After paying for a membership and not going for at least 6 months, I think it’s time I switch it up. Aside from my trainer who moved to a different city, I never really liked working out there. It was small and dark and didn’t have a whole lot of selection when it came to classes.

So I have a few options. I can work out at home until school starts and take advantage of the campus gym that is included in my tuition. I’ve gone there maybe once or twice and it’s always packed with football players and girls who wear makeup and 200 dollar yoga pants to work out. (you know the ones) But, it won’t cost me any extra.

Then there are the few mega gyms, some fancy “luxury” gyms, a ten dollar basic gym and the city run leisure centers that give you access to all the pools and other facilities.

Maybe I’ll take advantage of the occasional week long free trial memberships some of them have to make my decision easier.

Any advice?

In previous posts here I have expressed my issues with Weight Watchers and their tendency to promote processed and fast food that is low in points but by no means healthy. It’s difficult for me to resolve my feelings about the program because when I was on it in the past, I was successful at losing weight and to this day the most I ever lost was on the program.

Since injuring myself last summer in South Africa, it has been a sliding slope of gaining back the weight I lost last year and a constant struggle to stay on the healthy path. This week I realized that despite the fact that I know what healthy choices to make in order to lose the weight and be stronger, I’m simply not making them. In short, I admitted that I needed help. When food and the very act of eating become more than just a means of sustenance and provide comfort or emotional release, it’s incredibly difficult to make those choices. I was tired of doing it half-heatedly, so this happened:

The online option for me worked very well in the past, and I plan on using Weigh in Wednesday for a measure of accountability. So far the past 3 days have been good, I’ve been tracking and staying within my points. The new system is interesting but it’s frustrating that I can’t find the formula they use to calculate the points. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough, but it makes me wonder if they changed the plan to make it more difficult for people to follow without having to pay the company in order to find out points values.  That being said, the fact that they take into account carbs, fat, protein and fiber does seem more intuitive.

I want to know, what do the rest of you think about the new WW or WW in general?

What I’m going to do:

1. Find balance in my daily food intake. Since raw veggies cause major tummy issues for me, I need to find creative ways to incorporate cooked veg and lean protein into my diet and reduce my carbs. Also, Drink more water!
   
   
2. Exercise 5 days a week for at least 1 hour. This can include intensive gardening, renovating, bike riding, walking, swimming and gym going.
   
   
3. See my trainer 1 - 2 times a week. It’s an expense that I feel is worth every penny.
   
   
4. Spend no more than 2 hours watching tv or browsing the web. Serious time suck, and I alsways feel tired and blah after spending too much time staring at a screen.
   
   
5. Be frugal. Weddings are expensive and I don’t need to spend money to have fun, especially in the summer here.
   
   
6. Enjoy the outdoors. It’s mosquito central in Saskatchewan right now but I need to suck it up! The warm weather is few and far between here, especially this year with all the rain.
   
   
7. Appreciate the victories, learn from the failures. I’m not perfect, but I’m also capable of changing my life, one small step at a time. Positivity is crucial
   
   
8. Focus on being HEALTHY. While looking good in my wedding dress is inspiration for this, it’s not the main reason for making these changes. My overall health is my ultimate goal.

I woke up this morning at 6 am with a killer tummy ache (I blame the pasta I had for dinner) and could not get back to sleep which is the only reason on earth that I would be awake at 730 am on a Saturday. Ugh. I am TIRED. I even tried to go back to sleep with no luck, so here I am.

Despite this, I am determined to get some vitamin D and exercise in today by taking my bike out and enjoying the beautiful weather. My lovely friend Heather is a Mary Kay rep and is hosting an all day sales party so I’m going to bike down and support her this morning. This is seriously dangerous for me as my addiction to makeup and beauty products knows no bounds, but I’ll try to be good. Maybe I can convince Ryan to give me his VISA? ha ha.

I finished a paper last night which makes me feel a lot more productive. Post make up party I’ll be working on my take home final for Women and Gender Studies which is due on monday. I have a serious set up at the kitchen table, dual monitors and everything. No crowded, loud, horrible library for this girl.

I will also be going gluten free for a few days to see if it helps my tummy issues. It does not feel like a coincidence that I was doing great yesterday until I had pasta for dinner. (and a cookie for dessert…) Now that I’ve had my blood test, it’s safe to eliminate it from my diet but I’m just struggling with how to go about it. I am a carb fiend. I will not become a bland-ian just yet since I still have about 3 months left of medication to finish and the idea of not being able to put hot sauce on everything kind of makes me want to cry. So for now, bye bye wheat!

Today is the last day of classes for the term, I still have 2 papers to finish and hand in and probably won’t do so until mid next week. Instead of getting up early and to work on them I slept in, watched ANTM (not proud of this) and did some reading for my last International Development seminar tonight.  I still haven’t exercised in over a week, and I’ve got a feeling that tomorrow’s training session is going to kick my ass.

I’m hoping getting my term paper back in class tonight will give me the confidence to just finish these damn papers. That’s assuming I do alright on it, but I did work very hard and I generally do pretty well when I put effort into something. Isn’t it amazing how the two correlate? I say this sarcastically of course.

I DO have to ability to pull off good grades when I try, and the same thing goes for healthy living. When it’s important and I try my hardest, then I see results, it’s not exactly rocket science. So why do I avoid doing what needs to be done? Push my responsibilities aside for immediate gratification and self-indulgence? It’s like a part of my brain shuts off.

My biggest life goals right now are to lose 100 lbs and get an honors degree before I turn 30. I’ve been avoiding and postponing both for so long and I’m running out of time.

What was the kick in the ass you needed to get moving on your goals?

Seriously, who knew waking up at 8 am on a Saturday could be so fantastic? Ryan and I usually sleep in on the weekend, hang out and eat breakfast together then run errands etc. But today he left to go visit his parents for a few days so I figured it would be a good opportunity to work out then get some paper writing done. I was right!

I met my friend Gina who is also going to South Africa this May, and went to the university gym, which I’m slowly starting to like, but definitely not as much as my regular gym. Breakdown of the workout:

• 20 min warm up on treadmill (I walked, with an incline since my calves are still sore)
• Stretch
• Squats
• Free weights
• Crunches and V sits (OW!)
• Stretch

At this point Gina had to take off, but since I didn’t have to be anywhere I hopped on a stationary bike for 30 mins and went hardcore. I don’t think I have ever pushed myself that hard when working out on my own and it felt AMAZING.I even got a little emotional when a really good song came on and I was trying to push through the last 2 minutes before the cool down. I kept thinking “I can do this! I can actually do this!” It was so weird, and super liberating.

I took my time stretching and relaxing after the fact, then grabbed some subway and a V8 for lunch. Now I have a sweet cubicle with a window and I’m ready to get to work.