Friend Making Mondays: Blog stuff

Whoa, two posts in one day?! Crazytalk! 

I stumbled across www.alltheweigh.com the other day and noticed that she does this cool survey every monday called "Friend Making Monday" where bloggers sill out and post the survey on their blog then link it in the comment section of All the Weigh. It's a good way to connect with new blogs and bloggers. This week's theme was a little tough for me as I'm pretty new to blogging, but I thought I would give it a shot anyway. 

 If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic! source 

 Blog Stuff

1.  Have you ever met anyone through your blog that led to an in-person friendship/relationship? I haven't yet, but I'm certainly not opposed to it! There are so many awsome bloggers (and readers!) out there that seem like great people and I would be thrilled to meet them. 

2.  Most bloggers have a specific niche.  What would you discuss if it didn’t seem inappropriate on your blog? I think I would talk more openly about my personal relationships, however, my blog is still private from my real-life friends and I'm not quite ready to share it with my family or friends yet. I don't feel that it's fair to speak too openly about anyone in particular without their permission and permission means that I would b telling them about the blog which is scary! ;)

3. If you could meet three bloggers, who would they be? That's a tough one! I could name a handful that I would love to meet one day, but one in particular would be Katie from Runs for Cookies. Hers was one of the first blogs that I started following and her story is very motivating! I'm not sure if I would've started blogging or running if it wasn't for her blog! 

4. If you had to choose between Facebook or Twitter which one would you choose?  If I took this survey last week I would have said Facebook, hands down. However, I recently signed up for Twitter and I'm enjoying it, which has surprised me! I don't have a lot of followers on Twitter yet, so I still use Facebook more, but I can see Twitter becoming a new favourite in the near future. you can follow me here

5. Do you vlog (video blog?) I haven't done a vlog and I never really considered it. I personally don't really like watching vlogs, but I've heard that some people love them. Perhaps one is in my future! 

6. How many blogs do you read on an average day? It varies, but it probably averages around 10-12 a day. 

7.  What is the coolest thing that you’ve seen online recently? Andie at "Can You Stay for dinner?" posted a link to an article called "Hey, Fat Gir" recently and it really hit home! I would reccomend reading it. 

8. If you gave your blog a new name what would it be? I still like the name of my blog, maybe I won't in a year or so, but for now it can stay :)

9. Have you ever attended a blog conference like Fitbloggin?  If not, would you? I haven't, but I would love to! I've been hearing so much about Fitbloggin and I'm so jealous of all the people going - it sounds like a great time!

10. In the past I have asked why you blog.  Now I want to know why you read blogs?  What do you take from it?  I read blogs to stay motivated in my weight loss journey. I love reading about other peoples success and it's great to relate to others who are not only succeeding, but struggling. 

Anyone is welcome to participate in "Friend Making Monday". 

Be sure to read my post from earlier today :)

Summer Goals Revisited {Weigh In & New Goals}

I lost 2.5lbs this week bringing me back into the 240’s. Not too bad of a loss, I was hoping for more, but it was enough to get me back on track.

In June I decided to join the Lose a Marathon weight loss challenge. The goal was to lose 26.1 pounds from June 18 – Sept 17^th. I started this Summer off at 257.5lbs and I’m ending it at 249lbs.  That’s a total of 8.5lb lost. That’s a very slow loss over that past few months. I know I could have done much, much better. However, I’m not overly disappointed about my progress. I had one of the busiest summer’s I’ve had in a long time and one of the best. Almost every weekend was full of bbq’s, day trips; get togethers, parties, beach days, concerts, family visits and so on. Not only did I manage to lose weight during all of this, but I enjoyed every minute of my summer!

My wardrobe during the summer months is mostly capris pants, skirts and dresses (i.e. loose fitting clothes). I can clearly remember the past few Septembers when it was time to wear jeans or fitted dress pants and I had to squeeze myself into them!

But not this year! This past weekend I wore jeans for the first time all summer – they fit like a loose glove! These are the same jeans that gave my severe muffin top last winter. This morning I put on my go-to black dress pants and they’re about 10lbs from falling right off me – woo hoo!

**

I’m happy with my weight loss this summer, but I’m even happier that I stuck with running! The heat this summer was almost unbearable.  There were many days where I ran jogged in 105+ degree temperatures. It was hard, so hard! But I stuck with it and yesterday I ran the Terry Fox 5k and this coming Saturday is the Toronto Zoo 5k. I’m proud of myself for sticking with it and I have every intention to continue running throughout this coming year.

Woot 5k!

Crossing the finish line!

**

Now that the Lose a Marathon challenge is over, I think it’s time to hammer out some new goals. I initially thought that I would set some goals to reach by Christmas (only 15 weeks away!!), but I think that the month of December needs it’s own goals, which I’ll plan closer to the date. Instead, I’m going to set my goal for November 30^th – the day before my sister’s due date and the day my parents will be flying back for the birth :)

This gives me 11 weeks. To break it up I’m going to set a few smaller goals in between.

11 week challenge: (starting weight: 249lbs)

• -       Lose 2lbs per week
• -       Reach 35lbs (244lbs ) lost by Thanksgiving weekend (October 7^th)
• -       235lbs by Halloween
• -       Run another 5k race
• -       Continue running at least 3x per week
• -       Lose 22lbs (227lbs) by November 30^th

I was supposed to take progress pictures and measurements at the end of the Lose a Marathon challenge, but I’ve only lost 2lbs since the last time I took them so they likely haven’t changed too much. I will take my measurements and pictures again on Thanksgiving weekend and hopefully my progress will be better by then.

I think these are realistic goals and if I reach my final goal of 22lbs, I will have lost 50lbs to date, which would be amazing!

I’m going to set up a new page in my navigation bar and I’ll be sure to track my progress during the next 11 weeks! Feel free to join me in my 11 week challenge! 


You can also follow me on Twitter! :)

Shopping, Cooking, Tweeting, oh my!

Frist things first, Onederland or Bust now has twitter! Click on the Twitter button to the right and follow my tweets! I'm still pretty new to the Twitter world, but it's surprisingly fun to see what your fellow bloggers are up to on a regular basis! 

**

For my birthday a couple weeks ago I got a few gift cards and about $100 in cash. I know people say that gift cards are in-personal, but I personally love then. I'd much rather get that than something I don't like or will never wear. My boyfriend's parents bought be a $100 card to the outlet mall nearby and I just happened to be there on Thursday. Normally I'm one to hoard GC and use them when I REALLY want something, but I figured since I was there I may as well look.

What I really wanted was a pair of nice high boots, but the ones at the plus size store fit over my calves, but barely! I would only be able to wear them with dresses/skirts and I'd like to wear them with leggings or skinny jeans. Apparently I have large calves! :( 

I found this really pretty dress on sale for $29.99 and it looked great from the front... from the side, not so much! The bottom half was made of really clingy material and it showed off all my lumps and bumps - not cool! 

What I did find is a really nice running jacket! They had it in a pink and a greyish-purple colour. I initially liked the pink, but it was VERY pink and ended up with the greyish one. I really like it. It's rain and water proof, it has thumbholes(!) and it's warm enough that in the winter I could wear a heavier shirt underneath and probably be ok. That's right... I'm already thinking about winter running. I'm determined to continue running in the winter :D

I also picked up a halloween costume for my friend's 1 year old. She's going to be a cupcake! And a few outfits for the baby shower I'm holding in two weeks. Overall, it was a successful night of shopping! 

Yesterday was my friday off and it was a cool rainy day out - perfect for errands and chores around the house. First I went grocery shopping then came home to clean. The place has been neglected since my parents visit, so it was well overdue! I decided to tackle my closet and bring out my fall gear! It's not nearly cold enough to start thinking about sweaters and jeans, but at least now I'm prepared! As I was bringing items out, I tried them on to see if small ones now fit or if anything is now too big. Almost all the previous small items do fit, but I definitely need to lose an inch or two in my arms for them to feel more comfortable (goal for the next month!!). I did find a few items that are too big and I packed them up to give to a couple girlfriends. 

The crappy weather always puts me in the mood for homemade soup and SkinnyTaste (best site ever!) just posted a recipe for beef barely soup. This soup always reminds me of winters at my nana's - she always had a batch on hand. Luckily I picked up all the ingredients that morning so I decided to whip some up - Yum!

I've also been craving homemade pizza. The downside with pizza is that I could eat the entire pie! I bought the dough and decided to weigh it according to the serving size on the back. I ended up with 100g for about 200 calories, plus the cheese and sauce. My little pizza came to about 300ish calories. I enjoy making them on pitas and english muffins, but sometimes you just need the real thing! Anyway, I used the rest of the doug to make a big one for the boyfriend and I may have snuck a small piece of his later last night. ;)

Do you love my pig-themed kitchenware? My mom always finds these little guys and adds them to presents or stockings (yes I still get a stocking at Christmas). I think they're too cute. 

It's been a pretty successful weekend this far. Today I'm headed to the farmers market with my sister and tomorrow is the Terry Fox Run!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Pinspiring Wednesday!

If you're like me and have a love for Pinterest, then you probably have a ton of boards pinned  with beautiful desserts, glamourous outfits, ideal workout plans, crafty DIY projects and everything in between. I typically spend about 15 minutes every day perusing my Pinterest and pinning away whatever catches my and on occasion I may actually attempt to cook one of those tasty looking recipes or neat DIY projects. But for the most part I aimlessly pin and then never do anything with them. I've had a Pinterest account for maybe a year now and I've probably attempted a handful of pins, most of which were recipes. My most successful pin attempt was by far the Strawberry Cheesecake bites - delicious!

I've decided that I want to start putting my Pinterest account to good use. So today I introduce....

Every wednesday I'm going to document a Pinterest attempt - good or bad, success or failure! It will likely include mostly recipes, but I'll try and switch it up by throwing in a DIY project or exercise routine and what not. I actually have a DIY Pinterest project in the works, but I'm not quit happy with it yet. 

For my very first Pinspiring Wednesday, I decided to attempt Zucchini brownies. Zucchinis are everywhere now that Fall is quickly approaching and I picked up a massive one at the farmers stand for a dollar(!!) a couple weeks ago. 

I stumbled across this pin last week. 

Click here for the original recipe/pin 

The original recipe is pretty healthy, but I found that it had a lot of sugar and I wasn't convinced that it needed that much. I decided to alter some of the measurements/ingredients and hope for the best!


Zucchini Brownies

1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce

2 small ripe bananas

1/4 cup of no sugar added maple syrup

2 tsp of vanilla

1/2 tsp of salt

1 1/2 tsp of baking soda

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa

2 cups of shredded zucchini

1 cup of white flour

1 cup of whole wheat flour

3 tbsp of semi-sweet chocolate chips   

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the applesauce, bananas, syrup, sugar, and vanilla. Add salt. baking soda, cocoa and zucchini. Add flour and chocolate chips and mix well. Add mixture to a greased 9x13 pan ( I think mine was bigger) and cook until the top springs back when pressed with your finger. Cut into 18-24 pieces. 

Final Product!

They turned out great!! Not too sweet and stilly fudgey enough to taste like a brownie. The original recipe called for walnuts, but I added chocolate chips instead. They even passed the toughest test of all - the dessert-loving boyfriend test! I told him they were healthy and he detected a slight banana flavour, but he had no idea there was zucchini involved and I never told him ;) He ate 4!! 

I cut mine into 18 pieces and according to My Fitness Pal there were 104 calories per piece - not too shabby! I nice treat after dinner anyway (or 4 if you're like my boyfriend!). 

I really enjoyed doing this, especially knowing that I was going to share the outcome with all of you! Stay tuned for my next Pinspiring Wednesday next week :)

Family Visits, Baby Showers, Weigh-Ins, Oh My!

The air this morning was nice and crisp. I'm wearing pants and a nice light sweater and couldn't be happier. Today it feels like fall. I love Fall, but apparently we're in for a warm September and the temperatures are supposed to be way above seasonal. I'll take it if it means Winter will be delayed ;)

Fall always feels like a fresh start and a time to get back into a normal schedule. I'm so looking forward to running in cooler temperatures and digging out my sweaters and jeans again.

**

This morning was my first weigh in since my parents got here 2 weeks ago. The past 2 weeks have been so busy and I've only spent about 3 nights at home, the rest of my days were spent at my sisters. There was so much food at all times, I'm surprised I didn't gain 10lbs (seriously). I didn't get in as many runs as I would have liked, but what can yea do. In the past 2 weeks I've eaten the following: burgers, pizza, pasta, wings, 2 dinners out, ice cream, pulled pork, homemade cake with butter cream, chocolates, candy, chips, etc. etc. etc. I also ate a lot of fresh produce, but not enough to make up for all the crap that was put into my body.

This morning when I stepped on the scale I saw 251. At my last weigh in I was 249.5 which means I gained 1.5lbs in the two weeks that my parents were here. Most people would be disappointed with this gain and I do hate admitting that the scale went up, but I almost feel like it's a victory. Visits with my parents can often mean gains of 5+ pounds in a matter of days. Half way through our visit I felt like I was going overboard and needed to stick to the plan and be more aware of what I was eating and that's what I did. After two weeks of no tracking, little exercise but a lot of mindful eating I can say that I didn't blow my diet and can easily get back on track this week. And that's exactly what I plan on doing. My goal for the week is to have my biggest loss to date.

I had a great two weeks with my parents and it was very hard to say goodbye yesterday. For the past 7 years I've only seen my parents 2-3 times per year... you get used to it.. but it's hard. Now that my sister is pregnant and they're going to have their first grand-baby, we'll probably see a bit more of them, but the goodbye's will only get harder.

I'm going to leave you with some pictures of my sister's baby shower that we threw this past weekend. It turned out great and the cake I made was a huge hit!

Making the cake. 

Cupcakes complete. 

The final product :)  

Pink Devilled Eggs anyone?

Onesie decorating station :)

Just Keep Running... {Terry Fox Run}

These last few weeks have been a whirlwind and I can't believe that it's already September 6th!! My parents are here visiting until this coming sunday. Tomorrow we're throwing a surprise baby shower for my sister, so tonight my mom and I are prepping all the food and I'm making the cake. Hopefully it turns out nice and I'll post some pictures next week :) This past week has been especially hectic and my eating and exercising last week was pretty crappy to say the least, but I've managed to get back on track this week. Last night I went for a run and my eating has been decent. I'm worried about tonight and tomorrow though, there's going to be lots of food, cake and leftovers. I need to stay focused and ensure that I get two more runs in by Monday. 


Speaking of running, I'm happy to say that I've stuck with it all Summer. The past two years I had fizzled out by now and given up on the hope of becoming a runner. But not this year! Mind you, I haven't been running as often as I should. The heat this summer has been killer and it makes it so hard to get out and run. There's been a few runs this summer where I've never felt so over-heated in my life! There was actually a week where my runs were so bad, I almost felt like I was having an anxiety attack and had to stop. I've never had anxiety before, but I imagine it's kind of what it would feel like. I felt very hot, panicky and I even had to take my earbuds out and walk it out. It was a very weird feeling, but thankfully it only happened twice. 

I have to 5k races planned for the coming weeks. The first one is the Terry Fox Run on September 16th. I'm not sure how known Terry Fox is around the world, but in Canada, he's a hero to most. Every year in almost every town across the country, Canadians set out to walk (or run, bike, blade, etc) 5k in memory of Terry Fox and to raise money and awareness for Cancer research. As someone who has had loved ones lose their battle with cancer, the Terry Fox Foundation is close to my heart. When I was younger we used to raise money at school and participate in the run/walk with classmates and now as an adult, I continue to raise money and awareness and also run the 5k in memory of my Nana and Uncle. Below is a brief description of Terry Fox and what he's done for our country (you can skip this, but it is truly and inspirational story and I encourage everyone to take a minute and read it). 

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.

It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.

After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran close to 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at the age 22.

The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.

To date, over $600 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world. Source 

This story alone should inspire all of us to keep on running! If anyone would like to sponsor our team, please feel free to do so here. This run isn't competitive, it isn't timed and there are no t-shirts or goodies at the finish line. Everyone is there to raise awareness for a horrible disease and an amazing cause. 


The Terry Fox Run will be nice practice for the following weekend where I'll be participating in my second official 5K race. Me and the ladies from works have signed up for the Oasis Zoo Run at the Toronto Zoo. This one should be a lot of fun - who doesn't want to run with the animals?! ;) The only downside is that the Zoo itself has a lot of hills so I'm not too sure how I'll do. The girls and I are thinking of making Turtle t-shirts for a few of us (because we're so slow) and cheetah t-shirts for the fast girls. It's an ongoing joke that we're the "turtles" of the group :)

I'm praying that the weather cools down a bit for both of these runs. Last night during my run it was pretty warm, but there was a nice breeze which is perfect! I was searching around some running sites last night looking for more runs to sign up for and I came across one called the "Resolution Run". It takes place on December 31st at 5:00pm and it's a 5k race. I think it's such a great idea that people are starting the new year off on the right foot (pun intended) with a 5k race! Each participant gets a really nice running jacket too! The old me would be worried that a 5pm start time would ruin any potential New Years plans, but the me today knows that I can easily work NYE plans around a 30 minute race ;)
I haven't signed up yet, but I'm pretty sure that I will! It will help with my goal of continuing to run throughout the winter.. and who knows, maybe I'll sign up for a 10k after that :o

Long Weekend Recap

Oh how I can't wait to get back to a normal schedule. I've been staying at my sisters all week while my parents are here visiting, which means I've been sleeping on an air matres for a week. I'm also allergic to their cats so I've been waking up all stuffy each morning - not fun! 

I wish I could say that I stayed on track all weekend and didn't go overboard with eating, but I didn't :(  With my birthday, my parents being here and their being an abundance of food around, I've been eating way too much and too often. I'm kind of glad to be at work today just so I can avoid the food temptations. All this eating has also made me feel really blah and combine that with the allergies and it's not a fun combination. 

I was going through some pictures that were taken over the weekend and a few of them made me realize how far I still have to go in this weight loss journey. I've done well so far, but I'm nowhere near where I need to be and pictures are often a good reminder of that. 

All that being said, I had a great birthday weekend with friends and family and I've been having a great time with my parents. Their here until Sunday and on Friday we're having a baby shower for my sister. I'm determined to stay on track for the rest of the week. I've packed a normal amount of food for lunch today and I'm staying at my house for the next two nights so the temptations will be limited. I also plan to get some runs in as I have two 5K races coming up!

I hope everyone had a great Labour Day weekend. I leave you with some pictures that I took yesterday at the Zoo :)

I just love these little guys

My Favourite