Christmas Parties...PART TWO!!! :)

So yesterday (Thursday), I had an awesome day of eating and exercise...I had two boiled eggs and 1/2 a grapefruit for breakfast...yum! I consumed approximately 3 litres of water for the day. I had a nice grilled chicken breast wrap (chicken breast, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, green & red pepper..no sauce/mayo) on whole wheat tortilla for lunch. It was delicious. It was so big that I only had half for lunch and saved the other half for dinner. I went to my Jiu-jitsu class at lunch time ..which was awesome..learned lots of self-defense moves, including quite a few variations of "take-downs"!! IT 'S AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

So here comes the "Christmas Parties" part....

It really is the festive time of the year. Everywhere I turn, it's some sort of luncheon, party, celebration, dinner, drinks, etc. I have refused a few parties but this year I certainly plan to enjoy a few of them - especially after missing out last year. My plan is to keep up with my workouts EVERYDAY and eat healthy foods as much as I can, but have fun and enjoy myself as well! So far, sooooooooooooooo good!! :)

I was invited to my former team's Christmas Party (remember I only changed teams in late September - so I'd spent a good portion of this past year with these colleagues/friends). I didn't want to intrude on their "teambuilding" activities even though I know they would not have minded in the least. Plus I had just celebrated with my current team the day before and it was great fun.

Anyway, I did agree to come out for a drink with them later on in the evening. I made certain to
eat the other half of my wrap (from lunch) to ensure that I wouldn't feel the need to order any unhealthy foods at the restaurant. I also had a great deal of water as well. I walked in to a wonderful welcome from my old team and I too was very happy to see them. It was nice. I had a drink (Heineken) and it was on from that moment on!!! Well the drinks just kept coming (heinekens and shooters!!) I was feeling really good and more importantly having an amazing time, laughing and socializing with friends.

Although, I didn't EAT any unhealthy foods, I did consume quite a bit of alcohol - EMPTY, EMPTY CALORIES!!!! I got home pretty late that evening or should I say, pretty early in the morning, however, I woke up this morning, feeling like crap but still dragged my butt to the basement for my weight-training session!! You PLAY, you PAY!! I felt really yucky throughout but pushed through. I had to sweat out the toxins!! LOL!!!

For breakfast, I had some scrambled eggs (3 egg whites, 1 whole egg) and drank lots and lots of water! :) I went off to work and felt very tired throughout the day (I was only going on about 3 hours of sleep). Well today, I would normally attend my 4:30pm 1-hour long kickboxing (KB) class. The way I was feeling today, I knew that wouldn't happen...BUT GUESS WHAT????????????????? I WENT TO THE CLASS, thanks in part to two of my colleagues (K & D) who went to the class as well!! After that KB session, I WAS DONE!! I did not even want to get off the mat!!!!LOL

I feel great that I was able to enjoy the parties yet still made the effort to work out (even though I really did not want to - especially TODAY!!!) I also made certain to get right back on track with my eating!! NO GUILT here, just making sure to continue with the journey!! I'm feeling amazingly fabulous! :)

So here I am, my son and I just finished dinner and I'm just writing this quick post so that we can BOTH go to bed!!! Tomorrow, Christmas Shopping - that should be a work out in itself!!

That's it for now...going to bed...sweet dreams!

Until next time
Joania (2KMINE!!!)

A Fun Day ...Lessons Learned

Hi guys!! I had a GREAT time on Parliament Hill yesterday celebrating Canada Day with my family!! It was wonderful.

So yesterday, I decided that I was going to eat whatever I wanted. It would be my "free" day where food was concerned. I don't believe in "cheat" days, I never want to feel guilty for eating something. I realize that all things must be consumed in moderation but it's also important (very important, actually) for me to be able to live and enjoy certain foods from time to time without any burdening guilt attached. And I did just that!

My family and I usually have a jumbo grilled italian sausage with a poutine (a combination of fries, gravy and cheese curds) on Canada Day..it's become tradition and this year would be no different. Here's what I had to eat:

1. A medium poutine (I so wanted to get a large one but thought better of it). It was delicious (see picture below)
   
2. A jumbo grilled italian sausage - I thought I would load it up with all sorts of toppings (saukrout, hot peppers, onions, pickles - but I ended up just adding ketchup). It was so yummy.
   
3. I also washed it all down with a can of Coke and my goodness was that ever sweet!! I don't remember coke tasting so sweet..it was "almost" disgusting...almost! LOL!!
4. On our way home that evening, we stopped off and picked up Chinese food - chicken fried rice, chicken balls, garlic spare ribs...YUMMY!! I had a pretty decent-sized plate and OMG....yum-a-licious!!!
5. We put the kids to bed and my girlfriend and I capped off the night with a few (3 or 4) cocktails - chopped pineapples, chopped strawberries, VODKA and tropical flavor five alive juice with ice....YUMMMMMMMY!!!

So it's fair to say that I had a great time yesterday and surprisingly, my stomach held up...for now....

So here's my annual "Canada Day Face-stuffing" shot. I put up last year's pic to compare. I can really notice the weight loss, especially in my face. Check it out...





Canada Day 2008

Canada Day 2009

Now that I've posted these pix side by side, I notice a huge change in my arms and face. Wow!! What a difference 57 pounds make!!

We do a lot of walking on Canada Day. My husband always thinks we're nuts for walking so much..he's always so tired after! :) We spend the whole time (about 5-6 hours) walking around from place to place, checking things out (vendors, shows etc)...so I think I got a good amount of cardio in for the day! :)

Back to my stomach holding up.....So how did I feel after eating all that greasy, yummy, fatty, sweet, wonderfully tasting food??? I FELT GREAT and SOOOOOOOOOOOO satisfied......until about....4 in the morning when I was awakened by serious stomach cramps....oh my goodness, I FELT HORRIBLE!!! Let's just say, I spent a whole lot of time on that "porcelain throne". It was not good!!! I made a number of "frequent visits" to that throne right through the morning. I started feeling better around 11am!! MY BODY LET ME DOWN, Y'ALL!! I felt awful!! I did go a bit overboard yesterday (lessons learned) but that's in the past and I'm back in the groove....back to business!! I have no guilty feelings about it!!

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