Better Week >>> but workout frustration

Yay the scale was kind this week, hard work went into it though!  Total loss to date is 24 pounds. So a quarter of my way to my weight goal.   My goal for October is to get to 30 pound loss, and on the fitness front 20 levels of stairs on the demonic stair master.

So success and moving forward on all my goals.  One conversation at the gym had me steaming yesterday though!  My work out buddy and I have decided on 30 minutes of hard cardio (so not just strolling, we are doing intervals and working really hard), stair master and then the weight circuit, so an hour workout at least 4 times a week.  Yesterday I was on the treadmill, when I was done the guy next to me (who later told me he works there) told me be anything less than 45 min to an hour is a waste of time of the treadmill.  He said .... you need to be over 30 minutes to get into fat burning zone .... well first off dumb arse ... how do you know I am only there for weight loss??!  Grrrrrrrrr He chatted for a while giving me advise, saying intervals and hills don't matter when you are trying to burn fat, just sustained walking ....

This is different to anything I have research and been told, but every personal trainer has a different opinion.

You know what ... at the end of the day I am having success in inches, in pounds and my fitness level is getting better weekly ... I guess I just stay the course, but if he does has a point I can get to my goals quicker.  The biggest issue is time, I have to do weights and cardio, but I have a family, a job, I am studying at night and I volunteer, I cannot do two hours at gym.

My workout partner and I have decided on upping cardio to an hour and alternate with an hour of weights on different nights, and see if the results change this month, so watch this space.

Will update this week on hike number 2 that we did today, but rant had to make it's way in first.

Ugh I hate the scale!!!

Truly I do, I thought I had a great week, I did a 3 hours hike, I went to gym 3 times (which was hard it was a busy week!)  And I thought I ate really well, ok there was the 2 days Lays chips slip, but even then a handful,, not half the packet!  Weigh-in day and 0.6lbs up .. wth!  Seriously, I can handle staying the same, but not going in the wrong direction!

Maybe what went wrong this week was tracking, I didn't track this week, maybe unintentionally I have gone over points, or even not used them all, so back to 100% tracking this week.  I gotta research the muscle weighing more than fat myth too, maybe that is part of it, but still doesn't make me happy :)

The gym scale has me 3 pounds lighter, maybe time to buy a new scale too.

Bottom line is that I don't want to get obsessed with the scale, and the numbers, but it is important to me.  I do feel stronger and healthier than I have in a long time, but I just want to get to goal weight in my allotted time, I don't have time for ups!!!

Tougher Day

The psychology behind blogging is interesting, so very easy to post the great days, the triumphant days.  When you look at the bloggers who slowly trail off it's because they have drifted off course, forgetting that the very reason for the blog is to work through those waves ... I know this because I have done it many times before.

Not this time, the good, the bad and they ugly going up here.

I had a great weekend eating wise, going to gym, and throwing in a hike.  Today I ate well, and had already decided to take a day off gym.  I came home so hungry ...... open pantry and stare straight at the Lays chips ... grrrrrrr they are my go to junk food, I have begged and pleaded for them not to be brought into the house, or if they are bought, to hide them.  But nope, they have been bought, right in my pantry at eye level grrrrrrrr

I am told that I should just exercise self discipline .... oh I try I really do .... but when really hungry, tired, it's hard.

So today ended up not being a great day .....

Tomorrow will be better, hope everyone in blog land had a good Monday.

1st Official Hike! Grotto Canyon

Well I did it!!  I am soooo tired, but super proud of myself.  At the same time realizing what a long way I have to go fitness wise.  I had a great time, in this case I think pictures are worth a 1000 words, so here we go ...  The basics are, Grotto Canyon is near Canmore Alberta, in the Kananaskis area.  I think it's considered a moderate hike.  It took 3 hours to do about 4kms round trip, rocky and uphill!

We will be leaving many footprints over the next 11 months ....

Checking what we were packing in our backpacks.  We deliberately will be taking packs over the next few months, even if not totally required,  we have to build up to the weight that will be required to do the WCT.

And here we go, my first legit hike!

New hiking boots, new backpack and new green pants, felt like a kid on first day of school :)

My motivation, my buddy .... I so admire her

Stunning!  I love our backyard

Look at me, almost looks like I know what I am doing haha.  The pebbles are good cardio, constantly adjusting your balance.

Ancient rock art

This was a bit of a scramble to get up to the waterfall.  It was slippery, and I have a long way to go agility wise, but, I managed to get up to the waterfall and back down.

So tired!

Gonna have to work on hiking hair ... but I am still smiling, or is that a grimace?

Hahahahaha

Ewww very sweaty butt print!

About 2 hours in on return trip, I am starting to feel it in my back and legs, but plodding along

I love this girl so much.  Bev will be doing the WCT trail with me.  She is so much fitter than me, but so patient, and never makes me feel like a sloth behind her pace.  We motivate each other to get into the gym, and plan each step of getting to the West Coast Trail together.  I cannot imagine walking this path with anyone else.

Please tell me we are nearly done!

Yay car park!  My heart rate monitor tells me I averaged a heart rate of 141, with peak being 168!  Burnt off over a thousand calories whoop.  

It was a good day

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Eeekkk! First mini hike today!

Off to do first hike today!  Excited and nervous .... will report back later on who it goes.  Should be about a 3 hour hike, but more than than I am not sure on elevation etc.

Mini steps towards big goal!

The Damn Toilet Roll

Domestic Dispute #21

It's amazing to me that days, weeks, years go by, things happen, partners/spouses do things that annoy us, but we fix it and move on.  Then one day, a simple thing like this!  A toilet roll mere inches away from just putting it where it should be, and I am ready to commit a crime!   I just don't get it ... so today, I will be like a child and leave it exactly there, when it is done, I will leave the cardboard thingy there and wait and see how many pile up there! 

Childish yes, but 18 years of asking and it becomes just symbolic of other things.  When someone asks me respectfully and kindly to modify something I do that maybe annoys them or makes their life even a fraction uncomfortable, I change it!

Today the roll says there, and I say I get to dig my heels in and be a child occasionally.

Accountable to me .....

It would be easier to list diets I haven't tried, than to list diets, pills, books etc. that I have tried the last decade.  I have lost and gained, lost some more, gained some more.  What is different this time?  I don't know what clicked, but I am changing my thinking this time.

As a Mom, a wife, an employee it is incredibly hard to carve out time for yourself.  We all know how that feels.  An hour at gym when I should be helping my daughter with her homework?  No more, I am a good Mom, a great wife and a very loyal hard working employee, and I am putting me first to become a better person for all of you, but above all for MYSELF.

The concept is very easy, move more - eat less.  I am very committed to gym time, following WeightWatchers (because it works and its balanced and sustainable).  And I have goals!  Not weight goals, that will come, fitness goals.

August 2013 I am doing the West Coast Trail - I am committed and will follow through.  Doing a hike of that length requires prep and training for even the fit, for me it requires an entire makeover inside and out.

2015 I am walking from Rome to Venice ... etc etc more to come on those dreams and aspirations, back to now.

If you are looking for the before and after fat tummy photos, you are not going to find them here.  I will post progress on arms, legs as I get fitter, jiggling my fat belly for cameras is mortifying to me.

My blog is a little bit of catch up, I started my journey the beginning of July, so I am two months in and 16 pounds or so down.  What doesn't have a number is the fitness level, I am going to figure out ways to show progress on that front soon.

This is my journey, I will get there this time, I will be blogging about the realities of friends and family pushing back, about the friendships that are walking this path with me, the frustrations and the absolute joy and pride in making those small goals, which turn into huge success and blazing through the WCT!

My first mini hike will be this Saturday, my first very real steps towards my goal.