one positive + one fail

As of yesterday my first week of Shawn being my dietitian/trainer is done...and I was down 4 lbs! yay! I have a major sinus thing right now so my work out this morning sucked. Well it didnt suck but it could have been better. After how I felt when I woke up this morning I am happy I even GOT to the gym. I bet most people would have just stayed in bed. I am just super determined right now.;..... Im good at that. Once I get going with something I generally stick with it. I hate to fail. I just need to do this.
I think my 4lb weight loss this week was pretty good considering my size. If you look at a show like the Biggest loser women who are 30 lbs heavier than me are losing 4-5 lbs in a week, and they work out ALOT. I work out every morning for an hour and a bit, but I am eating really well and thats what is giving me my good loss this last week. Im sticking with it, but its just hard to be as focused when you are sick. I have to just push through it. Hopefully this sinus thing will move on soon.
With the 4 lbs I lost last week I would be happy to lose about another 15ish pounds. I just have to stay focused.
OH and I failed my March challenge. Saturday night we had a St. Patrick's Day party and I was up til 4am. Stupid decision because there was absolutely NO way I was going to the gym on Sunday. :'( I feel so guilty about failing my March challenge which is why I am not taking a day off for my sickness. Hopefully I can go every OTHER day in March besides the 18th.

ANYWAYS now that you know my fail.....its time to move on from todays blog post ramblings..

2 Week update

I am on to day 14 of my March challenge and I am feeling amazing! I absolutely LOVE to go to the gym in the morning. It just starts my day off right. I come home feeling accomplished and happy that I have completed my work out. Something else I was thinking about is how great exercise is for your body. Not only physically but mentally too! If you are feeling stressed, upset, anxious...anything really..... try getting a work out in...it helps SO much.
So last Friday I wrote saying that even though Ive gotten to the gym every day this month so far and have watched what Im eating, I am yet to be down a pound. I was stuck. So I decided to ask my fiance for help. He's in great shape himself and knows a ton about diet and fitness. The reason I havent asked him to help me before is I just have a  tough time taking it from him. If a dietitian or a personal trainer were to tell me "Brit, you need to eat like this...." I would be fine with it...but if he was to say "Brit you need to do this or that" I get defensive for some reason. I just find it hard to take it from him. BUT since I am stuck and frustrated I enlisted his help promising I would follow his work out and eating plan. So on Monday I started and as of this morning (Wednesday) I am down 2.2 lbs! Yay! I am sooo happy to be out of this plateau and I am feeling GREAT!
I basically cut my carbs - not out completely - but I just eat them before a work out or shortly after, and not after lunch. A typical meal plan for the week looks something like this:
-protein shake before work out
-protein shake after work out
-egg whites with one piece of dry brown toast
-huge salad with ground turkey, peppers, onions, a LITTLE cheese and whatever other veggies
-piece of fruit for snack
-meat and veggies for dinner
-and coffee. Thats something I am NEVER willling to give up. I just make sure I drink it with skim milk and only a little sugar.
I also chew gum. This helps me get over any cravings I have and stops me from cheating if my kids have something I want! lol
Anyway! I took my measurements last weekend. I am really excited to compare them this coming weekend to see if there was any change during the week.
Now its time to get off this computer. Ive got 4 kids to look after and a Canucks game to get ready for tonight! xo-B

March challenge

Well I am onto day 9 of my March challenge – to get to the gym every day this month! So far it’s going pretty well. There has only been a day or two where I’ve really had to push myself to get to the gym and if I hadn’t planned this March challenge I probably would have sat at home! So that’s definitely a positive that has come out of this. So far I am yet to see any results on the scale. My body is stubbornly sitting on the exact same weight and its super frustrating. I switch up my work outs every day and make sure I keep my body challenged and guessing. The only thing that I think I could improve on is my eating and I have a plan for that. I am going to try more protein, less carbs. I’ve got to do SOMETHING because at the end of this month I am expecting my wedding dress to come in and I want to look and feel good in it!

75 Days from today I am headed back to Mexico! I am sooo super excited. We are going with a group of 13-15 of us to this amazing resort in Playa del Carmen. It’s the same resort we went to last year. The reason we decided to go to the same resort is because Shawn and I had such an AMAZING time there. It was sooo much fun. Almost every person that is joining us has never been to this resort so we knew that this was a fantastic one to recommend. It promises a great time. When we go next year we will try something different but like I said, for now we knew this was a great one to recommend!

So if it’s 75 days til Mexico that means that it is only 71 days until I become a WIFE! On May 19, I will marry my love J Mostly everything is coming together now. We just have some of the details to tweak but for the most part things are looking great!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! xo-B

PLEASE WATCH THIS!

Just a quick post to share this incredible video....let's stop Kony.

http://vimeo.com/37119711


A "regular" blog post is on the horizon as well but for now....please take 30 minutes and watch this video. Imagine if this was happening to your kids....

Friday Ramblings

I have written and deleted this first sentence many times. Truth is, I LOVE to write in this blog but for some reason lately I have been lacking something to write about. Sometimes I can sit down and just type up a storm and other times I struggle to write one sentence.

I am on to my second full week of working out regularly again and I am feeling great. I am happy to report that after the first week I was down 4.8 lbs! Yay.

I hope to have more time to focus on me again now that I am down to only 2 jobs! I let one of my jobs go recently as it was just too much. After 4 months of having 3 jobs I decided it was time for some breathing room again so I put in my notice. I really enjoyed working at this particular restaurant but working nights is just not my thing. I am an early riser - always have been as far as I can remember - so working all day or looking after kids all day and then heading to work at night was just too much.

So given all this new free time I decided I am going to challenge myself a little, set a goal for myself… this goal is my March challenge…..to get to the gym every day in March no matter what. So far I am 2 for 2 (lol) This wont be all that difficult as I already normally go 6 days a week but the challenge is to make sure there is no excuse that stops me. I was up VERY late (for me) last night so today is a day where I almost took the day off, but I decided to go anyway and Im glad I did!!

Im going to change the subject completely now. I think I have mentioned before how much I LOVE to read. I love a good love story. Yes, I was a twi-hard! Does anyone reading this have any really good love stories that they can recommend? I have read an EXCELLENT book called Passion by a lady named Louise Bagshawe. If anyone likes a love story that involves action and adventure this book is unreal. I could not put it down and any person I recommended it to agreed with me! Xo-B

My life right now

I know I know, I have been slacking off on writing this blog for FAR too long. I miss writing in it actually. As I stated in one of my recent posts life has just been way too hectic to find the time to write.

Ive never considered myself a good writer. Im not a writer. Im a reader. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read a good book. But in the last while I have had more than one person tell me that I need to continue writing in my blog because they love to read it…because they think I am a great writer…..so here I am. Writing again.

I keep stating how hectic my life is…so I will elaborate a little bit. Along with working 3 jobs right now, I am also a mom of 2 little ladies who are in school. On top of that, I am getting married to my love in May so we are planning the wedding….organizing the guest list, the seating charts, the favours, the parties etc….Im tired just reading everything going on in life right now!

Amongst all of this I decided that starting this past Monday it was really time to buckle down and get back to the gym…everyday. I go in the morning before work…which is totally fine cause I am definitely a morning person, but when I work 2 jobs in a day man does it make for a long day!! Im surviving so far though – and I am down 3 lbs since I started on Monday which is awesome. I have been really watching what I eat…counting calories. At the moment I am doing a couple of protein shakes a day along with some fruit and veggies and then one main meal. I am going to do this for a bit and then Ill switch it up if I need to. So like last year I am not going to state what my starting weight this go around is but I will say that my goal at the moment is to lose 19 more pounds before our wedding which is May 19. I think that this is totally doable- I just have to FOCUS! ….which brings me to my next topic….

THE WEDDING! Ahhhh I cant believe it is less than 3 months away. Time has absolutely flown by this past year. We booked the venue in the first week or two of March last year …so a year has already gone by. We are getting pretty close to having most stuff planned now, we are just down to the little details…so obviously I am excited to be married but I am REALLY excited for 4 days after the wedding…..MEXICO!

We had such an amazing time last year in Mexico that we decided to invite a bunch of our friends with us this year. We are going as a group rather than a honeymoon with just the 2 of us. It was just such a great time that we cant imagine not having friends with us…it just makes it that much more exciting to be able to hang out with everyone while there! 3 months today and we hit the beaches in Mexico….WOO HOO! Well that’s all I have to say at the moment. I promise to try and make a bit more of an effort for those of you who enjoy reading!  Xo-B

One Great Year

Hi! Life is RIDICULOUSLY busy at the moment (3 jobs + 2 kids = no time for life) so when life slows down I will take a minute to update but for now I wanted to quickly share something.... My uncle & his lovely lady wrote a book together. For all my book loving friends --- it promises to be a great read! Im so excited to read it as it's been getting rave reviews. Let me know if I can help you get a copy!
Check out their website: http://onegreatyear.com/

Tried something hot!

.....hot YOGA that is!

After being given a free one week trial pass to a yoga studio the other day I decided to finally try it out! I was sooo nervous to go. Ive done tons and tons of fitness classes but for some reason I have always been super intimidated by yoga...especially hot yoga. So I walk into the yoga room and omg the heat slaps me in the face! My immediate reaction is that it is SOOO hot in here and there is no way I can work out in this heat. So after looking around at everyone else I realize I have NO idea what Im doing....so I lay on my mat and begin to stretch like everyone else is doing. Just as I start feeling relaxed the instructor walks in and starts telling us to do these different moves....that Ive never heard of! Because of the initial heat and having no idea what hes talking about I was thinking that this was going to be a train wreck....but I obviously kept going and by the end of the class I couldnt even notice the heat and LOVED IT!  I left feeling super relaxed and  let me tell you...what a fantastic workout!!...so fantastic that I am heading for another class tonight! So if you are looking for something different or thinking of trying hot yoga - do it!!!

New Year, New Start

Cliche...I know.

I strongly dislike New Years resolutions. I am not back on here just because it is January 1st 2012. I am back on here because it just worked out that way. Back in June I quit my office job. It was Monday-Friday 8-4 and that just didnt work out with my kids and my schedule...or they way I wanted my schedule to be. I was thinking that quitting my job I would have tons of time to work out and post on my blog. Well I was wrong. Truth is, after spending almost 5 years sitting at the computer every day, I really didnt want to be blog posting while Im home. So I stayed away from the computer. Then, having the kids all day, every day, it pretty much became impossible to go to the gym. I didnt have anyone who would watch the girls while I went to the gym every day. Then factor in everything else that goes on in the Summer and I have a big pile of excuses and no working out.
Now we are in to September/October when I vowed to get back into it again. BUT. (here comes another bunch of excuses) my fiance is a hunter. Anyone who is a hunter's wife knows that September to November is hunting season. Well, my hunter is gone ALOT during hunting season. And Im perfectly ok with that....but with him being gone, again, I dont have anyone to watch my kids. So I didnt really get into a routine. I know certain people would say "Well you can work out at home"...but I cant. I cant focus on what I need to do unless Im at the gym. I mean, I could do a little something at home, but nothing that is me focusing for a solid hour and a bit on the task at hand.
So now we are into November and my old office job calls me and says they are looking for some part time seasonal help. With Christmas coming Im OK with this. . . so  now its November and I am working 3...yes THREE jobs and I have 2 kids. I do day care a couple days a week, I work in a restaurant a couple days a week, and I work at my old office job Sunday-Thursday and sometimes Sunday-Friday. This leaves me with one day off a week. . .and Mon-Friday I am working double shifts. Somebody please let me know how I could possibly pencil the gym in that schedule without running myself into the ground?
So now it is January 1st.
I am still working the 3 jobs but the madness seems to have subsided. I am not working crazy long hours anymore and no more weekend work. YES. I have a little under 5 months til I get married. I need to look my best for it. So I am starting back at the gym today. I am going to make it my goal to get there as much as it can possibly happen because for me, I need a routine or I just fall off the wagon. Who's with me? xo-Brit