Balancing Act

Look! I was "perfectly centered!" I only got this result once in over three months of taking the balance test on my Wii Fit Plus. I'm usually hanging back, slightly to the left.

There is no doubt in my mind that losing weight is a balancing act. Up/down, give/take, yin/yang, black/white, thin/fat, tall/short, rich/poor, high/low ... you know, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I'm learning that I don't need to go to the extreme of being "ON" or "OFF" plan to lose weight. I just need to make sure my actions are the right ones to give me the reaction I want. Eating healthy and working out will result in weight loss if I'm consistent. If I eat right and work out five days a week and go hog wild on the weekend I'm just making things harder on myself.

I've got it pretty easy right now since I'm not spending over 8 hours a day at a desk job but I'm going to have to learn how to balance work and a healthy lifestyle (unless I hit the lottery before my unemployment benefits run out).

How do you find balance in your life?

Muscle Soreness or Injury?

How do you tell the difference between muscle soreness and a more serious injury? Is it just the intensity of the pain?

I've been suffering with some lower back pain over the past week which I thought was due to my intense 60 minute workouts on the elliptical. I have been stretching before and after but thought maybe I wasn't doing enough or maybe I was just working muscles that haven't been used this much in a long time.

I've never been this consistent with my workouts and initially thought that the pain was just soreness from all the activity but I'm starting to think it may be something more serious. I had a massage over the weekend and was feeling better but then last night I kept waking up every time I tried to roll over. I put some ice on the area and plan on taking a long hot bath soon to see if that helps.

Do you have any advice on how to tell whether you're just sore or whether you need to call the doctor?

Who let the dogs out?

*Warning* *Rant Ahead*

Why are cheating men making network news headlines? There have to be stories more important than the latest sleaze ball dog stepping out on the woman he promised to love and cherish above all others until death parts them.

If I want to know how many mistresses a pro golfer had, how many people helped cover up for a politician screwing around on his sick wife or how many tattoos the bombshell who screwed the "happily" married to a famous actress biker had I can watch the entertainment news shows or read the celebrity blogs and rag mags.

Is it really the "greatest comeback ever" for the golfer. He never really left, did he? It's not like he lost a limb, was in an accident, had a disease or broke his bones and struggled to get back to the game. He went to rehab for having too much sex with too many woman behind his wife's back. Why is that considered a great comeback in the sports world? I don't understand.

It breaks my heart that the Oscar winning actress who gushed about being in love with a man who finally had her back. He was someone she could trust and be herself with. He was someone who made her work better because she knew she had someone at home who made her feel safe and protected. This dog of hers was smiling and supporting her while he was simultaneously lying and screwing some tattoo covered skank in her home.

Most men are dogs who think with the head between their legs instead of the head on their shoulders. Why don't these cheaters delete the text messages and voice mails? Are they really that stupid or do they want to get caught?

It makes me sick that woman allow men to take advantage of them and get away with this type of behavior. I don't think any woman should put up with a dog unless it walks on four legs, gets lead around on a leash, wags its tail, is always excited to see you, warms your bed and gives you nothing but unconditional love.


Why do these men bother getting married if they don't have any intention of keeping their vows? I don't think I'll ever understand why these cheating dogs are headline news.

*My apologies to all the good guys out there (all 3 of you).

Frustrated

Back in January 2008 I worked up the courage to divulge my weight here on this blog. I've been tempted to delete that post ever since but forced myself to keep it on there so I could look back and see how far I had come once I got to my weight loss goal. Even though I ranted and raved about how much I wanted and needed to lose weight I ended up gaining an additional 16 pounds to reach my highest weight ever in November 2009. Talk about frustration.

Every other time I lost a significant amount of weight I did it by severely changing my diet and hardly doing any regular exercise. I've always been active even at my highest weight but playing on the weekends didn't make up for sitting at a desk for 40+ hours, lazing around and stuffing my face all week.

In the 80's I spent almost a year eating nothing but JC food out of a box to lose 50+ pounds. I couldn't continue to live on that stuff although I've heard that the JC food out of a box has gotten much better since then. I wanted to be able to eat what everyone else was eating and didn't want to live on cardboard boxed food forever.

In the 90's I lost over 60 pounds by avoiding all "white" foods. I still can't believe I was able to do this for so long. I love all those white foods which are so bad for me and give me nothing in return but more fat on my a$$. I amazed myself by staying away from the white bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, flour and sugar but I couldn't keep it up forever. I stayed on my own modified version of Atkins/South Beach and the weight melted off but I couldn't live a life without bread and pasta. I knew my Italian Grandma must have been doing flips in her grave. Life is not worth living if you can never eat a piece of bread or pasta again. This wasn't something I could sustain for a lifetime. It worked until I accidentally ate a crouton and blew right back up like a balloon hooked up to a bottle of helium.

By the time I got laid off from my daily dose of high stress in November 2009 I was bursting at my pant seams at my highest weight ever. I was so miserable and depressed about my work situation it was hard to stay focused on anything else. I binged and grazed all day long to keep my emotions and frustrations inside instead of lashing out and telling those abusers how I really felt because I thought keeping my job was more important. I paid the price in pounds.

I've been away from the corporate hell hole for almost 4 months now and have lost an average of 5 pounds a month. Five measly pounds a month is far from rapid weight loss and I wish it were falling off quicker but I'm happy it's coming off consistently.

I have been religiously attending the gym and getting my sweat on like a good little bunny. I've been rocking that elliptical machine in 60 minute intervals an average of 5 days a week and recently started throwing some weights around. I've been playing on my Wii and wearing a pedometer and striving to get those 10,000+ steps a day. It's not coming off fast but it is coming off.

I'd like to pick up this turtle pace so I'm going to tackle my diet in addition to cranking it up at the gym. There's a novel idea, huh? Combine diet and regular exercise to get results. I think I've heard a few people say that's the key to the weight loss mystery. I don't know why it has always been one or the other for me.

I haven't had any severe binge episodes since I escaped the stressful work situation but I haven't really gotten super strict with my diet either. I've basically been eating what I want in moderation but if I want to speed up the process I'm going to have to sacrifice a little and learn to stop eating at night, cut down the weekend snacking and turn down the fattening foods in social situations where I tend to get in trouble.

I'm not discouraged but I am frustrated that I'm not losing at least 2 pounds a week. It's time for me to put the two pieces of the puzzle together and get this game on the fast(er) track.

Hit and Run

What is wrong with people? Sometimes I really hate living in the city.

Tuesday night we were home watching the Biggest Loser and we heard a big bang. B asked "what was that?" I said "it sounds like a big truck fell into a sink hole." Last week we had a big sink hole open up down the street so that was the first thing I thought of. B looked out the window but didn't see anything unusual.

The next morning our neighbor called to tell us someone hit our truck last night. We were lucky our neighbor got the plate number. I'm sure the driver of the hit and run vehicle was drunk because he didn't go very far. You could follow the plastic parts and scrape marks around the corner to find a vehicle that was severely damaged. My truck was smashed from the rear bumper to the front bumper but the other guy's vehicle was destroyed. His airbag went off, his front right tire was twisted sideways and there was a big dent and scrape marks all up the passenger's side.

We met with the local police who towed the vehicle and then he went to talk with the registered owners who live about a mile away. The officer said they would probably say the vehicle was stolen but apparently they fessed up (through an interpreter) that they hit a vehicle the night before but didn't stop and tell anyone about it. My guess is they decided it was better to get fined for leaving the scene of an accident than getting a DUI.

I spent the rest of the week dealing with the insurance company, the body shop and the car rental place. The worst part about it is we won't have our truck for the weekend and we need it to be able to trailer the snowmobiles so we can go riding. None of the rental places rent trucks with trailer hitches so we need to figure out how to get the sleds to the snow. It may be the last time we get to ride since we seem to be having the same strange weather as Vancouver and the temperatures are supposed to really warm up.

I used to get really upset when my vehicle got scratched or damaged but after it happened so many times I'm kind of numb to it now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the body shop does good work and the idiot who hit us stays off the road when he's drunk.

Paying the Price

I'm having Winter Olympic withdrawals. I loved watching the games and hate that I have to wait 4 years to see them again. Where will we be in 4 years? Will we have reached our goals? What are we doing to make it happen?

Sandrelle at Keeping Off the Pounds recently posted an article by Dr. Denis Waitley called The Winner's Circle.

The article really hit me hard and made me think about how much effort I am putting in to reach my goals. Is it enough? Am I willing to put in the effort to get the results I want?

Dr. Waitley writes:

Everyone wants to win, but few are willing to invest the time and effort. Paying the price means focusing on developing the skills and training regimen of champions—observation, imitation, repetition and the internalization of knowledge into habits; also, learning why and how to go the extra mile and seeing success as a marathon, not a dash. Champions view failures as temporary inconveniences and learning experiences.

Are you willing to pay the price to go for the gold?