It's a glorious day out there

Saturday, September 4, 2010

And as soon as I'm sure this kind of weather is going to last, I'm taking the bike in for an overhaul and getting it out on the bike paths. Woohoo!

More weights last night in addition to 30 minutes on the bike, and I made a discovery -- this whole eating healthily lark has pretty much ruined fast food for me. I was absolutely starving yesterday morning and didn't have time to wait for something cooked, so I grabbed a bag of Doritos to add to my bagel. And they were horribly salty, with an unpleasantly dry, cardboardy consistency and just generally yucky. Last night, I was hungry after my workout so I figured what the hell, I'll grab a medium serving of french fries from Burger King when I get my treat Diet Coke (yeah, yeah, I know -- I still want it, so suck it). And the fries tasted moderately rancid, overly salted once again and generally cruddy.

The hell? Am I going vegetarian next?

WEIGHT: 306.2

FOOD FOR YESTERDAY: 1 poppy seed bagel with regular cream cheese, 1 sm bag Doritos, 1 avocado roll, 1 spider roll, 2 pcs cooked shrimp sushi, 2 pcs cooked egg sushi, 2 Weight Watchers ice cream bars, 1 peanut butter sandwich, 1 small portion of fries, 1 cup sugar free jello.

FOOD FOR THIS DAY: A variety of sushi (Osaka), half a medium bag of popcorn (the movies, shared with Lyndon), grilled whitefish with lump crabmeat and hollandaise sauce, a handful of french fries (Ralph and Kacoo's), 1 Weight Watchers toffee ice cream bar.

What do I want?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

I've been thinking about that in the last couple of days, especially since I've been harping on my weight instead of my improving levels of fitness, which is the actual goal here. And my levels are definitely improving -- not only are the increasing times and levels I'm doing on the bike and in the pool demonstrating that, but I'm starting to see definition in my forearms and calves that's thrilling me to the bone. Even my upper arms and thighs are changing shape, and while my trunk is always the last to show any changes, I think I'm starting to see a couple of hints of muscle buildup there, too. By the time the triathlon rolls around, I will (please God) be ready for it.

I will also still be considered obese by the medical community, since I probably won't be anywhere below 250 pounds by then (BMI? Can kiss my ass -- weightlifters are considered obese by BMI measurements, which tells you something about that particular measurement). But that's okay, because the goal here isn't to lose weight -- it's to put on muscle, extend my stamina, and be able to successfully compete in an indoor triathlon. Any weight loss is, to be honest, just a pleasant fringe benefit.

That being said, I would be lying if I said I didn't like the idea of eventually, maybe, being just the tiniest bit ripped. Not slender (I suspect that's genetically impossible, nor do I particularly want that body shape), but lean, strong and muscular, like, oh, Gabrielle Reece:

Now, can I achieve a shape like this in my mid-40s? I don't know, even with plastic surgery to take in the excess skin (although Becky Griggs has made it very clear that it's not impossible). But hell, if I could get at least within spitting distance of a shape like this, I would be thrilled out of my gourd.

But I'm not trying to pay much attention to that at the moment -- right now, the immediate goal is to perform a 10-minute swim and a 30-minute biking session consecutively. That's hella more important than looking nice in a tank top.

Make that 14 pounds

Saturday, September 5, 2009

I was going to post and say that I've lost 12 pounds as of the beginning of July, but then I got on the scale this morning. Granted, I also slept late so that had something to do with it, but STILL.

14 pounds. Not a lot, compared to everything I still have to lose, but it's more than just a drop in the bucket. And the changes over the last two months have been significant:

• I can now do a butt-to-the-heels squat. Not with any weight, mind you, but I've got plenty of built-in weight as it is so I'm not worried about that.
• I went shopping at Fashion Bug last week to get some clothes for the LA trip. They have a proprietary size system for their jeans, so I automatically grabbed the largest size and tried them on. I swam in them. Went down a size, tried those on -- still too big. Went down ANOTHER size, and finally found the ones that fit just right. Weelah!
• Muscle definition. I'm developing a rather nice set of traps, my deltoids are shyly making an appearance, and my forearms and calves are turning into things of muscled beauty. I have nice amounts of muscle growing in my thighs and upper arms, too -- they're just not as easy to see because of the padding. But if I make a muscle, man, you can feel it. As for the trunk, there's just so much padding there that it's hard to tell, but I THINK I'm making inroads -- I can do 60 ab crunches, and back hyperextensions are getting easier and easier.
• Last night, I hit Legacy Books for some more research material, and jogged up the stairs to the Mezzanine. I've been going up stairs MUCH more easily these days (going down still hurts because of my Achilles bursitis, but I figure that will improve eventually).
• I looked at the videocast I made from my first trip to LA, and then at the second one, and my face is noticeably slimmer in the second vcast. Hu-fucking-zzah!

So, this whole thing is actually working out rather well. I'm losing the weight slowly, which is frustrating but healthy, I'm not hungry, I'm getting stronger every day, and I need smaller clothes. This, my friends, is what would be called "all good."

Oh, yeah

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I'm definitely putting on muscle mass. I got back from Austin and Armadillocon yesterday (hi Walt!), and went for a swim; not only am I significantly less buoyant than I was, but it's a lot easier for me to swim underwater (aka I'm not fighting my own body's flotation).

I also took a good look at pictures we were snapping at the Salt Lick yesterday. I'm still a broad broad, but that horrible soft bloaty look is gone -- I may have big arms, but they look like they could clout you a good one if you pissed me off. And my boobs look fantastic. :-) So, lack of movement on the scales isn't necessarily a bad thing.

And considering that I woke up this morning to find that one of the sinks in the master bathroom had mysteriously filled up and created a small flood, I will be cleaning and repairing things in there today, which should gain some workout points. Yay for me!

Thank you, Goddess of Sq’waht!

Monday, August 10, 2009

As of today, people, I did a full, honest-to-Cthulhu butt to the heels squat. Granted, I wasn't carrying any weight, and I did have to keep a couple of fingers on the kitchen countertop for balance, but compared to my sad and pathetic inability to go even to a 90 degree angle as of early July without feeling flares of agony in both knees, this is frigging marvelous.

And this, of course, is what comes of lifting 200 lb on the leg press for the last three weeks, plus adding more weight to the leg extensions and calf curls. Which I will continue to do, plus I can now add the squat into my leg routine (I may try a split squat or lunge next time, as well). Mellie is a happy iron-lifting camper, people, she truly is, because the squat is the queen of exercises -- you have to work so many muscles in order to keep proper form, you can't help but tone everything from your legs to your traps.

Huzzah!

Jeans

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I'm sitting here wearing a pair of jeans that I bought about two years ago. They were an emergency purchase, grabbed just before we flew to England to attend my SIL's wedding, and even though they were kinda small I bought them because I knew I wasn't going to get through an entire week on just two pairs of old black jeans, which were the only things I had at the time that fit me.

And I was right -- the new jeans didn't really fit very well. I couldn't sit comfortably in them, and when I took them off I had this horrible red welt all around my waist from the band cutting into my skin. I struggled through the week in England, then as soon as I got home I put them on my "too small" shelf with all the clothes that didn't fit me anymore. And there they sat for two years, despite occasional try-ons, because they still didn't fit.

This morning, while getting dressed, I decided to jump the gun a little bit. I was going to hold off trying them on again until May 1, when I did my weigh-in, but since all of my shorts and jeans were in the wash I figured, "What the hell."

Go back to the first sentence in this post. I'm sitting here wearing a pair of jeans... I'm not gasping for breath or wincing in pain. I don't feel as if they're slowly sawing me in half. They're still the tiniest bit snug, but I wouldn't shy away from wearing them in public.

Oh, yeah.

Thursday's total mileage: 504.65 miles to Isengard.

Yeah, so...

Sunday, April 13, 2008

I skipped the walk yesterday, mainly because I got sucked into finishing this jacket for a friend and when I looked up it was 2:00 AM and I figured, "Screw it, I'm tired."

But I did the walk tonight, and the whole complex has this wonderful woody smell from all the downed trees that reminds me of...actually, I'm not sure. Band camp? All I know is that it smells yummy, and has some mildly erotic connotations because of 1) the age I was at when I first smelled it and 2) the person who was carbonating my hormones at that time. Completely and utterly unavailable, of course, but Lord, he was fine. If I could pull a Peggy Sue Got Married dealie and mentally travel back to that point in time, I do believe I'd take the opportunity to give him a slow, thorough up-and-down look. And then I'd smile.

I bet I could make him blush. Of course, making him moan would be so much more fun...

Um. Did I mention that the exercise was having a beneficial effect on my libido? Yeah.

Saturday's total mileage: 515.28 miles to Isengard. Which means I've covered just under 20 miles so far. Nicht sehr schlect, ja?

A rather nice Monday

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

And indeed it was -- in addition to doing some very necessary laundry (clean underwear is always a goodness, particularly after a shower), I critiqued three stories for my writing group and got my story "Lusts of the Cat Queen: A Dash Manning Adventure" critiqued tonight. And yes, "Lusts..." is just as pulpy as it sounds, except for one eensy twist: my hero, Captain Dash Manning, is tall, blond, square-jawed, handsome, smart, brave, resourceful, helpful to little old ladies, and is the poster boy for the Galactic Rangers. He's also gay as an Easter frock. This causes some consternation in the Ranger's PR arm, much amusement to his girl sidekick Ginny Mardon, and rabid delight among well-endowed male aliens everywhere.

And no, he bears no resemblance whatsoever to Captain Jack Harkness. I wrote the first half of this story two years ago, well before I ever set eyes on the beauteous and talented John Barrowman. But I digress.

Our group meets twice a month in a local Chinese restaurant, mainly because they're tolerant of us sitting there for a couple of hours and talking loudly about SF and fantasy geekery, so the critiquing took place while devouring a lovely dish of lemon chicken with some egg drop soup on the side (hmm -- maybe Nessa and Fairy Princess Holly have a point about Walt speaking Chinese when he starts talking about comic books and such...). In addition to getting useful feedback on my stories, the other nice thing about these meetings is that I always feel mentally pumped afterwards; there's just something about talking shop with a bunch of irreverent genre writers that kicks my brain into high gear, which translates nicely into creative energy. So, after slinging my butt around the complex for 40 minutes to get some physical pumping action as well, I'm about to head to the Office of Doom and see if I can finish a story before hitting the hay.

So how was your Monday?

Monday's total mileage: 519.87 miles to Isengard.

Some things I've noticed

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I have now been doing the walking thing for (checks calendar) 13 days, now. So far, I have noticed the following:

• It's easier for me to get up from the couch -- no more steeling myself for the flare of agony in my knees.


• I can see definition in my calves, and some in my thighs.


• It's easier for me to get to sleep.


• We've already talked about the increasing sex drive.


• The tummy has deflated the tiniest bit.


• So has the butt. I no longer look like I'm either a duck or 9 months' pregnant from the side.


• I got dressed for a job interview this morning, and wound up pulling up the dress pants without having to unbutton them.


• When I cuddled with Lyndon this evening, I didn't immediately think, "Eeeee! He's touching my fat!" In fact, it was downright comfy and sensual. Yay!

So, no huge change in size, but there are definitely some benefits to all this cardio that are making themselves known. That's hot.

Tuesday's total mileage: 523.72 miles to Isengard.