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 ... 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

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

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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,

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!

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