11.20.08
Quote du Jour
Nothing we can do can change the past, but everything we do changes the future.
It’s Mayhem Out There!
First snow of the year and people are in a blind panic. It never ceases to amaze me at this time of year how incomprehensibly incompetent people are behind the wheel. It’s like they moved here from Arizona and have never seen snow before. Anyway, it’s a landmark event in any year, the first big snowfall, and while it is only going to be about 10cm still it was enough that I had to shovel the driveway this morning. I was well aware as I was shovelling that it was quite pleasant, not too chilly and a much preferred activity to cutting the grass. Of course, as the winter progresses and I have to shovel in -25 degree weather I will curse the very ground I walk on but for the time being it was quite an enjoyable activity.
I was at Weight Watchers last night and my weight was down to 263.8 which is 26.8lbs down and only 2.2lbs off my 10% goal which, by the way, I did not reach last year. Also, last year I lost almost 25lbs but not quite which means that this year’s 25lb medallion that I got last week signifies a higher level of success than last time. HOWEVER, and it is a big however, last year my weight went up by 12lbs after I joined and so that additional weight was not reflected in my loss statistics. This time I have lost every week for 12 weeks (something I did manage last time) but without the painful and embarrassing start!
Weight Watchers 25lb Medal
11.04.08
Wanting things to be different without a strategy for making them different will keep them the same.
Go Nana!
Today I found out that my Grandma (@ 89 years old) has taken up line dancing! Pretty impressive if you ask me! I really hope I got those genes and I can be as active as she is when I am older. I’m wondering if we will get lessons this Christmas? We plan on having Christmas in November this year and actually will have a very busy weekend. We will be doing Christmas on Saturday and other Nana’s birthday on Sunday. The only unfortunate part about that is they live 4.5 hours apart. I hope gas stays as cheap as it is today and I remember to bring my pillow for the ride!
Things have been fairly normal around the house, we hid inside for Halloween, have been hitting the gym regularly, and coaching often. Life is pretty good! A couple things that have happened recently:
- Nicole lost her keys at the mall…luckily found them after 30 min of searching
- Nicole had to administer first aid at the gym when a lady fell off the treadmill
- Simon sick ALL last week 
- Simon lost another 5 pounds
- Robbin turned 30
- Brendan & Barb bought a new house
10.24.08
Trip Review: TI, Las Vegas
I’ll keep this short and sweet because most of our days in Vegas were similar….
Wake up, Starbucks, Slots, Visit Hotels, Lunch, Slots, Nap, Gym, Dinner, Slots
Day 1
Drove Sonia & Darren to Buffalo @ 12pm
Stopped at Olive Garden for lunch
Arrived in Vegas on Southwest, traveled in style via limo to Treasure Island (6:30pm) 80degrees&sunny!
Checked in, awesome room w/2 comfy double beds
Went to The Coffee Shop for dinner
Nicole won $450
In bed early, bad sleep (maybe because of the 5 hour plane nap?)
Day 2
Kahunnaville breakfast
Went to Wynn & Pallazzo
Free buffet @ Wynn
Nap
Gym
California Grill salads for dinner @ Mirage
Note to Simon *Don’t drink Rockstar before bed*
Day 3
@ Starbucks before it opened (that’s early)
Buffet breakfast @ TI
Walked to MGM & M&M Store
Sonia got a tattoo! ‘believe’
Nap
Gym
Another free buffet @ Wynn
Day 4
Played BlackJack & LetItRide (won $150)
Caribe Café @ Mirage for breakfast
Shopped @ Fashion Show Mall (N&S)
Went to Wynn (bought hat)
The Coffee Shop lunch
Nap/Gym
Outback Steakhouse
Day 5
Home time…up at 5am
The Coffee Shop breakfast (terrible service)
Plane departed on time @ 9:30am
Home @ 4:15pm
No border crossing problems – arrived home to SNOW!
Stopped at Red Lobster, Niagara Falls to avoid rush hour traffic
Arrived home to a happy cat
Overall we had a great trip with lots of great food J
We loved TI (location, rooms, service & casino) Sonia and Darren are amazing people to travel with, so laid back and easy going. I have a hard time deciding my “best memory” because the whole vacation was good…We think next time we may try to stay at the Wynn because we spend most of our time there anyways. (unfortunately it is more expensive - but maybe we’ll get some free stuff in the mail!!) The total for our trip for room and flight was very reasonable.
Air $675
Hotel $177
Hotel $177
Food $ 300
Spending $ 500ea
Spending $ 500ea
10.16.08
What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, but What you Eat in Vegas Comes Home with You from Vegas.
Tomorrow we set out on our journey to Treasure Island, Las Vegas! This will be our 5th time to the big city and we will be travelling with Sonia and Darren. We are all looking forward to hitting the sun, slots and buffets! We have never stayed at TI but found the casino to be nice and the location to be central. I have so much to do before now and then I don’t think I’ll get much sleep in this evening…it is good practice for our upcoming couple of days 
10.15.08
Red things Blue things
If you have a strong enough WHY, you can bear almost any HOW.
I have been concentrating on other things and if there is one thing that I have learned over the years it is that I tend to lean towards exclusion when I work rather than inclusion. This simply means that if I am concentrating at going to the gym and watching my diet, that this blog and a myriad of other real life events go lacking. I do have good new to report however and that is that since I joined WW again I have lost a total of 20lbs! That also means that I am half way to my goal of being 250lbs by 2009!
My focus is akin to the focus test I give to our kids at gym where you give them 30 seconds to look at everything red in the room and then once they close their eyes you ask them to name all the things in the room that are blue. Try it on someone you know, its a fun way to make them feel stupid!
So it is weigh in night tonight and yes, I am going to fill another entry with boring stuff about my workouts and weight! i was 270.6 last week and am hoping this week to be slightly down. Slightly because last week was Steve B’s wedding and Thanksgiving, both events which would usually spell disaster for the prudent eater. So as long as I am not up, my streak will stay alive and my hope of beating my 14 weeks in a row of loss last year will be intact.
So how have I done it? Well, i have given up wheat again, eating lots of fruit and veg and having a smoothie for breakfast. Also I have recorded several personal best weights at the gym, being able to bench 315, shoulder press 300 on the Hammer machine and also row 300 on the Hammer back machine. I can shoulder press about 270 on the smith machine but my shoulders are in constant pain. Actually, having said that, they don’t feel that bad today!
I am also doing some long walks, on saturday while Nicole is personal training I go to the basement and walk for over an hour and try to do that at least one other time during the week. I have not run in a while and I think maybe tonight I will see how my lap times are now that my weight is down a bit.
I do need to be a little more consistent with my cardio but it is very hard when I am so tired after my weights. At the least I should be able to do 20 minutes after weights each day.
So I will keep soldiering on, and hope that tornight I can rescue a loss and that this week while we are going to be in Vegas that I can keep my eye on the prize!
Simon