As I mentioned in the last post the gadget that I ‘had’ to buy before I could in good conscious start my work out was an interval timer. A count down timer that can time at least two different set times in a row.
In my case I wanted to set a short time interval (10 sec) so that when I hit start it would count down ten seconds and then beep, then count down my recovery time (60 sec) then beep and then I would reset for the next set.
After doing a bunch of online research here is what I found:
1. Stop Watches are not interval timers. The purpose of a stop watch is to allow someone to do an activity (laps in the pool say) and then find out how much time it takes them to do the activity. Almost every single box store and convenience store carries stop watches, they are however useless if you want to tell yourself when to stop, not how long it took you.
2. If you type in interval timers generally into most store searches you will get a large listing of home security, and sprinkler devices.
I was about ready to buy a kids watch with a basic countdown timer when I came across the Timex site and read through some of their women’s sports watches, several of which have interval timers. Thank you Timex!
Calls to four Zellers stores (3 out of stock) and $60 (CDN) later, I was trying the watch in the car. I figured I’d better find out if it was too difficult to program, beeper works and so on, so that if I had to return it I could do it right then.
It was really easy to program, the instructions were blessedly clear.
The chime was loud enough in the car, so I proceeded to the gym. Testing the timer along the way (bad driver, I know!) and figuring out I could set, hear the two intervals, reset and restart without having to actually look down at the watch once. Bonus!
The only drawback is that in the gym with the music going, it was more difficult to hear. I was really worried about disturbing other people, that will not happen with this timer. However I had to get used to listening for it and in the first few sets missed the 10 second timer.
Overall I’m not sure if it was worth the $60 just for the timer, but keeping in mind that I don’t currently have a watch, it’s got lots of other features, and it was a major barrier in me getting off my butt and into the gym, I think purchase well worth it.
I finally made my return to the gym. I would (yet again) like to thank the folks at King West Fitness for being non-judgmental. It makes it so much easier to show back up at a gym when the staff still remember who you are and act as if you were just there yesterday, instead of noting the gaping 12 week MIA.
Going back to the gym for me involves breaking all of the barriers for why I haven’t been in the longest time.
1. Schedule gym time.
As soon as I stop going to the gym regularly there is no chance I’m actually going to go back unless I put it in my calendar. I will not get up early enough. I will not magically find time in my day. No, need to make a decision and put it in writing. I was an hour off my planned time today, but I still made it.
2. Buy the gadget
I’m a total gadget freak. The last time I had to go back to the gym I decided I simply couldn’t go until I had a better gym bag, and new better, proper running shoes. This time, it was an interval timer. I wanted to try this HIIT training I’ve been reading so much about and decided I simply could not do it without a timer. I’ll review the time in my next post.
3. Leave time for girly wardrobe changes & grooming.
If there is a guy reading this post I’m sure he’s rolling his eyes right now, some girls likely are as well. I’m super uncomfortable about myself at the gym and how my flabby body looks bouncing around on the machines, so there’s no way I’m going to show up without my legs newly shaved, and in clothes that I think look like crap. Yes, I realize the irony…. and if I didn’t my partner pointed it out to me today when I asked if the small brown stripes on the arms of my hoodies clashed too much with my black yoga pants. That being said, it’s a barrier, and it needed to be addressed.
The Work Out
After reading a tonne of information from Health Habits, and New Rules of Lifting for Women, I decided that I have been committing most of the exercise sins… or common mistakes. Hours on the cardio machines at a moderate pace, barbie weights, bizarre awkward crunches. I feel a bit embarrassed about this, but not too much. First off, I’m apparently far from alone in these common mistakes and secondly, they did help me loose 6 sizes so it wasn’t all bad.
Elliptical resistance 8, height 10
5 min warm up
10 min HIIT with 10 second sprints, and 50 second recovery.
HIIT Squats – 9 ’super sets’ (no idea if that word is right)
10 sec sprint
60 sec recovery
HIIT Push Ups (done at 45 degree angle) – 9 super sets
10 sec sprint
60 sec recovery
NROLFW Barbell Squat using 20 lbs
15 reps
2 sets
NROLFW 45 degree push up (see above)
15 reps
2 sets
(I alternated between this exercise and the step ups to reduce recovery time, may have been a mistake)
NROLFW Seated Row 40 lbs
15 reps
2 sets
(I alternated this exercise with the prone jack knife to reduce recovery time, may have been a mistake)
NROLFW Prone Jack Knife
15 reps
2 sets
Comments / Mistakes
1. HIIT before NROLFW
I didn’t find the HIIT series too challenging, I know that I can progress through that work out. The big difficulty came when I tried to do the barbell squats after doing the HIIT workout, there was way too much burn in my thighs and they were really really painful. As I got through the set they got easier, which I suppose is not supposed to happen. I think I can likely do more weight on the barbell squat but I’d better do them before anareobic HIIT.
2. NROLFW Prone Jack Knife WTF??!!!
I had a lot of problems with the prone jack knife and really wish I had watched this particular you tube video before trying them.
Part of the problem was this description from NROLFW:
Get Ready
Grab a Swiss ball and set your shins on top of it, with your palms flat on the floor.
Carefully walk your palms out until your body is in the push-up position, forming a straight line from your ankles through your neck.
Lift
Pull your knees towards your chest, allowing your torso to shift diagonally so your hips rise towards the ceiling and your head tilts down towards the floor
Keep your arms straight, and your neck in line with your torso.
Your toes will end up on the top of the ball, with most of your weight now shifted to your hands.
Return
Roll the ball back to the starting position, so your shins are again on top of the ball and your body is aligned from ankles to neck.
Basically the drawing and this text gave me the impression that the end position was butt high in the air, head between the shoulders pointed at the ground so that the back was vertical.
All the youtube videos however stress how important it is to keep the back horizontal and in line with the floor. Which, after trying the exercise seems a bit easier and less awkward than the how to get my head between my shoulders pointed at the floor while on a swiss ball.
3. Damn I’m sore!
This is not going to be the workout where I say it feels great to have done it, I feel really really sore, and I expect walking will be a challenge tomorrow morning.
Following Confessions of a Food Addict’s (now defunct blog) theory that weight loss bloggers don’t post when they are not doing well, I more or less lived up to that in the past couple of weeks.
It’s not as bad as it has been in the past. I’ve stayed on track with my moderate goal of logging every single piece of food that I put into my body with the exception of last week when I was hit by a nasty cold/flu bug. I’m reasonably sure that there is no chance I over ate that week as food was the last thing on my fevered mind as I prayed for sleep and the virus to leave my body.
I’m also on track with the overall slow and steady calorie reduction. I’m currently working on 2,400 cal/day this week, a repeat of last week not because I think I over ate, but because I have no idea what I ate since I didn’t log it.
It has not escaped me that this is the first time I’ve been really and truly sick since I began this ‘get healthy’ kick. It also has not escaped me that this is the first time I’ve been away from the gym for over 8 weeks. So, despite my commitment to getting my food under control before I really focus in on exercise getting back to the gym next week, routine or no routine is a priority.
In my pre-’get healthy’ kick I typically got 3-4 bad cold’s per winter and 1-2 per summer. Last summer was pure joy in that I didn’t have a single summer cold. I’m really seeing the benefits of exercise and if I don’t want a repeat of last week I need to get my body moving again.
I did it! I completed week 2 of my 12 week phase 2. I should be feeling happier, but I am exhausted today. The election is kicking my butt. I was going to try to make it to the gym today, but I think I am going to allow my body the rest it needs and be proud of myself for making it to the gym on Monday.
I’m not doing great on my life-balance goals, but that has more to do with the election than with my health goals, the good news is that I am keeping my health and fitness goals going during the election.
Week 13 Q2 – September 21 – September 27, 2008
Overall: 36%
Household: 48%
Health & Beauty: 100%
Finance: 9%
Career: 14%
Entertainment: 9%
Running Weekly Average
Overall: 42%
Household: 63%
Health & Beauty: 53%
Finance: 33%
Career: 30%
Entertainment: 38%
Quarter 1:
April 2008 – June 2008
Overall: 55%
Household: 75%
Health & Beauty: 62%
Finance: 46%
Career: 36%
Entertainment: 53%
In my journey to get fit I don’t think there could be a better inspiration than the Olympic Games. I have never been a sports fan in the American sense. I sleep through baseball games, can’t be bothered to figure out the rules of American football, loose track of the puck during Hockey, and can’t keep up with Basketball.
The olympics are different. In the first place there are a huge amount of single self-propelled sports. That is: archery, athletics (and all it includes: Track & field, shot put etc..), canoe/kayak, cycling, diving, gymnastics, pentathlon, rowing, swimming, trampoline, triathlon. In addition there are a variety of sports that are otherwise not popularized to the general public that simply spark some fascination.
Olympic inspiration comes from two places for me. First there is the unbelievable dedication that each of our athletes from around the world show to their sport, their bodies and their performance. In most cases they do this with very little monetary compensation, they are usually young, working and simple inspiring figures. The second part of the inspiration for me comes from looking at the actual athletes and realizing that my goals are not that unattainable.
I was born in July and my mother always said I learned how to swim before I learned how to walk. I was a water baby and I remain fascinated by water. If I could find a well paying career that involved swimming all day I just may go for it. As I’ve discovered new water sports they have become part of my inspiration to get my body back in shape. I will be following four events during these olympics: Canoe/Kayak, Diving, Rowing, and, Swimming.
This entry is dedicated to our boating sports. First, let me dig out my patriotism:
CANADIAN ROWING
Melanie Kok - Single Scull
Canada has a long and checkered history in rowing. We win big, or we loose big. I became fascinated with Rowing back in 1996 watching Marnie McBean lead the women’s 8 to gold.
A few years ago Breakfast Television did a spot on the Argonauts Rowing Club in Toronto. I was really excited to find out that I could do rowing just blocks from my house. Then I went on their website and came to the realization that I needed to drop some serious weight to do rowing.
This year Canada’s best hope for women’s rowing gold is the Women’s 8.
Sarah Bonikowsk: 26, 6'0", 145lbs
Ashley Brzozowicz: 26, 5'9", 165lbs
Heather Mandoli: 26, 5'11", 170lbs
Darcy Marquardt: 29, 6'0", 161lbs
Women's Eight
Jane Rumball: 30, 5'10", 143lbs
Romina Stefancic: 30, 5'10", 154lbs
Buffy Williams: 31, 5'6", 152lbs (I wonder if she fights vampires?)
I’m sure there are some more athletically inspiring pictures out there of these women, and I do hope to post some as the olympics continue. For the purpose of inspiration this is the second type of inspiration that I was speaking about. These women look like my friends, the girls I went to university with and my neighbours. They are slightly taller or slightly shorter than I am, and they have realistic attainable weight ranges.
For all the women out there who think they need to be less than 120 lbs at 5′9″ to be “fit” consider the women above. They are our olympic athletes, they have a good shot at winning gold in the 2008 Olympics, they look healthy and fit, and they are all about 140 – 170 lbs.
Romanian Women Edge Out Canadians
None of the other Canadian Women are expected to win, but we do have some expected to place.
Women’s Quad
Krista Guloien: 28, 5'9", 160lbs - expected to place Top 6
Janie Hansan: 26, 5'10", 154lbs - expected to place Top 6
Rachelle de Jong: 29, 6'0", 163lbs - expected to place top 6
Anna-Marie de Zwager: 32, 5'8", 163 lbs - expected to place top 6
Women’s Pairs
Women's Pair
Zoe Hoskins: 27, 6'0", 165lbs - expect to place top 10
Sabrina Kolker: 28, 5'8", 169lbs - expected to place top 10
Lightweight Double Sculls
Our lightweight women had a weight battle to make their weight before the olympics, lightweights must weigh and average of 125 lbs for the boat with neither partner weighing more than 130 lbs.
Lightweight Double Scull
Tracy Cameron: 33, 5'7", 127lbs - small medal hope
Melanie Kok: 25, 5'5", 125lbs - small medal hope
The Canadian Men are “Rowing for Redemption” following the huge disappointment when they were expected to win gold and finished 5th place a full 9 seconds behind the leading US team.
Canadian Men's Eight "Rowing for Redemption"
Canadians take 5th place as US wins first victory in 40-years. Canada, give them another 40!
CANADIAN CANOE/KAYAK
Sport 'Yaking
I went white water rafting for the first time this past July. I was completely mesmerized by the sport kayakers who accompanied us. Our guides were amazing and the sport ‘yakers didn’t need to rescue anyone. They mainly kept us entertained as they did amazing tricks shooting rapids upside down, unbelievable rolls, jumps and surfing standing waves in level 5 rapids! They could look completely serene in the middle of white water, it was truly inspiring.
The big names for Canada to remember in Canoe/Kayak this year are two boys from where I grew up (no, I don’t know them).
Adam van Koeverden, who also was Canada’s Flag bearer in the opening ceremonies, has hopes for Gold in K-1 500 and K-1 1,000.
Adam van Koeverden: 26, 5'11", 190lbs - Gold Medal Hopes
Mark Oldershaw from Burlington is Canada’s best hope in Canoe in 2008.
Mark Oldershaw: 25, 6'1", 207lbs - Medal Contender
Not to be forgotten, Canada has world class rapids in Quebec and we’ve got a great showing of Quebec women coming out for first runs. The youngest is Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny at 22 years old.
Female Sport 'Yaker
Mylanie Barre - Top six contender, k-2 500
Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny - Top six hopeful, k-4 500
Sarah Boudens - Top 20 Contender, k-1 Slalom
Emilie Fournel - Top 6 hopeful, k-4 500
Karen Furneaux - Top 6 contender, k-4 500 - Top 10 contender, k-1 500
Is there really a difference between Joe Camel and Ronald McDonald?
The knowledge of the negative impacts of moderate to high consumption of junk food on health are now running parallel to our knowledge of the impacts of smoking on health 25 years ago. The parallels are scary. The first lawsuits have been called frivolous. Individual responsibility and consumer choice/freedom advocates are paraded in front of the cameras; not to counter the facts, but to let us know it is our right to make poor dietary choices. As the debate rages on the scientific evidence and the bodies are piling up.
I can find no credible research that says that moderate to high consumption of calorie dense, low nutrition foods is good for you, or even, not harmful. Finding research on the effects of calorie dense, low nutrition diets is not difficult.
If we know with reasonable scientific certainty that junk foods are bad for us, why are we not taking action? Why have we not banned them, taxed them, or at least stopped advertising to our children?
Considering advertising may provide some answers. Junk food is big BIG business. I’ve stolen from Dr’s blog HealthHabits, his entry “Your Kids Are Being Targeted“, and here are some quick numbers on the advertising spending of the fast food and junk food manufacturers in the United States alone.
In short the Federal Trade Commission Reports that the nations largest food and beverage companies spent $1.6 Billion per year advertising products – especially carbonated drinks – to kids.
Here is the question for me, if America’s 44 largest food and beverage companies have $1.6 Billion dollars to spend on advertising each year, why should we not incrementally tax their products?
PERSPECTIVE
Before I get into this debate let me say that I am coming at this question from a Canadian perspective. As I see it there are three key differences in Canada that concern this debate. First, we have universal health care which we pay for through our income tax system. Second, we have controlled government-regulated access to alcohol and (less so) cigarettes. Third, we have mandatory food labeling.
WHAT WOULD A FAT TAX ACHIEVE?
Fat Tax, Twinkie Tax, Junk Food Tax. What I am referring to here is a tax that would be placed on high calorie, low nutrition value foods. Not a tax on individual people who are above a certain BMI or Body Fat Percentage.
1. An Economic Dis-incentive to purchase junk foods.2. Create an Economic Incentive for the manufacture and production of more healthy food options3. A revenue stream that can be re-directed into public nutrition education, health care, healthy food subsidies, healthy food subsidies for low income households4. A reduction in the social acceptance of junk food consumption.
1. Economic Disincentive to Purchase Junk Food. A tax placed on the manufacture of calorie dense, low nutrition “junk food” has two potential outcomes. It may encourage the manufacturer to produce less junk food as it will now be more expensive to produce. Or, the manufacturer will pass the cost onto the consumer. If the cost is passed onto the consumer there is a wide body of research which shows that junk food is largely an impulse purchase item. Impulse purchase items are highly price sensitive, and, if the price is raised on impulse purchase items then it is reasonable to assume a decline in the rate of purchase.
2. Economic incentive for the manufacture and production of more healthy options. As the forced labeling of Trans Fats came in, there was a scramble by manufacturers to reduce and eliminate Trans Fats from their foods, then splash the news all over their packaging. As knowledge of the negative impacts on health of fast food has spread, fast food chains have increasingly offered menu items that at least appear to be healthier such as salads, soups, apple slices, wraps, veggie burgers etc… Forcing food items to be identified as junk food would create an economic incentive for manufacturers to healthy up their recipes or provide more health conscious options. This would work particularly well if revenues from junk food taxes were used to subsidize the cost of healthy foods.
3. Creating of a Revenue Stream That Can Be Re-Directed. If a new tax is created there are several options for the use of this new revenue stream. First, and foremost for our tax-sensitive citizens this new revenue stream could be tax-neutral. Tax shifting and tax diversification are both very desirable options to avoid continued tax burden on income and property taxes. If we do not opt for a tax-neutral solution, then revenue can be used to create education programs for our public or our children on better nutrition, dollars from the junk food tax could be re-directed into the anticipated health care needs of an increasingly obese population, a three tiered food ranking could be created where junk foods are subject to tax, foods that do not fit the junk food description are tax neutral and foods that are considered high priority for healthy diets could be given tax rebates, or we could re-direct the tax revenue into healthy food allowances or healthy food subsidies for low income families. There’s lots of ideas.
4. Making Junk Food Less Socially Acceptable. It took the Anti-Smoking advocates 25 years, limitations on advertising and many increases on taxation to reach a point where smoking is now increasingly socially unacceptable, and for the first time we are hearing reports of declining smoking among 18-24 year-olds, typically the highest category. In the long run the effects of a junk food tax are not to make people who are currently addicted to or heavy users of junk food reduce their consumption, but to make new entry into this market less desirable with more barriers to entry.
FAT TAX IS BAD!
The primary arguments that I have found against a fat tax are as follows:
1. Will Not Reduce Obesity. 2. Hurts Civil Liberties. 3. Impacts The Poor.
1. Will Not Reduce Obesity. A tax alone will not reduce obesity rates, what is needed is more education on nutrition and exercise, better food labeling, and better health and nutrition programs in early childhood education.
2. Hurts Civil Liberties. Big Brother, The Government, and no one else should have a say on what I do with or put into my body. The Government is stepping into an area of private life where it does not belong, and it will cost the government billions of dollars to implement this tax. It is a waste of time and resources for an infringement on civil rights that should not take place to begin with.
3. Impacts the Poor. There is a socioeconomic relationship between obesity and poverty. Fatty junk foods cost the least. People with lower incomes are likely to have had or have access to less education and will not be as informed on food choices. By imposing a tax on junk food we would be taxing those who can least afford it, and who do not have the same tools to make nutritional decisions as upper classes.
REBUTTAL (Yeah, But…)
1. Part Of The Solution.
A tax on junk food will not single handedly reduce obesity. One tax increase won’t likely impact obesity at all in our generation. If there is a tax increase tomorrow, someone is not going to walk into McDonalds and think “$0.50 more for my Big Mac! I’m gonna go get that $6.99 free range organic chicken wrap down the street instead!“.
To reduce the rate of obesity and hopefully reverse it we need: better food labeling; better public education; more food, nutrition and exercise education for our children; and, less junk food advertising… In short we need a paradigm shift.
A junk food tax can be part of that solution. It can signal societies recognition that junk food, like cigarettes and alcohol are items that society considers indulgences and not entirely socially acceptable. The tax signals that more caution should be used when consuming these products than your average produce isle banana.
Claiming that the junk food tax should not be implemented because it will not single handedly solve the obesity epidemic is like saying there should not be a legal drinking age because there is still underage drinking.
2. Leave Some For The Next Generation.
The environmental movement has made it mainstream knowledge that what we do in this generation will impact the next generation. Every election in Canada Health Care is the number one issue. As we watch the baby boomers retire and consider the increasing demands on our health care system as better geriatric infrastructure and care is needed for our increasingly elderly population we need to consider what can be done to make sure that our health care infrastructure does not crumble.
Health Care is only part of the overall health formula. Increasingly research shows us that for every dollar we spend in prevention we save three dollars in health care costs. No one should be denied health care, but as long as we are sharing the costs of caring for our sick, should we not also try as much as possible to prevent our population from getting sick. This makes both humanitarian and economic sense.
3. Teach A Man To Fish.
The mark of a good society is how it treats is poorest citizens. We know that if you use junk food from moderate to heavy levels you are more likely to be obese, and obese people are at much higher risks for a very long list of diseases and health complications. To argue that we should not impose a junk food tax because it would hurt the poor the most, since they consume the most junk food to me is a complete deflection of the real problems in poverty.
If we accept that poor people are eating junk food because they cannot afford healthy food then we need to address why poor people cannot afford healthy foods. We need to provide better funding to our food banks, we need to provide more direct to family assistance, and we need to look at the cost margins of buying healthy vs. junk foods.
If we accept that poor people eat junk food because they don’t have the education to make better food choices. We are first making a huge assumption about the level of intelligence of lower income people. If we want to proceed down this path the solution is not to provide them with the tools to continue to make poor nutritional choices but to provide them with education programs in the communities, education programs in the schools and after school programs, pre-natal and post-natal nutritional information, and provide primary care workers nutritional educational tools.
CONCLUSION
I don’t see the downside to the junk food tax. We are going to need to generate revenue from somewhere to pay for our increasing health care needs, and I would rather have that revenue cost come from the manufacture and sale of junk foods than from the “Health Care Premium” recently imposed by the McGuinty Government.
Weeks 1 – 8(ish) were quite good, and then I went through some rough patches. This is the ongoing story. Generally I make some spectacular plans that I can hold together for a few months at a time, and then abandon for boredom, over-complication or shiny objects.
The mere fact that I’ve made it to week 21 without binning the whole plan and formulating a new one is quite spectacular. I have to admit that I had hopped for more progress by now. I’m not sure what “more” meant, but it’s (happily) become irrelevant.
Loosing weight in the context of trying to maintain some life balance is hard. It’s also more rewarding. I can say with certainty now that I know that loosing weight alone will not change my life. I have good friends, a great boy friend, a not terrible career and if I want to keep those things and improve upon them then I need to try to keep my life on some sort of even keel while I try this weight loss thing yet again.
For those dataphiles out there, the weekly check in is as follows (the percentage number is the percentage of goals set and achieved in given period):
So the health and beauty (i.e. the diet part) did pretty poorly this week. I missed on the calorie intake but not by much and on the exercise. This week I’m heading to the gym today – Monday (unheard of!) and I’m going to be under calorie, the trick will be eating & being under calorie, instead of not eating and being under calorie.
Quarter 2 Running Average (Q2 – July 2008 to September 2008 )
Obviously need to improve on diet, not being scared of my bank account and not being scared to make the necessary moves to move away from my company before it sinks into the oblivion it seems destined for.
Really as compared to last quarter I’m doing better in all areas except health & beauty. I think this signals my usual dip in motivation to complete any project once it is well on it’s way, so time to rally the motivation and start working towards actual progress.
My week in review is not so great. I’m two weeks away from finishing phase I of my plan. However I’m slipping. I wave over calorie by 34 this week, which doesn’t sound like much, but since it’s a weekly average there’s really no reason to be over. So it’s a do over on the calorie goal. I also have slacked off on exercise for the last three weeks, so I need to make sure that I don’t let that fall off the radar or I’ll never get through phase II, the consistency check.
I still haven’t eaten breakfast.
How badly do I want this to change? What do I actually want? Am I willing to do what is necessary to change? If I keep doing what I have always done (well for the last 8 years) I will keep getting what I have.
It’s time to change, I need to accomplish this and cross it off the list. I am not going to end up as another 40-year-old woman who is still complaining about her weight and on yet again another diet. The only one stopping me is me, and it’s time to call myself on this bullshit.
I skipped all my meals today until my mum came over for dinner. This is not productive. This is the problem. I start to try to eat better and then I stop eating. I start to adopt the stupid anorexic ways and then I stop myself from trying to eat better because I don’t want to become anorexic again. Of course not eating for days at a time leads to over eating. Not bingeing… not yet anyways. Thank fully I have not added bingeing to my roster of food issues yet. But, if I keep up with this nonesense, then I can add bingeing which will likely quickly be followed by purging. And then I’ve rounded out my portfolio of stupid ways to screw myself over with food.
I am eating breakfast tomorrow. I don’t care if it’s a popsicle, I’m eating something tomorrow morning. I am staying under 1700 cal, I am going to have healthy foods and try to eat a somewhat balanced diet tomorrow.
Oh, and I also totally slacked off on my household chores, entered no expenses, did not do any resume update and have not yet completed my reading. All round a completely unproductive day. This must stop. My numbers will beat me. They will wake up and cry at me in my sleep.
I started a weight loss blog on mydeardiary some years ago… things went okay, but then life happened and I’m back to square 1 + 20 lbs (or at least that’s where I started in March 2008). I’m not in love with that community anymore, and I don’t want to go back to that blog since it is a great record of my failures. So I am imposing yet another weight loss blog on this community.
So What’s Different This Time Kid? I hear my father quoting his mother.
It’s an honest question. God knows I’ve been on and off diets and trying to loose weight for nearly 8 years now. And, I also know I’m not alone. In fact I should likely count myself as one of the lucky ones. There are people who have been trying to loose weight their entire lives. As my friend “A” reminded me at least I know that my body is capable of thin.
I gained weight after a bad bike accident kept me hosptialized and then on limited physical activity for close to a year and a half. You know what kids?! That spectacular metabolism that lets you eat whatever you want grinds to a halt as soon as you stop moving. I just wish I had figured that out 60lbs earlier.
The last 8 years have seen me on a series of diets. I’m not trendy enough to have officially subscribed to any fad diet like Atkins etc… but I will get desperate enough to go on all juice diets, or the grapefruit & (so)yogurt for months at a time. In retrospect, Atkins would likely have been a step up.
It’s not like I was a model example of health before my accident either. Sure, I was skinny but I was also anorexic for a number of years and we’ll just say there’s a reason I can eat grapefruit and (so)yogurt for weeks on end.
I sometimes picture myself like a sit-com character with the angel and devil perched on my shoulders except in my case (as it relates to food) there’s two devils… there’s the “but-it’s-so-tasty eat Eat EAT!” devil and the “you’ll-be-thin-if-you_________” devil who always gives me stupid ideas.
I digress…
Why will this time work?
I think the main difference this time is my acceptance of the fact that this is yet another weight loss journey. Might seem counter-intuitive, or at least unmotivational to say “hi world…. it’s me…. I’m trying to loose weight…… AGAIN…. yes, for the 50th thousandth time!….. wish me luck!”
I’ve stared a group on another site that helps me track my calories called wagon jumpers. It’s been strangely liberating to get up and say “hello, My name is _____ and I am on a diet…. AGAIN!” It’s sort of lead to this watershed of psychology and a getting away from trying to find the exact exercise / eating ratio to an acceptance that this is going to take time, it’s going to be work, it is another plan, and pervious ones have failed, but that’s okay because as long as I’m trying then I will do this, this time. For real. No holdsies or takebacks!
Olympic Inspiration
August 8, 2008Olympic Stadium, Beijing 2008 - Opening Ceremony
In my journey to get fit I don’t think there could be a better inspiration than the Olympic Games. I have never been a sports fan in the American sense. I sleep through baseball games, can’t be bothered to figure out the rules of American football, loose track of the puck during Hockey, and can’t keep up with Basketball.
The olympics are different. In the first place there are a huge amount of single self-propelled sports. That is: archery, athletics (and all it includes: Track & field, shot put etc..), canoe/kayak, cycling, diving, gymnastics, pentathlon, rowing, swimming, trampoline, triathlon. In addition there are a variety of sports that are otherwise not popularized to the general public that simply spark some fascination.
Olympic inspiration comes from two places for me. First there is the unbelievable dedication that each of our athletes from around the world show to their sport, their bodies and their performance. In most cases they do this with very little monetary compensation, they are usually young, working and simple inspiring figures. The second part of the inspiration for me comes from looking at the actual athletes and realizing that my goals are not that unattainable.
I was born in July and my mother always said I learned how to swim before I learned how to walk. I was a water baby and I remain fascinated by water. If I could find a well paying career that involved swimming all day I just may go for it. As I’ve discovered new water sports they have become part of my inspiration to get my body back in shape. I will be following four events during these olympics: Canoe/Kayak, Diving, Rowing, and, Swimming.
This entry is dedicated to our boating sports. First, let me dig out my patriotism:
CANADIAN ROWING
Melanie Kok - Single Scull
Canada has a long and checkered history in rowing. We win big, or we loose big. I became fascinated with Rowing back in 1996 watching Marnie McBean lead the women’s 8 to gold.
A few years ago Breakfast Television did a spot on the Argonauts Rowing Club in Toronto. I was really excited to find out that I could do rowing just blocks from my house. Then I went on their website and came to the realization that I needed to drop some serious weight to do rowing.
This year Canada’s best hope for women’s rowing gold is the Women’s 8.
Sarah Bonikowsk: 26, 6'0", 145lbs
Ashley Brzozowicz: 26, 5'9", 165lbs
Heather Mandoli: 26, 5'11", 170lbs
Darcy Marquardt: 29, 6'0", 161lbs
Women's Eight
Jane Rumball: 30, 5'10", 143lbs
Romina Stefancic: 30, 5'10", 154lbs
Buffy Williams: 31, 5'6", 152lbs (I wonder if she fights vampires?)
Leslie Thompson-Willie: 49, 5'2", 99lbs (team coxswain)
I’m sure there are some more athletically inspiring pictures out there of these women, and I do hope to post some as the olympics continue. For the purpose of inspiration this is the second type of inspiration that I was speaking about. These women look like my friends, the girls I went to university with and my neighbours. They are slightly taller or slightly shorter than I am, and they have realistic attainable weight ranges.
For all the women out there who think they need to be less than 120 lbs at 5′9″ to be “fit” consider the women above. They are our olympic athletes, they have a good shot at winning gold in the 2008 Olympics, they look healthy and fit, and they are all about 140 – 170 lbs.
Romanian Women Edge Out Canadians
None of the other Canadian Women are expected to win, but we do have some expected to place.
Women’s Quad
Krista Guloien: 28, 5'9", 160lbs - expected to place Top 6
Janie Hansan: 26, 5'10", 154lbs - expected to place Top 6
Rachelle de Jong: 29, 6'0", 163lbs - expected to place top 6
Anna-Marie de Zwager: 32, 5'8", 163 lbs - expected to place top 6
Women’s Pairs
Women's Pair
Zoe Hoskins: 27, 6'0", 165lbs - expect to place top 10
Sabrina Kolker: 28, 5'8", 169lbs - expected to place top 10
Lightweight Double Sculls
Our lightweight women had a weight battle to make their weight before the olympics, lightweights must weigh and average of 125 lbs for the boat with neither partner weighing more than 130 lbs.
Lightweight Double Scull
Tracy Cameron: 33, 5'7", 127lbs - small medal hope
Melanie Kok: 25, 5'5", 125lbs - small medal hope
The Canadian Men are “Rowing for Redemption” following the huge disappointment when they were expected to win gold and finished 5th place a full 9 seconds behind the leading US team.
Canadian Men's Eight "Rowing for Redemption"
Canadians take 5th place as US wins first victory in 40-years. Canada, give them another 40!
CANADIAN CANOE/KAYAK
Sport 'Yaking
I went white water rafting for the first time this past July. I was completely mesmerized by the sport kayakers who accompanied us. Our guides were amazing and the sport ‘yakers didn’t need to rescue anyone. They mainly kept us entertained as they did amazing tricks shooting rapids upside down, unbelievable rolls, jumps and surfing standing waves in level 5 rapids! They could look completely serene in the middle of white water, it was truly inspiring.
The big names for Canada to remember in Canoe/Kayak this year are two boys from where I grew up (no, I don’t know them).
Adam van Koeverden, who also was Canada’s Flag bearer in the opening ceremonies, has hopes for Gold in K-1 500 and K-1 1,000.
Adam van Koeverden: 26, 5'11", 190lbs - Gold Medal Hopes
Mark Oldershaw from Burlington is Canada’s best hope in Canoe in 2008.
Mark Oldershaw: 25, 6'1", 207lbs - Medal Contender
Not to be forgotten, Canada has world class rapids in Quebec and we’ve got a great showing of Quebec women coming out for first runs. The youngest is Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny at 22 years old.
Female Sport 'Yaker
Mylanie Barre - Top six contender, k-2 500
Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny - Top six hopeful, k-4 500
Sarah Boudens - Top 20 Contender, k-1 Slalom
Emilie Fournel - Top 6 hopeful, k-4 500
Karen Furneaux - Top 6 contender, k-4 500 - Top 10 contender, k-1 500
Kristin Gauthier - Top 6 Contender, k-2 500 & k-4 500
All round I’m looking forward to a great Olympics, and seeing Canada and the rest of the world preform.
Tags:Adam van Koeverden, Anna-Marie de Zwager, Ashley Brzozowicz, Buffy Williams, canoe, canoeing, Darcy Marquardt, Diet, Emilie Fournel, fitness, Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny, getting in shape, healthy living, Heather Mandoli, inspiration, Jane Rumball, Janie Hansan, Karen Fourneaux, kayak, kayaking, Krista Guloien, Kristin Gauthier, Lesley Thompson-Willie, Mark Oldershaw, Melanie Kok, Mylanie Barre, olympics, Rachelle de Jong, Romina Stefancic, Sabrina Kolker, Sarah Bonikowsky, Sarah Boudens, Tracy Cameron, Zoe Hoskins
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