Start of a New Week

Sunday I didn't blog my food because the day was busy, I ended up back at the doctor with back pain and from there we headed to Havelock to visit our kids, who had just bought a cottage. I ate what was offered in moderation as you have to when you have no control over your food. White buns were served and were yummy, I can't remember the last time I ate white bread. I even had a very small slice of apple pie.

It was a great day, it is so nice to see your kids happy and relaxed and enjoying the fruits of their hard work, they have a 11 month old boy named Colton who is really a cutie, a very masculine boy, like his father.

I slept great last night the muscles relaxants really helped easy my back pain, so for the first time in weeks I slept through the night without much pain...I already feel my patience returning...hahaha

After a long day, I knew our fridge was bare of really healthy food, so I forced myself to do a light grocery shop....and picked up some veggies, fruit, hummus etc....this will allow me to have a great start to the week.


Breakfast = Toasted Breakfast muesli, light Havarti cheese.
Snack = Granola Bar = Misty Approved.
Lunch - Salad, with beans and grated cheese, and whatever other veggies I can throw in it.
Snack - baby carrots and hummus
Dinner = Sauteed Bean Sprouts with mushrooms, broccoli, and carrot slivers, Teriakyi sauce Chicken, I make my own Teriakyi sauce with honey, soy sauce and some thickener, a healthier alternative.

My exercise this week will depend on my health, between having Vertigo, a cold and bad back pain, this old girl has had very little exercise, after my visit to my Chiropractor I will have a better idea of my back problem.....and will plan my week from there. I can tell you that my body is craving exercise, a good workout with Misty and a strong run, will help blow the cobwebs out of my mind/

Now I will check my friends Blogs to see what they have planned.

Saturday Saturday how I love my Saturday

Today really was a great day the meeting at Girls Inc went well, I love what they do and am really excited, they plan on attending the festival in Girls Inc T-shirts, it will be so cool to have young people there.

I did have one concern when I suddenly started to see double, no alcohol involved....single vision returned after my nap...I guess a trip to Dr. is required, I am still having tremors and then the vision thing....not sure if it is connected to the Vertigo or not.

I am working on unblocking my throat chakra...a yoga thing, so updated my studio policies and sent them out....being the boss is only easy at home.

I picked up Fish & Chips for my man and rented Battlestar Galactica Final Season Disk 4, tonight is about Frank, like a lot of men he just wants me home with him.....I go out a lot more than he does...like a lot of women, so I try to spend one night a week watching Sci-Fi or guy movies with him. It seems to give me tons of freedom....I guess it makes me selfish...but I am okay with that....he is making passes at me so I will have to duck upstairs early...hahaha...I ate some of his fries with my steak and a salad, Dinner wasn't until 7:30 so I wasn't into cooking much, just the steak and the salad with some great fries. I was okay with eating the fries, I felt like them and I enjoyed them.

I also ate about 6 small plums on the way home, just to take the edge off my hunger. I have not been starving at all this week, ate well and lost 2 lbs.

Saturdays I run my errands, cleaning, bakery, butcher etc...I try to support local Brooklin businesses, there is a farmers market in the Home Hardware parking lot that I will check out. I like visiting the local shop owners it give me a sense of community.

Saturday's Menu

Breakfast - Cinnamon Raisin Bread with nut butter and sugar free jam - I do tend to get stuck on the same things at breakfast.
Run Club - 4k the teach a power yoga class.
Lunch - All you can eat sushi - Frank asked me out for lunch, what coud I say ??? I am blogging ?, so I cancelled all day time snacks and ate sushi.
Dinner - Chicken Tournado, Corn, Beets.

What I learned this week

Okay so a great week in many aspects, ate well, ran a bit and tonight is Small Group Training.

Here is what I learned this week.
1) I don't drink near enough water.
2) I can eat well if I stay organized and plan.
3) Naps help me to eat less, and are a way of listening to my body not my mind.
4) Stealing menu ideas from my friends Blogs helps me be creative.
5) Blogging and reading my friends Blogs really helps me to feel like I can do this, sorry to sound like a Nike Slogan.
6) Running is just plain fun
7) Doing one thing at a time is hard for me...I settled for 2 things at a time with the goal of moving towards one thing at a times...progress not perfection.

I am excited today I have a meeting with Girl's Inc. one of the charities the Durham Yoga Festival is supporting....seeing it all come together is such a relief, each year as I pull the festival together I feel overwhelmed and disorganized and yet it comes together, like magic, things just fall in to place, the right people show up, tickets get sold and the day is relaxing and enjoyable.

Today's Menu

Breakfast, raisin toast and hazelnut better sandwich, Ezekiel Brand Bread.
Morning snack - Glass of milk, 1/2 a banana
Lunch.....not sure where I will be, may call a friend for lunch....
Afternoon snack - Mango Protein Shake
Dinner - will be late, Corn, Sweet or Regular Potato's, Small Steak......

I added some extra food yesterday, I had a second brown rice wrap with some cheese and spinach, one was just not enough and after Power Yoga I had 3 Brown Rice cakes with light cream cheese and sugar free jam. 2 would have done the job but the 3rd one called my name gently.

Run those lbs off

So today is the day I begin my own training again.....I have run twice with run club but today will run on my own, I am really looking forward to the feeling of my feet hitting the pavement, running is very calming for me, sometimes I can just feel the stress melt away as I begin to run....the big aaahhhhh

I am running with Misty (long legs) I am convinced I do two strides for her one and always feeling like a little kid trying to keep up with her parent.....she won't run and hold my hand....even though I beg....LOL

My food has been awesome all week, blogging and writing about it forces me into a certain discipline, yesterday I really wanted to come home and nap but had no fresh veggies in the fridge, so instead I stopped at a local market and picked up fruit and veggies.

We ate some of the best corn I had ever eaten, not slathered in butter I would like to add. Strouds Farms is open and the corn is great.

Menu Today
Breakfast - toasted English Muffin, Cinnamon and raisin, I buy the Ezekiel Brand, they are really good, nut butter, sugar free jam, 3 plums.
Snack - protein shake, in preparation for the run
Lunch - 2) Brown Rice Wraps, Tuna, spinach, a bit of yogurt dressing, cherry tomato's, sliced cucumber/
Snack - skim milk cheese string
Dinner - Chicken Breasts (Mediterranean flavour), salad, light feta....okay so I am stealing from Kyla's dinner last night.
Snack 3 brown rice cakes with light cream cheese and sugar free jam.

Yesterday was actually a really hard day....all day I felt like eating something sweet, I opened the fridge door and closed it many times....I decided to have some organic rye with sugar free jam as one of my snacks, that actually helped.`

At Dinner time I was still feeling restless, I knew a protein shake was not going to fill me for the long term. My private student cancelled at the last minutes so i was in Pickering with tons of time and decided to eat there....I gave a lot of thought to what I should eat....I love sushi and really felt like eating it again, it just makes me feel good for some reason, but it also makes me really tired about an hour later...with Run club at 8:00pm I needed to have energy.....since food is an exchange of energy, I decided I needed slower burning fuel.

I went to a great Thai restaurant in Pickering called the Red House...a small little restaurant that makes amazing food.

Dinner = Tofu Stirfry in Basil sauce, it was really good and cheap...tofu is a great alternative price wise to meat. I was a vegetarian for 10 years and grew to like Tofu. I had some ginger tea (no caffeine) and fresh spring rolls. It was great and as I had hoped sustained me for the run...although I think all that fiber was creating some movement you know where.

Later I went to Starbucks with friends and pressed my nose against the goodies cooler, drooling over an organic blueberry square, Katie and Misty talked me out of it and I settle for an orange tea.

On the way home I stopped to get some great English muffins from Shoppers and picked up Brown Rice Wraps as well, at home I had 1/2 a banana, with a small amount of nut better and a Brown Rice Wrap, it has been 7 hours since my last meal and I was hungry. My daughter was cooking a Frozen Pizza that smelled really good but the Rice Wrap snack did the job.

So all in all a pretty good day..

Menu Today

Breakfast - Brown Rice Wrap, Hazelnut Butter, 1/2 a banana
Snack - Protein Shake
Lunch - Brown Rice Wrap with flavoured Tuna, lettuce, cucumber etc...small bit of yogurt dressing.
snack - not sure
Dinner - Sweet Potato Fries (Baked) BBQ'd Shrimp from M & M's and some salad, I will probably throw on some hunk of meat for my man....

Exercise - Pilates

Food and S--

Already being back on track with my menu planning has had a positive impact on my life.

I have lost one lb not much but my goal is only 9 more right now, and I have not yet added exercise to the mix. Tonight i teach 2 classes and tomorrow I plan running again, I will run 3 times for sure this week and maybe a short 3k on Sunday. Boot camp Friday night along with teaching should really have an impact. I am also committed to napping tons this week, I sometimes eat more when I am tired, thinking the food will boost my energy, it doesn't.

So now my heading....Today because my meals have been preplanned I had tons of time on my hands, my husband started looking life a fun diversion, we don't have cable....so my new menu planning is making him a happy man, plus his dinner was cooked, normally I don't cook much during the week.

Tomorrows meals..

Breakfast - Cottage Cheese and raspberries
morning snack - grapes and cheese string
Lunch - Leftovers, small skinnless chicken leg, 2 small new potato's spinach salad with yogurt dressing, and bit of grated sharp cheddar.
Dinner - Fresh spring rolls (not deep fried), tofu stirfry, ginger teach...yummmmmmm
Not sure if I will have more snacks, probably a latte after run club....and a granola thingy from Starbucks....a nice little treat.

I had an Amazing Day

Today was amazing...in every way except that I ate Turkey Sandwiches....all day..

.Dinner was great, we have a boarder,a big burly biker looking boarder (he moved in for a month 2 years ago). I asked him to join us for dinner and asked him to pray over the food, what a laugh we had as he, struggled to come up with a one line blessing. Dinner was great, satisfying and really fresh, the salad I was making turned into a Greek Salad, as I added some organic olive oil and red wine vinegar and skipped a few things, sorry but I just can't do lemon juice as a salad dressing, way tooo much like diet food for me, I lightly dressed the salad.

Early in the day I ran a Sutra Study (yoga threads to a happy life), so it was great sharing with some really neat women, over the past 8 months I have been doing yoga teacher training and this group of women has become very special to me, we share lots of personal stuff and tons of laughs. I am so proud of the great teachers these women are going to be.

Then Frank and I met up with some friends after dinner and it was a riot, there was genuine concern over my illness and more laughs, I have a really great community of friends.

Frank even held my hand.....in front of people, unprompted, I really think being sick and me relying on him and has affected him in some way....I asked him if he felt this and he said no... it has been a pain in the ass but his actions have been awesome....

Right now he is upstairs woofing down more macaroons, but I am safely in the basement....far away from the smell and temptation.

Two of my friends started Blogs about their journey and weight loss so now we have a little blogger community, it was great to read their stories. I can see their Blogs will be a big help to me.

Tomorrows Menu

Egg White Omelet with mushrooms, red onion and a bit of goat cheese.
Once slice of rye toast.
Snack - cheese string and fruit
Lunch - Sushi rolls, miso soup, salad, I am a sushi addict but go at lunch time because it is way cheaper, so I am a cheap sushi addict, I plan on having Spicy Tuna rolls, AC rolls and California Rolls, it is a lunch special.
Snack - had a nap instead
Dinner - Flattened Chicken, Salad with yogurt dressing, roasted new potato's in olive oil and various spices
Treat - one scoop of sugar free almond crunch ice cream from Baskin & Robbins, in a cup, no cone.

EGAD....my husband planned dinner

Saturday - Okay so after a few good days being careful and all, I ran out of "good" groceries, was working all day and didn't plan dinner....in my head I had planned maybe a buying a greek salad from up the street or maybe a small sushi dinner, something light and very yummy. As I am still not driving much, my husband came to pick me up, it was 6:30pm and I was hungry.

I broached the topic of Dinner.....out came his plans, boxed bacon flavoured scalloped potato's, that he had purchased one day for .83 cents a box....yikes... and pre-cooked BBQ's pork spareribs......my thighs starting expanding at the mere thought of this dinner.

As a person on a spiritual path I try hard to stay grateful....but in this moment it was not coming.....I breathed and said "great". How was I going to Blog this high chemical/fat dinner....Frank's feelings are important (or so he tells me LOL) so I quietly simmered in the passengars seat.

At home I scoped out our very empty fridge and found 1/2 a bag of fresh peas and some cauliflower, whew fiber.....steaming both, I then threw the cauliflower on the BBQ with some olive oil and sea salt....it was really good, ate only a few ribs and maybe 1/2 a cup of the scallopped potato's and filled up on the rest. When Frank dug into a lemon pie he had bought and I tidied up to stay distracted from the pie.

I thanked him for dinner, feelings saved, dinner eaten in again in a place of peace and happiness, and we had a great night.

Today I worked until 2:00 and then headed to the grocery store with the weeks menu already planned, I find planning so helpful and ends up saving me a ton of thought time and money.

Food Today

Breakfast : Fat Free Cottage Cheese with some chopped fruit - I actually love cottage cheese..
Snack - 1/2 a turkey sandwich on Brown.
Lunch - Apple, almonds, 1/2 turkey sandwich on Brown.
Snack - 1/2 a turkey sandwich on Brown

Okay so a little boring but this was before I went grocery shopping.
Only one water so far...heading to the kitchen for more after this post.

Dinner - BBQ's lamb, Richelle's salad (I am subsituting red leaf lettuce for the cliantro, and no tuna...sorry Richelle), baked sweet potato.

I stocked up on Frozen Mango's on special today for the the protien shakes Misty has turned me on to, they are filling and yummy and I can make them at the studio.

Day 4....

After a very rough night of little sleep, I actually woke up with out dizziness for the first time in 10 days....I decided to do an easy run with the group, I facebooked my friend Cori-Ann to make sure I would have a running partner, my speed. It was great....for someone like me not moving for 9 days is very hard, my body is just used to exersise and I don't feel good when I am not working out.

I feel okay, a little dizzy but nothing very serious. The Great Great Great news is that after being sick for 9 days with no exercise I weight the same..normally I would have gone up, some comfort food, lying around etc... Years of dieting have given me a shitty metabolism, but that seems to have turned around. I really think the last year of working out with Misty with wieghts and not dieting has stabilzed my metabolism, which is why I am being careful and eating snacks, I have low blood sugar so that snacks really help me feel better and I am not starving at meals.

Misty wrote in her blog there never seems to be a good time to do the right thing and she is so right....now may seem like a silly time to start this new weight loss goal with being sick but I have decided to turn illness into a gift by refocussing on me.

Todays Wrap up

So day 3 ends, The afternnon went okay but I decided to drive because I am restless day 9 with vertigo, and I am still dizzy not as bad of course, I ended up going into work just to clear out my in box and such....I was starving so had a couple of unplanned cheese strings.

So my snacks today were; 6 almonds, a small box of raision, 2 cheese strings along with the apple and hazelnut. I forot to meditate over dinner but I did eat it slowly with my husband, eating and enjoying the company of people you love is a part of yoga as well.

Later he offered me some macarooms........so I just ate 3, very slowly savouring the chocolate and coconut....I actually felt quite content with the 3, no cravings for me, chocolate is not a huge weakness of mine.

I am going to post my hummus recipe this weekened sometime it is fast easy and great.

I think tomorrow will be good, I am going to try a short run and then I teach a course all weekend, sitting down and relaxing, I wrote the course and it is my first time teaching it, I am excited it is one of the more interersting ones, it is all yoga philosophy.

So for tomorrow I need to carry my food to work.

Breakfast - Rye toast, and peanut butter, sugar free Jam
Apple, Hazelnut butter
Lunch = Vegetarian Chilli, Organic Rye Toast,
Smack - Strawberries protien shake.
Dinner - Unplanned - not a good thing

Thanks guys for the encouragement and great recipes, I added some links to my Blog, that were suggested by followers. I will try some of the recipes and let you know, I for one only eat something if it tastes good....if it is healthy and tastes bad it does not go in my body.

My morning snack, a sliced apple with hazelnut spread, organic of course and very yummy, I am on my second huge glass of water which is really good for me and only one coffee so far...that will change after my nap.

Richelle posted an interesting salad recipe I will try next week.

Being a Yoga Teacher I have incorporated some meditation into my meals, a little gratitude moment or prayer, enjoying the smell and look of it before starting the meal. Plus I am really going to try to only do one thing at a time, so not eat while I am working. Chew slower and savor....sometimes I eat like my dogs....usually when I am really hungry....

I am going to make some hummus this after noon, I will roast some garlic to go in it and eat it with cucumber slices and baby carrot's. I make great hummus, I use a recipe I have had for 19 years from an old vegetarian cookbook.

After my nap it is coffee time and some Pilates...still too sick for Small Group training tonight, boo hoo.

Day Three - Feeling a bit better whew

So day three begins, I woke up only slightly dizzy this morning, thank goodness because mornings are the worst time, my vertigo seems to get better as the day wears on, although last night I was pretty woozy by bedtime.

Keeping honest is not so easy, last night the Power was off and my hunger was on....Frank was stuffing himself with peanut better and white bread, one of my comfort foods.. Then he ate two bowls of salad and then hit the chocolates all at 10:00pm. I had to leave the room for awhile. I kept thinking if I have something I don't have to blog it....but the whole goal of the blog is to keep me honest and to solicit the support of my community.

One of things I know that contributes to my weight is I can be lazy with grocery shopping so after class last night I had Frank (my driver) take me to the Super Centre where I stocked up on some fruits and veggies. Having great food at my finger tips really really helps. I noticed they are advertising locally grown veggies, that has been one of my pet peeves with them for years, when all our great produce is in season they are still purchasing from other countries. Now, if we could get locally organic grown food.

I buy most of my fruit and veggies at BC Produce in Pickering, local stuff, great owners. Then I supplement with organics where I can.

Breakfast today

Organic Oatmeal, I am going to add the egg whites suggested by Richelle Morgan, and will be topping it off with a mixture of fresh fruits, strawberries, a peach, some flax and some hemp hearts, I am really hoping the egg whites help keep me full, I love oatmeal.

Lunch - Organic Rye Bread, Tuna, and some light mayo, some baby carrots too.

Dinner - Chicken Tornado's - I defrosted too many last night, curried cauliflower & peas, maybe add some sweet potato if my driver will take me out again today.

Still planning the snacks....I have some almonds which honestly bore me to tears...but I know they are good for me, now if they are salted and roasted and covered with something yummy, then I could eat the whole bag.

Some more Pilates today, yoga still makes me dizzy, and hopefully some upper body with the weights.

I am hoping I can drive by Monday as....this is day 9 with Vertigo and being confined to the house....those of you that know me well would know how haaaaaaard that is for me.

Last night I asked Frank if he felt this had brought us closer together this opportunity, to give back to me. He said no, it is a pain in the ass....and here I thought we had been bonding all week.

Some personal info

I have been plump since my mid 20's never really really overweight but always with that bit of extra weight, I gained weight when I decided I had enough with the binging purging and the diet pills I lived on for years. Over the years I have tried so many ways to lose weight they are as follows;

1) Diet Workshop (twice)
2) Weight Watchers (4 times)
3) Holistic Nutritionists (3 times)
4) Trainers (3 times)
5) Running 1/2 marathons (5)
5) Diet Pills
6) Countless Diet Books
7) Not buying certain foods and depriving my family of these at the same time.
8) Certain weird drinks, including something that tasted like tar and made me gag.
10) drinking and not eating/smoking and not eating - yikes how did I end up so healthy today.

Each has contributed to weight loss for a period of time but always it crept back on. This year however has been one of my more successful years, slowly but surely with the help of my trainer Misty and some short runs, I have lost 14lbs, no weight gain back and my metabolism seems good, I no longer gain 5lbs if I over eat.

So this time I am going to use yoga philosophy with the help of my trainer and friends.

For example today after great feelings of frustration with my husband....I decided to meditate, for 1/2 an hour I did a silent meditation. I ended feeling refreshed and had not eaten....

Yoga would tell us everything in balance, clean food, exercise, persistence, patience, enthusiasm, support, rest, meditation etc....no one thing would be a magic cure, I seem to always do one thing at a time.

Workout plan for the rest of the week

Since I am still suffering from Vertigo, my workout plan is going to be very light.

Today I am going to try some Pilates, maybe just 20mins to see how the dizziness goes.
Tomorrow I am going to do some upper body with weights, can't really stand yet for long periods. Maybe a bit more Pilates, which I love.

Saturday if all goes well, i will do a short 4k run, slow, with the beginner group....Sunday no exercise.

Day Two......still not feeling well

Breakfast
One oatmeal and egg white pancake, 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese with Blueberries
Coffee...yikes heading to drink some water.
Snack 10almonds, 1/2 a banana
Lunch - was amazing 2/3 cups brown basmati rice, and 1 cup vegetarian chilli, made with black and kidney beans, and Yves Italian flavored imitation ground beef. 1/3 of an English cucumber sliced
Dessert - Watermelon slices
5 glasses of water so far...... have spent a ton of time in the washroom.....LOL
Still have vertigo so won't be running but am teaching two yoga classes tonight so some movement today.
Afternoon snack, One brown rice cake, the larger size with some light cream cheese and salsa, this is my new favorite snack...I could eat the whole bag of rice cakes this way, something has to make those things taste good.
Dinner - Salad with Yogurt Ranch Dressing, Chicken tournado and 1/2 a grilled Pita.
snack - skim milk string -
Did about 20 mins of Pilates, finished with 30 boy pushups, felt some rushes but it actually felt really good to move my body, I say boy pushups because over a year ago before training with Misty, I couldn't do even one, now even with vertigo I can do 3 sets of 10. Played some Bob Marley and then danced abit like there was no one watching. Then walked into the door frame so thought that was enough.

What I ate and did today.....weight loss goal 10lbs by September 25th

Day One -

Breakfast - Organic Oatmeal, blueberries, milk, flax seed and hemp hearts....starving an hour later.
Snack - egg white and oatmeal pancake...yummy
Lunch - Cucumber and lite cream cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread.
Snack - carrots, 10 almonds.
Apple
Dinner - Chicken Breast, skinless, steamed potatoes and carrots, just a touch of butter - full after Dinner
Snack, 1/2 banana
4 glasses of water.

No exercise as I am sick,