Like a snow day (but warmer!)

I had an unexpected day off from work today. When I was about 10 minutes away from my office my coworker texted me to tell me that there wasn't any power and work was delayed by a couple hours. So back home I went, and decided that it was a glorious opportunity to go running during the daylight hours. I ran five miles and then did level 3 of the 30 Day Shred, and was about to hop in the shower and head back to work when the coworker texted me to let me know that there still wasn't any power and work was delayed till after the lunch hour.

Since I was already being so productive, I decided to walk the dog, do some laundry, go grocery shopping, eat lunch, and run a couple errands... just as I was about to head back to work again, I was told that work had been canceled for the whole day. Hurray! And since I had been so productive all morning I found myself without anything to do for the rest of the evening. Cue me on the couch with a mug of tea and some talk shows. I love days off. And I love having the whole evening free like this!

Right now I'm watching a rerun of Tyra and they're doing a social experiment where women are comparing their bodies to those of several models, compared to their loved ones comparing the women's bodies to those of the models. It's really interesting how women see themselves so differently than others see them. I totally get that because I can be very critical of myself, and yet when it comes to my loved ones I think they look awesome and would hate to hear them criticize themselves in the same way. Right before this I caught part of Dr. Phil where a bartender was demoted because she gained five pounds (she's a size six) and I read some news and discovered that Oprah is horrified cause she's hit 200 pounds on the scale. It would seem that weight/body image issues are surrounding me today. Just in case you were curious, when it comes to my own body I am feeling quite awesome this afternoon and am looking pretty sexy in a pair of flannel pajamas.

Speaking of Oprah, I really sympathize with her and feel badly for her. I know what it's like to regain weight and wonder what other people are saying about you, but I definitely haven't dealt with this to the extent that Oprah has. Can you imagine struggling with your weight and having an entire world watching you? And having millions of women look up to you and take advice from you? That's got to be rough. But come on, she's Oprah, we all know she's fabulous at any size.

I have to get off the couch now, as I'm pretty sure the talk shows are rotting my brain. I need my brain...particularly cause I'll actually have to go to work and use it tomorrow.

100 hours to win!

So here it is... the 100th post on Pink Spandex. Are you so excited?

Since we've made it to 100 posts, Shawna and I felt we should do something super cool. As a result, you can enter to win a box of Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Herbal Tea! It's totally awesome, and would also a free box of tea for you, so anyone who hasn't commented before should totally leave us a comment and enter.

Here's what you have to do to enter: leave us a comment with your name, one reason why you are awesome, and your feelings about spandex athletic attire (not necessarily limited to pink spandex, obviously). In 100 hours, Shawna and I will put the names of anyone who has commented in a hat and draw for a winner!

I'm kind of curious as to how many readers we have besides those related to me--speaking of which, if you are related to me (this includes anyone who calls my parents "Mom and Dad" and you know who are you are) you're disqualified because odds are I've already sent you tea with an excited note about how delicious it is. So quit trying to score free stuff from me, hookers! Also, Celestial Seasonings isn't paying us to promote their tea. It's just awesome tea and I happen to want to share the glory.

So go on, comment!

The magic number

Today marks the 99th post on Pink Spandex. I’ve decided to celebrate because I like to be unusual and it would be far too typical to celebrate the 100th post, now wouldn’t it? Hurray Pink Spandex!

I have a goal relating to the number 100, and it isn’t one that I’ve spoken of to many people. You see, I have every intention of losing 100 pounds. I’ve said it a few times here and there, but often with a joking undertone or with an indication that it would be nice but I’m not too worried about it. The truth is, I’m really not too worried about it, but it is still a goal. Mainly it is just because I want to prove to myself that I can do it.

The reason I started trying to lose weight in the first place is partly because I realized I had 100 pounds to lose. Before it had always been 50 pounds, maybe 60, and then eventually 70 and 100. It was a scary thing for me to realize that I was 100 pounds overweight. Right now I’m only about ten pounds from a healthy BMI (maybe eight? I should look that up) and that’s a point I don’t think I’ve ever been at. If I can get myself in shape enough to have lost 75 pounds, I see no reason why I can’t lose 100.

I was listening to a Jillian Michaels podcast (the last one before I finally caught up on all of them!) and she said something that stuck with me—there’s no reason too vain or too silly for wanting to lose weight. So yes, I’m all about having a healthy body image and accepting my body for what it is, but I’m also all about taking care of my body and striving for the best. My reason for wanting to lose 100 pounds is because that will put me right in the middle of a healthy weight range for my height—somewhere I’ve never been before. I want to see what it’s like, and how hard I have to work to get there.

Who knows, maybe I’ll want to gain some weight back after losing 100 pounds. I certainly don’t know because I’ve never even been at a healthy body weight. I think I’m finally at a point with the scale where I realize that the number isn’t what matters most to me, so I have decided to voice my goal while keeping in mind that it might change. For me, paying attention to the scale hasn’t worked in the past, so I’m certainly not going to start getting obsessive with my 100 pound goal. Currently I’m noticing that focusing on my level of fitness and healthy eating (instead of the scale) has led to weight loss more than anything else—so why not strive for the 100? I only live once!

I think I have been afraid to state this particular goal in full force because there’s still a chance I could fail. What if I don’t lose 100? What if my body doesn’t want to be that size? That’s something I will figure out as I go. I see no point in fearing failure. In my experience, I kept excess weight on for so long partly because I was afraid of the work it would take to lose it. That’s not something I fear anymore. I can tell you that where my body is right now is fantastic, but I am pretty sure it has 25 more pounds to lose.

So, that’s my goal. It might take me a year to lose the final 25 pounds, but I’m going to go for it. And I’m declaring this on our 99th post mainly because if I lose 99 pounds that is okay, too.

Two things:

1. I almost lost a foot to a vicious chihuahua while out on a run today. I ran about six miles and was almost back home when a tiny, possibly rabid dog ran at me and attached itself to my foot. Logically, I didn't do anything except shriek and shake my foot in attempt to dislodge its teeth from my shoe. I'm just glad it got my shoe instead of my ankle, as that little fucker was out for blood. The owner had to pry it loose, and was very apologetic--most likely because she thought I was going to sue her. I actually thought it was pretty funny until 20 minutes later when I realized that it could have ended very badly. I'm glad I am not missing any flesh.

2. I've been doing the 30 Day Shred for the past week (I took Saturday off, whoops) and in attempt to mix it up a little I've been alternating the levels. For instance I'll do level 3, then level 2, and then level 1 and start all over. This is probably not what I'm supposed to do but it keeps me amused. If I'm not adequately shredded in 30 days then we'll all know its because of my rebellious level-alternating ways. Anyway, the point of saying this is that today was a level 1 day and I noticed something. Natalie, the hardcore move demonstrating woman (I can't help but remember their names) is a big fat CHEATER. I believe it's during some lunges/bicep curls, when Jillian goes to show what Anita (the other one) is doing, as the camera zooms in you can see Natalie stop doing lunges and just do bicep curls. Of course, the rest of the time she's very hardcore and awesome and incredibly impressive. Still... CHEATER. It makes me feel much better about my own sometimes slackerish tendencies (don't get me wrong, I'm a lunging machine 99.9 percent of the time). Even the fitness model cheats sometimes! We should be best friends and not do lunges together, probably.

Woo!

The number on the scale stuck, so I'm totally counting it today. 75 pounds! Boo yah!

In other news, I bought a reflective running belt yesterday, much like the one pictured here. Actually, I think it is that exact one. It should make running at night much safer.

I really don't have anything interesting to report other than that. Happy Sunday!

Question

I hit 75 pounds lost when I weighed myself this morning, but I'm not sure if it counts.

You see, last night I was out and about with the lovely Shawna and for dinner I ate a salmon burger that promptly disagreed with my tummy and left me in a ball of stomach-cramping misery on my bathroom floor. Suffice it to say the dinner did not stay down, so I'm kind of wondering if my weight will stick at this number or if its just a post-food poisoning fluke.

Is it wrong if I totally still count it?

Blast from the past

My sister found some old photos and scanned them in, so naturally I had to share.

Is it me, or was I ridiculously adorable? And why don't I still have a hat like that?



And here is me with the older sister, looking all kinds of precious:



And the awkward phase begins... it got worse. A lot worse. Someday photos of that may follow, because it is hilarious.



That is all. Happy holiday season! Go look at old photos of yourself. It's pretty fun.

My dog is a rockstar.

Suzy is a 15-year-old (as estimated by her vet, no one really knows how old she is exactly) beagle that I adopted a few years ago when I first moved here. Also, she is basically clinically insane. I mean it—the dog has issues. Sometimes she spins absentmindedly in circles while lying down in order to scratch her belly, and she grunts a lot and stares at people. Often she will wake me up by breathing on my face. No barking or whining, she just stares and breathes until I wake up. It’s very disturbing.

Incidentally, Suzy is the reason I first started losing weight. I got a dog because I live alone and need companionship and didn’t want people to accuse me of being a crazy cat lady. Suzy is overweight herself, by about 15 pounds, and so when I adopted her we started walking regularly in the evenings. We still walk about a mile and a half together each evening, but try as we might she doesn’t seem to be able to lose more weight. She seems happy though, so I’m not worried. As our walks progressed in the beginning I saw some success with my weight loss and it motivated me to continue and adopt other forms of exercise as well. Now when I go for a run people in town—who I met originally because they were fascinated by the ancient wonder that is Suzy—often say hello. One would assume that the dog benefits my healthy lifestyle. Even when I don’t feel like exercising I never skip our daily walk. I tried once and she looked so sad that I felt terribly guilty and we went anyway. Even if we are just able to walk a few blocks she flips out with extreme amounts of joy.

Sometimes, though, she likes to distract me. I’ve mastered the art of pushups with a dog involved—sometimes she stares, other times she snorts and tries to lick my face, and once she decided to see if she could jump on my back. She’s a feisty little thing. Last night I was “diligently” completing a workout from the 30 Day Shred (if by “diligently” you mean answering my phone when Shawna called me during the middle of it… the pause button is just too accessible!) and Suzy was wandering about the house.

All of a sudden she appeared at my side, raised up on her back legs and started jumping around while staring at the screen. That’s right, my dog does workout DVDs with me. It was so hilarious that I started laughing and gave her a treat so that I wouldn’t bruise her ego too much.

I bet that was her plan all along. She’s so manipulative.

I quit (kind of)

I canceled my gym membership yesterday. I tried to stick it out, really I did, mainly because of the lovely reader who gave me great advice and told me that eventually I wouldn’t hate the gym…I believe her, but I think in this instance it wouldn’t have happened. I lasted for a month, and for now I’m done.

A variety of things led to this decision—mainly the fact that it was super crowded in the early evening when I workout, and I really hated either having to wait for equipment or having people stand and stare at me as they waited for the equipment I was using. I would have switched and done my workout in the morning except this gym is only open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (weird) and that doesn’t really work with my schedule. Also, I found the entire environment to be uncomfortable and it was making me dread exercising, and that’s unlike me. I figured it would be better to save the money I was spending on a gym membership rather than spend it on something I wasn’t even enjoying. I’d join a different gym if there were another in town that wasn’t crazy expensive. Let’s not forget that I live in the middle of nowhere.

But do not fear: I am totally going to be a rockstar in my house! I do have my elliptical and have discovered a route through town that has streetlights along 98 percent of the roads so I can still run in the evenings. And let’s not forget weekends and the occasional days when I am home before dark. Really, the more I think about this the more I’m just determined to make it work until spring.

I have also discovered exercise opportunities at work that I didn’t know existed. For instance, today the coworker and I are going to a weight lifting class that we tried out last week during the lunch hour. It’s a free class, like the yoga class, that they have on Tuesdays and Fridays. Rock on! I think it’s called Body Flex or something like that. Anyhow, I’m finding that I’m much happier figuring out alternatives to the gym than I actually was about going to the gym. So for now, that’s my solution.

And yes, yes I did buy Britney Spears’ new album this morning. I can’t lie.

December

It is a new month! Soon it will be 2009! I love pie!

That was a random burst of enthusiasm. I have so many things on my mind today, and so little concentration with which to type them. I love the beginning of a new month almost as much as I love the holiday season. Have I mentioned that Christmas is my favorite holiday of all time? I am already almost done with my Christmas shopping, have ordered hilarious Christmas photo cards, and am really looking forward to my long vacation later this month.

I forgot to mention yesterday that besides the family nonsense my Thanksgiving went splendidly. I ate some pie. It was delicious. Today my coworker and I weighed in for our holiday weight maintenance challenge at work and somehow I actually lost a pound and a half last week… I attribute this to working out hardcore pre-Thanksgiving, mostly. Also, clearly I did not eat as much pie as I should have. That 75-pound mark is so freaking close!

In other news, Shawna and I have started doing another fitness challenge through Elastic Waist. This one is called the 30-Minute Fitness Challenge: Holiday Edition! I didn’t really know what it was called, so I just looked that up. Again we are trying to do 30 minutes of activity for 30 days out of the next 36, with six days of 60 minutes of activity or more. This time I paid attention to the fact that I get six days off, and also I have already discovered that I am far more active than I think I am. I meant to go running while I was at my parents’ house this past weekend, but due to my horrendous cold (which is still sticking around) I didn’t go even once. However, I did do some hardcore cleaning for a couple hours one day, lugged boxes up and down the stairs for at least 30 minutes another day, etc. There was some activity while I chased children around and threw my tiny cousin in the air multiple times that I didn’t count. I thought I actually had one day without activity until my sister pointed out all the walking we did while shopping and I realized I could count that. Basically, that is cool. The sister also suggested I count my “high kick” demonstration, but I chose not to. According to her, watching me kick my legs in the air is hilarious because they are so short. It led to many demonstrations. Some while helping to assemble the white trash Christmas display in my parents’ yard—and yes, it does include an inflatable snowman and ice skating penguins. Hey, I should have counted that for my activity as well.

Also, due to the fact that I bought the 30 Day Shred DVD and have only used it a couple times, I am declaring that December will be my 30 Day Shred month o’ fun. I am going to see if I can do it every day for the next 30 days (paired with some other cardio like running or my elliptical or high kicking). I know I said I was saving it until I could successfully complete 100 pushups and was done with that challenge, but I really am satisfied with 76. It’s a much more unique number. How many people do you know that can say, "Oh yeah, I can do 76 pushups." In random running-related items, I ran the quickest 4.5 miles ever yesterday! I averaged just about a 10-minute mile even on all 4.5. It was sunny and moderately warm and apparently my body enjoyed the little break I gave it.

Bring it on, December!