Monday Cat Blogging

Monday Cat Blogging

Off Track

I come in contact with a lot of people at work. I have conversations with them, my shoulder gets cried on, I get yelled at, I shake hands, and I get a few unavoidable hugs. Some of these people don't practice the best hygiene and many of them shuffle around with all kinds of cold and flu germs. So...I get em. My immune system is actually quite strong but, once in a while, I catch a doozy of a bug and it just lays me out for a couple of weeks.

Oh, I keep going to work. To my mind, calling in sick means that you basically can't get out of bed. Plain old not feeling good is not a valid reason to me not to perform my duty. Yet not feeling good has been my norm for quite a few days now. Along with feeling pukey I've not been paying much attention to my diet. And exercise? Forget it.

Thus, for the last two weeks, I've gone off track with everything. Still lost some weight but it's probably due more to dehydration than fat going away. I'm not back up to feeling 100%. I may just have to chalk this down as a vacation from my fitness goal and regroup and restart later.

Breathe Easy

Driving around as I do on Saturdays when I'm at work. Mostly it's an easy, laid-back day. I go visit somebody there. Go check up on somebody at another place. Drive, drive, drive....listen to the radio....think about my upcoming days off....just truckin' like the Do-Dah Man with the window down and enjoying a nice spring day.

Whilst driving down one road this afternoon; however, I notice a whole bunch of fire trucks and police cars converge on an intersection and people proceed to run in several directions at once. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I drove right beside the tank that had fallen off the trailer in the photo above. It was full of anhydrous ammonia and the valve had evidently broken off.

I caught a lung full which felt like somebody had hit me in the chest with a baseball bat. Then I was unable to keep my eyes open. I floored my pickup and made a very sharp turn, fumbling to turn the air conditioning on full blast to clear out the air in my cab. The whole thing lasted no more than a few seconds but it seemed to be enough time for me to think to myself "If I don't get out of here now, I'm going to pass out and die" and "I hope I don't drive into another car or a house or some poor sap on the sidewalk".

I didn't die and I managed to keep from killing somebody else. It did get me thinking about what's important. I had all kinds of important things in my mind before I came alongside the broken tank. After all...I have an important job doing important stuff. I have a lot of important thoughts to think.

Except when I took a whiff of the ammonia. Then, like magic, the only thing I was able to focus on was getting my next breath.

Zen masters call it a moment of clarity.

Monday Cat Blogging

But...they do it on TeeVee

I watch the Biggest Loser, yes I do. Great drama. Inspirational. An all around entertaining show in which I look forward to watching each and every week. I really get amazed at the weight losses. Ten pounds or more a week. A contestant who loses only four or five is considered a slacker.

Then I look at my challenge and see that I've lost a total of 1.8 lbs since I started three weeks ago. One-point-eight! WTF?

Here's the difference. In the first place, those guys on the Biggest Loser are immense. Not overweight, not obese; freaking three, four, or more hundred pounds. I think one contestant this year was over 500 lbs. It's not muscle either, so doing any activity at all and cutting calories down to sane levels is bound to shed a lot of weight in a big hurry. Secondly, the contestants on that show work out, with trainers, a minimum of six hours every day. They have nothing else to do....no job, no family, basically no life.

So am I happy with my piddling loss so far?

Nope. But I'm considering that I'm probably losing the weight at about the same speed that I gained it in the first place. I also have one big advantage over any biggest loser....my pounds will stay gone.

Monday Cat Blogging

Cardio Day

I had a plan of running along the trail that is close to my home. That was the plan. Now, I don't know. I will not have an opportunity to go to the gym for another 32 hours... at least.

Maybe if I just walk very fast everywhere I go today?

Losing It In All The Wrong Places

Well...this is a fine how do ya do! After two weeks I'm finally noticing some significant changes in my body. I'm getting smaller...yes I am...there are parts of me that are slimming down very nicely. Trouble is, it's not particularly where I want to be slimmer. I'm losing weight on my feet like crazy; so much so that I can barely keep my shoes on through the day. I also seem to be getting thinner fingers as my wedding ring feels on the verge of falling off.

But my belly? Oh...it's still sticking out there to beat the band.

Monday Cat Blogging

Compromise

I happen to like rice. It's easy to prepare, cheap, nutritious, non-fattening, and goes well with just about anything. The common wisdom; however, is to eat brown rice rather than white. Trouble is....I don't particularly like brown rice. Oh, I can eat it and I can tell myself that it's better for me than the fluffy white rice while I'm spending several minutes trying to chew a mouthful, but there is no joy in the meal. One thing I have learned is that, if I don't like what I'm eating, I'll quit eating it eventually and most likely will find something else that is not so good for me. So I compromised. I've mixed half and half of brown rice with some sticky sushi rice. The blend is perfect, giving me the best of both.

And I think this is the secret to sucess on any type of planned eating. I see a lot of people go on diets that are all about exclusions. Don't eat this. Never eat that. I see a lot of people fail those diets because....let's be honest....those that need to diet do so because they LOVE to eat. I just feel that you do not have to give up the pleasure of food in order to be healthy.

Monday Cat Blogging

The end of my first week on the BFL challenge sees me with 214 lbs. Not exactly going in the right direction as far as weight loss, but I feel a bit better.

Start

Yesterday was my first day in starting a 12-program. I've decided to get down to basics and go back to Body for LIFE. I've also decided that I didn't particularly like putting up before photos of myself for all my readers to gag on...so I spared everybody the especially horrifying parts.

I'm not in as bad of shape as I have been in the past. My weight is 213 lbs, which is much lower than it was at the first of the year. I lack a great deal of muscle tone so, though I've lost about twenty pounds, I'm basically just a slightly smaller version of myself rather than physically fit. That's kind of why I went back to BFL with it's emphasis on weight training as an integral part of the whole process of losing weight. I did an upper body workout yesterday and pushed it to my limits...which wasn't much, but I'm hoping that ceiling gets higher every week. Today is cardio and I thought that I would do some fast walking for a couple of miles.

Oh....and I felt comfortable being at the YMCA. I made the right decision.

Sweet Little Lies

Twenty of them actually. Sweatshirts. Large and bulky, great for hiding the gut and helping me to ignore being overweight and out of shape. I wear these almost exclusively. My favorites are the XXLT sizes.

Trouble is...as the weather gets warmer...it gets a bit harder to keep wearing them. There is a reason why they are called sweatshirts. With the onset of Spring and temperatures climbing into the 80's, the little lie that I tell myself and others that I wear these shirts because they are comfortable starts to appear somewhat delusional.

Easter Cat Blogging

Weighing a Decision

A couple of weeks ago, my membership to Anytime Fitness expired. I hate to mention that I didn't exactly wear out my membership card by using it, but I have goals of getting more into a gym than I have of late. Yet, this was a good time to think about whether I wanted to re-up at Anytime Fitness or try someplace else. I briefly considered some other gym memberships in town but, I've been burned before with gyms that suddenly go out of business leaving you hanging with already paid dues, so I wanted one that I was sure would be around for a good long time. That left me with two...Anytime Fitness and the YMCA.

Both are pretty solid. So I did what I always tell my clients to do when they want to make a choice between two seemingly equal options...I made a pro and con list.

ANYTIME FITNESS pro:

Close to home, less than five minute drive

Clean

Good equipment

Open 24/7

People are serious about fitness

No rug rats running around without parents

Cheapest membership in town

ANYTIME FITNESS con:

A bit small, doesn't take much to make it crowded

A lot of self-appointed trainers

Weight machines and treadmills...that's all

It seems most people can't exercise without talking on their cell phone

YMCA pro:

Three gyms in my town

Good equipment...gobs of it

More people my age

Swimming pool, racket ball court, sauna, shower, locker room etc., etc.

Other people leave you alone and don't try to train you

YMCA con:

A bit of a drive, about 15 minutes without traffic or snow

Membership cost is double of Anytime Fitness.

Sometimes crowded and cannot get on the equipment you want

Lots of people seem to just lounge on the equipment and socialize

Kids playing on the cardio equipment as if they are playground monkey bars

Closes in the evening during the week, shortened hours on Sunday, closed on holidays.

After making the list, I wasn't much closer to deciding. I finally had to go with something that really can't be quantified....I feel comfortable working out at the YMCA. Don't get me wrong; Anytime Fitness is a great place, it's just that I've never felt at ease going there. I can't really explain it other than to say that I don't feel the need to "dress up" to go work out when I've gone to the YMCA.

So, I'm back at the Y.

Monday Cat Blogging

Too Thick

All right, I guess it is possible to make a shake too thick. I'm fiddling around with these, trying to find just the right flavor and consistency for my morning shake..smoothie...whatever you call them. This morning I tried the usual vanilla Myoplex mix with a cup of blueberries, a cup of fat-free milk, and a container of vanilla fat-free yogurt that I had earlier frozen. The result was a super duper thick shake with the added bonus of small chunk of yogurt that my blender couldn't quite handle. It's still pretty tasty but a bit hard to drink so I'm eating it with a spoon like ice cream. Next time I'll try chopping up the frozen yogurt first, maybe use less blueberries, and add a bit more milk.

Monday Cat Blogging

Springtime in Kansas