Walking in a Winter Wonderland

The day broke crisp, clear and with much promise. Warmth dared to emerge from the icy tendrils of this long winter, threatening to shatter the memory of cold.

It was Sunday morning and Sundays are always a great day, getting to church to learn, soak and breathe in the very scent of God. This Sunday was no different. I arose early as Hayden was on sound and thus, I had a couple hours to sit in the back and read and just be. The service and worship was fantastic, as usual, but it was after that I got to enjoy creation up close and personal.

Our friends, Nick and Ashley, asked if Hayden and I wanted to go snowshoeing with them. Well, beings it was about 6 degrees Celsius out on a bright, sunny Sunday, how could we refuse! Plus, the company was quite enjoyable. We ate lunch and then gathered our gear, layered our clothes (we knew we would get quite warm out there), and then the four of us headed out to the Cyprus Hills for a walk in a winter wonderland.

We arrived at Whispering Pines Camp and climbed out of the car. We all donned our snowpants, toques, mittens, sunnies and anything else we deemed worthy of taking, strapped on our snow shoes and off we went. At first, it's quite weird trying to walk about in snow shoes, but one quickly gets the hang of it and the motion of walking becomes fluid and natural. I was and remain absolutely amazed at how these simple contraptions can keep one from sinking into the deep, soft snow. The snow we were walking on would probably have come up to at least my waist, if not higher, but yet, we skimmed the surface, sinking a bit here and there, but never reaching the true depths hiding below the snow.

The boys were our leaders, our "trail breakers" if you will, as they both know the area quite well. Plus, it was helpful to follow in their freshly made path. Up and up we went, high into the hills, crossing boundary lines, climbing over hidden trees, always going up. Finally, after a long while, we reached the summit. My legs were so tired by this point as it was like having climbed hundreds and hundreds of stairs. The view at the top was worth every step, however. It was beautiful! The air was fresh, cool, and lovely. We were slowly stripping bits of our layers off here and there to stay cool as we continued on along the ridge. Finally it was time to head back into the woods and start a downhill journey. This is where the fun began.

Climbing up is one thing, trying to walk downhill in snow shoes is an entirely different story. Especially in snow so deep. To keep ones balance proved most difficult and toppling over became a common occurrence for Ashley and I. At one point, I fell straight sideways, landing my arms into the snow up to my shoulder. How can one push oneself up when there is no ground on which to push on. Ashley came to my rescue as the boys were far up ahead. Giggles and squeals ensued the entire trek down. It was most enjoyable in every way. As we neared the bottom I had just started to get the hang of jumping and sliding. Then it was time to emerge from the protective trees and cross the large open field back to the camp. This is when we stopped for some pictures :)

Nick doing up his zipper :P 

Our awesome friends Nick and Ashley. 

Me and my honey in the winter wonderland :) 

I just love this guy! 

Close up! 

Just being silly now :) 

The four adventurers together 

We still have quite a ways to hike across the field! 

After an hour and a half of snowshoeing, we were getting a bit tired. 

The camp is just around that last bend! So close! 

Breaking trail :)

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic way to spend a warm, winter Sunday in February. I hope we can do this again sometime soon indeed.

That night, after supper, Hayden and I were relaxing on the couch watching some Smallville when I suddenly had a craving to eat something sweet, something "desserty". As I still can't have sugar, I needed to be creative and come up with something ASAP! This is what transpired…..my very own chocolate delight dip!

I took a cup of plain greek yogurt (which is also very high in protein, just as a side note), and added 3 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to it. I whipped it together with a whisk until is was all blended. I then added 20 drops of Dark Chocolate Stevia and 10 drops of plain liquid Stevia and stirred together. What transpired was something reminiscent of chocolate mousse, but thicker and having a bit of an almost cream cheese taste to it. I then cut up some fruit and dipped it in this thick wonderful mass of goodness. The whole batch was about 215 calories, but I only ate 1/2 of it. Not bad for something that tasted so good. I would highly recommend this treat for those of you on P3 who need a little sweet pick-me-up, or anyone else who just wants to eat healthier. 

I have such a sweet tooth that I'm always looking for ways to get a little sweet treat without the refined sugar and calories. If you have any delectable recipes you would like to share, please do! I would LOVE to have them!

Well, this is the end! Hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure. Time to go get ready for bed and read for a little while. 

till next time!

Operation: Organization!

As I've gotten older I've come to love the feeling of being organized. This can come across to some as OCD in some ways, like my DVD's needing to be alphabetized. But come on, at least I can find the movie I want when I'm looking for it. You have to admit that :) Well, I've always had bits of organization within my chaoticness, but I am moving more towards less chaos, more clean. This might be due to maternal instincts kicking in, readying myself for the next step of life when it so chooses to come, or maybe it's just wisdom of old age.

Whatever the facts or reason, I had an absolute desire, nay, frantic urge, to organize at least one shelf in my itsy bitsy "pantry" (if you can call it that). We have a little cupboard that we call our pantry, which is expected to hold all our dry food supply. The poor thing is nearly bursting at the seams as I need to keep a well stocked pantry to feed my 6' 4 3/4" husband who is blessed with an over-active metabolism. The shelf that was calling out to me the most in the moment, was our baking shelf (flour, salt, starch, choc. chips etc) as well as our pasta's and rice.

Before. So messy and chaotic.

Since changing my lifestyle I have also purchased an abundance of new types of flours and other goods that were sitting in heaps on the shelf, as you can clearly see, and when it came time for me to make anything it would take more time then I liked to find that one item I was searching for. Change was needed….STAT! Hence, Operation: Organization!

First off was to get rid of all those annoying plastic bags everything is put into when one purchases items at a bulk store such as Nutters or the Bulk Barn. I can't handle the bags, they utterly annoy me, and what's worse is they break far too easily. Not good for keeping little bugs away from my food. Thus, containers were needed. As this is a new venture and I most likely will need to upsize most of these containers in the future, I did not wish to spend very much money on the small containers that I would now need to accommodate my little of this and little of that. For this reason I pointed my vehicle in the direction of the Dollar Store. Always a helpful place when not wanting to spend too much. I had my little list of items needing it's own little container, and my search did not go unrewarded.

I found cute little square glass containers with red and blue lids that would work perfectly for this venture. Plus, I knew I could use them in the future for other items, even when they become too small for their new designated inhabitants.

 

Next step was to clean them as you never know who's touched them, where they've been etc. Plus, everything should have the pleasure of a nice hot, soapy bath before being put to use. That's my opinion on the matter anyhow :)

All clean and air drying.

Then I had to pull out everything off that shelf and clean it up. I threw out a few things that had been there for, I don't even know how long, and organize the other containers I already had in there with other consumable items. I put everything on the counter that needed a new home and it was quite the plastic mess. How did I ever survive?

Next was choosing a special container for each item. I carefully dried any little condensation that may still be lingering around the edges. No one likes moisture where it is not welcome. Once I had taken care of this detail I carefully poured each item into its chosen container, placed a square of wide masking tape (easy to remove for the future) on each and labeled each item as I went.

 It look so…..wonderful!

Then it was time to organize this all back onto that little shelf. This was not hard now as I had much room to work with. I have even used some of these items since organizing and it was such a joy being able to find my item instantly! I, of course, put the more used items either high up or close to the front, for easier access of course (is my OCD kicking in again?)

After! Mission: Accomplished :)

It was a happy day finishing this and, oddly enough to some, made me breathe easier and feel much more relaxed. I had accomplished something good, and it was a grand feeling. Now to tackle the other 3 shelves :S Maybe next week :)

So that was my organizational heaven. Don't look at the rest of my house when you come over, as you'll still see chaotic mess everywhere, but if you look closely, within that mess, you'll find order. Feel free to check out my cupboard, or at least this one shelf anyway. This is where it starts…one shelf at a time.

Here's to the end of a fantastic weekend!

Monday, here I come!

Till next time :)

The hardness factor - abs of steel?

I've recently discovered a new joy in life. It dawned upon me whilst visiting superstore to pick up some groceries with Hayden the other day. There is honestly, in that moment anyway, nothing more satisfying then standing in line, with my groceries on the belt and looking at the person's food choices in front of mine. What I mean with this absurd comment is, I gaze, nonchalantly towards their food to see that they have, pop, candy, white bread, frozen meals, and mounds of processed foods. That's when I glance back to my groceries and feel quite proud that it's only fresh fruit, fresh veggies, eggs, almond milk and fresh meat. I feel like a star, really, knowing that I'm taking this goodness home to cook and put into my body, and not that other junk. Regardless, I usually leave the store with a smile on my face.

Our last shop really was only fruits and veggies (and a baby gift for a shower :) ). Our fruit bowl is HEAPING with red apples, green apples, bananas, oranges, mangos and plums.

yummy!

Normally, for us, this would be prime fruit fly breeding ground, as we would buy fruit and watch it go bad because we just never really ate that much fruit, and honestly, would forget it's there. Now, I eat a few fruits a day, which would probably explain why I haven't gotten sick in the past month which not taking any vitamin C. This heaping bowl that would normally have found it's end in my garbage bag, will be gone within the next, at max, week. I like this :)

We also purchased fresh cauliflower, broccoli, bean sprouts, red/yellow/green peppers, avocados, and our fridge has strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, and blackberries. We are set….for a couple days :) Most of the veggies are already gone.

Now, onto today, which was the reason for the title of today's entry. It was my first day of working out since completing my triathlon last year. Pathetic, I know, but with a few injuries incurred since, it's been hard to get back into the swing of things. But now that I'm eating a healthy amount of calories again, work-out's have commenced to tone up this new body! I'm determined to be beach ready for April 6th! Little did I know what I was getting myself into to have hard abs and a firm body.

I'm working out with a friend, Jen, in her basement and we are doing these workout DVD's called "Insanity" workouts. I'm not even joking. Check it out at beachbody.com/Insanity-Workout-DVDs. This is going to be ridiculous and amazing, all at the same time. So, today was our first day together, and I can't believe I got through as much of it as I did, but by the end, I was DEAD! I was immediately sore and could barely climb the stairs out of the basement, and we had just finished! As the night has progressed, my body has given me the warning signs that tomorrow, when I wake up, it will NOT be pleasant. I'm looking forward to this :) I'm also absolutely dead tired now too. I think I'll sleep very well tonight :) The good thing is tomorrow's Saturday! Which means, if I want to, I can totally sleep in :) I probably won't, but at least it can be a laid back morning. I'm looking forward to doing some ORGANIZING tomorrow! woohoo!!! More on that later.


Tonight, to wrap up a tiring day of work, followed by a tiring work-out session, I decided to make salmon for supper. I love salmon, as does Hayden, and with all the good omega fats it has, I'll take it! I drizzled a bit of extra virgin olive oil on top, sliced up a lemon and placed the slices on top, then popped it in the oven at 350* for about 20ish minutes, or until it looked just right. And boy, it was just right :) 

I then steamed some asparagus, made some rice for Hayden as his additional side, and had a bowl of leafy greens, with a drizzle of oil/vinegar on top, as my additional side. It was quite yummy indeed.


The rest of the evening was a splendid night in with Hayden, talking about our future, giving him a much needed haircut, and relaxing in each others presence, whilst drinking absurd amounts of water. I can think of no better way to spend a Friday night, then with my love.




till next time!

Ups and Downs

Well, I can't believe it's already the middle of the week. Two more days of work and then time to enjoy the weekend again! I just love my weekends. I think we should have five day weekends and two day weekdays. Anyone out there agree??? Of course, we wouldn't get as much done as we would need to, but really, I think the trade-off is worth it……well maybe :)

So, my maintenance is off to a rocky start. Don't know if anyone out there, who's done this before, can relate (if so, please share!), but my body just didn't know what to do with the food increase. I don't know if it's just water retention, or bloating, or what the deal is! I probably should have kept the food intake a little cleaner then I did, as I may have added in too many "fat's" too soon. Hard lesson to learn, but learn it I will and will now tread a little more carefully. Needless to say, today is a steak day! Already! I was very, VERY bummed this morning when I weighed in and realized this. Maybe I didn't eat enough yesterday? I don't know what it was, but that's a hard place to be when trying to get back to normal life.

I will admit, I was basing my food intake more on the premise of the original protocol which says that in P3 you can eat whatever you want in whatever amount, just no sugar and no starch. A friend gave me a read-up which said differently and what foods should be classed as "cautionary" and to slowly add. Well, I didn't want to wait to enjoy some dairy, peanut butter etc….and thus, that is probably why I experienced what I did today. I will, nevertheless, enjoy my steak and apple tonight with much fervour and go more slowly tomorrow. No caution foods if I can help it.

With that said, I would like to tell you about a couple things I've made in the past few days which have been quite delicious (although I won't be eating them for a little bit now :P). Starting with supper last night, I didn't know quite what to make, and we had some fish in the fridge, so fish it was. I wanted to try something new and yummy so that it wasn't the same old boring fish. I coated each piece with some coconut oil, sprinkled them with oregano and then covered them with ground cashews. I then baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. It was really great! I put in on a bed of lettuce, had half an avocado chopped up on it too and had a delicious salad. Hayden enjoyed it as well.

The other 2 items I have made are some protein bars and avocado bread! I take absolutely NO credit for these recipes at all, but found them on another blog that I follow called "Cotter Crunch". I highly recommend you check this blog out as there are many amazing recipes that are all gluten free. I took these recipes and modified them even further so that I was using no refined sugar or starch. The avocado bread is really scrumptious, but mine was quite heavy and crumbly. This is perhaps due to the fact that I used coconut flour instead of amaranth flour. I also used splenda instead of real sugar. The consistency of the dough was more reminiscent of cookie dough, but needless to say, it was still good.

I don't have a picture of the protein bars that I made, but I also modified the recipe and even added in some sunflower seeds and carob chips. I couldn't add the honey or agave nectar right now, but in time I will be able to do that and even throw in some dried fruit and other seeds. Then I'll have the full meal deal. But for now, these were just dandy. Hopefully I can stabilize and it won't be too long before I can enjoy them again :) For the recipes as they were intended and originally invented, please visit the "Cotter Crunch" blog!

Well, that's it for now. I'm just awaiting the arrival home of my husband as he has the honour of BBQing our steaks tonight :) Hopefully it's not too much longer as I am hungry!

till next time!

Mission Accomplished….almost :)

Well, here we are! Yesterday was officially my last day of P2 and thus, today is my first day of P3!!! It's been a great day so far :) I've enjoyed having a few extras in my diet today. I was down .5 pounds this morning which brings my total and final weight to (drum roll please….) 131 lbs!!!! That means in my P2 I lost 19 pounds! I still can't believe it. The best is the inches part though. I lost 4 1/8 inches around my chest, 5 1/2 inches in my waist, 4 7/8 inches in my hips, and 1 1/2 inches in my thighs! That's a total of 15 1/2 inches lost! I'll take that thank you very much. Now begins my journey to stabilize this weight so that I don't go right back to where I started.

But, today has been great. I started it off with a lovely breakfast of 2 fried eggs in a bit of coconut oil and some blueberries and strawberries and a small glass of unsweetened almond milk, sweetened with a couple drops of stevia. It was so wonderful having breakfast back again, as I do so love that meal. I couldn't finish my strawberries, so I had the rest of those as a mid morning snack at school.

For lunch I had a salad with chopped up baby red/yellow/orange peppers and some grilled chicken. I opted out on the oil/vinegar drizzle as I'm not a dressing person normally anyway. I followed that with my lovely flax "bread" which I dipped into some unsweetened apple sauce.

This afternoon, for a snack I had a chunk of my home-made protein bars that I made last night (more on that in the next blog, along with recipe) which I modified so as to stay within my limits, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a handful of blueberries and 1 oz of old cheddar. A nice little snacky snack :) I'm supposed to stay away from dairy for a while longer, but thought I would try just a bit. I'm not wanting to over-do it, that's for sure.

Supper was an amazing steak stir-fry. I was excited because I was making ONE MEAL tonight! I'm not making 2 separate ones! This is a wonderful thing indeed! Woohoo!!! I chopped up some lean steak and fried it up with some chunked carrots, asparagus, peas, peppers, and broccoli! All ingredients were fresh except for the broccoli, which was frozen. I then made a light teriyaki sauce for it using Braggs, water, wine vinegar, garlic powder, ground ginger and some clear stevia for sweetness. It was actually pretty good and Hayden liked it too! I made extra so we have lunch for tomorrow as well. I'm so glad I don't have to come home tonight and do that now :)

Anyway….as promised, here are my before and after pics. I must admit, I'm quite embarrassed by my before ones, so don't snicker! But I'm happy with my after ones. The next thing on the list is to start working out again (which hopefully I will start doing with a friend as we have planned) and tone up that last bit of skin that needs to find it's place again. But overall, I'm thoroughly pleased with the results and I do believe my hard work as paid off.

Jan 1st, 2011 - Before

Feb 7th, 2011 - After

Before

After

Before (my yucky back rolls :P)

After (Almost gone! Just needs toning now!)

Feeling absolutely great! Want to keep this body for a while now I think :)

Hawaii here I come!!!

Thank you everyone who has followed me along my journey over the past month and been a support. I'm looking forward to what the future will hold, trying fun new recipes and sharing all of it with you! Stay tuned for updates on the next phase…..Phase 3 here we come!

till next time

The Transformation: R1P2D28&29

Another couple days have passed and all is well. I officially decided that yesterday was my last day of drops, so I have today and tomorrow with no drops but still the low calorie diet, then onto P3 and beyond! I'm quite excited. I know that the last bit I feel needs to be gone is not so much fat, but just skin that needs to be toned into place. As soon as I am able to up my calories I can begin working out again and I've never been so excited with the prospect of sweating my butt off for an hour or two. Plus, it's a great stress-reliever.

Yesterday I was up .5 pounds but not phased a bit by this. I knew it was probably mostly water retention and so was very diligent in drinking extra fluids yesterday. The result….this morning I was down 1.8 pounds! That's a HUGE loss! Even I wasn't expecting that. Monday morning will be when I take my "after" pictures and then I can show you the amazing results I've been blessed to have.

I knew it was time to be done P2, when yesterday I just felt angry, and almost bitter, for having to eat my meagre lunch. Of course, it was a day I was completely surrounded with goodies, cookies, cinnamon-sugar toast, munchies, etc… I resisted (although I did have 2 extra strawberries last night :P) and didn't indulge in those things that I so wanted in that moment. But it did make me feel a bit angry. That's when I knew, enough was enough. No diet should ever make one angry or bitter because of it. That's no way to live, no matter how much weight is lost. Once you've stopped enjoying it, time to move on. I'm not going to be one of those people who deny themselves every pleasure in this life because they want a low number on the scale. Now, don't get me wrong, I'll probably never want to eat processed foods again if I can help it, or much high fat and high sugar items either, but I know I can enjoy food, in moderation, and thus, also enjoy life. When food takes up 90% of your thought, somethings wrong I think. People become obsessed about food, eat too much of it and become obese, or on the flip side, not live a free and normal life for fear of what the scale will say. Neither is a healthy way to live. To be, to enjoy, and to make good, healthy choices can be the much needed balance I think.

So that's the long and short of it. I'm excited and determined to make it through these next couple of days to achieve the best I can out of this journey and then move past it, maintain it, and hopefully never having to look back again.

Now, I need to get ready to head to a much needed massage, on roads that are basically coated skating rinks. Awesome…(said with dripping sarcasm).

till next time!

The Transformation: R1P2D26&27

So, like any habit, you do something for 21 days and it's sticks, but you drop it for a few and you're back to square one again. This seems to be the case for my blogging. I was doing great at keeping up and letting you know what's going on, then I leave for 3 days and it all goes down the drain. :) Oh well, it could be worse right?

Tuesday I was down .2 pounds, yesterday I was down another .8 pounds and this morning I was down .9 pounds. That's all fine and dandy and the small amount of weight that I put on over the weekend is gone. I'm sitting at 133.8 and that's just fine with me. I'm finding that coming back onto P2 after a 4 day break has been harder then anticipated. Not because of the scale, but just because I'm ready to eat normally again. The only reason I went back to P2 was to get rid of the last little bit of back fat that is clinging for dear life. I just wish it would let go so I can be done!

I would like to say that I'm still acting creatively with my cooking, but that would be far from the truth. I'm not cheating, mind you, I've just become lazy with my food choices and eat much of the same thing each day. I'm hoping that by this weekend I can be done the drops, follow it with 48-72 hours of no drops with low calorie intake, and then move into P3 for the 3 weeks of stabilization which will be so much fun. We shall see if that turns out to be the case. As much as I want to be done right now, I know I'll kick myself if I don't suck it up and keep going until I've reached the goal I've set for myself. I need to keep pushing forward. It feels like walking through sludge though.

The past few days I've also been exploring a few other blogs and websites from women who have multitudes of recipes that are refined-sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, etc. They have some great ideas which I'm so excited to try out, and I think that part of the reason I want to be done with this stage, is I want to try these new and exciting recipes. As I try them out I'll let you know how they turn out. But I think that maybe I need to stop looking at them for now, cause they're making hungry, and when you can't snack through out the day, being hungry is no fun at all.

So, that's where I'm sitting right now. I'm taking each day as it comes and deciding on that day whether or not I'm continuing on with the drops or not. Today is day 4 back on them, so perhaps now the potency will be up again and that last little bit will drop faster then a cat from a window. Fingers crossed!

I look forward to sharing this next phase with you as I move into it, the fun recipes I discover, and how you too can have a healthier lifestyle but still eat great and feel like you're indulging a little bit. I like the sound of healthy indulging, don't you?

well, till next time!