Dropping the ball - and not just in NYC! :)

Hi there!

I just thought I would check in and say hi - boy have I 'dropped the ball' on my blogs recently - and my health as well... I need to find my focus again... I am positive that I will find it...

I have gained a lot of weight recently - funny how it comes back on so quick! as of the last time I weighted myself - I read 157lbs... phew! The positive in all this is I am really observing what I do when I eat my way into gaining weight, and I work towards understanding what's going on and how to adjust... I pay attention to how I eat and how I feel... Most often I have the alarm in my head that goes 'watch out, this is expensive in points, avoid it or have very little...' followed by 'oh I'll have just a little' and then 'this is so good I want mooooore'. And then I usually end up eating the remainder of the box.

I find my over eating often comes in the form of boredom/treat eating, or un-prepared eating... that's my weak spot. I have to PLAN PLAN PLAN! I really struggle with that. As for boredom/treat eating, I need to find something to do instead of eating. Or at least, prepare something healthy to snack on - cut up bell peppers or something... But ideally, something that involves moving around would be best!

For 2010, I want to work on planning my meals and making exercise a better part of my routine.

I also have to think hard about my work as my contract/project ends in about 6 months... I am always debating about continuing to work hard at it and keep working in my field, or just plain changing careers...

I often remember the words of Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld) when I think of my work, he said that when the show started he had trouble writing it, that writing it felt like an impossible amount of work. When the show got picked up and he was asked to write 22 episodes he thought - there is NO WAY I can write any more of these - it's impossible, it's way too difficult, way too stressful! Yet, he went on to write several seasons.

I often feel that way about my work - like there is no way I can survive working through X amount of episodes. But I always end up somehow finishing it... which is just so unbelievable to me. Anyways, it's very stressful and at the very least, if I continue to work in my industry, I need to find a better way to deal with that stress. Because it is far from being healthy... I can say though that I have done a lot of progress in that realm this year - I started off the year with physical signs of being stress non-stop, and ended up the year far more relaxed about the whole thing, mostly through internal dialog in the lines of 'calm down, do what you can, one thing at a time' I tried to stop the 'panic' before it happened by making sure I 'decided' to keep positive about difficult situations, taking on the many challenges while trying to stay calm.

Biggest thing I realized was - you are the one who decides how you react to things with 'panic' and there is no need for that. It's not the people around you who are making this stressful, it's you. Keep positive. One thing at a time. Easy does it. Breathe in, Breathe out...

I am not saying this quite the way I would like to - but hopefully it makes sense...

ok, I better start some work around the house now!

Have a happy new year guys!!

HAPPY 2010!!!!!!!!!

Week 2 - 155.2 lbs (+0.8)

translated from my french blog

The negative part:
I was 'on plan' for the first 2 days of the week, and then I 'lost track'.
I managed to eat 50 points I didn't have!

The positive part:
I was 'on plan' for 2 days!
I used my e-tool and tracked for 5 days!

My goals this week:
Continue to plan ahead (I think that goal will stick around for a while - it will be on the list until I succeed!:)
Continue to track with e-tool, everyday!


Idea to solve one of my recurring problems:
instead of hunting for a snack in my cupboards whenever I feel like one, I should prep myself some veggies or fruits to snack on - if I don't have any in the house: go out and buy some!!!


Today's plan (Monday)

Breakfast: Corn Bran cereal and skim milk.
Lunch: Mexican Rice WW Smart One (frozen meal). Some asparagus.
PM Snack: Activia Yogurt and a WW Chocolate Chip 1 point cookie.
Dinner: Home made beef Chili, a serving of corn chips to go with it. A Glass of low sodium v8.

should not have had: 4 caramel candy thingys at work and a pastry/dessert when our neighbors came over for a visit this evening.

Plan for Tuesday:

Breakfast: Corn Bran cereal and skim milk.
Lunch: Mexican Rice WW Smart One (frozen meal). Some fresh cut melons.
PM Snack: Activia Yogurt (I forgot to bring a cookie! but I'm not too hungry so far...)
Dinner: Some leftover home made beef Chili, a serving of corn chips to go with it. A Glass of low sodium v8.



Have a nice evening!

Let's start over...

translated from my french blog: On recommence...

At the beginning, the point of this blog was to help me track my weight loss. It worked well from January to July 2008, and then I hit a loooooong plateau. I lost about 7 pounds during the first edition of 'BLBE' about a year ago, and since then, I have maintained my weight at around 150 lbs.

Today, back from my 2 week holiday/wedding/honeymoon: 154.4 lbs.

So I am motivated to start again and follow the program more seriously this week.

On Sunday night, I prepared 5 meals for this week's lunches - 5 points each. I also filled my 'e-tool' with this info. I think I can progress and lose some weight if I make an effort in planing what I will eat ahead of time. Calculate my points ahead of 'eating them'. I've made the mistake of guessing how many points I eat and not journaling for too long now. Oh I have about 10 points left for today so I can afford to eat a little more chocolate... when in reality I was already out of points for the day...

I think that if I calculate my points before meals, I will be less likely to want to eat too much and have to count more unplanned points...

That's my goal this week: Count all my points a day ahead. Counting before eating...

one goal at a time right?

one, two, three, GO!

Sneak Peek :)

Will be back home in a week or so...

meanwhile here's a sneak peek :)

Countdown...

5 hours to go...

My Sixth 5k (Toronto Zoo Run)

translated from my french blog

warning, the following post is really long... phew!

Today (as in Oct 17th. I didn't feel like translating for the longest time! :P) for the first time S ran a 5k with me!!! It was the Oasis Zoo Run. Wheee :) We ran in our neighborhood a few times to practice together and I noticed right away that he is well ahead of me when it comes to speed - oh la la! It's crazy how easy it seems for him! When we train together he is nice - since I'm much slower than him he runs ahead at his own pace and then he loops back to meet me so that I always have him in sight. For his very first race though, I wanted him to give all he had and not wait for me, I was really curious to see what kind of time he could finish in! :)

It was 2 ºC outside (35.6 ºF) this morning - I didn't have the 'courage' to run in shorts - brrrr. But S decided to be brave and do it. Let's just say that getting there an hour early and having to wait in the cold was not very pleasant - I was so cold myself, I can't imagine how cold he must have been!





Unfortunately, these are the only 2 shots that made it to the memory card, even though I thought I took a bunch of shots before the race. The batteries were really low, that must be why... Too bad, I had some better shots in there - but I guess they just don't exist anymore :( oh well...


At the start line, they had organized people in 'waves' based on how long it would take to finish. We went to the 28-32 area, the second wave to start, one minute after the official start (the course was just too 'small' to let all the participants in at the same time...)

When we finally started running, S asked for my help to start his iPod, a few clicks and it worked, as soon as it did off he went... He ran so fast, he quickly disappeared in the crowd ahead of me, I was so proud! Go S GO!!! :)

There were a lot of hills on the course - oh boy oh boy - pretty difficult! (Hills that I inexplicably didn't anticipate even though I was right there visiting the zoo with my co-workers back in april... pffff!)

There were some 'loops' during the race where you got to run facing the runners that were ahead of you (how do you call/explain that? does it make sense?) anyways... So at the first 'loop' I kept an eye on the oncoming runners to see if I could spot S, I eventually saw him, all focused and concentrated! So concentrated that he didn't evn react when I yell woo hoo at him and waved :) It took me what seemed like a minute to a minute and a half to get to the point where I met him - I was so impressed when I realized that! WOW!

Somewhere around the 3rd km I started having cramps :( I tried to breathe calmly/deeply/slowly to see if it would go away, but the air was too cold, which kind of made it worse (exercise induced asthma/coughing etc.) But I was hanging in there... a few minutes later I started to feel pretty intense 'TOM' cramps - ouch So I ended up stopping twice to walk a little bit, it was brief, but it was needed...

By the time I got to 4km, I was really giving everything I had to this race - you're doing fine, don't pay attention you're not in pain... don't stop! don't stop! Eventually I heard a volunteer yell ''100m to go!'' So I started pushing and accelerating. I sprinted to the finish line... oof! this had to be the toughest sprint I ever ran, more difficult than any other race I did before - but I did it!!! The clock said '34:13' when I crossed the finish line (so 33:13, if you remove the extra minute we waited for being in the 'second wave') My HRM says 32:30 though... and I really clicked a bit before the start line and really waited until after the finish line to stop it... So my time was ok I guess, somewhere between 32:30 and 33:13. Not too bad...

I quickly spotted S in the crowd after finishing, faster then my stomach/lungs recovered so I had to collect myself before asking him how he did, hee hee... after a minute I said 'how........ long... you....?' He said that theclock said 28:30 when he crossed the finish line!!! (As in 27:30 if you remove the 1 minute offset...) WOAH!!!! I was so proud of him!!! His very first 5k and he does it in 27:30!!! Imagine if the course would've been flat - he would've been even faster!!

ok now I'm jealous! hee hee, just joking ;)

It's our last race before our wedding on Nov. 4th... in a little over one week... We plan to run on our honeymoon at Disney World, I looked it up and there are a few paths available... it's going to be so much fun to run there! Like a little bit of extra summer time to enjoy running outdoors :) From now until the wedding we have cut out all activities to avoid getting any injuries hee hee do you think we're being too 'safe'? :) Let's just say I'd rather be safe than sorry...

Last Sunday, we went to cheer on our soccer team (we're officially on the team but we're not playing until after the wedding...) and a girl from the opposite team fell on her wrist, you know, a typical fall where you would just get up and forget about it. Well, when she checked her wrist with her other hand she immediately lost all color in her face - the pieces of her arm were not in the right place anymore. Both teams were in shock to see what happened to her. I'm pretty sure she must have broken the bones in her forearm, her arm was like a 'Z'. She left in an ambulance and the game continued - everybody was slightly less, um... competitive after that... I think it really traumatized everybody - she kept repeating (please forgive the swearing...) ''My arm, it's fucked! It's fucked!''

so yeah - maybe it is a good idea that we're not playing after all... :)

Anyways, I'll keep an eye on the web site for the race to see if they post some photos, I'll update this post if they do...

A thing I meant to mention though is that both S and I have been sneezing like crazy since we got back from the Zoo, S more than me (he tends to be allergic to a bunch of things...) I wonder if it has to do with the animals at the zoo, or if it's just that we caught a cold or something...

Also, go see Marie's video of the 'finish line' on her blog - she ran the 10k at the zoo this morning! WOO HOO Marie!!! If I run today, it's in big part thanks to her - she persuaded me to try a race, which led to me 'training for the race'... And she always generously encourages me... I am totally addicted to running now - wheeeeee!! :)

My Fifth 5k...

translated from my french blog...

So I completed my fifth 5k this morning, it was for the CIBC Run for the Cure. My new shoes made their first appearance :) Speaking of which, it was when I bought them at the Running Room that I was told that this event attracts even more people than the Scotiabank run!

woah!


And boy was that true! It was kind of hard to find my way, the signage wasn't very clear... That might be because it wasn't an 'official' race but rather a 'fun run' - as I was told when I picked up my kit... There was going to be no official time recorded, no 'chip'.

But that's not so bad, because the 'charity' part of the event was really cool. It just felt like it was much more about that than it was about running... Sometimes you gotta do it for the charity right? ;)

I really enjoyed seeing all the 'bibs' that people were wearing that said who they were running for. Certainly made for interesting reading material during the race hee hee :)

Since the official shirt was white, I decided to go for my yellow 'Acura' shirt again, easier for S to find me in the crowd... :)



The race was supposed to start at 10am, but it was delayed, not sure why, although the 30 000 people present might have had to do with it... we actually started closer to 10:14...

It was pretty tight in there, but people around me were running pretty slowly, which helped me pass them all, mua ha ha ha It sounds silly, but the fact that I had to pass people a lot to keep a 'decent' pace definitely helped a lot with accomplishing this:

At the finish line, I looked at my watch (which I wore specifically because there wouldn't be a chip, to get a sense of how much time it took me and all...) and I couldn't believe my eyes - here I am, getting ready to show S with a 'no way - that's impossible!' look on my face





ha ha, I realized you can't see the info on that shot, so I took a new shot when I got home, here's what it said:





Wha??? 28:38? No way!!! According to S, the big clock at the finish line with the 'gun time' was indeed showing something like 28/29... Really? Ok, I guess I'll never know for sure without the official results of the chip, but I think it's safe to say that I beat my 32:19 personal best for sure! Wheeeee!! :)

My next race is the 'Zoo Run' at the Toronto Zoo. This time is special, this time S will accompany me!!!!!!! :) It's another 5k, and I am really looking forward to run it with him. This will be the last race before our wedding too :) I'm not quite sure if there it's a 'chipped' race or not yet, but we'll see...

Speaking of S, I have to tell you that all these races I've been running recently, I couldn't have done them without him. He's my #1 supporter! He encourages me so much - he drives and comes with me to all the events, he always reminds me to and helps me prepare, he has a wonderfully positive attitude about the whole thing and it motivates me so much! I think he genuinely enjoys watching the races :)





and now, I leave you with something I would just prefer leaving 'un-explained':





And also - thank you all for your encouragements - I think of the blogosphere all the time when I run, I wouldn't have dared to try this if it wasn't for you guys! so THANK YOU!!!! :)

My Fourth 5k

translated from my french blog...

This Sunday I participated in my fourth 5k event. It was for the Scotiabank Waterfront 5k.

20 000 runners were expected this year for the 20th anniversary! (running in the marathon, the half marathon or the 5k) There was a LOT of people at Nathan Phillip Square - phew!







It was so crowded at the finish line - S couldn't get a spot close by... This was his view of the finish:



I was well prepared this time. My outfit and gear was all in one place, ready to go. I had breakfast plans (Ezekiel bread and peanut butter with a glass of milk, yummy) I tried to 'apply' my new strategy : convince my brain that what I was about to do was easy... :)

So I started in the middle of the crowd in the yellow corral, about 2 hours after arriving on site (the start of the 5k was at the CNE this year, so there were shuttle buses from downtown to the start line...)

When I started running, I noticed I had some lower back pain, felt like muscle cramps of some sort. I guesses it was probably because I was a little cold and had been standing for a while... it worried me a little bit, but it quickly went away, phew!

A little later, I noted that there was a problem in my shoe - pain that I could only assume was due to the nail from one of my toes cutting into another toe... ouch! I tried to somewhat 'spread' my toes apart in there, but quickly realized there wasn't much I could do about it at that point, so I kept going...

Everything was going well, my strategy was working perfectly until I saw this hill that I was familiar with since I drove on it thousands of times - man I thought the brochure said the course was flat!! My brain was instantly and inevitably distracted - oh la la...

ok Marie, don't stop, keep running, you can do this

uh oh, that's tough!

it's ok it's ok, no big deal, let's just keep going, all that matters it that you keep running

but.... uh.... but..... it's difficult......


I kept running, all the way up. But my pace took a beating and my comfort/strategy - pffff... gone! I needed. to. walk. I still kept running until I got to the water station, where I dangerously slowed down to drink.. and then... and then... I walked for a bit.

A the end of the water station area there was a nice volunteer who was cheering on runners she said something along the lines of 'Come on you're almost there, don't stop now!' That gave me the kick I needed to start running again.

At that point, I started thinking about the finish line. Thinking about how I was doing for time... my goal was to finish faster than 32:19. So when I finally turned left on Bay Street, I checked my time and my iPod said 26 minutes. Wow! I was impressed! Being just a couple blocks away from the finish line meant I was doing really really well. So I started accelerating. It goes Front, the King, then Queen right? Here comes Front, yeah! Ok, time to push it a little more! then came Wellington (huh?) that's ok, keep going faster you're almost there! Then came King, ah!!! good, almost there push it!! Adelaide (wha???) man! ok how many more streets now?
Temperance St......
Richmond St..............
and Queeeeeeeeen!!!!
and FINALLY - the finish line!!!! Wheeeeeee!!!

Official results: 32:32 minutes

1311/4249 for the 5k runners
640/2769 for womens
148/474 for my category
pace: 6:44


Wheeeee!! Phew! Only 13 seconds above my goal - not too bad at all!! :)

Another 5k - done!

I found the finish line pretty crowded, I probably lost 1 second there, pfff ;) it really was crazy crowded past the finish line though and I started to worry, wondering if I would find S easily...



Let's play where's Waldo :) I was wearing my green shirt from the TO Women's 5k (I officially decided on a new tradition to wear the shirt from the last race on all my races if possible)






Oh there! I found you!!! :)



After the long path toward the exit and through the food station........




............ S and I 'found' each other and we left the race site. We went to the Running Room right away to get my reward: These super duper new running shoes!! :) (My old shoes were going on 4 years... they are now my designated 'yard work shoes' hee hee



When I took my shoe off at the store to try on some new pairs, I noticed that my sock was bloody - oooops! My toe nail was cutting my other toe after all - oh well! Luckily I had packed another pair of socks... I feel so tough now, yeah! ha ha ha ha





My next race? The CIBC Run for the Cure... Next Sunday! Ouiiiiiii :)

Later!!

My Third 5k

translated from my french blog...

Ok, even if I mistakenly ran for 3.5 km on my first 5k event, I decided it still counted - so from now on, I will include the Pride Run when I count my races. That being said, on August 29th, I ran my 3rd 5k :)

It was the TO Women's 5k. I was better prepared for that race... I got to wear the shirt from my previous 5k at the Acura 10 miler - which ended up being perfect for S, it was easy for him to find me in the crowd!



Can you see the yellow shirt in there? :)



I bought some 'real running shorts' for the occasion. Hmmm, a little short... I decided it doesn't really matter how it looks if it helps me run better :)

I was a bit nervous because I really didn't train much before that race, but I was still determined to improve my time from my previous race. So I pushed hard - I wanted to beat that time so bad! I ended up having to walk a little bit because I had a cramp. It was a very hot and humid day, it was difficult... but I did it!




The results?

Acura 10 Miler: 33:57 minutes
Toronto Women's 5k: 32:19 minutes.

32:19!!! WOW! I was proud of myself.

Next I am running the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon. The 5k, not the marathon!! hee hee I'm looking forward to it. I am a bit nervous because I trained even less this time around. I ran yesterday for 35 minutes though, and I would say it was actually pretty 'easy'.

I decided I wouldn't be hard on myself if it felt difficult (after all - I had not run in 2 weeks - oy!) I put myself in this mindset: it's ok, all I have to do is keep going for at least 32 minutes. I told myself: 'pffff it's going to be easy, 32 minutes is nothing! I can to this no problem...' and it worked!!! It was kind of easy. I spent the whole time thinking about my wedding planning, it was fun and very comfortable! If it was that easy every time I go for a run, I would sign up for a 10k! I'll try and trick myself into thinking that running is easy again on race day.

Calm down Marie, we can do this, it's going to be easy, all that matters is that we keep running...

I would really like to get a new record for the Scotiabank race and do it in even less time than the women's race. I'll push it, be uncomfortable for half an hour, but then there will be lots of joy, wheeee :) ha ha ha

ok that's it for now!

I would like to say Good Luck to some lovely TO blogger ladies who are running on Sunday:

Mouse
Eurydice
and
Angela

The are a great source of inspiration to me and they are all running the half marathon WOW! Good Luck Ladies!!!! :)

November 4th 2009

That's in 2 months. In 2 months I will be in New York City and it will be S's and my wedding day.
I have so much to prepare. Lots of things happened since I got engaged in February 2008:

I lost 35 lbs.
I successfully finished my first contract in Toronto.
I started a new (and extremely stressful) work contract.
I started to blog in english.
I started running.
I participated in 3 x 5k events.


Yeah, that's about all I can think of for now... My life is all about work these days. But let's not talk about that...

So here's the deal. I want to push myself to exercise seriously in the last 2 months I have before I wear what will probably be the only dress I will ever wear, and be photographed more than I probably ever will be in my life. My dress is strapless and short... it will show my arms and my legs... I know these photos will be around for a while and that is a very scary thing. Maybe that's somewhat 'shallow' but hey, I just would like to feel good enough in my skin to forget about how I look and enjoy every minute of that special day... and right now I just don't...

I know it is now impossible for me to be at my 'goal weight' by November 4th, so I will focus instead on strengthening my muscles, and tracking all my food properly. We'll see if the scale is nice or not. At this point I have maintained my weight at around 150 lbs for about a year, so it is safe to think that I will be 150 lbs in 2 month whether I like it or not... I would really like to lose 10 lbs (weight 140 lbs) by then, but it will not be the end of the world if I don't.

It's going to be a tough 2 months, intense in work and exercises, but I think it will be worth it, right? I get to enjoy the first 2 weeks holiday I had in 10 years! I need it sooooooo bad!

Now all I need is to stay focused long enough to come up with a plan... hmmmmm........

Booty Camp Fitness Day 5 + 6 + 7 + 8

I finished my 4 weeks of Booty Camp Fitness and here are the long awaited results:

I did not lose weight but... I can definitely see that my body is visibly more 'toned' - I can see my ab muscles a bit now and my legs seem a little slimmer... I couldn't believe it!

I lost an official 4.5 inches!!! Wow! That's more than an inch per week - that's pretty good isn't it? I lost those inches in my chest, hips, bum and thighs mostly... My clothes are getting a little bit lose actually...

During the last 4 sessions of the camp we did some circuits, with a good mix of cardio, legs/arm strength training and abs. Every session Leigha increased the difficulty by having us do more challenging exerices but also by increasing the amount of time that we would do intense work between the small breaks... basically making our bodies stronger every time, improving our performance every time...

I really appreciated how she showed us to do so many effective moves that require no equipment - lots of ab exercises that I had not seen/done before. I really loved the ab work that she made us do, it was very thorough in the sense that it made us work every single ab muscle in every angle - you were working hard, but you were changing positions enough that you could keep going and push it... It really opened my eyes to that kind of exercise and how important having a strong core is and how it doesn't have to be just 'crunches'...

I liked all the leg exercises that we did too. I find that my legs felt so good the next day, gave me that 'spring' in my step!! :)

And I also got to try new arm exercises - my arms are soooo weak... I remember when we lived in MTL and S and I would walk to the grocery store and bring back bags and bags of stuff... he would carry 10 while I would carry 2 light ones, and I would still manage to have to take a break halfway and put them down... lol Starting from that point, with little to no strength in my arms, it is pretty much impossible for me to do push ups... At the Booty Camp, I learned 'moves' that are easy enough for me to do, and challenging enough to get results, and improve my arms' strength which I had pretty much given up on...

So overall, I really enjoyed the experience of the 4 weeks Booty Camp Fitness. Leigha our instructor was really fun and absolutely into feedback from the class, she was keeping things varied so it was never boring, and whenever someone had a request she would adapt the session to include it... She was very friendly and encouraging but she still kept things challenging - I am pretty competitive and I wouldn't have liked it if it wouldn't have been tough, you know? LOL

You can look them up at www.bootycampfitness.com - they have 95 locations in Canada so most likely there's a location near you! They have classes starting in September so don't wait and sign up soon!! I would definitely recommend it!!

A Sweet Potato Weekend!

This weekend, S and I somehow ended up having the same craving for sweet potatoes - first in the form of these Sweet Potato chips from 'Food Should Taste Good' - I loooove these, ingredients list I can pronounce, taste I am addicted to... a nice treat!











Then we took it to the next level and made a typical Québécois meal - a poutine. Warning! This is not a point friendly meal (well it could be if you used a looooot less cheese... but it wouldn't be very nutritious...)


All you need is some sweet potato fries



Some gravy (my gravy of choice is the St-Hubert brand, of course. It's available for sure in Ontario and in Québec, but I'm not sure about the rest of Canada... probably not available in other countries...)




and some cheese curds - or like they say in Saguenay - some fromage 'skouik skouik'




And voilà! Just like in the Belle Province! :)



hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......




Not a good way to end a very inactive weekend due to neck injury, but hey, you gotta treat yourself sometimes! :) We used to have poutine all the time when we lived in Québec, and this was our first 'at home poutine' in more than 2 years... so I think it's ok :)

We did go out to a very special event on Friday night though! We went to see Toronto FC play vs Real Madrid!! It was - interesting... Man these Real Madrid guys were so good - so fast! As a soccer player myself - I really admired their tactics and skills... and their speed!
It was so funny how some guys at work requested that I take photos for them!! LOL I am a very lucky girl! It was a very special event, we don't get soccer royalty often over here!!




Here's the final score ;)



I almost felt bad (almost...) for Christiano Ronaldo - every time he had the ball people were boo-ing him... Anyways, it certainly was a spectacular evening - a once in a lifetime opportunity! :)

Booty Camp Fitness Day 2 + 3 + 4

I am still working out with the Booty Camp Fitness peoples on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my instructor Leigha is kicking butts!!

Here's a quick recap of the last Day 2 + 3 + 4 sessions!

Day 2
I was still sore from the previous Tuesday. ouch. But I was there to give it my all and push it! We did some hopping from and to a squat position - OMG my legs were hurting so much :) then we did some circuits, half the group would do abs while the other was going through the circuit, then we would switch and repeat... I was confused at first, I thought we were doing this once and that was it - so I pushed it 110%. But then I realized we were going to do this 3 or 4 more times - phew! Let's just say I slept like a baby that night! LOL That was a great workout!

Day 3
That Tuesday, we were split into 6 groups and did 6 groups of 'circuits' then we repeated. It was a little easier for me than the previous week, but still enjoyable!

Day 4
Leigha, our instructor, changed the music as per someone's request - that was a nice touch, even though I didn't mind the music so much. She is really good at changing things up and motivating you, she really listens to the feedback she gets from the 'recruits' and makes sure she asks for feedback when people are too quiet (which I tend to be hee hee) That's nice. When she asked us about the kind of exercise we do and if we preferred one type over the others, we all said we preferred just mixing things up... And she has not repeated a single exercise even once! I certainly appreciate the variety... it's never boring! :)
That day we did some hops over each other - some people fell, it was not pretty, lol... but very nice and very challenging. Then we did some 2 by 2 exercises, and did some arms exercise - I was just about to make that request if we were not going to work out the arms on day 4 (my arms are soooo weak :) but I didn't even have to! I was feeling muscles I didn't know I had for the following few days lol



I have no complaints so far - Leigha is great at keeping us interested and listening to people's feedback. I sometimes have a hard time getting the instructions quick enough (you know, with my being a frenchy and all) but as soon as we start I just look at what other people are doing for confirmation and all is good - I honestly prefer it if we keep going - I would hate it myself if we spent a long time just getting instructions on how to do things, and less time working out... During the poses she keeps giving instructions on proper form, to help people adjust and know what to focus on...

It's good and bad that there won't be any camps this august, I would have liked to keep going, but at the same time, I want to go back to training for my running. And I do like the flexibility of exercising at home whenever works for me (even though it's more challenging to get the motivation to work out at home)... Going out and having a commitment to exercising at the Booty Camp ensures that I do it... no excuses! I don't go through my usual big ''pre-work out negotiation'' between my brain and my body:)

I signed up for it, I gotta do it... end of story. And it's fun, so I look forward to it too!

Registration is open for September Booty Camps - go sign up quick before they all fill up! There are locations all over Canada, so don't hesitate! It's super fun and it brings great results!! :)

Desi Chef - New frozen meals...

Yesterday I had the chance to try a new line of frozen meals - Desi Chef. (Available at some Sobey's grocery stores in the GTA)

S and I were so excited to try their butter chicken and get to review it - we couldn't wait- we loooove indian food :)



The chicken was nice and tender, good sized pieces (it was not 'plastic-y' or 'chewy' like what you find in typical frozen meals) it looked, tasted and felt closer to real chicken you would cook at home. It was dead easy to prepare too - 11 minutes in the microwave, stirring once after 7 minutes.



The sauce was nice and thick, the taste was heavenly. The right combination of spices... very yummy! It was a good amount of food - good portion size...

Had it with some quick basmati rice from Uncle Ben's.

I would definitely recommend it and will definitely buy it again (and again, and again... :)

Here's the nutritional info:




It's 2 points per serving (there's 3.5 servings per container - I had a full container which adds up to 8,5 points.) It's a bit on the high side of the amount of points I like to have for a meal - but it was well worth it - and, I mean: we're talking about butter chicken here, that's as points friendly as butter chicken will get without losing yummy-ness!! :)

I hope they become available in more stores and in more cities soon! Looking forward to see what other meals they offer...

My first 5k = My second 5k!!!!

Yay!!! I HAVE COMPLETED A 5K!!!!! WOOOO HOOO:)

A real one... not like at the Pride Run where I got confused on the course and only ended up running 3,5 km... I ran a full 5 k race!!! I am so proud of myself!! I don't know the official result yet (the timing chip people have not posted it yet...) But I think it's somewhere around 33m, which is so much better than I ever imagined I could do!!!


*******
UPDATE! Here's the official info: 33:57 minutes :)

361/444 overall 5k runners
189/253 overall women
45/56 in my category
pace: 7:31

*******


I was so not prepared though - I put together my shorts, shirt (the one I got from the Pride Run :) my bra and my iPod in a bag before I went to bed. Set my alarm to wake up at 6h30am which would give me about 30 minutes to prep before I had to leave... I heard the alarm, but I didn't get up right away... I didn't wake up until 7h03!!!

Panic!!!

Where are my shoes, what am I going to have for breakfast, we don't have time to go park at S's work and walk to the event anymore, so where do I leave all my stuff?! ..... I did get ready clikety quick, grabbed a few granola bars to eat in the car on the way, then S dropped me off to get my race kit and he met me later at the start line, where he offered to hold on to my 'stuff' (I had the race kit and my wallet, etc.) PHEW! :)

I was still pumped and excited to get a chance to finish 'a real 5k' this time, and I was happy to get started... S thought of bringing his camera - I had forgotten mine - he's so smart :)

That's me smiling at S just after the start ;)


And there I am on my way, headed to Lakeshore... (I'm on the far right, with the white letters on my bum :)



And that's me after the finish line - sticking out my tongue :)



Wait a minute, I didn't stop my iPod!


Anyways, I think I did pretty good considering I have not been running in over a week (I did exercise though - 2 days of soccer tournament, then one night of soccer, then 2 nights of Booty Camp Fitness!) So I'm quite happy...

I know a few of the Toronto blog ladies were doing the same race (which is also a 10-miler) I hope they did well and had fun on the course! Can't wait to read the updates over at Mouse's :)

I have lots of post subjects lined up next - I'm behind on blogging because of all the exercise I am doing nowadays - not a bad thing ;) Some of the stuff I want to write about soon:

Booty Camp Fitness
Angela's On the Glo Bars (Oh She Glows)
I was tagged by Julie for a Q&A
Desi Chef Frozen meals
Wedding stuff (I have a dress!!!:)

ok that's about it for now - I hope you all have a wonderfull Sunday :)

Amazing Giveaway on Oh She Glows!

Angela over at Oh She Glows is giving away some amazing grass products - man I want to try these after seeing them all over the blogosphere!!
You can still enter here !
Good Luck :)

Booty Camp Day 1

Ayoye! (this is a Québécois ''expression'' used when 'ouch' doesn't quite cut it... :)

Ok. First of all, I have to mention that I spend my Sunday evening (8-11pm) playing soccer (1 hour non stop, 1 hour break, 1 other hour non-stop) and I was feeling it big time on Monday morning, and feeling it even more today... Then, I attended my first day of

AYOYE!!! :)

It was awesome! Nice park by the water with a nice breeze... The instructor, Leigha, was great with lots of energy, she was fun :)

We started with a quick fitness assessment and weigh in - apparently I have tiny arms :) (well not sure if it's a good or bad thing? :) It was the end of the day, with all my clothes on and my shoes... I weighed in at 154.5 - not too bad I think! I also got a DVD with at home workout sessions and a booklet, which I will explore more tomorrow... Lots of english reading for the frenchie ;)

We did series of jog/strength training/abs exercises, lots of variety, which I liked... I did ok on my running around, but I need to work on the strength some more - oh la la, my legs are shake-y :) And I pretty much have zero arm strength... ha ha ha But that's why I'm there isn't it? :)

I liked that you don't have to think of anything you just let go and follow your leader... I like not having to count and time everything... It was like a class really, but outdoors.

The only negative I would say was that I definitely didn't pick the right spot to place my yoga mat, I seemed to be on an angle and had a bit of trouble keeping proper form... I'll pick my spot better next time :)

One of the ladies who was starting her second half of the 8 weeks program said that she had already lost a total of 10 inches -wow! I think that what's great about this is I'm committed to it, all I have to do is go to the 'appointments' and do the exercise, push it, and come back home - It would be pretty difficult for me to screw this up, hee hee I think if I just stick to it, I can get similar results! And it's fun, so what else could I ask for? :)

I came back home and had a wrap with eggs, spinach and tomatoes with a lil cheese. Yummy. I had my last WW cookie from the box I bought as a treat, and that's it! It reminded me of something that Roni often says on her blog that stuck in my head recently: one good decision leads to another, so start your day right... something like that - go read her post, she writes it much better than I do :) Anyways, when I had my dinner tonight, after a nice workout, I felt I didn't need to snack as much, that's why I'm thinking of that right now...

It's been a pretty tough day at work today, and I am very upset about it... I think I need to do some serious thinking, but I just feel like distracting myself away from the problem... ugh...

but I don't want to bore you with any more work talk... I'm exhausted and don't have access to my own computer right now, so I'm going to skip the food photos for today... Glad you enjoy my 'one photo per meal' idea Fatinah :) I'll continue doing that... it's just so much faster for me too anyway...

ok, am I getting rambly or what? hee hee I'm out... good night!

Glo Bakery...

I forgot to mention, I am super excited to have ordered some of Angela's famous Glo Bars today. I just can't wait to try them out!!!!!!! :)

Exercise Schedule...

Ok, I have tried all night to find a way to upload pictures to blogger without it taking too long and I failed. Now I am frustrated and out of time :( Enough to make me consider switching to wordpress... but I digress... actually, I think I just thought of another way... wait a minute while I try it...

...................

Got it! It's way past my bed time now - so I didn't get to do much with the layout - and the image quality is not great... but here is what I ate today:

For Breakfast:



Lunch:




And dinner...




I have my first Booty Camp Fitness session tomorrow night -Yay! I will talk about it when I get home... I can't wait!

I just realized today that I have a pretty decent exercise plan for July:

Monday Nights : Soccer
Tuesday Nights: Booty Camp
Wednesday : Running
Thursday Nights: Booty Camp
Friday: Running
Saturday or Sunday: Extra Booty Camp at home day...

Phew!

Ok, I would have worked on this post more, but I'm out of time...

Do you have any tips/advice for uploading pictures on Blogger?


Have a super duper Tuesday! :)

Amy's 15 Week Chalenge - Weeks 1 + 2

Starting Weight 150.2 lbs

Week 2 - I gained 0.2lbs (151.2)
Week 1 - I gained 0.8lbs (151.0)


Oh wait - I am supposed to lose weight?!! Aaaaaaaaah! well that makes more sense... Now this week I'll do that...

pfff


I think I've snapped myself out of it - will be more serious this week...

Tagged...

A loooooooooooong time ago, the lovely Mel from A Box of Chocolates gave me an award/tagged me. I was very excited and looking forward to participate - so I started my list, but didn't finish it: I couldn't find 10 things to list... So an incomplete list has been sitting in my 'drafts' folder ever since (Feb 1st!!!) Well I finally finished it today and here it goes:

1. I am crazy in love with New York City. (Which is partially why S and I are getting married there this Fall...) My life long dream is to live there some day... Anyone want to offer me a job in NYC? ;)
2. I hate onions. Can't eat them, and honestly, I don't understand how people like them - they have a weird texture and they make you stink... why eat them? :)
3. I love chocolate, and I like nuts. But I can't eat them together, just don't like it - it's like my brain can't compute the mix of these 2 flavors...
4. I never wear make-up - I have no idea what products are out there and what they are meant for... really... lol
5. At work, a lot of people have said that I come across as a very organized person - but I am the absolute opposite. Well maybe that's not fair - I am extremely messy but I can find my way in my mess - well, most of the time...
6. I pretty much taught myself English by listening to other people talk and watching movies so it often happens that I will ''pick up'' someone's accent when I speak to them, which is sometimes a bit awkward :)
7. I am an extremely shy person (seriously, it's a real problem...) One example of how shy I am is how I am uncomfortable with eating in front of somebody - I always avoid eating out with people but if I have to go, I'll pick something simple that I can eat neatly with a fork and a knife and I will cover my mouth a lot... or else I will just not finish it... Last time I was offered a job I was invited to lunch by my potential employers and without thinking I ordered a club sandwich - and it was a huge sandwich - why oh why did I do that ?!! It was already stressful enough to be there to talk about my next contract! I was so uncomfortable - I think I swallowed a lot of bites without chewing them :)
8. I am 'absent-minded' (I just learned that word playing Sims 3 and find it is so accurate to decribe me :) I get distracted very easily...
9. When eating a meal, I will wait until I'm done with all the food before drinking anything. Always been like that - as a kid my mom used to push me to drink during the meal, but I couldn't, and for some reason that used to drive her nuts lol
10. I am addicted to MLS (the real estate web site :) I love seeing the inside of people's houses... I really just enjoy all things houses/renos in general...

That's it!

Thank you so much for the award Mel - and thank you for your patience :)

I have been tagged by Julie to do another fun question-and-answer-style list - Thank you for tagging me Julie and don't worry, I'm working on it!

My first 5k?!

I went to the Pride Run today! It was such a nice and sunny day, with a little breeze to keep you comfortable...

I followed everybody's advice and hydrated well (not too much) before the race :)


so here is how I did today:



It says I was 227th out of 810 people! I did the race in 23 minutes and 11 seconds, at a pace of 5:01, 39/284 in my category, 51/383 in my gender... That's impressive isn't it?

Well, don't get excited... see - here's the map of the race:



Notice how there's a giant loop there? I was supposed to go around it... twice... Yes, I screwed up and only went around it once - making this a 3.52 kilometer race, and not a 5km race!! I thought it was odd that they were making us go the one way - I thought it would be pretty simple and clear - but no, I am just that confused!! lol It was too late when I realized I went the wrong way and going back was not an option, so I kept going, sprinted to the finish line, and met with S who thought I would finish at least 15 minutes later and was slowly approaching the finish line to get a shot... I'm disappointed, to be honest, but I can say this - the positive is I think this was fantastic and I want to do it again asap!!! :) It was sooooo much fun!!!

I am definitely doing this particular run again next year - such a nice course and the crowd was so friendly... I caught a glimpse of someone very famous in the blogosphere but I was too shy to approach him :) I recognized him on the course when he passed me with his pink skirt and a camera in his hand :) He did very well WOW!! (Marie, let me know if you/he would rather I remove this photo - I will remove it no problem if you/he is uncomfortable with my posting it...)


If I look at my iPod/Nike+ stats this is how I really did (approximately) pace was 6'23'', so I would have been somewhere around the 565/810th place... not too bad! It's sad because as I was turning where I thought I had just looped around for the first time I thought - man I can do this, I can really do this! I was doing ok... Except for the drink of water I tried to have without stopping and then completely choked on LOL

ok, I think I need to say more about this, but my mom decided to 'surprise-visit' from Montreal and she's just about to show up now, and I can't review my post right now - I'll just update it later in a different color :)


oh! One thing I need to say is THANK YOU SO MUCH everybody for your nice encouragements and advice, here and on twitter... you made my day!!! I want to give you all big HUGS!! :)