More inspiration - Keeping it up

So I'm reading this tomatonation advice entry about someone who is beating herself up over having a letdown after a marathon and not exercising for a while after that. Suffice to say that she is being too hard on herself and giving yourself rest is the best thing you can do. I take a week off after a race and the next week I only do low-impact like the elliptical.

But key to this is making sure your goals are YOUR goals. One commenter recommended this guy as someone to keep folks inspired. I read the website and I am impressed. I am proud to be a penguin, knowing that I will be firmly in the middle of any pack I run. BUT I do better with each race and, on occasion, in costume. He makes a great point thusly, "We—the few, the proud, the plodding—very often train as much or more than faster runners. At a blistering twelve (or even ten) minute pace, a fifteen mile week represents a major time commitment."

As I've said before on the blog. It's about the doing. Our bodies are temperamental things. They retain weight. They react badly to medication. They get injured. Sometimes we can't control the body but we can control the mind. We can decide to do something. And we can decide to keep doing it. As I stay on this journey and get off course, the times I slack off means I get to start again. And in true penguin style I think this way, "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start."

In the words of Gloria Gaynor - "It takes a lifetime to become the best that you can be. There's no return and no deposit, so you have to like what's in your closet."

Bay to Breakers 2010 - Kicking Ass

So Bay to Breakers. This year I couldn't get it together to do a costume. It would have been great if I did because it was COLD. Andi Never get cold. But being in a wet t-shirt for hours means you are a little more vulnerable to the elements. The funniest thing that happened was seeing a dead ringer for Sarah Palin - bouffant hair, lipstick, glasses - asking for her picture and her asking me why. She wasn't in costume.

I thought I did fine. Probably better than last year but not by much. I was way back from the start line because my shuttle bus was late so the time one the clock was 1 hour 12 minutes (a little under a 10-minute mile pace) but I know it took me four or five minutes to get to the starting line. Hayes street hill kicked my ass but the rest of the course was flat. My first three miles ended up averaging 10-minute mile pace (because I was walking the first half mile because of the crowds. I really cranked it up the last half. My mile five and six were something like an 8 minute mile. I slowed to about a 9 minute mile pace in mile 7.

And the verdict? I finished in 1 hour, 6 minutes, and 40 seconds. That's an 8 minute, 56 second/mile pace. Sub 9!!!!! I would have never guessed but then again. Last year, with significantly less training I did 9 minute, 11 second pace. ROCK ON! It's seems to be a theme this year that I can't really gauge my speed and races seem to be a tougher slog. It feels like I am running slower but clearly I am not.

The funny thing is that the world is running faster because I finished 2875 out of 24303 runners and 726 our of 3201 people in my age group. That's worse than last year but it's all about the finish.

It's such a badly organized race. I will do next year for the 100th Anniversary and that's it. The logistics blow. I did a park and ride shuttle from Emeryville to SF that would drop you off at the start and take you back at the finish. Sadly, it was a mile walk to get to the damn pick up from the finish line AND it didn't leave until noon. Which meant I was sitting there in a wet t-shirt for two and a half
hours.

The hidden costs of Bay to Breakers is insane:

Parking for Park and ride - $10
Shuttle - $22
Replacement t-shirt to not get hypothermia - $15
A runners' fanny pack (because there's no bag check in) - $20

The best costume by far were two guys dressed as homophobe and hypocrite George Rekkers and his "travel companion."



And Jersey Shore references were thick on the ground at Bay to Breakers. Case in point:

10 miles ran beeyotches!!!!

Goal met! Yesterday I seriously kicked my own ass and ran the Presidio 10, but this year it was the Presidio 10 MILE as opposed to 10K. And I ran it in one hour, 31 minutes and 57 seconds. To give a little perspective on how far I've come, I ran the Presidio 10K in 58 minutes and 27 seconds - a 9 minute 25 second/mile pace. This year, running a little less than four miles further, my pace increased to a speedy (hah!) 9 minute 11 second pace. Now that progress! Some other numbers for you dear readers: I placed 334 out of 714 runners and 212 out of 315 men - pretty much in the middle of the pack.

The true fun of the race is the utter beauty of running right against the rocky cliffs of Northern California. There's something about running right across the Golden Gate bridge and seeing the headlands of Marin County and the seeing the tip of San Francisco that takes your breath away. That's a good thing, because this race KICKED MY ASS. It didn't help that a few days earlier when I was doing a training run my calf cramped it at still felt tight. And the course itself kicked my ass with a 1/2 mile stretch where I was running uphill at a 45 degree angle.

This was not an easy race for me as I just felt like I had to push for most stretches, except for when I was going downhill. Like my last 10k, I totally felt as if I was just shuffling along and not really getting my stride but I am pretty impressed with my pace. Unlike other races, I was totally spent at the end, although I still managed to sprint the last 200 meters. Knowing I don't train outdoors, I knew my race pace would be much slower than what I do on the treadmill. But this was actually very close to my 9 minute mile treadmill pace.

While everyone has different motivations, I find mine to be racing. I always keep up my running knowing that my ass will be kicked on the race course if I don't keep up with my training. The other motivation is blogging about it because it is satisfying to shout to the world I RAN 10 MILES BEEYOTCHES!

This is what an athlete looks like

So this guy won an Olympic Gold medal on Friday in bobsledding. He won a medal that the U.S. hadn't won in 62 years and for those of us who like our men on the solid side, he's total eye candy.

His victory really shows how much we need to change our cultural lexicon when it comes to the image of health because it's a guarantee that his BMI would put him in the "overweight" category. Think about it, there are tons of football linemen, shot putters and wrestlers who are built like trucks. They trainer for horus every day and are in peak physical condition, but if most of us close our eyes, someone who looks like this:



isn't what we would picture. Both these people are Olympic Gold Medalists. Both train like mofos and are in peak physical condition. Both are healthy. And both would be labels as overweight. What is wrong with this picture? And it's not the two hotties in the pictures.

Skills Gained in 2009

In Keep with the Itsalifestyle theme, rather than talking numbers for my 2009 recap, I'll give you a list of the skills I've gained. Because weight can be gained or lost but knowledge is forever.

Food
1. How to count carbs and track my eating
2. How to eat regularly (especially good because you don't want to make entries if your food log twelve times a day)
3. Portion sizes
4. How to cook with almond flour and splenda
5. How to accept Splenda as a part of my life.
6. How to roast beets (Beets, goat cheese and walnuts with a dash of Balsamic - eating good!
7. How to order something at fast food places without a zillion grams of carbs
8. Avoiding smoothies

Exercise
1. How not to overdo it - don't do cardio two days in a row
2. The importance of strength training including all of that abs work
3. How to run a race and make sure I have energy at the end (now I am working on the middle)
4. Having a net game in tennis
5. How to exercise while traveling
6. Lower back stretches

Giving Thanks for Running

The theme for this Thanksgiving should be the Olympian - stronger! higher! faster! because I ran my ass off that weekend. Along with eating a truckload of food.

Eating
On the eating side of things, I did a sorta stupid/sorta smart thing - I barely ate anything leading up to Thanksgiving dinner. You see, I would be having real food professionals over for Thanksgiving. We picked up a maple and rosemary-brined turkey from Cheffie Mark. We would be having a cheese plate selected by the cheesemonger at the wine bar where Bellisima works. And a trio of soup shooters. And that's before we even sit down for dinner. So leading up to the big meal (and I mean BIG meal), I ate a grand total of 30 grams of carbs. 15 grams from a roasted pepper frittata and 15 from an apple. I also had a salad during the day. While I am sure it was playing havoc with my body and my metabolism, I wanted to eat my Thanksgiving meal with abandon. And I did. It was spread out over the course of six hours and all of it was delicious. The great thing about this meal (where we had a summit to plan the menu!) was that we all floated in an out of the kitchen. Noone was slaving over anything because we all contributed.

So yes, we started with the cheese and pate (homemade!) platter with onion jam, fig and raison compete and a red currant gelee. That was followed by soup shooters of tomato soup with a quark dollop, beet and carrot soup with a coriander sour cream, and a cauliflower soup with a bagna cauda drizzle. And then everything settled in our stomachs and we were already full. But we plowed on to eat mashed potatoes, mashed acorn squash, the aforementioned turkey, green beans, homemade rolls, and a kale and sweet potato casserole. We sent everyone home with dessert bags because noone could touch the pumpkin tarts or the apple cobblers. We spent the post dinner part of Thanksgiving nibbling on J's homemade truffles and cheese and pears.

The great thing about this was the bounty of vegetable dishes and the fact that J made truffles with dark chocolate which are intrinsically low-carb (although high fat). by the next morning my glucose level was a surprisingly low 97.

Running

Thanksgiving weekend also entail a good amount of running. On Thanksgiving day, Muffin and June actually found out about a 5K that was within walking distance of our house. It was a great way to start the day. This was a totally informal race set up my a neighborhood gym. No big clock or starting gun. To keep my ankles and knees ok, I run on a gym treadmill. It was definitely different (and more exhausting run on cold, hard concrete. And definitely exhausting to run uphill for a quarter of the race. But all in all, I ran strong and had a good time.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I ran the Run Wild for a Child race in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It was very interesting to run because I thought there were part where I was running pretty slowly. But in the end I ran the entire 6.2 miles in 51:41 minutes which is an 8:19 minute pace. This is well ahead of the 9:11 pace I ran for the Presidio 10K in March. Yay me! It's interesting to see how much I hate running up hills and how badly I am about gauging my pace.

I'm very Thankful I have this disease under control and am I very thankful I am in a position to get stronger, higher and faster. And, of course, thanks to all of you out there, especialyl stef, who's been an invaluable sounding board.

The Exercise Thing - I Need goals

So I've put my foot off the pedal when it comes to exercise. I haven't gone off the wagon but I have definitely cut back. Now I am running three times a week for at least 5 miles per workout with the occasional 7 mile run when I feel like it. Much less than the four items a week with the 7 mile run. And I definitely cut back on the strength training from at least twice a week to once a week if I'm lucky.

I think I need a bit of a rededication. So first of all, I am running a 10K the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The goal is to run it in a 9 1/2 minute/mile pace. The next goal is to do the Presido 10 but this time run the 10 miler as opposed to the 10k. If any of you are distance runners, how do you make the time to do an actual ten mile training run? That's over an hour and a half and if you're old and creaky like me, that is about 2 1/2 hours of working out when you include the stretching a cool down. And yes, next year I will do Bay to Breakers in costume. Any suggestions?

Rocking the test results

Saturday, I got my blood drawn and my urine specimened to see what progress I've made dealing with diabetes. It was about 13 months since I was first diagnosed and five months since my last set of test results. In the intervening five months I went off all medication regulating my blood glucose so any result I had would be purely based on my diet and exercise. From the title of the post, you know how things turned out.

Here's the one year ago picture:

A1C level (measuring glucose) - 9.7 (standard is between 4.5 and 6.0)

ALBUMIN/CREATININE ratio (measuring how well my body able to retain protein in the bloodstream) - 122.5 (standard is below 29.9)

Overall cholestorol - 300 (standard is below 236)

HDL (the good cholesterol) - 40 (you should be above 40)

LDL (the bad cholestrol) - 137 (you should be less than 129)

Triglyceride (fat in your bloodstream) - 650 (should should be less than 199!)


So what are the numbers today?

A1C level (measuring glucose) - 5.1

ALBUMIN/CREATININE ratio (measuring how well my body able to retain protein in the bloodstream) - 14.5

Overall cholestorol - 151 (standard is below 236)

HDL (the good cholesterol) - 57 (you should be above 40)

LDL (the bad cholestrol) - 77 (you should be less than 129)

Triglyceride (fat in your bloodstream) - 83 (should should be less than 199!)


So there it is. I have to acknowledge that the Albumin/creatinine numbers and the cholesterol numbers are affected by the medication I'm taking but my doctor and nutritionist say those things don't mean bupkiss if I ain't living right. And the thing is, living right isn't a punishment. Last week I ate CHICKEN FRIED STEAK WITH BEER GRAVY! I made sure to forego the mashed potatoes and have a double order of roasted veggies but seriously folks - CHICKEN FRIED STEAK. What started out as one hellish month and a serious fear of Splenda has morphed into a lifestyle with a lot of Splenda desserts. Thanks y'all for giving me a space to think these things through. Let's keep on keeping on.

Happy Diabetaversary

Whew, it's been a while since either Stef or I checked in. It's funny how the post-summer life starts getting in the way. For those of you who don't know that the Bay area does not follow the regular four seasons but ends up having something like 30 season throughout the year. Whereas most of you probably "enjoyed" a hot summer, the Bay area summer ends up being a chilly, foggy fall climate. Most visitors end up having to do a target run for long pants and hoodies. The funny part is that once September hits, the Bay area experiences the summer that the rest of the country put up with. You see, when the temperature in the rest of the state is summer, the heat gets trapped in the Central Valley and the weather stays firmly entrenched in the 60 degree range. Once it cools down in the rest of the state, our September ends up with temperatures in the 80s.

With that in mind, it was this time last year I found out I had diabetes. And shortly afterwards, I asked stef if she wanted to start a blog. In the past year, I've kicked diabetes ass and learned to love Splenda (like LOOOOVE Splenda). Here's a snapshot of my year living with diabetes.

September
After much crying and freaking out, I take the crappy Living with Diabetes class and learn how to monitor my blood glucose level and learn ways to control my diabetes. Stef and I start the blog.

October
I start hitting the gym on a regular basis and creating the food log. I realize I need to eat more regularly and space out my eating so that I have two snacks and three meals. My midnight snack becomes my savior.

November
I have a great time eating my first post-diagnosis Thanksgiving. Much turkey is eaten and people actually envy my splenda mocha panna cotta with sugar free chocolate mousse.

December
This is where diabetes just becomes a part of my life. The crazy ass blood sugar drops stop as my body adjusts and I meet with my super-awesome nutritionist. My first post-diagnosis blood result comes back and I kick some diabetes ass. I'm in normal range on all of my readings. I also travel like mad and learn how to have some semblance of normal eating and exercise while traveling (entailing many a 10:00 pm run).

January
I run my first race (a five miler) and do it in a sub-ten minute mile pace. I increase my running from two three-mile runs and a five mile run to two four mile runs and a six mile run. My test results come back and I am now beyond normal to crazy ass awesome in my readings.

February
Another praiseworthy month as I continue on the same path. I increase my running to two four mile runs and a seven mile run.

March
I run a 10K across the Golden Gate Bridge. The day is beautiful and I can't complain about running over a national monument.

April
I decrease my medication as my diet and exercise regime is doing a good job of controlling my blood sugar levels.

May
Bay to Breakers! Running on the steep hill for about a mile and still managing to run a sub-ten minute mile pace, in costume! Yay! My nutritionist tells me I can stop taking the diabetes medication.

June
I graduate from the diabetes program and my insurance doesn't think it's cost effective to spend one afternoon a month having a nutritionist praise me. J and I move and getting the the gym becomes harder. I still do it four times a week!

July
We get a dog and I have to add an extra hour of walking to my exercise regime. I also go into maintenance mode and cut back on the running and strength training. I get so good a Splenda desserts I poison J (who is allergic to artificial sweeteners)

August
I gain about four pounds but somehow go down another pants size. How is this possible?

September
New goals - 1) run a ten miler 2) Keep the food log and cut back on the fat 3) Pass a REAL health care reform bill.

Help Needed!

So those of you involved in the President's Physical Fitness Challenge, I need some help. I just passed the 20,000 point mark (after two months and a 12k race) and I'd like to order my damn bronze medal but I can't figure out how to do it online. Can someone walk we through it? Every time I try and order it online, I get to the page with the t-shirts and lanyards. I don't want a damn lanyard, I want my MEDAL!

And yes, I fillay got enough points for some bling. Yay me.

Judgement Day

My in-laws were in town for a week and we all had a great time. It seems that my in-law trips come in two varieties - tourist and handyman. Either the in-laws are making drapes and assembling furniture or we are taking day trips to the beach. Considering we just bought a house, you can only guess what kind of trip this was.

With the massive amount of help we were getting from my in-laws, I feel embarrassed to admit a twinge of judgment and a bit of envy I have for my father-in-law who is also diabetic. He's been living with his diagnosis for three years longer than I have and his A1C is a healthy 7, great for someone in his sixties. Therefore, he does stuff like drink milk and eat desserts and eat more than a cup of rice in one sitting. It was slightly puzzling some of the choices, having a huge bowl of cereal with milk and then sweetening his ice tea with Splenda. I kept on wondering both internally and externally, can he do that?

Looking back on the week I realize it wasn't just curiosity that was promting the wondering, it was envy. How come HE gets to eat dessert when I am working out much more than he does? How does he get to drink milk? It's insidious, isn't it? Part of coming to terms with what is happening in your own body is knowing you don't have any control over anyone else's.

My father-in-law is over thirty years older than I am. His goals will be different. He's got allergies where he can't eat shrimp and tomatoes. I voluntarily don't eat dessert with sugar. Different limitations. I work out like a mofo and eat things like pork belly and pate. He eats cookies.

Here's my clarion call to myself as I go along this journey. It's not about virtue. Taking care of yourself is not about feeling higher and mightier. It's about eating delicious things like a vine ripened tomato with brie and basil. It's about running up these stairs knowing you ran up twice that length during Bay to Breakers. It's about feeling good.

Tangible Outcomes

This blog isn't about dieting or about what's on the scale, it's about a holistic approach to becoming healthier, stronger individuals.

BUT -- the scale remains as one tangible way to measure progress on our overall goals. And, one of my main goals is to actually lose weight.

And I'm happy to report that now, a little over 2 months into my nutritionist adventure, I have passed a major milestone... more than ten pounds lost. Double digits, my friends! :-)

This comes at a good time, cuz I've been feeling a little deflated in the motivation department lately. So this, combined with a sunny day and my plans to take a long walk around my pretty neighborhood this morning, is helping give me a really feel-good boost. Hooray.

Gold Star

I had another visit with my nutritionist today ($300 and counting). It was a good visit, and she was very pleased with my progress. By her scale, it's been another 4 pounds, and she was impressed. After reviewing my food journal and talking things over, she said she thinks things are going really well and that I can keep on doing the same thing.

Sometimes when this method doesn't work, she switches patients to more of a "diet-diet" with stricter rules, like food exchanges and stuff, but she said I don't seem to need that and that this looser method is working for me. That's a good thing, cuz the constraints of a "diet-diet" are not sustainable for me over the long term, I know that from experience. So, yay me! :-)

Today we spent most of the time talking about my lunches at work. I've found that I need to make sure I have a filling lunch, cuz otherwise the afternoon can be dangerous - if I get really hungry and don't have any good snacks left, that's a *red alert* time for bad decision-making.

Today was a good example, actually, cuz it turns out that leftover jambalaya did not sustain me - even though it was a big portion - and by 3 pm I was already having hunger pangs. So we talked that through... I thought maybe it was just cuz it was so much rice, but as we talked about the recipe she said that's only part of it, that it really was that I didn't have enough protein. She recommended I have at least 4 oz (and for me I'd guess closer to 6 oz) of protein at lunch-time, particularly during the week, so that it can get me through 'til evening.

Her assessment was that the jambalaya probably wasn't enough, so she gave me good advice on "fixing" it and I came home and did just that. I opened up the little dishes and started making some changes -- I spooned out some rice from 2 f the remaining dishes into the other 2, then I stuck those with more rice into the freezer. I'll hold onto those for the weekend, when I can eat them as a dinner and have a less-carb-centric soup or salad as my other meal. I have much better snacking options on the weekend, too, so the carb-heavy meal might be better then. After that, I took the 2 remaining dishes that I'll use for lunch this week, and I added about 4 more oz of turkey kielbasa to each one. Sure, the new pieces won't have been cooked in the same way, but once they're nuked at work they should all taste fine. And the added meat will help me get through the long afternoons I have during the week. (Note, she's not ant-carb. In fact, she said "This isn't Atkins!" She said the trick is just learning the right way to space it out during the day.)

These are good tips - and experience as shown I really do need to have a more protein-heavy breakfast and lunch and save some of the carbs for dinner. It's all about learning how your body reacts and what your own natural schedule is during the day. Helpful!

Ya Gotta Have Friends....

Good stuff!

Well
What Are Friends for? A Longer Life
By TARA PARKER-POPE
Published: April 21, 2009
Many people overlook a powerful weapon in the quest for better health: their friends.

My Good Report Card

Yayyyy!!!!

Just got home from my 2nd appointment with the nutritionist and it went really well!

She was really happy with my progress so far. We started with a weigh-in first thing (eep) and by her official scale I've lost 4 pounds, which she was very pleased about.

Then we sat down and she went page-by-page through my food journal over the last month. Note to self, she reads all of that closely! I was honest on everything, and she had a lot of good comments and a few constructive tidbits on things I can improve. I already knew the main things she would advise me on -- work on portion control, try to cut back on some of the starch, and try to get more exercise. But overall, she was really complimentary about the changes I've made -- cutting out Starbucks, cooking more, choosing healthy snacks.

What I was really glad about was that she did NOT criticize some of the things that I thought might catch her eye - no comment on the few glasses of wine or margaritas I've had, no comment on the piece of ice cream cake or the birthday cupcake I had at 2 different celebrations, no comment on my occasional Coke Zero habit. She said that once her clients learn how to start losing, she says that when a special occasion or vacation comes up, she realizes they will eat differently and says to focus on at least not gaining at those times. Since I lost weight overall, she really didn't pick at much.

Then we spent a LONG time talking about my potential challenges coming up, as I have a 5-day out-of-town conference soon. She's familiar with the hotel where I will be staying and said there are good restaurants and markets around, but mostly she gave me advice on things to bring along and keep in my hotel room to get me through breakfasts, snacks all day, and "treats" at night. String cheese is a great pack-and-go snack, and I've really come to rely on it as a filling mid-afternoon break. She liked my snack mix, so I'll be packing that. She also okayed oatmeal packets and little cereal packets with soy milk (though she's not a fan of 100-calorie packs in general). So I'll be hunting for fruit and yogurt, but bringing on a stash of things to try and get me through the tough between-meals times while I'm away.

Hooray! I'm so glad this went well -- and I'll be going back again in about a month. Now, to find out if my insurance reimburses for my out-of-pocket costs for these visits....

You CAN Go Home Again

I know I've shared with you before that going to visit my family is always a big "eating danger zone" for me. All the old factors are there -- the emotional side of family dinners, huge portion sizes, different kinds of food -- but I'm happy to report that this was a very successful visit, eating-wise! I've shared with my family what I'm trying to do with the nutritionist, and they all got very into the idea.

I stayed with my brother for 2 days, and he really made the effort to try and pick good eating-out places (sushi, a cute locally-sourced cafe for brunch) and even cooked me a meal. He was very eager to show off his kitchen skillz (he's been cooking a lot longer than me) and made marinated tilapia filets with his own seasoned couscous with peas. Plus he showed me how he makes plain oatmeal with sugar-free maple syrup to give it some flavor. He also bought me special snacks and we were good all weekend.

Then it was 2 days with Mom and Dad. They also bought some special snacks just for me, and had good breakfast items. Sunday night dinner was tricky, as Dad made a big lamb roast, but we'd talked about the menu beforehand and he traded out his original plan of homemade mac & cheese for his saffron rice with peas & tomatoes (yum). Plus he did 2 different sides of cooked veggies - the usual carrots, celery, and potatoes in with the roast (I skipped the potatoes) and roasted mushrooms and artichoke hearts. I skipped bread, and tried to have sensible portion sizes of the lamb and all the sides. It was delish!

We ate out twice in Bloomington, and both times were ripe with potential temptations.... first up, my promised birthday dinner for Dad (a month late) at his choice of restaurants. He chose a steak place, well-known for huge portions of meat. I perused the menu beforehand and made my choice, knowing it was a treat. I got a 7 oz petit filet (instead of the 10 oz or any of the monster-sized steaks), allowing myself a steak since I never cook that at home. I make chicken, and pork chops, and fish, so the steak was a real treat. It came with a baked potato, which I had with some sour cream, a nice side salad which I ate completely with vinaigrette and a little crumbly bleu (treat!), and one roll with a little butter. I was hungry enough I could've eaten more, but I didn't fill up on bread and instead really enjoyed my dinner.

Then, today, Mom and I visited my favorite place in B'ton, an Afghan restaurant. I had my heart set on my favorite dish, another lamb dish, and I was a little annoyed when I was peer-pressured into having the lunch buffet. (Yes, I was tired, and didn't mean to be a snit but sometimes it just happens. Sorry Mom.) I love that lamb dish and had planned for what was in it -- the buffet was good, absolutely, but it was totally different stuff for me to think about what I was eating. I did fill my plate, with mostly veggie dishes, some brown rice with carrots & raisins, 3 little beef meatballs, and a small piece of chicken. But -- I skipped the bread and the hummus, and I skipped the "included" baklava-style dessert.

So -- even though I was worried about this trip being bad for my overall dieting efforts, I think I did fairly well and still indulged a little since it was a vacation after all. :-)

I stepped on Mom and Dad's scale this morning and really liked what I saw... I'm going to wait to see what my own scale says tomorrow just to see if they're calibrated differently, but it seems like week 2 of this plan is working.

Wish me Luck!

This Sunday at 8:00 am, I will be running the Presidio 10K. My goal is to run under a 10 minute mile pace which would mean I would finish in 74 minutes. Full report to come Sunday night after a long hot bath.

A little housekeeping

I'm just doing some tidying up on the blog layout, and I've added links to the 2 lifestyle blogs of 2 friends who are really helping me along this journey. I'll hope you'll check out their blogs and support their efforts, too. And I hope my co-blogger will feel free to add any other good blogs about people facing the same challenges and enjoying the same successes as we are!

Why Stef and I Are Awesome...

And Ruby is not. So after a nine-episode season of Ruby, I am completely transfixed by this trainwreck. And by trainwreck, I mean trainwreck of Trya Banks proportions. You have to view Ruby as a tv character than a real life person. The reason is because it's clear that Ruby has been coached and goaded into portraying a self-centered idiot. Before the show even started Ruby had gone down from 700 pounds to 477 pounds. Clearly she must have learned SOMETHING. I've seen 3-year-olds with more self awareness and intelligence than tv Ruby.

To make my co-blogger and every one of you readers feel better about yourself. Here's my list of why we rock harder than tv Ruby.

1. We can cook. This is where Ruby is totally preposterous. She doesn't cook to the point where she doesn't own a cutting board. She doesn't cook to the point where you can hide her scale in the oven and she could never find it. And that's the most important thing about living healthy. The ultimate way you live healthy is to have a complete say in what you put into your body. You can't do that without cooking.

2. We can nourish ourselves. Ruby is hungry. Hungry like all the freaking time. She constantly complains that her Hourglass meals suck. One thing that the Weight Watchers ads gets really right is to address the hunger monster. When I first changed my diet and I had moments of hunger, I seriously could not envision a life where I was hungry all the time. It was torture. You cannot sustain that. If Ruby is feeling this way through her weight loss process, she is destined for failure once the cameras turn off.

3. We don't expect the world and our friends to cater to us. OH. MY. GOD. Almost every freaking episode is a Last Temptation of Ruby situation where her friends go to a fast food joint and Ruby bemoans the fact she can't eat what they are eating. Sorry Ruby, but just because you're on a restricted diet doesn't mean your friends have to. I think all of us, Stef, me all of you can go to a restaurant with our friends without being a big ol' drama queen about it.

4. Our health care professionals do not suck. Oh that evil Dr. Bradley. He's constantly pushing for Ruby to stay on her Hourglass meal plans in direct opposition to her trainers and nutritionist. And guess who owns the Hourglass Meal company? Evil Dr. Bradley.

5. This healthy living stuff is not a punishment. Hey folks? What's the name of this blog? Yep. That's the key to why we do what we do. This is not penance for every fatty decision we've made and once we've served out time it's over. This is how we live. That' chili stef made the other day? Not a punishment in the least. That 5 mile race? Not a punishment. Especially that stretch where I was running to Justin Timberlake's Rock Your Body.

So feel good about yourselves because noone is forcing you to act like an idiot on tv.

Oprah!

So Oprah puts herself on the cover of her magazine. Not a surprise since she does that every issue but this time, she's confessing about her weight gain and how she continues to struggle with weight. Now this is even better than her cocaine confession!

For all of us who are struggling to deal with the healthy lifestyle thing, we should feel much better about ourselves. If Oprah with her trainers, chefs, personal assistants and fake fiancees, can't keep the weight off, what chance do us mere mortals have? I mean you can have personal assistants do a lot but, they can't work out for you and they can't make sure you actually eat that great salad your chef made.

Playing armchair therapist, I see that with the weight loss Oprah does well the with the outcome goals of losing weight but not with the process goals of living healthy (hence this blog). I do wonder if she sees just the weight loss without seeing the habit building. As we've both said before, this is stuff we need to do for the rest of our lives. If you are doing something that you will stop once the weight is off, stop doing it. The best example of this is her running, have you seen her do another marathon? This is the season for giving and thanks Oprah for giving us a little reassurance we're all struggling. Although the skinny picture is so clearly airbrushed it's not even funny.


On another note, I'm spending the holidays with my in-laws in Texas and holy cow is the starchy food in abundance. I've done good though. Last night we went for Middle Eastern food at this place called "International Food of Denton." There was no way I was forgoing the best babaganouj and pita bread in the world so I asked if they could take out the rice in the entree and double the amount of grilled veggies. I chowed down on some awesome pita bread and babaganouj. This was hardly a hardship because the great family who cooks there makes these grilled veggies that are caramelized and flavorful.

Let's see how I survive the family Christmas where there will be cheese grits, pistachio cake, chocolate bark, and queso.