Couch to 5 K

Well I am progressing well in the couch to 5K.  I am on week 3 and so far have managed to progress along with the increased amount of running time.  Although I admit that this week with the 3 minute long stretches it is pushing me a bit I have had to take the run speed down a little bit from where I was managing to be on the first two weeks.  But I will try to push myself a little bit on Friday as the last day of this week and see if I can move that speed up a little bit at least.

So after my run days I have been religiously rolling out my legs afterwards and I really am surprised at how little it is hurting these days.  Not sure why - maybe because they have slightly softer rollers there than at the pilates studio.  But I have even been able to manage to have both legs stacked when rolling out the IT bands - never been able to do that before.

Well anyhow, night time for me now - want to make sure I am well rested these next two days so I can push it on Friday on the treadmill.

Tabata and sweat!

Each and every time I come back to doing a tabata (and I generally only make it part way through one of them) I am astounded at the impact my 3 minutes (in this case) can have.  I drip sweat and my heart races like with NOTHING else that I have ever found.

My tabata is done just running in place.  The 20 second part of each interval is at as high an intensity as I can manage - I give it for all I am worth.  Then 10 seconds of slow jogging in place (and I mean slow).  The key from my reading on a "real" tabata is that it has to be something extremely high intensity for the 20 seconds.  So I don't know how all these other tabata things that are out there work (i.e can you really get very high intensity doing push ups??? Well maybe those other people can but I know that I can not).  So for me I will continue to do it with running in place.  Although I might use something else just as an interval to round things out and get in a bit more work - because I believe intervals are really awesome even when they aren't a tabata.

Today I haven't really done anything except for some housecleaning.  That in itself is a workout if you were ever to see my house ;-p

Booty Barre and *gasp* RUNNING

It has sure been a long time, and I have been on a writing jag today so I thought I better put that to good use here on my blog!

Well today I went to a Booty Barre class.  I have no good words to describe this workout in a general sense except to say that it has barres like they use in ballet and your rear end, arms, and legs all leave the room feeling good and worked over.

As per usual the classes I tend to talk about on here - back when I posted a bit more often are from a great place called Lead Pilates.  If you are in Saskatoon I whole heartedly recommend them.

By way of an update.  I have been pretty slack on getting in my workouts of late.  With a bit of a wonky back and a new job that isn't as flexible as my old one it is very hard for me to get to my favourite workout place (Lead you know that is you right???).  So it was nice to get there today to do my workout and enjoy myself so fully.  But before this past week I was sure letting things slide.  Some walking really was the extent of things.  But this week I not only got to Booty barre today but also to a pilates mat class on Tuesday evening.  And the big strange, never thought I would say this, news is that I have started doing the couch to 5k program.  I completed the first week!!!!!

Since I am just starting out with running I figured I would give these barefoot shoes a shot - they say they mean way less impact on your joints because you don't heel strike the way you do in regular runners.  I definitely can say I didn't feel like it was straining my knees or hips or anything so that is great.  I did have just a tiny bit of arch discomfort after the faster running intervals that I did (the ones at higher speed).  My arches didn't hurt at all during the running but afterward when I was on the following walk interval they were just a bit tweaky.  This was maybe  for about one 1.5  minute interval or so.  Thus far I figure that tiny bit of tweaky arch is not going to stop me using those shoes - but I will keep my eye on it to make sure it doesn't get worse or anything.

I was pretty happy and impressed with my ability in the intervals - this first week was 1 minute running then 1.5 minutes walking (after a 5 minute warm up) for 20 minutes total time.  It really was pretty easy overall so I was able to push myself by setting my run and walk speed a bit higher for the last one of the week.  I am looking forward to my three runs next week to see if I can work on keeping a good pace when the running time is extended.

I can also say that it is a great thing that I am getting back into a better exercise routine.  It is very true that when I am working out and doing great things for my body that way, I am at least a tiny smidge less willing to mess that up by eating the way I have let myself eat for the past few weeks.  I still have work to do on getting myself back away from some of those unhealthy choices, but each step is one I am happily making right now!

Whopping awesome circuit

Today was the last day of the session for my pilates studio and I definitely ended it with a bang.  Went to the recharge equipment circuit (which I had always loved but couldn't fit into the schedule regularly this session). And boy did we circuit and workit.

There was some single leg jump board which I found incredibly hard today for my right leg - it is so wimpy compared to my left. There was also some really lovely step work LOL as Jana put it - welcome back to the 80s - thankfully that was just in 1 minute intervals.

Hamstrings were definitely worked as well on one station.  We did with 1 foot on the chair's foot bar then raising and lowering our hip escalators.  I always find these one leg hip escalators so hard and especially with the foot doing the work in an elevated position like that.  But one definitely knows their hamstrings have gotten to work when doing those.

Of course I am sitting here and writing this out after getting home from the class and still feeling that great feeling post workout.  Wishing I was able to fit the circuit into my regular schedule this coming session.  Might need to make some changes to my schedule to make it happen.  And of course to counteract my wonderful work just a little bit I am also sitting here eating a bacon and tomato sandwich (only one slice of whole wheat bread though) and all I can say is it was absolutely scrumptious.  The great thing is that while bacon may not be the best thing in the world for a person I can definitely say that I can savour a few slices and be satisfied now - back not so very long ago I would have wanted to eat a whole package of the stuff.

Pilates after a 3 week break

Oh it felt so great to get back to it and working out.  Last week I just skipped out on my classes - vacation mode sunk a little too far into the brain and didn't want to shake out enough even for good health choices.  Stayed up way too late most nights and that was the real killer for the classes last week.

But today was awesome.  We did some work with thera bands on the barre and boy I can tell you that my abs got great work today.  It really was a pretty awesome workout all around. We did some modified roll downs with that thera band on the bar and it is a great reminder of just how much work a roll down can be for your abs if you work it and don't slack it off.

I also really liked the standing leg work - well "liked" might not be the word my poor glutes would choose though.  That was definitely some burn on that work.  There was also some good stretching after that with the magic circle - I always like a good stretch after working those butt muscles.

Last but not least we also did this deceptively easy looking one  that is basically a kneeling side bend.  Boy did my obliques need to work.  But I did discover that my one side felt like it worked way better than the other side.  Maybe that is the side that is weaker and so it just felt like more work.  My bigger concern is that possibly the other side wasn't really firing properly and the first side was doing all the work for it.  Might have to ask one of the instructors their opinion on that next time I am there.

Back to it!

I have for some time been pretty busy posting blogs to the WW site and posting blogs to a "beginners guide" I thought I would like to put together and posting them to the Lead Pilates site.  But I am finished my stint on the Lead site now and I am also just in the mode of posting if I have something new that I think is important to add to the beginners guide.  So that gives me some time back for this blog.

Yesterday was the best class at Lead - Recharge Equipment circuit. We got to do a bunch of different stuff on the equipment and it was a good solid workout and I felt great.  I have been missing doing the equipment at the Pilates studio.  I am at a stage now where I really want to work on toning and improving my muscles and I think the equipment is really where that is at.  So that is one of my big goals for this session is to make sure I get in as much equipment time as I possibly can.

Finally Back to it

Okay so my goals up there on the side have not been going so swimmingly.  I haven't really been working on them nor monitoring my progress on them as I had intended. But today I got back to the Jacob's ladder.  I managed 17 minutes on it again and with 8 of the minutes as intervals.  And I can tell you that last minute on there I just did not want to do it.  I would much rather have gotten off of it - but I pushed through and that is great.

I have committed myself to 2 more times before next Thursday.  Then 3 more times the following week.  So that should be a bit of a challenge as I have some out of town time and then also some time I will miss the chance because they are painting the fitness centre.  So hopefully I can figure out how to fit those 5 jaunts in there around all of that!

As for the pushups and the plank they are both definitely still needing a lot of work.  Although the wall pushups we did in pilates class the other day was definitely helpful - works those muscles in ways I never could with an actual push up on the floor.

Protesting as Activity

I am off to an election fraud protest today.  I hope to move lots and walk lots during it.  And hopefully it isn't the type of thing that means I have to dodge tear gas or something like that. It is kind of hard to believe that I actually feel any concern in that way in our society - but sadly it seems like that is increasingly the case in these situations of peaceful protest.  So wish me luck that this protest is one of note only for the peaceful nature of it and the raising awareness aspect of it.

Narcissism

Oh goodness me oh my.  I am just recognizing how deeply narcissistic I can be sometimes.  Look at the blog address of this blog and my other blog that is meant to be a beginners guide to this whole process of change.  Both of them are based on the czing thing which comes from crystalizing which in turn comes from my name.  Well I guess that is just a little bit narcissistic - it doesn't make this about anyone else at all - really about me. I can kind of understand that in this context - a blog is most often really just about the person writing it.  But my other one that is meant to be useful for other people who are starting on this path of getting fit and healthy - it shouldn't be named after me. If I saw someone else's thing that was like that and it was named after them I would probably mock it and think what a blowhard that person was naming it after themselves.  How did I not see this when I was coming up with this idea?  How did I not immediately recognize the narcissism of it?  Well I guess the answer to that is that we all are sometimes farsighted (yes I wrote that correctly) - we can't see what is right in front of our face only the more distant picture.  Because I think it takes some corrective lenses sometimes to get that near vision back - the vision to see inside ourselves and see our own foibles.  So glasses on.  I think I had best pop over and change the label on my other blog.  And here I thought it was so clever this abbreviation that is like seizing but not.  It is clever actually (I still think so) but it is also something else that overwhelms the clever I think :(.  Oh well, off I go to change the name (although I am not going to change the link for it yet).

Goals - Need some work!

Just taking a look at those pushup, plank, and ladder goals I set for myself a little while back.  They are kind of just hanging around there. I started off well - giving an effort to them and then I kind of let it slide.  I would sure like to blame it completely on the bit of stomach trouble I have been having. But sadly I cannot put all the blame there. Because there have been a few days where I simply chose to do virtually no activity when I could have been making an effort to do some activity at least.

So with that said and with me with my really unreasonably yucky gut today I am still going to go and do at least some wall push ups. They aren't terribly taxing that I will feel worse than I do and the type of thing that I can do and put really good work into not too many minutes worth of it if I work really well on concentrating my effort in the muscles that I really want to work.

Off I go!

Struck by something

Well the last days for me have featured some serious nausea, a lot of sleep followed by no sleep, followed by reduced nausea and increased abdominal disturbances (pain that reminded me of my gall bladder attacks and had me actually sobbing).  But thankfully despite the lack of sleep last night I think I might actually be feeling quite a bit better.

The thing is that as much as I rant and rave against the scale there are some milestones that still mean something to me despite my efforts to minimize them.  That 75 pounds lost was one I was looking forward to.  But now I just shot right past it on the result of being so sick and it just kind of spoiled it for me.  Kinda glad on one hand, kinda disappointed on the other.  I don't like the big losses - they are not to be desired and I especially don't like one brought on by being sick and taking away my milestone LOL.  Never satisfied.

But on another scale related note. I realized I had under accounted my height (probably hadn't measured my height since high school when I got my learners license LOL, and put on an extra 3/4 of an inch after that).  So here I am never having known that I am taller than I ever thought LOL.  But the great thing about that is that it means that getting my "goal" weight for WW is that much closer.  And I don't really care about that number per se but I do care about not having to pay anymore! And that will be awesome!

Fun but famishing

Well yesterday my presence at the pool was commanded by my 2 young nephews.  They were off to the pool and it is a rare occasion when I can resist the call of my nephews asking me to play with them.  That is something I will always thank my drama classes for (I am no actress it is sure but they did force me to remember what it is like to play and to let go of some of those ridiculous worries about what others might think if I show a bit of playful enthusiasm) opening my eyes back up to the fun of play.

I think that everyone should just go out and play and have fun and I don't mean play like an adult (cards or something like that) I mean play. Run around wildly with no intent in mind or go to the park and swing until you feel like you are going to throw up, or whatever.  Just free yourself from all those constraints and ties we put on ourselves and just go for it.  I would wish that everyone would be able to experience the fun and freedom of doing that!

Now with that said I had lots of fun at the pool with my nephews. I am very proud that I encouraged my one nephew to be brave and let go of me and float around without hanging onto one of us.  Kids need that encouragement to try the "safe risks" sometimes.  It is fundamental to their development of problem solving skills.

But after the pool time was over I arrived home absolutely famished and tired tired tired. What is it about the pool that does that to me? But was it worth it - absolutely and unquestionably. I would take that kind of tired and hungry any day over tired and hungry following a day chained to my desk!

Anaerobic Workouts are the BEST

Perhaps I am crazy, and perhaps anyone reading this will think that I am but I can feel that anaerobic burn going on at the core of me right this minute.  An anaerobic workout from my understanding is one that not only burns calories while you are doing it but turns up your internal engines to a higher level and keeps burning the calories for quite a while (up to 8 hours) after the workout.  And I am entirely convinced that if you try you can feel it.

Today I braved the cold, bundled up and walked to they gym.  Once I got there I hopped on the Jacob's ladder (after taking off the extra layers of clothes and jackets of course - since I think it would have been pretty hilarious to see me on there with winter jacket, toque, scarf and gloves - and I think I would have fallen off of it in about 1 minute under those conditions LOL).  I did 17 minutes on it.  The first minute (0 to 1)was a warm up at a reasonable but not super fast rate.  Then minutes 1 to 6 were 6 20/40 intervals. Then minute 7 I needed to stay at the slower pace.  Then I did two more interval based minutes.  So 8 minutes of intervals in total.  The rest of the time on there I was going at a little faster pace than I have been doing. I would say I probably averaged in at 40 or maybe even 41.

Followed up the ladder with a little bit of stretching, then a little bit of ab work (not much just a little bit), then some pushups (30, 10 of each of 3 types - regular, tricep, serratus) and I did a short plank as well.  So all in all it felt like a really good workout.

I do think that intervals really are the way to go if you want that anaerobic burn to be going all day! Because I know I have felt that burn doing a running in place tabata (10 sec at as hard as you can go/20 second very slow pace) for just around 2 or 2 and half minutes and have been able to feel the burn afterwards for hours.  So I absolutely believe that the best bang for your buck in terms of calorie burning is intervals!  At least that is my 2 cents on the subject!

A little shortfall

Well as much as I hate to provide myself with excuses this morning I got my crampy self onto the Jacob's ladder but wasn't there early enough to do 16 minutes so I did my 10 minute session so I could go to the seminar I needed to attend. Honestly I don't think I could have done the 16 with the 8 minutes of intervals anyway. The 10 pushed my limits (and then was followed by having to climb 4 stories worth of stairs to go to the seminar).

And I didn't go back for the 16 minutes later.  I let my crampy self and the cold weather be my excuse.  But I will shoot for doing it tomorrow at the end of my day.  It will be good for me since Friday nights are definitely one of my challenges.  So I will try to get on there after work tomorrow!

Exciting Plan for tomorrow

Going to shoot for 16 minutes on the Jacob's ladder tomorrow.  Looking for 8 minutes of intervals.  Then hoping to get back on it again later in the day and make another 10 minutes (probably only 5 intervals).

Ha, maybe you thought the plans were going to be for something amazing and exciting like a trip to an exotic locale or a amazing adventure. Well I guess that ladder pushing myself a little farther will be the adventure!  And of course I do find pushing myself to try a little harder each time is pretty exciting!

The plan is also to do my test to see where I am at on my push ups and plank as well.  Will update all of the details in my goal progress tool once I finish all of my wonderful work tomorrow!

Jacob's Ladder 3 and Beginners Guide

Well I faced down the Jacob's ladder and I showed it who was boss for 15 full minutes! And I can tell you that parts of me really desperately wanted to stop at 8 minutes and again at 11 minutes and again at 13 minutes etc. You get the idea.  But I did it. It was 7 minutes of intervals (20/40 fast/slow) and then I probably averaged out on the rest of the minutes at around 38 or 39 which is a bit faster than my last time.

All in all I would say it was a great workout.  And it has the added benefit of allowing me to have the energy for a very long day and night at work!

So a beginners guide. I am going to start working on a beginners guide. Something that could be used by people getting started on the road to getting healthy.  Mostly it will be generic but there probably will be some references to specific WW things but many other things will be useful to anyone on a journey to better health. At least that is my hope!

If you have any suggestions for what you think would be useful to include in this - from your own experiences - I would love to hear them from you!

Saturdays

I find it a bit strange but at the same time not all that strange that Saturdays are one of my hardest to motivate myself days. This is primarily in terms of activity. I actually am going to blame this being meeting day for me.  It means that I get up and can't work out first thing in the morning as I need to toddle off to my meeting.  Then after my meetings I usually end up picking up a few groceries and then home and onto here - the computer brain sucker LOL. And that just doesn't get me started well.

So on other days I often at least feel like I have the option of doing a Wii workout in the morning as I get myself started up for the day.  Or I am scheduled to head off to the pilates studio for a class.  I just find the morning workout the easiest to motivate myself for. But I am doing to do mine today once the living room is free. I could go over to the gym at work and hit the jacob's ladder today but I think I need to roll out of the leg muscles so I will do that for a bit and just hit the Wii later today.

I keep thinking I should get back into my workouts each morning and I still think I should but haven't quite gotten myself to do it yet. I do think watching for my progress on those goals on the side might just be the stimulus I need.

Pics

Okay so technically I am now taking my pics at the end of the month instead of the start of the month. But hey, I don't think that makes a huge amount of difference. I have the new clothes for the pics - shows off a bit more belly than I normally feel comfortable with for sure!  Okay who am I kidding it shows most of my belly (well not really the worst part of it though) and that is something I don't do in public which begs the question of why I am willing to post it here LOL.  But I want to watch the more minute changes happen. I want to watch the little muffin topping start to erode away. I want to see my stomach flatten out without it looking flatter than it really is because of a shirt disguising what is going on. And I am willing to share that here because not that many people look at the pics here.

First I will post the style of pic that I will continue to do. A compare of however many months side by side (months from 2012 with of course the start picture to keep things in perspective).  And then I am going to be having another one that will always just feature the start, the current month and the month previous and those I will split out into two separate pictures (front and side ones).

So here they are. Notice all the precursor text so the pictures push down the page a bit farther LOL.

Start and current only

Another day on the ladder!

Well I haven't been doing a real tonne of other stuff. My pilates yes but not that much else. So today I was back onto the ladder at the gym.  It was 13 minutes and 20 seconds today.  0-1 min I just warmed up, then 1-7 I did heavy intervals with the fast being quite fast and the slow being around 33 or so.  In the same 20 sec/40 sec breakdown.  Then the rest of the time on there today I worked at around an average of 37 or so. It was a very good workout in not much time!

I pushed myself to do that 7th minute interval. I really was ready to not do it. But I made it through it. And I thought of stopping at 12 minutes and again at 13 - at 13 I decided I would just go a few more seconds.  Now I know I can actually do more. But I do want to work myself up on this at a reasonable pace - not push it so much that I don't want to do it anymore.

Now maybe I should do some wall push ups to get myself going a bit on the arm stuff I want to accomplish! Perhaps I should start keeping a tracker and test myself once a week to see where I am at for hitting those targets that I am after. Hmmmm perhaps a good idea.  I am going to be posting some pics tomorrow in the new picture outfit.  Or if I get energetic I will post them tonight yet.

**Edit: Well you can see I added in a goal progress tracker on the side bar there. And I am testing myself today on them. Push ups actually felt okay at 25 and probably if I was doing it for the actual assessment I could have pulled off a couple more. So will keep working on that.  Will go do the plank in a little bit here and then update that number as well. ***

Jacob's Ladder 2

Today I hit the ladder again. I could tell pretty early on in it that I wasn't going to manage what I had managed the first day.

I got in 10 minutes with only 4 or 5 of those minutes at the 20/40 intervals of 20 seconds fast followed by 40 seconds of slower.  But even though I didn't interval as many minutes I did do the remaining minutes of the 10 at a slightly increased average pace.

So overall I think I still had a good workout and I know for sure my heart rate was up and it had me breathing hard - all good! Next time on it is planned for Wednesday!

Jacob's Ladder 1

Today marked the first day of working on my Jacob's ladder goal.  I did 12.5 minutes on there. Someone who has never used it probably would think any kind of cardio exercise done for a mere 12.5 minutes is not worth the effort - but anyone who has used it knows that thing is not like hopping on a treadmill and running.

So first minute I did a little bit of an interval mid way. After that at each minute through minute 8 at the change of the minute I did 20 seconds of high speed followed by 40 seconds of low speed.  Honestly on minute 3 I was already looking at it and dreading when it would roll over to the next minute and the speed portion.  By the last one I can tell you that 20 seconds felt wayyyyyy longer than the earlier 20 second stretches. Then for the last couple of minutes I just did a pace of about 33 (which probably doesn't mean much to anyone who hasn't been on it).  It is a pretty slow pace but still provides good work.  During that time I made a point of extending my heel down on each step thus giving myself a tiny bit of calf stretch and turning on my hamstrings to take some of the work off the quads.

After that I went to an R&R class at Lead Pilates.  That was a great one, gave me some good stretching and releasing opportunities.  Then when there was just one person there for the mat class so they were going to go do equipment I opted to stay and that was a really marvellous workout.

So all in all it was a great day today (although I am tired now and thinking a hot soak in the tub sounds like a good way to spend some time!)

Sad that my pattern seems to be breaking down

While I try not to give the old scale too much consideration it was nice to have a recognizable pattern that it worked in with my one predictable gain week out of each 4 (or reasonably predictable anyway). Sadly that pattern seems to have broken on me now.  Since I had a stay the same last week and this week that I would have expected a gain or at best a stay the same I had a loss.  Not at all sure how this will all shake out in the end - whether it is a new pattern developing or if I can just count on things being unpredictable now at these later stages of the weight loss part of things.

But the great thing is that I have myself a couple new things to work on that have nothing to do with the scale.  I would like to track those measurements you see on the left hand side over this coming year (once a month is the plan). Plus I am going to do some pictorial documentation of it as well.  I know what I am going to do for my arms and I got a new outfit for pictures for this year - definitely a bit more exposed so that the changes are more visible (or that is the hope and rationale). And I have a thing that I think might be kind of fun with a really old pair of jeans of mine.  I will write more about that in a post dedicated to it specifically.

So all in all I guess when I think about it the scale is still the least exciting of my goals and certainly the least fun! The only reason I am kind of hoping to see it rolling along now is the hope of not having to pay for meetings in the not too distant future!

The Next Step!

Okay so I have been going on for quite a while now with basically having reduced my activity levels down to just my classes at the pilates studio and regular short stints of walking with the odd other thing thrown in.  However, I am feeling very ready to start taking it back up a notch.  Back to something like I was doing at the early stages of this blog (where I was working out on my wii pretty much every day along with the other stuff I have listed here).

I think that because my weight loss was going well and I was satisfied with how my body was shaping up I was content. But now I am seeing that I would like to pick up the pace on getting some toning done in various areas of my body in the hopes that it will help them look better as the remaining fat whittles down a bit more and because the exercise will help with the skin recovering.  But I also am feeling like my cardio is really ready to get to a better stage.  And I can tell you that I feel like that Jacob's Ladder at the gym at work is really such a great way for me to improve that (and with a reasonable amount of time).

Last but not least I am starting to think about my next assessment. And I honestly don't think I have changed much from there. Certainly not as much as I was capable of changing. So that is where I would like to go as well - to working on getting a better result for my body composition and fitness assessment the next time I have one.  I think maybe a two month goal for that is reasonable.

So here is what I am thinking to achieve in that two months:
1. 30 minutes on the Jacob's ladder done with intervals of speeding up and slowing down
2. Push ups improve from 24 to 35
3. Plank improve from last assessment 83 seconds to 103 seconds

I am hoping this will take me from the aerobic health result of good to very good.

That is the goal setting.  My desire is to get over to the gym at least 2 times a week to go on the Jacob's ladder.  And I will keep doing the Wii as I am really enjoying it and it is adding in extra exercise time on the days when I am not going to a class.  Plus, now that it is getting pretty nice out I am going to start doing my bus and walk to pilates way again.  I have been taking the truck more often than I like for that and so this will be good as I will not only do something better for me but also save money and reduce my carbon footprint. Sounds good to me!

Quality versus quantity

It seems like my whole life there has been a bit of a battle raging in me regarding quality versus quantity - even when I didn't recognize it as such.  When I was a teenager I had a fantastic group of friends - serious quality going on, but somehow I would look with longing at the bigger groups of people that were friends and seemed through their quantity to be the "popular" crowd.  And wondered why I didn't have that level of popularity.  Now I realize that if I had a larger quantity of friends then I may not have had the quality of friendships that I did and that I have never been able to replicate in my adult life with new friends of that nature.

Then there is the inevitable food related battle.  And how I learned over time that denying myself the quality stuff that I love - especially when it comes to the indulgence types of foods would often lead to a quantity attack.  So instead of enjoying a really amazing piece of good quality chocolate I would scarf down 10 of some crud chocolate that I didn't even like.  No wonder I would keep stuffing them in, they were intensely unsatisfying. I admit that learning that lesson has made me a bit pushy on the topic especially when I see all this discussion on the WW boards about various things. For example, most low or no fat dairy is unpleasant in the extreme when compared with their full or at least partial fat counterparts (not to mention that physiologically without the fat your body's satiety sensors are not alerted as well). So I could get some kind of disgusting no fat yogurt and feel completely unsatisfied each time I eat it - thus forcing me to get a sweetened version or eat 2 of them etc.  The whole point being that this mindset on certain things in the WW world seems to me to push people to abandon quality and in my mind the inevitable result is a lash back with quantity.  Probably the most frustrating thing about the program is that factor.

Then, and here is the bit of confession part, there is this adult me on the WW site.  I think that I have connected in an important way with quite a number of people on that site. It has been valuable to me to be part of their journey as I have learned much from them and hopefully have provided something back to them. But that teenage girl is still lurking in there somewhere. I sometimes (especially during pms) look at my wall and compare it with the number of posts on the walls of my other friends on there. Or I look at my blog and compare the number of followers to others, or look at my message board posts and compare the number of responses.  All that effort and concern directed at quantity - again - and at this age I would think I would know better. Why do I long for the many many wall comments and the blog post that has tonnes of comments?

I don't think this comes out of the same place as the teenage girl wanting to be popular did. I think now I sit back into a bit more of a self analysis mode and wonder about why it is the way that it is.  I was teaching last night about self monitoring as a personality characteristic.  How high self monitors can adjust to the situation and surroundings and adjust their behaviour to fit. While low self monitors tend to be consistently who they are all the time.  I suspect although I didn't actually do the little test to see that I am not a very high monitoring type - I don't think I am super low either as I do think I have the ability to adjust to situations etc but just can't see myself letting go of some of my strongest beliefs to do so.  Thus we come around to a relative of that second quality quantity thing - as regards food. It is something I tend to stand firm on and be relatively blunt about. And there are other things that also fall into that category. Things that I think have to be said sometimes even when they might not be the most popular and I try to say them in a way to keep them positively focused but it still is likely a contributor to why others might have more activity their way than I do.  So the question I ask myself is would I really ever want to reduce my stance on those things to gain some more posts my way. And the answer I come up with is if the friends are quality friends who really value me and who I deeply value in return understand this is part of me.  Of course I am also open to the possibility that it might have nothing whatsoever to do with that LOL.

Usernames

It is interesting - I look at the usernames that people choose and I wonder what that tells us about them.  I used to use crystalized - but then I discovered in myself the idea that I much preferred crystalizing - ized just seems to kind of imply that I am done, while izing makes me feel like a work in progress.  I like the latter much better! Plus it gives great shortened versions like I used for this blog czing - just like seizing, seizing the day!!!

There are all kinds of different types and I have noticed that there seem to be a lot of them that identify themselves based on familial relationships (mom, grandma seem to be the two most popular).  Lots that of course use something based on their own name (case in point - me). And then there are also quite a few that choose something based on their profession.  Lest we forget there are also many with names based on their pets in some way.

So it makes me wonder how much people identify with their usernames?  Just a thought I am having and wondering about.  Anyone with any insights - I would love to hear them!

Reflecting Your Best Self

I posted this on my WW blog but I really just felt it was valuable so I am posting it here as well. On that post I played around with my picture from Mexico that I liked so much so I will add that here as well.

I am teaching an organizational behaviour class and in preparing for the first class last night I came across something new that I haven't heard of before. It is about how organizational behaviour has identified a dominant style of organizational change - figure out what the problem is and come up with solutions. However recently there has been a move towards something called appreciative inquiry. Basically because "dwelling on problems can short circuit the change process" appreciative inquiry methods instead focus on the group's potential and positive elements (this comes from some notes from the course pack we use).


I also came across this related topic of the reflected best self. This concept "asks employees to think about situations when they were at their 'personal best' to understand how to exploit their strengths. This is not about ignoring the negatives - we still have to know and recognize they exist but the goal is to build from your best and your strengths.


Informally I have for some time been feeling that there is some great validity to this concept of looking to what you did well instead of dwelling on what you did wrong. Now it is good to know that this very concept has a place in academic study of organizations and that I can happily apply it right here in my journey as well.


So imagine that instead of always looking to what must be fixed or what "bad" habits I have. How about I look at the things that are great, the great habits I have built and the good choices I make and build from them. Make them the foundation of my lifestyle change structure. Each time I do something great it adds to that foundation. And with a strong enough foundation no hurricane, tornado, or other natural or unnatural phenomenon can possibly knock down my structure. A little piece of the decorative features might get ruffled on occasion (since the negatives still are there and do sometimes like to come out and play), but they can't deal with that solid foundation of good.


Look for that reflected best self I say. Grab hold of those bests of yours and make it your foundation. And add to that foundation every day. Today I did it by really embracing my workout today. Concentrating on my form and working hard but working smart to take care of my recovering back. And then I took it the next step and rejoiced in it with a blog entry for the pilates studio (leadpilates.com) and sharing it here!


So, tell me, how did you reflect your best self today? And I know you did it somewhere and somehow so no opting out - tell me just how you reflected your best self today!


I also wanted to add some thoughts I had after making the original post on the WW site.  The main one is thinking about looking for that personal best moments. One of the ones that really sticks out in my mind is a really old one (from when I was at my grade 12 retreat).  I was with all the people I was normally with at school but somehow I just felt freed.  I felt freed from worrying about what others thought etc.  I felt free to be enthusiastic and outgoing and open and honest.  The big thing I really feel and want to bring to my life more often and to maybe help other people bring to their life more often is the freedom to be enthusiastic and inspired by the activities we are involved with. I have wanted to do this for some time but wasn't sure how to go about it - just telling people it is okay to be enthusiastic doesn't work.  But I like this idea of asking them to think about their moments of "personal best" and bring it out into what we are doing.

If anyone reads this and feels like commenting. I would love to know how you would feel if you were at a class or workshop and the facilitator asked you to do something like that?

How to hot holiday without flying

This is the subject on my mind. After flying down to Mexico and back I can't help but feel that I am done with flying.  I actually don't mind it (although the descent can get me a little motion sick or a lot motion sick sometimes).  But I just can't really justify doing it anymore. Not with what I know it does to the environment.  So that leaves me with the need to find alternative ways to have a holiday.

I know there probably aren't that many people who read my blog that often on here but I am wondering if anyone knows of any good ways to do particularly a hot holiday without flying.  I am game for a combination of buses, trains, boats, even driving of my own although I would prefer options where I don't have to drive for days and days.

The other thing I wonder if anyone knows is sailing options. Ones where you are actually spending most of your time on the ship/boat under sail as opposed to running an engine.  That is something I would love to find.  A sailing excursion that would take me all the way from Canada to the Mediterranean.  Now that would be the thing!

Well that is what I am thinking about - and wondering how I can manage to find the options for doing these kinds of things.  Perhaps that should be my main research pursuit for the next year!

Mexico!!!

Thought I would share a few pictures from my Mexico trip.  In true narcissistic fashion I will only post pictures of  me LOL.  Well and maybe the ones of the lemur things.

Oh first before going to me I will start with my deeply unfortunate dessert plate from New Year's Eve.  I was a terrible waster though since most of this did not get eaten as it was just way too sweet for me (but it was still way more dessert than I needed and that is for sure!)

The desserts were often very fancy looking, and looked like they would be just amazing but most of them were just simply way to sweet for me.  That is until I unfortunately found the kind of flan/custard style pie one that was really just perfect.  So there was a bit too much of that for me through the rest of the week.

These pictures are from our first night when we went over to the "sister" resort to have one of our a'la carte meals (which was delicious by the way).  The fountain is in front of the sister resort (a couple blocks down from ours), the "patio" is from our room.  The toes are that evening and are my ocean inspired toenail polish that I just love!  The beach at night obviously, and the big Christmas tree in front of our hotel.

Then here are the little critters that were out playing and searching for food (I think they are related to anteaters) right outside our room's "balcony" doors).

And here is my rather unfortunate 90s dress that I discovered I was able to "fit" again. Of course back when I wore this dress originally it wasn't quite so "form fitting" as it is now and I am pretty sure it looked way better than it does here.

And last but most certainly not least, these are my two favourite pictures from the trip. These are actually in another resort. Originally I had planned to book at this resort but I waited a couple days too long and it was sold out.  It was just a couple doors down from our resort so we took a stroll through it to see what it looked like and felt deep and abiding regret that I waited to long. That resort was absolutely beautiful looking (not that ours was terrible but this one was so wonderful looking).  If I ever go back this will be the only place I will go and that is for sure!

As normal you can click on any of the images if you want to see a bigger version of the picture.

The past year

So one of my WW friends requested that I post a compare pic that shows just my start and my end of year (December) picture.  So here it is.  I also think this gives me a good idea for this coming year as I might just do a comparison pic from last year to this year each month (i.e. Jan of last year to Jan of this year).  And maybe a few focused on certain areas (like those arms that need so much toning and legs that can still definitely use more toning and belly - not sure I will be ready to share those ones just yet though!).

Click the image to see it full size.

I know I haven't posted especially regularly on here and have been spending more of my time posting to my WW blog (you can see that at http://community.weightwatchers.ca/Blogs/UserBlog.aspx?blogid=1005786 if you are interested).  

You know as I looked at this post I know I have a lot of work to do on my arms yet but boy I am sure glad I can see a difference in them.  Now it is just to tone them and get them looking nice and fit!