Happy New Year!

Well, hello there. It's been awhile, eh? It's high time I dust this thing off and start blogging regularly again.

It's also an exciting time for me to blog again because I DON'T have any major life events to contend with, so I can actually focus on myself! Huzzah!

But 2013 was still a great year, what with that wedding and all. And I can say that the Beau and I were successfully married. I'm now a Mrs! It was, simply, the best day of my life.

Dad walking me down the aisle

With my family

With my NEW family

Outside the church

The holidays were their regular whirlwind of family, food and fun. But now it's done and 2014 is here and I've decided this is the year of me. The year I'm going to focus on what I want, on doing what I want to do, on putting my needs first.

This in itself will be a challenge, as I've always focused on what others want (and I don't say this in a I'm-a-martyr kind of way; more in a I'm-not-confident-enough-to-put-my-needs-first kind of way) so I've decided it's time to get better at saying and doing what I want, because the world will not end if I pick what movie we're going to watch or decide what we're having for dinner.

That said, my goals for this year are about excess, rather than cutting back. For example:

1. Eat more foods that make me feel good about myself. So more fruit and vegetables; more lean meat and steak; more smoothies, especially with spinach.

2. Run more, because it makes me feel good. I would like to get a 5K under my belt this year (I do have something else planned, but more on that shortly) but the way I feel physically and mentally when I run is more important than finishing a bunch of races. Though that would be cool too.

3. Knit more, and be more creative overall. Crafting for the wedding took up much of my creativeness last year and it was enjoyable, but now I'm looking forward to making things for the fun of it or for friends and family or even for myself (GASP!) because I want to. So I will.

4. Read more. I tend to go through phases when I can't seem to read enough but then suddenly books are dull and all I want to do are crossword puzzles and play on Twitter. This year, I've started off strong with The Demonologist and I've got quite the list for the rest of the year. And I want to start writing about what I read, too, so that will happen here.

5. Do more yoga. And by "more", I mean "any". I've signed up for four weeks of beginner classes with my sister-in-law so that's pretty exciting. They start next Saturday and I'm looking forward to being bendier.

6. Complete a triathlon. Wait, what? Yup, triathlon. It's just a wee one (375m swim, 12km bike, 3km run) so I'm confident it's something I can not only complete but enjoy doing. It's in July so I've got lots of time to train. Here's hoping Toronto thaws soon because it's hard to run on ice.

7. Be nicer to myself. This is going to be the hardest one on the list but it's something I need to do. I need to be kinder to myself, to tell myself good things, to think good things, to believe in good things. I've been seeing a counselor to help me with this; two sessions so far, with another scheduled for next week. It's been good so far and I'm hoping for more good to come out of it. It might seem weird to be seeing someone to work on self-confidence but it's something I've needed for awhile and I'm glad I'm doing it.

There are things I'm not going to worry about this year, too.

Firstly, my weight. It's something I'm always going to be aware of, for sure, but I'm not going to be obsessed with the number or with what I think I should weigh. Because if I eat right and train regularly for my triathlon, plus just run more, I'll see positive changes in my body, all without worrying about the number on the scale.

Secondly, I'm going to make a HUGE effort to not worry about the size tags on my clothes. This is going to be a big challenge, but something that I need to do for myself. If what I wear fits me well and looks good on m (and if no one else knows what size I wear), then who cares?! Right? Right.

And third, I'm going to stop stressing about how clean and organized my house is. It's a work in progress and likely will be for years and that's okay. As long as I work to keep it as neat as I can (as we can, as the hubby always helps), that is all that is needed.

It's going to be a good year, I can feel it. And with the house bought and the wedding over, it's going to be a year full of small, exciting, wonderful things and I can't wait!

Smooth(ie) movies

You know what? Smoothies are awesome. I've been having one every morning for breakfast and I kind of love them. I just make one each night before bed and grab it on my way to the bus stop and by the time I get to work I'm full of fruity (sometimes veggie) goodness - though I still need a coffee.

It's also a great way for me to get more fruit in my life since I'm so hit and miss with my fruit consumption. (The mad apple cravings I was having a month ago have passed.)

I've been fervently collecting smoothie recipes and I'm finally getting brave enough to change them up and add and subtract ingredients as I see fit. One thing I've done is stop making my smoothies with yogurt. While using Greek yogurt gives a smoothie a great protein boost, I'm just not a fan. For liquid, I'll use 1% milk but mostly water is just fine. I guess it depends on how think you like your smoothie; if you want to be able to walk on it, go with yogurt. If you like it a little thinner, milk or water will do that for you.

And that's a big reason why smoothies are so great: customization baby! I've already shared my love of the peanut butter-banana smoothie; here are two more I'm into right now:

Spinach-strawberry-mango-banana smoothie
1 banana
1 cup mango
1/2 cup strawberries
Handful spinach
1 cup liquid (I use milk in this one)
Then blend it up and drink it up!
I also through in one scoop of vanilla protein powder and a tablespoon of flax seed oil.

Spinach and strawberries and mango, oh my!

 Grapefruit-mango-strawberry smoothie
1 medium grapefruit, peeled and sectioned (I cheated and used stuff from a jar)
1/2 cup mango
1/2 cup strawberries
1 cup water (I feel like milk would be weird with grapefruit)
Blend and drink!
Again, I did my protein powder and flax seed additions. I don't eat a lot of citrus fruit so this is a great way for me to get some extra vitamin C.

See those grapefruit chunks in the bottom?

After the Oscars

Did you watch the Oscars last night? I sure did! The Beau even watched the first 2 1/2 hours with me and we had lots of fun making fun of things.

I also entered an Oscar pool and - drum roll please - I WON! I went 21/24 and I'm pretty proud of that, considering I had only seen one nominated film this year. (It was The Avengers and it lost its category.)

 See, I won!

I mostly watch the show for the clothes and I found the red carpet to be hella boring last night. Lots of sparkly column dresses and long, flowy hair. Honestly, it looked like most of the women came straight from the beach and wrapped themselves in sequined towels.

I've also realized that many media outlets have terrible taste, as my picks for best dressed made their worst dressed lists. Silly media outlets.

My faves for the night were Naomi Watts, Olivia Munn, Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Garner and Deborah Lee Furness (aka Mrs Wolverine - she wore a pant suit! Love!).

 Naomi Watts; photo found here.

Olivia Munn; photo found here.

Amanda Seyfried: photo found here.

Jennifer Garner; photo found here.

Deborah Lee Furness; photo found here.

But even with my pool win and impeccable taste in fashion, I'm proudest of this: I snacked on veggies all night!

At one point, while whining for chocolate, the Beau said he knew where there was chocolate in the house. I told him I didn't want to know about that and that I was counting on my laziness to keep me from going to the corner gas station and loading up on crappy food. And laziness for the win, ladies and gentlemen! I did have a hot chocolate to help quell my craving - and it worked! - and for the rest of the night I chowed down on baby carrots.

(I did have one square of Lindor almond chocolate at the end of the night, but it was only one square, which is really just fine.)

Overall, I did much better last night than Seth McFarlane who, while not terrible, was at best okay. Though he's an amazing singer. AMAZING. If he had sung the entire show it would have been that much better.

(And Catwoman and Mystique totally won Oscars too, which is awesome!)

I'm trying

Behold, my lunch and afternoon snack for today!

 

It's really time for me to be honest with myself (and the four people who read this blog): a big reason I slacked and pretty much stopped tracking my points is because I didn't like seeing the points values of my favourite bad foods and how quickly they depleted my daily allotment. 

Out of tracking, out of mind, right? Maybe, but definitely not out of hips.

Knowing I need to be better and that I need to try harder - and knowing how crappy I feel (mentally and physically) after junk food - I set out today to start trying. For my lunch, I had turkey on whole wheat bread with lots of veggies and regular mustard (but no cheese - sigh). The salad was chopped veg (no lettuce because, really, why bother?) topped with reduced-fat Italian dressing and bacon bits for crunch. The fruit cup I'm saving for this afternoon when I inevitably crave something sweet. 

When tallied, the sandwich, salad and fruit cup come in at six points.

SIX POINTS.

That's it. I get to eat ALL THAT and it only costs me six points. My coffee this morning was two points so all told, by this afternoon I'll only have used eight points of my allotted 31.

So with 23 points left on the day, it really feels like I have endless choices. Of course, bad food will use up those points pretty quickly so I still have to be mindful. But when I actually stop to think about it, I can eat a lot of god stuff for minimal points so not tracking because I want to have a cheeseburger is a really lousy excuse. 

I'm definitely going to try harder, not just with eating better but with tracking all that I eat, cheeseburgers and salads and donuts and fruit and all of it.

WW Weigh-in #34

So things are going in the right direction (again...for now):

Last week: 188.8 lb
This week: 187.2 lb
Total lost this week: 1.6 lb

Weight loss target: 181.8 lb
To reach target: 5.4 lb

 With the weather getting cooler and a house finally purchased, I'm feeling calmer and more invigorated. I'm also back to running regularly and doing well with that, so I'm confident I can not only lose a pound a week but maintain that loss week after week.

I'm also facing a busy stretch at work (the next four months, really) which will mean eating more meals at work. But knowing that's going to happen will help me plan and prepare meals and snacks to take to work - I just need to make sure I follow through on the plans! I've been buying my lunch for so long that when I plan to pack a lunch I often forget it at home.

Fortunately the work cafeteria has my favourite Greek yogurt available, as well as cut fruit and the salad bar that I've been ignoring for too long. Combine that with the sandwich counter and the vegetable sides that are available and I've got plenty of good options for when I do forget to pack a lunch. If only I didn't have to walk past the pizza counter to get to these spots!

Really, I'd love to be at my target weight for when we move into the new house. How great would that be? New home, new weight, all kinds of new beginnings.

It's something to strive for.

So much fruit!

And not a yogurt commercial in sight.