Nancy and Steph – Smartest Loser Contestants

Workouts
**I am proud of myself for having participated in all the morning July bootcamps! (There is still tomorrow, and my heel hurts so much from yesterday’s hill that I can barely walk but I’m too perfectionnist to not show up on the last day of July. I iced it last night and I’ll ice it again tonight.)

**I have also attended all the Monday night Zumba workouts at the Y, and I’m completely shocked that I actually love it and don’t dread it. I even dreamed that I had missed a class and was very upset. It’s ludicrous to me. I thought “Find something you like doing for exercise” didn’t apply to me. It’s the twilight zone, but I love it.

** I have gone walking on the riverfront trail for 1.5 hours on my lunch “hour” once a week, either Tuesday or Thursday. I have also dragged Steph and the dogs (okay the dogs didn’t need to be dragged) to Rotary Park for nice weekend walks, but not every weekend.

I’m more than satisfied with my workout efforts for July, and I’m proud of myself. My goal is to have at least 5 (one hour min.) workouts a week.

Nutrition

** I also ate according to my goals for the whole month of July, minus a three day PMS induced fiasco last week. I spun out of control and had Thai food 3 times, chinese 1 time, and mexican 2 times. (Yes, I went out to eat lunch & dinner for 3 whole days.) I must have had international PMS. Normally, my all-or-nothing self would say “Oh well, I ate so bad for the past 3 days, why bother going to the Friday mornign workout?”. But I went, and I’m really glad I did. It helped me nip this in the bud and I’ve been back on plan since. Oh and other than that, I had an episode where I ate an entire bag of fresh cherries in one sitting, but that’s not the end of the world. I didn’t get this fat eating cherries.

Weight

** I lost 10.2lbs in July!!

We did it! We survived our first week back at the bootcamps!! We saw the most gorgeous sunrise this morning as we drove to bootcamp, that almost makes getting up at 4h30am less painful. I don’t want to to jinx it, but I think that we’ve found our motivation again! 

Is anyone still here ?

So I’m about to cross out the “Steph” part of the banner on top of this blog… Maybe we could rename it to nancyandloki dot com ! hehe. Just kidding, Steph is doing okay, he just has zero time to blog on this, or log his food intake or workouts, but he does have a nagging wife who won’t let him make stupid nutrition choices hehe. Oh and when he did have some free time this weekend, he put together our new BBQ instead yay! I LOVE BBQ season!! It really helps to jazz things up when you’re trying to eat clean. Have you ever had a BBQ’d salmon on a cedar plank? deeelish! Even ‘naked’ chicken on the BBQ tastes different than ‘naked’ chicken in the oven.

So here is the weigh in : I have lost that 4.7 pounds that I put on last week, and determined to have another loss on Monday.

For those of you who aren’t on my Facebook and haven’t heard the fantastic news : My mom finally got her test/scan results from her oncologist on May 7th, and she received the greatest news she could have gotten : Her cancer is dormant, therefore she doesn’t need any chemo or any other treatments right now. She said it’s like winning bingo! hehe May 7th – It’s a day for second chances! (May 7th was also the day that we started this Smartest Loser adventure last year!) I’m sure something great is in store for next year’s May 7th!

Here’s to accountability :

Nancy – Gained 4.7lbs
Steph – Refused to step on the scale.

Periods, weddings, wine, chocolate, chips, and ice cream. None of those are good reasons to gain weight, but it is what it is! Here’s to a loss next week.

Well, think I did pretty good this week!

But you might have to start a petition to get Steph to log his food!

***Wednesday April 22
Breakfast : 6 cups coffee, 3tbsp cream, 100g Source Vanilla Yogurt, 1 tbsp sugar free berry jam, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese.
Lunch : Home made Taco Soup
Dinner : Home made Chili
Snacks : 75grams fat free cream cheese, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 2 apples, 2 tofutti

***Thursday April 23
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3 tbsp cream, Goat Cheese, Pepper & onions omelet
Lunch : Home made Taco Soup
Dinner : Homemade chili
Snacks : 1 apple, sugar free jello, 2 tofutti

***Friday April 24
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3 tbsp cream, Apple & Cinnamon Oatmeal
Lunch : Home made Taco Soup
Dinner : Baked shake n’ bake Chicken Breast, 2 cups cucumber slices, 1 large tomato, 1/2 a lean cuisine pannini
Snacks : 0.5 cup Fiber One, 100g vanilla source yogourt, 1tbsp sugar free jam, 1 apple

***Saturday April 25
Breakfast : 0.5 pork sausage, 2 hard boiled eggs
Lunch : Yogurt, oatmeal, and berries parfait from Sobeys (These are so darn good and convenient!)
Dinner : Baked shake n’ bake Chicken Breast, 2 cups cucumber slices, 1 large tomato, 1/2 a lean cuisine pannini
Snack : 1 apple

***Sunday April 26
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3tbsp cream, Oatmeal
Lunch : Goat Cheese, onions & peppers Omelet
Dinner : 7oz Pork Tenderloin, 1 large tomato, 2 cups sliced cucumber
Snack : 5 small apples, 0.5 cups fiber one cereal, 100g vanilla yogourt (That’s right.. 5 apples! hehe)

***Monday April 27
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 2tbsp cream, oatmeal
Lunch : Stouffer’s BBQ Chicken & potato wedge frozen meal
Dinner : 1 baked shake n’ bake Chicken breast, 1 large tomato, 2 cups slices cucumber
Snacks : 2 apple, 10 almonds

***Tuesday April 28
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 2 tbsp cream, Oatmeal
Lunch : City Grill Asian Salad
Dinner : 1 baked shake n’ bake Chicken breast, 1 large tomato, 2 cups cucumber slices, 1 tbsp brown rice (just to taste Steph’s hehe)
Snack : 1 apple, 1tbsp peanut butter

++ And I also drink at least 2-3 litres of water daily

I have found a great way to lose my apetite. Today I was eating lunch at my desk, at work, when all of a sudden I realize that there is an ANT crawling up my HAND. EWwwwww!! Yep, Spring is really here, and our office is infested with ants again. Grrr. So here are the week’s results :

Nancy – Lost 8lbs!!
Steph – Lost 5lbs!!

Nancy - Take THAT, chinese food bloat! It’s a big number, so I shouldn’t be too surprised to see a much lower number next week. Especially since Aunt Flow is due to arrive any minute now. Remind me that next week, k? Believe it or not, (I’m sure you can), I still have a long way to go to get to where I was last summer. Le sigh. (Not too deep sigh, my pants are too tight for that.)

Steph - Is still unavailable for comments, but did do well this week.

Loki - Wow, we went for a super long walk in the Irishtown nature park on Saturday. Chanel is only 8 months old, so this was her longest walk of her whole entire life! We met about a trillion people on the trail and at least a bazillion other dogs! We had a butt sniffin’ good time!

Well, my fitness log looks pitiful this week. I promise an improvement next week. At least having to post it is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do : keeping me accountable.

Nancy :

April 19 - 30min. Walk with the dogs
April 20 - 30min. Walk with the dogs
April 21 - Traipsing all around town with my parents all afternoon
April 22 - Nothing
April 23 - Nothing
April 24 – 45 min walk on the Marsh Trail, and 30 min. walk with the dogs

Steph :

N/A – But I will say that he was there on most dog walks (all but one I think) And he wasn’t on the Marsh trail this afternoon with me and Guylaine.

Steph has unfortunately nothing to report here again, although really we’re often eating the same thing. He is still craaaaazy busy at work, then working from home, and staring into empty space thinking of work stuff when he’s not working.

So I haven’t done too horrible this week, but it wasn’t great either. I need to : cut down on coffee, quit accidentally ordering Chinese food, stop going for a 2nd plate when convincing everyone to go to a healthy restaurant, and I definitely need to avoid 1200 calorie DQ Blizzards, because they’re not very conductive to weight loss. I still have 4.5 days until the next weigh-in day, so there is still time to do great until then.

Oh and I better get crackin’ on the fitness, because so far the only thing I have to report on Friday’s fitness log are dog walks!

***Wednesday April 15
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 2tbsp cream, 200g Source Vanilla Yogurt, 1 tbsp sugar free berry jam, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese.
Lunch : Pepper Salad – Mixed greens, rainbow peppers, cherry tomatoes, 1oz goat cheese, 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tsp balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes.
Dinner : Goat cheese red pepper omelet
Snacks : Large apple

***Thursday April 16
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3 tbsp cream, 200g Source vanilla Yogurt, 1tbsp sugar free berry jam, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese.
Lunch : Pepper Salad – Mixed greens, rainbow peppers, cherry tomatoes, 1oz goat cheese, 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tsp balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes.
Dinner : 5.5 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, 4tbsp hummus, 0.5 cups bruschetta tomato mix, 1 cup fresh broccoli
Snacks : 2 medium apples and 1 large apple

***Friday April 17
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3 tbsp cream, 200g Source vanilla Yogurt, 1tbsp sugar free berry jam, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese.
Lunch : Pepper Salad – Mixed greens, rainbow peppers, cherry tomatoes, 1oz goat cheese, 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tsp balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes.
Dinner : 6 small pieces of Salmon, Shrimp, and Eel Sushi, and 12 small pieces veggie sushi.
Snacks : None

***Saturday April 18
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3tbsp cream, 1 cup Source Vanilla Yogurt, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese, 2 cups sliced strawberries, 0.5 cups Kashi cereal.
Lunch : 2 slices of Dempster’s ancient (whole) grains bread, 2 tbsp peanut butter
Dinner : 2 italian sausages, sweet potato oven fries.
Snack : 4 pieces of fudge, 1 medium apple

***Sunday April 19
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3tbsp cream
Lunch : None
Dinner : The Chinese Food Incident (That was stupid)
Snack : One big back of ketchup chips, 1 Hershey Almond bar, 1 Cherry Blossom, 2 medium apples (This was stupider)

***Monday April 20
Breakfast : 6 cups coffee, 3tbsp cream
Lunch : None
Dinner : 2 bowls of home made Taco Soup
Snacks : 1 cup of white cheddar popcorn, 1 medium apple, 10 Hershey’s Kisses

***Tuesday April 21
Breakfast : 5 cups coffee, 3 tbsp cream, 200g Source Vanilla Yogurt, 1tbsp sugar free raspberry jam, 1 cup 2% cottage cheese.
Lunch : Home made Taco Soup
Dinner : Red Pepper Mongolian Stir Fry, 2 heaping plates
Snack : Dairy Queen Large Midnight Truffle Blizzard (Which is more than 1200 calories, I must not succumb again!)

++ And I also drink at least 2 litres of water daily.

Eeeeeek. My first ‘official’ weigh-in in a looooong time! The first of many many to come. I’ve still got a looong way to go. And I’ll also probably need to keep ‘publically’ weighing in at least once a month, even during the maintenance phase (which is so far off in the distance for now.. but it’s still there, somewhere!) to keep me accountable. So here it is :

Nancy – Lost 4lbs!
Steph – N/A

Nancy : It sounds good, but it’s just okay. I won’t spit on it, but I was down 10lbs (because I gained 12lbs during Easter weekend.) and then I messed it up yesterday by eating chinese food. And chips. And chocolate. Yep.. really messed up. But the reason that I’m starting to weigh in and posting the results on here again is because I need to snap out of it, be accountable and start losing again. So there it is, my confession. Here’s to a new week of no cheating, and to another loss on Monday :)

Steph : Mr. Vienneau’s reps have issued an official statement explaining that he has been too busy to log his food and has forgotten to weigh in, every single day in the past week. His wife, Mrs. Vienneau, thinks that’s total bullcrap and hopes that he finds his motivation soon!

Loki : Hey Dawgs! I’ve been slacking off with my updates too! I will update soon, promise. Did you know that since last Fall I have a new sister? Her name is Chanel, she’s blonde, and since we’ve had her I’ve lost 5lbs!!

I guess that we’re not alone in struggling post-Smartest Loser. Not long after I posted this, a new idea started brewing on the Smartest Loser forums, which I think is a great idea. So I’m going to take some ideas from there, add a few of my own, and hopefully form a great plan. I am harrassing and nagging Steph to start the preparations to participate (like log his food), hopefully he will. Here is the plan, and what you can expect to see on this blog soon :

Mondays : Weigh in!!

Wednesdays : Posting weekly food logs

Fridays : Posting weekly exercise logs

I wish that we could afford to continue seeing Steve at Simply for Life. I wish that we could continue group trainings with the awesome trainers. I wish I could continue regular therapy at Max Health for my stupid heel that won’t heal. I wish I could always buy the bestest, freshest, organic foods. But you know what, times are tough and I’m sure we’re not alone. It would be nice to have all those things, but hopefully with your encouragement and support we can do it again.

As some of you know, my mother was recently diagnosed with cancer. I have to take all that ‘life-isnt-fair’ energy and throw it at my workouts. This is the time. Life is too short to wait for yet another Monday to hop back on the wagon. We got back on the wagon yesterday, this time for good. You all know that one of my biggest  motivations to lose weight and be healthier is to hopefully be able to have children. We have to give it our all now, all of us, because I want us all to live happy, healthy and long lives together.