tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29848180405072484062024-03-13T17:00:16.943-04:00Dumbbells and Dumb BlondesOn the Never Ending Wellness JourneyAliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-29616258376246864202014-06-24T10:44:00.002-04:002014-06-24T10:49:18.612-04:00The end of the road. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a long hiatus in blogging. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One might think that the author of this blog is negligent and apathetic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps this is true in many ways. <br />However, I should share, there have been many thoughts that have kept me back from this particular form of expression. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First of all, I have REALLY been enjoying the work of a dear friend. Barb Janicek is an incredibly gifted researcher and writes so beautifully about fitness trends, reviews products and explores the hills and valleys of the weight loss journey. With that kind of talent on the board, I have been happy to take a step back and be a reader, not a writer. Read her stuff here, it's good I promise : <a href="http://www.myguttellsme.com/" target="_blank">http://www.myguttellsme.com/</a> </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next, I have been working A LOT - I began selling Epicure recently (3rd job on the table for those who might be keeping track). If you know the products you will know that they really align well with my journey to "health" - with food making up more than 80% of the results we experience in fitness, preparing meals quicker, eating healthy and ENJOYING food has been wonderful. If you are an Epicure junkie like me, or you'd like to know more, check out my website (or shoot me off an email and let me give you my quick commercial, I promise I'm not a pushy sales woman, just a passionate lover of knowing what is in my food).<a href="http://aliciabecker.myepicure.com/" target="_blank"> http://aliciabecker.myepicure.com/</a><br /><br /><b>(Here's my one and only flashy plug) Ask me about: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-Cooking a juicy delicious chicken breast or fish fillet in 2 minutes<br />-Healthy, AFFORDABLE, natural, low sodium, gluten free, nut free alternatives to grocery store products you use every day.<br />-How to get a free shopping spree!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Finally</b>, I have struggled over the last few months with the continued emotive, drag myself through the gutter kind of experience of blogging my journey while I live in the valleys. How helpful is it for you to continue to hear about my bad days (or weeks, or months)? How helpful is it for me to express my goals here on these pages when I so often miss the mark (read: unrealistic expectations I set for myself)? My psyche has taken a beating, my own doing, because I have often not had the will power or the desire to meet my own targets. It's been a long journey the last few months, of self discovery and learning to live "in my own skin." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They say when you turn 30 you finally get it. You learn to love yourself and you stop caring what other people think. I've been dreaming of that day for YEARS. I would love to say it just happens, and that when you wake up on the day after your 30th birthday your whole perspective changes. That's not true though. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is true? (Gosh I love lists)<br /><br />1. After 30 years of living with myself I've realized that I often allow the small voices to speak most clearly, and they're mean little assholes. <br /><br />2. After 7 years of being more intentional about my health and fitness I've realized that I need to be content at EVERY moment, wherever I am or I will live in a pattern of self hatred and disappointment. I need to learn to be me in EVERY body, EVERY size and in EVERY situation rather than allow the small voices to tell me that I'm less than okay. The last 7 years have been a journey in, "I'm almost done" - implying that I'm not fully me yet. I'm fully me, whether I'm a size 12 or a size 6. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. I am obsessed with indulgence. I desire over-stimulation and over-indulgence and I am killing myself slowly by allowing that obsession to rule me more often than my will. (This is a hard one. Over-indulgence is okay every once and awhile, but lately - again - I find myself filling any sort of emotional void in my life with stimulants that do not include exercise and tasty healthy food. It doesn't help that my life is in hyper-drive all of the time, it's one of my greatest triggers. I work hard, therefore I deserve a treat. Un-sustainable, un-healthy and un-productive habits are born from such sentiments).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. After a few weeks of thinking like this I've realized that I've got a LONG way to go until change really sticks. Dangit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The drive to move myself forward has been lacking so much the last few months, but I think that this new big of self-understanding launches me on a new trajectory. I can no longer consider myself an ugly lump on the way to being beautiful. I need to claim what beauty I have and allow myself to believe that it is worth sharing or at least living in. I need to coax MYSELF out of the dark and into the light and I need to stop blogging about being healthy and actually just DO it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So. I believe this is the end of the road. <br />I may be wrong, but I'm usually not... (just ask Cliff)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To all of you who are with me on this fitness journey, be encouraged - because if you're on the journey at all you are doing great things. I have LOVED hearing your stories and reading your comments. If anything has encouraged me to keep going it is seeing the progress and the hard slugging work of all of you!<br /><br />The community of people who have read this blog has been so supportive and caring, and for that I Thank You. Please don't be strangers, walking the journey alone is so isolating, but walking it together with all of you has been my greatest joy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keep moving ;) </span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-6601889652937866982014-03-17T17:25:00.002-04:002014-03-17T17:25:56.799-04:00Obsession - One thing at a time...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're like me, you have a short attention span, a knack for finding the sweetest and most delicious treats when you are feeling emotional, and a habit of becoming engulfed in something completely...until you're not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was talking to a friend the other day about stress eating. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She asked, "Why don't you just replace it with stress working out?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great idea - That's another thing I do sometimes...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I have an obsession, I own it...until I don't any more... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Obsessive Working Out</b> - 1 time a day, 300 calories minimum, late night "oops I ate too many calories" workouts, tracking calories like a crazy person, weighing myself and re-evaluating my process EVERY DAY, avoiding the cinnabon hallway at the mall, talking about being healthy ALL THE TIME (until friends stop calling)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Obsessive "stress" Eating</b> - Treats whenever I feel like it, an "I deserve this" attitude, eating until I'm full, ignoring calories because (I'll deal with these later, I'm too stressed to think about it), intentionally placing myself near snacks that I think I might like (poutine, gluten free cakes, rice crispies from Norris), eating whatever I want ALL THE TIME (until I stop calling friends - who wants to be the girl who gave up on working out and IT SHOWS!!!), lol</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Obsessive Budgeting</b> - Checking my bank balance every 3 hours, reminding myself of my goals, beating myself up for buying coffee instead of making it, talking about budgeting and healthy finances ALL THE TIME (until my friends feel bad for me and start buying me coffee so I shut up about it, LOL). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heck, I was obsessed with video games for awhile. Skyrim specifically. Noble questing through an imaginary world, fighting dragons, casting spells, battling evil. No big deal...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes I feel like I can only do one thing REALLY well ALL the time. It's a self defeating attitude, but there it is.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(This is why I probably shouldn't have kids)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I admire people who seem to have it all together all of the time. I envy them. (Though I'm told everyone is just faking it, and that gives me a little hope).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So today I come back to this place (again) where I recognize my shortfalls and pick up the pieces. I'm telling the inner voices to take a hike and I'm replacing their nagging with: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This will be a better week. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will not allow stress to get the better of me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will take it all one day at a time.<br />I'm good at this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gosh I must be an adult or something. </span><br />
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<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-31337706579195599782014-02-11T22:43:00.000-05:002014-02-11T22:43:01.214-05:00Phase 3....the cycle unravels<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So last week I hit phase three of my fitness cycle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just to remind you, steps 1 and 2 are as follows: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1</b>. <b>Wait miserably</b> through what feels like fitness hell and healthy eating torture while not one ounce of love handle appears to budge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2. Become inVINCible</b>....or at least feel invincible when you start to see subtle changes, this is a precarious stage because it can quickly fold into a, "I'm good right here" attitude followed by a, "who cared in the first place" mantra...to avoid this detour is to truly begin down this enlightened path. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now onto last week's snag. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>3. Become NEUROTIC</b> - truly, down to the last calorie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been tracking again through MyFitnessPal.com. I love it because it allows me to casually track things throughout the day and provides data ongoing about my eating patterns, my fibre/protein/carb intake and a minute by minute view of my day in terms of how many calories in and how many out...based on a goal of course. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, having just come from the invincibility stage and glowing with it's warmth, I begin to allow small thoughts to change my healthy patterns into NOT so healthy patterns. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>It's totally healthy to lose about 2lbs a week. In fact it is PROVEN that if you lose at a small weekly increment you are more likely to keep the weight off in the long run. Pushing your body through large weight loss increments affects your metabolism negatively as well as causing your body to react to the lack of carbohydrates by exhibiting symptoms like headaches, nausea, dizziness, and exhaustion. If you can make it through those symptoms to the big "Hurrah!" you will be dissapointed to find that the weight begins to quickly creep back on when normal eating habits resume. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I say all that because I think it is important to let you know that I KNOW....but there's something about being able to control your weight loss pound for pound each day by taking late night trips to the gym, skipping out on a snack or pushing my body through exhaustion to burn that last 200 calories <i>(so that I can eat more on the weekend, says my foolish inner voice)</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've long since stopped intentionally gorging myself on the weekend (though it's a hard habit to break and I love food), but I've replaced a relaxed sense of freedom on weekends with a neurotic effort all week long. Gotta make the weekly total!! It feels so good to CONTROL my calorie intake/output. It feels so good to see the quick changes as my tummy starts to slim down and my pants fit a bit looser. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I fight for a balance. Every day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Haven't decided yet, but stage 4 in this battle may just be exhaustion and self preservation. I'll let you know as the days go on. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading, all the best to you as you unravel your patterns and seek balance in your life! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Namaste :) </span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-32794583941127797862014-02-04T08:18:00.003-05:002014-02-04T08:18:46.713-05:00Speaking of invincibility<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish I were invincible. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As it stands, I would even take invincible will power. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last time I wrote a little bit about my fitness cycle, let me elaborate:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The cycle starts with that slow "never-gonna-end" kind of stage...</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. I'm eating well but I still feel like a fat kid<br />2. I'm exercising, but what's the point? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. I have goals, but the scale doesn't seem to want to play nicely. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Then I head into the invincible stage. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now what does that look like? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. People start to notice/comment on my progress</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. I start to notice my own progress (in that order)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Clothes start to fit differently</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. I'm in a "groove" with eating</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. I FEEL healthy and strong and fit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. MOST CHARACTERISTIC: I feel like I've never been anything but fit and healthy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What often happens when I'm deep enough into this stage is: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I GIVE UP!!!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Self fulfilling prophecy: I can't do this, I'll never be able to do this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and begins the cycle of guilt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes recognizing patterns is the most helpful way to make a different choice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So because I recognize this pattern I've been taking it day by day, or at least week by week. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I pack my lunches and think about lunches one day ahead. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I go to the gym and burn a few hundred extra calories when I know I'm going "out"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recognize that even though I ate 1.5 days worth of extra calories on the weekend - every day is a new day and if I live in the guilt of yesterday I will only ever achieve the results of yesterday's choices. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Head up. Keep moving. Do what you can. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Food is my greatest battle. Some days I win, some days I lose. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever happens, don't give up. </span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-81044645031733194552014-01-18T21:15:00.003-05:002014-01-18T21:15:45.268-05:00The Slow Part of the Road<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may have noticed that I have lost a bit of steam over the last few months. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reasons for this change have included: </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Sense of dissapointment in self - not meeting goals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Less time to commit to blogging (or do anything else in life)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No apologies to make. Just a few thoughts that have been floating in this brain as of late. Take them for what they are. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The question I have asked myself (over and over) is WHY?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do I fail to stick with my goals? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why do I work my ass off just to turn around and head back to the beginning again? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is life so hard <b>*whine* *whine* *whine*</b>?!?!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lol. That last question was really all for comedy. But seriously. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I heard somewhere the other day that telling someone about your goals can actually release the same "acheivement" endorphins in your brain as actually getting there. (Wish I had some credible website to quote here, but it is just as likely to have been the John Tesh Radio show...reallllly credible source, you know?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Credible or not, this made me really question how helpful this blog has been to me (as I found myself in a loop of setting goals and watching myself fail). I can see in myself how it could be true. I recognize the feeling of lift or release when talking to someone about goals and being affirmed in my desires to achieve those goals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I'm going to go for a run tonight</i> - can be a promise or a way to seek accountability...it can also be the beginning of a long night of guilt when I feel too lazy or too tired to get my butt out the door. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been reflecting on my first steps into the world of fitness. What made me so successful that time around? Could it be that I only really told one person what I was doing? Could it be that I quietly tracked my progress by hand each day? Could it be that I wasn't working 60 hours a week? No one thing really captures the full picture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suffice to say it has not felt as easy this time around. The same 30 pounds are hanging around like an unwelcome house guest, convincing me at every turn that I should further extend the arms of hospitality rather than lose my cool and show them where the door is. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm in the first 2-4 weeks of effort now. These are the slow weeks. The weeks where nothing feels like it's going to work, no amount of effort makes me feel like I've done enough, and every bite above that calorie goal makes me feel like a fat kid. (These are also the weeks of late night gym trips - trying to fix all the mistakes of the day). If I can get through this first part of the journey I know what comes next - The invincible stage...I'm terrified. Can I break through misconceived invincibility to make it to the next road? Do I even know the way anymore? </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No lofty goals - every day is a new day. Gotta make them all count for something.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Weekending Friends!</span></b></div>
Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-73813159853005613402014-01-07T12:17:00.004-05:002014-01-07T12:17:41.546-05:00Hey Look! A Bandwagon!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New Years, New Goals...New potential for failure? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is it enough of a potential for me to just forgo this opportunity to pull my S&*# together and get back in shape?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do I regret that it sometimes takes something so cliche and unfortunate as New Years Resolutions to get me back on the bandwagon? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That being said. Clothes are too tight, every shirt I wear makes me look like I'm trying to get something for free and my booty is beginning to regain it's own gravitational pull. Enough is enough. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a bit of day-by-day inspiration take a look at this young woman's <a href="http://youtu.be/I5FkshLcNLQ" target="_blank">100 day journey</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">100 days. Could you do it? Could I? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Guess I better grab a calendar! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Onward and upward Friends! </span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-13102105064456408152013-11-04T22:15:00.000-05:002013-11-04T22:15:02.643-05:00Tough....or at least trying...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So *ALL NEW IN ALICIA'S FITNESS LIFE* </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tough Mudder training program. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hesitate to spend too much time talking about it, for fear that you will pressure me into actually doing this. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the workout is crazy intense, and makes me think I could eventually become invincible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something happened to me on Saturday morning. It's not often that I have these moments, but somewhere between thinking that I might not make it through a whole Group Power class (about mid-way through the warm up), and the third track (chest)...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did a push up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did a bunch of push ups. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did enough push ups to prove to myself that I could do it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and it felt good. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, why not push it a bit farther? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My dear friend (and fellow crazy) is training to participate in the 2014 September Tough Mudder. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have not yet committed to doing this, but I HAVE committed to the training. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least until I become god-like and un-stoppable (or I die). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight was workout #2 on this program. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll keep you posted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wish me luck ;)</span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-83458036989168864052013-10-31T13:01:00.000-04:002013-10-31T13:01:17.940-04:00This princess is nearly a queen...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Halloween - the one day every year that I get up a little bit early to don the perfect princess hairstyle and put on my prettiest dress to match my tiara. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a tradition. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tiara wearing of course is not reserved just for Halloween. My birthday is the other day of the year that I pull the tiara out of storage and take on my true form, princess Alicia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the years I've been many kinds of princesses. Princess in a flowing gown, hippie princess, Sailor Moon...the list goes on. Judge me as you will, but there is something about giving in to the gender stereotypes and living the castle-dwelling dream for one day that makes the whole world feel right. Like I could do anything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I got dressed in the dark. Typical well-practised bouffant hairstyle, sparkles on the cheeks, a little extra attention to the eye make up, and of course the crinoline under the skirt to really drive it home. It wasn't until just before noon that I had the chance to look at the whole costume in the mirror. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's when I noticed something different...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That fresh dewy princess face that typically greets me all day Halloween was replaced by a face that seemed to resemble a princess who was just about past her prime; A spoiled Peach, a Cinderella in Hush Puppies. The face that looked back at me closer resembled...a queen....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly I was struck by the meagre length of my skirt...was it inappropriate?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was weighed down by the responsibilities. My mind quickly went to that salad in my lunch bag with the carefully measured feta cheese and closely tracked calorie count...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Am I turning into a "mature adult"?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>MY TIME's NOT UP!! I haven't even had the chance to have a MASQUERADE BALL YET!!!! </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Heavy Stuff.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I went back to my desk and cracked open a couple of candy wrappers. Just enough wrapper jingling and to take my mind off the mirror and put me back in the festive mood; The sweet melting bubbles of the Aero bar somewhat spoiled by the thought of laugh lines taking over my smooth sparkly cheeks...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mirror, Mirror on the wall - WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?!? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for all you princesses and queens out there. All my love and lots of chocolate. We can get through this together ;)</span></div>
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Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-7405111082329212702013-10-22T09:40:00.003-04:002013-10-22T09:40:52.876-04:00Blogging and tweeting...what would your grandmother think? <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How do people stay engaged? Is tweeting the future of connection? Words and codes strung together to both draw people in and push people out. #whouseshashtagsanyway? </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've recently been trying to move and shake (or at least stutter and quiver) in the Twitter world...I have a loose understanding of what is acceptable, and I have an equally (perhaps greater) loose grasp on what is relevant and interesting. My youth would likely loudly and enthusiastically tell you just how lame and old I'm getting. But in the Twitter world age doesn't matter and we are all relevant in some way (regardless of what those young hooligans may tell us). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trouble is, much like blogging and any other social media "engagement," it takes TIME. It takes me opening up twitter every morning to catch up on what my followed personalities or businesses have been saying, keeping the window open for most of the day to catch up on what else is "trending." Perhaps logging on to my twitter app on my phone throughout the day, or getting notifications to my email. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only that, but much of the content is biased. We all have an angle or an agenda. The biggest difference is likely in the opportunity to share, engage and respond which is not as easily accessible with typical news sources. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All that being said, I'm realizing that it's impossible, without serious investment of time, to keep my finger on the pulse of the Waterloo Region. But I'm closer now to understanding it than I have ever been. Is that thanks to Twitter? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While "blog" and "tweet" may sound to previous generations like lingo with a likely dark or inappropriate edge, we have come to understand these terms in light of their possibility; A connection to our wider world and an opportunity to learn and share. So here I go, back into the melting pot of social media. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So how do YOU stay engaged? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oops, gotta run - 11 new tweets just popped up! </span></div>
Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-87755426389710143412013-10-16T15:15:00.004-04:002013-10-16T15:15:57.881-04:00Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pecan Pie and the downfall of courageous men and women all over Canada<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It happened, Thanksgiving that is. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I was preparing to eat a piece of pie this weekend someone asked me, "are you going to blog about that?" - C'mon guys, just ONE piece!?!?! lol</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes pie and cheesecake and turkey and stuffing and ham and potatoes and SO many things that make your mouth water. ALL ON ONE WEEKEND!!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To many this sounds like a great victory - "LET THEM EAT CAKE!" they yell as they dance into the dining room filling their plates with goodies and treats...."NO CONSEQUENCES!!" more shout as they fill their plates with Turkey and gravy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>And yet to others this sounds like the beginning of a downward spiral. Perhaps even defeat. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course suggesting this also suggests that there are no folks in the middle of this spectrum who either care mildly or don't care at all about any of the above, it doesn't affect their life more than planning to be away from home for an afternoon or evening. We live in spectrum - I understand this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I live closer to the defeat end of the spectrum. My Thanksgivings, Christmas' and Easters usually begin and end with unhealthy self-talk and a struggle to break the pattern. I can eat salad for months and be perfectly happy, but set me down in front of a dinner buffet and I'm finished. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Set aside the feeling of being "overfull" or "miserable" after you eat all that food...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I dare you to try and set aside the feeling of reward or satisfaction after taking that 1st, 3rd or 5th bite of pie? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can forget how gross I felt after I binge on stuffing and gravy (with complete social acceptance btw) but I can't forget how tasty that buttery stuffing was as it passed over my tongue. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the battle becomes - how do I stop living "Thanksgiving" when Black Friday has come and gone? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't have an answer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If I did I'd be a size 2-4 and laughing<b> at</b> the pumpkin cheesecake still sitting in my refrigerator when I get home, maybe even tossing him in the garbage...Instead he will likely talk me into taking a bite...and then he may suggest strongly that I skip the gym....and if he's really smooth maybe he'll remind me of the stuffing that is still nestled deep within the shelf just behind the leftover turnip...Oh cheesecake....I'll win one of these days....maybe even today... </span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-14027939013760601912013-10-07T10:33:00.002-04:002013-10-07T10:33:24.288-04:00I've been so good....why is nothing changing???<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a part of me that stares at the scale on Monday mornings and thinks, "What the heck? You were so good last week - how is it possible that it hasn't moved?" </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or the other Monday mornings when the scale has taken a turn upwards rather than downwards - "I've been so good!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I need to be real for a minute here. </i>There are some things that slip willingly into my "unconsciousness" that I need to address with my conscious mind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Calories in - Calories out:</b> The number of calories on average that my body needs is wildly skewed when I allow my weekend to become a full on cheat-fest. . . I need to think smarter about ways to enjoy my weekend without ruining any weekday progress. Just because it's the weekend doesn't mean the calories find some other ass to attach themselves to...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Water Weight</b>: I know I don't drink enough water for my body to flush properly. Weekends are especially terrible because I have been known to befriend a bottle of wine or two...delicious friends, terrible influences on my hydration. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wheat/Gluten</b>: Even though it is possible for me to eat these delicious additives a couple of times a week with little "felt" consequence, the affect on my body is still negative - bloating, increased sensitivity....etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I ask myself - "What the heck?" but really, I know why there's no real change. I know I need to make changes to the way I think about weekends if I want to see any more progress on that scale. </span></div>
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Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-40270949283232092962013-10-01T08:39:00.002-04:002013-10-01T08:39:16.226-04:00Ready or Not...here it comes!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tell me it's not October already!?!?! </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, the month has come and gone, September's fitness challenge happened...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now on to the next! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2nd VERSE JUST LIKE THE FIRST, A LITTLE BIT LOUDER AND A LITTLE BIT WORSE!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Goal: 8lbs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Timeline: 1 month<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For most of September I maintained that 5lbs I lost at the beginning. Now time for a bit of an extra push, less cheating on the weekend, more cardio - 6km runs!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How did your September go? It's a fresh start today, nothing can hold us back, no matter what our goals - fitness or otherwise! :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-25108843565609531822013-09-24T14:12:00.000-04:002013-09-24T14:12:22.705-04:00I'm too fat to go to the gym...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I have to rage a little bit here. I can't <b>COUNT </b>the number of times I've heard someone say, "I'd love to go to the gym, I just need to lose a little bit of weight first." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>SERIOUSLY!?!?! What have we done to ourselves? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know when I first started working out I was the girl in the back row of treadmills pressed against the wall, PRAYING that no one noticed me in my ratty old t-shirt from some youth gathering and track pants that I had been wearing as PJ pants up until that week that I finally decided to take the plunge. I was a keen watcher trying to discover - What the heck am I supposed to DO here!?!? (or more accurately - What does everyone else do here so I know what I won't be judged for). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the greatest blessings of my gym experience was that I was made to feel welcome. When I looked around the gym at the A.R. Kaufman Y I didn't see a bunch of slender muscular women and men lifting weights gracefully without breaking a sweat. I saw people doing what they could to be fit. I once walked/ran on a treadmill beside a 400 pound man who was carrying his Oxygen tank with him and accompanied by a worker as he sweated heavily through a workout a 2km/hour. I understood very quickly that the Y was not a place where people dressed up and did their makeup to meet men. Nor was it was not a place where bodybuilders stood and checked themselves out in the mirrors, blocking the 60 year old woman's line of sight when she did her bent rows. This was a place where we came to get healthy, whatever stage we were at. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>So I feel lousy when people have a different experience than that. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My friend Barb sent me some reading today (smart woman, well read), much of it that may inform some of the content you read here day-to-day. The following images were included in the package, and they really tickled me...so I wanted to share. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Fitness is not for the fit my friends; It is for us all. Fitness does not mean being a size 2 or fitting into the jeans you kept from high school; It means being healthy at every size and every stage. And fitness is not for the put together; it is for the sweaty, the smelly, the grunting and the committed. Find your fit, and if you're struggling to figure it out, reach out and let someone know you need a hand. We're all in this together!</b></span><br />
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<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-4730666428304506332013-09-23T10:24:00.003-04:002013-09-23T10:24:56.999-04:00Confidence<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Confidence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am a well adjusted, kind, good looking woman with lots to offer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I am in a room full of strangers, given the task of welcoming or greeting I am the best version of myself, head held high, engaging, sweet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I am given the task of speaking or performing for a large group of people, I am a charismatic, smiling pillar of confidence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strip all that away and I would say my inner self allows me to feel confidence on a ratio of 80:20 on any given day. WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY BRAIN? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have every reason to feel completely self assured. Great jobs that I love, self control and reasonably good looks, a good life with a great man. So what the heck is my problem? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I typically try to stay away from self-help-esque websites, I tend to have a no-nonsense outlook and a lot of times these websites and books just add to the confusion. However, this one grabbed me: </span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">Why it that some people, the Donald Trumps of the world, seem to believe only the best about themselves, while others—perhaps especially women, perhaps especially young women—seize on the most self-critical thoughts they can come up with? "It turns out there's an area of your brain that's assigned the task of negative thinking," says Louann Brizendine, MD, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, and the author of </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">The Female Brain</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;">. "It's judgmental. It says 'I'm too fat' or 'I'm too old.' It's a barometer of every social interaction you have. It goes on red alert when the feedback you're getting from other people isn't going well." This worrywart part of the brain is the anterior cingulate cortex. In women, it's actually larger and more influential, as is the brain circuitry for observing emotions in others. "The reason we think females have more emotional sensitivity," says Brizendine, "is that we've been built to be immediately responsive to the needs of a nonverbal infant. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing." </span></i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16px;"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Why-Women-Have-Low-Self-Esteem-How-to-Feel-More-Confident/1#ixzz2fiiNsWLN" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Why-Women-Have-Low-Self-Esteem-How-to-Feel-More-Confident/1#ixzz2fiiNsWLN</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Science....egads, predisposition...There are some days I wake up and I feel like I'm on the brink of severe mental illness. I get stuck inside my head, I let myself dwell in the negative, I allow myself to feel weak and ugly and useless and lame. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anybody else? Ladies? Gentlemen? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So fighting the good fight for me means fighting myself a lot of days. Fighting to hear the words of my friends and family as positive rather than a sarcastic dig. Fighting to see the glances of strangers as friendly exploration rather than cold judgement. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am my own worst enemy. </span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-36273441862462390532013-09-20T22:51:00.000-04:002013-09-20T22:51:01.950-04:00Another Workout Down...Against my Better Judgement<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Tired, grumpy, lazy, sad, un-motivated, bored....</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those are all words that described me for most of my day today. I even came home at lunch and shared my doom and gloom with Cliff, who of course takes it all in stride (apparently I'm a moody girlfriend). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are the days when I am tempted to eat garbage, laze around and feel miserable for myself. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That being said, I'm a happy, well-adjusted person - everybody has bad days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Success for me today: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Was able to get out of the house tonight for a bit thanks to a really great friend. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. I still had a gold star day despite Falafel dinner and a lameo start.<br />3. Got a quick cardio workout in to battle the above mentioned dinner - and my mood. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Am I 100% better? Not likely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Am I better at all? Heck yes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I never met a workout I regretted when it was all finished. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Moral of the story:</b> Get up and do something about it. (I'm saying this to me more than anyone else). You can't be in control of your life from the couch and you can't change anything if you keep standing still. Move. </span><br />
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<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-64492873933970822282013-09-19T12:04:00.000-04:002013-09-19T12:06:43.037-04:00UPDATE!!! <h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So it's nearly been a month since I announced our FALL FITNESS CHALLENGE!!! I have to say, things are going better than I thought. </span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first week into the competition was awful - a lot of the same garbage I was up to in August (laziness, eating whatever I felt like, depressed nights, over-wheating) It wasn't until the second week that I really picked myself up and decided to actually give it a go. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far, I've had some good days and some bad. I've really been working on not giving in to the part of me that wants to just shut down at the end of the day. I realize I wasted so many hours just sitting around feeling bad for myself and that's not ok no matter how you paint it. So even on my red star days I'm working to stay positive. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Keys to success</span><br /><b>1 day at a time: </b>The nice thing about assigning yourself a star for each day is that it really reinforces that EVERY DAY IS A NEW DAY. I might have gotten a red star today, but I can still get a gold star tomorrow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Track, track, track:</b> I know I'm more successful when I'm tracking everything I eat. As I mentioned in an earlier post MyFitnessPal is such a great app for that. It's mobile, it's detailed and it's EASY. When I get the craving to drive-thru instead of eating from my cupboards or going to the store, I pull out my phone and type in "McDonalds" to the search bar (MyFitnessPal's users have created a really detailed list of foods that include everything from the good to the bad and even the ugly). When I type in McDonalds and see that a Big Mac Meal with a diet coke is nearly 1000 calories....I can talk myself down WAY easier - because I don't have 2 hours to jump on the elliptical tonight, and I've already eaten half of my calories for the day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Scheduled work outs:</b> I have the benefit of teaching classes 2-3 times/week and 3 gyms I could use for my work outs. Regardless of your limitations or accessibility I can't stress enough PLAN YOUR WORKOUTS!!! Set a date with yourself - I'm going to walk for 1 hour tonight, I'm going to do 100 pushups this morning, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Plan Ahead:</b> If I didn't pack my lunch the night before I would hit up a fast food restaurant every day....I know this, because I lived that life for a couple of months (I was both poor AND chubby...so depressing). Plan it ahead and make it good. Plan for one thing you look forward to every day. I've been putting two pieces of lindt chocolate bar in my lunch every day for that - "UGH" moment of every day. A little chocolate goes a long way when it's so delicious, and because there are only two pieces in there, I only EAT two pieces. :)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>SUCCESSES: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. 4.4lbs down!!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. One of my class participants that I haven't seen in a couple of weeks approached me at the gym last night and was wildly (and unexpectedly) complimentary of my "progress" - this was unsolicited btw. Thanks to his positive vibes I hit up the elliptical for an extra 10 minutes - it all counts!</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbn9Y8i35y4/Ujsg5sRtQJI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/tYHVKFuPT6A/s1600/IMG_20130919_101229_642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bbn9Y8i35y4/Ujsg5sRtQJI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/tYHVKFuPT6A/s320/IMG_20130919_101229_642.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Progress to date - Looking a little golder ;)</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-3608371206004199892013-08-26T17:21:00.001-04:002013-08-26T17:21:06.601-04:00Fall Fitness Challenge!!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So a few ladies around the office (and many ladies AND gentlemen in my life) have been aching for a change lately. Not just that, aching for some motivation, some accountability, and some fun...</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I've decided that September will begin my <b>FALL FITNESS CHALLENGE!!!!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does it mean? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the ladies who will join me from the office it will mean a daily ranking system determined by the following: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. <b>Physical Activity</b> - SOME kind of physical activity. Goal: 30 min per day, get your heart rate up and/or get a bit sweaty. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. <b>Eating Healthy</b> - A GOOD effort to eat within your calorie needs and eat good-for-you foods like fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains. Goal: 1200-1500 calories (depending on body size and goals)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EASY right? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Maybe</i>...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will rank ourselves by a star system. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GOLD star - Both Physical activity and Healthy Eating goals were met for the day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GREEN star - At least ONE of those goals was met<br />RED star - Not a great day overall...but tomorrow is a new day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm thinking that in order to be effective, this challenge will run between September-December. It's way easier to live a healthy lifestyle if the people around you are doing the same. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What's the reward?? - Longevity, Health, camaraderie, habit forming behaviours...BUT I'm thinking in the end a day at the Spa would be nice too...More on that later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SO, would you like to join us? Print yourself out a Microsoft Word Calendar, get some stars...OR just use a pen and some pictures (Grinning face, smiling face, frowning face?)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You've got 5 days to decide...are you up for the challenge? </span></div>
Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-24061750905257000012013-08-22T11:05:00.003-04:002013-08-22T11:05:32.438-04:00Reflections from the bottom of the pit<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I ate icing with a spoon last night. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I searched my house for anything else terrible and gluttonous that I could follow up the icing for <i>(thank God my cupboards are full of health food)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I played video games for 3 hours instead of leaving my house or calling up a friend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I used a headache as an excuse to skip out on running group or any workout. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I allowed myself to feel fat and useless. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I'm feeling defeated - but what else is new? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had lunch with a kindred spirit recently.<i> We're all in this together</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hearing her story, hearing her speak of the battle - the <b>SHARED </b>battle - was good for my soul. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you Barb.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What do I know with absolute certainty? The way that we treat ourselves, the images that we allow "in" and the damage that we do to not only ourselves, but everyone around us is enormous. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What else do I know?....I can't live there. You can't live there. We can't be angry forever - but we have to be something. Do something, discover something, something different. <br /><br />Those images and messages affect us whether we rage against them or not. So how to I affect my own internal messaging? I need dig deep into the will power that I <i>know </i>I have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Does that mean I have to be skinny? Is thin the magic answer? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I lost most of my weight the first time around I was arrogant. I was a self-righteous, annoying bitch who just wanted everyone to know. I made people think it was easy, I used my "thin-ness" to get things I knew Fat me couldn't have...I was also delusional. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believed that being thin would change me. That's why it did. I believed that when I was thin I would be okay, and I would stop struggling, and life would be better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25 pounds later I realize thin does not equal easy, and it's not getting easier. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25 pounds later I understand more poignantly what the battle is about. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25 pounds later I realize that maybe I've never been meant to be a size 8, but a healthy size 12 might not be so ridiculous to aim for.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">25 pounds later I wish I could gather together every woman and girl who believes she is too fat to live the life she wants and hold her until she knows that she is not a monster, she is not broken and she is better and stronger and smarter than any label, or judgement or bullshit that anyone puts onto her. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So despite feeling defeated today, I push forward. Not to the magical "thin" Alicia that will finally be okay. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm okay. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just need to accept it and live a healthy active life - for me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">end rant. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(but if you need to continue to rage on, do so here: <a href="http://kateharding.net/2007/11/27/the-fantasy-of-being-thin/">http://kateharding.net/2007/11/27/the-fantasy-of-being-thin/</a>)</span><br />
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<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-64776774878444236462013-08-10T15:53:00.000-04:002013-08-10T15:55:14.477-04:00Triumphant Return<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We survived a week in the wilds! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to say, it's weeks like this that remind me of why I do what I do. A group of 20+ youth hanging around and learning and growing...Makes me feel young and refuels my energy! It's more of a spiritual energy that is refuelled however,<b> I'm EXHAUSTED</b>!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was able to get out for one good run with a fellow leader - Sebastian. We did a 6.5k "ish" run around Eden Mills and surrounding area. I was foolish enough to forget that the first 3-4k were all uphill, but the run ends down Ash Street in Eden Mills which is a beautiful tree lined shaded lane sparse with houses and nice and flat. The flat road was the best part, but I was worn out from those hills. By the time we made it back to the cabin my running buddy experienced a back spasm and I was nauseous from the heat. We were quite the pair, but we made it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I offered our campers the option of doing a work out every morning, sort of a boot camp style "class" and they were so excited (much to my surprise). Both ladies we took along with us were athletes, taking part in either Hockey or Ringette. As an example of just how naturally athletic they were, at the end of the week I handed them some play-dough to play with during our lesson and they immediately created a ball which they used to play catch... So, true to my word I followed through with what we called an "Early Morning Fitness Challenge" and option offered up to anyone in the camp that wanted to participate. The incentive - the winner of each morning's challenge would be rewarded on Friday with ice cream for breakfast!!! (I realize the duality of the message, but c'mon, it's camp!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sure enough, every morning I had a few youth get up and join me in the field at 7:15am </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Our challenge included a deck of cards, each suit had a different exercise attached to it:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(<b>Hearts</b> - burpees, <b>Spades</b> - Crunches, <b>Diamonds</b> - Triceps Dips, <b>Clubs</b> - Push-ups) <br /><i>The number of "reps" were indicated by the number on the card:</i><br />(Aces, Jacks, Kings and Queens were all 10). <br />The Camper with the most cards at the end of the work out won. We warmed up each day with 20 jumping jacks and we finished our workout with a jog around cabin line field. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Friday morning breakfast ice cream was sweet, the company and the staff were all a delight, and yet I am happy to once again be sleeping in my own bed. This will be a tough week to get back into the swing because it ends in another 3 nights at camp! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope everyone had a great week! </span></div>
Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-54013170793729638342013-08-05T10:52:00.001-04:002013-08-05T11:02:47.533-04:00Running Down a Dream<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey Friends! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time for a bit of a check-in, hope your long weekends have been fantastic, It's been a gorgeous one! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm off this week for an adventure at one of my favourite places in the world,<a href="http://www.edgewood-camp.on.ca/" target="_blank"> Edgewood Camp</a>. That means I'll be a bit off the grid for the week, so I won't be posting. One of the great things about being out at Edgewood is that there are so many long country roads to discover, so I will be taking my running shoes and exploring! Perhaps some pictures to come next week. Here's an oldie featuring my FAVE CAMP BABE Robyn!!!!! (forgive the picture of a picture) We were too hot for words those days...I believe this was some sort of "Nature" banquet perhaps? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For all of you, have a great week and keep moving :)</span>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-5009761126149384952013-08-03T15:47:00.003-04:002013-08-03T15:47:42.232-04:00A Positive Spin <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I need to thank you</b>. All of you. Those who read silently, and those who speak out. After my last post the responses were overwhelming, and so encouraging. I hate to dwell in the negative, and I'm so honoured to have such incredible friends and family members to help to drag me kicking and screaming out of what could have been a significant rut. Thank you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In light of my last post a dear friend emailed me via Facebook and shared a bit of their journey. I'd like to take a back seat on this post and let his story impact you like it did me. For those of us who generally see the glass as "half full" this may ignite something. Thank you so much for sharing. This has really shaped the way I've been thinking about myself and this journey this past week!</span><br />
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<i>I've been fighting my weight every day for the better part of my life, and it's been a losing battle for most of it.</i></div>
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<i>But I wanted to share with you a strange 'shift in mindset' that I've gone through recently. </i></div>
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<i>A few months ago, my wife and I were talking, and we were talking about our weight loss woes. She said something that really got to me. I don't remember exactly what she said, but I'll paraphrase.</i></div>
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<i>Me: I'm going to put a 'fat me' pic on the fridge to guilt me into not snacking.
My Wife: How is that going to work? You don't respond well to negativity.
Me: *pauses for a real long time, like a 'awkward silence' long time* </i></div>
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<i>It was such a simple statement, but it is so wonderfully true. I do not respond well to negativity. Never have. </i></div>
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<i>I know some people who feed off of negativity. They take it as a personal challenge, either to beat themselves or someone else. I'm not saying that negativity makes me run into a corner and cry to sleep, but I generally just 'filter' it out. It's almost like I just ignore the negative stuff.</i></div>
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<i>So yeah, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I've been fighting my battle with my weight with the wrong weapons.</i></div>
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<i>I put up 'fat me pictures' and weigh myself all the time and say "only 10 more pounds". I guilt myself into not eating. I look in the mirror and lament that it's not happening fast enough, and I critique myself when I'm not keeping up with some arbitrary standard. All this sucks. It just doesn't work for me.</i></div>
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<i>So I'm changed how I look at things. I'm looking at the other side of the coin. It's change in attitude that reflects my normally optimistic attitude. I'm an optimist in almost every sense of my life, except for my weight battle. Time for that to change.</i></div>
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<i>Instead of fighting my weight by looking at how much I have left to go, I look at how much I have done. I put up pictures of 'skinny me', and I put up pictures of my wife and son, to remind myself that I'm doing it for them as much as me. I even put up a picture of a 'StarFleet uniform' reminding me that If I really wanted to be a 'Star Trek' character, I need to be 'fit'. It's weird. I know.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favourite part of that story is the last line. Fellow Geeks and Nerds unite! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>So many thanks for your kind words and encouragement. I hope that you are encouraged as well, we're in it together, and no battle is won alone! :)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy Long Weekend Friends!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i3NYN3NMhtE/Uf1dylAukPI/AAAAAAAAAOc/vEykEarWZog/s1600/391748_10152199891880058_1258207554_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i3NYN3NMhtE/Uf1dylAukPI/AAAAAAAAAOc/vEykEarWZog/s400/391748_10152199891880058_1258207554_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Nerdy success picture! Here's to the next few pounds, we're doing great!</td></tr>
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Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-7214861382867617872013-07-23T22:37:00.002-04:002013-07-23T22:37:20.498-04:00Yeah...she could stand to lose some weight...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SO I have to say, I've been debating putting this on here...but I think it's important...and I'm totally pissed...so I might as well share my misery! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A good friend of mine and I occasionally get together in the midst of our busy lives to fit in a joint work out. It's way more fun to run your ass off with someone else than try to kill yourself on your own (although I do that 4 more times in a week anyway)...So we did, as we usually do. This dear friend shared details from an earlier conversation she had with a co-worker that shocked me. It went like this (I assume some details as I was not present at the time):<br /><i><br />Hey "friend of Alicia" what are you up to? </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hey "seemingly friendly co-worker" I'm just about to go workout with Alicia. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Oh, that's good, she could use to lose a few pounds. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>WHAAA!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!? </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Some thoughts that come to mind: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. WHO ASKED YOU </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(insert terrible, slanderous cursing here)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. You're </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">really not one to talk (I could say some hurtful things here, but I really just don't think ANYone is one to talk about another person like that...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. You're a grown assed adult (we're not even talking 20 year old jock asshole, this is a full blown 45-50 year old man ...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. You don't know me, you don't know what I've been through, and you are not ME so you could not possibly understand what it means to be me fat, skinny or otherwise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Why would you say that to someone who was clearly my friend...did you really not think that it would get back to me? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. WHY can't I stop dwelling on this stupid comment?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Why would you say that to ANYONE????????????????</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Okay, horse is dead...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I knew my weight has gotten bad...I just didn't realize it was THAT bad. I feel pretty hurt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are so many things I'd like to say here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. I'd really like to help more people understand what it feels like to look down every day and see a roll around your gut that makes you feel like a failure and less of a person. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. I'd like to help people understand that not every person who is overweight has just given up on life and lives on the couch eating bon bons...it's a journey not a cruise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. I wish that people (AND ME TOO) could understand that it takes TIME to lose weight. I'm fitter than I was 2 months ago, but it's not instant and I should not be made to feel bad just because I haven't hit the size 2 mark yet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. I wish I could explain to people how very difficult it is to lose weight when every day you look in the mirror and think, this doesn't fit, I'm not there yet, I'm never going to be there. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. I wish people could understand what a struggle it is to look into the world every day and see people who appear care free and naturally "thin" enjoying a life of over-indulgence and not appearing to pay the price (advertising, facebook, television, you name it)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. <i>Mostly I just wish that stupid people would keep their stupid mouths shut, but I'm afraid this would be a pretty quiet world if that was the case. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a lot of feels. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So that being said, we had a great workout tonight. Powered by the self-important fuel from some stupid asshole's big mouth...<b>I'm stronger than he thinks. </b></span><br />
<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-38074666562314285192013-07-21T12:38:00.005-04:002013-07-21T12:38:50.008-04:00SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>ARE YOU REAADDDYYYYYYYY TO CRUSH SOME CALORIES!?!?!?!?</b></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>My week: </u></b></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Monday</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - Need to do some Cardio, chillin' with Tdiddy later at Little Bean if you're around! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Tuesday</b> - EARLY Group Power (6:40am) - Come on out if you want to build big muscles and start your day right!! Meeting that night to talk with some important folks about an important community building BBQ coming up at Christ Lutheran in September (check out: <a href="http://www.christwaterloo.ca/">www.christwaterloo.ca</a> for details) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Wednesday</b> - Hanging out with the Newcomer Youth at the YMCA to talk about Employment, then on to RUNNING GROUP!!!! (in the hot hot heat...pray for us)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Thursday</b> - Supper with one of my faves (hopefully no chili cheese fries...) and then GROUP POWER (6:40pm this time, again....come out if you're ready to rock)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Friday</b> - Short day and then on to the JAYS GAME with another of my faves (YAHHH Crissy!!!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>Goals:</u></b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. No wheat/gluten (I know I say this all the time, but it's a struggle...EVERYTHING has wheat, and it's really hard to weigh the consequences vs. the convenience sometimes)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Keep them calories low (STAY ON TRACK!!)<br />3. Hit the GYM - Every day (maybe not Friday...)</span></div>
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Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-65191369631550475332013-07-17T23:03:00.001-04:002013-07-17T23:03:27.250-04:00Hot as BALLS!!! Tennis balls that is...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So tonight, against my better judgement, I joined 3 of my running buddies at the A.R. Kaufman Family YMCA for a little "Outdoor Fitness Challenge" in the 40 degree heat...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me begin by saying, I was less than motivated today. In fact I'm close to writing off this whole week in terms of any sort of attempt at being healthy (it's already Wednesday for goodness sake). Today was one of those days that started with McDonalds and ended with Frozen Yogurt (topped with all sorts of delicious things that easily took the calorie count from about 200 to 1000...see picture below)</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Slxw0RpEWw/UedaepEAUGI/AAAAAAAAAOA/wdH8KtNLyVA/s1600/IMG_20130717_205934_381+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--Slxw0RpEWw/UedaepEAUGI/AAAAAAAAAOA/wdH8KtNLyVA/s320/IMG_20130717_205934_381+(1).jpg" width="179" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SO, despite feeling like I might puke, I ventured out into the parking lot of the Kaufman Y where I, and the other victims of Mat's evil schemes, ran around looking for hidden tennis balls, throwing tires around, doings burpees and passing fire hoses under our planked bodies...After recovering from the slight nausea (caused by the heat of course...not the hamburger I ate for supper), I had a pretty good time. Cheering someone on as they flip a tractor tire through the parking lot is fun. Pushing someone around until they fall down is a cool game, and sweating balls in the middle of a hot day with a bunch of friends is actually a worthy pursuit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then it hit me again. It's not about just me on this journey. It's the "us" that counts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this week has been me-centric, and I've been feeling miserable. I'mma go ahead and try to make this fun again. Give me a shout, I'll try to do the same for you. Lemme know what you're up to, what your struggles are, what the good news is...it's not just you or me out there doing it on our own. Without each other we WILL fail. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Closing thought: If I never do another burpee in my life I'll be just fine ;)</span></b>Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2984818040507248406.post-30906896237055380352013-07-16T00:15:00.001-04:002013-07-16T00:15:44.141-04:00Fat Girl inside<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hey Folks, how are you doing? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have to admit I have been on a bit of a mental vacation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Between lapses in brain waves and my laptop barely scraping through life one breath at a time...my blogging has been somewhat deficient lately...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not just the blogging mind you. The eating, and the exercising, and the generally being healthy....has also been deficient. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I shouldn't say that...I did have a couple of good days. At least I worked out a couple of times...it was a vacation after all...So why is it that I am left here on the first day after vacation with a bag of chips in my hands and a brownie recently swallowed? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I blame the fat chick. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Deep down inside of me there is a fat chick just BEGGING to be let out. If I let my guard down for ONE minute she pokes her *&$%#@! head out and devours everything in her path. She's lazy, she's tired, she's full of excuses and she is RUINING MY LIFE!!!!! At least my wardrobe...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I'm back at 'er tomorrow. Swallowing back the urge to finish this bag of chips. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lunch is packed. Workouts planned. #prayforme</span><br />
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<img height="300" src="http://www.dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/funny-fat-cats-300x225.jpg" width="400" /><br />
<br />Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05663866685331205229noreply@blogger.com0