week never: weight loss on hold

At least temporarily.

In addition to the host of random small physical ailments that I seem always to be plagued with, my doctor has told me that I need to curb my physical activity for the next four weeks. Its a long and private story, but needless to say, those 600-calorie burning spin and kickboxing classes will not be happening until about April. In fact, all I can really do is walk.

Blech.

This coincides with the advent of Lent - during when, once again, I will be giving up meat. But, stereotypical hypocrite that I am, I am eating fish. Going without protein has been strictly verboten by the doc.

I'll be watching my eating and walking, maybe doing some pilates after mid-March, but for the time being, my ambitions to lose 10 lbs are on hold.

my favorite picture

I found this on my parents' camera, when I finally helped Mom download all 7 months worth of pictures that she couldn't figure out how to download :-)

Cutest picture ever! Not of me, but look at the baby. The baby!

He was so tiny back then... and deceptively mellow. We even were talking about how worried we were that Bennie was so hyper and he was so shy. Ha! Little did we know.

wtf...?!

I sincerely hope that California secedes from the United States... and soon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060224/ap_on_re_us/
abortion_south_dakota

"Since when," I asked Heather, "have we become a country of Puritan rednecks?"

The last thing we need is South Dakota to reproduce. We've already seen the ramifications of inbreeding on intelligence levels, proof being the election of Mr. George W. Bush.

And yes, I am a Republican. Or at least, I was until it went from being the party of the rich & snobby elite to backwater, Bible-thumping white trash.

PUPPIES!

I already miss my babies, and its only been a day. A friend of mine said to me today, "If you ever loved your boyfriend as much as you love your dog, he'd be a lucky man."

Ehn. I'm not in the business of making men lucky.


Me and Baby


Baby likes kissing people now. Bennie still eats my hair.


I love my dogs


Brindo's so big that he and Bennie are practically twins now

Brindo is living proof that boys are naturally slower than girls. He's 5 months old, and pees everywhere except where he's supposed to. (Bennie was trained by 3 mos.) We put the pee-pee pad in the kitchen, and he'll pee everywhere else in the kitchen. We lock him in the kitchen all day, and he won't pee all day - but the moment we let him out, he pees on the rug. I rub his belly and he pees. I don't rub his belly and he pees. When I came home, he was so excited that he peed in a large design along the living room carpet. Truly, it was a work of art.

I have become his pee-pee pad.

He's learned to roll over, and it amuses him endlessly. It amuses him so much that he pees in an arc while he's rolling over. We've started calling him a "returd" for being such a retarded little turd.

Brindo certainly has character. I used to think that Bennie was hyper, but she's like a stoner dog compared to my baby. The other day, he was sitting on Dad's stomach and decided to crawl into his fleece vest. Eventually, he stuck his face through the arm hole. When Bennie came and started licking him, he retreated into the vest, like a turtle.


Brindo, the puppy-kangaroo

Our Bennie is still ridiculously cute. She's definitely mellowed in her adolescence and I think that her thyroid issue has kept her from being as hyper as she used to be. She was recently diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. There's not much they can do about it, but it explains the weight gain. I'm just waiting for the doctors to diagnose me with an underactive thyroid so I have an excuse for gaining +/- 10 lbs in 2 years. Laziness, too much work, getting old and eating crap have nothing to do with it ;-)

But Bennie is still a kisser. And a little princess that plays to the camera. Witness below:


"Bennie, kiss Mommy!"


Going for another angle

However, the best moment of the weekend did not involve the dogs. Our parents are selling the house, and along with specs on the house, they have information about the Franklin Township school district. One day, the realtor picked up the brochure and asked me if I went to the high school there.

"Oh my god," my mother exclaimed. "She's almost 30!"

week 3: body intelligence

Might as well develop some of that, since I gots no other kind of intelligence :-)

I went home for President's Day weekend to see my pups, and finally started on the Body Intelligence plan. I'm adding it to my diet and fitness regimen, so that I can become more emotionally healthy about my weight. Its actually a really great book that encompasses a lot of things that people know about healthy weight loss, but puts it together in one achievable, structured program.

And you know me. I love achieveable and structured.

*~*~*~*
Weight Loss Diary, Week 3
Sun, 2/12 - Sat, 2/18
Weight: 129.5 lbs
Body Fat: ~26.5%
Fitness Level: Looking forward to more workouts...



Exercise Log:

• Sun: Walking up and down hills, 20 mins; Kickboxing, 30 mins
• Mon: Spinning, 50 mins - whoo!
• Wed: Elliptical, 30 mins; BOSU, 10 mins
  
• Total APs: 10
  

*~*~*~*

Accomplishments:

• Spinning for 50 mins on the Monday. OMG. Kicked my ass.
• Went to the gym during the week
• Definitely more conscious of how I'm eating
  

< 12 hours and counting!

I'm going home tonight to NJ for the weekend... and in less than 12 hours, I'll get to see my babies! I'm so excited, although I have to admit that I'll be sad if Brindo doesn't pee all over me this time.

Me: Do I need to bring home real clothes?
Mom: No, you're only going to be seeing 4 people - me, Dad, Brindo and Bennie
Me: Mom, the dogs are not people

She's recently started dubbing us her "3 B's": Brindo, Bennie and BB - which is, embarasingly enough, her nickname for me.

Well, I guess its better than "Smelly Butt".

rantings on the diet

I've been waiting for my Tanita Scale and Body Fat Monitor to arrive for the last few weeks, as the scale at my gym is rumored to be off, and I have varying calculations on my body fat %. Not that this is 100% accurate, but at the very least, I will have one consistent tool to track deltas.

Exciting things:

• Weight is 130.5, not 134. Phew. That scale at my gym really was broken
• Body Fat is 27.5%, not 30%

Unfortunately, I kinda feel like crap. I've been brutally honest with calculating my points on Weight Watchers. Even though its only Tuesday, I'm already 19 points over my weekly allowance! Yet, I don't feel like I am overeating (most of the time) - in fact, I feel like I've been eating much, much healthier. I wonder when I did WW last time if I really was on track with the points, if I was flubbing it a bit, or if I was just really hungry. At least, I don't feel cranky or deprived so this is sustainable.

I've been eating a ton of fruit and veggies, and really careful about my portions. I've also been exercising a lot more regularly - my AP's zoomed because of my Kickboxing and Spinning the last couple of days. Does this mean I'm going to gain weight? I am eating less at least than before? Maybe that's how I gained 10 lbs to begin with... tee hee.

I'm going to call my old nutritionist and see what her thoughts are.

steaming - revisited

I just talked to the dealership - and chalk up my earlier panic to poor communication on his part. He left me a vm saying that the oil pan was cracked, and made it sound like that was why my car overheated.

Well, after we talked, it was clarified that the power steering fan had blown, and there was a problem with the coolant. THAT was what caused it to overheat. The oil pan leak is a separate issue that we found that is bad, but not critical to fix. I asked him if it was ok for me to drive it home and just park it for a couple of weeks, and he said its drivable, but I will need to minimize my driving.

Since I don't actually drive that much to begin with, and am happy to pubtrans it for a few weeks, I will probably just leave it until March, when I'll have the cash to deal with it.

*Phew*

While my car is in the shop, I'm asking him to deal with some other things that I've been meaning to fix, i.e., the washers, the rubber on the side of the tires, etc. Hopefully I can cross those off my goals list soon.

steaming...

The MINI dealership just called me and told me that I have a cracked oil pan, and that it will cost $1100 to fix. HOLY SHIT. That also means that I did the damage (although I don't recall what I might have hit to crack the damn thing) so therefore its not covered under warranty.

I. Am. Not. Happy.

Thankfully, I went to Spinning last night, which incidentally, kicked my ass, so I'm too sore to punch anything right now. I might go and do it later today anyway.

In other non-car or stress related news, I think I'm retiring the Robustagut blog. Its too much work to put my postings in two places, and Fernando isn't updating it anyways. Besides, I found this Notes function on the Weight Watchers site that allows me to keep my food journal. Duh, its always been there, I just never thought to use it. This is quite timely, considering I'm starting on the Body Intelligence program to compliment my weight loss efforts.

woe is my mini!

On Saturday, as I was coming back from getting my [fabulous new] haircut from Yossi in Berkeley, my car overheated on the Bay Bridge. Ugh! Took them an hour to come and tow me. Now I am carless.

This is the 2nd time I've been towed in 2 weeks - although last week, it was because of a stupid towaway zone sign, not mechanical problems.

Grrr.

so robust

Robustvin, robust food, Robusteam. It was a robust night!

Carolyn, Clydo (who I haven't seen in FOREVER) and Fernando joined me, Eric and Philippe for dinner on Wednesday.

New terms to add to the Robustinary:

• Robese
• Robustorexic
• Roblemic
  

We also inducted our newest member: Robofil (pronounced Robo-Feel) - Philippe!


Carolyn & Clyde make their robust salad


The creamy pesto chicken with artichokes. Enough food?


Our beautiful dinner table


Clydo and I and our jug o'wine


Fernando enjoys a glass


Eating Fernando's head. Er.


Look at what we're eating!


The cake from Tartine. Like eating a piece of sin - and we're not talking "take his name in vain" sin


"Another glass, Madam?"


Carolyn and her beautiful cake


... with sour raspberries


Robustvin


Making faces


Describing the Beeramid


Caro and Clydo


Don't ask. Trust me, its better blurry.


A beautiful view


Thing-O


Group pic, group hug

After we finished dinner, we retired to the living room and decided to do what everyone does... look up our personalities in the Enneagram! The results:

• Serena "Leave me along when I'm working" Yang - Type 1
• Fernando "Hug Me" Padilla - Type 9
• Clyde "I like to be seen with you" Lachica - Type 2
• Carolyn "Give me companionship and freedom" Doak - Type 7

Can't wait to see them again. Love them!

the joy of taiwanese food

OK, this took me 3 weeks to post... But here's pics from our trip to Joy Restaurant in Foster City - only the best Taiwanese place in the Bay Area!


Me, Karen and Agnes at the beginning of the night


Wine, wine, wine!


Ohhhh... fat. Ohhh... pork.


Steamed ribs with yams


Garlic king crabs


Steamed pork legs


Soup


Digging into the great crabs


Eel


Karen and Agnes, after some wine


Me and Agnes


Nian-Gao... so good that we brought some home for the Chinese New Year dinner party


We love wine


Ohhhh, way too full

week 2: i've fallen, but i *can* get up

What a week.

I more than blew my diet this week - the Robusteam dinner on Wed alone was 35 points! - and at that point, I was ready to just stop logging things for the week. But I ate normally, continued to exercise in small increments, and took the advice of every weight loss article out there and counted my small victories.

By Sunday, not only was I back up, but raring to go for the coming week...

*~*~*~*
Weight Loss Diary, Week 2
Weight: 130.5 lbs
Body Fat: ~27.5%
Fitness Level: Pretty darn good. I'm no longer afraid of working out - in fact, I look forward to it!


Yeah, don't look at the face. I'm making a horridly unattractive expression.

Exercise Log:

• Sun, 1/15: Elliptical, 40 minutes
• Tues, 1/17: Elliptical, 7 mins; Weights on BOSU, 20 mins
• Thurs, 1/18: Elliptical, 25 mins; Pilates Reformer, 20 mins
• Sat, 1/20: Yoga, 70 mins
• Total APs: 6.5
• Total APs to date (not inluding today): 14.5/65

*~*~*~*

I've also started the Body Intelligence program by Dr. Edward Abramson, mostly because it makes so much sense. I'm in my first week/day of it. This week is tracking Emotional Eating. More on that next week.

Accomplishments:

• Went to the gym on Tues, even though I only had 40 minutes to rush to my therapy appointment. There was a large part of me that said not to bother, but I got in a quickie work out - and it felt great!
• I've hit my February goal of working out 3x/week - in fact, last week I worked out 4 times. If I do it for the next 2 weeks, I can cross it off my goal list
  
• Woke up early on Saturday and went to yoga. Even though I didn't like it (I thought it was going to be Bikram style), I stuck through the whole class and did as much of the poses as I could
• I'm looking forward to working out again

Happy happy joy joy!

hey baby, what type are you?

I recently got introduced to the Enneagram, which is one of those personality test thingies. Its scarily accurate (at least for me)! Then again, I have such a strong personality, I suppose that I almost fit to type.

No surprise to anyone, I am a mix between a 3 and a 1. I more strongly identify with the 3's though. Here's just a glimpse... (as soon as I saw the first bullet item, I was like, "that's me!")

How to Get Along with Me

• Leave me alone when I am doing my work.
• Give me honest, but not unduly critical or judgmental, feedback.
• Help me keep my environment harmonious and peaceful.
• Don't burden me with negative emotions.
• Tell me you like being around me.
• Tell me when you're proud of me or my accomplishments.

What I Like About Being a Three

• being optimistic, friendly, and upbeat
• providing well for my family
• being able to recover quickly from setbacks and to charge ahead to the next challenge
• staying informed, knowing what's going on
• being competent and able to get things to work efficiently
• being able to motivate people

What type are you? Take the test here.

almost, but no cigar

Or, should I say, "but too much beer"?

I was really good about my diet and exercise program - still in its first week - until our Release Party for HiPer and Process on Friday. Then I blew it by excessive amounts of beer, some cold ribs, foie gras pasta, and just a dash of B.

In the aftermath, not only did I not wake up until 2 in the afternoon, but slept all day, ate a couple of grilled cheese and bologna sandwiches, and missed my dance date with Agnes.

Today is my reset. *Sigh*

But hey - I'm back. No more self pity/flagellation/whining. Nothing like a little S & S to get one back on her feet.

wise quotes about life

"My rule is that if it smells worse than my shoe, I'd rather not eat it." - Ilan, on cheese

"Its like itchy balls. Its a part of life, its annoying, but you gotta live with it." - Andy, on accepting weird quirks of friends

Hrmmmm....

my puppy is falling from the sky!

OK, bad way to say that its raining like HELL outside. *Grble*

On a good note, the guy at one of my favorite lunch places, Firehouse Cafe, gave me a free cup of coffee today because I got soaked just walking across the street. Damn umbrella doesn't work.

At least I don't have to bother to do my hair these days.

the weight watchers challenge

Hehe, I know. It sounds pretty funny to me too. But hey - whatever will motivate me to stick to my fitness plan.

So as you know, I've actively joined Weight Watchers. So far most of my interaction has been online; I'm still evaluating whether or not I want to go to the meetings. But I like the online community boards - they are surprisingly supportive. One of the things that I'm trying out is the "AP Challenge", where a group of people enter a challenge to score a certain number of Activity Points (what you get for working out that deducts from your food points). Points are posted weekly, and it keeps us going.

This AP Challenge is 65 points for the month of February. Just to give you an idea of how much activity equates to a point:

• 30 mins of moderate intensity on the Elliptical or free weight training = 1 point
• 60 mins of Kickboxing or Spinning = 6 points (approx. 1 point/10 mins of high intensity)
• 90 mins of Yoga = 3 points (approx. 1 point/30 min of low intensity)

For those of you who can't do the math, that means 16.25 points per week.

To meet that, I am aiming to follow this plan:

• 30 mins Kickboxing: 3 points
• 30 mins Spinning: 3 points
• 30 mins Elliptical + 30 mins weight training: 2 points
• 75 mins Bikram Yoga: 6 points
• 60 mins Pilates: 3 points
• Total: 17 points per week

Its cheesy, but actually fairly motivational. At least, more so than "Oh shit, I need to work out today or I'll become a fat slob." I'm liking this whole support group thing. I can see why its the most effective way to lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off - second only to amputation, of course.

Wish me luck... I start tonight with Kickboxing.