Yesterday was a “piece of cake”!

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Mama Cormier

No need to worry……….

I guess I was too slow getting ready for our walk yesterday so I ended up going on my own. There’s something very zen like when you walk alone. It gives you time to reflect.

I also increased the distance on Saturday and went for 3.6 km and for 1/10 of it I ran. When I got home I mapped out a 5 km distance on g-pedometer.com. Maybe I’ll give that a whirl today. It looks like a fantastic day, weather wise.

The party was not an issue, food wise. I had 3 shrimp, no wine and I didn’t even see a cake.

Later in the day I took Frances for a short walk. We always start in the park, about 50 m down the street from the house. I’ve posted some pictures of the great view I’m blessed to see everyday. I don’t care what others say about Toronto, I think I live in one of the best cities in the world. The entire walk probably added another km to my total walking distance today.

I think I’ve figured out what’s going on with my pedometer. After walking 4000 steps yesterday and probably more I noticed that the little gizmo had reset itself back down to 0. It happened again later in the day. I guess you get what you pay for and since this this one was given to me for free I can’t really complain. Time to visit the Running Room and invest in a better one.

Hooray for the Weekend!

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Mama Cormier

…… but with it come some challenges.

I always look forward to the weekend but after a week of successes on the scale I always worry about the next two days.

For dinner tonight my husband made pasta with homemade bolognas sauce. Carbs are often my enemy but he did use a whole wheat pasta and he measured exactly half a small box for the two of us. We also had a nice big salad with it and we decided to forgo the wine tonight.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will probably go on one of our long walks with the dog and I will try to run some laps at the rugby pitch. Later in the afternoon we are invited to our neighbour’s birthday party. I know there will be lots of good food but there are usually some healthy options to choose from. Will I have some birthday cake? All depends on the cake. I’ve learned that not all sweets are created equal and some just aren’t worth it.

I don’t know if it’s the weather or my husband’s next round of chemo next week but I have the urge to clean, organize and purge. I’ve started doing more of that in my classroom and now I want to extend it to my house. I have to be careful that I don’t use that as an excuse to not get outside and move. Wish me luck! Happy weekend everybody!

Down, down, down…….

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Mama Cormier

Feeling Good

It’s been a good day. My weight is holding steady but I’ve been down everyday this week. I’m trying to drink more water and when I do I definitely notice it on the scale. I’m eating well and no more unplanned snacking, especially after 8:00 at night.

I’ve been wearing a pedometer for the last two days. Yesterday was dismal; only 1600 steps. How is that even possible? Today was a different story. Lots of activity. At lunch today I played floor hockey at school; the school team champions against the teachers. The teachers won 4-3. Everyone gave it their all and the students enjoyed watching their teachers running up and down the gym.

Girls on the Run

After school I met with my group of girls for Girls on the Run. Today’s theme was reflecting on things we are grateful for. After a fun warm-up (they always want to do more of these activities) they started their actual run. The challenge today was to run 2 km without talking to their friends and reflect on their promises and goals. Do you know how hard that is for some 10 year olds?

I was going to stay back and join the girls on the second kilometre but I decided to start running with them right away. I ran/walked about 200 m to our newly mowed 200 m track and I started running laps on the track. I tried to run half the lap before I started to walk and I came pretty close to doing that. In total I managed to run/walk 8 1/2 laps and then I ran back to home base.

As much as I don’t “love” running I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would. It was great hearing the cheers and words of encouragement from the girls as they ran by me. I might even sneak out at the beginning of lunch tomorrow and run a lap or two before the kids come out for recess.

As I write this post my pedometer reads …… Oh, no!….I accidently reset it. It was around 7800 steps.

Maybe I’ll get out with the dog before I go to bed tonight. TTFN

Food and Me – Discovering Yogurt and Diet Pop

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Mama Cormier

At the age of 14 my parents owned a Becker’s Milk store. I’m pretty sure it was then that my mom introduced me to yogurt. Blueberry yogurt!!! It didn’t come fat free or artificially sweetened back then. I remember it was delicious and because it was healthy it became my diet food of choice. I remember eating nothing but yogurt for lunch in high school. Well I’m sure I ate other things but yogurt was a staple for many years.

It was also around this time that I started drinking diet pop. I thought it was the best invention ever. I don’t think I’ve ever had regular pop since, except maybe ginger ale or tonic water. I didn’t care about the health warnings about artificial sweeteners. If they helped me loose weight that was more important. Today I avoid them as much as I can.

The third food I discovered and used frequently when I dieted as a teenager was Swedish rye crisp crackers. It didn’t always occur to me that putting butter on them defeated the purpose.

I didn’t really lose weight during high school but I pretty much stayed at the same weight for about 5 years. Dinners and snacking in the evenings have always been my downfall. I think I’ve mentioned before that my parents were pretty good cooks and supper was always my favourite meal even when I or my sisters were responsible for cooking it.

I also had a friend whose mom made the best after school snacks. I loved going to her place on the way home from school and having a Nanaimo bar or two. It’s funny the things one remembers.

So food was my best friend and my enemy. I ate because I loved the taste of food and I felt loved and accepted by my Dad who loved to feed us. It was only when my Mom suggested that I needed to lose some weight that food became my enemy. It was like going through a revolving door. It never led anywhere and yet I continued to go around in circles.

The only times I was able to escape from this revolving cycle happened whenever I fell in love……to be continued.

Time to Brag!

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Mama Cormier

I’m happy on many counts today.

First and foremost, the scale finally moved in the direction I hoped for. Down. I’ve been working hard on eating well and moving for the last two weeks but my hard work wasn’t showing on the scale. I know that it’s only a number and what’s more important is how one feels. I have to admit that I have been energized (when I get enough sleep), my joints don’t hurt as much and my clothes fit better.

The second reason I’m happy today is because the three of us ( KC, the dog and I ) got out for a walk this morning and like yesterday we covered 1.8 miles or 2.9 km. I’ve been trying to run a portion of the course and today I ran 160 m without stopping. I’m hoping to increase the distance everyday and start doing some interval training. I’ve discovered gmap-pedometer. com and have been mapping out my walking routes and it even figures out how far I run when I do my short distances.

The day turned out to be a beautiful day. The sun came out and warmed things up a bit. Always puts a smile on my face.

As moms I think we’re entitled to boast a little bit when our children do something well. Today when I was in the bookstore I found a copy of the magazine that my son edits. I believe that this is the first edition with his name on it. I’m sure if it’s not he’ll let me know. It’s hard to tell from the picture because it’s a mirror image but the name of the magazine is Volume and the cover title is “Privatize”. I miss B and I wish he didn’t work so far away but I can appreciate

why he loves Amsterdam and more importantly he loves the job.

…….and that’s why I’m happy today!

Feeling a Little Melancholy

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Mama Cormier

April 18th! This would have been Mom’s 81st birthday. Hard to believe that she’s been gone for 19 years. She taught me everything; how to cook, knit, sew, clean a house (how I hated that) but more importantly how to love and be patient with the ones you love. We had our differences over the years. The teen years were particularly hard but as a young woman and wife (pretty much happened at the same time) we became closer.

I remember in the awkward preteen years she always told me I was beautiful and I always responded by saying “you’re my mom, you have to say that!” She encouraged me when I tried to lose weight but she didn’t realize that it was never going to happen until I was ready to do so and that it had to be my idea. I know she only wanted the best for me. She herself struggled a little bit with weight, especially as she got older.

After the birth of our first daughter, I did lose a lot of weight and got down to 132 pounds. An all time low for me. Many of my family friends thought I was too thin but in hind sight I think it was a good thing because soon after I became pregnant with twins. That’s a story for another time.

Thanks Mom. I miss you. I know you’re watching over me.

In the 60’s with Mom and my sisters.

My sisters, me and our Mom.

Girls on the Run – Week Two

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Mama Cormier

The phone rang at 6:30 this morning. It was my friend L reminding me that I had to be at school by 7:30 for soccer tryouts. It’s never good when the coach is late. After a quick shower, I grabbed a protein bar and hurried out of the house by 7:15.

I pulled into the parking lot by 7:29 and could see that about 20 of the girls and two of the assistant coaches were already waiting on the soccer field. I grabbed my 3 bags from the car and dragged myself into the building to drop off my stuff and fetch the bag of soccer balls from the gym. When I finally got back outside we discovered that most of the balls needed to be inflated. Luckily many of the girls brought their own balls so the drills were already underway.

I never did find time to eat my protein bar. My first meal of the day happened at lunch. I thought that I could find a minute to read over the activity sheet for tonight’s Girls on the Run meeting but I made the mistake of trying to read it in the staff room. What I did read looked rather straight forward and the story attached to it inspired me to share it with my library classes in the afternoon.

When 3:00 came around I looked over the activity sheet again and went into panic mode because I was suppose to make a special box for one of the activities. Luckily Coach C had it under control and she decided that both teams could use the same box and do that particular activity together. Thank Goodness!

The day was colder than it had been the day before but not nearly as bad as the week before. We worked on negative traits that we wanted to change and focused on the positive things that we do and want to continue. It tied nicely into the story whose message was not to listen to negative or pessimistic comments when trying to pursue a goal or dream.

I think Coach P and I make a good team. During the run we encourage the girls and I even ran/walked a loop of the track today. After the girls left for the day the four coaches sat around and discussed the activities and how well the girls participated. I feel good about the program but I’m not sure it’s getting me ready for that 5 km walk/run.

It was a long day today. After Girls on the Run, Coach P and I had a parent council meeting and I didn’t get home till 9:00. At around 6:00 I finally ate that protein bar and I made supper when I got home. Way too late to eat but I knew that if I didn’t eat something I would graze for the rest of the night. It will be interesting to see if the scale has me up again, at the same weight or down somewhat. When I eat irregularly, like I did today, my body goes into starvation mode and I usually gain weight.

When Food Became my Enemy

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Mama Cormier

How dramatic! I’ve always loved food. Both my parents were great cooks. I remember when they started a catering business from our kitchen. It was the first time I had shrimp. I was hooked. I loved watching them prepare food for the fancy parties they catered and of course I was allowed to sample. Yum! Good thing I was a pretty active little girl. I always played outside, walked to school and rode my bike around the neighbourhood. I was a little on the pudgy side but not what I would consider fat.

When I was nine I contracted hepatitis A and was bed ridden for months. I missed a lot of school and couldn’t play with my friends but the worst part was the fat reduced diet I was put on. That was shear hell for someone who loved whipped cream, ice cream, cake and the crispy skin from the chicken. For some reason the chicken skin really stood out for me. I don’t know how much weight I lost but from photos I could see a noticeable change.

That was the beginning of my yo-yo dieting life. It didn’t help that my mother was made to feel guilty and responsible for my weight status by our family doctor. At the age of 11 when I weighed 120 pounds I remember how our female doctor reamed me out and tried to shame me into losing weight. At the time I was close to 5 feet tall and still growing. I did lose 10 pounds but I couldn’t maintain it. The fact that I grew 5 more inches and entered puberty might have had something to do with it.

To be continued………..

One of my favourite meals, even today. Chicken with a little bit of

crispy skin and lots of vegetables. Hmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!

Welcome to Carol’s World

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Mama Cormier

I’m about to enter a new phase in my life and I need to figure out which direction I want to go. The problem is I want to do it all. I’m a mother, wife, teacher, coach, artist, and librarian. I love teaching, crafting, reading, gardening, walking the dog, baking and painting. I want to travel more and explore the world with my husband. I also want to stay healthy and I’m trying to move more and eat better.

I hope to divide this blog into categories that address my interests and my journey into retirement. I’m still teaching and coaching and would also like to include some of the upcoming highlights of my experiences in education. This week, for example, I’m about to embark on a new program at school called Girls on the Run. I’m one of 4 coaches and we will be working with 32 girls, ages 8 to 11. At the end of 10 weeks of training, all of us will be walking/running a 5 km race. I know I can walk that far so my personal goal is to try and run for at least half of it. I’ve added a link for Girls on the Run if you want to know more about this organization.

Girls on the Run in the GTA

I know that this blog will evolve and change over the next few months and years as my journey into retirement evolves. I look forward to sharing my experiences and maybe even hearing from some of my fellow bloggers.