The Brick Wall

Have you ever had a day or a time when you felt that there was something preventing you from reaching your goal? I have had many of these times in my journey. I came across this one day and it made me really think.

I used to get upset and feel sorry for myself when I was not making any forward progress. I would turn to eating...and it was usually unhealthy food. Lately, I realized that this is not helping me make progress. It is actually taking me back a few steps.

When something gets in the way of reaching your goal, this is the time to look deep inside yourself and draw upon your strengths. I believe we are not given anything that we can't handle. I also think that these hard times/situations should be used to help us grow stronger as people. Take the opportunity to learn from the hard times so that next time, it won't be as hard. Think about what you can do to to prevent it next time.

Every time you are faced with a brick wall, learn from them and grow a little stronger each time and eventually that brick wall won't stand a chance!

Believe

Always believe in YOU.

Listen to your heart.

Trust your instincts.

Know you CAN.

See your own strengths.

Dream it ~ Dare it

Do what you are afraid of.

Keep the faith.

Follow your vision.

Remember, anything is possible

if you only BELIEVE.

Water - Are You Drinking Enough?

On Tuesday, my trainer, Todd, was asking if I have been drinking enough water. I thought I was...on most days. I was aiming for 4 litres on days that I didn't work and would only get about 2 litres on days that I do work.
Todd told me to aim for 5 litres on days that I don't work and 4 litres on days that I do work. Does he know how much peeing that involves???

When you look at the health benefits of water, I know why he wants me to drink so much. There are countless health, beauty and weight loss benefits. Here are some of them...

• Our bodies are estimated to be about 60 to 70 % water and is essential for our survival.


• Drinking water flushes out toxins and nourish your body from the inside.


• Studies show that it is great for your heart and that it could lower your risk of heart attacks.


• Drinking water helps keep your skin hydrated and helps you flush out impurities leaving you with a healthy glow.


• Water does not have any calories.


• Water helps your body metabolize fat and digest food efficiently.


• Sometimes when you think you are hungry, you are actually thirsty. Next time you feel hungry, try drinking a glass of water and see if you feel satisfied.


• We lose water through our skin by sweating and by simply breathing. We need to replenish that water.


• Water is helpful in transporting oxygen to all the cells in your body.


• When you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated and when you are dehydrated, you are tired. So drink up to give you lots of energy.

I realize that not everyone needs to drink as much water as I am drinking. The more active you are the more you need to drink. The more you sweat the more you need to drink and there are a lot of other factors. That being said, the average person should drink at least 2 litres of water a day. So I ask...are you drinking enough water?

Workouts this week

If you are wondering what I have been up to since Monday, I am about to tell you.

I worked Sunday night so I slept in on Monday...later than I expected. I went to the gym and started my workout. I did my usual 1 & 1/2 hours of cardio and my weights. I am back to what is called the Building Phase. The building phase is where you pyramid your weights. You start with 12, then 10, and then 8 reps and you increase the weight you are lifting for each set. This is a great way to build muscle. Monday was chest and bicep day and boy did I ever work them.

Tuesday I started with early morning cardio. Early morning cardio is where you do your cardio before eating anything...even before you have a drink of juice (water is fine). The idea behind early morning cardio is that you get to burning your fat stores faster. I would highly suggest that you talk to your doctor before starting this to make sure it is right for you.
So I did 1 hour of cardio in the morning, ate my breakfast and lunch and then headed back to the gym for my personal training session and the last 1/2 hour of cardio. In my training session I did, what is called, the 300 workout. My time was 22:39 which is almost 2 minutes faster than my time on Saturday. I was really pleased with that...and VERY tired!

Wednesday I started again with early morning cardio. I warmed up on the elliptical and then went for a run. Now, those of you who have been reading know that I don't normally enjoy running, but it was different on Wednesday. I had planned to run 6 kms, stopping every 1.5 kms for a quick break and I did just that. My running time was 34:25 which was superb for me. What was even more superb, was that I actually enjoyed the run and felt like I could have ran farther. I continued on with my cardio and did a total of 75 mins of cardio.
Wednesday afternoon it was time to train my legs. I did the leg extension and leg curl, the hip abductor and adductor, the leg press and my calves, and then did some plie squats. Then on to finish my cardio with a 1/2 hour spin.
What a day that was! I finished the day with a highly needed hot bath in epsom salts.

So, what did I do today? I started with early morning cardio, AGAIN! I started with 20 mins on the Precor elliptical, then moved on to 20 mins on a different elliptical. I was finding my cardio really hard this morning. My legs were tired much faster than normal due to what I had done on Wednesday. But I soldiered on and moved to the bike. My quads were burning within a few minutes so I completed 10 mins and decided that I had had enough. On my way to the stairs I thought to myself "Why are you stopping now? You only have 10 mins left for this morning. You can do anything for 10 minutes." So I decided to finish my cardio off with 10 mins on the rowing machine.
Back to the gym for noon to warm up and have a personal training session. I did the 300 workout again and guess what my time was...Come on, you really have to guess! I did the 300 workout in 20:33. Yep that is 2:06 faster than on Tuesday. I finished off my training session with some boxing and kicking. Let me tell you, I was spent after that. But I still had cardio that had to be done. So I did some spinning. Oh, I forgot to say that I was weighed today. 201.5 lbs.

My plan for tomorrow is to train my back and my triceps. Tomorrow is going to be really tough. My body is really tired but you know what? I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to so I am going to rock it tomorrow with early morning cardio and then back to the gym for 12ish to finish off my week.

This week I found that I was really focused and I also reached a new intensity. I really pushed myself. What did you do to challenge yourself this week?

No More Excuses

I'm doing this, no more excuses.

No more binging or irrational eating

because it only makes me feel bad about myself afterwards.

This year will be my year and for once I'm not just saying that.

I will make the necessary changes, I'm going to get to my healthy weight.

I don't care if I'm going to have to sweat like a pig or cut back on junk food.

No more hating my body and filling it with all this crap.

I'm going to treat myself right and teach myself healthy habits.

My weight isn't boing to hold me back anymore!

~Annonymous

Your Biggest Challenge

Tell me I can't, and I'll show you I can!

Exhausting Day

It feels soooo nice to sit down tonight. I tortured my body today...wasn't that nice of me?

My started out with early morning cardio. I was at the gym about 7am where I did 20 mins of High Intensity Interval Training on the elliptical. Then I did another 30 mins of cardio. I went home and had some breakfast and did some cleaning around the house.

I was back at the gym at 12:15 where I did a quick warm-up and then off to my personal training session. My training session was brutal, as always (that's the way I like it). I did boxing and kicking, mountain climbers, full sits with a 10 lbs weight in each hand with punches at the top of the sit up. The 10 lb weights were killer! Then on to wall sits adding in punches with weights in my hands also (not sure of the weight, but they were purple). Hit the repeat button a few times and there you have my training session. It was really tough! My body was so tired and I knew I was not going to be able to do the rest of my cardio as intense as I usually do so I went for a walk to get some fresh air. I ended up walking about 5 kms and then headed back to the gym where I did a bit more legs, plie squats with a 75lb weight and hip adductor and hip abductor machines. Then on to some stretching.

From the gym I went to the StFX football field where I walked around the track for a lap and then did 2 sets of the bleachers (2 steps at a time), then I did 10 push-ups and some calf raises. Repeat that 2 more times and call it a day.

So that is why I am really appreciating sitting right now. But I may have overdone it with my knee...it is quite sore right now and I am hoping that with some ice and Advil tonight, it will feel much better in the morning.

So you may ask why I would do so much today? Well, today is my last day off. I work the next 2 days followed by 2 nights. I will not get to the gym after my second day shift like I usually do as I will be going straight from work to the high school football game at StFX...can't wait for the game! If you are in town, drop by the game and support the boys. Game time is 7pm.

Community Health Advocacy Award

Last night was a very special night for me. At GASHA's Annual General Meeting I was presented with the Community Health Advocacy Award along with Mary Oxner and Mary Desmond. I blows my mind to think that I was presented with the same award as these 2 ladies. Mary and Mary volunteer in their communities and are really making a difference in the health of their communities. They are outstanding women and after hearing their accomplishments, I was wondering what I was doing there. Let's just say that I am VERY honored to have received the same award that they did.

I don't have a photo to share with you from the meeting and it is kind of a funny story. When I was leaving home the first thing I put in my truck with the camera bag. I wanted to make sure that I had it as many people told me they wanted to see a photo of me receiving the award. I figured that I would take a video with my camera and that would be even better. Unfortunately, I did not check the camera bag before I left home and when I arrived at the meeting I went to take the camera out and get it ready. I opened the camera bag and there was something missing...the camera! Note to self...next time check to make sure the camera is in the bag! Brian Lazzuri from The Casket was there so hopefully he will publish the photo in the paper. Here is a photo of my award.



I am not sure if you can read what it says so I will tell you.

Certificate of Appreciation

This certificate is awarded to

Dawn Bowles

In recognition of her inspiring first voice wisdom which she has

shared through blog and print to help motivate others to address healthy living issues.

I want to thank Brian Lazzuri for nominating me for this award and for the opportunity to write the articles for The Casket which has enabled me to inspire so many people to take control of their health before it is too late. I am deeply honored that he would think of me when it comes to this award. I am really touched.

The Choice is Yours

You're right.
It is easier to eat pizza than to run on the treadmill.
It's easier to turn to ice cream rather than people for supporters.
It's easier to say 'F**k it, I give up' than to say 'F**k this, I can do it.'
So you know what? I'm not going to sit here and tell you day after day you can do this.
If you don't believe you can, than you can't. That's the honest truth.
You need to do this for you. And if you don't want it enough, than you sure as H*ll won't achieve it.
So take the easy way out and remain unhealthy and continue to gain weight because you can't realize you are the only one hurting yourself.
I didn't say it would be easy. I said it would be worth it!
~Annonymous

Sorry for the language on this one. I thought of not posting it but I know what it did for me the day I read it and I sure that there is someone out there that needs to read it today.

Update

I took a 3 month hiatus from blogging so I would like to give you a little update on the past few months.

I have been going in high gear for almost a year and a half and my body was telling me to slow down for a bit and I really needed to get my mind "reset". I now realize that it is important to stop and let your body rest every once in a while, as well as your mind. One of my goals for the summer was to maintain my weight. So I still went to the gym, but I didn't push myself or spend as much time there as I had in the past and I didn't "beat myself up" if I missed a day at the gym or had a few too many treats. I succeeded in my goal to maintain my weight.

Another of my goals was to focus on was my emotional eating. I had been struggling a bit mentally and maybe allowing myself to get a little frustrated...a huge sign that I needed a break. I have gained better control of my emotional eating. At times, I still crave the junk food when I am tired or stressed. But I am trying to replace those cravings with other things, like working out or going for a walk to clear my mind. At times, I still want the pizza and I will allow myself to have it as long as when I want it, it is not tied to something emotional. I am still working on it and I am sure that I will be working on it for the rest of my life, and that is OK as long as I am making progress.

I also spent some time looking for motivation and inspiration. I have found so many motivational and inspirational quotes and I can't wait to share them all. I will try not to bombard you with them, I will try to spread them out a bit. There are so many great ones that really hit home with me and most of them I found on the day when I needed to read them the most.

In June, I had participated in the Johnny Miles 5k run. My time was not what I wanted it to be. I was hoping to break the 30 min mark but I didn't. I did it in 31:58 which was slower than my previous time of 30:41, so that was a little disappointing. I was also supposed to participate in a triathlon this summer which didn't happen as I had hurt my back so my training had suffered a bit and I didn't feel ready. I probably could have participated but it would have been at the risk of injuring myself further and I felt it just was not worth the risk. It may be a good thing that I decided not to do it because the water temperature was only 12 degrees and I guess the participants had to warm up their feet before they could move on to the biking leg of the triathlon. I so would not have enjoyed that!

So, where do I stand now? My weight this morning was 202.2 lbs but most importantly I feel ready physically and mentally to push through to my goal. Only 20 lbs to go and I can't wait to hit ONEderland!

Cape Breton Fiddlers Run

Well hello, it's been awhile hasn't it? I will give you an update on what I have been up to the last few months but first I want to tell you about the Cape Breton Fiddlers Run that I participated in yesterday.

Now, most of you will know that I don't particularly enjoy running. Actually, I despise running, while I am actually doing it! But I get a feeling of accomplishment when I finish a run and that is one of the reasons that I do it. Another reason I run is to challenge myself. I really do want to feel like a runner and I want to enjoy it, but I find it so hard and, honestly, I really don't enjoy it. I want to improve on my time and I want to prove to myself that I can do whatever I set my mind to. That is why I run.

A while back I set a goal for myself to complete a 5km run in less than 30 minutes. Well, I have tried many, many times to reach this goal but was not successful in attaining it. It is the challenge that keeps me trying. Each time I didn't reach my goal I didn't look at myself as a failure. I looked at myself as someone who was not going to give up. Goals should be challening and it is in challenging yourself that you learn more about yourself and you grow as a person. With each race I completed and did not reach my goal I learned a little more about myself.

I went to Syndey with Aimee, Todd and Ceileigh Lyons. We left on Saturday and stayed at Aimee's parents house, in North Sydney, for the night. Thanks so much Donna and Doug. Oh, by the way Donna makes THE BEST fish chowder!

The run was at 8am in Sydney so it was an early morning for Aimee, Todd and I. We arrived at the run and I have to say that the vibe that I feel from everyone at the run is amazing. I get so inspired when I see all these fit people and each person has their own reason for competing in the race. But what inspires me more is seeing the people who may not look very fit, but they are there doing something for their health. They are the ones that I am cheering for inside.

The full marathoners were the first to start then the 10k racers. Then it was our turn. I was a little nervous, but it was a good nervous...the kind that pumps you up. The horn sounded and we were off. We started out at a good pace and I felt really good. Usually my knee will start to hurt the first minute in but there was no pain. A few minutes in, I had the usual "what am I doing" thoughts, which are normal for me. I always tell myself "it's only 30 minutes, you can do anything for 30 minutes. Push through and you will be fine."

I began to concentrate on my breathing, nice slow rhythmical breaths in and out, in and out, in and out. Then we hit the first incline. Now, really there were no inclines, but any slight incline to me is like climbing a mountain to me (just a little exageration there). I really do find any incline hard, but life dosen't always have to be easy, right? I think I do the right things, shorten my stride and concentrate on my breathing, but I still find them hard. I look ahead and see that it is a short incline and I tell myself, "it is only just to there, you can do it."

I was watching Aimee's stride for a while. Her legs are shorter than mine but she has a longer stride than me. I watched a bit and tried to mimic her stride and I think I learned a few things that I will have to practice.

I was starting to get tired and Aimee was pulling ahead of me alittle bit, but it kept me going. I wanted to keep up with her the best I could. She did an awesome job of keeping me going. Thanks Aimee.

By the time we hit the first water station, my throat was dry but I didn't take a glass of water. Note to self...next time, take the water! I started to slow down a bit and Aimee was just up ahead of me a little ways and I was determined to get this run done.

Before I knew it we were at the turn around point and I told myself that I was half way done all I had to do was run back, no biggie. Soon, I was at the water station again and this time I took the water. Shortly after, there was quite an incline (still not very big, but it is the one that GOT me). I was out of breath and I felt like I had to walk or I was going to vomit. I walked for a bit and thankfully it was just gas. Another note to self...Don't take your fish oils the morning of a race! I released the gas and was on my way again.

I knew I was getting close to finishing and I was feeling worn out. I started to walk for a few seconds and then I was joined by Todd. He came to run the last 500 meters or so with me. I was tired and felt like I couldn't do it, but Todd told me to push. I was so close to finishing, he told me to look at the clock...it read 29:11. I am so close to finishing in under 30 mins. I felt like I was never going to get there. The last few seconds were like you see in the movies...slow motion with the clock ticking, second after second went by and it felt like minutes to me. I crossed the finish line with everything I had and guess what my time was? Come on, guess! If you guessed 29:17, you were right!

I finally finished a 5k race in under 30 minutes. I completed this goal that I have been trying to reach for the last year and it feels so good. In trying to reach this goal, I have learned to never give up and that I really can do what I set my mind to. It may not have been easy, but it was definately worth it!

10k here I come!

New Day

So today is a new day. I woke up feeling a bit better than last night. I am still a little frustrated with the whole emotional eating thing. I thought I was doing much better than I am. I am going to look into some books to read on the subject so if you have any suggestions on a good one, please let me know. I really want to get to the bottom of this and to learn some other ways of dealing with emotional stress/tiredness. I really need to break the connection between my emotions and food.

I slept in until about 9:30 and then I got ready to go to the gym. I was dragging my butt a bit but not quite like last night. My workout was good, by normal standards, but it was not the usual kick a$$ workout that I would usually have. I was able to do some thinking about emotional eating while doing my cardio and hopefully I have discovered a few things.

I was thinking how I let myself get to the state that I was in and I thought that I should just avoid situations that will put me in that state and then I will not have to deal with the issue of emotional eating. But realistically you can't avoid emotional stress and tiredness all your life so I really have to get to the bottom of it and learn how to deal with it in a different way. Now I just have to figure out how to do that!

In order to reach my full potential and get to my goal I really need to conquer this. Today, I have found a new determination to beat this thing and get to where I want to be. I think I have the physical part figured out, but the emotional/mental part seems to be the part that is holding me back. Well, I am going to put a stop to that.

I want to feel Sexy, Smart and Strong both physically and mentally and I am not going to stop until I accomplish just that!

Can We Say Tired & Negative??

Ok, so I want to just go to bed but I need to get this out before I go to sleep because I will not be able to express this properly in the morning after a good nights sleep. The feelings will be gone and I will not write about it and I feel I need to write about this because I am hoping that my ramblings can help someone else that is struggling with the same thing...unless I am the only one with these issues.

Tonight, my body is tired after going to the gym and having a, well the only way to say it is, a sucky workout. I had planned to do 1 hour of cardio and 1/2 hour of stretching...but that didn't happen. I arrived at the gym at about 7:30 and got into my workout clothes. Now, to make this clear, when I walked into the gym, I was emotionally and physically tired and was wondering if I should actually go to the gym. There are times when going to the gym when feeling emotionally tired and stressed is a good thing. Add in being physically tired and you have a recipe for disaster...as in my case tonight!

I think there is a huge difference between being emotionally or physically tired. When I am physically tired, I can overcome the tiredness by resting and getting a good sleep. When I am emotionally tired, I can get myself into alot of trouble with food and negative thoughts. It is much harder for me to overcome the emotional tiredness/stress.

I know that I am still an emotional eater and I will likely be one for the rest of my life, like a recovering alcoholic. They are alcoholics for life. What I need to do is to break the connection between my emotions and food. Does anyone know how to do that? Is it something that I have to work out myself? Can anyone ever fully recover from being an emotional eater or am I going to have to struggle with this for the rest of my life?? Why do I turn to food for emotional comfort? These are all questions that I would love to have the answer to.

I feel so tired right now and emotionally drained that I just really want to go to bed. But I need to say a little more about my feelings tonight.

I did only 25 minutes of cardio at the gym and a bit of stretching and then decided to call it a night and I went into the sauna and had a shower. I cut my workout short because I was physically and emotionlly tired and my body is sore. My knees are sore, my hip is sore and I have something going on with one of my legs that is giving me a lot of pain.

While I was working out, I was thinking of the Johnny Miles 5 km race that is on Sunday. I have a goal to run the 5k in under 30 minutes. I was thinking about how I was going to work through the pain and reach my goal. I got to thinking that if the pain is still there on Sunday there is a very rare chance that I will be able to reach my goal. I don't like it when my goals are not reached and then I feel like a failure. I started thinking that I may be better off not running in the Johnny Miles at all. If I don't run than I can't fail...right!?!? Oh, the negativity!

Now when I was leaving the gym I was feeling like a failure because my workout was sucky and I had the desire to eat pizza. I know that the only reason that I want the pizza is due to the fact that I feel emotionally tired. I really don't want to eat for emotional reasons. I want to eat because my body needs fuel. I started feeling worse because I realized that I was still an emotional eater and I thought that I had made some progress in that area. Apparently, I still have a lot of work to do with this. This added more fuel to the fire and I wanted the pizza more. But, I knew that I could not give into my feelings because that is what the old Dawn would have done. I want to change my life and to have the pizza because of emotional reasons would be taking steps backwards and I only want to move forward.

I wonder, if I had just went home instead of going to the gym tonight, would I have been faced with these feelings? Did I try to push myself to much and it backfired? Maybe I need to listen to my body and my feelings a little more instead of ignoring what it is trying to tell me.

At this moment, I am not sure if I have made progress with my emotional eating issue. My thoughts are starting to jumble together because I am soo tired. I think I will get some sleep and revisit my situation in the morning. Hopefully, a good sleep will help me to move forward with this.

Upcoming Johnny Miles 5k

It is one week till the Johnny Miles 5 km run and they are calling for showers the day of the race. Are you suprised? I would actually rather that it rains than be hot on race day.

I have not been out running since the Bluenose so I am concerned about how I will do. I really want to run the 5 kms in less than 30 minutes. I think it will be hard since my knee is still sore from the Bluenose 5k which I ran almost a month ago. I am really going to have to push through the pain to run at the pace that I want to and hope that I don't injure it more. I really am determinted to reach my goal at the Johnny Miles.

Does anyone have any words of advise for running with a sore knee?

The key to motivation is motive. It's the why. It's the deeper "Yes!" the burning inside that makes it easier to say no to the less important. - Stephen R. Covey

Just for Today

"Just for today, no matter where I am going, or what I am doing, or who I am doing it with, it is my intention to focus on the positive."
-Lucy MacDonald

I need to get the negative thoughts out of my head. The way to do it, is to focus on the positive. so that is what I am going to do!

Bluenose 5 km Run

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the Bluenose 5 km run. I had been looking forward to participating in this run because last year I had sit on the side of Citadel Hill watching everyone else enjoy the experience of the run. I felt left out last year on the side of the hill and I didn't want to feel like that ever again. I wanted to be in the physical shape that would allow me to participate and now I can say that I am.
The last run that I did was the Fit-4-Lit 5k in April and my time was 32:08. My goal for 5km is to be able to run it in less than 30 mins. I was hoping that I would be able to achieve that goal at the Bluenose. In order to reach that goal, I would have to cut 2:08 from my time. That is quite a chunk of time to cut in one month especially since I had not run since then, but I was determined that I was going to do it!
The weather was perfect, as far as I was concerned. It was on the cool side and it was not raining. I actually would rather it be raining than a nice warm sunny day for a run.
I met up with some friends from the gym, Allana and Rebecca and we started the run together. We were the last ones to cross the start line and I was feeling really good.
Allana is a beautiful, natural runner. She makes running look easy! She is a faster runner than I am and I knew that I would not be able to run the whole way with her but I wanted to keep her in my view for as long as I could. Since we were the last ones to cross the start line, we ended up passing quite a lot of people who were walking on the run so it was hard to keep my eye on her. There were times that she would slow down and let me catch up to her. Then she would go just far enough ahead to give me something to run towards.
We were running along and before I knew it, we were at the 1 km mark. I felt really good and looked at my watch and saw that I was pretty much on track for finishing the run in under 30 minutes. BUT, I still had 4 kms to go. The 2nd km mark came pretty quickly but I also knew that it is about the 3 km mark that it starts to get hard for me. I tried not to focus on the fact that I still had the toughest kms left and I decided to take it 1 km at a time.
I was familiar with the course and knew that there was a hill at the end of the run and that I would need to leave a little extra for that last hill.
I was concentrating on my breathing and my stride and staying strong. I told myself, "I am strong, I can do this" and I repeated it to myself over and over again. Then I was at the 3 km mark. I thought to myself, "Wow, I feel really good for being at the 3 km mark." I checked my watch and I knew that I was close to being able to finish in under 30 mins. I just had to keep up my pace and finish strong.
Up to this point, the course was basically flat, but we had come across a bit of a downhill. I really tried to take advantage of the downhill to get a bit ahead to help me out at the end of the run with the hill that I was going to have to face.
The 4 km mark was right in front of me and I knew that it was going to be really close. I began to pick up my pace a little and I was feeling good...then the hill was upon me!
I looked at my watch and saw that it was going to be too close to call and I really wanted to make it in under 30 mins so I decided to lay it all out there. I picked up my pace and decided that I was going to do whatever it took to get there. I kept going and going and going and then it caught up with me. I did NOT have control of my breathing, I had an incredible urge to pee and I had an overwhelming feeling that I was going to vomit...but I kept going. Until I began to retch! Yes, you read it right, I began to retch...so I had to walk. Allana tried to encourage me to continue running but the retching was keeping me from running. I really did not want to vomit, so I walked about 30 seconds or so. Once I got control of my breathing the retching stopped and the urge to pee went away and I was able to run across the finish line.
I knew that I had not finished the run in under 30 min but I also knew that I was pretty close. I figured that my time was around 31 mins which I was happy with compared to my last run.
I received my participation metal and went inside for some fuel...a granola bar, yogurt, and chocolate milk.
Afterwards, I checked the finish times and my time was 30:41. Over all, I am happy with my time. Especially considering that I had cut 1:27 from my last time.
You know what...the Johnny Miles 5 km run is a few weeks away and I AM GOING TO DO IT IN UNDER 30 MINS! So stay tuned to hear about it!

Birthday Cake

On Tuesday, I will be the mother of a 16 year old. That's right, my little baby boy is going to be turning 16. Saying that makes me feel really old.
Anyway, we celebrated today with some family. We bbq'd homemade hamburgers which were really tasty. We make regular beef burgers and some burgers made with extra lean chicken. Obviously, I had the ones that were made with chicken. They were absolutely delicious. Remind me to post about hamburger buns sometime, I have alot to say about them so it will have to be a post on its own at another time.
I am really close to hitting ONEderland. My scale this am said that I weigh 200.4 lbs. I am so close that I can smell ONEderland. I know that within the next few days I will be there and I really don't want anything to stand in my way of getting there. Now remember in the beginning of this post I said that we were celebrating a birthday in our house this weekend. Birthdays mean cake and cake means lots of sugar and calories which does not fit in the equation for getting to ONEderland.
I told myself and my trainer at the gym today that even though we were celebrating a birthday, I really did not need to eat cake. Well that is easy to say when you are sweating...at the gym! It is a completely different story when you are sitting a your kitchen table, with everyone eating cake and you can see and smell the cake. I can't believe how wonderful cake smells. It had been a long time since we had a cake in the house and I must say that as soon as I smelled the cake I was salivating and I thought "I really have to have a piece of this cake." But I know that if I were to have one piece of cake, I would eat another and another and another one until it was all gone. I also know that in order to get to my goal I need to be able to say no to many things like cake. I had to ask to myself "what do I want more, the cake, or to reach my goal". The true answer was that at that time I really wanted the cake more. So I tried to think about how I would feel after I ate the cake. I know I would feel disappointed in myself and it would feel gross in my tummy. I thought to myself, if I ate this cake, what good things would it do for me. It would give me temperary satisfaction but in the long run, or even 10 minutes after eating it, what would it do for me. The answer was that it would do nothing good for me, it would only be a negative thing for me and I am trying to eliminate all the negative things from my life these days. Yes, I have been letting some negative things in my life get to me lately. That's another post too.
All this was going through my head with MY piece of cake sitting in front of me. As I was having this conversation with myself, my husband had cut the cake and put MY piece in front of me. I sat there looking at it, not paying attention to the conversation that was going on at the table. I was in my own little world having my own conversation.
The end result was that I didn't eat the cake and I feel fantastic about my decision and I know that I will reach ONEderland in no time.

I need some ideas of what to write about. So I am looking to you for ideas.

Do you want to hear about what I am eating, how much I am exercising or is there something else that you would like to hear from me? Give me some ideas...please!

Dare To Dream

Let nothing hold you back from exploring your wildest fantasies, wishes, and aspirations.
Don't be afraid to dream big and follow your dreams wherever they may lead you.
Open your eyes to their beauty; open your mind to their magic; open your heart to their possibilities.

Dare to dream.
Whether they are in color or in black and white, whether they are big or small,
easily attainable or almost impossible, look to your dreams, and make them become reality.
Wishes and hopes are noting until you take the first step towards making them something!

Dare to dream.
Only by dreaming, will you ever discover who you are, what you want, and what you can do.
Don't be afraid to take risks, to become involved, to make commitments.
Do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true.
Always believe in miracles, and always believe in you!

-Julie Anne Ford

So I have some good news and some not so good news.
I will start with the good news. The good news has to do with my weight. I weighed myself this morning and I am 203 lbs. Which means that I have let go of 130 lbs and I am only 20 away from my goal and close to being in the 100's! I am so excited to see the scale beginning to go down again. I really want to push through and get the last few pounds off so that I can have that feeling of accomplishment when I reach my goal. I know that with some hard work and dedication, I will be at my goal before I know it.

OK, now for the not so good news...
Someone asked me a question today. This someone is a person that I have met before but I don't really know her. I was talking to someone else and she piped up and asked me a question. Now this is a question that I have been asked before...when I weighed over 300 lbs. It is the dreaded question that every woman does not want to be asked...unless she can answer yes. It is a question that I never expected to be asked again...unless I could answer yes to it. Have you guessed the question? If you guessed "Are you pregnant?" you are absolutely right. YES, I WAS ASKED IF I WAS PREGNANT!!!!! I was stunned when she asked me this, I didn't know what to say, so I just said "NO". She took the wind out of my sails. She might as well have put a knife through my heart and twisted and turned it until I stopped breathing. I'll tell you, she is lucky she still has teeth because it was all I could do to hold mysefl back from hitting her...just kidding. I would never really act out with violence.
Now, I know that I still have some weight to let go of and I know that I carry most of my extra weight around my abdomen, BUT I DON'T THINK I LOOK PREGNANT!! Or maybe I have a distorted vision of what I actually look like and I really do look pregnant. Now, I do get the comment that I am "glowing" and a lot of women glow when they are pregnant so hopefully she saw that I was glowing and she made the comment because of that and not the look of my abdomen.
You know, it really just sucks that someone thinks that I look pregnant enough to ask. Usually, people don't ask a lady if they are pregnant unless they really do look pregnant.
On my way home tonight, I wanted to stop and get some chips but I knew that I wanted them because of the way that I was feeling. I am really trying to kick the "emotional eating habit" that I have developed over the years and I am one step closer to kicking that habit because I did not stop for chips. Today, I took a step forward and I am going to keep stepping forward until I reach my goal!

Nova Scotia Bodybuilding Competition

I spent the past weekend in Halifax attending the Nova Scotia Bodybuilding Competition. I have always wanted to watch a bodybuilding competition and I was finally able to. WOW, it was exciting for me!
I was astounded by the dedication, intensity, focus and hard work that the participants have put in over the last few months to get to where they are able to compete. Watching them on the stage, I saw the blood, sweat and tears that they have shed to get them there...and I am planning on doing it next year. I know it is going to be hard, but in my experience, things that are hard to do are usually the ones that are worth doing.
I want to compete because I want to show myself that I can do it. I want to push myself to that level of dedication and intensity that it takes to compete. I want to be as fit as the athletes that were on the stage. I want to put in the hard work and see the results. I am really excited and fired up to do it! I am going to go into the next few months with a new level of intensity...so watch out!

Update

I have been working the last few days so my life has been work, gym, sleeping and eating. I have been doing LOTS of cardio. I still have not started back at the weights. I had taken a week off from the weights and then I was working the last few days so I have not had a chance to start them again. I am going to Halifax this evening so if I feel like going to the gym when I get there, I may lift some weights then.

I am going to Halifax to watch the Nova Scotia Bodybuilding Competition at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. I can't wait to watch it! I am thinking of participating next year so watching it will help me to decide if it is something that I can do or not. Wait! I know that I can do anything that I set my mind to so it is not a matter of IF I can do it, it is a matter of if I WANT to do it.

It is a beautiful day outside today and I hope the sun continues this weekend. We are overdue for some nice weather

What are your plans this weekend? Like I said, I am going to Halifax, but I plan to get some workouts in and to eat as clean as I can.

So I did end up going for a bike ride. A 16 km one. I used my husbands bike and WOW, what a difference a bike can make. It is a lighter bike and the gears seem to be more suited to me. Also, his bike does not have a break that sticks on all the time like the one that I am using does.
I realize that I am going to have to invest in some foot straps so I can do the push/pull thing up the hills.
The wind was against me on the way back which is the hard way. On the way back there is a 2 km stretch that I call my "Sandstorm". Sandstorm is a song that we spin to in spin class sometimes. It is a 7 minute song with only 2 small breaks. My "Sandstorm" is a 2 km stretch of uphill with about a 10 second downhill thrown in there. Add the wind blowing in your face and you get a great workout!

What a wonderful morning...

I went to the gym this am to do some cardio. I was planning on doing 1 hour and I ended up doing 1 hr & 30 mins. This is what I did...
20 mins on the treadmill (walking)
20 mins on the rowing machine
20 mins on the EFX Elliptical
30 mins on the treadmill alternating between 1 minute of running and 1 minute of walking

I am going to have a bite to eat and then I may go out for a bike ride.

My Day

My day started pretty early. I get up for work at 5:15am. I shower, eat and get ready for work. Ususally I leave home at between 6:20 and 6:30. This morning, I was running a little late and it was about 6:40 when I finally left the house. I walked to the car and noticed that the door was not quite shut all the way. I opened the door and got in the car. Within a few seconds I realized that the whole seat was wet! It had rained last night and remember I said the door was opened a little bit. I found some clothing that was in the car and decided to sit on it to keep myself dry.

Then I went to start the car...and it wouldn't turn over! THE BATTERY WAS DEAD! My first reaction and thought was a bunch of curse words and that I would be late for work adn that my whole day would be affected by this. Then I thought to myself, "what is that negative thinking going to accomplish". I decided that I had control of the situation and I could still make it to work on time, and the day could only get better.

Luckily, we knew that the battery was getting bad i the car and we had bought one of those portable battery 'things'. I don't know what to call it. Basically it will start a car battery. I pulled it out of the trunk, opened the hood, hooked it up and started the car. No problem at all. I took care of the situation and was on the road in less than 5 minutes. I made it to work on time and all was well in my world.

I finished my 12 hour shift and drove to St. Andrews to vote. I had to get my say in...it is important, you know. After I voted, I went back to town and planned on doing 1 hour of cardio. I went on the treadmill for 20 minutes on an incline of 10 and a speed of 4.0. Then I did intervals for 20 minutes on the EFX Ellipitcal at an incline of 10 and a resistance of 6 or 20. After that I went on the spin bike for 30 minutes and I worked hard. In the locker room, I was thinking about my workout and realized that I actually did 1 hour and 10 minutes of cardio...Yeah Me! I think I was so tired that I didn't realize that I had done 10 minutes more than I meant to.

So how did your day go?

A Creed To Live By

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.
It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.

Only you know what is best for you.
Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them life is meaningless.

Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future.
By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don't give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.
Don't be afraid to encounter risks.

It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly;
and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don't dismiss your dreams.

To be without dreams is to be without hope;
to be without hope is to be without purpose.
Don't run through life so fast that you forget
not only where you've been, but also where you're going.
Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored
each step of the way.

-Nancy Sims

You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be!

There is inside you all of the potential to be whatever you want to be,
all of the energy to do whatever you want to do.

Imagine yourself as you would like to be, doing what you want to do,
and each day, take one step towards your dream.

And though at times it may seem too difficult to continue,
hold on to your dream.

One morning you will awake to find that you are the person you dreamed of,
doing what you wanted to do, simply because you had the courage
to believe in your potential and to hold on to your dream.

-Donna Levine

Be true to your dreams and keep them alive.
Never let anyone change your mind about what you can achieve.

Be true to the light that is deep within you.
Hold on to your faith, hope, and joy for life.
Keep good thoughts in your mind and good feelings in your heart.

Be true to yourself in the paths that you choose.
Follow your talents and passions.
Don't take the roads others say you must follow;
Take the ones that will keep your spirits alive with enthusiasm and everlasting joy.

Most of all, never forget that there is no brighter light than the one within you.
Follow that light to your own personal greatness.

-Jacqueline Schiff

Reach for Your Dreams

What do you dream about? What do you think it takes to reach your dreams? Think about that for a minute. I'll tell you what I think it takes.

I think it takes a strong, dedicated, and determined person to commit to a dream and follow the path to see their dreams come true.

The journey to reaching your dreams is not going to be easy. There are going to be many bumps and stumbling blocks on the road so it is going to take a lot of hard work, determination and that "never give up" attitude. It may be difficult but I know that you have whatever it will take inside of you to reach your dreams. Don't let anything discourage you, you are strong, capable and you deserve it.

You are in the drivers seat. You are in charge of your future. Only you can take your dreams and turn them into reality. So make your dreams some true!

Whatever your dream may be, hold it close to your heart and strive to make it come true. Think of your dream as a treasure and don't let ANYONE take it away from you.

Remember that it will not always be easy, there will be many times when you want to give up, but remember that you are strong. Dig down deep for whatever it is you need to keep going. Learn from the hard times. Your experience in dealing with the hard times will help you to learn more about yourself and you will grow stronger.

Keep looking forward to the day when you achieve your dream. Have faith in yourself, hold on and be strong.

Always believe in yourself, I believe in you. I know that you are capable and worthy of reaching your dreams. You deserve to have whatever is in your heart.

Dreams are worth reaching for. What are your dreams?

Words To Live By

It's not how much you accomplish in life

that really counts,

but how much you give to others.

It's not how high you build your dreams

that makes a difference,

but how high your faith can climb.

It's not how many goals you reach,

but how many lives you touch.

It's not who you know that matters,

but who you are inside.

Believe in the impossible,

hold tight to the incredible,

and live each day to its fullest potential.

You can make a difference in your world.

-Rebecca Barlow Jordan

The Secret

I was introduced to a film called The Secret by my mother a few weeks after I bought the book called The Power by Rhonda Byrne. I am currently reading The Power now.
I wanted to share with you what I have learned from watching the film The Secret. In The Secret, they talk about the Law of Attraction. The Law of Attraction helped me to realize that what I think about, I bring about. When I have negative thoughts about myself or certain situations in my life, I attract things that are negative to me.
When I was over 300 lbs, I was always thinking about myself and some circumstances in my life in a negative way. These circumstances were not getting any better, even over time. But it is because I was thinking of them in a negative way. I thought, "I am going to be overweight for the rest of my life" and of course, I continued to act in ways that left me overweight. Until I started thinking that I can be fit again and be a "normal" size.
In the film The Secret, they tell you to think of yourself as a magnet and that whatever you are thinking, you attract to you. They tell you to make it clear in your mind what you want and to hold on to those thoughts and you will attract to you the things you think about most.
When people concentrate on what they don't want (the negative things) they keep showing up, over and over again and when people concentrate on the positive things, they see more positive things come into their life.
This is so true for me. When I began nursing and was happy with who I was as a person I began to tell myself that I deserve to be happy with my body. I joined the gym, and saw myself at my goal weight and this is what I concentrated on and thought about. I thought about feeling good about the way that I look. I still do it now. I am 25 lbs away from my goal weight, but I feel inside as though I am already there. I feel and think so positively about myself, until I look in the mirror, then I get a small dose of reality. I realize that I am not at my goal weight, but then I quickly change my thinking. I tell myself that with a little hard work, I WILL be at my goal weight and I will look on the outside as I feel on the inside and I begin to see myself at my goal weight again.
Here is a quote from the film:
"An affirmative thought is hundreds of times more powerful than a negative thought. Choose your thoughts carefully. You are the masterpiece of your own life."
The film talks about how our feelings let us know what we are thinking. When we are feeling happy, we draw more happiness to us. So when you are feeling down, do something to help you change your feelings. Do something that makes you happy.
The film says:
"Once you begin to understand and truly master your thoughts & feelings, that's when you see how you create your own reality. That's where your freedom is. That's where all your power is. That's when you see how you can become a deliberate creator of your life and when you are a deliberate creator of your life and you can use this law of attraction, you will have a life that is beyond what you can possible imagine."
The last few lines in the film are so great that they deserve to be quoted also. I can't say it any better myself.
"Feel good. You've come to this juncture in your life merely because something in you kept saying you deserve to be happy. You are born to add something, to add value to this world. To simply be the best you can be.
Every single thing you've been through, every single moment that you've come through were all to prepare you for this moment right now.
Now you get that you are the creator of your destiny. Imagine what you can do from this day forward with what you now know. What will you do with this moment? How will you seize the moment? No one else can dance your dance. Now one else can sing your song. No one else can write your story. Who you are, and what you do begins right now.
Believe that you're great, that there is something magnificent about you. Regardless of what has happened to you in your life. Regardless of how young or how old you think you might be. The moment you begin to think properly that something is within you, that the power that is within you is greater than the world, it will begin to emerge. It will take over your life. It will feed you, it will clothe you, it will guide you, protect you, direct you, sustain your very existence if you let it."

I highly recommend that you watch the film. I think that everyone can take something different away from this film. Then go buy the book called The Power. The first line in it is "You are meant to have an amazing life!"

Realize you are responsible for your life.

The decisions, the choices you make are yours.

Don't blame others for things not working out,

take responsibility, change the things that need changing.

- Unknown Author

Today's Workout

I was really...no extremely ambitious today with my workout. I have everyone on Facebook intrigued with what I did today for exercise and the only way for them to find out is for them to read this post.

Here is what I did today...
I started off with going to Goodlife fitness and I did 40 minutes of cardio. I walked 20 minutes on the treadmill at an incline of 6 to 10 (I increased it as I went) at a speed of 4.0. Then I went on the EFX Elliptical for 20 minutes at an incline of 10 and resistance of 8, my steps per minute were between 168 and 180.
Then it was time to put my bathing suit on and go for a swim. I did my 30 lengths of the pool which equals 750 meters. I did one length of front crawl and one length of breast stroke. I was concentrating on my breathing and technique again like yesterday so I did not go very fast. I kept a steady pace and finished in about 30 minutes.
Then it was time to put my helmet on and get on my bike. Joey and I biked 20.6k in 54 minutes. We did not push ourselves but we did it at a good pace. We were soaked at the end of it.
After the bike ride it was time for the run. I was planning on doing 5k, running 1 km and walking 1 km so as not to hurt my knee. But as soon as I began running, I knew that my knee had had enough for the day. So, instead of running/walking, I walked 8 kms...and that was the end of my exercising for the day.
I am really tired now and feel like I have a sunburn...but I think it is actually a windburn. Man was it windy out there today!
I am going to sleep really well tonight.

Biking

Guess what I just did....come on, guess.

I went for a 16 km bike ride. Well, I estimate it was 16 kms, I will measure it in my car tomorrow.

It seemed that everything was against me going for this bike ride. The minute I stepped outside and touched my bike, the heavens opened up and it poured. But that didn't stop me. The mud on the 11 kms of dirt road didn't stop me and the the head wind coming back didn't stop me.

If you know where I live than you know how hard of a bike ride it is up my road. It is pretty much ALL uphill. The wind was blowing so hard, it almost stopped me in my tracks a few times coming up the big hills. But I didn't give up. I only stopped twice. Once to take my jacket off and leave it at my mother's mailbox and once to stop and pick my jacket up.

When I got home I was covered in mud from head to toe. The shower felt really nice.

This was my first bike ride on my (well, my sister-in-law's) bike. I really tested it out. I am going to need to add some straps to the pedals so I can do the push-pull as I do in spin class.

The conditions for biking were not ideal but next time I go out, it will seem easier because I won't have the wind to deal with...or at least I hope I won't have the wind to deal with.

Anyway, it was a good day. I got lots of cardio in and it felt good.

My plan for tomorrow...go swimming for 30 lengths of the pool, biking for 1 hour and a 30 minute run. Should be interesting. Stay tuned to hear how it goes.

Comments

Just to let you know, I welcome any comments...good and bad.

Some people find it difficult to comment so the easiest way to comment is to comment annonymously...you can add your name to the bottom of the comment if you like. Your comment will not appear right away. I have to publish them first.

Just to let you know...I get excited when I see there is a comment! So comment lots!

All Life is A Journey

All life is a journey; which paths we take, what we look back on,

and what we look forward to is up to us.

We determine our destination, what kind of road we will take to get there,

and how happy we are when we get there.

What a beautiful day it turned out to be! I may have to go for a long bike ride this evening.

So far today, I did a 1/2 hour of cardio. 10 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the bike and I also went swimming. I am really trying to get back into swimming to prepare for the swimming portion of the triathalon. I went to the OC today and my plan was to swim 30 lengths of the pool and I really wanted to concentrate on my breathing and my technique so I was not worried about speed. I find it hard to do the front crawl the whole way so I did one length of the front crawl and one length of the breast stroke. I am going to build myself up to doing all 30 lengths of front crawl. Hopefully I will be ready come July. I did the 30 lengths without stopping, well other than stopping to adjust my goggles, so I was happy with that. It took me about 30 minutes. I didn't find it hard although I was tired when I was done.

After swimming, I had time to kill before picking Brandon up after football practice so I went for a tan. It was so nice and relaxing. I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to tan and relax at the beach this summer.

New Photos

Here are some new photos that I took of myself today.

I was weighed and measured at the gym last week and here are the results...

I weigh 210 lbs and I have let go of a total of 75 inches. Here are my measurements:

Body Fat - 31.1%

Shoulders - 44"

Biceps

Right - 13.25"

Left - 13.75"

Chest - 40.75"

Waist - 36"

Hips - 43.75"

Thighs

Right - 25.25"

Left - 25.25"

For comparison, here are my numbers when I started:

Body Fat - 48.1%

Shoulders - 55"

Biceps

Right - 17"

Left - 17"

Chest - 53"

Waist - 57"

Hip - 58"

Thigh

Right - 30"

Left - 30"

Dawn's Mission Statement

I will cherish every sunrise, embrace and see each day as not just another day, but one filled with opportunity and excitement.

I will live each day with courage and a belief in myself and others.

I will live my the values of integrity, honesty, respect, freedom of choice and a love of all God's people.

I will treasure my family.

I will live each day with respect for myself and others, facing life's challenges as they come and learning from my mistakes in order to become a stronger person.

I pledge my respect to my employers and I will strive every day to earn their respect.

I will keep my body and mind, healthy and strong.

I will enrich my life and the lives of all who cross my path or share my hearth, by caring, by affirming their unique worth in love, by giving what I have to give and accepting what t hey have to give me.

I will be known by my family as a caring and loving wife and mother: by my coworkers as a hardworking and honest person; and by my friends as someone they can count on and trust.

I will help others as best I can and I will thank those who help me along the way.

I will behave in a manner so as to become a light. not a roadblock, for others who chose to follow or lead me.

I will show love rather than expect love.

I will continue to grow personally and professionally by stimulating my mind with new learning.

I will strive to be happy.

"Whatever you think you can do

or believe you can do, begin it.

Action has magic, grace and power in it."

-J Goethe

The Biggest Loser

Did you watch The Biggest Loser tonight? I did, and I cried.

I cried listening to Irene and Jillian talking about Irene and how up to that point she had let go of 98 lbs, but she had not let go of the old feelings that she had about herself. She still felt worthless and incapable and did not feel proud of herself and her accomplishments.

I identified with her on so many levels. I was at that point in my life before and those feelings of unworthiness came back to me. It has been a long time since I was really reminded that I used to feel that way about myself. To hear that she was having those feelings about herself really broke my heart. I truely believe that everyone deserves to feel worthy of living a happy life, love themselves, and to be proud of themselves.

Then to see her realize that she is proud of herself put me over the edge. I was balling like a baby! She is such a beautiful girl and I am so happy that she has let go of those old feelings. She has really taken some big steps and I know that she is going to succeed at reaching her goal. I can't wait to see how happy and proud she is of herself at the finale.

OK, I know it has been awhile and I appoligize. I have been working out really hard at the gym...almost too hard. I am taking a break from the weights for a week and I am going to concentrate on cardio. My trainer is gone to Florida so it is a perfect time for a little break.

My plan is to swim 1 hour every day of my 5 days off and do an hour of cardio. I really want to get to running to prepare for my triathlon so I am thinking of doing some running/walking. I may run for 1 km and walk for 1 km. I don't want to hurt my knee so I think this is a perfect way to do it. I also got my hands on a bicycle so I am going to get out biking. I plan on doing a few long bike rides that are 15 or 20 kms.

After I take my week off from weight training. I will be training really hard at the gym. My trainer, Todd, wants me to do 1 hour of cardio early in the morning, before I have had breakfast (so don't get in my way, I am likely going to be cranky), and then I am to go home and eat and later in the day he wants me to go back to the gym to complete my weights and do 30 more minutes of cardio. So that is a total of 1 & 1/2 hours of cardio! He says this is what I need to do to get the last 25 lbs off so I am going to give it a try. I am not going to like traveling back and forth to town but I am willing to try it to get the last 25 lbs off. I keep telling myself, "it is only for 25 lbs and then I will just need to maintain". I really hope this works. I am going to give it my best.

I am working on writing my success story for Goodlife Fitness. I can't wait to finish it and submit it. I am hoping that it will inspire some more people to get moving and get healthier.

Oh, something new is that I ran in a 5k run a few weeks ago. I was a little worried about how it would go as I had not run since January and then it was only a few minutes on the treadmill. I ran it in 32:08 so I had improved on my last time of 34:45. My goal for the next run is to run it in under 30 minutes. That is quite a jump so I really need to practice my technique and get out there running so I can reach my goal.

I realize it has been awhile since I have posted. I will be adding some posts really soon...thanks for being patient with me!

"We often fear what never is and limit the strength of our minds.

Move into fear's territory.

Release the strength of your mind and discover some of your greatest suprises, that what you fear doesn't exist after all.

Live life to the fullest."

-Shirley Asiedu-Addo

Yesterday I went to the gym and trained my legs and shoulders. Then I did about 30 mins of cardio. My glutes and hamstrings are REALLY sore today which tells me that I worked really hard yesterday and that is a good thing.

Today I trained my back, triceps and then my abs. I really worked hard and I think I will be sore tomorrow too. I also did 40 minutes of cardio.

On the agenda for tomorrow is a personal training session with Todd and then cardio. I wonder waht he has planned for me. Hopefully it will be a really hard workout!

Today is my first of 5 days off. My aunt came over to take some photos of me for the upcoming stories that will be in The Casket. If you want to see them make sure to buy The Casket for the next 3 weeks.
After the photos, I had a workout at the gym. I worked my abs today and did about 30 mins on the spin bike. Then Joey and I went to the OC to get some swimming in. It was a bit easier than it was last time. I really have to get in the pool lots so I can get faster and I want to be able to swim the whole distance without stopping (750 meters). It is going to be really hard to do the front crawl the whole way but with enough practice I think I can do it. No, wait, I know I can do it if I put my mind to it!

At the Gym

I went to the gym this evening after work. Usually, I will just do cardio when I go to the gym after work but tonight I decided to do some weights also.

I trained my back and triceps tonight. After that I was so tired that I only did 20 mins of cardio. I know, I know, I should have done more. I will make up for it tomorrow, I promise!

Have a restful night!

Getting Started

Getting started and making a commitment to lead a healthier lifestyle was the hardest part for me. I had tried many times before and obviously did not succeed. There were many reasons why I had not succeeded before. One reason was that I was not ready. I was not ready mentally to make the commitment to lead a healthier lifestyle. I had a lot of thoughts about myself that were very negative. I had to learn to let those negative thoughts go and focus on the positive thing sin my life. There were many positive things in my life to focus on but I really did not see them. I let the negative "get in the way".

It is important to remember that there is something positive in every situation. We may not see it right away but it is there so remember to look for it. Learning from our mistakes is a positive thing and overcoming adversity is a positive thing. Hard times lead us to learn more about ourselves and grow as a person. I must say that that is one thing that I have REALLY changed about myself. I try to focus on the positive and see my glass as half full.

One reason that I did not succeed before is because I was not going into it with the right intentions. I was not doing it for me. I was doing it for some other reason. I let go of 25 lbs for my wedding and then I put it right back on plus more after the wedding. I would walk and eat better because my family wanted me to, not because I wanted to and of course I did not stick to it. If you can't do it for yourself, who can you do it for? You are the most important person in your life. If you don't take care of yourself, there will come a time when you can't take care of those that mean the world to you.

If you are wanting to make the changes in your life to let go of weight or lead a healthier lifestyle but have not started, ask yourself who you are doing this for? Hopefully, the answer is yourself...but it truly has to be for you. You need to believe that you are doing it for you. You are capable of doing it and you are worth it! Think of all the benefits that you will gain from being healthier. You will have more energy to do the things you love to do.

Make sure to let go of the things that are holding you back. Let go of the fear of failure. If you are afraid that you may not succeed, so you don't try...you have failed before you even started. Tell yourself that you are going to succeed. That is what I did. I told everyone else too. Two months into my journey, I told my mother that Goodlife Fitness should use me in a commercial because I was going to do it! She believed me because I believed in myself.

Make sure you have a support system for those days that you are struggling. Support systems are very important when you are struggling and to help you celebrate your triumphs. My support system is huge. My support system consists of my husband, son, parents, sister, nephews, grandparents, aunts & uncles, friends, co-workers and everyone that reads my blog. When I am tempted to eat something like carrot cake, I think about you reading myblog and how you would feel if I ate it. I don't want to let any of you down and that helps me make the right decision. So you reading my blog is helping me in a huge way. So let me know that you are reading and what you like/dislike about what I am writing about. If I can help you in anyway, please let me know what I can do.

I stared really slowly. I changed my diet first and then added exercise. I will tell you more about how I changed my diet and activity level in the next few weeks. I will coordinate my blog posts with my stories in The Casket. I have so much more to say...so stay tuned!

So start letting go of everything that is holding you back and get on the road to leading a healthy and happy life!

Every goal that has ever been reached began with just one step and the belief that it could be attained. Dreams really can come true, but they are most often the result of hard work, determination, and persistence.

When the journey seems impossible to reach, remember that all you need to do is take one more step. Stay focused on your goal and remember...each small step will bring you a little closer.

When the road becomes hard to travel and it feels as if you'll never reach the end, look deep inside your heart and you will find strength you never knew you had.

Jason Blume

Letting Go

I realize that there may be some new readers of my blog with the exposure of my story in The Casket newspaper and I would like to explain where the term "Letting Go" comes from.

Many years ago, when I worked at Mother Webb's, I went to a fortune teller. It was my first time going to a fortune teller and going into it I was not really sure what to think. She had many things to say to me, of which many have come true. One thing that she said was that at some point in my life I was going to lose a lot of weight. I thought she was nuts because at the time I did not have a lot of weight that I needed to lose. She told me that the way that I was going to do it was when people tell me that I have lost some weight will say "Thank you, but I am letting it go".

She explained further by saying that when someone tells you that you lost something, you automatically start to look for the lost item because you want it back. She is right about that. If someone told me that I lost my cell phone I would immediately begin looking for it. Typically, lost is a negative word and is typically not something that we choose to do. We don't choose to loose items that we have worked hard for. Letting it go is a more positive word and is something that we choose to do.

So that is what I have been doing. I am letting go of everything that has been holding me back all these years. I am letting go of my fears of failure. I am letting go of hurtful things that have been said to me over the years. I am letting go of the negative thoughts and feelings that I have had about myself and my life. I am letting go of the weight that has been holding me back all these years.

Now, I am embracing life and I strive to be happy everyday. I am finally in control of my life.

Taking Control

My first article is in The Casket today. Click on the title of this post "Taking Control" and it will take you to my article on the The Casket website. I hope you enjoy reading it.

I hope you will let me know what you think of it. Feel free to comment here on my blog. I love it when I log in and see that there are comments. Hint, Hint!

Another awesome day! The weather is mild and I am actually happy to see the potholes on my road because it means that the snow and ice are melting.

I had another great day at the gym. It was leg day today. My knee was actually feeling great today during the workout, so great that I was able to increase my weights on the leg extension machine to where it was before my knee was sore. The only thing that I notice though, is that my right quad is doing most of the work. The knee that hurts while doing the leg extension is the left one and it is not as strong as the right one. I will have to pay some extra attention to my left quad for the next while making sure not to overdo it and hurt it again.

This is what I did for my leg workout today:
Leg Extension - 60 lbs x 15 reps x 3 sets
Leg Curl - 100 lbs x 15 reps, 110 lbs x 15 reps x 2 sets
Thigh abduction - 220 x 15, 225 x 15, 230 x 15
Thigh adduction - 205 x 15, 210 x 15, 220 x 15
Calf press - 4 plates x 15, 6 plates x 15, 8 plates x 15
Plie sumo squat, 75 lbs x 15 reps x 3 sets

I just realized that I did not even try the lunges. I am sure that I could have done them. I will have to do extra next time to make up for it!

After legs, it was ab time and then cardio time. I did 20 minutes on the Precor Elliptical and 25 hard minutes on the spin bike.

I hope you had a great day and got a chance to enjoy the fresh air outside.

Exciting News

The Casket has contacted me and asked if I would write some articles. They are doing a 4 week series on health related issues. The topics in order are: obesity, nutrition, physical exercise, and mental health. Of course I said "yes". I would do anything to get my story out there in the hopes that it can reach the people who are in the same position that I was in a year ago. The people who need to know that if I can do it, than they can too. That is one of the main reasons that I am blogging. If I can help just one person make the decision to live a healthier life, than as far as I am concerned, I have reached my goal.

The first article is going to be published in Wednesday's paper. I am really excited about participating in this. I have never thought of myself as much of a writer. I never did very well in English class, math and the sciences came easy to me and I had to work hard in english to get a passing mark. I am sure that The Casket did not ask me to take part in this because of my writing skills but more so because of my story.

So, I just wanted to let you know about this so that you can be sure to buy a copy, or two, of The Casket this week.

I was given a work limit that was really hard to stick to for my first article. I was not able to say all that I wanted to say to I am going to elaborate here in my blog. I am hoping that there will be some new readers to my blog so I will start by explaining where the term "Letting Go" has come from and then I will probably have a few posts on the different issues I faced when I was obese.

I hope you enjoy reading the article,

Dawn

Today's Workout

Today was a great day at the gym. I started out at the Oland Centre pool. As you may know, I am going to participate in a Triathlon this summer. In order for me to participate, I need to get in the pool and do some swimming. Today was the beginning of my training in the pool. Well, I am not sure you can really call what I did today training. I was really just trying to get reaquainted with the water. It has been awhile since I have done any type of swimming except for relaxing in the water at the beach.

I used to be a pretty good swimmer. I used to teach swimming lessons and I had my Life Saving I so I was used to swimming laps. But that was many years ago and I have only gotten older. It was quite an eye opener. I thought I would be able to do quite a few laps of the front crawl. Boy was I wrong! I was able to do one full length of the front crawl...ONLY ONE! Then I had to take a break and do the breast stroke. I ended up doing most of the laps in the breast stroke. I have a long way to go to get to where I need to be.

The swim portion of the triathlon is 750 meters. That is 30 lengths of the pool or 15 laps. That is a long distance. Then add in the fact that it is going to be in the ocean, with waves, and who knows what the weather will be like! Let's just say that I have more training to do in the pool than I thought I was going to have to do.

After my eye opening swim, I went to Goodlife Fitness for my workout. I worked my chest, biceps and abs. I was quite suprised at how tired my chest and biceps were after swimming. I didn't think that I worked that hard at the swimming, but when I got into my workout I realized that I was quite tired. I will definately have to make sure I plan my workouts so that I am not working my chest on a day that I am swimming.

I hope you had a great weekend,

Dawn

I have had 2 really awesome days at the gym. Yesterday (Friday), I worked my abs and then had my hour session with my trainer where I did a whole body workout. Some of the things that I did are; chest press, v-ups, tricep kickbacks, bicep curl, scorpions, bulgarian split squat, burpees, farmers walk (with 130 lbs), dumbell single-leg deadlift, plie/sumo squats, step-ups, bent-over row, and one arm row. That's all I can remember.

After that I did my cardio. I did 20 mins of intervals on the EFX Eliptical. I did 1 min at 10 for the incline and 6 for the resistance, then I bumped it up to 20 for the resistance for 2 mins and then back down to 6 for my rest. I worked really hard and was sweating alot by the end of it. It felt really good. Then I decided to hop on the spin bike. I did 30 minutes on the bike. I worked really hard. I pretended that I was in a class with an instructor. I think I work harder when there is a full class with an instructor than I do on my own. I really wanted to get the most out of the 30 minutes so that is why I pretended there was an instructor with me.

I got up early this morning so I could make it to Suzanne's spin class. My how I love her spin class. She knows just how hard to push and I always get a really good workout in her class. I am never disappointed with it. But, I maxed myself out a little too early in the class. She played the song Sandstorm and I always push myself during that song. It is a 7 minute song with 2 breaks. The music is really motivating and it is usually the last song in the class before the cool down song. But she suprised us with another song after Sandstorm. The last song was really brutal for me, but I hung in there.

I feel really good after the last few days at the gym and I can't wait to go tomorrow. I am hoping to get to the Oland Centre for a swim. I have to start training for the Triathlon this summer because it will be here before I know it.

Oh, I'd like to say, enough of the cold weather. Winter, you can go away now!

Today's Workout

I had an awesome workout today. I worked my abs, cardio, and did lots of stretching. Then I had a great 1 hour total body workout with my trainer.

What did you do today?

I know it has been a while since I posted...please don't be mad!

I have a few things to update you on. The first being that I found out that my scale at home is no longer accurate. Remember when I posted that I had let go of 9 lbs in about a week and a half. Well, as it turns out my scale is off by about 6 lbs which means that I had let go of only 3 lbs in a week and a half instead of 9 lbs. Needless to say I was a little dissapointed when I found that out because I thought I had only 24 lbs to go and now I have 30 lbs to go. 30 seems like so much more than 24. I know that I will eventually get to my goal and I also know that it is more about how you feel than the actual number on the scale. I do feel awesome and I have to remember that I have some along way in a year...so what's another 6 lbs!

On February 18th, I was at work and was faced with MANY temptations. There were treats galore and it was really hard not to indulge and have some of them. I told my trainer about these treats and the temptations that I face at work sometimes and he told me to think of the treats as "contaminated crack needles that will kill you". I know that it sounds harsh but when you think about it, it really is true. People with addictions to crack and other drugs have an uncontrollable desire to keep doing crack which is definately something that can lead to their death. For me, my "crack", is food. I have been dealing with an addiction to food but we don't think of food as something that can kill us because we need to eat to survive. Eating one cheeseburger is definately not going to kill someone but years and years of eating unhealthy with no exercise can lead to health issues that can lead to death. So from now on, I am going to look at treats as contaminated crack needles that will kill me. If I envision them as crack needles, I am more likely to resist the temptation.

The same evening, I was leaving work and had planned to go to the gym to do an hour of cardio. I left work and pulled into the parking lot at Goodlife Fitness. I really did not feel like going to the gym which is really unusual for me. I had not had an opportunity to eat anything since lunch time so my body was really tired. I sat in the parking lot for a minute or two and decided to send a text to Todd, my trainer. This is what I said "I am sitting outside the gym...please tell me I don't have to go in". I didn't get a reply right away so I sat there for a few minutes longer. Then I decided to drive around town while I ate my orange. I went up the street and back down the street and I was starting to feel like I had more energy but by this time I was thinking that I should just go home anyway. So I headed for home.

I got to my road in St. Andrews and all of a sudden my phone started ringing. It was a text from Todd. This is what it said, "Horse pucky! When in doubt, tell yourself...Everytime I step in that gym I am changing my life forever!" I read it and I thought, "I definately want to change my life". So I turned around in the next driveway and went back to the gym. I ended up doing about 50 minutes of cardio. It felt really good to be there knowing that I am changing my life every time I go to the gym and I know that I made the right decision by turning around and going back. I must say that it is awesome having a trainer like Todd in my corner. He really understands my issues and he knows exactly what to say to keep me motivated. Thank You, Todd!

This is turning out to be a blog post about all my bad days and there have been a few lately. So here is another one for you...

On Wednesday February 23rd, I was planning to go to the gym to train my legs and do my normal amount of cardio. Well, I had been feeling really tired physically and mentally the days prior to that so when I got up in the morning I was questioning if I should go to the gym or not. I was feeling tired physically. Partly because I had worked really hard at the gym the day before and partly because I did not get as much sleep as I normally do and maybe my nutrition was not as good as it normally is.

My mental state was not great that day either. I was allowing myself to think very negatively. I was struggling with thoughts about my weight (the number on the scale). The scale has not really moved much in the last while and I was allowing myself to think that I was destined to be this weight forever. That maybe I was meant to be 215 lbs and size 14 - 16 FOREVER.

Also, I was planning to train my legs and my knee had still been bothering me and I allowed myself to think that I was not going to be able to get a good workout in with the way my knee felt (which I know is not true). I was very frustrated with my knee because I want to be running on the treadmill and doing lunges and my weighted sumo squats with full range of motion but doing all that really hurts my knee. I was also thinking that at this rate, my knee is never going to get better and it is going to keep holding me back. I decided to go to the gym anyway because I want to change my life and any workout is better than no workout. Right?

I went to the gym and did my regular warm-up, still thinking my negative thoughts. I went on to train my legs and usually I do 2 exercises and then I do something cardio based for 30 secs to get my heart rate up. Well, I skipped out on the cardio part using the excuse that it hurt my knee too much and went on with my work out. I finished all my exercises but 2 machines, the thigh abductor and adductor which works the inner and outer thighs. There was someone else on the machines so I decided to do some abs while I waited. I finished one set of abs and the machines were free. So I put my ball and weights that I use for my abs away and was on my way to the thigh machines. Well, before I reached them, someone else got to the machines. At this point I thought I might as well go home so I went to the locker room and sat there for a few minutes. I don't like leaving part of my legs untrained so I went back out and the machines were free. After, I decided to call it a day even though I had not done any cardio.

On my way out of the gym, I met Todd and he asked me how my workout went. I told him exactly how it was. That I was really not into it today and that I was allowing myself to think really negatively and this is what he said to me. "Each time we walk into the gym, we choose our mood. It is our choice to have a good day or a bad day." I know that he is right on this one. I allowed myself to have the negative thoughts which lead me to having a bad day. Had I choose to think positively, my day would have been way different. I told him that tomorrow is another day and I will make better choices.

You know what, the next day, I got up and choose to be happy and positive and I had an outstanding day!

So, I ask you, what mood/thoughts have you chosen to have today?

After reading this post, I think that you can see how invaluable it is for me to have a trainer. Not only do I need someone telling me what to do in the gym for physical exercise, I also need someone to make sure that my mind isn't my worst enemy!