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Monthly Archives: March 2010
Breaking the Break
All good things must come to an end and so it is with this year’s Spring Break.
No, I am not in school and work continues, but I use the time as an excuse to put my feet up and relax a little and just take time off from the everyday.
For two weeks I hardly exercised (maybe once or twice), took a break from the internet (GASP!), and actually did some of the things I always end up not doing because I never seem to have time.
It has been swell.
Maybe too swell.
And before some bad habits become a lifestyle it is best to bid adieu to the lazy ways of Spring Break and jump back into the daily grind.
It bothers me a little that I enjoyed the break a little more than I thought I would.
I really don’t like that I felt that not working out really gave me a lot of free time. And it did. By not working out I couldn’t believe all the other things I could get done. The last thing I need or want is an excuse not to work out. I just never realized how time consuming having an exercise regimen is. You can’t count just the time you are actually exerting yourself, there is a lot of time used in the getting ready and recovery aspects as well.
But that just can’t become an issue (although it is trying). Physical fitness is non-negotiable, right? It is going to take how long it is going to take and we are to give it all the time it needs.
But oh it was nice to sleep in (past 6am) on a weekend, and watch TV after work with my feet up and no pressing engagements.
The good news is my Body Bugg was recording the whole time I was on break and still reporting a caloric burn of about 2500 calories a day. Not bad for being bone idle.
The British Would Call This “Brilliant!”
And brilliant it is! And British!
They took abandoned animals and put them on postage stamps.
Check it out:
That’ll Wake You Up!
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I Told You So
Her lips were moving and I wanted to scream.
I tried to smile blandly and nod. I guess I was doing it because she wasn’t shutting up. On and on.
Tell me something I don’t know.
Yes I know there is an obesity epidemic in America. Yes I know it is wrong to think of food a reward. Yes I know it starts early with parents giving the kids ice cream and cake to celebrate and to comfort. I’m familiar with the fact that as we get older we tend to get heavier. I realize that exercise and healthy eating go hand in hand in maintaining a healthy weight.
Enough already.
This is the woman who still refers to Medifast as “that liquid shit.”
I might have mentioned her before. She is a good friend from work. And she is a friend even though I am venting about her now.
The entire time I was losing weight she was supportive to my face but not so much when my back was turned. She always (and still) thinks I was crazy to use Medifast because to her it was a textbook example of unhealthy weight loss. Even though she watched me lose almost 150 pounds she still was under the impression that Medifast wouldn’t work and disdainfully referred to it when speaking with others. As she always told me her idea of weight loss was “just workout and eat less.”
Really? Did you just think of that yourself?
As if to drive home the point she almost seemed to eat more to show me what a fool I was for dieting. That could be totally in my head but it really seemed that way. The greasier, the unhealthier, the more calorie laden the better. She would delight in asking for extra salad dressing; dipping each fork full into the pool of (usually) full fat Ranch Dressing. “I can’t eat salad unless it is drenched in dressing.” If meat was on the menu she would see if there was a way to get extra fat. If it was pasta, it was only eaten with butter and cream sauce.
You get the idea. Of course she started putting on weight. Even though she is bean pole skinny, she is very aware of every pound. Mainly because she likes to wear very “young” clothes and very young clothes tend to be cut for the young, not people with middle age spread.
As time went on I lost my weight and went on to trying to maintain. She, however, kept eating.
She is at panic level now. Nothing fits and self deprivation isn’t easy. She is trying but I think she has a very 1970’s idea of what it means to “eat healthy”. Handfuls of trial mix, pistachios and granola might be full of healthy ingredients but they aren’t “diet food” by any stretch. A “good breakfast” will often be toast with peanut butter and honey. Lots of peanut butter and honey. She buys “Healthy Choice” frozen food for lunch but usually caps off eating one by going out and buying more food and having a second lunch.
“I don’t want to diet”, she told me the other day. “I am just going to exercise more.” And she is. But that isn’t easy either. And it may work in your 20’s but once you are passed 40, you really need to add eating well into the equation because that is just the cruel fate of age.
So there she was lecturing me on the poor state of eating in America. ME!
Everything I had said before, everything she had seen me go through; it was now as if none of it had ever happened. She now had the diet fever and was lecturing me. When you get that diet fever you suddenly know it all and will gladly correct anyone who will listen.
I’m glad she is getting worked up because that is what it usually takes to finally change yourself. So I’ll listen to all of her healthful discoveries and be happy at her successes and feel bad when she fails.
But damn if I just don’t want to grab her shoulders and yell a little, I TOLD YOU SO.
The Fat of Now 