Can Wii Do It?

Fitness Challenge Update: Weighing In on the Plus Size Controversy

2012-01-23T15:23:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Weighing In on the Plus Size Controversy on Technorati.]

Like most weeks of this weight loss challenge, I struggled.

First I struggled with the idea that apparently a size 6 is now a plus-size. At least in the fashion world. Who knew?
According to the January issue of PLUS model magazine, the average plus-size model 10 years ago was between a size 12 and 18. Now, the magazine claims plus-size models are between a size 6 and 14.
And as if that wasn't crazy enough (and don't you think it ought to be), the magazine claims that 20 years ago, the average fashion model weighed 8 percent less than the average woman, but today the average model weighs 23 percent less than the average woman.
So I figure if I were a model, I'd be a Super Model. And by "Super," I'm not talking Super in a good way. More like Super-duper size.
So while I was pondering all of that, my school district decided to start a Biggest Loser challenge where you pony up ten bucks to participate and then agree to trot your super-duper derriere down to the nurse's office for an official weigh in each Wednesday. Then, in April at the end of the contest, the person who has the highest percentage of weight loss wins and collects all that moola.

All that sounded fine and dandy, but still didn't do much to move me to participate. I'm just not much of a joiner. But, then when they said participants could wear blue jeans on Weigh-in Wednesdays, well, they almost had me there.

You see, I'd do a lot to wear blue jeans and not have to stand in my closet pondering what to wear. I most certainly would pony up the ten bucks, but then there was that thing of having to have the nurse weigh me in.

It was a difficult decision. So much so that while I was weighing my desire to wear blue jeans against my need for anonymity, I smooth missed the deadline and now must continue my weight loss thing solo. I was a smidge disappointed that I allowed my indecision to make my decision.

Just as I was disappointed when my own solitary weigh-in showed no movement on my scale. I seem to be stuck. I'm not gaining, but I'm not losing weight either. I have lost inches, though, and that put me in a size smaller pair of pants.

Which, of course, made me feel super, and this time by "super," I mean super in a super-duper good way.

Will Power and Outsourcing Self Control Key Factors in Keeping Diet Resolutions

2012-01-15T17:31:00.000-08:00

(This article was first published as Will Power and Outsourcing Self Control Key Factors in Keeping Diet Resolutions on Technorati.)

Let's just say that my "Post-holiday, Back-on-the-Fat-No-More" bandwagon was rather disappointing.

OK, so it was more than rather disappointing. The disappointment was epic. Epic because I did all the things I needed to do and was supposed to do. Things like watch calories, eat tee-tiny portions and exercise five times this week. I get tired just thinking about it.

I even went to that special Fat Yoga class I signed up for. OK, so maybe it's called something like "Yoga for Weight Loss and Weight Management," but since I'm not a big fan of euphemisms, I call it my "Fat Yoga" class to distinguish it from the other classes I attend like the "Hotter-than-the-Dickens Yoga" (my Monday night hot yoga class,) or the "I'm-staring-at-my-toes-because-I-can't-do-that-pose Yoga" class (my Wednesday night Power Yoga class) or the "I've-fallen-and-can't-get-up yoga class" for the other Thursday night Power Yoga Plus class.

Jeepers.

Despite my best efforts, my weight remained unchanged this week, but my resolve to finish out this "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge remains strong especially after reading this New York Times article.

According to the article, people fail to keep their New Year's resolutions (or any resolution for that matter) because they simply run out of willpower. Will Power apparently is a "real form of mental energy, powered by glucose in the bloodstream, which is used up as you exert self-control."

And, sadly, once Mr. Will Power is gone, well chaos ensues, and you fall off whatever fat-no-more bandwagon you were on and become part of that 36 percent who break their resolutions by the end of January or that 56 percent who cave in by July.

The article gave a bunch of tips on how to stay the course. One was to outsource your self-control by holding yourself accountable to friends or publicly pre-committing to your resolution. (Sort of like what I've been doing here.) I've always said public humiliation is a great motivator. There are even APPs to help you with that.

So apparently I'm just going to have to try harder and watch my internal Will Power meter because I am not giving up on this fat-no-more thing.

No siree, Missy. I'm determined not to be a resolution failure statistic.

Maybe Week 2 of my Fat Yoga class will wring out a pound or two this upcoming week, and Mr. Will Power will remain strong.

How's that for a bit of outsourcing self-control? And I didn't have to go off-shore to do it either.

Weight Loss Challenge Update–Another Year, Another Ton of Food

2012-01-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Another Year, Another Ton of Food on Technorati.}

Christmas break finally ended, and with it, my hiatus from "My Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge.

I suppressed an anxiety/panic attack and finally stepped on my scale that had been leaning against my closet wall mocking me.

On the count of three, can we all do the dance of joy?

No, I did not lose any weight. But I did not gain any either despite the holiday noshing which included such delightful and delicious things like cheese cake, apple pie, holiday chocolate, freshly baked rolls and second helpings. (I get giddy and dizzy just thinking about it).

Finally, I got it.

Finally, I realized that if I ate so much of this, I couldn't have any of that. Or, if I ate this, I better not touch that. Or, if I exercised here, I could eat that over there.
And since I finally had a better understanding about portions, I knew what a normal plate should look like.

Notice, I said "normal plate," not "normal person" because I was somewhat shocked when I heard a radio report over my break that

the average woman weighs about 165 pounds.
In another news report, I also heard that the average American eats about a ton of food a year. Suddenly, those two slices of cheese cake don't seem so bad after all.
Unless of course, I start inching toward inhaling the national average of 2,700 calories a day.

All of that news was enough to make me fork over an extra $40 and sign up for a special 5-week yoga for weight loss and management class at my favorite yoga studio.

I was a bit disheartened when I discovered that there were actually some Skinny Minnies signed up for the class. And, we're not talking about regular Skinny Minnies, but those perfect Skinny Minnies who can actually do all those crazy yoga poses and always look fab-u-lous doing them while I'm either falling over or studying my toes.

Despite that little setback, Chris (my No. 1 favorite yoga instructor and studio owner) told us to come to the new class with an open mind and good attitude.

Oh, I'll come with an open mind all right.

And an attitude.

I just can't promise what kind of attitude that will be.

At this point, the yogis of the world are probably gasping and muttering mantras about letting go of judgements and competition.

Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to let go…just as soon as I let go of another 10 pounds.

Let the games begin!

Week 17--Treat Your Holiday Calories Like Your Credit Card

2011-12-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Treat Holiday Calories Like Your Credit Card on Technorati.]

Not only did I manage to wear my "skinny" jeans again this week proving to the naysayers that it wasn't all some fluke, I also managed to shed another pound this week.

And that, my dears, was no small feat since during my ornament exchange with two of my BFFs, I left with not just some cute ornaments but a wide array of chocolate. And not just any chocolate, no siree, Missy, but my favorite chocolate from Hotel Chocolate. If I could check into the Hotel Chocolate, I don't know that I would ever come back out again.

Now my other BFF, Jennifer, fancies herself a Godiva girl. She has one of those frequent buyer cards. The Godiva people always ask me if I want to join and get my own card, so I can get my free piece of chocolate for those times my friend opts not to share with me.

Really? If I signed up, I might as well just roll a cot into their store. I don't think I would ever leave.

It's that self-control thing I constantly wrestle with.

I also learned this week that I am not alone in my stinkin' thinkin' about chocolate. You see, anytime I have Hotel Chocolate in my pantry, I start trying to ration it out, but then I rationalize that I'm going to eat it all anyway so does it really matter if I divide up the calories throughout the week or just inhale all gazillion calories at one time and get it over with. Hmmmmm?

I learned my yoga pal, Becky, thinks the same way (and I thought I was alone).
But sadly, apparently it does matter. According to Judith J. Wurtman, we need to approach the holidays, "Like putting charges on your credit card, you can decide that you are able to 'afford' the calories at the party, feast or open house, or you can choose to stop eating because you have already consumed more than your caloric limit. But don't fool yourself that if you decide not to notice how much you are eating and drinking, your scale won't notice either."

I'm pretty sure eating all that chocolate at once puts me over my measly caloric limit just like I'm fairly certain shopping at Neiman Marcus or Barneys will max out my credit card.
Another website provided a bit more hope for those in the gorging camp. Although most health folks claim we gain anywhere between three and seven pounds over the holidays, one site says it's more like one pound. One. As in Uno. Kind of like the one pound I lost.

But I'm thinking they don't have a pantry with a wide assortment of Hotel Chocolate or a Godiva frequent buyer card or my yoga pal's big bag of M&Ms.

I think the pound I lost would be found along with quite a few of his friends.

Week 16–Taking a Breather in Skinny Jeans

2011-12-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Week 16–Taking a Breather in Skinny Jeans on Technorati.]

Bet some of you thought I abandoned this weight loss challenge with the holidays here.

No siree, Missy. I'm here for the long haul.

I did step on the scale and noticed no weight loss. I was prepared for that little bit of disappointment, though, because I wasn't exactly good this week. Still, I wasn't horribly bad either. Stuff like chocolate, a smidge of pie and some other assorted things sort of put me on Santa's bad dieter list.

I did have a monumental break-through. I (like most women) have "fat" clothes, "regular" clothes and "clothes I'll wear when I lose weight" or "skinny" clothes. In fact, tucked away in the back of the bottom drawer of my dresser was a shopping bag with a pair of blue jeans I purchased in March of 2009. The bag still contained the receipt and the blue jeans still had the tags on them.

Those blue jeans never fit me. I bought them at an outlet store without trying them on because I purchased the same pair there a few months before and loved them. Silly me, I assumed they would fit exactly the same, but apparently there's quite a variation in sizing. I couldn't even zip up this pair, but since I couldn't return them, every few months when I was feeling hopeful, I would open up the bag, take them out and try them on.

It became my regular shot of disappointment. I should have just tacked a wide load sign on my backside.

But lately I've noticed my clothes are fitting rather looser, so I peaked into that bag again, took the blue jeans out and tried them on.

This time I zipped them up.

And, more importantly, I could even breathe.

Week 14–How Black Friday Put Me Back On Track

2011-11-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Week 14–How Black Friday Put Me Back On Track on Technorati.]

Like most Americans, I allowed myself license to fall off the diet bandwagon and consumed mass quantities of food over Thanksgiving.

And just like Turkey, Texas, I pretty much rejected any ideas of substituting tofu for my turkey. No siree, Missy. No tofu here.

And although I fell from grace on Thanksgiving, Black Friday provided a redemption of sorts, setting me back on the righteous diet track. Let me explain.

Black Friday found me at the mall as a willing participant in helping with that 7 percent increase in spending over last year's post-turkey day shopping spree.

So there I was enticed into a Betsey Johnson store by a pink 40 percent off everything sign. Within minutes, I was standing with a few gift items in line behind a woman who was one and half times the size of me.

She was bemoaning to the sales woman (who was probably 60 percent younger than me and 60 percent smaller than me) as to why designer Betsey Johnson didn't make clothes for "larger" sized women.

I wanted to say, "Oh, you mean FAT women," but I stopped myself and resisted the sudden urge to randomly poll shoppers asking, "Does anyone remotely think squeezing a plus-size woman into one of Betsey's dresses is a good idea? Anyone? Anyone at all?"

And that fellow shoppers didn't even begin to address the age factor. While I tend to agree you are only as old as you feel, I also believe that age does have certain limitations. While I would love to be able to fit into my daughter's clothes, I really don't think wearing them would be a good idea.

It was sort of like that moment a few weeks ago when my youngest daughter called to tell me that Modest Mouse was finally coming to Texas. And I said, "Oh, I wish I could go, but I guess I'm too old…"

Which was followed by a moment of silence instead of an invitation to the concert.

I get it. I really do. Sometimes I forget I'm part of that 50-plus set.

Which is why I will never see Modest Mouse or wear one of those funky, fabulous Betsey Johnson dresses.

Still, the thought that one day I could fit into one of those funky, fabulous Betsey Johnson dresses if I stay the course on my Frying-In-My-Own-Fat Weight Loss Challenge put me right back on track.

Who knows, maybe I'll even actually buy one of those fabulously, funky Betsey Johnson dresses. You know, I could wear it around the house while belting out my repertoire of my favorite Modest Mouse tunes.

So Betsey, stay the course. Don't design for the larger crowd. Be my inspiration, and I promise I'll hop back on the scale next week a pound lighter and singing "Fire it up!"

And who knows, maybe next Black Friday I'll try on one of those funky, fabulous dresses.

Week 13 Update: When Your Fat Fanny Becomes A National Security Issue

2011-11-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Week 13–When Your Fat Fanny Becomes A National Security Issue on Technorati.]

I started up yoga again after a two and half week exercise hiatus caused by my sprained ankle.

Make no mistake though, the pain remains fairly unabated. I just figured I could exercise and have pain, or I could lounge on the couch and have pain.

I can't tell you how much I would have preferred the latter, but since I was having to adjust my food intake to compensate for my lack of mobility, my food options were resembling my shoe options--slim to none.

So I opted to go back to yoga instead. As long as I stayed clear of those one legged poses and stuff like that dancer pose, I was fine. (OK, so maybe I never could do those twisty things, but at least I have an excuse now.)

Speaking of excuses, I saw where Congress decided to push a less than nutritional school lunch fare safeguarding pizza and french fries and allowing two tablespoons of tomato paste to continue to count as a vegetable.

Even some retired generals and admirals from a group called Mission: Readiness have weighed in, calling the lack of nutrition in school lunches a national security issue. Apparently one in four kids are too fat to join the military.

“This is a tragedy for the country,” said retired four-star Air Force General Richard E. Hawley, who is a member of Mission: Readiness. “We are taking a step backward apparently in response to pressure from groups who see it in their interest to serve junk food in our schools.”

Hawley said America’s obesity epidemic is a threat to national security.

It's a good thing my age disqualifies me for military service. Otherwise, my fat fanny could be a national security issue, too. Because despite being another 1.4 pounds lighter this week, I'm still too fat for military service.

Slowly, but surely though, my weight is coming off, but I'm not eating pizza and french fries or counting tomato paste as a vegetable either.

Is Anyone Really Out There? Week 12 Update--There Ain't No Cheese With This Whine

2011-11-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Week 12 Update–There Ain't No Cheese With This Whine on Technorati.]

Let's just hang it all out there today. This is an old-fashion, full-blown, 5-alarm whinefest, and I'm not talking about the red-stuff-in-a-crystal-glass-kind either. No siree, Missy.

And since I'm still trying to lose weight, there ain't gonna be any cheese with this whine either.

When I decided to be Ninja teacher at the start of the school year and fly under the radar who knew just how invisible I would become?

I figured that perhaps if I kept my big fat mouth shut I'd stay out of trouble, and, if my big fat mouth stayed shut most of the time, as an added bonus, I might lose some weight, too. Toss in the whole "I'm Frying In My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge" thing, and I figured it was a win/win of sorts.

Instead, this Ninja thing forced me to wonder rather Pink Floyd-like "Is anyone really out there?"

I thought by blogging about my weight loss struggles, there might be a word or two of encouragement from others. I thought perhaps readers might even offer up a tip or two. Or Dr. Oz would offer up some help. OK, so maybe not Dr. Oz, but you get it.

Something.

Anything.

But in the past 13 weeks I have been at this and despite being retweeted by a fair number, I've received only one brief note of encouragement.

One.

As in uno.

As in one more than none.

Does that mean that people retweet with abandon, but never actually read the stuff they toss down the Internet?

Or perhaps it's this Ninja thing. See how invisible I have become?

At least I managed to become a half pound more invisible this past week, bringing my total weight loss to 10 pounds. And yes, I realize that I probably could have lost that half a pound just by sneezing. And, yes, I worry about gaining weight over the holiday season.

But I have other, more pressing worries. I became even more disheartened this week. As I entered Week Two of being sidelined by my sprained ankle and unable to exercise, I still had people come up to me and ask how I injured myself. Questions from people, you know, who claimed to read these things.

Which, again makes me ponder, "Is anyone really out there?"

If you are, do you think that perhaps you could bring some cheese for this whine?

Frying In My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge Update Week 11–New Calorie Counting App on the Horizon

2011-11-06T13:22:00.000-08:00

[This article was first published as Week 11–New Calorie Counting App on the Horizon on Technorati.]

Unfortunately all of Week 11 of the Frying in My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge was spent recuperating from what I now refer to as my "Mike Napoli World Series Incident."

Napoli, as you may recall, injured his ankle in Game 6 of the World Series. I injured my ankle after Game 6. The similarities of our lives pretty much stops there.
So this week left me sidelined with my foot propped up, a bag of ice and the new owner of one very unfashionable black boot. All of that meant, no exercise. No exercise translates into eating less. Eating less translates into grumpy.

And all of the above translates into no weight loss. But at least, there was no weight gain either.

With this extra couch potato time, I spent more time reading and searching for tips on losing weight or new stuff related to losing weight. It seems there's a new app on the horizon for counting calories called PlateMate.

Here's how it works: You put food on your plate. Take a photo of it and send it off for analysis.

According to articles which appeared in the Boston Globe and the New York Times, "PlateMate uses a more complex crowd-sourcing tool, involving sets of individuals — getting small payments to analyze photos on a website — who analyze parts of the food photo, with some identifying the food and others estimating portion sizes. The trick is to have five individuals estimating portion sizes on each plate and then averaging those guesses."

Supposedly, all of this gives a fairly accurate count of calories. Of course, one dietitian who was interviewed pointed out, “You can look at a photo of a quiche and have no idea what’s really in it. Is it made with regular cheese or low-fat? Skim milk or whole milk? You’ll only be getting a guesstimate of calories.”

She's got a point. Still, I'm looking forward to PlateMate which is suppose to be available sometime this year.

I'd love to be able to try it, but in addition to being stuck with a sore ankle and an very unfashionable black boot, I am also stuck with a dumb phone until my phone carrier decides to give me an upgrade.

I bet Mike Napoli doesn't have that problem either.

Week 11–Let's blame the World Series for this dieting setback--The "Frying-In-My-Own-Fat" Weight-Loss Challenge Update

2011-10-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 11–Let's Blame the World Series for this Dieting Setback on Technorati.]

I blame the World Series. Specifically Game 6.

It was bound to happen. A major setback for the Texas Rangers in their World Series bid and for me in my Week 11 of this Frying-In-My-Own-Fat Weight-Loss Challenge.
In addition to a come-from-behind-win in extra innings by the Cardinals, Texas Ranger Mike Napoli also injured his ankle in Game Six. And in a twisted show of solidarity, my ankle took a turn for the worst shortly after 6 a.m. that following morning.
Game Six pretty much sealed and doomed the Rangers. The Rangers couldn't overcome that loss, and the Cardinals won the series in Game 7.

And for my Week 11, Game 6 doomed me as well. I really don't have much to show for weight loss. In fact, I don't believe I have any. I blame the sprain.

I wish I could say I was doing something fascinating or interesting when I received my injury. You know, something like sprinting after a dress code violator while on hall duty or tackling a test cheater. I wish I could say there was something Napoli-like about this thing.

But sadly, all I can say is that I inadvertently slid while walking on my driveway in the darkness of the morning and found myself prone and teary eyed and wondering if Napoli's sprain hurt as much as this.
Yes, my injury was more a classic rendition of "I've-fallen-and-can't-get up."

It's a good thing I had my cell phone on me because I had to use it to call my husband to come out of the house and help me get up and hobble back in. Otherwise, I'd still be crawling military-style toward my front door.

Sad, but true. So this ankle thing benched me from exercising for the remainder of Week 11 and pretty much for all of upcoming Week 12.

As if all of that wasn't bad enough, I read about a study conducted by a group of Australian researchers that concluded, "Obese people may regain weight after dieting due to hormonal changes, a University of Melbourne and Austin Health study has shown."

That triggered a bunch of headlines like this one… "Not your fault! Hormones linked to weight regain."

According to that article, "Any dieter knows that it's hard to keep off weight you've lost. Now a study finds that even a year after dieters shed a good chunk of weight quickly, their hormones were still insisting, "Eat! Eat! Eat!""

So you see, it's not my fault.

Blame it on those hormones.

Or the World Series.

Either way, I think I deserve a walk to home plate, and I'm not talking about the in-field kind either.

Pounds, Panera & the Godfather-- Week 10: Small weight loss bolstered by other breakthroughs

2011-10-25T03:36:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 10–Small weight loss bolstered by other breakthroughs on Technorati.]

Now don't get all in a dither, but this week's weight loss was pretty paltry--only a half a pound.
A lesser person probably would have been epically discouraged, and I probably would have except I believe I've made some rather monumental breakthroughs–and not the kind involving clothing seams either.

For the first time in a very, very long time I went out for lunch and didn't eat everything on my plate. OK, so I ate my little piece of whole grain baguette (all 140 calories) that came with my Panera Pick Two order. But the rest--the salad and soup--I didn't. I just ate until I was full.
Confession time: I did purchase a very scrumptious looking 99 cent bakery item–The Double Fudge Brownie with Icing, though. (Now about this time a bunch of you skinny minnies are probably slapping yourselves upside your little tee tiny heads.)
But wait… I brought the treat home, checked on line and discovered that tasty brownie weighed in at 470 calories, containing about as much as my lunch. So, instead of eating the entire thing, I cut off a small piece and saved the rest for my husband.
Now I realize all of that isn't the stuff that makes fodder for such shows as the Biggest Loser, but let's face it, Anna Kournikova, Dolvett Quince or Bob Harper aren't going to come knocking at my door to give me a thumbs up or yell encouragement as I battle myself in my own weight loss challenge. I'm on my own here.
I knew it was going to be slow going especially since I am old(er). I read with interest an article entitled, "You can be a big 'Loser' at any age--here's how." Do we really need anyone to tell us the 50-plus blue team is at a disadvantage?
According to this article, those of us in our 40s and 50s need to load up on some omega-3 fatty acids for their "anti-inflammatory benefits" and "help with depression."
I don't think I need Bob Harper to tell me that my 99 cent double fudge brownie with icing doesn't contain any of those nifty omega-3 fatty acids.
And I'm fairly certain we probably need those nifty omega-3 fatty acids to "help with the depression" which surely will ensue from either (1) not being able to eat that brownie or (2) the overwhelming guilt from eating that brownie.
I really don't know why I bother reading these fitness/weight loss articles. One of the suggestions was to reduce our calorie intake by 100 calories a day. OK, so that's reasonable.
But then there was this little suggestion: "If your family is having spaghetti and meatballs, have meatballs and spinach instead."
Spinach? Really?
All I could think of was how different Marlon Brando would have looked in the "Godfather" eating meatballs and spinach. And somehow that famous line wouldn't be so famous, if Clemenza had said, "Leave the gun and take the spinach."
I think the mere suggestion would have been enough for the Corleone family to go to the mattresses.

Week 9 of the "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge: Experts Appear Surprised by Weight Research

2011-10-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 9: Experts Appear Surprised by Weight Research on Technorati.]

I don't know why researchers and health experts always seem so surprised when they "discover" this or that in their recent surveys about fatty this or skinny that. The latest surprise discovery was that three in 10 overweight or obese people don't view their weight as a health issue.

Maybe that's because some of those other studies showed that a lot of overweight people really don't view themselves as fat.

Then there was that sleep thing they connected to weight loss. Blah, blah, blah. Sure there are some scientific factors that weigh in here, but on a basic level, you don't need to be a rocket scientist or commission a study to figure out the more you are awake, the more time you have to eat.

If I were a gamblin' woman, I would wager that these experts' facial expressions must be something akin to a permanent rendition of Macaulay Culkin's "Home Alone" face.

Now, that's a face I can related to. I feel that way every single time I step on that scale and those numbers refuse to move downward.

This weight loss challenge has been quite a challenge lately.

Daunting actually.

I don't quite understand why it's so easy to put these extra pounds on, but so difficult to take them off. I found a recent article that provided a laundry list of stuff that can sabotage weight loss. The list was mainly a collection of common sense things.

Then, of course, another article discussed how mindless eating can cause weight gain, too.

Gee whillikers, another shocker there.

I'll tell you what sabotages weight loss… F-O-O-D.

Let's all practice our "Home Alone" face as we step onto the scale for Week 9 of the "I'm-Frying-In-My-Own-Fat" Weight Loss Challenge.

Can I have a thunder thigh roll, pah-leese?

Just as I suspected. Weight loss for this week: one measly pound.

No shocker there.

2011-10-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 8 Frying In My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge: Trying to Weigh In As Normal on Technorati.]

According to a recent survey, 36.6 percent of Americans weigh in at a normal weight.

That's up in a good way--about 1 percent from a year ago.

But slow down, Missy, I don't think it's time to break out the milkshakes or Ben & Jerry's ice cream yet. These figures were based on telephone interviews, not actual weigh ins.

According to the article, the data was based on self-reported info of height and weight to determine a score of body mass index. So tell me, just how many people actually have their real weight on their driver's license? Hmmmm? Just wondering.

That also means that even though about a third of Americans are of "normal" weight, everyone else is either overweight or obese. Which also makes me wonder if two-thirds of the population are fatty-fatty-two-by-fours, perhaps that "normal" category is all relative. Sometimes I look fairly "normal" on certain days standing next to certain people in the grocery line if you know what I mean.

The pollsters aren't exactly sure what caused that 1 percent drop. Perhaps, we are finally beginning to get it and doing something about being fat.

I know I am slowly moving in that direction. Week 8 of my "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge finds me almost another pound lighter, bringing my grand total loss eight pounds closer to normal.

Week 7 Frying In My Own Fat Weightloss Challenge–-Tackling Global Obesity One Pound at a Time

2011-10-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

(This article was first published as Week 7: Tackling Global Obesity One Pound at a Time on Technorati.)

A few weeks ago, I read with interest an article about some sort of U.N. special summit that was supposed to tackle chronic diseases.

In light of my "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge, I was particularly interested in British Chef Jamie Oliver's plea to world leaders about tackling obesity globally.

In a letter to the UN, Oliver wrote, “One in ten people in the world are obese. It’s affecting our kids – 42 million are overweight before they even reach school age, and most of those beautiful children will be suffering from the early stages of heart disease and diabetes by the time they reach adulthood… People still don’t realize that the problem is not just limited to rich countries, that worldwide being obese or overweight now causes more deaths than under-nutrition. It’s convenient for everyone to think that it’s just America which has the biggest problem.”

Of course, Oliver has been on this skinny-minny bandwagon for quite some time now. A few years back, he tried to introduced healthy lunches in some British schools. That worked about as well as me substituting tea for my morning coffee.

According to the news report, "children fought back by boycotting the cafeterias. Some parents even shoved hamburgers, pizza and french fries to hungry children through school yard fences."

Undeterred, Oliver continued championing healthier food in schools and was vindicated in later news reports when test scores rose and people attributed the increase in brain power to the decrease in junk food.

Still, I can certainly understand that sort of frustration exhibited along that school yard fence. I sort of felt that way the other day when I peered at my teensy-weensy, t-tiny frozen lunch. (Remember, this past week I grappled with that entire portion control thing.)

Oh, what I would have given for someone to shove a pizza my way, or a hamburger, or a few french fries.

But because I didn't have anyone doing that, I managed to shed 1.6 pounds bringing my grand total weight loss so far to 7 pounds since I began this weight loss shebang six weeks ago.

I think maybe even Jamie Oliver might be proud.

Week 6: I May Be Frying In My Own Fat But I'm Thawing Out Some Frozen Dinners

2011-09-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 6: I May Be Frying In My Own Fat But I'm Thawing Out Some Frozen Dinners on Technorati.]

I've never been a frozen food fan, but I finally succumbed to eating frozen meals for lunch because apparently I am too stupid to visually gauge portions.

I even went to the Mayo Clinic website and watched a nifty little slide show about portion control. "If your portion control is out of control, you may be supersizing your meals and yourself," the site says. But have no fear, it's easy to correct, they promise.

You can use "every day" objects such as baseballs, hockey pucks and dice to help you determine portion size. I'm not exactly sure how a hockey puck can be considered an "every day" object, but hey, I thought, I like hockey so I'm OK with that.

I was whipping through the slides until I got to Slide 11.

The one where they have four squares of cheese (yummy) and four dice. Jeepers, now I see my problem-o.
My portion dice don't look anything like those dice. Rather, they look a bit more like those fuzzy ones hanging off a rear view mirror. No wonder I have such trouble with this whole weight loss thing.
You can see why I've been spending some quality time in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store and why my weight loss report for the week shows no loss and no gain. At least I found some decent meals to take for lunch. Let's see how it goes this week because I must admit I'm getting a tad bit frustrated that after six weeks, all I have less to show for it is five pounds.

Week 5 Frying in My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge: State Fair Fryfest Serves as Too Much Temptation

2011-09-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 5: State Fair Fryfest Serves as Too Much Temptation on Technorati.]

The great State Fair of Texas gets underway in just a few weeks.

Sadly, I will not be one of the more than 2.6 million people expected to attend this year. Sorry, Big Tex, but I can't afford to get much bigger.
I love the state fair, but it's filled with all kinds of tasty, fried treats. (I can hear my arteries clogging just at the thought.) New to the fryfest this year include deep-fried pineapple, fried salsa, fried bubble gum, and what I thought would be my personal favorite– a very special fried banana (think banana rolled in a flour tortilla fried then topped with whipped cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and then drizzled with caramel or chocolate syrup).
That little healthy apple in my lunch box doesn't look so good now.
Last year, The Dallas Morning News had the Cooper Clinic crunch some numbers on the winning fried food finalists at the fair. According to the article, if we ate those entries "you'd consume a heart-pounding, take-your-breath-away 5,089 calories, about half of them from fat."
Since I struggled to lose one pound this week, you can see why Big Tex will have to do without me there this year.
I don't want to have to borrow his size 284 W x 185 L pants.

Week 4 of the "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge–Better to Fry in Brown Fat Than White Fat

2011-09-12T18:07:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 4–Better to Fry in Brown Fat Than White Fat on Technorati.]

I love that "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" song by the Smashing Pumpkins. The one that goes, "Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage."
Usually, I'm not fond of feeling like a rodent, but after reading about this little study, well, there could be some benefits there.

Apparently there is "energy-storing" white fat and "energy burning" brown fat. Who knew? We apparently want that "energy burning" brown fat. According to this study, our little furry mice friends transformed that bad white fat into that good brown fat when they were "given a more engaging place to live with greater opportunities for social stimulation."

The little furry guys who lived in the enriched environment also lost 50 percent more of their abdominal fat than the control critters.

So since my little weight loss endeavor didn't go as well as I had hoped this week with a zero (that's nadda, zilch, zippo) pound loss and only a one inch smaller waist to show for it, perhaps I need to take a closer look at that study. One writer even said it was "surprisingly simple." Apparently, I just need to be busier (is that even possible?), have more friends (so I now have to be less snarkier?), and more room to run around.

Really?

Now, if I can just get over this sudden craving for cheese, I'll probably be all right.

Frying in My Own Fat Week Three: Yoga Brings Little Stress Release

2011-09-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 3–Yoga Brings Little Stress Relief on Technorati.]

I'm not quite sure if it's the lack of sugar, sleep or just a general malaise from this record setting heat, but quite frankly this "Frying In My Own Fat" Weight Loss Challenge thing is making me just a tad bit grumpy.

OK, so maybe more than a tad bit grumpy.

My yoga buddy, Becky, and I came within a nanosecond of earning the dubious distinction of being the first people on planet to be tossed out of a yoga class. Who knew yoga could be so stressful?

OK OK OK so maybe that's a tad bit of an exaggeration, but if we had actually put our thoughts into actions, let's just say my little yoga crane hands would have poked out Mr. Gumby Guy Yoga Instructor's eyes out, and that would have been a very, very un-yogi like thing to do especially during National Yoga Month.

It's not that I don't love yoga. I do, and with it being National Yoga Month, you can actually get a free week's worth of yoga at just about any place. Which, after my little class with Mr. Gumby Guy Yoga instructor, is a great idea so you can find an instructor that matches you like my favorite teacher of all time, Chris.

I most certainly can understand why people are reticent to sign up for a gym, continue an exercise program and or try something new. You get tired of people expecting you to do things you just can't do, and then chastise you for "not pushing yourself."
Since I apparently have these anger issues, for a fleeting instant, I almost succumbed to one of those slick advertisements and signed up for a fitness boot camp specials from Groupon.

Almost.

I thought maybe, just maybe, it would help jump start me a bit more after that crème brulee fiasco of last week.

Even though those boot camp sites claim their programs are for people of all ages and skill levels, well, just look at their camp videos. I didn't see one person who looked like me… old…fat…grumpy…tired…nonrunner…

I bet they have an entire army of Mean Mr. Gumby Guys.

Except these guys probably yell at you.

Instead, I purchased a nice little Groupon facial.

I figured I deserved a little stress reduction and a little reward. I lost two pounds this week, and I didn't poke anyone's eye out.

Why I hate the French––Week 2: Frying in My Own Fat Weight Loss Challenge

2011-08-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Frying in My Own Fat Week Two: Why I hate the French on Technorati.]

After my dinner out Friday night, you might as well make me the poster child for the big fat diet failure.

Apparently, though, I'm not the only failure. According to a recent study and news reports, obesity is fast replacing tobacco "as the single most important preventable cause of chronic non-communicable diseases."

I'm not quite sure why everyone else keeps failing, but I'm blaming the French because my failure can be summed up in two little French words– Creme Brulee.

For those of you who didn't take high school or college French, Creme Brulee roughly translates as "Fatty Fatty Two-by-Four." This dessert alone can single handedly be a diet saboteur, and even that word is French in its origins.

Need I say more about why I am no longer fond of the French?

So now I can only say that, according to the scale I keep hidden in my closet, I have only lost a grand total of two pounds since we got this party started two weeks ago.

Before the creme brulee debacle, I was down another pound by midweek and hoping to whack off another 16 ounces by my weekly Monday weigh in, so I could report a two pound loss for the week. But according to my cyber fitness pal, if all my days were like my day Friday, I'd gain 10 pounds in five weeks and look like that lady at the restaurant spilling out of her zebra print dress.

OK, OK, OK so maybe my cyber pal didn't give me that visual.

You might as well poke my eye out with a stick of salted butter.

Except I'd probably eat it–all 810 calories.

Carol: End of the Line

2010-11-14T18:14:00.000-08:00

[The following article was first published as The End of the Line on Technorati.]

I returned home exhausted from the 3-day for the Cure 60 mile walk. I along with the other three members of my team--the Pink Me Out team--walked every inch of the course, and yes, we have the sore feet to prove it.

According to The Dallas Morning News, there were more than 2,700 walkers who participated in the Susan G. Komen walk to battle cancer. Organizers told us Dallas alone raised $7 million. All in all, I suppose you can put a big check mark in the win-win column.

In my 3-day journey, I discovered lots of things (including Thing 1 who posed for pictures at one of the pit stops). And while I found Thing 1 rather amusing, it's really the other things that were more interesting and/or surprising. Things like…

•How well an event like this runs… It's well-orchestrated, well-planned and well-done--except for whoever thought it was a good idea to throw in some steps on the last day.

•My teammates and I were surprised at the number of participants who don't actually walk the entire course instead opting for a ride in the sweep van to the next pit stop or a bus back to camp. No judgments here. I do understand why some cannot complete the course. It was difficult to do. We just figured our level of being uncomfortable didn't come close to what cancer patients face.

•I was amazed at the generosity of some people. The people who I least expected to donate for us to walk donated a lot. The people who I thought would donate or who I thought would donated substantially didn't. I'm still surprised that our team did not get one donation from anyone on the Internet as a result of this or any other blog posting made. (But then, I'm still waiting for Oprah to read my book and "discover" me. Ah, if only wishes were horses, beggars would ride…")

•I learned I can technically "rough" it. I survived frigid temperatures in a tent with wet hair (no electricity for blow dryers). I succumbed to three days of portable toilets (except for that one incident when I hobbled into a Starbucks for coffee and running water).

But most importantly, I learned firsthand that life as a participant beats life as a spectator. Hands--make that feet--down.

Carol: Ready or Not the Walk Begins

2010-11-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Ready or Not: The 3-day for the Cure Walk Begins in Dallas on Technorati.]

With the 3-day for the Cure in Dallas scheduled to get underway tomorrow, November 5, I wish I could sing that Peter, Paul & Mary's song, "…all my bags are packed and I'm ready to go," but sadly I can't, as my bags aren't packed and I'm not ready to go.

How am I supposed to squeeze all my stuff into a 35" or so bag that weights less than 35 pounds? It's not that I'm high maintenance and need a lot of stuff, it's just my tendency to over-think things. What if it gets hot...or too cold? What if I fall in a puddle of water? What if…See what I mean?

Then, of course, there's the sock issue. My teammates and I purchased those "guaranteed to be blister free" socks. But how is that going to work? We'll be walking around for three days. So even if they don't work, we'll need to wear those socks. Is the guarantee good for 60 miles? Will they take back our stinky socks if we get blisters? See what I mean--over thinking it.

Even though our jobs as teachers got in the way of our training, I think we still managed to train well enough that we will survive the 60 mile walk. Still, I worry that we may have undertrained. Of course, we may have to call the school nurse to come roll us in on Monday from the parking lot.

Now that my first challenge is almost over, I've been thinking a lot lately about what to do next. (Remember the entire point of this little feature was to quit living life as a spectator.) On our last 10 mile training walk I suggested to my tent mate that perhaps we should look into the Hotter Than Hell 100.

Let's just say I had to duck over that one. But between us, I haven't entirely given up on that idea --at least not yet.

Carol: Four Weeks to Go & Thinking About a Guy I Don't Know

2010-10-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Four Weeks To Go and Thinking About a Guy I Don't Know on Technorati.]

(Writer's note: I've been busy putting together the Education Buzz--Life's a Carnival which will appear here on Wednesday. So instead of posting my usual witty observations, I'm posting my update on my 3-day for the Cure training. Jeepers Creepers, it's in four weeks. If you haven't donated and want to still donate for the cure, my BFF Jennifer still needs a bit more in order to walk. Remember I need her for that whole camping thing. Otherwise, I'll be sleeping on the ground being eaten alive by bears. OK, so maybe bears is a teensy weensy bit of exaggeration. How about eaten alive by coyotes? Armadillos? OK, chiggers then… So have a little pity and go here to donate to my BFF Jennifer, but before you do make sure you read the post below…]

Lately I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about a guy I don't know. On Oct. 8, he walked the walk--you know the one, the 3-day for the Cure.

In April, I read a column by Leonard Pitts about his decision to participate in the Susan G. Komen 60-mile walk for the cure. Inspired by his words, I decided instead of donating money for his walk, I would walk the walk as well and signed up for the 3-day for the Cure in Dallas on Nov. 5.

Ever since I began this undertaking, Mr. Pitts has floated in and out of my thoughts. Admittedly, sometimes those thoughts weren't very warm and fuzzy especially when my walking buddies and I braved 100-plus degree heat to train.

Other times I wondered/worried whether Mr. Pitts had trouble getting his donations. I shouldn't have worried so much about him. While my team struggled to raise our $2,300 each, his readers donated more than $27,000. I can only chalk it up to the difference between a well-known, professional syndicated columnist and team of high school teachers.

Still, I am just as proud of the quarters raised by our high school students as I am of the outpouring of generosity of Mr. Pitts' readers. In some ways, I am even more proud of the fledgling Pink Panther Club formed just a month ago to increase breast cancer awareness at our school--all a result of our upcoming walk which in an odd way traces the start of its journey back to Mr. Pitts.

I always tell my journalism students that we often don't know how our words touch others or even if they do.

I checked on Mr. Pitts' recent columns to see what sort of update he had related to the 3-day for the Cure. Again, he had a particularly poignant piece writing that "…life is an understanding: We're all going to the same destination. The only difference is in what you choose to see along the way."

But I would have to add something to that observation because it's not just what you choose to see along the way, it's also who you touch along the way.

So because Mr. Pitts unknowingly touched my life, I will spend this weekend wondering and worrying how this stranger fared on his 60-mile walk.

Carol: 7 Weeks 2 Go--Sausage Fingers, Clown Feet & Miles to Go

2010-09-20T05:30:00.000-07:00

[This article first published as The Countdown is On: 7 Weeks to Go on Technorati.]

Instead of counting up, it's time to count down. Seven weeks to go before the 3-day for the Cure Susan G. Komen 60-mile walk to fight breast cancer.

Saturday my team and I went on another training walk with a handful of women in our area. We walked 15 miles leaving at 6:15 a.m. and finishing about 11-ish.

Our hands swelled up like those little Vienna sausages.

My feet felt like clown feet.

Trust me, if a clown car had passed by, I wouldn't have hesitated to hop in and put on one of those red, squeaky clown noses and hitched a ride back to my van.

About Mile 11 I felt my skin scorching in the 90 degree-plus temperatures despite the SPF 60+ sunscreen I slathered on when Mr. Sun was still sleeping.

My team--Pink Me Out-- is hoping for cooler temperatures by the time the 3-day comes to Dallas in November.

Already other 3-days have been held throughout the country. Denver had its 3-day for the Cure in August with about 500 walkers raising more than $1.5 million to fight breast cancer. The next 3-day gets underway in Seattle next weekend on Sept. 24.

When I reviewed the weekly training schedule from Mr. Virtual Trainer for our 3-day walk, I just about passed out. It calls for two back-to-back "easy walking" training miles of 17 and 13 for next weekend.

Just when I think, "Yeah, right," I think about the soccer coach in Olympia, Washington, who battled breast cancer and will walk the walk in Seattle. Or, I look at the picture of cancer survivor Megan Hernandez as she finished the walk in Denver.

Remember, thankfully, cancer is not a battle I have had to fight. I am walking for others in my life. I have to remind myself that I walk simply because I can.

I figure if Megan can do it, well then, so can I.

Carol: Week 18--Mall Walking At School

2010-09-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 18--Mall Walking At School on Technorati.]

The still-sizzling heat and the start of school sent me and my Pink Me Out team inside for Week 18 to train for the 3-day for the Cure.

Walking indoors at our school is similar to mall walking (minus the grannies and grandpas wearing knee highs and bright white sneakers). If you walk from the northern corner of our school to the southern corner, you can easily log in a quarter mile.

On the days we were able to walk after school, we were able to log about four miles each session. In addition to getting our exercise, it's provided us an opportunity to see parts of the school we never get a chance to, see other co-workers hunched over grading papers, and dodge the cleaning staff diligently getting the school ready for the next day.

Over Labor Day weekend, we participated in a 12-mile training walk with other walkers in our area. The training walk was organized by a Dallas police officer who was a breast cancer survivor and the leader of the Cops Against Cancer team. I believe this will be her fourth time to participate in the 60-mile walk. In addition to walking, she said she also gets her fellow police officers to volunteer to provide security and traffic control.

All in all, she's pretty amazing.

I must admit that my walking buddies and I had trouble keeping up with her.
We were also just a tad bit sore when we finished… and the next day… and the next.

Carol: Week 17--107 degrees, Hot Yoga & Armadillos

2010-08-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 17: Continued Heat Wave Dampens Training on Technorati.]

Just as predicted, the start of school this week left little to no time for my 3-day for the Cure training walks with my Pink Me Out walking buddies (who could use a little bit of help with their fund-raising).

Of course, the record -setting 107 degree temperature did little to ignite much enthusiasm for our training expeditions. I couldn't even kindle enough desire to plan for our training.

According to our virtual trainer, we're supposed to have 31 miles racked up this week. Jeepers creepers, I'll be lucky to finish my week with 10 miles.

I did manage to squeeze in a hot yoga class, though. (And, yes, I do think there's something inherently twisted about doing hot yoga when it's 107 degrees outside, but I also think there's something inherently wrong with putting up a donut shop next to a yoga studio.)

I was doing pretty good with the whole hot yoga thing until we got to that crazy crane pose. (Yeah, like that's going to happen in my lifetime.) Undeterred by my failure there, I successfully transformed myself into the next pose--a frog. Our very lovely yoga instructor who also happens to be a former yearbook editor of mine wanted us to be jumping frogs visualizing a bug on the ceiling. Since there was a grasshopper stuck to the outside window, I was OK with that whole visualization thing, but at 53, not very OK with that jumping thing.

Well, all that visualization of critters got me to thinking about the armadillos that were wreaking havoc in my front yard at five in the morning. I don't know if you get bonus points (or miles) for chasing armadillos off your front yard, but surely that's gotta count for something.

Carol: Week 16--Organizating Time For Training

2010-08-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 16: Organizating Time For Training on Technorati.]

I spent my last day before I had to report back to school walking five miles with one of my 3-day for the Cure training buddies.

I'm not sure if it was the heat index of 104 degrees or the thought of another school year looming before me that sapped my energy. (Heat like children can sometimes just suck the life right out of you.)

During our walk my buddy (also another teacher) and I tried to figure out how we would continue our training schedule once school got underway.

Organization, according to school experts, apparently is the key to a successful school year. Hails bails, let's go out on a limb here and just say that organization probably is the key to a successful anything.

With work, the heat, grading, planning and our own family obligations, finding time to train for the 60 mile Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure walk may prove challenging. I thought perhaps the organizational guru Peter Walsh might have a few inspirational tips, but I'm way beyond his tips for designing a workout schedule. I did find some useful and interesting suggestions for streamlining my morning routine, though--things like making effective to-do lists or using music to "rock my routine."

While I admit I'm not the most organized person in the world, my problem still seems to be more a matter of running out of time for all the things I need to do than wasting time because of disorganization.

And, no, I don't think any to-do list or Rolling Stones song is going to help me with that.

Carol: Week 15 of Training: Waist Not Want Lots

2010-08-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

[This article was first published as Week 15 of Training: New Study Sheds Light On Waist Sizes on Technorati.]

Just when I vaguely start feeling good about myself over these training walks for the 3-day for the Cure, those warm, fuzzy feelings dissipate faster than a cool breeze on these 100-degree-plus days.

News venues reported a recent cancer prevention study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that the bigger your waistline the more troubles you'll have compared to those with teeny, tiny tummies. In fact, along with that spare baggage, you also carry twice the risk of dying over a decade.

Apparently waist size is more important than weight.

As if that info wasn't enough to burn away those warm, fuzzy thoughts, the tummy stats are true even for those people with healthy body mass indexes. And even more disconcerting than that was the fact that this new study measures the ideal waist size at 35 inches for men and 30 inches for women--a full five inches smaller than the inches given by the American Heart Association.

Jeepers. I don't need a tape measure to tell me that I fall outside the "ideal." In fact, I can't recall when the last time I was "ideal" for anything. It's all rather depressing.

According to the lead author of the study, Eric Jacobs of the American Cancer Society, people should start "eating better and exercising more if you see your waist size starting to increase."Gee, thanks, Eric. Let's see how many more miles it'll take before my waist gets in line with these new guidelines.

Carol: Week 14--Trying to Stay Out of the Heat & Hot Water

2010-08-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

[Article first published as Week 14--Trying to Stay Out of the Heat and Hot Water on Technorati.]

With temperatures soaring into the triple digits, and last month setting heat records across the country, wanting to walk more than a few feet can present quite a challenge.

Still, I've managed to keep my training schedule for the 3-day for the Cure, walking at least two miles a day and up to four or five miles when I can. I've also managed to squeeze in a hot yoga class although we probably could have just yoged outside in the 100 degree plus temps and gotten the same results.

Despite highs predicted at 104 degrees for Friday, I, along with my two walking buddies, plan to brave the heat and squeeze in a long 9-plus mile walk around White Rock Lake before school starts.

With my summer winding down and the start of school just a few weeks away, I've been trying to cram in all the things that I can't seem to find time for during the school year. That, of course, includes what I like to refer to as "preventative maintenance." So since I'm walking the walk and raising money to fight breast cancer, I thought I better schedule my yearly mammogram.

When I called for an appointment, I discovered I hadn't had a mammogram in several years--four years to be exact. Embarrassing, I know. I guess when I thought about getting one, life got in the way and I thought I had actually had one. Dumb, I know. I guess I'm part of that group of women--an estimated one-fifth between 50 and 74 years old--who fell behind on getting mammograms, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

My training buddies were mortified that I had let four years go by. Needless to say, I scheduled my appointment speedy quick and I'm in the clear.

At least (for now), I'm back on track and out of hot water with my walking buddies. Now, if I can just get out of this heat.

Carol: Week 13--Walk like an Egyptian

2010-07-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

(Article first published as Week 13--Walk like an Egyptian on Technorati. This is Week 13 chronicling my training for the 3-day for the Cure.)

Training went fairly well this past week considering I spent a few days visiting my sister in the beautiful town of Castle Rock, Colorado.

My sister, who is a nurse, was a tad bit worried about me continuing my training for the 3-day for the Cure, especially after last week's stupidity that left me and my walking buddies near heat exhaustion. But after assuring my sister that (1) it was much cooler here than in Texas (2) I would bring water and a cell phone (3) I had my emergency money and (4) I was familiar with some tips on how to avoid high altitude sickness, I marched on my merry way.

I am happy to report that so far my training here has been uneventful. I had planned to design one of my training walks into town with a little side trip to Dream Pastries until a friend pointed out that the benefits of any training walk would quickly be negated by all that sugary goodness. I swear some people are just killjoys.

One highlight of my trip was going to the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. The exhibit was not only stunning, but I learned a few things, too, while listening to Harrison Ford's soothing voice on the $5 audio tape relaying interesting tidbits of information about the exhibit.

One such miscellaneous tidbit said how the Egyptians had a pretty good knowledge of the body and its organs--all except the brain. Yep, apparently they didn't think much of Mr. Grey Matter and tossed Mr. Brain aside instead of storing it in one of those nifty canopic coffinettes--miniature coffins that housed internal organs.

Instead, the Egyptians viewed the heart as the most important organ. It was the heart that was weighed against the Feather of Truth to determine if a person's entrance was granted into the afterlife or sent to the Devourer of the Dead.

I guess I have to agree with the Egyptians about the importance of the heart. When people ask me why I'm willing to participate in this 60-mile walk to fight breast cancer, I can spout off statistics and tell you that more than 1.3 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer globally each year, more than 465,000 die from the disease each year and that a woman dies from breast cancer every 68 seconds.

But for me, it still remains a matter of the heart.

Carol: Week 12 Kicking It Into Stupid Gear

2010-07-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

(Article first published as Week 12: Kicking It Into Stupid Gear on Technorati.)

Sometimes I ignore warning signs, whether it's a simple telltale sigh from my spouse or something more "official" like those nasty little National Weather Service heat advisory bulletins.

Sometimes I'm a poster child for memory loss, like when I forget that the previous week of my training for the 3-day for the Cure was short on training and long on air conditioned conference rooms.

And then, sometimes, just sometimes, I'm just not the brightest crayon in the box.

Yep, Week 12 of my training found me kicking it in high gear on the stupid level.

It started on Monday when I, along with my two training buddies, decided it would be a brilliant idea to do an 8-mile walk... at 1:30 p.m. during a heat advisory. Despite slathering on sunscreen, packing lots of water, wearing light colored clothing and taking a few breaks here and there, by mile five things weren't looking so good.

I, of course, knew the problem: heat exhaustion. I even ticked off all the symptoms to my walking buddies because, after all, I had previously written about those dangers in my Week 5 post.

Still, we remained undeterred, but things started getting ugly at the six and half mile marker when we collapsed on a bench located, fittingly, near a cemetery.

We almost called our husbands to come and rescue us, but the thought of them taking photographs and posting our failure on YouTube was enough to spur us on.

That and the sound of an ice cream truck (as if we needed a reason to celebrate National Ice Cream Month.)

Good thing I carry around an emergency five dollar bill.

Carol: 3-day for the Cure Update

2010-07-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

(Article first published as Week 10 & 11: Shoes Provide Little Hope for Slackers on Technorati.)

Blame it on the week-long high school journalism workshop filled with 600-plus kiddos that I had to attend.

Or blame it on a lack of sleep resulting from chaperoning said workshop.

Or, let's just blame it on the rain. (OK, so you probably have to be pre-Generation Y to get that rain allusion.)

Perhaps all those factors combined to make it not only difficult to walk, but also impossible to find the time to dutifully report about my inactivity for my 3-day for the Cure training. I only managed to squeeze in four miles or so while attending the workshop. The previous week I kept to my walking schedule racking up two to three miles every day, but I'm such a slacker I neglected to report about it.

I didn't even get a chance to read the second part of the USA Today fitness challenge story.

I did, however, read with interest another article about those toning shoes that supposedly will give the wearer a more shapely behind, toned legs and tighter abs--all without having to set foot in a gym.

Oh, if I only had a pair of those shoes, I wouldn't have to obsess so much about my lack of training this past week.

If life were only that simple. If it were, I'd be the first to slap down a hundred bucks or so (plus shipping and handling), and everything would shape up.

But my hopes for an easy out were snuffed by the seventh paragraph. The article quoted a professor from Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine in Baltimore who very succinctly said those claims were "utter nonsense."

Moreover, according to the article, doctors warned toning shoes can cause other problems with balance and can strain Achilles tendons.

Perhaps I'm better off with a pair of those ruby red slippers and my regular walking shoes.

Joel: Take a Load Off

2010-06-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm alive. No I haven't lost much weight.

I've come to realize that exercise by itself will not impact weight loss. It helps me to think more about changing my eating habits, and it definitely makes me feel tons better. But it doesn't shed the tons by itself.

Here's an example of why not:

This morning I went out and walked/ran for about 30 minutes. RunKeeper Pro (my new favorite iPhone App) told me that I only burned 232 calories. Do you realize how little food is contained in 232 calories? I think I have more than 232 calories in the crumbs in my truck!!!

So unfortunately, it looks like the ice cream and cookies are really gonna have to go. :(

On a less demotivational note, I now know that it will be pretty simple to make it happen. It's just a matter of working up the courage to do it. But if I could find the strength to get off my couch and do something, I bet I can find it in myself to stop eating fried crap and lovely desserts.

Carol: Week 8--Pondering Life on Solo Walks

2010-06-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

[Article first published as Week 8: Pondering Life on Solo Walks on Technorati.]

I walk because I want to, not because I have to.

Still, training for the 3-day for the Cure can not only be time consuming (I logged 19.5 miles), but troublesome as well.

My solo training walks leave plenty of time for introspection, and at this point in my life, I’m not sure that is a good thing with a bit more than half my life over.

That song (10,000 Stones) by Adrianna bounces around in my brain…
“My days are filled mistakes
Some that I didn’t make
I carry them around…

See what I mean?

With my trusty four-legged companion Jack, we walk and walk, and I talk and talk in the bubble above my head and ponder all kinds of things.

From mundane things like why I never went to Paris, why I can't sing or more importantly why Oprah won't read my book.

I ponder other things as well like…

Why we can put a man on the moon, but can’t cap an oil well that has been spewing oil into the gulf since April 20.
Why cases like the disappearance of Natalie Holloway can't be solved and justice served.
Why people like Dallas Police Chief David Brown can devote their lives to public service and fighting crime and then have their only son be named the killer of another police officer in a tragic Father's Day shooting.

See what I mean?

Sometimes on these walks I wish Jack could talk. Maybe he knows some of the answers. Sometimes I think if I walk far enough, maybe some day I’ll find the answers especially to some more personal questions ricocheting around my brain.

I may just have to walk down the path of forever for that.

In the meantime, I silently sing the chorus…

“Ten thousand stones hanging deep in my heart
No, I don’t know how they don’t tear me apart…”

Carol: Week 7--Ain't Life A Beach

2010-06-15T03:59:00.000-07:00

(Article first published as Week 7: Training on the Beach, Incidents and Oil Spills on Technorati and as "Ain't Life A Beach" on mybellringers.blogspot.com.)

After school got out, I headed for the beach. Thankfully, we go to South Padre Island. We gave extra thanks because the Texas Gulf Coast (at least for now) remains unscathed by the BP oil spill wreaking havoc along the coastline from Louisiana to Florida.

So while the cities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in Alabama have closed public beaches because of the gooey, slimy mess, those of us fortunate to vacation along the Texas coast still can enjoy sun, surf and sand as well as some tasty shrimp.

My week at the beach, however, in no way stopped my training for the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure 60 mile walk.

In fact, I stepped it up a bit and walked about 30 miles while at the beach. My family made sure I stayed on track offering to walk with me. Sometimes we walked along the beach. Sometimes we walked along Gulf Boulevard. All of it was walked in the hot Texas sun. Walking on the sand provided some extra workout benefits. We even walked a bit across the border venturing into Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, to do a little shopping.

Although we've been there numerous times before, we did check with the tourist Welcome Center at South Padre Island before we decided to go because of all the drug violence reported in border towns. The very nice Welcome Center people told us that although there had been some "incidents," we would be fine as long as we as we remained aware of our surroundings. They never did define "incidents."

While walking across the bridge and while shopping in Mexico, we couldn't help but notice that we were one of the few Americans shopping there. Now I know why.

The very next day another shopping mecca destination for tourist, Matamoras, was in the news for a running gun battle that began at a police station and left seven police officers dead before it ended when the Mexican military finally took control of the situation.

I wonder if those nice Welcome Center people would have referred to that as an "incident."

And all that makes as much sense as referring to the BP oil spill as an "incident."

Carol: Week 6--Training with Jack

2010-06-07T15:33:00.000-07:00

(Writer's note: The following article was first published as "Week 6: One Goal Down, But Many More Miles to Go" on technorati.)

Week six looks very promising indeed; promising because school (woo-hoo!) is out for the summer.

A double woo-hoo because, in only six weeks, I reached the mandatory fund-raising goal of $2,300 necessary to participate in the Susan G. Komen 60 mile 3-day Walk for the Cure.
Whew, what a relief! I must admit that I was a tad worried that I would be unable to raise the required donations and would be left on the outside looking in after training all summer long in the hot sweltering Texas sun. I mean what sane person wants to walk about in 100 degree heat if they don't really have to?

But now that I have that little money thing under control, I can begin some serious training for the November walk. To do that, I have enlisted my trusty compadre Jack and his nifty little doggy backpack, a gift from my dog expert/writer sister Maggie Bonham.

After reading about such unusual pet gifts as a pet high chair or pet chatter bowl, a pet backpack really doesn't seem all that usual. In fact, you can find a wide assortment of backpacks for Fido at such normal, standard venues as REI or surf other sites for the more serious dog hikers.

Dog experts recommend that your dog doesn't carry more than 20 percent of his weight. For Jack (pictured above), who weighs 90-plus pounds that would mean about 18 pounds of stuff, but we're just going to stick with some water, maybe a snack and his collapsible water bowl. Of course, we'll follow all the advice for keeping Jack safe in the summer sun.

He's used to walking at least three miles a day. Tomorrow, we're going to try five. Unfortunately, when I finally walk the 3-day for the Cure, Jack will have to remain at home not because I don't think he can raise the money to walk, but because pets are not allowed.

[For those keeping track: Jack and I actually walked 6 miles today. This past week I logged 10.5 miles & attended two yoga classes.]

Increasing The Pace // Losing The Weight

2010-05-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

So I have now run for 30 minutes nonstop a handful of times. It's great to be able to do it. The personal fulfillment and sense of accomplishment about that is incredible.

Okay, it's not really running. It might loosely be defined as jogging, but more truthfully, it's a brisk shuffle. But no worries. All year long so far, I have been focusing primarily on just getting off my butt and going out to work out.

The habit is established. It's amazing. I never thought it would happen, but it happened.

The temptation is just to sit back down on my butt and stay where I am. Eventually, this will lead to better overall health and all that jazz, but I don't want to just stay where I am. Part of why I never went out to run in the first place was because I am competitive by nature. I don't like losing. I felt like trying to run would be an entirely losing proposition. So I just didn't bother.

Now, I need to continue moving forward.

So far this year, I've lost between 12-15 pounds. I want to double that by the end of the summer. So my goal by the end of July is to weigh about 10 pounds less than I currently do. My goal will put me down 23.8 pounds from the beginning of the year.

Additionally, I want to increase my running pace. Ideally, I will be running 10 minute miles by the end of the year. I will settle for being able to run 3 miles in 48 minutes by the end of the summer (16:00 pace). I ran 1 mile last Wednesday in 17:32. I had my spring concert on Thursday, and went to Six Flags on Saturday with the band so I took Friday and Saturday off. Sunday night I ran 1 mile in 16:19. Monday morning I walked 34 minutes and then ran 1/2 mile in 7:29.

This confirms that I can do the pace, it's just a matter of keeping it up for 45 minutes. Endurance will come with more time on my feet.

So my plan of attack for this summer: No Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzards until I lose another 10 pounds (Booooooo). And run every day as soon as school lets out, sometimes even running and/or walking twice a day.

Carol: Week 5--Training at Home on Memorial Day

2010-05-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

[The following article was first published as Week 5: Training at Home on Memorial Day on Technorati.]

Ah, Memorial weekend. A time to remember and honor those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom. A time for family gatherings, flag flying and barbecues.

Ah, Memorial weekend. A time to travel apparently here, there and everywhere. In fact, AAA projected Memorial Day travel would jump more than 5 percent with 32.1 million Americans taking a trip away from home during the holiday weekend, up from 30.5 million last year, Even the Obamas opted to head out of town, instead of just down the street. (You can decided for yourself whether you agree with that one.)

And me?

Well, I opted to stay right here at home. I've got that training thing going on for Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure 60-mile walk.

Even with temperatures soaring into the 90s in the Lone Star state and having to distribute 1,300 yearbooks at my high school, I still managed to log in 12 miles for my Week 5 of training--just one or two miles shy of what my "virtual trainer" says I should have accomplished. But since I don't see Ms. Virtual Trainer bee-bopping out in the hot afternoon sun, I think I'm doing just fine.

And, yes, I've gotten better since my training debacle from Week #1. Now, at at least I'm more mindful of some of those summer safety tips. You know, those important ones like dressing appropriately, staying hydrated and wearing a hat.

I still slather on the sunscreen even after the sky-is-falling-you're-going-to-get-skin cancer report. It said something about some sunscreen products may spread skin cancer because they contain vitamin A. Are you kidding me?

Oh, and let's not forget those red flag warning signs for heat exhaustion: a red face, skin hot to the touch, dizziness, nausea, headaches, blah, blah, blah.

So while I might be a mile or two short for last week, I hope to make that up this next week by walking a bit farther on Memorial Day.

I'm also just a tad short on my fund-raising. I have just $276.10 to go before I raise the required $2,300 in order to participate in the walk. If you want to help me out, you can donate here.

[For those keeping track: Walked 12,2 miles this week & attended two yoga classes.]

Carol: Week 4: Random Acts of Kindness

2010-05-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

Before I launch into how I'm doing, let's all give Joel a big "Hip, Hip Hooray!" for updating us on his progress. Great job!

[The following article was first published as Week 4: Random Acts of Kindness Erase Cyberspace Disappointment on Technorati.]

With new shoes, a nifty little hip pack to hold my water and a new resolve, Week four of my training and fund-raising for the 3-day for the Cure started off well despite my disappointment in the lack of cyberspace donations.

I thought my little bit of whining in last week's post would have encouraged someone to cough up a buck or two in my direction. But, no siree, Missy. Still zero, zilch, nadda, and it didn't get any better this week. I might as well have waited for Mark Cuban to knock on my front door offering his pocket change.

That's OK, though. Something better happened.

Kathy Seago, one of the teachers at my school, gave her classes a 24-hour Random Act of Kindness challenge –- to ask 21 people for a quarter and to donate whatever they raised to me for my walk.

Each class came to my room with their money dropping it into a big jar. When all was said and done, the kiddos had raised $400.90 for me in 24-hours.

With all the recent news about kids bullying other kids, kids sneaking inappropriate content into yearbooks, or posts about other kids slugging it out on videos, too many people often forget about all the good kids out there.

Not me. Thanks to those kids, I'm now at 72 percent of my goal--with just another $641.10 to go. I think I probably have that 10 cents on the floorboard of my trusty mini-van.

As for the other $641, we'll just have to wait and see what the next week will bring.

[If you would like to donate so that I may participate in the 3-day for the Cure 60-mile walk, you can do so by going here.]

[For those keeping track: Walked only 8.7 miles this week due to bad weather & storms (visit my other blog for those details). Attended three yoga classes.]

Joel: I did it

2010-05-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Real quick post here. Carol sent me a message on Facebook noting that I haven't updated this blog in a couple of months. I'm a horrible person. Okay, I'm over it.

I have been running regularly. Currently, my running pace is somewhere around 18:30 per mile or 3.2 miles per hour. Sometimes it gets faster, sometimes slower. Such is the nature of living in Texas and running outside rather than on a treadmill. Sometimes it's hot (it got up to 93 today), sometimes it's windy (I've literally gone running with 60mph gusts), sometimes it rains (I lost about a week of running due to some storms we had), and sometimes it is cold (back in January, I was stopped by 20mph winds and 25 degree temps).

In March, I stopped the fast walking and actually began running. Some might call it jogging. Some might call it shuffling. Some might call it looking like a fool. Whatever, I do it and it just about kills me every time. But I persist.

So this is the 20th week of my journey as a runner and I finally finished week 9 of the Couch To 5K Running Plan this evening.

I've hit some roadbumps along the way and gone back and started over a few times. Sometimes I don't accomplish the day's goal, and a few times I've actually pressed on past the goal and surprised myself.

I walked in a 5K back at the beginning of May and was surprised at how much faster my pace was on the race day.

This is a whole lot of scattered thoughts, but I'm exhausted and need to drive three hours to judge drum major tryouts tomorrow afternoon, and three hours back home afterwards to get ready to host my band's solo & ensemble contest Saturday morning. And I just ran for 30 minutes without stopping, came in and blogged about it.

Carol: Week 3--Social Networking & Fundraising

2010-05-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

(The following post first appeared in my column at technorati.com as Week 3: Failing at Social Networking. Yes, I am walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure walk. If you can find it in your heart to help sponsor me, please click on the 3-day for the Cure logo.)

Week 3 of my training for the 3-day for the Cure ended without much fanfare and with just a sliver of disappointment. OK, make that more of a pie sized wedge of disappointment.

Disappointment--not with my training (although my job this week interfered with that. I only logged 5.5 miles and one yoga class)--but rather disappointment in the marvels of technology. Or, specifically in my case, the lack of marvels for me.

I'm three weeks into this fundraising/trolling for $2,300 so I can participate in the 60 mile walk to help fight breast cancer, and I have yet to receive even a one dollar donation from a stranger in cyberspace. I have raised 37 percent of the required amount.

I'm not sure why I'm such a failure at this. Apparently, I don't know what I'm doing. I came to that little epiphany after the world went all atwitter about twitter erasing followers to cure a program bug. I think I have like nine followers.

My luck with Facebook is equally abysmal. I was certain my funny chicken photograph on my "Get Richie On Oprah & Save the Chicken!" fan page would generate thousands of fans for my book. Instead, the chicken page hasn't even hit a hundred. So much for counting one's chickens before they hatch.

Others don't seem to have that difficulty. Even four self-described nerds living off pizza raised $10,000 in donations in 12 days to launch their business endeavor. The Internet is filled with such success stories. Just not me.

Apparently though, I'm not the only one disappointed with the Internet.

My Sunday newspaper — yep, I still love the printed version of my news--carried a big opinion piece with a screaming headline, "The Internet's False Promises." (And they weren't talkin' about Al Gore either.) I'd include the link here, but my newspaper, like me, apparently isn't technologically savvy enough to get all its posts online.

I guess I'll have to keep at it the old fashioned way.

Carol: Week 2--Bliss Me Not

2010-05-10T03:25:00.000-07:00

(The following post first appeared in my column at technorati.com Yes, I am walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure walk. If you can find it in your heart to help sponsor me, please click on the 3-day for the Cure logo on the right or simply click here.)

Part of the training for the 3-day for the Cure walk includes the catch-all "cross training" category. Lucky for me, the nifty little Walker's Manual considers yoga as cross training.
My yoga, however, isn't anything like the yoga mentioned in a recent article in The New York Times where people plunk down a couple of hundred dollars just for the correct attire or take a Yoga Caribbean vacation for six thousand smackeroos. (Geewillikers, I have to practice my deep calming breath just thinking about it.)

I'm more like the "Yoga to the People" featured in the article where "this yoga is for everyone" (good), where "there will be no correct clothes" (even better) or where it seems to be OK for "the mighty and the meek, bones that creak" (best).

On May 15, yoga hits the Washington mall, marking the fifth anniversary of DC Yoga Week. I wonder how many creaky bones will show up for that.

Although the NY Times article noted that the number of people taking yoga has dropped from 16.5 million in 2004 to 15.8 million, spending on yoga classes and yoga stuff has almost doubled from $2.95 billion to $5.7 billion.

Even without all the designer yoga frills, I know I've thrown money into that billion dollar pool on a yoga mat ($15), pants ($20) and top ($18). (Of course, that pool probably doesn't include the billions spent on pedicures for pretty yoga toes. But if it did, I'd have to confess to another 40 buckeroos for pink toes with daisies.

And speaking of pink, let's do a ferret's on crack speedy quick update on my Pink Me Out progress for the cure…For Week 2, I walked 11.3 miles, just a tad under the suggested 12-mile goal, and for my cross training, I attended an hour power yoga session. So far, I've raised $408 of the required $2,300. If you're feeling generous, you can donate here.

Carol: Week 1--The Training Begins

2010-05-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

(The following post first appeared in my column “On the Outside Looking In” at technorati.com Yes, I am walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure walk. If you can find it in your heart to help sponsor me, please click on the 3-day for the Cure logo on the right or simply click here.)

Seven percent.

So far that's all I've raised on my journey for the required $2,300 sponsorship necessary to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure, 60-mile walk.

Of course, it's only been three days since I started this, but patience and me fit together about as well as me and a pair of purple spandex pants.

Like most things that I do, I went full steam into this becoming a participant thing. I created my fund raising page, emailed everyone in my address book and downloaded and read all 58 pages of my "Walker Handbook."

That's when I discovered on page 43 that I'll be "camping out."

As in a tent. Now, my idea of "camping out" pretty much has been booking a hotel room with those nifty soft Egyptian cotton sheets. The closest I've ever gotten to camping out was spending the night in an RV at the Cotton Bowl for a Rolling Stones concert.

Page 56 of the manual really got my attention because not only will I be sleeping in a tent, I have to set up the tent. I shared this little piece of information with my husband, and let's just say that if he were a rolling-your-eyes-kind-of-guy, well, his eyes would be permanently stuck up inside his head.

Undaunted by the camping news, I official kicked off Week 1 of my training with a 2.2 mile walk to the gas station to buy a lottery ticket. It will be a tough week to get all the recommended training in if I don't win the lottery because I have several teaching commitments that will interfere.

Still, I will not be a Negative Nancy. Naysayer or Ninnyhammer like one person was. Someone actually posted a comment that they didn't "understand why anyone wants to fund raise money to fight against cancer… These sorts of charity events seem to be designed to make the participants feel better, but what do they really do about the disease? Almost nothing."

Jeez Louise. I guess tell that to the almost 200,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and let's see what they think about such events.

And if participating in an event makes me feel better, well, what in the Sam Hill is wrong with that?

Carol: Pink Me Up by Pinking Me Out!

2010-04-29T13:44:00.000-07:00

(The following post first appeared in my column “On the Outside Looking In” at technorati.com Yes, I am walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure walk. This post tells why and provides a link at the bottom for those of you who can find it in your heart to help sponsor me.)

I spent a few weeks mulling it over. I spent a few days talking myself into it. I spent less than 10 minutes filling out all the requisite forms. Basic stuff like name, address and a promise to waive liability. In the second it took to click my mouse and hand over the $90 registration fee, I moved myself from the realm of an observer into the world of a hopeful participant.

There’s no backing out now. I am officially registered for the Susan G. Komen-3 day for the Cure, 60-mile walk. Of course, I still have to raise the $2,300 before I can participate in the November event. Right now I have nadda, zilch, zero sponsors. (Baby steps, my dears, baby steps.)

I picked the 3-day walk for the Cure as my first activity to launch “On the Outside Looking In.” Or, rather, I decided to launch “On the Outside Looking In” as a way to force me to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.

I suppose it was a combination of things that pushed me. One of my teacher hall monitoring buddies is walking the walk. (Gee, I thought, isn’t that great.) I read a rather poignant piece from Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts about the loss of his mom and why he was finally walking the walk. (Wow, I thought, what a great column.) I have colleagues who have stared this killer in the face and survived (What amazing women they are, I said.).

And then, I ran into a colleague at the state high school journalism convention. I hadn’t seen her in months. We stood in the empty hallway. She with her ball cap on, light sensitive eyes and hope for the future and me with only my guilt for not knowing she was in an all-out fight against breast cancer.

It nagged at me for weeks… how I had become so wrapped up in my life that I hadn’t heard about her battle for her life.

I am no stranger to cancer. In less than three years, I buried both parents. My mother lost her battle against lung cancer and my father lost his fight against prostate cancer. There have been others as well.

Still, my self-absorption with my life tugged at me. I hope to make up for that with the 3-Day for the Cure walk. My walk will be a different walk. I walk to apologize to Lori for not knowing, and I walk to celebrate her life. I walk with joy for all those sisters who survived their battle with breast cancer. And yes, as odd as it seems, I walk with joy for those sisters who fought the fight, but lost because I believe we honor them by remembering how much they enriched our lives.

And finally, I walk with joy simply and thankfully because I can.

(To help me on my way, please consider making a donation, so that I will qualify for the walk. Donations can be made by going to www.the3day.org, click on "Donate," select “search for a team” and then input my team name, Pink Me Out or you can simply click here and it should take you right there.)

Carol: Pink Me Out

2010-04-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

[In honor of the lack of the Chubby Brits who failed to rise up to the occasion and participate in this little fitness challenge, here's Yo Mum's So Fat Joke #8… "Your mum's so fat that even God couldn't lift her spirts…"]

Here's a brief update on my progress… I continue to do yoga attending classes at least three times a week. Although I am getting better at it, I still fall over, can't grab my ankles for the bow pose, and my revolved triangle pose doesn't look anything like this picture.

Such is my life. I read a post about losing weight that had a gajillion retweets. I don't know what all the fuss was about. It basically covered what we all know (exercise, cut calories by 25 percent and eat some fish oil). OK, so maybe, I didn't know about the fish oil thing, but I seriously doubt that's going to drop a ton of pounds.

Instead, I rather preferred the chocolate study story. You can read about my take on that here.

But now I have rambled so let me get back on task. I decided I needed an extra push. You know, to sort of jump start my engines. So-o-o-o-o-o-o I signed up for the Susan G. Komen 3-day for the Cure 60 mile walk. It's a great cause and I might even lose a few pounds along the way.

I need sponsors though. I have to raise $2,300 in order to be able to participate in the November walk. So if you could find it in your heart to make a donation, please go to www.the3day.org, click on "Donate," select “search for a team” and then input my team name, Pink Me Out.)

I'll keep you posted on how my training and donations are going.

Joel: The Art of Slow Slow Slow Running

2010-04-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

I read a comment today on the Couch To 5K's Facebook wall that sorta got to me.

One person commented that she ran a mile in 33 minutes. Someone asked if she meant that she ran it in 13 minutes, because she couldn't see how someone could run for 33 minutes and only go a mile. One more person chimed in basically saying that even someone walking slow could walk a mile in 20 minutes.

While I understand that it was an issue of confusion, I responded:

How does it take someone 30 minutes to run a mile? They have the guts to get out there no matter how out of shape they used to be in and run slower than most people walk.

They get over the years of excuses to not work out and just set out with a plan to push themselves harder than they have in years (or decades). The first day they realize that 60 seconds nonstop is miserable. ONE TIME.

But they don't give up.

They don't make it through the first day, but they don't give up. Maybe it takes them two months to get to Week 1 Day 1, maybe it takes longer.

But they don't give up.

The weight loss is slow, it's not like the fad diets they have tried numerous times in the past. It's frustratingly slow, because they know that when they lose the weight, their speed will go up and their risk of injury will go down dramatically.

But they don't give up.

By the time this person is to the point where they can run 1 mile nonstop, something inside of them changes.

So they don't give up.

They see the benefits, they feel that they can breathe like a normal human being again (at least sometimes), they can't imagine going back to the place they were just a few months ago.

So they don't give up.

It may take them an hour or more to finish a 5K race. But they run the entire time. How many people finish the race in 30 minutes and can't run the whole thing? It took years of bad decisions to get them to this point, but they have seen the results and have developed the fortitude to push through no matter what other people are doing.

So they don't give up.

I have a friend who can run 5K in 17:30. I can walk/run it in 53:00. Now. But eventually, I'll be running 10K, and half marathons, and who knows what else...

This is why people like me don't go to the gym for years and years...not because there are a bunch of rude and judgmental people (you're not, just confused...I understand that), but because the fear exists that there are a bunch of rude and judgmental people.

Loser, Yoga & My Inner Me

2010-04-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

[In honor of the lack of Chubby Brits who failed to rise up to the occasion and participate in this little fitness challenge, here's Yo Mum's So Fat Joke #7…

"Your mums so fat that when she steps on the scales it says one at a time please!"]

OK, so I'm a loser—and not in the poundage category either. I noticed on the nifty little computer calendar that it's been almost a month since my last entry.

Jeez Louise, that's hardly a way to encourage my cyberbuddy Joel in his weight loss endeavor. Since 30 days have lapsed since my last post, well I hardly know where to begin. So we'll just jump right in there and try our best to recap 30 days of negligence, but I’ve gotta warn you, it ain't pretty.

•And then there were five (another exercise class bites the dust)…

It's not our fault. No really. You can't blame Doomsday Becky and me for the discontinuation of our yoga classes at our most recent exercise location. Missy Chrissy Pretzel decided she wanted her own place and opened up her very own yoga studio. Doomsday Becky and I figured that we can't jinx Missy Chrissy Pretzel because we are following her over there, not discovering her there. I did volunteer not to follow Missy Chrissy Pretzel to her new place if she was worried. (I didn't have the heart to tell her about those bad karma exercise gods. I pretty sure all those closing doors are retribution for all those times I called that one girl balloon butt in college.) Instead, I opened up the ol' checkbook, paid for the entire year and hoped that would buy us all some good karma.

•Does that yearbook make me look fat?

Trying to get the yearbook finished these past 30 days has significantly hurt my exercise program. I quit going out to the garage to smack my punching bag and instead bebopped my way to work at 7 a.m. The good news is after tomorrow all those pages are in and I can resume my morning kickboxing program. As an added bonus, the weather is warm and the garage no longer freezing. Pretty soon I can complain about the heat instead.

•Yoga & Me & Eagle Poses

I'm still attending yoga classes at least twice a week. I'm planning to try and go three to four times a week since I paid for a year's worth of unlimited yoga sessions. I still fall over most of the time. At least at the new studio, there aren't any mirrors, so I don't have a visual image of how goofy I actually look. Missy Chrissy Pretzel says to look inside ourselves for our image. Too bad my inner me image isn't my outside image because my inner me is a mini-me… tall, thin and young, not short, ~~fat~~ Rubenesque and old. Plus, my inside image has that eagle standing tall, instead of looking like that tipsy, goofy eagle falling off a cliff.

•Goals & Deadlines

I went back and took another peek at the goals I set for myself back in January, and I must say that was a pretty depressing jaunt down memory lane.

Goal #1 was to lose 30 pounds by the end of May. Well, I guess we can mark that one as a big, fat failure. I arrived at the number three part OK. Now, all I have to do is get a zero after that three instead of before it. Fear not. I will not give up. Maybe we'll shoot for 10 pounds instead. (Unless, of course, someone wants to volunteer hiring me a personal trainer, chef, nutritionist, and, let's throw in a plastic surgeon as well.)

Goal #2 was to be able to do the Eagle Pose by the end of May. Hmmmmm. Now, I am better at it, but whether it will meet Missy Chrissy Pretzel's professional OK, well, let's just say I better keep practicing.

Well, that's about all the updating I'm going to do, but before I go I do have to admit that I had to eat eight of those tasty mini Cadbury Easter eggs to take the sting off the trauma of writing this post.

Carol: Deadlines, Birthdays & Carrots

2010-03-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

Calm down.

No, I haven't whittled or withered away into skinniness.

If only.

Instead, I went out of town and am up against a multitude of deadlines—newspaper deadline and yearbook deadlines. (You can read about that here on my other teacher blog site) as well as deadlines to turn in next year's budget and my fourth six weeks grades.

So here is just a brief update before I have to move along…

In short, I have been B-A-D.

Let's just say there were numerous desserts involved (resulting from my birthday). In fact, a newly made Barefoot Contessa carrot cake sits on the counter even as I write.

See what all that sugar has made me do? Why, I've turned into a diet saboteur by including the recipe link for that rather delicious concoction.

Shameless, I know.

On the plus side—and I'm not just talkin' about dress sizes either—I have maintained some level of exercise attending my yoga classes. However, I have not kick boxed my way into the garage for a week. Instead, I have been going to work at 7 a.m. and not returning until 5:30 or 6 p.m. working on that darn tootin' yearbook.

Oh, before I forget, out are the ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time classes.

Yep, Doomsday Becky and I have sort of struck again.

Our yoga teacher has left the new exercise place that we started going to. Since Missy Chrissy Pretzel is a former yearbook editor of mine, we are following her to her brand new yoga studio which will open in April. ~~Sadly~~, gladly, she will not be teaching Pilates at her Yoga studio.

Doomsday Becky and I don't believe we will jinx Missy Chrissy Pretzel since we are following her instead of just appearing on her doorstep.

So the update is… while no additional pounds were lost, none was gained either and only a bag of carrots were hurt in this endeavor.

Joel: What Was I Thinking?

2010-02-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

I walked 5K tonight. No, the plan didn't start out that way. In fact, I was just going to take a nice relaxing 15-minute 3/4 mile walk and be done. 1 lap at the park and out. No problem.

Then I started thinking.

"Hey, I don't have anything else going on tonight. Why don't I go two laps like I normally do?"

Okay, that was simple enough.

Then I started thinking some more.

"If I can do two laps, I can do three."

As I came to the end of my third lap, I saw the guy who had been sprinting. He was all tired out and looked like he was finished. I asked him how far he had gone. His response was 3.1. I know that's four laps at the track (actually, four laps is 3.16 miles). I told him I was doing the same and was about to start my fourth lap.

So I committed myself then.

But ya know, I have been noticing over the past couple of weeks that the biggest difficulty with the exercise habit (as well as the eating habit) is not the physical challenge. That's big and all, but the biggest problem I have encountered he the psychological one.

It's hard to change who I am. I am a fat, lazy, out-of-shape, ugly 31-year old. Now, I'm in the process of transforming myself into a slightly overweight, athletic, ugly 32-year old. At least that's the plan.

Each time I decide to get off my butt and go work out, my mind is what wants to stop me. It's not my body being tired, but my mind telling myself that my body is tired. I have to beat it into submission. Ugh...

Carol: Can A Cat Cut Calories?

2010-02-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

In honor of the lack of Chubby Brits who failed to rise up to the occasion and participate in this little fitness challenge, here's Yo Mum's So Fat Joke #6…"Shamu threw a Jenny Craig brochure at her at the water park."

Now for a quick update…

Thursday… Yoga was cancelled because of the snow.

Friday… Snow Day! But I still managed take the dogs out and walked about two miles.

Saturday & Sunday… Walked two miles each day.

Monday…

Garage. Freezing. Scared the bejeebers out of not just one cat but two. Kickboxed.
No ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time class for me, so I didn't have to face to the Chippers. I had promised one of my students that I would attend his soccer game tonight. With temperatures in the 30s and a nippy wind blowing about, I would have preferred an evening drawing circles with my toes. I'm sure whatever calories I burned trying to stay alive were countered by the mass quantities of hot chocolate I drank to help stay warm.

Tuesday…

Garage. Freezing. This time the cats met me on the front porch. Ally Cat followed me into the garage demanding to be held. Wondered if I got an extra calorie burn by holding the cat while doing my exercise pre-warm up.
Had to let the cat go when it was time to punch.
Yoga tonight.

Oh yeah, I guess I need to confess that I ate some Valentine's Day Whoppers.

Joel: I'm Alive!

2010-02-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been pretty busy, and so I haven't updated on here. I have been slowly making my way through the Couch To 5K program doing my "low-impact running". This evening, I did Week 3 Day 2. I used a treadmill for the first time this year on Friday morning when I was in San Antonio for the Texas Music Educators Associaion Convention. It was really cool. When I got tired, I was able to hold myself up so my legs could keep working but wouldn't have to support my entire body weight. Not sure it's the best thing for the treadmill, but it was the hotel's and not mine!

This is the beginning of my eighth week of working out. A few weeks ago, I decided to only run 3 days a week and try to do Wii Fit the rest of the days. After three weeks of doing that, I am certain that this plan will not be most effective for weight-loss. So I'm going back to exploring outdoors 5-7 days a week. If it gets too bad, I'll just run around my living room for 30 minutes with Wii Fit, but I really do prefer the outdoors. Something about nature and open air.

I have been doing this now for seven weeks. It's crazy when I think that I hadn't run in over a decade as recently as January 3rd. Now I am getting my breathing under control when I run and things are starting to get easier.

Slowly.

The weight loss has slowed a bit, but I think a lot of that has to do with me not getting out of the house to exercise every day. So far in 7 weeks, I have lost at least 5 pounds. If I can maintain even this slowed rate, I am on track to lose more than 35 pounds this year.

And this is without the use of any underhanded methods such as low-carb crash dieting or even as extreme as fasting.

Speaking of extreme methods, the school weigh-in is coming up on March 8th. I need to schedule about 5-9 days of fasting between now and then. Hey, I do want to win the money since it's there for the taking!

Carol Update: The Not So Chipper Me

2010-02-10T04:02:00.000-08:00

My goodness I forgot to begin the last post with a "Your Mum's So Fat" joke in honor of the lack of Chubby Brits who failed to rise up to the occasion and participate in this little fitness challenge. So-o-o-o here are two of them (jokes that is, still no Chubby Brits)… Yo Mum's So Fat Joke #4…"They have to put speed bumps at the all you can eat buffet." Yo Mum's So Fat Joke #5… "She laid out on the beach and Greenpeace threw her into the ocean."

OK, so now that I am caught up, Here's a brief midweek update…

Monday…

garage. semi-cold. kickboxing. (cat OK)
went to ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time. Doomsday Becky postponed her trip by one day and did attend. Dora Who's Not The Explorer was out of town, and "A," who is Dora Who's Not The Explorer's daughter was not there either.

HOWEVER… (can I get one of those movie, suspenseful duh-duh-duhs and is that how you spell that?)

Two new people who were very, very, very very chipper showed up, and they could do EVERYTHING without even one teensy groan or complaint. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, the Chippers could draw perfect circles and triangles with their legs. And, as if that isn't bad enough, let me just say that the words "lard" and "behind" never would appear in the same sentence as these two newcomers. Sadly, that is not the case in my case.

Still, I muddled through thinking not-so-happy thoughts.

Tuesday…

Garage. Cold. Kickboxing. Pretty sure I now know all the words to the Black Eyed Peas song, "I Gotta A Feelin.'"
Pretended all the Chippers of the world were on my punching bag.
Doing fairly well with my standing Eagle pose.
Tuesday night… yoga… Missy Chrissy Pretzel admitted that she was the one who told the Chippers about ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time class. Spent the entire class working on what Missy Chrissy Pretzel says is "letting go of all those hidden areas of stress."
So I tried to work on my Chipper issues.
Worked on the Eagle Pose too, but I kept falling over.

I don't know why I can do the Eagle Pose better in my garage than in class. I keep falling over in class.

As best as I can figure, that building must have some sort of foundation problems and the floor tilts.

Carol: And Now For The True Test…

2010-02-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

Alrighty then… so I figure after my last appeal of "Is anyone out there?" there's probably about two other people reading this thing besides Joel and me.

Somewhat of a disappointment, but then again, life is filled with disappointments, and we muddle through, do we not?

After watching Julie & Julia, I guess I was expecting a tad more readers. Instead, I just got hungry and wanted to whip out my Julia Child cookbook and whip up a few recipes.

But I didn't. Now before you get overly excited about my amazing exhibition of will power, I must say that frankly I was too tired and went to bed instead.

So let's have a brief recap of the week where we left off…

Wednesday…garage, cold, kickboxing (cat OK)
Thursday…yoga… doing better at not falling over. Thankfully, no Killer Dolphin poses.
Friday…garage, cold, kickboxing (cat still OK)
Saturday…walked 2 miles
Sunday…walked 2 miles

OK, now for the real test, the real challenge… Monday is ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time. Doomsday Becky is out of town… Dora Who's Not The Explorer is out of town. "A," who is Dora Who's Not The Explorer's daughter, supposedly does not plan to attend without her mother… Hmmmmmmm, who does that leave? There are two other sporadic people who randomly show up, so that really only leaves…

Oh my, that leaves only ME… ME ME ME…

So do I go? I'll get back to you on that one…

Whine with Cookies, the Dolphin Pose & Setbacks

2010-02-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

Yo Mum's So Fat Mum Joke #3…“She irons her clothes on the driveway” [Send me your own jokes… I’ll keep posting these until we get two chubby Brittish teachers for our fitness challenge…]

Time for the midweek update…Jeez Louise, though, I'm not sure why I'm bothering. Is anyone out there? Am I the only chubbette? Am I the only one who has Yo mum's so fat jokes? Am I the only one struggling here? I'm not feelin' the love here…

OK enough of the whineroma… Let's suck in our abs and get an update…

Saturday & Sunday… Walked both days 2 to 2.5 miles each day. Went out to eat twice (bad). Made chocolate chip/pecan cookies to give to the tech guys at work. Ate some too (bad). Ate some again (not good–not the cookies, they were great.). Ate some more later (still bad).

Monday…

Woke up and drank lots of coffee.
Went into the garage for kickboxing
Didn't scare the cat.
Did a little kickboxing & yoga
Went to ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time. Got there before Doomsday Becky, grabbed a spot in the back row, made Doomsday Becky go to the front row, by the teacher.
Wanted to make rabbit ears for Doomsday Becky since I was sitting directly behind her and there was a mirror in front of her. It would have been hilarious, but the teacher kept watching.
Tried to do the roll down on the floor and roll back up thingy. Not happenin' in my life time even if pigs do fly.

Tuesday…

Woke up, drank coffee, went into the garage for kickboxing.
Cat not in the garage. No one to scare.
Did a little kickboxing and yoga.
Getting good at singing "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night" by the Black Eyed Peas.
Went to work. Ate two pieces of Emergency Chocolate.
Went to yoga in the evening. Doomsday Becky took my spot in the back of the room.
Missy Chrissy Pretzel made us do this dolphin thing with push ups. Who knew dolphins could be so mean?
Missy Chrissy Pretzel semi-redeemed herself by including a Leon Russell song in her music repertoire.
No Eagle Pose practice this time, but did Eagle sit ups. Yeah, you try wrapping one foot around your ankle. At least I was already on the floor. No danger of falling down.

Obviously, didn't make much progress in the weight loss category probably had something to do with the eating out, the chocolate chip cookies and my lack of restraint.

I guess I'll be like Scarlett O'Hara and say, "After all, tomorrow is another day."

Joel: My January Facebook Status Updates

2010-02-02T19:42:00.000-08:00

I started out with this crazy plan to run a 5K sometime this spring back on January 3rd. Then I decided to go out and walk 15 minutes that day. Here's the progression I've gone through this month.

If I tagged you, it's because I really do appreciate your comments and encouragement that you've provided through the course of this month. Any time you want to simply click "Like" on one of my status updates, it gives me a psychological boost. Comments even more. Thanks for your help!

January 3
What are you doing for the next 12 weeks?

January 5
Walk 5, Run 1, Walk 5, Run 1, Walk 5...it's cold, but I misread the chart and left out Walk 5, Run 1 yesterday, so I gotta go do it right today...

January 8
Seriously? I win $264 if I lose more weight than the rest of the teachers? I like this plan...

January 9
Me: "Time to go run" Evil Joel: "But it's 45 degrees outside!!!" Me: "The more Evil Joel loses, the more we both win"

January 10
Good morning, Facebook world...time to go workout. :) Week 2, Day 1: Walk 15 minutes, Run 1, Walk 2 Fortunately it's only 24 degrees outside right now.

I'm scared to run 3 minutes straight tomorrow...like...really scared...

January 11
I just noticed it's not going to get any warmer. Guess I better go try to run now while it's still over 50 degrees. I'll just remind myself that there's a $250+ prize at the end of this journey...

Shared link: How To Live To Be 100+

January 12
Only one minute of running this evening! How exciting. Walk 15, Run 1, Walk 2, have dinner. :)

I know the salads at Chili's are loaded with fat and carbs and all sorts of other badness, but it makes me feel like I'm eating healthy when I eat them. So, I guess those 18 minutes of exercise had the purpose of preparing my body to replenish itself...

January 13
Total time spent walking: 16 minutes. Total time spent running: 4 minutes. Broken into 1 minute chunks. Before last week, I hadn't run ANY in 10 years. Literally...

January 15
Total time spent walking: 15 minutes. Total time spent running: 6 minutes. Broken into 5 or 6 intervals. Before January 4th, I hadn't run in 10 years...literally!

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." -- Hebrews 12:11 (NIV)

January 17
Friday was payday. Walked 15 minutes and ran 6 minutes yesterday. Walked 17 minutes and ran 1 minute this morning. I seem to have misplaced 3 pounds since January 1st. Church service was wonderful. Colts won. New season of 24 begins tonight. No classes tomorrow. All in all, this is turning out to be a pretty great weekend!

January 18
Ran 3 minutes tonight. Looks like I'm still not ready to do C25K week 1 yet...

January 19
Tried to run too much yesterday. My legs are still sore from Saturday. Took today off more or less and gonna go for 4 minutes total running time tomorrow. Endurance will come. Slow and steady wins the race...last I checked, the tortoise beat the hare...

Shared link: Is Your Diet Making You Gain?

January 20
Spent 17 minutes on Wii Fit this morning. Gonna do 4 cycles of 4 minutes walking/1 minute running tonight before church. Today's off to a great start. Let's see if my clarinet and flute sectionals can be great after school as well!

Walked 19 minutes and ran 4 minutes after my clarinet and flute sectionals today. Good day overall. Now time for a quick shower and then some Bible study at DRCF...

January 21
Long day at work...didn't actually go outside and enjoy the weather much, but I did spend 34 minutes working out on Wii Fit. Lost about 4 pounds in 20 days. At this rate, I'll lose 73 pounds this year. That would take me back 12 years to my sophomore year of college...

Shared link: Diet Cheat Sheet

January 23
Shared link: Your Most Frequently Asked Running Questions

Some might call it power walking, but I call it 8 minutes of low-impact running and 23 minutes of walking. Just finished C25K Week 1 Day 1

January 24
I think I lost the battle with Pizza Hut tonight...oh well, tomorrow's a new day

January 25
10 minutes of walking and 7 minutes of running around the island on Wii Fit (actually, I ran around the couch in my living room). Now time for some rhythm boxing.

January 26
Walked 21 minutes and ran 9 minutes tonight around the DRMS football stadium (the gates were locked and I'm not about to climb or jump a fence). The Couch-to-5K Running Plan Week 1 Day 2 done.

January 28
Finished C25K Week 1. Walked 22 minutes and ran 9. Now gonna go have dinner.

January 31
Walked/ran 31 minutes on Thursday; didn't work out Friday or Saturday; awoke early this morning and gonna stretch on Wii Fit and rwalk/run.

Joel: No More Excuses

2010-02-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged on here in a week and a half, but I have definitely been working out. I started the Couch To 5K workout plan for real except that instead of actual running, I am doing my low-impact running (also called power walking). I figure the last thing I need to do is blow out a knee or ankle trying to act like I'm 20 years old. So until I can lose about 25 more pounds, I'm sticking with the low-impact running. And Wii Fit!

So what I have been doing is posting status updates on my personal Facebook account chronicling my workouts and getting encouragement from friends. As I read some of them, I find people who are in far better shape than I am giving excuses about time or schedules or whatever. It's easy to do, I did it for over a decade.

But there must come a time when excuses run out

Until that time comes, you're not going to change a thing. But once it comes, everything changes in the way you view your time. Have you had that change yet?

Carol: Fat Joke #2, Midweek Update & Oprah Where Are You

2010-01-28T04:01:00.000-08:00

Yo Mum's So Fat Mum Joke #2…“She laid out on the beach and Greenpeace threw her into the ocean” [Send me your own jokes… I’ll keep posting these until we get two chubby Brittish teachers for our fitness challenge…]

Purchased a new fancy, schmancy scale that does BMI and has BIG numbers for weight, so I can actually SEE the results.

Here's my midweek update…

Monday…

Woke up.
Drank lots of coffee.
Drank more coffee.
Went into the garage for kickboxing
Scared the bejeebers out of the cat.
Did a little kickboxing & yoga and pondered why Oprah wasn't reading my book so I could cash in, hire a personal trainer, buy a Wii and get a make over.
Decided once again that if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, so went back in the house and got ready for work.
Went to ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time. Grabbed a spot in the back row. Made Doomsday Becky go to the front row, by the teacher. Karma… it's a…
Tried to do this rolly ball thing. Yeah, when pigs fly.

Tuesday…

Woke up, drank coffee, went into the garage for kickboxing.
This time DIDN'T scare the cat.
Did a little kickboxing and yoga.
Wished Oprah would just read my book so I could cash in, hire a personal trainer, buy a Wii and get a make over.
Decided once again that if wishes were horses, beggars would ride, so went back in the house and got ready for work.
Went to yoga.
Missy Chrissy Pretzel decided we would do all mat work.
Almost got out my phone to take a picture of her to put on my punching bag, but my arms and abs were so sore I couldn't crawl to reach my phone.
Practiced the Eagle Pose. She taught a new way to do the arms and get set up. Actually helped. :-)

Wednesday…

Woke up, drank cofee, went into the garage for kickboxing.
Didn't scare the cat. Cat's getting smarter.
Wished I had that photo of Missy Chrissy Pretzel. My arms ache.
Punched.
Punched some more.
Practiced Eagle pose.
Went about 15 seconds before I fell over.

Let's see if I survive yoga tonight.

Carol: Giving Up, Fat Mum Jokes & My Weekly Update

2010-01-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

OK, so I’ve given up.

No, silly. Not on this dieting/exercising hoopla, but trying to find two chubby Brits who want to participate in our fitness challenge.

Yes, it’s all rather disappointing. So, as promised, I‘ve now decided to start all my posts with a “Yo mums so fat…” joke.

Juvenile and immature, I know, but hey, I teach high school.

So here’s the first one…

“Yo mums so fat when she sits around the house, she actually sits AROUND the house.”

Now, now, I never said they were going to be good jokes.

Since I’ve got lots to do, here’s a speedy synposis on my week. I think I left on Tuesday…

Tuesday…

Did the kickboxing thing in the garage.
Refrained from pinning Doomsday Becky's photo on punching bag as previously threatened.
Practiced a few Eagle poses.
Fell over doing said Eagle poses.
Went to yoga and commiserated with Missy Chrissy Pretzel about my intense dislike of drawing imaginary circles on the ceiling during ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time.
Tried the Eagle pose again.
Fell over again.
Promised to suck it up and keep going with both the Eagle thing and the ~~Pilates~~ Torture Time thing.

Wednesday…

Did the kickboxing thing in the garage again.
Practiced a few Eagle poses.
Fell over doing said Eagle poses.
Getting better at singing along with my exercise tape
Went to work. On newspaper deadline. Ate two pieces of Emergency Chocolate.

Thursday…

No kickboxing this morning. Instead, went in extra early to work for newspaper deadline.

Only ate one piece of Emergency Chocolate, but could have, would have and probably should have eaten a bunch more to improve a really snarky disposition.
Yelled at the newspaper staff.
Went to yoga, but didn't yell at anyone there.
Worked on the Eagle pose.
Fell over.
Liked having Beth on the mat next to me because for once someone else was falling over as much as I was.
Missy Chrissy Pretzel threw down some sort of smiling/laughing cow pose, but me and Beth weren't laughing or smiling.
Missy Chrissy Pretzel got a bit bold and hopeful and then threw out some sort of crazy impossible pose. Yeah, like that's going to happen. Now, I don't like being a naysayer or a negative Nancy, but I'm feelin' a bit like Clint Eastwood in the movie “Magnum Force” when he says, “A man's got to know his limitations.”

Friday…

No nothing this morning. Had to go in early to work for stupid newspaper deadline. Stayed until 6:30 p.m. for stupid newspaper deadline.
Ate one piece of emergency chocolate and went out and ate Mexican food. Oh, well.

Saturday…

Worked at the animal shelter for two hours cleaning. Figure that has to count for something.

Hope your week went well. Let us know. Is anyone out there reading this thing? Or are you like those chubby Brits? Mums the word? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Joel: More Wii Fit Fun

2010-01-21T16:58:00.000-08:00

So I took Tuesday off from any physical activity. Yesterday, I took a much more reasonable approach to the running and opted to go to my middle school's track (flat surface and all) and did four cycles of 4 minutes walking and 1 minute running. It worked out fantastically. I guess the only real problem was that I didn't drink enough water throughout the day and it was somewhat humid out, so I had to stop at the water fountain and get a quick drink about halfway through. No worries.

Today, I decided to opt out of walking or running and spend some quality time with my Wii again. on Saturday afternoon, one of my friends called me and reminded me that the new season of 24 debuted on Sunday night. He offered to let me borrow the DVD from last season to get caught up (I had a big DVR fiasco during spring break where I lost all of my unwatched episodes of 24, so I just blew it off till later knowing he would get it). So I went over and got it and have been watching that all week. As a result, I have done very little with Wii Fit except for the almost daily check-ins and maybe a little bit of stretching.

Tonight, I spent 34 minutes with it so far, am going to go have dinner with some friends, and then will come back and watch some 24 and probably do some step aerobics and walking around my house a little bit. So which exercises did I choose tonight?

Lunges (ugh)
Rhythm Kung Fu
Snowboard Slalom
Skateboard Arena
Rhythm Boxing
Lotus Focus (not really a workout, but more relaxation)

I also decided that it's time for me to lose the carbonation. I am replacing sodas with mostly water, and some occasional tea and/or coffee. I'll allow myself cappuccinos on the weekends if I've been good. So the journey continues...

Joel: Couch To 5K? More Like Couch To EKG

2010-01-19T21:24:00.001-08:00

Well, yesterday I tried to do Week 1, Day 1 of the Couch To 5K program. Wow, that was intense. It was supposed to do a warm-up walk for 5 minutes and then alternate 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking for 8 cycles, then do a warm-down walk for another 5 minutes.

What happened was that I walked for 5 minutes, did 3 60/90 cycles, then limped along for the next 6 minutes until I could crawl into my truck. I bought this cool C25K app for my iPhone and was jamming along to my music and as I was limping along at the end, I heard the guy telling me to run. Then after what seemed like an eternity, he said I could walk again. I cracked up.

But I did get about 16 minutes of exercise in, and I did actually run for three straight one-minute segments. I've come to realize that I go about 75 steps with each foot in a minute, so even if I don't have my phone or a stopwatch with me, I can still estimate how much running I've done.

Today, I boycotted physical activity in commemoration of the new semester. Tomorrow, I'll do a more reasonable approach to running, which will include better stretching beforehand and longer segments of walking between. The one that has worked best for me so far has been walking 4 minutes and running 1. If I do that four times, I can pace it out more thoroughly, and I still get 20 minutes of exercise in. Including 4 minutes of running.

Oh yeah, I have lost about 3 pounds since January 1st, so I'm pretty much on track. They say if you lose about a pound a week, it's a healthy pace. But I want to lose it all NOW!

Oh well, tomorrow's a new day!

Carol: Weighing In, Movies & Torture Time

2010-01-19T03:58:00.000-08:00

01.17.10…Monday…While everyone else enjoyed their MLK date, we had a teacher inservice day. (Don't even get me started on teacher inservice)…

5 a.m.

Drank lots of coffee

5:30 a.m.

Scared the bejeebers out of the cat.
Went into the not-so-cold-garage for some kickboxing
Smacked the bag and sang along with my work out CD

6:00 a.m.

Drank lots of coffee, ate some breakfast & got ready for work

7:15 a.m.

Went to work
Weighed in… Lost 2.5 pounds and a percentage point or two on the BMI/Fat calibrator thing. Not much, but something.
Vowed not to look at chocolate or a roll. Was worried that the fumes would cause a weight gain.

11:30 a.m.

Went out to lunch with my skinny hallbuddy friend Rhonda.
Ate sensibly
Bought a new tiara with a feather and a pink wand in celebration of those 2.5 pounds.
Wanted to buy a multi-colored tutu that played the hokey pokey, but sadly, it didn't come in adult sizes.

12:30 p.m.

Went to the movies in the afternoon for teacher inservice. (Ya, gotta love my principal). Saw "Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock (good movie).
Resisted the temptation to buy popcorn (held my breath so the fumes wouldn't cause an inadvertent weight gain). W
Watched the movie with my bottled water (and wished I looked like Sandra Bullock and less like the character Big Mike).

6:30 p.m.

Went to ~~torture~~ Pilates with my meany-meany-jelly-beany friend Doomsday Becky.
Had to be in the front row. By the teacher.
Decided to the change the name of the class from pilates to TT for Torture Time.
Vowed to pin Doomsday Becky's face on my punching bag.

An Incentive To Keep Going

2010-01-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

My sister Karen gave me another reason for Joel and me to thankful we're doing this weight loss thing. Seems a group of Swedish Weight Watchers were standing in line for a weigh in when the floor collapsed.

Thankfully, no injuries were reported, but if anyone needed an incentive to push on through and stick with their fitness challenges, this would do it.

Thankfully, like most homes in Texas, mine is built on a slab.

Joel: Week 2 Wrap-Up

2010-01-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Well, this was the last week of our semester as well at school, but for some reason they didn't give us a modified schedule. Everything went as normal. In fact, we had a few days with rain, and my students behaved really well in spite of that. So much so that my first period class Friday morning was eerily quiet. It was awesome!

So, in spite of setbacks early in the week and the realization that I won't be able to stick to the prescribed Week 2 regimen this week, I pushed through and tried.

Monday, I ran a total of 3 minutes. Wednesday, I ran a total of 4 minutes, and Friday, it rained. So I used that as my excuse to take the day off. Then I woke up this morning and ran a total of 6 minutes.

The coolest thing that happened this week was that this morning, I got my first running-related injury. More accurately, my left Tibialis Anterior muscle cramped some. I called a friend of mine who is a physical therapist and has been going to massage school and asked her what I should do. She suggested ice. I continued stretching it out for about 20 minutes, crawled into my truck, and went home. By the time I was home, it was feeling better, so I hobbled around a little more, took a shower, and everything was good. But even so, I got a running injury!

This week, I'm going to probably jump over to the Couch To 5K plan and do week 1, which is a 5-minute walk and then alternating 60 seconds running/90 seconds walking for the next 20 minutes. This will be a total of 8 minutes of running and 17 minutes of walking. I may ease my way into it by doing 6 reps on Monday, 7 on Wednesday, and then 8 on Friday.

I'm not exactly sticking to one specific plan or anything, but I am making forward progress, and that's what counts. I've come to the belief that the 9-week or 12-week plans were made for people who are only 40 pounds overweight in the first place.

A friend of mine tells me that the true test is when I can climb a flight of stairs without losing my breath. I'm still not there, but maybe next week...

Carol: Just how much do good intentions weigh?

2010-01-16T13:32:00.000-08:00

Just how much do good intentions weigh?

That's what I would like to know. Are we talking ounces here or pounds or as the Brits like to say, “stones.” (And, speaking of those Brits, I have yet to find two Rubenesque ones who are up to the challenge, so start dusting off some of Your-Mum's-So-Fat jokes.)

Good intentions must weigh a lot because good intentions don't seem to make the needle on my scale move to the left.

I probably need to work on that because on Wednesday I didn’t do anything exercise related. I should have. I had some good intentions there, but these 10 hour days I've been logging in for this teaching gig just wore me out and I ~~couldn't~~ didn't want to walk the 25 or so steps to the cold garage.

Thursday I perked up a bit and went to yoga. To help me with my fitness goal, my yoga teacher who I’ll start calling Missy Chrissy Pretzel (because it's just fun to say and because she can bend herself in ways I never thought possible) had us all work on the Eagle pose. A lot.

Did I say a lot? I've decided my Eagle is flying through a wind tunnel because I seem to be slanted at what probably equates mathematically to a 30 degree angle. Missy Chrissy Pretzel tells me I just need to practice more.

I fear my fellow yogis don't share her optimism or my enthusiam. In fact, if I weren't paranoid, I might even go so far as to say that I felt just a smidge of bad kharma oozing my way.

Friday I didn’t make it into the garage either.

Again, the school gig interfered. And again, I ~~couldn't~~ didn't want to walk the 25 or so steps to the cold garage despite my urge to smack something. Instead, I left early, drove through Starbucks and went to work on yearbook pages, grading and end of semester stuff. At least, my latte was a nonfat one, and despite the difficulty of my week, I ate only one piece of emergency chocolate, and I kept my gingersnap addiction to a reasonable consumption level. And, even with a roaring fire, I did NOT succumb to the urge to make s'mores. Of course, Jack, my marshmallow eating German Shepherd was disappointed.

I did walk about two miles on Saturday and I weighed myself. Despite the heaviness of my good intentions, I was encouraged. The needle moved to the left a bit. I'll let you know how much it moved when I go Monday morning to the nurse's office for an “official” weigh in.

Let's hope my good intentions quit weighing me down.

Carol: Pilates, Midweek Update & Me

2010-01-13T04:01:00.000-08:00

Quick, snappy update…

Monday…

Went to Pilates with my exercise buddy (the other half of the Exercise Doomsday Duo. I’ve written about that here and here.) Ah pilates… the website description may say that "Hollywood celebrities and supermodels use it to maintain beautiful physiques," but I think it's just another way to torture an aging body into poses that it was never meant to strike. Joel thought he was a dismal failure in his running. Well, compare that to my little foray into Pilates, he'd probably look like an Olympic runner.
Because I am a glutton (yes, in more ways than one) for punishment, I signed up for that class, too.

Tuesday…

Crawled out of bed. Legs and other parts a bit sore from that pilates thing.
Cursed Exercise Doomsday Becky.
Drank three cups of coffee.
Went in freezing garage for my kickboxing workout
Did NOT scare the bejeebers out of the cat this time
Exercise Doomsday Becky.
Pretended to smack the daylights out of Exercise Doomsday Becky.
Went to work
Ate two pieces of Emergency Chocolate
Felt guilty about the Emergency Chocolate, but went to yoga to become one with the Skinny Minnies
Announced my two goals
Got some dubious looks about the whole Eagle Pose thing while I was tilting over.

Let's see how the rest of the week goes.

Joel: The Philosophy Behind Weight Loss

2010-01-12T16:05:00.000-08:00

After yesterday's miserable failure, I'm encouraged about today. I'm excited that I only have to run for one minute. How exciting! The thing that excites and encouraged me the most is the realization that a week ago, I was dreading the thought of running for one solid minute. Now it's a challenge, but it is a surmountable challenge that I have accomplished in the recent past (yesterday) and I know that I can accomplish it again tonight before I go to bed.

Then when I got home, I was encouraged again by a post over at The Scholastic Scribe basically telling me and Carol that If George Costanza Can Do It, Wii Can Too. Essentially, Jason Alexander has signed on as an advertising spokesman with Jenny Craig. One of the comments left by a reader got me really thinking.

[H]e's probably being paid 6 figure a year to keep the weight off. i could lose weight too if they pay me!

So I wonder, is that really true? I tend to disagree. I have had a cardiologist tell me to lose 20 pounds, but it didn't change anything. This was while I was still recovering from an operation he performed on me. I don't think external motivation will cause us to make lasting change.

Sure, it may help us temporarily make some adjustments to where we can win a faculty weight-loss contest or sell millions of diet books for a while or whatever. In fact, for this reason I assume I won't win the contest this spring, because someone somewhere will go onto a low-carb or grapefruit only or some other extremely quick weight-loss method and beat me in two months. But those kinds of extreme changes aren't maintainable over a long period of time. I am looking more to see which of us is better off at the dawn of 2011. That's the real competition!

This is more than a weight-loss experiment for me, this is a starting point for a total lifestyle transformation. At least that's the goal...

So enough philosophizing for now, time for me to get out there and burn some calories!

The Game's Afoot!

2010-01-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

Ah, my fellow portly friends, the game is, indeed, afoot. The challenge has been issued. The shot has been fired across the bow. We are jumpin’ jack flash at the ready. We have challenged my friends across the pond to see if they have two teachers who are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

My buddy, Sarah Ebner over at the SchoolGate, the London Time's education website, posted a letter I sent them challenging two of their teachers to join Joel and me in the Battle of the Bulge.

Now, if we don't get a couple of takers, we'll start lobbing our arsenal of "your mum's so fat jokes…"

So hop over there and post a comment challenging those Brits!

Ah, what have ya got to lose?

Joel: You're Kidding Me, Right?

2010-01-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

I've been aware of this for a while, but today's assigned exercise regimen was to walk 5 minutes, run 3 minutes, walk 5 minutes, run 3 minutes, and walk 5 minutes. I knew it wouldn't be happening. There seems to be a sincere possibility that I'm going to fail week 2 and have to repeat it again next week.

Yesterday morning in 7:30am, there were no problems walking 15 minutes, running 1 minute, and walking another 3+. All good. Even in 24 degree temps.

Today. Another story altogether. So here's sort of how things went down:

5:15
Other Band Director: "Bye, I'll see you tomorrow."

Me: "If I don't call you by 8, call the hospital."

OBD: "Yeah."

Me: "Seriously, I think I'm supposed to walk 5 minutes, run 3 minutes, walk 2 minutes, and die"

5:30
I get home, change into my old worn out and beat up sweatpants, and post my final Facebook status update ever...also reminded myself that there's over $250 waiting at the end of this horrible miserable journey

6:00
Leave to go run

6:14
Find the most secluded track in town and get out to walk

6:15
Begin walking for 5 minutes

6:20
Begin first 3-minute run

6:21:30

Wow, it's been 90 seconds! Time to walk again.

6:21:35

Begin gasping for breath

6:24
Let's try this again...

6:25
Stop running, resume walking, resume gasping for breath

6:28
I can run some more...let's give it one last push!

6:28:20

Has it been 3 minutes yet? No...

6:28:30

Wow, that was the slowest 3 minutes of my life. Time to walk.

6:31

Collapse in my truck

On a positive note, I got 16 minutes of exercise in (plus I played a little Wii Fit later this evening) and I was quite impressed that my legs were hurting before my heart completely failed on me. Maybe there's hope for me yet!

Joel: Week 1 Wrap-Up

2010-01-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

This year is going to be a year of discipline development for me, I assure you. As I mentioned before, our school nurse sent out an email Monday morning inviting us all to participate in this weight loss challenge thing. So the other band director told me that I need to enter since I am planning on running a 5K this spring anyway.

I went in Wednesday, paid my $10, and weighed in. I made sure to wear as heavy of a coat and boots as I possibly could for the weigh-in. Then we got an email on Friday telling us that the first place winner gets 80% of the kitty, and the second place winner gets %20. Right now, the winner's set to get $264. HELLO revolutionary life change! There may be some last-ditch, over-the-top efforts to win come the first week of March in preparation for the March 8th weigh-out. Somehow I think wearing only a t-shirt and boxers for the weigh-out that day is definitely in the plans! Maybe not. But one good side-effect of this is that I will be focusing not only on the running aspect, but also really keeping weight loss in the crosshairs. Can this be a bad thing?

So this week didn't go quite as well as I had anticipated. Here's how it panned out:

Sunday
Supposed to Walk 15 minutes (actually walked 15 minutes and did some Wii stuff)

Monday

Supposed to Walk 5 minutes, Run 1 minute, Walk 5 minutes, Run 1 minute, Walk 5 minutes (actually walked 5 minutes, ran 1 minute, walked 5 minutes)

Tuesday
Supposed to Walk 15 minutes (decided to make-up for yesterday and did the full walk/run/walk/run/walk routine and did some Wii stuff)

Wednesday

Supposed to Walk 5 minutes, Run 1 minute, Walk 5 minutes, Run 1 minute, Walk 5 minutes (actually walked 15 minutes)

Thursday

Supposed to Walk 15 minutes (woke up early to go run, walked for 3 minutes in 20+ mph winds, couldn't catch my breath, went back home...then I walked another 12 minutes including some stairs during my conference period and did some Wii stuff)

Friday
Supposed to Walk 5 minutes, Run 1 minute, Walk 5 minutes, Run 1 minute, Walk 5 minutes (actually it was too cold and windy to do much outside, and I don't have a treadmill for running...so I didn't even do the Wii)

Saturday

Supposed to rest, but I'm actually going to do some Wii stuff in a little bit and also do the walk/run/walk/run/walk routine I was supposed to do yesterday.

All in all not too bad. This week I'm supposed to do some 3-minute running sessions, but I'm just not sure if they'll happen. I'll try it on Monday and see where I end up.

Be sure to check out the latest article on So You Want To Teach? entitled Running and Reading

BMI, Floating Fatso & Goals

2010-01-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I bopped into the nurse's office for my little official weigh in, BMI check, and quite frankly, was aghast.

Let‘s just put it this way. If I were on the Titanic when it sank, well, my dears, I would still be floating. Forget the Unsinkable Molly Brown. How about the Forever Floating Fatso? OK, so I have berated myself long enough.

Here’s my recap for the last week… Went to Yoga on Tuesday & Thursday. Did the 5:30 a.m. frosty kickboxing garage workout thing on Wednesday and Friday. Scooped some poop at the animal shelter this morning (figure that’s got to count for some calorie burning).

Managed to NOT eat any emergency chocolate even though Friday was a particularly challenging day at work.

Now, Joel wanted for me to list some goals. Sheesh! He’s such a band director, ordering this, organizing that, blah, blah, blah. But I’ll humor him. Drum roll pah-leese…

My Two Goals…

Goal No. 1…Lose 30 pounds by the end of May
Goal No. 2…Be able to do the Garuda-asana - The Eagle Pose by the end of May.

Now, before you start tsk, tsk tsking about that second one, let me assure you that since I fall over every time I attempt that pose, I will probably achieve Goal No. 1 before that Eagle thing ever happens.

Of course, I was just a smidge timid about putting Goal No. 2 down because if my yoga instructor reads this, she will decide it's her mission in life for me to achieve this goal. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time falling over.

Carol: Setback, S'mores & Jack the diet saboteur

2010-01-07T03:56:00.000-08:00

A setback.

At the risk of joining the ranks of those who "pointlessly babble" on twitter about eating sandwiches, let me just say it…

I ate a s'more last night

There you have it. It was cold. Fired up the fire place. Ate a s'more.

Only a small one, but I guess small counts.

Oh, and 2 marshmallows.

Then I gave Jack a marshmallow, too, just so I wouldn't feel quilty.

He loves marshmallows and gingersnaps. I wish I could blame him for this lapse. He's such a diet saboteur.

But, well, he's Jack.

And, he's my dog.

Oh, and get ready, it's yoga tonight.

(And note to Joel… Yes, I will come up with some specific goals and will post them tomorrow. I also will go to the nurse for the my "weight in and fat thingy.")

Carol’s Day

2010-01-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

5 a.m.–

Crawled out of bed.
Sore from that cardio-yoga mentioned in yesterday’s post.
Cursed yoga teacher.
Drank coffee
Cursed yoga teacher.
Drank coffee
Cursed yoga teacher.
Drank coffee
Cursed yoga teacher.

5:30 a.m.–

Went in freezing garage for my kickboxing workout
Scared the bejeebers out of the cat
Cursed the yoga teacher
Pretended to smack the daylights out of all the Ninnyhammers in my world

6 a.m.–

Ended workout with yoga stretches
Became one with the universe
Quit cursing yoga teacher
Went inside to eat breakfast and get ready for work and my meeting with my yearbook rep

6:30 a.m.–

Decided maybe we should challenge my friends across the pond to this teacher fitness challenge.

7:30 a.m.–

Got to school
Cursed all that is yearbook
Cursed all that is yearbook
Cursed all that is yearbook…

Joel: Favorite Wii Fit Plus Workouts

2010-01-05T20:02:00.000-08:00

So my workout schedule is here. It's not a distance thing as much as a time thing, which works well for my analytical/logic-based mind. I started on Sunday by walking 15 minutes. Then I went out yesterday to Walk 5 minutes, Run 1, Walk 5, Run 1, Walk 5. But I only glanced at the schedule quickly and forgot the "Repeat 1x" thing, so I only Walked 5, Ran 1, and Walked 5. So today I went out and did yesterday's workout right. Tomorrow and Friday, I'll Walk 15 and do today's workout again Thursday.

In addition to the walking/running, I am trying to do a little bit on the Wii Fit each day. I actually have Wii Fit Plus, which has some additional exercises that the original one didn't. So far, I really am enjoying the Rhythm Boxing and Driving Range workouts. I started playing golf this past summer (see post), so the driving range is great in that it helps me with my stroke, and also counts as exercise. The rhythm boxing is cool because it's sort of like step aerobics stuff, and it involves both arms and some somewhat involved footwork. The step aerobics thing is also kinda fun. The cool thing about these is that they don't require a whole lot of intense coordination, so they fit my style just great!

Note to Carol: Set a goal that is specific, realistic, measurable, and written. It will work wonders for your motivation. Also, tell people about it. Nothing's worse than the guilt you put on yourself. Personally, I'm more interested in telling my friends who already run about my goals. I hate running, but they motivate me. My lazy friends say stuff like, "cool!" My active friends say stuff like, "Awesome! You can do it! You'll love it!" I'll take that one any day.

So we haven't gotten any comments yet. I know people are coming here and reading...so feedback time. What are your Goals for the New Year? What are you doing to make your goal be more than a wish?

Cardio Yoga & My Avatar

2010-01-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

Day 2–Well, I’m glad a little bit of shame worked for Joel. What I didn’t figure though was that shame is a double-edged sword. This bloggeroo challenge thing kept my paws out of the Emergency Chocolate drawer today and away from those gingersnaps this evening.

I also decided that tomorrow I would bebop down to the nurse’s office for my official weigh in and fat checker. Maybe I’ll even come up with some goals like Joel to keep me on track.

After reading Joel’s first post on our blog challenge, I’m really, really glad I ~~coerced~~ cajoled him to to do this. Tonight I announced to my yoga class about my new mission. My yoga teacher, who in a twisted bit of fate is one of my former yearbook editors from a gazillion years ago, got a tad bit too enthusiastic about all of this and decided that we needed to do some cardio yoga.

Who knew there was such a thing? My glutes certainly didn’t. When all was said and done, my cobra pose looked more like an inch worm, my high mountain looked more like an ant hill and my downward facing dog resembled road kill.

Tomorrow while Joel wrestles with his Wii, I will be in my cold garage smacking my kickboxing bag. At 5:30 in the morning.

And I don’t even get to have one of those cute little Wii guys. My student-turned-yoga teacher-Chris said I could come over to her house, and she would make me a Wii guy with her Wii.

But then I’d probably have to do some sort of extra special cardio yoga. I politely declined. Instead, I’m going to use my little stick figure guy from my book as my I’m-too-poor-to-have-a-Wii-guy avatar.

Hey, my stick figure guy may not be as cute as those Wii guys, but my guy is already skinny.

Joel: Shamed Into Doing This...

2010-01-04T20:58:00.000-08:00

Well, I got this crazy idea yesterday to just do something I've long wished I could do, but also long since lost the ability to do. I wrote about it last night (I've Had It! Why I'm Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired, and What I'm Doing About It) and then went to school this morning. Shortly after my 3rd period Beginner Band class, I got an email from one of my fellow (albeit a tad eccentric) blogging friends with the proposition to start up this blog. I have to admit, her zeal and eagerness to get it up and running has me railing to keep up, so we'll see just how well it all pans out.

A little background
When I was in 2nd grade, I was the fastest kid in class. I was running all over the place. I was happy. I was nerdy, but I just didn't care. It was great!

Over the years, that quickness has left me, as well as the happiness, and just not caring. I remain a nerd. I guess somewhere around 4th grade, I really began to struggle with my weight. I use the term struggle loosely, as I honestly didn't care much about it then. I played some sports on and off (even played football at my junior high my freshman year), but was never much of an avid workout type. Marching band was a lot of fun in high school, but not nearly as physically challenging as the sports had been. But it took up a lot of my time and sports had to go.

The summer after high school, I marched with a drum and bugle corps, touring the United States and Canada throughout the summer. By the end of the summer of 1996, I was really tan and weighed 160 pounds. That is the best shape I have been in in my life.

Fast forward

In the summer of 1997, I was in a pretty severe car wreck, which seriously reduced my physical activity. Laziness compounded, and I entered the fall of 1999 weighing in at just around 230 pounds. A few months of vegetarian low-carb dieting (don't ask why) brought me down to just under 200 pounds in early 2000. I was walking some again, and felt really good. Then low carb turned into less low-carb, turned into regular-carb, turned into high-carb, turned into freak-out-high-carb diet.

Student teaching band = NO TIME FOR ANYTHING

In the summer of 2001, I got back into the walking habit (around an hour three to five times a week), but student teaching really ate up my time. That and the tumor I had between my lung and heart which made breathing a challenge. Finally found it and had it removed in early 2002, followed by months of not lifting anything heaver than 5 pounds. That's not so good for the ol' workout.

Now in my eighth year of teaching

I've had stints of exercising followed by long droughts over the years. This summer, I began suffering from allergies pretty heavily. I also started playing golf and was again reminded of how great it is to be outside in South Texas in the summer. I have been considering getting a Wii (and Wii Fit) for a couple of years now, so when the price dropped in October, I knew it was time to act.

Time to get this whole weight thing under control again

So I have friends who run marathons and half marathons and all these things. None of them have a physique similar to mine. (ahem) So I decided this year to challenge myself and finally step up. I asked one of them who lives in the Austin area if she'll run a 5K with me in April, and she said she'd love to. So it's time to get crackin'.

On top of all this, our school nurse sent out an email today for a two-month weight loss challenge. Weigh-in is tomorrow and weigh-out is just a few days before spring break.

As many years as I've live telling myself I'll lose weight or exercise more or whatever, this time I have specific goals. In order to achieve a goal, the experts tell us, it must be specific, realistic, measurable, and written.

So two goals:

Run a 5K by the end of the school year
If I end up walking in the one in April, I have a month and a half to get to where I can run one before June
Lose 60 pounds by the end of 2010
5 pounds a month is definitely realistic and sustainable, and it puts me weighing under 200 pounds (185 puts me at the top of the overweight category, while 186 puts me at the bottom of the obese category) by the end of 2010

I'm going to be using Wii Fit to do the calculations and post updated numbers each Sunday. Let's see how it goes!

New Year’s Resolutions & the Fitness Challenge

2010-01-04T18:21:00.000-08:00

At 5:30 a.m. with the temperature below freezing and frost glistening on the windows, I stood in my garage with my kickboxing gloves on wondering what in the Sam Hill I was doing.

If I weren’t the black widow of exercise, I would be inside some warm gym somewhere in some sort of organized class. But in the last year, my exercise partner and I have somehow managed to breeze through four different exercise venues. Breeze through as in they went out of business, moved away or ditched us. I’ve written about this before. You can read about it here and here.

So this frosty morning left me with no alternative if I was going to keep true to my New Year’s resolutions. At the top of my list—and apparently on the top of a lot of people’s lists—is the “let’s lose a gajillion pounds” resolution.

Of course, this is the same resolution that has topped my list year after year after year. I stuck it back up there any way. I noticed, too, that another teacher blogger also resolved to lose weight this year except he has a Wii. Joel wrote about his plans to try and shed some pounds in 14 weeks with the goal of running his first 5k in April.

I don’t have a Wii (can’t afford one).

I don’t plan to run a 5k (running has never been my thing).

But I do plan to really, really, really try and lose some weight this year which is why I stood frozen in my garage before dawn.

Blame it on the brain freeze, but I had this brilliant idea. I thought to my chubby self, “Chubby Self, let’s issue Joel a challenge. Let’s start a new blog. Let’s see how we do—he with his Wii and me with my sad little kickboxing bag and yoga. Let’s see if technology makes any difference.”

This could be fun.

Well, fun in a twisted sort of way.

Maybe if we have to blog about it, I thought, we might actually do it. I’ll even have the nurse at my school keep an “official” chart of my progress to keep me honest in my reporting.

Of course, that means I have to put away those gingersnaps now.

Let the games begin, and may both of us win!