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Different Rules for Different Days…

August 20, 2005 By 3 Comments

Nikki asks: “Do you often take a break from healthy living on the weekends? If so, why do you think that is? If not, how do you manage to make being healthy part of your life 24/7?”

The quick answer would be that my weekends are just as “healthy” as the rest of the week. But when I really look at my life, I have to admit that I don’t do the 5-days-on-2-days-off bit in any area of my life. I am a college-attending, homeschooling, mother of 2. I don’t do a 9-to-5 M-F schedule that makes the weekends seem like mini-vacations. (What is the deal with all of the hyphens?? –) So, with that said, I can honestly reiterate that I don’t take a break on weekends.

I do, however, behave differently depending upon my circumstances. i.e. I eat out after class, which can be tricky if I am not careful. I also take class days off from working out because I (1) need a day off, and (2) already have too much to do on Tuesdays. So, in a way, Tuesday could be considered my “weekend.”

So, I suppose I should answer how I manage to make being healthy part of my life on Tuesdays. Well, it came from the realization that going out to eat after class didn’t mean that I had to consume a week’s worth of calories at one sitting. I don’t have to avoid activities that are different from my daily routine. I just have to look ahead and make sure that I don’t undo my hard work because I am unprepared.

Case in point: I won’t go into a whole rant here, but I am not a fan of McDon@ld’s. Regardless, we ended up going there yesterday. I was dreading it until I went on their website and found a salad and a dressing that would total 300 calories if I left the croutons and crackers off. The sodium content was higher than I would like, but overall it was a decent choice. Without the information from the website, I could have easily picked nearly 1,000 calories worth of food – ie a double cheeseburger (460 cal) and fries (520 cal) – based on price ($1 each) and gone backwards.

So, part of it is vigilance in being aware of my options. Part of it is finding that balance (yes, there is that word, again) that allows me to continue losing weight without dreading life.

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A Total Creature Of Habit…

July 28, 2005 By 2 Comments

I belong to a gym with several branches. I typically go to the one closest to my home, but it is light on the amenities. If I drive another 7 miles, I get towel service, nicer locker rooms, and a better view during my workout. With the price of gas and my inability to take an extra 15 minutes for travel each way, I typically just shower at home and skip the locker room altogether. Well, my workout (35/200) got pushed back in the day until it was too close to my class meeting to come all the way home to shower, so I headed to the plush gym.

Ya know, I had the hardest time functioning at the “other” gym. They have the same elliptical trainers, but different weight machines. So, I did my run to nowhere, but skipped the weights. I just couldn’t get my brain to do the adjustment. It took me just about forever to get showered, dressed, and out of there, too.

Oh, and since I had to go to a different gym I didn’t get an update on the guy who had the seizure. Sorry ’bout that. I keep thinking about him, though.

Soap Box of the Day: As I have mentioned, I have finally gone back to college after being away for several years. I attend a satellite campus that is about 2 hours from the main campus, so we have to do a bunch of stuff by phone (no they are not internet savvy.) Well, I am trying to find my book for the next class so I called the school bookstore to get the ISBN, and the girl who answered told me that it is their policy not to tell us that. They have switched to a new system of numbering (likely to prevent our purchasing the books elsewhere) and only those numbers can be told to students. When I asked if that policy was a written policy she offered to “let me talk to someone.”

When I got the bookstore manager on the phone, he made me wait about 10 minutes on hold (the store is the size of a one-car garage) before he gave me a number, but it doesn’t have all of the digits. Nice, huh? He left one out. I would say it was on purpose. He thought he was dealing with an amateur, because it only took me about 5 minutes online to find the book – at less than half what the school wants for it.

I am getting really fed up with this money-grabbing school I am attending. It is bad enough that they charge us more tuition than the on-campus students. But then they mark the books up above the list price and then charge us an outrageous shipping fee. And now, the only people who have the book edition info are the ones who *make money selling the books* and want to protect their interests by not giving us enough information to make a purchase unless we get it through them.

Argh!

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Back On Track…

July 20, 2005 By 1 Comment

Mentally, that is. I am doing much better today with the whole eating out after class thing. I found a version of our favorite restaurant’s menu with the cal/fat/carb/points info included and printed it out. I was right that the chips and salsa have nearly 1000 calories, but since I shared them, it was really *only* half that. Just goes to show that when I get into a stew I completely disregard reality.

Now, I am aware and prepared. I will tuck my little menu into my school bag, and next week I will make an informed choice. If I end up ordering that double fudge chocolate binge cake, I will be fully aware of the potential impact on my goals.

My trip to the gym went pretty well. I did my 28th run to nowhere, and a trip around the leg machines. I have decided that I hate the ab machine at my gym so when I got home I pulled out the Ab Roller and did 5 minutes with Brenda. Ouch! It has been way too long since those muscles were used.

Soap Box of the Day: The ADAPT action for TennCare is still underway in the Tennessee Governor’s office. As of today, they have been there for a full month. For the record no one in my family receives TennCare, but plenty of my friends do. And, as I have mentioned before, the Gov’s plans for TennCare could set some really ugly precidents for all of us who rely on insurance programs to subsidize our healthcare needs. Beyond that, we have asserted as a nation that taking care of one another is important. It is gross negligence to turn off medical services to folks, and there has to be a better way to balance the budget.

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Tuesdays Are Free Days…

July 19, 2005 By 1 Comment

I can’t work out every day. Well, I can. But I won’t. Tuesday is my day to visit my shrinky dink (You didn’t think I got this insightful all on my own, did ya??) and go to my college class (more on that later). I get all crabby and overwhelmed at the thought of adding even one tiny thing to Tuesdays. Call me names, if you like, but I am taking Tuesdays off from the whole workout thing.

Why am I going on and on about this? Well, because after that college class (see, I told you it would come back up) we go out and get a bite to eat. Well, a bite may be a little bit of an underestimation. It is closer to a week’s worth of bites. I do really well in my quest to eat appropriate amounts of food all week, and then after class on Tuesdays I eat my weight in chips and salsa and follow it with a mega-entree chaser. It is like social drinking – only it’s eating – and even though I am *not* hungry and it is 9 o’clock at night, I keep putting food into my mouth until I want to puke from feelings of stuffation!

Now, if I spent the rest of the evening thinking thoughts like, “Wow! Dinner was yummy! I am so glad I ate it, ” it wouldn’t be a problem. But I am thinking, “Damn it! I feel like I am going to burst! And I bet those chips had 1000 calories in them, and let’s not even discuss the “nutritional value” of what I ate. It will take me two weeks to undo that meal…”

Stop it. Enough, already.

So, I recognize that I am eating food for a reason other than nourishment. Luckily it is in a very specific situation in which I have some control. It is time that I rethink how I approach after class eating. My action steps are:

  1. I will go to the restaurant’s website and see what options are on the menu that make better sense.
  2. I will pick out two or three options to keep in mind for future weeks’ outings.
  3. I will eat only when I am actually hungry, and not just because there is a pile of food sitting in front of me.
  4. I will remember that there is nothing wrong with ordering a dish of broccoli. I happen to really like broccoli.

Oh, I did see a 174.5 on ye ole scale this morning. As you are already aware, I did not work out today, but I did complete a 50 minute run to nowhere on the elliptical trainer yesterday. So, workout 27/200 is in the bag. All-in-all things are actually going very well in the fitness department.

Soap Box of the Day: I was hanging out at Brenna’s site this evening and she turned me on to a little study done on W*lmart’s impact on all of us. I knew I hated shopping there: I literally get lost and can’t find my way back out, and have sworn for years that they use mind control to prevent me leaving before I spend $300 on plastic crap. But this seals it. They officially suck*, and I can say that without fear of retaliation because there is a study to prove it. See, I am in college, (I warned you that you would hear more about this!) and in college you learn all about the importance of having a study to prove things before they can be asserted as fact.

*Suck is a technical term. For those unfamiliar with the jargon, please see www.dictionary.com.

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