Week 13 recap

I lost 3 more pounds this week, which puts me at a total of 34 pounds lost. I was actually a bit surprised because I kind of took it easier last week while letting my IT band recover from the strain and massage work from the previous week. I kept icing it and took some Ibuprofin to help with the pain. By today, it's feeling pretty good. I have to remember that I need to work in increments and not just increase all of my activity at once because I get excited about doing all kinds of things. Having done squash, running, and dancing all in one week was a little bit much in addition to my regular workouts with J. But, it's getting better now.

I hope to start up with the running again next week. I'm doing squash again today, so that should be fun. I'm sure my arm will hurt all weekend again. That squash ball sure needs a lot of arm power to get around. Also, I'm not the best with hand-eye coordination, so I spend a lot of time thinking that I'm going to make contact with the ball while it just slips right past me. That always looks awesome. I hope no one watches our games or they'd be laughing hysterically.

On the strength training front, the "scary" room isn't so scary anymore. Somehow, having a trainer there making you do the ridiculous-looking exercises makes me feel like less of a loser around all of the huge, serious strength trainers in there. It's that sort of mentality that's like, "he's the one who cooked this whole idea up...I'm just doing it." So, I feel like less of an ass in front of everyone.

I've been using a machine that assists you with doing dips and pull ups, since I'm not quite strong enough to do it all on my own yet. It's incredibly hard, but it feels really good to be getting stronger each time. I've also been doing push ups and pull ups with the help of a bar that you can move up and down to either make the movements a little harder or easier. I can't wait until the day that I'll actually be able to do sets of push ups on the ground and do dips and pull ups with my full weight.

J. has also been mixing things up by adding things like a medicine ball, the stability ball, and the bosu ball to throw off my coordination completely. There have been a couple of funny moments recently with the bosu ball as I just kind of slide off because I literally can't hold this one position the whole time that I'm doing the exercise.

Also, J. has been adding a lot of pyramid rep exercises to really kill me. In my last session, he had me stand on the ball of one foot on the edge of a platform and wrap the other foot behind my standing leg. Then I had to pump my foot up and down off of the platform seven times and then rest for seven seconds...then six reps and six second rest, then five, four, three, two, and one. My legs were on fire by the end of this particular exercise. I was semi-amazed that I didn't have horrible leg cramps that night, since I tend to get them easily, but J. did help me stretch out pretty well after that routine.

This week, on the diet front, I got back whole grain cereals and even some popcorn. You'd be amazed at how small a serving of cereal actually is. I found Grape Nuts, which I used to really enjoy, and the serving is a 1/2 a cup. Granted, Grape Nuts is a very dense cereal, so that goes a long way. But I actually need to do 1/4 of a cup if I want to be able to have another serving of whole grains sometime later in the day. So, I plan on mixing it in with my Greek Yogurt and berries. Yummmmm.

Today, I pulled out a pair of jeans that I have been holding onto for some time...and they fit. I was ecstatic. They slid right on and zipped right up without a problem. What an awesome feeling. Pretty soon, I'm going to really need to get some new clothes because what I have won't hold out too much longer.

Apologies

I guess I should apologize to the Department of State, and the Passport people in particular. I got my passport in the mail yesterday. That was about one week after I sent it in the second time after my previous rant. I didn't even pay extra for rushed processing. So, good on you Passport division. I was not expecting to get it back any time soon, so that was a very nice surprise. France for honeymoon, here I come!

Is it just me...

...or are films coming out on DVD much more quickly than in the past? I swear that we just saw Juno a few-ish weeks ago and I see that it's coming out on DVD already. Seems like the time between theater and DVD release is getting a lot shorter somehow.

Week 12 recap

I'm down another 2 pounds this week, for a total of 31 pounds lost. Last weekend, I went through my wardrobe and made a pile of about 70% of my clothing to donate or sell because it's too big for me. I gave the majority of my clothes to my step sister, because she has a cousin who is about that size and who could probably use a lot of the pieces if not all of them. So, I was happy about that. It's nice to give them to someone you know can use the stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not crazy about the styles this season, so my trip to the mall last weekend was uncharacteristically empty for me. I did manage to find a few button-up shirts at Target that will get me by, but I'm going to have to make do with my few pairs of jeans until I find a new pair of black pants or something similar that I like. One thing that I did manage to find this week was my wedding gown. I went in with my sister and cousin on Saturday and tried on a bunch of gowns, and then found "the one." It was amazing to see how differently everything fit this time around. I ordered my gown in one size smaller than I currently am, and then I'll have it altered from there as needed.

I decided to extend my 20/20 Lifestyles program to the 20-week program. So, I contacted the program coordinator at the beginning of the week, and she drew up a new contract for me to extend it from 16 weeks to 20 weeks. The price was slightly less than I was expecting. I hadn't remembered the cost correctly, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got the additional total that I owed to extend the program. My trainer and nutritionist were both happy with my decision. My trainer asked a lot of questions to make sure that I was making the right choice, and I explained that I still have about 30 pounds that I want to lose to become a normal, maintainable weight, and that I didn't want to use all of my maintenance phase to try and lose a lot of weight. He said that made sense. But he wanted to make sure that I wasn't unhappy with my progress thus far, and I assured him that I wasn't.

I really increased my activity level this last week, because I'm worried about losing more weight as time goes on. As you have less and less to lose, it becomes harder and harder. And I'm now at the weight where I was for a long time, so it's kind of an old set point. Although, my nutritionist said that there isn't exactly a set point for weight, but rather a place where you were comfortable and the circumstances around that, such as lack of exercise and eating habits, reinforced that weight range. So, that makes me happy. As long as I keep up with the exercise and nutrition, I should move past this point.

I've been working on getting more activity in, because I think that the more activity I can get into my daily life, the better off I'll be. So, this week my pedometer has been tracking the highest number of steps since I started the program. Most days I'm getting over 8,000 steps, and one day I was at over 15,000. I also started to do walking and jogging intervals on the Burke Gilman trail. I'll walk for awhile to warm up, then set a point in the distance to where I'll run, and then walk again for awhile. I do that over and over again. At first it was really hard. But over the course of the week, I've been increasing the distance by small amounts and it's starting to feel better.

On Friday, after my workout with J., L. and I went for a dance class and learned the basics of Cha Cha, Rhumba, and Tango. So, that was a good workout, too, and a lot of fun despite some muscle pain. I made the mistake of both running and playing Squash on Wednesday, so I got really sore. It was the most sore I've been since starting the program. Doing both together in one day was a little bit much for my body. So, my glutes, hamstrings, calves, and quads were screaming on Thursday and Friday. By Friday afternoon, I called Sanctuary Spa to schedule a deep tissue massage on Saturday, and it was wonderful. The massage therapist worked out a knot in my arm, and she really got a lot of the tension out of my legs where the pain was the worst. She also focused on my iliotibial (IT) band for awhile, which would make my trainer, J., very happy. He does this foam-rolling thing to work out my IT band, which apparently can get tight and unhappy and cause a lot of knee pain and other problems. This is why J. does a lot of exercises with me to strengthen my glutes. This was by far the most painful part of my massage, so she eased up a little on me when I thought I was going to jump out of my skin. But it's something I'll have to continue to work on, which is unfortunate because it doesn't feel good like most other parts of massage or stretching. In any case, after an hour and a half, I hopped off of the table and felt a ton better. I'm a little sore from the massage, but the tension is gone and I can move again without pain. I took it a little easy the rest of the day to kind of let my muscles recouperate from all of the stress. But on Sunday, it's back to the club or the trail for some more cardio to build up my endurance.

Bureaucracy

Can I tell you how stupid the Department of State is? Very stupid. I now know one place where tax money is completely wasted.

Last weekend, L. and I went to the post office to send in our applications for new passports. We had each filled out the forms, and they list on the form that it's good through August of this year. So, we completed the listed steps on the form: provided the required documentation, existing passports, and a check for $67 fee. We even provided our email addresses on the forms, which they list as optional but a way to contact you if there is a problem with your application. Good enough.

Today I came home and saw a large envelope in the mail from the passport office. Seemed odd, since I just sent my application off on Saturday. I opened it up and all of my stuff was in there with a letter saying that the passport fee had been increased.

Uhhhh. OK. So, they send back everything? What the fuck? How much wasted money is going into this kind of stupidness? Email me and let me know that I'm $8 short and I'll send the difference. That's free. Or send just a letter to let me know. That's 41 cents. But pay to ship everything back to me? Completely dumb. Sometimes I just shake my head and wonder what has happened to this country. Makes me ashamed to be American sometimes.

Speaking of which, on a side rant, I hope to the high heavens that this next election changes things. I know it's not going to be some radical change. The Republicans have run this country into the ground far enough that it's going to be awhile before we recover. It took Bill Clinton two terms to help us recover from the first round of Republican rule. This will take a lot longer, I fear. But, to those who voted for Bush, I can definitely say: I told you so. Too bad we didn't just leave well enough alone when the South seceded from the Union. All those fundamentalist Christian goons and neo-conservative, non-thinking, easily-lead sheep could have had their own little hole-in-the-ground country and left the rest of us to have an actual separation of church and state. I guess it's easy to pull the wool over their eyes when you take away education, tell them to have blind faith, and punish them for ever thinking on their own or asking questions. Like Chris Rock said recently, Bush has made it hard for a white man to become president in this country. God I hope so. McCain should be called "McSame".

Week 11 recap

I missed doing a recap last week due to a lack of time for posting my progress. So, I'll just lump weeks 10 and 11 together into this post.

In total, I'm now down 29 pounds. I also got updated measurements done. This the is change since starting the 20/20 Lifestyles program 11 weeks ago:
Chest girth: -2.25"
Waist girth: -3.5"
Hips girth: -3"
Bicep girth: -1"
Thigh girth: -2.75"
Body Mass Index (BMI): -3.5

There are a couple of important milestones from the last check-in with my doctor. First, I'm under 30 BMI now. I've also lost over 10% of my body mass since starting the program. My waist measurement is now safely below the 35" mark, which is a big indicator of heart disease and other problems.

So, all in all, very good progress. I can't believe that I'm going into my 12th week already. Time has just flown by! I'm doing the 16-week program, so I'm getting a little antsy and trying to figure out whether I want to extend it to the 20-week program or not. I need to decide soon. It will cost quite a bit more money if I want to extend it. But I still have about 25-30 pounds left to lose until I hit my goal weight.

Of course, after I finish the 16-week program, I still have 12 weeks in maintenance phase. And many people continue to lose weight in the maintenance phase. But I'm worried about going from having the personal training 3 times a week to twice a week. Although I'm doing well at getting in exercise at least 5 days a week or more now, I'm definitely pushed harder when I workout with J. And those are the days that I get the weight training in, which I'm definitely not as good at pushing myself on when I workout on my own. There's something about having your trainer there to push you along and cheer you on when you think you're going to fall to the floor. I dunno.

Racism or overreaction?

So, there's a Vogue cover with LeBron James and Giselle Bundchen, and apparently it has caused quite the stir. Before I read the article, I looked at the picture for a couple of minutes and tried to figure out what the issue was. And, I admit that I couldn't figure out what would be so offensive. It's a picture of a powerful basketball player who looks like he's ready to dribble down the court or prepare for a slam dunk, and a supermodel who is actually smiling instead of pulling off some contorted pose and face. So, I was kind of stumped. The subject they were posing for was "Shape Issue: Secrets of the Best Bodies." Well, LeBron and Giselle certainly are in shape.

I then read the article and figured out that even the author of the article, Jason Whitlock, isn't sure whether he should actually be offended. So, what is the issue?

"According to the allegations, King James looks like King Kong clutching Fay Wray on the latest cover of Vogue, and the image, according to potential handbook writers, 'conjures up this idea of a dangerous black man.'"

I looked back at the picture again, and I guess I kind of get the King Kong reference, but wasn't Fay Wray screaming her lungs out and not smiling like Giselle? I guess I kind of thought more of a reference of LeBron as someone who is taking the basketball world by storm. I didn't get the "dangerous black man" reference. It seems a bit of an overreaction to me, but perhaps not.

The thing I appreciated about Whitlock's article is that he goes on to talk about how there should be a handbook explaining exactly when people should and shouldn't be offended, because the lines are blurring. For instance, if something is for a predominately white audience, the black community should be offended, as in this case of the Vogue cover. However, if something is for a predominately black audience, the black community should not be offended, as in the case of Tyler Perry's latest film. In other words, stereotypes are OK to carry on as long as they were perpetuated by the black community.

Whitlock points out that this is confusing, and thus there should be some official source like a handbook that can tell you exactly when you should be ticked off about something. He makes a good point. It is getting increasingly confusing to see where people are crossing the line.

Take the N-word for instance. Recently there was a lot of controversy about rap and hip hop artists using the word in their lyrics. I remember when J. Lo said the N-word in one of her songs, and there was a huge uproar because she is Latino. So, despite the fact that her peers in the industry are spouting the word out at every chance they get, she cannot use it. It's an ugly word, to be sure, but I didn't realize that your heritage alone was what gave you the right (or lack thereof) to use it.

This word turned out to bother Dave Chappelle, too. I saw an interview after he left his enormously popular show on Comedy Central a few years ago, and said that it freaked him out when white people would come up and tell him how much they loved such-and-such skit, reciting lines that included the N-word. He took a step back and thought about what was going on. I'll be honest. I loved Chappelle's show, and I have the DVDs. I still love his skits and standup comedy. And when other friends would get into the show, and we'd be talking about some of the skits, we said the N-word for sure - not because it's a word we'd use, but because it's the word that Chappelle used. For example, one of his skits was about a white family called the "N***** Family". And one of the first skits I saw had him running around as a black man who was part of the KKK. Just imagine the dialog in that episode.

The thing was that Chappelle was brilliant in this regard. Some of the best comedy comes from pointing out absurdity, even if that absurdity cuts like a knife the way that race relations in America do. Think of Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy. Chappelle was like that for our generation. And his stereotypes of white people were just that - stereotypes. I never took offense to his portrayal of white people because in most cases it was an exagerated view of white culture just the way that his portrayal of black people was an exagerated view of black culture. It's the extremes that make it funny, but not necessarily the truth.

In some ways, the N-word controversy is similar to the way that I feel about women using terms like bitch or c*** to talk to describe their friends - in a positive way (if there is such a thing). But watch out if someone (especially a man) actually used those words in the negative way in which they were intended. Those same women would be pissed off. I recently saw an episode of America's Next Top Model (I know, I know...) where one girl got into an argument with another girl and girl 1 said something to the effect of, "I'm a bitch and I know it." So girl 2 called her a bitch and girl 1 flew off the handle completely, and was completely offended that girl 2 called her such a name. The horror... It was totally funny, but also sad because you just know that girl 1 isn't playing with a full deck. Don't call yourself a bitch and be proud of it, and then be pissed off when someone calls you on it.

Bit, I digress. As I write this entry, I'm using the terms "white" and "black". Here's another confusing thing. In this highly politically correct world, I would normally use the terms "caucasian" and "African American." I admit that I don't really understand when I'm supposed to use either, but I also don't want to offend anyone, so I typically go with the safe option. But, I chose to use white and black in this entry because that's what Whitlock did in his article and what I'm talking about here. Maybe someone can explain the correct usage to me sometime.

Anyway, this all leads to a bigger question of where we're going as a country. Over the last several years, we've been moving in a more and more hyper-sensitive direction, and mulling over these things. But, tell me... Are we getting any closer to an answer? Why is there rampant use of the N-word in music and the black community? Are we failing to educate kids today about the awful history attached to that word? Or has it just taken on an entirely new meaning and the older generation is getting riled up over nothing?

And why is it such a double standard as to who holds the magnifying glass up to the culture? No one but a black man could have gotten away with Chappelle's material. If he'd have been white, he'd have been condemned a total biggot. Sometimes things work against you and sometimes they work for you. I'm not saying it's right, but it's definitely how things are, at least in our world today. Whitlock uses the example of Tyler Perry in a similar way.

I don't know the answers. I wonder if we'll answer these things in my lifetime or not. I'd certainly hope so. But considering that this issue has ebbed and flowed in our culture for so long, I wonder if we'll ever truly get there. Maybe the best answer is to try and live somewhere in the middle, and take things with a grain of salt.

First anniversary of my 29th birthday

Yep. I turned 30 today. Just like most birthdays, I don't feel any different. It's just weird that us Gen Xers are heading into our thirties. I got lots of nice cards, emails, and notes wishing me a happy birthday, so that was cool :)

On Sunday, I went over to my mom and step dad's house for a small celebration. My mom has been really sick recently, so we didn't do anything big. L. and I went and visited for a few hours, and I opened my presents. They did the coolest thing for me this year. My mom had a bunch of old Super 8 tapes of me when I was a little girl, and she had them transferred to DVD. She was disappointed because Kits messed up by not adding the sound (which she told them about several times). They're making her a new copy with sound, but they didn't get it done by this weekend. So, we watched the silent one anyway and tried to guess what year certain things were taking place.

Normally, I disolve into a bucket of tears at old movies of my family because there are so many people who are gone now and it reminds me of a time when my parents were still in love and married. And even now, 23 years later that still makes me sad even though I think that things ended up much better this way. But for some reason, it was different on Sunday. Watching those videos made me laugh, and it made me think about how lucky I am to have all of those people in my life and to be really loved.

Today was my actual birthday, but because it was a work day, we didn't do anything big. L. came down and brought me some beautiful tulips (my favorite flower) and gifts. I'm always amazed at the things he thinks of for me. I've been collecting the Denver mint and Philadelphia mint state quarters, but I was missing quite a few from the Philadelphia mint. So, he figured out which ones I still needed and found them for me at a coin shop. He also got me a cool CD, some yummy-smelling lotions, and a gift certificate to White House Black Market. So, I need to go shopping soon so that I can get some new clothes and find something to buy with my Sephora gift certificate (thanks A.!!!).

This weekend we're going to do a small celebration with a few friends, so that will be fun. For awhile, L. and I talked about doing a larger party with a lot of friends, but I didn't really feel like it. Normally, I'd want to go out and do something fun like bowling and karoake while drinking lots of alcohol with a bunch of my friends, but due to my diet and exercise regime I'm not doing that this year. So, it would have been a lot of "no, I can't do that" and what kind of fun is that for my birthday? So we scaled it way back. We're having the biggest party ever later this year anyway - our wedding :)

My 30s are starting out great. I have so many things to look forward to this year alone: new house with my fiance, wedding, honeymoon in France, puppy... Wheee!