The Further Adventures of Deluzy

Workout viewing pleasure

I've got the Eurythmics, Madonna, and Cyndi Lauper as the standard artists I listen to as I work out on the elliptical (incidentally, I just upped the difficulty of my workouts to the interval training program and added 5 minutes, and yes, indeedy, my heart's working harder -- says so on the heart-rate monitor that's part of the elliptical machine).

But I've discovered a new podcast for my new iPod Classic (which has the capacity to play video, as my recently deceased, older iPod did not), and it may become an elliptical favorite as well.

You don't even need an iPod to view it, of course.  You can just download it for free into iTunes (also free) on any computer. Although in that case, your piece of exercise equipment had better be strategically placed.

It's called The Rest of Everest, and if you're into the whole Everest body of literature and documentaries, it's many, many hours of footage and commentary that didn't make it into a documentary called Mount Everest: The Other Side.

Interesting for those who are obsessed with Everest, the podcasts are kind of meandering pieces in approximately 20-minute increments.  And if you check out iTunes, there are a lot of episodes.

Goody.

Elliptical

I dusted off my FitnessQuest Eclipse elliptical machine once again and climbed on it this morning. I got it several years ago and have always liked it for its small footprint and multiple features.  It's by no means gym-quality -- but it's more than enough machine to provide a good workout.

Its batteries are dead because I haven't gotten on the thing in so long so its tracking and monitoring features were disabled, as were its various preset routines.

But a trip to the store should take care of it, and in the meantime I was still able to work up  a sweat in manual mode.

Good for the body and for the head.

(Grimly) moving forward

Okay, well, maybe not so very grimly -- forward is forward, after all, and that's what I'm staying focused on.

I'm talking about both the food-and-weight and the R&W fronts, and right now the former is easier than the latter. I got up later than I'd intended this morning but took my 2.25 mile walk in my new exercise gear and felt great. 

And so far, as I go into the evening, I've remained focused on protein and minimized (though not eliminated) carbs. I'm within my happy zone of +/- 5 pounds of goal weight -- and a little lower than I've been since before Alaska -- so that feels good. At least today I feel determined and capable as far as these two issues go.

Although I felt pretty overwhelmed today on the R&W side of things, I absolutely forced myself to go through the dissertation chapter I'm sending out a week from today in order to slash and burn it rather drastically.  No one wants to publish a 65-page anything, thank you very much, and it desperately needed streamlining. (It needed it anyway, and I'm kind of surprised my advisor let it go through as it was, but of course both she and I just wanted me to get the dissertation filed back then -- almost 5 years ago now.)

Okay, well, I've performed the radical amputation; now I have to mend the patient and sew it up. Those are the remaining tasks for the week.  However, I think I've made it through the most sick-making part of the process -- though of course the emotional nausea associated with revision, like physical nausea, comes in waves. I had to take myself to a Peets to get through the slash-and-burn phase, and I nearly melted down when I saw what was left.  However, with some clever restructuring), it should work.  If I do it well, it should even work better than its longer, original incarnation as a diss chapter. That's the idea, anyway.

But however well I do it, it's going out on June 30, no matter what.  My issue is not so much quality but letting go enough to dare to put something out there in the first place.  Given the drivel of others that is out there, that's pretty ironic -- but hey, I should be more like those drivel producers, not snarking about them!

(Come close of June 30, I'm celebrating somehow -- just a tiny bit.  All psychological hurdles deserve recognition once they're -- well, hurdled.)

A new day

Did a 2.25 mile walk first thing this morning get my day off to a good start?  It did.

Did staying focused on protein, minimizing carbs, and getting in enough liquids keep the day In the Groove?  It did.

Did working on staying in the present and not fretting about work on my day(s) off help me feel more focused and connected to life generally?  You guessed it -- it did. (I won't say I didn't do any worrying, but I simply tried to breathe through it, and for the most part I was successful.)

Suffice to say that today has been a much better day than yesterday. My husband and I even saw a movie together (Mongol -- beautiful cinematography and a script that was less than no where). This is a rare occurrence, indeed, as our tastes in films don't overlap much -- so whenever there's a movie that could be classified as "historical" we take advantage of it because that's about the only common cinematic ground we have. That, and perhaps documentaries.

As I contemplate the coming week, I'm resolved to stay focused on R&W.  Most of my work this week will be devoted to revising a chapter of my dissertation to send out as  an article on June 30; it's tangentially related to issues I'm working on in my current project, and I'd like to have at least one article under consideration at the beginning of the summer, with a couple more to follow by the end.  Whatever revisions I manage to make by the 30th will be it for the present, however; one pretty much always has to revise for editors, anyway, so there's no reason to knock myself out at this stage. Also, at this point, I simply need to put something decent out there.

In and around revisions this week, I'll continue to move ahead with the research component of my new project. That'll allow me to alternate between tasks, which in turn will hopefully keep me from becoming overwhelmed by either.

And on the food front, I'm considering not weighing this week so that I can focus on using the cues of physical hunger -- rather than the scale -- as a guide to more intuitive forms of eating. (The last time I tried this I actually gained weight, as I let "intuitive" equate with emotions; I'd like to bring that more in line with the intuitive nutritional needs of my body -- and then I think I'd be okay.)  I've reduced my carbs since being back from vacation, but I'd feel more comfortable cutting them back further, and I'd also like to up my protein.  I think I can safely say that I always meet my daily minimum, but I'd feel better if I hit closer to 100 grams a day.

Exercise? I'll never be a gym rat, but these days I truly enjoy a morning walk. Of course, I also enjoy sleeping in, so I'll need to figure out a way to juggle my love of bed with the slightly delayed form of gratification that walking represents.  In other words, I'll have to talk myself out of my sloth mode.

Not as easy as it sounds, but I'll give it a good shot this week.

Moving the sloth

So I tried out my new weighted walking vest first thing this morning for the first time (finally) and ... I dunno.  I can't imagine that the four measly pounds it adds is really going to boost the impact my walking routine in any significant way -- but then, I had that thought before I bought it, too. Apparently one can order more weights for it which will be available shortly, and I may do that.  Again, when you're used to hauling around 280 pounds, the addition of 4 pounds is negligible.

Right now the vest  is serving its purpose simply by inspiring me to walk again in the first place, however. In the same way that I need to establish my summer research and writing routine and worked on doing that this past week, I need to set up an activity routine as well -- if for nothing else than to reduce stress.

Today I kept it very simple. In fact, those who know me will laugh: I got in about 50 minutes of aerobic walking (I have the pedometer that Tia recommended months ago and it keeps me real) -- to and from a local Starbucks where I ordered a grande sugar-free vanilla latte.

(Hey, that's 12 grams of protein, folks.  Don't laugh too hard.)

Now I'm going to shower, dress, drink a protein shake, and then basically take the day off. I want to read novels all day if I feel like it, or play with my new Crackberry. 

Or both.

Back to basics and back to work

It's Monday, my traditional weigh-in day, and I did, indeed, gain 5 pounds during my 7-day cruise (10-day trip in all). I'm already down a pound since my return home last Wednesday, but I'd like to drop a minimum of 8 pounds overall, so I have some work to do. 

To that end, I've pretty much gone back to DS basics of maximizing protein and minimizing carbs, and I aim to return to a walking/elliptical routine this summer as well (I'll do one when I don't feel like doing the other). To up the value of that relatively effective but mild form of exercise, I've ordered a weighted walking vest. I'm not really convinced that it'll make that much of a difference since it's not one of the major work-out vests that one can buy for +$200 but rather the one that Valerie Bertinelli has touted on Oprah -- but hey, it couldn't hurt, right?

It was one thing to walk when I carried 280 pounds.  That was, indeed, a workout in itself.  Now I have to focus on form, speed, and added weights to achieve the results I want.

I've already got good walking shoes, so that's taken care of.

On the work front, I've sat myself down at my desk today to begin my summer of research and writing.  It's both a bit hard to get back into it (blogging as a form of procrastination, perhapss?), but on the other hand it also feels good, and I've made a little progress already this morning, My research assistant has been working on tasks for me while I was away, and she and I are meeting a week from today.

It's happening.

It's Super Bowl Sunday -- and I don't care ;)

(I couldn't follow a football game and tell you what was going on to save my life.  Clueless here.  This is not the place to come for a riff on this year's Big Game.)

It's a wet, drizzly Sunday morning where I am, although I believe the sun is supposed to break through in the afternoon and bring with it a few days of mostly fair weather this week.  We've had a lot of rain recently (and we've needed it). I thoroughly enjoy rain -- but even I will be ready for a respite from it.

Partly because February 1 has come and gone and the Idita-Walk challenge has begun:1,049 minutes of walking between now and March 31 (to improve health, jump-start an exercise regine, whatever). 

That basically boils down to about 35 minutes of walking every other day for the next 60+/- days.  Really, that's not much, but I figured even this requires a certain amount of consistency over the next two months, and that's what I need. I can get ambitious later, but for now I'm starting with building a foundation of regularity and habit.

I walked my first 40 minutes yesterday, and my plan is to walk on the days when I'm not on campus.  If weather truly interferes with that schedule on any given day, then I'll climb on my home elliptical machine and call that walking (it's actually a more intense workout by far). The point is, one way or another, I'm going to get in my 1,049 minutes and my certificate of completion from the Idita-Walk!

I had a really nice time with my friend U in San Francisco last night: wine at her place, followed by a short walk to a French restaurant in her neighborhood (my choices: French onion soup, a small steak, three tiny little potato puffs, and some delicious spinach, with a good crème brûlée for dessert -- and no, I don't eat that way every day!).  Then it was back to her place for a final glass of wine and some coffee to keep me awake for the drive home.

Today is a day of life-maintenance chores (e.g., buying my protein shakes and bars for the month, doing laundry) and work (some prep for the coming week of classes and meetings). My husband and I are combining our respective chores with lunch out, and I'm focused on drinking lots of water today to flush out the wine from yesterday and on eating light.  It's been such a relief to watch my weight come back down under goal in the past week, but Mondays are my official at-home weigh-in days, and last Monday I was at 160.  Tomorrow I want an official reading that shows my weight solidly back under 159. I need that for my peace of mind and to help build trust in my own abilities to maintain my healthy goal weight over time.

(Eight months and counting on that score.  It occurs to me that I should celebrate a year of maintenance -- somehow -- come May of this year.)

Idita-Walk 2008

Link: Iditawalk 2008 Homepage - Nome, AK.

An event to promote physical fitness in the spirit of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  The Iditarod Sled dog race is 1049 miles long from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.  To complete the Idita-walk, walk 30 minutes a day for 35 days between February 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008 for a total of 1049 minutes.

Okay, it's not the most arduous event in the world -- but that's not the point.

You pay $10 which goes to children's charities in Alaska, get a lapel pin (woohoo!), enter your miles online as you walk them (anywhere), and are emailed a "walking contract" that makes you feel part of the larger community that's taking part in the Idita-Walk.  (If you regularly walk a pet, you can sign up him or her, too -- for another $10, I think -- but check to make sure.)

I figure this and my new pedometer will help me get back into a regular walking routine again. Given that my friend D and I are going to Alaska in May, I also figured this was perfect for me.

If I have time at the end of the semester in May (and before Alaska), I may even try to convince D to do the San Francisco Bay-to-Breakers Race with me again (walking, mind you -- not running). We've done it twice -- before I lost my weight.  Why not a third time, now that I'm at goal?

(Hell, I might even think about running -- uh, jogging ... well, trotting ... possibly -- the Bay to Breakers race in 2009.  If I work up to it.  Maybe.  Possibly.)