Sometimes, you just have to hit the road

Friday, May 13, 2011

Lyndon isn't feeling well (neither was I last night, to be honest -- I'm guessing a mild 24-hour bug for both of us), so I was able to grab his truck this morning and run my bike over to the bike shop.

I have a CBS ProMax that I bought in Sweden -- it was quite handy for getting back and forth to the store since it had these nice wire saddlebag-type baskets that I could stuff shopping in, and once I installed a bigger seat for my bigger butt, it was pretty comfortable to ride.

It's been languishing in the garage next to Lyndon's Raleigh for about ten years, now. The tubes are pretty much gone, the chain's in dodgy condition, and it's more than a little dusty. I'd stopped in on Wednesday at the bike shop to make sure they could fix bikes as well as sell them -- the nice tattooed guy at the repair counter said to bring mine on in and he'd give me an estimate.

This happened this morning. He didn't seem too fussed about the idea that it had been sitting around for ten years -- apparently the tires are still in pretty good shape, and all that really needs to be replaced are the tubes and cabling, after which he'll give it a tune-up and it should be ready for the road.

He said I could have it back by May 23, after 5 PM. By 6 PM, I hope to be wobbling down one of the local bike paths. Whee!

Bruised, and loving it

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

As I lie here on the couch (having walked in 78°F heat, 78% humidity and light drizzle for 25 minutes -- would've been longer but for the drizzle), freshly showered and musing over the idea of hitting the hay early for once, I find myself looking at my right arm. In the past few days, I've carried a large old TV out to the car in an attempt to donate it to Goodwill (the man at the collection area just looked at it and laughed -- finally left it out back for the trash scavengers), cleaned the bedroom, carried ladders and vacuum cleaners up and down stairs, and generally been active about the house.

I also bruise easily -- got that from my mother. A friend once gave me an acupressure treatment on my back, and was horrified the next morning at the deep blue Turner seascape-esque blotches that bloomed overnight on my skin. I had to reassure her that she hadn't been torturing me, it was just the way my skin reacted to pressure. And the way my torso looked after a good fencing session can only be described as "Dalmatian."

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that after the last few days, I have three small but distinct bruises high and inside on my upper right arm from where the frame of the TV dug into the muscle, a smudgy bruise on my outer forearm from banging the ladder against it, and a small pink bruise on my inner forearm from God knows what.

And I like them. This may sound idiotic, but I kinda feel like Xena, Warrior SF Writer when I look at my mottled skin. Yeah, they ache a bit, but they remind me of the work I did to get them, and that's kind of cool.

I Anen't Dead

Sorry about that -- life got...a little complicated over the last six months or so. That being said, life has just become remarkably uncomplicated because I finished my contract last week, so I can start doing things like, oh, blogging on a regular basis again.

So, what's been happening with me? Well, health-wise I completely blew my triathlon training, not to mention going to the gym on a regular basis, and generally felt like shit for quite a few months there due to a wide variety of stressors. My crowning moment came when I went to see some friends in a play down in Orlando (which was wonderful, by the way), and couldn't fit in the theater seat. I was just too fat to sit down. Yeah, that was humiliating. I finally managed to Tetris my ass into the seat, tearing my jeans in the process, and bolted for the box office at intermission to beg for anywhere else that could handle a big woman's ass. Luckily they gave me a lovely freestanding chair next to the door, and Lyndon was even able to move with me, but there were a few moments there where all I wanted to do was burst into tears (a very nice man came up to me during intermission and told me that I had an absolutely lovely laugh -- I don't know if he was trying to make me feel better or what, but it did help).

Sometimes, however, you need a kick in the ass like that. And combined with the fact that I was about to be turfed from the Death Star, I decided it was time to make some permanent changes in my life. I'm tired of dreading plane flights because coach seats are massively uncomfortable for a woman of my size. I want to be able to sleep comfortably in a hotel bed -- or, hell, in my own bed without the aid of fifteen million pillows. I'd like to wear clothes that don't have multiple X's on the label. For that matter, I'd like to shop for clothes in a regular person's store -- I've never done that as an adult.

So, what am I doing? Well, some simple things to start out with -- I'm trying to move every day, even if it's just housework. I'm eating small meals every 3 hours, and I try to stay with lean protein and veggies whenever possible. Tomorrow is my first yoga class, Cthulhu help me. And I want to take my bike into a local bike shop and see about getting it generally tuned up, since it's been sitting in the garage for the last 10 years. There are all kinds of bike paths around here -- I'm going to look like a fat idiot on a bike, but at least I'll be out there riding.

WEIGHT: 308.2

Sleep DOES help!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Have you been reading the medical articles on CNN recently that explain how if you don't get enough sleep you can't lose weight because important metabolic activities are being delayed or blocked by the lack of sleep?

Yeah, apparently they're correct. Because I've been sleeping like a log all week (we have release weekend coming up, so Xanax is my friend), and not only has all of the water weight from the Crimson Tide dropped right off, but I'm heading back downwards in overall weight as well.

Finally. So, sleep = necessary = good.

WEIGHT: 308.2

FOOD FOR THE DAY: 1 SB meal bar, a couple of salt and pepper potato chips

Monday's Weight

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

309 pounds. At 8:00 am. I ask you.

FOOD FOR THE DAY: SB meal bar, Thai chicken wrap, small Greek salad, large cup of cut up fruit, peanut butter sandwich, Weight Watchers ice cream bar.

Yes, I'm still training

Sunday, September 26, 2010

I haven't been posting much here because to be honest, I've been absolutely frustrated with the way I swelled up as of 9/10 and pretty much stayed somewhere between 312-313 for two weeks. I can tell it's water weight because of the way my feet look and the way my gut goes drum-tight -- and as far as my doctor can tell it's hormone-related because my body doesn't really want to be and apart from a Lasix IV there's not a damned thing I can do about it. I can cut out the salt, drink water all day long, chug minerals meant to balance my electrolytes, take OTC diuretics (and enjoy the racing heart and panic attacks that come with those), and nothing fucking works. Needless to say, it's a bit fucking discouraging, and while I know I should woman up and keep posting, to be honest the weight gain was just humiliating. It would be nice to say I just trained on through it, but to be honest it's extraordinarily uncomfortable when I swell up like that, which makes it hard to work out. I still got to the gym, just not every day, and not as enthusiastically as I would have liked.

The swelling going down now, which is good. I have no idea why, but it's going down. And today's Cheat Day, so I indulged with a Five Guys burger -- go me. And now, off to the gym.

WEIGHT: 310.4 pounds

FOOD FOR THE DAY: a single patty Five Guys burger, 3/4 of a regular order of fries, 1 Weight Watchers toffee crunch ice cream bar, 1 PB sandwich, 1 cup carb controlled yogurt.

I didn't even worry about the weekend

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

As it was a con, and it's pointless to do anything but be at the con. But today, it's back to normal with a nice workout at the gym (a woman was on the bike, so I hopped on one of the ellipticals, which kicked my ass but good)

WEIGHT: 312.0

FOOD FOR THE DAY: 2 peanut butter sandwiches, 2 servings of organic guacamole corn chips, 1 avocado roll, 1 spider roll, 2 pieces each of cooked egg and cooked shrimp, 1 order of lemon chicken, 3 forkfuls of steamed rice, 4 spoonfuls of egg drop soup, a handful of grapes, one slice of pizza.