earthbelow

2 Things That Are Good About Today (So Far)

1. It's quite sunny and not at all rainy
2. The scale indicated a little bit of weight loss this morning.


2 Things That I Have Done Well (So Far)

1. Got my morning exercise, despite allergies. Just the strength training left to do this afternoon.
2. Getting wedding things taken care of

1 Thing I Look Forward To

1. Getting a lot of writing done

I'd love to go out and get my morning exercise. But that would require me to be able to breathe, which I can't do. I'm not sure what it is in the air that's making my sinuses launch a revolt, but I wish it would stop.

Also? I once read one of those Tylenol ads on the subway that said that pollen is worst from 5am to 10am in the morning, and that's bullshit. Because I get this stuff in the afternoons and at night, too. In fact, this current bout of allergies started at, as usual, three am.

There must be some kind of grass or flower that emits some kind of super pollen at 3am and wafts in through our window, because this now makes several nights where at precisely that time, I get up with my sinuses in overdrive.

So I guess I'll just have to settle for only getting an hour of exercise instead of an hour and a half like I've been doing.

On the plus side, the scales seem to indicate that there is less of me to go around. That's always good news.

I'm having one of those frustrating kind of days. First, because now it seems like apparently all the medical experts have decided that the 30 minutes a days for 4-5 days a week isn't enough. Now you need an hour of exercise per day to lose weight.

The idea of having to exercise for an hour kind of scares me. It's enough that my back and thighs are still functioning after the 40 minutes I'm already doing!

( Meg and the Fat That Wouldn't Go Away. Part the Millionth. Cut because I'm sure my attempt to be less fat are probably boring the sweet lovely gobs off you by now. )

I gotta go do dishes before the Boy gets home. And I should actually post some of my gleeposts instead of just writing them down.

ZOMG. My *THIGHS*.

I asked my sister to send me any weightlifting exercise she might know of that would be helpful to me. Since my sister has a degree in exercise science and is going for her PhD in physical therapy, I figured she'd be the person who would know.

So I did them, on Monday. And rested on Tuesday, like she said - which I kind of *had* to because my legs hurt so much I couldn't walk straight. Ask Andrew about the penguin waddle I've been doing because bending my knees is kind of a no-no right now.

My legs are now so sore that I can barely get up or down to sit somewhere and they hurt so much the last two nights that I've hard time sleeping.

Last night was one of the worst I've ever had. I didn't even begin nodding off until 12 and then I woke up again at 2:45ish and didn't nod off again until after Andrew had left for work at 6:30 and then I woke once more at 7:15 and figured there was no use trying.

My legs got better after I did some walking around today and worked through the stiffness and the pain. What nobody ever tells you about pain is how terribly tedious it is.

All I know is nobody's going to have to rock me to sleep tonight, because I am dog tired.

It's 18 degrees outside. Sweet skwered shishkabobs, that's cold. Which kind of puts the kabosh on my usual morning walk/jog. I'm dedicated, but I'm not that dedicated. Plus, I just don't have the kind of clothing that could keep me suitably warm. I'd freeze my ass off (literally), and I just don't think I could deal with an assectomy right now.

Besides I think I need to vary my exercising some more, since it doesn't seem to be having the results that I would like even though I'm walking three miles every morning and am planning on upping it to 3.5 and then 4 miles.

So, to that effect, I've begun using the free weights that Andrew got me for Christmas and wow my arms are super the sore. That also might be from the twenty minutes of intensive speed bowling on the Wii and the kamikaze boxing session.

You know, I think we could probably put a dent in America's "obesity epidemic" if we just handed out a bunch of Wii's. I swear, I work up more of a sweat and get my heart rate up faster with that thing than even walking.

In other news: my closet is clean. I sort of stood in front of it this morning and marveled at it. A clean closet. It's a rare and short lived creature, but still. It's freaking clean.

I suppose it must be a bit wonky for everyone who's getting back to the daily grind after Thanksgiving. Although, it must be the one week of the year that retail people are glad it's Monday and not Friday.

I found the best new thing for my whole Be Less Out of Shape thing that I'm trying to do. MapMyRun.com. Basically it uses Google Maps to help you see a route to run (or walk in my case, mostly) and tells you how far it is.

I didn't realize that I'd actually been doing a smidge over two and a half miles every morning. I thought I was barely up to a mile. My ability to judge distances is completely shot.

I feel proud of this, but I also sort of want to keep it under my hat. Because last time I went home and was proud of myself for doing a mile every morning when I'd just started this whole exercising gig, my sister's immediate response was, "You need to do two miles".

In her defense, she's got a degree in Physical Therapy and does exercise for a living right now, so she probably was right, but it's a little disheartening to find out that what you thought was a big accomplishment actually isn't.

So I'm sort of afraid that if I dare to say how proud I am that I get up at 6:40am and drag my butt out of the house to go walking/jogging two and a half miles, my sister will then say, "You need to do five miles".

I also discovered that if I take the long way to the grocery store nearest my house, I can do a mile easy.

I'll make no secret of the fact that it would be really nice to go home to Florida and be a few pounds slimmer, especially since the scale is sort of scaring me. It says that I've put on around six pounds, which is completely terrifying.

I keep telling myself that it's just because I was off my meds for a month and my hormones got wacky and caused weight gain, and that now that I'm on my meds and I'm being a good girl after a fantastically decadent Thanksgiving, I'll be okay.

A little mini glee for the morning:

Three Things That Are Good About Today (So Far)

1. The "Quantum of Solace" picture that Andrew's dad sent me is hanging up on my wall near the computer. Nothing like the sight of Daniel Craig holding automatic weaponry to make my morning. Andrew says I am allowed to cheat on him with Daniel Craig, should the luscious Mr. Craig ever become available to me. A girl can dream, right?

2. Instead of getting up to 90, the forecast now says it'll only be 87. Maybe air conditioner season is nearly over?

3. I have a buttload of new books to read. YAY!

Two Things I Did Well Today (So Far)

1. Went walking/jogging at 6:50am.

2. Emailed my mom back.

One Thing I Look Forward To

1. Writing a bunch

I ran down the street!

I know this sounds completely trivial, but for those of you who have never been overweight, it's a big deal when you realize that you've taken off enough weight to run.

Okay, it was down our street (and it's not a long street), but there was a time when I really could not have run that far without wheezing my big behind off and pleading for mercy. Now? I can do it and okay, I'm panting a bit when I get to the door, but dude - I did it!

I've come to realize I really do like exercise in the same way I like cleaning. I hate when other people tell me how to do it, but I feel the need for it on my own terms.

I also hate doing it with other people, because it feels like a measure of control is taken away when I'm with other people. Not to mention, I like my alone time.

But I've found that when I get my iPod cranked up and I'm alone, I can exercise all day long.

It explains why I cannot stand gyms. My mom tried to drag me to one, and I dreaded going every single day. It's enough that I'm overweight and I feel ashamed of my body on a daily basis.

But having to display my big, sweating, tub-of-lard body in a place where these ultra-toned gym sluts women are walking around in basically elastic bras and panties and these steroid guzzlers men are lifting huge weights to dance remixes of J.Lo? Does not work for me.

I should not have to feel ashamed for doing the one thing I probably most need to be doing in a place designed for doing it. And I have gotten some cocked eyebrows and some looks from people at the gym before, believe you me.

But lucky for me, I don't need a gym. I have New York City. And New York City is actually an ideal city for walking, because it's basically designed with pedestrians in mind. Which is very awesome.