Friday Weigh-In

So I gained half a pound this week. I kinda knew that was coming since I ate horribly this week. I'm actually surprised it's not more, like I said, I was not prepared for my meals this week at all. I'm going grocery shopping this weekend to ensure that it doesn't happen again next week. I also skipped out on my walks this week. Things have been really stressful at work, and by the time I get home, I'm exhausted. Next week there will be no excuses, I will walk every night. I also need to keep up with my postings, because I really haven't been doing that great, and I find if I slack on this then I don't have anyone/thing to be accountable too. I'm so happy it's Friday, I have such a good weekend planned. This weekend is going to be all about eating well, and taking care of my body. I'm going to plant a small fruit/veggie garden in my yard. I want to plant carrots, beans, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries and watermelon. I hope you all have a great weekend! It's supposed to be beautiful! xoxo

Unprepared = Unsuccessful

So this week hasn't been the greatest week food wise. I've been so busy and rushed that I really haven't had time to sit down for even one real meal. I've been eating little bits here and there, snacking really. Monday night, since I didn't have time this weekend, I decided to clean my house. By the time I was done it was well past supper, so I grabbed some crackers and ate them with cheese and peanut butter. Not bad calorie wise, but it was at 9pm, and it wasn't very filling at all. Tuesday morning I was so rushed at work I skipped breakfast, by lunch I was dying of starvation so I ate some of Mike's Chinese food (awful choice). Tuesday evening I went to Renfew with my Aunt Mary, my cousin Shannon and a family friend to a breast cancer fashion show fundraiser put on by the Renfrew Ladies Golf Club. It was great, but there was no dinner, just appetizers. I ended up eating a few mini sandwiches, fruit, veggies and cheese. Not filling at all, but by the time we left it was close to 10pm, and I didn't want to eat that late, plus the calories in the sandwiches and cheese were really high. Wednesday morning was again, super busy, so I skipped breakfast and, of course, at lunch I was starving. I had Harvey's for lunch. I know it was a huge mistake, but I was unprepared for lunches at work this week, and that's what everyone else was getting. Last night I definitely fell back into my bad habit of "I ate a huge lunch, therefore I'm going to starve myself tonight". That, of course, didn't work and I ended up eating pizza at 9pm.
All in all my eating this week has been horrible. If I don't gain any weight tomorrow morning I'll be thrilled. My goal for the next week is to be prepared for my meals! I need to go out and get more healthy lunch food and some quick, healthy and easy breakfasts and suppers. It makes a huge difference when your prepared for your meals. Last week I was totally prepared and I did really well. I need to get back into that groove.
Anyway, I got a pretty relaxing weekend planned. I want to do some gardening and finish up our backyard. I need another few bags of crushed stone, and a ton more soil for my beds. Hopefully I can get it all done and then spend the rest of the summer enjoying my lovely gardens and having a ton of barbeque's in the backyard.

Food Inc.

I need to admit to something...
On Friday...
I ate...
Kentucky Fried Chicken... :(
Yuck! Yuck! Double, triple yuck!

Friday night we went over to Nat and Steve's and we all decided to order KFC. Not the smartest choice (no kidding), but it was something we were all craving (except Jeff, he hates KFC). So we decided to get the family deal thing and share it. After eating it, we all felt pretty disgusting. I think I had about a pound of grease on my hands and face. As the night went on, we didn't feel any better. All night I had cramps (so bad that I had a hard time sleeping). I know Steve and Nat felt the same way. Alexis complained of a stomach ache. It was awful. Steve made a comment on Facebook about never eating it again, and someone commented back about taking a look at a documentary called Food Inc. I love documentaries in general, I especially love them when their about a topic that I'm interested in (food). So last night I downloaded Food Inc. (which I think might be illegal, so don't tell anyone), and Jeff and I sat down to watch it.
What a terrifying film. Jeff and I were both enthralled by it. Probably the best documentary I've ever seen. It's insane to think that we don't even know what we're eating. I've read Skinny Bitch which talks a lot about cutting meat and processed food out of your diet, but it's a completely different story when you actually watch what happens to your food. From seed and 'farm' to supermarket, it's not the journey we all imagine. Food Inc. is directed and produced by Robert Kenner. Robert talks about this veil, this curtain that is dropped between the shrink wrapped products in the stores and where it really comes from. Most companies still use these beautiful pictures of farms and farmers, of hand milking cows and of people churning butter by hand, when in reality, it's so far from the truth, it's terrifying. Food Inc. hits on too many issues to go into detail in here, but if you want to visit the website it's posted below. After watching the movie, Jeff and I have decided to make conscious decisions about what we eat, and where we get our food. I started doing some research last night, and came up with a couple of different places in Ottawa where you can buy anti-biotic free and free range meats, pesticide free produce and hormone free dairy. There are actually quite a few. Ottawa has it's very own farmer's market at Landsdown that I didn't even know about. I've attached a bunch of links at the bottom of this blog to better explain the difference between organic and not organic. Even if you don't care about animal rights, I think you probably care about what your eating. Between the pesticides, the antibiotics, the growth hormones and the bacteria, you might want to take a look at what they do to your body. Buying local isn't only going to help out our local farmers and our local economy, but it'll will greatly affect our health.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/ - Food Inc. Movie website
http://www.ottawafarmersmarket.ca/ - Ottawa's Farmer's Market at Landsdown
http://www.stonyfield.com/ - Organic Dairy sold at Walmart (one of the few truly fantastic organic companies.)
http://www.foodrevolution.org/grassfedbeef.htm - explains the problems with corn fed beef.
http://www.polyfacefarms.com/default.aspx - Even though this company is in Virginia, their story is amazing. The amount of work they put into fresh farming is impressive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin's_law - This talks about Kevin's Law (which I'm sure most of you have heard of). Even though it's American, Kevin's Law will most certainly affect Canadian food.
http://theorganicchic.com/blog/tag/kevins-law/ - Blog about Organic Food/Food Inc./Kevin's Law - Fantastic blog!
http://www.farmersmarketsontario.com/index.cfm - Farmer's Market's all over Ontario. Local, fresh products, made close to home.

On average, the consumer feels pretty powerless about what they eat. Most of us feel that we are stuck eating whatever they put in our stores. In reality, the exact opposite is true. Every time we go to a store we vote for organic or not, for pesticide free or not. Walmart has started changing what it's selling because of what their customers have voted for. If we can change a huge conglomerate like Walmart, we can make anything happen. If we as consumers were able to change the tobacco industry, we should be able to do the same for our food. We need to take a stand and demand safe, healthy, fresh food from the beef, dairy, pork and poultry industries.

Friday Weigh-In

Last Weeks Weight: 269 lbs

This Weeks Weight: 267.5 lbs

Weight Lost this Week: 1.5 lbs

Total Weight Loss: 12.5 lbs

Go me! I would have lost more this week but I had a bad eating day yesterday. I skipped breakfast, I had two Pogo's for lunch from the chip stand. I had pasta, Caesar salad and garlic bread from East Side Mario's for dinner, and I had a small popcorn with butter, a diet coke and half a bag of Sour Patch Kids at the movies. I probably should have saved my pig out day for after my weigh-in, but, I'm pretty proud that I lost even after the wonderfully delicious/disgustingly bad for me day yesterday. I'm sorry for the lack of posts this week and the short post today, it's been a busy week! I'll describe it all tomorrow (hopefully). Xoxo.

Part Two: Body Image

Through different stages in my life, I feel differently about losing weight. I've tried to lose weight for many reasons; not all of them good ones.
I've tried to lose weight to make my family happy. I understood, even then, that it was hard on my parents to watch their oldest daughter be teased because of her weight. To see me so unhappy with the way I looked.
I've tried to lose weight to fit into the 'image' of perfection. Skinny=Pretty=Perfection. That was my mantra all through elementary, middle and high school.
This is truly the first time in my life I'm trying to lose weight to be healthy. I'm not going to lie and say it has nothing to do with looking better, because it does. To me, liking the way I look is a large part of being mentally healthy. The thing is, I'm not doing this to be skinny, I'm doing it to be at a healthy weight for my body.
When I look back I realize that I wrapped a lot of my self-worth into my body image. In reality, those two should never mix. If you base your self-worth on how you look, you'll never be happy. You'll always find something wrong somewhere on your body; I'm too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall. I'm too big, too small, too loud, too shy. My hair is too straight, too curly, too short, too long. My clothes are never good enough. I'm never good enough.
It's so sad to think back and realize I wasted so many years trying to be 'perfect', that I never just tried to be me. I know a lot of people go through esteem and body image issues, but I'm just wondering how many people don't really find themselves until later in life, or ever.
At twenty-four years old I have finally figured out who I am. I am Amanda Vermette, nee Cox. I am funny, outgoing and caring. I am not obnoxious, mean or skinny. I am good at writing, telling the world how I feel, exaggerating and being emotional. I am not good at fighting with people (it makes me sick to my stomach). I hate olives and people who hurt others. I love cheese, chocolate, my friends and family. I love that I have the unwavering support of my friends and family. I love that I have the support of everyone of you who reads this blog.
I want to be able to help other young girls from ever having to go through what I went through. I want to teach them that body image and self-esteem and self-worth should never be combined. I want to tell them that they are not defined by what they look like and their worth is not decided by how much their jeans cost. I want to tell them that they are the only ones who can decide what their worth. You are the only one that can decide your worth.

Pink Heels and 'Pony Tails'

I'd like to apologize for not writing out my Part Two yet. I had such an impossibly busy weekend that I barely had time for anything extra. I promise part two will be written in tomorrow's blog!
Like I said, this weekend was crazy! Friday after work we met Nat and Steve at Score's (in Kanata) for lunch. The soup, salad and fruit bar there is amazing! So many choices and the quality was fantastic! When we were done we headed to Costco for a few supplies then back home to pick Alexis up from school. Friday night we went to Nat and Steve's for dinner and to play Pictionary and Phase 10 (card game).
Saturday morning we woke up early and got ready to pick up Jeff's mom, Chris. We had planned a day of lunch and shopping with her. After picking her up we went to Buster's at Lincoln Fields. The food was excellent! We went to Bayshore after so Alexis could go to Build-A-Bear. Chris got her the cutest horse that Alexis named Blue Jeans (of course), and we dressed her up in a jean skirt, a cute flowery top and pink high heels (haha). After a fun afternoon with Chris, we headed out with Lacey and Adam for the night. After dinner we went to their place. We met their Bunny (who has no name), played a couple of games and just hung out.
Sunday was by far the best Sunday ever! We got up early and had the morning to relax. We went for a couple walks, went to Sobey's and did groceries, it was a gorgeous day! Alexis had a birthday party from 2-4pm so after we dropped her off we went with Sam and Ericka to look at a few houses around our place that had open houses. At four we picked up Alexis and came home, where we all sat on the living room floor and made necklaces, earrings and chains out of Alexis' beads.
Such a great weekend, and the weather was beautiful on Sunday. Even though we ate out a lot, I think I did pretty good. Time will tell!

OK, so tomorrow will be Part Two: Body Image

Part One: Self-Esteem

I've decided to do a two part series on self-esteem in young women. I want to mainly concentrate on teenage girls in high school, but I want to talk about younger girls and women my age, as well as older generations.

I'm too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall. I'm too big, too small, too loud, too shy. My hair is too straight, too curly, too short, too long. My clothes are never good enough. I'm never good enough.
Does any of this sound even a little bit familiar? It does to me. In fact, it sounds like a lot of women I know. Everyone goes through periods of time where they feel self conscious or their esteem is a little low, that's a pretty normal feeling, especially when your a teenager. The question is; When does it stop being a 'normal' thing, and start being something parents/teachers/friends should worry about?
Self-esteem is extremely important because it can affect how someone acts, how easily they make friends and how they control their behaviour. Most teenagers have a hard time with their self-esteem because, as they go through puberty, their bodies and the way they think changes. Most teens (and adults) compare themselves to others, whether it be strangers, friends or celebrities. The problem with comparing yourself to others, especially as a teen is that everyone matures differently. Some girls get nervous and uncomfortable about the way they develop, others wish they'd mature sooner. Boys can feel pressure to look like certain celebrities, or to have bigger muscles.
As parents/teachers/family/friends of young girls and teenagers, how do we help them feel better about themselves?
Even though my mental image of myself sucks, I try my best to keep that from Alexis. I only weigh myself if she's out of the room, or downstairs, I try not to use words like fat or skinny in front of her. Jeff and I try to teach her about being healthy, not about being skinny. This morning when she was getting dressed in her room, I looked out of the bathroom and saw that she was standing in front of her mirror, she had her shirt lifted up and was turning from side to side sucking in her stomach. I heard her say "I'm fat". I asked her what she said, and she looked up at me and said "Mom, am I fat?". I was shocked. I've never heard her talk like that before about anyone, let alone herself. I went into her room and sat her down on the bed with me, and this is what I said;
"Alexis, we don't use words like that in this house. Being fat or skinny isn't important. What's important is that your healthy. You eat healthy foods, we go out and exercise everyday. We take walks with Harvey, bike rides with friends and we even go hiking at Barry's. Do you eat healthy? (She said yes) Do you feel healthy and strong? (Yes) Do we go out and get our exercise? (Yes) Then that's all you ever have to worry about. If you take care of your body by exercising, and take care of your brain by eating properly, they will take care of you."
She seemed OK after that, but I'm still shell shocked. I don't know if what I said helped her any, I can only pray, but it made me stop and think about self-esteem and at what age your self-esteem starts being affected by your body-image.

Tomorrow: Part Two - Body Image

Friday Weigh-In
Last Weeks Weight: 272
This Weeks Weight: 269 (3lbs)
Total Weight Loss: 11lbs (woot!)

Etiquette

I've been so happy with my eating lately! Yesterday for lunch I had a toasted turkey and cheese sandwich (whole grain bread, extra lean turkey and low fat cheddar), a delicious salad with light Italian dressing and watermelon. This morning for breakfast I had Kashi Go Lean Crunch mixed with strawberry yogurt and raspberries. I'm really hoping for a big number on the scale this week. It will be my monthly weigh in, and I would like to have lost at least 10lbs. I have a month and a half left to reach my 30lb goal. I feel like maybe I put the bar too high. I know 30lbs is a lot to lose in 2 1/2 months, but I really think at my weight I can do it. This month got kind of screwed up because of Easter, but I'm back on track and on a huge roll! Lunch today will be the same as yesterday, since it was so good. I remember when I was on Dr. B, I was able to have a turkey sandwich once a week. It was my favourite meal. Having a turkey sandwich with cheese and mustard was pretty much all the carbs I was allowed in a day, so I would make sure it was used up good.

I would like to add a little blurb on here about inappropriate use of Facebook.

Things You Should Never Do on Facebook:
1. Share personal drama of any kind. No one wants to hear it.
2. Start personal drama of any kind. No one cares.

That's basically it. No one wants to hear about your fight with your best friend, why your angry with your family or who did what to who. Pretty much anything that's hurtful, going to make someone mad, or going to start anything (with anyone) should stay off Facebook. Talk about it with your friends, if you have no friends to talk about with...then you shouldn't have any friends on Facebook, therefore saving us all the trouble of having to deal with your personal crap.

That is all.

Just a Small Town Girl

Let's start off by saying that I really dislike musicals. All the singing and breakout dancing kills me. Other than 'Summer Lovin' and 'Your the One That I Want' I fast forward through all of Grease's songs. Same with Hairspray, Chicago, etc.
That being said, I absolutely adore Glee. The acting is terrific and the singing is crazy good. There was a lot of hype surrounding the premiere of Glee last fall, so Jeff and I decided to PVR it and take our time watching it. Needless to say we were both hooked after the first episode. I'm the type of person who usually waits for a few seasons of the show to be out on DVD before I even start to watch it because I hate cliffhangers and I hate hate hate waiting. I started watching 24 after the fifth season finished, I started watching House MD just this past year, I started watching Gilmore Girls last year as well, and I have just started watching Prison Break (fantastic!). So clearly it's not common for me to start watching a show before the season is available on DVD, but for some reason, Glee gets to me.
I'm so wrapped up in the Puck/Quinn/Finn baby drama, the Finn/Rachel romance, the Mr. Shue/Terri/Emma love triangle and of course, How Sue C's it. I'm a Gleekster to the core! Jeff bought me both Cd's for Christmas and the DVD for New Years. I listen to the Cd's all the time in the car; I had to drive home from Oshawa at the beginning of January, it ended up taking me 8 hours because of the traffic and snow, and I all I listened to on the way home was Glee. I sang the female lead in Midnight Train.

"Just a small town girl
Livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train going anywhere
Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train going anywhere
A singer in a smokey room
The smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on..."

I adore that song! I think I sound a lot like Lea Michele (Rachel), Jeff says I sound more like the people they make fun of at American Idol. He's just jealous.

Sexy Smooth Legs

I have decided I am going to get laser hair removal. I am so sick of waxing and shaving my damn legs that I don't even care how much it will cost. I've done some research and per session for the bottom half of your leg is about $150-$200. It all depends on how your leg hairs grow, but most people usually need 4-8 sessions. I did a quick consult and apparently for me, I'll need about 4 sessions and their estimating that I will have paid about $600 per leg by the end of it. I know it sounds like a lot, but when you take into consideration that it's $30 every time you wax (every 4 weeks), or 1 razor every three shaves (once every second day), then you multiply it by the number of years you shave for...that's just as bad.

I get a wax 13 times a year.
13 x 30 = $390 a year to wax

I use a Gillette Venus Embrace razor blades. They cost about $16 for 4 replacement blades ($4/blade).
3 shaves per blade (shaving every second day)

That means I use about 60 blades a year
60 x 4 = $240 a year to shave

In the end laser hair removal is cheaper, more effective and a whole lot less annoying. No ingrown hairs, no razor bumps, no more dry shaving because "I forgot and I have to wear a dress tonight". Imagine the freedom!

I know this post has absolutely nothing to do with my physical health, but it has a lot to do with my mental health. I'm a firm believer that it's what inside that counts, but I also fully believe that when I look good on the outside, I feel phenomenal on the inside. When I dress up, curl my hair and do my makeup, I know I walk with a bounce in my step. I stand up straighter, hold my head higher and I smile at everyone. Sexy smooth legs are just what I need. Hopefully I can start soon! I'll keep you posted.

Parties and Pictionary

What a weekend! Once again, I had almost no time to myself, and absolutely no time to blog. :( This week I promise I will get back on track with my blogging!
Friday was Alexis' birthday and we decided to take her out for supper at our personal favourite, Wild Wings. Joined by Lacey, Adam, Nat, Steve and their kids, we had a delicious supper and lots of laughter. We had to head home early to get the house ready for her birthday BBQ that we were having on Saturday morning.
We got up early Saturday to finish the decorations and to get the food out and ready before everyone arrived. The party went beautifully! We had 30 of our closest friends and family there and everyone seemed to have a great time. We had lots of fruit and vegetables, hot dogs and hamburgers, a beautiful fruit basket that Kristy made (even though she couldn't be there), and a ton of other food. Instead of a cake Alexis wanted the same cupcakes that Jeff and I had gotten for our wedding at Isobel's. Everything was delicious, everything went off without a hitch and we all had a great time. Saturday night we went to Nat and Steve's with Lacey and Adam, Ray and Wendy to play Pictionary. I had such a blast! Call me a nerd, but Pictionary is so much fun! We played guys against girls. We won the first game and the guys got us in the second and third. Saturday was a looooong day and even longer night, but totally worth it.
Yesterday we went out for Ray's birthday to Tucker's. The reservations were at five, but we all decided to go earlier and walk around (and shop in) the market for a bit. I ended up with a lovely ring and bracelet. Tucker's was great. The food was delicious and the company, as always, was fantastic.
I'm actually very excited to weigh myself this week. I know I ate well this weekend, we did quite a bit of walking, and I felt like I was constantly running around. I feel good.
I totally forgot to mention that I woke up Sunday with absolutely no voice! It turns out it's laryngitis. I feel fine, I just can't talk...at all. Mike says he's happy cause now he'll have a quiet day at work without me pestering him. I say, eff him! :) Anyways, it's supposed to be nice weather this week, a little cool but beautiful, so I'm planning on taking quite a few walks!

Friday Weigh-In

I don't have a lot of time today to write my blog, but today was weigh in day...!

This Week: 272 lbs
Lost this week: 1 lb
Total weight loss: 8 lbs

So I was hoping for more, since it was more than a full week, but I know that Easter screwed me up a little. All in all, I lost weight. That's what counts! Sorry for the shortest blog ever! Busy day!

xoxo

Buns, Butter and Cheese...Oh My!

I've decided that I'm going to weigh myself every Friday from now on. I don't like worrying about my weight all weekend, and I definitely tend to eat my best during the week. I forgot to weigh myself yesterday, and today is Wednesday, so what's two more days?
Yesterday definitely wasn't a good eating day for me. I ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Between doctor's appointments, meeting the new daycare, running back and forth from work and missing breakfast, by lunch I was starving. I decided to pick up some whole wheat buns and some lunch meat at the grocery store, and have that with some cheese back at work. Well, when I got to the store, they had no whole wheat buns and no extra lean turkey. Being the super intelligent person that I am, I decided to grab a few white buns and some salami type meat (super bad for me) instead. I got back to work and ate two buns with butter, cheese and the salami stuff. Of course, after eating it, I felt disgusting and nauseous. Since I didn't eat lunch until 2pm, I definitely wasn't hungry for supper at 6:00pm, so I decided to take a walk with Nat and skip supper (in hopes of making up for the 843 calorie lunch).
Seriously, you think I'd learn after, what?...14 years of doing this...that skipping a meal IS NOT GOOD.
So of course, after an hour and a half walk, I was starving for something, so I decided to order a veggie pizza. After eating my 600 calorie's worth of pizza, I was ready for bed.
Today is going to be a better day! I believe I will be eating a deliciously healthy 6-inch sub from Subway for lunch. Supper is going to be harder since we have a ton of running around to do, so we will probably be eating out. I'm going to do my best to keep my supper healthy and low in calories, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Easter - My Style

I can't believe that I missed two whole posts! I was doing so well at not missing a day...and then Easter happened. Did anyone else feel like it felt more like the May 2-4 then April 1st? What ridiculously gorgeous weather for a long weekend! Friday night poker turned into a very large party, with a ton of great friends! After a late night and an even later start to the morning, we got up Saturday ready to get some work done in our backyard. Five people, eight hours, $500 and ten thousand pounds of crushed rock later, our backyard is gorgeous! Thanks to the help of Sam and Ericka, we managed to finish almost all our backyard in one day.
The girls had brought two huge packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, so we did them up on the BBQ with garlic roasted potatoes, mushrooms and onions. Lacey and Adam came over and we broke out the BBQ and had a fantastic dinner. Sam even made a honey apple crumble pie for dessert (haha). Exhausted (and oh so sore) we got ready for the Easter Bunny and went to bed.
Sunday was a beautiful day. The Easter Bunny had left tons of toys and some chocolate for Alexis, the weather was gorgeous and we had a BBQ at my mom's for dinner. We finished up our backyard, took out Alexis' bike and headed to moms for a terrific dinner of steaks, baked potatoes, fresh strawberries, tuna macaroni salad, grapes, corn and a few beer. After walking off the food we went home for a relaxing night watching movies and catching up on my reading. Unfortunately today Jeff had to work, so it ended up being a very girlie day. Alexis and I woke up late, had Honeycomb cereal for breakfast, went shopping, had Wendy's for lunch, went shopping some more, then headed home to relax for a bit before Sam came over. I bought two gorgeous pairs of shoes, two necklaces, a bracelet, a pair of earrings, four pairs of pants, two tops and a jacket. I love them all. I know I should have waited for the pants, but I bought them a little small in hopes they'll last me through the summer. It is so hard for me to find clothes I like, and I was just so happy they all looked good on me...and my bum.
On a little side note here...why does everyone assume that because you've got a bigger waist, you must also have an enormous ass? This is not the case with me. I've got this tiny little bum that never fits right in pants.
Sam got here around 1:30 and we all decided to play Toy Story Mania on Wii. After kicking butt on that for awhile, we got a message from Nat and Steve saying they were back from their Easter weekend at Nat's mom's, and did we want to come over for a bit? I didn't have to pick up Jeff from work until 4, so we headed over there for an hour to chat. After picking up Jeff we went to Jay and Jenny's for (yet another) Easter dinner of turkey and ham. It was delicious.
After finally making it back home, and after Lacey and Adam stopped in to show us Adam's new Subaru, here we are. I'm sitting in front of my laptop, writing my blog. I am probably at least 2lbs heavier then I was on Thursday, and I feel pretty damn good. I know I ate too much this weekend. I also know that I really did to a ton of exercise to counteract the extra food. We went for countless walks and we spent the whole day working on the backyard on Saturday. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't gain any weight, I also didn't lose any this week either. I had such a terrific weekend. From Thursday night right up until 9pm tonight, our weekend was filled with our terrific families, our fantastic friends, great times and even greater food. Although this is not exactly unusual for us, it is definitely the first time that I really got to concentrate on our friends and families and not on the food. The food was still a big part of the weekend, but it wasn't the main part. I didn't feel overwhelmed by the food, I didn't feel like the food was controlling what I did. I truly got to concentrate on the people I was with, the things we were doing. I got to be happy without worrying what everyone was thinking about what I ate. I threw it all out their on the table when I started this blog. I no longer worry what people think I weigh, I already told them. I no longer care what people think about what I eat. Everyone I know now knows exactly what I feel and think when I eat. It is the single most liberating thing I've ever done. I am so proud.

Good Friday, Good Food

Today is Good Friday. I'm not a person that believes in religion. Any religion. I believe in a God and I pray to that God. I consider myself a very spiritual person, I just don't belong to one religion. I've read The Bible and The Koran. I've studied Judaism and Buddhism and I get extremely insulted when someone assumes I'm just ignorant. I love conversing about religion with others. I work in customer service so I get to meet tons of different people who believe in many different religions, and I'm always interested in what they say.
Nat (our neighbour) is Anglican, Steve is Orthodox and Tamara, Chloe and Devin are Catholic. The one day a year they don't eat meat was today. Anyone who knows Jeff knows that it's nearly impossible for him to go a single meal without meat, let alone a whole day, but we decided to try.
Nat and Steve had us over for a delicious Brunch this morning. We had homemade crepes, waffles, quiches, whipped cream, fresh fruit, my daddy's maple syrup and delicious homemade blueberry sauce. Steve and Nat made it all with all natural, low fat/calorie, healthy food. It was amazing! I definitely ate too much, but since it was breakfast and lunch put together, I let myself get away with it. After we finished eating we decided to run to Costco in Quebec and pick up some beer for tonight. We are having a little get together at Nat and Steve's. We decided to have veggie pizza for supper before everyone gets here. I love veggie pizza! Such a delicious way to not eat meat.
It was a great day today. It was a Good Friday with good food.

Cold Showers

I don't know how many of you listen to Hot 89.9 in the mornings, but seriously, everyday I kill myself laughing during the morning show. This morning on the way too work, as I was 'busting a gut' I got to thinking about how many calories you could be burning while laughing. Which then got me thinking, how many calories can you burn doing ordinary day to day things. So I compiled a list of fun things you can do on a daily basis to help you burn off a few more calories.

1. Eat spicy food. The heat actually makes you burn 100 calories more.
2. Turn the shower of cold for 20 seconds before you get out. It burns another 100 calories or so.
3. Drink a glass of ice water before working out. It burns another 100 calories.
4. Eat Celery. Celery has a negative caloric intake. You actually burn calories while eating it.
5. Fidget. Tap your foot/fingers/pen. Move around in your seat. Bob to the music. People who fidget actually burn an extra 300 calories more a day then people who don't.
6. Breath through your nose, not your mouth. It regulates your heart beat and ups your endurance.
7. Kiss someone ;)
8. Stand on your tip toes while brushing your teeth.
9. Get enough sleep. Adults who sleep for at least 6 hours a night burn 40% more calories than those who don't.
10. Drink hot green tea (minus the cream/milk/sugar/sweetener) to flush your system and boost your resting metabolism.

Once again, I want to thank everyone for continuing to support me in this journey. I feel like I've been doing this forever, but it hasn't even been three weeks yet.

16 Days Down
432 Days to Go