Author: Juliana

I have a confession to make.

The reason why I haven’t talked about food for the last couple of weeks is because I haven’t craved it.

I eat of course, but the act of eating didn’t have its usual “zing” to it.  I was pretty much going through the motions.  I was eating for sustenance and there was no joy in it.

That was until last Saturday when I was watching TV and I had a major case of the munchies.

And I mean major.

I got up, went to the kitchen, got some potato chips and INDULGED.  And yesterday I indulged in my Mother’s chicken curry.  My taste buds are still dancing from the experience.

While I am quite happy that my joy of food is now back, it does cause me a little bit of a stress.  With my increase in good food intake, this means that I will need to to up my workout a little.  The 1 hour and 15 minute walks are just not going to cut it.  I will need to include some jogging in there if I want to keep the pounds off.

But my increase in exercising will need to start tomorrow.

As I said, I am meeting a friend for dinner tonight.

Any suggestions on where to go?  Remember, my joy of food is back so I want to INDULGE!

I think many people have heard the “Serenity Prayer” or a version of this prayer in their lifetime.  If not, here’s a version of it:

People often use this prayer to cope with a lot of different things in their life.  I am using a different version of this prayer when working out.  It goes something like this:

I know that my newer version is probably not as poetic as the “Serenity Prayer”, but I think you get the idea.  There are times when you should work out and there are times when you should take a break.  Yesterday was my break day.

I had a long day of standing on my feet and walking and when I came home I was very, very tired.  Sure, I could have gone for my usual 1 hour and 15 minute walk, but I decided that my body needed a break, so I spent the evening on the couch watching TV.

It was the best thing that I could have ever done!

When I came home, I felt a little bit of a vegetable, but after my evening of rest I felt mentally and physically rejuvenated.  The key thing to my rejuvenation was to admit to myself that I needed to take a rest and to enjoy the rest without the “Oh no, I’m skipping on my workout” guilt.

Removing the guilt from the non-workout days is important to maintain your health and wellness.  Guilt can be a huge stressor, so if you are taking a day off, do it guilt-free and enjoy the Serenity.

And last, but not least, you also need to have the Wisdom to know when you are slacking off from your workout versus taking a rest.  Too many guilt-free days from exercise could set you back from your health and wellness goals, so you need to be honest with yourself about why you are not working out on that day.

So I’m back from my two week vacation. My first week was spent in Ottawa and Toronto and while you may be thinking I probably spent most of it eating…well I did.

If you would like to see the food I ate, just look below.

But what you might be surprised to find out was that I also did some exercise during my vacation too. I did the following somewhat strenuous activities:

1. Climbed 10 flights of stairs to go back to my hotel room after a false fire alarm at 3am (this happened on my first night in Toronto).
2. Ran for cover when I got caught in a thunder and lightning storm when walking back from dinner in Toronto’s Entertainment District.
3. Climbed several stairs while going up to the towers of Casa Loma.
4. Sweated bucket loads while touring Casa Loma because I visited it on one of the hottest days of the year and there was no air-conditioning.
5. Ran to make the traffic lights several time when walking around downtown (both in Ottawa and Toronto).
6. Walked around Toronto trying to find a Best Buy when my camera broke.
7. Walked to MacDonald’s, Tim Horton’s, Rideau Centre, Dunn’s, Kama, Utsav, Spring Rolls, Second Cup whenever I wanted to have breakfast, snacks, lunch or dinner.
8. Went on a Haunted Walking Tour of Ottawa which lasted about 90 minutes.
9. Walked on the Rideau Canal.
10. Walked around the National Gallery of Canada and Royal Ontario Museums (which were air-conditioned).

Sufficed to say, I managed to gain a little weight by the time I landed back in Vancouver. Which was why I forced myself to go for a power walk (1 hour and 15 minutes) or work out at the gym (45 -55 minutes) during the second week of my vacation.

Interestingly enough, the exercising really helped me to get over the plane trip. I am always notorious for not being the best plane traveller and I am always left feeling jet-lagged and lethargic after flying. The exercising really helped me get over that feeling faster and get back to my normal self.

The chocoholic, meat eating, smartie smuggling normal self, of course 🙂

So I ended last week with a note that said I was planning on going to the gym 4 times this week. Well I can tell you that my week didn’t start off so good.

I lazed about on Sunday (as I think all Sundays should be spent) and then Monday I had a friend visit whom I haven’t seen in a while, so I didn’t go again.

Well by this point it wasn’t looking good… but I’m super proud to say that I have been 3 times… Tues-Thurs! So now I just have to do something active tomorrow and I’ve met my goal!!

Last night was the hardest. I’m a little stiff (not surprising considering how lazy I’ve been in the last couple of months) and I was sitting watching How I Met You Mother when I told myself I had to go.

So 8:30pm I headed off to the gym. I can honestly say that it took all my will power to get up and get going but it was worth it! I felt great afterwards. Now all I have to add on this subject is: Pierre I think you are going to owe me lunch!

Now I want to quickly talk about my upcoming dodgeball season. Basically, I think that it’s really important that you find activities that you enjoy playing or doing so that you don’t feel like you are doing a chore.

That’s why I’m sooooo excited about the upcoming dodgeball season. Yes… it is just like the movie and the game you played in elementary school gym. There are only 6 of you out on a small court and there are nerf balls coming for you from all angles. It is a great game for working on your peripheral vision! Check out the pics from when we played last year.

My big message for this week is be proud of your accomplishments and get out there and try something new! I’m super motivated to keep up my activities because I have more confidence in my ability to meet my goals, even if they are small ones.

Get out there and get active and I’ll chat with you the next time I guest blog!