SueWorks

20 Minutes is a Freaking Long Time

It's not really that long but I have an ice pack on the small of my back.  It's over my clothes and I'm leaning in the chair to hold it in place.  I'm leaning ever so slightly but enough.

I have a hurting back.  The chiropractor thinks it's a pinched nerve, but it could be a strained muscle.  He's still figuring it out.  All I know is that it hurts and I'm walking like a very old lady.

I need to find the Alleve or Advil, apparently the Tylenol I've been taking (which hasn't done anything) does nothing for inflammation.

It's been 4 minutes.  It's going to be along day!

Paranoia or Good Sense

I was looking at articles on H1N1 yesterday.  Two people in China may have died due to the vaccination.  A local medical center is buying gallons of hand sanitizer monthly.  I've heard of schools cleaning door knobs multiple times throughout the day with germ killing chemicals.  To get to the restroom at work, I need to open three doors one way.  That's a lot of germ infested door knobs to touch. 

Pkin and I were at Costco, at check out the family behind us had two preteen girls who were sneezing.  No hands were covering mouths and I didn't see a tissue anywhere.  Pkin moved us to the front of the cart - so there were only sneezing on our purchases. 

Wow!  All this stuff can make you crazy.  Do you wear a mask?  How much hand sanitizer should you use?  How can you not shake hands?  I heard something about elbow bumping as an alternative.  Heck, I'm ready to wave only.

Happy Monday

I have weigh-in on Monday, which makes me think a little more about what I eat on Sunday.  It's a good thing.  Today was a good day, down 1.6 pounds.  That seems like such a little bit but it's like half a can of coffee.  That's something!

My friend, and main non-paid motivator, is on Lindora which is a high protein, very low carb plan.  She is losing weight much faster than I am but I like my carbs, love them in fact, this is best plan for me right now.  If only, only I can get exercise in.  We spent a hour at the shooting range, and I'm sore but 'cause of the big ass bruise on my arm that Pkin poked really hard last night.  He can be a major pork chop most of the time.

There was a study in Australia or New Zealand, I think, about low carb versus not low carb diets.  Carbs make people happy, they help in serotonin production.  Though people lost about the same amount of weight, the carb eaters were happier.  It's supposed that happier people have better eating and exercise habits overall.  I like that kind of thinking. 

I'm also afraid to write this next bit.  If I continue on track, I will be at my goal is 31 weeks and my super goal in 36 weeks.  Neither is a long time.  I'm been on plan for 5 weeks so far, that is 13.9% of the way there.  That's like what tax will be next year, at the rate we're headed.  That's almost 15% and that is a lot, a lot!  Wow, I've accomplished so much already and it's been a process but not really super hard.  I just need to keep it up to keep my weight down.

Have I shared about Pkin's diet by proxy?  I'm sure he's down as a size and a half.  He was wearing a formerly sausage shirt that now is only slightly snug about the belly.  He's so lucky I'm doing all this and that he gets the take advantage of the benefits.

Topics for Today

There is a choice of topics for today.  The current leader is "the futility of committee" or "some people's co-workers just s&ck."  Another possible choice is "boobs, not just for milk anymore."

After a bothersome work day I had the pleasure of visiting a Breast Health Center.  All the accents were in pink.  The machine manufacturer even incorporated the pink ribbon into the product logo.  The little pink caplet that covered nothing set off the whole experience.

I guess I'm over the bothersome work day, but if you want to think about and/or get some help if you have a day like that, read Alexander's tale.

Depends, or How I Spent My Saturday Night

[After writing a fun entry on grocery store experiences, TypePad @#$%@ed out.  Here's goes Take 2!]

I do not know how to grocery shop.  Some people shop for economy, some for health, some for culinary expression and then there is me.  I shop for things that I think will make me happy.  When Pkin and I got married, neither of us had really managed a home of our own, by ourselves (me even less so.)  I have never learned the skill of meal planning.  It's so interesting to me that people plan two or more weeks of dinners at home and then actually make them and eat them, leftovers and all.  I shop for A meal.

The worst happened last week, after shopping for my small part of Easter dinner (candy and homemade cheesecake) I came home to color eggs and make dessert.  Mom was visiting too.  We started the cake, and were thinking about the eggs and decided it was lunch time.

How yummy tuna melts would be, was my thought.  I went to the cupboard and looked, no tuna.  After moving around 6-year-old soup cans, exploring the cabinets under the countertop, and even searching in the "rice" cupboard, I realized that I did not have tuna.  (The stuff that can live in your cabinets for years, not the fancy, trendy steak kind.)  I always have tuna.  Tuna is a staple of the raised-Catholic.  You just have to have tuna, especially during Lent.

After another week, I finally went to the store.  Pkin and I stopped after dinner out.  We bought three containers of milk (Pkin loves his milk,) one gallon of ice cream (it was on sale,) two cups of yogurt (I get bored quickly,) apples (my concession to good health,) and tuna.  The massive Von's computer decided that our purchased indicated a need for Depends during our next shopping trip. 

I think the major Safeway corporation thinks we're lactose intolerant or perhaps that we are 75 years old.

To Die-et or Not

It should be so easy, just stop eating and exercise.  But we know that it is not just so easy and that is why there are multi-billion dollar health and fitness industries.

I have fat cells that have been roosting from the day after birth if not before; then there's the whole genetic pre-disposition to fat deposit-tion, plus I have bad knees and I like the taste, sensation and emotions around eating a good meal.  Oh, and I get bored easily.  I recently learned that weight and insomnia are related, have both of those; need to figure out what comes first in the annals of badness.

I don't want to sign up with another diet biz, but I want and need to do something.  If the truth be told, I'm really intrigued by a "medical intervention" a la Star Jones, even though I find her repulsive on so many levels.  I know that I'm a perfect candidate; I've got it all -- age, weight, and health risks.  For less drastic measures I've been re-considering Weight Watchers. 

I could do it myself, I have the points calculator (it's a paper slide rule thingy) and I can do simple math adding up to 26 points.  We've started walking at work and bringing lunch too; all I really need is something (someone) to help me through the two weekend days, or as I like to call them binge-eating Saturday and don't-want-to-go-back-to-work Sunday.  And, you can get a food pyramid online at something like, pyramid.gov, seriously, google it.  What more do I need?

I even know enough about exercise to do something sensible.  I have the pedometer; I can take my pulse.  My exercise video library is extensive and well-rounded, pun intended.  If you want to stretch with the oldies, there's Richard Simmons; the Cosmo girls do it all from buns and legs to an entire workout and they aren't too skinny, one is even a bit uncoordinated.  They did a tremendous job with that video.  The leader is perky but not annoying, one back up is perfect, spot on and the other is every girl, and slightly less coordinated.  Don't get me wrong, they are all prettier than average.  If I want I can even do these 60's and 70's music thingies with a very funny looking leader who has all the pretty and hot girls wearing dorky clothes in the background.  You just know that she, the leader, didn't make the pep squad in high school but now she's in front of all the cheerleaders who are clothed in gawd awful color combinations while dressed in well-fitting, excellently coordinated Lycra.  Revenge is sweet, even in the health biz.

Good Habits, Good Living

Today marks the first day of the rest of my life.  20:02 on the treadmill (won't embarrass myself with the pace).  It's better than anything I did the day before, the week before, the 10 months before.

This is interesting from Australia: the minimum of "moderate" activity that is recommended for good health is 30 minutes, 5-7 times per week.  Don't bother with the link to information on activities, it isn't there anymore.  If I need the math approximately correctly, I did 1.8 km in 20 minutes which is well within the range the article suggested.

As for the 30 minutes, I need another 9:58 today and I'm good, at least until Friday.   

Next challenge:  What are other moderate activities?