Okay, here goes another Hot 100 update! I can’t believe there is only 30 days left!

My goals for this week are:

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily.
2. finish week 8 of C25K.
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga.
4. eat lots of veggies.
5. loss 1 more lb to make it 10 lost total so far.
6. get through the week and especially the weekend without any junk food!
7. try a new vegetable or fruit.

And for some personal goals not related to weight loss:

1. update my web store with more products
2. start designing a site I want to get up by spring.
3. finish my Christmas shopping
4. put up my tree!

What’s this?

This is a picture of my daughter on her tip toes taking a peek at the surprise I have in the bag. Yesterday I went to our local Christmas bazaar which, until today, I didn’t know we had in town. Been here 12 years and this is the first I had heard of it. And, I only heard of it because my hubby called me from work and asked me to pick up some poinsettas’ s that where being held there for his boss.

I am so glad I went because I came home with these:

These ones are for my family. My daughter just loves plants and she was the one to talk me into getting some for our home too. My precious girl just might succeed in helping me out of this depressing fund I seem to be in about Christmas this year. By the time I got home with these, she convinced me to go up with her to the store in town where, there was something she wanted for Christmas and she knew that her sister would like too. So two presents where boughtyesterday, so that is a start. By the time I got home, I was actually starting to feel a little excited about this years Christmas. I honestly believe that God gave me this sweet girl to bring me happiness. My other two kids make me happy too but, my youngest just has something about her that can heal my heart.

Now if I can only manage not to kill off these two beautiful plants……..

Right now, my life is boring. Nothing new in my goals to talk about, everything is just the same. My weight keeps fluctuating, down to 159 them back up to 161 or 162. It always seems to take weeks to get back to the 159. I just wish it would get into the 150’s for good.

I have just been trucking along on my healthy eating, hoping that it will make the 150’s here to stay but, no luck. It may be my struggle with keeping my water intake at steady levels each day or the fact that I eat no salt one day them extra salt the next. Who knows. It’s frustrating though.

Now is the start to my week off of work. I am going to try to get my Christmas shopping done this week, it is a source of panic attacks for me this year and I know it stems from the tramatic past 2 Christmas’s we have had. I am hoping to make this Christmas extra fun and special so that I can get past the dread, depression and panic that is gripping me tightly this year.

On thursday, I pushed myself into doing week 7 day 2 of C25K inspite of my exhausting job. I do know that exercise will help in the long run with being able to get through each work week less exhausted. But, it will take time and it will only happen if I can push my self  into doing my workouts work week also. So today I will focus on doing day 3 of week 7 and then, I can get on with WEEK 8!

I seemed to be having more and more days where, I don’t seem to have much of anything interesting to say. I feel as if you guys are getting bored with my posts so, in the interest of keeping my readers interested, what would you guys like to see here? Can you give me some ideas? It is through your support that I am managing to keep going at my goals at all. You guys are my support community, my supportive family and I sure don’t want to lose you!

To those that may not know, this is a picture of leeks. I have never, ever had a leek before. On of my favourite magazines, Oxygen, has an article about stay slim soups for healthy winter eating. One of the ingredients is leeks. The soup looked so yummy and being tired and cold for days with this wintery weather, I decided that last night was the perfect night to give this soup, and leeks, a try. The recipe called for fish but, not being to fond of fish, I substituted the fish with chicken breast chunks. I also substituted cauliflower for the zucchini since I found out the one I had in the fridge, was no good.

So in a nut shell, here is how I made my winter soup which varies a bit from the one in Oxygen magazine. For the true recipe, check out the December 2009 issue of Oxygen magazine. (I checked the magazines site for the recipe to link to it but, the recipe isn’t up on the site yet.)

• 4 diced up and cooked small, chicken breasts
• 4 fair sized leeks, chopped and washed well
• couple of cups of left over cauliflower
• 4 large handfuls of spinach
• 2 cups of chopped broccoli
• 2 tetra packs of chicken broth
• garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper to taste

I sautéed the leeks and broccoli until a little bit tender. I added the cauliflower until warm and then added the chicken broth and chicken breast chunks. I then added in the spices to taste, added in the spinach and simmered for about 10 minutes to blend the flavours. Delicious! Goes great with garlic bread.

So my first experience with leeks was a good one. I definitely like them and will have them again. The rest of my family seemed to be fine with them too so they are keepers. I thought they smelled and tasted kind of like chives, with a hint more of an onion scent. Very mild and nice.

Silly, silly me! i forgot all about updating my weekly goals and posting them for yesterday. Late but here it is.

So, last weeks goals for me were:

1) make SURE to get in 8 or more glasses of H2O!!!—most days I made it.
2) eat some lower calorie meals to compensate for my weekend.—did it and made progress!
3) make sure to workout each day, especially running which I has missed! (side note: thank god I have been running as I left my purse in a restaurant in the CITY and when realizing it an hour later, had to run all the way back! No, not all the way back to the city! You sillies! Just to the restaurant. And boy did I run! Thankfully, nothing was taken as the waitress found my purse right away!)—managed to finish week 6 of C25K and get started on week 7.
4) concentrate on NOT overeating!—I can’t remember for sure but, I think I succeeded here.
5) get enough sleep!!!!—not so much. Always has been a problem with my insomnia.
6) eat lots and lots of veggies.—success! had to go to Costco in the city twice for veggie stuffs!

My goals for this week are:

1. drink 8 glasses of water daily.
2. finish week 7 of C25K.
3. do at least 2 sessions of yoga.
4. eat lots of veggies.
5. loss 1 more lb to make it 10 lost total so far.

And for some personal goals not related to weight loss:

1. update my web store with more products
2. start designing a web site that I am hoping to get up and going by spring
3. come up with some ideas for my kids for Christmas!!!

Today, for some reason, I was super starving. I ate healthy, egg, toast, kiwi and coffee for breakfast, and a larabar with a slice of cheese for first break snack. Mid morning break I was just starved so I ended up having one of these :

a poppy seed muffin and another slice of cheese.  That made 1 meal and 2 snacks BEFORE lunch! I usually avoid muffins like the plague but, the cafeteria at work only offers stuff like this to eat. Since I am not used to the sugar, the flour, whatever, I ended up being very dizzy about an hour later. I actually thought I would have to come home from work.

Because I didn’t pre-plan today’s lunch last night, I ended up having tater tots and crab cakes for my lunch. Once again, there is only 1 or 2 options for meals at work and I hate salami sandwiches!! So today I ate too much and not so well. For dinner though I made a delicious homemade soup with broccoli, spinach, leeks, cauliflower, chicken broth and spices. Had it with some garlic bread and man, what a delicious meal. Hopefully the day won’t show badly on the scale tomorrow.

Speaking of scales, today I weighed in at 159!!!! Three whole weeks people!, to get back to where I was on Oct. 31.. That’s what I get for reaching for that Halloween candy.

I am working on some new designs for my web store so keep an eye on it. There just might be something that catches your eye.

giraffe, I’m what giraffe-ter! by funforall
Get a tshirt at zazzle

Last evening I decided that I better do a workout as I knew today would be a heavy day at work and I may not have enough energy to do one. So, week 7 day 1 it was. And I did it!! I made it through the whole 25 mins of running without a hitch. It didn’t even seem to take that long as somehow, I was managing to read my magazine while running.

Not much to say or talk about today so I will leave you for now. I hope everyone is well and managing to stick to their plans. I’ m off to catch up on your blogs!

Wow, every time I turn around, it is time for another Hot 100 update. Where is the time going? LOL. The updates are great as we can all see how everyone is doing and for me, it helps to keep me accountable as I know that I need to report on my progress!

Yippy!, Friday I got to buy my first pair of skinny jeans ever!  I love them on my daughters and have always wanted to have a pair. Being over weight, I have always been afraid to even try a pair on. My kids, even my son, said that I am looking good and that a pair of skinny’s would look good on me. Yea right!

On Friday, we all decided to go swimming in the city. Afterwards, we headed to Stitches so my son and daughter could get themselves some new jeans. I was persuaded to try on a pair of skinny’s. I picked the dark pink?/red? dark stone washed look pair in my normal size of stitches jeans and the next size down, just in case. Well, the one size down fit like a charm. I was so excited as I know skinny’s already fit smaller and tighter than there regular jeans.  My hubby came over to take a look and thought I looked great, and my youngest kept liking here finger and toughing my rear with a sizzle sound! LOL. Everyone thought I looked good enough to constitute 2 new pairs.

On another note, I ran week 6 day 3 of my C25K program yesterday. A warm-up followed by 25 mins straight of running. Yikes! But, I did it. All 25 mins! I was so proud of myself and it felt so great. I will have to set my iPod Nike + for a custom workout now as I usually set it for a 5km distance but, yesterdays workout almost took me past my 5kms. Now I am starting week 7 which, if I remember correctly, is straight running, no walking. SCARY! 

Yesterday after writing my post while reading some of my favorite blogs, I came across this post, Halfheartedness, by Steve. It made me think while I was watching and I came to the realization that I am only in this halfheartedly. That is why I have been struggling lately with getting myself up and going for a workout, and allowing myself to slip into bad eating habits far to often. I want to benefits, the end results but, I don’t FEEL like putting in the work.

Realizing this, and being motivated by Steve’s video and all his hard work, I DID get my butt up and going and managed to do C25K week 6 day 2. I should have finished week 6 last week but, I realized that part of my halfheartedness was using work as an excuse to NOT workout. Yes, it is a hard job but, I have learned over the last 4 years that my body adjusted to the workload and work does not contribute in anyway to weight loss. If it was more of a cardio type of workload than yes, it would make a difference. There is no excuse why, if it was a tough day, that I can’t at least do some yoga, which is fun and relaxing while still being a benefit.

Doing my C25K was not as tough as I though it would be and it sure felt great to get up and move. I love how my body feels when I have had a great run, how my muscles feel like they worked hard. The time seemed to tick by though since I was on my treadmill and I am the most horrible of clock watchers! LOL. And yes, I did have a magazine blocking my view but, my stubborn self just moves it aside to take a peek.