Fitgirl Chronicles

Spring is around the corner....

I'm so happy that Spring is around the corner.

It's out there.  I know it is. 

Does this look like the face of a "Banana Bread Thief"?  This innocent sweet face... 

 

 Guilty!  She ate an entire loaf that she snagged off the counter.  An entire homemade loaf of banana bread goodness.  She has discriminating taste.

 

 

I am looking forward to Spring. 

I am looking forward to the muddy brown landscape turning green.  I am looking forward to longer days.   

 

I am looking forward to the smell of grass and dirt and planting in the garden.

 

 

I am looking forward to getting outside more and walking and running (after the knee recovers) and defrosting from winter and shedding a few pounds figuratively and literally!

 

 

Happy Spring Everyone! :) 

Veggies are my friend.....

I have always loved veggies, there is not a vegetable that I don't like, ok except okra, but I think I may have cooked it wrong.  Anyway I am realizing to lose weight for me I need to load up on the veggies and make one of my main meals mostly vegetables with a little protein.  

I am so thrilled this week as I lost -4.2lbs ( I was up last week due to that bloaty time of the month), you can see my progress here.  I have realized I just need to ride out that time and just know that I will be up a little and it will go away fast.

Went home for a day trip and my lovely mother let me raid her garden.  So yummy, you can't beet garden veggies. 

I made a salad with lettuce, strawberries, onions, capers, tomatoes and light ranch dressing very nice.

I love beet greens, I need to find a way to get the family to eat them. Chicken in a citrus marinade and new potatoes.

Our trip to the country.  Love the blue in these delphiniums.

The basic potato plant is really a beautiful plant with a pretty flower.

More prairie sky.

It is so relaxing in the country.

The beans were not quite ready.

Which road do we take?

We went for a walk.

The Saskatoon berries were not quite ready either. But we tried some of the blue ones. Very good reminds me of being a kid in the summer and picking buckets.

 

What a view.

We spotted a friend stopping to check us out.

What a great day. So much to be thankful for and happy to be moving forward with my goals and stopping to smell the wildflowers.

Have a great day everyone!

Breathe, believe and be....

That's me getting all philosophical again.  But good points in life to be sure.  My great friend Lara gave me this cool BELIEVE magnet.  Just a small thing but I LOVE it for what it represents.  Thanks Lara.

One of my goals is to believe in me and to believe I can do what I set out to achieve.

Today was Saturday and as weekends can get kind of crazy I decided to get up and go for a walk straight away which was smart because there were so many projects calling my name.

My husband and son and faithful Tessa came with me.

This hill looked like a good idea at the time.....

Not such a great idea in hindsight... 

Thankfully, it was not a serious injury and we continued onward to get 60 minutes in.

A little run along the trail.

Wild Rose ....

We were tempted by a garage sale on our travels... no finds..

Love the sky I could look at it all day; we had a beautiful day today.

I spent the rest of my day in the garden my favorite place to just BE.

I got these new shasta daisies today they are a new variety...I have forgotten the exact name, but I thought they were so pretty.

I love perennials because so many of mine are given to me from friends and family and every time I look at them it reminds me of them.

The peonies are so great right now, almost finished so I wanted a shot.

After I planted some new flowers and weeded my garden we got an amazing thunderstorm which cooled everything off.

And the BREATHE part of my day is just trying to be thankful for the goals I have met and what I am doing in moving forward.  I am taking advice from fellow blogger Teresa of Mama Wants a Sixpack, who said in summary regarding exercise, "just do it".  Great advice Teresa and Nike.  I need to stop fretting and just do it - whenever I can fit it in a day.  Thanks for that Teresa.

With that I will say goodnight.  Have a great night everybody.

Transition Week.....

Still in transition of starting my new job as this was my first week.  It has been a huge adjustment to fit things in as I said in my previous post.  But fit things in I must. 

Monday July 6 Workout :

Went to the gym and did 25 minutes of cardio. Combo walk/run treadmill.  Leg weights, bridge, and some core work.

Tuesday July 7 Workout :

Yoga from some videos on-line for 20 minutes.

Wednesday July 8 Workout :

Went to the gym did cardio on the bike and some leg weights + went to physio for knee appointment.

Thursday July 9 Workout :

Yoga tape for 35 minutes.

It's a start at least some movement not as challenging as I would like but at least a start and on a transition week.  Fitness goals - still want to build up to running.  More challenging cardio.  More weights to strengthen core and legs.

Did a road trip to the country on the weekend.  I love the country.

Prairie sky at dusk....

My Mom has the best garden EVER!!!!

Peas.....

 

Open spaces are so good for the soul.

Me and my little one...

My daughter is constantly flipping or cartwheeling through the air all summer...ah to be a kid again!! Maybe this could be another fitness goal of mine??? 

Not a food picture to been seen. You can tell how busy I have been if I am not taking food shots.  This week has been grab and go food. Trying to eat lots of fruit and veggies and stay away from the junk but I must admit there was a trip or two to a couple of take-out places.... Tomorrow is weigh day so time will tell.  

Still moving forward and so happy to have a blog to reflect upon things.  Today I am committing to trying harder and RE-FOCUSING on my goals.  Even though life is CRAZY busy sometimes I am realizing I need to stay the course and press on.

Bye for now big prairie sky...

My week of gardens, bbq's and the Jo Bro's.....

I had a fun filled week with many changes to my life.  The biggest change is I got a new part time office job that is 4 days a week so I am now revamping my schedule to fit everything in.  And I have to admit this last week I did not work out and I do not feel good about that. This is a challenge in everyone's life I am sure.  Most importantly I don't want to drop my working out and eating well. So since my job is a day job I think I am going to have to workout early in the morning because I know myself and I don't like to go after work or in the evening.  So this means I need to go earlier to bed and of course I need to be more organized in order to fit it all in.  

It does seem overwhelming to juggle kids, family, job, blogging,  cooking well, working out, keeping a decent house etc... the list could go on .... but that's life I guess. If anyone out there has some fabulous tips feel free to pass them this way.  The one thing I know is that if I am not eating well and working out then all of the other things in my life will suffer and I will be unhappy so that is why I am putting my fitness and health goals first.

So this week I did a few tours of some gardens, a botanical garden in my town and a couple of friends gardens. As you can tell I love gardening.  

The botanical garden - Peonies just about to bloom.

I love this color of peony - BEAUTIFUL!!!

More beautiful peonies...can't get enough...

I love hostas too.....

This botanical park tour was for Canada Day - Yeah Canada!! And they were serving strawberries and cream shortcake and tea.  I was proud of myself because I only had one bite and then passed the rest to my friends (my skinny friends!)

I would love a fountain like this in my yard..sigh..

I love vegetable gardens and growing your own healthy food.  This is broccoli from my friend Donna's garden.

And lettuce..... from Donna's garden...

Last night we had a lovely bbq at our friends house and I wanted to share some highlights.  I try to eat a lot of vegetarian fare but who can resist the smell of the barbecue..... Jess, the steak and pork chops were awesome!

Homemade salsa with avocado mixed in.  Possibly some of the BEST salsa I have ever eaten.  Must get recipe from Jess....

A very yummy salad with a very good addition of Soy nuts with a nice poppy seed dressing. I am going to steal this one.

Roasted baby potatoes in olive oil....mmmm

I think I should have had more salad and less meat???  It was a great barbecue.

Angel food cake and strawberries for dessert.

There was some trampoline jumping.....

Jess's amazing garden.... This is just a peek as it is extensive.

What a gorgeous color of iris's...

Sho Jo on a leash... so she doesn't escape.  

And finally a big excitement in my week, I took my daughter (9) to her first concert to see the Jonas Brothers. Wow, screaming girls for 3 hours straight, but it was a great time and my daughter loved it!

Friday weigh in and I STAYED THE SAME,  I will take that, especially since I did not workout.   You can see my progress here.  

So my goals going forward are to FOCUS on WORKOUTS!!!!! Must WORKOUT!!! Workout in the mornings before work on the days I work and my off days to go a little later in the morning and to blog each day to mark my progress. And I will continue to eat healthy.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Where did the week go????

Life can be so busy which is why I am glad to have this blog to keep me focused and on track.  My last week was full of end of the year school events, many milestone family moments, my good friends 4oth birthday, and making plans for another good friend who is moving away.  So all of this added up to NO time to blog and NO time to workout.

Which leads me to my next thought and that is "life is ALWAYS busy and working out must be a priority no matter how busy I get."  I will use this week as a reminder to plan ahead and schedule in those workouts because I can't afford NOT to.  I really missed my walk with Jess this week :( And I have really noticed when I don't get those workouts in how it affects my sleep and hunger levels and mood....in short EVERYTHING!

Thankfully I did eat pretty good this week and when I jumped on the scale on Friday for my weigh in day and I lost -2 lbs this week!  So I feel great about that. You can see my progress here.

Some of my food choices this week:

Cherries, my favorite!

Potato Salad season, I made this for a bbq at a friends house.  Of course everyone has their own potato salad twist and everyone compares it to their Mom's.  I add pickles and pickle juice to mine, some mustard and (light) mayo and eggs, green onion, radishes, and of course potatoes and salt and pepper with paprika on top.

Lots of great fruit out there now.

My husband made this great pork loin with a dry rub; the original recipe was for ribs but the rub worked just as good on the pork loin:

Dry Rub

1/4 cup of sweet paprika

4 1/2 teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper

4 1/2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons celery salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

from Epicurious 

It was so good, and lean too.

We added grilled veggies and potatoes and a glass of red wine.

This was chopped salad and a barbecued chicken breast.  I really found it helpful to up my salad intake this last week; it was a great way to cut some calories out of my lunch.

This was a not so low calorie splurge, but well worth it.  For my good friend's birthday we went to an Indian restaurant and had a fabulous buffet of various Indian dishes.  I am not sure of all the dishes, some of them were butter chicken, butter paneer and a paneer with a spinach sauce and various other great items.  I do wish I would have had a smaller portion.  One of my ongoing goals is to enjoy food and have smaller portions all at the same time.  Less is more. This is a huge concept for me as I was raised to "eat big healthy farm portions".  It is something I am working on.

The naan bread was amazing and made fresh.

I had to show my friends birthday cake that I made.  It was a carrot cake with cream cheese icing and count them, yes, 40 candles on top! (I love you Donna!!)

I am loving the painted daisies in the garden this time of year they are so vivid!

School's out and summer is here!!! Have a great night everyone!

What is the deal with that????

I am referring to how my brain works whenever I tell myself to follow a specific rule or guideline regarding weight loss/fitness.  Every time before my weigh in day I say "I'm going to have a really good day with eating today and eat mostly salads and veggies and stay within my limits".  The next thing I know I am craving pancakes and that is what I make for dinner!  I only had one but really! I was going to have salad.  There must be some classic self sabotage reasoning going on or something.  I have had a great week but sometimes when my weigh day nears or when I over think things I "freak out" in the food department.....Maybe freak out is a bit harsh but I eat too much or the wrong things and usually I don't enjoy them so something else is definitely going on.....

Still moving forward and on a positive note:

Thursday Workout (today):

Walk with my good friend Lara about 30 min.  - I forgot my camera :( but the walk was great! It is so nice to get out there and get a walk in and socialize at the same time. I hope to have more of these walks...

Day 3 of Salad Week(Wednesday) was my favorite so far.

 

Salad for Lunch: Mixed greens, radishes, carrots, celery, red pepper, artichoke hearts, watermelon, feta cheese, 1 small avocado,  cauliflower, all topped with a homemade yogurt dressing. I ate it all! 

Those special additions like avocado, artichoke hearts, and feta make the world of difference (in my world anyway)!

Day 4 of Salad Week (today, Thursday), ran out of time so had leftover coleslaw I made from the other day.

Tomorrow is my weigh day (my first one since I changed it to Friday) so it should be interesting.  I will set up some new goals tomorrow as I am feeling a bit frazzled tonight.

Very excited about the irises that have started blooming in my garden and all over the neighborhood.

Love them!

My apple tree.

Have a great night everyone!

A Fabulous Day!!!!

Another milestone day and a very nice one at that.  Today I turned 41.  It was a breeze.  I noticed forty much more.  Forty-one just kind of snuck in.  I suppose that is what all birthdays do.  It really helps striving for my goals to mark a birthday, all I can ask for is to be the best me.  

Anyway today (a good 5 hours) I spent  gardening, planting veggies (yes I am behind) and some pots and cleaning up the yard for this:

Four cubic yards of rainbow rock 3/4 " to go in our backyard in an area where the grass does not grow (the rock is prettier up close and when it is wet it is all different colors).  Yes, I will be shoveling for a while. But I am looking at it as a workout.  Today was not a typical intense workout at the gym but I was outdoors moving all day in the yard.

Took a break and went to Starbucks and ordered a water.

OK, I also ordered a Venti iced Americano with one cream and one sugar.  My favorite and it was great on this hot day.  A goal of mine is to cut these back - this will mean less money to Starbucks and less cream and sugar consumption.  I will cut back because I have officially set my mind to it.  I used to be a diet coke aholic, I probably drank 6-8 a day now I don't drink pop of any kind since the day Obama got in office (that's just how I remember when).  So for me that was a huge feat.  I don't want to cut out coffee completely, just my trips to Starbucks I want to cut back on.  So there, now that is out in the universe as another goal.

Because it is a milestone day it has given me more motivation to eat healthy and get this weeks weight loss going.  This inspired me to make some good choices today.  Lunch (on a smaller side plate - hard to tell from picture) was watermelon, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, and some coleslaw that I made with red and green cabbage and some granny smith apples.  The dressing was low fat with a small amount of low fat mayo and milk and some vinegar.  I was just craving coleslaw.

I just love this cute place-mat set I found at the thrift store.  So sweet.  It also has matching linen napkins with the same embroidery.  A set of 4 was only 4.99.

My amazing husband barbecued me this great meal tonight.  Salmon (which I am so happy my son has started to eat thanks to him trying it at one of his friends house), carrots and red peppers and a nice salad with fresh parmesan cheese.  I also had some red wine to go with it - a great supper and I didn't have to cook tonight.  I only took two tiny potatoes as I am trying not to have carbs at the last meal of the day.  Also no cake or ice-cream this year - but I am OK with that.  I actually am not a huge cake fan.  And I forgo the ice-cream to have the wine.  It's all about choices I am learning.

I love this time of year and being in the garden I just had to show the columbines that are blooming. 

They are such gorgeous flowers.

Me coming in from being in the dirt all day, which I love.  I can't think of a better way to spend a day.  

I just want to send a big shout of encouragement out to my Mom & Dad today who are so amazing.  My parents who are in their 60's have decided to take up running (no previous experience)!  Today they embarked on their run/walk program.   I am so excited for them.  I know they will love it and do great.  So way to go guys!  And of course this is inspiring me big time.  This week I had my first physio appointment to do with the knee/back issues I have been having and I was so pumped up after my excellent appointment.  Thanks Catherine for the great recommendation!  Anyway the physiotherapist was excellent, very informative, gave me great exercises to do and most importantly gave me hope that yes, this is no big issue I can run as soon as I strengthen up certain areas and get back aligned.  So that is the best motivator for me that I needed.  He said the most important thing was to keep moving.

So moving it is.  

Have a great night everyone.

Some Summer on the horizon.....

Finally I do believe it is warming up here.....not to complain it is still lovely but now it can be lovely with some heat.

Those beautiful blue skies of summer.

Some more blooming trees. 

I love this time of year when the perennials are all starting to do their thing and there is so much green around.  I love green.  

More glorious green from my garden.

So on this sunny morning I did my weigh in as this is my weigh day  and I am happy to report I am down -2.6 lbs.  YEAH me!!!!   I feel good about that!  You can see my progress here.  But after some consideration and my good friend Jess's great suggestion (see here) (scroll down to bottom to comments section).  I am going to move my weigh day to Fridays.  I think it will work better for me in terms of how my week is structured.  If I have a more relaxed food weekend then I will have the whole week to kick it up and lose what I need to.  So on this Friday I will start and weigh in again and then go from there.

Tuesday's Workout (yesterday):

60 minute walk with my daughter's grade 4 class to the pool.  It was thirty minutes each way to the outdoor pool so it was a good walk.  It was a lot of fun a wee bit freezing (only 14 degrees C) but it was a good time.

On the food front I made a nice supper of chicken fajitas with peppers and onions and I added some avocado (my favorite) and a small amount of cheese.  And I had one German Beck's beer which went very nice with the fajita. 

Need to still work on healthier snacks and having good snack options ready.  Does anyone have any good / healthy snack ideas out there?  Lately I have been having hummus (but then sometimes I eat too many chips or whatever I am using as a dipper) and fruit.  Kind of boring.....  

Well must run and get the house organized so I can move out to the garden. 

Going to try and go to the pool and do deep water running.

Organized and energized....

A constant theme in my life: "Getting Organized".  I do so much better when I am organized so I spent the last few days making a "Central Binder" to organize my life.  I do better with paper I don't use an electronic organizer.  So this is what I came up with 

I have divided the sections with collaged pages (my art obsession) and made the pertinent sections for my life right now.  

So the idea is this is where I keep track of running the household, meal planning, exercise schedule, general schedule, master list, any list....etc... All in one place as opposed to scattered about the house!

My tabs are those post-it note durable filing tabs so you can change them if you need to.

I have been working outside lately doing tons of landscaping and planting in the front and back yard so I haven't been doing any elaborate cooking but hope to soon.

My goals for eating this week are:  Eat sensible portions, whole, healthy food with protein at each meal and snack.  Keep track of calories (going to try that for one week). PORTION Control is key for me.  I have posted my new weigh-ins for the last two weeks here. I am doing OK but I know I can do so much better. I will keep moving forward and doing the work.

Tuesday Workout (today):

60 minute walk with Tessa 

I picked a path with some hills to make it more intense.  I still want to build up to running.

A gorgeous day today!

I am still in love with the blossoms out there.

Have a great day everyone!