Day 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 AND 17

Day 12- Wednesday

I felt like poop on Wednesday.. I was let down from my gain and didn't feel like doing anything. Mom and I went to Costco and then to Fairview mall..(had fun OF COURSE). I got home and was exhausted. I knew I could have counted what I had done in walking as my activity of the day but I didn't. I forced myself to work out.  I must have whined (internally) at least 20 times how I didn't want to work out and one day wouldn't kill me and how I should just be lazy and watch TV.

Did I?

NOPE. I got off my ass.. got on my runners and got my ass on that treadmill and powered through for 30 minutes. I then put my ass on that exercise ball and worked out for another 15. And how did I feel after that? FANTASTIC!!!!!! GREAT SUCCESS!!! Don't expect results from excuses!

I was sooo happy I pushed myself to do that because I know the next day I would have regretted not doing it.

Day 13- Thursday

Thursday was a pretty busy day for me. I knew I wouldn't have time after work to do my workout as I was going straight to Jenns and there was a chance I would have to stay the night. I decided to get my activity in at work. I carried a bunch of books over to the opposite side of the office and rearranged and cleaned this bookshelf. I also got rid of about 200 magazines. Wasn't much but it still took me 40 mins :).

Thursday night I hung out with my bestie and we had a fabulous time (as always!) She is the best friend a girl could ever have :)

Day 14- Friday-

Friday was another crazy busy day :). I rushed to Jenns house immediately after work to dog sit her dogs for a few hours as she was in the hospital having a BABY!! Yes Friday was the day Jenn gave birth to Noah. He is so precious and beautiful. I love him sooo much already! I was sooo lucky to be able to see him. I went in with her parents so was one of the very first (I am so blessed). Jenn is such a champ!!! So happy for her and Brandin. They are going to make the most amazing parents ever :)

Friday I got in my activity at work by setting up our lunch room for the potluck and carrying food back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. This was the one AND ONLY time I have been happy that no one offered to help.. gave me more time to build up activity points lol I'm so lame. It was a great time though and everybody enjoyed themselves. And they enjoyed my mango/avocado salsa which was a huge hit!

Day 15- Saturday

Saturday I was pretty exhausted so I had a slow day. I woke up.. had breakfast and relaxed a bit. I ended up doing my zumba video which made me feel great :) (as per usual). I was also very lazy for the rest of the day and mainly watched Mad Men haha. I'm a bum.

Day 16- Sunday

Sunday was great! I woke up.. gave mom her Mother's Day presents and made her a crepe breakfast. It was great! I then took my doggy for a 35 minute power walk down the road. I also ended up going for a 20 minute stroll with Pete later that day.

It was such a beautiful day and it was really nice to sit out in the sun with my lovely family. I enjoy their company sooo much :). They are so special to me.

Went to Pete's house after dinner and watched Game of Thrones which was INSANE and then Mad Men which was pretty awesome as well :). Kinda sucks I have no episodes to catch up on :P

Day 17- Monday
Monday was stressful and busy. I counted my activity as my grocery shopping and lugging a shit load of groceries up the stairs.. That is always a fun job!! :|

Volunteering was okay. Crazy at first but I ended up having a very fun time.

Anyways.. there is my update :)

I will post tonight again.

Toodles

xo

Stephie

My week: update!

OK! I am going to sit here and write a blog post from beginning to end! I have started soooooo many in the last few days and have been too busy to finish.

So I weighed in yesterday and didn't lose anything.. but I did stay the same which is okay. Although I do want to lose instead of maintaining.. a gain did not happen :) So it's okay! Plus I've been fairly active lately so it doesn't bug me as I feel I may still be gaining muscle.

A lot has happened over the last week starting with last friday my beautiful cousin Becky got married and it was an amazing event. She looked so beautiful and I'd be lying if I said I didnt cry at least 3 times during the ceremony. YES I AM A BABY AT WEDDINGS. hehe It was so nice to be able to spend time with my family but dammmmmn I am learning how much I hate walking in heels. They're so pretty but the next day my feet hate me! OH WELL :)

On Saturday I decided not to get a workout in as I was feeling crappy and a bit hungover and I was in pain (because of my shoes). Though I did go for a 15 minute walk with my man that evening.. at least something! :)

I honestly can't remember much about Sunday but it was a beautiful day and I got to spend time with my bestie which is always awesome :)

Monday was good.. I wasn't able to get in much of a workout as I work 9-5:30 and then leave to go to ROOF and am there until 10:30. I came home and decided to do a 15 minute work out on my exercise ball. I did situps, butt lifts (?) and the ones where I pass the ball up between my arms and legs (that ones the hardest). I felt good knowing I was able to get a workout in though.

Tuesday night mom and I decided to do our new Zumba DVD and we had a lot of fun! I recognized a lot of the moves from the classes which was good :) The only difference was that we didn't have 6 huge fans blasting us from above so I was sweaty as hell! Nothing feels as good as the feeling you get after pushing yourself in a workout. That feeling afterwards is unreal :).

I also got to watch my show Ringer which is sooo amazing and I HIGHLY recommend you watch it. It's seriously addicting and I can't seem to get enough!

Wednesday was interesting. I tried something I had never done before and was mildly scared to try. Most of the people who know me pretty well know that I HATE and am afraid of ice.. especially falling. I had a bad experience growing up. Anyways, I got on the ice and tried it and may have spazzed out a bit but finally got the hang of it and had fun! AND I only fell twice.. ! hehe

We played for about 2.5 hours which was fun. I calculated it as a low impact activity and got 8 pts (I calculated 2 hours for that). I was surprised and happy.. but man do my thighs hurt today lol. I'm happy I did it and am even happier that I actually had fun! I did have a great, supportive team which made a WORLD of a difference. Thanks Bart and Nadiya if you are reading this :)

I got to spend time with my bestest friend last night :). It was a great time as usual. I splurged for dinner last night and had Harveys. Seems bad but I did make the better choice. I got a original burger and fries which I believe was 18 or 19 points instead of a poutine which would have been 22 points ALONE. It seems like a lot but I did have a lot of points left over :) And had extra activity points. It was sooooooooooooooooooo worth it to :)

It was a great evening and I am looking forward to our hangouts tonight.

I wanted to ask.. does anyone else notice 11:11 on the clock? I've gone weeks with seeing it every single day.. weird...

Anyways.. I wanted to add I want to start making a weekly WW goal. This week I want to earn at least 25 activity points :). I've already earned 8 and am doing Zumba again tomorrow so we shall see.

I will keep you updated :)

Stephie

My clothes feel looser!

I just wanted to say that I am feeling great this week!

Twice I've heard that my clothes are looking looser! A male coworker told me my pants are fitting a lot looser and last night Jenn said one of my hoodies looked so much bigger!

It's true. I had those pants before and couldn't even button them up let alone zip them up all the way. Now they're my "comfy work pants" lol. They fit very loose.

And the hoodie used to be very tight!! Now it fits me in a completely different way and I love it :)

hehe

Just wanted to send a quick update! Almost time to go home and I can't WAIT to work out :) Think I'll do treadmill and exercise ball tonight :)

Day 22 & 23

Hey all!

One word to describe how I feel right now. OUCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Hahaha I did Zumba tonight and once again my feet/ankles hurt. :( Oh well. But it was a lot easier this time. I got a front row spot so was able to see the instructor clearly. I was also nice to be able to make it through without feeling like I was going to fall over. PLUS I felt so good after :)!

Today was insane. I think it was the busiest work day I've had all year. SO stressful .. and I am sooo happy that it is over.

Anyways.. tomorrow is our Potluck and I am making bruschetta :) Can't wait!

I should touch on my workout yesterday. As usual, Mondays are crazy for me. I work and then go straight to ROOF to volunteer so I try to get my workout in during my lunch break. Gus and I went for a 20 min walk around the block. It was nice :)

Anyways.. I'm going to get back to my shows..

Toodles!

Steph

Day 9!

Holy Crap!! It's day 9!! Honestly it feels like day 3-4 haha.. I can't believe I am almost 1/3 of the way through!! Thats kinda crazy!

Anyways.. I've had a rough time lately. I dumped a friend.. which was a hard decision but the right one. I'm so happy I have great friends to keep my mind occupied. Last night I got some pretty bad news. Someone I had worked with in the past (they were my immediate supervisor) passed away in a horrible way which I don't even want to go into :(. It's very sad and upsetting and I've been emotional and confused all day. I feel like I'm still in shock.

I feel like because of a lot of the things going on in my life lately my eating habits have been kind of off because I was emotional eating. I came home last night and ate 3/4 of a box of mike and ikes and almost 1/2 a bad of coffee crisp minis. I was really upset. I counted my points though.

Today was hard and only one person really noticed something was wrong. I'm kind of happy no one else noticed as I didn't really want to explain why. It was my closest friend at work and I'm happy he was there to listen to me vent. I knew that when I got home I needed to get on that treadmill and push myself. I needed to clear my mind. I was on there for 41 minutes.. I could have gone longer but I knew I needed to come see Pete (which is where I'm at now).

Also meaning I should go spend some time with my man. Happy Valentines Day all! Today we're not really doing anything. I told Pete that I wanted to just chill out. In reality.. Pete makes me feel good and feel happy every single day of the year so I don't need some fake holiday to reassure me that he loves me :) I know it!

Anyways.. Toodles!

Steph

Day 10!

Hey all,

I'm on day 10 of my reading challenge and I have already finished one book and am onto the 2nd book in the series :) It's gotten pretty addicting.. :) I want to slap myself when I forget my book at home because I can't read over lunch :(.

What can ya do, eh?

Anyways.. things otherwise are going really well and I'm LOVING life! I seriously couldn't be better. I'm struggling a bit on the weight loss but I think a large part of that is me not working out. I'm going to start slowly incorporating activity into my routine over the weekend. I am seriously getting stir crazy and want to jump back onto the work out wagon badly! I downloaded this app on my phone called Nike Training. Its a free app on my iPhone and it tracks your workouts and even supplies your workouts for you! I haven't tried it yet but I'm looking forward to starting. I think I will try that out tomorrow morning. Let's see if I fall over or stride through it.. I will definitely let you know!

I've been hearing "you've lost more weight!!!" lately when the reality is that I havent.. at all. It's kind of upsetting but I know it's not REALLY my fault. I had a major set back with the mono and it came at a WOOOOONDERFUL time when I was soooooooo motivated!!

When I get down about it I just say to myself "Stephanie you're not going to gain 40 lbs over night.. you've come a long way and you're moving forward not backwards so snap the f**k out of it!!"

haahah

I'm a loser.

So on Tuesday we had another band practice. First of this year! With a few members on vacay it was a tiny turnout but we have 2 of our new coops joining which is awesome!!! Lots of talent coming out :) Have I mentioned how much I love my job??

Last night I hung out with my best friend, Jenn. She is truly an amazing person.. I love her sooo much! She makes me feel so comfortable and I can talk to her about ANYTHING .. even laughing hysterically about how the ultrasound technician had said in an asian (??) accent "ooooooh SOOO much gaaaaaas". Yes!! I had beans the night before.. but didn't really want to admit it. TMI?

Anyways.. it is time for me to go :)

Later!

Stephie

Who's that girl?

Hey guys!

One of my coworkers Georgina (pictured below) had suggested I post pictures from this years holiday party compared to last years holiday party. I thought that would be a great idea! Though the pictures don't look that drastic it still makes me feel great.. and I've lost about 8 lbs since the party! Whoot!!! :)

Here they are!

Holiday Party 2010

Me & Georgina

Still don't know what I was thinking with that lipstick *SMH*

Feeling a bit hungry.. maybe I will snack on this microphone!!

Deciding on the next song

Holiday Party 2011

Me talking to the band

Me and one of my closest work friends, Gus

Me and my man.. he LOVES getting pictures taken :)

Talking to my Primates

Bog Ferret!!!

Me :)

I really like showing you these pictures because it encourages me to do better.. soon these "after" pictures will be included in the before pictures! Sometimes I look at pictures of what I used to look like and I don't even recognize myself. I think to myself "How could I ever let myself get that bad?? How did I let this happen?" Change is a beautiful thing :) I feel so much better about myself and love it!!

I can't wait to see where this journey takes me!

Have a happy hump day!

Stephie

Changes of 2011

I really can't believe it when I think of all the changes that occured for me in 2011. There are so many and I can honestly say that I am SO, SO proud of myself.

I have completely changed my life around and am EXACTLY where I want to be :)

Some of the things that changed in 2011

• I lost 40 lbs!!- Yes I finally hit my 40 lb mark and am sooo happy!! It's been quite the journey but I think losing 40 lbs in one year is remarkable :) I posted some pics below to show me last Christmas and then pictures from this Christmas.
  
  
• I rediscovered myself- This time last year I was lost. I was broken. I had just gotten out of a 4.5 year abusive relationship(in every single way.. mostly emotional) and I honestly thought I would never be happy again. I didn't think I'd be able to move on or be able to REALLY smile again. I got so used to putting up a front around people that they never thought I was hurting inside. I guess it was a way of protecting myself. In 2011 I started out the year keeping myself busy and making sure I was surrounded by people who loved me. I started losing weight and eventually found my confidence again. I realized that I am a good person and that I am loveable. I found my sense of humour.. didn't worry about what other people thought of me and started being myself again. I am a giving, kind hearted person and that person will NEVER, EVER go away.
  
  
• I got a promotion!- I started working at Primal in September 2009 part time. I instantly loved my job and knew that I wanted to stay there for awhile. I was only getting about 25 hours a week and needed more money to pay the bills so I was working another part time job. This didn't really bother me as I LOVE working :) In January I started full time and was able to quit my part time job! I couldn't be happier.. its like a have a work family :)
  
  
• Fell in love- This one is the most important one to me :) I had been into Pete for a very long time. Pretty much since we started hanging out during our lunch breaks (we met at Primal). I was instantly attracted to his sense of humour, his smile and his kind eyes :). We talked every single day at work over MSN. He'd send me songs and we had pretty much the same music taste.. I loved that! He quickly became one of my closest friends and I was terrified to tell him I liked him because A) we worked together.. could become awkward, B)Fear of rejection and C) I didn't want to lose the friendship if he didn't feel the same way. He quit in June of this year and we still talked every single day over FB chat :) I finally decided to tell him and it was the best thing I've ever done!! It took a few days for him to come around and admit it too but we hung out one night and watched True Blood and Breaking bad and have been inseparable ever since. I've never felt something like this and really hope this lasts forever!!! Jan 5th will be 5 months for us :). I finally found someone who I can be myself with in every single way.. and he makes me feel beautiful everyday.. even when I look like a bum and am wearing no makeup :) SOOO HAPPY <3<3<3
  
  
• Dumped shitty friends- I decided that if being a good friend was a priority for me.. I deserved the same! I had many people treat me like shit in 2010 and wasn't going to let that happen in 2011. When the red flags started showing.. I kicked them to the curb. No need for that!
  
  
• Became closer to my closest friends- One in particular. My best friend Jenn. She is my one and only and gets me better than anybody ever has. We can talk about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and I think we could gross out most guys by our conversations. haha. She is the best person I've ever met and we've been best friends for 9 years now! She truly gets me and would do anything to fix any problem I have. I love her so much.
  I've also become a lot closer to some of my other friends including Amber who has been amazing. I've known her since I was in grade 10 and we're closer than we've ever been. She's one of my closest friends and I'd do anything for her! Another friend is Stef :) She is amazing and so beautiful inside and out. We have gone through a lot of the same struggles so it's nice having a buddy to go through it with. I know you'll be the first one to read this.. love you soooo much girl!!! Another friend I've become close to is Sam. We met when she was a co-op at Primal last year and she quickly became my go to coworker for everything.. she has been an amazing friend and always offered me the best advice and was always there to listen to me when I was down and needed to be lifted up. :) She is one of the most amazing people I have EVER met.
  
  
• Bought a brand new car! - Got my new car! My lovely madza3 that I love soooooo much!
  
  
• Stopped drinking pop- I love pop.. maybe a little bit too much. It was really hard to give up at first but I knew it was one thing I needed to kick to have a healthier lifestyle. In 2010 I drank 3-4 cans of pop a DAY and no water.. no joke. I was a Canada Dry addict!! mmm gingerale. This year I kicked the habit and now only drink water (and coffee.. a bit of an addict on that one though)
  
  
• Discovered my love of snowmobiling- One thing I quickly became addicted to in early 2011 was going snowmobiling with my dad. I usually hate winter but this year that has changed! It became one of my favourite past times and cannot wait for there to be a heavier snowfall so we can go out and hit the trails!
  
  
• I started volunteering at a homeless youth drop in centre- This one makes me feel great. In May I started Volunteering at a place called ROOF. This place has seriously changed my life. Seeing the progress in some of the youth and the bonds I have developed with soo many of them is amazing. This has made me question my path in life and I'm seriously considering going back to school to go into this field.
  
  
• Joined a band- Many of my friends and family know that I LOVE to sing.. I feel like I am quite good at it. After filling in for the singer of the Primal band "Bog Ferret" it became a permanant thing in 2011 :). We meet every tuesday night and jam out at the office :) Love it so much and my band mates are awesome!!!
  
  
• Changed my view on working out- I used to HATE .. HATE working out. It was pretty much a chore for me and I never did it. This year I discovered that I actually love to be active and it has really helped me in this weight loss. I haven't been able to work out for the last month as I have mono but in 2012 it is going to be a HUGE thing for me. Gonna incorporate activity into my daily routine.

Here are the pictures I talked about earlier in this post.

Christmas 2010

Pictures from Christmas 2011

I feel like I even look happier! hehe

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more posts in 2012!

xo

Stephie

I have mono :(

Sorry I didn't get back to ya sooner but I've pretty much been a zombie. I found out I had mono. :(

Really, really, really sucked! Saturday-Friday I did nothing but stay in bed and sleep.. ALLL DAY!!! I only left my bed to make tea, soup or to use the washroom. Other than that I stayed in bed constantly.

I never knew mono would suck so badly.. I had an insanely sore throat and it burned to even just drink water! I had these little white spots all down my throat/on my tonsils which allowed me to eat NOTHING. Not sure if those sucked more than the night sweats but I ended up just sleeping in a towel bathrobe. It was the only way I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night soaked (like 5 times a night). By the following Saturday I was able to start eating solid foods and was able to move around a little more.. wasn't feeling like I'd pass out just by walking down the hall.

Today I went back to work after a week. I must say I feel pretty loved and was definitely missed :) I only worked 10-2:30 as I knew I wouldn't last a full day.

Today is my amazing mothers birthday :) I love her sooo much! She is the greatest person in my life and I would not be the person I am today if she wasn't one of my best friends <3

I'm going to head off now.. later!

Steph

Missed 2 weeks.. but I'm back!

Sorry for being a crappy blogger :(. I've been very stressed out these last two weeks.

My parents went on vacation for a week to Jamaica and left me in charge which meant I spent every night at home, cleaned up the house (including cleaning up after my slob of a brother). I was basically a housewife for a week! haha I did get in a bit of exercise as I walked brady twice a day every day. so that was good!

We had the Primal Holiday party which was a blast!! Bog Ferret rocked the house! I love our band!! WE ROCK!! We performed 15 songs.. it was a lot of fun. The only thing that was not fun about it was the hangover the next day :|. I needed to have some "bravery juice" to be able to get onto the stage and then within the last hour a group of 7-8 of us did like 10-15 shots. Yes I repeat.. 10-15 shots within AN HOUR!!!! it was kind of ridiculous but awesome at the same time! The room was definitely spinny that night! I'm so lucky I have a supportive boyfriend who overlooks my drunken stupidity. At one point in the night I came and sat beside him with a drink and he put his hand on my leg and said "whats that?". I said "my leg" hes like.. "what... whats that?" I said "my leg" he goes "..............what are you drinking?" I go "ooooooooooooohhhhhhh ahahah .......a white freezie" Yep.. Im wack! That was at about 1/2 way through our set. :| I also spilled A LOT of popcorn in his car.. sorry Pete! :)

My parents came home on Wednesday and I could not have been happier!! I missed them soo much! ( I also missed sleeping in).

Wednesday was also my weigh in day and I was down a lb!! Whoot Whoot I was very happy.. I'm the lowest weight I've been in over 2 years!! :)

(I also kind of cheated and got on the scale today and was down 1 more lb.. kinda happy about that but I'm also sick.. which I will get into)

Thursday night I was able to spend time with my best friend Jenn. We ate dinner, went for a 30 min walk and then watched our show "Drop Dead Diva" for the rest of the night. Thats when I started to feel like arse. I was starting to feel the pain!

Friday came and went.. it was a hectic work day (as the last week had been.. ugh!!). I was happy when 5pm rolled around as I went and picked up Pete and then we went with my parents to our family friends house for dinner and gingerbread making. We had a great time and Pete and I made an amazing gingerbread house! It was crappy we left a bit early because I was sick.. but I really wanted to go to bed.

Next day I felt like I had been hit in the neck with a brick. It hurts so badly to swallow.. Had the chills for 2 days straight.. raging headache.. pain in my neck/back, swollen glands lymph nodes. ughh

Now I am getting the sweats andd I have white spots on my throat and the pain has completely moved over to my left side. It really, really sucks. It's also extremely painful and NOTHING helps. I've tried 4 kinds of lozenges, 2 sprays that numb the throat, advil and aleve.. its just insanely painful. The only thing that kinda helps is putting a cold pack on it and camomile tea :(

Bah.. I hate being sick!

Hopefully I can get in to see my doctor tomorrow. I went for a drop in appointment at my doctors office on Sunday and one of the doctors there took 5 mins with me. She swabbed my throat.. left.. came back with results (no strep) and told me to drink lots of fluids and left..

THANKS!!!! VERY helpful!

*SMH!!!*

Anyways I'm going to try and get some sleep.

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