Toronto Update

Well, today was my first full day in Toronto. It was a lot of fun. I wandered around the downtown area during the afternoon with a friend (browsing a few of the bookstores). Then for supper, my bro and I went to Fresh, a vegetarian restaurant down the street from where he lives. It was really good! I ordered their urban wrap, which has tempeh in it (some sort of protein product that has a nutty taste). It was the first time I've even heard of tempeh, but it was really good! I totally recommend Fresh to everyone who wants to try something different!

What's Happening: the End of April Update

Well, the most important thing that's happened is that exams are over!!!! I wrote my last one on the 21st, and so one more year of school is done!

Other than that, I have been doing a bit of fun reading (which is great for my mental health - reading is one of my favourite things to do), as well as a lot of walking and biking. I haven't been doing too many exercise videos lately (due to my biking). But I did get a few in from ebay, so I'll be posting about them as soon as I try them out!

Also, I'm off to Toronto for a few days so I most likely won't be exercising too much (although I think I'll be walking quite a bit).

1st Day Biking!!!!!

Well, I finally did it: I took my mountain bike out for for the first time this year!

Last night I checked the weather, and decided to bike to the school (I had a meeting and decided I wanted to save some gas in my car). So I managed to get up and eat early enough, and I was on the trail!

It was really cold on the way to the university, but coming home was really nice (plus it was downhill on the way home, so I made way better time!)

All in all, today has been a great day!

Exercise Goal April Update

Ok, so yesterday I did all my measurements. Back in January, I weighed 189 lbs, and I am now down to 185 lbs! Also back in January, my waist was 33 1/2 inches, and my hips were 40 inches. My waist is now 32 1/2 inches (yay! I lost a whole inch!) but somehow I managed to gain an inch and a quarter (I'm thinking I didn't measure my hips properly back in January - that's kind of weird to gain so much). More importantly though, my BMI is down from 27.12 in January to 26.54 as of yesterday!!! And the really awesome thing is that I've managed to do all this while I've been studying (so I haven't had as much time to work out!) So overall, things are looking pretty good!

As my last exam is this coming Saturday, I'm looking forward to more time to be active - and with a few dvd's on the way as well as summer, things are looking up!

Stem Cell Transplant Helps Treat Diabetes

I was watching CTV news and this story came on:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070410/diabetes_stem_070410/20070410?hub=TopStories

They have a new treatment that has put the Type 1 diabetes of some newly diagnosed people back into remission! Although this doesn't help people like me who have had the disease for years, this is incredibly exciting news!

The treatment involves giving people chemotherapy to weaken their immune system, then giving them stem cells that were harvested from their own bodies prior to chemo to strengthen their immune system. Afterwards, the patients required no medication of any kind - no insulin, no immune suppressants, nothing! This is incredibly exciting news for people with Type 1 everywhere - it may lead to future developments that can help us all!

I want to add a complaint about the way the story was reported though: the lady reporting it (I didn't get her name) made a pretty nervy comment "Why would people want to subject themselves to such a drastic treatment when this is a managable disease." Yes, insulin does help people with Type 1 diabetes manage the disease. But it is far from perfect, and everyone with Type 1 has to worry that down the road they will develop one of many serious and sometimes deadly complications. If I were given the chance to live without taking insulin or other medications (like the immunosuppressants) I'd definately consider "subjecting myself to such a drastic treatment."

Walking!

The last few days, I've done a lot of walking.

On Easter day, my parents and I walked to my grandmother's house for supper - which was a great way to work off all the pie I ate! Then yesterday, my mom and I walked around our house a bit. And today I walked to work. So all in all, it's been a nice couple of days (although it's still a bit cold!)

DDR

Dance Dance Revolution - the greatest game ever invented.

I don't know how many people out there play it, but I absolutely love it!

I bought Ultramix 3 for my Xbox last year after Christmas, and it kept me active through school. I don't play it as much as I did last year, as now I have a ton of exercise dvds, but it's still great to play.

One feature that I really like about Ultramix 3 is that it tracks how many steps you take and how many calories you burn in workout mode. This past week, I played it 3 times, burning about 1500 calories and taking around 26,000 steps! (Last night alone I had over 10,000 steps and burned about 580 calories).

I enjoy just picking and choosing my songs, playing a few on heavy and then going down to standard. But this past week I was playing Quest mode, finally beating a few of the cities in the North (I'm still not sure where the points are coming from though).

All in all, a great workout and a great game!

Hypocrite

Ok, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite. My last post was all about fitting in a 10 minute workout because you always can. Well, all weekend, I've been working on a massive paper that is due tomorrow, and haven't fit in a workout since Thursday. So tomorrow, I can't wait to get back on track, because I really miss being active!