2KMINE - My Year in Review

Wow!! I can't believe 2010 is only a few hours away!! This past year has been one of the most interesting, exciting, challenging and satisfying years of my life!!! So much has changed. I have changed, yet I've also stayed the same! I am in such a wonderful and different place than I was a year ago - I never dreamed that I could ever be here and be comfortable here. The ride to this place has been wonderful and intense thus far and I can't wait to see what 2010 will bring.

Before I even begin to reminisce, I want to wish all of you - my blogging friends and family and all who follow and support me on this journey, the VERY BEST OF 2010!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I also want to thank you for the continued support, encouragement and blog love over the past year. I never anticipated the amount of wonderful support I would receive (and friends that I've made) when I started this blog in November 2008. I could NOT have done any of this without your support and blog love! I thank you sincerely!

2KMINE!!!! [Two Thousand Mine (2009)]

Last year I made a very bold statement that I wanted 2009 to be "Two Thousand Mine (2KMINE). Sitting here on the very last few hours of 2009 , I feel that was the case...2009 WAS MINE. Please don't get me wrong - I am not an arrogant person but I really feel that I rocked it this past year and 2009 was MINE! (I'm sure there are millions of others that feel this way as well) :) All I am really trying to say here is that 2009 was one of the most amazing years of my life and I truly feel like I have accomplished so very much!! Here are some of the highlights.
In 2009:

• I lost 89 pounds!!!!!!!!! That deserves to be repeated...I LOST 89 POUNDS!! :)
• I reclaimed my life as it relates to living the most healthy lifestyle that I can
• I improved my quality of life (including that of my family and some friends)
  
• I have made fitness a part of my life, permanently
  
• I met and worked with the most amazing trainer/nutritionist in Canada, Rob Lagana of (http://laganafitness.com). He provided me with the tools to succeed and CONTINUE on this life long journey
  
• I have connected with so many wonderful people on similar journeys. We've built an amazing support system for each other (I love my blog buddies)
  
• I RAN my very first (and certainly not last) 5 K (CIBC Run for the Cure, October 4) in 43 minutes, 48 seconds. I cried the entire final kilometre.
• My weight loss journey was featured in 3 newspapers (the Ottawa Citizen, The Metro & EMC)
  
• I was selected as one of the Top 50 people in the capital for Ottawa Life Magazine's Annual Top 50 issue
• I starred in a national television commercial for ParticipACTION
• I was part of the Sun Life ParticipACTION Inspire the Nation Tour
• I was featured on the radio (Live 88.5)

Quite a few more things happened but I'm feeling a little strange tooting my own horn!

2009 was the year in which I learned the value of taking care of myself; the importance of making myself a priority so that I may be able to do all the things I want to do, including being a better mom, wife, friend, etc! I finally learned how to give myself the opportunity to be the best person I could be.

When I weighed 258 pounds:

• I could barely walk a short distance without becoming breathless, having to "take breaks".
  
• I snored like a bear... 89 pounds gone and no more snoring!!
  
• I hardly got a restful night of sleep...now my head hits that pillow and I AM OUT! It's a beautiful thing. I am so much more rested.
• I was convinced I had chronic knee pain or "bad knees"....I was just carrying too much weight because since the loss, my knee pain has vanished. My knees also used to crack with practically each step...no more cracking!
• Undergarments were VERY uncomfortable....now...AMAZING! :)
• I couldn't paint my own toe nails!!
  
• I couldn't keep up with my toddler...now..well, I still can't keep up...lol!! However, I could hang out significantly longer than before. I'm a FUN mommy now :)
  

There are so many more benefits that I've seen and continue to see since losing this weight and getting fit. My energy level is through the roof, I can accomplish so much in a day. It is just incredible!

So here I am at what I believe is the beginning of the rest of my life. I am in MAINTENANCE mode...I lost a lot of weight and I do believe that I will lose some more but for the most part, my greatest challenge in this upcoming year will be to maintain this new life stlye. I intend to do all I can to ensure that I make it. I WILL not re-gain this weight!! I am not looking backwards. 2010 will be all about moving forward with my goals on this journey!!! This is my new lifestyle. I want to live this way forever!! I will make fitness and health a priority and KEY PART of my life.

NO RESOLUTIONS, JUST GOALS!!!!!!!!
My health and fitness goals for 2010:

• MAINTAIN, MAINTAIN, MAINTAIN!!!!
• Train and run a mini triathlon (possibly June).
  
• Run a minimum of 2 Five K's for the year (Ottawa Race Weekend in May and CIBC Run for the Cure in October).
• Keep up with my weight training session to truly sculpt and define my body/muscles.
• Join a recreational sports team (Soccer, baseball).
• Continue with my Martial Arts Training. Become a PRO-Kicker in Kickboxing and advance in Jiu-jitsu

That's it for now, but please note that I will MOST LIKELY be adding to this list as the year goes by and as I attempt new things or become interested in other things!

Overall, for me, 2009 WAS AN INCREDIBLE SUCCESS based on what I've accomplished regarding getting healthy, losing weight and improving my life. I KNOW THAT 2010 WILL BE EVEN BETTER. More to come.

Lastly, at this time, I know there are a lot of people who are resolving that this year, 2010 will be the year that they could finally lose weight. I was in the same boat for so long. I am not an expert however I would like to humbly offer only one bit of advice. Just do it...find the right tools, invest the time, give it AT LEAST a year and STICK to it, YOU ARE WORTH IT!!! You too will be here come December 2010 advising others to do the same.

Until next time which will be 2010!!! HAVE A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
Joania (2 K MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Goal Setting: Believe to Achieve

I'm on a serious mission to succeed! I'm not only talking about by Dec 10, 2009; I'm referring to the rest of my life. I'm trying to lay out the blueprint for building my life the way I want it. As this year is quickly coming to an end, I want to be ready and as prepared as I can to continue strong as of Dec 11, 2009. I want to aim high, try things I've never tried before; commit myself to completing certain things as I did with the 5K run. Just getting out of my comfort zone. As LesBrown says, "shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars". So I'm currently in the research and planning stages....researching things that I am interested in or want to try (for example rock climbing, a mini-triathalon -"Try a Tri", joining a recreational sports team - soccer or baseball, taking tennis lessons) AND SO MUCH MORE and just planning out what I need to do to get there!!

I feel like I am so close to really breaking through and continuing on with my life - living the best life I can live! I feel there's just so much more to come and I want to live and enjoy all of it! I know it won't always be all good but right now it just feels like it will and I don't want to lose that. There's so much I want to do! I'm rambling...sorry...

Anyway, I had a good workout this morning but had to stay home with my son as he's under the weather and I think I may be coming down with it as well...cold symptoms. Hoping I can fight it off! I still have to make some time to meet with my trainer so that I could get my new program to propel me to that finish line! A lot of challenges have surfaced throuhgout this journey; from my travelling, exteme cravings and just overall busy life working fulltime and family. One of my biggest challenges have been and still remains, TIME!!! Making the time to workout, to prepare meals, to meet my trainer, to get to the gym, time for myself!!

I just started a new job a couple of weeks ago and just starting to get into it right now; I have a few deadlines this week that I MUST meet and quite a bit of work to do - so that's filling up the schedule right now. My husband is really busy with work so less available to pick up my slack with our son and at home. I said it so many times before, I could not have gone through this journey without my husband and his never ending support (in so many ways). All this to say that the next few weeks will be crazy busy for me. I'm hoping that I could meet up with Rob on the weekend, even if it's for 1/2 an hour to get the new program and instructions and be on my way..time is of the essence and I don't want to waste a minute.

So I'm going to check on my son (who should be sleeping - but probably isn't) and get myself off to bed. I've received a few requests to write my daily schedules down every now and then so I will try to that. Here are my plans for tomorrow ( which is the same on Thursday) I will do Monday and Wednesday's tomorrow)...

5:45am Wake up (have a cup of water)
Start my cardio (a 45 minute walk/run on treadmill - too cold outside in the am now)

6:30am Make breakfast (4 egg white/spinach omlette) and either eggs and toast or cereal
(for my son and hubby)

7:00am Wake up the boys, shower get ready as they eat

7:30 - 7:45am Get my son ready as hubby cleans up downstairs andgets ready (a joint effort - we make a good team)

8:00 - 8:15am Leave the house, drop son to daycare, head to work (both hubby and I)

9:ooam - Start work

10:30am Have morning snack (apple and 5-8 almonds, water)

11:45 -12:45 Jiu-jitsu class (drink water)

1:15pm Back to work....eat lunch at my desk while working (steamed broccoli and chicken breast, water)

3:00-3:30pm Afternoon Snack (boiled egg, cucumber slices, water)

5:00pm Leave work for home (hubby would have picked up son from daycare)

5:45pm Make dinner

7:00 -8:00 Playtime

8:00-8:30 Get my son ready for bed

9:00 - 10:00pm Weight Training

10:00-11:oopm Shower, Blog and BED!!!!

I only do cardio on Jiu-jitsu days.....on kickboxing days (Monday, Wednesday) - no cardio!! :)

As you can see the days are quite long and full; not much time to spare, hence the reason why my weekends are my time for family. We try to pack a lot of things in for the weekend - just making sure to spend some quality time making memories. Crazy life but fun, nonetheless.

Anyway, that's it for now...

Until next time...
Joania (2KMINE!!!)

SCALE ALMIGHTY - Harmful or Hurtful?

**** I just noticed something....THE TITLE of this post...when I wrote this yesterday, I could have sworn I wrote "Scale Almighty - Helpful or Hurtful"....looking at the post today, I noticed it's actually "Harmful or Hurtful"!! Well, if that isn't a subliminal message, I don't know what is!! LOL****

What is it about this little thing, that barely takes up any space in the corner of your bathroom, yet, it has the power to make you cry and/or do a backflip with happiness (or at least attempt to)?? Do scales or more specifically, weighing oneself, cause more harm than good??? What does that number on the scale tell you about yourself? It may as well just read "you are good" or "you are bad" once you step on it based on the way it makes you feel...

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the word "scale"?? For me, when I think of the word "scale", I usually think success or failure. How do you feel when you think of weighing yourself and how do you feel in that very moment prior to stepping on that scale? Personally, I sometimes I wish I could go without weighing myself or maybe just weigh myself every 2 to 3 months!!

How do you feel after? The results of the scale holds so much power. If it's a loss, I usually feel great and just on top of the w orld, even if it's only a small loss. If it's a gain, I start questionning whether or not I should continue on the journey and start asking myself stupid questions like, "what's the point of this journey anyway?" or even the ever too common, "why am I doing this anyway?" - it's crazy!!! I then have to calm myself down, give my head a shake and let logic sink back in.

If you never weighed yourself again and only had indicators like the way your clothes fit or whether or not you could run up and down a flight of stairs without gasping for air, would stepping on that scale really matter? I don't THINK it should but IT DOES matter to me and my new goal is to take away from the importance of that number on the scale.

I truly began to give this some thought based on the way I felt this past Saturday. I woke up with great anticipation as I had a great week of healthy eating and exercise. I was so looking forward to the number on the scale as I felt it would some how validate my hard work and I was quite confident that it would be a nice loss. Well, to my surprise and complete disappointment, the dreaded scale showed that I gained 1 pound and in that second, I was disheartened!

It's absolutely insane when you think about it logically. I have been on this amazing weight loss/getting healthy journey since Dec 2008. I'm down 60 pounds and in arguably the best shape of my life, yet in that moment of looking at that weight gain, none of that mattered. Somehow, I quickly forgot about all of my success thus far and focussed solely on that weight gain. Why do we (I) do this? Why does or why should that number matter so much?? Well, I've decided that I don't want it to matter that much and I WILL NO LONGER LET IT MATTER AS MUCH!!

I thought this would be a good time to share these feelings and take a look at the whole issue of using the scale to measure our success. There are all sorts of alternate ways to measure success when on a journey as such but for some reason I (we) seem to put the bulk of the "weight" on the results of the scale.

Our weight normally fluctuates somewhat from day-to-day, and daily weighing can lead to discouragement and potential diet sabotage if you see a higher number on the scale than you saw the day before. From what I've read and from what my trainer (Rob) has told me, a once-every two weeks or even monthly weigh-in is a more accurate reflection of weight control progress.

That being said, there are a few studies that show that overweight and obese adults who were trying to lose weight as well as overweight adults who were trying to prevent weight gain found that those who weighed themselves more often lost more weight and prevented more weight gain over two years than those who weighed themselves less frequently. Some potential advantages of daily weighing include recognition of slow patterns of weight gain that may not be immediately apparent and the chance to modify lifestyle habits before the total weight gain becomes extreme and difficult to control.

I guess if you research hard enough you can find a study to support almost anything. I think the above study is true for some but not all. This issue of using solely or mainly the scale to measure or monitor weight loss will have to be an individual one. For me, I think weighing myself every 2 weeks might present a more accurate measurement of my progress however, part of me still wants to see that weekly or more frequent result (good or bad). I guess I just have to work on how I process those results.

I must remember that the female body is quite complex on a regular day and I will look to a few indicators prior to reacting to those results. Some of the alternate measurements I will use to measure my success on this journey are:

• How I feel (energetic, good, happy, strong, healthy, lean)
• How my clothes fit (getting looser or tighter)
• My fitness levels (how far I can run/walk without needing to stop, how much weight I can lift, etc.)

Sorry for such a lengthy post, I just need to get this off my chest. Blogging is quite carthatic!!

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!!)

Saturday Blog Love - Support and Gratitude

Hi everyone

I've mentioned this topic before, but I feel it necessary to discuss it again. Blogging about this journey has been such a motivating factor to me, specifically in terms of me staying on track and reaching my goals. The amount of inspiration and support that I receive from the blogging community is nothing short of amazing. I truly appreciate the support and I honestly believe it to be one of the main reasons for my success thus far.

There are days when I feel like I just can't do this anymore; this journey does take daily and continuous effort. It's a constant mental struggle. I wake up having to remind myself everyday of the importance of and reasons for my journey. Some days (like yesterday, for example) I felt like doing absolutely nothing, especially having to do with exercising, and that's what I did ...NOTHING - no work out at all!!!! Not only did I feel it, as I was low in energy and somewhat lathargic for most of the day, but I felt it necessary to blog about it. There's something about writing your thoughts and feelings down on a regular basis that helps you regain focus and stay on track.

So this morning I woke up, ready to get started on my workout and decided to check my blog first. I do that sometimes and then think of things to write about while working out. Anyway, today I received a comment from someone (Anonymous) who bestowed and amazing compliment, telling me that "I was the epitome of hard work!" WOW!! Thank you so very much...that just made my morning and gave me an instant boost of energy!!! AND that was not all....this individual also advised me that another blogger had written an entire post about me and my journey. CHECK IT OUT HERE!!!!

I went to the site (http://gpwebdiary.blogspot.com/) and checked it out!! WOW!! It was an amazing post!! I am so flattered. Thank you so much, Raju!! I really appreciate that. I felt awesome after reading it and went right down to my basement and totally killed that workout...I think I smiled right through most of it. This type of support is incredible to me and definitely keeps me accountable.

This is what I mean about the support that you receive from the blogging community...the encouragement and warm comments!! It's just wonderful!!

So I'm back on track and feeling EXTRA great today!!

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!!!)

To Weigh or Not To Weigh...

Hi guys,

I've just finished reading the book Breakin'Free. It's the story of one woman's quest to shed 150 pounds in 12 months with the use of a personal trainer, proper nutrition and shear determination. It's an awesome read. Very honest depiction of her struggles and SUCCESS!!! This woman is Rosy - I mentioned her in my first post. She is and remains a great source of inspiration for me. The trainer she used, is the one I'm currently using, Rob Lagana.

I encourage you to check out this book, it's a good price and a very good read and it will inspire you, trust me on that one. Check out the website (http://www.breakinfree.ca/).

Anyway, Rob wrote a pamphlet (mini book - outlines diet and exercise tips and a lot of very useful information) which accompanies this book and in it, he mentions that one should not use the scale as the main point of reference when it comes to weight loss. You should look at other indicators such as: improved fitness, body fat percentage, inches lossed and how you're feeling and how your clothes fit. The scale shouldn't be used every couple of days or even every week....I've heard this before. I know that the scale can play mind games when you're trying to lose weight. This is where I am right now.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, especially as I've noticed that my weight loss is always at around 1 to 2 pounds a week. I would love to see bigger numbers even though I know I'm doing well. I often find myself having to constantly re-assure myself that I'm losing weight at the perfect pace! Seeing a bigger number on this scale is an automatic motivator and some times when you don't see that number, you can't help but feeling somewhat discouraged.

So, because I've this, I've been thinking that maybe I should weigh myself EVERY TWO WEEKS instead of once a week. What do you guys think?? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I've set up a poll asking those questions...majority will rule...if you have a minute, please complete the poll on the right..THANKS!!

That's it for now...thanks!

Joania (2000 MINE!!!)