I Officially Have a Hobby!

I have always hated the question, "What do you do for fun?" Or, "What are your hobbies?"

I hate them because I don't really have any. I don't scrapbook. I don't lead the Brownie troop. I don't participate in community theater (though I think I'd like it). And the thought of collecting anything makes me shudder.

Today I went to the eye doctor and the screening seemed more thorough than I remembered an eye appointment being. After the usual family medical questions, the woman who performed the glaucoma test asked me what I do in my free time.

I was momentarily confused by this question and how it might relate to glaucoma ... and then it dawned on me that they probably wanted to know about hobbies as they related to my eyes.

So I said, "I like to read. I blog." And all of a sudden, I got on a roll, as if I was on a blind date. "I enjoy cooking."

And out of nowhere, "I run."

At that point, I all but checked out of the two-way conversation, looked down at myself from a spot in the ceiling, and smiled. Smugly.

I guess I have a hobby now.

Garlic Makes Everything Better

I have to travel for work this weekend, so tonight it was "clean out the fridge" night. And boy, am I glad!

Italy Meets Morocco?
Cube up whatever vegetables you have (I used red pepper, red onion, mushrooms, zucchini and summer squash)
Fry 'em up in a pan with some olive oil
Add lots of chopped garlic, salt, and Pampered Chef Garlic Pepper
Toss in some leftover chicken (mine was Italian in nature, grilled a month ago and frozen)
Cook up some whole wheat couscous and stir it in
Toss in some shredded Parmesan to top it off

Uh Oh.

Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Potato Chips, Salt and Vinegar flavor, 40% less fat variety contains only 130 calories and 6 grams of fat for 18 chips.

I may have found a replacement for my sourdough pretzel obsession.

Provided I can eat just 18 chips, that is.

More Reader Contributions

From HR Girl:

 

Overnight Oats Recipe

Overnight Oats are just oats soaked overnight that absorb the liquid you put them in – any kind of liquid you like! The most common mixture is equal parts raw rolled oats, milk and yogurt (I like 1/3 or 1/2 cup of each). You can use any kind of yogurt or milk. Put in the fridge overnight (uncovered or covered, your choice) and let ‘em soak up the liquids.

 

That’s the base, and toppings are endless. Add the toppings the night before or the next morning – either way works. Just don’t put anything in you don’t mind getting soggy (i.e. crunchy cereals)

 

There is NO COOKING involved at all! (Although you could heat them just a tiny bit in the microwave to take the chill out). Enjoy!

 

 

From Quigley:

 

A New Favorite Thing

Weight Watchers Raspberry Yogurt. 100 calories that taste like 500!

From My Friend HR Girl ...

I Want You to Feel It, Too!

I had a fantastic day today. I walked around all day with a smile on my face. I was almost giddy. Sort of smug, even. Like I had the best secret in the whole world and I wanted to tell everyone. 

 

But I couldn’t really tell everyone. It would have been weird and looked like I was obsessing or, worse, desperate for attention.  

 

I am going to tell you … because I know you will understand.

 

I looked up the 10K final results Sunday night before I went to bed. And guess what? I finished 7^th overall in the women’s group at 1:01:01 … which is a 9:50 mile average. Everyone that finished before me was younger than me by at least 4 years. And, I came in first out of five in my age division!

 

Is that a freaking riot or what?

 

Now, before you send me congrats, or atta girls, that’s not why I’m telling you this. I am NOT fishing for compliments. Or bragging. Or, again, desperate for attention.

 

I want to tell you this because I want you to know HOW FREAKING GOOD THIS FEELS!

 

I can’t wipe the smile off my face. I have that nearly jittery feeling in my chest. The first thing I did this morning when I got to work was go find my mountain climbing friend and tell him. I felt like a little kid on show and tell day, bursting at the seams of my knee socks and lunchbox.

 

He was appropriately excited for me and I got a couple of high fives. As I was walking away, I turned and said, “Me! Can you believe it was ME? I did that. Me!”And in my head all I could see was the 200+ pound, size 20 me. She's looking at this me and can hardly believe it. Who knew she had it in her?

 

I really want YOU to feel like this. I want you to be this happy, this confident, this proud. I want you to feel this good about you. It’s the best drug on the planet and you deserve to treat yourself to it.

 

The journey to the starting line was so much longer and so much more difficult than the actual race. But it was so worth it.

 

Come play with me! Join me in this fun. You are worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears you're throwing into the healthy you. 

 

And if 10K feels this good, I'm starting to wonder what a half marathon might be like ...

 

(And a shout-out to my cousin Jerry who completed his first half marathon on Saturday, too! Ran it with his son. How cool is that?)

Quad Smackdown

I left one thing off my list of observations yesterday ... mostly because it hadn't happened yet, so I didn't know about it.

I'm sort of a hurtin' unit today: My quads and calves are killing me.

THIS is the difference between running indoors and on a steady incline with never a downhill and running in the great outdoors. There's a whole different set of muscles involved.

My workout this morning consisted of a slow walk at a high incline for only 3 miles. And some weights. I was trying to work the stiffness out, but mostly rest/recover.

Maybe I need another celebratory margarita. (The one I had at La Casa Grande in Beloit late last night was REALLY good.)

It was a LOOOOONGGG Freaking Hill!

Ok, so the 10K is over. I finished. In fact, I finished faster than I thought I would and faster than I normally run in by basement.

And it felt GREAT! It was fun. It was challenging. It was a whole lot of things.

These are my observations:

1. I have no idea how to pace myself. I know, I know ... there is fancy electronic equipment for this, but I'm not so into electronic equipment. Or, an iPod with appropriately tempo-ed music would also do the trick, but I don't like things in my ears either. So my strategy was to just pick someone who looked like a person I could keep up with and I followed them. (Passed them, actually, in the end.)

2. It was freaking cold this morning. I wasn't prepared for my hands being frozen. But I figured as long as they were still cold, I wasn't working as hard as I could ... or the blood would be coursing through my body and they'd warm up. That thought gave me a little extra wind.

3. My treadmill didn't prepare me for the length and steepness of "The Hill." It was a mile long. And, I ran it all except for about a tenth, maybe two tenths of a mile at the very top. I just flat out couldn't run it. And I think I actually walked it faster than I was running anyway. Part of me is really disappointed with that. I won't say, "I ran a 10K," because I didn't. I will say I finished a 10K, though.

4. Running downhill is hard. I'm grateful for the old man who pulled up along side of me and encouraged me. He had an Ironman tattoo on his calf. I ran behind him for a while. Then passed him.

5. Apparently I was taking this more seriously than I thought I was. Once we started, I didn't want to get passed. And for the most part, I didn't. A brunette with glasses got me on the downhill. And a ponytailed blond got me in mile 5. But both were younger than me by a long way, I think, so that's how I'm justifying it. And then another woman got me at the finish line. She timed her sprint better than I did. 

5. My shoulders are killing me. Not sure if I held my arms differently because I was running outside or what. But I notice a difference.

6. I ate blueberry pancakes afterward. With lots of syrup. I would run a 10K every Saturday if I got pancakes.

7. Did I mention that it was FUN?

It was cool. You should do it next year with me. It was fun to have Ms. Copy T there to run the 5K with me. (Thank you!) We could be our own team -- I'll buy the Tshirts.

Carbed Up and Ready for Bed

I really hope I can run the whole thing. But I'm not going to be disappointed if I can't. Talk to you tomorrow.

Tim Gunn, Kirstie Alley and Me

I heard this week that Kirstie Alley, fit after her Dancing with the Stars run, had declared she was a size 4 now .

And then I heard Tim Gunn's rebuttal. He says today's size 4 is bigger than the size 4 of old. In fact, it's more equivalent to a size 6 or size 8. He hammers the point home by saying that he/the fashion industry/someone has been measuring the actual waistlines, etc., of modern clothes and when you compare them to waistlines, etc., of clothes from 20 years ago, today's are simply bigger.

Bigger so people can buy smaller sizes and feel better about themselves.

I hate Tim Gunn. Mostly because it means my size 20s were really bigger than that. And I hate Kirstie Alley, too, for bringing it up.

(P.S. 10K update. I'm ready. Or I was. Until I wore a super cute pair of shoes today that don't fit right. And I discovered a stupid blister under my big toe when I got home. I'm debating if I should pop it now or see if it disappears overnight. Aaargh!)

Feeling Better Feels Good

For the first time in a few weeks, I felt good during my workout this morning.

I'm not sure if it was because I have been eating better for the past couple of days. Or if it's because I'm back in my own bed and getting decent sleep. Or if it might be related to the fact that great gobs of green snot have stopped pouring out of my head.

In any case, I ran 3 miles and walked 1 ... and felt like I could have run 10.

Now I just hope this feeling lasts through Saturday.

The Power of the Body ... and the Mind

Talked today to my mountain climbing friend. He told me the story of his trip up Mt.Rainier.

I sat there for most of the time with my mouth open.

When I could muster up some vocabulary, all I could utter, repeatedly, was, "You are insane."

If you've never heard or read about what a climb is like, I strongly encourage you to find something on the web (I'm sure there's a mountain of climber blogs ... get it, mountain. Heh.) and take a look. 

But there are two things he said that I really want to share with you. They boggle my mind.

1. I asked if he could compare the climb to the full-length Ironman he completed years earlier (read, younger). He said, "I would do two back-to-back Ironman races and it would be easier than getting to the first of the four breaks in the climb to the summit." An Ironman is swimming 2.4 miles, biking 120 miles and running a full marathon, just for reference.

2. Then he said something like this: "The climb really changed me. I have never been so physically, emotionally, mentally spent. I have never had to much fear and anxiety. I have never concentrated so much for so long. And I never before reached a place where my mind took over and I knew I had to continue at all costs and that I would finish. It scared me a little because I wasn't sure if my mind would keep me from danger. My mind was so determined to get to the top and back down again that I'm not sure I was making rational decisions."

And I think that there are days I can't convince myself to get out of my bed, pop down the stairs and walk for four miles?

You, humans, WE are capable of truly AMAZING things. Believe that. Believe in you.
  

Chewing Habit

I've developed a chewing habit.

I want to be chewing all the time. Which means I'm taking in too many calories.

So I'm going to try something new tomorrow. I'm going to keep a cup of ice handy so I can "chew" something. I'm not really going to actually chew the ice, but eating it will give my mouth something to do.

And I'll get some extra water to boot.

Think it will work?

Working at O'Hare Would Make Me Fat

Heavens to mergatroid!

I think I've alluded to what a freak I am about eating and travelling. Since I'm paranoid about getting stuck somewhere without something healthy to eat, I pack like a squirrel preparing for a long winter. This trip, I stocked up on Fiber One bars, almonds, dried cranberries, pretzels, Dove dark chocolate (of course) and I've been pilfering apples from the Hampton Inn every day.

When you're on flights at early hours as I have been, some of the smaller airports can be hit or miss with the whole restaurant/convenience-store-being-open thing and I just never want to have a Snickers bar as my only option. Because I'll eat one. Or two.

I flew out of Milwaukee before the crack of dawn on Thursday, changed planes in Detroit with not a minute to spare and landed in Westchester NY. For those of you familiar with Madison and Rockford airports, they both look HUGE compared to Westchester. So as I left there this morning, I repacked the goodies I had left (Fiber One bars, an apple and a couple of chocolates) and hit the road, knowing there'd be nothing good to eat at the airport.

But boy, is Chicago, where I am for about an hour waiting on the puddle jumper to Milwaukee, a different story!

Holy Moses. Do you know how many restaurants there are between Concourse B and Concourse F?

Sure, it's only 8:30 in the morning. But I've been up for five-and-a-half hours and my stomach thinks it's lunchtime. I have, so far, avoided McDonald's (which you know I love), Chili's, Auntie Anne's pretzels and a cool-looking sushi restaurant (it was empty ... after all, it's only 8:30 a.m.).

I did stop at Garrett's popcorn stand and buy some of the world's best cheese popcorn for my aficionado sister. I will admit to stealing 10 finger-fulls, but that's all I'm allowing.

And, you know why I'm telling you all this, right? It's so I keep myself honest ... and not wander back to get one of those damn pretzels.

With cream cheese.

Change in Perception

I've noticed a change in the way I look at my "new" body.

The most noticeable is that I no longer view it as new.

I'm quickly approaching a year from when I started blogging. In that year, I've lost about 25 pounds, and my body hasn't really changed that much. In other words, the first 70 pounds I lost (before blogging) were far more "dramatic" in effect than the last 25.

The me I see now is familiar. She is starting to feel like the one that's always been here. Or at least the one that was always supposed to be here.

At first I saw her as this super skinny chick ... because in comparison to the old me, she was. Now I see her as pretty "normal" looking. Not too big, not little. Just kind of average with some spots that look pretty OK and some that could use a little more work.

But most of all, I see her as content. No longer afraid. No longer disappointed. No longer secretly ashamed.

Content is good.

Hurrah for the Hampton Inn!

The Hampton Inn free breakfast rocks!

Whole wheat bread and bagels to toast. Peanut butter and honey. Yogurt. Fresh fruit (like melon salad and whole apples, bananas, oranges). And little boxes of cereal.

If you plan it right, you can fill your pockets and have food for the whole day!!!

I have to leave the hotel before the breakfast hour starts on my last day here. Don't think I'm not already planning to make sure I get enough to eat before I get on the plane!

Thank Goodness for Applebee's

Say what you want about chain restaurants being the bane of the culinary world. I, for one, am happy that Applebee's exists.

I'm traveling for work. Solo. Which means I have to dine on my own in a strange place. My hotel doesn't have an in-house restaurant, which is my typical go-to choice in this situation.

I do have a rental car and a GPS, but I'm still not super adventurous.

Luckily, there's an Applebee's a few miles down the road from me. And as you know, Applebee's has meals for under 550 calories.

(And, NY must have the same law that Arizona does which requires ALL meals to show calorie counts on menus. Yippppppeeeeeeeee!)

Now, if I could just stay away from the candy on the other exhibitors' tables, I'd be doing OK.

Unexpected Benefit of Being Thinner #25

When your hotel is built into a mountainside, and the only apparent way to get your suitcase to your room from the parking lot is to drag or carry it up a flight of steep cement stairs, you can get to where it needs to go without much huffing and puffing.

Sick Cravings

OK, I think I've figured out why the whole workout thing has been such a struggle this week.

I'm sick.

My head is full, my nose is running and my throat hurts. And I'm freaking tired.

I sucked it up this morning and hit the treadmill, but I'm taking tomorrow off. I also ate pretty clean today in an effort to give my body the fuel it needs to kick this bug.

And now I'm craving oranges. And apples. And red grapes. My body doesn't want heavy, creamy stuff.

I hope that's what it needs.

Chickens and Eggs

My workouts have been real work for the past week or so. I feel like I'm struggling to get even the basic three or four miles done. I tried for six miles on Saturday and barely managed five. I've not been cranking up my speed or my incline to push myself because I'm breathing hard and sweating harder from the get go.

I'm just not getting that rush at the end of the workout, either. All I seem to get is sleepy.

I feel puffy and round and my clothes feel tight.

In other words, mookshe. Pronounced mook-shee. It's a word my mom uses and she claims it's German, though no German speakers I know have heard of it. The best way to describe what it means is to explain what it feels like. Curl up your nose and sort of whine/moan. The noise you make is what mookshe feels like. Nothing's actually wrong, but nothing is remotely right.

So as I'm battling myself on the treadmill, I start thinking about all the other things I'm feeling:

I'm so tired when I wake up. My bass is dragging all day. I'm not eating well. I'm not sleeping right, either.

And then it occurs to me. What is the chicken and what is the egg?

Am I tired and struggling because I'm not eating well and sleeping right? Am I not eating well and sleeping right because my workout schedule is off?

Or, does it matter?

If one of those things is out of whack, the others topple over, too.

Balance is the key. They all work together to make me feel good.

It's a good thing to remember as I reach for an extra brownie. Or as I watch some stupid Housewives episode at midnight. What I do will affect my workout tomorrow. And my workout will affect my food choices. And so on, and so on, and so on ...

(And now I'm going to bed.)

What Do You Do with a Tub of Licorice?

I made a small mistake.

I overestimated the amount of Twizzlers my guests would eat at the party yesterday. And now I have a whole tub left.

It's in my pantry. I can hear it calling my name. I can smell its strawberry goodness.

I want to eat it all. And this is the argument I'm having with myself:

Licorice has no fat grams, after all. So it's practically health food, right? (We'll just ignore the fact that when you take in too many calories, even those without fat grams, the extra cals turn into lard.)

But now that I've written it down here for you, I can't possibly walk over to the pantry door and eat one.

Dodged that bullet. Thanks for the assist.

10K Prep

I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but I'm trying to get ready for the 10K on Sept. 24.

Two weeks ago, I ran 6 miles so I know I CAN go the distance.

I'm a little worried about this week's training as I have to travel for work and Thursday and Sunday will be sort of shot. I'm also a little worried about the 1.2 mile hill at the beginning of the course ... I don't want to blow it by burning out too early.

My mountain climbing friend said he'd just walk the 1.2 miles, regardless. I'm certainly considering this. But I worry that someone will call me a woos for doing so. And I wonder ... will I still think I "ran" a 10K if I walk the first mile?

And then I remember ... It's me against me. I can do whatever I want and no one really gets to have an opinion.

I like that a lot.

Good Low-Cal News!

You can make Jello Shots with sugar-free Jello! In fact, you can get a higher alcohol-to-water ratio than with regular Jello.

http://www.myscienceproject.org/j-shot.html

Now, if only I could make Jello. (In my 43 years, I've been successful only a couple of times. Going to try it once more. Wish me well.)

And, P.S. Party at my house tomorrow if you're not busy. Call or email if you want directions.

Simple Support

I have a friend at work who is what I'd call an avid amateur athlete. He's older than me by a few years, but you'd never know it. He runs marathons, triathlons, ironmans (I so want to say the plural of ironman is ironmen). He eats a lot of Cliff bars. He recently completed that Tuff Mudder thing where you had to go through the electrical wires and fire pit. 

He doesn't just work out. He actually trains.

And for as long as I can remember, he's done this. He's always taken workout clothes to trade shows ... which I used to find odd. In fact, I once I bet him that he couldn't run the stairs at Disneyland (if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about) in one fell swoop, under a now-forgotten amount of time. He did. I bought beer.

In other words, he's fit and it's an important part of his life.

He swung by my office a few days ago to see how the Dirty Girl went. And to talk about his upcoming climb of Mt. Rainer.

Do you get the irony in that last sentence? He's climbing a dang mountain at 50-years-old-plus and he wanted to know how my silly 5K went.

Isn't that cool?

Support from people who understand what you're doing and why is so impactful. I had no idea at the beginning of this whole thing that there was a whole community of people who "get it" and who would be supportive of me in my quest for "it."

I appreciate them, and you, all.

Smokin' Hot

Every morning, I peel off my stinky, sweaty workout ensemble and hang it on one of those old-fashioned wood drying racks on my screen porch. I don't want to make the whole laundry basket damp and smelly ... so I let the shorts and top dry off overnight before I mix them in with the rest of the dirty clothes.

This morning, I performed said ritual and hustled back into the house where it was warmer. As I turned around to shut the sliding glass door, I noticed something odd.

My clothes were steaming as they acclimated to the much cooler outdoor temperature.

I had to laugh. Boy, I thought, when your clothes are smokin', you know you've had a really great workout.

(Or it just means fall is coming.) 

My Friend is Still Smoking

For the past two mornings, I have driven past him on the road. He always walks against traffic. His sharp summer haircut is starting to get shaggy, as if he's growing a little extra warmth for the oncoming winter season.

He's also been wearing a light jacket these chilly mornings. He always gives me a nod. I always give him plenty of room and return the nod.

Both mornings he's had a cigarette in his hand. I was hoping he'd given it up.

Is it wrong to be so disappointed in someone I don't even know?

Farmer's Market Overkill

I have a Farmer's Market hangover. Have you done this? Bought too much lovely, fresh produce because it all looks so great, bring it in the back door and then be struck by a terrible thought:

There's no way I can eat it all before it goes bad.

In an effort to use up some of it, I made the weirdest fresh corn/onion/garlic/red pepper/green pepper/jalapeno pepper/pinto beans/Swiss chard/lime juice/cilantro/Laughing Cow Southwest cheese wedges succotash tonight for dinner. It wasn't horrible, and it was kind of pretty, but more than anything, it was funny. Coco Chanel always said get dressed, then take one thing off. I think this dish could have benefited from the same advice. Times two. Or three.

The menu for the next few nights is going to have to include two pounds of yellow/green/purple beans, cauliflower, carrots and the world's biggest zucchini.

Adding insult to injury (in the very best way), the neighbors also dropped off a bounty of tomatoes and pears. I managed to perform a tomato makeover, allowing me to send them back out the door in the form of salsa.

The pears are going to have to wait until I can think of something that doesn't include a buttery, flaky crust.

Why Does Less Cost More?

Why does breakfast at one of the nearby local joints penalize me for trying to eat well?

The Vegetarian Omelette is the second-most expensive in the omelette list, only to be outdone by the Meat Orgy version. (Not it's real name, by the way.) If I want to make it Egg Beaters, that's a $1.25 upcharge. If I want to add cheese, and I always do, that's another buck.

Dry toast doesn't cost me extra, and I don't save a dime by skipping the included-in-the-price potatoes. Of course, substituting fresh fruit for the potatoes will result in another add-on charge.

Now my egg breakfast costs $194.33 and that seems like a bit much. Should have just had three eggs over easy with dry toast.

Consistency > Distance-y

I'm doing some experimenting again.

Experimenting with my exercising. Some might call it, "Trying to see what I can get away with," in fact.

For a while there, I was doubling up on the calorie burn ... riding bike at night and walking/running during the day. Then last week, I skipped a couple of mornings on the treadmill, ran more vs. walking when I was on it, didn't bike at all, and added one day of weights and some sit-ups. 

I've been increasing and decreasing my incline. Increasing my running speed and adding more walking miles.

The good news is that I'm hanging tight on the scale. The bad news is that my knees are killing me.

But I think that I'm learning that the fact that I take an hour or so to exercise is more important than what kinds of exercise I do or how far I go or how intense it is.

In other words, break a sweat. Then, don't sweat it.

Unexpected Benefit of Being Thinner #24

When Jim parks too close to the cart corral at The Home Depot, I can still get out of the car.

Limit-LESS

Guest Blogger HR Girl said something in her post back in May that made me think. She said,

"I need to find my way and get myself back on track so I can get back to living my life without limits."

I've been pondering the limits I used to live with.

Some were self-imposed: Could I go to Noah's Ark with a bunch of people? Sure. Did I want to have everyone see my big ass? NO! So, I chose to not go.

And some were very real: Could I go shopping all day with my friends without my knees and feet killing me? Nope. They were going to hurt and I was going to have to pretend to enjoy the trip, all while never buying any clothes because I didn't fit in the sizes in the cool stores. It sucks to hang out in housewares ALL day!

Regardless of the type, those limits prevented me from being me.

Now that I've seen life from the other side, the idea of living with those limits again is sort of unfathomable. The fear of those limits will keep me on this path, I believe, for the rest of my life.

So I'm starting a new "series" to go along with The Benefits of Being Thinner, The Downside of Being Thinner and My Favorite Things. This one is called No More Limits and it will be examples of things I couldn't/didn't do as the old me. They are things that I can do now as the new me. Limitlessly.

With a smile.

No More Limits #1
I danced on a pool table in a bar after midnight, after some coaxing by the bar's owner. Sober. Alongside said bar owner. (I even stepped on someone's knee to get up there without fear of crushing it.)

And I laughed while I was doing it.

Food Porn

You already know some of what's on my current "food obsession" list:

1. Hard red seedless grapes
2. Hard sour dough pretzels
3. Hummus
4. Dove dark chocolate
5. Cherry Coke Zero

And now, I have something new to add.

Red plums.

I have eaten seven of them since Tuesday. I like them slightly under-ripe, so there's a little snap when I take a bite. I love it when the pit pops out clean and I don't have to scrape my teeth against its roughness to get the last morsel of juicy flesh off of it. The slightly sour skin is such a perfect match to the sweet insides.

Gawd, it's food porn. I want one now and I'm out.

What do you love?