I am SO EXCITED – finally watched the final episode of The Amazing Race last night – and Dave & Connor won it, and the Country Singer Girls came in 2nd! SO SO excited!
The weirdest part is that last week (I WISH I had written it here!) I had this “premonition” – when I was up on the ladder painting the air conditioning units, thinking about TAR – that went something like ‘Wonder if they’d ever put teams up to do like window washing?” Yes, I really did. I can’t believe it – since the 2nd to last Challenge was for them to go up in window washing “rigs” and change bulbs in the “I” on the “Mirage” hotel sign in Vegas. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.
I often have “premonition” thoughts like this (my friend Joy from Girls Gone WOD Podcast and I have discussed this), and unfortunately I VERY RARELY write them down, or tell someone about them. Then when they happen, I have this “DANG IT!” experience – because of course the reaction is “Oh yeah, sure, you thought of this.” Amazing!
So as for a TAR Tip: When they were screwing in the lightbulbs, it seemed that each person on each team kept track of how many they personally did, then added the two up. I think it would have been better, perhaps better Television, and also kept the fear at bay (holy moley they were WAY UP THERE!) to do it out loud. It would have especially been better Television, because you would have had the team going 1-2…then they could cut away, then 50…. then 241! (That was the final number.) I was thinking that if (when!) Moddie and I were doing it, I’d be doing them top down, she would be doing them bottom up! (All the teams did it top down, but then again, they didn’t have such disparate sizes.)
So why am I blogging again? I know- shock – 3 posts in 2 days! Probably because I didn’t go to Crossfit again this morning.
H is gone on a work trip, and I didn’t go yesterday because I had to get him out of here. Tuesday I normally go to Crossfit with him, at 6:30 p.m., and I might still do it. But I just set an alarm to go off this afternoon, and to go out and do a hike up the hill and back, with weights on my back. I really do think I gotta get on the stick with that stuff. So I am starting today.
I did wind up quitting yoga work/trade. I do feel “bad” about it. But not perhaps how you’d think. I feel “bad” in more of a “stupid” fashion. I have done that work/trade for . . . lord, 1-1/2 years now . . . and I would have to say that I haven’t even averaged 1x/week if you look at it across the entirety of the time I did it. Gail did say that I still get “credit” through I think she said June 21st to “use” work/trade, which I really do need to do. (Note there the “need” not “want” – that’s interesting.)
I spoke with Wendy (the yoga instructor) about this yesterday. I talked about having to lose the weight, and really being committed to that more than anything else right now. She said that she understood that. It’s not like I’m weak, or faint, or anything (actually far from it) with this “new eating plan” – in fact, I feel more “galvanized” to REALLY lose it this time. (For whatever reason.) I think it’s probably all the weighing of every single thing I eat – it’s SUCH a pain in the neck, but I keep telling myself I can stop, AFTER I lose the 35 pounds. As such, I have to cut anything out that is not moving me toward that goal. The yoga was great, and I actually know that people that do yoga (especially Power Yoga) really burn a TON of fat and get into AMAZING shape. I just think that’s not me “right now.” Right now, I’m “thicker” than I’ve ever been, and, as Wendy said to me, I can always start work/trade again if I want, and I can do yoga when I’m happier in my body.
That’s what happened with pole dancing for me – I gave it up when I started to gain weight, and it was just not comfortable for me to do it any more. I loved it – but that extra weight just made it too difficult to do what I wanted to do. Moreover, where I had learned had not spent a lot of time on “preventative” issues – hence, my shoulder getting so messed up. (They didn’t even have you swap hands – you always have one dominant “pole hand” that you’re holding on with, and the other hand that is generally off the pole e.g. when you’re twirling, etc. – and my pole hand was my right hand – which led to the shoulder issues that just never cleared up – until Crossfit.)
I feel pretty motivated today by how things are moving forward. We’ll see. I’m cautiously optimistic, and feel that I can “stick this eating plan out” until the weight is gone – then add back things SLOWLY but I am now committed to the understanding (as two of my doctors have been harping on me about) that “this is how it goes after menopause” – that my portions/calories have to be DRAMATICALLY lower than someone younger. It’s sad, but it’s the “granny on the ice flow” issue – once you’re past your reproductive heyday, to keep from being “pushed out on the ice flow,” metabolically, you need FAR FAR FAR less food than you did before, because you just use it more efficiently/don’t burn it up as fast.
I thought that I could just cut all the “bad stuff” (not that we ate that much “bad stuff”) out of my diet, and the fat would just melt off. Seriously, I did. So now for the past…wow, LONG TIME, I have been gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-and-sugar-substitute-free (except a drop or two of stevia in my tea), bean/legume-free, soy-free, starchy-vegetable-free (e.g., potatoes, etc.), white-food-free (no rice, etc.) . . . yeah, as I’ve always said, my “eating clouds and unicorn feathers” diet! I had, however, moved into a higher fat diet (e.g., Bulletproof coffee, etc.) I just think that will be fine once I have actually lost the fat I already have – but I don’t think that it lends itself to burning that fat. That’s what “the experts say” should happen – but it didn’t. Whether it’s just that I don’t need as much “energy” as “the experts” imagine, or what, but though I didn’t gain weight – and I felt better than I’ve likely ever had! – the higher-fat diet didn’t affect my own personal fat percentage (31%) at ALL.
So now, I’m eating the same dang thing every day (I get to swap out the “green” vegetable – but everything has to be weighed). I’m also eating things that were completely off my list (like corn). I’m willing to give it a go. As Jen from Wine to Weighlifting said, she would never be able to sustain this eating plan/number of calories. The thing is – that I don’t feel hungry, I don’t feel faint, etc. Though I do feel “nosh-y” – the desire to eat something – that’s really just a “mouth thing” not a “hunger” thing. It’s interesting. This is only week two, but we’ll see how it goes.
The picture is my weight, and fat percentage (180.8 lbs., 30.1%). I was up as high as 185, but I was at 182 when I started it last Monday (didn’t take a picture), same fa percentage. This is where I am now. I figure I will weigh myself every Monday. What is my “ideal” weight? 150-155. Yes, I’m tall, but I am skin-nee. That’s what I weighed at my best shape ever, very buff and lean. (Not “lean and no muscle” – 155 is my “lean and buff” weight.) All during my 20s until I really started working out I was 140 – that gives you some idea.
And, what’s the eating plan again? Just so you remember, it’s from a nutritionist (in Ecuador), and is based on chemistry balancing:
Breakfast: gluten-free English Muffin with no yeast in the ingredients (or 2 slices yeast-free bread) with 2.0 oz part-skim mozzarella cheese; BIG glass (16 oz) water with Alkalime added, BIG cup of tea with stevia. (you can have coffee but it has to be black, or black with stevia, and I only do coffee with cream.)
Snack: 150g. watermelon or 2 tangerines, or 1 passion fruit, tea/stevia, water. If before either of the two snacks I’ve worked out, replace that snack with a 30g protein shake immediately after the workout (if I don’t have it between finishing and 20 minutes after, I don’t get it, I get the usual snack).
Lunch: 1 ear corn, 8 oz green veg (asparagus, salad with 1t. olive oil/lemon, spinach), 4oz meat (chicken, beef, pork, fish, etc.)
Snack: 4 gluten-free crackers, tea/stevia, water
Dinner: Same as lunch.
In Bed: 16 oz. water with full spectrum minerals, herbal tea.
Herbal tea, water, water with lemon/lime/ginger, black coffee or tea with stevia any time.
So that’s all she wrote, folks ;-)