A Jillian Michaels' Motivational Moment (Bravery Required)

Jillian, one of The Biggest Loser trainers, is pushing Amanda out of her comfort zone by demanding sprints of undetermined speed when Amanda has a meltdown. What's funny is that Jillian's speechifying usually gets to Amanda and she tells Jillian "shut up, please."

You are not failing here; you quit. There's a difference between quitting and failing...

You know what Amanda, it's gonna require some courage. It's going to require a little bit of bravery...

It doesn't mean that you're going to be fearless. You need to move through the fear...

Well then, step on the treadmill and make it count...

You're capable...

You make it happen. You don't wait for life to happen; you make life happen...

Life doesn't work that way. You've got to pull it together and make a choice right now; if you walk away, you are choosing.

Pull yourself together and we're going to do this one step at a time.

After Amanda walks away, Jillian mutters:

Why are these contestants so freaking difficult this season?

When Amanda talks with Jillian again she apologizes for walking out on her but Jillian lets her know that she walked out on herself.

Comic Strip Relief

American Lung Association Throws Down The Gauntlet

I sometimes think that I am easily stopped in my tracks. I was going through the mail and, while not surprised that the American Lung Association is advertising for the 2010 Master the Met,
I was surprised to see a star with last year's finish time and a tag line that said Beat Your Time: 17:14.

I've done Master the Met two years in a row and I was thinking about sitting out next year but now that the ALA has thrown down a friendly gauntlet, I might very well have to participate.



And The Met, by the way, is the Metropolitan Square building in downtown St. Louis with 43 floors that will take your breath away.

Beyond The Next Ten

Now that I've reached my major goal of losing 60 pounds, I'm thinking about what's next on the agenda.

I would like to lose, at least, another ten pounds and, possibly, more but I really don't want to ponder anything beyond the next ten. It's too much to think about. I also know that the next pounds are going to require some battening down of the hatches.

I'm eating better but there's definitely room for improvement. A post on Bitch Cakes, Weekly Meeting Topic: Eating Healthier the Easier Way, struck a chord with me. She said that you can lose weight by eating junk food. And it is possible because I've done it but the more weight you lose, the more tweaking is required. Plus, I found the weight loss went so much slower for me because of indulgences.

Speaking of food, I made Seared Scallops with Warm Tuscan Beans for dinner.

It was a pretty good one bowl meal that was not labor intensive either. I used navy beans instead of cannellini beans. I forgot to see if I had any onions and ended up supplementing a small amount of white onion that had been frozen with a shallot since I hate returning to the store for an item once I've started cooking.

I also used a vegan bouillon cube in place of chicken broth.


I tend to substitute bay scallops for sea scallops whenever a recipe calls for them because I find bay scallops more flavorful.

On another note, congrats to Tara Parker-Pope who is a woman after my heart. She finished 619 out of 625 runners in the New York City Marathon. It's nice to know that I am not the only one in the slow lane.
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Give The Gift Of Swim

When I went to Target the other day, the Halloween aisle had been wrecked. Over my shoulder, I spotted the Christmas section. It's that time of year again.

It also looks like Swim Outlet is ready for the big holiday.Sometimes I think that I want a waterproof MP3 player. But do I really need one? Swimming presents a rare opportunity to unplug and it's an activity that I find relaxing as all get out. In fact, I'll probably sleep very well tonight since I swam 30 laps -- the most laps that I've ever done.

While getting in my laps, I watched the young dynamic duo. One girl's butterfly stroke is getting better and better. I can always tell when someone has started the fly; it almost sounds tornadic.

I also watched as chatty Kathleen taught a young man how to swim.

I listened as one dad continued to develop his sons' swimming skills. He continued to coax the younger son while reassuring him that he was safe and that he wouldn't let anything happen to him. Even though his son told him I don't think I'm made for this.

I chit chatted with a woman who executes gorgeous dives. I asked her how long it takes her to swim a mile but she insisted that she was not a swimmer but a diver, nay, runner who got into marathons at the urging of her boss. She even qualified for the Boston Marathon. Upon reflection, the runner said: I like running. It's the only time I get to be alone. Otherwise, it's mom, mom.

I probably won't get the water audio system.

It's good to unplug and it's good to engage with people.

‘Drea Minus 60 (Allowances Included)

It took me two years plus six and half months to do it but I finally reached my 60 pound weight loss goal.

My aunt Al, cousin and I were sitting around talking about weight loss. My cousin has recently gotten back in the gym and wants to lose a significant amount of weight to which my Aunt Al said, If I lost 50 pounds, I wouldn’t tell anyone.

At first, I thought it was the usual tactic of not airing one’s dirty laundry but I see my Aunt Al’s point of view.

Sixty pounds is a lot and it signals excess but I’m glad that I’m letting the excess skeleton out of the closet.

When the Bernie Madoff scandal hit, there was a great deal of commentary but only one essay, Geneen Roth’s I was fleeced by Madoff stuck with me.


In the essay, Roth talks about how 30 years of retirement savings went down the drain. She also talks about her decision to be a waitress and maid in order to buy time to write poetry.

Over and over again, I've asked myself: Why didn't I secure the most basic of all things -- shelter itself? Why didn't I pay off my mortgage? And if I don't engage in blame, I see the answer clearly: because I believed in something else more -- I believed in accumulating. And when you believe in accumulating, you see what you don't have, not what you have. My relationship to money was no different from my relationship to food, to love, to fabulous sweaters: I never felt as if I had enough. I was always focused on the bite that was yet to come, not the one in my mouth. I was focused on the way my husband wasn't perfect, not the way he was. And on the sweater I saw in the window, not the one in my closet that I hadn't worn for a year.

Roth’s essay moved me in so many ways but it was also a reminder not to excessively consume food or worry.

In trying to reach my 60 pound milestone during the past two months, I became aggravated because the scale would head north then south then north -- always one pound or two shy of 60. I couldn’t believe my tactics of exercising longer and drinking more water weren’t working. I knew that I had more weight to lose. So, why wasn’t it coming off? In addition, I was literally counting what I was putting in my mouth while making allowances for my recurrent snacking.

What I lost sight of in the last few months was the fact that I’m in great shape. I can tell by my 40 minute stints on the StairMaster. Before, I had to stop the machine and, now, I don’t need to take a break. I’m swimming more laps and I’m better at rock climbing.

I forgot that my body works superbly and has supported me with the excess weight and it has supported me as I’ve gone through the process of shedding the excess weight too. I have practically been on a non-stop regimen for over 800 days.

I forgot about the simple joy of being in motion and reacquainting myself with the athlete that I left behind so long ago.

I was also reminded to be grateful by several bloggers’ Love Your Body Day posts:

FAT!Fat!FAT!—it’s all talk

Exposed: Why I Love My Body

Hopefully, as I continue this journey, I won’t lose sight of the fact that I feel healthier and I’m in a good place – even when the scale is teetering back and forth.

Wonder Acupuncturist?

This page is from a Wellness pocket calendar which has very cool information. The calendars are for marketing purposes but I like them. I got this particular one from Dr. Ginger who is, among other things, an acupuncturist. I went one time to see if I could dodge some unshakable pain.

Dr. Ginger was like an assassin with the needles. Never saw them coming and never felt pain. I did, however, want to sleep like a baby after the treatment and I haven't felt that particular pain anymore. Wonder acupuncturist or coincidence? I don't really know but I'd go again.

Whenever I think about acupuncture, my mind inevitably wanders to this silly commercial: