Friday, May 28, 2010

Foot Loose & Fancy Free

05/28/10

278.4 lbs

Finally!  I pushed myself back down.  I've gotten rid of last weekend's mishaps and settled back to 18 lbs lost.  Whew.  Just in time for a mini-break (lymie speak for long weekend).  I've decided to bring some good, portable friuts and veg to the Lakehouse. I mean, who doesn't love a banana?

I just bought two "tankini" tops and a pair of girl swim-shorts from Land's End.  Here goes round 3 of the bathing suit fight. They're having a sale, $10 off the price for mix and match separates.  The link'll take you to the sale items.  In case you're keeping score at home, so far the count is 2-0 favoring the bathing suits. 

After this weekend, I'm back at work for a day and then heading down to Beach Town for a "work conference".  This is the one little conference a year where it's all fun.  The people are great the meetings are quick and it's play play play until the wee hours of the morning.  I'm staying in a beachfront, upscale hotel and I don't have to pay for it.  As if it couldn't get better, I'm staying some extra days to see friends and family.  I'm looking forward to it, but I really really really have to pay attention to food choices and make sure they're healthy ones.  Also, since I'll have BFF in tow, I hope to have a workout partner for the hotel gym.  They have one.  I checked.  That leaves me with my favorite gourmet pizza places and martini bars and Pińa Coladas on the beach.

And hopefully a whole lotta "Damn, you look good!" motivation.

-jafg



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Thursday, May 27, 2010

S.O.S.---W.W.Y.D.---S.O.S.

05/27/10

279.4 lbs

I had mexican yesterday so I'm thrilled that it didn't move an ounce. 

I've decided to go to the Lakehouse this weekend.  I am super excited so I know I made the right choice.  I now have a new dilemma.  Food. 



From Friday night to Monday morning, I will be living/breathing/sleeping/eating Lakehouse life.  If you've been reading for awhile, then you know that I'm not exactly a timid jafg.  I have an opinion and share it pretty much freely (but always with a smile).  However.  I would never want to be rude.  Especially in a hospitality situation.  All the food's being provided, and even the adult beverages.  I've been partaking of adult beverages long enough to know that even when said beverages are supplied, I should always bring something "for the house".  Well, what if I want to bring my own food?  Would that say "Sorry, BB and Her Beau, but I'm too good to eat that hotdog you're trying to serve me." 

Now, if it were just for one day, I'd suck it up and eat that hotdog (and secretly love every bite of it), but we're talking an extended stay at the beer-n-brat household.  Especially on a holiday weekend like M Day. 

I need some advise my fellow bloggin-kids.  What Would You Do in a situation such as this?

-jafg



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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

WIDTH?

05/25/10

279.4 lbs

Bloggin Legend and my own personal hero Jack Sh*t is doing this really cool photo-story lately about "Why I Do This Here" or W.I.D.T.H.  I'm ebarrassed to say that I only just saw that it spells the word "width".  OkayWho feels a little stupid now? 

Anyway.  Whenever I see a new tweet about a new WIDTH blogpost from him I get supah excited and head over to read the story-ettes.  I've teared up on a few of them.  Others have made me LOL. 

I finally decided to submit one today.  Being a guy who has like 1300 followers, I'm sure he gets a ton, so I wanted to share mine with my own little corner of the blog-o-verse. 

It may be cliché, but it's true...



'Nuff said.

-jafg


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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Yin and Yang and Predictable Predicaments

05/25/10

279.2 lbs

Whew.  It's still not the 278.2 lbs it was on Friday, but I'll take it.

I finally broke the exercise drought this morning.  I woke up before 6:00am, got out of bed by 6:10 and was dressed and at Concierge Gym by 6:30.  Some chick was on my favorite elliptical which made me cuss.  I was a little nervous about trying to do exercise this morning because of my knee.  It went ok.  I had initially set the timer for 30 minutes, but ended up only doing 20.  It took me about 10 minutes to decide that my knee was ok so the last 10 minutes really worked up a sweat.  I kept the pace at "moderate" and was pretty happy when I finished.

It was nice to have that feeling of sweatiness again.  I'm not sure how to explain this really, but it does give one a sense of accomplishment.  Like instant gratification, even, because by sweating you know that you're pushing your body to be the best it can be and work like the machine it is.  Perhaps that's just the endorphins that are being released in my brain, but I love that feeling.  I'm amazed at how quickly I forgot just how great it feels to work up a good sweat. 

I've also realized something else.  I appreciate my healthy eating habits a whole helluva lot more when I have exercise in the mix.  It's not just the extra calories that I get to add to my "net count" or whatever that it, it's like the yin/yang affect or something.  Like knowing that one is working to help the other one.  Pretty darn cool.

And in other news....

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend in case you didn't know. If I actually have readers from outside of the USA and/or you don't know what Memorial Day holiday is, well, it's a day we honor all those who have fallen in the service of our country. I always hang Old Glory on this day.




It's also a day of Bar-B-Que and Beer. Not nearly as noble, but equally steeped in tradition.

BB and Her Beau invited me out to Lakehouse for M Day this year. I'm on the fence about going.  Of course I'm fretting the whole Bathing Suit + Friends combo, but it's not nearly as bad as it was for Labor Day. I see this as progress. It's encouraging. I've exercised with the kids as A Unit (everything is pretty much "A Unit" with these two) and they totally heart me for me, there's no doubt. I'm just trying to play out in my head what I'll be doing. I also know that they'll be out of town and since I've rejoined the apartment dwellers, I don't have a grill and theirs will be available for use. Yep. What I've got here is a predicament. I've still got a few days before I have to really make my mind up. 

On a good note, I am 5.8 lbs lighter than I was last time I was at their place.

Yea!

-jafg



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Monday, May 24, 2010

Um...

05/24/10

280.4 lbs

This just sucks.

I had an unfortunate weekend.  Really, it wasn't a bad weekend.  There was no stress or unhappiness or other reason to fall off the wagon, it just seems right now, I am in this funk.  Things are going well but I can't seem to get my emotions on the same page.  I am wondering if this is a late blooming sort of fat withdrawal.  According to myfitnesspal, I've been going over my daily allowance of fat grams like every day since I started using that website, but I'm feeling the strong urge for a burger and fries.  Or mexican cheese dip.  Or like a deep dish pizza.  Or a sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich.  Oh wait.  I had one of those on Saturday.

I didn't exercise Friday night which is actually my favorite night to go to the gym.  No, I was contacted by someone I've met on facebook (friend of a friend sort of thing) and we happen to both be in the same place at the same time, so we decided to get together.  The someone happened to be of the boy persuasion.  Well, not too much of a boy, considering the 6 year age difference.  Now kids, before your minds go too crazy like mine almost did on Friday, this was not a date.  This was meeting for a first time, getting to know someone "IRL" (in real life) and talk about mutual interests.  We paid for our own meals and have no set plans in the future.  Honestly, I've only had one blind date in my life and have never been one for the dating scene.  It's always been different where my relationships are concerned.  Nothing's ever really been conventional.  Because of this I'm a dating flunky.  So I classified this in my mind as a sort of practice date.  Unbeknownst to the someone, of course.



Well, I didn't let any of this bother me too much because I knew this wasn't a date to begin with.  I did go home and "freshen up", chose between two different outfits and changed out my jewelry selections a few times which was actually very fun and girly.  I was 15 minutes late which is totally standard for me, but there was pre-meeting texting going on and he was gracious and patient about it all.  I drank beers (it's a slow process) and had a great grilled chicken sandwich.  We talked about art and life and politics and religion and music and life again which made for a great 3 hours. I didn't feel uncomfortable once.  It was nice!

I got up Saturday morning and went swimming with a work friend.  We met up at my new gym at 7:35am.  I was supposed to meet her at 6:30 but when she called me to make sure I was on my way at 6:25, I was still in bed.  I roll out of bed, throw on something for swimming (which includes a tshirt and shorts) and head out.  We get to The Gym at 7:35am.  AWESOME!  It's so empty!  Well, we park the car, pile out and get to the door.  Which is locked.  Turns out the place doesn't open until 8:00am on Saturdays.  Oops.  At least I don't feel so bad about being late now.  We decide to go for a quick healthy breakfast.  Prior Fat Girl has been raving about the breakfast sandwiches from Subway so I suggest we swing by and get one of those.  Well, turns out the location we find doesn't open for breakfast.  Damnit.  We end up with traditional fast food breakfast from an Arby's down the street.  Neither of us opted for the breakfast potatoes I'm proud to say. 

So we take our no longer healthy breakfast food back to The Gym parking lot and nosh on our goodies.  We're both laughing at the fact that we're eating sausage and bacon before heading to work out.  Slowly but steadily the parking lot begins to fill and a line begins to form outside the door.  There are a lot of older gray-headed people waiting with bike shorts on.  In case you didn't know, real bike shorts have padding in the butt.  The padding makes you look like you're either wearing a diaper that needs to be changed, or your not wearing a diaper and you still need to change.  Not a pretty picture on an old gray-haired man.  Jes Sayin. 

Once we get in we realize why there's a line; it's for the spinning class.  Everyone wants to get in it.  I have more respect for Mr. Doodey Pants now.  But his pants still looked funny. 

Work Friend and I head to the women's locker room and head for the pool.  We get in there and almost all the lanes are full.  There are two left and there's no divider between them which is PERFECT for us.  I did laps (slow-moving-doggie-paddling laps) for about an hour and had mindless girl chatter.  It was so much fun!

We just went back and forth from the shallow end to the deep end chit-chatting about her upcoming nuptials and move (she and her fiancé will be moving to up north for his Graduate school program) and nonsensical stuff like previous public pool experiences.  Before we knew it, an hour had gone by.  We decided to get out of the water because more and more people were heading in and we thought it was best to let some real swimmers have a go at a lane.

The locker room changing was so not fun.  I changed in a dungeon-like shower stall standing on a hand towel.  I won't be doing that again.

After the swim I headed home and had a chance to layout at the concierge pool for about 45 minutes before people started getting there.  I ended up feeling very overheated and left just as the first boys arrived.  It truly was a coincidence.  I don't like being at any pool when boys are around.  There are too many skinny girls for me to feel comfortable. Hell, even if there weren't skinny girls around, I'd be uncomfortable in the tight fitting tank and workout short I was wearing.  I packed up and left.  I didn't feel good so I ended up taking a 3 hour nap. 

Sunday I decided to head to the pool earlier for more alone time and less heat.  I didn't quite make it as early as I'd planned.  I only got about 15 extra minutes (made for 30 minutes of alone time) before the first party group arrived.  It was 5 boys and a girl.  They couldn't have been older than 23.  Honestly, it didn't bother me too much to be there with them.  I stayed for about 30 minutes longer, it was just them and me, and then I decided to leave. 

I fully realized something that has been kind of rolling around in the back of my brain for awhile.  I have more confidence and less self-consciousness now that I'm actively losing weight.  I know there are people that, even though they don't say anything, they still register in their thought processes that I'm a big girl.  It's a simple fact.  I am proud of myself, because I can be in situations that would have had me pretty shaken up earlier in this process even though I believe I'm a pretty secure person for the most part.  I've never been one to hide in a corner, but I sure as hell wouldn't have been comfortable to hang out for an additional 30 minutes in a pool where 5 boys and a thin pretty girl were whooping it up.  That just wouldn't have happened.  But now it's different.  I know I'm just another fat girl, but I'm doing something about it. 

Sunday had a nice 3 hour nap tucked into it as well.  I made it through dinner but still had this "deprived" feeling at the end of the night.  I ended up ordering my thin crust pizza from Domino's at 8:30pm last night. 

It was good, too.

-jafg




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Friday, May 21, 2010

The Hate Side of My Love/Hate Relationship With The World Of Weight

05/21/10

278.2 lbs

*Warning:  Cranky JAFG Ahead*

I'm really not sure what to think.  Since this little bloggin space's inception, I've not been this low on the scale. 

I'm freakin happy! BUT...I have this overwhelming need to walk around and whisper I've lost 18 lbs because if I say it too loud, it might jinx it or something.  Like when people whisper *cancer* or *prison*.

So yeah, I've lost 18 lbs.  It's not a fluke like a 3 lbs fluctuation could be.  It's 18 solid lbs.  If someone asks me how I'm doing it I get to tell them "I'm doing it the old fashioned way:  Healthy Eating and Exercise".  No one wants to hear that, but it's the truth.  Now, IF there were some magic way to do this while being able to eat whatever whenever I wanted, and I didn't have to exercise, then, well, I bet I'd be doing that instead. 

My life's been very boring as of late.  I have no funny stories to share or even any to pull from in the right recent past.  I'm watching what I do for food religiously and tracking it all on myfitnesspal.  I'm weighing myself every morning and, this week, have just been sitting on my couch watching tv or checking FB at night.

I love routine and I hate it too!    Right now, I'm totally in an I-hate-it phase.  I'm in a rut/funk/ditch/somethin and I need a change.  I've really had to be a grown-up at work which, translated, means I'm not doing anything fun.  I need to blow off some steam.  I had plans to visit BFF and Her Hubbie this weekend, but had to cancel that.  Grr.  I've been disconnected from SAG and BB because everyone is just busy with l-i-f-e right now. 

On a good note, I am going to Beach Town the first week of June.  I'll be there for work, but I'm bringing BFF (it'll just be her and me) and we're staying in a fantab hotel ON the beach.  Even when I lived there, I never stayed ON the beach.  Well, there was that one Halloween weekend and then that random night one summer, but you know what I mean.  I'm really looking forward to that!

I've strained my knee from pushing too hard through HHH class and bouncing around and all that. You know how walking down the stairs is usually the easiest thing in the world? Yeah. Not for me. Not right now. I hate this.


Turns out all those crunching sounds that I've heard in my knee for years has been what they call runner's knee. Commonplace among runners and overweight people. Well, I'm not in the runner category in case you didn't know. Actually, while I've had this mild, unchecked version of this pain in my knee for at least two years back that I can remember, since I started exercising in like 0-to-60 mode I've had a serious flare-up.

It's treatable with stretches and "quad stengthening" and a brace and ice and Motrin which is fantastic (seriously-it's a mostly free treatment plan). I also will actually have to bounce LESS in HHH class and focus on not too much resistnence on my favorite elliptical.  I can't avoid The Stairs at least twice a day; however, I've been using the railing to ease things up a bit.   While I've really noticed that my knee pain has eased up as the week of inactivity I feel like the rest of me is rusting inside.  I also miss the extra calories that exersice affords me.  Trying to keep my caloric intake under 1300 is a real pain in the ass.

 
I'm exercising tonight, damnit


-jafg



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Thursday, May 20, 2010

REUNITED (And It Feels So Good)

05/20/10

279.0 lbs

I. Am. So. Happy. Right. NOW!  That's 17.2 lbs off.  I'm almost to a -20 lb milestone.  My  head could explode I'm so happy right now.  I hope it doesn't, but I bet it could. Or, that could be Sinuses.

In case you're wondering and even if you're not, the title today is in honor of my new "decade".  This is the song that reached #1 this week in 1979.  Get it?  '79?  Cute, huh?

And oddly appropriate, too.

-jafg



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Monday, May 17, 2010

Cause and Effect

05/17/10

285.0 lbs

Damnit.

I am seriously considering a water fast.  At least for 24 hours.  I need SOMETHING to jumpstart the weightloss again.  I want SO badly to see the 70's I can't stand it! 



I've had three days of business travel hell.  I got up at 4:30 AM Wednesday morning and got home at 12:10 AM Friday night.  Well, actually, that would be Saturday morning.  What. A. Nightmare.  I was going to DC which is one of my all time fave places, but didn't get to enjoy the location once.  Sadface.

I have learned that two things affect food decisions:  Exhaustion and hangovers.

I was thrilled that I was making healthy choices on the food front.  I had a mushroom, mozzerrella, spinach sandwich (eating little bread) for lunch, and a mostly sensible dinner considering I was at a "dinner reception" and had no choice on the menu.  I did skip breakfast and had lunch in my room on Thursday which consisted of roasted peppers, spinach, feta and hummus on crostini (6 mini pieces) and a garden salad, dressing on the side.  I had a martini or two for dinner. 

I should tell you that I was meeting someone (two someones to be specific) for a business drink at the lobby bar and could find NOTHING healthy to snack on on the menu so I passed.  I have not partaken of more than one drink at a time since the big 30 party for SAG last month.

So, there I was, sitting at the lobby bar, waiting on my business persons to arrive.  I was early (shocker) and they were late (another shocker).  Well, I decided to have a beverage (cosmo) prior to their arrival.  Holy Moly. I hadn't had a cosmo that good in I can't remember. Truly.  Well, I'm finishing up my drink when the business duo arrives.  They order a round, as business people do, and before I know it, I'm on Martini #3. 

I have to go to the ladies' and at the point of walking to the ladies' and walking back, I realize that I have had nothing to eat for hours, what I did have to eat is long gone and I have had three of the strongest martinis ever served in DC.  Rookie Mistake.

Well, I went to bed early that night. 

I woke up Friday not feeling quite so great.  I had room service for breakfast.  That would be 2 eggs scrambled with cheese (most of it left on my plate) two pieces of bacon (all left on the plate) a carrot-raisin muffin (top eaten) and the best toasted bagel with cream cheese anb butter I've ever eaten.  Yeah, I ate the whole bagel.  With shmear and all! Oh, I also had two glasses of soymilk. 

I had a late flight and nothing to do with my luggage so I headed to the airport early.  At this point, I'm tired, perhaps slightly hungover, and just wanting to get home.  I ate dinner there.  I had a burger and fries.  And a coke.  So, 10 hours after getting to the airport, I finally land.  I'm taking a cab home and, I can't believe this, I asked him to drive through McD's because I'm hungry again.  I ordered a fish filet combo with a water.  I feel good about that water. 

I slept most of the day on Saturday and ordered a thin crust veggie pizza for dinner.  Sunday I was back on track.  I worked out with The Moms and had a very healthy food day and bought groceries for the next few weeks.  Publix had the most awesome icecream on sale...it's actually a Gelato.  Everything was healthy in my basket excepting those icecreams which were a B.O.G.O.F. deal.

I had a small scoop of that last night.

And I wonder why this weight isn't moving.


-jafg



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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

An Unlikely Unexpected Milestone/Goal/Amazing Moment

05/11/10

283.2 lbs

I didn't weigh again.  I just used my weight record from earlier today.

I never post more than once a day.  Sometimes I don't even post once a day.  But I have something special to share with you and I couldn't wait.  Plus the next three days are going to be full of a work conference.

I left work early today to get my final preps for the trip.  I took advantage to get in a good workout before the plane tomorrow.  I decided to push my elliptical time from 30 to 45 minutes.  I also set it on the "weight loss" program rather than the "cross trainer" I've been using for the past few times. 

I noticed on Sunday that I was hitting 2 miles in my 30 minutes.  I never really kept track of my distance, I'm more interested in working up a sweat and keeping myself from falling off the machine. Well, I was noticing that I was about to hit a mile and clicked over to see how fast I had done it.  I wasn't expecting very fast (for me) since I was pacing myself for the 45 minutes and the change in the intensity of the levels.  I did it in less than 15 minutes.  And then, mile 2...in 28 minutes.  Well, I started thinking.

I have 45 minutes set on the timer.  I've been killing a mile in 15 minutes.  Hmm.  A 5K is 3.2 miles.  Hmm.  I could do a 5K today.  Why not?

So my friends, guess what I did as a spur of the moment?  I did a 5K this afternoon. In 47.7 minutes. I don't know if it counts when you're on exercise equipment, but I did it nonetheless.

Go me!

-jafg



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It Is What It Is

05/11/10

283.2 lbs

I've known this week was coming all year.  I fly tomorrow.  I hate flying.  Not the flying so much, but the squishing into airplane seats.  Fortunately, I'll be on a plane for 50 minutes and then on a plane for 2.5 hours.  There's a bit of a break in between.  Not much of one, but still. 

I really wanted to be under 280 lbs for this trip and thought that since I'd been working out for over a month it was a possibility that it may happen.  I've secretly felt like a failure every time I've stepped on the scale this past week because it didn't seem like it was going to happen.  At least after Friday, the trip'll be behind me and all I have to focus on is a healthy diet and exercise. 

So, this weekend I decided I wanted BBQ.  Badly.  So I pile Moms in the car and we head out for this BBQ place.  That's when the crazy insanity ensued.

When I dine out, I always request a table.  I've been in the habit of asking for a table for quite some time now.  It's kinda weird, I used to always ask for a booth.  The idea of sitting at a table in the center of the aisle always bugged me.  Made me feel like a spotlight was on me and my food.  Then I hit adulthood and could sit in the bars.  Well sometime after that I realized that booths were no longer really comfortable.  This, in case you haven't guessed, is because my girth had grown.  That's right, there wasn't enough space between me and the table.

At first this was a slow realization.  I'd be sitting with friends and think that the table was farther away from one side than the other and somehow I'd always sat on the small side.  I'm a lefty which predetermines where I sit (most of the time).  I thought perhaps restaurants thought leftys were skinnier and needed less space. 

Then, I tried the seat swap.  You'll never guess what happened.  I was WRONG.  One side of the booth was not smaller than the other!  Well, once that happened, I then was forced with the realization that it was me that was bigger than the seat space.  Great. 


image totally pirated from imdb.com (<==love that site)

Of course, this picture is talking about the grown-up who goes back to elementary school, but you get the idea.

Since then, I've overcome my spotlight feeling (and learned to love it really) at a table and always know to specify prior to seating.  Of course, ocassionally, I get ribbed by my friends..."what's up high maintenance?"...to which I give a hearty gafaw and move on with my life because, hey, it's really kinda true anyway.

In the not so distant past, on a night out with BB and SAG, I even tried to sit in a booth.  I actually had to ask the girls to move to a nearby table because it just didn't work for me.  I worked hard to not be embarrased.  I could escape it because these are my workout buddies so they know I'm trying.  It was still a little mortifying but the girls handled it like champs not giving one peep of snarkiness. 

Well, this brings us back to Saturday.  Moms and I get to the BBQ place and we can either instantly be sat at a booth or wait 20 minutes for a table.  I spy one outside, a table that is, and decide to sit out there.  The day is nice enough and the sun isn't going to be in our eyes.  Well, I get out there and realize that the table is cemented to the wall.  And to add to that, this is an end table so there's no possibility of moving the chairs to adjust the space.  Moms sits down.  It's kinda tight because the very skinny people at the table next to us are pushed back and talking.  Well, that's taken care of with a simple "excuse me" and we're back to me.  I'm staring at this seat.  This very small crevice of a space they're calling a seat.

I squeeze myself into the space and I've got like a roll and a half poking over the table.  I feel humiliated.  It's almost to the point that I begin to feel punished.  I know no one is looking at me but I felt like they were.  All stress-inducing feelings are bubbling up so fast I know my face is turning red.  Or maybe it was the fact that my circulation was being cut off at the waist.  Either way, it's evident on my face that I'm an unhappy girl.

Moms quietly asks, "do you want to leave?" to which I can't reply "Yes" fast enough.  There'd be no way I could eat anything served to me at this place. 

Poor Moms.  It's like when she tried to teach me how to drive a Standard.  There was never so much cursing and swearing and yelling and spitting-ok, maybe there wasn't any spitting-in a car since that fateful Sunday afternoon oh so many years ago.  She took it like a champ.  It wasn't directed at her, it was just all those irrational feelings gushing out like some nasty infection. 

Well, after driving her around half of Smaller Southern City, we wind up at another restaurant with excellent chicken and ribs.  We valet the car (I wasn't kidding on the high maintenance part) and as soon as we're greeted I lay down the table law. With a smile on my face of course. 

Moms and I sit down, I order a martini and she orders her glass of wine.  The world is right again. 

And then there's tomorrow on a plane.

Is 6:30am too early to drink?

-jafg



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Monday, May 10, 2010

I Heart You, Mom!

05/10/10

283.4 lbs

Over the weekend Scale told me I was at 286.2 lbs.  WHAT. THE. HELL.  There's a whole mental saga that played out over the next two days but the end of the story is, I kicked my own ass, stopped feeling sorry for myself, and have changed my thinking to "every workout is last chance workout". 

So, Mom's day was G-R-R-R-ATE (I'm using phonix, friends).  Moms and I had sushi for dinner, botanical gardens for a day trip, an awesome brunch compliments of Chez JAFG, and I treated my mom to a morning workout.  I was very excited about this last one.  She's my cheerleader about losing weight and getting healthy and wants to do the same thing.  It was really exciting to share this with her.  Actually, I'm surprised by how happy it made me to have her participate in this part of my life. 


My mom's a bigger woman like myself.  We're built completely different; She's a pear, I'm an apple.  I've got two inches on her 5'4" self.  I'm "olive-complected", she's "fair-skinned".  We have the same laugh and a lot of the same subconscious mannerisms and as soon as I realize that we're doing something alike at the same time I can't help but smile to myself. I get annoyed and amused at the same time.

Referring back to this weekend, I gained weight.  Scale told me so two days in a row.  I did A LOT of dining out with Moms and did no working out Friday or Saturday.  As a matter of fact, I did nothing really, but sleep and eat on Saturday.  More on that some other time.

Sunday morning, I wake up and decide to have coffee ready for Moms.  When she woke up, I asked her to workout.  She was totally down with trying the recumbent bike at Concierge Gym.  So, we changed into workout gear and headed out. 

She's a very young 53 years of age.  She's got serious left knee problems (to the point that she takes The Stairs one step at a time), was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2002 and now has arthritis starting in.  All of this with serious allergic asthma.  So this working out thing is a big deal. 

She's talked with some physical therapists who have told her to get her knee moving with NO impact (thus the recumbent bike) to get the joint lubrication forming/flowing.  She's supposed to take it easy on the walking front.  We got her on a bike for 15 minutes at level 1.  Woohoo! 

She also did some resistance work on the Circuit machines with her arms.  She was sore this morning, but we got out there again.  Go Moms!  We've got to take it easy because of all the challenges she has health-wise.  I want to make sure she's not doing something that will ultimately exacerbate anything and make the situation worse.  This got me thinking.

So, I was reading my blogroll came across 282.5 which I hadn't read in quite some time (Sorry Jo, and congrats on your freakin fantabulous progress!) and found a reference to a "real age" test.  This one was a free service from http://www.realage.com/.  I've been wanting to take one and so I used 20 minutes of my day and answered the questions honestly.  It was great being able to tell it how much  I exercise on a weekly basis. And then I got my results. 



Actually, I'm pretty stoked about the fact I made it in under 40.  I figured it would be like my first Wii age.  75.  Yeah.  Nice. 

What got me is that the thing told me my workouts are too intenseI couldn't believe it when I read it.  According to this lengthy assessment, my joint pain I've been experiencing isn't just because I've never moved so much in my life, it's because I'm pushing myself too hard.  I started to connect the proverbial dots between Moms and me and I realized that, just like I don't want her pushing herself too much, I, too, shouldn't want me to push myself too much.  I'm really relieved which is also surprising.  I want to keep a level of intensity that will keep the fat burning happening, but I want my knees to feel better, too. 

I think I've been trying to show all the skinny kids in my classes and gym (including SAG and BB) that I can keep up with the rest of them.  That just because I'm fat doesn't mean that I can't do what they can.  I don't think it's been intentional, I think it's been subconsciously happening. 

Like the way Moms and I both get sassy with one hand on our hips.  And then quickly move our hands when we realize what we're doing.  At the same time.  It's annoying.  And funny.

I HEART YOU, MOM!


-jafg



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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Public Service Announcement

05/05/10

282.5 lbs

Honestly, I don't remember what came after the point so I'm splitting it down the middle and calling it a .5.  Don't hold it against me.

Do you know what today is?  If you said Cinco de Mayo, you're wrong.  I mean, you're right, but you're wrong. 

Today is Love Another Blogger Day.  (<==for me anyway)

Last night I was catching up on my blog reading and came across two blogs that are kinda opposite ends of the spectrum.  One had a success and one had a fail.  In the universe of diet karma, these seem to cancel each other out, but in fact, I believe the success happened so it could be an encouragement to the one that failed.

Here's blog #1  It's All About The Walls.  This is my friend Amanda who has been sitting at a plateau for weeks.  In her blog she maps out how things coulda gone wrong and she coulda thrown in the towel and quit.  She didn't, she just waited, albeit not so patiently, and finally, the scale moved and moved in the right direction.  YEA Amanda!  What a break through moment!  If you're a habitual dieter as I have been in the past, you'll know that plateaus SUCK EGGS.  So, finally pushing through one (and by 2 pounds even!) is like nothing short of a miracle.

Then there's blog #2 It's just Me, Drazil & Sheniqua.....This is my new friend "Me".  Well, actually, there's a trio rolled into one here I think of her as Drazil most of the time.  Anyway.  Reportedly, there's been a scale buster  in Drazilland and that is never fun.  Not seeing a scale move is one thing, but to see it move in the wrong direction is another.  This is a hard working girl who's busted her "patootie" to get where she is and even has rewarded herself with a tummy-tuck at the end of it all.  And now, after a month of little life things, there's some gain-age on the homefront.  I don't know how much, but really, is there any gain-age that makes us happy on the scales? 



If you watch The Biggest Loser and follow the tweets like #TBL or #BiggestLoser, then you're bound to know about all the insane crying that happens when the show is on. Now kids, if you don't know this by now, I am not one to really appreciate any emotional display other than snarkiness or ranting. However, that damn show has brought me to near hysterics for three weeks in a row!!!! I've been trying to figure out why because I haven't been sad OR happy when the waterworks have begun. I figured it out last night.

I am touched by the genuine feelings these contestants are sharing. Now, I'm not tearing when they're tearing. Actually, when someone else cries on TV, I get a little annoyed. I'm tearing at the stories, the triumphs, the struggles, the overall genuine real humanity of a weightloss battle. Well, that's what's going on here. A little genuine dose of reality in the bloggin world.

My bloggin heart really loves these ladies and all the blogs that I stalk or read occasionally.  I think that those of us who have good days are here to encourage those of us who don't have good days.  I am willing to bet that for every bad day, there's a good day to match it and that's where we should get our strength, encouragement, motivation, and overall warm fuzzies. 

Amanda, meet Drazil.  Drazil, meet Amanda.  You two need each other right now.  And we all need you!

There.  I've done my good deed for the day.

-jafg



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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Calorie Girl

05/04/10


283.4 lbs

I have to get on an airplane next Wednesday morning and I'm hoping to break into the 70's by then. I was really hoping for a solid 275 lbs, but I don't know if that's still doable now. We'll keep trying.

Sit back and relax. This is gonna be a long one.

Ok, so I've not been a healthy feeling JAFG the past few days. I even missed work yesterday which means I missed HHH class last night. I am all sadfaced about missing my workout last night. When I go back on Wednesday it’ll feel like starting from day 1 again. I hate that. I am planning on working out tonight. I need to stay in the habit.

I did go to workout on Friday which gave me a great sense of accomplishment. Go Me! I actually got in 70 work-out minutes. It felt great.

I had every intention of working out over the weekend, but I just wasn't up for anything requiring me to be outside of the abode. I felt all ick. The only reason I went out Sunday was because I was gonna have to start sharing cat food with Kitty and I'm pretty sure he'd see me starve and wither first. Saturday I added a plant to my patio garden and didn't do pretty much anything else.

Oh, I did order pizza. I got two medium thin crust pizzas actually (Domino's had a 2-pizza-2-topping-5.99-each special). It could be considered 4 pizzas because I got each half with a different 2-topping combination. Genius, really. I don't know why I haven't thought about this before.

Pizza one: One half pepperoni and mushroom (which, if you haven't learned by now, is my favorite), one half ham and pineapple (something I haven't tried since I was a kid and thought I'd try it again...now I remember why I haven't tried it since I was a kid), both sides with bell pepper. Pizza two: One half mushroom and black olives, one half spinach and feta, both sides with onion and white sauce. Yes, that's order craziness, but I placed the order online to cut out some of the possibility of mayhem. I'm sure someone somewhere in the process thought I must be high. I assure you I was not.

Now, before you start thinking that I had a pizza pig-out fest, I ate on that for two days. That's like 3 meals. One dinner, one breakfast and one lunch. Yom.

On Sunday I went to the grocery. I got all sorts of mad healthy foods. I almost bought a half a pound cake. Which still weighed at least a pound. You know the ones with the hole in the middle of them? Yeah, I had it in my basket. I was super craving on something that tasted like it was from the naughty list. Ever get those cravings? (That's a rhetorical question.)

Then I saw these "day old bakery" bran muffins and thought, "hmmm, perhaps I should be a little more responsible with my splurging and save some money". So I placed the pound cake back on the table and meandered over to the bran muffins. There were 4 in the carton. I read the nutrition label and turns out each muffin has almost 500 calories. Each. Each! W. T. H. This is supposed to be a healthy alternative. My breakfast from Panera last week had fewer calories than that. And it had cheese in it! So, pass on the bran muffin.

What I opted for was a little 12 ounce size cup filled with mini cookies with m&ms. Also, I got one 1.74 oz package of peanut m&ms. I had the cookies Sunday night and the peanut m&ms last night. All this is logged in my myfitnesspal food diary. With the pizza. Also, I did not exercise this weekend. And I stayed home from work yesterday. And I still managed to drop poundage.

So, I have to tell you about a dinner I had last night. (I am SO looking forward to the leftovers tonight). I even took a picture of the recipe card so you could all share in this feast of goodness.

I had garlic-lime chicken fajitas. Yum yum yum yum Yum! Greatest thing about it, no prepackaged anything which means you control all the salt and stuff that goes in it. I varied this by adding mushrooms to the onion mix and went easy on the peppers) and cooking spinach on the side (just sautéed in some water). Also, I used non-fat Greek yogurt as a condiment. Have I said Yum, yet? I had one chicken breast in two fajita wraps and added the spinach to the fajita (just cooked it on its own, didn’t want to lose that “spinach” flavor). McCormack has a “spice pack” where all the spices are measured out for you. I found mine (completely by accident) at Publix. If you don’t have a Publix, don’t worry, the recipe tells you the exact measurements of each spice. You should go out right now and try this.



I must say, being off the exercise routine and still watching what I ate was a great life lesson for me. I even had little splurges and delivery and as long as I kept everything in check, I felt like a real person eating real food. I mean, I’m not eating diet food. I’m eating healthy food, lean meats, lots of veg, watching calories. The healthful food isn’t all that much of a change. But, I’ve never been a calorie girl.

I’m not obsessive, just health conscious. I now know that a vodka/soda beverage is way better than a long island iced tea when I’m out. Things like that really make a difference!



-jafg




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