What a burst pipe will do...

I got home today from work to a burst pipe in the lobby - which for some reason triggered the fire alarm. Which shut down the elevators. I asked one guy if he had been waiting for a long time and he said that he had just sent the security guy up to the elevators to try to unlock them. 3 minutes later, the security guy came down the stairs with a blank look on his face, saying he couldn't figure out how it worked. I decided that I did not want to wait forever and that today was the day that I was going to conquer ALL the stairs (all 27 of them). So I started out slowly... I would walk down the length of the hallway to the other stairwell every 2-5 flights. And yes, I was out of breath. But I felt better after compared to the last time when I did 15 flights non-stop. Unfortunately, I had a bunch of junk for dinner. But I finally walked up all the stairs in my building!!!

Stairs (yet again)

I don't have much happening right now so I'm going to talk about the stairs one more time. I have been trying to find ways to be active without the gym - I want to see if it is possible without the thought of paying for a trainer (and I haven't been spending a lot of time at my pool because I think there is a cold just waiting to strike). So I'm trying to be active around my home. And in my apartment, it means stairs. I have been doing stairs inbetween the episodes of my TV on DVD. And I think I have watched a lot less TV because of it. After I get up and do some stairs - I come back into my place and end up moving around (trying to catch my breath) and empty the dishwasher or clean the bathroom. It has been very productive. Well, "very" might be too strong of a word. More productive than normal lazy days off.

2 days ago, I got up 1st thing in the morning and decided that I wanted to try to walk 15 flights all at once. So I took the elevator down (yes - I know - cheating. But in my defence - I was a little worried about coming back up the whole way so I figured I needed to conserve energy). And I walked up 15 flights. And yes, I did account for the lack of a 13th floor. It was a full 15 flights!

Yesterday, instead of sitting around inside, I decided to walk to a coffee shop 15 minutes away to read. And then I had to walk home. So I'm trying to find every day ways to get more active. I probably also need to add that the last 2 weeks have been FREEZING. Like -25 degrees during the middle of the day with the sunshine. Making getting outside a little harder.

Today - I walked to the post office to get stamps for Christmas cards instead of buying them at the corner store in my building. And then later - I did those 15 flights of stairs again. And this time I walked down. And did not stop on the way back up. Sure, it took me twice as long to get my breath back afterwards and 2 hours later I still have this tickle in my throat - but I did it. And I'm proud of myself.

I head back to work tomorrow (I have a crazy schedule before Christmas) meaning that I'll be working a lot. Thank goodness Jenny Craig has these pre-made meals that I can take to work and don't have to worry about cooking for work for the next 3 weeks. It is like this program was made for me. Or at least single shift workers who eat poorly if their meals aren't carefully planned out in advance. I know many other programs work (and other programs have worked for me in the past), but right now - I love having my food sent to me. And then pulling it out of the cupboard or freezer and having it ready in a few minutes. So here's to a healthier me over these next few busy weeks...

Bad Night

Why is it so hard to eat right when this time of year comes around? It's not even that I have had a bunch of functions to go to where there is all kinds of sweets or baking to eat! Last night, I decided that I was hungry... so I walked the 1 1/2 blocks to safeway just to buy junk to eat. I have food in the house. But at 4:30 (when the sun was setting) I figured that I needed some comfort food.

I picked up a large tray of sushi (I'm sure it would be enough for 2), a jar of antipasto (at least it was a small jar), some crackers, AND a box of mac and cheese. So over the next 5 hours - I ate it all. Or at least I tried to. I could only eat 1/2 the box of mac and cheese. By then I was feeling sick. Is it the lack of light that makes me want to eat all evening? And why do I crave heavy, salty food? I wasn't going to blog about it, but I did originally say I wanted to be honest. So honest I'm being.

I think I have said before how difficult late fall, early winter is for me to lose weight. And I stopped baking a long time ago (while I love doing it, I'm the only one who eats it). I don't have a lot of Christmas parties to go to where there is tons of bad food being served. Spending time with my family is usually confined to a week at a time (where if I blow it, it only is a week). So why is this time so tough? I crave hot chocolate (which I normally don't), I want heavy pastas with cheese (which I can normally avoid), I dream about loaves of bread dipped in butter (I try never to buy bread), and I think about fat ladened dips with copious amounts of crackers. And I want to eat it all by myself. It isn't about sharing good food with friends and family. I just wish I could figure out what's going on in my head.

And a few more stairs....

Yesterday (the first really cold day of the season) the fire alarm went off. Normally, I wait to see if the fire trucks are coming (being on the 27th floor, I have a good view of them coming) and then I wait a little longer to see if they leave right away. I probably shouldn't admit this, but I have never left my apartment when the alarm has gone off. And yes, it normally goes off between 2 and 4am. But yesterday - it went off at 6 in the evening. And after doing so many stairs the day before, I decided that I was going to walk all the way down. Which I did. My knee was only slightly achy on the last few flights, but I was more dizzy that sore (and dizzy from going down in circles, not out of breath dizzy). And then today (which I was worried about being unable to walk) was totally fine. I actually forgot for the first few hours of the day about watching out for aches and pains. Cool, eh?

(Okay, so I can't claim of walking up all 27 flights - I did use the elevator going up, but someday I'll get to the point where the thought of climbing all the way up doesn't scare me.)

Stairs and more stairs

I haven't done much in the past few days. I have a longer stretch off right now (just how my schedule works out). I think it's the reason I haven't done anything. I slept in a couple of mornings ago and then about 2 in the afternoon, I had a nap. Just 'cause I had nothing else pressing to do. And with a bit more time off, that means that nothing needs to get done in a hurry. So the past 2 days were write offs.

Now the weather is getting much more blustery, it is really easy to stay inside and watch TV. I figured that I would start to go through some TV shows I have on DVD. The only problem with that is that it is really easy to watch one show after another and then all of a sudden, the whole afternoon is gone. So I decided that for each episode I watched, I had to do 5 flights of stairs (I guess it is helpful to live on the 27th floor). Which worked out really good the first day I had that idea. Then Sunday and Monday... well, stairs seemed like too much work. And I figured hadn't blogged about my idea yet, so no one would know that was my plan, therefore I wasn't cheating. But I was cheating. So today (after coming home from my swim) I did a couple sets of 5 flights of stairs. And then I have done a few more. Now, I'm caught up. All 9 times today. That's 9 sets of 5 flights. 45 flights. Or 630 individual stairs. Not that I did them all together. I go down 5 flights, turn around, come up 5 flights, walk the length of my floor, then do it again. I did it 3 sets, 3 separate times today.

You may be wondering why I'm rambling on about this. I am excited that I was able to do so many stairs at a time. I have always been able to walk for a long time without getting tired, do heavy lifting for a while, or other such daily activities without being in shape. But I have always found that when I'm out of shape and overweight, stairs are REALLY hard to do. I feel breathless very quickly and my knee starts to hurt (when the muscles around my knee are weak). Finding stairs difficult is the 1st thing that lets me know that I'm out of shape ('cause I can fool myself for a long time as long as I don't encounter stairs). So I did 45 flights today. Which I am proud of.

But the reason I started out talking about this was because I felt like I needed to be really honest about how bad Sunday and Monday were. And it wasn't just the lack of exercise (or the refusing to do stairs inbetween episodes like I promised myself). I also inhaled a tub (vat?) of chocolate ice (with the additional tins of caramel and chocolate sauce). Not that I should use this as an excuse, but I have always found it very difficult to loose weight (or even maintain the same weight) in the fall/winter. I crave food that I normally not tempted by. It's the idea of comfort food plus the oversized clothes/layers you wear at this time. And I just don't know how to change my mindset so that I can be successful.

But today was a good day. I have eaten what I am suppose to and haven't eaten anything I'm not suppose to. I went for a 30 minute swim. I did stairs. I'm going to try to think of my success today, and not my failures the past days.

Weigh in 15

I can't believe that I didn't post anything this past week. I thought about doing it a few times, but I really didn't have anything to say. Today is the weigh in and I lost.... (drum roll please).... nothing. And I gained.... nothing. Life is good. There was a few times where I ate more than I should have, but still, no weight gain.

I did buy a hat this morning at the farmers market (locally made http://www.sugarsoul.ca/) this morning. I think I'm celebrating 35 lbs lost (okay, so I'm 0.4 lbs away, but the farmers market only runs on Saturdays). It was fun picking out hats. Especially hats that fit my big head. The one I bought was really comfortable, but there was another one that I liked. Sometimes, it is hard to make these decisions when you are by yourself... I'll let you decide if it was the right one (the other one was white with some colourful buttons on the side)... Brown with deep pink stitching. I'm also posting the picture 'cause I realized that my blog was looking a little text heavy and devoid of pictures.

Okay, I'm going to try to work on increasing the amount of activity I do in the next few weeks and eating well. Christmas season is fast approaching with all of its sweet treats and numerous temptations. I'm going to put in some serious work now before that happens.

Weigh in 14

I knew I was getting back on track. It is amazing what a little routine will do. Back to work, back to eating according to the diet (or at least much closer), and back to trying to work activity into everyday life. I lost 2.6 lbs for a total of 34.6 lbs lost. Which is a very slow rate of weight loss. When I have tried, and was successful, at losing weigh before, it has always happened much quicker. I think this time I can attribute the slower weight lost to several things. First, I am getting older (as everyone does). Second, I'm trying to do this more moderately this time - less extremes which translates into slower weight loss. And finally, I am just not as active as I have been before. I think a lot of this relates to working 12 hour shifts. On my days off, it is rare for me not do exercise (yesterday I went for a swim, today I went for a couple of walks). But I'm finding it very hard to do anything after work, when I have been busy for 12 hours. It is next to impossible to imagine getting up early to exercise.

I think I am a little worried that with this slower weight loss rate that I will be tempted to get bored or give up on this diet. When you see results, you are motivated to carry on. When these results are only fraction of pounds each week, it just makes me wonder how long this process will be. At this rate, it is going to take several years to take the weight off. And yes, I know the argument of "it took you a long time to gain the weight,... it will take time to get it off", but thinking about being on a diet for 2 years is very discouraging.

So this week, I am thankful I saw a loss of over 2 1/2 lbs. It gives me hope. And then I spent some time looking back through my calendar of the last 5 months, savoring each loss. And I am happy. The diet... it's working. Not fast. But working.

On the way to work

... but I thought I would put in a quick update. Last night at work, someone asked me if I had lost weight... and she didn't know that I was trying! That is the first time someone who doesn't know that I'm trying to lose weight actually said something! I was pretty excited. And I started this in June. It only took 5 months for someone to notice and say something. Okay, I'm off now. I only have one more night to work. Hopefully I can stay awake (thank goodness that coffee is calorie free!).