Tale of the Scale 3/1:Back in the Saddle

Late with this week's update. There was little or no weight loss this week, but that's OK.

I've worked by myself for the last 2 weeks while Guido's been off with a sick family member. While I've worked OK I still let myself off the hook too easily. And really bad moods have cut my Monday workouts short.

Wednesday was a workout with Guido which got me back on track. It was a good workout. I know it was a good workout because although we concentrated on legs and balance work, Wednesday evening I was sitting here in my recliner tapping on a keyboard and I COULD FEEL IT.

Woke up this morning with my thighs and shoulders barking at me; but a stretch and a soak in the jacuzzi loosened things up. So I went and had a great workout on my own today. Back in the saddle.

Tags: fitness, 24HourFitness

Play With Blocks...

LifeHacker gives tips how to live more productively with technology. I try to remember to visit it regularly just to catch up and this week there was a gem...

Cure Writer's Block with Writing Toys pointed me to Language Is A Virus. There are toys to help one get over writer's block.. and so much more! There are prompts for those participating in NaNoWriMo, exercises to improve your technique.

Tale of the Scale: 2/25

The weight is finally coming off!

As of this morning, I have lost 13.5#! Before you get way too excited, this is since October. According to the "planned weight" chart in my FitDay program, I should be at about 10 to 12 pounds lighter, but I know there are reasons that the loss was stalled for a long while, so I'm OK.

Anyway, I could be wearing a smaller size of jeans but why buy new jeans that I'll only be wearing for a couple months? Instead I'm wearing a belt (for the first time in my life!!) to keep the jeans up and will wait until they are completely falling off me before I replace them. Or maybe a trip to GoodWill will soon be in order?

The other sign of physical progress is that I bought a new bra in a smaller band size. (yay!!). I really want to go down a cup size (or two?) and hopefully eliminate getting mammo retests because they can't read the fat tissue accurately. I am going to trust that this WILL happen.

My second workout last week with Guido was cancelled; he has a family member in the hospital and has been most of his time there and not at the gym. I was kind of bummed at the time, but you really can't complain because someone is dedicated to his family. So we'll be playing our schedule kind of loose until things are resolved. Good thing; this week is pretty filled already.

Today was a disaster in the gym. I couldn't focus and it was way too crowded. Normally this is a Guido day, and I was miserably ineffective on my own. After a half-hearted half-hour I changed clothes and headed home. Didn't even get sweaty enough to shower.

Plans for the week:
Tuesday: elliptical and core/balance moves
Wednesday: treadmill, arms,shoulders,back weight machines/ core/balance moves.
Thursday: elliptical, core/balance moves, lower body.
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest

Learning to Be Economically Relevant...

I'm watching CBS Sunday Morning, which is right this moment showing a program on department stores. In describing the rise of the department store after WWII, one person in the show said:

"The department store was the place where you could learn to be middle class."

My instant reaction:

Now with WalMart trying to conquer the world-wide economy, we can all learn

to be lower class;
to aspire to cheap and temporary;
to settle;
to not seek quality;
to not expect service.

Does valuing ourselves less make sense in the long run??

Tags: ValueYourself

Beautiful...

This weekend we have experiencing beautiful weather. (sorry for those in the midwest! I do remember those freezing, snowy winters, but I don't miss them!!). It's been dry, warm. calm, and sunny. So I've been enjoying the outside.

Two hours each day since Thursday has been spent in the garden. The bushes have gotten the pruning they didn't get last fall, and weeding has commenced. I'm feeling the calm that spending time outside gives me.

I'm also sitting on our deck swing and reading for an hour or so each afternoon.

Yeah. Life is beautiful.

While I'm working outside, I'm thinking. Thinking about the goals for this year.. and the possible changes. The BIG New Year's Commitment Thing: Live Pro-actively!

Laurie has a similar plan for this year:

Leave the house, leave the comfort zones, open up to meeting people, to being exposed, let go of the fear of rejection and ridicule (and if you can't let go of the fear, at least put it on a list of things to worry about later).

It's the old adage, "Suit up, show up, and act as if." I figured if it worked for people in 12-step groups it could work for me and my Eleventy Two Steps Needed self. Just put on the outfit that you would wear if you were actually as self-confident as you wished you were, then show up every day for the life you wish you were living, and act as if you were already comfortable in your own skin. The real thing will (hopefully) follow.

And I love reading how she's living it this year. Me? I'm giving it a go, too. I'm not as forthcoming about how I'm doing it, though... and I need to work on that, too.

Where I attack wierd energy with the Walk and get outta here

The last couple days (since Wednesday I think...) I've had rather sudden and odd "attacks" of strange nervous energy. I'll be walking, cleaning, gardening, do whatever, and suddenly I get hit with a strange nearly panicky feeling. BANG! I'm suddenly edgy and prowling around trying to figure out how to calm down.

I can't figure out anything in my life that might be causing these. And they don't really feel like a part of me. More like someone else's energy has decided to come disturb me. (have I mentioned that there are people with whom I seem to be closely connected psychically?) Whoever this shit belongs to? Thanks for sharing!! NOT. Wherever this energy is coming from can someone please explain this? Or just leave me the F alone?? This energy is distracting and quite disconcerting.

Today I suddenly became so intensely discomforted. I took the dogs for a walk.. no help there. I couldn't concentrate or settle down. So although today was a rest day, I headed into the gym. Forty-five minutes on the treadmill with my MP3 player pouring hard rock into my head. My legs were crampy, but I was calmer afterward.

Later this afternoon, I talked to the volunteer coordinator at The RAC. I've got an appointment for orientation and paperwork next Wednesday. I think one afternoon a week getting out of the house will be good for me.

And that strange energy? Not coming along.

Tags: fitness, plans, life, work

Tale of the Scale, 2/12

No weight change this week. Wednesday as part of my session with Guido, we are doing an interim measure/weigh in to we really where I am. Today I only remembered to step on the scale at the end of the workout.. after I'd had 2.5 bottles of water. With what I sweat out, I'm not guessing how much of the weight was that water.

I've been thinking lately about this experiment. I was ready to get back into being physical when I joined 24 hour fitness last fall. I hoped for some physical changes, but never anticipated the mental changes that are happening. And these at the moment make all the work worthwhile, even if I'm only very slowly losing weight.

So what changes am I talking about?

#1. The first workout I had with Guido he finished by commenting that we would "first work on my posture and stability." Yeah, I almost threw my towel at him.. but I was way too tired to do so. Anyway, my posture is almost back to a good straight-backed appearance. This alone makes me feel more comfortable in my skin.. and more confident. Reasonable? Who cares.

#2. I suffered from lower back pain for several years. At times it kept me from walking. With the stabilization moves I do (almost every day), that pain has disappeared. Also other nagging physical problems (poor breathe control, stress incontinence) have improved with these moves.

#3. I am happier. Yeah, I still have "crash and burn" days but not as many. Most of the time my mood is considerably more positive than it's been in the past.

#4. I am beginning to take back old dreams that I'd given up.

• I have wanted to hike the Grand Canyon for years, even though I truly HATE walking uphill. And, let's face it.. as deep as you go into the canyon, you must walk uphill to get out.. I'm looking at the calendar and thinking sometime in 2009 I'll do it. Anyone want to join me?
  
• My shoulder is feeling strong enough that I may return to golfing.
• I'm even considering a trip back to West Virginia (next year) for another white water trip. Probably the Cheat.. it's the easiest, but still fun.
• I'm thinking about other fun activities, too. (salsa dancing? tennis?)

Are these (and probably more) good enough reasons to continue working even if I'm not losing all the weight that I originally started for? Yeah. For me it's worth it. My life seems a bit richer.. and I'm seeing possibilities for grand fun in the future.

Tags: fitness, 24hourfitness

SNAP! Let's Make A Connection

Swampgirl has taken over hosting the Getting To Know You games at CAC... and she's provided a fun exercise this week: make snap decisions.

Here's the set-up:Answer the following questions by intuition ... whatever comes to you immediately.

If you spend more than 2 seconds on the answer, leave it blank and move to the next question.

1. You run into a friend who has just chopped off all her long hair (or suddenly has an Afro). What do you say?

That will be a lot cooler in summer!! Why is it that as we get older, our hair gets shorter?

2. You walk by a well dressed man with manicured hands who smells like a gin martini. He asks you for money. What do you do?

Keep on walking.

3. Your brother or sister or best friend falls madly in love with someone you think is a jerk. What do you do?

Listen to what they love about the person. If necessary, gently reflect back the flaws they disclose.

4. You get a terrible present from your husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend. Do you let it show?

Not that I want to, but yeah.. I probably do.

5. Who's your favorite Beatle?

Paul

6. You walk by a disheveled man wearing soiled & tattered clothes. He politely asks you for money. What do you do?

Well I rarely carry much cash, so I probably wouldn't give him any. But I'd check. And say I was sorry that I couldn't help.

6. Skinny Elvis or Fat Elvis?

Neither.

Next, go find an outrageous picture of your Elvis on the net and post it at the bottom of your answers.

Tags: CreateAConnection

Tags: photos