Sandra 1, Perkins 0

So a few months back we had gone to Perkins (probably sometime in May or June). At the end of our meal they gave us a coupon for $10.00 off our next meal when we spend $25.00 or more (before tax). I tacked this to the fridge and promptly forgot about it.

Today I found it, and Trin decided she was going to eat at her friends house so my husband and I decided to go to Perkins for dinner. After scouring the coupon looking for an expiration date I came to the conclusion that it was still good and we were on our way.

After a pretty decent meal (I love breakfast for dinner!), we went to the counter to pay and I presented my coupon. Rather proudly I must say as I usually forget and pay full price!

The guy at the counter took one look and said we can't accept this anymore.

"There's no expiry date." I said

He looked the coupon over and asked where I got it. I told him I got it from Perkins. He asked "From the hotel?".

"No, from here."

"Well I don't think this offer is valid any more, we're not doing it anymore.

"There's no expiry."

"Well, if you got this from the hotel..."

"No, I got it a couple of months ago from this Perkins restaurant and there is no expiry date."

The guy looked very put out but decided to honor the coupon anyway. Although I felt rather agitated  I managed to stay impressively calm... anyone who knows me would have given me an oscar!

Normally in situations like this I would have just rolled over to avoid the confrontation (I'm not always good at controlling the volume of my voice and my temper flares at times so it's usually just easier to give in.) However, I am rather proud that I stood up for myself and managed to not make a scene.

:)

The Shred

Today was Day Five (Level one) of the 30 day shred.

For all of you counting - Yes it did take 7 days to get here. I'm a pretty good negotiator and quite successfully talked myself into sitting comfortably on my couch the last two days, rather than getting up and working out.

I didn't want to make my daughter and husband leave the room just so I can do my workout and lord knows I can't do it in front of them. Besides, I'm tired and I worked hard today, plus it's late and a good show is on. And look at the cute cat sleeping peacefully in the middle of the living room floor! It would be an absolute sin to wake him just for my vain, selfish reasons.

These same reasons would have kept me on the couch again today, if it wasn't for my wonderful sister-in-law.

I was puttering around the computer and decided to check my email and there was her latest blog post.

She described a very similar argument that was going through her head but she managed to move past it and reminded me that if I did my workout I'd actually feel better, less tired and more happy. I'd be more alert and better able to focus on my husband and daughter and whatever we were going to do for the evening. It was exactly what I needed to hear. (Thanks!)

So, I got up, put my workout clothes on, kicked every other living being out of the room and pressed play! Jillian welcomed me back as if I hadn't forsaken her for the last two days. It's nice to have a trainer that doesn't hold a grudge.  :)

I'll do my best to update you all on day 10. Oh and by the way, I'm down 3 lbs!!

Ta for now!

The Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred - Day Two, Level One

Wow! Day Two was only slightly easier than day one. Sweating my butt off literally.  :)

I'm so glad I got up early to do the workout this morning. I missed yesterday because I stayed late at work, then went to have my hair done and by the time I got home and ate dinner it was 8:30pm and I was way too tired to convince myself to get my butt up to do it.

But now it's done and I don't have to worry about it again until tomorrow!

The Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred

Day One, Level One

O.M.G!!! A 20 minute work out has never made me sweat as much as this. My calves were already tense and hurting from the work out I did on Monday (not Jillian's) but I decided to go through and do this one anyway. (I almost wimped out... I'm such a wuss!)

I am happy to say I did it! Although there were two or three times I had to take a quick (3 second) break. The fantastic thing about this workout is you get strength, cardio and ab work all together and you cycle between them so you never get bored or stressed out and the fact that each section is so short it makes it easier not to give up. When you only have to do an exercise for 30-60 seconds at a time you really push yourself to finish.

Tomorrow is day two and I'm excited!

Hmm...that was a complete failure

... well not a COMPLETE failure. I did get up early, but I didn't do my workout.
New plan.

A good friend of mine lost some weight a few years back and she found it helpful to have some accountability for her actions, or in actions as the case may be. What she did was email a friend everyday with a log of what she did and ate for the day. Just a quick note to say whether she was on track or not.

In a way I have been trying to accomplish the same feeling through this blog, the calorie count website and facebook but it's not working so well. Maybe having just one person to report to might help. I'm going to try it!

Running Update

Well, well, look-y here. It has been almost FOUR MONTHS since last I blogged! I really am no good at staying with things. So it will come as no surprise that I have not ran or completed any workouts since sometime around the middle/end of May. I managed to get up to 22 minutes. Then the rain came.... it rained for a million days and by the time the rain stopped I had completely lost all momentum.

Good news is I have not gained any weight since I stopped running.
Bad News is I have not lost any either.

So, I need to get back out there. I would like to start running again but I think I'm going to start with my morning work outs.

Let's see if I can get my arse out of bed tomorrow at 5am, do a work out, shower, get dressed etc and be ready to go for 6:30.

Wish me luck!