Nikki-Slipped into an Xmas depression, better now.

Gah! Christmas and being emotional and alone got the best of me.  I’m not going to lie I’ve been very negative and unmotivated this past week and here’s why:

I had to plan my Christmas back in Oct/Nov. I asked Ryan to find out if he was actually working Christmas as he was schedule and I only had to do the sleep over on Christmas day (not a big deal).  He said he had to work so I picked up shifts at my relief job and my full-time job to help everyone one.  Thinking if Ryan is making double time I may as well go make extra money and I’d rather be around kids who might need a cheerful staff then be at home alone.  Well 5 days before Christmas his work decides to close their shop.  Now I know everyone is thinking Xmas is just another day, you can celebrate any day.  Which we do with Ryan and my own family. but there’s just something special about that day.  The 25th of December.  THAT is Christmas.  So to find out that I now had to spend the entire weekend at work (I planned to not even be home because it’s a 45 min drive from our house to my jobs) and not spend any of it with Ryan or his family was pretty devastating to me.   I only wanted to help out at work because Ryan was NOT going to be home. Christmas is my favourite time of year and is meant to be spent with friend and family.  So I am in the middle of a 74 hours spent at work and have been the cheerful staff the kids need but as it turns out all the kids are pretty much spending xmas with family or friends so it’s me sitting in an empty house wishing it was Tuesday.  

So yes Christmas has gotten the better of me.  I’ve been depressed and can’t get up in the morning to work out.  I’ve been making very poor choices when it comes to every meal and I feel like complete shit.  I feel like I’ve gained weight, lost muscle, I haven’t been sleeping well and I just feel gross… so Thank god this season is almost over as I will get back to my regular routine on Tuesday when i finally am off of work (I worked 84 hours Thurs-Monday).  I was very upset last night but am feeling better about  everything today.  Can’t wait for Tuesday when I have a week off to get my work outs back on track .

ALSO I would like to give a HUGE shout out to my girl Tara who after receiving bad news generously donated 11 sessions of personal training at Spa Lady with my trainer Danielle to me.  I owe you and I promise I will lose at least another inch from my neck just for you 🙂 Danielle is going to kick my ass in January in your honour!

I will weigh in this coming friday and tell you the damage that Christmas has done-eeek.

Nikki-Stress and Cheer

I love Christmas.  It is my favourite time of year.  The colors, the music, the happy feelings, the cheer, but holy wow this past week has been a crazy time for me.  I haven’t been feeling great, I picked up extra shifts at work and  as the week went on and on stressful situations grew and grew.  I had a bit of a break down Friday, but I’m very lucky that my friends and family are very understanding and supportive.

That all being said I didn’t even bother attempting to write a blog post, and I did not even check the scale on friday to see if the week of stress and Christmas cheer (aka cookies) took its toll on me.  I didn’t make it to the gym at all but it was just one of those weeks where trying to catch up on sleep and maintaining my sanity were much more important than breaking a sweat.   Yes, usually a sweat sess helps me maintain my sanity, but me being under the weather I figured I’d best just try to feel better first.  -Yes I’ve feeling much better this week!

I am visiting my family and we are having our Christmas dinner tonight.  It’s a good thing I’ve hit the gym hard the last 2 days because my Mom brings Christmas Cheer in full.  High FAT/Calorie everything.  I’m not gonna lie, I can’t wait, but I am glad that I burnt a ton of calories before I indulge in this super delicious meal.

Last night Ryan and I took part in a family friends “Christmas Lights Running/Walking Tour” which she has been putting on for years.  She has everyone over and the two different groups take off to look at the neighbourhood lights and to get some exercise.  Here’s a look

We had stopped jogging to pose in a light less area whoops!  What a great tradition and way to spread Christmas cheer and get everyone moving-Note to my friends I might be starting this tradition next year 🙂

I will try to get some more helpful blogs out this week, and hope to have time to weigh in this week but if I don’t remember to keep working out this time of year!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad!

Nikki-Hiking/Adventure filled Holiday!

I arrived home from my week-long holiday on Wednesday and was thrown right back into the lovely world of work, but at least only 3 days of it before the weekend.  Mine starts in 4.5 hours!  Ryan and I are going camping this weekend, and we didn’t plan the food or beverages so I am a bit worried about what is being served and how I will do with my calorie counting.   It is also supposed to rain all weekend so that might make it hard to exercise.  WHATEVER, monday is a new week and I will get back on track then.  I’ll do my best this weekend but I can’t control everything so I’ll just deal with what I’m dealt.

To recount my holiday we went to visit my mom, who as I mentioned would force feed us, which she did, and dad in Calgary for 2 days.  My parents were beer pushers this time around so thank goodness my mom has become accustomed to drinking Molson Canadian 67, which if you don’t know are only 67 Calories, and for those of you on weight watchers is like 1pt a bottle so you can totally get sloshed once in a while.   On Sunday morning I made my mom go for a 40 minute walk with me, since I didn’t have time to wait for the gym to open before visiting friends.  When I lived at home I used to make my mom go for walks a few times a week, so I feel kind of guilty that I’m not home to do that anymore.  My mom isn’t in love with being active and needs a support so I feel bad that I can’t be there to support her.

Any who on to Monday when Ryan and I headed out to Banff for our little break away from life.  We stopped in Canmore to do a quick little 3-4km hike called Grassi Lakes.  I have done this hike a few times when I was younger with my family but it had been a while so it was nice to visit it again, and as you can see it is really very pretty.

One of the main things I realised during this hike was how much I miss living close to the mountains.  I truly took it for granted that I lived an hour away from some great hikes when I lived in Calgary, and now that I live in Edmonton I never get to go on a legitimate hike.  This was the first time I actually hiked in 3 summers which makes me really sad.  I worked at Summer camp for 8 summer and hiked every week and used to lead 10 day backpacking trips in the elbow loop.  Hiking is one of the most rewarding work outs for me.  You work hard to get to the top and see some of the most beautiful views all at the same time.   It’s a great way to burn calories quick, especially if you’re carrying a back pack with extra weight in it.  Hiking UP has always been my favorite part of the hike as I love the feeling of my legs working hard to get up steep hills.  Coming down not so fun as it’s not as hard of a work out! 

This picture shows the waterfall that is fed by the 2 Grassi Lakes.  It’s probably about half way through the hike.  I’m hoping that next time I go down to Calgary I can take Ryan out to do some more hiking and plan to have some friends join us.

I wish I had been able to take photos of the white water rafting trip we went on but as I’ve already informed most people we had a very Exciting/Adrenaline filled rafting trip…  We only did the Horseshoe Canyon which is about a 2 hour river ride but with all the rain we’ve had the rapids are still very high and the first one we went over was a class 4.  Ryan and I were 2 of 4 people who fell out of our raft (all 4 from our raft) during that first rapid and I have never felt that type of adrenaline rush in my life.  WHAT A RUSH! seriously if you’re looking for a high that is the type of thing you need to get hooked up.  When I fell out I was swept underneath the raft, when i finally camp up for air I couldn’t find the boat as my contacts were full of water.  The Guide on our boat pulled me towards the boat when he finally handed me his paddle and one of the ladies in the raft started to pull me into the boat but then had to let go as we were going over another rapid.  Pretty flippen scary when you’re NOT IN THE BOAT! once we got over that rapid the guide pulled me in quickly.  I felt safe once in the boat and my heart slowly came back to a normal level of beating and got through the rest of the rapids with no issues.  It was great and I can’t wait to do it again!  Also I felt as though I deserved whatever I wanted to eat after this rafting trip and didn’t feel bad to have a beer with dinner!

I had a great holiday, exciting adventures and now on monday we will see if holidays do major damage to my weight loss goal!