A Helpful Tip?

15 Mar

I read a lot. For the most part I read whatever I think looks interesting, which, given my innate curiosity is pretty much everything lol. Something I read a fair amount of are articles, books, studies etc on eating healthy, fitness, getting in shape, losing weight…anything that somehow relates to leading a healthier lifestyle.

I read all these articles, books and studies for a couple reasons. One is because deep down I am still hoping for some sort of miracle-super-easy-quick-fix to my fat problem. Hey, if I can find something that can actually legit get me in shape faster than what I am doing now sign me up! Also, I read these various pieces for information, to learn what is best for my body, what I might be doing that is actually causing harm, tips and tricks, ideas…things like that. There is no way any one person can know everything about a topic, definitely no way I know everything about getting fit, so why not keep reading everything you can get your hands on? Keep learning, keep expanding your ideas, keep opening your mind to suggestions, keep trying new things…what could it possibly hurt?

So the other day I am reading an article titled: 8 Clever Tips For The Body You Want. If you read enough of these articles you’ll find they mostly all say the same things. Apparently there aren’t that many easy suggestions to pass along *rolls eyes* but one of the suggestions in this article caught my eye, caught it enough I took a screenshot of it so I would be able to reference it later.

my screenshot

my screenshot

The gist of this tip is, ready for it? Dun-dun-dunnnnn…eat the same things daily. Repeat the same exercises over an over. Basically bore yourself to tears by doing the same things over and over again. Apparently, “in one study, less food variety was associated with successful weight loss maintenance” and according to Dr. Oz (yeah, that guy from tv) “research is showing that putting a cap on the variety of foods and tastes you experience will help you control your weight. Find a healthy lunch you like – salad with grilled chicken and olive oil…and have it every day…”

Every.Day.

Basically bore your taste buds into submission. Oh and doing the same workout over and over? Suuuuure, I mean it’s not like you have to worry about your body getting minimal benefit from an oft repeated workout because our bodies are smart and quickly figure out how to get through a workout routine they recognize by doing the least amount of work….oh wait, yes we do have to worry about that! *rolls eyes*

Seriously Dr. Oz? Seriously??

I don’t know who came up with this particular article, I didn’t screenshot that part, oops! But I am baffled by this tip.

How is a person going to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle if their main way of eating is to eat the same thing everyday? All you’re doing is finding a couple healthy meals and hitting the repeat button every time you enter the kitchen. Sure, that may work for a little while, but what happens when that person goes to a potluck? To a restaurant? To a birthday party? To a work function where there is food? Basically, any social situation where you do not get to pick the exact meal put on your plate? How does someone navigate these food danger hot spots? If I only eat salad with grilled chicken for lunch and then my work puts on a lunch function and there are soooooo many tables of super tasty foods in front of me, how have I picked up the skills needed to help me (1) make a healthy food choice using the foods available to me and (2) resist all the super tasty but bad for me foods that are there?

Maybe it is just me but if I was eating the same thing day after day then was put in a situation ( like the work lunch function, or a potluck at a friends place etc) I’d cave faster than a dog that smells steak and basically eat whatever looked tasty. For me, if I deprive myself of the majority of foods out there then am exposed to them I have no willpower to resist them because it’s been so long since I’ve tasted something different than my routine food. I will want nibbles of everything and we all know those nibbles add up quickly! *cough*stupid nibbles*cough*

Granted, this could just be because I have ridiculously weak willpower but I feel it is a valid point.

Wouldn’t it be better to learn one new healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner meal per week, slowly integrating the new healthy meals in to your life so that you get to eat healthy, experience new foods (or at least foods cooked in different ways than before) and bonus you actually enjoy eating instead of dreading it because you’ve been eating the same foods day in and day out?

When I did my super strict Paleo Plan I ate the same foods everyday, in the same order, cooked the same way, nothing ever varied. Did I lose weight? Well, technically yes, I actually built muscle so I lowered my body fat % but my scale had me going up a bit (ya know, cause of that whole muscle vs fat thing). Did I enjoy my food? No. It became a thing I had to do, had to deal with, and I couldn’t wait for each meal to be done because by week two I was so bored. For a while my willpower saved me from cheating. If I was out for dinner I’d order a salad, no dressing, grilled chicken breast on top. I can’t believe I’d pay $16 or so for something so basic but I did, all because it was as close as I could get to what I “should” be eating. I hadn’t learned from my strict Paleo Plan how to navigate eating in a restaurant, what to do if I was at a friends, how to grab something to eat on the go. All I had learned was to eat the same thing over and over and when I was in a situation that varied from my normal day-to-day schedule the Plan abandoned me to figure things out on my own…it’s like kicking a kitten to the curb when it isn’t yet weaned, no way I had the skills or know-how to figure things out on my own.

Sidenote, the kitten to the curb analogy made me look at my cat and get all “oh that’s such a mean thought” so I paused to cuddle my cat…something he doesn’t appreciate cause I woke him up lol 😛

Realistically, how long can a person eat the same foods on a daily basis?

I have to say I think this point, written up how it was written, is flawed. If they had said eat the same meals daily for two weeks than slowly add additional healthy meals that’d be ok. But this makes it sound like you should be eating the same foods daily for ever.

It’s way healthier to learn what foods are healthy, then learn how to cook a variety of dishes using those foods, eventually ending up with an arsenal of go-to meals that are healthy, tasty and varied enough you aren’t (1) bored to tears or (2) so deprived of taste variety you end up going overboard food-wise when put in a situation that is full of temptations. Well, in my opinion anyways…I’ll stop ranting now lol

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A Horrible Run

14 Mar

I’ve probably said it a thousand times on this blog but…I am NOT a runner! Yes ok, I did sign up to participate in the BMO Run but I’m pretty sure it is going to kill me, sigh. 😛

So now I’m in “training”…

The first run I did two weeks ago went greeeeat! I couldn’t believe it! Maybe I really could do this running thing! I did that first run aiming to hopefully reach 5km with no time limit. I ran almost 7km in 58 minutes which I know isn’t anything approaching a time to be proud of but hey, I managed to go farther than I thought I could and that is the part I was focusing on. During that run I had multiple “oh-my-god-I’m-really-doing-this” moments, where I was so shocked and excited with how well I was doing compared to how I thought I would be doing that I actually loved that run. I thought I had an inkling about how people seem to get addicted to this running thing.

Then there was my run this past Monday…

Oh my gawd, could it have been any worse? No, no I really don’t think it could have been. I had barely gone a block and I wanted to quit. My thighs hurt, I was breathing hard, I was so not enjoying myself. Ugh. Plus, I was all “what the hell? I got farther than this last time without feeling like I was going to die, what happened???” It was disastrous! I did a measly 5.06km and it took me 46 minutes! I might as well have been going backwards! So embarrassing. I quick walked a good chunk of it, head literally hanging in shame as others ran past me, sigh.

kill me

I have some vague ideas about why the second run was oh-so-much worse than the first but I can’t decide if they are legit reasons or excuses…

The lead up to each of the runs couldn’t have been farther apart if I’d tried. Run #1 I was at home relaxing, had a perfectly balanced meal (protein, carb, healthy fat), nothing of import happened that day, weather was clear and I ran at night. Run #2 I was up at 5:20am for work, at the time of my run I hadn’t eaten in 5-6 hours, what I had eaten earlier that day was not a perfectly balanced meal at all, it was super windy, I ran evening-ish and ten minutes before my shift ended a resident fell smashing her head open on the floor and yours truly was the one who attended her while waiting for paramedics ( blood, blood everywhere, ugh).

Also, for some reason that day what I wanted more than anything was to go for a hike, to wander the wilderness, go off trail for a while, just be in nature (who am I??). I wanted the peace of being away from people, from expectations, from the world…I wanted away from everything, so my only focus was on where I was putting my next step, where I could breath deep and only smell nature not people or exhaust fumes…seriously, who am I now? I’m such a city girl that this yearning for nature is so not like me! lol But there ya have it, if it hadn’t been too late in the day I would have strapped on boots and gone hiking. Wouldn’t have counted as training for my run but it would have appeased my soul…and don’t I sound so dramatic! lol 😛

Hiking is such a great de-stresser and I think what I wanted most was to scrub the sound of that resident’s head smashing in to the floor out of my memory…seriously, such a noise! I’ve never heard a sound like that before and would very much like to never hear it again.

Sometimes I wonder about the damage this job is doing to my psyche, sigh…

Anyways!

The second run, it was horrible taken to a new level! I have no idea if this is normal for people who are  starting out in running, maybe everyone who runs has good and bad runs? Man I hope this is normal, otherwise I was right and I am not meant to run and I will die a horrible sweaty red faced panting death the day of the BMO Run, and worse than all that I’ll be last! I don’t wanna be last *pout*

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What’s Your Goal?

13 Mar

Everyone has a different goal, sure they can often times be lumped in to groups but each person’s goal is unique. In terms of weight loss the main groups I have been focused on lately are:

– get skinny

– get strong

The reason I am focused so much on these two groups is because for the loooongest time if you had asked me my goal it was “to get skinny”. That’s it, end of story. All I wanted, more than anything, was to be skinny. I’m decently tall for a girl (5’8″) and feel it is grossly unfair I am not also skinny, aren’t tall girls supposed to be skinny? *pout* All my Weight Watchers, low calorie, paleo (and more!) eating plans were followed because of the promise I would lose weight and I interpreted that as “I would get skinny”, after all, that’s what happens when you lose weight, right? All my hiking, treadmill running, HIIT training, weight lifting, squat challenges etc were all done for the same reason, to get me skinny.

Obviously that hasn’t happened.

Over the past couple months or so my goal has, hmm, I don’t want to say completely changed but…shifted I guess? Evolved. Altered. Broadened.

Now when I think of how I want to look it’s not just “skinny” it’s a combination of words: skinny, fit, obvious muscle definition, strong.

I want to be strong.

Not body builder strong, *shudder* but my body’s version of strong.

I say “my body’s” because I firmly believe not every body can achieve the same “look”. I heard this from a trainer years ago and I have to say, it makes sense to me. My body has a natural build, that I sadly, covered in excess squishy-ness but under all my squishy-ness there is a body type that I have to work with. I have hips, not just cause there is fat on them but because my skeletal frame gave me curvy hips, some women have super slim hips sometimes referred to as guy’s hips, no matter how much I diet, how much I work out, unless I get plastic surgery I will always have curvy hips. Just like the woman with the super slim hips will always have super slim hips.  You can’t change what your bones are doing. You have to just deal with what you have and work with it.

fat grapefruit

As I have come to terms with this I took a look around for inspiration, for women who have the physical look that I am trying to achieve. Whereas before I used to think of Nicole Kidman or Julia Roberts or any number of runway models and obsess over how they are so skinny and I want to be soooo skinny but how the hell do I get to look like them?? Now I am thinking more along the lines of Michelle Rodriguez. She is slim, has muscle definition, nobody doubts she is strong (and not strong for a girl but simply strong), curvy, fit and feminine. The feminine part is important because I find the media forgets that women who are strong can also be girly.

Michelle Rodriguez - slim but with muscle

Michelle Rodriguez – slim but with muscles

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman – sooooo skinny

I realized that a lot of the fitness activities I partake in were never going to get me to “skinny”, because while yes they provided cardio and burned calories the activities I lean towards also involve working my muscles and that will automatically strengthen my muscles…which, if I am lucky, will give me some level of muscle definition. Actually, I know it will give me muscle definition cause last dragon boat season my shoulders and arms had actual definition that I lost during the off season and am oh-so-hoping to get back soon. Muscle memory how I am relying on you!

For a while I worried that I was focusing more on getting strong because I thought I was incapable of achieving skinny, I was looking at my change of perception, my change of goal as a failure. But now, I don’t think that is what this is about. It’s not just about my being realistic for what I can achieve either. It is what I want. I could cut my food intake drastically, do nothing but cardio and let my body eat away at itself until I am super skinny but then what? I won’t be able to dragon boat, I’ll be too weak to compete. I won’t be able to make it up the side of a mountain when I go hiking, I’ll have no stamina or strength to manage the trails. I won’t be able to enter things like the BMO run. I’d never finish the course. For all that I want to be skinny, I want to be strong more. I want to be able to enjoy the various activities I take part in. I want to be able to sign up for a new challenge and know I’ll be able to work hard towards completing it. I want to not just keep up with others but pass them by – hey, what can I say, I’m competitive! 😉

The happy side effect of this new goal, this goal of attaining strength, muscle definition and being fit is that it will automatically make me look slimmer. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat so if I can swap out my fat (obviously not all of it or I’d be dead lol) for muscle I’ll look slimmer, be stronger, get my muscle definition aaaaand manage to uncover the body that I hid underneath all this squishy-ness. And wouldn’t that just be fab? 🙂

sorry for the random girl in her underwear...

sorry for the random girl in her underwear…

sidenote: I didn’t put dragon boating in the list of activities I do to attain the goal of skinny because I dragon boat because of how much I love the sport…it just has the sweeeeeet side effect of being a fitness activity lol

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Let’s Hear Your Battle Cry!

6 Mar

I popped a Halls right before meeting my dragon boat team for practice this evening and the message on the wrapper was: Let’s Hear Your Battle Cry!

Hear me roar!

Hear me roar!

It was the perfect inspirational message, from the most unlikely source. lol

Practice tonight was all kinds of awesome! 😀 How do I know this? Because I am in sooooo much muscle pain right now lol Don’t worry, it’s the good kind of muscle pain not the crap-I-hurt-myself-again kind of pain.

We have a new coach and she is a lot tougher on us than our former coach. Which we are all, oddly enough, happy about. What can I say, dragon boaters, well anybody who takes part in a competitive sport, is a little kooky lol

It was raining but not cold, which is nice, what is also nice is when it is sorta chilly out there are fewer icky smells. Hey, it’s not clean water and once it’s summer our noses will be well aware of it 😛 On the plus side, there are some otters that come live in the training area during the summer and it’s always nice to see them. They pop their heads above the water and watch us and once they know we aren’t headed directly towards them they float on their backs and chill. Everybody saw awwwwwww! Cause we always do! teehee

omg could I be any cuter??

omg could I be any cuter??

Our new coach is focusing on our rotation which means my left ass cheek now hates me cause I sit on the left side of the boat so that is my pivot side and omg two hours of pivoting on one specific spot, ouch! I have a fat ass but at the same time it is bony, how that is possible I don’t know but it is. It’s always been like that, shrug. This means I am basically rubbing a bony part of my ass on the wooden bench cause I’m pivoting on it…the things I do for my sport! lol 😉

Dragon boating is all about core strength, you’re pulling the paddle through the water via the body rotation, it uses major muscles in your legs, core and shoulders. Which means a really great workout! It also means all those muscle groups are sore right now but it’s ok, they’ll be fine tomorrow. I’m hoping my muscle memory kicks in asap cause I’m not as strong as I was last season – that’s what comes from being a slacker during the off season – so I want to get that fixed. Whiiiiich means more gym visits, more hanging out with dumbbells, more push-ups, just…more!

Something I learned this evening, my new waterproof pants I bought a couple weeks ago? Awesome! Loved them! My waterproof jacket from last season? Not so awesome, sigh, it is no longer water proof on my left side which is the side I get splashed on, double sigh. Looks like I’m gonna hafta find money to buy a new waterproof jacket, ugh. Why oh why do items used for sports have to cost so much money?? *cringe* There should be tax breaks or discounts or something on sport clothes, I mean, if people are making an effort to get or stay in shape in a society that is involved in an obesity crisis they should get a break on the cost of the gear, in my humble and very poor opinion…and yes I know not all people who are large are that way because of their lifestyle habits, it could be because of health issues, I’m just whining because I am poor and now need to figure out how to afford a new waterproof jacket, I’m not trying to start a big debate on a touchy topic. Cause yeah, that so isn’t my blog style lol 😛

The only upside I am seeing to needing to buy a new jacket is I’m not that fond of the colour of the one I have so hopefully I’ll be able to get one I like better…on sale…a reeeeally good sale…

 

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Run Turtle! Run!

4 Mar

I am not a runner. People think I should be good at it cause I have long legs. That’s like saying I should be good at basketball because I am tall. Neither of those presumptions makes any sense! *rolls eyes*

Despite this I decided to sign up for the BMO Run in May…I should not be allowed on the internet after midnight! lol So, due to a deep rooted fear I will either (1) not be able to complete the run, (2) be the slooooowest person in the run, (3) die while attempting the run or (4) a combo of all three, I figure I should do some sort of training. Ya know, run a bit, work my way up to the distance I will be running in May.

run meme

Of course there is the side benefit of (hopefully) losing weight while I take on this whole running thing. I may hate running but even I know it is wicked awesome cardio. 🙂

Tuesdays are my Saturdays and I usually spend them doing an amazing imitation of a sloth until I meet up with friends at night but this Tuesday I made no plans with friends for the night and gave myself a whopping two goals to accomplish.

(1) Eat healthy

(2) Exercise

Seems pretty simple right? I mean, it’s only two freakin things to accomplish in one day, who can’t manage that??

I feel that for the most part I ate in a healthy way, I’m not very good at judging if food is healthy or not due to the fact that I have so many “food rules” floating in my brain, some of them contradict each other, and I’m never sure which rules to follow. sigh. Why do there have to be so many rules?

My first meal of the day was a whole wheat wrap filled with two slices of turkey bacon, sauteed mushrooms, two scrambled eggs (seasoned with dill) and about 6 sweet pickles. Oh, and I spread two triangles of Light Laughing Cow cheese on the inside of the wrap. Soooo yummy! I also had a banana. I know I should have used only one egg but it was a big wrap and I accidentally added too much water to the first egg so when I poured it in to the pan it looked not-so-great, it seemed a wise decision to add a second egg…even if it is gluttonous. sigh.

I then procrastinated on the going for exercise part of my day, of course! lol 😛

I originally thought I’d digest for a half hour or so then either go for a run or go for a session at the gym. I was good with either and actually kinda wanted to do both. I wanted to run because of needing to train for the run in May but I wanted to go to the gym because I feel I have lost some of my upper body strength and I want to build it back up, what with it being dragon boat season an all.

It was sleeting so that made the decision for me, I’d jog to the gym, work out, jog home and feel righteous lol Well…I slacked, as is my way lol I watched tv, played games on my iPad, cuddled with the cat, thought about how I should get up and exercise but didn’t actually move from my seat lol convinced myself it was ok if I didn’t go right away cause my gym is open till 11pm today so I can always go later evening if I want.

The slacking lasted so long I got hungry, oops! I didn’t want a meal though so I made some toast with peanut butter and honey on it. Bad I know! CarbsCarbsCarbs, ugh, why do I have to love you so much?? I decided that if I was going to continue slacking then I had to increase my fluid intake, at least do something good for my body, so I made more tea lol and drank a couple big glasses of water. I used to drink water like it was going out of style but I somehow got out of that habit – I should really fix that…note to self, drink more water!…maybe that can be my goal for tomorrow? 😛

Eventually I got off my ass and got ready to go work out, it had stopped sleeting so I decided to go running, I wanted to use the MapMyRun App I had installed the day prior and I really wanted to use the ArmPocket I bought a bit ago. It didn’t occur to me until I was outside locking my door that it was pitch black outside, way past sunset. Did this deter me from running? Nope.

The MapMyRun had a route starting near me that was a bit over 5km, I thought that’d be a good place to start. If I’d gone in daylight the route would have been way better lol It took me on a non-lit, deserted path that had river on one side and forest on the other, I felt like I was in an episode of Criminal Minds and was half convinced I was going to die due to my stupidity but obviously nothing happened. The map route however, was flawed, erg. I got to this one section and it wanted me to cross the street to go do a loop through a park, well, the street it wanted me to cross was the highway, at a section there is nowhere to cross and I’m sorry but I may do a lot of stupid things but jaywalking across a highway is not one of them! Also, signs for the park the map said I would find across the street indicated it was actually on the side of the street I was on but farther down. I was mightily confused because oh man do I have seriously lacking navigation skills. I opted for turning around and heading home, not through the deserted scary trail section though, phew! I was around the 4km mark at that point and figured for sure I’d hit 5km by the time I got home, turns out I ran 6.80km. Which I am aware is super short for most people but I’m happy with it. At the end I felt like I could have kept going which I take as a good sign for my next run, and the run in May!

My dinner was a chicken breast stuffed with cheese and broccoli, sliced pan cooked yam, roasted yellow peppers, vermicelli noodles with a bit of sweet and sour sauce mixed in and some sweet pickles. Why the pickles? Cause I like em. 🙂 I think it was healthy, but again, not certain because while I can argue that it is, I can also find ways to argue that it isn’t, sigh. It was tasty though…if that counts? 😛

dinner - healthy? not healthy? who knows!

dinner – healthy? not healthy? who knows!

A couple hours after dinner I ate a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich, man those are good. In the world of Weight Watchers they are 2 points which makes it seem like not such a bad snack? I’m still feeling kinda hungry but no more food for me today, instead lots more water. Mmm water!…said no one ever! lol 😉

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I Missed It

28 Feb

Here I was all psyched for the first dragon boat practice of the season, and I missed it! *gasp* Which resulted in my pouting last evening for a good chunk of time, sigh.

This stupid cold! It keeps getting worse, yesterday saw the onset of an oh-so-lovely cough but none of my other symptoms went away, how is that fair? You’d think with every new symptom you’d get rid of an existing one…at least that is how it would work in a universe run by me…buuuuut nope!

I was torn about going, I didn’t want to miss practice for soooo many reasons. The top three being (1) first practice of the season, (2) I don’t want to make a bad impression on the new coach and (3) see my team of course! But the reasons for not going were pretty strong, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t be more than an arm length away from kleenex, the cough and more, blah. 😛

I texted a friend on the team and told her I couldn’t decide and she said I should stay home, no way being on the water at night, in the cold, getting wet and paddling were going to do anything but make me sicker which was a very valid point. I decided to take her advice hence no practice.

The whole evening I kept looking at the time and thinking “right now they are warming up”,  “right now they are loading on to the boat”, “right now they are paddling and seeing what the new coach is like”…ugh, I was so jealous of all of them! I wanted to be there so badly but I couldn’t deny I would have had a hellish time because of the whole not-breathing-constantly-needing-kleenex-coughing-a-lot situation I was dealing with.

In a lame attempt to make myself feel better I made some comfort food. I cooked a batch of sticky rice in coconut milk instead of water then topped it with sliced mango. It is a Filipino dish that I really like. The coconut milk makes the rice a tiny bit sweet and the mango topping, well, do you need words to describe the yummy value of mango? Nah, course you don’t! Everyone knows mango is great! 🙂 …um, if you haven’t tried mango go grab one from the produce section of your grocery store, totally worth it!

It’s not the prettiest dish, least when I make it, but that doesn’t bother me lol

mango on coconut rice, yum!

mango on coconut rice, yum!

I gotta say, it didn’t do much to cheer me up lol Which I s’pose means the comfort food didn’t do it’s job of comforting me but my reassuring myself I will be well enough to go next week helped. 🙂

When I bought the coconut milk I decided to try the Light Coconut Milk, which I didn’t even realize existed lol it wasn’t as good as when I use the normal coconut milk, the rice wasn’t quite as sweet but, shrug, it still tasted good and if using light saved me even a teeny bit of calories and/or fat then it’s worth it…I guess 😉 lol

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Headlamps an Stuff

27 Feb

I have been sick since Sunday and instead of getting better I appear to be getting worse, arg. It’s not a debilitating illness or anything, just a run of the mill cold but I’m smack in the middle of the symptoms and it’s annoying. Kleenex are my new best friend. *rolls eyes* I’ve been purposefully not letting it slow me down so Tuesday I went snowshoeing, Wednesday (today) I went to the gym and Thursday I will be dragon boating. A nice busy three days off from work! 🙂

I’m so psyched for Thursday, it will be our first time back on the water this season and it’s gonna rock and suck all at once lol. We won’t be on the water till about 7:15pm so it will be dark and cold and this year head lamps are mandatory. Guess who doesn’t own a head lamp? Oh yeah, that’d be me lol

I wasn’t aware until last night we were going to need them so when I was out today I did a little shopping. Silly thing cost me $45! It is a white LED light but if I am in distress I can push a button and it will flash red, interesting huh? I think I will actually get to return it though, yay! One of my teammates found some for way cheaper, only $11, so she bought a bunch and I can just buy one from her. Which means back to the store I will be going to return the head lamp but hey, a special trip to get money back? I’m cool with that!

Since I was at SportChek I also bought an Olympic Team Canada t-shirt. I know, I know, cheesy or what but, shrug, I’ve been wanting one since the collection came out and now that the Olympics are done they are on sale lol. Cheesy and cheap! 😉 The t-shirt apparently has great wicking capabilities blah blah blah, I’m sure it is great, and I did buy it wanting to wear it when exercising but let’s get real, I didn’t buy it cause it’d suck my sweat away from my body quickly, I bought it cause I like it lol 😛

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

my new t-shirt, hopefully it will inspire me when I work out

Then I bought a toque! Ack! I’d say it was like a shopping demon came over me but I already knew I was needing to find a new toque, shrug. All but the Olympic collection toques were gone, winter gear is being phased out because spring is soon to be upon us, wOOt! So I bought an Olympic gear toque, it’s actually really nice, red and black, I didn’t buy the one that says Canada on it cause clothes that scream your country’s name are so vulgar *shudder* Unless you are a spectator at a sport your clothes should not say your country’s name, or unless it is your independence day and you are celebrating your country, then it’s ok. So yeah, toque, t-shirt and headlamp, quite the productive little shopping trip.

Not that you were wondering, but the reason I so suddenly need another toque is because I looooove my toque that I wear for snowshoeing and that means I do not want to wear it when dragon boating cause it’ll get wet with nasty water and I have no idea how to wash my snowshoeing toque. It is a hand made product, not like it has a tag inside saying how to wash it! I gotta be careful, and making sure that toque doesn’t come in to contact with the water I dragon boat in well, that’s just good ownership lol

I’ve got a couple other pieces of gear I need for dragon boating buuuuut have no money to buy them soooooo just gonna have to do without, shrug.

Hmmm, this quickly became quite the post about shopping, oops! Lemme catch you up on other stuff real quick…

– We got snow! As in lots of snow! Three days worth of non stop snow! Lovely! I was so happy while it was falling, every time I went out in it or looked outside it made me smile. Made most other people grumps but whatev. I so desperately wanted to go snowshoeing in the falling snow but was too sick for that, boo!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

while snowshoeing, gorgeous!

– The avalanche warning was high but I like to think that makes things more interesting lol. It was so sunny you could hear the snow melting and a couple times I got pelted with snowballs that were actually chunks of snow falling off trees. 🙂 I ass-tobogganed part way down the mountain which was epic and I sooo want to do again! lol I went off trail on the way down so I could walk through some fresh snow, it’s way more fun, well, I got to a part that was super steep and no way could I climb down it, instead of going back and finding the trail again I sat down, had my knees bent, snowshoes on the ground in front of me (feet still strapped in them) and let myself slide down using the snowshoes to steer me, clear the path so my butt slid smoothly and also act as breaks when needed. Seriously, most fun ever! There was a minor issue of not being able to stop in time at this one section and becoming a tad airborne but meh, I landed on soft snow so who cares? Just made it more fun actually…I’m really hoping I get to do that again lol

– Some not so cool stuff, I keep getting sick! My immune system is really taking a beating this year, I am not impressed at its lackluster performance in the germ kicking business.

– I bought a piece of fish I have noooo idea how to cook, sigh. It is coconut encrusted, sounded interesting and was on sale. Perfect combo! I am going to (most likely) attempt to cook it tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes *worried face* I really hope I don’t food poison myself before practice, that would suck!

– I skipped Stir Fry Sunday this week cause I was too sick to want food Sunday or Monday and by Tuesday it just seemed like I was destined to not have stir fry this week. I will be back to my stir fry madness this coming weekend though, no worries!

– I discovered the deliciousness that is cherries in a cherry sauce put on top of ice cream, trust me, this is something you should try, Mmm!

– The cat got mad at me and purposefully peed on the floor right in front of his litter box to show his anger. You’d think I’d get mad, instead I realized that because I’d been sick when I’d been home the past couple days (this was on Monday) I was unconscious so I made a concentrated effort to stay home and conscious more and since then he’s been much happier. Yes I am aware he has me well trained. 😛

– Lastly, I missed three days in a row of my Squat Circuit Challenge because of being sick. Sunday and Monday I got home from work and basically crashed. Then Tuesday I forgot, which is weird, I think because I was out of the rhythm of it. So starting tomorrow I will pick up where I stopped. I hate that I inadvertently took a bit of a break in the middle but whatcha gonna do, can’t control being sick, shrug.

There we have it, my catch up of the last couple days. Food, exercise and shopping…apparently that is my life this past week lol 😛

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Buh-Bye Sochi Olympics

27 Feb

Sigh, I kinda miss the Olympics. For all that I was getting overly saturated with sports now that the Olympics are over I’m a little sad. *pout*

Sunday after work, I got home and automatically turned the tv on, it was set to the channel I had been using for the Olympics coverage but…there was no Olympics…it was the news. The news?! WTF? Not gonna lie, I was a little confused until I remembered that it was all over. Back to the real world.

I had gotten used to exercising in my living room while watching the Olympics, I had gotten used to checking my Sochi App done by CBC to keep up to date on everything, I had gotten used to caring about sports I normally never care about lol. 😛

I’ll let you in on a little secret about me, I am very un-Canadian because…brace for it…I don’t care about hockey! *ducks down* Don’t throw stuff at me, k? But for the Olympics? All over the hockey! The women’s Canadian team dominated, then the men followed suit! They made us so proud. 😀

I had to be up freakishly early for work Sunday anyways so I saw the men’s final hockey game. Sweden may not have scored but they sure as heck made the Canadian team fight for their win. I felt so bad for Sweden when Canada got that third goal, you could see their shoulders slump down as if they realized their chance at getting gold was almost nil, it was sad, shrug. Not that I believe in letting another team score a point so they feel better, but we could have gone without scoring that third to make the win less crushing…but I s’pose in the midst of a game you aren’t thinking like that. Actually, I know in the midst of a competition you don’t think like that lol my dragon boat team doesn’t care about the feelings of the people we are racing against during a race, it’s only after that we think about how the other teams might feel and are friendly to them again. This isn’t just our team though, all the teams are friendly on land, dragon boaters are a friendly bunch, even if we do yell a lot during a race! lol

There were so many high points to the Olympics but already they all seem like old news. I won’t remember the athletes names by the next Olympics, I’ll spend the first part of the next Winter Olympics trying to remember if I was cheering for this person or that person in 2014. For all that these athletes become so important to their countries during the Olympics, they quickly slip back in to daily life once it’s all over and I never hear a thing about them again…except for that Crosby guy cause he was the face of Dempster’s Bread for a while. I guess in a way it is proof of how they are just like everybody else. They have to work, they have to train, they have to go through their daily routine and how could they do that if they were constantly being in the media?

Regardless of it all being over I will hold on to the happy moments for a while yet, they still make me smile and why stop thinking about things that make you smile? Do you not want to smile? *raised eyebrow*

hockey

 

In case the words are too small on the image here is what it says:

Lovely people those Canadians. Gentle, civilized,  beautiful people.

Until you give them hockey sticks.

Why does the Canadian army even bother with guns, and tanks, and bombs and shit?

They should just give them all hockey sticks

And then say, “There you are boys, the Taliban have the puck.”

teehee, it started floating around the internet the other day and it makes me laugh, even if it does exclude the womens hockey teams.

Oh, and as a side note, the happy moments from the Olympics that I am remembering are not the medals won, though those are awesome, it’s the other stories.

– Patrick Chan apologizing for getting silver not gold. He did us proud, and yet he apologizes, not once but twice! Made me wanna give him a hug and a cookie lol

– The emotional connection I felt to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir while they performed, it was achingly beautiful.

– Pictures of all three Dufour-Lapointe sisters. Two of the three got medals but they all celebrated together.

– Charles Hamelin laying on top of a side board to reach his girlfriend to give her a kiss after his 1500m speed skate race. He did that at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics too and it’s adorable.

– The goofy pictures the figure skating team took together.

– Cross-country coach Justin Wadsworth running out to the race course and giving the Russian skier a new ski (his was broken) so he could cross the finish line with dignity.

– Gilmore Junio giving up his spot in his race so his teammate could race.

– The Jamaican bobsled team. I’m sorry but I love them no matter where they place! The level of dedication they have, mind blowing.

There are so many other moments, too many to write about here, especially considering they are floating all over the internet and have been plastered all over tvs for the past couple weeks, you probably know all the stories I know and more lol But it’s those moments, the human moments, that I will remember. Except for hockey and curling I won’t remember who won what medals, I won’t remember scores, or race times, what I will remember is seeing people represent their countries, do their best, push themselves beyond physical limits that most of us will never even get close too.

All the athletes are inspiring, and that is what I will remember most. 🙂

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Flyer Scouting

21 Feb

I never used to bother with flyers, if I lived somewhere where I got them I’d just toss em in the recycle box cause what’s the point? Going through a bunch of flyers from a bunch of different stores, trying to figure out what you are going to buy and which store you are going to buy it at…like I’m going to go to multiple stores to buy all the items I need? Nope, not likely. I’m all about convenience, if I’m in Safeway and they are selling avocados and I want avocados, I’m gonna buy them at Safeway instead of going to a different store that is selling them for a dollar cheaper. Cause no way I want to use my time store hopping.

where I find my flyers at

where I find my flyers at

Welllllll, let’s just say that has changed. I don’t always check flyers before I go shopping but lately I have been and not only that I’ve been making lists of what I am buying, at which store, and how much it says it will be in the flyer (I tend to look for the sale price on the shelf, makes the specific item I am looking for easier to find).

I shock myself every time I do it lol 😛

This evening after work I went grocery shopping and I gotta say, I get a little kick knowing that I saved money on this item or that item cause I bought it cheaper at the second store I went to rather than buying it at the first store. Weird huh? Luckily, I work right across the street from a Safeway and I pass by a Superstore on my way home so it makes it easy to go to the two stores. If only I passed a Wal-Mart Supercentre on my way home, I’d be covered for everything! lol

On weeks I shop with knowledge of what’s in the flyers I have to write a list, I always feel grown up when I am shopping with a grocery list, and yet, I don’t cook meals like a grown up, or at least I don’t think I do…

My mom can open a cupboard, glance at whatever is inside and boom! create a healthy meal. Just like that. No planning, no digging up a recipe, no googling for how to cook something, she just knows how. And has the creativity to see what various ingredients can become without freaking out and calling someone for help. I don’t know how she does it. I know every food item that is in my kitchen because I buy a lot of the same things and if I buy something not on my normal list it is because I have a recipe I am going to try or because someone has convinced me I really can cook item X. Only very recently have I tried buying items I didn’t already have a plan for and what do you know, I either ask my friend whose a chef, call my mom in a mild panic or google.

I didn’t start checking flyers because of an article I read but after I read it it made sense. This article was about how the poor and the rich shop differently. They didn’t mean which store the two demographics frequented or brands of items they purchased. What they meant were the shopping habits.

People love a good deal no matter how much money they have. Everyone feels better about buying an item they need when it is on sale cause saving any amount of money is always nice. Unfortunately, not every item is on sale every time a person goes shopping and we’ve all been in the situation where something goes on sale that we bought a week or so prior so we don’t need it now but by the time we run out and need to purchase it again it may no longer be on sale. Sucks right?

Well according to this article, if let’s say the jumbo size package of toilet paper is on sale but the smaller size isn’t, someone with money who is shopping will be all “oh hey, the jumbo pack is on sale, I’ll buy it now even though I don’t need it cause it’s a good deal and I’ll need it eventually” a person with less disposable income will think something like this “sure the jumbo pack is on sale and will last longer but I’m tight on money so I’m buying the smaller package cause it is cheaper”.

Unfortunately, the smaller package will run out sooner, which means it will have to be replaced sooner and in the long run will end up costing the consumer more. It would have been the more financially sound move to buy the larger package that is on sale buuuuut if you only have $40 to do your shopping you don’t want to spend $10 on toilet paper when you still need to buy enough food to feed you and your family for the next week or two. Is this making sense?

That article got me thinking. There are a lot of times when I buy the smaller sized item for multiple reasons, (1) there is only me and buying jumbo or large sized packages of things often doesn’t make sense (2) I live in a super small apartment and don’t have a storage space so if I stock up on something I literally have nowhere to put it and (3) I often find myself trying to stretch my money to be able to afford rent, bills and food so while the larger package might be a better deal I just can’t afford the deal.

Flyers help me find the deals and capitalize on them. Go flyers! lol. I check out the flyers online after I have a rough idea of what I need to buy. I make a list for the first store of not only items I know I need/want but items I am close to running out of that have gone on sale or items that intrigue me and are cheap enough I might be able to afford trying them. Then I do the same for the second store. Then I cross check them and see if there are any items that are on sale at both stores and which has the better deal. This helps me plan my shopping in terms of what I get where, it also helps me see where I am saving money, helps me stock up on non-perishable items and helps me be a smarter shopper in the long run. I knew I was starting to get low on toilet paper so I kept an eye out and what do you know, both stores had the same type on sale this week. If it is on sale this week it won’t be on sale next week and if I wait until next week then I’ll have to buy it no matter what, whether it’s on sale or not. So sure, I used money from this pay cheque to buy something I don’t technically need right now, I got it for cheaper than if I had waited till I needed it sooooo in the end I saved money.

Does any of this make any sense? Or are you all just going “omg it took you this long to figure this out? the rest of the world has known this for freakin ever!”

This isn’t a completely new mindset for me, but it’s the first time I have had it so solidly figured out in my head and actually plan my shopping based on it. Make fun of me if you will, I am enjoying my little bit of new knowledge, it’s making me feel a tad more grown up…now if only I could figure out how to cook like my mom! 😉

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Lightsaber Battle

21 Feb

Does having an epic lightsaber battle count as exercise? I feel it should…if only because that is one of the things I did Thursday evening and I want it to count as exercise lol 😛

lightsaber-duo-pack

Also, I got injured, and I’m pretty sure there is a rule out there somewhere saying if you get injured then the activity counts as exercise, or you can at least say you burned calories when performing said activity…right? Right! 😉

2014-02-21 17.01.46

When I got hit it wasn’t a “omg crap! that hurt!” it was an “oh ow, that kinda hurt” but it didn’t stop the battle. A little bit later when the lights were turned on (they had been off so the lightsabers looked cooler lol) I took a look at my knuckle and was shocked cause it was blue…blue! By the end of the evening it had become purple and swollen and this is what it looked like this evening. In person there is still some blue/purple happening but it is becoming more of the ugly bruise colour you see above. I figure at the rate the colour is changing give it one more day and it’ll be healed lol

But yeah, so back to what is important…do you think lightsaber battles can be counted as exercise? Cause I’m leaning towards yes… 😉

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