Wednesday, September 17, 2008

To Whom It May Concern:

Dear Booster Juice,

We only have a short time together, as I am moving away to a land that is lacking the juices and the boost. I will try to sip you weekly until my fated departure at the end of October.

However, recently it has come to my attention that you aren't all that was promised. Your Banana Beach smoothie from your "Life Choice" menu eludes that you are healthy, wise and true. When I visited your website www.boosterjuice.com I found your caloric index... and your SUGARS index! I saw your dirty little secret and I wept.

Although you definitely have zero fat, you are still a whopping 400 calories and 82 grams of sugar.

Compared to your Berry Smoothie cousin "Brazilian Thunder" you are cellulite waiting to happen. Although it may contain amounts of sorbet, the Brazilian yields 350 calories and only 34 grams of sugar.

I am sorry Banana Beach, your days are over. I will take the 2 grams of fat over the 48 grams of sugar and 50 calories.

Sincerely,
Brianne



Dear Brazilian Thunder,

Welcome to my repertoire of tasty beverages. I hope that your Acai is delicious and wonderful.

In order to ensure that you are wise and true I will boost you with protein.

Your friend,
Brianne

Friday, July 11, 2008

Tara's 30 day body blitz


Ok Bri! Lets do this. Here is what I propose, it's a starting point. I have classes twice a week and like to go to at least a few extra in between. So this is on top of my 3 times at the gym a week.

1!!! Think Skinny Thoughts!!!!

2. Drinks are reserved for weekends.
3. Drink 2 litres of water.
4. Eat protien with every meal. Get 125 grms of protien a day (big metabolism booster)
5. Avoid processed food. This will be tough. But as long as I limit it, like if there's a buffet of food in front of me, just have a few bites of what I really want vs. constant picking at everything. I think there will be alot of temptation in the next few.
6. Everyday, do at least a 30 min walk.

Here is a link for fitday. I use this to track my carb, protien, fat ratio. I try to keep it pretty strict during the week. 50% protien, 30% carbs, 20% fats. If you get an account send me your journal link and we'll be accountable for each other. Here is mine

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=Blair%5F007

I need more tips. The drinking thing is hard, so i'm drinking soda water and vodka as a cleaner alternative. Add some limes, blueberries mint and sweetener and it's close to a mojito.

Did I mention I had a brownie for breakfast. hahah.. Extra 30 min walk today!! haha..

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

55 more days



Ok time to get serious here.

Help! I need some serious modivation. I have 55 days left till I'm on a beach in Hawaii. Now I know you're thinking, poor Tara... but really that gives me a solid 2 months to be beach ready. I have read the books. Bought every single solitary magazine on fitness and health. I have gone onto every website that has information on bodybuilding and I know all the equations to find out my proper caloric intakes and deficts. I'm practically a certified diet mathimagician. I know ALL there must be to know about my sought after beach bod. So I guess I've just used the past two months to prepare me and inform myself of what action I need to take for the next 55 days.

hmmm.. can it be done?

Anyone on board with me?

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Pump Up The Volume


or rather... the workout intensity. I just came back from a Cabot Trail trek. T-Dawg and I hiked the Highlands during a camping adventure. Those Acadian settlers must have been ripped after working the land and fishing the seas.




-Carrice












Monday, May 12, 2008

Frisbee Gymnastics

As part of our cardio workout during bootcamp, we will typically play Ultimate Frisbee. We use the length of a football field, and it is usually 3 on 3 so its a whole helluva lot of running around.



We were a little short on bootcampers today and so our game was 2 on 2 - lots of running!



Anyway, I was running full tilt to catch the frisbee, and I suppose the grass was a bit moist and my foot slipped on an exceptionally long stride and somehow I landed in full splits.



Well... there was a loud cracking noise when my groin reached its tipping point (my body's way of saying it isn't supposed to bend that way).



It probably hurt, but I was laughing so hard. I thought this shit only happened in movies?!



Hopefully I can walk tomorrow.... my current pain level is about a 6.

- Brianne

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Gonna Dance All Night to This DJ

I've been playing DDR for many years now. I enjoy playing and have upped my skillz like nobody's business. I play so much in fact, I danced right through the mat!!That's right. My feet of lightning cannot be restricted to these simple plastic mats.
Enter... my fiancé's early wedding gift.Yup, metal dance mats. I know you're hella jealous, as you should be. I am now going to be arcade ready in no time. I immediately jumped on and logged another 400 calories in workout mode. I have as of yet to check just how many "miles run" I've put in the DDR games... that'll be my next post!
- Carrice

Thursday, May 8, 2008

You can take my sugar, but you can't take my Starbucks



Here I am. Joining the fight for our right to fit back into our skinny jeans. I actually haven't busted out of my little jeans, yet. It's not a full blow out, however, I will be going to Hawaii in August and my goal is to feel really confident a la bikini. Here's my low down, for those who may not know me or my sob story.

I quite enjoy working out. I just got into instructing at the Goodlife. Like Ali, what I do good for my waistline at the gym, I make up for in drinkies. Which was fine for awhile. But lets face it. I will look alot better sober and kick ass skinny, then winky and silly drunk.

I just finished reading the Eating Clean Diet book, I'm moving onto the workout book in the series. I'm sure this is all stuff I know already, but bah, it's modivation. It's well written and I read each in a night or two. (I have the attention span of a puppy) So Miss Bri, and Ali I'm on board. Detoxes are fun :) But that's not what I'm doing for this week. I do them every 3 months and just did one a month ago so I should probably wait till just before August. So far I've been trying to follow the Clean Eating regime. Easy enough, eat every two-three hours (YAY!) Lots of fresh fruit and veg (cool, i'm good at that) No sugar.....

Do you know how sucky no sugar is. SUCKY! I can do fine for awhile. But what about starbucks? Good god, Lattes suck without their sugary syrupy devils food. Lastnight I tried... I really did. Knitting at the Old Rock.... Ordered their version of an Iced Latte mois syrup. GROSS!! I got them to add more esspresso, in hopes it would add flavour. Still GROSS! Since I don't drink aspertame or splenda (cause I don't feel like tumours or blindness) I had no other option but to add chocolate syrup.... mmmmmm

Brianne you're far tougher than me. I will stear clear of the sugar at all costs, but I draw the line at my Mistos.

-Tara

Monday, May 5, 2008

Going Strong

DAY 8

When I first started this cleanse I really wasn't sure that I was going to be able to finish it. I was certain that eating this diet would eventually kill me, especially when doing bootcamp 5 days a week!

I have successfully made it through my first weekend - without cheating!

I watched my boyfriend E eat pizza, muffins, bread and other delicious things, and I didn't even flinch. OK that is a lie, I totally sat right next to him and sniffed it. But I didn't touch it!

I watched P drink wine - which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

On Friday at bootcamp the drill sergeant brought chocolates and I had to refuse, while everyone else enjoyed Laura Secords.

And this morning, when my roomie A told me that she had "added a few things to her cleanse" I was strong, and resolved that I would not cave. Even if it means that I have to watch A eat yogurt and cereal..... ouch!

Those of you who know me, probably have a really good idea of just how many addictions I am currently kicking. There are at least 5 major ones. The cleanse has really helped to remove the physical cravings for these things, but this weekend I realized that I am currently a super bitch from hell.

My boyfriend is very patient. Evidence that he loves me very much.

Further evidence will show that my scale this morning told me I was down 4lbs. The cleanse is turning out to be a Great Success! And the bootcamp weight loss is just beginning!

- Brianne

Thursday, May 1, 2008

No Pain, No Gain

Day 4
Current pain level: manageable but deadly

Bootcamp is kicking my ass, and my ass is definitely paying for it. After day 1 I was sore, which made it hard to complete day 2, but then compounded with day 1's soreness, and then day 3 I was hobbling around but managed to get through it, and now day 4 is compounded exponentially from day 1's soreness. Tonight will be tough. I am somewhere between hell and dementia.


On day 1, one of the bootcampers had the nerve to ask "What if it rains, can we go indoors?"

HA! Captain Guns didn't even laugh before replying "This is bootcamp."

Yesterday it was 0 degrees windy and wet. Not nice.

However - there is no crying at bootcamp. No matter how cold. In fact, there is a rumor that the bootcamp goes straight through the winter...???

Apart from the soreness, I am really enjoying bootcamp. And some little part of me even enjoys the soreness. It's like some sort of gratification.

I promised some measurements but I haven't received my sheet back from Captain Guns yet. So I will improvise from what I can remember (or possibly have blocked from memory???)

Chest 38
Waist 34 (at belly button, not at the smallest part)
Hips 43
Weight 174

The day that these were taken I was also bloated from PMS and had started a cleanse that morning which may have had me retaining water. So their accuracy is not ensured.

At the end of 4 weeks my goal is:

10" loss all around
14lbs fat loss

Keeping in mind that I am also on a strict cleanse diet, this is completely attainable. My goal for the second month will be determined by the success of the first month. My overall goal is 150lbs 34-28-38. Wish me luck!

- Brianne

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

BOOTCAMP!!!

It's been a while. And my pants could tell a thousand tales of many pizzas and cookies past. Winter was quite possibly the ultimate in junk food indulgences. No cake was too sweet. No cookie too round. No pizza too cheesy. No couch too comfy!

I could feel my pants getting more and more snug as the months wore on. And when spring finally arrived, I realized that none of my clothing fit at all. The cute capri's, the sweet tank tops, the little dresses and booty shorts... all too small.


On top of all that, I am standing for Carrice's wedding June 28th and my dress is a size 6... no, that isn't a typo, that is a SIX. Currently I look like a stuffed sausage in the dress, and the only reason that I can get it on is because there are no zippers. Sigh.


How did I let it go this far? What on earth was I going to do? I had exactly 8 weeks and I had to act fast.


So I had a farewell toast with my roomie A, and it was buhbye wine, buhbye strongbow, buhbye chips, buhbye chocolate, buhbye candy and buhbye all things bad...






I joined a bootcamp. An ass-whooping, gut-busting, muscle-building mother fucker of a workout. This should be good.


Oh, did I mention that I was also scheduled to start a full-on CLEANSE the same day that bootcamp began? Yes, that too.


The cleanse consists of a very strict diet, 4L of water per day and herbal supplements with meals. The diet resembles that of a level 4 vegan - kibble 'n bits.


Items that cannot be consumed: sugar of all kinds, dairy, flour of any kind, additives or preservatives, anything fermented, and anything with flavour.


And so it began today....



Monday April 28th 2008 - Day 1


At first I was excited about the day. Everyone kept telling me how hard it was going to be, especially since I was starting a cleanse too. I kept denying it, to them and to myself. Ignorance is bliss.


Breakfast this morning was another story all-together - that is when I found out just how disgusting the herbal cleanse supplements are. The liquid tastes like what I think a dirty anus would taste like. So, every meal I eat I have to take these supplements first - which means that all of my meals have the dirty anus aftertaste. Scrumptous!


The food isn't entirely terrible - just bland and dry. Sauce is a hot commodity on a cleanse.


When I got to bootcamp I was already feeling a little ill... either I wanted to throw up or I wanted to take a major BM... I couldn't decide so I did neither.


The measurements for day 1 of bootcamp made me want to cry. As I stood there wondering how I let myself go, I remembered going through this exact type of experience last spring... and I tried to think of ways to avoid the winter bulge next year. At this point I was just trying to keep my mind off the numbers that Captain Guns was writing on my pitiful page.

The 'fit test' wasn't bad until I had to run 1km. Ready, Set, GO! And I was off at lightning speed for the first quarter mile... as I started to slow down and eventually come to a very slow jog I realized that my cardiovasular fitness was not only lacking, it was non-existent.


Dear Lungs,

I love you. Please come back to me. I miss you terribly and I promise to feed you delicious oxygen every day.


Your loving owner,

Brianne


After the 6:09 kilometre run I was exhausted and bootcamp was over. It was a good thing too because this is when BE #1 kicked in (bathroom emergency). One of the herbal supplements is a natural laxative - to flush the shit out of your system (literally).

It is a good thing that I had met Claire, one of the bootcampees, and she offered me a ride home so that I didnt' have to walk. Otherwise BE #2 would have been very embarrassing.

What I have learned today:

  • winter is not an excuse to pig out

  • cleansing isn't as easy as one might think
  • one should always plan for bathroom emergencies (BE's)

- Brianne

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Attacked

This one's from the vault. I wrote this some time in the summer, but forgot to post it.


When Bree first joined the gym with us, she didn’t want to do the classes. She thought that they were cheesy. But Kristin and I are big fans of the classes and Bree slowly came around. Now she’s a class whore, just like us. Monday night, I tried her favourite class, Body Attack, for the first time. Wouldn’t you know, it was the cheesiest class of them all; but that’s not to say it didn’t totally kick my ass. It was like 80s aerobics (which I grew up on) on acid. The cute male instructor definitely had some kind of history with cheerleading and insisted on finishing every track in a pose. Where he kept digging out the energy from, I’ll never know. This class is extremely fast moving, so you never have much time to reflect on what it is you are actually doing before you are moving on to something else. Somehow I was inspired to do the jumping lunges, which I am still paying for 2 days later. It also hurts to put pressure on my butt cheeks, so sitting is even challenging. Bree claims that this class with lift and separate your tush like your favourite push up bra. Running has made my butt as flat as a pancake, so I think I will be returning to this class to try to regain my bootie.

Last night, I had the same teacher for Body Pump and he was so distraught by the techno selection for the clean and press track that he had to turn on the disco lights to make himself feel better. Move over Robert and Cpt. Guns, I have a new favourite instructor.


-Al

Friday, January 18, 2008

2008 Not Up to Par so Far

With the fresh new beginning of 2008, I resolved to continue kicking butt at the gym and also find new ways of staying in shape. I'm still running and my knee's doing much better but it seemed my workout was lacking something it once had when I was young. Team sports!

So this winter, I joined an indoor soccer team with some friends from my office who are actually good at soccer. Given that I haven't played soccer since the sixth grade this should be an interesting ride! It's co-ed, but there are only two girls signed on so far (including me and Cappytaine Marnie-she's french but not really). Every Saturday, I'm going to attempt to kick a ball into the other team's net wearing my fancy retro number 11 jersey, new kicks, and new shin guards. We'll see if this results in a new appreciation for sports other than hockey.
Once I find out what exactly it means to "Bend it like Beckham", I hope by 2009 I will be able to actually do it. It sounds dirty so I'm all in.

And after the beating my body took with an entire week in Las Vegas, I need all the help I can get!

--Stevie