Wednesday Weigh-In: 4/29/2009

It's official. I'm in the 150's. Barely. This morning, the scale still read 159.8 (teasing me a few times with 159.6. Bah!). Officially, that's a 1.4 pound loss from last Wednesday. Given what has come to be a typical weekend of indulgences, that's a-ok with me.

The 60-minute interval biking has been giving me a tough workout, but at least I'm pouring sweat again. Interval training is what my body needs right now. I really was getting too comfortable with the same routine and starting to get my feet planted in a plateau. You're right again, Kristi!

Post-Zombie Apocalypse Report

For someone who:

a) has been house-hunting all weekend,
b) turned into a zombie, walked all over the city in near 90 degree heat, danced & whooped it up to slack masters The Amino Acids and transformed back into a mortal pinkie later that evening,
c) went on a late-Sunday road trip with Bobzilla, and
d) did more house-hunting today after a long and uncomfortable day at work, ...

...I'm feeling pretty good.

Zombie Walk was uber fun. There must have been around 250 people at this event. You couldn't meet a nicer mob of ghouls.


Bob and I opted to have one of the on-site makeup artists pretty us up. The results were quite acceptable:





Once we took it to the streets, the fun really began. Here's the first wave of zombies approaching the main street. The single cyclist's attempts to shoot us in the head were, ultimately, hilariously ineffective.


And here I am confronting a carload of fresh meat. They were laughing because it was their only defense:



Oh, I did end up going with the zombie jogger theme. One of those obnoxious street joggers who gets her just desserts:

The highlight of the walk was definitely hanging out with Bill Hinzman, the actor who played the cemetery zombie in the original Night of the Living Dead. Bill, or "OZ" (Original Zombie), was a good sport and held his own. Of course, he liked the ladies, which might've had something to do with it:

About the only downside was all that fake blood. My arms are still stained a light pink from where the sun baked that shit into my skin. And there is dried blood all over my cell phone and camera, like hard candy (it was made of corn syrup and chocolate). I also got blood on my shoes. But I'm leaving it on there, as it improves the look.

More pics of the walk can be found here.

Bob made an excellent vegetarian dinner tonight: potato tacos made with yukon gold potatoes, spinach, tomatillo sauce and soft corn tortillas, spicy tomato rice and refried black beans. All organic and all delicious. Well, accept for the black beans. It's very hard to get refried beans without added seasonings and spices, which taste ick and ruin the natural flavor.

I turned 38 yesterday. I might've had a brownie sundae and bottle of Riesling to commemorate the occasion.

I know I'm not supposed to be doing this, but...

...I actually weigh myself every morning, Mon-Fri. Bad, bad, bad, I know. But I'm a glutton for the scale drama.

Anyway, here's what the scale said this morning: 159.8

So, you see why I'm posting this.

Now, this weigh-in is totally unofficial. What matters more is what next week's scale reading tells me. Still. I'm slightly encouraged. Part of me believed that I have lost more than what the scale has been telling me, but that the loss has been masked by the tummy issues. Those tummy issues finally resolved themselves earlier this week. My digestion is not sluggish anymore and seems back to normal.

On the other hand....

This could be water loss and I'll just regain weight and my scale will say "fuck you" and put me back in the 160's next week. Yup.

I must be out of my mind to fuss over what amounts to a 1 lb loss from yesterday. Judging from Tara's actions on Biggest Loser this week, a pound isn't worth what it used to be.

This morning I interval-cycled while watching the French bloodbath movie "Frontière(s) ." Not recommended.

Wednesday Weigh-In: 4/22/09

We're back in business. Scale said 161.2 lbs, which is a little less than a pound down from last week. Not a groundbreaking loss, but it sure ain't a gain either. I would be lying if I said I wasn't grieving a little over the loss of my alien baby. Oh, what could have been.

The running is on hiatus for another week to see how my knees are doing. Yesterday as I went up the stairs, my right knee had me vocalizing pain. Bobzilla thinks I need to stop because it's too high-impact and should stick to the recumbent bike. He also forgets how stubborn I am.

Anyway, to compensate for the loss of the intense runner's workout, I've upped my bike time to an hour and have increased the intensity on the interval training mode program. This means the tension cycles through from low to medium to fuck-you-high every 3.5 minutes, and I push on the high tension to maximize the workout. I've done this for two days and it seems to work swell. I get my heart rate up pretty good without going into heart-attack territory and I'm sweating about as much as I am when I run for 40 minutes.

You know, I never stopped to think what my goal weight should be. In response to my frustration at another 150's fail, Bob ominously suggested this morning, "Maybe your body is telling you this is where you need to be." See, I think I could still stand to lose another 10-15 lbs. But I'm at a weight and size I have never been at for the last 15-20 years, so perhaps my perception is a bit off. I dunno. I'll just keep trying and see what happens.

Getting Thin with the Living Dead (Sans Brains)

This weekend was be-yooo-tiful. Bobzilla, myself and some friends went to Lake Erie wine country (yes, there is such a thing) and hung out at DeBonnes winery ala lower-budget Sideways. I can't think of anything better than a glass of Riesling with a side of fresh-baked french bread and aged Gouda. Can you? Yeah, didn't think so.

Well, except dark chocolate. Which goes well with merlot. Very well.

Oh, wait. This is supposed to be a weight-loss blog. *snickers*

Still doing the running, but this time doing interval training as featured in one of Mz. Fit's blogs last week. This running is kicking my butt, and my knees are busted. I may have to cut back on the time...maybe only run 2 days a week. Not ready to throw in the towel yet. I love the freedom of running and the high that I get doing it. But climbing the stairs have been a real challenge these past couple of weeks. It may be the asphalt trails. I may need to hit the grass or something.

So, about the title of this blog....

In the spirit of shaking things up, I will be participating in Lakewood's semi-annual Zombie Walk this coming Saturday, April 25th. This is a great way to be one with the living dead and freak out passersby, while still working on my fitness. Oh, and Bobzilla's band is playing after the walk.

Everyone needs to tap into their inner zombie now and then. It's healthy, cheap and fun. Here are some shots from last November's walk. Yeah, we take our zombie-ness seriously:

I can't decide this year if I'm going to be a waitress zombie (I have a brain jello mold that I'm just dying to put to use again, perhaps put the brain jello on a serving tray), or an old-school Romero zombie. Wait! I'll go as a jogger zombie. And if I get any fake blood on the running shoes, that's a bonus because it should deter any would-be freaks at the park.

Wednesday Weigh-In: 4/15/09

Given the state of my guts lately, I was going to wait until later this week to weigh in, but screw it. This morning, the scale said 162.00, which is exactly where I was last Wednesday. So, no loss. Bleh.

I woke up this morning bloated, gassy and a little crampy with sluggish digestion and a tummy distended like a third-world famine baby. Well, maybe not that bad, but that's how it felt. I've been known to exaggerate a little.

I narrowed down the causes to these things:

1. A tumor
2. An alien baby
3. Gall bladder tantrum
4. Leftover "issues" from the faux-salad fallout
5. Another plateau rearing its ugly head

I'll see how next week plays out to get a better idea. At least I have been getting better each day and my guts are returning to normal.

With this weigh-in, it's been one DOOM & GLOOM week. For example:

• My plant babies are dying due to my own bad mothering skills. Shouldn't have left them out on the balcony all weekend. Too much sun + cold nights = instant seedling death
  
• My secretary gets a major "FAIL" for screwing up all of my client bills. We still don't have even half of them out, and we're now half-way through the month. So,clients haven't been paying on time. Yet she insists on getting her paycheck early. It's no fun being self-employed. Nope.
• Marilyn Chambers died.
• Both knees were killing me today going up the stairs. The right knee was always good to me in the past. I don't know what I did to deserve this.
  
• Bobzilla hasn't worked out since Sunday, eats pizza and grilled cheese & bacon sandwich lunches...and lost another pound.
  

Ok, enough self-pity. I'm off to make up a new music playlist for my run tomorrow.

Post-Easter This 'n That

Saturday, I did even better with the running: 1.5 miles nonstop, 1/4 mile walk and then another mile run nonstop. Warm up and cool down walks added up to about 1/2 mile. At the end, my face was so red I looked like a tomato. But I had my first runner's high. It was all kinds of awesome.

Easter Sunday was hit and miss. We don't celebrate Easter and instead hit the fitness trail again. Yay! Bobzilla even ran with me between exercise stations several times. I did a *little* better on the pull-ups (in my mind). Still didn't do the vault jumps. Of course. This time, I blew my left knee doing jumping jacks of all things. But I felt better later.

Part of the bargain I made with Bobzilla in exchange for doing the fitness trail (yes, I had to negotiate with him) is that we would eat lunch at the place of his choice. The problem, though, was that most places were closed on Easter. So we ended up at a local pizza joint. He got a small pepperoni pizza (without taking his enzyme pill for his gluten allergy. tsk tsk). I ordered what I thought was the safest choice: a Tuscan grilled chicken salad with non-fat ranch on the side. What I didn't know was that the salad was more or less a delivery device for about a pound of candied pecans and oily artichokes and roasted red peppers. I couldn't finish it. As soon as we walked out of the place, I could tell that salad was not sitting well.

Then the abdominal cramps started Sunday night and lasted through all of yesterday and even a little bit this morning. It was like wild ferrets were trying to burrow their way out of my guts.

This morning I felt a little better. I ran, but didn't do as good as Saturday. Still had some cramping, which went away about 2-3 minutes into the run. Started off a little over 1 mile nonstop. Then had to walk/rest for 1/4 mile. Ran again for 3/4 mile.

As I type this, I'm eating a salad I picked up from the salad bar at the Justice Center cafeteria , listening to my stomach engage in diplomatic talks with the veggie invaders. I think things will turn out o.k. this time. The salad ain't half bad considering the waistlines of a lot of the detectives and bailiffs hanging out over there. It even has cauliflower, broccoli and chick peas!


Oh, wait. These beets aren't tasting so hot....

Runnin' With the Devil

I finally figured out the distance on the jogging trail--it's exactly one mile on the outer loop. OK. So, this morning I ran the loop twice for a total of 2 miles. The first loop, I ran nonstop and felt like Rocky. Then, I walked across the parking lot back to the original starting point and ran the loop again nonstop. This time, I felt like puking my organs out.

Today I came across a laugh-till-you-pee blog entry by Plaid Stallions (which focuses on mocking 70's advertising culture) featuring 70's fitness ads. Hell-arious! Check it out here:

Brick's Guide to 70's Fitness

The choicest ad is for Air Shorts: Inflatable exercise shorts. All this time working out and I could've just worn Air Shorts! *slaps forehead*

Wednesday Weigh-In: 4/8/2009....and stuff.

Getting right to it, I weighed in this morning at exactly 162.00. So I gained 1.6 pounds from last week. But I'm not even feeling bad about it. I knew I would gain some weight from being on vacation. After all, over a course of 4-5 days I ate BBQ, Mexican (many lovely times), french fries for the first time in months and so on. There might have been a few glasses of vino, margaritas, and some amaretto sours, but my memory seems a little hazy.

No regrets. I'm already back to my regular workouts and meals (which I missed, actually) and will resume my tango with the 150's next week.

More importantly, I had an excellent time and enjoyed the company of good friends and the hubs. Here's me and Lisa, who by the way just started a blog about her experiences as a vegetarian and recently-diagnosed celiac. It's a good read for anybody looking to eliminate or reduce gluten and meat intake:

And here's me and Bobzilla. Both pics were taken outside the Mission San Jose, which is actually much more interesting, larger and beautiful than the Alamo. *gasp*:



Some highlights of the trip include:

1. Food. Lots of good food. No, there's no love-hate relationship with me and food. So let's just put this up there first. At least I ate in moderation and walked a lot, but whatevs.

2. Grackles. These birds fascinated me to the point of unhealthy obsession. I would get up early in the morning and stare out the window at what are apparently considered winged rodents by the natives.

3. Kittehs. Ben and Lisa have the swellest cats ever.

4. San Antonio Zoo. It had a large, diverse exhibit of birds. I still liked grackles the best, tho. Here's Bobzilla feeding nectar to a lory. He is the epitome of bad-assedness, no?:

5. Colors. OMG, nothing prepared me for how colorful San Antonio is. From the signs to the fauna to even the houses. It was overwhelming. I felt so...drab...that it was almost comforting to settle back under the bleak gray skies of Cleveland.

6. Jackalopes. I wish they were real.
7. Day of the Dead stuff. I couldn't get enough of the lively skeleton art and barely got all of my stuff in our carry-on bags for the return trip. I did buy most of the loot for other people, but can't let go of them. I think I might have a problem.

Well, I see that there are a buttload of interesting blog posts that I need to catch up on. Manana.

Wednesday Weigh-In: 4/1/2009

If I could pull it off, I would take advantage of this April Fool's Day to proclaim that after a week using Sensa and Acai Berry supplements while intuitively eating on the South Beach diet, I now weigh 152.4 lbs, for a total loss of over 10 pounds...in fat and not water weight, people!

Hardy-har.

The reality is that I stepped on the scale and now weigh 160.4 lbs, which is a loss of 1.2 lbs. from last week. That's a nice, realistic number that I'm happy to have. But, man, I gotta say...being about a half pound from the 150's and normal BMI is making me twitchy.

My running is really showing improvement. I have more endurance, for sure. I do sprints/walks for 40 minutes and am able to sprint for around 3 minutes and walk for about 2 (actually, the first sprint I can go for around 4 minutes). Well, I don't use a watch, but I last measured my running against my playlist and found I could sprint through about 1/2 of song "Gates of Steel" and all of "New Rose."

Things I need to improve upon:

1. Stop starting off "hard." Rather, I need to pace myself steadily throughout and work on breathing so I can run for longer stretches without killing me.

2. STRETCH, STRETCH, STRETCH! I admit that I am impatient and hate stretching. But I just gotta do it so that my hips don't feel tore up.

Getting ready for Texas vay-cay. I'm sooo looking forward to seeing old friends and new sights. This is my first plane ride with Bobzilla, so it will be another relationship milestone. Also, our Texas pals eat relatively healthy, so aside from doing a mandatory meal at a Texas BBQ joint, we should be good to go. Famous last words, right? I better rehearse my excuses now in advance of next week's disastrous weigh-in.