Vacation Strategery

Last year around this time I wrote a post about being nervous to break my exercise routine to go on vacation for a week. Turns out my fears were justified, as not only did I break routine as planned but then also proceed to fall off the wagon in a spectacular way. As in a ten-month break. Heh heh…oops.

THIS time however, I’m not worried. The progress and changes I’ve seen in the past month and a half are more than enough to keep my motivation intact and regardless of what happens next week, I know I’ll be getting right back to good habits as soon as I get home. But me being me, I can’t help but be a leetle bit wary and so in order to quiet the voices a little I’ve come up with a couple of ways to keep myself in check while I’m gone.

1. Grocery trip – I’ll be staying with my best friend whose house has always been a second home to me. I feel more than comfortable making a quick stop to the grocery the first night I’m there and stocking up on some things I’ve been eating to keep things at least somewhat consistent. Bonus: she’s also been working at losing weight lately (15 lbs and counting – woo, Grace!) so that we’re in the same mindset for being conscious about food right now. That always helps.

2. Restaurant eating – Obviously vacation = eating out, but I’ve gotten enough practice with this to know how to deal with it: If possible, don’t wait until I’m starving. Order salad (with the dressing of course on the side) and load up on that first. Don’t act like it’s the last good meal I’m ever going to have. No mental flogging if I decide to get a Coke with a meal. There are just certain things Coke makes perfect and I’ve made my peace with that.

3. Bottled water – Have you ever tasted Florida’s water? The flavor is a unique combination of chlorine and farts and unless you’ve lived there several years and have gotten used to it, it’s a very jarring thing. I’m buying cheap bottled water before my trip and will keep a bottle with me at all times. It’s been a challenge for me to drink enough of it on weekends, so this will also be a way to try and keep track and attempt to get enough every day.

4. Walking – I don’t expect to get an official one in every day, but I’m going to try to get at least couple in throughout the week. One thing I’m keeping in mind is that I won’t be sitting at a desk all day but will be more active anyway, and shopping burns calories too! Especially back-to-school shopping with a 15-year-old, damn.

5. Scale – This is probably going to sound psycho, but I’m bringing my scale. One of the most rewarding things about this has been seeing the numbers diminish and even though it doesn’t happen every day, it’s now part of my daily routine. I don’t expect to lose weight on vacation, nor is that my goal. But I think it’ll be a small way to make me feel like I’m still in control and it will eliminate the stress of coming home and weighing in that first scary time. Okay that still sounds insane, but if I can’t share with you guys who can I share with?

6. Fuggetaboutit – You may think these things are silly; I kind of do. But none of it will cost me a whole lot of time or energy and I feel a lot better about anything when I go in with a plan. However, regardless of whether any of these things make any difference whatsoever, it’s a VACATION. I’ve waited for it for a long time, I’m really darn excited about it and my first priority is to have fun. That’s one goal I know I’ll be successful achieving.

Scheduling Woe

Ideal Schedule
6.30: wake up
7.20: leave for work
5.10: arrive home
5.15-6.00: exercise
6.05-7.00: make dinner
7.00-7.30: eat dinner
7.30-9.45: chores, life enjoyment, whatever
9.45/10.00: bedtime

How often this happens: never.

Six Week Update

More observations.

– As of this morning I’m down a little over eight pounds. Somehow I lost 2.5 pounds this week, but that’s more than the average, which has been more like 1 to 1.5 per week. I’ll TAKE. IT.

– I’ve heard for every ten pounds that goes you go down one size, give or take. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but I’m definitely back in size 10’s when before the 12’s were starting to get too tight. It’s so hard to see the small changes since you spend all your time with yourself that the clothes thing, for me anyway, is a really good indicator that shows me yes, something is actually happening.

– My rings are a lot looser and that’s been really exciting; for awhile there the wedding rings were leaving scary indentations I thought were going to be permanent.

– A couple of months ago I would’ve said we barely eat out, and whether I invoked Murphy’s Law or I just have a really twisted sense of what we do, it seems as though there’s been social eating EVERY WEEKEND since I started this. To deal with it, I’ve employed some interesting strategies: wearing clothes that start out restrictive before the meal and become downright painful if the meal becomes too large, increasing my water intake from just a lot to ridiculous, and conversationally steering people away from discussing what I am or am not eating.

– It is a special kind of torture on some of my evening walks when the breeze picks up the smell of beef cooking over a grill; it literally causes me to salivate. And on a morning walk the other day I actually smelled bacon, which was just sick and wrong.

– I’m finding I actually look forward to whatever exercise I’m doing on any particular day. My back doesn’t hurt nearly as much getting out of bed in the morning. My skin is breaking out a little from sweating so much, but you know what? REALLY not a biggie. I don’t know if it’s endorphins or what, but whatever it is, I feel really good. I don’t know why, but I’ve got back the feeling like I’m looking forward to something. I’m not quite sure what that something is, but it’s a really cool feeling to have.

I Love You But GTFO

I’ve been enjoying working out at home with Jillian and all, but as we know variety is the spice of life (especially when you’re not eating very many spices – nevermind, that was just bad). I was looking around yesterday afternoon on the Exercise On Demand channel to see what all was there and was surprised to find a lot of cool stuff. Pretty much anything you’d want from a home work-out is right there on TV, which hello – probably should’ve paid attention to that awhile ago, but I’m here now so okay.

Brian had come home but then gone back out to go check on someone’s yard or whatever; something work-related. I was sitting there flipping through different things when it hit me: he’s not home right now. You are alone, with no eye witnesses but the dog and he doesn’t usually say anything. I didn’t know how long he was going to be gone so I quickly threw on some exercise clothes and sneakers and cranked up “Cardio Boot Camp.” I did a few other things as well, just playing around to try to get a feel for what’s there and also to try to get in an actual workout.

For about forty-five minutes I jumped around and followed whatever they were doing, trying to picture how it would be if Brian was sitting there on the couch like he normally is when I’m doing Jillian (that came out wrong but whatever). I concluded I would’ve felt super dumb. If you’ve ever seen me try to dance, you know a little where I’m coming from. Remember Elaine from Seinfeld? Yeah I wish I was that good. But the thing is, it’s FUN to incorporate a little dancing in with your cardio and I damn sure had fun doing it no matter how stupid it probably looked.

Is it silly for me to be this way? Yes. Does that make it any less real? No.

It’s okay though. From now on my sneakers will be nearby and ready to bust an impromptu move whenever the opportunity presents itself.

For the record…

I was about to clear out my iPod’s timer log this morning when I decided to hold off.  I use my iPod as my stopwatch for my runs, and I hadn’t cleared it for several weeks.  I suddenly thought, “Hmm, maybe I should keep a record of this…

3.5 mile runs

June 23	0:44:14
June 24	0:42:20
June 30	0:41:11
July 2	0:39:49
July 7	0:40:49
July 8	0:40:57
July 12	0:39:27

6 mile runs

June 26	1:08:19
July 3	1:11:24
July 5	1:07:27
July 10	1:07:23

The 3.5 mile times are slow, definitely, but it’s also a seriously hilly 3.5 miles, so I’m comfortable with relative suckitude there.

The six-milers are somewhat deceptive, since I have to cross a highway and there may or may not be a wait involved there.  The six-mile runs essentially start with the hardest part of the 3.5 mile run, and end with a relatively long flat section, a long steady hill, and then another mostly flat (slightly uphill) segment.

Know what else makes a big difference?  The temperature.  It’s a hell of a lot easier to keep going when it’s 70 degrees versus 80…

But there ya go.  My times are now out there for the world to see whether I’m getting any better or just spinning my shoes.

Cardio Perfection

(NSFW)

Kill Jill

Come on Baby Make it Hurt So Good

Oh hell, here she goes again with the Jillian crap. Please bear with me; I promise I’ll keep it brief.

I have what I consider a fairly significant amount of weight I’d like to lose, as in when all is said and done, hopefully thirty-fiveish pounds. So for now I’m concentrating mostly on cardio in order to shrink a little before I worry about tightening and toning. I love weights, I’ve seen what weights can do for me (and my butt), and I’ll be reuniting with them eventually. For the past month all I’ve pretty much done is walk, with a little jogging thrown in. I call it Bikram Walking, because of how our weather has been for the past month. I’d love to be Bikram Biking but I still don’t yet own a bicycle. I make myself laugh. I can feel Crisitunity’s eye-roll from all the way down here.

Oy, what happened to keeping this brief?

ANYWAY, we all know how much I love the 30DS, but since it uses light weights I’m not interested right now. I went to Amazon.com and started researching other Jillian dvd choices and decided to purchase the one you see above. I figured what a treat it would be to only worry about cardio. I figured after a month of fairly strenuous, hot, hilly, 45 – 60 minute walking sessions I could take this dvd and make it my bitch. I have one thing to say to that: Ha. HAHAHAHA.

Seriously, has it been so long that I forgot what a slave-driving, sadistic psycho she was? Apparently so. This work-out is almost fifty minutes long if you count the warm-up and cool down. You need no equipment (although I’ll probably be purchasing a mat here soon) and not too much space. Please clear your exercise area of all breakables (because of the kicking) and pets (Because of the jumping around. If your pet is like mine he has to be all up in your grill every minute of the day and gets irritated when I’m doing something abnormal).

Did I send her telepathic death threats at various times? Yes. Did I curse myself for not doing something like this sooner? Yes. Did I cry? A little. But, and here’s the big but (pun!) – I felt FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC afterwards. That high-pro glow all those healthy people talk about? I had it. Of course I looked like a bright red, sweaty swamp monster, but still.

I would recommend this to anyone who is interesting in a good old-fashioned self ass-kicking.

One Month In

Today is the 30-day mark of my journey back to fitness and so it seemed like a good time to note some thoughts.

– I did some form of exercise for 30 minutes or more every day except for two. I’m pretty sure the last time I managed that was…uhh, never.
– I’m not following any sort of “diet”; all I’m doing is keeping my calorie intake to between 1300 & 1500 every day and trying to keep it balanced with a variety of fruit, veggies, protein, carbs and of course some fat. Just common sensical type stuff.
– I discovered I enjoy exercising outside a lot more than inside, and that’s saying something at this time of year – a time I usually leave the comforts of a/c only when absolutely necessary.
– Kelloggs Fiber Plus cereal and chewy bars are my new reasons for living. Seriously amazing.
– I still can’t hack oatmeal or skim milk.
– One cup of coffee in the mornings, water all the rest of the livelong day. On one occasion a Diet Coke and another day one glass of sweet tea. That’s my complete beverage report for the last month. Holy crap.
– I would rather go without mayo altogether than use anything “lite,” which is what I’ve been doing.
– Surprisingly (to me) that doesn’t apply to all things however; I’m totally fine with some lower calorie cheeses, breads, salad dressings and most shocking of all, Splenda replacing sugar in coffee. I know artificial sweeteners aren’t great but compared to other things I’ve ingested throughout my life, I’m pretty sure it’s quite alrighty.
– I confirmed what I pretty much already knew: My style of eating is I’m a grazer and not a pile-up-my-plater.
– I’ve lost a little over five pounds, which puts me at 155. I was hoping for six but after a week of being derailed with the whole thyroid debacle, I’ll take it. Damn straight I’ll take it, yee-haw!
– Physically I’m a little lighter. Emotionally I’m so much lighter I feel like a helium balloon that was accidentally let go by a sticky-fingered little kid who’s now hysterically crying and reaching for the balloon, but it’s too late because I’m already floating high above and away from the foul-smelling, steamy city and now I’m over rolling green fields dotted with sunflowers and daisies with a big goofy grin on my face and whistling Walking on Sunshine with…nevermind. Wow.

Basically I’m really really happy.

Lesson Learned

Between this blog and my other, I’m sure I’ve mentioned somewhere I suffer from hypothyroidism. If not, I’m officially saying it now. This was discovered during the course of all the testing I had done during the fertility process (pretty much the only useful thing to come out of that whole deal). I was put on the medication Synthroid and instructed to take it EVERY DAY. As in, and this is a direct quote, “If your house is on fire, run back in and grab the bottle.” Okay then. I was also told I’d most likely have to take this medication for the rest of my life. Not a pleasant thought, but whatever – we all know I’m not afraid to take a pill, ha-ha, ZING!

Brian however, is not totally accepting of this idea. It upsets him to think of me having to depend on something like this from now on. He thinks there has to be a natural alternative, some kind of vitamin, mineral, vegetable, animal – anything would be better than something synthetic. I got offended, which wasn’t his intention but sometimes happens anyway, and told him I trust my doctor and for the eight bucks it costs a month I’m okay with this.

Then, a little over a week ago, I ran out of the meds. I called the doctor for a refill and was told she would be out of the office for the next week. For some reason instead of requesting someone else to call in the prescription, I thought, Whatever – I can wait. Maybe Brian’s right; maybe I don’t need this stuff anymore. I’m on such a roll with the healthy living; this’ll be fine.

Meanwhile, I continued to do what I’ve been doing – diligently exercising, consuming vast amounts of water and keeping count of my daily calorie intake. For almost a month this combination had been very successful with slow-but-steady shrinkage. I was losing between 1.5 and 2 pounds a week, very reasonable and satisfying to me.

But then, dun-dun-DUN, something started happening. The scale stopped moving. I figured okay, fine – the first of the dreaded plateaus must upon me. I didn’t let it bother me (too much) and kept on keepin’ on. Healthy food, daily exercise, water, etc. Then something else happened. The scale started going back UP. Like, steadily. Even with the very slight weight training I was doing, I knew it wasn’t that. My non-bathroom using may have also been contributing, but still that couldn’t be all it either.

It finally occurred to me as I was taking a shower and frightening clumps of hair was falling out (another awesome side-effect of a jacked-up thyroid) I realized it had been nine days since I’d last had Synthroid. I felt like punching myself in the mouth. But instead of doing that, I called for the prescription refill and picked it up yesterday morning. I asked the pharmacist about it and he confirmed what I already knew: I need to take the medication every day. Missing one day wasn’t *too* big of a deal – he actually advised NOT going into a burning building to retrieve it – but missing a week is definitely ill-advised. In that short amount of time my metabolism was again messed up.

The good news is it’s quickly fixable and I’ve noticed even just after two days things seem to be back on track with the scale and my hair and things in general. The bad news is that I’ll most likely take the medication every day for the rest of my life.

I’m okay with it.