On The Road Again.....

Hi all,

Well I'm on yet another business trip. These are getting tough.. I'm just finding it very difficult to stay on track when it comes to my eating and exercising...MORE SO MY EATING!!

Most of these hotels are equipped with top of the line fitness machines/facilities so it's not really difficult to stay on track..it is however, a different experience as you go from hotel to hotel. There are different machines at each hotel, different set-up and different equipment!! It throws me off a bit, I must admit. It just makes it that much more difficult because it breaks my routine...however it does keep it interesting (so I should look at it as a positive).

Also, since I've been training for the 5K Run, all this travelling makes that difficult as well. I have a mapped out route that I use regularly when I'm at home. Being in a different city makes it difficult so I find myself training on the treadmill as opposed to running outside. Hopefully that won't hurt me when it comes to race day which is an outdoor event. I guess it's just about making the necessary adjustments at the time. Working with what I got!

Eating-wise, I messed up a bit today...nothing too damaging. I was in such a rush today, I ran out of the house without eating breakfast! I haven't done that in about 6 months - prior to this journey, skipping breakfast was a regular part of my day. I was so busy at work today, by the time I realized I was hungry, it was a little after 11 am. I bought a mini quiche. I ate only the middle which was eggs and veggies and I threw out the mini crust...I had that with a bottle of water. A few hours later, I was rushing to the airport, I grabbed a toasted bagel from Tim Hortins (it was multi-grain) with another bottle of water!! On the flight, I ate that little puffy-pretzel-snacky-thing they hand out with more water. Unfortunately, I did not properly plan or prepare meals for today and that caused me to slip up by grabbing crap.

Anyway, once I checked into the hotel, it was dinner time. I had a nice green salad with a light vinigarette and a couple of pieces of chicken breast (grilled) with more water. It was great. I'm back on track, tomorrow is a new day. My plan is to wake up at 530am get my workout in and have a nice healthy breakfast. A good start to what I hope will be a great and productive day!! Good night.

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

Alberta Beef!!

Hey guys,

This is just another quick post to touch base. I am now in Edmonton. Hotel fitness facilities not as good as 4 seasons in Vancouver but it will do. It's still quite nice, just not as many exercise machines. Best part of all is that...THEY DO NOT HAVE A PULL-UP machine!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Anyway, I've been doing pushups instead.
I've kept up very well with my exercises. I haven't missed a workout!!

Food wise however,..................well....................lets just say that I had a few drinks last night....AND a mushroom swiss burger (it was HUGE!!!)....I am in Alberta.......the beef is fabulous, I just had to. I could have had a salad with beef BUT chose not too. Instead I had shoestring sweet potato fries. I did not eat all the fries, but I ate that huge burger. I was stuffed afterwards. It was uncomfortable but I must say it tasted fabulous!! Here's a pic of the burger - the actual one, half eaten. I had already started into it before thinking that I should take a picture. Sorry for the quality, it was taken with my cell phone cam.



Take a look at the size of this thing. I'm sure that
with this burger alone, I put on a pound. We'll see when I get back.
Anyway, that's it for now....





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

I'm BACK and I WAS BAD!!!

Hi everyone,


Another successful business trip done and over with (until the next one). I'm so glad to be home, very tired and thankfully the weather here is just beautiful (25 degrees celcius)!! I plan to sit in my back yard and veg today!! May go for a walk later this evening!

I tried so very hard to stay on track...didn't miss a workout...it's not too difficult when the hotels afford you top of the line fitness facilities, so that part was no problem....HOWEVER, those hotels and nearby RESTAURANTS also afford you top of the line FOODS!!! That's the problem!!!! My first two days, I did very well, stayed on track for MOST of the time, but I STRAYED a bit.

I don't know what it was, but this time I just found it so difficult to stay totally true to the diet....as I mentionned, I killed the workouts, but the diet got me!! As I said at the very beginning of this blog, I WILL BE HONEST and not only with successes but "slip-ups" as well. I do not consider this a failure and I've already put it behind me and after I finish this post, I will take it out of my mind altogether. So here comes the honesty - with pictures!!

Anyway, my flight was at 2:00pm that day. I woke up, did my exercises, had breakfast (3 scrambled egg whites with green peppers & onions), dropped my son off to daycare with and extra long hug and kiss, and went off to work. Left work for airport. I had a chicken wrap for lunch (which I grabbed at a restaurant at the airport)....wasn't good with my snacks. By the time I got checked into hotel, I was starving!! Here's a pic of my dinner on night 1.

This is steamed veggies (spinach, green and yellow beans, red peppers, olive oil, garlic) served with a fish called, "cobia". Never heard of this fish before but it was delicious - white, meaty and quite flavourful. I also had a glass of H2O with this meal. It was great ..restaurant was Canyon Creek! Sorry picture quality not so great...I didn't use flash - pretty good for my phone's camera, though.

The next morning we (my colleagues and I) had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then checked out as we were off to a different city for more meetings. The breakfast was buffet style and offered lots of healthy options. I had just worked out and was very hungry!

A hard-boiled egg and a slice of cheese -which I wrapped up and put in my purse to eat as my morning snack a few hours later.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, two small turkey sausages, small bowl of fruit (did not eat grapes - extra sour) and a glass of water. Then went off to my conference meeting.

Lunch was provided so choice was limited however, I believe I made the best of it by having the following:

This is a garden salad, sprinkled with feta cheese (just a little, as you can see) with 1/2 of a whole wheat tortilla wrap (thinly sliced oven-roasted turkey breast, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese) and about a litre of water.

After conference, we drove to our next destination and checked into our hotel, got settled and went out for dinner. We found this great restaurant where I had a steak with a salad and some baked sweet potato fries (sorry didn't get a pic) but it was goooooood!! Sometimes, I feel a little funny taking pix of my food depending on where I am and how packed the place is. Anyway, this is where the problems started. I shared some fried calamari with my colleagues...they were delicious!! I also had DESSERT!!!! There were three of us and we shared two desserts!! I know I should have been stronger but just reading the options on the menu made me want it so bad!! I just couldn't resist - well, I probably could resist but I didn't!! AND OMG, was it ever yummy!!! They were delicious - I did manage to get a pic of that (the restaurant had emptied at that time)....

This is one of them - no words can do this justice so I'll just let you look at it. All I need to say is CHOCOLATE!!

Here's the other dessert......

Cheesecake with Chocolate

As I mentionned earlier, these beauties were "shared".....I'm certain I had the most of my colleagues.....here's a pic, showing that we did share them - please take note of the THREE forks!

SIN-sharing!!

EVIL!!(but tasty)...

The next morning I woke up, feeling guilty but not as guilty as I thought I would and I don't know if that's good or bad but I decided to forget about it and get my workout done....and I did. Met with my colleagues and we went off to the Market Fresh for breakfast. I had an eggwhite and vegetable omlet with water. I was back on track!! :)

It was quite good (green pepp, mushrooms, onions)

Anyway, I am now back on track with my eating but I know that my "slip-ups" may have affected my weigh-in. I've just weighed in this morning as I wasn't able to on Wednesday. My next post will show the results of my sins! Stay tuned..

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!!)

Back in the Habit...

Hi everyone,

I'm back in town and so tired but very happy to be back. I had a very successful trip, both on a professional level and in regards to my journey!

I had no problems making good and healthy food choices....and both hotels in Edmonton and Vancouver were equipped with top notch fitness facilities!! It was great.

The time zone changes is having a bit of an effect on my fatigue/energy level but other than that...no issues. I did not work out yesterday, just busy packing and getting to the airport. I will workout today as well as weigh myself to see if I "totally" stayed on track this past week. After all, Tuesday was St. Patty's Day!! Did I break tradition? Did I celebrate? We'll find out in my next post.

I'm off to weigh myself - will be back shortly...

Joania (2KMINE!!!)

First BIG Test!!

I will be going away on business all next week so I will not unfortunately, be weighing in on Wednesday or taking my monthly pic on Tuesday (the 10th). I will take the pic and weigh in on Friday morning upon my return and will do my best to post them asap!! I don't think the couple of days will make a huge difference.

On another note, I think my crazy cravings the last few days were based on me feeling a bit anxious about going away and sticking to my diet and exercise plan.

Usually with business trips, I would eat out everyday and for every meal!! This time it WILL be different!! It has to be. It's good practice because life certainly doesn't stop just because I'm on this journey. I have to find ways of working with it! For example, this time when booking my hotel, one of my first concerns was to ensure that the hotel was equipped with a proper fitness facility (which thankfully it is - most of them are but how would I know, that was never my concern in the past), so this will ensure that I stick to my workout plan. Before, it was more like, "what size bed??", "do you offer free breakfast?", "24hour room service??" , "any restaurants and/or night clubs close by??" Everything centered around food and sleep!! LOL! What a difference!

I also did some research to find a grocery store close by where I could pick up some fresh foods and keep in my hotel room for snacks and meals etc. This will be one of my first BIG tests to sticking with this plan and I am trying to do everything I can in advance to ensure my success!

So that's it...wish me luck with this week...I have a feeling I'm going to need it! I will bring my laptop so I will post if and when time permits!

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!)