May 2009
Slim Down Sunday/Sunday
Sunday, May31, 2009
Well,
the weekend is almost over. I've been so busy! I've
gardened, cleaned house and have been attempting to
finish my short story/novella, all the while I've
been reading WIPs for two friends and reading four
other novels for review. Phew! It's a wonder I ever
get any writing done!
It's been a crazy two weeks, as a matter of fact. From PMSing to simply not having the time or energy to cook, I've sabotaged my slim down efforts several times. BUT, I've still managed to lose 6 lbs in 2 weeks. YAY! I've opted to do something that could only be called a derivative of the South Beach Diet.
Most carbs make me crave more carbs, which makes me overeat, and so on. Protein and veggies have really helped me to look at food as fuel and start living the adage "Eat to live, NOT live to eat."
This week I'm adding in more exercise to the mix. So I may see a more rapid weight loss. Either way, I'm on the road to a better me. Cheers!
It's been a crazy two weeks, as a matter of fact. From PMSing to simply not having the time or energy to cook, I've sabotaged my slim down efforts several times. BUT, I've still managed to lose 6 lbs in 2 weeks. YAY! I've opted to do something that could only be called a derivative of the South Beach Diet.
Most carbs make me crave more carbs, which makes me overeat, and so on. Protein and veggies have really helped me to look at food as fuel and start living the adage "Eat to live, NOT live to eat."
This week I'm adding in more exercise to the mix. So I may see a more rapid weight loss. Either way, I'm on the road to a better me. Cheers!
|
Slim Down Saturday/Sunday
Saturday, May16, 2009
Slim
Down Saturday
So, I am where most women (and dare I say, most Americans) are, have been, or will be at least once in their lives.
Sure, I can quote statistics on how 60% of Americans are overweight or perhaps I could be like the article or blog that blames the weight of the Western world on issues like fast food or modern conveniences such as over 500 TV channels to watch vs. going outside and playing sports or other outdoor activities. I could blame our problems on other modern conveniences like elevators and escalators in buildings or even cars to take us two blocks instead of walking. Perhaps I could even place the onus on the internet and cell phones which keep us in contact with loved ones who live nearby, so that we don’t have to leave our homes at all.
I could. But I won’t.
It really comes down to calories in, calories out. Now, I won’t belabor how some can eat an entire pizza and not gain a pound while others eat two Doritos and gain ten pounds.
Each individual is just that. An individual. That former person may also walk 40,000 steps in his job while the poor weight gainer has a desk job and abnormal body chemistry or genetics.
But let’s not go there. After all, if you’ve been blessed with bad eyes, you don’t bump into walls and bemoan your bad eyesight, do you? You get an eye exam and do something about it!
So here I am ruminating first and foremost about genetic. Immediate family members have various issues like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.
So after seriously examining my genetics, I had to come to some hard and fast conclusions and make some decisions. Unless I change those things in my life that’s obvious in my parents’ lives, I too could be looking at the same future. If course, things being the way they are, there are no guarantees but…
So, stress: the proverbial king AND queen of all banes. How do I handle stress? Probably not very well. My shoulders tense, I clench my jaw, thereby getting headaches and my stomach becomes upset. Oh yeah. And I eat.
When I handle my stress constructively I do yoga, something that after two weeks of stress, I’ve decided to go back to, because my recent stress levels are off the charts. Some is from my Mac crashing (see previous posts), but that’s only part of my concerns. More on those in later posts.
I loathe exercise machines. I do them for a while, then want to toss them out the window. Exercise: the one thing I really enjoy is tae bo and have a few DVDs of various routines. I used to do them at a karate studio. Now I can do them at home. I also recently bought Hip Hop Abs. I haven’t quite gotten into this routine yet.
Time to make these things a part of my life again, eh?
In subsequent Slim Down posts, I’ll write about exercise, nutrition tips, stress relievers and of course, my progress. Wish me luck!
So, I am where most women (and dare I say, most Americans) are, have been, or will be at least once in their lives.
Sure, I can quote statistics on how 60% of Americans are overweight or perhaps I could be like the article or blog that blames the weight of the Western world on issues like fast food or modern conveniences such as over 500 TV channels to watch vs. going outside and playing sports or other outdoor activities. I could blame our problems on other modern conveniences like elevators and escalators in buildings or even cars to take us two blocks instead of walking. Perhaps I could even place the onus on the internet and cell phones which keep us in contact with loved ones who live nearby, so that we don’t have to leave our homes at all.
I could. But I won’t.
It really comes down to calories in, calories out. Now, I won’t belabor how some can eat an entire pizza and not gain a pound while others eat two Doritos and gain ten pounds.
Each individual is just that. An individual. That former person may also walk 40,000 steps in his job while the poor weight gainer has a desk job and abnormal body chemistry or genetics.
But let’s not go there. After all, if you’ve been blessed with bad eyes, you don’t bump into walls and bemoan your bad eyesight, do you? You get an eye exam and do something about it!
So here I am ruminating first and foremost about genetic. Immediate family members have various issues like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.
So after seriously examining my genetics, I had to come to some hard and fast conclusions and make some decisions. Unless I change those things in my life that’s obvious in my parents’ lives, I too could be looking at the same future. If course, things being the way they are, there are no guarantees but…
So, stress: the proverbial king AND queen of all banes. How do I handle stress? Probably not very well. My shoulders tense, I clench my jaw, thereby getting headaches and my stomach becomes upset. Oh yeah. And I eat.
When I handle my stress constructively I do yoga, something that after two weeks of stress, I’ve decided to go back to, because my recent stress levels are off the charts. Some is from my Mac crashing (see previous posts), but that’s only part of my concerns. More on those in later posts.
I loathe exercise machines. I do them for a while, then want to toss them out the window. Exercise: the one thing I really enjoy is tae bo and have a few DVDs of various routines. I used to do them at a karate studio. Now I can do them at home. I also recently bought Hip Hop Abs. I haven’t quite gotten into this routine yet.
Time to make these things a part of my life again, eh?
In subsequent Slim Down posts, I’ll write about exercise, nutrition tips, stress relievers and of course, my progress. Wish me luck!
Is there a Durany in the house?
Friday, May01, 2009
Do Do Do
Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do
I confess. I couldn’t help it. I was humming along to Hungry Like The Wolf. Any Gen Xers out there are sure to start singing along too. You know you want to just do it. I won’t tell.
1982 was a crazy year. I was just learning what hormones were and this fabulous new band was emerging and taking the world by storm. Their very name elicited screams, sighs and a whole lotta singing. Duran Duran.
In touch with the ground
I’m on the hunt I’m after you
Scent and a sound, I’m lost and I’m found
And I’m hungry like the wolf.
In the ensuing years, I was the Durany. Like a persona. I became someone else: posters all over every wall and ceiling space, music waking me in the morning and putting me to sleep at night. I wrote a type of fan fic. Before it was even popular and when I was old enough to drive, I even christened my sports car with a license plate: Durany. Said persona was complete. To my pubescent mind, surely there was NO ONE as big a fan as me.
I went to my first concert in 1984. Yes, ladies, the Seven and the Ragged Tiger Tour. It was, in a word, sublime. Even if my seat was in the nosebleed section.
Three years later I was a little luckier and a little more prepared. I knew a guy who owned a limo company (who I dated briefly and discovered later he was married, the jerk) and it just so happened that he had the Duran account for when the Wild Boys were in town. I wheedled and pled and scored the tail number for their chartered jet. What’s a girl to do with that info? Why, show up at the executive terminal at the airport, make now like my friends and I were someone, and be shown out onto the tarmac, of course!
Autographs all around, then to the concert front row seats, then back to the airport to take a pic with a very tired Simon and a promise to meet the boys in Denver.
Concert pics:
Me, friend Michelle, some guy (Simon le Bon), and friend Laura at the airport after the concert.
Denver started as a trip to visit a friend there, but since she couldn’t be around during the several days of Duran’s visit to her town, I managed to stay in a hotel downtown… right where the band was staying. I was able to spend snippets of two days with various members of the tour. Even though some of the pics might speak to a slightly different train of thought, the guys were nothing but gentlemanly. Dammit.
John Taylor et moi.
Nick Rhodes, looking cool. Notice the license plate in the background.
Shiver me timbers. Look at that awful 80s hair.
A party way too wild for words. Andy Hamilton, saxophonist extraordinaire! (Remember the RIO solo?)
Yes, that's Warren Cuccurullo, guitar player, in bed.
Sweet and sober. ~snicker~
I have a couple of pictures that didn't make it to the scanner and should they do so I'll add them at a later date. They're pretty cool. Anyway...
Now, my enthusiasm for Duran Duran, and music in general, is a little less… enthusiastic. No posters, no frenzied calls to meet the band, no code names, and most of my previous mementos, including autographed tour books and albums and my license plate, is gone. Just a relaxed enjoyment of tunes. But what a time it was…
I confess. I couldn’t help it. I was humming along to Hungry Like The Wolf. Any Gen Xers out there are sure to start singing along too. You know you want to just do it. I won’t tell.
1982 was a crazy year. I was just learning what hormones were and this fabulous new band was emerging and taking the world by storm. Their very name elicited screams, sighs and a whole lotta singing. Duran Duran.
In touch with the ground
I’m on the hunt I’m after you
Scent and a sound, I’m lost and I’m found
And I’m hungry like the wolf.
In the ensuing years, I was the Durany. Like a persona. I became someone else: posters all over every wall and ceiling space, music waking me in the morning and putting me to sleep at night. I wrote a type of fan fic. Before it was even popular and when I was old enough to drive, I even christened my sports car with a license plate: Durany. Said persona was complete. To my pubescent mind, surely there was NO ONE as big a fan as me.
I went to my first concert in 1984. Yes, ladies, the Seven and the Ragged Tiger Tour. It was, in a word, sublime. Even if my seat was in the nosebleed section.
Three years later I was a little luckier and a little more prepared. I knew a guy who owned a limo company (who I dated briefly and discovered later he was married, the jerk) and it just so happened that he had the Duran account for when the Wild Boys were in town. I wheedled and pled and scored the tail number for their chartered jet. What’s a girl to do with that info? Why, show up at the executive terminal at the airport, make now like my friends and I were someone, and be shown out onto the tarmac, of course!
Autographs all around, then to the concert front row seats, then back to the airport to take a pic with a very tired Simon and a promise to meet the boys in Denver.
Concert pics:
Me, friend Michelle, some guy (Simon le Bon), and friend Laura at the airport after the concert.
Denver started as a trip to visit a friend there, but since she couldn’t be around during the several days of Duran’s visit to her town, I managed to stay in a hotel downtown… right where the band was staying. I was able to spend snippets of two days with various members of the tour. Even though some of the pics might speak to a slightly different train of thought, the guys were nothing but gentlemanly. Dammit.
John Taylor et moi.
Nick Rhodes, looking cool. Notice the license plate in the background.
Shiver me timbers. Look at that awful 80s hair.
A party way too wild for words. Andy Hamilton, saxophonist extraordinaire! (Remember the RIO solo?)
Yes, that's Warren Cuccurullo, guitar player, in bed.
Sweet and sober. ~snicker~
I have a couple of pictures that didn't make it to the scanner and should they do so I'll add them at a later date. They're pretty cool. Anyway...
Now, my enthusiasm for Duran Duran, and music in general, is a little less… enthusiastic. No posters, no frenzied calls to meet the band, no code names, and most of my previous mementos, including autographed tour books and albums and my license plate, is gone. Just a relaxed enjoyment of tunes. But what a time it was…