Silly Rabbit.....

Committed a few running/walking sins today...

1) Ate right before walking.
 Slept with the little man during am nap,didn't have breakfast. Quickly ate a piece of peanut butter toast before bolting out the door.

Result- By the time I got back,felt like I was going to vomit,with a side of stomach cramps in case I ever felt like eating again.

2) Did not wear a hat.
It was approximately 22 degrees Celsius at 10 am,with no clouds in sight. I have hair like an Alpaca, thick and warm. Great for the winter,not for the summer.

Result- Super dizzy,and I think I may have nuked a brain cell or two.

3) Did not bring a water bottle.
 Chubby girl,pushing 20 lb baby in a stroller, no hat,22 degrees out with no water to drink or dump on furnace head. I blame this on number four....

Result-dehydrated, overheated mess upon arrival. I'm very pale (like I make Edward Cullen look Mexican) so my face was beet red,and continues to be pink as I write this.

4) Had Beer.
Not this morning,although there have been times recently where drinking nonstop seems like the solution. We are on vacation, and had a fire last night. Many marshmellows and a few beers were consumed. This apparently made my feet feel like lead,and I almost stopped for a nap on a grassy knoll a block away from being done. May have to give this up for a while,but will test the theory again before I do anything too drastic.

Result- felt like hot ass,with shoes that weighted a million pounds,trudging down the boardwalk.

On the upside I have lost 3 pounds( pre-beer weight) and walked 3.57kms today.

A couple more days until we go home,then hot yoga here I come!

My dogs are barking....

The good news

I walked 3.5kms the other day, I even jogged for a couple of minutes.

The bad news

My walking route was chosen using a landmark here in Sylvan...The Big Moo. Which is an ice cream shop.

Yeah, I know.

I didn't succumb the first time,but the second walk was capped off with a scoop of 'birthday cake' flavored awesomeness.

 I am weak.

I'd like to tell you my little guy looked up at me and begged for a taste before going home,but alas,I cannot.

Seems he loves blueberries (all fruit really)and they don't even have to be encased in ice cream.

But back to the walking part.

I've been breaking in my new running shoes,and let me tell you, I hate breaking in shoes.
Even pretty shoes.

We did over 5 kms today,and by the time we got back to the house, I felt like one of those poor Asian women who had their feet bound.

On the plus side,no blisters yet.

Moisture wicking socks,where have you been all my life?! Oh yeah, with the other 14 dollar a pair socks I'd feel bad using to wipe spilled coffee off my floor with.

Also,running,even lightly,while not wearing a jogging bra is not recommended.
The joke about giving yourself a black eye is a real thing.

Cinderella, Cinderella.....

Well vacation or no vacation, this show has to get on the road sometime.

So today, we went shoe shopping.
Normally this would make me excited beyond words.

I like shoes. A lot.

I have over 20 pairs,and while that does seem low for some of my friends, keep in mind I had to purge my closet after I had the baby.

Did you know your feet grew when you have kids?
Me neither.

I have been researching what kinds of shoes to buy for over a week,learning everything from toe box width,uppers,heel cushioning,over and under pronation and heel toe strikes.

I also found out that running shoe companies use the word 'beefy' to describe us heavy runners.
Nice right?
Gotta say that's a new one.

Anyway, I dragged my husband and my 8 month old around Red Deer,trying to find my perfect shoe.

It was almost as bad as clothes shopping.
These ones are too tight,too wide, too narrow, too loose,too ugly.
These ones pinch,slide,rub,cram my toes and are ugly.
(Just because they have to be functional,doesn't mean they need to make me look like the Hobbit.)

I finally broke down and went to the Running Room,thinking they may have the inside track on what I may need. Crazy theory, I know.

Even with the 15 pound,16 year old trainee helping me ( she looked at me like I had two heads when I said I was training for a 10 k run) I managed to find a great pair of functional,yet pretty shoes.

(Which I will try to post a pic of as soon as I figure out why it won't let me.....grumble grumble grumble.)

They are hot pink, so if you see a chubby chick sweating,wheezing and cussing on the side of the road,say hi!

I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

 Also practiced some deep breathing today, while I jumped off the boat into the icy lake.
Contrary to popular belief,fat is NOT insulating.

My Wii is a dick, and so is the BMI

So here in Edmonton it was a rainy crappy kind of day.
Cold,windy and pissing like an old man.

Needless to say I did not walk around the lake. Not for my sake, but the baby's.

Mom of the year over here...holler....

Instead I decided that I would do some yoga,maybe play some Wii fit.

For those of you that have never played, it can be very fun,and quite challenging. I highly recommend it.

 Basically the system creates a profile of you,using a little cartoon,or avatar for those who demand the proper vernacular.
You play all sorts of games to help with balance, strength and such, its super fun.

It tracks your activity,weight,calories burned and calculates your BMI.

(Which we will come back to later, as I have a shit ton to say about that little calculation tool)

Now,when the Wii weighs you,the program pulls its first dick move.

The little cartoon avatar goes from stick figure (looks good) to balloon animal,like someone is inflating them from behind.

Now my Wii me ( or Mii for the sticklers) really looks like me,fat ass,double chins and all. The only thing missing was the fricking ice cream sandwich I was really jonesing for.

And then the program chimes in and announces....'OBESE'!
A chart appears and my BMI is so far off it it looks like one of those bell ringer games at the fair.

DING DING DING!!!
WE HAVE A WHOPPER!!!!

Damn it.

Bad enough the Wii fit board actually sighs when I step on it.

( At least it doesn't scream "GET OFF ME YOU LAND BEAST!!")

Can I just say ( rhetorical question as its my blog) that I REALLY hate the BMI scale?!
Whoever came up with this little equation should be strapped to the floor of a Walmart in Texas on Black Friday.

There are a million different body types out there, and no one is going to fit the Barbie/GI Joe mold perfectly.

I know lots of people who are thin and ridiculously unhealthy, and lots who are heavier and are strong, able bodied people with low cholesterol and crazy good blood pressure.

I have a baby belly, a chubby ass and bingo wings that make me look like Batman in the right light but you know what?
My cholesterol and blood pressure beats Mikes almost every time, and I eat way more crap than he does.
I hate this tool more now than I ever did before, and he is the story behind it.

When I was 8 months pregnant, pushing 260ish, my husband and I bought life insurance.
Cause we are responsible and grown uppy like that.

I had never had any sort of insurance before, (because I am invincible),so they needed a physical.

No worries, I said, its painfully obvious I have another human on board, surely I would get like a 50 lb gimme on whatever I actually came to on the scale right?

The nurse measured me AROUND my stomach,Where Jacob was happily kicking the shit out of my organs,took my weight,and left.

The week after, I get a call from the slick insurance man saying I'm 'morbidly obese' and my insurance rate would go up...alot.

Of course I asked if they realized that it was a human in my belly,not a blue plate special,to which they replied,"the BMI scale we use doesn't factor that in".

W.......T....actual.........F.....???

I have since looked this up on alot of Google searches and I ended up calling the senior manager guy for the insurance agency and stuff, and tore them apart.
BMI is not supposed to be an indicator of healthy weight for pregnant women. Period. End of story.

BECAUSE WE HAVE A HUMAN IN OUR BELLY!!!

My husband rightly lost his shit after getting the whole story out of me in between my sobbing and stuffing cheese in my mouth and went what we like to call "Telus Store"* all over the company.
Threatening all manner of legal action as well as public exposure to what was essentially bullying a pregnant lady and her cancer riddled husband.

*Have you ever been inside a Telus Store? My husband morphs from a generally nice man to a raging Hulk in about 3.8 seconds of stepping into one. Nothing against those who work there, he just gets instantly stabby. Its kinda fun to watch, like seeing a fire and wanting to get marshmellows and chocolate to make smores instead of calling the fire department to put it out. Beautiful in the intensity of the burn.* 
True story.

Eventually I was placed on a "Special plan" for people with "medical concerns" and they would reevaluate my "condition" in a years time and then potentially drop my rates.

Yes, I am 100% using the quotation marks in a sarcastic fashion.

*Update-I lost an amazing 25-30 lbs when they came back for my assessment a year later, likely because I had expelled the HUMAN BEING that was freeloading inside me, and they dropped my rates. But not before Telus Store demanded that the insurance guy be fired off our portfolio and I receive a full apology. Because who really makes a pregnant lady cry about her weight? Total dick move*

Moral of the story is that the BMI is an antiquated nasty tool that makes people feel terrible about themselves even though they may be perfectly healthy, and I have not played my Wii fit since.

(Except for the ABBA dance game my mum got me, because I love ABBA and dancing.)

Slow and steady...

362 days to go.

My scale is playing with my fragile emotions today, I don't want to talk about it.

I was asked today if I had started running yet.

Um...no.

After trying all sorts of fitness programs in the past, I have realized a few things.

Always have a cheat day,or people get hurt.
( this rule is mainly for the diet portion of a fitness program, as all salad and no candy make Liz smash)

Warm up. Stretch.
There is nothing sexy about asking your husband to help you off the toilet because your thighs have seized up.

Don't worry about what you look like doing whatever you are doing.
 I'm pretty sure my ass looked liked two raccoons cottage cheese wrestling in a sack today on my walk, but I couldnt care less.

And finally,slow and steady does win the race.
I can't tell you how many times I've jumped in to an exercise routine,only to push myself way too hard and get hurt.
Then I have to recover. Then Ben and Jerry show up and force their chunky monkey awesomeness down my throat and its all for nothing.

Not this time friends.

While the ice cream devils may still show up, and I may have to,ahem, subdue them, I will do this right.

I could have taken today off due to my feet, but instead I WII danced to ABBA for 30 mins,and shaved 5 mins off my time around the lake.

Btw, no one had to help this guy off the toilet today. :-)

These shoes are made for.....

363 days to go.....
235 lbs ish....still

Still riding high off of Saturday's walk.
Took the baby out for a walk around the lake behind the house this morning, with my fancy little running app, Runtastic.

I was feeling great,cruising along,trying not to get lapped by all the little old Chinese seniors, when BOOM. Giant blister on my left foot.

Lefty was already feeling a bit abused,as I am nursing another blister from Saturday's walk,so by the time I got home, I was using my stroller as a full on walker.

Now here's some history for you....
I have what I like to call 'hamburger feet'.
I got this handle from work,when I would wear heavy work boots and tromp around for kms a day in a live rail yard for 8 hours.

By the time I was done everyday, I had a new crop of blisters,usually on top of the old ones.
Didn't matter what I did, what kind of boots I wore, how I treated the blisters, still my feet looked like hamburger at the end of my shift.

However, put my feet in a ridiculously high pair of heels and ask me to go dancing, and look out. I will outlast anyone.

Weird right?

Anyhoo, now I have to invest some cash in serious running shoes so I don't mess up my feet.

Feck.

Also thinking I should probably drop some tonnage before I try to run, so I don't cause any seismic activity in my neighborhood.

Maybe some hot yoga would do the trick.....

Btw it only took me 30 mins to walk the 2.5kms around the lake. Yeah me!

And so we begin.....

Thanks for joining me on my journey, I'm sure it will be interesting....

 364 days to go....
Weight-235 ish

So for those who don't know, my name is Liz Rennie. I'm 29, married to Mike and just had Jacob a short eight months ago.
I am always the girl at the bar drinking beer,eating wings and sitting on my ass.

Don't get me wrong, I used to be very fit. In high school (yeah I know,everyone was fit in high school) I played rugby,curling and worked out every day.
Even in university, when I was working Security, I would work out almost everyday. (I'd have a smoke after I ran on the treadmill,but at least I ran....)

When I got married the first time,to 'He who shall not be named', I was introduced to butter.
 I think I loved butter more than my first husband to be honest....

Anyway, I got fat. Not special report on Oprah or the news fat,but pleasantly plump.

I reached critical mass while pregnant with Jacob. Like 275 lbs.
Yes yes I realize I had a human on board,but still it wasn't great.

With Mike fighting colon cancer,and a new baby, getting fit was low on the old priority list.

Plus I LOVE to eat.
It makes me happy,less stressed and cures every other ailment you can possibly imagine.

So why now?
Well Mike,his mom and I did the Underwear Affair to raise money for Cancer research yesterday. On the 5 k walk, I blew past half the pack and felt great.
So I thought,why not do the run?

I'm only an asthmatic, overweight out of shape mommy, no big deal right?

10 k isn't too long right?

I'll start after I'm done my coffee......

Will keep you posted....:-)