Monday Monday
In lieu of actually having written something ths morning, let me direct you to this fine blog, Scale and Perspective. I found it a very inspiring, funny, and relatable start to the week. And maybe you will too!
- posted by mo @ 9:10 AM

 
Only Just Occurred To Me
So I went and looked at Tales from the Scale on Amazon, and under "Product Description" there's a list of names, and my name is on it! It occurs to me that people might actually purchase and read this book, with my writing in it. Which I fully support, by the way. But it's a little surreal all the same.
- posted by mo @ 9:57 AM

 
Endorphins Maybe Real?
Had a great workout last night. I've been stressed recently, and I felt like exercise would help me. By the time I hit the 20-minute mark, I was sweating, the endorphins were pumping, and I felt like I could keep ellipticalling for an hour. It really felt great. And god knows not every workout feels great. In fact, most of them don't! At least not until you're finished.

Good workout music is essential to this, I think. My favorites are all cheesy pop songs, and I make no apologies for this. If I know the words and it has a fun beat, I am likely to work out much harder and with much more enthusiasm. I already thought of some songs to add to my iPod playlist: Spice Girls and that "Can't Fight the Moonlight" song.

Already looking forward to listening to them next time. That's a good sign, I think!
- posted by mo @ 10:30 AM

 
Glory! (Kinda.)
I went to the gym after work today. Which is notable because it was raining and it's Friday and I had to work late and it was dark and I didn't have a gym shirt and blah. Lots of excuses not to go. Plus, I hadn't been to the gym at all this week. That's right: zero gym.

You might think that would make me more likely to go to the gym, but in fact the opposite is true. It's like when you "accidentally" eat a package of cookies for breakfast, you might as well have french fries for dinner, because the day is ruined anyway. It's like that--the week is ruined anyway. Zero times or one time to the gym, it's still a poor showing and a failure, right? I'll just start over on Monday, right?

And using all the tools at my disposal to rationalize away going to the gym, I went anyway. Simply because I had promised myself that I would. Because in the end, the difference between 0 gym and 1 gym really isn't the difference between failure and slightly less failure. It's just a little bit more complicated than that.
- posted by mo @ 10:43 PM

 
Checking In
There is good news and there is bad news.

The good news is that I went to the gym twice last week.

The bad news is that I didn't go a third time. I forgot I had tickets to a play on Friday, and wasn't able to leave work early enough to hit the gym before I had to catch the bus.

More bad news is that I didn't make it bike riding this weekend. My energy was very low. It turns out I have a cold. Boo.

Even more bad news is that my weight is still a little too high for comfort, especially when I am supposed to be going to Belgium in a month. WAFFLES. PANCAKES. BELGIAN CHOCOLATE. I need to lose a few pounds before I go on vacation.

The good news is that I am feeling strong and motivated. I just wrote down some new tricks to try. This week I am going to go to the gym three times! Yes I am! And I am going to pair this gym-going with healthy eating. (Last week I came home from the gym ravenous and ate the world. It turns out that if you eat an energy bar beforehand, this might not happen to you. So I will try it.)

This morning I had a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries and brown sugar, and I am drinking a cafe au lait. I am going to have a big lunch (which is another thing on my list of tricks) involving whole grains and lean protein. I'll keep you posted, as always...
- posted by mo @ 9:19 AM

 
The Sooffering
I went to the gym yesterday, just in time for Spinning class with Accent Guy. Mostly I couldn't understand what he was saying, what with the accent and the fact that I was in the back of the room. He kept talking about "sooffering" though. As in, "Now is the time, the first half, when we work hard. You should not be sooffering. Later you will be sooffering."

Well today I am sooffering a little bit because my ass hurts. Not as much as it did last time, though. Those padded bike shorts do help! I stuck with the class for the full hour but I took it semi-easy. I was covered in sweat at the end, so it couldn't have been that easy, right?

I think I like the Precor(tm) better, though, because it comes with a heart-rate monitor. I like knowing my exact heart rate, because then I know when I'm working too hard or not hard enough. I also enjoy the distraction of having my iPod playing. On the other hand, Spinning class is probably better training for my bike ride. So maybe I will do it one day a week after all.

There is something very satisfying about working out, I find. I haven't gotten to the point where I'm addicted to it; I still have to talk myself into hitting the gym. But if I leave work full of stress, I look forward to working some of it out, because exercise does help. And when I'm done working out, I do as much self-congratulating as possible. Positive reinforcement!
- posted by mo @ 9:33 AM

 
Weekly Goals
Well I made it to the gym twice last week. I would have gone three times except I forgot my workout clothes. I may need to develop a better workout clothes system. Like two sets of workout clothes at work instead of one, so I always have a backup!

This week my goal is to hit the gym three times, which I have worked up to slowly, so that's good. I brought my gym clothes today: also good. I had a coconut cupcake for breakfast: not good.

Ian and Tim and I are all going to the continent in March. And we are trying to lose weight before then so we can eat all the pannekoeken, patat and Belgian chocolate that we want. I am going to keep going to the gym and hope that helps. Once I have worked my way up to three days a week at the gym (which is this week) I am going to work on cutting out the cupcakes.
- posted by mo @ 9:53 AM

 
Thank You Mr. Quaker
I got my results back from the cholesterol test I did a little while ago. I hadn't had my cholesterol checked in a long time, but the last I remember it was considered borderline and was in the 200s. So I was curious to see if my weight loss had improved the cholesterol situation.

Thanks to all the oatmeal I've been eating, my cholesterol is down to 170mg! The good cholesterol is 49mg and the bad cholesterol is 105mg. This is within normal levels. Hooray! According to the new guidelines, "optimum" cholesterol is HDL at more that 50mg and LDL at under 100mg. So I am just a little bit off. But mostly I am just very happy about this.

Hooray for good health!
- posted by mo @ 8:54 AM