May 2010
84 posts
The battery on my scale is starting to die
Wish I could have believed it when it told me I lost 23 pounds in a weekend!
And I'm... back in the game!
The one thing I can say for myself was that this Memorial Day weekend was more health conscious than any other I can remember. I even worked out yesterday! That said… It was a mindless weekend in many ways.
I feel extremely motivated by those of you who have put up your goals for June. Time to come up with my own!
What girls say
Last weekend I was at a party with a bunch of people who knew each other from the college they all went to (but I did not). As sometimes happens, they started talking about mutual friends of theirs as I followed along politely:
She gained a ton of weight while she was in that relationship, but they they broke up.
She’s doing a lot better! She’s lost like 30 pounds.
I was going to...
All you can do is start where you are.
It can be convincingly argued that there is no good season in which to make healthy habits. Think about it: Fall brings school (whether you’re still in it or have a loved one/family member/kid in it) and the days get shorter, making people feel tired earlier as it gets darker. The same hibernation effect carries over into winter, which also holds the major “eating holidays” (at...
NYT WellBlog: Does Exercise Help You Sleep Better? →
Short answer: Maybe not!
Where good food goes to die, part 2
Before plane trips I used to buy a bag of Wint-O-Green mints to eat in the airport. Do you know how many calories there are in an entire bag? 660. For NOT EVEN REAL FOOD. Horrified at self.
EDIT: Horrified at self for mindlessly eating an entire bag of LifeSavers, not for the mints themselves. Which are delicious! And I obviously eat more than 660 calories a day, but had I known I was eating 660...
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
– Winston Churchill (via crzu) (via 365to30)
5 hours till I leave for the airport
Seriously, is there any worse place to eat in America? Even at a small-town county fair you can get corn. Ironically the best preflight option for me is at a beer-themed restaurant, because they have a posted menu with salads on it. I don’t think I’ve ever had a salad in an airport before. So long as I don’t have a drink… well, not more than one anyway.
One meal at a time.
So last night I had an episode of emotional eating. Call it a binge, call it “conditioned hypereating” (tm David Kessler) — the point is, I was upset, and that triggered some unhealthy behavior.
What it lacked in volume it made up for in shame. I knew I was upset and I should distract myself… but I didn’t. And even as it was going on I could hear myself thinking...
0 days since last binge incident
UGH, you guys.
“It’s just like Zumba; even if someone wanted to prevent me from doing it,...”
– What I just told a coworker about why I don’t care about going bare-armed this summer. If you aren’t comfortable doing it yourself, I completely get that, but for me, life is too short and my pasty white triceps never hurt anyone. (Unlike my bad dance moves…)
AOL: Study: Many Sunscreens May Be Accelerating... →
Remember when I wrote about sunscreen recently? Turns out some sunscreens aren’t actually protecting you; those with Vitamin A might be even damaging your skin, says a new report from the Environmental Working Group.
According to the EWG, the best products contain zinc or titanium; they all look like organic/natural brands, so check your Whole Foods or similar. That said, a few of my...
Schooled by an old lady
The first time the 60something woman I see every other week complimented me on my weight loss, I blew her off. The second time, when she said I’d lost “good weight” (I love that phrase), I said thanks, I took up jogging.
“Ah, I used to do that stuff,” she said. “I’d run around the [Central Park] reservoir.”
“Oh, me too, I do that!”
...
civilized debauchery + calculated risks: My Super... →
channelingcarrie:
Again, Summer starts in 32 hours.
And ladies, we need to be looking good - not for the boys of Summer or the skank hoes that throw themselves on those boys, but for ourselves.
This tip really walks the line between brilliant and evil.
mr365 asked: love minute maid light! non carbonated and 5 calories for a serving. i normally just put about half in, and then fill the rest with water
3 tags
PDF: Self Magazine's Half-Marathon (and 5K and... →
Fitness NYC linked to this training plan today, and its appeal for me is twofold:
1. It’s an 18-week plan designed to step you up to a 5K, then a 10K, then a half-marathon all in the same line of progress.
2. Two days of rest a week. Ahhhhh.
Do white women benefit most from exercise? →
marathonsheila:
The benefits of exercise are no surprise. The fact that exercise is more beneficial for some more than others may be. A new study finds that when it comes to working out, white women are the big winners.
Besides its very surprising finding highlighted by marathonsheila, one thing that caught my eye was that how this study measured “leisure-time physical activity”...
notherwise asked: the corporate challenge on like june 15th? i'm doing that too!
seetheresarun asked: Good luck on the race in CP! I ran the corporate challenge last year. It was my first official race.
Don't be too nervous about it. There are TONS of people. I got separated from my co-workers before, during, and after the race. I'm sure no one even noticed my running.
And it's also a good mix of old, young people. Not all are runners so there is no...
Don't be too nervous about it. There are TONS of people. I got separated from my co-workers before, during, and after the race. I'm sure no one even noticed my running.
And it's also a good mix of old, young people. Not all are runners so there is no...
3 tags
Corporate Challenge is coming... yikes?
It’s three weeks from tomorrow — a 3.5 miler with coworkers in Central Park after work. “No sweat,” I said in March. Now, naturally, I’m sweating.
Let me preface this by saying that last night I had a totally unrelated panic attack on the treadmill, and that was really not cool, so maybe I’m just feeling sort of shaky overall.
Corporate Challenge chat: The...
1 tag
Weigh-in Wednesday: 0.0
Just let me tell you guys.
Work is so stressful right now, the kind of stressful that in the past I always medicated with food. Bad food and a lot of it. The “I’m working so hard, so I deserve to have anything I want” mentality.
I still did a little emotional eating this week and I still made some poor choices (like only taking the time to work out 3x). But nothing like before....
Baby steps
My sister just sent me an e-mail about a half-marathon in October. And I didn’t delete it.
Deadspin: The Public Humiliation Diet: A How-To →
“Part of losing weight is acknowledging the fact that you have issues with food. And holy shit, do I have issues with food.” How Deadspin’s Drew Magary lost 60 pounds in 5 months — irreverently and with foul language yes, but some actually decent tips in there! I think I might try this one:
8. I drank a fuckload of unsweetened green tea. It’s an appetite ...
Style icons, stares and Subway
The dress I used to call my “Joan Holloway dress” is… looser, ergo less so. Which is great because now I can wear it to work less self-consciously, and less great because I think I need one of those. For emergencies. Etc.
I completely understand why people go on the Subway Diet. Eating well is definitely not second nature to me even now, complicated by the fact that I have...
Should I get a body-fat measuring scale?
I’ve been messing around with some body-fat calculators online with varying answers (and I’m sure, degrees of accuracy). I have never had my body fat measured, though I seem to remember a traumatizing skinfold incident in middle-school gym. But do you have one? Is it useful?
“There is a sense that you’re missing something if you actually make an effort...”
– Tesslynch
CBS just greenlit this show "Mike and Molly" about... →
Ugh.
At a party last night
Hyper girl: I eat so much junk, I think I'm secretly obese.
Me: How did I not know that was an option?!
1 tag
New gym or not new gym
I’ve been following Kendyl’s new gym adventures with interest. I’ve been thinking about upgrading in gym for a bit now. It never made sense before because I was never there, but now that I’m there more… well.
My new division at work comes with some sweet benefits, including the opportunity to join a FancyGym in New York for cheaper — something like $400 cheaper...
2 tags
thin by thirty: this & that. →
third: i believe that this will be my first 5k! i should be in much better shape by then and done with couch to 5k, so hopefully i can do it and have a respectable time.
Heck yes! I did this 5K last year and it was amazing. It’s a great cause and one close to New Yorkers’ hearts (native or adopted); the course is flat, fast and very scenic. I think shrinkinginthecity is also...
1 tag
Re. my last post: @arunningfool — No, it’s a Clif C bar with fruit and nuts. I don’t think they have gone over to the dark side yet!
Specifically it is from my endless box of Clif bars that I won from Spring Shape-Up (cc: @losingweightinthecity). And it really is endless. There are blueberry, apple and cherry pomegranate bars included, and I haven’t even tried the cherry...
3 tags
When I started this blog I only told one person — my sister, with whom I had a private Tumblr to hash out this sort of stuff previously. (She became a triathlete in college. She rules!) I sort of did that on purpose because I didn’t want anyone to witness me failing, or have them find out how fat I really was.
Accountability to everyone you know is recommended, but it’s also...
Help and be helped.
Pep talk: Are you getting enough help? If you aren't, ask for more. Your support system is there for you. If you're feeling fine flying solo, help someone else. Your generosity will come back to you.
Today remind yourself: Help and be helped.
Sports Illustrated: "The Soft American" (1960) →
Article by President Kennedy on why America has to get in shape. Naturally, no one listened.
I'm coming up on 12 hours at the office and my...
Lord beer me strength.
I know they’re not out to get me, I know I have to be strong, but this is getting ridiculous.
I have ordered and eaten my healthy dinner so I can drag myself to the gym tonight. Time to put my headphones back on and dodge a few more dessert invites.
EDIT: One of my coworkers just said to me, “You know what I really want? A Hot Pocket.” Oh, you are very...
Do Our Genes Influence Our Desire To Exercise? →
A European study using identical and fraternal twins says: somewhat, not that you can fully blame your folks for not getting off the couch.
My mom is a fit person who in the past has had periods of chronic overexercise; my dad is overweight and has been a yo-yo dieter and exerciser for as long as I can remember. I don’t need a study to tell me which one I take after; ironically,...
ellapalooza asked: You. Me. American Apparel t-shirts. Sharpies. Let's do it.
1 tag
Weigh-in Wednesday: -2.6
Sure, I had two weeks to do this because I missed last week’s. But! As of today I have lost 25 percent of myself. WHAT. It’s funny, because I feel like a more whole person than I started.
I have a week and change till vacation, three weeks and change till the Mini and a string of shorter races. Let’s do this!
May-to-date: -2.4
Year-to-date: -18.6
Total: -59.0
Jersey Core Class @ NYSC →
losingweightinthecity:
You guys. This exists. I am from NJ. I have no words.
With all due respect to people from New Jersey, who doubtless hate being mocked on behalf of an unrepresentative sample (most of whom are not even from NJ), and are totally justified in their feelings for such… I am dying to try this. I will do any stupid gimmick once, particularly when the people-watching...
NOTE TO SELF: Read this every time you want to... →
Fun blog post from over at SparkPeople. Some of the reasons are important and some are… not, but I know I get that feeling after a good workout when I think, “Why don’t I remember how that felt before?!”
"Swift and resolute action leads to success;...
I didn’t sign up for that running class after all. I hesitated because of work stuff and other worries, and by the time I got back to it registration had closed.
However. I can beat myself up about it, or I can go forward, and I choose to go forward. To make up for the workouts I would have been getting with this class, I’m going to work out every Monday and Wednesday for the next...
mr365 asked: i was told this weekend that it isn't good for runners to use sunscreen - it blocks our natural sweat ability; have you heard otherwise? (and thanks for the kind words)
7.2M, ~85 minutes
Faster than the last long run, a bit cooler, much happier. I hadn’t done the reservoir in a few weeks because of Allergy Hell; lovely to be back.
Today’s run is dedicated to whoever of you suggested putting “4 Minutes” on a workout playlist. (I think there was more than one? so sorry not to call you out individually). You saved my bacon after the 6-mile mark. I mean it.
...
Lunch shame, doctors, gym bags, frozen yogurt
One of my work friends is a major foodie, who I’m sure would be horrified to see the meals I eat when we don’t eat lunch together. In truth I would like to do something fancier than sandwich/ steamed veggies/ yogurt/ cheese, but when I pack lunch I can never seem to get it together. Maybe I could make something on the weekends that will keep all week? Hmmmmm.
I haven’t been...
