Worrier

So, the Chair of my department (my boss, essentially), is a bit of a worrier. When I first started my workout program, I was having trouble with asthma. My trainer asked me to see my physician, so I worked to get an appointment. My doctor is quite busy, so when I got a call at 1:00 asking me if I could be to the clinic across town by 1:20, I didn't want to say no. So, I dropped everything at work, told my staff I had to quick run to the doctor, and took off.

Well, my Chair stopped down to see me while I was gone. He heard from my staff that I had to quick run to the doctor. Well, he got concerned, asking them if everything was okay. Later, when I returned, he asked me if everything was alright. I assured him that I was fine, and I told him the story about starting a workout and that my trainer asked me to see a physician...the whole speil. He actually said, "Good, then we can have you around longer..." I took this to mean that he expects me to fall over from a heart attack at any time...

So, yesterday, I left work at 2:00 for an appointment without notifying him (I don't usually tell him when I'm leaving). He left a message for me so I called him back when I was done with my appointment.

Again, he was concerned about my appointment, "Was it a medical appointment? Is everything okay?" Really? Kind of funny. I assured him that I was fine, "Not to worry," I said.

The funny part is that I was actually getting my nails done. I didn't have the nerve to tell him this, as I don't think he needs to know that I take vacation every two weeks for this very important purpose. Nothing gets in the way of my nail appointments!!

An Olympic 10!

In this second month, our workouts seem to have shifted to strength-training. We still do cardio, but the mix is heavier on the muscle work. I sweat a lot, but I find I'm able to push myself a little more if I'm not huffing and puffing (meaning, I can push myself to do more arm curls easier than I can push myself to run faster).

Anyway, it's no secret that probably 70% of my weight is above my butt - I often picture myself shaped like an upside-down bowling pin (lovely). So, this means my attempts at sit-ups are pretty much just crunches, as I can't really get my back off the floor using just my abs.

Today, one of our exercises involved a weigh bench and two 15 pound weights. I was laying on my back, feet on the floor, doing arm work (curls, lifts, whatever) - no problem, I've got this. The REAL workout came when I tried to get up after the set was done. Nothing to hook my feet under, I couldn't touch the floor with my hands and my body is wider than the bench, so I couldn't use the bench to lever myself up.

What ended up happening was this sort of slow shift, roll, reach, balance - I almost had it, by basically rolling off onto my hands, when my left arm failed me. FLOP! I fell on the floor in a lump, with my teammates, my trainer, and hell, pretty much the whole gym, watching. So embarrassing!

So, I did what any normal person would do. I jumped up with arms raised in victory and exclaimed, "A 10 on the dismount!"

Quick Stats Update

June 25, 2012
Pounds lost in week four = 3
Total pounds lost = 16 (average of 4 per week)

Nothing much to report today, other than the numbers from this morning's weigh-in. Next week, I'm going to pull down a big number. Three pounds is just not going to cut it.

Knee is better than it was Friday/Saturday and I was able to do a lot of step-up, step-down work this morning without too much pain.

Advil and I are good friends.

Knee, You Suck (but I guess I've been asking a lot of you)

So, it was somewhat inevitable that I was going to be side-lined by knee pain. On Thursday morning between workout and work, I stepped down my back steps and felt excruciating pain in my right knee. So much so that I screamed out, which I'm sure my two neighbors appreciated at 8:00AM. It felt like my kneecap or some tendons just snapped out of place and would not go back.

I'm familiar with this weakness in my knees - this would happen occasionally in the past. However, never to this pain level or duration. This time, it recurred throughout the day, and I could feel the joint getting puffier and puffier.

By Friday morning (24 hours later) I was limping but I went to the gym! I couldn't join my group, but I did do about 20 minutes on the elliptical. Since this didn't involve straightening my knee, I found that I was able to work up to a sweat-inducing pace. Then I did some sit-up/crunch things and finally rejoined my group for a lot of arm work.

After that, I went to urgent care. Nothing wrong on the xray, but I did get fitted with a sexy knee brace. Don't be jealous, you haters (like my smiley face?). Anyway, here's a response that I've developed in my head if anyone brings it up.

Anyone: "Ooh, what happened to your knee?"
Me: "Years of obesity and inactivity...OH, you mean recently?"

Carbs - My Friend, My Enemy

Take a look at this simple graph showing the breakdown my intake of three main food categories over the last four weeks: Calories from fats (in blue); calories from carbohydrates (in yellow-brown); calories from protein (in green).

What the hell happened on June 20 (on the far right)?? I'll tell you what happened. Those damn meringue cookies! This is why I can't have that shit in the house. Even treats that are 'healthier' spell disaster for me.

Also, Trainer Troy sent a pep-talk email to us encouraging us to spend another hour in the evenings doing some kind of activity. He said, "Walking, jogging, boot camp, whatever. Basically do anything except come home from work and sit on the couch."

My reply: "Do you have a camera in my living room?"

Meringue cookies

A great sweet treat - only 25 calories per cookie.

Meringue Cookies
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sugar

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Add salt, cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites in a narrow, but high-sided bowl. Beat the egg white mixture until soft peak stage (about 2 minutes). With beaters on high speed, add sugar gradually (sprinkle in a few tablespoons at a time). Beat until mixture reaches stiff peak stage.

Line cookie sheets with foil. Add dollops of mixture onto cookie sheets by the heaping tablespoonful. They don't puff up much, so they can be placed fairly close together. Add pretty sprinkles if desired (yes, you desire pretty sprinkles...).

Bake at 225 degrees for an hour and a half. Turn oven off and leave cookies in the oven until the oven is cooled (I leave mine in overnight if I start the process after work).

Then, reserve four cookies the get the rest out of the house because you know you're going to eat the whole damn batch yourself if you have access to them.

Recipe makes about 36 (calorie count is factored on this quantity).



I added a bit of blue food coloring to this batch.

Exercise + Extreme Humidity = Sweet Jesus, When Will It End?

June 18, 2012
Pounds lost this week = 4
Total pounds lost = 13 (average of 4.3 per week)

Worst day ever as far as breathing is concerned. The humidity really effects my asthma, and there were several times when I was struggling for breath. Four hits off the inhaler and I was still gasping.

Here's an example of our circuits:
(90 seconds each)
Jumping rope
Leap foward big, two short hops back
Pull-ups
Ladder runs (like tire runs you see football players do, but on a smaller scale)
Heavy rope whipping (pick up rope, fling it down, left, right, left, right)
Then, a one-quarter lap around the building finished by a run up a flight of stairs and back down.

Finally, lay down and die. Just kidding! We can't lay down because we're right back into the circuit after a 30 second cool down. One more round then a 2 minute cool down. Then he finds 5 more torture exercises for us to do, followed again by a run and stair climb.

But, I'm starting to feel a difference (how could I not). Clothes are fitting better and I have more stamina. Last week, I noticed that my right wrist was thinner. But then, in the middle of my forearm, there seemed to be a bump. Like, instead of a smooth transition moving up my arm, there was a definite bump up. A little concerning...until I realized it was just a newly-developed muscle....

How foreign.