Good to see this thread. Newbie here to the forums. I'm in the Ottawa area as well as a few others on here by the looks of it. :)

I'm just starting on the weight watchers program, and wondering if any of you have been on it before. I'm determined to lose weight as the doctored ordered. I've lost five pounds in the last few weeks, just by watching what I eat. I want to get back into exercising, and counting calories. Good to be here! The weather is really cooling off. I love fall!

~*Justwant2Bhealthy*~ Newfoundland is home, Toronto is work. My SO is also from NL so we go back as often as possible. 75% of my time is here in TO.


Any BC chicks here? We'll be headed out that way in a few weeks- Near the Alaska border- I hope it's not too cold up there yet!
Oh and the Geese- they're mean poop machines, I don't know why they're so treasured lol. There are none in Newfoundland so I was shocked to see great herds of them all over S-Ontario. They're worse then the gulls!

So we ARE a coast to (almost) coast to coast kinda thread! yay!

Definitely fall here in NS. Went down to 8 and is only going up to 15-16. Great for going for walks with the dog though!

There are another couple of hurricanes heading through the Atlantic...some say the Igor will hit us...great. :( Although if our deck was destroyed then maybe insurance would pay to fix it....hmmmmmm.... ;)

Have a great day everyone!
Maddie

hey Canadian gals,

Hope everyone is off to a great week. I just started the weight watchers program this week and I'm so psyched. I did hear that they don't sell any weight watchers ice cream in Canada...boo hoo. :(

Fall is hear, time for seasons to change, and people too! Have a great day everyone!

Giving up pop today, working on getting more water and working exercise in more.

Hi everyone! Doing pretty well here in Ottawa, although I haven't been outside much today or yesterday. I did do some weight training with handhelds for the first time yesterday, and some cardio. It went much better than I expected.

Nice to see everyone else doing well, walking their dogs in the fresh air, giving up pop, getting on WW, etc. There are so many tools out there for us now, it's wonderful.

JOJO ~ we can get some WW stuff here; haven't seen the ice cream though. We can get Chapman's NSA ice cream -- I like the low fat chocolate yogurt ice cream which has only 90 calories per 1/2 cup. The NSA does taste really nice though; esp the Maple Walnut (lots of nuts too). I find some of the WW products good but very expensive here. I luv the wg sandwich thins, but I buy them on sale only as they want almost $4.00 per pack here and I think that is too much ...

SNOWBOUND ~ good for you giving up the pop; I am not a big pop drinker anyways, so I have it only rarely. I have been drinking more water and tea lately ...

The temps have dropped quite a bit tonight; it's very cold in here :brr: ... we had a good trip to the city today; picked up some new clothes and some books (got some very good prices on them too). Got lots of walking in looking for the clothes so that's another advantage.

Have a great week .... Rosebud :flow2:

Yesterday went good for no pop but too much salty/fattening food, scale went up last night. Today will be better though. I woke up and did some yoga and we had a more relaxed morning then usual. It's my son Kale's 9th Birthday today.

Good Morning Everyone

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought I would pop in on my final day off for this week. Go back to work Sunday night for a 3 night stretch. Since the last 2 weeks of August I have been off kilter but I am working my way back forward. Somethings are getting reorganized in my house now that the boys are back in school. Also with the schools open again my job has been quiet. I went from driving around 3 counties answering alarms, up to 480 km a night to barely driving at all. My last night of work this past week I went 64 km and never left the city of London. I am hoping that I will be able to add in my exercise to my night now that I will be able to get out of my car more.

JJ Canada I was a school bus driver until the March break this year. I did it for 10 yrs and loved it. Have you been doing it long? Its a great job while raising kids. My sister did it too.

On Monday this week while driving home from work I was rearended. I now know my Jeep is a complete write off. I hope the leasing company I deal with can find me a new one real soon. I did hurt my left wrist.

Take care everyone will pop in again when able. Stay healthy and on plan.

LMB

Hi there LMB, I've driven school bus now for 4 years. The last three have only been as a spare driver which can be chaos!! All the kids think they can try out the sub which can make for a pretty stressful drive. I drove an afternoon route today and things went really well. It seems I've done it long enough at the school here that I know most of the kids by name now. Knock on wood HEHE next time they will prove me wrong.
Hope everyone else is doing well and keeping warm! brrr I still have to acclimatize to this cooler weather. But is a welcome relief after the scorcher of a summer we had.

Snowbound - I read something that might help you- for pop-addicts a good sub is crystal light packets in soda water- It's imitation pop ^_^ I havn't tried it yet but my SO is a total addict so he's gonna pick some up.

hi
 

Hi,

Do you have room for 1 more!My name is Cindie 31 years old 2 kids(9 and 11) 4 pregnancy last one in dec 2009 twins.I have always been about 193 even after my 2 girls then I was surrogate in 2006 twins and again for another great couple in 2009 twin boys .Ever since this last pregnancy I am sitting at 210 and I am just miserable about it I need to loose this.I am not huge junk food eater I think portion size is my problem and what I eat and not moving enough,so stated to night at dinner with cutting down! I work from home and get up at 6:30am and then go back to bed at 9 and sleep till 11am and go to bed at 12-1am every night.
so my goals are
1.Get up at 6:30(stay up) and be out the door at 7:45 walking
2.No junk food(not that I eat a tone but I like dessert after dinner)
3.Cut down my portions and stay away from fast food.

So I am off to Wal-Mart tomorrow to see what they have in fitness videos and start there.I am going to get my but out the door when hubby leaves I am going to have him drop me and the dog off at the 2km point and walk back,dirt road and it's up and down all the way back (it's not to far but it's a start,and lets pray I don't run into a bear it will get my but walking quicker..lol)
I really need support and have someone to answer to so to speak.

Welcome Cinm to the group there is always room for more. I can't imagine living some place where you have to think about what to do if you run into a bear while walking home. I really hope that does not !! happen to you. You plan sounds good. Keep up the great work.

LMB

Snowbound giving up pop is like trying to give up smokes and I have done both. The pop I gave up was Pepsi I went from a 2 lt bottle a day to nothing. The hardest part is day 4,5,6. That is when the sugar and caffiene withdrawls kick in. You will suffer terrible headaches. I recommend 2 things, the herbal remedy feverfew for the headaches follow the direction on label it will probably say take 1 pill 3 times a day do that it will keep them at bay or at the very least reduce the intensity. I also recommend the amino acid L-Glutamine for the sugar cravings and withdrawl. These 2 things helped me stay of the pop and I have been pepsi(caffiene, sugar) free for 5 yrs. Now if I have anything with caffiene and sugar I am wired and talk a mile a minute.

LMB

Thanks for the welcome!It's 7:08 and I have all ready said to myself maybe tomorrow the walk(I'm starting well?).It's 5c out and I just don't want to go,but I am kicking myself in the butt and going.Good thing I am making DH drop me off at the 2 km mark or I might not really go.

What do you all eat in the am?

I'll update when I am back

Welcome...and yes always have room for more...we're Canadian right?! ;)

Cindie...I hear ya about not wanting to run into a bear on a walk. I am also on a gravel road and while I haven't come across a bear (yet as they ARE in the area) I have shared the road with skunks,porcupines,raccoons,snapping turtle (seriously and he was HUGE)...uh coyotes,pheasants and deer. Nothing makes you walk faster when you hear a loud WHOOSH and out of the bush come 3 deer running as fast as they can. LOL

I am doing an anti-candida diet (too much yeast in my body). So basically I am off dairy,sugar and substitutes,grains,mushrooms and most beans and legumes. I eat veggies and protein at EVERY meal...brekkie was sauteed celery,grape tomatoes and 2 eggs.

5C? It was only 8 C and I took the dog for a good 35 minute walk after the kids got on the bus. If you move fast...you warm up pretty quick!

Sunny and a high of 15 today. Tomorrow is rain so no major walks...probably just do my exercise bike and clean the basement.

Enjoy the weather!! Soon it will be -20 and snow!!!!! lol

Thanks for the welcome Maddie!

Well I got my but in gear and did 2.4km I did a good fast walk I was breathing heavy and sweating and legs had that burning numb feeling.I know it is only 2.4 km but it is up and down hills and walked in the looser dirt in the side of the road off and on (really makes a difference).So I am off to Wal-Mart to buy a dvd maybe jillenne Michaels if they have and so kickboxing,and get some jogging pants or something to work out in

No bears today thank god just a muskrat today!

:hug: knew you could do it!!!!

Cinm- Welcome and good for you for getting your walk in. I know what you mean, there have been bears in our general area but I've never seen one or ran into one. Thank goodness but I did run into a wolf one morning and that scared me off walking for the rest of that summer.

Maddie - the anti candida diet sounds interesting, keep us posted.

I'm on day 3 no pop and Pepsi was my drink. No headaches so far and I've usually had them by now but I did start a new vitamin routine about a week ago, so maybe that is helping. I quit smoking back in June and with my Dad having lung cancer that made me give up all the cravings no problem.

I still haven't decided on what kind of plan I'd like to follow. I'll see my nurse again next week and maybe decide by then. I just know I need to plan, right now I'm just working on one thing at a time. I'm so ready to get back to that sweet place I was last year.

Snowbound, By any chance did you see the documentary on CBC that a Dr. did with an island of Native peoples doing a High protein low carb plan? He found that Native Peoples respond well to this kind of plan because their heriatge was to live off the land and their carbs came from veggies. I found a link for an article done about this diet, http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfatdiet/ You may find it interesting.

LMB

Snowbound...I also post on the primal/paleo thread over under Carb Counters as my diet seems to be very close along those lines. There is an AWESOME link on the first post. Basically it is very low carb (as in no or next to no grains/breads stuff like that) and lots of protein and veggies. They do eat dairy too.

And just to get you motivated (or for anyone else who is interested)...I am finding it difficult to eat more than 1100-1200 calories a day. I was told to eat as much protein and veggies as I wanted and not to worry about the numbers...after a week of that, I decided to keep count and it is consistently below 1100. But I am eating real food,no chemicals and it is nutrient dense so that's why I don't need so much. This is coming from a chickie who could polish off half a bag of Oreos in one sitting!

:welcome3: CINDI ~ you are off to a great start; I would love a place where I would meet up with so many wonderful Canadian animals -- all except the bear. We have come across foxes, pheasants, cats, dogs, moose, skunks, and beavers. We have seen some bears, but thankfully, we were in our car every time. There was one time that we were blueberry picking and we thought we heard a bear -- I just ran with my furry babies and got into the car, then yelled out to my DH. He heard it too, and we moved to a different area right away.

We have been having cooler temps too; but today, we had :sunny: and in the mid-60's which wasn't too bad -- supposed to be the same tomorrow, so we may go out to our camper/lot for the day just for fun. We have been busy lately; we had to go to the city for tests for DH, so we did a bit of clothes shopping at the same time. Was very fortunate to hit some awesome fall sales.

SNOWBOUND ~ I read about that experiment diet with the BC natives -- the only thing was that they had some difficulty sticking with it long-term. Maybe if it had been a bit more flexible and had included a bit more traditional foods, they could last longer. I had done the lower carb plan in the past, but again -- it is hard to do that forever; and now that I am older, my blood sugar goes down too low, so I have to have "some" complex grain carbs in my diet. I also take a vitamin with minerals and Vitamin B complex as well.

Now, I'm doing a portion/calorie plan; with an emphasis on "some" whole grain carbs, lean meats, "some" dairy, good fats (like olive & canola oils), "some" fruit (leaning towards the berries), and loads of veggies and salads. So far, so good; and I do have a little native ancestry in my blood ... ;)

Hope the rest of your week goes well ... Rosebud :flow2:

Thanks, I will read and look for thread.

Originally Posted by Justwant2Bhealthy:
JOJO ~ we can get some WW stuff here; haven't seen the ice cream though. We can get Chapman's NSA ice cream -- I like the low fat chocolate yogurt ice cream which has only 90 calories per 1/2 cup. The NSA does taste really nice though; esp the Maple Walnut (lots of nuts too). I find some of the WW products good but very expensive here. I luv the wg sandwich thins, but I buy them on sale only as they want almost $4.00 per pack here and I think that is too much ...

Thanks for this information, rosebud. I went looking at the grocery store yesterday, and I did notice the Chapman's ice-cream, and Skinny cow also had some lower calorie ice cream. I ended up not picking up anything, which I am happy with until I get the craving!

I just want to welcome Cinm to the Canadian thread. Great to see more Canucks on board. It is getting very nippy out there these days. I haven't been through a Canadian winter in five years. I was living abroad in warmer temperatures. My body is not at all used to this cooler weather..brr! I was thinking of investing in an indoor stationary bicycle. Does anyone use any indoor equipment during winter?

Snowbound: I drink a lot of diet pepsi, but I am trying to limit myself to maybe two or three a week. I have been reading some terrible information on how bad aspartame is for you. I'd really like to get down to the truth on aspartame. Try drinking water or club soda instead of pop! The sugar content on regular pop is outrageous!

Have a great rest of week! Keep on keeping on!

jojo-...you are in for a RUDE awakening living around Ottawa!! LOL 6 feet of snow and -20C.....Better get your snowblower ready! ;)

I have all indoor equipment...bike,manual treadmill and a Nordictrack ski machine. If you are looking for a good deal...go on kijiji for Ottawa...you'll get a variety of second hand equipment for really great prices! I got my heavyduty treadmill (is also a Nordictrack Walkfit...has the belt plus handles like an eliptical) for $30. Also got a FREE exercise bike because someone was cleaning out and just wanted to get rid of it.

Thank GOODNESS it is Friday!!!!!!! I am absolutely beat this week. Also raining all day here but sunny for the weekend. We are doing a corn maze on Sunday so that should be a blast!

Enjoy your weekend everyone!!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.Doyou guys do a weigh in once a week here?


I know there are bears here as there was one in the back yard a few nights ago(sept 9th).

So went to Wal-Mart yesterday and they had nothing in fitness videos off to future shop best buy to look tonight.I went and bought some food yesterday and I ended up having to eat lunch some where so I had a ham and suiss sandwich from Tim's that was fine but I had an Ice cap with it I should of just stuck with water.
so total calories for the day were 2040 I am trying to do better today now that I have groceries.Did my morning walk 2.4km it was 3c could of used some gloves and very windy.My ankles are killing today and the muscles in my butt hurt also..lol


Today
Breakfast
Tortilla 75
1egg and 1 egg white 100
1slice of turkey bacon 35
chesse 50
2 tsp of red peppers ?(I have no idea)
one small cocktail tomato
ketchup 10

265 for breakfast

Cindie...have you tried FitDay.com? I use it and I absolutley LOVE it! Really gives you a good idea of what you need to do activity-wise and food wise.

Yay for day 2 of a walk!!

Originally Posted by MaddieD:
Cindie...have you tried FitDay.com? I use it and I absolutley LOVE it! Really gives you a good idea of what you need to do activity-wise and food wise.

Yay for day 2 of a walk!!

Thanks deffinatly will help all ready added my stuff for today!

~*JoJo*~ I'm lucky my apartment building has a tiny gym with a treadmill in it! I would never think about trying to run outside in the winter -25 NO THANKS!! I work from home in the winter- I wont even take the bus to work lol. I'm such a wimp!

There was mentions of animal crossings a few posts ago- I had one run in with a skunk one day. He came around the corner just as I reached it. Both of us stopped dead in our tracks for about 10 seconds staring at each other. Then I turned and ran as fast as I could! Luck have it I wasn't sprayed- but I know he's out there!

All the primal and traditional way of eating was interesting to read last night. It sure gave me something to think about. I'm not sure if I'm sold on it. I'm such a two way thinker and never take anything at face value, I'll have to do more research but I found a few books I'd really like to read on the subject. The Good Calories, Bad Calories I most def want to read and I went and found the youtube of Dr. Weil talking with G. Taubes and Dr. Oz.

It's day 4 of no pepsi and I'm doing fantastic, no side effects so far but I did feel like I had a headache coming on but I'm make sure I drink lots of water plus I had a hot chocolate this morning and then a coffee(latte).

Marcel my husband made oatmeal with cinnamon and apples for breakfast. I'm trying to get him to stop the pepsi as well he did one day but the last couple of days he's had 1 a day. I'm disappointed but determined that I will do this. If I can give up smoking, then I can give up pepsi.

I really want to get back to that sweet spot, I keep calling it that after a friend called it that.

Donna...YAY for day 4! If you had hot chocolate you are still having a bit of caffeine so maybe that's why you aren't getting horrible symptoms.

Mmmmmmm oatmeal. YUMMY! That is one thing I do miss with the plan I am on but I know that when I ate carbs for breakfast...no matter if good or sugar loaded crap....I had the serious munchies ALL day. Maybe one day I will hit that "sweet spot" as you mentioned! lol

I spent yesterday reorganizing my spare room know as the computer room. I now have my treadmill set up there in front of the window. Spent most of today running around. Had to go to the city to get unifrom pant for sons school and then empty out my Jeep since it a Total Loss from the accident on Monday. I go back to work Saturday night for the first of 3-12 hr night shifts.

Stay on plan everyone.

LMB

Hey everyone... sorry for my long absence, life has been really up and down for me. All of a sudden I can't think of a thing to say... not much is new, but finally back to 145 after being 4 pounds up. I'm really not impressed with the weather we've been having over here. It's cold even for us at this time of year! I'd like to skip the rest of fall and all of winter.. maybe wake up some time around mid spring. A co-worker from Texas is coming up next week, she is going to freeze her buns off! I've already told her to bring her winter jacket.

At least it's almost hockey season :D

Ugh!! So far so good in the no pop. But I went to the store in search of popcorn and ended up with those cookies, they were peanut butter with chocolate chunks. Ugh, I say again. I don't know what happened. I plan on hiking a lot this weekend, once my son's birthday part is over!!

DONNA ~ I made an unhealthy choice last Tuesday, but thankfully the rest of the day and week was right on, so it averaged out OK. I figure if I keep on plan for about 90% of the time, things will work out. Just keep on, keepin' on and you'll find that sweet spot. I love having oatmeal with some bran and/or natural cream of wheat in the winter; I just watch my portion sizes. I just had an apple with NSA maple syrup and cinnamon; nuked it for about 3 minutes ... yummy snack.

We had a busy day up at our camper/lot today. I got lots of aerobic exercise in using my new lightweight battery weed-whacker -- I've found another new exercise for spring to fall ... yeah! I love gardening and such. Now to save up to buy myself a riding lawnmower; our regular lawnmower blew something today so DH is going to try to fix it (I know he can as he used to have a small engine repair shop).

We had lovely :sunny: all day today and I think we even hit the 70's there for awhile. Clouded over by 5:30 pm, so we came home. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and great weather ... Rosebud :flow2:

Justwantt2Bhealthy, that is a great idea on the apple with maple syrup and cinammon. Sounds so yummy! Congrats on finding this new exercise! Anyway you move will help! Unfortunately, my new job is sitting for a very long time. Another reason to get up early and do some exercise.

Maddie, thanks for the tips on looking on kijiji. That is a wonderful idea. I could probably find some cheaper options on equipment. It sounds like you have a houseful of cardio equipment to choose from. I don't blame you. The winters are freezing!

2b125, have a great shift! Good luck on the exercise!

Welcome back, AuntyJam.. at least Ottawa is not as cold as Alberta. I don't feel so bad now. I'd die living in Alberta. :) Yes, hockey season is starting really soon. Woohoo!

Congrats snowbound on cutting back on the Pepsi. I find little setbacks are okay, as long as you get back on track later.

Number8.. You are so lucky you work from home and you have a treadmill in your apartment! Where in Canada are you located?
--
I'm amazed at how well I'm doing on this new points system through WW. I am going on day 5 tomorrow, and weight in on Monday. I'm staying on points, and learning about portion sizes, and what to eat to reach my points. It is all so new, but my body is adjusting. I'm surprised I don't have any cravings except today I went to walmart and picked up some skinnycow ice-cream sandwiches which are only 2 points per sandwich. I was ecstatic and had two today already. I also found Fibre1 bars which are filled with fiber and are a great snack. Now, I need to up my exercise to compliment the diet.

Have a great weekend everyone! We can do it!

Geez - I haven't been here in 3 days and I had almost 4 pages to read - good going girls! Love the activity on the boards.

Cinm - I know I am late here but welcome! I find Walmart here is crappy as well for fitness videos - I got my Jillian Michaels one off of amazon.ca - maybe try them? They have lots to pick from. And the stuff comes quick too. I've ordered lots from them and never had an issue.

Well, I bit the bullet and joined TOPS again on Wednesday night. I used to be a leader years ago so it felt good to get back to something I know and enjoy. I am by myself so for me it's also a night out of the house around other people. Right now I am basically counting calories and keeping track using myfitnessplanner.com. I like that site better than fitday for me anyway.

It is getting colder here now too. I took the AC out of my bedroom window and the one in the living room window is coming out this week. I'd do it this weekend but my spare room looks more like a bomb went off than a spare room so I have to fix it up a bit to make a spot for the AC. I am in a mini-home so no basement. My spare room is my storage room too.

I'll be going for a walk later this afternoon. It'll be nice as its been raining here all week. Kinda nice to see the sun!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Alannah

Thought I would chime in on the oatmeal. I buy high fiber porridge. It is oatmeal but also has flax seeds and other high fiber stuff mixed in.
Almost every weekday I measure 1/4 cup dry into a Tupperware container and take it to work, and then nuke it. Then I top it with Source vanilla yogurt and frozen blueberries. Super yummy and healthy and it holds me until lunch.

Alannah, good for you for going back to Tops. I was a member a long time ago.

Jojo, I have also had a lot of sucess on Weight Watchers in the past (just calorie counting this time around). It is a good program, basically just simplified calorie counting.

Hi to everyone! Have a good weekend!

Ya wal mart is pretty crappy found them yesterday at future shop got 3 going to start the 30 day shred with weights monday.Got my walk in today not to fast as the first walk had a 4 year oldwith me.Got a second one in a little faster but again had a 9 and 11 year old with me and they complain enough about a walk!

How many times a week can you eat eggs?.

~*Snowbound*~ awesome job on the pop-quitting! It took me about a month before I didn't miss it anymore. Now a few years later If I do have some it's the smallest available serving and I usually can't finish it! I used to drink it by the liter!

~*JoJo*~ I am from Newfoundland living in Toronto

as for the walmart stuff- I'm not much for exercise videos but the one near me does have lost of little free weights and stuff there, and they have the cheapest trail mix anywhere :D So they're not all bad :)

I had a little cheat day yesterday but managed to just squeak in under my 'maintenance calorie intake' So I don't feel guilty but I do feel crappy! I stuck to oatmeal and really wimpy soup all day because I was going out with a friend I hadn't seen in a while that night and I knew we would end up eating something horrible for us! Today I feel like a piece of jerky! I have already had a liter of water and it's only 1. At least I stuck to just drinking water while I was out! I think my body is fighting back!
Back to the good stuff now, eating some mushroom soup :).