Move It!

I had never heard of telomeres until Linda Marshall of Elysee Scientific Cosmetics told me about them. She was talking about a new cream (Youthspan) that her company was introducing. She explained that telomeres are the end part of a DNA strand and their length is indicative of a cell’s age. The longer the telomere, the younger it is. As the cell ages the telomere gets shorter until it drops off entirely and that is the end of the cell. This shortening process is aging. Slow or stop that telomere from shortening and the theory is you also slow or stop the aging process. The Youthspan cream she was introducing was designed to preserve that telomere as best it could. Pretty cool!

That was more than a year ago and now the talk of telomeres is everywhere. Linda was also the first person I ever heard talk about Acai which is now everywhere as well. 

There was a very interesting article in the New York Times today talking about the benefits of exercise in maintaining telomere length and I wanted to share:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/phys-ed-how-exercising-keeps-your-cells-young/

Next time I just want to be lazy I think I’ll look at this article. It just offers another reason to get out and MOVE IT.

Then slather yourself with Youthspan Cream (now for face and hands)!

Your telomeres will thank you.

Beware of the Blob!

I am a TV baby. Not so much now, but when I was a kid I consumed many hours worth. We didn’t have video games when I was growing up, but we had TV. Lots and lots of it. Before school, after school, during lunch if I went home for lunch that day. My constant companion. As I got older I’d watch TV well into the night on weekends as my taste had grown beyond cartoons to include “old” movies.

Back in those days, it was years from the theater to the TV for motion pictures so all we had was “old” movies. They were the best! I was fortunate enough to grow up within an area to receive broadcasts (no cable) from two major cities, and I had my on tiny 12” black & white TV from puberty on so there was always something to watch. I especially liked that there were many badly dubbed foreign movies shown in the wee hours, and usually on the weekends we got lots and lots of what we used to call “monster movies”. You really hit the jackpot when you had a badly dubbed monster movie! They were few and far between but there were enough American movies to fill my time.

Of course there was a lot of schlock but there were some gems too.

One that comes to mind is a scary little cheapo called “Horror Hotel”. Young girl studying witchcraft does some spooky research in a weird little town that just so happens to be filled with (GASP!) WITCHES! This thing was made on an obvious shoestring budget, minimal sets….lots and lots of fog, but it creeped me out when I was a kid and still gets me today.

Another goodie was “The Blob”. Certainly less “scary” but still “cool”. Starring Steve McQueen (yep) and that woman who played the teacher on the Andy Griffith Show; they were two teenagers who saved the world after one fateful night battling an ever increasing ball of jelly. Awesome! It even had one heck of a catchy pop theme song. What was not to love?

Well maybe I don’t love that theme song so much. It still beats through my head these many years later and never louder than this morning when I braved not only the scale….but the body fat monitor as well. Beware of the blob INDEED!

What the heck is with my body?

I just do not build lean muscle it seems.

I’ve exercised pretty consistently for more than a year. I’ve lost a lot of weight and my body fat has gone down, but has never even gotten to with 20 percentage points of what is considered healthy for a man. Now I realize this monitor I have is probably not very accurate but even looking at it as a ball park number is still very depressing.

If you’ve followed any of this you know I have put on some weight. Now I know I also packed on a few more percentage points of body fat.

I honestly expected to find that some of my weight gain was in fact muscular. I guess not.

I feel more in shape than ever. I eat more lean protein than ever. I can’t say I look more in shape than ever as I am still covered with that droopy sack that used to be known as my skin, so I was hoping the numbers might give me some encouragement.

Nope.

All I can do is regroup and try something else.

I’m not sure what that is at this point so I have been resorting to the only thing I know: eat better and exercise more. This strategy works to a point but it is that which I have to tweak. I’m thinking I need to exercise “smarter” rather than “more”. That might entail resting more than I do giving my body time to recover and actually build up. It may mean a little more weight training rather than Pilates as my resistance training.

I have to admit I have even been eyeing that anti-fat pill “Alli” but the side effects scare the heck out of me: ie-pooping your pants.

This weekend I promised myself I would finally open the Bodybugg that still sits in box it shipped in. I thinking that maybe, hoping that maybe, if I can see what my body’s metabolism is doing at any given point in time it may actually give me some insight into what I have been doing wrong.

History tells me it will probably just be more depressing news but I think for the moment I am through with my “what ifs” and I am ready for some more facts, depressing or not.

In the meantime I will avoid all mirrors when I am shirtless or more and pray that darn theme song leaves my brain sometime in the next millennium!

Beware of the Blob! It leaps! And creeps! And slides across the floor!

Oh wait. That’s just me.

Proof of Global Warming??

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Carl, Owen: Introduce Yourselves.

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And They Mean it Too!

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The Fat Little Engine That Could (if he really wants to)

If you have been reading my posts lately you know about my post holiday freak out over weight gain. Have I lost it? Am I on the road to bigness? Will I ever fit into anything other than cargo pants? You know, the typical fat person’s lament when they haven’t been totally dealing with their laziness and eating issues in any constructive way.

Maybe I’m being a little glib about the severity of the issues but they are mine so I can be glib if I wanna.

Happily, after forcing myself to get into the pool and on to the Pilates reformer (not at the same time of course) I was thrilled to see a 3.5 pound drop in one week. YAY! That’s a dent in the damage.

At least that gave me a little boost to believe I haven’t lost it and exercise can still play a huge role in helping me get my weight where I want it. Diet plays a huge role too, but frankly I was a little lax in that area and I still eaked out a loss.

What I have to do is NOT “celebrate” when that happens. LOL.

Oh I lost some weight this week, these beers and chips won’t be too bad now.

Oy vey.

I also happened to receive my Bodybugg this week. I got it the day I weighed in.

The gizmo still sits in its shipping box. I bought it during my panic of I NEED SOMETHING TO HELP ME and after discovering I can still (somewhat) rely on myself  the Bodybugg has lost some of its allure.

We’ll see. With the 3 day weekend approaching I may just give in and see what all the fuss is about.

If I do you’ll be the first to know.

In the meantime I gotta get in that pool this afternoon if my recommitment is to continue on track. I am mentally ready. I just hope the old ladies and kids are gone by the time I get there. There is no way to swim laps in a crowded pool.

Just Because it is Edible Doesn’t Mean We Have to Eat It

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Elysee: Best Skin Care Ever!

I just got the following tweet from the President and CEO of Elysee Cosmetics:

Don’t Miss Linda Marshall and Elysee Cosmetics on HSN, Jan 10th at 3pm & 8pm, and Jan 11th at 12pm, 4pm & 9pm!!!! Times listed in EST

I am a big Elysee fan and I am thrilled to see that HSN will be giving over 5 hours of programming to this amazing line.

The company owned and operated by the beautiful (inside and out) Linda Marshall and her family, develops and manufactures their cutting edge products in the great sate of Wisconsin.

Everything they produce is designed to actively produce benefits with formulas grounded in real science. Use one or two of their products or use them all. If you are tired of skin care that never lives up to its claims you owe it to yourself to try Elysee.

And no I don’t work for them or have any affiliation other than being a loyal fan.

Check them out with the link on the right or go to www.hsn.com.

NSFW

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Just Say “HO!”

Well I derailed my comeback for a little bit by deciding to celebrate “Russian Christmas” last night. Hey I missed the one on the 25^th and like Auntie Mame I really was in need of a little Christmas. So I relaxed in the evening and in grand holiday tradition had a little too much food and drink. Being the old fart I am, getting out of bed this morning was not easy. The night long indigestion kept me tossing and turning all night.

It made me remember that when I was heavier, I pretty much lived that way every day and night. Never again I tells ya!

On the brighter side, I did spend the early part of the evening going through all the multitudes of packets and meal replacements that I have accumulated over the last year. Amazingly very little of it had expired so I was glad to be able to cobble together 7 days worth of Medifast food. It is mainly puddings and soups but all perfectly edible. I also had several boxes of Medifast puffs and crackers as well as a box of old “green” bars.

Those bars surprised me with their high sugar content; 11 grams if I remember correctly. And not “carbs” but “sugar”. I guess I’ll use them when I need a candy fix….if they aren’t totally stale already. I couldn’t find an expiration date on them.

I also have a whole lot of SECURE shakes by Andrew Lessman. Anyone ever try them? These are from my pre-Medifast days of trying to use meal replacements to lose weight. They are just “ok”. They are very watery to me and only have 7 grams of protein. I think they are also only about 70 calories so they aren’t very substantial. I hate to throw them out as they weren’t cheap but I’m not sure how I would work them into my daily meal plans. Maybe mix two together to make a meal?

I’m still not sure what approach I am going to use to deal with the holiday weight. Two pounds lost before yesterday’s binge, btw. Since I have a week’s worth of Medifast food I may actually do a cleansing week on the 5+1 and then take it from there. In the meantime I’ll just try to monitor my caloric intake and continue with my daily exercise and wait for the arrival of my Bodybugg (which UPS tracking tells me is Tuesday).

Anyhoo it is Friday and the weekend looms. It will probably be filled with repacking decorations and cleaning up some paperwork I’ve been meaning to get to.

Before the weekend is out I mostly hope to have swum (that’s a word right?) for 2 hours and completed 30 minutes of Pilates.

I also hope to gather together all of the holiday junk…er…I mean….goodies….left and haul it all in to the office next week just to get it out of the house. Surprisingly the people at work never seem to get their fill of chocolates and fruit cake.

Ho, Ho, HO!