We've been really focused, jmeldrum and me, on our individual quests - and we've completely turned it around over the last year or so. John is pretty close to his pre-wedding weight and running like a Kenyan. And he's overhauled the diet in a big way, with sprouted this and gluten-free that, and a helluva lot less beer and wine. I've been Weight Watchering away for well over a year - down from an 18 to a 14, and I'm a regular at the gym.
But we've left the offspring in our dust - not force feeding them our rice cakes and kelp broth or dragging them out for pre-dawn wind sprints. "They" are always saying to put on our own oxygen masks first - take care of ourselves so we can take care of others. And I think I'm there now - I've got it all mostly in hand, so now the youngest lad is along for the ride: walking the dog with his dad in the morning, and sneaking into the gym with me. And we're working on bringing the eating into line - the hardest thing, really, for a 12 year old. I mean, these guys live in the land of Doritos and Vanilla Bean Frappucinos...
This is not an easy thing. Every day the kid needs to make choices - and they aren't easy ones to make, especially when he's surrounded by thin, athletically gifted friends who seem to eat and drink whatever they want, whenever they please, and STILL shop in the boys department! And every day, there's the comfy couch and the tv and the Xbox waiting after school. And we think to ourselves "just get out there and be a kid, for God's sake - and the rest will take care of itself!" But it doesn't. Because yes it's simple but it's also hard as hell. So he's coming along with us. And I am totally cool with that.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Once a (Non) Runner
It's getting personal with me and those Precor treadmills - they are like Gillian - FORCING the two minutes of uninterruped running, rather than the more nurturing Life Fitness treadmill - aka "Bob" - who lets me work at my own pace. Anyway, if I want to be a runner (and when the hell did I decide THAT was a goal anyway?) I need to run, and occasionally that means being forced to.
So I'm hopping on the Precor and pounding it out - two minutes at a time, aiming for 2 miles in 30 minutes - and I can actually do it! Last night I had to jack the treadmill up to 6.0 mph at one point to make my split time....now THAT was a whole new level of discomfort, but it made everything else seem like meandering. And I'm sure that's what caused me to fall asleep in the bathtub an hour later.
Interesting characters at the gym yesterday: Unitard Woman was there again, more appropriately attired in a singlet, shorts and do-rag busily working through her man-pushups and scribbling notes in her log book. The Woman With the Goofy Pigtails Who's Always There - well of course she was there! And no workout at the community rec centre would be complete without Street Clothes Guy. Last night's version was wearing a golf shirt, good jeans and lace-up oxfords - he tried out EVERY piece of cardio equipment - when we were driving away I actually saw him jogging on the treadmill in his dress shoes. And there was this sweet chubby older woman waging her own war with the Precor beside me - a dead ringer for the mother in law complete with long silver ponytail - chugging along at about 2.5 mph, towel draped optimistically around her shoulders. Go Grandma!
I worked really hard last night and, funny thing, the harder I worked, the harder I WANTED to work - because it just felt so damn good. Still got a lot on my mind (hopefully to be settled soon) so it's really good focus on the body...
So I'm hopping on the Precor and pounding it out - two minutes at a time, aiming for 2 miles in 30 minutes - and I can actually do it! Last night I had to jack the treadmill up to 6.0 mph at one point to make my split time....now THAT was a whole new level of discomfort, but it made everything else seem like meandering. And I'm sure that's what caused me to fall asleep in the bathtub an hour later.
Interesting characters at the gym yesterday: Unitard Woman was there again, more appropriately attired in a singlet, shorts and do-rag busily working through her man-pushups and scribbling notes in her log book. The Woman With the Goofy Pigtails Who's Always There - well of course she was there! And no workout at the community rec centre would be complete without Street Clothes Guy. Last night's version was wearing a golf shirt, good jeans and lace-up oxfords - he tried out EVERY piece of cardio equipment - when we were driving away I actually saw him jogging on the treadmill in his dress shoes. And there was this sweet chubby older woman waging her own war with the Precor beside me - a dead ringer for the mother in law complete with long silver ponytail - chugging along at about 2.5 mph, towel draped optimistically around her shoulders. Go Grandma!
I worked really hard last night and, funny thing, the harder I worked, the harder I WANTED to work - because it just felt so damn good. Still got a lot on my mind (hopefully to be settled soon) so it's really good focus on the body...
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Happy Mother's Day
Nope, not a treatise about the joys (and sorrows) of motherhood, though I've certainly had my share; and not a reflection on my special day - although the day and the entire weekend were exemplary, and I'm still choked that the kids, 12 and 14, actually sat down and MADE me cards...
Nope, it's about the white jeans, and about eating much less food.
So I did get into the jeans for Mother's Day, but they didn't really fit - they looked AWFUL- made me look like a fat old prostitute! John said they never would fit - cause there is a difference between "not fitting" "ill fitting", and those jeans are the latter - too low in the rise, too big in the waist - things that will only get worse. So I'm calling it a victory, but I'm gonna have to set the pants aside and look for a new pair of white victory jeans.
Yeah, so eating less - it's a good idea if weight loss is what you're after. I started counting points again this week - I only get 22 now - YIKES! and it's been a real challenge to fuel the body properly with that amount of food. But absolutely doable, and the weight is coming off - I actually saw 171 on the scale this morning, even after last night's lovely steak dinner (I counted EVERYTHING!). We'll have to see what the official Weight Watchers weigh in brings tomorrow, but I'm totally stoked to stick with it for at least another few weeks and get down into the 160s before the month is through.
Nope, it's about the white jeans, and about eating much less food.
So I did get into the jeans for Mother's Day, but they didn't really fit - they looked AWFUL- made me look like a fat old prostitute! John said they never would fit - cause there is a difference between "not fitting" "ill fitting", and those jeans are the latter - too low in the rise, too big in the waist - things that will only get worse. So I'm calling it a victory, but I'm gonna have to set the pants aside and look for a new pair of white victory jeans.
Yeah, so eating less - it's a good idea if weight loss is what you're after. I started counting points again this week - I only get 22 now - YIKES! and it's been a real challenge to fuel the body properly with that amount of food. But absolutely doable, and the weight is coming off - I actually saw 171 on the scale this morning, even after last night's lovely steak dinner (I counted EVERYTHING!). We'll have to see what the official Weight Watchers weigh in brings tomorrow, but I'm totally stoked to stick with it for at least another few weeks and get down into the 160s before the month is through.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Hello again Gym!
Reacquainted myself with the gym tonight. The Precor treadmills (Precor, you suck!!!) don't let you toggle on the interval setting - it's just two minutes of "this" followed by two minutes of "that", and I went for it. Walk-ran in two-minute intervals for over fifteen minutes - got the heart rate up to nearly 170 by the third running interval. And it felt so very good and painful and cathartic.
So good to push my body today - I have so much on my mind - so many thoughts crowding my head right now - it was nice to focus on the physical and just let those thoughts go where they may. And whatever my future holds, I want to go forward as fit, healthy and pulled-together as I can be.
So good to push my body today - I have so much on my mind - so many thoughts crowding my head right now - it was nice to focus on the physical and just let those thoughts go where they may. And whatever my future holds, I want to go forward as fit, healthy and pulled-together as I can be.
Boot Camp Comes to a Less Than Spectacular Finish
How easily it can all come off the rails - something I've learned the hard way, and KEEP learning the hard way. Always the hard way, over and over again.
Well April Boot Camp wasn't a huge success - despite the big 10K event that I was all ablog about - I really didn't spend much time at the gym, or out walking - and the eating was just a little out of control. Admittedly there was a lot going on at work and home- I didn't even make it to Weight Watchers last week, but seriously that's no excuse. I have to just own this.
Here's the tale of the tape:
Chest 40
Waist 36
Hips 44.5
Thigh 25
Weight 176
If there was any progress, I'd have to describe it as "glacier-like". Note the new "wider" jeans image. Interesting, I pretty much doubled the width of the image and that body is STILL hot in those pants. A lesson to be learned.
But it's May now, a brand new month and time for a brand new challenge. JTM asked me this morning (after informing me that today was NOT the last day of April, but rather the FIRST day of May - I'm posting this a few days late) what my goal for May was. I quickly made some silly story up about eating less and exercising more, whereupon he reminded me that those weren't actually GOALS. I'm doing those things: eating less and exercising more, under the super-contrived theme for the month of "May, More or Less" - but my actual GOAL is to weigh the same as I did at the end of May 2003, when I rocked the scale at 168. That, and wear those white jeans out to the premiere of Sex and the City 2, at the the end of the month - cause I don't think I'll be striding around in them next weekend (Man, Mother's day is damn early this year!)
Well April Boot Camp wasn't a huge success - despite the big 10K event that I was all ablog about - I really didn't spend much time at the gym, or out walking - and the eating was just a little out of control. Admittedly there was a lot going on at work and home- I didn't even make it to Weight Watchers last week, but seriously that's no excuse. I have to just own this.
Chest 40
Waist 36
Hips 44.5
Thigh 25
Weight 176
If there was any progress, I'd have to describe it as "glacier-like". Note the new "wider" jeans image. Interesting, I pretty much doubled the width of the image and that body is STILL hot in those pants. A lesson to be learned.
But it's May now, a brand new month and time for a brand new challenge. JTM asked me this morning (after informing me that today was NOT the last day of April, but rather the FIRST day of May - I'm posting this a few days late) what my goal for May was. I quickly made some silly story up about eating less and exercising more, whereupon he reminded me that those weren't actually GOALS. I'm doing those things: eating less and exercising more, under the super-contrived theme for the month of "May, More or Less" - but my actual GOAL is to weigh the same as I did at the end of May 2003, when I rocked the scale at 168. That, and wear those white jeans out to the premiere of Sex and the City 2, at the the end of the month - cause I don't think I'll be striding around in them next weekend (Man, Mother's day is damn early this year!)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
(Almost) Rockin' the TC 10K
I'm hurting just a little from Sunday's big race, the TC 10K, one of the biggest runs in the country. this year over 13,000 people registered with over 11,000 finishing. My ranking? 9,080 - I actually made it into the top 10,000! I finished in 1:40:34, beating my previous best finish by nearly 17 minutes, but missing my goal time by a mere 34 seconds. No pee breaks to blame this time - I stuck to one small pre-race coffee, but I think I lost some valuable time manoeuvering my long-sleeved shirt out from under my short-sleeved shirt a la 13-year-old girl, at around the 7 km mark.
And there was the iPod incident. After spending over an hour on Saturday night creating the perfect 2 hour walk-run playlist, I left the pod on overnight and the battery was dead when I went to turn it on at the starting line.
Disaster - I'd told JTM the night before that I could probably crawl across the finish line with a compound fracture, but that I wouldn't make it without tunes. Anyway, a frantic call home had JTM barrelling back downtown with his own iPod, madly making me an "on the go" playlist at stoplights. He met me at the corner of Cook and Dallas Road, at the 3 km mark, with a hug and a kiss and the all important music machine. And that, people is why I am married!
Once I got going again, I made it my mission to not let these two old grannies pass me - one was marching along in full workout gear, complete with fanny pack water bottle holder. And the other one (part of a different group) was wearing an irritating puffy white hat. And they were NOT going to pass me - (okay more than five or six times) - nor was the woman wearing jeans and cheap sandals, her timing chip flapping in very "Eff you, I'm just out for a stroll" way. And there was no way anyone with nordic wallking poles was getting past me, or any very old people, or very small children. Or (and I'm being really honest here) anyone that looked bigger than I used to be.
Now if that were really the case - if I really didn't let those people get by me, I would have placed much higher in the race. But it turns out I'm a really slow walker. Really slow. Because I'm - well- much fitter and healthier than before - but that doesn't mean I'm actually fit and healthy. Not at all.
And there was the iPod incident. After spending over an hour on Saturday night creating the perfect 2 hour walk-run playlist, I left the pod on overnight and the battery was dead when I went to turn it on at the starting line.
Disaster - I'd told JTM the night before that I could probably crawl across the finish line with a compound fracture, but that I wouldn't make it without tunes. Anyway, a frantic call home had JTM barrelling back downtown with his own iPod, madly making me an "on the go" playlist at stoplights. He met me at the corner of Cook and Dallas Road, at the 3 km mark, with a hug and a kiss and the all important music machine. And that, people is why I am married!
Once I got going again, I made it my mission to not let these two old grannies pass me - one was marching along in full workout gear, complete with fanny pack water bottle holder. And the other one (part of a different group) was wearing an irritating puffy white hat. And they were NOT going to pass me - (okay more than five or six times) - nor was the woman wearing jeans and cheap sandals, her timing chip flapping in very "Eff you, I'm just out for a stroll" way. And there was no way anyone with nordic wallking poles was getting past me, or any very old people, or very small children. Or (and I'm being really honest here) anyone that looked bigger than I used to be.
Now if that were really the case - if I really didn't let those people get by me, I would have placed much higher in the race. But it turns out I'm a really slow walker. Really slow. Because I'm - well- much fitter and healthier than before - but that doesn't mean I'm actually fit and healthy. Not at all.
Still I'm proud of my accomplishment, even if I have much, much further to travel. Onward!
Where's Mary?
Where's Mary?Saturday, April 24, 2010
Boot Camp Week 3 Results (or D'oh!)
So I had one of those crazy AHA moments yesterday - I've lost 40 pounds, right? So it would make some sense that I probably don't need to take in as many calories as I did when I weighed 215, especially since I'm TRYING (with apologies to Yoda) to lose more weight. But I haven't been eating less - have been chowing down merrily, and rightously beaking off to anyone within earshot about what an extraordinary Weight Watcher I am.
What a crock! Once again, I'm calling myself out as a fraud. If I were doing the "point counting" thing, instead of the "Simply Filling" thing, sure as God made little green apples, I'd be taking in a helluva a lot less food each day. Next week that's the plan. No more "eating till you're satisfied"...I may NEVER be satisfied - so starting Monday I'm eating just enough, and counting points again. Mother's day is coming and I'm determined to celebrate in those Size 12 white jeans - with NO camel toe. Or sausage thighs. Or muffin top. Man I could go for a sausage mcmuffin right now. Or a Camel!
Anyway, my stats reflect my efforts this week. One lousy trip to the gym - yeah I've been "tapering" for the big race tomorrow - and enough excess food to keep the dial on the scale pinned firmly in the mid-170s.
Chest 40
Waist 35
Hips 45
Thigh 25
Weight (174-176 fluctuating)
What a crock! Once again, I'm calling myself out as a fraud. If I were doing the "point counting" thing, instead of the "Simply Filling" thing, sure as God made little green apples, I'd be taking in a helluva a lot less food each day. Next week that's the plan. No more "eating till you're satisfied"...I may NEVER be satisfied - so starting Monday I'm eating just enough, and counting points again. Mother's day is coming and I'm determined to celebrate in those Size 12 white jeans - with NO camel toe. Or sausage thighs. Or muffin top. Man I could go for a sausage mcmuffin right now. Or a Camel!
Anyway, my stats reflect my efforts this week. One lousy trip to the gym - yeah I've been "tapering" for the big race tomorrow - and enough excess food to keep the dial on the scale pinned firmly in the mid-170s.
Waist 35
Hips 45
Thigh 25
Weight (174-176 fluctuating)
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