TWO HOURS!

I just went to the gym for two hours.

TWO HOURS!!!!

I don't think I've ever done that.

This morning, I got up early and took Lucky (aka hubby) to the train station for 6:30am. He's going for some extra training today for work in the big city. I came home and immediately re-tucked myself back into bed. I have been so tired lately. Not sure why. I could have slept until noon, but I didn't.  Instead I got out of bed yet again at 9:45am. I had planned to go to yoga this morning and although I wasn't really feeling like it, I was determined to follow through anyway.

Yoga was interesting. It wasn't like any other yoga class I've gone to. There were no sun salutations. There was no major savasana at the end. We did not use bolsters or straps or have blankets.  After all, this yoga class was at Goodlife, rather than a posh yoga studio.  At first, I wasn't sure about it, and I don't think I was the only one. One person left shortly after we started. Regardless though, I stuck to it, and still enjoyed it. The stretches are helpful for my hips and that's all that really matters. I will go again.

After yoga, instead of coming home, I decided to attend another class. A class called Sh'BAM!
I'm not sure about you, but I've never heard of Sh'BAM before. I first noticed it when looking on the gym's class exercise board. It's labelled as 'moderate' intensity so I thought I'd give it a try. Zumba is also labelled moderate.

Sh'BAM was great. I had a lot of fun and was pretty whipped when it was finished.  My first impression is that Sh'BAM is actually very similar to Zumba.  It's also a combo of dancing and aerobics combined, presented in a fun modern way. I think the only real difference between Zumba and Sh'BAM is the music. Now don't quote me, as I'm new to both, but Zumba seems more imbedded in salsa music with a few other songs thrown in, where Sh'BAM has more pop and hip hop music with a little bit of salsa. One is just as great as the other, which is why I'm surprised Sh'BAM isn't more popular. Each Zumba class I take is packed, where as today's Sha'BAM class there were only eight of us. It's kinda a shame. At the same time as I say that though I liked the fact the class wasn't packed so I had more space to dance! This girl has two left feet half the time, so I need my space!

Since my return home I have been updating this blog. I finally uploaded the remaining salad photos for my #100daysofSALAD challenge that I completed on November 1st. You can see them here. I also started a new tab for my next challenge - #100daysofSOUP. Stayed tuned for this. I'm pretty excited about it. It's a perfect challenge for this time of year. Feel free to join in on the fun!!! My hope is to make low fat vegetarian soups and share them with all of you (including WW PointsPlus points for my fellow weight watchers). I plan to start in mid-december when I return home from my vacation. I'd start it now,  but I fear I'd wouldn't be able to meet the challenge when in Jamaica. Now, I do realize that they likely will have soup at the resort, but the question is, would it be vegetarian? I'm not sure. After all, it's hard enough getting a vegetarian soup at Tim Hortons or Subway! As a result, to play it safe, I'll start when I return home. It should be fun.

Weekend WI

228.5lbs

Start weight: 246.5lbs

Current weight: 228.5lbs

Total lost: 18lbs

I'm in the 220s!!! I'm very excited about that. Two more pounds and I'll hit the 20lb milestone. Seven more pounds and I'll be able to say I've lost 10% of my body weight since starting this journey. When I hit that milestone I plan on taking my first set of progress pictures. Start weight pictures are already posted here. 

Yesterday was also a great day for me. I completed my #100daysofsalad challenge!! I have yet to upload my last few salad pics to the link on this blog, but here are #99 and #100! 

Salad #99

Salad #100

I'm not going to lie, I'm very proud of myself. I had one salad every day for 100 days!!! I think that's pretty awesome. The best part is I feel awesome. I hardly ever feel bloated or have heartburn anymore, or feel as if my digestive track isn't moving( if you know what I mean). I also seem to have a lot more energy these days (if my mood is ok). I definitely plan to keep eating salads often. Now I just need to come up with a next challenge. A friend suggested #100daysofsoup.  I'm loving that idea, so I think I'll plan to start that challenge after my vacation. Stay tuned! 

Mood wise, I'm hanging in there. Friday night was horrible, yesterday and so far today I'm better. I want to thank those who commented for letting me know I'm not alone and for their support. It means a lot. I'm a girl who usually needs to talk it out to process things. I find posting my feelings down here, it helps with that and to get feedback is amazing. 

Exercising this week didn't really go very well AT ALL, stress and sadness got in the way. This week I'm really, really going to work hard to not have that happen again. I want more check marks on my calendar. I NEED more check marks!! 

Weekly (WW) WI #5 and salad #50!

It's funny how the scale is. I always say I'm going  to stop doing this, but this week I did two check-ins to see if I was on track before today's official weigh-in. 

Friday it looked like I gained (even when I have been tracking well)

Saturday it said I lost a bunch. 

I blame the Friday WI on salt. I blame the Saturday WI on not getting out of bed and eating anything until 1pm. (Things you can do when you have no kids yet!)

Both WI played with my mind. This week my goal is to not check in before next Sundays WI. Let's see if I can do it!

Now let's get down to business.

Today's official WI (drum roll please)....

Weight Watchers Home WI #5

New weight: 238.5lbs

Total loss this week: 1lb

Total lost so far: 8lbs

I'll take it! 😄

Weight Watchers Online 
Current long term goal - just to get to Onederland!

A loss is a loss, and that is what I want each week my friends. I am happy. 

In other news I'm officially half way done my #100daysofsalad challenge! I ate salad #50 on Friday! I really should have gone and enjoyed a salad made by a real chef to celebrate, but instead I just ate this one. A combination of craisins, shredded cheddar cheese, croutons, baby spinage, romain lettuce and ceaser dressing! Not going to lie, it was tasty!! 

Salad #50!

Eating a salad doesn't equal weight loss

.... But boy I wish it did!

Hi again! So I'm still doing well on the salad challenge and eating more fruit and veg than I was before my vacation. I even made a veggie soup for dinner last night. Only thing is I haven't seen any weight loss. I took a sneak peak on Tuesday and I was actually up! Eeekkk!!!!  Not cool!! Why did that happen?? That is not the direction I want to go in, thank you very much. I'm hoping to see different on Saturday which will be my official weigh in day, but I kinda dread it won't be.

I ask why, but ugh..really, I do know. I'm still not "tracking" and I know when I don't track I don't lose weight. No matter if it's healthy food or not, I'm apparently still eating too much of it.  I know I need to track. I just hate that I have to.  

I also know I need to move my behind more. It's been hard working nights and all... But I know I could be doing more. I did go horseback  riding once this week  (trust me folks, that's a full body workout) but I need to do even more. I still am finding that I have been sitting on the couch too much. Usually exhausted. Usually lazy. This also has to change. 

This weight loss thing is hard for me, but baby step by baby step I am going to win this time. I promise. It might not look like it now, but I will.

In other news, I updated "my story" in the tab bar. If you want to know more about me, that is where you'll find it! 

Day 4 -- 7 superfood salad

Day 5 -- southwest salad

Day 6 -- my "not very exciting salad" salad 

Sluggish

I'm feeling tired.

I should be over the jet-lag by now (and I think I was just starting to) but then night shift happened. No matter how much sleep I seem to get during the day, I'm still so sluggish right now.

The good news is though, I'm eating far better these days, rather than just carbing it up like I use to, so I think it's helping. It has to be, right? 

My salad challenge hasn't really been much of a challenge at all lately. Mind you, I know I'm only on day 3. Each salad as been delicious, but I have a bit of a confession.  I haven't made any of them. Thank you, salad in a bag!  I blame my sluggishness and night shift for not making them myself, but I know it's a bit of an excuse.  But hey... they taste good and are convenient and hopefully I don't find out they are being recalled..... lol.... I promise I will not rely on salads in a bag in the future, although I'm not going to promise I wont eat them either.  Don't worry,  I have 97 more days to be able to balance out both. It's all good.  On top of eating a salad of day, of course I'm also trying to eat healthier overall. I'm not counting calories just yet (although I know that's coming), but I am making much better choices. I'm eating way more fruit and veggies than I use to. I love summer for the variety of fresh fruit you can find. Cherries, watermelon, raspberries, oh my! So tasty.

For those of you joining me on my #100daysofsalad challenge. You're awesome. For those of you who aren't, you're still awesome, but not as awesome as those who are... Kidding... Maybe. ;) 

Salad Day 2

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Salad Day 3 

I'm feeling proud of myself for actually doing what I told myself I would do. I told myself after my vacation I would begin to get serious about eating more healthy and I have. Once again, I'm only on day three and I know it's going to be a struggle at times going forward (especially when it comes to exercise), but as I have said many times before, I have too many reasons not to get healthy and lose weight this time. Some of those reasons you can read (if you haven't already) about by clicking the link above.

Salad Anyone?

Well, hello there! As promised this girl is back! I had an amazing vacation and because of that it's been pretty hard to get back into the swing of things since being home. My first day back to work was yesterday and despite thinking I would feel refreshed and ready to save lives, I did not.  I felt like I wanted or needed another vacation! It was not the greatest first day back, but I digress.

On vacation I saw many amazing things and ate a lot of food. My anxieties about eating vegetarian meals were diminished fairly quickly when I realized it wasn't going to be as much of an issue as I envisioned. Now I feel silly for even worrying to begin with. I did not watch what I ate while away. I didn't promise I would. I ate waffles in Belgium, croissants in France, and any other tasty food I wanted in Holland and England when I was there. I indulged and it was fantastic. Seriously peeps, vacations are a time to relax and enjoy, not worry about calorie counting. That is  for the days in between holidays.

Nonetheless, to off balance the food I was eating, luckily the tour involved A LOT of walking and once the tour was finished we continued to walk multiple kilometers on our own. We walked and walked and walked. I even climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris which was awesome. No elevator for this girl! As a result, when I weighed myself this morning I wasn't too upset by my weight gain.

I gained 1.5lbs.

Not too shabby. I think I'm okay with that.

New weight = 246lbs. That I'm not okay with.

Now sadly, I do think some of that gained weight might have even been gained since I've returned. I've been back since Tuesday and I know since then I have been far less active than when on holiday and well...... I ate an entire medium pizza..... with dipping sauce.

As of yesterday though I'm not focusing on pizza, but rather on salads. I didn't mention it before my vacation,  but before going away I was floating around with the  idea of doing a 100 day challenge. I've seen friends do 100 day challenges in the past via social media, and I thought why not? I can do one too, so  I decided to do a  #100daysofsalad challenge. I'd like to say that I'm a girl who eats salads everyday. Some might already assume that I do as I'm vegetarian, but if you were to, you'd be wrong. I like salads, I have nothing against them, but find myself not eating them nearly enough.     I might not even eat a salad once a week! I mean really, who wants to eat a salad when you can eat a carb?!

Hence my reason for picking salads as my challenge. I need more greens baby.

My goal for the challenge is to eat at least one salad a day for 100 consecutive days and document for proof and accountability. I'll be using this blog and another social media account to do so.  Easy peasy! Anyone want to join me? Do you have a challenge you've set for yourself?


I've had two salads so far, but here is Salad #1. A little too shiny with salad dressing I think.  I'll work on that.