M.I.A.

First of all, I want to thank all of you wonderful readers who have emailed me over the past week or so wondering if everything is OK with me. It means a lot to me that people are reading enough to realize when you have been gone to long and are genuinely curious as to why.

Since my last post I have gained exactly 5 pounds back. The very same 5 pounds I was so proud to have lost as it put me at the 10 pounds lost marker.

But I'm OK with it.  Why?

1) I have been eating like crap! (When I felt like eating at all that is.)

2) I have not been exercising AT ALL!

Why you ask again?

Because I have been sick.

I have been VERY sick.

I have been going through medical tests and doctor's appointments like crazy to find out why I am sick (and am in constant agony).

I was so stressed out, not just with the pain, but also because I was having trouble working, walking up and down stairs, sleeping, and doing just about anything really. I was so freaked out trying to figure out what it could be.

Luckily we pretty much have the answer now, also luckily it seems like something that should be easy to take care of without extensive surgeries and medications.

I have a few more tests that need to be run before the doctor can refer me to the specialist, and then they will be the ones to decide how to proceed.

Here is what we do know so far: (WARNING - This is very personal and involves women's cycles, etc and might be too much information for some people. Continue reading at your own risk!)

PCOS has pretty much been confirmed via ultrasounds, but we are still waiting on the final blood work to come back on that.

Two uterine fibroids have been discovered. One is about 2 cm and the other is around 5cm. The larger one is in the lower back area and the reason for most of the pain and the inability to sleep.

I have an excess of ovarian follicles which is also a symptom of PCOS and may be rupturing which can also be causing the pain in the abdominal areas.

Until we can get more test results back and speak to a specialist I have been placed on prescription painkillers to manage the pain so I can at least return to a somewhat normal lifestyle. I have also been placed on birth control pills for three months (starting with my next cycle) to manage the hormone levels and make the menstrual cycles more bearable as that is what is aggravating the fibroids.

Fun stuff right! At least I got in lots of reading and video game time! I even made a Shelfari account! Feel free to add me.

At least it's not cancerous...that's what I keep repeating to myself over and over again...

Next week I hope to get back to healthier eating and some exercise (pending how the painkillers work of course).  I have already been told I had to drop out of my dancing with ROTC for the season as well as drop out of my first 5K race I had planned.  I'm pretty bummed but I am hoping once my health gets back on track I can return to those things I enjoyed!

Family Fun, Frustration and a Weigh In

Wednesday was an interesting day.

Everything started off pretty normal with work. It's starting to get pretty busy at my office (it's tax season and I work in accounting) so I was pretty focused on getting things done so as not to let items stack up.

We don't have cable at home. We canceled it after my father-in-law passed away as he was the only one to really watch television. It's been a challenge, especially now with the Olympics because I really wanted to watch Canada's progression. So when I slid into the van at the subway station (where my other half is so nice as to pick me up so I don't have to take the bus home) and he asked me if I wanted to go to Shoeless Joe's for dinner, I immediately said yes. I didn't even stop to think about the extra calories that would come with such a dinner. All I could think about was the Canadian men's hockey team playing against Russia - and Shoeless Joe's has television sets everywhere, even in the booths!

So as most of you know, it was a great game. I really enjoyed it (and I'm not a big sports person). Even the boy liked it. It freaked him out the first time Canada scored and the restaurant went nuts, but he smiled, cheered along with them, and was fine for the rest of the night. We ordered a bunch of appetizers and desserts afterward and just shared everything. It was a nice bonding experience, made all the better by Canada winning (sorry to any Russian fans out there, close your eyes now).


Ok, I'm done now...

After all that I came home, and in no mood to eat (because I was soooo full and happy) I stripped down and stepped on the scale.


I'm up...0.7 pounds...of course after a meal like that who wouldn't be?

But it's not just that...

I only worked out one time this week, and I ate pretty horribly most of the week. I do really well at lunch, but I always blow dinner. I get home so late I just don't feel like doing anything except picking up fast food.

I also have fallen out of love with the Wii EA Active challenge. It's not the workouts themselves, I love them. It's mostly because of the scheduling feature. My schedule rarely stays the same, so picking your days a head of time and sticking to them is really hard for me. So as hard as I try, I often miss workouts. It's wouldn't be so bad if you could make them up, but there's this horrible irritating statement at the top of the screen that shows X workouts missed. I am sure that is supposed to be motivating...but to me it's the opposite. I just don't want to look at it. It makes me sick. And damned if I am going to restart every single time I miss a workout. I would never finish the challenge!

So instead for a while I think I am going to stick to DVD programs until I can get my motivation back up. I'm kind of in a funk right now. I ordered ChaLEAN Extreme to see if that helps. I like the though of the weight training. Until it gets here though I guess I will mess around with Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred or Biggest Loser Boot Camp until ChaLEAN gets here. Or maybe I'll just keep using the weight loss programs on my elliptical. Maybe I'll just sit around, read, write and play video games.

/shrug

Who knows...

Goals and the 5K

I realized I still needed something more to push me to get back into shape.  I couldn’t figure out what it was until a read a fellow Blogger’s post.

Rosa, over at Stuffing My Feelings wrote a wonderful post about her goal to run one 5K race per month in 2010 here.

I thought to myself, wow, she’s crazy, that’s an amazing goal.  Then I shook my head and thought to myself, I’ve never even done one, and think it would kill me to do one.

Then it hit me.  That’s what I wanted.  I wanted to run a 5K, finish it, and not die doing it.  This was a new goal to add to my 2010 Goal List.

I immediately Googled 5K runs in my area and found a women’s only race at the end of May.  Perfect!  This should be enough time to get myself ready!  I whipped out my wallet and registered before I could talk myself out of it (or let anyone else talk me out of it).  So if all goes well, I will be running the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon and 5k – Sunday May 30, 2010.

I spent some time looking into what I needed to know for running the 5K and the first things I learned was that a very good pair of shoes, fitted by a professional when possible, was pretty much a necessity.

I convinced begged the boyfriend to take me to The Running Room this morning so I could talk to someone about shoes.  A very lovely woman spent quite a bit of time with me, analyzing my feet, how I walk, how I run, etc.  We discover I needed some light stability for my arch and she showed me the shoes I could choose from.  She urged me to try on multiple pairs to ensure I found one with a good fit.  After four pairs I found my babies.

I also invested in two pair of double layer running socks for moisture and blister control (because I am uber prone to blisters).

I also learned about some good clinics they offer I might be interested in taking, as well as free practice running twice a week.  She even threw in some free running magazines.

My last stop in the 5K start-up journey was a trip to Chapters to get some books on running in general and training for the 5K.  Can you tell I’m excited?

When I got home I was so eager to get moving that I ran right to my workout room to complete my normal workout (workout #6 of the EA Active More Workouts 6 week challenge).  I followed that up with a custom workout created for the original EA Active on their 5K Challenge site.  Holy squats and lunges Batman!  My legs were on fire!

All this and I still managed to make this week’s batch of homemade honey peanut granola.  But you’ll have to wait for this week’s Weekend Warrior post for more on that!

Resolutions for 2010

I, like most people, made some New Year's resolutions for 2010. We actually made it a family event as the three of us sat around waiting for the clock to strike twelve. The goal was to come up with at least five good, solid, achievable goals.

I was the most impressed by my son, Darien, who made almost ten really good goals. He usually hates this exercise and writes down the silliest things he can come up with. This year he made clear goals such as not getting lines for the year (one of his most hated punishments for wrong doings such as lying), raising his grades in math and French, and being more responsible and spending time with his new pet guinea pig.

(Not the actual guinea pig.)
I made some goals I was really proud of as well. I made more than fifteen. I think one of the goals I was most proud of was to monitor my book spending and not to exceed a certain annual budget. For those who know me well, this will be VERY hard for me!


Of course I also resolved to lose at least 10 pounds this year and eat healthier. I didn't mention any specific diets or exercise programs because I change my mind often and I didn't want to set myself up for failure.

The plan was to start January 1st, but alas I had a shoulder injury the would not allow me to workout and the I suffered a case of nasty food poisoning. Now that everything seems back on track (for now) I am hoping to start tonight with my Biggest Loser profile creation. Let's hope for more Blogs soon! (That was another resolution by the way, to Blog AT LEAST twice a month...let's see how that goes!)

Some other goals I set were:
- read at least 50 books over the year
- complete at least three courses through university this year
- fit at least one "family" or "mommy and boy" night in each week
- have some specific renovations made to the house
- continue at ROTC, at least for one complete season
- one coffee per day

I have currently put myself on a partial fruit cleanse to help my digestive system and weight loss. Due to my already low protein levels, I was advised it was best to still continue to eat small portions of protein to keep myself a little more balanced. I started yesterday and I am enjoying all the fruit I get to eat. I am sure I will get sick of it eventually though. And of course I couldn't give up the coffee...but at least I cut back to only one coffee a day (first thing in the morning) and it is now only a large instead of an extra large.

How about you? Did you make resolutions this year? Which ones are you really eager to achieve?

Well, that's it for now! Let's hope I get back on here more often! Maybe I'll have some Biggest Loser for the Wii updates soon!

Motivation

First of all, I would like to take the time to thank all the people who voted in my Wii Fitness Poll. I also want to personally thank the person who posted “Choose the one YOU want.”

I have decided to compromise, and pick ONE of the ones I really wanted to work with, but also received a large amount of votes. So with that out there on the table I wanted to announce that I will be using Biggest Loser for the Wii.





I took the time and set up a profile for each of the systems mentioned in the poll, and I also spend around 20 minutes in each game feeling out how it worked.

It became clear to me very quickly that I was not going to enjoy using the Wii Fit/Wii Fit Plus - Software Only enough to keep me motivated for a full two weeks. The biggest downfall seemed to be the availability of built in workout programs to use. I did like the flexibility of all the games and free play options, and I am aware there is a way to chain them together to create a personalized workout program, but the main issue with me is I want to be told exactly what to do, at least to start.

All the other games I polled had this option so then it came down to a matter of which one received the most votes, and Biggest Loser won it with 19% of the votes. I also get the feeling this will be a fun and motivating one to start with. It seems very versatile, allowing you to manually enter calories consumed and burned as well as calculating calories burned while doing the workouts it selects for you.

I also love the “challenges” and “weigh-ins” like they have in the Biggest Loser television series. I think this is going to be a blast to work with! I’ll let you know more as it progresses along, but not yet!

And here is the catch! I have decided I am going to use this to achieve a weight loss goal for 2010. With all the stresses and yummy foods around during the Holiday season, I know that now is the worst time to start a weight loss program. So January 1st, it’s on!

Do you have Biggest Loser for Wii? If not yet, maybe you can ask Santa for Christmas! And if you do have it, and want to set, track and share your weight loss goals with me, comment below. Let’s take this journey together!

In the meantime however, I am not giving up. I have started making small changes in diet and behaviors. I take the stairs when I have the energy (I work on the 7th floor). I am trying to eat more fresh vegetables and fruit. I am trying to drink more water. I have started attending a regular colorguard group. And, I have instituted an exercise allowance.

What is an exercise allowance you ask? It’s my motivation to get in shape.

The biggest issue with most people when they finally decide they want to knuckle down and get in shape is finding the motivation not only to start, but to stick with it. And so I have devised my very own workout allowance.

The principle is simple. I pay myself to exercise. I base the rates on how much I hate the exercise and reward myself accordingly. Then I allow myself to spend my allowance on things I wouldn’t usually waste money on. I did something similar when I quit smoking over three years ago, and it worked so well I figured why not?

Here is a sample of the allowance schedule I have created for myself:

Stairs Down $0.50
Stairs Up $3.00
Lunch Walk $1.00
Walk the Dog $2.00
Workout > 20 min. $5.00

Actually, now that I think of it, maybe I should increase the rate for the dogs. They have too much energy. Here they are if you are interested...



Of course, the easier it becomes for me to do these things, the lower the price will get on each of them.

To date I have raised $49.50 – it will be $50.00 by the time I leave work.

I have already ordered my new rifle for colorguard.



Works for me!

What about you? What kind of things do you use for motivation?