Well I have survived my 3 week vacation and am back home enjoying my time sitting in front of my computer, looking out the window at the snow, and appreciating this moment for being self-employed. Hello, No Pants Monday. Just kidding. Kind of.
Anyhow, since being home I have been consuming baked goods from sister (working at her tradeshow yesterday) and a home cooked meal from my mummie, but today is back on track. I even went to the gym! I will save you the rest of the details from today, but rather post the entries that I wrote while I was away and had no internet access on the cruise ship. So, without further adieu, enjoy!
A Sailing We Will Go ~ November 27, 2013
Ahoy, mateys! I am
currently onboard the Celebrity Infinity, cruising our way to Guatemala. This is the first time I have written since
the beginning of our trip (aside from my San Diego post) and thus far we have
been sailing for 6 days. At the moment
we are at what feels like a 30 degree incline, but Ryan has informed me that it
is only 5 degrees. The waves are quite
big, but the wind today is absolutely insane!
The wind is currently at 70km/hr.
It’s a little crazy.
Anyhow, let me tell you about my adventures in staying
“healthy” whilst living aboard a cruise ship where food and drinks of any kind
are available literally 24/7. So far,
not too horrid as I am keeping it top of mind.
But this is also why I had to blog, because I can feel the temptation
for delicious goodies growing. Seeing as
I cannot “blog” online, I am just writing it like a journal entry. So, prior to getting on board the ship I
made up some “rules” or “guidelines” for myself.
They are as follows:
1) If I eat something sweet, I cannot take the elevator for
the day. I must take the stairs
regardless of whether I am starting on the 4th floor or the 10th
floor. (We are located on the top floor: 11th)
2) I must choose between dessert or alcohol for my
dinners. If I want to enjoy a sweet
deliciousness after dinner, then I cannot drink wine during dinner. I feel that this allows me to carefully weigh
the options. Last year on our Alaskan
cruise, I did EVERYTHING! Drank, ate,
and slept.
3)I have to make an effort to exercise in the morning. Whether this means walking/running around the
jogging track, heading to the gym, or participating in group Zumba. So far, I have enjoyed taking Zumba every day
and the best part is that I have made friends who are all 30+ years older than
me. This cruise is definitely more
geared towards the elder crowd, which I am okay with. I also head to the gym to participate in
upper body workouts every second day because I miss working out at the
gym. But because it is nice out, I like
to do my “legs” workouts outside.
4)If I have one massive “cheat” day then I have to be
diligent for the next 4 days. (This has
happened once and I hated how I felt after it, so I don’t think I will do that
again haha!)
5)Any excursions MUST be strenuous excursions, whether I be
hiking, walking, kayaking, snorkeling, swimming, etc. I must be active as much as possible because
it can be extremely easy to enjoy the relaxing, sleeping, napping, lifestyle of
a cruise ship.
I have been following these rules relatively closely BUT I
have been indulging my sweet tooth a bit too frequently. Today I decided to nip that in the bud and
NOT eat dessert/wine every day. Just
because I can, doesn’t mean I should.
There is a café here which makes fantastic smoothies in the
morning, so I like to participate in those as much as possible. Some of them taste “healthy” but I know they
are good for me (containing spirulina, chia seeds, etc.) so I drink them! I have not been so great at taking my
supplements either, though I should definitely be taking them I think. So, I shall start with this evening and begin
adding that to my regular routine of wake up, smoothie, Zumba, breakfast.
:D I haven’t weighed myself since being
on the ship as I haven’t found a scale anywhere, but I am pretty sure there is
one somewhere around the gym or in the change rooms, I just haven’t looked too
hard for it. Perhaps in the next few
days I will.
As for other fun things that I have been enjoying whilst on
this vacation is letting my hair go unruly and free. I attempted to restrain it the first day, but
the further south we got, the more humid it got and therefore I was continually
fighting a losing battle. The awesome
thing is that the salt water and health pool water make my hair so awesomely
curly! Proper ringlets and really
healthy looking. I am also taking care
of my skin by religiously applying sunscreen.
I had burnt my nose a few years back in Mexico and it still bears the
scars of the sunburn, so I definitely do not want that to happen again. I have, however, acquired a delightful tan
which I like a lot. I love the sun and
being outside in the breeze and the sun.
I am sad to see how I will feel when I have to go home to the cold and
the snow L. But let’s not think about that now. Anyhow, for now I will log off to go enjoy
some heat in the sauna!
Angry & Frustrated ~ November 28, 2013
These are 2 of the words that I can only use to apply to
myself right now. Yes, I know I am on a
cruise. Yes, I know I am supposed to be
enjoying myself and though I have been trying to do everything better I have still
managed to gain weight (at least according to the ship’s scale). And not just a little weight…according to
this scale I have added another 7lbs since I left Winnipeg. While I know it is a different scale, I’m on
a wobbly ship, I was wearing a heavy article of clothing, etc. it still f*ing
sucks. For this particular blog post I
am going to be venting about my frustration with my inability to get my shit
together. More importantly I hate
venting about this stuff to Ryan because a)he feels bad about bringing me on a
trip that is full of “temptation” and I don’t need him feeling guilty about it
and b)it brings him down. So I shall
turn to you, Word document, help me through this venting.
I shouldn’t say that today was a total frustrate-y day, but
looking back, I should have appreciated my accomplishment of the day and then
weighed myself tomorrow, but alas, I didn’t now here we are. Today our excursion was in Guatemala where we
climbed a volcano. And it was no easy
feat, let me tell you. It was 8000ft
above sea level and volcanic rock/gravel.
It was incredibly physically challenging because the terrain was rough,
slippery, roll-y, and scratchy plus it was at an incredibly steep incline.
Ryan says it was 30 degrees and
definitely no more, but it certainly felt just shy of 90 degrees. In any case,
I was huffing, puffing, and burning my way up the volcano and then back down
which was just as difficult. Overall,
the hike was 4 hours long and our bodies are exhausted and the spa has never
felt so good! Unfortunately, it was this
time of going to the spa that I made the mistake of weighing myself. The stupid thing is, I have felt way more
fit, lean, and strong so when I saw the stupid number on the scale I
immediately slumped into a bit of a depression.
The other thing was, while I was grabbing the tickets for today’s
excursion I got a glimpse of the tickets for our next one and because it is to
do with ziplining, it has a maximum weight of 270lbs and I was immediately
saddened because I am so damn close to that number. L It scared me to think that I might not be
able to participate in activities because of my weight. So you can see why today is a horrible day
for my self esteem.
I am off to dinner now, so I shall tread lightly and forgo
the tempting breadsticks that get placed on the table. No wine or dessert tonight. Just healthy food, lots of water, and green
tea before bed. That should work. Hopefully I will wake up in a better mood
tomorrow and more excited to lose this “added” weight.
Who Knew You Could Learn So Much on a Cruise Ship ~ Dec 2,
2013
Yesterday I had a day full of knowledge in regards to health
and wellness and it was absolutely incredible!
I had went to a seminar on detoxing and the importance of detoxing the
liver for health and weight loss and I learned a lot more information that was
so cool. The way the presenter delivered
the info was awesome as well and I will lay it out here for you.
So, he talked about the triangle of absolute health which
is:
Exercise
Nutrition
Detox
And when I was working at the weight loss clinic, this is
the same approach that we followed to help our clients achieve their goals so I
knew there was something to it. Nik, the
presenter, talked about exercise first, advising that exercise only accounts
for 15% of weight loss/maintenance in total and the type of exercise makes a
huge difference. As we all know there is
the dreaded cardio aspect of exercise and then (for me!) the more fun part,
resistance training. It was interesting
when he talked about cardio, because he said that running for 30 minutes will
burn approximately 300 calories, while walking at a brisk pace would burn 265
calories in the same amount of time, the only difference is that the running
will further improve your cardiovascular health: your heart and lungs. Cardio without strength, however, is quite
useless. Strength training is absolutely
necessary to overall weight loss and maintenance and he advised that you can
burn 700 calories for 30 minutes of resistance training, but it will process
over the next 48 hours as your muscles work to rebuild themselves. So cardio has more of an immediate effect,
where strength training works over the course of a few days, which is awesome! Score another point for my favorite part of the
gym! He did, however, state that we need
both cardio and resistance (*eye roll*) to make it all work. The cardio improves blood flow and helps
eliminate the fat from the body in a faster manner, while exercising builds
that lean muscle mass that allows you to burn more calories while doing
absolutely nothing (why I was able to stave off the weight for about 5 years
after my bodybuilding days) That being
said, exercise again only counts for 15% of the work. Nutrition comes in next, counting for 35% of
our overall goals.
The nutrition part was broken down into a few sections and
while we only had about an hour for the seminar, he touched on some pretty
great information. First off, the stuff
that most of us eat come from the below words.
It is immensely difficult to find any foods that do not contain the
following, especially if you shop at big name grocery stores for the “cheaper”
items.
Coffee/Tea – Further enhance the acidity of the body and is
usually used in place of healthy snacks/food.
He also showed us packets of Splenda, Sweet N Lo, Refined sugar, and
Brown sugar to show what most people put into their coffee/tea. All of the above, aside from the brown sugar
(if it is produced directly from cane sugar) contain either aspartame, silica
(the little packet of stuff that comes in your shoe box to prevent moisture and
kills bugs and clearly says DO NOT EAT), and bleach. If you need something to make your coffee
taste better, maybe don’t drink coffee at all….just sayin’. While little bits of these things will not
make a difference, add them up at 1-2 tsp/day for a year and you have consumed
well over enough to do damage to your internal organs. Not cool.
Refined sugar – It is bleached, unhealthy and found in
pretty much ALL the things you will buy off the shelf or in a restaurant. Would you drink bleach? I think not.
Additives – This is the great ingredients that make us
addicted to food so that we eat more and thus, spend more money. It makes sweet stuff taste sweeter, spicy
stuff taste spicier, flavors taste more flavorful, which is why when we go back
to eating healthy we say it is “boring” and “dull”. Give it more than a week and your taste buds
will come back. I promise.
Preservatives – Naturally meant to preserve foods
forever. I am sure most of you have seen
Supersize Me and various other documentaries that show McDonalds or other
various food items that remain unchanged after days in the heat. I think the worst part is that we assume that
our bodies will break it down more efficiently, but that isn’t the case. Just because we can break down the “food”
with saliva, does not mean our stomach and intestines can do proper work to
dispose of the preservatives and then it adds up in our colon, leaving us with
weight and bloating around the midsection.
Essentially, if we eat these foods we eat and feel like:
Another point that Nik made about the food we eat, is the
way that we eat it and the way we eat one day, determines how we eat the next
day. For example:
The average person wakes up tired and usually feeling
“blech” so they grab a coffee and maybe a muffin or something small, then it is
just before lunch and their tummy is truly hungry, but it is so close to lunch
so they ignore the hunger signal, have another cup of coffee, then lunch time
comes and they enjoy a sandwich and maybe a piece of fruit or something
similar, then maybe one more cup of coffee for the afternoon slump, then home
for a big dinner because there is time to prepare. Does this sound like you or someone you know? It is extremely common, but what ends up
happening, is that you go to bed with that extremely full tummy and your body
attempts to digest it throughout the night while you are sleeping (taking the
full 8 hours) and so you wake up again tired, because your body has been
working all night.
So, how can we change this?
Well, first, make time for a big breakfast. When I was in Korea, my boyfriend at the time
would tell me that this was your “gold medal” meal. This is the one that will determine how the
rest of your day goes. Like babies, you
should eat every 2-3 hours to build a strong metabolism.
With that, you can see how different of a body shape you
will create. As Nik put it, would you
rather look like a Christmas tree or a carrot?
Another part of the nutrition he touched on was the pH
balance of our bodies. A ridiculously
healthy body should be at a 7.36 alkaline state, but the majority of us are far
into the acidic state, causing our body to become more cancer-prone and easier
to get sick. Our bodies are in a
constant battle to find that perfect balance which is slightly alkaline, to
create an easier environment for our body to do its job efficiently.
I met with Nik afterwards for more information and he gave
me a sheet of alkaline rich foods and acidic foods. He advised me that we should try our bests to
not mix acidic with alkaline because they will cancel each other out, making us
feel bloated and uncomfortable. We
should be eating 75% alkaline and 25% acidic every day. It is awesome information, but really hard to
implement because we have been taught for so long that you need to have a
starch, vegetable and meat on your plate
at the same time. Interesting, right?
But no matter how hard you try to exercise and eat right, if
you do that with a full liver, then you won’t be going anywhere fast. As we lose weight, our bodies release the
toxins that hang out in the fat cells, so we need to eliminate them from the
body. The last portion of the seminar
was used to discuss detox and the challenges that our body goes through in this
day and age where we are overwhelmed with chemicals in our food, our beauty
supplies, our air, etc. The main filter
of the body is the liver and this organ is AMAZING.
Most people know that this organ has the
ability to regenerate, so if we change the way we do things, it will regenerate
for the better. With a super clean
liver, you can filter through a bunch of crap without any weight loss for about
5-6 years which at that time, the liver gets too full and stops working as
efficiently as it can. If you have fish,
a pool, a car, a house you understand how quickly filters can get full of crap
to keep everything clean. Our liver is
no different. If you were constantly
subjecting your car to driving through dirty air filled with carcinogens and
other delightful chemicals, how quickly would you need to replace the
filter? Within a few months, right? Our liver is no different, especially because
we subject the poor thing to so much.
Anything that is inhaled, ingested, or brought in through the skin goes
through the liver for filtering. So how
does one go about cleansing the liver?
Well, apparently eating a diet higher in alkaline rich foods and taking
blue/green algae capsules is a great place to start. Basically, if we can stop pouring crap into our
liver, it will have time to catch up and cleanse out the stuff that has been
hanging out for the last few years.
There are a number of ways to cleanse the liver, but there is no such
thing as a proper cleanse that lasts 7-14 days.
If it has been accumulating longer than 10 years, it will probably take
longer to remove it than 7-14 days.
Eating clean is a stellar place to start, and now that I know about
alkaline vs. acidic, I can plan my meals even more efficiently to improve my
body’s response.
I know this is a pretty long post, but there was just so
much information that I learned that I want to share all of it! There was some more information, but it has
eluded me at the moment. Once I remember
it I shall present it.
In other fun news, a few years ago I had the pleasure of
going to LA for the weight loss company I worked for and as part of the trip,
we had the pleasure of doing yoga and learning from Yogi Cameron.
He is a guru who studies ayeurvedic medicine
(essentially separating the body into temperatures and elements…it’s very
precise and interesting…I am in the process of learning more.) Anywho, that was back in about 2010 I
believe, and I haven’t though too much about it. Until I flipped on the TV on the cruise ship
last night and every night at about 10pm, his show is on, called Model Guru (he
used to be a fashion model who gave up the commercialism and all that stuff to
pursue his true calling.) The show was
incredibly interesting and full of information.
Each show takes him through a journey with a new client as they try to
heal their ailments through Eastern medicine.
It is so neat to watch people change their views in this type of
science. He uses lots of herbs, oils,
yoga, and nature to help his clients achieve their results. But I do remember when I chatted with him in
LA, that he had told me about hot vs. cold foods and you should not eat these
together. For example, fruit and
yogurt. He said that so many people eat
this together, but fruit is cold and yogurt is a hot element. I assume that this is the way of explaining
the acidic vs. alkaline properties of certain foods, just in a different
method. I find this stuff absolutely
interesting and am intrigued to learn more about ayeurvedic medicine. He also says that if you want dessert, eat it
before your meal because it is harder to digest, aha! Will do!
I think forever we have been eating it AFTER more as a bribing mechanism
for kids…if they eat their meal, they will get their treat, etc. In addition to that, obviously removing
yourself from an internal environment is very important. Regardless of the weather, it is important to
breathe fresh air for at least 30 minutes a day, if not more. Obviously, he doesn’t live in Winnipeg in the
winter.
So yes, this is only part of the information that I have
been fortunate enough to learn while on this trip, but I will let you know that
my gym-going/Zumba-doing adventures are paying off in the form of a more lean
upper body (yay!) I am just excited to
be home and able to apply the food information in addition to the working out. It is VERY difficult to choose food items
after lunch that are properly balanced, not overly heavy, etc. But they are extremely delicious. Last night we ate a restaurant called Qsine,
which is “Uniquely Unordinary”
Essentially, lots of appetizers that are prepared in a crazily, awesome
fashion. This morning I definitely felt
the food coma, but pushed myself out of bed to get to the gym because today we
head through the Panama Canal, so wanted to work out before that. It is so bloody hot and humid that I would not
feel like working out during the middle of the day. But I am certainly not complaining, I know it
is about 100 degrees different back home….ugh.
On that note, I shall leave you and write again soon!
Close to Home~ Dec 6, 2013
I am sitting in our cabin, the last day of our cruise before
we head home to the freezing weather and I am filled with mixed emotions. I am glad to be going home to see my family
(I have been having dreams about my babies for the last 4 nights…I think I am
missing them :P and if you are reading this for the first time, you should know
they are not MY babies, but rather they are my brother and sister’s kids
:P) I will look forward to a house
lacking in temptations, being back at work, finishing up a fantastic photo
project I did right before I left, and helping my sister with her markets. What I am NOT looking forward to, is the
weather. I love the sunshine and the
sound of waves and wind, so to hear the shrill sound of a blustery wind and
feel the sting of the cold makes me slightly anxious and I can guarantee I will
be pissy for a few days when I get home.
It always happens as I get acclimatized to our disgusting winter weather.
I am actually quite proud of myself and the way I have
attacked this cruise. I was telling Ryan
that when you go on a cruise and people say “enjoy yourself! It’s only a
vacation! Go nuts!” it’s a bit crazy. I mean, I understand if it was a 4 day trip,
even a full week….but 3 weeks of “going nuts” is a lifestyle and enough days to
create new habits, so I definitely did not want that to be the way I did
things. Instead, I made sure that I got
up early and worked out every day (more so than I did at home!), ate healthy
80% of the time and was cautious of how I felt when I would eat something not
so great for me, so I wouldn’t get used to ignoring my bodies instinct to
reject delicious, but bad food. I still
consumed quite a bit of starchy things, but I know that that will definitely
not be occurring when I get home, so that is okay with me.
In other news, I forgot to mention before that I became
quite famous on the cruise. Was it for
my stellar Zumba moves? No, though I do
make an appearance on the cruise video.
Was it because of my consistent visits to the tea and coffee bar? Nope, though within a few days they knew my
name, room number, and usual order. It
was because of my outstanding athletic prowress during the Celebrity
Olympics! I showed great skill in the
area of…..bean bag tossing. That’s
right! I won the gold medal (and was the
only guest to get a bean bag in) against the captain’s team. It was funny because for days afterwards
people would congratulate me on my “bean bag tossing skills.” Prior to this, I didn’t know those were
skills you could possess. I guess I should thank my dad for making us fiberglass bean bag toss games when we were
kids hahaha!
I am intrigued to see how my active cruise-style and
relatively healthy eating has impacted my health regime at home. I am pleased to say I feel stronger, can feel
my muscles and look leaner, so that is great place to start I feel. Now, when I get home I will apply the same
workout regime and then eat a lot cleaner so we should see some great results,
health wise and weight wise.
At the end of the day, this trip was amazingly fun and it
was great to spend a lot of time with Ryan.
For the last few months leading up to the trip, Ryan has been extremely
busy with work and before that I was busy with photo sessions and work as well
so we rarely spent time doing things together and would rather just sit and
watch tv. This trip has been great for
our relationship as well, as most trips are.
If you can travel with someone, live in extremely tight quarters with
them and see them essentially 24/7 for 3 weeks, you know you are meant to be in
each other’s lives. You learn A LOT
about each other’s habits and bodily functions bahahaha! But alas, I will sign off for now and go
enjoy my last little bits of sunshine, heat, and water! Next time I write I will be home :D!!
So now, I have arrived home and am pleased to announce I have only gained 2lbs difference from when I left (YAY! Most people gain a lot more) Not only that, but I have established a concrete habit of working out every day! Woot woot! Now to journey into the Christmas season...it may be worse than a cruise.
