New Year's Eve

Our plans have changed for New Year's Eve.

We have decided that we are DONE with the holidays and all of the eating, drinking, and excess that it brings. The thought of attending another party, having another hangover, or eating more unneeded high-cal food is extremely unappealing. We are both looking forward to a good, fresh start and want to start this health-kick off in style.

My boyfriend and I will be attending a silent, candlelight hot yoga class tonight! The yoga goes from 10:30 TO 11:30, followed by a long meditation. Then people gather in the lobby all sweaty and uplifted for refreshing snacks and drinks, and a toast to 2011.

I am REALLY looking forward to this. I am not even disappointed that I won't get to wear my new dress :) We will then be spending Saturday and Sunday on a fresh-juice fast, using the new juicer we got for Christmas. It's not for weight loss but for kicking all the processed junk from our systems. We will clean out the cupboards so that on Monday when we go back to eating solid foods there are only good choices in the house.

What is more relaxing, refreshing, and renewing than a hot yoga class and raw food/fresh juice fast?

So Happy New Year! This is the year of GOAL for me... Not only will I reach my weight loss goal this year (I will! Notice this is not "I might", or "I hope"), but I am also graduating university and reaching my goal of becoming a teacher. Both projects took 5 years to complete... I started my weight loss journey only a few weeks before entering first year university.

To all my friends who have helped me along the way - may 2011 bring health, happiness, peace, and see many goals achieved :)

Excellent Week :)

I am having the best week that I have had in MONTHS! I have been totally 100% on plan with my food, making healthy choices, tracking every little bit and drinking lots of water. I have gone to they gym, hot yoga, or both everyday this week!

The scale is reflecting kindly and I'm aiming to get under 210 this week!

I am so exited... I am starting to FEEL small. My body fits into normal clothes. I don't stick out like a sore thumb in photographs. I ENJOY exercise and healthful foods!

I remember a time when this was the future... and this was something I wasn't even sure I could achieve. I'm here, I persisted, and I'm looking forward to the next leg of journey!!

:)

Hot Yoga & the Miracle WI

This week has been a very long, hard, stressful week. My blog has maintined silence. The message boards have seen little of me. The gym? I forget what it looks like on the inside.

I have been in my teaching practicum with a very demanding sponsor, so I am in class on my feet all day, then home and marking/lesson planning at night, with no time to even DREAM about my expensive fitness bootcamp that I was missing.

Absence makes the heart go fonder, that's for sure. I miss the gym!!

Between the fact that I was stressed, I hadn't been to the gym in 4 days, I'd been eating salty post-Halloween pumpkin seeds, and it's just before my period - The scale was showing me UP... a LOT.

I knew it was mostly water retention, but it still sucked.

Last night I went to Mokesha Hot Yoga. I hadn't been in over a year and I forgot how much I love it!! Anyways - I weighed myself before I went, and I weighed myself when I got home...

a difference of 5 POUNDS! I sweated out 5 freaking pounds in one hour. It was glorious... I practically squealed on the scale!

I weighed myself this morning after a 10 hour sleep, and I was down to my lowest weight. Ever. Another 3 lbs gone in my sleep.

I think between salty foods, lack of exercise, stress, lack of sleep, and PMS, I was holding ALLLLLL that water in my body. I could feel it, too. A really great sweating session and a good night sleep FIXED it! I don't feel heavy anymore!

I may have to sign up for a weekly hot yoga session... perhaps on the day before (or of?) weigh in?? haha.

whole new world...

So I discovered today that I can shop almost ANYWHERE! For shirts, at least. I now have shirts from Banana Republic, Ricki's, and a local hippie-type shop :)

This is a whole new world for me... I have been waiting for this day!

Today I bought a long sleeved shirt in an XL.
I bought a tank top in a L.
and... drumroll please!!

I bought a sweater in a MEDIUM.

A MEDIUM!!

I phoned my boyfriend from the store to tell him *I* bought a *MEDIUM!* and it looks very nice!!

It is our 1 year anniversary on Monday, so we are going out for dinner tomorrow night. We are going for Thai food and a movie. I plan to weigh in for bootcamp tomorrow morning instead of Sunday, so that I'm not on salt-overload. haha

I have been way too busy to write. It might be like that until next week. But I'll be sure to keep you updated :)

Progress Pic - 139 lbs down

Camping in the rain + rock climbing = not so pretty picture.
However, who CARES! With that kind of comparison shot, I would have posted the pic even if I had spinach in my teeth. LOL!

I've lost an additional 9lbs since that was taken, in September.

Feels good again!

I took a few days off over Thanksgiving and I think that is exactly what I needed to feel better! The last few workouts I've had have been fantastic.
Yesterday, I did 30 minutes of spinning with my trainer before class. I was drenched by the end - and felt great! Then we did cardio boxing again, which I'm totally loving. We also did a bunch of lunges, squats, push-ups and crunches. It was a great day overall, totaling about 2 hours of exercise.

My new exercise watch says I burned 1580 calories. I was ECSTATIC!! It sure felt like I could have burned that, the spinning itself was SO intense. However, my boyfriend doesn't feel that is an accurate number. So I punched my exercise into Fitday.com and it came back saying about 900 calories. Okay, fine. I was a little less excited about that but it's still good!

I've been doing fine without cereal, and the no carbs in the evening thing was going well... until last night. I had some popcorn. I had plain air popped though, so there was no margarine or salt!! Just plain ol popcorn.

I was going to go to the gym this morning but I couldn't get out of bed. It was just too cozy in there, cuddling my kitty and snuggling my boyfriend. I may go after work, or I may just take the day off. Tomorrow is WI and super-buttkick day at the gym... so perhaps a rest in preparation :)

My home scale is showing me down about 4 lbs this week. I'm eating fresh today and drinking lots of water - fingers crossed that number sticks around for tomorrow! The scale says 217 - Every time it gets lower, I am more bewildered. I am 217 lbs? ME? I am actually at a weight that I don't really consider to be that bad. I'm at a weight where years ago I would have dreamily thought "Wouldn't it be nice?" haha.
I was right - it is nice :)

I have my sights set on Onederland. It's coming up around the corner - I know I'll get there :) In the summertime I set a personal goal of being 199 lbs or less by New Years Day, 2011. I think it can actually happen!!

:)

Month One Stats!!

Bootcamp Start Weight: 231 lbs
Today's Weight: 221.5
Month one loss: 9.5 LBS

Caliper readings, listed as start#/current#

Pec - 23/12
Subscapular - 39/26
Bicep - 14/12
Tricep - 26/20
Kidney - 50/34
Suprailiac - 26/22
Abdominal - 35/24
Quadracep - 52/42
Medial Calf - 23/18

In total I lost 78 clicks on the calipers, bringing my body fat percent down from 33.6 to 25.6!!

Lean Mass Start: 152.2 lbs
Current Lean Mass: 164.8 lbs

Fat on my body to start: 77.8 lbs
Current fat on my body: 56.7 lbs

As you can see, my body fat has gone down significantly and my lean mass has gone up. THAT is why, as frustrating as it is, I've only lost 9.5lbs according to the scale. In actuality, I have lost 20.9 lbs of Body Fat and gained 11.4 lbs of Lean Mass!

I really needed to hear that today!!
I was at the end of my rope. I was sick and tired of working so hard with no good news at the scale. I do feel like this assessment is right, as ALL my clothes fit better (or are too big!) I feel firmer and stronger, and people have been noticing the weight loss. To hear that I've lost 20lbs of fat really sounds RIGHT to me! It just has not been reflecting on the scale because of the 11.4 lbs of muscle and water that I've put on.

The ultimate goal during the program is to lose 10-20lbs of body fat per month, so although the scale isn't being nice, I'm actually right on track :)

Thank goodness for good news!!

First Weigh In!!

Well, I am home from my WEEK ONE WEIGH IN!

I lost 8lbs!! EIGHT!!
That is even better than when I did the bootcamp last time, and I was heavier then!

I had a great week, I ate well, had awesome work outs, and overall I feel like I really earned that loss. I am ecstatic!! I'm also super excited because I am at my lowest weight EVER :)

Bootcamp start weight: 231 lbs
Current weight: 223 lbs
Bootcamp loss to date: 8 lbs
Total loss to date: 132 lbs

I wish I could share more, however it is 9:00pm and I am leaving for a camping trip at 7:00 am, and I'm barely packed and frantically trying to get it together! I will be back on Tuesday night with tales of hiking, kayaking, spelunking (??), and all kinds of neat beachy-woodsy activities. :)

YAHOO!!! :)

Welcome to the hardest workouts you'll ever have

It's approaching rapidly and I'm ready for it!! I have a cocktail party tonight - drinks and appys with friends - and then IT'S ON!!

Here is the welcome e-mail I received last night. I have X'd out the names & telephone numbers for privacy.

-----

It's Finally here and we are all ready for you!

YOUR TEAM CLASS TIME IS 5:30 AM, (ugh) so you should be here between 5:00 and 5:10 am (double ugh) to do your cardio warm up before the class starts.

This may not be the exact time that you wanted but hopefully it's close. If you can try to make this time work, it is a logistical nightmare to do the scheduling of all 6 teams and the least amount of changes that I have to make would be very much appreciated.

YOUR TRAINER IS [NAME] and her email is [e-mail] and her cell phone # is [phone #] please make sure you contact her if you can"t make your class.

The Mandatory classes are Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays. You will be assigned a Cardio Buddy for Tuesday and Thursday, hopefully this new support person works out to help you stay on track if not let your trainer know and a new arrangement will be made for you.

If you will be away, make sure your trainer knows to put together a plan for while you are away.

I have attached your teammates email addresses in the "To:" line for your contact between yourselves.

THE SEPTEMBER BIGGEST LOSER CLASS TIMES AND TRAINERS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

5:30 AM [TRAINER NAME]

6:30 AM [TRAINER NAME]

9:00 AM [TRAINER NAME]

4:30 PM [TRAINER NAME]

5:30 PM [TRAINER NAME]

You may substitute your class for any of the following times as long as you inform your trainer and please try to stay in your time and team for the 12 weeks but please use these other times so not to miss a class when your schedule does require changing.

The START DATE IS THIS SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12TH, in case you didn't know!!!!

YOU CAN ATTEND ORIENTATION AND YOUR FIRST SESSION WITH YOUR TRAINER EITHER AT 10 AM till 12 NOON or 5 PM to 7 PM. Normally you attend either session on Sundays, but for this 1st one please reply back with which one you will be attending on the 11th so I can let your trainer know and be ready for you.

The First hour on Sunday, you will be orientated with Team, and Trainer, the Biggest Loser Handbook, you will receive your BL Shirt and be orientated on the level one Cardio options that start each workout here. Then as a group we will all be participating in the first workout. Please be ready to workout, sweats or comfy pants, and runners etc. We will be outside for these Sunday workouts so if you want to bring your "outdoor" shoes, feel free.

I have attached the first week of food and the shopping list for you to get prepared before Sunday to start the eating plan Monday September 13th

THE dreaded "Before" Photos, will be take an hour before and during and an hour after each session time and take 2-3 minutes. Please bring or wear your before outfit and try to wear the same clothing again in 12 weeks. Ladies please sports bra and shorts showing mid-section and upper thighs (Oh Good Lord, are you kidding me?) and guys shorts and no shirt will give you the best result for visual gratification as to how far you have come and how all your hard work paid off. The photographer will take good and private care of your photo's and will be back in 12 weeks to do them again. (WHAT! I have to wear short shorts and a sports bra for a PHOTOGRAPHER? Yikes!) Again, we do not use them, see them, put them on our website or photo albums they are for you and you only. They are not done in front of anyone else, and we really encourage you to step outside that comfort zone and do it as they will blow you away to show how much you changed. (Okay that doesn't sound SO bad. It will be uncomfortable though.)

Please reply to my email or I will call you to confirm. I want to make sure you are #1, ok with your session time for mon/wed and fri and which session time you will be attending on Sunday!

If you would like to bring a friend or spouse to Sunday, please feel free, we will try to rope them into the first workout though, so maybe give them a warning!!! (Oh yes, I am going to try to drag my boyfriend!! It'll give him a taste of what I'm in for these next 12 weeks!)

Thank you from all of us for being part of the coolest fitness program Nanaimo has to offer! We are looking forward to the transformations ahead of us and riding along this journey with you is going to be amazing!

I have met and spoke with each and every one of you and you are such an amazing group, I know the success will be off the charts. Please feel free to contact me throughout the program anytime for any reason to make your program better for you. I have the time to reply to an emails, questions and concerns you may have.

Welcome to the Biggest Loser SEPTEMBER 2010 and Fitness Edge!

-----

So, that's it I guess!! I've bought my new running shoes, a big container of vegan protein powder, I'm stocking up on healthy groceries this weekend. I have a little party tonight and that's the last I'll see of my dear friend alcohol for twelve weeks, and my even more dear friend, sleep.

I have actually put in a request to switch to the 4:30 pm group, simply because being at the gym at 5:00 am sounds HORRIFYING, I really don't know how healthy that would be for me. I suck at going to bed on time and I know sleep is very important for weight loss, stress management, and to keep me fresh for all my classes (as student AND teacher!) We'll see I guess!

September Bootcamp - Starting Stats!!

I start the fitness bootcamp on Sunday night. I enrolled today. It was simple, I just had to fork over more than two months rent, my soul, my first born child, and an arm. They said taxes have recently gone up (dang HST), so technically I owed them a leg, too.

So here it is. The big weigh and measure. I expected to not be as fit as I was when I left bootcamp last time, but it turned out not to be so bad. 1 year of intermittent, half hearted exercise has not reduced me to a gelatinous blob. I actually weigh 10 lbs lighter and am12.5 inches smaller. Go Me!

Here are the digits:

Weight: 230lbs

Pec - 23

Subscapular - 39

Bicep - 14

Tricep - 26

Kidney - 50

Suprailiac - 26

Abdominal - 35

Quadracep - 52

Medial Calf - 23

** calipers are sort of wacky for me, because I've lost so much weight and have excess skin. They may not be entirely accurate, however measuring them will still show progress. It's kinda like a scale that isn't calibrated to start, but will still show a downward trend.

Chest - 40"

Waist - 40"

Hips - 48.5"

Arms - 14.5"

Legs - 29.5"

Calves - 17.5"

Lean Mass: 152.2 lbs

Fat on my body: 77.8 lbs

GOAL:

Lean Mass + 20-30lbs fat (optimal health) = 172.2 - 182.2 lbs

That means me losing 47.8 to 57.8 lbs...

Sounds about right to me!! I would be very happy at 182 lbs. Ultimately my personal goal is 177.5, which may seem like a trivial number, however it is exactly half my start weight. It also falls into the right weight range for optimal health, according to MY BODY. My lean mass, my personal fat percentage. :)

Zzzz

It's a grey and rainy holiday Monday. It was hard to drag myself out of bed this morning. I imagine there will be much internet surfing to be had at work today, as there are not many visitors roaming the grey rainy streets with all the shops closed.

Yesterday I was feeling uber-productive. I cleaned the entire house - and not just a light tidy. I pulled out furniture and swept all the forgotten crevices where the sun don't shine... I cleaned out drawers and closets, scrubbed the bathroom and washed the floors. All the laundry is done and there is not a thing out of place! I love it :)

Speaking of cleaning out drawers and closets - I did an overhaul on my wardrobe. I tried on every single item I own - pants, skirts, t-shirts, dresses, sweaters. If it was even remotely too big I chucked it into a donation box. I only kept things that either fit perfectly now, or were too small and will fit soon.

I discovered a pair of jeans in my drawer that used to be too tight...

I put them on and they look fabulous!

My boyfriend was ogling me, it was hilarious... I didn't realize the jeans I'd been wearing were too big and frumpy until I put on ones that actually FIT. Wearing clothes that fit properly really make a difference to your figure. Wearing those jeans made me look 10lbs lighter!!

Anyways, it was a great discovery. I have two more too-small jeans in the drawer just waiting to be worn. I figure they'll fit at the end of my bootcamp :)

I posted this on WW.ca so this might be a repeat for anyone who reads both boards.

I went shopping in Vancouver yesterday with my sister and mom. It was fun! EVERY single thing I tried on FIT, in every store! It felt so good to shop in non-plus size stores, to shop where my sister was shopping, and to really like everything I tried.

I am so confused about sizing these days. Either that or I'm confused about my body, haha. Yesterday I bought a hoodie from Lululemon that was size 12. I was amazed that anything from that store fit me, let alone be a TWELVE. I brushed it off as big sizing. Then, I went to Lotus Wear. I bought a pair of yoga pants... in a 12! Haha. Two twelves in one day. The 14 was too big! I still chalk it up to big sizing, because in Additionelle or Penningtons I'm an 16-18 top/18-20 bottom.

The clothes from Old Navy were all either L or XL (instead of the XXL or XXXL they offer). It was great! :)

All in all it was a very successful shopping trip. And now that I have two size twelves in my wardrobe, I can pretend that I'm a size 12. :P

back!

The funniest thing happened the other day.

I decided to get my arse back to the gym (thank goodness! more on that in a moment) and I was talking with one of the trainers from the bootcamp. She said she was glad to see me back. After we were finished catching up this girl beside me on the elliptical asked: "Are you a vegetarian?"

I was like... vegan, yes?

She said she had read my blog and recognized me! Hehe... I didn't think anyone read this, ever! I guess she googled something about the bootcamp I was in and it came up. That kinda inspired me to get back to writing here, so... if you read this, and that was you at the gym - thanks! I will be posting my workouts and weightloss and stuff again. Perhaps adding some food photos and stuff. Yay :)

SO... on a personal note, things are going great for me. You'll notice in my last post that I was complaining about not knowing any other vegans or vegetarians, and about wanting to start a potluck or meetup. WELL... my how things have changed!

In that short of time, I've managed to move into a new place and all my roommates are either vegan or vegetarian. It is amazing - I'm so happy here! I've made so many new friends and I'm surrounded by awesome people who feel as passionately about animals as I do. They cook fantastic food which isn't so great for the weight loss, but I'm feeling especially inspired these days so I know that won't be too big of an obstacle.

Also... I have managed to get myself a very cute, very nice, wonderful vegan boyfriend <3

An awesome added bonus? He's in school for personal training, so he's going to kick my arse at the gym!! I will post about my weightloss and workouts here. I've already started, I've been the the gym 4 or 5 times recently. I haven't restarted WeightWatchers/portion control yet, so that's next on my list. I'm pretty happy about getting back into a proper workout routine though, and better yet - with an enthusiastic and motivating (and sexy!) workout partner :)

I gained back almost 12 lbs of the weight I lost over the summer, but I'm still at over 100lbs lost. I tend to do that though... lose 80, take a few months off and gain 10, lose 40, take a few months off and gain 12, etc etc... as long as it's going in the general downward direction I'm happy. It's a bit annoying but I know it won't take too long to re-lose that weight.

Anyways... I'm back! (I feel like I say that a lot? haha)

Once I have my workout routine down on paper from the boy, I will post it here. Also I will start posting my food. (Not today, as lunch consisted of vegan pizza and chocolate almond milk, haha) :/

Week Two: Weigh In!

Week Two Summary (Monday June 8 - Sunday June 14, 2009)

Activity Points Earned: 44
Pounds Lost: 8

Wow, another 8 lbs lost!! That's 15 lbs in TWO weeks. *falls over*

I just started this bootcamp 15 days ago, and I've already had two compliments about looking thinner, and a compliment about looking healthier, and 15 lbs gone! My jeans are feeling less snug and I've got tons of energy.

The obstacle course this week was SO intense. WAY harder than last week. I don't even feel like describing it, I'm too worn out and it would take too long. haha

I Rannnnn!

Workout Length: 60 minutes
Calories Burned: Bleep-Bleeeep! Grumble... I got to the gym and realized I forgot to put on my monitor. GRR!

I ran! I ran! I'm sooooo happy!

I got to the gym, and I did 20 minutes on the elliptical. I overheard one of the women on my BL team talking about how she ran on the treadmill. I remembered that I have that "Couch to 5K" podcast on my iPod, so I hopped on over to the treadmill and put it on.

I did week one of the podcast, so it's 90 second intervals of running, followed by 90 second intervals of brisk walking. I couldn't run for the whole 90 seconds, but I was doing between 45 and 60 each interval. I felt SO GOOD!! The endorphins were pumping and I was totally in the zone. By the end I must have looked hilarious because I was running with a big smile on my face, lol.

It was really hard, but it wasn't unbearable, and when it was over I felt better than I've ever felt after a workout in my life! I went home and bragged to everyone who would listen. LOL. I'm so proud and excited :)

I've decided that I love it and am actually going to follow the Couch to 5K program, and my goal is to finish the 8 week program over 10-12 weeks (it may take take me a bit more time than the average person) and hopefully by my birthday (Sept 22) I will be able to run 5K straight in 30 minutes. I don't really care about the time frame, I'd just be happy to be able to accomplish that!

On a not-s0-awesome note, I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm not showing a loss yet this week. Last week I was already showing down 4lbs by Thursday, so for me to not show anything yet is kinda freaking me out. I do feel like this week was a little messed up, with the salty popcorn and not working out 2x per day like I did last week. OH well. I just hope that I show even 1-3 lbs by Saturday... that'd be nice :)

Week One: Weigh In!

Week One Summary (Monday June 1 - Sunday June 7, 2009)

Calories Burned: 6,487
Activity Points Earned: 44
Pounds Lost: 7

Oh my goodness!! *squeeeee*

I lost SEVEN pounds! Seven!

I'm so proud of myself. That is the most weight I have ever lost in one week. My very first week of WW'ers (nearly 3 years ago - yikes) resulted in 5.6... and that was my record to date - so this is AWESOME. Heck seven pounds is more than I usually lose in three weeks.

I am so happy. At this rate, I'll be back at my lowest weight in 3-4 weeks instead of the 3-4 months I had figured. :)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Be Afraid... Be Very Afraid!

Ahhhhhh! Ack!
I'm SO excited. EEE!

Okay, This was entirely spur of the moment, but I'm doing it and I'm SO excited!

I was out for my evening walk and I saw a poster for "Biggest Loser Nanaimo." I freaked and whipped out my cell phone and called the gym, only to find out that the registration date had already passed.

I ended up pleading with the manager and he said that it starts SUNDAY... so if I can fill out all the paperwork and initial weigh-in stuff before Sunday, I'm allowed in!!

I practically ran home and figured out my funds and schedule, and it totally works. I will have to be a bit frugal this summer, butttt I figure it's worth it. Plus I won't have time to spend my money, I'll be working out too much! haha

The Program:

There are 40 participants. We're broken into teams, with trainers, just like on the show. We have team training sessions 3x per week, and then 2x per week we are with an assigned partner. Each Sunday we meet at the gym and do an official WI!!

There is a diet plan laid out (I told her I'm vegetarian-nearing-vegan and she said we'll work with that) and our personal trainers will be monitoring our food logs, etc.

It's pretty expensive but I'm really excited about it. I checked the website and it's actually "Biggest Loser" brand name, not just a knock off... I assume the gym and trainers had to actually learn the BL program to be able to use it's name.

Aaaackkkk

The prize (which really, I'm just doing it for the weight loss, the prize would be sweet though) is a 1 year membership at the gym, 1 year of weekly personal trainer sessions, and a cash prize.

I. Can't. Wait.
:D