Improvement in Increments

Mood: Happy – I have my 4 year old curled up sleeping on me

Listening to: Never Easy – Kurt Nilsen, Love him hard.

I’m generally hanging around waiting for the greenlight on a project and thus decided to do some writing. Sigh. Not that kind of greenlight folks. Hopefully if my life ever gets that amazeballs, I hope I’ll be smart enough not to tell the internetz. You web-tubes just can’t keep a secret, can you, ya gossipy bastards. Although, if life ever took that turn, I probably would tell everyone. Think about it. That would be epic.  In reality, it’s an IT project that I need to make sure is taken off the server before I go in and mess around with stuff.  I love admin privileges.

Speaking of the word epic, I can’t say/write it without thinking of a certain friend and subsequently missing him. I miss you and your epic-ness Da. Whiskey and late night drunken chicanery just aren’t the same without you.

Sorry for the digression. I’m feeling mentally scatter-ish today.

So there are plans to actually exercise today. Stop laughing, I’m serious.  Kettle ball exercise. 5 pm today. I’m sure you’ll all be thoroughly entertained for the next few days hearing about how old/gimpy I am after actually using my non-existent muscles. I’m half excited, half terrified. Ok, after the fan incident it’s mostly terror. If anyone has online exercise video suggestions, I’m still looking for some. Also – what music motivates you when you exercise? I generally stick to some amped up GNR, Metallica, etc. I need some variety. The plan right now is to go back to my old work out of switching off cardio and weights (strength training) every other day.

I’m doing well keeping the coke (a-cola) under control. I think I’m successful at keeping it down to once a week, although I’m still fighting the cookie urge. It’s weird. In some things, I’m disciplined all friggin get out, in others, constant fail. I buy cookies for treats for my kids for school lunch, but it’s damn impossible to keep my grubby little fingers out of them, and it is never just one cookie.

Another thing I’m working on is the breakfast problem. After 5 years on the oatmeal breakfast bandwagon, I have fallen off. It’s not a stupid dieting idea, it’s not boredom with oatmeal, it’s just laziness. I’m a coffee junkie. I will stab someone before giving up my 2 cup a day habit. However, I tend to get sucked into work/Pinterest while enjoying said coffees. Then I just figure it’s too much effort and I’ll just eat more lunch, which never happens. This lends to my decidedly veloceraptorish demeanor when we eat dinner at 9. So yes, breakfast, it needs to happen.

I have found some zinc heavy vitamins that my Md recommended, so the vitamins must happen every day too with the oatmeal.

Hit me up with your exercise/music/life improvement suggestions. I’m all about making it awesome right now.

Becky

P.S - The new blog photo is one of my own hence not credited to anyone else. Don't steal my photo you punks.

Ye Old Gimp

Listening to: Fat Bottom Girls – Queen. Oh the irony.

Mood:  Calm and happy

So a few days ago, I decided to tackle the disgusting ceiling fans in our house. I am definitely one of those housewives that notice obscure dirt and make a project out of it.

I grabbed one of the 5 (no kidding!) buckets in our house and went looking for liquid soap. I was hoping to use Lyzol (the Indian version of Lysol) that my housekeeper uses for the floor since we didn’t have any regular liquid dish soap. Hmm. She has used all the Lyzol and forgot to ask me to buy a new one. Wonder how long the floor has been swabbed down with just water. Anyhow. I decided just to settle for a hot water and a scrubby textured rag. I grabbed a kitchen chair and got to work. We only have 5 fans in our house. 1 for each bedroom, 1 in the living room, and 1 for the dining room. It was a short and extremely satisfying project even though all of the dirt showered all over me and the floor, even though I was doing my best to catch it all with a soaking wet rag. 15 minutes tops.

The next day I hopped out of bed. Well, perhaps hopped out is a gross exaggeration. It may have been a slow crawl to the coffee powder. I noticed that in one of my legs, more specifically the one I used to lift myself up on to the kitchen chair, was operating funky.  As in stiff, sore, and generally gimpy in my leg and butt muscles. This continued for the next 3 days.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially out of shape. Okay, you can stop laughing now. I haven’t been in shape for the past 10 years. For some reason, in my mind, my recent weight loss was somehow magically connected with being fit. I was happy with this delusion until 15 minutes of unusual movement reduced me to a gimp. I am in desperate need to some weight lifting and muscle toning. Like yesterday. So along with my austerity measures to cut down on soda and cookies, I also need to be doing some proper exercise. When I get done with the hospital and school visits (just general business) I think the gym in my complex needs to be visited.

I love lifting weights and would love to get back into this. I have 5 lbs weights, stretchy bands (the technical term) and a kettle ball at home, so even if I can’t get to the gym, I can start at home.

Anyone have a favorite workout video for toning or even better a kettle ball?

Becky

Austerity Measures

Mood: Aggravated. I hate when stuff disappears

Listening to: I Touch Myself – the Divinyls

As I mentioned in a previous blog, India has been extremely good for my waistline and my ass, along with other body parts. I have lost quite a bit of weight since I moved here. As I’ve also mentioned, we took a trip to Sri Lanka.

At home, I’m very, very disciplined about what I’m eating. I have no desire to gain any of the weight back and am very careful about portion size and what food I eat. I remember all too well how easy it was to get where I was when I was heavy. When I go on vacation, I don’t use it as an excuse to totally pig out, but I loosen my standards up quite a bit. For example, at home, I try to eat rice for only 2 – 3 meals a week. On vacation I can eat it every day. My body grabs and holds on to rice (especially when I eat too much of it) like it will never see it again. My skin (oy with the teenage skin!) and my waist line never quite look the same after I eat rice, but that’s why I don’t eat it more than twice a week. I much prefer whole grains/cracked wheat/brown rice. Since we just came back from vacation, I'm feeling a bit icky from all the unhealthy/larger portion eating.

I’ve also been aware of more and more chips/cookies/soda being at home. In the US, I was overweight because my portion sizes were out of control and I drank a lot; alcohol, soda, and sugary coffee drinks. We didn’t usually ever keep potato chips, cookies, or pop at home. In fact, the year before we moved into our house in Bangalore, I wasn’t drinking soda at all because I couldn’t keep it down to 1 – 2 a week and it was making me gain weight.  

Unfortunately, we have a cafeteria here at my apartment complex and it is continually a challenge for me to not go and spend 20 rupees (about 50 cents) on a small bag of chips, a soda or a packet of cookies.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to enforce some austerity measures. Hopefully I’ll be able to stick to them. 1 soda a week, 2 bags of chips a week, and only 2 packets of cookies a week. I’m also REALLY looking forward to going to my complex’s gym after my kids go to school this week. I went with my brother 3 times a week last year while my kids were in school and I haven’t felt that healthy in years, so I’m stoked to go back and help my body get stronger.

I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, but I don’t feel like I am quite where I want to be. I generally know how much weight I have lost, but I’m not a scale or a calorie watcher. I go by portion size, the fit of my clothes, and how my body looks in the mirror.  I’m down to a size 8, but I’m still a bit too jiggly for my taste, which I’m guessing has to do with the above junk that I’m eating. Since my portion sizes are reasonable, it seems to not be a problem of extra calories, but eating the wrong type of foods. I really would like to get rid of some of the jiggle and tone it up a bit.

Any other advice anyone has? 

Becky