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Tack on Another Year
2005-12-19, 2:55 p.m.

Day 484 Tack on Another Year of Experience.

Well, survived the passing of yet another birthday. Now I�m a whopping 39 years old, with 8 years of experience. Don�t know that having that much experience at being 39 does one any good, but it sure beats being 47. Such an odd looking number. Also the number of my old unit in the army � the 47th Combat Support Hospital. Can�t think of anything else really significant about it.

Quietly accumulating more & more days free of smoking. Desires, cravings, urges � all that stuff is fading in the distance. Still get the odd flashback to when I had smoked, what it felt like, the inhalation, exhalation, the sense of relaxation gained. Then I think about grinding it out on the elliptical trainers in the morning. Trying to sustain a burn rate of 1000 calories/hour for 30 minutes. How good you feel when the 30 minutes is done, or when you�ve set a new best for distance covered or calories burned. Also what that feeling means down the road � being able to scale 4 flights of stairs 2 steps at a time and not being out of breath. Go golfing, walking and carrying your bag for 18 holes and not collapsing. Feeling almost boundless energy any time of day, always being ready to go and DO something.

This past weekend, I was so desperate for something to actually DO (since all the painting and molding and carpeting and all the other household kinda CRAP is done), I volunteered to go grocery shopping (on a Saturday afternoon) so I could get the rest of what we needed to do all our Christmas cookie/candy baking. Cindy kinda nixed that grand plan on me. She was suffering the ill effects of yet another hangover and apparently had decided that she just wanted to be a bitch all day. So I went off and did up what cookies I could with what we had on hand. That was actually quite a lot. I was thinking I could do up a batch of cookies, then while shuttling cookies in & out of the oven I could make a batch of fudge too. Some one complained about how long that would take and it would get in the way of getting dinner ready (which was already slow cooking in a crock pot)

So. I settled on making up a double batch of Oatmeal Craisin cookies with white chocolate chips. Dude. Those things are like crack. I�m almost sorry I made them. I need some serious help getting rid of the damn things. Hope the kids feel like eating a lot.

Sunday I actually got the go ahead to take over the kitchen and crank out some real goodies. First � got a batch of cut out cookie dough made up, then let it sit & chill for a few hours. After that, made up a batch of peanutbutter/sugar/Rice Krispie filling for some Reese�s style peanutbutter/chocolate balls.

After that, had to get the smoker set up to do a nice little 6 pound chicken for dinner. Had it injected ahead of time, so all there was to do was get it smoking. Planned for a nice, leisurely 4 hour smoke. While the chicken was going, finally got the fudge cooked up and spread in a cake pan to cool. Then I got to crank up the oven, roll out the cookie dough and do 4 � 5 dozen cut outs. By the time all that was finished, there was just no time to get started on the Divinity. Bummer. I really love that stuff � bad as it is for me.

That leaves the grand total for the weekend at: 6 dozen Oatmeal Craisin Crack cookies, 4 dozen sugar cookie cut outs, 4 dozen chocolate covered peanut butter balls and 1 mondo batch of fudge (now all cut and stored {I was going to say packed, but that�s sooo juvenile}) (and I STILL said packed) with 1 batch of divinity still to go. Oh � still have to frost all the cut outs too. All without any help from that hung over, PMSy, menopausal sack of hormones I get to live with. She who had sooo much to get done this weekend, all she managed to do was sit on her ass and bitch about what everyone else was doing.

I�ve recently made up my mind that she can bitch and moan all she wants, I will do what I need to do to satisfy myself. She gripes about how much time I spend at the gym. She also gives me a hard time about measuring and tracking the food I eat � usually derisive little comments or looks. She also comments about how much I eat � like I�m eating like a pig or something In actuality, I go to the gym 4 weekday mornings, and I�m back home BEFORE 7am (while she�s been calling her work voicemail every freakin 15 minutes, waiting for someone to call in dead or something), Tuesday night aerobics, Saturday (usually) at 7am and maybe Sunday if there�s nothing pressing on the schedule, like there was this past Sunday. Really, the only times I go that impact her is Tuesday evening, which she spends getting shit faced, and Saturday mornings, when she�s either sleeping, hung over or both. As far as eating goes, yes I measure. Yes, I do eat quite a bit. I also burn off quite a bit. I�m still eating smarter than she is, and I�ve dropped 60 lbs this year.

What I have yet to rub her nose in is the fact that now, when I am a full foot taller than she is, she outweighs me by AT LEAST 15 pounds. (yes, I�m 6�1�, 205lbs, she�s 5�1� and 220 lbs, at least) And she has the gall to make fun of what and how I�m eating. Silly, silly girl.

Speaking of Tuesday night aerobics, I was at the gym Saturday morning, just finishing up on the elliptical machine when the aerobics instructor passed by. She noticed me up on the elliptical, stopped by and made some comment about progress in the aerobics class and why I�ve been doing so well. She was be-bopping along, so I just smiled and nodded. Now I�m wondering if she�s going to expect me to get even more involved with all the arm waving and higher level moves.

I kinda stay away from the arm movements for two main reasons. #1 is if you keep waving your arms around like that, it takes up tons more energy and you get tired out quicker. I do some of the arm stuff, but if I start panting too much I lower my arms some. #2 is sometimes I�m concentrating too much on what my feet are doing. If I try to add in the arm movements, someone is probably going to get hurt, and it probably won�t be me, but the poor girl I run over. At times that class is so packed that if someone moves the wrong way a collision is possible. Matter of fact, there�s some girls (women), well guys too, that I won�t get close to because I�ve noticed a certain lack of rhythm & timing. So bad they end up on the wrong side of the step at times. Now, If I�m doing a grapevine to my left, and you�re about 4 beats late and still doing a grapevine to your right, there�s a high probability that we�ll meet. Dainty as I am, I still outweigh darn near all the women in the class and most of the (3) guys. I�m willing to bet I�m denser too. Add that all up, I�m not the one that goes flying. Because of all that, I like to keep my distance. Just so I don�t hurt someone.

I also noticed, while I was going nowhere fast on the elliptical, another aerobics class going on in the cardio studio. Not just a beginners class either. They were doing moves we don�t do in our aerobics for dummies sessions. Might have to try them out sometime. An hour of aerobics followed by a full session on the weight machines would be one heckuva workout. 850 points in the Fitlinxx system � and that�s huge. My normal full blown Saturday is 725ish, while averaging 500 on weekday mornings. That extra 125 points will help chip away at the points oriented goals they�ve set up.

Jeeze � seems like this was 3 entries worth. Guess I�ll save up the Christmas present strategizing for next time. Provided next time is before Christmas. Never know, I might get run over by some 120lb fitness freak during an aerobics class. (Better go change my life insurance and make the kids my beneficiaries)

484 days down. Keep your head up, I�m coming through.


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