Weekend Exercise

OK, I'll fully admit that I've been sitting on my expanding bottom for quite a while now, well, since we got the puppy. I have been running maybe twice since we've gotten him - they're just such a handful in the beginning.

Now that he's starting to get a little older and wiser, I've decided to turn him into my newest piece of cardio equipment - the Gottagowalkthepup*.

*Patent Pending

The Gottagowalkthepup* is an evolutionary new workout! Works like a charm! An hour hike through your favourite city park (Odell in my case) and your workout is complete! Also involves short stops for scooping poop, and sniffing stuff. Wear your heaviest boots (seriously, could Sorels be any heavier?) for trekking the terrain to add another fat-burning element to this already difficult cardio session. Other optional attachments include leash, ski poles, water bottle, camouflage puppy hoodie, and a pocket full of kibble.

Be careful not to overuse the Gottagowalkthepup* as the motor will need a recovery period after each use (see Figure 1-1):
















Figure 1-1: Gottawalkthepup's* motor after an hour's use

Remember, if you take care of your Gottagowalkthepup*, it will serve you well for years to come!

My New Food Blog

Some time ago I had created a recipe blog. I didn't really pay much attention to it though after I created it. So I've come up with a better idea. I'm going to start updating a food blog daily...

LINK TO FOOD BLOG ON THE RIGHT ----->

I'm hoping to add a new food everyday, along with recipes and product reviews of some of my favourite and not-so-favourite food products.

I hope everyone likes it!

Water - Vital for Life

Two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, water is the most abundant substance in the human body, accounting for up to 60% of our body weight. Even though water has no calories or other nutrients, we can go for only a few days without it. In contrast, a healthy person can survive for 6 to 8 weeks without food. A loss of only 5 to 10% of body water results in serious dehydration, while a 15 to 20% loss is usually fatal.

Vital Functions

Water is essential to virtually every body function, including digestion, absorption, and transport of nutrients, elimination of body waste, and regulation of body temperature, as well as many other chemical processes. Water is needed to build all body tissues and is the base of all blood and fluid secretions such as tears, saliva, and gastric juices, as well as the fluids that lubricate our organs and joints. It also keeps our skin soft and smooth. As our body ages, it becomes dryer. An infant's body is 75 to 80% water, compared to 50% after age 65 or 70.

How Much Do We Need?

The human body needs enough water to ensure the urine is pale, not dark or bright yellow. For the average adult this translates to 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Most of this comes from drinks, but surprisingly there is a substantial amount in foods as well. Fruits and vegetables are 70 to 95% water, compared to 75% of an egg, 40 to 60% of meat, poultry, and fish, and 35% of bread.

While trying to lose weight, it is said that you should consume half of your body weight in ounces of water. In my case, at 135 lbs, I should be consuming approximately 68 oz. (2 litres) of water daily.

It is also important to remember that you should consume as much water as you excrete during any given day. So on days where the weather is hotter or you sweat due to a hard workout, you should consume more water.

The Purpose of Teed's Food Blog

The purpose of my food blog - I wanted to be able to post interesting food facts, recipes, and product reviews all on one blog. Since I will now be using this blog to post all of my recipes, I will be removing my recipe blog, not that I had posted much on it anyway. Please visit often, as I'll be posting daily!

Hope you find it interesting!

My Fatty Inspiration

Inspired by a thread on the WW boards yesterday about what people compare their weight loss to...

I've lost about 75 lbs overall since being at my "peak" weight of 206 lbs. My weight loss can be compared to a batch of mashed potatoes to feed a small army, ie. 2 x 25lb bags of potatoes + 25 lbs of butter. Yummy!

I also just wanted to show everyone what a pound of fat looks like, so that when ya'll get discouraged that you "only lost a pound" this week, look at this and feel good about getting this crap off your beautiful little bod!

Our Little Monster...

Blog Posts Two Days in a Row!

I'm so freakin' mad at myself today. And now I'm going to try to convince myself that I shouldn't be.

Fantasy: Get up at 6am this morning to go downstairs and use my new treadmill for the very first time. This would give me lots of time for my run (which will be short, since it's been a while), and some crunches. And I'd feel great about the fact that I got in a great little workout before work. And I'd make coffee before getting the dog and DBF up for their day!

Reality: Alarm went off at 6am as expected. I gave some thought to getting up and going downstairs. I really did. However, being snuggled in bed so nicely was very appealing, so that is where I stayed. I get up at 7.15am feeling quite disappointed in myself.

Now, here's why I shouldn't be kicking myself quite so much about this: I NEVER get up at 6am to run, nor have I ever before! Even when I was running regularly, I usually ran in the evening, except on Sunday mornings.

Bottom line: I DO need to start my running routine again. I DO NOT need to get up at 6am to do so.

Having said that, I will try to get up at 6am again tomorrow... LOL

It's Been Almost a Month Since My Last Post - Inexcusable! Tsk, tsk Teed...

Wow, that's a long time not to post! My apologies to anyone who may still be checking to see if I've posted... :-S

This new pup and work have pretty much taken over any spare time I thought I had! I can't believe how much work Samson has proven to be, but he is starting to shape up to be a good little guy. I just wish he was through the biting stage - my hands have little cuts and nicks all over them!

Tomorrow night is week 4 of 6 of our puppy manners class. Samson's catching on quite well - he now knows the "sit", "stay", and "down" commands pretty well. We're still working on "leave it" and walking well on the leash, although he's definitely getting better. We're going to try to arrive at class pretty early tomorrow night, because if we get there just a few minutes before class starts he nearly chokes himself trying to get to all the other puppies in the room. I'm hoping we'll have time to get lots of puppy introductions done before the start of class tomorrow night.

On the weight loss front, I have cancelled my WW online account and don't miss it at all. I hadn't been using it to it's full potential anyway, since I went back to Sparkpeople. I'm actually much happier using their system. I'm still accountable for what I eat, and it's free to use. And I find it much more forgiving than the WW program. Not that I'm saying WW doesn't work, because I'm living proof that it does! I'm just saying that for now I'm happier tracking my progress with Sparkpeople instead. And Sparkpeople really caters to the geek in me, since it tracks every little element of my diet and helps me analyze it. I love that stuff!

We also bought a treadmill on the weekend, although I have yet to try it out. That's this evening's goal, although I'm not sure if I'll find the time since Steve's working late tonight and I think I have to come back into the office too. I'll bring the pup with me and we'll try to fit in a walk so he's not so high strung while I'm working.

Tonight's supper (although late) is one of my favourites - a burger and LF fries! I love those nights!

Missing: One Heart, In Good Working Order, Stolen on Saturday

Had my heart stolen on Saturday, by this little mini muffin! Now I'm not sure if life will ever be the same... He's a boston terrier jack russell mix. We've decided to name him Samson.

I'm Back!

Sorry I haven't posted lately, but things are just SO busy. As I'm sure some of you know, I spent a week in Mississauga recently for work, and had been spending a lot of time at the hospital with my grandma. I'm happy to say that grandma is back home and doing very well.

I am no longer counting points. I am trying now to maintain my weight on my own, by making healthy choices. Things have been going very well with it. I've also been trying to eliminate any foods from my diet that contain any bad chemicals, so I've been eating lots of good fresh foods, and a lot of homemade goods. I'm loving all of the healthy baking I'm doing, and all of the foods I've incorporated back into my diet in order to eliminate aspartame and preservatives.

I've also become a squash and sweet potato addict... is there a program out there for that?

I'm trying to limit my caloric intake to roughly the recommended daily intake of 2000 calories. It's actually not hard at all, even with my use of natural sweeteners now instead of using products containing aspartame. I think the natural foods are doing a great job of keeping me full, and I find myself eating lots of small snacks now instead of my three square meals. With me eating so much throughout the day, I definitely don't feel deprived, and it keeps my metabolism going!