paulawalawala

I had this odd experience today. I was shopping at my local Costco with my dad. He pulled his regular disappearing act in the store so while I was waiting for him to resurface I had a look at their clothes.  I found some nice shorts and the sign said -ladies shorts size 6-16. My first reaction was oh bummer (I haven’t been a size 16 in years) but my pants were feeling a little lose lately… I did really need a new pair of shorts… Costco has a good return policy… so I bought the shorts ($13!) I was eager to try them on knowing they would be a little tight. I actually sucked it in as I put them on… but soon discovered I didn’t need to!  and to my amazement… they zipped up and were COMFORTABLE!!!  That’s when it hit me! I don’t have to walk into that “unattractive” side of the store any more!!! I can actually fit into the cute clothes they put out at the front. OK so it’s the biggest size cute clothes and it may not always be flattering but I am so glad to not have to buy things that sound like they come from an adult entertainment store (XXX  jeans LOL) OK The biggest I ever got was XXL but still all those X’s would make me dizzy.  It made me a very happy shopper today.

I read the blogs on here pretty regularly and one of the main things that comes up is “junk food” People repenting because they cheat with it, or crave it, or aren’t loosing because they still eat too much of it etc. I wish it was me :(  Don’t get me wrong the weight is coming off in a slow steady pace, I feel fantastic and people are really taking notice of my new body emerging… but I can’t help feel like I’m being cheated. I have always cooked from scratch, eat out only once every couple of months or less, buy whole foods, eat very little salt and banned processed food from my house 7 years ago when my first child was born. I have ALWAYS been like that even before this “diet”. It feels really unfair that I be fat. I cringe at the thought of what size I would be if I did eat regularly at a fast food joint or microwave our dinners. I have a snail’s pace metabolism and a lazy thyroid (borderline but does not warrant medical attention) but hearing about other people’s bad eating habits just makes me feel pathetic… I think I could actually gain weight just eating salad LOL.

Regardless this isn’t meant to be a pity party! I’m down another lb today and y body actually has parts that are getting firm. I’m feeling positive and my body isn’t screaming when I demand things of it. I’m a happy girl

Hey everyone. Well I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth… I’m just really close to finishing my course and am working my butt off. Also it’s GARDENING season!!! I have been hard at work planting and landscaping which has been really great as a workout but my running has fallen behind as most days I so tired I can hardly lift my feet for the last 5 blocks of my dogs walk. Last night I overdid it walking (3hrs?!?!?!) with my brother today I’m paying for it.

So for the ladies out there I discovered what PMS stands for…

Permanently

Munching

Snacks

This whole week has been terrible! I can’t stop nibbling and am having a hard time keeping on top of the calories. I blame the hormones but it may be all the hard work I’m doing in the garden… or the stress of trying to finish my course… regardless I still think I’m managing to loose something this week.

My body is going through a real period of change. The shape is changing. It’s a good thing

I got a fab new hair-doo for Mothers day (I’ll post pics soon I promise) I cut it really really short! It’s a rather dramatic change. Well a few weeks ago I blogged about how I had lost almost 30 lb and no one had said anything boo hoo me… a fellow buddyslimmer told me that I would probably loose a ton of weight and then have someone say “somethings different… did you change your hair?” Well since I cut my hair everyone has been coming up to me and asking if I lost weight….LOL I died laughing the first time it happened. So I guess all I had to do was chop my hair off.

The sad part is all the overweight moms at the school who have eagerly asked me what have I been doing and I have to tell them the sad news that it’s not some hot fad diet but good ‘ol diet and exercisers. They get really disappointed and actually look disgusted when I tell them what I eat and that I have started running. I think that’s so odd! Next time I’ll tell them I’m on the Oreo and potato chip diet. It really goes to show that untill your ready to make the sacrifices your not ready to loose the weight. What kind of society are we that we think everything should be easy? That something as monumental as loosing 100lbs should come to us in convenient 40 minute segments on a reality show or a little pill that lets you sit on the couch and eat junk all day long and loose weight. We are a lazy society. attaining and maintaining a healthy weight is something that takes hard work to archive. My dad always said “there is the quick solution and there is the permanent solution” He was talking about home repair but I think it applies here.

Wow being away from the blog for a week built up a lot of pent up blogging!!! What a rant

Stay healthy friends!

My recent befriendment by Spandex lady has been stirring up old memories of when I was fit and active.

About 10 years ago I got fit and lost the weight that have plagued me for most of my life. I became a long distance cyclist and would ride between 200-300 km per week. I also did a lot of charity work with the MS society. I was a tour captain for their fundraising bike rides. My job on these tours was to make sure everyone was safe, and encourage slower riders to keep going. It was on my first ride with them (a 2 day ride between cities) that I met Jon.

I spotted him about 1/3 up this monstrous hill, he was hard to miss. Jon weighed over 300lbs. I stepped up the pace and caught up with him and matched my pace to him (a mere 8km/hr) I enouraged him all the way up the hill and after we got to the top and he had caught his breath we made our formal introductions. Over the next few km I learned that this was Jon’s 4th year doing the tour and his motivation was his mother, who had died of MS. The story touched me because he was such an unlikely person to see doing something so incredibly physically demanding. It also showed me how deeply biased I was. Had I seen Jon on the street I would have never thought him capable of the enormous feet of riding all that distance (almost 100km each day) I couldn’t fathom the herculean effort it must have been for him to complete it, not once but year after year. The enormous willpower it must have taken for him to put himself out there with all those fit spandex clad athletes and claim his own victories. He taught me about endurance, courage, and inclusion. I waited for Jon at the finish line and cheered him as he crossed it. I thought of him often on subsequent rides (usually when I was struggling up a hill) And now as I’m the overweight one struggling to become a runner I think of him again… after all these years he still inspires me.

Ugh! Today I feel fat can’t help it. the scale is not being kind AKA not moving in a downword direction and although I know in my logical brain that this probably has something to do with my adding of running 3 times a week I can’t help but hear that negative talk. Boy am I nasty to myself

Last Friday I went out to dinner with my family after sending our oldest away for her first sleepover camp. We went to a local chain restaurant(bar and grill type) and I sat there at 7pm looking at the menu not wanting to order ANY of the food there. I just couldn’t find anything that didn’t sound like a 15lb weight gain the next morning. It was really frustrating. I finally settled on a chicken sandwich it was very plain and seamed sensible enough. Still not used to eating a meal so late in the night I ate every bite feeling guilty and bad. I know these thoughts are just rubbish because there is no way that  this was going to kill all the hard work I have been doing. I just felt obligated to order something and there were only side dish salads (LOL “yes I would like 3 side salads with no dressing”!) Anyways I don’t know if it was my misery at the whole situation, the fact I’m not used to eating that late or my intolerance to meat in general (although I do eat a little now and then) I felt so sick when I got home and all through the night. I have to find a better alternative for dining out, thankfully it’s something we do very rarely.

So it’s Tuesday which seams to be my bloated day of discouragement. I’m running tonight and hopefully I’ll be able to push a little harder. My hip is feeling better and hopefully in a couple of weeks I can start physio to prevent future injury to it. till then…no bending.

Has anyone else had any experience with protein deficiency? Apparently I am eating about 1/3 the protein I should be eating and I think it may be effecting my weight loss. I must speak to my Doc on Friday about that. Ugh today is just a frustrating day. Well off to start dinner for my family. Still have to decide what I myself will be having.

Sorry about the pointless babble of a blog. I’ll have to come up with something better for next time

I wasn’t even sucking it in at the time! but my daughters nursery school teacher asked me today if I had lost a bit of weight. Then she nearly fell over when I told her that it was almost 30lb… You know people who know what I’m doing have told me I look great and that I’m getting smaller, but somehow hearing it from someone who didn’t know just made my day.

I haven’t noticed any change in the scale this week it bounces up and down like the wheels on the bus, but I did my jeans up today and thought my tummy…ok my GUT looked different. I think my body is changing shape and adding the running has probably added some muscle deep down there under the “insulation” It was nice to have someone notice Cant wait for them all to see me after summer break when I look SO FAB! LOL

Ok so tonight was run #3 and everything was going great…till I realized my doggie poop bag fell out of my pocket. Kept jogging fingers crossed… well wouldn’t you know it my dog decides all this running is stimulating. Dang! no bag. Oh well I figure, not the end of the world. I continue on my way only to be blasted by the horn of an SUV in the driveway across the street ” You gonna pick that up or what!” This skinny lady yells at me halfway out of her SUV. I explain that I lost my bag “Ya right!” she hollers back. I asked her is she would be so kind as to grab me one from inside her house. “oh no I can’t I’m late” and hops in and tears out of the driveway.

Conclusion: Skinny lady in the SUV is WAY lazier than the fat lady running with the dog.

I can’t stand rude people! BTW I’ll be picking it up when I walk the dog tomorrow. Shesh!

These are the words with which my 71/2 year old greeted me coming off the bus from school last Friday. Give me a moment to beam at my superior child raising abilities *cheer cheer applause* Ok… A what-the-heck? Who gave you that idea? I asked my cheerful munchkin. Turns out the local triathlon club had been to her school to advertise their triathlon event this summer and teach the kids about this amazing little known sport.

I on the other hand know all about triathlons. I come from a long line of cycling enthusiasts. My uncle raced professionally and was South American champion for several years. My dad was a coach and raced in the novice division and I was myself enjoyed a short stint as a long distance cyclist (the only time in my life I was ever in shape) I had been raised around cyclists and bikes so naturally I have known a few triathletes.

My daughters declaration (Well of course I’m going to let her do it!) got me thinking about my short time as an athlete. I started riding when I was 250lb and 18yrs old. I commuted on my bike to work it was 10k each way and the first few weeks nearly killed me (it took me 45min) I started in March and by that winter I added workouts on the weekends. I bought winter cycling clothes and never stopped… for 3 years I misses less than a dozen rides. I don’t know how much weight I lost because I didn’t do it as a diet I did it for the freedom. My pants from that time were a size 8 so you can guess how small I was. I use to ride 200-300km a week. What happened? Well I changed jobs, fell in love, started a family and somewhere along the way gained a ton of weight (235lb Nov ‘07).

Why am I bringing this up? Well my daughter got me thinking on the weekend. I’m 31 and I have never run a marathon. I know it’s weird… lots of people haven’t or ever will but for me somehow that thought was like a death bell. I have no idea why. Can it be that somewhere deep under all this pudge there is and always has been an athlete? Why do I have this crazy desire to run a marathon. I miss my bike but don’t have the time to ride like I use to… not now anyways. I can however run in the evenings (which is the only undisturbed block of time I have to fit in some exercise)

It was with this crazy notion and the words of my daughter in my heart that I tried my experiment. I jogged 1 out of every 3 blocks… for 22 blocks… and it DIDN’T KILL ME! I know shocking. So that was Saturday and Sunday was just a walk and today it’s running night again. We will see what happens. I might even join the local running clinic and run a half marathon before my 32nd birthday. Ya… that sounds good.

OK So that got you to read this post LOL

Funny story. Picture this… My girlfriend is over with her baby and I’m putting up the jolly jumper for her. For those not familiar… it’s a springgy baby harness that you instal in a doorframe. Babies love them and I’m working on an adult version to work out your thighs… just kidding!!!!

Ok. So I’m 5′1″ and this thing gets hooked up over the doorframe. This requires me to reach up, standing on tiptoes and sreach waaaaaaaaaaaay up to hook it up with both arms over my head… you picturing this? Well remember those Old Navy pants I bought a couple of blogs ago…. the dropped…. to my ankles…. OH MY!!!

My friend burst out laughing and my 3 year old exclaimed “I like your flower underwear mommy!” Guess I lost a couple despite what the scale says. So embarassing! and happy at the same time.

Enjoy your Friday!!!!!!!!!!! 

Well today is a brighter day. Like I thought my blues this time were just hormones.

Went to see my chiropractor again and my joint it still right where he put it. I have to be careful but it looks like I’m well on my way to being mended. It feels a bit better. He gave me walking instructions so that my walk is therapeutic and he said it would greatly help my recovery. All good news. I was afraid he would tell me to stay off my feet!

I feel really well today. I feel healthy and in balance. It’s a good feeling. I have added a substantial amount of bran to my diet this week and I will credit that with my feeling of wellbeing I just seam to do really well on a super high fiber diet. I think my mood is directly connected to my digestive track LOL.

Not much else to blog today although I have decided to add some of my recipies to my profile. I have been told I’m a pretty good cook (or at least I haven’t caught any of my dinner party guests feeding the dog…) So I will put some up. Just don’t tell anyone they are healthy

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and keep smiling!