500 posts and counting!

this is my 500th post! can you believe it? seems like just yesterday i was writing my first post... actually, what a lie. it doesn't.

first up for this fantastic friday, a shout out to cat and her awesome post on concealer. last night i went straight to shopper's drug mart after work and bought the smashbox photo finish primer. i like it A LOT. thanks cat!

second, bi0nic was asking what kind of bum exercises i do on the mat, so without further ado, here they are:

les exercices du clochard

1) on the mat, get into an "all fours" position like this girl below:



don't pay attention to her movements or her band, just the body position.

2) i do each "exercise" 10 times, and do all the exercises on one leg (to feel the burn) and then switch it up and do the other leg. the worst feeling is putting the first leg down after doing the exercises. here are the exercises:

a) from the "all fours" position, straighten one leg out behind you. flex the foot and with the leg straight at all times, bring it down to the ground so your toe almost hits the ground but not quite. repeat ten times.

b) now, bend your straight leg and bring your knee into the chest without any part of this moving leg touching the ground. from this bent position (like the picture above), straighten your leg up as far back as it will go. repeat ten times.

c) now keep your leg straight out behind you and flex your foot again. this exercise is sort of like the first except when you bring your leg down (keeping it straight), you are going to cross your leg over the other one. so, if you are doing exercises with your right leg, it's going to cross over to your left. remember to keep your foot flexed here. repeat ten times.

d) finally, keep your leg up in the air behind you but bend the knee and keep it bent. for this exercise, you are going to pump your foot up to the ceiling, almost straightening your leg with each pump but not quite. i do twenty repeats of this one. the first ten are not too tough and the last five are brutal.

then, sink back into a child's yoga pose for a stretch
and repeat on the other side.

in other news, i forgot to talk about this amazing product i found at the whole foods market. maple flakes! they are only 10 calories for 2 teaspoons and are absolutely delicious. i have started sprinkling them on my oatmeal for a little added sweetness. amazing!

this morning for breakfast i tried a carrot cake clif bar. i had to use it as a meal replacement bar instead of a snack, because it was 5 ww points and my breakfast is usually around that. it was filling, but not good. too artificially sweet. i only read after that it's a nutritional supplement bar with 10g of protein. i love protein but not when it comes out of nowhere! it had a long list of ingredients too. i bought it because i LOVE the clif kid z bars i bought in the states. sorry carrot cake clif, i don't think i will buy you again.

this weekend should be pretty good. tonight i plan on relaxing and watching this week's episode of project runway canada that i taped. tomorrow, i might be shopping for a new winter coat (a warm one, not a fashion one... any recommendations?) and hopefully going dancing. it's supposed to rain on saturday but be unseasonably warm outside. what are you doing?

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i made my own signature here and now you can too. OH BOY!

taking a rest day

i hate it when people talk about how tired they are in the morning because everyone is tired and no one cares. it's so boring and i'm really sorry, but I AM SO TIRED. seriously, i haven't felt like this (death) in quite a long time. here is my scoop:

i went to stay at my bf's apartment last night for date night, and since i drove i had to park on the street and leave before 7am this morning. all night long all i heard was loud people and loud trucks and i woke up in a panic a thousand times thinking i slept in and the noise was my car being towed away. needless to say it was not a good sleep and i am a zzzzombie today.

i was going to swim this morning, but decided it's a good day for a rest day, seeing as how i can hardly open my eyes. i did 20 minutes of hatha yoga last night, and maybe i'll do some again tonight, but probably not. it's my book club meeting for gone with the wind.

here is today's menu:

quaker reduced sugar oatmeal (2)
1/4 cup all bran (0)

1/2 cup greek yogurt (3)
1/2 cup pumpkin (0)
2 TBSP pomegranate seeds (0)

sweet potato (3.5)
wrap made with:
flat out wrap (1)
2 sliced smoked fat free turkey (1)
mustard, spinach, tomato (0)

yogurt (1)
3/4 cup kamut puffs (0.5)

and then going here for dinner. any suggestions on what to get? i'm thinking maybe the moroccan chili or the vegetarian chili. they are under appetizers. i don't want to eat too much or spend too much.

whole foods

yesterday afternoon i went to the whole foods market here in toronto. i really like it there, but it's ridiculously expensive and i always think it's going to be better than it is and have wonder products. i did get a couple of larabars, lunabars, and clif bars, but not too many.

i did get greek yogurt though! it's full fat which is pretty high calorie but extra delicious. i also, on a whim, got goat's milk yogurt. WARNING WARNING do not get this product. bleh! i love goat's cheese, but i don't want my yogurt to taste like goat's cheese! there was a also sample of some kind of spreadable milk cheese. holy moly, it was sweet and so delicious! i made a point not to check the brand because if i knew what it was there is a large chance i'd become obsessed with the cheese until purchasing it. maybe if i was hosting a fancy party or something.

i bought one portabella mushroom so i could try making a portabella mushroom burger for the first time. i also bought ezekiel hamburger buns. the mushroom burger was pretty good. i melted a babybel light cheese on top. when i'm alone i usually eat my burger bun separately from the burger so it feels like i am eating more, so that kind of defeats the purpose of the mushroom burger. i would try it again, but my one mushroom cost $1.32 and that's a little pricey for a mushroom.

exercise has been going really well. i am following my hunger cues and eating when hungry. last night i walked for three miles on the treadmill (while reading), and then did some sit ups and bum exercises on the floor mat. this morning i went for a 40-minute swim. all this exercise is making me hungry!

quick post today

this morning i had cold cereal instead of oatmeal for the first time in months. i like cold cereal a lot but i never feel full after eating the recommended serving size, it doesn't keep me full for as long as oatmeal AND it takes way less time to eat. i ate kashi probiotic something or other. it was in a giant box at costco. it has bran flakes, graham sticks, and these weird yogurty squares which really make the taste. one serving is 1 and 1/4 cups, but it's less than that if i actually weigh out the 55g it claims to be.

last night i walked for three miles on the treadmill. i kept it fast too, at four miles per hour or one mile every 15 minutes. that's fast walking! i probably could have gone up to 4.2, but that would be speed walking territory and i don't want to push my bum injury at all.

this is just going to be a quick post, because there is a big snowstorm outside and i have places to go and i'm not very happy about it. i don't even have snow tires!
right now i'm going for a swim and tonight i'd like to do a 20-minute yoga download. stretch!

what a coincidence

after posting my piece on weight maintenance last week, i came across this article on yahoo canada which sums things up very nicely. worth reading for sure. i love these yahoo and msn.ca health and fitness articles. many are very redundant, but a few have new and interesting things to say. and it's all free. oh, internet, how i do love you.

i would have to say i went a little overboard on the eating this weekend. especially last night at my girlfriend's house watching gone with the wind. a lot of veggies, some whole wheat pasta with chicken, nachos with taco cream cheese dip (!!!)... that kind of stuff. so some healthier choices but some... not so much. my downfall were these macaroon madness bars from m & m's meat shop. they tasted like butterscotch blondies with coconut on top. heaven!

so now i'm back in healthy living mode. i didn't swim on saturday, but i did go yesterday and this morning. i might go for a treadmill walk tonight as well. i have finished reading thin is the new happy and now i've moved on to chasing harry winston, the latest book from the author that wrote the devil wears prada. exciting! i have to have it finished by the 5th (back to library), so reading while walking on the treadmill is a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. not that i want to kill birds of course.

my goals for this week are: 4 x cardio sessions, 2 x yoga/pilates sessions, at LEAST 7 hours of sleep per night, following hunger cues, and grabbing the bull by the balls. happy monday.