Sunday, March 23, 2008
Laughs Comedy Club
L. and I went to Laughs Comedy Club in Kirkland tonight to see Greg Behrendt perform. This was kind of a pre-birthday celebration, since next weekend we're getting together with a few friends to celebrate with them.
Anyway, the show was fantastic. There were two openers, and I wish I could remember their names but it's late and I just didn't commit them to memory. The first guy was a computer programmer, and he had some funny observations about working in the computer industry (to which I can relate). The second guy told great jokes about men's underwear, filthy roommates, and pets. They were really good at warming up the audience, so by the time Greg came out we were all in a good mood. Greg's set was hilarious, and I had tears streaming down my face several times during the show. His ending was by far the funniest and I really lost it, as did everyone else in the audience.
Following the show, L. and I went up to the stage and L. bought me Greg's DVD. We met Greg, and he signed the DVD case. Of all of the eloquent things I could have come up with to say to someone like Greg, who I really like and respect, all that came out was "It's nice to meet you. You're hilarious. Will you sign my DVD?" Yeah, totally cool, I know.
On the way home, I thought of all kinds of good things to say like, "What was it like writing for Sex & the City?; I really liked your talk show and it's nice that you helped so many people and made them laugh.; etc." But, none of those things spring to mind when you meet someone famous. It's like your brain goes on vacation or something. This has happened to me several times. I haven't met a ton of famous people in my life, but I have met a few. So far, I've met Sarah Brightman (singer) and the dancers from one of her productions, Bill Bryson (writer), Dave Barry (writer), Buddy Guy (blues musician), and Richard Cheese (lounge singer/pop parody musician). I also dated a guy in a local band many years ago through whom I once met some people from then little-known indie bands like Modest Mouse and Sleater-Kinney. In all of these situations, I experienced brain vacation and it pisses me off every time. Celebrities must think that the world around them is filled with inept and uneloquent people, although I suppose that even celebrities get star struck sometimes. I can only hope.
Anyway, the show was fantastic. There were two openers, and I wish I could remember their names but it's late and I just didn't commit them to memory. The first guy was a computer programmer, and he had some funny observations about working in the computer industry (to which I can relate). The second guy told great jokes about men's underwear, filthy roommates, and pets. They were really good at warming up the audience, so by the time Greg came out we were all in a good mood. Greg's set was hilarious, and I had tears streaming down my face several times during the show. His ending was by far the funniest and I really lost it, as did everyone else in the audience.
Following the show, L. and I went up to the stage and L. bought me Greg's DVD. We met Greg, and he signed the DVD case. Of all of the eloquent things I could have come up with to say to someone like Greg, who I really like and respect, all that came out was "It's nice to meet you. You're hilarious. Will you sign my DVD?" Yeah, totally cool, I know.
On the way home, I thought of all kinds of good things to say like, "What was it like writing for Sex & the City?; I really liked your talk show and it's nice that you helped so many people and made them laugh.; etc." But, none of those things spring to mind when you meet someone famous. It's like your brain goes on vacation or something. This has happened to me several times. I haven't met a ton of famous people in my life, but I have met a few. So far, I've met Sarah Brightman (singer) and the dancers from one of her productions, Bill Bryson (writer), Dave Barry (writer), Buddy Guy (blues musician), and Richard Cheese (lounge singer/pop parody musician). I also dated a guy in a local band many years ago through whom I once met some people from then little-known indie bands like Modest Mouse and Sleater-Kinney. In all of these situations, I experienced brain vacation and it pisses me off every time. Celebrities must think that the world around them is filled with inept and uneloquent people, although I suppose that even celebrities get star struck sometimes. I can only hope.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Week 9 recap
I lost 2.2 pounds this last week, so I'm now down a total of 23 pounds. It was kind of a funky week because I got a bacterial infection and had to start antibiotics, so that sucked. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off of working out so that I could recover a little bit and then eased back into things on Thursday with 35 minutes on the elliptical. I met up with J. again on Friday and he kicked everything up a notch, so I'm completely sore in both my arms and my legs. Today I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and 15 on the stair climber. I have to say that the new headphones and my good playlists really make it easier for me to keep running longer. The last few times I've done cardio, I haven't even cracked open my book, but rather just closed my eyes and let the music take over the pace.
This week I get back bread. Yes bread. Out of all of the phases in which I've gotten back food groups, none has seemed quite as fabulous as bread. There are rules, however. It's got to be whole wheat or whole grains, which is fine because that's all I ate in the past anyway. And I've got to be careful that it has plenty of fiber and not a ton of sugar. Surprisingly, several of the whole wheat breads we looked at today fit the bill, as did some whole wheat tortillas and pita pockets. So, I grabbed a bag of each. I can have 100 calories a day of breads/tortillas/pita pockets, so that's enough to have an occasional sandwich or have toast for breakfast. To break myself in, L. and I went to Subway today and I had a 6" turkey breast on wheat stacked with veggies, mustard, and a tiny bit of mayo. It was heaven. I was pleased to see that instead of the old chips or cookies sides, they had some healthier options like yogurt and sliced apples. Both L. and I chose the apples, and they were quite good.
My nutritionist also introduced me to some new waters that I can have, called Osmosis and Metromint. After 9 full weeks of nothing but water, mineral water, and water with lemon, the repertoire was feeling a tad limited. I love water and these variations, but sometimes you just want a little something more. And anything with sugar or artificial sweeteners is out, so you get the picture. Recently, I made myself a pot of tea and put in a teaspoon of brown sugar. It was a total treat, and I treated it as such. I talked to my nutritionist about it, and she said that it's OK every so often, but she'd rather I'd done a teaspoon of honey. So, we picked up some honey today, too. I imagine I'll probably do the tea and honey thing once every few weeks or a month. It was just nice for a change. Anyway, the mint waters are supposed to be very good, and a nice change as well. So, I look forward to giving those a try. The women in my group therapy said they really liked it. And it turns out that Metromint uses mint from the Yakima Valley (although the company is in San Francisco), and Osmosis is in Washington state, so that's pretty cool.
This week I get back bread. Yes bread. Out of all of the phases in which I've gotten back food groups, none has seemed quite as fabulous as bread. There are rules, however. It's got to be whole wheat or whole grains, which is fine because that's all I ate in the past anyway. And I've got to be careful that it has plenty of fiber and not a ton of sugar. Surprisingly, several of the whole wheat breads we looked at today fit the bill, as did some whole wheat tortillas and pita pockets. So, I grabbed a bag of each. I can have 100 calories a day of breads/tortillas/pita pockets, so that's enough to have an occasional sandwich or have toast for breakfast. To break myself in, L. and I went to Subway today and I had a 6" turkey breast on wheat stacked with veggies, mustard, and a tiny bit of mayo. It was heaven. I was pleased to see that instead of the old chips or cookies sides, they had some healthier options like yogurt and sliced apples. Both L. and I chose the apples, and they were quite good.
My nutritionist also introduced me to some new waters that I can have, called Osmosis and Metromint. After 9 full weeks of nothing but water, mineral water, and water with lemon, the repertoire was feeling a tad limited. I love water and these variations, but sometimes you just want a little something more. And anything with sugar or artificial sweeteners is out, so you get the picture. Recently, I made myself a pot of tea and put in a teaspoon of brown sugar. It was a total treat, and I treated it as such. I talked to my nutritionist about it, and she said that it's OK every so often, but she'd rather I'd done a teaspoon of honey. So, we picked up some honey today, too. I imagine I'll probably do the tea and honey thing once every few weeks or a month. It was just nice for a change. Anyway, the mint waters are supposed to be very good, and a nice change as well. So, I look forward to giving those a try. The women in my group therapy said they really liked it. And it turns out that Metromint uses mint from the Yakima Valley (although the company is in San Francisco), and Osmosis is in Washington state, so that's pretty cool.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Week 8 recap
I'm down 3.5 pounds this week. So, minus the one pound that I gained the week before, I'm now down a total of 21 pounds since starting the 20/20 program. I think the most frustrating thing is that as you become more active and eat well regularly, your body starts getting used to everything and it becomes harder to lose weight. I'm not scoffing at where I'm at so far, but it's definitely getting harder as time goes on.
So, it was time to shake things up a bit this week and change the routine. J. took me into the "scary" room in the gym...the room where the serious weight lifters train with free weights and benches. I'm a bit of a fish out of water in there, but he's got me doing some new weight exercises and some modified push ups, pull ups, and dips. Thank goodness he helped me stretch out well on Wednesday evening, since I'm always pretty sore after we increase intensity and switch things up. Goodness only knows what kind of crazy stuff he dreams up for my session tomorrow.
And, dare I say it...I'm seeing definition in my abs. There's definitely that nice little parenthesis shape starting, which is exciting. Nothing like nice abs...
So, it was time to shake things up a bit this week and change the routine. J. took me into the "scary" room in the gym...the room where the serious weight lifters train with free weights and benches. I'm a bit of a fish out of water in there, but he's got me doing some new weight exercises and some modified push ups, pull ups, and dips. Thank goodness he helped me stretch out well on Wednesday evening, since I'm always pretty sore after we increase intensity and switch things up. Goodness only knows what kind of crazy stuff he dreams up for my session tomorrow.
And, dare I say it...I'm seeing definition in my abs. There's definitely that nice little parenthesis shape starting, which is exciting. Nothing like nice abs...
Music to the ears
Awhile back, I got a pair of noise-cancelling earbud earphones to use with my iPod at the gym. The sound on them was pretty good, but I forgot to turn them off a few times, and drained down the battery that is required to turn on the noise-cancelling function and to really amplify the music a bit. Without that part turned on, the music was pretty tinny sounding and quiet. The other problem is that each earbud had a little rubber attachment that fits into the ear, of which I have lost one of the attachments. The pair came with a few different sizes, and I needed the smallest size to fit into my ear, so once I lost one of the smallest ones, I was kind of up the creek. I can kind of sit the earbud into my ear, but it dislodges pretty easy and no longer really works to keep the noise out.
I've gone through a couple different pairs of headphones over the last few years, and haven't really been happy with any of the ones I've gotten. This last pair was the happiest that I'd been so far, but I hated how the attachments kept coming off so easily, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I'd lose one for good. So, after I lost that attachment on Tuesday evening and couldn't find it anywhere in the locker room, I finally decided to get a new pair of headphones. I'm spending enough time in the gym now that I need good tunes to keep me running and well-paced on the elliptical and stair climber, and I wanted something that would drown out the people who seem to use the gym for social time rather than actual working out. Case in point, last Tuesday night when two women in the row behind me managed to drone on and on about something and cackle away, while every once in awhile managing to actually move one leg or another. Usually I can't hear too much when I have my headphones on, and I don't really mind it when people are actually working out, but these women were pretty obnoxious.
Anyway, I decided to finally purchase a good, quality pair of headphones. L. has a nice pair of Bose headphones that his parents got him for Christmas one year, and I tried them out awhile back. I was really impressed, and decided that I'd get a good pair of Bose headphones, too. So, off we went to Best Buy tonight to get them. But they were out! So, we headed further south and checked out Fryes. Thankfully, Fryes had them in stock, and viola! Headphone city. This pair folds up pretty compactly, and fits in a nice, sturdy case.
We then came home and I started compiling a new workout mix in iTunes. I pulled about 35 tunes into a new playlist, and I'm currently listening to it with my new headphones. This playlist spans all kinds of genres and decades, and every song sounds great! I think these are going to really keep me motivated during my workouts, especially since I won't be worrying about losing earbud attachments.
I've gone through a couple different pairs of headphones over the last few years, and haven't really been happy with any of the ones I've gotten. This last pair was the happiest that I'd been so far, but I hated how the attachments kept coming off so easily, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I'd lose one for good. So, after I lost that attachment on Tuesday evening and couldn't find it anywhere in the locker room, I finally decided to get a new pair of headphones. I'm spending enough time in the gym now that I need good tunes to keep me running and well-paced on the elliptical and stair climber, and I wanted something that would drown out the people who seem to use the gym for social time rather than actual working out. Case in point, last Tuesday night when two women in the row behind me managed to drone on and on about something and cackle away, while every once in awhile managing to actually move one leg or another. Usually I can't hear too much when I have my headphones on, and I don't really mind it when people are actually working out, but these women were pretty obnoxious.
Anyway, I decided to finally purchase a good, quality pair of headphones. L. has a nice pair of Bose headphones that his parents got him for Christmas one year, and I tried them out awhile back. I was really impressed, and decided that I'd get a good pair of Bose headphones, too. So, off we went to Best Buy tonight to get them. But they were out! So, we headed further south and checked out Fryes. Thankfully, Fryes had them in stock, and viola! Headphone city. This pair folds up pretty compactly, and fits in a nice, sturdy case.
We then came home and I started compiling a new workout mix in iTunes. I pulled about 35 tunes into a new playlist, and I'm currently listening to it with my new headphones. This playlist spans all kinds of genres and decades, and every song sounds great! I think these are going to really keep me motivated during my workouts, especially since I won't be worrying about losing earbud attachments.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Getting stronger everyday
I got to 180 today on the overhead pull - 10 reps and I about left my arms hanging on the apparatus on the last rep. Felt damn good to get to that point though. I'm getting stronger every day. Did the stair climber for 20 minutes and elliptical for 20 minutes yesterday, and my legs are feeling a lot stronger now too. I almost float up the stairs to my condo when I get home. I love results!
Clean plate club
I found this interesting article about hunger cues by Brian Wansink on MSNBC. I recently read Wansink's book, "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" on the recommendation of my group counselor in the 20/20 Lifestyles program. It was a fairly quick read, full of good information pulled from many years of studies on how people eat, and more importantly how they decide to stop eating.
It turns out that many cultures stop eating when they no longer feel hungry; this is a different feeling than being full where you're not able to shove another spoonful of something into your mouth, which tends to be the American way of eating. It also turns out that many people with weight problems rely on external cues (i.e. whether their plate is clean) rather than their internal cues (i.e. I'm not hungry anymore or the taste of my food has diminished).
I'm guilty of both of these things. I would always eat until I was full, and I had always qualified for the clean plate club. I think a lot of this had to do with my upbringing. I think every kid on the face of this earth has heard something like, "eat your peas, there are starving kids in Africa" and "no dessert unless you clean your plate". Over time, you start to figure out that it's a requirement to make other people happy or satisfied, and then it becomes a requirement for you to know that you can stop eating. And then pair that with my summers working on my grandparent's farm, and suddenly I'm stuffing myself at breakfast because I'm going to be out in the field all day long and need the food for energy. Then, when I get back at night, I stuff myself again because I worked so hard all day and I'm so hungry.
This pattern might have worked had I decided to go into the family business of farming, but sitting on my butt all day behind a desk is a whole different ballgame. Then add long hours and lots of overtime, which leaves little time for a personal life let alone time for exercise, and you see where I'm going. Thank goodness I got out of software testing when I did. Technical writing has gotten me to a much more balanced lifestyle where I do have personal time (which now includes my workouts), as well as some times when you still have to step it up a notch to get through a ship cycle. But it's not pulling 70-hour weeks nonstop like when I was in testing a few years ago. So, that's where I ended up after software testing for several years, and I carried those habits into the next phase of my career for a couple of years. Life is always learning, and I'm learning that I need to take better care of myself and pay attention to the situation at hand rather than get caught up in unhealthy habits.
This brings me back to Wansink's book. After reading it, I realized that I needed to pay better attention to my cues. I've been trying to eat slower so that my body can register the food that I'm eating and send me the signal that I'm not hungry anymore. And instead of eating until I'm full, I can stop and be satisfied when I'm just no longer hungry. And because I'm eating more regularly (every 3-4 hours), I don't get to that point where I'm so hungry that I'll just eat any junk around that I can get my hands on and then shove it all down as quickly as possible so I can get back to my life. In a different way, eating has become my life-the planning, the preparation, the measuring, the tracking, the timing. Some things are starting to become more habit, but at times it's still a lot of work to get it all right.
The other thing that I've done is to start figuring out portions. There are lots of measuring spoons, measuring cups, and a good scale involved in preparation of everything now. And I've started using my smaller salad plates for my food rather than the large dinner plates. It's a simple trick that really works. Five ounces of chicken breast and an ounce of cheese on my salad plate looks like a good meal, whereas it would only take up 2/3 of my dinner plates. I have little 1/2 cup bowls for my fruit or beans, or other foods that I need to eat in smaller portions. And I use my bowls to make a good big salad but make sure to measure out the dressing very carefully. By the time I get everything to the table, I've got a small plate with my lean proteins, a big bowl with leafy greens and healthy fats, a small cup with my complex carbs, and my 32-ounce water bottle. I have to run the dishwasher almost daily now to clean all of the dishes and utensils that I use for cooking and eating. I used to run it a couple of times a week. On a related note, I do laundry a few times a week now, too, because changing twice a day (once for regular clothes and once for workout clothes) makes my closet sparse quickly. Thank goodness L. likes to help me fold clothes :)
It turns out that many cultures stop eating when they no longer feel hungry; this is a different feeling than being full where you're not able to shove another spoonful of something into your mouth, which tends to be the American way of eating. It also turns out that many people with weight problems rely on external cues (i.e. whether their plate is clean) rather than their internal cues (i.e. I'm not hungry anymore or the taste of my food has diminished).
I'm guilty of both of these things. I would always eat until I was full, and I had always qualified for the clean plate club. I think a lot of this had to do with my upbringing. I think every kid on the face of this earth has heard something like, "eat your peas, there are starving kids in Africa" and "no dessert unless you clean your plate". Over time, you start to figure out that it's a requirement to make other people happy or satisfied, and then it becomes a requirement for you to know that you can stop eating. And then pair that with my summers working on my grandparent's farm, and suddenly I'm stuffing myself at breakfast because I'm going to be out in the field all day long and need the food for energy. Then, when I get back at night, I stuff myself again because I worked so hard all day and I'm so hungry.
This pattern might have worked had I decided to go into the family business of farming, but sitting on my butt all day behind a desk is a whole different ballgame. Then add long hours and lots of overtime, which leaves little time for a personal life let alone time for exercise, and you see where I'm going. Thank goodness I got out of software testing when I did. Technical writing has gotten me to a much more balanced lifestyle where I do have personal time (which now includes my workouts), as well as some times when you still have to step it up a notch to get through a ship cycle. But it's not pulling 70-hour weeks nonstop like when I was in testing a few years ago. So, that's where I ended up after software testing for several years, and I carried those habits into the next phase of my career for a couple of years. Life is always learning, and I'm learning that I need to take better care of myself and pay attention to the situation at hand rather than get caught up in unhealthy habits.
This brings me back to Wansink's book. After reading it, I realized that I needed to pay better attention to my cues. I've been trying to eat slower so that my body can register the food that I'm eating and send me the signal that I'm not hungry anymore. And instead of eating until I'm full, I can stop and be satisfied when I'm just no longer hungry. And because I'm eating more regularly (every 3-4 hours), I don't get to that point where I'm so hungry that I'll just eat any junk around that I can get my hands on and then shove it all down as quickly as possible so I can get back to my life. In a different way, eating has become my life-the planning, the preparation, the measuring, the tracking, the timing. Some things are starting to become more habit, but at times it's still a lot of work to get it all right.
The other thing that I've done is to start figuring out portions. There are lots of measuring spoons, measuring cups, and a good scale involved in preparation of everything now. And I've started using my smaller salad plates for my food rather than the large dinner plates. It's a simple trick that really works. Five ounces of chicken breast and an ounce of cheese on my salad plate looks like a good meal, whereas it would only take up 2/3 of my dinner plates. I have little 1/2 cup bowls for my fruit or beans, or other foods that I need to eat in smaller portions. And I use my bowls to make a good big salad but make sure to measure out the dressing very carefully. By the time I get everything to the table, I've got a small plate with my lean proteins, a big bowl with leafy greens and healthy fats, a small cup with my complex carbs, and my 32-ounce water bottle. I have to run the dishwasher almost daily now to clean all of the dishes and utensils that I use for cooking and eating. I used to run it a couple of times a week. On a related note, I do laundry a few times a week now, too, because changing twice a day (once for regular clothes and once for workout clothes) makes my closet sparse quickly. Thank goodness L. likes to help me fold clothes :)
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Week 7 recap
Well, this was not a great week in my weight loss goal. I actually gained one pound, which was disappointing but not entirely surprising. My nutritionist, C., warned me about this last week when I rolled in at the beginning of my flu and she told me not to expect a lot while my body was fighting the virus. So, even though I worked out five days last week and kept up my healthy diet, my body stalled this last week. The good news is that I'm under the 200 pound mark, which I don't think I mentioned in last week's recap. That was a really exciting moment when I weighed in. I'm still fighting the tail end of this sickness, but I'm feeling much better now so I hope that it doesn't continue to throw off my progress. This week, I'll work on adding beans and legumes into my diet, so that should be an interesting change.
My arms were really sore today. My trainer, J., had me add pushups to my routine after we'd already gone through 15 minutes of elliptical, 15 minutes of stair climber, and the typical weight machines for both the upper and lower body. He recently increased the weight and now the reps for each set, so my arms were already pretty tired (and not because I just flew in, hahaha). Anyway, by the time he got out the stability ball and told me to get into the push up position with my hands on the ball, and then actually do push ups, I was pretty beat. I could do one, but the next one was always sloppy and I'd almost do a face-plant into the ball and roll over to one side. After a couple of tries, we moved the ball up against the wall and I did five push ups without looking like a completely uncoordinated person.
He has me doing a few other moves that are interesting. I call one of them the Captain Morgan, because I stand on one foot on a mushy disk thing and do curls with dumbbells. Recently he's had me do curls paired with some kind of overhead movement, which makes it even more difficult to keep my balance. I've found that my ankles are pretty wobbly, so I'll get a few good moves in and then kind of lean to one side until I eventally have to put the other foot down quickly to get my balance. I'm getting better at it over time, though.
Another move is called the worshiper, and it involves the stability ball. You basically kneel on the ground with the ball in front of you and place your hands on ball like you were going to pray. You then lean and roll the ball forward. This move makes your abs scream like they're going to pop right out of your body and your under arms ache wildly the next day.
And another couple of exercises that just kill but are really good for the glutes are what I call the penguin and the side stepper. J. has a resistance band that I place around both legs. I then either sway from side to side while keeping my feet completely straight (the penguin) or I take small steps to the side over and over (the side stepper). The thing about these is that the body tries to compensate by angling the feet inward to use larger muscle groups, so it's important to keep the feet really straight to isolate the smaller muscles and tone them. I usually have trouble walking up the stairs right after these exercises.
Well, onto another week and hopefully my body will be back in the swing of things soon. I'm definitely doing the right things, so once the flu/cold thing is fully gone, I'll be back on track!
My arms were really sore today. My trainer, J., had me add pushups to my routine after we'd already gone through 15 minutes of elliptical, 15 minutes of stair climber, and the typical weight machines for both the upper and lower body. He recently increased the weight and now the reps for each set, so my arms were already pretty tired (and not because I just flew in, hahaha). Anyway, by the time he got out the stability ball and told me to get into the push up position with my hands on the ball, and then actually do push ups, I was pretty beat. I could do one, but the next one was always sloppy and I'd almost do a face-plant into the ball and roll over to one side. After a couple of tries, we moved the ball up against the wall and I did five push ups without looking like a completely uncoordinated person.
He has me doing a few other moves that are interesting. I call one of them the Captain Morgan, because I stand on one foot on a mushy disk thing and do curls with dumbbells. Recently he's had me do curls paired with some kind of overhead movement, which makes it even more difficult to keep my balance. I've found that my ankles are pretty wobbly, so I'll get a few good moves in and then kind of lean to one side until I eventally have to put the other foot down quickly to get my balance. I'm getting better at it over time, though.
Another move is called the worshiper, and it involves the stability ball. You basically kneel on the ground with the ball in front of you and place your hands on ball like you were going to pray. You then lean and roll the ball forward. This move makes your abs scream like they're going to pop right out of your body and your under arms ache wildly the next day.
And another couple of exercises that just kill but are really good for the glutes are what I call the penguin and the side stepper. J. has a resistance band that I place around both legs. I then either sway from side to side while keeping my feet completely straight (the penguin) or I take small steps to the side over and over (the side stepper). The thing about these is that the body tries to compensate by angling the feet inward to use larger muscle groups, so it's important to keep the feet really straight to isolate the smaller muscles and tone them. I usually have trouble walking up the stairs right after these exercises.
Well, onto another week and hopefully my body will be back in the swing of things soon. I'm definitely doing the right things, so once the flu/cold thing is fully gone, I'll be back on track!
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