Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Visual Aids

I'm starting to think that I am a spatial and visual thinker. I can usually size up an area and figure out what will fit there or see how to make something fit. Like when I was helping my scientist boyfriend and his scientist brother move a futon and while they scratched their heads looking from the futon to the car and back to the futon, I figured out how to angle it so it would fit perfectly in the back of the car.

Fat Blogger just used an image that really clicked with me because it is such a striking image. He has lost 10 pounds, which equals 40 sticks of butter. Using those terms I've lost 64 sticks of butter. That's a lot of butter. I almost wish I could buy it and pile it on my kitchen counter as a reminder of what I have accomplished.

I know slow and steady wins the race and all that, but sometimes I wish I could drop the remaining 25 pounds in the next couple of weeks and be done with it already. I'll still eat healthy and exercise, but I just want the weight gone. I want a less hefty body to move around every day. I want to wear the cute clothes that I'm barely fitting into now. Today is just a frustrated day with this whole process.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Disturbing Stats

I just read that the average American consumer eats 3 burgers and 4 orders of fries each week. A typical American child gets 1/4 of his/her vegetables in the form of French fries or potato chips.

Yikes.

Back away from the drive thru, America.


100 laps last night. This is the last week my pool is open, which is sad and also a hassle. Also, since I'm not really sure what's on the horizon for me as far as home and work locations, I'm reticent to join a gym that doesn't have a good cancellation policy. I know, good luck finding that, Kelly. Next week I will be checking out gyms.

Jason told me last night that he would really like to see me at 110 laps. He pointed out that if I added 2 laps a day, I would be up to 160 in a month.

Um, k. My response to him was, "You know what I would like to see from you?"

Pause. "Any sort of activity at all?"

"Exactly."

Yeah, buddy, you start working out AT ALL and then we'll talk about strategies and work out plans. I'm trying to encourage him to be more healthy, but that comment about getting up to 110 laps just made me laugh.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Pizza

I ate some pizza last night and my body is not happy. I helped a friend move and she bought us pizza afterwards to say thanks. I had planned on leaving before then, but I wanted to stay and hang out for a little bit longer since she left town this morning. And I was hungry. Yesterday was one of those days when I could not stay full, no matter what, so my growling stomach was not helping.

Last night my stomach was hurting and it's still not feeling great. Plus, I'm so lethargic. Of course, I stayed up late, but with the amount of sleep I had I shouldn't be this run down. Lots of carbs, sodium and fat. Yum!

I need to remember how the crappy food makes me feel, especially now that I'm used to the healthier stuff.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Weigh-In

Just as I expected, the holy grail of 185 or under is not to be mine this week. 185.6 this morning, despite keeping my sodium under 1,000 mg yesterday. However, another 2.125" is gone. Another .6 inches and my waist will be in the 20's. When I was last in good shape my waist was 27" and my hips were 40", so once I get to those measurements again I will know that no matter what the mirror tells me on my fat days, I look pretty darn good.

I feel like I've been kind of lazy this week because I've only been swimming twice. However, I did an hour of yoga and weights last night and I know I'm going swimming for sure on Saturday. And I'm helping a friend move tonight. According to SparkPeople you can burn 112 calories in 10 minutes by lugging boxes around. I'm debating whether or not to actually count it in my exercise tally for the day since I have a feeling a few super-efficient guys are going to show up and minimize my personal physical involvement in the whole thing. We'll see how it goes.

But back to the lazy. For some reason I have been extra super tired this week and I'm not really sure why. I've been getting the same amount of sleep as usual, but instead of waking up at my normal time I keep hitting snooze over and over until I'm stumbling into work at 9:30, still feeling like I could have slept for a couple more hours. I feel a little more with it today and managed to get into work early to make up some hours, but I still feel tired.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Simpletons

I was pretty appalled to learn that Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie were going to be counselors at a fat camp in the next season of The Simple Life. There are just so many things wrong with that. One of the first thing that comes to my mind is poking fun at the poor overweight kids who are there. Paris and Nicole and the camera crews that follow them around don't seem to be the most sensitive folks.

My fears were confirmed with the ad for the show I just saw on E. The head of the camp said that every counselor had to participate in giving the kids a colonic. So the scene is of Paris looking on, horrified, as Nicole, looking horrified herself, faces the rear end of a very large teenage boy and then you see his face as he groans and there's some sort of cartoon sound effect to go along with it.

Ha ha ha, let's laugh at the fat kid getting the colonic. Grrrr!

Monday, May 14, 2007

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

While I managed to stay within my calorie range yesterday, I'm not exactly proud of what I ate. It was yummy, though. There was a lot of cheese. It was a very cheese-filled day. Mozzarella cheese and Irish cheese and cheesecake.

But, you know, one day in a stretch of being very, very good isn't so bad. Plus, I weighed myself this morning and my weight is still the same so the cheese hasn't caught up with me yet. I'm starting to think that I'm moving so much with my swimming and my weights and my sometimes yoga and pilates, that a bad day here and there isn't going to kill me. And it wasn't SO bad. Like I said, I stayed within my range.

In other news, I swam 80 laps on Saturday instead of the 100 that I was planning to swim. About 50 laps in this gaggle of teenagers descended on the pool. There must have been 30 of them. They all got into the diving pool and cheered each person on who went off the board by chanting his or her name incessantly. And this one girl let out a BLOOD-CURDLING scream every single time someone dove in. Or came near her. Or breathed.

This is another reason indoor pools suck. The echoing and reverberation was intense. So I swam a little more in my set, did a cool down 200 and huffily left. The lifeguard gave me a desperately sad look as I walked out, silently pleading with me to take her with me.

This is another tick in the "pro" list for joining a gym after the pool closes on the 24th. No teenagers.

And yes, I realize I'm a crotchety old lady.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Uno Mas

Down 2 pounds and 1" this week. In case you're keeping score, that's 16.2 pounds and 21.75" since January 31.

So I don't want to jinx anything, but 1 more pound and we're back in Fantasyland for me. At the end of summer 2005 I reached my lowest weight since, oh I don't know, junior year of college (1998-ish). I weighed myself at a friend's house and was 185. Then I started giving into my Chicken McNugget cravings and sinking back into a bit of depression and working out once a month or so.

I know the odds are that I will lose a few more inches and no pounds next week since that seems to be my pattern. One week I lose a bunch of inches and minimal pounds, the next week my pounds are down and there isn't much action on the inches front. But how awesome would it be to step on the scale next week and see "185"? Pretty awesome, in my world.

I've been pretty easy-going about the pounds coming off since I know I'm gaining muscle and this is a slow process and all that sensible stuff, but I would really like for just that one pound to disappear this week. That doesn't seem like too much to ask, right? Here's hoping.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Tired

Tonight I only did 90 laps. Why, you ask? Because my muscles are tired. I decided on what routine to do before I got to the pool, but somewhere around lap 38 I realized there was no way I was going to get to 100. It's not that my limbs are actually sore, but rather that they're just tired. Very, very tired. Every single stroke was an effort tonight.

My body is going to have a nice two day break since I won't be able to swim tomorrow or Friday night (I am doing a bit of pilates tomorrow morning though). I fully expect a solid 100 laps on Saturday afternoon. Hear that, body?

Tonight's routine:
150 swim
200 kick - free up, fly back
8 50's on 1:00

100 swim, R :20
200 swim, R :30
300 swim, R :40
300 swim, R :30
200 swim, R :20
100 swim (in 1:50 tonight. Again, tired.)

150 kick
150 swim

And then I dragged myself out of the pool and collapsed in a puddle of red TYR suit in the locker room.

Sometimes You CAN Fight Genetics

In my family, we joke a lot about spilling something on ourselves whenever we eat. Someone always does.

I would like to note that I ate an entire container of tomato soup* for lunch while wearing a white shirt and I did not spill any soup on me!

I'm just going to ignore the fact that this occurence may be due, in part, to the loss of my rockin' chest through this whole weight loss endeavor.

Sigh.


*Au Bon Pain Tomato Basil Bisque. Sooo good AND reduced sodium.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

I Miss Swimming Outside

In my quest for a new pool to start going to after my current pool shuts down for renovations, I found Swimmers Guide, a site with information on pools around the world. Pretty neat. Unfortunately, it confirmed what I already basically knew. There are very few pools in my area. Even fewer that will let the public use them without jumping through crazy hoops. And even fewer for someone who actually works during the day.

There are times when I truly miss living in the Southwest, where pools were abundant and so was my tan. When I moved to Chicago after graduating from college I was so distressed to discover that up north they only have indoor pools. In dank, chlorine-smelling rooms. I've kind of gotten used to the indoor pools, but that doesn't mean I like them.

At my college, swimming was a big deal, so even the student rec center had an amazing pool. It was huge - I think about 12 lanes. The best part was the filter system, which I know sounds weird, but it really was cool. All around the perimeter of the pool was a 8 inch wide grate. The pool water came up to the deck and sloshed over the edge and through the grate, where it was filtered. Now here's the cool part: it kind of sounded like ocean waves. So I would swim my laps in the warm Arizona sun, and then drip dry on a deck chair (there were about a hundred of those) with my eyes closed, imagining that I was actually at the beach.

100 laps again tonight:
150 swim
150 kick - free up, fly back

2 200's - R :30 in between, R :45 after #2
3 150's - #1 kick R: 20; #2 swim R: 20; #3 kick R: 45
5 100's on the 2:00, R :45
8 50's on the 1:00, R :45
10 25's - odds easy, evens sprint. R :10 in between each

200 swim

Plus I did some pilates and weights this morning. I'm feeling tough.

Monday, May 07, 2007

100!

100 laps tonight!

I felt great while I was doing it, but my body is feeling all fatigued now and I think I need to get to bed a litle on the early side. I modified a workout suggested by one of the people in my Swimming for Cardio team on SparkPeople. It's not a very active team for message posting, but there are some good workout ideas. I think all of those ladies could totally kick my butt in the pool.

My routine tonight:

150 swim - free
250 kick - free up, fly back

3 sets of
200, rest :30
150, rest :20
100, rest :10
50, rest :30
Set one: Build (I did the 50 in :43, which made me happy. I wasn't really swimming all out and it's been a long time since I've timed a 50 so I thought that wasn't too shabby)
Sets two and three: 200 and 150 medium, 100 sprint, 50 slow

10 25's, rest :10 - odds easy, evens sprint

200 swim

I haven't done sprints in ages and it was fun to swim all out for 25 yards.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Unreality

Just in case you thought that pictures of celebrities had anything whatsoever to do with reality.


Courtesy of Big Fat Deal.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Ego Boosting

Despite the fact that my scale is persistently adding a couple of pounds to last week's weight (hmph!), I had a good morning ego-wise. Usually I can just wear jeans to work so I haven't tried on my dress slacks in a bit. However, if I'm at my other job where I work about 8-10 hours a week, I have to be business casual Monday-Thursday. Because I've been working in such casual environments for over a year now I only have 2 pairs of slacks: the regular slacks, and the too tight Ann Taylor Loft slacks that used to fit, but haven't for awhile.

This morning I tried on the regular slacks and they are falling off of me. The only thing keeping them on is my HUGE rear end that continues to be huge and always will be huge and was even pretty huge when I was a size 7 way back when. Whatever. I'm bootylicious. I can handle that.

So I tried on the Ann Taylor slacks and they look super cute again. Hooray!

In other news, 90 laps last night. I did a routine, just to see if I could, and paid for it with a sore throat and more of a cough last night. I guess my body isn't quite up to snuff yet. Did I mention I'm a bad patient? Despite feeling every stroke in my tired arms, I did manage to do my last 100 of the set(laps 76-80) in 1:37, so I'm happy about that.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Emotional Eating

I don't usually think of myself as much of an emotional eater. Sometimes I recgonize that I soothe myself with something tasty, but mostly, I eat from boredom and wanting something to do with myself. I can be very antsy and not want to sit still and snacking gives me something to do. Since I like food and food has always been a BIG part of my family's lives, it's what my mind turns to first when I'm bored. This is one of the reasons I crochet or play on my computer while I watch TV. Despite being fidgety, I'm not one of those skinny fidgety people because I consume calories as a result of my fidgetiness.

I got some bad news recently that has taken a bit of a toll on my hopefulness and confidence career-wise. Last night I went to the grocery store and on the way there I found myself thinking about all of the things I wanted to buy. Not the fruit and veggies and healthy foods that were on my list, but the yummy glowing rotisserie chicken leg quarters and a large container of deep dark chocolate ice cream.

Because I am fairly self-aware with regard to eating and eating disorders and unhealthy patterns and such, I recognized that immediately for what it was and frankly, it kind of stunned me. Right then, in that moment, food was what was going to make me feel better. Or at least that's what my head was telling me.

Once I got to the grocery store, I admit to lingering around the chicken, but I didn't even go into the ice cream aisle. It didn't help that I was actually hungry and knew I wouldn't be eating dinner for a couple of more hours. As soon as I got home I had a healthy snack and told myself that was ALL I was getting. No Thin Mint cookies sitting ever-so-temptingly on my shelf.*

So I'm proud of myself for staying on the straight and narrow, calorie-wise, but I was a little surprised at how readily my mind turned to food for solace. I don't know why I was so surprised since when I was neck-deep in depression I also happened to weigh 235 pounds. And my family is jam-packed with crummy relationships with food. Maybe I had hoped that somehow that particular quirk had passed me by.

I'm also proud of myself for meeting up with Jason and others, going to a Mexican restaurant and getting a salad, dressing on the side. I discovered that salsa is a pretty good salad dressing, actually.


*Speaking of which, I think this is the longest Girl Scout cookies have ever lasted in my home. I bought 3 boxes a month or so ago, and I just finished my box of Samoas** and am about a third of the way through the Thin Mints. I've been good at doling them out in portions on some random day when I let myself have a treat. Plus, truth be told, Jason ate about a third of the Samoas.

**Excuse me. Caramel Delites.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Water, Baby!

I'm back in the pool as of last night, which I'm very happy about. I planned to do 60 laps since I was still snotty and coughing (and feeling oh so pretty!). Once I started going, though, I realized I was okay. It felt SO amazing to be back in the pool. Only one week out of the water and starting my first lap was like coming home. No wonder my mom calls me "Water Baby."

My goal was to do a short warm up, 5 easy 200's and a short cool down. However, I was only coughing a tiny bit in between sets and wasn't having a problem while I was actually swimming, so I just kept going. 80 laps in all.

150 swim
250 kick

200
300 (because it just felt good)
400 (because I wanted to see if I could do it. I could and my time wasn't too awful.)
200

250 kick
250 swim

So far today I've walked about 4 miles and I really need to go to the grocery store and do some laundry so I'm calling it good in the exercise department. I'm seriously running out of food. I've been eating McDonald's yogurt parfaits for breakfast the last two mornings, which aren't the worst things in the world, but I miss my Stonyfield Farms yogurt. It just tastes better. However, 320 calories and $2.10 for 2 yogurt parfaits is not too shabby, although the blueberries taste like soggy mothballs and I always pick them out. Not that I know what soggy mothballs taste like. But if I had to take a guess I would say the blueberries in the McDonaldd's yogurt parfaits are a fair estimation.

I joined a May challenge at SparkPeople and in order to get my points I have to do strength training twice a week. I am discovering that just like cardio and eating right, taking the time to do weights is something that I have to make a habit of scheduling into my day. I haven't been very diligent with that, so hopefully this challenge will motivate me. I mean, those are 2 easy points that I would just feel silly not getting. My plan is to get up early two mornings and do it before work. I am not a morning person and know there will be some wailing and gnashing of teeth.