Hey Guys,

So it seems I have some things in common with a few of you.

Softballmom - I live in the south as well. I am presently training for the Atl Thanksgiving marathon. How did you like running the peachtree? I have always considered it but not big on the crowds. I ran the ATC Stonemountain 5 mile run. Do you ever do any of the ATC events?

Susan and Mudpie - I am originally from Ontario. Born in TO raised all over, mainly in Markham. It's been a long time since I heard about Canadian tire money. How's life in Ont?

Groovy - Don't give up. I was where you are and I let myself slip. Now I am fighting to get back to where I was. You can do it.

So will someone tell me what C2K is? I have heard it several times and I'm still trying to figure this out.

I am writing from Philly. It's been a busy week. I think I have been making solid food choices. I don't want to see the numbers go up like it did week before last. Managed to run my 3.5 miles this am. It was tough to do at 6 am. I wanted so desperately to stay in bed. Luckily I was able to drag my butt out of bed.

Well that's all for now.

I'm a TO girl - born and raised, lived here for the half century I've been around. Life is good but expensive.

I grew up and lived in the beach area for years when it was a mixture of blue collar, students, seniors, etc.

Now most people who live there are millionaires (and my clients - I still work there every day) and I rent a little bungalow in East York.

How is life as an American? I always wanted to live in America but just couldn't figure out a way to get there. My mother originally was on her way to Minneapolis (she was a DP who came over after WWII) but got waylaid by my father in Toronto.

Dagmar

I'm having a problem keeping away from the food this week due to a really hectic work schedule - my own fault for booking so much stuff. And next week will be even worse - 12 hour days every day .

I was so tired last night I didn't even turn on the computer . Just plopped in front of the TV and started snacking. DH is also away almost every night this week so there's no "formal" dinner time or meal. I'm kind of afraid that I might gain back a lot of what I've lost before my trip.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Dagmar

Good morning.

Of course we have things in common rswlchic. The more folks I meet on the 'net ... the more I find that folks is folks and it's a pretty small world. Tell us more of the places you've lived.

Good morning ladies!

rswlchick, If you are already running 3.5miles then you've already graduated from the C25K without even realizing it The C25K is a program that gradually gets non-runners to build their endurance and strength over a period of weeks to be able to run 3miles without interruption. The Peachtree was a fun experience, and this year it happened to be very low humidity which is not normal for July 4 in Atlanta, as you probably are well aware of. So if I don't train in the heat and humidity prior to the race next year, I will probably forego that one.

I've been back to journaling for a week now, and I have happily lost two pounds. I knew that this tool would have to be used, I just didn't want to get obsessive again about every morsel. This time I'm not keeping count of everything (ie Fat, Protein, Carb, Sodium, Fiber etc), just the calories and Fat grams. Hopefully that will keep it simple, but still mindful of my choices.

Hope everyone has a fun hump day.

Good morning everyone! It's been so long since I've been in here and I haven't even been keeping up with reading

I have started working swing watch instead of nights and I'm actually really liking it. I've worked mainly nights for 15 years and have never worked swings before (except once in a while on OT). I am getting so much more sleep, about 6 hours in a row We change shifts every 4 months so I know I'll go right back to nights but it's a nice change.

Not too much different in my eating/exercising. I have lost 2 more pounds and I think it's because I amped up my exercise just a bit and have done a few different things for cardio. Just that little bit seems to help.

It had been so hot here for a while (hot to everyone except Allison!). We turned our air coniditioner on for the first time this year on Sept. 2nd. It is very hot here too but our house seems to stay cooler than most so we just don't use it but it was brutally hot. I had to keep throwing the dogs in the pool!

Hope everyone is doing well. I'm going to go back and try to read. Talk to you later.

Jane

Hi Jane!

Hello Everyone,

This is my last night in Philly so me and one of my colleagues went out for dinner. Everything was going great until she ordered fries. This is my ultimate yummy. I am such a potato person it's scary. I don't care how you present it (fried, mashed, baked, scalloped etc.). If it's a spud it's in my mouth. So of course I ate some (a lot). Now I feel retched especially since I had dessert two. Strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Hopefully, this won't be my downfall for the week. I will have to run very hard on the Tmill tomorrow morning.

Mudpie - I love living in the US. I miss home every now and again but you just can't beat the weather and the economy in the south. Everytime I consider going home my sister asks me why? According to her I will never get the life I've become accustomed to in TO without spending a lot of money. I bought my first house for 79k 8 years ago. You could never get that kind of deal in TO. Now I am married to a bonafide GA peach who has no intention of ever living any where but the south in winter. He loves TO but wants no part of the cold. Actually, we have even considered buying a condo downtown for vactions but realized we need a few more pennies in the bank before that dream can happen.

Susan - My parents were big into the house flipping so we lived in just about every city in and around TO. Scarborough, North York, Richmond Hill, Weston Rd area, Barrie and finally Markham. Believe it or not I went to 10 different public schools. It wasn't until I was high school that I was able to finish a one school. Consequently as an adult I HATE moving. I have been living in GA for 12 years and have only lived in 4 different places. First place 1 year, 2nd 2 years, 3 rd 6 years and this last place we've been in for a little over 2 yrs. The only other places I have lived are Michigan for a couple of years then I went to Western and finished my degree.

Softball - Thanks for the info on C25K. Who knew I was so ahead of the times. Do you do much running now?

Jane - Glad to hear that you are getting good sleep.

If that's a condo in downtown TO they're currently running at around $220k+ for a tiny one bedroom with no balcony.

Dagmar

Good Morning!

I have nothing of note to report. I have been fooling with some of Dr Oz's ideas and am having trouble being 'whole hog' with the fruits and vegetables. While I'm embarassed to have had only 10% protein yesterday, I'm not craving that. I'd like some grains.

Did you get that from that show....what was it? The Truth about Food or something? I watched an episode last night (taped from earlier this week). It was the one with the folks that spent 12 days in the zoo eating like apes. Very strange! But, they did lower their cholesterol, insulin, blood pressure, etc. I guess the raw food idea does work (but I like my vegetables cooked thank you).

I've been looking for a new breakfast cereal to stir into my yogurt and thought I'd give Cheerios a try (well, actually Trader Joe's O's, but it's the same thing). Big mistake. These things are highly addictive and I've been eating way more than I should. The good news is that they are fairly low in calories, so it's not as bad as overindulging in, say, chocolate covered espress beans . But I think I'll be going back to my old standard, Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal, next week.

alinnell--I'm with you on the raw vegetables! I like a good salad as much the next person, but otherwise I'll take my vegetables cooked, thank you! Our local paper ran an article about people who eat entirely raw veggie diets (even their kids!) and I'll I could think was blech! But these days I also couldn't survive in veggies alone. I need my meat (which is odd because 10 years ago I was practically a vegetarian without even trying but this whole diet and exercise thing was completely changed the way I feel about meat).

rswlchic--I think C25K stands for "Couch to 5 Kilometers," the idea being that it's a training program designed to get you from your couch to running 5K (5 kilometers is just over 3 miles).

SusanB--Ah grains! Nix what I said about not being a vegetarian. I'm always craving grains--rice, bread, pasta, polenta--I them all. If I could survive on pasta and grains, that is all I would eat.

I just saw him on Oprah and was very impressed by those gorilla food people. I can go for days and not eat anything even remotely fresh or raw. It's definitely a direction I could lean more toward.

I was going to have sardines for lunch but fell asleep. We're having salmon for supper. Lean proteins and things that grow ... and the polenta I made earlier.

Maybe she made it wrong but I've had polenta just once - made by my cousin's wife who is an excellent cook - and I found it disgusting. Is it just basically mushy corn meal or am I missing something?

Otherwise everything in my life is quite same old, same old. Except there's a really amazing fire about 6 blocks over from us with tires burning and smoke billowing which has been going on for about 4 hours now. I went to the grocery store one block over from it and there were about 20 fire engines (secretly I'm a 12 year-old boy) and all of the commuter trains next to the auto wreckers that's burning have been stopped. The smoke has drifted approximately 30-40 kilometers north but we are unaffected here - thank goodness!! STINKY!!!

Dagmar

Oh, we have a budding arsonist in our midst? secretly a 12 year old boy!!!

I've had polenta a few times and it didn't strike me as anything special. The last time was at our next door neighbor's 50th birthday party (they're Italian, so all the food was Italian). It was good, but somehow I felt it needed a sauce or something.