…but back on the wagon. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m counting points, but I’m off sugar as of … well, I had two cookies Thursday, so I guess technically it’s as of Friday. Granted, it’s only been what, 36 hours, but still. :)
For the record, “off sugar” means “no sweets in general, but I can have a spoonful of sugar on my cereal, gorp (which they don’t seem to have in this country, not that I’ve looked very hard) and a palmful of chocolate chips (which they also don’t have readily in this country) if I’m desperate.” I am not actively avoiding foods that have sugar in them, though I don’t typically drink pop, and food in Ireland seems to be less injected with sugar (and salt) in general, which is kind of nice.
I think I’ve put on about 4 pounds since January. I’ve gone back and forth with that weight, and I don’t actually have a scale right now, but my weight in general is up a little. It’s up about 8 pounds from the Very Lowest I Ever Saw It At, which was about 151.8. I wanna see that number again. :) And then its little brother, 149.8. :)
Getting back to 155 will be relatively easy. It’s breaking below that that’s kind of the bitch. I’m trying to figure out the best way to go about gymming. There’s a swimming pool in Cobh, but it’s about an hour’s walk. The Curves is about (as best I can figure, since I haven’t actually *found* it yet) 30-40 minutes away from the house. Apparently the best gym/pool in the area is the Mardyke Arena, which is University College Cork’s gym. It, by way of walking, training and busing, is about an hour from me. I’m wondering if I’d go into Cork to use it. On the plus side, it’d be 40 minutes of reading or writing time while on public transport. On the minus side, it’s expensive (though not more expensive than a membership to Curves and paying for the pool, especially if I take a cab on one leg of that journey) and in the best-case scenario would be a 3 hour chunk of any given day. Realistically, it’d be 4 hours and could be longer.
The thing is, of course, it’d take that long to go swimming/to Curves on Cobh, too, and I’d *far* rather have the real weight lifting facilities at the university.
Again, realistically, I’m not going to start gymming or anything until after PHOENIX LAW is done. I’d really like to start on Monday, but I’m just not prepared for it, so. But I want to get down to 150 by my birthday, which is 2 months from now. Exercise would help that.
(I suppose I *could* (gasp) just start doing situps and pushups and other-ups at *home*…!)
Shouldn’t Ole Ere have peanuts, raisins and M&M to simple GORP.
Hmmm… So, was this a call for validation of your home exercise programme or a request for a care package filled with chocolate chips?
Yes, but that requires me having the wherewithal to make it. :)
*pauses*
It hadn’t meant to be either, but only a fool passes up care packages filled with chocolate chips…!
Icon…still…mesmerizing…
Love your icon!
Two helpful suggestions before you get into the whole gym thing, and if you’re just doing a bit of walking while thinking through plot points etc.
1. Intervals. Vary your walking speed, doing a comfortable pace for a few minutes, speed up to the fastest you can walk (too fast to be able to talk) for a minute, then drop back below your comfortable pace, almost to a dawdle, for a few more minutes. Repeat 1 – 3 times. That should take about 10-20 minutes.
2. When you eat is as important as what. Be sure to eat breakfast, and not eat anything within 3 hours of bedtime. Did you know Sumo wrestlers train for 5 hours before eating breakfast, and go to sleep right after dinner, as a method of putting on bulk?
The brutal truth of the matter is that I cannot get my brain to accept walking as a form of exercise. I walk because I enjoy it, not because it’s something to be timed, stepped up, all of that. It’s a good exercise regime, I know, but my brain just doesn’t play along.
I did not know that. Too bad I don’t want to be a sumo wrestler… :) I have, though, read diametrically conflicting reports on whether when you eat is important or not. Certainly if you don’t eat anything for 3 hours before bedtime, you will not *add* the weight you might’ve if you had a snack, anyway, and most evening hungries can be ignored by having a drink of water and going to bed. But I’ve never been a midnight snacker sort anyway.
Perhaps I could send you chocolate chips (aside: I just realized how *horrible* that idea would sound to a native UKers! Deep-fried potatoes with chocolate…ewww!) in exchange for that custom-inscribed book. Just a thought. ;)
Actually, if your brain doesn’t consider walking exercise, you might be able to exploit that. Go stroll around a park (or meadow–I don’t know how citified your area is) while reading or dictating into a recorder if you’re into that sort of thing.
I generally go for a walk with the dog, which is about as much as I can handle on one walk. :)
Have you contemplated getting a bike? That way you’d have quicker transportation to all these things AND good exercise to boot.
I have one, but I’m not brave enough to bike in Ireland. The streets are very narrow, have no shoulders, very few sidewalks (and you’re not supposed to bike on them when they’ve got them), and people drive like bats out of hell. To make it more bloody-minded, I brought my recumbent instead of my mountain bike (it’s far better for my back). The recumbent is difficult to get started with on hills, and we’ve moved to a miniature San Francisco, so far as landscape is concerned. So there hasn’t been any biking yet… :/