Week 1

Well my first week has come and gone, and it went...well it went ok. After 1 week back to it, I am down 2.4 lbs.  Not bad.. I know. I think watching the Biggest Loser has partially ruined me though, because I see those people losing 5, 10, 15 lbs their first week. I know, I know those people work out for 6-8 hours a day, but it still makes me wish I could do that too! If I could lose that much weight each week, I would be at my goal weight before Summer! Well maybe not, but close to. This week I didnt have much time to go to the gym, so yesterday I decided the only way I was going to get to the gym was to set my alarm for 6 am and go then, before the kids are up and needing to get ready for school. This is my new routine (which I stuck to last time around - you get used to the early mornings pretty quickly) and I am glad I am back to it. Its funny how by 9 am I find myself looking back on just how much I have done already in the day!! Anyway, not too much else to say tonight besides I look forward to posting my before and after photos again!!! 2.4 lbs down, 48.6 lbs to go to my ultimate goal. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.........xo-Brit

tail between my legs

Hello readers! Surprise - I am back.

I am coming back to this blog with my "tail between my legs" so to speak. A few years back I started a new way of life. I completely changed my eating habits and was working out like crazy. As many of my followers were able to see - I had HUGE success. I lost a total of 50 lbs or somewhere around there and was feeling so amazing. I had people constantly PM'ing me telling me how much I am motivating them and one lady even told me that she lost 25 lbs and was completely motivated by me and my blog. Not only was losing the weight making me feel good - but these messages from random strangers as well as people I know were soo awesome. Fast forward a couple years. In the time since I lost the 50 lbs, I have gotten married, gone to Mexico twice, started and finished school among many other things. Unfortunately, during that time, I have also gained some of the weight back. Not only does this make me feel SO awful, but I feel like I am letting sooo many people down! After being the major motivator for so long, I am now turning to people to help motivate me. I have had too long feeling down in the dumps. Its time for me to get out of this slump and take my life back again. The first step has begun. As of tomorrow, I will be 100%, no excuses, back in the same routine I was in when I lost the weight the first time. I am going to mimick what I did then, and (hopefully) watch the pounds melt off me. I have set myself a goal, which is to be down to my ideal weight by December 25th 2013. This blog is now going to be my way of tracking my weight loss, as well as hopefully serve as the motivator it once was to many people. Here we go friends!!!

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

Life Changes & Weight Loss

I have been at this for 7 months now. It seems like sooo long ago that I decided that it was finally time to do this...but at the same time, time has flown by. In the past 7 months I am down 45 lbs and 5 pant sizes and I intend to keep going. By the time I get married next year, I would like to be down another 10 lbs. 10 lbs in a year doesn't seem like much, but, as Ive gotten smaller these past few months, it has been MUCH harder to lose. The lbs are coming off VERY slowly. I am to blame for this obviously, as I have not been to the gym since Mexico....(oops) but in my defense, life has been crazy. In the next few weeks, I expect life to slow down at least a little bit, and when it does, you better believe I will be hitting the gym hard and staying active as much as I can. I am determined to do this once and for all.
In the past I have lost a little weight, and then gotten comfortable and stopped. Then the pounds slowly creeped back on again. Not this time.
This time I have surpassed the lowest weight I have been in the past few years and am fully determined to hit my goal. IT WILL HAPPEN.
I have learned sooo much about eating, and eating right, and I know that its a no-brainer. As long as I eat my targeted number of calories daily and get my activity in, the weight can and WILL come off.

I have something else to share. For the past 5 years I have worked for an awesome company with some great people. This past year there has been some major changes in my life including miss H doing her first year of full time school. Because I work 40 hours a week I cannot be a part of very much of her schooling....and I want to be. I have missed countless field trips & concerts and other things that I - and especially miss H - want me to be a part of. I have realized that this is a very important time that I cannot and will not miss any more of. Life flies by, and we'll never get this time back, its time to start doing what I want and need to do. So, on Monday, I put in my notice. I will no longer be an employee of this company after my last day on the 30th. It took a lot of thinking, but we have decided that its best for me to just be mom right now. I want to be there, and my kids want me there.

SO that's my news! Lots of changes going on, very exciting, but very nerve-racking at the same time. Life is good!

Disgusted

As I sit here and reflect on the events of last night, I am just horrified by the actions of some people. It is not only disgusting, disheartening and HORRIBLE but it is also sad. Sad that some people were out to do this no matter what the outcome of the game. Sad that somebody's family members were deliberately wreaking havoc over the city of Vancouver. Sad that people will wake up this morning and feel proud of the despicable acts of violence they committed last night.
I am completely sickened and hope that anyone who reads this who is not from BC understands that although this disgusting situation made world news...this is only a small portion of hooligans who decided to act like fools. We're not all like this. Most of us just sit back and say too bad, we'll see you next year Canucks. Most of us care about our city and the well-being of others. Most of us hope that these imbeciles are taken into custody and charged.

The bottom line: Most of us are not like that.

Latest pic..

For those of you following my weight loss progress.....here's my latest before and after. Embarassing!

Playoffs Fail

So I have been having a rollercoaster couple of weeks. Ever since I got back from Mexico things have been sooo up and down. 1 week I lose nothing, the next week I lose 1.8 lbs. The next week I lose nothing, the week after I lose 2 lbs. etc etc. Its so annoying because I am SOO close to my goal. Since weighing in yesterday and not losing anything, I decided right then and there that I was going to focus hard this week. The problem isnt so much my eating, but more the fact that I have literally ZERO time for the gym.
With my packed schedule this week, I am thinking I will be able to get to the gym twice...if Im lucky. Guess I will just have to improvise and do what I can at home. Has anyone else out there struggled with a seriously hectic schedule? How do you deal?
I am not one to make excuses, but this IS a valid excuse. I don't want or like to not go to the gym. I know I need to be there so that I can finally hit my goal weight.
On second thought, I know what else is a bit of a factor in this rollercoaster...the Stanley Cup playoffs. I am not a drinker. Usually. BUT with the playoff games comes friends. Friends come over and they bring beer. Of course I have to have a beer or two when watching the game with friends. So looks like the formula is: beer intake up + gym sessions down = fail on my part.
GOOD NEWS is, the playoffs are almost over. If all goes to plan, Canucks will end this on Friday night. YES. Win.

Anyway, just a brief update. Hopefully I can think of some more exciting things to write about soon. The blog is beginning to fail!

xo-B

Went Fishing on Sunday....

....and caught this little guy. Thought I'd share the couple pics we took before put it back.

Hi

HELLLOOO FRIENDS! So much to talk about. First things first, WE'RE GOING TO THE STANLEY CUP FINALS!! Ahhh what an exciting game last night.
We had a few friends over, all's fine... We get through first OT and then right as second OT is about to start our tv just shuts off. Im talking black screen. COOL. So I fiddle around and try and fix it. Doesn't work. After like 5 agonizing minutes I run to check my bedroom TV and it WORKS. So I call everyone into my room. All of us chilled in my room and watched the game there - thank GOD for that TV!
Funniest thing to have all these people in my room, but hey, at least we got to see Bieksa shut 'er down! Wooo! Western Conference Champions!

Second thing; Biggest Loser. So I start watching the first half of the finale last night and then had an appointment. No problem, I just PVR'd the rest. Wrong. I go to finish the finale after the game last night but it WONT WORK. Also due to whatever the F is going on with the TV in my living room. BAHHHHH I do know who wins though, and am happy about that. I just want to watch the rest of the episode.

Third: Had my weekly weigh in last night: down 2 lbs! Yippee! My biggest lost in a month or so. This marks officially 40 LBS LOST! WOW! I really never thought that I would see this. When I set my goal back in November, I thought it was a long shot and of course, I was doubting myself. But now, I am 7.6 lbs from my goal: the end is in sight! I have to keep working hard at it, because it has definitely gotten very difficult here at the end.

Fourth: Went fishing for the first time in a while the other day and I caught 12 fish and the biggest of the day! WOO!! Go me.
Here's me and 2 of this fish I caught:

Until next time my friends..... xo-B

Last night's weigh-in

Hi Friends! So I am super excited this morning. Last week I was sick and super tired from Mexico, so I didn't get to the gym. Then this weekend I went camping so you can imagine what my eating was like...not the greatest. So when I weighed in last night, you can bet what I expected. BUT. I am super stoked to announce I lost a pound! Yay! It just goes to show that when life throws you lemons, you actually can make lemonade (cliché I know). Somehow, I lost a pound. Im thinking its because Monday morning I started fresh, eating correctly and then hitting the gym. By the time Tuesday night came around, I was down. Yes, I can sit here and think, well if you had gotten to the gym, and eaten better last week maybe it would have been 2 lbs...but Im not going to think that way. Because even though, yes, I am trying to lose weight...I am still living my life. I have to live it the way I want to. Obviously something's working, so if I go camping and I want to have a hot dog and some chips for dinner, I am going to! I have shown right there that I can still do this.
[[By the way, I am not saying that if you want to lose weight, just go for it and eat whatever you want because lets face it, you have to be strict with your eating when losing. All I am saying is that if you have a bad weekend, it is not the end of this journey, its merely a bump in the road. Just gotta keep on keepin' on.]]

xo-B

Ps, I am only 9 lbs from goal! Even though my loss has really slowed...its still happening, and the finish line is in sight!!

Oh..and here is my latest before and after pic....cant believe I used to look like that!

MEXICO

HELLO!! I am back from one of the best weeks of my life!! I cant even begin to explain how unreal Mexico was. It blew any expectations I had out of the water.
We stayed at a hotel called the Sunset Princess. It was AMAZING. The place is absolutely beautiful. The service was great, the drinks were good, the food was awesome, the music and dancing was sooo much fun. . And the ocean..OH MY GOD...the OCEAN. After a week of being there I still couldn't get over the amazing ocean. When you are swimming in it, its like you are in a pool. Its soo clear. The sand is so white.

Our room

bathroom

Sunday night we stepped out of the airport around 630? And were hit with this wall of humidity. AWESOME. We were then faced with a 45 min bus ride to Playa del Carmen and our resort. After checking in and seeing our gorgeous room, Shawn and I had a shot of tequila (obviously) and then met everyone at the lounge where we danced to the live band until they were done at 11. We were all like WTF do we do now? This is where a crazy Mexican who worked there yelled "DISKOTEKA!!" which then became one of our sayings throughout the trip. So we headed to the disco and danced the night away until it closed at 2 and then we went to Tiffany and Staceys room. They had a swim up room so we all went in the pool until we were kicked out because we are too noisy! Haha..so we dried off and headed to the Sports Bar. This was basically our night time routine.

Monday was  a pool day.

poolside

Tuesday we headed into Playa del Carmen and caught this ridiculous ferry to Cozumel. I call it ridiculous because omg it was soooo rocky. A few us got sea sick...There was a band playing on the boat and most people at the back of it got soaked. Once we got to Cozumel we rented scooters and went off in groups to tour the island. What a great first half of the day this was. We stopped off at the Bob Marley Beach Bar for a drink and a snack on the beach. Absolutely GORGEOUS here. The second half was hectic. On our way back, one of the 4 scooters broke down. As we stood on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere I might add, a random couple of jeeps pulled up and started snapping photos of us. We asked to borrow their phone and one of the guys called the scooter company, and told us that they would be here in 20 minutes to help us out. Meanwhile, we find out that the people snapping photos are taking pictures for a travel magazine, so we helped them out. Shawn doubled the photographer, I doubled the guy with the flash, while we drove down the road beside Kristy and Shawn as they had their photos taken. Craaaaaaaazy.
So, 20 minutes goes by, then an hour, then an hour and a half. No Scooter guys. So we decide, screw it, we're leaving the scooter on the side of the road. We decided to head back. So on our way back...guess what!?!?!!! SHAWNS scooter breaks down. So now we are down to 2 scooters and 4 people. We decide to stop at the next group of shops (we are pretty remote at this point) to use the phone again. So Shawn gets on the phone and the scooter guy tells Shawn "Call the policia" and then hangs up on him. Meanwhile, we are being circled by about 10 mexicans who were all speaking in Spanish and laughing to themselves. They told us we could hop in the truck and get a ride with them...umm...nope. We hopped on the scooters and high-tailed it back to town. That was the only moment on the whole trip where I felt a little bit uncomfortable.
Fast forward a bit, we meet everyone in town for dinner and then take that ridiculous ferry back. We catch the Canucks game in the sports bar and then obviously finish the night in the diskoteka!

where we stopped for drinks in Cozumel

Wednesday was the wedding. What an amazing day this was! We spent the morning poolside, and then the afternoon getting ready. It was a breezy day so we were pretty comfortable, and not too hot. They got married on the beach under this gorgeous gazebo. We then got a bunch of pictures taken and then headed to the reception which was in a restaurant that was closed down for us, overlooking the ocean. Amazing! There was dinner, some fantastic speeches and then of course dancing. When the reception ended ...you guessed it....we went to the diskoteka! Wooo!

wedding day <3

Thursday was another much needed pool day.

Friday a bunch of us went to a place called Xel-Ha (pronounched Shell-Ha) it is a gorgeous park with snorkeling, cliff jumping, zip lining, etc etc...the snorkeling was UNREAL. Amazing bright coloured fish swimming around in this ocean that was literally as clear as a swimming pool. Denise and I even had a HUGE turtle swim right underneath us!  I had an absolutely amazing day. I cant wait to go snorkeling again...the fish were soo awesome. Pink fish, zebra fish, blue, light blue, 6 foot barracudas...HUGE fish. Also we would come up to these massive schools of tiny little fish....just unreal.
After Xel-Ha we had dinner at an Italian restaurant on the resort and then obviously hit the disco.

the group that went to Xel-Ha

Saturday a few of us went fishing out on the ocean. Talk about GORGEOUS! I am not one to get sea sick but I had a beer out there, and it did not sit well. So I asked Courtney if I could have a gravol..BAD IDEA. For the rest of the trip I slept in the cabin of the boat. I was soo tired the rest of the day... I will never have a gravol again for as long as I live!! I hate you gravol.

fishing group

Saturday night we went back to the resort, had dinner, watched the Canucks game, and then you guessed it DISKOTEKA! Wooop. We had an amazing evening. Stayed out dancing until 3 or 4 am ...definitely ended the trip with a bang.

all the people behind them are watching the Canucks

Sunday we woke up and had breakfast and then got packed up. We layed by the pool and enjoyed our last few hours before leaving. The bus picked us up at 2pm and then it was bye bye Mexico. :(

What an absolutely unreal trip. It was sooo good that we are planning our trip for next year already. It will be sometime the end of May 2012. If you are reading this, and want to join us (you will NOT be disappointed) please let me know and I will get you the details!!!
xo-B

Excitement all around

A couple things to be excited about this morning:

1) I had my weigh in last night and after a couple weeks of crappy weigh-ins I am happy to report that I am down 1.8 lbs! YAY! This past week I have worked my butt off by hitting the gym before work as well as really buckled down on my eating. It just shows that a little dedication is all it takes to lose weight.

2) Back when I went to the gym at 6 am regularly there was a lady who I would say "hi" to here and there. This morning, I saw her at the gym and she came up to me to tell me: "I haven't seen you here in a while, but I wanted to tell you you're looking really good, you have obviously had some success"... so that was really cool!
I think for the most part people who have never been through weight loss don't understand the mind games that come with it. I think a lot of people assume that because the person is smaller they are obviously confident.....not the case. The problem is, it takes a while for the mind to actually catch up to the loss. To this day, being down 40ish pounds I am STILL struggling with insecurities and feeling crappy. Sure, I have a lot more days where I feel ok about how I look...but the days of feeling like a fat mess are still here. I actually had a break down last week about something image-related that left me crying to my friend. She thought I was crying about something she did, but really it was all me and my insecurities....I just needed that vent session and she was there. ...The mind is evil and is a CONSTANT struggle. I just cant grasp the fact that yes, I am getting smaller...and yes I am looking better. I keep on holding on to the weight I still need to lose. So its these little compliments from random strangers that seem to impact me the most. I know they are not saying it "just to say it" like I think friends or family may feel obligated to do. (not that this is the case - but I think that could happen so just wanted to throw it out there) Also, I took my inches and since December I am down 28 inches! :) Go me!

3) After a CRAZY-intense game, the Canucks finally sent the Blackhawks golfing! All I can hear around me this morning, everywhere I go, is talk of the Canucks and that heart pounding game last night. When Burrows scored that overtime goal last night, I actually LITERALLY heard fireworks outside my house! It was awesome!!

4) Mexico is soo close. Just around the corner... 4 more sleeps! It should come fast because these next few days is a whirlwind of activity. I have so much going on this week!

5) Only a couple more days until I get to see GSP fight in UFC 129!!

I am just sooo excited this week! YIPPEEE!! Go Canucks Go!