• I managed to complete level 1 of the 30 Day Shred dvd nine days ago. By ‘complete’, I mean I got through the entire thing once. I have to clarify because I told someone that I completed the whole dvd at level 1 and they thought I meant I had done it consecutively for 30 days. The fact that I am Jummy, close to 100 pounds overweight and just starting out must have been forgotten for a second. Either that or they have a lot of faith in my abilities!

  Since then, I have done the dvd every other day: last Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. I was actually supposed to do the dvd on Friday but I was feeling lazy. I woke up earlier than expected on the Saturday of the trip to the US and though I tried to remain in bed, a strange voice that didn’t belong to me told me to get in a quick workout before we leave and even stranger, I listened to the voice!

  The workout continues to leave me sweat-soaked, and my goal for the coming week is to complete the dvd without having to take the five second breaks we’re permitted.

• Two weeks ago I ended up walking for 30 minutes during lunch hour a total of four times, and last week I walked twice. I take no credit for this: I have a colleague (hi G!) who is quite experienced with wrangling unfit and lazy friends and encouraging forcing them to exercise. I think I told her that I welcomed her tactics and let’s just say, she isn’t afraid to kick it in to whip-cracking mode. She was asking me every morning whether I had done my workout dvd the night before, and once she knew that my plan was to do the dvd every other day she began asking every two days. She also asks if I’ll be joining her (and sometimes another colleague) for a walk at lunchtime. I always give a noncommittal answer at first, but by the time 1:00pm comes around, I’m lacing up my running shoes. I guess a kick in the pants really does move me from my default sloth setting.
• When I’m huffing and puffing, sweating and hurting, I think of the junk I eat and I always think (or say out loud) that eating that junk isn’t worth it. When I think of all the effort required in the workouts, and how few calories are burned by it, it does make eating something unhealthy an unpalatable decision (but one I still make).

I abstained from eating skittles for over a week, but any efforts in that direction were negated by the way I ate during the US trip. I expected it but still, it’s ghastly! We’ll just thank God that I’m working out now so at least a few skittles are being burned off every other day. I also think that eventually my actions regarding eating junk will match my words.

In other awesome news, and as already shared on my other blog, I got the results of my annual medical exam from a few weeks back and everything’s good: my blood sugar (always my biggest worry) is still normal. My bad cholesterol levels (which were normal last time) remain the same, my good cholesterol levels are increased, and my doctor asked if I was exercising. I wasn’t at that time but I think the flights of stairs I have to navigate multiple times daily in my new home is helping with that. I’m not relying on that alone as sufficient exercise: I know that my body is now used to that so I have to push it to greater levels of physical activity in order to improve my health. I now feel inspired to have even better results next year! I continue to love my doctor; she’s really quite awesome.

Five minutes into the dvd, I stopped, huffing and puffing and afraid that:
:: my lumbering about would cause my neighbour to knock on my door and ask to see the elephant I had kept hidden all this time
:: my heart would give way.

This dvd is intense. I must try to get through more of it tomorrow, at a more decent time so that I can lumber about to my heart’s content. Jillian is really encouraging and tough, and what she says to motivate you makes sense. I just have to realize that I’m going to feel like I’m dying for a long while but what doesn’t kill me will make me fitter.

I went for a brisk walk with two fit colleagues on Monday. Both come to my armpits, height-wise, but what they lack in height they make up for in speed-walking ability. There were a lot of stairs near the end of the walk and I felt quite out of breath (and shape) as I went to climb them, and I needed to rest at the top of the steps. They were pretty gracious and didn’t make me feel bad that I needed a rest.

I’ve been tracking my weight for almost a month now and on Tuesday morning I weighed close to the heaviest I’ve been since I started recording my weight. It wasn’t a good feeling and it kind of reminded me why I was never a fan of weighing myself daily. I can agree though that it does sort of help you stay on track…sort of.

I’ve been bingeing on candy lately. I dream of one day being able to have a bag of candy around and not feeling compelled to eat the whole bag.

But…I ate a pear today. I love pears actually so it wasn’t a sacrifice (and it may not have balanced out the 191 grams of skittles I injested).

Last night I wanted white rice for dinner but I made bulghur instead. I’m still trying to find out how to really get bulghur to soak up some flavour. I’ve tried using chicken broth and I added minced garlic this time around and though it’s better than water, I want more flavour.

I walked home from the top of my street.

I’ve got far to go…but it’s a start!

Here goes:

On Friday, I went on a work excursion to a sugar bush and we were having a traditional sugar bush meal. I had some coffee and added milk to it, then asked a colleague to pass the sugar. At first we didn’t know if there was sugar on the table, but at about the same time that the colleague found the sugar, I remembered that I no longer add sugar to my drinks!

The relief I felt on realizing that was palpable and it just reminded me how important mindful eating is. I don’t drink coffee often (maybe a few times a month) and my old memories of drinking coffee included adding sugar.

I’m so glad my memory of my new habit kicked in on time!