Return?

Well I haven’t been active on my blog for months! 

You know some things have happened where it was difficult for me to get it together to get on my blog. Also, I was having some thoughts regarding my blog and where I wanted to take it and what I should talk about.

The second, continues to weigh on my mind. I just wonder if people actually give a shit about whats happening in my life or what I find or don’t find helpful. However, I do find writing to be an effective form of self-expression for me. I’m not very good at art or other creative stuff. However, I can get lost in a book and do enjoy writing. I’ve always kept a journal. I have some dating back to when I didn’t even speak or write in English (mother tongue is French)! So back before I was even a teen! Journaling about fights with my siblings or fights with my parents. 

So anyways, I think I’m gonna continue on with my blog and just see where it takes me. No one that I know personally knows about my blog and reads it. I feel like that was one of my concerns at first as I am a private person when it comes to my problems, and I don’t like people knowing my personal problems. I just find I don’t trust a lot of people with my shit because you know they can and will fuck you over if it benefits them. 

Well that’s enough rambling haha I’m going to continue my blog and see where it takes me. Use it as a platform where I can express myself and motivate myself to set and attain my personal goals. I hope I will also be able to inspire others to do the same! 🙂 

Here’s to giving myself, and this blogging business, a second chance!! 🙂

The Truth About Pregnancy

Who remembers this quote and movie? If you said this is the crazy gym teacher from Mean Girls then you are right!! 

I feel as though this quote portrays how sex ed went back at my high school. It was already a taboo subject as I attended a Catholic school but they made a point to teach us sex-ed. I remember the gist of the class going somewhat like this… “Don’t have sex. However, if you do decide to have sex wear a condom. Condoms protect you from STDs and pregnancy. If you chose not to wear a condom you will become pregnant”. I also remember a lot of talk regarding Chlamydia and Herpes… They must have been the scarier STDs haha

Now that I am older and have become more knowledgeable about pregnancies I can call bullshit on this high school knowledge! The truth is that you MAY become pregnant if you have unprotected sex. 

From my personal experience, I was on birth control for about 10 years and with husband (have been together for 6 years now) we never really used condoms and I have never had a pregnancy scare while taking my “pill”. Then I stopped taking “The Pill” so that I could make an informed decision and become pregnant. Now you can imagine my disappointment every month when Aunt Flow came to visit. Now, I am not one to sit around and hang out with my self pity party of one haha so I started doing some reading and here are a few things I found interesting;

*You have a 15% chance to conceive each month

*Your window to conceive is VERY narrow… about 12-24 hours

*Sperm can live in you for an average of 3 days

*Best time to have sex to conceive is 4-5 days prior to ovulation (since the sperms live on inside of you)

*1/5 pregnancies end up in miscarriage, most of these before the mother realizes she is pregnant 

I feel as though this information has made me realize that pregnancy isn’t this super easy thing. Yes, the conceiving part is easy (and let’s be honest fun ;)), however the timing is what get’s difficult! Now add a husband who is away literally half the time! Cutting your chances to conceive in half! Plus when he is home, you’re just hoping he is home in the “window of opportunity”!! This information also game me some space to breathe. I don’t know about any other women out there who were not able to conceive “right away”  but I definitely had a feeling that it was my fault and that something HAD to be wrong with me because women should just be able to become pregnant right? It’s just what we do! Now I know “it’s what we do”, just need to “do it” at the right time!! 

 

Husbands and Weight Loss

I don’t know about anyone else out there but I notice a significant change in my weight loss when my husband is home as opposed to when he isn’t! For this to make sense I guess I should mention that my husband works away. He is away to work for 6 weeks and then returns home for 6 weeks. As you can imagine, I get into my routine and my way of doing things (eating chicken everyday) when he is away. So I’m all into my groove of doing things and then BAM he’s home and my way no longer works! My husband is not one to eat the same things many times in the same week haha Plus, we go out to dinner and have some date nights when he is home… and I don’t know about you guys but if I’m going out to the restaurant I definitely will not order a salad for supper… if I wanted salad I would make it at my house… for less than 12$ I’m sure… So ya I would say that my eating falls off track while he is around. He also prepares a lot of our suppers since I work and he is at home. He tries to keep it healthy, but he still cooks some things in butter and likes to add sauces to our meats. I continue to hit up the gym tho! I feel like the gym is usually a constant in my life… but healthy choices is where I lack the discipline. Which just proves that weight loss really is a solid 80% of the battle.. or else I would be a Fitness Model by now haha 

My man has been home for about a week now and I already feel more bloated… from the not so healthy choices! I warned him that this time home he would have to get on the healthy eating plan with me or he can prepare his own meals! I think for the most part he will get on board! Just the nights when he wants to have a giant bowl of pasta that I will be eating something different haha 

I think it’s difficult for him to understand why this weight loss is so important for me. First off, he is not a big guy. He is tall and slender with just the right amount of meat on him haha He can pretty much eat what he wants with no weight gain and he does not work out (unfairrrr). Plus he always says he thinks I look great, we still have sex so this must be the truth haha But the point is just that this is not the best that I could be and I know this! Which is why I really want to make the changes and live a healthier lifestyle! 

Here’s to some healthy eating while my husband is home this week! I hope everyone had a great Easter! And I don’t know about anyone else, but we had a snow storm the last couple days!! So stay warm!! 

New Laptop!!

Well I am pretty exited! I have received my new laptop! I must say it was quick! I ordered it over the long weekend and I went and picked it up at Purolator today! They had tried to deliver it to my house but I was at work haha

So what is this new laptop you may ask? Well it is a Lenovo Ideapad y700; and so far so good! It has a nice backlit keyboard which it something I was really seeking. I HATE using my laptop in the dark and then you can’t really see what you’re typing so you try and close the lid of your laptop a bit to try and shine the light from your screen onto your keyboard so you can see just wtf you’re tying haha Now I can see exactly what I’m typing! I did have to Google “how to turn on your keyboard” haha but whatever! The screen is nice and the speakers are awesome! I had never seen this before… there is a subwoofer on the bottom of the laptop! I am still getting used to the location of the keys and the trackpad on this machine but I am sure it will become second nature soon enough!

Now I can get back to blogging and thinking of perhaps starting a youtube blog… but I am not sure yet… just playing with the idea…  It’s not like my blog is at all popular at this time haha so I dunno, we will see I guess!

Anways, all this to say that I am super excited about this early birthday present!! My previous laptop can now retire lol It was about 6 years old and had some difficulties haha

Progress!!!

Finally things are working out!! So I have recently read Tosca Reno’s book “Eat-Clean Diet Recharged” and things just clicked! I already knew about what food were clean and what portions should look like.. but I don’t know… things just came together and I got it! So Sunday I sat down before going to do the groceries and I organized my 6 meals a day for the upcoming week! So I went and bought my food and prepped what needed to be prepped. Then it was like magic… the lbs were just dropping off my scale! 

I started Monday at 180lbs (heaviest I have ever been in my life, an quite depressing actually) and this morning (Friday morning) I weighed in at 173.6lbs!! How crazy is that!! That’s almost 2lbs/ day!! WHATTTT!!!! So I know this is basically all water weight but still haha progress is progress and it’s just nice to see the scale number drop instead of climb! 

So anyways, I had my cheat today soo I will have to see what my weigh in will be like in the morning. I also pick Friday as my cheat because I know I always go to the gym and go hard during Step Class at my local Goodlife! I usually burn about 510 calories in the 45 minutes (as per my Polar). However, I kept more under control this week for my cheat. I use to eat an entire bag of chips… like family size haha plus chocolate! Lol I never fucked around with my delicious cheat foods ❤ 🙂 But I tried to make smaller portions of cheats now! Then I don’t undo all the work I put in throughout the week!!!

Will continue on with this clean eating approach for now as it seems to be working!! 🙂 Everyday getting closer to that goal!! 

Where Have I Been!!!

Where have I been!!! Well I have been picking myself up and running after my wagon, trying to get back on it!! I fell off the blogging wagon haha And if I’m being honest the weight loss/change in lifestyle wagon too 😥 Waaaaaa!!! But you know what they say, it’s not how many times you fall but how you get back up!

I this time I feel as though I have caught up to both of those suckers and am just trying to get comfortable! I have been back at the gym every morning and on the weekend for the past couple of weeks and am now writing my first blog in a while!

So while I was gone away to Quebec city it was hard to keep the diet in check and did not make it to the gym. Thus, basically have gained back all that I have lost. I was so frustrated and upset with myself to let this happen. Even more, I was embarrassed! Which is why I had refrained from blogging! I was feeling down on myself and had a hard time finding the motivation to blog or to workout and eat healthy. Plus I did not want to take any progress pictures since I knew I wouldn’t like what I would see… so I basically just avoided it! I know, I know it’s no way to deal with a problem lol Anyways, the important thing is that I have found my motivation and that I was able to catch up to those darn wagons!

So I have cleaned up my diet and continue to do so! I have been going to the gym at least 6 times a week and I shall try to blog at least weekly! Keeping it focused! C’mon, Let’s do this!!!

Meal Prep Sunday!

A couple days late with this sorry! But this was my meal prep this past weekend for the upcoming week! I know ham isn’t the leanest meat but I really enjoy it! Plus I don’t have it every week… just every now and again! Moderation is the key! 

The prep:

4 x ham, asparagus, baby potatoes

3 x lean ground beef, cucumber, bell pepper, and a bit of greek salad dressing (vinaigrette)! 

I also have some greek yogurt portioned out into 1 cup, some granola and some fruits for a mid morning snack while at work!

Preparation is the key! 

 

MIA

Well I realize that I have been missing in action… aka not blogging for a while for quite some time now. 

So basically things were going well, I was making it to the gym and I was eating pretty clean. Then my husband came home (he works away and is usually gone for 6 weeks at a time) and we decided that we would go on a mini vacation to visit out family. I know what you’re thinking.. vacation much mean they went to a nice warm place…wrong! We went to Quebec City and let me tell you, it was especially cold that weekend with amazing temperatures such as -40C …. you know the kind of cold where when you breathe in through your nose and your nostrils stick together…ya good times!

So anyways it takes us about 12 hours to drive there so needless to say, we do not visit very often… maybe 1-2 times a year. So when we go, I am most definitely not spending my time at the gym. To be honest, my mother in law enjoys a good glass a wine in good company (AKA me haha) so there’s wine at every supper! Plus, my mother in law cooks and she’s not counting her calories when we’re there, which means neither am I. Which is good because I probably would have a heart attack if I tracked everything! Let’s just say I don’t think I ate 2 portions of vegetables and ate triple my weight in carbs. This went on for the whole 5 days we were there.

I left a human and I came back home a cow… or so it felt like. I did weigh in the first morning back and I had gained back the weight I had lost and then one more pound. So that was depressing… Took me a couple of days to get back to the gym… started off every other day last week and then this week back on track with daily gym and increased cardio. A couple pounds have come off already which is encouraging! However I still have many more to go! As for the nutrition piece, I did meal prep on Sunday and for the most part I am mostly back on track with my eating. There are some things that need to change, mostly late night snacking (mini eggs are my weakness and I’m almost out so that will help haha). 

Even though I have been weighing myself I haven’t had the courage to take “progress” pictures quite yet. I think I’m going to wait a couple of weeks and try and rid my body of all the extra fluid it is currently holding before I take those pictures. 

 So for this week just going to concentrate on getting back into it. Making it to the gym, doing the cardio, eating and drinking natural diuretics, cutting out the sugar and tv snacking! Just feeling better! So I will do my best this week and will keep everyone updated (whoever “everyone is” haha) 

Just need to get  back into that positive mind set. Which, blogging helps so yay! 

Progress!

This is one of the reasons why I like taking weekly pictures! 

In both collages, the picture on the left is Week 1 and the picture on the right is Week 5. 

Each week I take progress pictures in which I wear the same outfit and try and do the same poses and hold the phone at the same angle. Then the pictures look alike as much as possible which help when comparing them.

One of the reasons I like doing this is that it is easier to see progress in weight loss. I can say that I am very hard on myself and have a difficult time seeing results/changes when just looking at myself in the mirror on a day to day bases. Sometimes all I can see is that I am not where I would like to be when I look in the mirror. Which is odd because sometimes I just feel like a sexy slim/fit bitch lol and then I look in the mirror and I am like damn this body does not reflect how I am feeling right now! So when I look at this pictures I can see that my back looks different, with less back rolls hahaha, and that my waist and legs have slimmed out. I can even tell that my face appears slimmer in the picture on the right compared to the picture on the left.

Another reason why I like to do these progress pictures is because you can’t trust the scale… she a lying bitch for sure! lol So in the weeks of this weight loss thus far I have only managed to shed maybe 2-3 lbs, according to the scale. Which can be very discouraging if that is all you are looking at. Imagine, eating clean and working out 4-5 times a week for 5 weeks and only loosing 3 lbs.. .depressing.. Makes you feel like your efforts aren’t worth shit and that basically you are fighting a losing battle! So if you can look at your picture and actually see progress it’s very encouraging! Gives you motivation to keep pushing and to keep eating clean! Like your efforts are paying off and can do this! 

This pictures remind me of how much work I put into this and that it is working; that I just need to keep pushing and that I can and will attain my goal. It may be not tomorrow, or next week, or even next month but I know I will get there. And I know that as I get closer to it the better I will feel. Weight loss is able about hard work, good nutrition and being consistent! 

So to anyone out there who is feeling defeated or feels like there are no changes, try taking weekly progress pictures and see if this is successful in motivating you! I hope it does! 🙂

End of Week 5

First off happy Superbowl to whomever is watching it right now! 

I myself just came back from the restaurant where we celebrated a friend’s birthday! I am currently regretting my food choices as I now feel disgusting! So bloated it’s unreal… Thank goodness for peppermint tea tho! Brewing a cup as I speak, well type 😛 Always helps me digest after a big meal, love it!

 

 

Anywho, back to serious business! These are my pictures from this week after completing my 5th week! Still nothing crazy regarding changes but there are some, such as, smaller back rolls! Which makes me more than happy, because really… who enjoys having back rolls… definitely not this girl…

I also switched it up this week, I did make it to the gym everyday, minus Thursday for a rest day, and I didn’t work on different body parts every time I worked out. Just wanted to try out something new at the gym… and it seems to be working. At this point I assume that as long as I’m doing SOMETHING then hopefully the weight will come off. I build muscle pretty easily, so if after I lose some weight I find that I do not have enough muscle tone then I can go back to daily muscle groups. But more cardio based workouts are better for me at this point I think. If I find it’s not effective, then I can tweak it then. 

Monday: 40 minutes of Body Shred,

Tuesday: 35 minutes Spin Class

Wednesday: 40 minutes Stairmaster

Friday: 35 minutes Pump Class

Saturday: 45 minutes Step Class + Leg Workout

Sunday: 35 minutes Body Flow + 20 minute incline walk

Furthermore, I didn’t even keep track of macros this week. I know what foods are healthy so ate those when I was hungry. I tried to keep the bulk of my carbs during the day, and just a little bit at supper time, tried having a good amount of protein and tried having a good amount of veggies. And my scale went down throughout the week. I would even say that my eating wasn’t 100% clean everyday but that the numbers on the scale continued to decrease so that’s encouraging.

So ya just going to keep going and push through it! Had some rougher days this week where I felt like giving up and just sleeping in and not going to the gym but I made it! And I know that even know I can’t always see them, small changes are happening. Just need to remain patient and I know I will see the big changes when they come!

Hope everyone had a good week and is treating themselves tonight for the big game!!