Monday Sept 7th, 2016   One Month Back Home..... dragging my heels a bit!

Well it's been a trying month!  I ended up with a very bad chest cold and it has SLOWED me down... but I've been doing OK!  Working on the All or northing spectrum and I have to say that I am pretty close to the nothing side and that's OK, but it's time to set some goals and get working a bit harder. 

I have kept off all the weight that is got rid of in Utah and have  lost another 5 lbs and found it a bit and lost it a bit.  It's great to know that if you are pretty good with your food that you don't have to work off the extra with exercise!

We have been trying to get more active as a family.  Getting out biking, walking, kayaking together. 

We went out Camping with our extended family for our reunion and had the opportunity to do some great hiking.  I went up "TUFF PUFF" a 3,106.96 FT climb!  It was tough.  But 1 step at a time, 1 break at a time, we got to the top.  It was a great mother / son bonding day!

Our entire family went out across from the Columbia Icefields and we climbed another 1266 feet to get to a beautiful meadow where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and headed back down.

It was a great weekend camping with our family.  Enjoyed a few drinks, a few smores, a few healthier smokies and with all the calories burned, SHOULD not have seen a change on the scale and I came home and............ 7 lbs up.............. yes  7 lbs! How on earth is this possible>??  Mathematically it is not!  Sure enough, after 5 days at home , the water gain was balanced out and all was back to normal!  Glad I didn't get upset, I just let it slide and it balanced itself out.  It is just a number! Use it as a basic guideline but don't get too caught up about the number. 

THE STEWART CLAN 2016

A HEALTHY WEIGHT IS A WEIGHT THAT YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT!

Over the last 2 summers I have not been able to waterski and it was devastating!  I did not even try last year and that felt horrible and I just went back to the campstall and ate another 5 smores!

This year I was excited to jump in the water and give it my ALL! I got up on the first try and did AWESOME!  My butt fit on the seat and I was able to do the seatbelt up, my upper body was strong enough to get the job done!  To me - this is the indicator of a Healthy Weight! A weight that I can do whatever I want to do without my weight standing in the way. 

I had signed up for the Banff Grand Fondo Bike race last year and made a bunch of excuses and transferred it to this year and there was no way I was ready to do 150 km's as I didn't have the time put in on my bike seat and had not trained for the hills, but am fit, so I decided to do the 90 km version of the race rather than QUITTING again.  I had a really bad chest cold and after the race was pretty close to having pneumonia -but it was great!   I placed 5 / 47 in my age category   16/192 in women ....
. HOLY COW!!!!

I placed 74/ 373 in the entire race! There is still a devil in my brain, i'm not good enough, i'm not fast enough.  I just don't feel like an athlete - I looked at the majority of the other bikers ( most of them were behind me or I passed) and they all LOOK like athletes.  I had quite a few people make comments to me as a few passed me - they were all good comments, but I could tell that they were surprised by my pace / endurance as  I  have a good 70 lbs on the majority of the other riders.  There were a few heavier riders, but we were definitely the minority.    So I have to work on my positive self talk.

I have another bike race this Saturday, it is 100 km and I have been sick for 3 weeks with a chest cold and now have an abscess  in a bad area for biking - so could easily duck out again, but I will do my best and enjoy the ride and exercise.

So the goal for the next week is to get FOCUSED AGAIN .  I feel like i'm slipping back into a few old bad habits, feeling comfortable in body and this is the place that I usually start sliding the other way.  So practicing the all or nothing spectrum, I will take one day at a time, work on progress not perfection! 

I have booked a vacation to my favorite place on earth and I get to go with my MOM!  We are going to spend a week at the Akumal Bay Resort and I bought a bikini top that I look forward to wearing while I'm there, so time to get back into routine, I really wish my fitness classes were starting already!   A few weeks to go, so I still have time to get prepped and work on my fitness level some more - I feel that it has really gone downhill in the last month. 

Until next time!

Sunday August 7, 2016  1st Week Back At Home

It's working!  All the lectures, classes are making sense and working in everyday life!  I am really trying to focus on BALANCE!  How to Balance fitness, nutrition, house, husband, children & work.  It's going well.  I am probably on the side towards "NOTHING" on the all or nothing spectrum.  As I type that I realize that I may be being hard on myself.  Probably just right in the middle. 
 - doing the balanced plate for meals
- tyring to get atelast 40 min of working out in a day, but nothing too strenuous!
- figuring out what I like and what I don't - while I do enjoy getting my workout done in the am, I got up on Tuesday and did a great bike session and them am sessions did not workout the rest of the week - and i'm ok with that.  I get them in other times of the day and don't have to get to bed so early if I don't have to wake up so early.
- enjoying the occasional "treat" balanced in with my healthy balanced plate. 

My blood pressure is amazing.  The last reading was 110 / 68.  Before I left I was having BP issues, was not feeling well, dizzy, lightheaded, vision disruption etc with a BP of 160  -170  / 95 - 100.  Feeling SO much better!

This morning I was going to go on a bike ride with a group of other riders.  The tour of ALBERTA is coming to our town.  120 Professional Bike racers will be competing and we did a part of our town's section today.  I was really scared, nervous and that little voice in my head was winning.  " I can't keep up"  "What if this.... What if that....?  I was pretty close to backing out and then I thought to myself.  " Look at what you accomplished in the last month, look at what you gave up to go to UTAH, think about what you would like to achieve!  That damn comfort zone, I just really felt like I didn't belong but took a chance!  I pulled up to the meeting place and everyone was looking at me and I saw a few familiar faces and felt a bit better.  We ended up biking 70 km together as a group.  I kept up with the group and I did just fine.  We were all a bunch of well polished ATHLETES and it felt great.  It was a beautiful day for a bike ride and I can't believe that I just about didn't go - all because of that NEGATIVE  SELF TALK and that voice in my head.  I am working hard on positive self talk .... day by day!

I did manage to lose 1 lb this week. I am in no hurry.  Working on finding balance , routine - afterall

Emotional Management + Nutrition + Fitness = Weight Management - in that order.   

Getting lots of fitness with the kids, biking a walking - hunting for Pokémon, what ever gets us off the couch and gets us quality time together!

I got the cookbook printed out, no surprise my first recipe..... LOL

not as pretty as Chef Sam's but pretty yummy!

I have 2 bike races coming up and am looking forward to many happy hours in the saddle to get some fitness in and to train for the bike races.

Looking forward to another week of challenges, fun time with the family and working on creating harmonious balance!

Enjoying a nice kayak as a family!

SUNDAY  JULY 31st, 2016   HOME SWEET HOME

It was a long day.  Enjoyed my audiobook. Didn't get much exercise in just drove and drove and drove.  The customs agent was very nice and did not make me pay duty on the extra stuff that I brought back!  I did a bit of speeding in the smaller towns!  It said 50 - so I slowed down to 50 MPH and oops..  it was 50 km/hr!  Good thing I figured it out on my own instread of a RCMP officer pointing it out!

It was awesome coming home.  I had a few hours to get my land legs back.  It was fun looking through my closet for clothes that didn't fit me, this dress still had a tag on in hopes of it fitting someday as it was only $17.99 and .......... it fit!

I still have a lot of weight that I can get rid of!  But I do feel comfortable in my skin! I feel good when I look in the mirror.  I can bend over and tie up my shoes without my stomach getting in the way!  I can reach my heels with a quadriceps stretch.   Just the little things.  The kids are able to wrap their arms around me for a great hug!  These are the things that just make it all worth it.  The struggle is to keep the weight off and it'll be a lifelong journey with ups and downs.  I am so glad that I have the support of my family and extended family.  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  My husband has lost 50 lbs now since April and  I am so proud of him!  It'll be great to continue this adventure together with him and I look forward to a long and healthy life full of amazing challenges and adventures with him! 

My blood pressure was 110 / 78 when I came home.  It was 160 - 170 / 95 when I left.  That is progress. 

Thank you for following me on this journey so far. I'll continue to post from time to time to stay accountable and hopefully report another 5, 10 , 15, 20 ???? lbs loss to come! 

LIVE HAPPY, LIVE HEALTHY!

If you have some spare time and spare money and want a life changing experience - go to MOVARA FITNESS RESORT in Ivins Utah!  Tell them Donna Stewart sent you and you'll get $100 off and you won't regret it!

So blessed to have been able to spend 4 amazing weeks on these amazing rocks!

SATURDAY JULY 30th , 2016    THE RESULTS

I can't believe 4 weeks have gone by!  I decided to skip out on the hike and the Last Blast workout today.  It was going to be a long day, so I  figured a sleep in would be good for my attention later on in my long drive.   I enjoyed a sleep in and lazy morning. Made a last minute trip to Walmart to pick up a few thing.    Went to Movara at 9:15 for my final weigh in.  Week 4 weightloss was AMAZING - considering that I spent last weekend in Las Vegas eating 3 buffets and not doing much and took half the day off on Tuesday - the scale was down 7.5 lbs!  WOW!


So Total down over 4 weeks ( 27 days) was

Lost 25.6 lbs
Lost 5.4% body fat
Chest lost 4.75 inches ( sorry husband... LOL)
Belly - 3.5 inches
Hips  4.0 inches

BMI went from 40 .5  with 42.2 percent body fat  ( 108.9 lbs of fat)  to
                           36.5   with 36.8 percent body fat   ( 85.8 lbs of fat)

My Resting Metabolic Rate started out at 1834 calories and  with losing 25.6 lbs it ended up at 1811!

I am SO PROUD and excited about my results! I worked very hard and I am feeling good in my skin!  I would still like to lose a lot more; however, I am much happier and healthier at this new weight

Before 259 lbs

After 232 lbs

Before

After

I enjoyed a breakfast and said my goodbye's.  The kitchen staff was AMAZING - I got Supper for tonight, Snack, breakfast lunch and Snacks for Sunday. 

Plan to succeed!

The drive today was interesting.  I was about 2 hours into my 20 hour drive home and something was wrong with my  car. It began to shake violently!  I pulled over from 80 mph and checked my tires to see if I had a flat, nope!  So I went back on the road and went a bit slower and pulled off on the next ramp. Thinking that I might have a rock in my brake, I backed up quickly and forward again and no change, still a shimmy.  There was a Sherriff on the off ramp as there was a fire up a side road and he took a look at my car and noticed that the front left tire had separated and he helped me get the spare tire out of my trunk ( underneath 1 month's worth of clothes and supplies that took an hour to pack strategically and tightly in!  He was excited that I had a full size spare.  Took it out and .............

IT WAS FLAT!   No compressor so he made quite a few phone calls and a wonderful highway patrolman on a day off came out with his truck that had a compressor and told me where to get the tire fixed so that I wouldn't get " took" .  Amazing ... Thank you so much! 

BE HUMBLE AND BE KIND AND PAY IT FORWARD!

I made it to my destination of Dillon Montana at 10 pm - 11 .5 hours after I left.  I checked into my motel room and went for a walk to get my 10,000 steps in. 

Another long travel day tomorrow!

Friday July 29th, 2016  CONQUERED THAT MOUNTAIN TODAY!

10 K Day was today.  I was feeling awesome about it. Mentally in the game, physically in good shape.  Spent 30 min last night and got every song that I wanted in the spots I wanted and needed them and headed out.

They let me start at the front of the line - felt good.  Smaller crowd today.  I set off running behind the pace guide.  I got so far ahead of everyone that he dropped back so that he could guide the others ( as I knew where I was going as it was the 4th time!)

I ran as far as I could until it started getting steep then did the best / fastest walking pace that I could. Got up to the top and I knew that I would be good to meet my goal as long as everything went OK.  The way back was amazing.  I ran 3/4 of the way back ( as it's mostly downhill)  Came in under 1 hr 15 minutes and my goal was to come in at 1 hr 19 min 59 seconds.  So I am VERY PROUD of how much time I was able to shave off the first time I gave my best.  I was able to shave off almost 14 mintues ( easier running with 22 lbs less of body weight jiggling around)

Went back and put in a good solid 40 min on the exercise bike

BREAKFAST

LECTURE for departing guests with Jenn -  so much to write and i'm tired so i'll put it in my summary in a few day. 

Most important thing is ....... the formula they use is   F + N + EM =  WM    

Fitness + Nutrition + Emotional management = Weight Management

- most of us do this in the wrong order  - we try to manage our weight  with.......

Try instead

1.   Do emotional Management

2.  Focus on Nutrition ( 80% of weightloss is food)

3.  Fitness

if you do all of the above the Weight Management will just naturally come ... doesn't need to be that hard.

Also - if you were your normal weight - what kinds of exercises would you be doing?  Those are the exercises that you should be doing to help take it off!

CORE CHALLENGE - kicked my butt again

hopped in the pool to help the pool instructor learn some new moves

LUNCH

Relaxing / reading in the sun for 30 minutes

SWIM - 1 km   I am really enjoying the swimming!

CINCO SPEED - cardio interval class I did on the treadmill ... tough

CIRCUIT - went quick

HAIRCUT ... felt good to get a fresh new do! Just a little trim!

SUPPER

home to pack and relax 

Car is loaded and all ready to go.  Get my weigh out and measurements at 925 am tomorrow and then breakfast and get some food for the trip and then start my 9.5 hour drive to Dillon Montana. 

I was going to do the last hike / walk tomorrow.  I changed my mind, want to sleep in and don't want to pack a bag of dirty sweaty clothes. So it's just simpler not.  I hope to get 10 k in walking  along the truck stops tomorrow so that i'm not sitting too much!

It has been an amazing journey.  I met my goal - which was to try my hardest and to get my spark and zest for life back. I look forward to going home and doing more healthy things with my family, cooking better balanced meals, setting some goals for the future - short term and long term.  The continued weightloss will come, I am not in a hurry. 

Thanks for following my journey. Sorry the blog was so boring, not much energy at the end of the day to be too witty!  I will continue to post weekly with updates and will do a summary of the most important things that I learned also!

Be healthy & move!

Thursday July 28th, 2016    Another Great Day

Morning Hike - Lots of hikers today.  I followed Dennis and it was just the 2 of us for the trip there, so a great pace.  Lots of sand, some lava rock and red sandstone to climb up - all in the shade and pretty scenery!  It's amazing how much faster, stronger & more confident I feel.  I look forward to hiking at home. 

so much fun to climb and so beautiful

Emotional Eating Workshop with Jenn ( I forgot the notes in my locker, i'll post some tips and hints tomorrow night)

HIP HOP - it wasn't pretty... LOL but I thought I would give it a try

LUNCH

SUNNING on the air matress 20 min and then SWIM 1 KM

TREADING CLASS - did not want to run, so I did it with incline and ended up getting a good workout in.

POOL - 40 min water jogging and toning

95 min massage..... heaven.... it was supposed to be 80 but he went  over!

Toe nail polish change - just to feel pretty

It was a great day - all in all.  10 k tomorrow - I am going to work as hard as I can to get my time below 1 hr 20 min ... so 1 hr 19 59 will do.  But it really does not matter to me if I make it or not. 

I did not QUIT!  I have been quitting everything for the last 3 years - so just to have set a goal of doing the 10 k every week and do my best.  So I will do my best and see how it goes!

So excited to be heading home on Saturday morning!

Wednesday July 27th, 2016

( Happy Birthday to my Son Craig 15 today)

I CAN SEE THE END OF THIS CHAPTER OF THE JOURNEY

A much better day today!  Emotionally, physically and mentally!

HIKE - only 2 of us! Rose & Myself and our 2 hiking guides, so we got a private hike - It was amazing.  Red Mountain trail - but we skipped a bunch of yucky sand ( still got a lot of it though!) so that we could climb the summit and scramble around.  We  were literally on the edge 1500 ft above the canyon floor - it was awesome & I didn't slip and fall and die, so that is good!  LOL

I can't tell you how amazing it feels up here - it's so beautiful!  The feeling of accomplishment is pretty awesome too!

This is Roses' picture.  We sat ... yes sat with our legs hanging on a ledge ( with a very sturdy ledge underneath it and it was tilted backwards ... so fairly safe)  Probably about 1500 ft down to the canyon floor.

sitting on the edge ( not even thinking about jumping off... ) So peaceful!

BREAKFAST

I noticed another girl crying at breakfast, she has been there for 3 weeks with me.  I didn't say anything to her, just gave her space.  After she was talking with someone else, I mentioned I could take her driving in the convertible with the roof down and do swimming in the Gunlock Resevoir and she perked right up.  Got her and another girl out of the compound and we did a fantastic 1.3 km water jog, noodle swim in some amazing cool water   ( did this instead of open gym and missed a cardio class... got back just before lunch)

LUNCH

I went and rode the bike for 20 min to make up a bit of the cardio class we missed ( but we did get an extra 20 min of swimming over top of the class we missed)

LASTING CHANGE - LECTURE   CLIFF

Cliff is an awesome instructor.  He's been at Movara for about a year.  He lost 60 lbs over the last 6 years and became a fitness trainer.  He had a heart attack and both his parents died from health related issues.  It was great hearing his story.  The most important things that I took from his lecture were:

- Work that needs to be done is from the inside out

- Knowledge is Power... only if you do something with it

- You need to find your WHY!   Why do you want to lose weight ( Cliff doesn't like the phrase losing weight.  When he loses something he usually finds it again and he doesn't plan on finding the lost weight again.. Good point!  So he got Rid of some weight.

- Do what you enjoy as far as exercise and you'll be more likely to stick with it!

- abs are created in the kitchen, not in the gym

- use a smaller plate, it'll give you the illusion of having a full plate

- stay accountable and get some good support

- weight is NOT a MEASURE of progress!

KICKBOXING - Awesome as always - my shoulder did not get sore during the burn out the shoulder drill - loved that!

STRENGTH CIRCUIT - I chose the treadmill instead - burned 500 calories walking briskly

AQUA ZUMBA OR STRETCH  - I rode the exercise bike for another 30 minutes for 300 calorie burn and then went and did stretch on my own

This is a selfie of my fat crying after biking - the gym has a/c and it's set at 20 degrees.  I don't know why I sweat so much.  I am probably drinking  6 - 7 litres of water a day!

SUPPER - I didn't eat my dessert.  It wasn't appealing to me, so I went to the grocery store - Harmon's .  It is the most beautiful store I have ever been to.  Look at the items you get at the till to grab - Tuna snacks, healthy energy bars, fruit, water, nuts  ..... sure different than our checkout lines!

I got a dark chocolate bar and ate 50 calories worth ( there was dark chocolate in the dessert tonight at Movara) and a bowl of mixed fruit, blueberries, pineapple, blackberries, grapes, strawberries - just couldn't leave them at the store!  It was an awesome dessert I enjoyed at home. 

All in all it was a great day. I'm in a much better frame of mind, the hike really helped it was so awesome. Tomorrow is my last "hike".  It should be in amazing scenery in snow canyon again.  Lots of climbing up and down.  Emotional Eating lecture, some time to get extra cardio in and an 80 min deep tissue massage with an amazing therapist and then touch up my toe polish ( sand is very hard on it - shoes and socks are always full of fine red sand)

ps.  jumped on the scale today - weight is not a measure of progress.... but I finally saw the 230's on the scale ... whoop whoop!  20 lbs "that I got rid of " I'll go with Cliff's words on that.  Very happy with that!