Ah ha moment...

Lots of stress in our home these days. Our move is 4 weeks away and many things are not going as planned. Can I say extreme stress is in our way! It's almost as if the more I pray for things to work out, they are getting worse... I still trust in God and a true believer that all things happen for a reason, so lets hope it's a good reason...

So since the weekend wasn't all smiles I got to thinking a lot. I started focusing on my weight gain and really thought hard to see when it all started. My weight was never that steady but I was always able to lose when I tried. But lately I've been really trying and I find myself only losing a couple of pounds then gaining it right back. So what is so different now than before?

I started to think back and my weight started creeping up when I moved out with my husband at age 24. I'm 27 now and 20 lbs (15 now) heavier then I was then. My ah ha moment came when I started to think that since then it has been soo many stressful days, not all is stressful but way more stressful than I could have ever imagined it. Money, relationship, career all stress! I'm really praying that the move to the next house is the beginning to no more stress or at least very limited stress! So my ah ha moment (or blame you can call it haha!) is stress! I think Stress is the reason my weight wants to stick to me and not go away... Something I will need to add to my Monday weight loss goals, ... tackle stress!

I did get one good thing out of the weekend, a mind calming 2 hour walk thru the beautiful park yesterday morning ;) Nature always makes me feel better on those down days.

Not so bad, but not good enough!

I had to post the pic of the yummy desserts at my mom's bbq this weekend. I must say that I was very proud of myself I used my 3 bite rule, and ate much less than half of that brownie, and I also waited till everyone picked the desserts they wanted so there wasn't any left for seconds! Good idea huh ;)

My goal last week was to really try and combine healthy eating and exercise and control evening binges. So far I've been good some days and not so good other days.

This weeks goals;

1.Workout 1 hour 5 days a week (I am going to try my very best to get out to the park mon-thurs and sunday)

2. I will also add 1 min of push ups (as on my fellow blogger WeightLossWeekly Blog)

3. No coffee shop treats at all this week! Only coffee allowed ;0

4. Cook at home all week. This I can do, the weekends I need to work harder on.

5. If fast food comes in the picture, choose healthier choice and no fries!

Since I have been working slowly on all these changes I am confident I can achieve these goals this week! ;) I think my Hump Day Wednesday post will be better this week .... fingers crossed!

Still afraid to do my weigh in, I really do not want to see it higher than last week. Should I just go for it and use it to motivate me, or just wait another week. So not a fan of that SCALE!

Show your house Friday!

Today on Kelly's Blog, is show your Dining room. Since we are moving in June my house is turned upside down right now. I searched up some old pics of the dining room so I have those posted below. I think this will be my last post for show your house friday's ;( as all my rooms are getting filled with boxes and emptied out more and more each day.

My Dining Room! Soon to be just a memory ;(
Story behind the table; That is not just any table, nope... Under neath that is a Poker table ahah!
Our Brother in laws made us a big poker table when we moved in here 4 years ago. At that time we had no furniture and decided to just put a wood slab above it and here we are with our dining room table that transforms into a poker table when guests are over. Finally it will go into the basement of the new house ;)





The big Paris picture. We got this at ikea and I just love it!

Everyday I have been packing a little more, and a little more each day I get more nervous and a little stressed. This was our first home together and so many memories were made here. Ugh I'll take it day by day ;)



This is the dining room in the new house; Minus their furniture and curtains lol and paint color! and chandelier, they are taking it.
I have many ideas for this room. I'm thinking a soft beige (what else lol, I love beige!) I want to get white shutters for the windows. Since I have a cat, curtains do not go well with her. Her fur would be all over them. I'm not sure yet to what type of furniture or color of furniture we will get, but I'm thinking since the room is very long, I may had 2 sitting chairs and the end with a little round table, kind of like a reading area. What do you think? I'm going to head over to Kelly's blog and check out all the beautiful dining rooms for some ideas!

Hump Day not so good update

I feel like this today - Minus the hair... ok and the horns- hahaah!

Seems like so far I can only do one thing at a time, it's either eat healthy, or exercise. Why is it so hard to combine the both? We have been going the park for our runs and it is going really well. However I think because of the extra work outs my appetite is increasing as well and a salad is not what I'm craving - fast food is! Last night at 11pm my husband and I went to McDonald's for a chicken wrap, which we painfully ordered since the Big mac was really what was calling my name!

I need to learn how to change these habits before they happen.

The issue: Evening hunger strikes for junk food! Tonight I'm going to try and eat before the hunger strike happens. I think around 9pm I will eat a snack. Today i will try crackers and cheese ;) I think the salt on the crackers will help calm cravings.

I will not do a weigh in until Monday so for now I'll do my best in combining healthy eating and exercise. We will go back to the park again today for our hour run, we are on a roll!. The park also has a Zoo and as big kids we have to go through it after our runs hahah.

Victoria Day

Morning Everyone actually afternoon. Took me a while to get started this morning. Today is a holiday here in Canada. It's queen Victoria day. If you are curious and want to know more about it click this link for some facts ;)

Last Monday I said I was going to work out 1 hour every day then the weekend came along and I did not keep my promise. Friday I actually sat around the whole day chatting with my sister and my cousin, not productive at all! That Day turned into evening at a coffee shop still chatting away, I amaze myself at times and wonder how on earth do we talk so much! hahaha!

Saturday I started packing boxes for our move, this I considered a work out, lifting heavy boxes, walking up and down 2 flights of stairs, It was tiring! And yesterday we went to the golfing range, a mini workout I'll say. (When I lay it out that way, I don't feel so bad)

However I did eat lots of french fries yesterday :( not good!.

Today is a beautiful day and we are going for a jog in the park later, which I'm really looking forward too! (Never have I looked forward to this, I definitely see improvement)

My goal this week is to fully combine healthy choices in food and exercise for a total lifestyle change. Slowly I think I will get it :)

My weigh in is actually 1 lbs up. This is ok, I know what I did wrong and I'm going to try my best to fix that this week!

By the way thanks for all your motivating comments on Friday as well, they really give me a boost!!

Happy Friday!

Today I'm not participating in Kelly's Korner Blog. Today Is the Guest bedroom pics and altho we lived here for 4 years we never finished the guest bedroom, we actually just started renovating it when we put the house on the market. Our new house will have 2 guest bedrooms to decorate! ;) My friends and family are happy that they won't need to stay on the couches anymore hahah!

So far this week I've been exercising every day ;) and we went hiking twice! I think I found my new fav exercise! I'm not a good runner, I usually get left behind gasping for air but hiking was so so fun! It used every muscle in my body, it felt great. It was tiring but I was never gasping for air. Yesterday was a beautiful day tooo!

This weekend is a long weekend which means lots of events. I decided to take it upon myself and add some "moving" type events. Tomorrow is going to rain so we haven't made plans yet. Sunday we'll be going golfing and Monday we are going to another provincial park for another hike! I can't believe what I've been missing! The park we went to yesterday was just beautiful!



Hope you all have a great weekend ;) I'm going to check out some of the links of guest bedrooms for some ideas! ;)

Hump Day Update

The weather is gorgeous today. Sunshine always makes everything feel better. I'll also use that as my excuse to feel better about eating a donut last night haha! Not good, especially since I've been doing pretty well. I'll tell you how it started. First of all at dinner I decided to make shrimp and scallops. I hardly fry my food, I'm a big fan of oven cooked and crockpot meals. BUT I decided to use BUTTER and dip my shrimp and scallops in flour and seasonings and fry them in butter!! BAD IDEA, they were sooo delicious! They were the yummiest scallops I've ever tasted! Good thing I made just enough for our dinner or we could of sat and ate them forever. So that is where it started, it's almost as if my body said "fatty foods! we want more!" That's when a ride to the store ended up at the Tim Hortons drive thru for a ice cappuccino and honey glazed donut. I'm not even going to look up those calories, I know they are a lot!

My husband is off work this week so we are dedicating 1 hour jogs in the mornings at the track in front of our house. We are also going for a hike on Saturday, that should be fun!


I haven't weighed in this week, I decided to wait until Monday and see what progress I made.

Wish me luck! I'm hoping to fit in some of my last years summer dresses soon! ;)

One or the Other? But both!?

Over the weekend I had a chat with my brother in law. He just started as a personal trainer at a popular gym here in Toronto. I asked him for some advise ;) He said "you want results? You need to work out everyday for an hour, or at least 5 times a week" HA! Not what I wanted to hear!

Really, do we need to work out that much!? One of the books I bought last week says Nutrition is key and exercise is important but not as much as nutrition. So what is true really.

That Extra 20 pounds Blog writes about the same thing today. I know that exercise is definitely needed to reshape body but can total weight loss be achieved with maybe only 2.5 times of exercise a week instead of 5!?

So I decided to do my own challenge!
Last couple weeks I changed my eating habits drastically eliminating as many carbs as I could, and working out only once a week. In this time I lost 4 lbs.

Starting today I am going to try my best to incorporate 1 hour a day for the whole week and see what kind of results I get at the end. I will also do my best on the nutrition side with what I learned this far.

Some things I learned last week;

Eat in this order of a meal; Soup,Salad,Veggies, protein then carb last.

Fat burning happens after is burns off carbs, incorporating strength/muscle training with cardio helps get to fat burning faster.

Use the 3 bite rule: With desserts and carbs just take 3 bites of it, this way you get to have it without spoiling our diet!

What are your thoughts on this?

Where you live Friday's

Kelly's Korner Blog started this Show where you live Friday's. I missed last weeks kitchen one but decided to join in on the fun this Friday for living room Friday!. I have 2 living rooms, upstairs and downstairs. My home is a 3 story 100 year old house with tons of rooms. Although we are moving in June I had so many great memories in this house. I'll use these pics also as a keepsake of where I use to live ;) Enjoy!

This is the main floor livingroom. It's soft and cozy. There's Zoe in the corner wondering what I'm doing. Also beside the window on the floor is a Hooka pipe. Our friends were over last night and we have many friends of different cultures. With the hooka pipe people enjoy smoking flavoured tobacco. Not my thing but they do have herbal scented stuff that can be smoked and that one is better and also makes the house smell yummy.
That's our wedding picture. It was taken on the grounds of University of Toronto.

My View from our front windows. Love the park. One good thing is that our next home is also in front of a park, it's a smaller park, but still I get my GREEN view!

This is my upstairs living room where we spend most of our time.


My husband is from Honduras and his parents brought us back this wood carving picture. I love it.

We are moving to a newer home in June and one thing I will miss is the character of the trim of this older home.

I got these picture holders from the Dominican republic on our hunny moon in 2007. In them I have pics of 2 of my favorite places. San Diego and Bahamas!
My view from the second floor, the more I look at it the more I know I'm going to miss it! But I am also excited for our new home and new area ;)

That Picture!

Ok fellow Bloggeries, you know what I'm talking about. That picture that shows you exactly how you look whether you want to believe it or not! That picture that just opens your eyes to say WOW things need to change!

Yesterday we had a family event and of course the cameras were flashing. When I looked over at one of the cameras and saw my picture, I almost cried! I did not like what I saw. (Just like Zoe's big belly showing above, is basically how I felt my poses in the pics looked this weekend!)
I was s depressed by those pictures and I think I had my ah ha moment. I really really need to change a lot more than I have.

I think I have been doing a lot better than before, I'm down 2 lbs but still 10lbs heavier than my wedding 2 years ago, and 15-20lbs heavier than where I want to be!
My sister was feeling the exact same way with me yesterday so we decided to start enforcing these pointers a lot more than we have.

1. Email each other what we ate for the day.
2. Be honest with each other and give pointers on how to do things better
3. Add more fruits and veggies, eliminating as much carbs as we can
4. 3 day a week work outs or more!
5. Drink lots of Tea and water, no POP or Juice
6. Smaller portions, eat on smaller plates to help with this

What are some pointers that have been working for you? Let me know and my sister and I will try them out!