend and I can only hope we meet for reals one day!

I did learn something important about myself on this journey....I learned I am capable of so much more then I give myself credit for.  I am able to walk at least 5 km every day.  I also learned that I can't slack off...it's best to take the time to do a little bit each day so that come the last month of the challenge, I am not busting my ass to pick up km's.

My numbers for the last half of the challenge look pretty impressive, but they are not as good as it seems.  It wasn't the same level of cardio as in the beginning of the challenge, I "cheated" a bit and rode the bike, etc.  Little things that bumped up the km, but didn't take lots of time.

So, to review our trip, our destination was:

Morrow Mountain State Park in Albemarle, NC

 

 

Week 21:



                   
Eligible km: 59.27

Week 22:

Eligible km: 44.45

Week 23:

Eligible km: 83.15

Week 24:

Eligible km: 70.78

Week 25:

Eligible km: 39.44

I made it!  JUST....and I mean JUST!  I was only over by about .12 km.

But together, we are now camped out, enjoying some hard earned s'mores!

Our next adventure is in the works.  If anyone else would like to join us on our next adventure, I'm sure that would be just fine.  The more the merrier!

I mentioned on my other blog about a Pinterest challenge I am doing for 2014.  I might try to incorporate it on this blog.  You can read more details about it here and if you think you might be interested in joining, let me know.  If there is enough interest, I might make it an "official" link up.

To everyone who reads, have a great 2014 and Happy Trails!