Um...I was up until after midnight making a trial run of little tiny cupcakes.
So I slept in and didn't workout.
Bad me.
Healthy lunch though.
I'll try and be good...I have to learn to not sabotage my morning exercise by burning the midnight oil.
Not even for cupcakes...
It's that time again...
image
Oh, but I feel lousy today - it's the start of *that* time...cranky, headachy and all that good stuff. I was up super late last night, so I'm very tired as well. I didn't work out this morning, as my head was pounding, and today I also took the bus to work, as I am meeting my brother after work for supper and can't leave my bike anywhere. Not great, but honestly, I couldn't have worked out this morning without my head splitting in 2. Maybe I'll see if he wants to go for a walk after...I should feel less icky by the evening...this is always a short term things for me.
Yesterday I did pretty good - the potluck (thankfully) was mostly healthy foods and largely salads this time. I had lots of different salads and veggies and fruit only 1 small piece of rice krispie cake. I didn't eat too much either. I managed to not go too crazy at the pizza party either. I had 4 pieces of pizza. Admittedly I could have stopped at less, but there were 4 kinds...so...um...I had to try each one? Yeah that's it :) Pretty lame excuse I know...but I could have eaten a LOT more and I didn't. I sipped my diet pop and just hung out.
Later while burning the midnight oil digging out and scanning photos for a family anniversary slideshow this weekend I didn't snack - all I had was a glass of apple juice. So, all in all, not too bad, considering I was in full on PMS eat everything I see mode yesterday. I honestly could have eaten and nibbled non stop all day...some months are worse that others...this one was a challenge - but I think I managed to fight it off.
I noticed something tho - my taste in "dips" has changed. I am baffled by the current thing of offering dips with your pizza - if pizza is that bad, why buy it? The pizza we had was AWESOME, but there was still dips- one was (blech) ranch dressing. My mum-in-law and sis-in-law went on and on about how great it was...and that they dipped fries in it too. I recall (back in my larger days) that I'd dip all kinds of things in ranch dressing and liked it, but now? I find it oily and very bland. I prefer salsa or hummus or something more flavourful...and I don't ever feel the urge to dip my pizza in anything. When they asked me this I said this, and they looked at me like I was somehow lecturing them about eating healthy. I wasn't - heck I was stuffing my face with pizza! Still tho - if you dip everything in something else, how do you taste it? I still love food, but I've sworn that whatever I put in my mouth (and yes there is a lot of it :) ) will be healthy nd delicious foods that I like...that I do not have to drown in something to make it taste good. Now I have to say that a few things in life still require ketchup - tunafish sandwiches and burgers and the odd fry. But ranch dressing...? Not anymore. I'd rather make onion dip with low salt onion soup mix and fat free sour cream...yummers. Ranch is just so...bland. Tastes sort of like an edible oil product now. Like cheese whiz VS regular cheese... Am I alone on this?
Anyways, I'm ranting off my headache, so I'll stop. I must get to work...hopefully this headache will fade as the day goes on. Tomorrow will be a more exercisey day. Today...I shall survive :) Have a good day all!
Good workout - but I'll need it :)
Well, my knee was a bit better this morning but still a bit stiff, so I hit the elliptical again - 41 minutes on resistance 2 and 15% elevation. i tried to push myself for 3 minute stints of going extra fast every few minutes to challenge myself. It got hard towards the end.
The robot in the elliptical says I burned 525 calories. Well lahdedah.
I had a nice breakfast of some cornflakes with half a banana and some apple juice and a cup of coffee. Then it was a bike to work (in the wind again...sigh).
Today will be a challenge to not leap off the wagon frothing madly - it's a potluck at lunch at work today - which is always awesome, as we have people from all over the world who bring such amazing food. THEN after work, it's a pizza party for all of us on our Alzheimer's fundraising team as a reward for being top team in the Walk this past year. Cool, but so much food. I will try and force myself to be good. I brought veggies and dip to the potluck so I'll try and fill up on healthy things and not go too crazy. I'm using this blog as a security guard - I'll have to tell you all about whether I kept it together or not - hopefully that will help me be good. I can have willpower over food I don't really care about, but all this good stuff? ...well, I *like* food. I worked out today to help me keep focused...hopefully I can keep myself from "just a little bit"ting myself into calorie oblivion!
Courage. :)
The robot in the elliptical says I burned 525 calories. Well lahdedah.
I had a nice breakfast of some cornflakes with half a banana and some apple juice and a cup of coffee. Then it was a bike to work (in the wind again...sigh).
Today will be a challenge to not leap off the wagon frothing madly - it's a potluck at lunch at work today - which is always awesome, as we have people from all over the world who bring such amazing food. THEN after work, it's a pizza party for all of us on our Alzheimer's fundraising team as a reward for being top team in the Walk this past year. Cool, but so much food. I will try and force myself to be good. I brought veggies and dip to the potluck so I'll try and fill up on healthy things and not go too crazy. I'm using this blog as a security guard - I'll have to tell you all about whether I kept it together or not - hopefully that will help me be good. I can have willpower over food I don't really care about, but all this good stuff? ...well, I *like* food. I worked out today to help me keep focused...hopefully I can keep myself from "just a little bit"ting myself into calorie oblivion!
Courage. :)
Alternatives
It was a nice weekend. Jay and I went for a long romantic walk saturday - 3 hours along the river, stopping at a little place by the river for a rootbeer float. The weather was finally nice this weekend so we enjoyed the evening together. Sunday we went for a shorter walk, as I had a bunch of errands to look after, but all in all it was a nice relaxing weekend. We got some yardwork done too which is nice - our new neighbors are going insane on their yard, so it's making us do a bitmore jsut to sort of look like we're trying :)
My knee has an odd muscle sore in the back of it since I did my new DVD (I think I need to stretch out more after), and so instead of running this morning like I'd planned, I played it nice and went on the elliptical instead for 40 minutes at 15% incline and resistance 2. I went at a steady pace and it felt really good. My knee wasn't aggrivated (well any more than it is now) and I did a lot of stretches before and after to try and get the muscles in my knees and legs to relax, and then did 100 situps before hitting the shower. I squeezed in a quick breakfast and hopped on the bike to come to work.
It's a beautiful day so far - sunny with no wind. I can't wait to see how today unfolds :)
My knee has an odd muscle sore in the back of it since I did my new DVD (I think I need to stretch out more after), and so instead of running this morning like I'd planned, I played it nice and went on the elliptical instead for 40 minutes at 15% incline and resistance 2. I went at a steady pace and it felt really good. My knee wasn't aggrivated (well any more than it is now) and I did a lot of stretches before and after to try and get the muscles in my knees and legs to relax, and then did 100 situps before hitting the shower. I squeezed in a quick breakfast and hopped on the bike to come to work.
It's a beautiful day so far - sunny with no wind. I can't wait to see how today unfolds :)
Hey look, over there!
Heh heh...oops.
Today I am embarrased to say I was VERY stiff...and it was pouring rain, so no workout and no biking. I'm feeling better now though, so perhaps I'll workout when I get home.
I did have a healthy breakfast - yogurt and fruit and some granola, and I have a good lunch.
I'm going to work out on the weekend to make up for it...if this cold and rain ever lets up I can go for a run...
Today I am embarrased to say I was VERY stiff...and it was pouring rain, so no workout and no biking. I'm feeling better now though, so perhaps I'll workout when I get home.
I did have a healthy breakfast - yogurt and fruit and some granola, and I have a good lunch.
I'm going to work out on the weekend to make up for it...if this cold and rain ever lets up I can go for a run...
Getting in Touch with my Feminine Side
I have felt guilty not working out the last few days, despite riding my bike to work and back- it's finally nice enough to do that. Well, OK discounting the gale force winds and light rain...still, nice enough (no snow is enough for now - been a cold spring).
On holidays I swung by a few bellydance studios in Toronto looking for cool swag (there're no bellydance stores here) and other than a cool coin chain belt for dancing and a neat sword for learning balancing and dancing, at the Dark Rythm Studio (run by a costudent of my tribal teacher) near Kensington market I picked up a new workout DVD. I should have gotten a few more DVDs and a nice hip scarf while I was there, but it had been 3 days of a whole lot of seeing things and shopping and I tend to burn out after a while and not get anything at all...but I couldn't pass this DVD up.
The DVD had been recommended to me by my tribal teacher as a good workout, with bellydance based movements - the Fat Chance Bellydance studios Woman Power Workout DVD. I checked the length on it yesterday (~70 min) and skimmed it while having breakfast so I could get up today armed with weights and a veil to try it. Although I do have a few issues with the camera work (occasionally it's more arty than instructional so you can't see what the ladies are doing with all their limbs) it *is* a good workout. There is a beginning stretch and warm up and then the workout is broken down into 12-15 minute chunks - one is a bellydance based cardio part, one is a veil workout with lots of arm work and one part is a strength and toning workout where you use either a resistance band and pole or free weights in comnibation with squats and lunges to work your major muscle groups. There is also a cool down stretch out portion at the end where the stretches are based on traditional indian dance poses...neat.
Over all I liked this DVD, but it is definitely not for a beginner. If you had not taken a tribal bellydance class before, this DVD would be very frustrating, because although she gives verbal cues of what moves come up next, if you don't know how to do them, you're out of luck. You would just have to watch and learn and hope you have the right technique for the cardio part, though the other sections are pretty self explanitory. Other DVDs I've gotten from places like Dance New York have an intro section on their DVDS where they go over the moves and teach them to you before putting them all together into a routine or workout-I think this DVD just assumes you have either taken classes or you have their 2 instructional technique DVDs (which I've been told are very good teaching tools) and have learned the basics first.
It *is* a remarkably good workout though. The cardio bit is fun, and the strengthening portion is a good workout...I could feel it in my arms and legs by the time it was done. The veil stuff was fun , altho I will have to tuck my cats away next time - they like the veil a bit too much and got in the way. The cool down was interesting as some of the poses were really beautiful, but most of the poses are new to me, so I'll have to do it a few more times before I feel at ease in them. Not as good a stretchout as other workouts, but sufficient. A few more times through the whole DVD should give me the familiarity I need to get the moves right, and not feel so fumbly...I can feel that I used my muscles - particularly my butt, back and upper arms. Good stuff. It is nice to have a choice of DVDs to go through to change up the workouts...
Now? After some cereal and a bike to work, it's time to get to it. Bye :)
On holidays I swung by a few bellydance studios in Toronto looking for cool swag (there're no bellydance stores here) and other than a cool coin chain belt for dancing and a neat sword for learning balancing and dancing, at the Dark Rythm Studio (run by a costudent of my tribal teacher) near Kensington market I picked up a new workout DVD. I should have gotten a few more DVDs and a nice hip scarf while I was there, but it had been 3 days of a whole lot of seeing things and shopping and I tend to burn out after a while and not get anything at all...but I couldn't pass this DVD up.
The DVD had been recommended to me by my tribal teacher as a good workout, with bellydance based movements - the Fat Chance Bellydance studios Woman Power Workout DVD. I checked the length on it yesterday (~70 min) and skimmed it while having breakfast so I could get up today armed with weights and a veil to try it. Although I do have a few issues with the camera work (occasionally it's more arty than instructional so you can't see what the ladies are doing with all their limbs) it *is* a good workout. There is a beginning stretch and warm up and then the workout is broken down into 12-15 minute chunks - one is a bellydance based cardio part, one is a veil workout with lots of arm work and one part is a strength and toning workout where you use either a resistance band and pole or free weights in comnibation with squats and lunges to work your major muscle groups. There is also a cool down stretch out portion at the end where the stretches are based on traditional indian dance poses...neat.
Over all I liked this DVD, but it is definitely not for a beginner. If you had not taken a tribal bellydance class before, this DVD would be very frustrating, because although she gives verbal cues of what moves come up next, if you don't know how to do them, you're out of luck. You would just have to watch and learn and hope you have the right technique for the cardio part, though the other sections are pretty self explanitory. Other DVDs I've gotten from places like Dance New York have an intro section on their DVDS where they go over the moves and teach them to you before putting them all together into a routine or workout-I think this DVD just assumes you have either taken classes or you have their 2 instructional technique DVDs (which I've been told are very good teaching tools) and have learned the basics first.
It *is* a remarkably good workout though. The cardio bit is fun, and the strengthening portion is a good workout...I could feel it in my arms and legs by the time it was done. The veil stuff was fun , altho I will have to tuck my cats away next time - they like the veil a bit too much and got in the way. The cool down was interesting as some of the poses were really beautiful, but most of the poses are new to me, so I'll have to do it a few more times before I feel at ease in them. Not as good a stretchout as other workouts, but sufficient. A few more times through the whole DVD should give me the familiarity I need to get the moves right, and not feel so fumbly...I can feel that I used my muscles - particularly my butt, back and upper arms. Good stuff. It is nice to have a choice of DVDs to go through to change up the workouts...
Now? After some cereal and a bike to work, it's time to get to it. Bye :)
My butt and I had a fabulous time
Hello :)
I just got back from a 2 week holiday away...above is my strangest picture from the trip. Yes I took a picture in a subway bathroom...yes I was looked at like a loonie. And this was AFTER I dried my hands cackling in laughter at the bacon gods graffiti...I am the bacon queen after all :)
We were out in Ontario - visiting friends in Toronto for a few days and seeing the sights, then on to the metropolis of Barrie for my nephew's wedding (looked swanky in my strapless cocktail dress if I do say so :) ). Then my hubs had to head home, but I stayed on to visit with my family in Ottawa for the rest of the week...it was fantastic. My family hasn't all been together to visit since MY wedding about 9 years ago. Too long. We had a great visit, did some touristy things like going to the Museum of Man and the National Art Gallery and the Royal Mint. I even got an afternoon of visiting with my sister walking around in the sunshine and poking about in the street markets.
It was over far too soon...
And yes...my pants are tight. At first I thought I could blame my friend Corey who made us the most amazing breakfasts (seriously - there were croissants involved. Waffles too), but on holidays I don't go too apesh*t with food, tho we do tend to eat out a lot. And we did - had some amazing indian and chinese food...one vegetarian thai place even had tofu shrimp :). The wedding was great - went on a brewery tour, and back in Ottawa we ate well, and drank far too much delicious wine. My brother-in-law is a bit of a wine nut...and he'd made a lot of great wine. From crushed grapes...ooh la la! Which we all had to have...because it was delish.
AND...I found a bellydance studio where I could buy a sword....for my head...to learn to dance with. MUAHAHA! And a girl can walk around the subway with a sword and not be bothered...who knew?:)
And so me and my butt are now back home feeling very blessed and looking forward to a long weekend with my man before back to work. I haven't stepped on the scale yet, but I know from my pants being a little bit snug that I'll have to be healthy for a while to get back to my pre tripness form. Back to regular workouts will definitely help, I'm sure. We did a lot of walking on out touristy adventures, but the beer and pub food sort of cancelled them out. On my holidays food is irrelevant - I eat and drink what I like. It does catch up on a trip this long, but hey. I know what I'm doing, and I'm willing to put in the work to fix it.
I'm off for a nice sunny walk. After a silly day yesterday of snow (yeah I know ridiculous - altho I flew home through it which was beautiful-hundreds of atomic bits to catch the light with fluffy cloud mountains...) I am off for a little walk on a cold but sunny day. And I am back to regular workouts and less liquor/snacking/bad foods as of monday.
Cheerio my peps. Have a good day.
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