Stuck on the Slide

Early in March we had one of those perfect spring days, so Kevin rounded up the family for an afternoon at the park. He's good at getting things going!

Nivek, at 2, doesn't have his balance all the way yet, so swings and slides scare him. I climbed up to the top of the kiddie slide, put him in my lap, and slid down. Slowly. When I got to the bottom, I got stuck, wedged in between the sides of the slide. Taven, at 4, thought that was hilarious! Grandma stuck on the slide must have been quite the funny sight!

After letting him get his laugh, I set Nivek on the ground and heaved myself out of the slide. I hope that never happens again!

AHA!

Today I went to sculpting again, and once again got a personal training session.  Unfortunately, that probably means the class will not be one of those chosen to be kept by the gym.  Maybe I'll get some videos, but I really like going with a teacher.

The AHA is that while I was there, I got the "migraine aura" and decided to cut the session short. I was going to drive home before it got bad, but stopped to talk to a couple of friends. While talking to one, I realized that I could see her if I looked directly at her, but not the one standing right next to her.

I called Joseph and he came and got me. Anthony went back later for the car.

Anyway, I've been fighting it off with Excedrin but after almost 8 hours the aura's coming back and I've got the heartburn to go with it. This explains the fatigue I had Monday. It often happens just before a migraine. The amazing thing is that yesterday I felt quite a bit better and even walked three miles.

I WILL keep hanging in there!

More on Napping

The problem is not that I took a nap, but that I wore myself out. I have fibromyalgia, and my life is a balancing act between doing too much and too little.

Today I'll just walk; tomorrow I'm going to sculpting class again. I really liked it. I haven't tried the Pilates class but when I did it at home it hurt my back a lot.

I've learned to listen to my body though, so hopefully it won't hurt next time, and I'm also more flexible thanks to the weekly yoga class.

I Can't Say He Didn't Warn Me

Anthony warned me that I might be pushing too hard by taking the extra fitness classes, and I blew it off. So now I am praying the piper.  I am so tired! I slept for two hours today in the middle of the day, and I walked an easy mile because once again it's nearly the end of the month and I refuse to break the commitment. I was supposed to be doing a three today. Oh well.

Or maybe it's just the chocolate withdrawal. I was shaky today even after a long nap, but dinner and a diet coke helped. Now I am ready to go to bed, but so frustrated by the setback. I just want to live!

If you click on the comic, it should enlarge so you can see it more clearly. It's Rose is Rose.

Carrots vs. Candy

Have you ever noticed how many songs there are that include sweets? And how few about other foods? There are even bands called "Cake", "Hot Chocolate," "Carolina Chocolate Drops," "Vanilla Ice," and "Sweet." Not to mention "Fats Waller"

Some songs I thought of off the top of my head  (and with a little help from Google) are:

Good Ship Lollipop

How Sweet It Is (To be Loved by You)

The Candy Man

Sugar Sugar

American Honey

American Pie

Big Rock Candy Mountain

My Sweet Lord

That's the Kind of Sugar Papa Likes

Sugar Mama

Sweet Surrender

Sugar We're Going Down Swinging

Shake Shake Shake

Sweet Sixteen

Chocolate Rain

You Treat Me Like Chocolate

Brown Sugar

Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost

That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles

Playground in my Mind (I'm gonna buy me all kinds of candy...")

Shake, Rattle & Roll

Incense and Peppermints

Shortnin’ Bread

 

And then there's movies...Chocolat, Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory

But just for fun I tried to think of songs that mention healthy foods...

Who's in the Strawberry Patch with Sally?

Lemon Tree

California Raisins

One Bad Apple

Strawberry Fields Forever

Banana Boat Song (Day-O)

Bananas in Pajamas

Mares Eat Oats

Put the Lime in the Coconut

Eatin' Goober Peas

Tomato/Tomahto

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Yes! We Have No Bananas

My Bologna (Weird Al)

Addicted to Spuds (Weird Al)

Peaches

Octopus's Garden

She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain  

(We'll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes)

Jambalaya (Hank Williams)

Jambalaya (on the Bayou)

I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Way Down Yonder in the Pawpaw Patch

Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush

The Joker (Really love your peaches...)

Then there's "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" ...Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks

"Eat It" by Weird Al

"Breakfast in America"

"Breakfast at Tiffany's"

"Hey Good Lookin'" (What you got cookin'?)

"Food, Glorious Food" (Oliver)

Alice's Restaurant

Supper Time

One website says that "sugar" or "candy" in songs stands for sex. Maybe that's why there are so many songs about it! Now I don't just overeat, I'm a sex fiend!

Oh Good Gravy! This is all just a bit too much!

Kick Boxing Anyone?

I went to a kick-boxing class--same instructor as the sculpting class I took earlier in the week. There were only two students there, "Betty" and me. And then Betty left. So I got another private lesson.

I seriously worked at it, until I was completely out of breath, and my face was turning beet red, which for some reason is my body's reaction to exercise. Then I quit. But I made it a half hour.

Betty is quite a bit heavier than me--I thought--until I saw us both in the mirror. Okay, she's 30 pounds heavier. Maybe. But our body shapes are not much different. And she's a dear woman, but I don't want to look like her. So I kept working, and stuck it out as long as I could.

I've decided I want to try Pilates anyway--why not? But for aerobics I will stick with Leslie Sansone for a while. Maybe in a few months I can try the faster aerobics again, as long as they don't involve too much jumping and dancing. I'm definitely not ready for Zumba.

I do like doing strength and flexibility things, like sculpting and yoga, at the gym. So I'll go there for that, and walk at home. And eventually, I will drop this body fat.

Exercise With a Purpose

I've been thinking of Chelsea's comments about
exercise having a purpose,
like getting something done,
and I found this comic strip. 

Just had to share it.

For me, getting healthy is enough purpose. 

I like the gym for many reasons, including yoga on rainy days!

Michelangelo, Personal Training, and Crazy People

More thoughts on body sculpting: 

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. --Michelangelo


In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.  --Michelangelo


I know there is an angel inside me; I must chisel away with exercise until I find her. My "lovely apparition" is imprisoned in rough walls of fat and cellulite that I am painstakingly working to get off.

How long do you suppose it took Michelangelo to carve such a beautiful statue?

This angel is not Michelangelo's work. It's from an ad I saw for a garden statue. The instructions say that she must be sealed with polyurethane at least once a year or she will deteriorate. My body is like that; I left it unattended for too long and it started deteriorating. It will take a while before I get it back to beauty.

She caught my attention because she is weeping. Sometimes we must go through pain to attain the greater good. My legs hurt after Tuesday but they will heal and become stronger. 

I was the only one at sculpting class today, so I got a personal training session at no extra cost.

I was talking about my last blog entry and the comments I received, and my young, slim, attractive, son said the only people who feel like they "fit" in a gym are the ones who work out, like, 80 hours a week. They are crazy. (The rest of us just fake it, I guess.)

Knee Lifts that Hit My Tummy

One of the exercises in my walking program is knee lifts. I hate it when my belly gets in the way. It doesn't always, but sometimes it really sticks out there and my leg bumps it. Maybe it's days I am really strong and get that knee way up there. That's one way to look at it.

Body Sculpting Class

I know why they call it sculpting! Because I feel like someone took a hammer and chisel to all my muscles!

Okay, I did a rare and unusual thing--I woke up--without an alarm clock--before six a.m. and went to the gym for this class. The other student there was a skinny young thing who made all the moves look easy. The instructor looks less than half my age and strong.

First, she's got out eight- and five-pound weights, and I go and get the lightest, 3's and 5's. I never touched the 5's. I did half the exercises with the motion and no weights at all. 

So, I couldn't do all the exercises. I did what I could and then watched. It's obvious I need this class! And some ibuprofen!

Satin Pajamas

Last night I put on a favorite pair of pink satin brocade pajamas. The pants were a little snug, but not really tight, and I slept really comfortably. These were too small for me to wear all winter. I love losing weight!

This morning I got up and went out to the garage, in my pajamas, to get a play kitchen I'm donating to nursery. I brought it in and stuck it in the tub to clean it up. As I was bending over the tub I felt the zipper go down.

Wait! There's no zipper! The front of my pants now has a 4 inch split down the seam, the frayed kind that will mean losing a half inch or more to fix it.   I hate being fat!

Friday Fat Yoga

If you happen to glance into the dance room on a Friday morning at the gym, you will see a yoga class going on. This class is not the young, hip, thin crowd you visualize at yoga. Most of us are over 45, overweight, and stiff. But we are in there doing it! We don't care what others think because yoga is so good for us, at whatever level we can do it. Even our teacher is past 45, I'm pretty sure.

You can laugh and make comments if you like, but try walking in our shoes. Actually, we take them off for class!

Bless This Food

It occurred to me yesterday, as I ate a bowl of ice cream, that I probably shouldn't.

Have you ever noticed that it is common to ask the Father to bless our meals, but not our snacks?

If I can't honestly ask my Heavenly Father to "bless this food that it will nourish and strengthen my body" I probably shouldn't eat it.

Image from ChristArt.com

Hard Work When I Hurt

This week has been tough so far. I don't know if my body hurts because of the sugar binge last week or the emotional work I'm doing, but I've been in pain for 6-7 days now. I keep walking but it isn't easy. I. Will. Not. Quit!

100 Miles!

I have walked 100 miles, and lost about 10 pounds. It took me almost 14 weeks to do it. That's slow but steady. Hopefully the next 100 miles and 10 pounds will go much faster.

Real Life

Just for fun, I thought I'd post a couple of "fat" comics today. Sometimes I feel just like this guy. Yesterday I didn't want to walk at all! 

The only thing that kept me going was that it was March 31. If I met my goal, I could say I had exercised every day in March except Sundays. So I did! And again today, because after all, who wants to mess up on the first day of a new month?

I wish the next one was true! I think I actually hurt more where I'm fatter. Perhaps because the skin is all stretched out! Perhaps because there's more to hit.

Pearls Before Swine