just posting to say

for the record, I got up at 6:20 and went for a 2 mile run this morning for 33 minutes and burned 335 calories.  It felt great and I already logged my breakfast, lunch and half my dinner.  I love the feeling of control when I am aware and on top of things.

So today was a bit brutal, I felt like I was being pulled in about 18 different directions...oh wait, I was! Anyway, if I wasn't tracking and being aware of what I was eating today I would have devoured a bag of rice cakes at the very least, an extra hot chocolate and more crystal light that I should have. But, because I on keeping score again I instead had two decaf apple cinnamon tea's with a little bit of sugar and no extra calories. What a difference it makes when you have to write it down if you are going to eat it!

I got home and made a meat muffin sandwich, yes I said meat muffin not meat loaf. I made turkey meat muffins and they are pretty tasty and healthy too, I even tricked dh the first time I made them as he had just assumed it was ground beef.
Anyway, no exercise today since I got home around 8pm but I am planning to get up early tomorrow and go for a run as I have a massage appt after work tomorrow.

I figure I will go to bed a bit early for a couple reasons, to start I feel tired after today, the second I want to get up early and the third and most important, I can't snack while I am sleeping lol.

MFD

For those of you not in the know...MFD stands for My Food Diary.  I have missed keeping up with people on the forums, motivating and getting motivated there.  I have also realized that I HAVE to track the amount of food I eat otherwise I gain weight.  I started slacking off in September and closed my account at the end of December thinking that I could manage on my own...if you can, good for you, cause I certainly can't keep the weight off if I am not managing it through calories counting.  I have found this to be the easiest way to manage my weight when it comes to programs or tools. 

I think I have tried most of them...Weight Watchers (numerous times with their various programs), fit day, my fat secret, nothing (that method doesn't provide very good results)...umm what else have I tried...oh some terrible pills from shoppers that were suppose to rev up my metabolism...it rev up something unpleasant and details aren't necessary...just take my advice and stay far far away from things like that!

So here is where things will be different.  My main goal is just to stay in the weight loss zone when it comes to calories in and calories out.  Last time around (I have mentioned this before) I was totally OCD when it came to the scale but this time, the scale is only coming out once in a blue moon just for a check in here and there, not a daily or weekly or even monthly occurrence.  What matters is that I am accountable for the calories consumed and track my calories burned which means that I have to work out to keep things in check...and so I can still eat a treat and it wont mean that my muffin top gets bigger when I wear my jeans and I REFUSE to buy a bigger pair.

holding my head high

I was in bed last night at 9:51, I do not remember the last time I was in bed before 10pm! Anyway, as I climbed into bed for my much anticipate slumber I reset the alarm to go off at 6:10.


I had a mostly sound sleep and woke up only once sometime between 2 and 3 I think to kick the two fighting fur babies off the bed...I really think it is time for a king size bed...between the two of them and DH, I have no room to move. Anyway, I woke up around 5:30 but there was no way I was getting out of bed yet, kitty number one needed some snuggles.

6:10 the alarm went off and I ended up getting out of bed at about 6:25 and made my way down to the hamster wheel. I went for over 30 minutes and pretty much kept to the two heart rate zones, either being below 140 or above 160 not going over 175. I also found out that my old running speed pretty much had me in "zone 3" between 16- and 175 so I was happy about that.

Tonight after dinner I will be heading down to my weekly moksha class. Last week I tried a more advanced move going from the bridge into the wheel. Basically this is where you are doing a back bend from lying on your back to pushing yourself up but your hands and feet are on the floor and your back is arched. It felt great and can't wait to try again tonight.

hanging my head in shame

I had a terrible sleep last night...or I guess I should say it was the lack there of that was terrible.  I woke up to dh sneezing around 2:30 and tossed and turned for a while.  Then the mind started spinning about all the things I needed to take care of at work today.  I got up, went to the kitchen and mades some notes in my note book then went back to bed. 

I sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall when I struggle to fall asleep so away I went... 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down...are you getting sleepy yet?  Seriously, it works at least for me.    I think I made it to 97.  I kept waking up over heated due to an entire queen dovey folder over on top of me and a purring kitty cat (not the one in the fridge) walking all over me.  At 5:30 I made an executive decision, kicked off the blanket and reset the alarm for 7:10 instead of 6:10.  So it looks like making the "online" promise to get up early backfired.

I am going to reset the alarm back to 6:10 for tomorrow though to go for another morning run.  I am also going to yoga tomorrow and so looking forward to just letting it all go!  Part of the yoga that I am trying to take off my mat, is learning to let things go and not carry all this extra tension in my body.  I get myself full of muscle knots and besides being physically painfull I think it takes a toll emtionally.  So it's there I am learning to let go.  I almost said trying, but decided that I am not trying to let go, I AM letting go.

On the yoga note, if you are interested the Moksha Yoga studios are running a 7 week "living your moksha" challenge...check it out here.

is it possible

to get up early and run two days in a row?  I went easy this morning so I am thinking that I should get up early again tomorrow to get a little run in before I go to work.  if I get home early enough I can always do more in the evening, like perhaps a little stepper training but I am thinking another run would be good.  Can I guilt myself into two morning work-outs in a row?

I am going to try the heart rate training and try to keep my hr between 160-175, this is supposed to be zone 3 (this is based on a site I was reading earlier) so I will see how it goes.  

so...

the alarm went off at 6:10 and I snoozed until 6:30 as planned and then I actually got up and went on the treadmill this morning!  Looks like my plan worked!

this weekend I did...

absolutely no exercising.  Friday night I went for dinner with friends to a cute little bar in Hamilton, Aout and About.  Their fries are homemade and very yummy, and DID NOT tasty greasy at all.  On Saturday I woke up and cleaned my fridge.  I had a massage appointment so I set the over timer and off I went.  I did the whole fridge in under an hour...I would have been faster if it wasn't for this guy.  Everyone, meet Whiskey.  The cutest friendliest devilish little kitty you have ever come across.  He is VERY lucky he is VERY cute, this has saved his life (literally) a couple times now.  Anyway, once I was able to get him out of there I made way to my appointment.  Ani my massage therapist who is also a great friend worked on the knots for I don't know how long but some were real killers.  I was pretty sore after and just went home to relax and to some laundry before we went to a friends house warming party. 

Sunday consisted of some shopping at Costco where I picked up some magnesium Ani recommended.  I am carrying a LOT of tension in my body and this should help with the knots that form.  I think generally relaxing and not being such a spaz might help too, but for now what the heck, I will try the magnesium.   I was still pretty sore, it's not quite my butt, its like the back side of my hip where its pretty tight so I had the heating pad going while catching up on some hockey. 
I also marinated some chicken in honey, dijon a dash of s&p and some rosemary for dinner this week and  I also made a very yummy coconut green curry with Quinoa for my lunch.  Next time, more curry paste!   I was light on shrimp so I added some whitefish I had in the freezer and peas for some type of vegetable...next time...more veg!

Today was my awesome friend Ali's birthday so I joined her and cutie pooch Oscar for a long walk around the block.  We went for a good 40-50 minutes so that was my outdoor exercise...nothing crazy but I am really glad I joined her. 

Tomorrow morning, my goal is to get up and go for a jog on the hamster wheel before work.  I have a work function and will likely not want to do anything when I get home and secretly my hope is that by telling you (the entire 7 people that actually read this) that I will actually have to get up because I committed to it here on the internet (so that means I have to do it or I was lying).  So on that note, sleep well!

wrapping up the past week...

I mentioned last week I had reenlisted in booty camp.   I was crippled on Monday after the class feeling it already that night.  Tuesday I definitely walked funny and people kept asking me if I was okay, I kept groaning when I had to get up from my desk...the bathroom wasn't any better either!  I went back for more punishment on Wednesday  and my triceps were SCREAMING at me!  The class was great though and I so glad I went back for the mini session. 

Thursday I went to Yoga after deciding at the last minute to go.  I think I rushed myself and never really focused while i was there...I kept trying to tell my mind to "just shut up already" but it wasn't listening..it was too busy talking over me.  It was still a good workout I just didn't get the mental break I enjoy from yoga. 

Friday my awesome friend Ali came over and we "drank" around the world...we tend to this once in a blue mood.  This was of course after we went and got some new protein powder and I explained how I give my recipes a boost by adding protein powder, ground flax seed and using whole wheat flour and replacing any oil with applesauce (thanks for that tip weight watchers!!! 1:1 ration in case you were wondering). 

Saturday I had intentions of going for a run but the morning slipped away as my husband was home and usually he is already long gone out on the hard water before I awake from my slumber.  We did some running around and before I knew it Saturday was over. 

Sunday I again had great intentions of getting up and running but I woke up turned over and grabbed my book.  I read this in about two to three weeks and have some mixed feelings but overall i found it was worth the read.  Hey, if you get one lesson or think about life from a new angle or prospective from reading a book, it was worth the read.

I eventually climbed out of bed and made some coffee, we got a new coffee maker and I can't get over how much better it tastes!!! 

I then poked around through some cook books and the Internet looking for new recipes and did I find some winners!  I made some delicious Turkey Meatloafs I didn't follow the recipe to a T, but my husband had NO IDEA it was turkey and we both can't wait to try them out on the good ol' charcoal bbq soon.  I also whipped up some balsamic glazed chicken that turned out really well and made some more savory breakfast muffins and whole wheat chocolate chip cookies with flax seed and half the butter. The recipe is based on the recipe from the milk chocolate chip bag but modified. 

That pretty much summed up the weekend.  I was back at booty camp this week and thankfully I wasn't limping too badly!  I am going back to yoga tomorrow and definitely will be running at least twice this weekend or one run and one stepper day.

Off to chill for a bit before bed...have a good night all!

i had a good post

until I hit the wrong button on my blackberry...I was drafting it in a note and my husband asked what time it was and I hit the discard button instead of the save button...poof! post was gone!

I will get back to regular posting soon...I promise!

back in "the service"

I re-enlisted in Booty Camp Fitness for this week and next week and then again in April.  I seem to have forgotten how tough these workouts are!  I was already stiff last night within a couple hours of the class. I started going to camp last summer where we worked out on the black top of a school playground and outside is WAY better. last night we were in a room at an arena and will be there until May.   Ali re-enlisted too and I asked her during the class why is it SO MUCH harder indoors and she said "we're in a torture chamber", she was right!

We started out with a warm up of jogging in place, jumping jacks etc.  We then did three series of exercises each consisting of 5 different workouts and repeated each set three times.  We did side lunges with kicks, squats, squats with jumps, push ups, sit ups, monkey jumps (I hated these), tricep dips and more.  It was a tough class but it felt great to be back and to push myself that hard. 

I am still pretty sore today, walking at work and even getting in and out of my chair was painful but today is my rest day so no activity for me.  I ran 5K on the hamster wheel on Sunday and increased my running speed from 4.5 to 5.   I might have walked a bit more often but I had a great calorie burn with the run.

I also revamped my training plan so it's a bit more realistic for the upcoming 10K.  I figure in April I will start running outside to get ready, for now I figure it's best to get my running groove back so I will stick to the treadmill.

well, I need to go read about Heart Rate Training (thanks for the reco Adena :) so that's all for now.

G'night!