I did well at the gym yesterday, hitting a personal high of over 15,000 steps for the day. Yes, i'm trying to catch up to the competition, but i'm also trying not to go overboard and exhaust myself, physically and mentally.

Tonight is another dance class - still looking forward to these classes, they're so much fun!

Eating is good - today I had toast for breakfast, rice and chicken for lunch and rice, salmon and vegetables for dinner. A light snack after dance class and i'm hitting the sack.

I'm tired, but energized. A contradiction of sorts, but you know what I mean?

I made it to work today and am doing alright so far. I can feel waves of nausea and pain every so often, but i'm pretty sure I can persevere and make it through. I'm looking forward to getting to the gym tonight and finding my way back to where I was originally before my period. Feeling bloated and grumpy but that's to be expected, I guess.

So I missed yoga class yesterday and I really didn't want to. I'm glad however that i've slowed down on activities, only sticking to one or two (or three), and hitting the gym on the other days. Having a scheduled activity every day of the week would make me feel extremely guilty upon missing one. Whereas if I miss going to the gym, I know that I can run a few sets of stairs and jump on my stationary bike and call it pretty well even.

It's a hard day for water today!

Yesterday was a small PMS day. Today was a large one. But i'm in a lot better shape now, although a little 'out of it'. I dreamt about milkshakes all day and am quite proud of the fact that I could substitute watermelon instead of giving in to a fleeting desire. I'm now making rice and chicken for dinner and am hoping that a small snack afterwards will see me through the night.

I'm around 88,000 steps and even though I haven't done much to add to that in the last couple of days i'm looking forward to doing so in the next couple. Imagine that - looking forward to exercise! Our first week in the stepping contest is over - and I WAS in first place! Yay! I am confident that I can pull through and gain a little more on the competition - but even if I do not, I am satisfied with where I am. Now I just need to work on strengthening my stomach muscles before my next PMS stage hits me.

A movie tonight, then sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. Hopefully not about milkshakes.

Along with a wonderful diet, i'm now well on my way to becoming an athlete in counting my steps. In the morning, grabbing my pedometer to run to the bathroom has become quite the regular habit. In the evening, i'm taking it off only to bathe and crawl into bed. I think i've become overly obsessed with this thing, and it's only been a week! Perhaps my enthusiasm will dwindle a bit in the next few weeks, but i'm sure I can count on my friends giving me a run for my money! Upon questioning this morning, I admitted being at 59,000 steps. When discovering that a fellow competitor was 1,000 steps above that, i'm afraid I may have had a little tantrum. When not in first place, what use is it to continue?!! Instead of giving up so quickly I decided to take the dog for a strenuous walk in two feet of snow for an hour. I'm now at 69,000 steps, and thoroughly wiped out! Why I didn't just go on the treadmill for another hour and rack the same number of steps, I don't know and never will. But i'll have a pair of beautiful legs come summer!

Averaging around 11,750 steps per day now, but that might go down a bit after today because I very much doubt I have any energy left in my body to add to my count. Last night we played wallyball for two hours, which upped my steps to over 13,000 for the day. If I could play wallyball everyday, i'd be a shoe-in for first place. All this talk about first place is making me want to jump on the bike.

Tomorrow i'll be at a jam session with bf, so not sure about what else i'll be doing in regards to exercise - it's nice to take a day off here and there too!

Today hasn't started out well but it is by no means a total bust. My back pain is running rampant, or at least this morning i'm really noticing it. I'm going to take some medication right away and hope it goes away. I won't get any walking done if i'm feeling this badly.

So i've been mixing crystal light singles into my water bottles everyday to help me pound back an extra litre or so. It's working out well for me, as long as I use only crystal light. Has anyone tried Nestea singles packages for Berry and Tangerine? Ugh. Don't. The day I tried the Berry flavor I struggled to drink any kind of water for the rest of the day. The taste stayed in my mouth for a long time! And i'm trying the Tangerine flavor today, which is not much better but is, so far, at least drinkable!

Yesterday I ended with around 11,000 steps. I went to the gym but only walked on the treadmill for half an hour. I guess I need to work on that. But still not bad at all. I had a total of over 33.000 steps so i'm averaging about 11,000 steps per day. My trial period before the challenge started only had me at around 6,000 steps per day average, so i'm doing a lot better than before. See what I mean about the difficulty in reaching 12,500? Maybe you think it's easy, but not me!

Ballroom Dancing starts tonight!

After my great desire for food on Friday and my extraordinary attempts to eat i've decided that Friday was an amazing day. A day, might I say, of discoveries. I discovered that I do have a large dose of willpower, I just didn't realize it existed inside me until I came face to face with it outside the fridge door. And when it told me that this wasn't the way, for some reason this time I believed it. It was a really good day.

I started a pedometer challenge with a few friends on Monday. It's fun so far - I get to write newsletters each week and I love doing creative things like that. And i'm doing well too - I have to because one of my friends who's in on the challenge is a walking extraordinaire. I got over 13,000 steps on Monday! And yesterday I think I finished with a little over 9,000 steps (mostly due to an hour long class of yoga where you don't do all that much stepping; and an hour long drive to get to said yoga class). Today i've already tried to step it up, and am planning on walking the treadmill later tonight. They say you should shoot for above 12,500 steps per day if your goal is to lose weight. I can't believe how many steps 12,500 actually is!

Anyways, still doing good - hope you are too!

So this is the part of the week where I am most vulnerable. I started the day out by going for breakfast with bf. I got two slices of toast and used PB and jelly on them, and had coffee on the side. Not bad, but it sure did make my day all wacky for some reason. I'm beside myself with hunger and so I thought i'd make an entry to try and pass through this enduring feeling.

It's only 3:15pm and i've already managed to build up over 1100 calories. What can I eat tonight that will satisfy me and not take me over 1400 calories? Yoy.

Okay, got busy again. See 'ya!

Yoga turned out to be very good, relaxing and all that good stuff. Not quite like the yoga class here in town, better i'd say although I wouldn't let anyone quote me on that. And even though I had a devastating encounter with a suicidal deer on the way to yoga, I still managed to relax and forget about my worries. Unfortunately, it's all come back to me today and I guess I just have to deal with it!

Tonight is kickboxing and maybe pilates.

Eating is going well!

I'll let you know what I find out about snowboarding!

Ugh. I got this nasty flu bug that's been swarming around town for a while now. I was so sick Thursday and Friday, but i'm feeling better now, thank goodness. We went out sledding again this afternoon. I was wiped out since I hadn't been feeling the best - but it was good to get outside and do something meaningful instead of lying on the couch complaining.

Still doing well, even with being sick i've managed to control my eating and stay focused. Today i've missed my vitamin intake, but will start again tomorrow.

This week starts those new yoga classes i've been talking about. I hope i'm ready for Tuesday - Monday will be a kickboxing night so we'll see what kind of shape i'm in for yoga on Tuesday. Hopefully all will go well.

Trying to plan a snowboarding trip, but will have to make some phone calls first as we're such amateurs (not even, we've never tried snowboarding before), to find out what we need to know about it. It's exciting though, trying new things. I swear someday we're going to go skydiving too, just have to find a day when bf is certain of his courageousness!!

Today went well and now i'm off to bed - early to sleep, early to rise. Or so they say...I challenge that notion though, as I sure do love my sleep.

Crystal Light with water; two ham sandwiches; yogurt and vegetables with dip.

A friend talked me into going to the gym - I was going to go sledding again but boy does that workday wear a person out!! The gym was okay, did some treadmilling and stretching and called it a good 'back to the drawing board' day.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow since my cousin will be visiting for the night. He's added excitement to our lives a few times now with his guitar and zany attitude. My boyfriend also plays guitar, so it will be a sing-a-long night!

Today my pants are not so tight.