Day 25 & 26 & 27

Hi all,

It snowed, it snowed!! *Jumps for joy*

YES I am one of those people that loves snow!! I can't wait to get a pile of it and go snowmobiling!!!

Anyways.. I've been going strong on the working out. On Sunday I really pushed myself running on the treadmill and speedwalking uphill. My feet/ankles HURT SO BADLY!! :( I just kept getting sharp pains in my legs.. it was a very uncomfortable feeling.. Oh well.

At least my steelers won! I was happy about that :)

Mondays are always hard for me as they are my longest day, so I decided to go for a stroll with my lovely friend Samantha at lunch :) It was rather cold.. but nice! :)

ROOF was good :). I truly love volunteering there!

Anyways.. today I did a smaller workout as my legs were still hurting and did 120 sit ups on my exercise ball. Not sure if my core is getting stronger or if its the fact that the ball doesnt have as much air in it as last time.. but it was VERRRY easy :). I powered through!

Anyways.. time to get back to work!

Adios!

Steph

Christmas is Coming!!

Hi all,

Yesterday Mom and I spent 4 hours decorating the house for Christmas :). It was rather fun... but I was pretty tired towards the end .. here are some pics!

The Tree

This used to be my favourite thing to play with when I was like 5 lol. Id swap out all the colours

I love sparkle!!!

Christmas Village I assembled

Stockings


My Stocking Holder.. hoping for a new pic as I was pretty drunk in this one :|

Christmas Ornament I got from my boss last year

Christmas Present I got from a former Coworker Justina <3

My Christmas friends

More decorations

Even more decorations (by the front door)

I love christmas!! Can you tell!!

Time to go tune back into the football game.. GO STEELERS!!!

Steph

Day 22, 23 & 24

Hi all.. hope you are all having a great weekend :)!

I know.. I know.. I am a bit behind but better late than never right?

So Thursday night I went to see Breaking Dawn part 1 with the girls.. it was pretty good but kinda funny at some of the serious parts. lol. I came home and watched the Thursday night NFL game while I worked out on the treadmill for 20 mins. 6 NFL mins= 20 real time minutes.. I should do that more often!! Well maybe not.. I got so excited that when I cheered and pumped my fists into the air I punched the ceiling. I also jumped with excitement and almost flew off the back.. I was also very distracted and almost walked off the side of the machine.. whoops! lol It's funny to think about now though.

Friday I came home from work and immediately jumped on the treadmill.. it felt great and I really pushed myself. I was gasping for breath towards the end :) I love that feeling!!! I hung out with my hunny last night and we watched the latest episode of Modern Family (our show) and then he got me started on HBO's The Wire. So far so.. meh? lol Its ok so far .. I'm hoping it picks up.. I'm more into major (girly) dramas and comedies.. we'll see.

This morning Pete and I went out to Cora's and I got the healthiest thing I could find on the menu (my fave) the Harvest Crunch.. sooooooooo good. I also get the granola on the side so I could control that too.. It was great!! :)

He's so amazing <3... I've honestly never been happier in my ENTIRE LIFE. I'm so happy we're together.. he was always one of my closest friends and its an incredible feeling to be 100% myself with him. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have him. :)

He dropped me off around 1ish and I took my pup for a walk.. it was soooo beautiful today!! It got up to 13C!! and its 8pm and its still 11C (Now its 11:20 and its 12C whhhaaaatttt!?!?). I can't believe it.. its almost December! lol.. Christmas is in less than a month! That means I have a very, very busy month ahead of me.. gah

Anyways I'm off to play MW3!

Toodles!!

Steph

Day 20 & 21

Hi all,

Sorry for the late post again! I'm a mad slacker!! :P

Tuesday I jumped on the treadmill for a 25 minute power walk and was dripping in sweat towards the end.. GAH!!! It was exhausting. I was going to go visit my man after but the freezing rain was a bit intense and I didn't even make it to the end of my road before having to turn back.. made me sad!

Wednesday me and my best friend went for a 30 minute walk with her dog Ace. It was rather cold but we made it through :).

Anyways.. This is going to be a short one as I'm about to head off to go meet my mom :). We're going to go see Breaking Dawn tonight with the girls!! YAY!!

Can't wait!!

Steph

1.5 lbs down!

This has been a GREAT month for me so far in the weight loss department :) I've lost 1.5 lbs every single week of this month! This week was also a biggie as I didn't use any of my 49 extra WW points!

Factors that have helped me lose weight:

1. Friends/Family Support- the support my friends and family have been giving me is HUGE. Do you know how motivational it is for me to hear "WOW you look amazing!!", "look how slim you're looking" or "I can really tell you're losing again!"? Hearing those things makes me want to work harder and push myself even more :).

2. Tracking- Tracking is very, very, very important. If you don't track you might as well not bother. I track EVERY SINGLE thing I eat no matter how scary the number is. Its also really important to keep track of the amount of fruits/veggies, dairy, healthy oils and water I am taking in each day.

3. Not eating out- This is a big one for me as sometimes I feel like I am a fast food ADDICT. I really don't think it's okay to be eating out regularly when you're trying to lose weight. Before I used to go out and get shawarma 2 to 3 times a WEEK. Its not THAT unhealthy for you.. but it's not the best. Now I go about once every 2 to 3 weeks.. I see it as a treat for myself. Putting the extra 5-10 minutes into your morning to plan your lunch/dinner really helps and will keep money in your pocket!

4. Exercise- Although I started the first 30 lbs of my weight loss with absolutely NO exercise it has played a big factor in my weight loss in the last few weeks. I've consistently lost 1.5 lbs every week for the month of November since I started my work out challenge:) I actually enjoy working out now. Nik was right.. once you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit.. I'm only at day 21 but its already a habit to plan what I will be doing for that day.

5. Weighing in weekly- No matter how scared I am of the scale I get my arse on it every Wednesday morning. NO MATTER WHAT. I've had weeks where I've gone up 3-4 lbs and its devastating at first but it pushes me to get my ass in gear and make sure those lbs come off in the following weeks. Sometimes you need the let down to bring you right back up. There have been weeks where I thought I was going to gain and then stared at the scale for a good 2 minutes thinking I needed to get my eyes checked as I had actually lost!

6. Water- Most of my friends already know this but I LOVE water.. it beneficial in sooo many ways. Water is always my drink of choice as I dont drink pop or juice and rarely ever drink alcohol. I also drink A LOT of it.. people are saying my teeth are whiter and are always commenting on how smooth my skin looks too :)

7. Common sense- A lot of it comes down to common sense. If I want to lose weight I don't drink my calories.. I don't eat fatty foods .. I don't eat out. When I do I don't go for the fattening options like say.. waffles or pancakes when I go out for breakfast. I opt for the parfait at coras and ask them to put the granola on the side.. (sooo good by the way!!) or for lunch I don't go for McDonalds or BK or any fried options.. I opt for a salad or a healthy sandwich. These things are in your control.. there are a wide variety of options and you get to CHOOSE what you want! It's okay for me to give in every now and again but the majority of the time it NEEDS to be a healthy choice :)

Anyways thanks for reading. I'll post again later tonight to update you on my workouts!

Steph

Day 18 & 19

Hey all!

Hope you are all doing well.. :)

Sorry for another delayed post but I've been super busy and as you know.. Mondays are my busiest days.

Sunday I got my work out on by taking my pup for a power walk (he needs it just as much as I do) and then I went to my mans house and watched football :) We also went for a walk uptown waterloo which was nice.

Monday I decided to just do a stroll around the block on my lunch break with a coworker.. it was nice :)!

Anyways Im going to take off.. tomorrow is weigh in day so I will let you know how it goes:)

Steph

Day 16 & 17

Hey all,

Its been a busy few days and I'm fitting in a quick blog while Pete gets ready before we head to a party..

Anyways .. day 17!! My fave number.. holy crap I can't believe I've made it this far!! This means I have less than 2 weeks left in this challenge!

Anyways.. yesterday I got my work out on by taking Brady for a walk after work.. a 20 minute power walk in the dark.. wasn't that much fun but I wasn't really feeling the treadmill after being cooped up in the office all day. It felt good after I was done but it was frrrrreeeeeeezing out!! I hung out with my man last night and we went to booster juice :) Then came back to his place and snuggled up and watched southpark. I went home.. chatted with my friend Chantelle and then crashed at about 1ish. It sucked because I couldn't sleep because all I could think about was Pete and how happy he makes me. I'm super lame lol..

Had an early morning today as I had Nonviolent Crisis Intervention training for ROOF at 9am. GAH lol.. I am not a morning person!! we got out a bit early so I asked pete if he'd wait for me to go to a walk to the store (he did). Took us about an hour and it started to rain which sucked... but oh well.. what can ya do?

Anyways I think I shall depart! Toodles...

Steph

Day 15- 1/2 way point and 1.5 lbs down!

Hi all,

Yesterday I had a GREAT day!! (except for one minor thing that I cannot control nor will I talk about!) I woke up after having THE most amazing sleep (9hrs), hoped on the scale and saw I was 1.5 lbs down! I did a little happy dance heheh! It's such a good feeling!! I had a great day at work and then went and visited my grandparents for dinner.. Ribs and mashed potatoes for dinner!! YUM... maybe not the healthiest but I knew what I was having so I planned my day accordingly and even had 2 WW points left over at the end of the day!

Anyways.. after dinner with my grandparents I went on a little shopping trip at Costco with my mom. twas gooood! I then went home and worked it on the treadmill for a good 26 mins! ( hahah I calculated that its an extra activity point to do the extra minute.. sooo worth it!)

I'm a very happy gal and hope to see another drop by the end of the week but won't be that upset if I stay the same.. So far I've lost 3 lbs since I've started this challenge! WHOOT:D

LOVE IT!!

Gonna head out now.. take care!!

Steph

Day 13 & 14

Sorry I've been such a shitty blogger! I've actually been getting over a flu bug so haven't wanted to do a thing.

I stayed home from ROOF on Monday as I didn't want to go in and spread my bug to the homeless youth.. that just wouldn't be fair. I stayed home in bed and gamed playing MW3 for hours. haha.. I'm a bit of a loser.

I did manage to drag my butt out of bed to do 120 situps.. OUCH. It hurts today lol..

Today was a good day.. I had another person tell me that it shows I'm losing weight *happy dance*

BOOYA!!!!

I did a 25 minute workout on the treadmill tonight.. felt good but I did feel a bit lightheaded after. I can really feel a difference from when I first started working out to now.. I feel like my legs have more strength.. I can work out for longer and the big one is my motivation. I look forward to working out now because I can FEEL a difference! :) I love it!!

Anyways.. tomorrow is my weigh in day.. I'm kinda nervous as there are things that happen that affect whether or not i lose weight. Won't go into detail but .. BLAH!

Adios!

Steph :)

Day 12

Sooo today I did a tiny workout.. I did sit ups on my exercise ball for 5 minutes straight.

I'm actually not feeling too well today so.. gonna keep this short.

done. back to football!

Night!

Steph

Day 10 & 11

So yesterday was kinda of a weird day.. it was snowing like a mofo which didn't make it too fun to walk in. I had a pretty busy day so knew if I wanted to work out I'd need to do it on my lunchbreak again. I waited for Gus but he was too busy so went on my own. I'm seriously surprised how comfortable and warm my winter jacket is! lol.. I got in a 14 minute power walk so I was happy with that :) It was my grandpas birthday yesterday.. he turned 77 :) I love him so much!

Today I went for two walks. I took brady for a brisk walk to the stop sign on my road and back.. it was sooo nice out! It was a 20 minute power walk. Did the same thing about 2 hours later with my boyfriend Pete and it was more leisurely but was about 30 mins.

Tonight we have some family friends coming over and I'm sooo excited to see them! I love them so much <3

Will update you tomorrow.

Steph

My Before/After Pictures

As I said before.. I am posting some of my before/after pics. Most of the before pics are from around October-December 2010. WOW... To think I actually thought I looked good on those days :(. Boy what a change..

I want to thank you all for reading this blog.. it means soo much to me and your feedback seriously makes my day and motivates me to go so much further. Thank you SO much.

To give you a little background info .. I started weight watchers in March 2011 :) It changed my life and I'm so grateful that I have succeeded (and will continue to have more successes). Looking back now I'm so happy I made the leap to join and plan on becoming a lifetime member to never allow myself to go back to that awful place!

Before

After

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

Thank you for taking the time to look through my pics. I have to say I HATE taking full bodied pictures but really wanted to share my journey with you :) Any comments/feedback would be appreciated! I'd also like to mention that this isn't the end of the road for me. I'd like to lose an additional 30-40 lbs :)

I am going to go for a walk during my lunch break. :) Will post about that one later!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Steph

Day 9!

So today was a crazy, busy day. A LOT of running around at work and I was sweating like a mofo!

I knew that right after work I would be heading over to Jenns and then to Ambers for dinner so knew I needed to get in a workout during my lunch break. I asked one of my work pal's to go for a walk and he said yes :). We went for a very brisk power walk.. It felt great! hahaa I was sooo out of breath by the time we got back to the office but it was sooo worth it! We're going to go for another one tomorrow :)

I'm so lucky to have such supportive friends! All through my weight lose hes been supporting me and motivating me to continue! It really helps :) On wednesday he told me that it looked like I was losing again! Also, one of my other coworkers Georgina told me today that she can't believe how "slim" I am getting (i love that word!) ahahah! Sometimes I need the ego boost.

So this morning I woke up and could barely move.. gonna rest off the taebo for a few days lol. Im still achy.. :( It even hurt to laugh.. and if you know me you know I'm always happy and positive and laughing!

Anyways it's getting late and I'm gonna crash!

later!

Steph

Day 8

Day 8 and still going strong! I had a last minute change of mind as to what I wanted to do tonight for my workout. I initially was going to give'r on the treadmill for 30-40 mins but decided to switch it up and do some taebo.. :| I'm surprised I'm still alive to write this blog. No joke.

haha I could only do 21 minutes because I thought I was going to have a heart attack.. or an asthma attack (I grew out of asthma when I was a kid but it felt like it could come back!). It was intense.. I was DRIPPING in sweat when I was done and maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan did it feel good!!! :)

I am soo sore.. I was already sore from my massage yesterday (my back is bruised!) so doing an intense work out may not have been the best idea but hey.. gotta work myself in and now I'm happy I did it!

I do think that tomorrow I will go back to walking lol. Maybe I'll take a quick stroll during my lunch break after our catered lunch provided by Primal (the best workplace EVER). WHOOT!!!

Today one of my friends told me that my blog inspired her to start tracking points again. It made me feel so good and made me feel like I was actually making a difference by doing this <3. Thanks so much for saying that hunny!!

Anyways I'm going to head over to my amazing boyfriends house soon so I need to clean myself up to make myself look pretty (or not? He would tell me "you're done" ahaha so cute <3). I will update you all tomorrow!

xoxo

Steph

Day 7 & 1.5 lbs down!

Hey all,

So for my workout yesterday I decided to hit the treadmill. Honestly it was really hard because my dad had just built a fire in our basement so I was SOO SOOO SOOO HOT!!!

It was a really uncomfortable feeling :(. I could only last 20 minutes.

I think tonight I'm REALLY going to push myself.

With that said.. I have official completed 7 days of workouts! I'm so proud of myself for sticking to it and even prouder to have done waayyyy more than 5 minutes every day :).

On the weight watchers front, Wednesday morning are my weigh in days. I got on the scale and I am 1.5 lbs down this week! I was a bit disappointed as I did expect to lose more .. but what can you do! Its still a loss and not a gain so I am currently VERY happy about that :)

Anyways.. today is a very, very busy day for me so I will update you later!

Adios!

Steph

Day 6

Hey all,

Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday.. but you'll rarely see me post on a Monday as it is ALWAYS my busiest day of the week. I work 9-5 and then go to ROOF to volunteer from 6-10:30. Usually I'm pretty exhausted afterwards. Last night was extremely stressful as there was a lot going on at drop in. I'm just thankful I can be there to help and to make a difference in the youths lives :).

They really are special to me :).

Anyways.. Mondays are also hard for me as I never know what I will be having for dinner as ROOF serves food at 9pm and we pretty much do something with whatever we have. Like last night I had to make french fries, Hot dogs and beans, and soup. It was actually pretty good as I just had beans and wieners which equaled out to 8 points.

I also was able to put in some exercise yesterday! I was worried it would be raining but it held off for me to get in my 20 minute power walk between 5-6pm :)

Tonight I think I'm either gonna push myself HARD on the treadmill or do a taebo tape (its been awhile). I'll post later and let you know what I've decided :)!

I want to thank you all for being so supportive of me! I've enabled commenting so you can let me know your thoughts or tips :)!

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Steph

Day 4 & 5

Hey all!

Gonna tagteam this post and combine it into one.

I've been going strong on being active. I'm feeling much more motivated this time around and I'm even planning ahead! I already know what I will be doing tomorrow for my workout :)

Yesterday (Day 4) I had the best workout I've had in a VERY long time. I was walking/running on the treadmill for 45 minutes and then finished up with 10 mins of stretching.. It was great. My thighs hurt a lot last night though :(. I got my workout in this morning with my man... we woke up and walked to Canadian Tire/Starbucks.. It wasn't a strenuous walk but hey.. it was more than my minimum of 5 minutes.

I also created a mini goal for myself this week to only use 10 of my extra 49 weight watcher points (you get 49 extra points a week to use however you want.. all at once or spread out throughout the week). I've been using almost ALL of my points lately so I need to get back on track.. I dont NEED them.. I just WANT to use them.. not smart! So far I've only used 2 .. weekends are always the hardest for me so I feel like it is a huge accomplishment :)! Whoot!!

:)

Anyways.. I'm at my lovely boyfriends house and I'm gonna go bug him.. muahahahaha!!!

Steph

Day 3

This is gonna be short and sweet :). Sorry I didn't post yesterday but I was feeling realllly tired and crashed pretty early :)

For day 3 of my challenge I went for a 30 minute extreme power walk with Brady (my golden retriever) .. Its really different when it's freezing cold out. I felt like I barely sweat and whatever I did was going to turn to ice!! Brrrr!!! Today (day 4) I will be working out inside on the treadmill and incorporating my exercise ball in towards the end.

I'd also like to add.. last night I went to costco to buy something and my idol JANN ARDEN was there!! I got to meet her.. I was freaking out!! hahaha

She is SUPER nice and sooo cool!!! It was great!!

Anyways.. I am about to go on a breakfast date with one of my closest friends!! Can't wait to see her.. its been wayyyyy too long!

Love & Such,

Steph <3

My Weight Watchers Journey

So as most of you may already know.. I am a member of Weight Watchers. I can honestly say that it has changed my life! I started my journey February 23rd and have since lost 35 lbs! It has been fairly easy but there has also been many struggles.

I started out feeling VERY unhappy with myself. I was at the heaviest I had ever been.. I hated mirrors and anything that reflected my image. All I saw was this fat person who was hurting inside. I will open up about my past a bit. I ended a 4.5 year relationship in late November... looking back now it was the best move I ever made of my life. There was a lot of abuse in that relationship.. mostly emotional. He hurt me very badly and I never thought I would be okay. I never heard positive compliments... it was always negative. I heard SO many times that my opinion didn't matter and he often asked me if I ever thought before I spoke. He'd tell me that he didnt find me attractive or that he didnt know if he loved me anymore. Telling me that he'd brush his teeth everyday if I would go to the gym everyday. Telling me I shouldn't wear certain kinds of underwear because it made my ass look awful. Telling me he'd only give me a ring if I was a size 6. Telling me my smile was "fucked" and that he was the beauty of our relationship and I was the beast. He even looked for other women while we were still dating and didn't even give me an option to decide whether or not I wanted to be with him.

He even told me that he didn't want to get physical with me anymore because having sex with me reminded him of having sex with his mother.. his blond haired, blue eyed, short and chubby mother. I have brown eyes & hair.. am almost 5'9 and am chubby.. made alot of sense.

Here is an excerpt from my other blog to truly describe how I felt after getting out of that mess:

"He ruined me.. he ruined who I was.. I was a confident, happy person who never stopped smiling..and now .. I am the girl who hates her self.. who hates mirrors and is always disguising my emotions because I hurt so bad. Sure, I am always smiling but that's what I have to do to not have to explain why I'm so sad. There are few things that make me happy anymore.. FEW..

I just don't know what to do anymore.. I guess time heals everything.. I just need to move on and focus on the present:).. and future."

This is exactly what I did.. I focused on my friends, my family, my new life... I focused on my own happiness for the first time in so long. It really changed me as a person. Two months later I decided to join weight watchers because I knew if I didn't get help I would be stuck forever.

I can honestly say that I have never been happier in my ENTIRE life. I have a best friend who is always there for me and boosting me up. I can talk to her about ANYTHING and she is always giving me inspiration to continue on my weight loss journey. I have a close relationship with my family and they make me feel great. Also, I am in a relationship with someone who I had been friends with for quite some time before we started dating. He treats me better than any man ever has and I am truly happy.

Getting back to the weight watchers portion of this post.. It really works. The plan is sooo easy to follow! I can literally eat ANYTHING.. the only restrictions I have are portion sizes. If I want to eat that piece of cake.. I need to plan the rest of my day around it.. PLAN PLAN PLAN!! That is the BIG thing for me. If you don't plan ahead you're just planning to fail!

There are also a few good health guidelines I need to follow which lay out how much fruits/veggies, healthy fats, milk, protein and activity I should be getting in a day. It also advices me to fill up on power foods which are nutritious and satisfying foods that work to help me lose weight:) I have recommended this to so many people and they also succeeded (if they stuck to the plan). My mom lost 20 lbs so quickly and whooped my arse!

The weight loss has been slow lately but I know I can get back in gear and work as hard as I can to get the lbs to drop! I also have to realize that I've lost more than 30 lbs and my body needs to adjust! The lbs may not be dropping on the scale but it has been showing in my measurements and so many people are still noticing that I'm losing :).

It's such a fun feeling! Anyways.. I'm writing this on my lunch break and now I need to get back to work! Hope you all have a great friday!

Steph

Day 2

Hey all,

Today has been a good day! I'm feeling motivated and excited about this challenge.. Today for my exercise challenge I went walking with my best friend Jenn. We went for a brisk 20 minute walk around the block.. it was great. I love walking in the fall :)

Today I resisted a lot of temptation at the office. There is still a lot of candy and chocolate and it was reallly hard to resist. Instead of eating chocolate I opted for a snack of frozen grapes. SOO GOOD! ehehehe it's such a nice treat! I also decided on eatting a vegetable black bean and barley soup instead of chowder! Also, with lunch I had a banana and an apple :).

I should mention that I also follow the weight watchers plan. So far I've lost 35 lbs!! :D I feel sooo great! I've been plateauing for a bit (hence the blog) so really need to get back on track! It's been really easy for the most part.. but temptation can sometimes be a bitch!

I'll talk some more about that in my next blog post :). I'll also post some before and after pictures.

Anyways.. Gonna get back to my hangouts with the bestie and will write more later.

I have so much to share!!

xoxo

Steph

Day 1!

A few months back I received a great idea from a colleague. He is VERY inspirational and he gave me the idea to start 30 day challenges.

I started my first 30 day challenge and was motivated... It was fitness related and I started off strong but midway through I started to get lazy and failed. :( I didn't really think of starting a new one until I was down in the dumps and feeling lost.. feeling unmotivated. I knew I needed the extra kick to get my butt in gear. I also knew that if I started a blog that I would have some friends/followers to support me and help me out along the way.

So here we are! Welcome to my new blog The Challenge to Change. Here I will post about my challenges and will also post about the changes I'd like to make in my life.

First Challenge

For the next 30 days I am going to exercise for a MINIMUM of 5 minutes a day. NO MATTER WHAT! I will find the time. whether it be in the morning, during my lunch break, or in the evening.

Day 1

Today I was on the treadmill for 25 minutes and felt great! :) I honestly can't wait to work out tomorrow.. I'm so excited!

I know I can do this and I want to share it with you. On thanksgiving I set a 15 lb weight loss goal for December 25th and I'm already 4 lbs on my way there! :)

Anyways, Im going to finish catching up on the show Ringer.. (I can't get enough!)

Later!

Steph