Posted in Tips and Tricks on 11/10/2009 01:03 pm by admin
So a large part of losing weight is exercise. And it isn’t just helpful for losing weight, it is apparently imperative for looking good once you’ve lost weight. But not everybody enjoys exercise. And by not everybody, I mean me. Seriously. I have never gotten one of those exercise highs people talk about no matter how hard I’ve pushed myself. I just don’t get them I guess. My main source of exercise these days is walking to work and back, but it’s getting cold and dark and sometimes I’m running late (like yesterday) and sometimes I need my car to run work errands, and sometimes I need to bring more than I can carry to work (like today).
But all is not lost! Even if it’s 40 below for two weeks like last winter there will still be exercise! Yes, I have a gym membership and I do hit the gym, but even if I didn’t there are plenty of non-gym things that count as exercise:
Housework. I put hand weights in the bottom of my laundry basket and my washer and dryer are downstairs.
Shopping. Just don’t spring for fast food while you’re out refreshing your wardrobe because all your clothes are too big.
Dancing. Rocks.
Shovelling snow. Doesn’t rock, but is necessary.
Playing with kids/animals/friends who act like kids. Also known as wrastling. The ‘A’ is intentional.
If you have fun with it the more likely you are to do it.
Posted in Life, the Universe, and Everything on 11/09/2009 09:51 pm by admin
Top Searches has got my real name on it, which I thought I hadn’t actually posted on here. But apparently I have. Huh.
Later…I haven’t, but it seems that Google knows me anyway. So if you know me this blog apparently pre-empts (and here are some big hints) my Alaska Broadcasters Association award, my work in the UAF student literary magazine, Facebook obviously, but Twitter and Livestrong too, and even my degree. Man, I am hot on google!! But I’m kind of surprised, it’s been a while since I googled myself and something’s missing – oh there it is, on the third page. I’m referred to on Japanese Amazon.com. And I’m not even kidding, it isn’t someone with the same name as I have, it’s me. My name is in the “Acknowledgments” section of a book that I helped the writer research several years ago. And it turns up on Japanese Amazon.
And I’ve got a pretty good guess who googled me actually. Maybe.
Posted in Weekly Weigh-In on 11/09/2009 09:49 pm by admin
Starting Weight: 280
Current Weight: 195.2
Total Loss: 84.8
So I have no idea what happened. According to my grand unifying theory of weight loss I shouldn’t have lost a pound this week. It was a bingy PMS week, seriously. And yet, here I go shrinking again.
I’m actually really happy about this.
Still writing my nanowrimo story. It was going to be a super serious yet funny discourse on weight politics and family issues and the interconnectedness between the women around you and the woman inside you.
Instead it’s about an obese micropaleontologist who finds god. Literally. I’ve got less than 10 words so I’m way behind, but at 7.5k not too far behind. Especially as I get veteran’s day off.
It turns out I can write just about 1000 words in an hour. I’m going to try not to neglect the blog the way that I did last week.
Posted in Uncategorized on 11/04/2009 08:29 pm by admin
But no more – was out with James both Monday and last night. So no blogging here! But I had a great time – he’s a really cool guy. Too bad he lives in Arizona and I live in Alaska.
Not much of a post today either – I’m working on my nanowrimo book – I’m really really behind. But I wanted to let you know I haven’t forgotten you.
Posted in Uncategorized on 10/30/2009 01:10 pm by admin
Happy Pre-Halloween!!
Yes, I am the girl who dresses up for Halloween at work – even if nobody else does, even if it’s the Friday before Halloween when Halloween falls on a weekend.
I can’t help it – I love dressing up!! How often can you wear a scarf as a belt, and a scarf as a headband, and a hat, and a ruffly shirt, and still look good.
Posted in Ranty on 10/30/2009 01:05 pm by admin
I don’t know if I love or hate stretch jeans. It isn’t anywhere in the middle. I am definitely not ambivalent towards stretch jeans. On the one hand they tend to look really good because of the way they cling and lift the right places. On the other hand they feel like they don’t fit because the first time I put them on they haven’t had a chance to stretch yet and so are really hard to button.
In other news, right now, this moment I’m wearing the smallest jeans I have ever owned as an adult. I dressed up as a pirate to go to the office today because Halloween is on a weekend and I wanted to dress up at work sooooooo … yeah. Nobody at work is surprised at all that I dressed up. Nobody else dressed up. Of course, there is only one other person in the office today. (Posting on my break). I left my phone/camera at home today but Shondar is stopping by to get some measurements for my real Halloween costume which isn’t exactly finished yet and she’s bringing my phone so I’ll post a picture then.
Posted in Uncategorized on 10/28/2009 08:53 pm by admin
This article is really thought provoking. Right now I really want a piece of Lindt Intense sea salt and I’m going to go get some in a moment (obviously, see yesterday’s post) but this article made me stop and think. Junk food is supposedly as addictive as heroin. That is pretty intense. Also probably an overstatement, but junk food has an obvious proponent — which would make it really hard to get over — that Heroin doesn’t: You need to eat.
The third hardest thing I have done in my life is give up high fructose corn syrup. (I’m big on lists. 1. My father’s death. 2. Going without picking for 21 days. 3. Giving up HFCS. 4. Graduating college.) Though in the modern world it is pretty much impossible to completely give up HFCS, I don’t drink soda anymore and I very seldom eat processed food. I am planning on getting a small bag of candy corn for Halloween but before that, the last HFCS I’ve had….ages ago. Especially if you are a binge eater like me, junk food is engineered to go beyond tempting to irresistible.
On the one hand, I get why companies like Mars or Frito Lays do it, and obviously HFCS isn’t the entire issue, profits are king in a capitalist system. Not complaining, the system works for most. But, and this is a big but, I really hope that some day profits stop outweighing karma, or the golden rule, or whatever the heck you want to call the human drive to do the right thing.
When it comes down to it – large companies are intentionally addicting the population to harmful substances for profits. People think that obesity is a matter of will-power. It isn’t.
Posted in Uncategorized on 10/27/2009 10:24 am by admin
Or can I?
Deprivation diets don’t work. Say it with me: Deprivation diets don’t work. Once again: Deprivation diets don’t work. I can’t hear you: Deprivation diets don’t work.
Glad I got that out of my system.
Now I’m not advocating for you to go out and eat whatever you like and call it a diet. Oh wait, actually I am. I’m not advocating for you to go out and eat as much as you like of whatever you like. The trick, of course, is moderation. The less cliche trick is quality.
I’m serious about the quality thing. Two squares of Lindt 70 or 85 will satisfy me more than an entire bar of Hershey’s Special Dark. And then two squares of the good stuff has 110 calories, the full bar of the waxy yick stuff has 180 calories. Of course, if you were to eat the whole bar of the Lindt chocolate you’d have a problem (550 calories) but you won’t do that. Because that would be far too much chocolate.
The same thing goes for pretty much any unhealthy food I can think of. Jonesing for a burger? Get one! But don’t go to McD’s, head over to your nice little sit down place, eat half the burger and substitute salad for fries. Unless of course you want fries, in which case you order a side of fries and split it with a friend. Let the friend have most. That way you get less calories and your friend gets fatter, making you look thinner in comparison.
If you bake make cupcakes instead of a full cake and then bring them to work. You’ll be instantly popular and you won’t overindulge. Make cookies for friends or lovers. So long as it isn’t spouses because spouses tend to live with you. The idea is to indulge and then get it away from you.
Whatever your method is, I cannot stress it enough: Do not let cravings sit. They will just intensify. Satisfy your craving at first opportunity and you will eat less.
Posted in Geekery on 10/26/2009 09:28 pm by admin
If any of you are sci-fi geeks (like me) who dug the show Firefly (like me) go on Hulu and watch the first five minutes of tonight’s Castle. Trust me.
Posted in Alaska on 10/26/2009 09:19 pm by admin
This is the back yard at my office downtown. We finally finally finally got some snow! I woke up this morning in the winter dark but instead of black pouring in from the window, or maybe a sliver of silver moonlight, the entire sky was sulfuric orange!
Ugly I know, but a sign of one specific thing: SNOW!!!
And it’s about bloody time! We got maybe an inch today, but an inch is enough when it covers the flaws a post-fall Fairbanks. My poor little phone can’t take pictures nice enough to describe it.
One problem.
Every winter the first snow fall becomes a sort of Winter Driving 101 course, and even if you (me) happen have decent winter driving skills, there is always a good chance the people around you don’t!
I’ve never yet been in an accident but I’ve had a couple of really close calls. Once I ran out of momentum going up Ballaine hill (very steep, but very straight on the side I was going up) and ended up going into a slide. Went 180 and ended up facing straight ahead…in the wrong direction. So I went back down the hill and took the long way home.
Today was nothing so dramatic. I lost control of my car for a bit on Farmer’s loop, well, lost control is a bit strong. I was going into a slide but I didn’t change directions or fishtail or anything. Actually I’m rather proud of how I controlled losing control.
Later though there was a very near miss, could have been a multi-car pile-up. I was on the steese heading in towards town and some truck speeds ahead of me in the right lane. Not too surprised, my lane was going under the speed limit. But a few seconds later he fishtails out of control, a state truck in front of him has stopped abruptly. The car in front of me swings wide. I had to brake rapidly without sliding. Thank goodness its a busy road and was pretty clear, I was able to stop in time. But if the fast truck had hit the state truck, or the car in front of me had hit him, or heck if the guy behind me wasn’t giving me enough room……..
We get a lot of accidents.