New Year, New Start

Hey Folks,

I'm still here. I'm still struggling. I'm not sure why I can't get my head back into the game. I haven't been dieting in over a month. I know I've been lucky not to have gained more than I have (my poor friend gained 15 pounds over the holidays), but if I don't smarten up soon, I'll be kicking myself later.

The good news is, that I'm inching my way back to awesomeness. Yesterday, Lucky and I finally went out and bought groceries. I can't even remember the last time we went. As you can imagine, our diets have been awful lately because of it. Veggie Burgers and fries, pizza and chinese food and although my taste buds have been loving it, my digestive system has not. I NEED to get back on track. I'm feeling not only constipated, but also sluggish and tired and my mood isn't the greatest either. I know the way I'm feeling is directly related to what I'm eating. Thankfully, I now have proper food in the house which is WW friendly and I can begin to count points again..... if  only I could get motivated. Today was suppose to be day 1, but it wasn't. Ugh....

New Plan

When thinking about how I can help myself get back on track, I thought back to what helped me in the past. It was my #100daysofsalad challenge that really seemed to help me. As a result, I've finally decided to do what I said I would and begin my #100daysofsoup 

challenge.

My worry is that the sodium will not be as scale friendly as the salad was, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway and see. I also plan to drink way more water than I have been so maybe it wont be so bad. I just thought what better food to eat/challenge to start during this dreadful Canadian winter we're having so far. Can we say BURRRRRR.

I  also have decided to do a 90 day challenge that my friend at work is doing. It's from a website called Bikini Body Mommy. Perhaps you've already heard of it. I kinda feel like I'm late to the game on this one. Anyway, Briana (author of website), offers short 20min or less FREE workout videos that are sent to your email each day for 90 days. They are videos of her doing a daily workout  and you basically following along each day in real time and do them with her. She is not a super model fitness chick. She is a real Mommy, who apparently lost 100 pounds after having her third child. Amazing. I signed up fairly quickly after hearing about it and the first video should arrive in my inbox on Monday.  Now that I've signed up though... I'm not going to lie, I'm second guessing my decision. I hate workout videos!!! I  need to do it anyway though. I have to and who knows, Briana seems cool, so maybe these videos will be different.

On top of the challenges, I also plan to continue to horseback ride (something I will never give up) and plan to get back to the gym. I know I keep saying it, but seriously, I will. I enjoyed aquafit when I went along with zumba, so it's time I got back to class!

In 90 days, I should look awesome!  lol....

Fingers crossed anyway.

So now I will leave you with this, a cute picture of my horse Joelle, all bundled up on a cold winters day. Isn't she the cutest? 

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!!