Be Careful What You Ask For

You know that you are getting your butt kicked when time starts to stand still as if you're in your own personal version of The Twilight Zone or a childhood nightmare where you're running down the hall and trying to get to the door but the hallway keeps getting longer and longer.

All that to say, tonight was Cardio and Muscle night. It's so beautiful in The Lou and I thought about taking my workout outside but I was outside yesterday where I incorporated stair climbing with walking as I donned four pound weights. I felt like yesterday's exercise was decent but I felt like being pushed today.

Be careful what you ask for...

Kate's phrases for today were push and push it. And push she did.

At one time, I felt like an under matched fighter against the ropes when Kate said:

I can tell that I'm workin' you all because it's getting quieter and quieter.

I had to resort to lower modifications on more than one occasion.

I like jumping jacks and I couldn't quite figure out why but I was reading the Jan./Feb. issue of Health magazine. Health posed a question to several women. It began with this starter: What My Body Really Feels Like...

Carrie Ann Inaba from Dancing with the Stars said:

What My Body Really Feels Like...In Motion

But I must say, jumping jacks are probably one of my favorite movements. It's a full-body workout, plus there's a lot of joy because you're jumping like a child and it sort of takes you back to that place...It takes you back to the freedom of being in the air and not held down by gravity. It's defying the laws of physics for a minute, like you're doing something you're not supposed to and getting away with it...

Yeah, what Carrie Ann Inaba said.

Towards the end of class, Kate said Do you notice how much space I have around me? I snickered because her assessment was true. Everyone was pretty much in the back of the class. Why is that? The same happens at church. You would think that if you want to be in church, you would want to get as close as possible to God's messenger unless, of course, you're uncivilized like me. Same thing with school. Well, I don't think a lot of youngins appreciate school which reminds me of a forward I read about living life in reverse -- like we should start out retired and end life on an orgasmic note.

The whole front of the class/church/studio reminds me of Patti (one of my belay partners). Patti has invited me to laughing yoga a couple of times. She said that there's only one rule: to maintain eye contact. I hate eye contact so that's why I've never gone. Just kidding.

So, my question is: if you're up front, is there more contact and, if so, why is contact shunned?

By the way, Kate had on pink and black and it was hard to differentiate her from the bunny since she just kept going and going...

The Skinny

After reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, I decided to give Louis J. Aronne's The Skinny on Losing Weight Without Being Hungry another try since I was still in learning about food mode.

I first saw Aronne on Late Night With David Letterman in a cheesy Biggest Loser-like segment. If my memory serves me, I believe that Aronne was one of the doctors on Letterman's quintuple bypass surgery team.

The cheesy segment initially made me go in search of Aronne's book since the Letterman staffer lost weight following Aronne's advice.

I like the front cover teasers:

Can't shed those pounds? It's not your fault. Dieting is not about willpower.

It's pleasing when I'm told things like it's not your fault.

One of the things that cracked me up was Aronne's oft-repeated mantra:

You can have an unlimited amount of vegetables.

No one ever tells you that you can have an unlimited amount of those delicious Ikea almond tarts.

Aronne's reinforcement of simple points stuck with me:

Choose the gym closet to your home.

Empty calories are fattening.

Lean protein is filling.

Low-calorie foods are filling.

They (liquids like soda) evade every calorie-detecting mechanism in your body.

...You just can't bully your body into losing the perfect amount of weight.

In Chapter 5, The Skinny Lunch Makeover, Aronne talks about the order of eating lunch: salad then vegetables then lean protein. To further illustrate his point, he puts the calorie count of some salad/vegetable items:

2 cups lettuce = 15 calories

An entire bell pepper = 30 calories

One large cucumber = 34 calories

1 cup mushrooms = 15 calories

1 cup broccoli = 30 calories

For those busy days, Aronne suggests having the following at-the-ready:

Bagged salad mix

Steam-in-a-bag vegetables

One or more Skinny-recommended frozen dinners

Aronne's recommendations for eating out at restaurants are beneficial.

The Skinny Resources are helpful too as are the Skinny Mini asides. Here's part of one:

Capsaicin, the active ingredient in cayenne and other hot peppers, may help you eat less by affecting levels of appetite-suppressing brain chemicals...

His whole person approach is refreshing:

Learn how to relax.

Don't do it (exercise) for vanity.

I'm starting now on the laughing/relaxation portion of the program.