Better Things

I've run into a real stiff wall regarding workouts. It is no small part a bit of depression due to some very disappointing developments on the career front and complicated by a change of schedule. After three years of teaching in the morning and sneaking off to the occasional workout in the afternoon, I am teaching late every afternoon four days a week. I'm not sure how that happened but I must have been loopy when I was asked how I felt about it. Or I wasn't asked at all, which might also be the case.

Another disappointment was spending almost two weeks on a near vegan diet, then going to a routine workplace health screening only to find that my "good" cholesterol has evidently found levels so low as to barely be human. They even trotted out the equipment again and retested me. It was still bad. So off to the internist I went for more blood tests. Maybe it will be better this time; the results aren't in yet.

There is good news: I did pull on the old workout gear and strap on the shoes and find a podcast to listen to and took a 1 1/4 mile jaunt through the neighborhood. It wasn't bad. We're at about 60 degrees and it was overcast so the black pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt did the trick. I found a little stuff sack that fit around my shoulder to hold the phone loaded with Runkeeper and reading glasses. Hey, do not snicker at the last bit of info, unless you are doing so with empathy. I cannot see my phone without them and it was a little tricky to get the podcast going while Runkeeper was doing its thing. So it goes.

The song for the day is this sadly underplayed gem from the Kinks. I think I'll get there. Eventually. I might have to start waking up earlier in the mornings to do so, but it's worth a try.

 Better Things

Just like Starting Over

He was never my favorite Beatle but I can't help but thinking this is the song for right now. Oh, and I blame Yoko for the break-up and I always will.

Starting Over

This isn't about a new workout program; I don't think I'm there yet. For the now, I'm trying to get some of the garbage out of my body by following one of the Martha Stewart three-week detoxify and cleanse thing. There are a couple of nice things about this approach.

1. I started on Wednesday, which is also Ash Wednesday, which begins Lent, which is supposed to be all about discipline and deprivation. Except that I screwed up and only had about 20 minutes to eat before I had to sing the service so I had a cheeseburger at Jack's. Hey, I've had four clean meals since then. 
2. Say what you want to about Martha Stewart, her recipes don't suck. So far the smoothies have been delicious and filling and the other meals have been tasty and satisfying too. Sure, I'll have to take some of the evening time I've spent drinking wine and bitching at the TV to do food prep, but I kind of even LIKE that sort of thing. There was a time when my best approach to losing weight (and face it, that's most of what this is about) was to mindlessly eat something prepackaged and get on with it. I've changed a little and may have grown up some. I know that I like food even more than I used to, so I will enjoy to mindfully prepare it with the proper sense of awareness. Or something like that. 

So far (a little of the way into day three and I already fell of the wagon once) things seem to be okay. I've been sleeping well, drinking water like crazy, and may have even dropped a couple of pounds. Although small changes in stuff like the humidity can make my weight vary close to double digits. 

My next potential stumbling block is a reception I am supposed to attend at The Club this afternoon. Can I really order just sparkling water? Or maybe a little white wine with some sparkling water? And can I only select from the healthy hors d'ouevres? Is it humanly possible? So there are four possible outcomes.

1. Don't go; no one will miss me anyway. 
2. Go and behave. Drink sparking water with a lemon or something. Eat celery.
3. Bend a bit. Have a glass of vino and a couple of things with cheese in them. Then go home and prepare my nutritious and delicious evening meal.
4. Totally fall off the wagon. Slug down shots of whiskey and devour everything related to sausage and/or bacon on the buffet table. 

I'm hoping for something between 2 and 3. That will be success. 

Big Girl