Surprised by Joy (apologies to C.S.L.)

I was seriously freaking out about my business trip.  I knew I did not eat everything in sight, but I ate a lot of what was in sight.  And I wasn't exercising because my back was wrecking me.  So I was imagining the worst.  Images of balloons, blimps, elephants, murals of grapes covering the side of a building, James and the Giant Peach in the middle of the story after the peach is giant but before it is diminished by circumstances, danced in my head

The only thing I did in moderation was embarrassing.  I ordered a fruit and cheese plate at the Padres v. Brewers baseball game.  What kind of ball park sells a fruit and cheese plate?  What kind of man who wishes to keep his man card orders a fruit and cheese plate?  What kind of sucker pays 12 bucks for a dollars worth of grapes, brie, gouda and strawberries?

My reward?  I gained nothing.  The scale was kind.

I wrote last time that I am trying to shed the tyranny of the scale, but I ain't home yet.  I raced into the house just to see the damage...and was rewarded by joy.

I don't know if it was good Karma, but it was pretty good Gouda.  That's right, captial G.  Or J.

****

188 today.  I skipped pilates cuz it was putting the hoobie doobie on my sciatic/hip thingy.  But I have been stretching and icing like no other.  Today I felt some improvement.  So I went to the gym and just 'pumped iron'.   Isolated muscle work only.  No functional circuit training.  I think I will be a little sore tomorrow.  But my biceps are gonna be HUUUUUUGGGGEEEEE.

Business Travel II

Good news.  I took my running stuff with me on a biz trip to San Diego.

Bad News.  I am eating goofier than I have since the end of January when I started trying to change and well before I started balogging.  (Yes, I am calling balogging.)  I had really hoped that after 3 months of not dieting, I would be a little safer.  It isn't any new idea, but I am not using the word diet because I do not expect this to be a temporary change to reach an artificial goal.  I am trying to eat a sane amount of food, balanced and nutrient dense, combined with moderate but regular exercise and then let my body tell me what I should weigh.

The last two nights I was not sane.  I had been finding it easy to eat smaller portions until this trip.  And I had been enjoying ordering food I like but that met my balanced and healthy goals, until this trip.  Most discouraging of all, my back is acting up after losing 20 lbs and working hard everyday to strengthen my core, corp, coor.

Good news.  I am learning that there is not 'safe'.  It is not a good swing thought.  (My family plays a lot of golf.)

Good news.  There is just today and how I do today.  Except I will borrow a little from last night.  I ate what seemed like a bushel of steamed broccoli.  The cracks between my nose holes and my cheeks look a little green...the green of healthy eating!  (That was hokey)

*****

No scale here at the hotel.  Weighing myself has been helpful in the past, but I am getting ready to stop.  I set some non-weight related goals at the gym on Monday and I really want to leave weighing myself behind.  But, I don't think I am really ready.  We'll see.

What's that smell?

Depending on where your mind spends its time, your first thought on reading today's title could be interesting.  Not be too indelicate, but Annette says I don't smell so bad in some ways since I have been eating a more balanced, less greezy diet.

Diet.  A word I hate.

But today is so beautiful outside I will leave any hatin' for another day.  That is not exactly true.  I am gonna hate on my first month of tries at 'smoothies'.  I usually get motivated to make one because I am trying to jazz up a whey mixture that I dread.  I try and drink it after a hard work out just because a gym rat told me too.  I ended up buying a bucket of it at a local health food outlet.  The sales guy was priceless, telling me not to add yogurt or I would look bloated.  I asked him how much more bloated could I look?

Complaint number one is that it gets all foamy.  How do you mix up this blech without it getting frothy?  I've tried adding some fun stuff...bananas, strawberries, blueberries and some homemade pomegranate juice.  The taste improves, but the fluff is OUT OF CONTROL.  Then, this morning, I got the distinct smell of rotten eggs hitting my nose right before I gulped.  This version tastes the best so far, but the smell is a disincentive.  Well, I will just keep my mad scientist wig on and keep trying.

*****

189.  The 80's.  Jeffy is smiling.  Great run through the cherries Thursday.  Hamachi and Sake for dinner Friday night.  Circuit kicked my tail at the gym this morning.  And, I am writing this while listening to Catherine Russell, my current female singer crush.  Just puts me in a great place.

Survived and Thrived

I did not go to Ronald's house of fried flavor and poison.  Check
I ate several small, balanced meals.  Check
I looked forward to and enjoyed my circuit training.  Check
I crossed from the 90's into the 80's.  Check.

It is easier to enjoy the journey when you can check a few things off the list.

Jeffy vs. Ronald - The Rumble in the Tummy

Banana, yogurt w/walnuts and almonds, the perfect fugi, a power bar before pilates and some leftover Weight Watchers chili with a hand full of spinach tossed in.  I have been into spinach on/in everything lately.

Then, a 3 hour battle with the most insane need (not want) for a QPWC topped off with a FO'F.  Just typing it makes me jittery.  I think I win, because I expect to go to bed now.  But I have to walk past my keys.  I hope I pass this test.  If my only consequence for self-discipline is dreaming of hot tubbing with the HamBurglar, I count it a victory.

*****

I have been stuck around 191 for a while, but was rewarded with running out of holes in my belt on the opposite side of where I had to punch a couple of holes at the end of last year.  Yippee for me.  I hope someone hid my keys because a I want a QPWC NOW!!!!!!!!

Whole Lipstick

I cannot remember the first time I heard the word holistic.  It might have been when I started studying psychology.  There were two tracks at school and one of them was traditional and the other was holistic.  What I do remember is that I thought the person I was talking to said Whole Lipstick.  It took a second to get what he was saying.

Why is this important?  First, because I think it is funny.  But for the purposes of this blog, I wanted to comment on a most daunting task.  I find it almost impossible to dig my way through the mountain of information on what we eat.  Frankly, a lot of the confusion comes from the holistic side of things.  In a future post, I hope to tell you a bit about a book that feels clear to me.  For now...a short story about the way I experience a lot of the information in books and on the web and from people and friends interested in the same things.

The story:  I spent the weekend at a huge Boy Scout gathering commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts in the U.S.  All that youth, mostly boys, gathered for a good cause...no threat or fear of violence.  I found it remarkable.  I woke up on Saturday feeling sure I was coming down with the flu.  I took a couple of Advil and for fun I put a moleskin patch on my forehead.  In short order I felt fine.  I told several of the boys that the moleskin patch is all I use for headaches, hoping they would tell their parents or maybe try it themselves. :)

Except what exactly made me feel better?  If had left well enough alone would the funk have passed on by?  Did joking and laughing with the boys about something as absurd as a moleskin cure get me up and going?  Did focusing on a spot in my body help me control my pain response?  Or was it the cinnamon rolls?

Learning to understand and listen to my body is gonna take some time.  Learning to dig through all the advice and passion in the world might take longer.  I think I'll just lay on the couch and put on some lipstick...the whole thing.

*****

191 after a tough Saturday of camp snacks.  I did O.K. at first...Banana's and Power Bars, but at the end of the day I was finishing the kids left overs as we 'cleaned up'...fries, chips, muffins, etc.   The good news is that I think I logged 7-10 miles walking.   Today was a great day of apples, cheese, yogurt, nuts, salads, veggies and a great Weight Watchers chili we got from Jeanine Pells.  Annette and I watched the sun set on a beautiful afternoon while walking a couple of miles.

Honey Comb

I live in a very cool place. Mandarin and nectarine orchards to the West.  Cherries North and South.  Fallow to the East.  Sometimes when I run, I just run around the trees.  Today I was daydreaming about everything hitting my nose...citrus, new mown grass, fresh cut wood, rotting mandarins and a little rain.

Which brings me to the reason this is the most fascinating and worth while blog in the bloglag (I am trying to get a new word going to replace blogosphere that imparts some of my feelings that the internet can be as much a prison as a free space.  Get it.  Gulag.  Bloglag.  It doesn't flow but it is my first idea).

Which brings me to the reason...because you just don't know what is coming next.  I was smelling my way around the orchards when I ran right into some portable beehives, literally.  Only the buzzin' brought me out of my reverie.  I took off at a fair trot and the buzzing would not stop.  I have super bottle brush hair and a bee got stuck in my muck.  I think he wanted out.  I wanted him out.  But he finally gave up and stuck me.  Owiee.  A hit to the melon.

Beside that, it was a very good run today.  I felt good the whole way.

****

191.  I forgot breakfast, but had a nice lunch of bananas, yogurt, walnuts, spinach and lunch meat.  I roll up the meat and the spinach.  Tastes good to me.  I am off to a Scout Jamboree for the weekend.  I ate some left over pizza to get ready.  Jeez, my head is pulsing.