Back in skinny jeans

Walk Day #18: Ye gads! Walking to the grocery store

Captain's Log: 03212008 Day #18 of 30 Total Walk Time: 1hour 45 minutes

I say Ye gads walking to the grocery store mainly because unless you live in a metro city with good public transportation, most of us in suburb type living drive to the grocery store even if it is only down the street. Remember the movie LA Story? I went to a Safeway that was 1.75 miles one way, so that gave me a good 3.50 mile walk.

In the store, I heard some really beautiful bird singing, and thought how cool it was that Safeway was piping in bird sounds. It's so Zen. But then I saw a real bird fly by me, and swoop up to the ceiling. Here he is pearched at the top singing his heart out. More likely he was chirping, "How the hell do I get out of this place? Can someone help a brotha out?!"

I almost turned around during my walk because the wind was blowing somewhere around 25 mph and it's still slightly chilly. I was not liking the wind but it wasn't that bad just kinda annoying. But then I got to thinking of some of you who have been training for your 10ks and half marathons running in the snow and sleet, and I thought, "Damn, I'm being some California whimp. Toughen up, and take the wind." So I did, and it was only slightly challenging getting to the store. Coming back was a breeze because the wind was pushing me from behind.

I had a really good walk, and am glad I went. It's still hitting me that Spring is here. I still feel like New Year's was last week. Man how time flies! One on the songs I listened to on the iPod was "The Funeral" by Band of Horses. You've heard this song on all kinds of TV shows and commercials. Recently, the song  was on an episode of NUMB3RS where the hot FBI guys save a kidnapped reporter. Love this song! Get it on

Your Two Cents: "Is a liquid only detox for a 14-year-old a wise decision?"

I try not to criticize people's parenting choices, but sometimes there are things I see on TV that make me wonder. In an episode of The Real Housewives of New York City, mom Jill Zarin, takes her 14-year-old daughter Ally to the Martha's Vineyard  Detox Center which is the center that is the basis for the book, "21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox." The detox is based on a diet of liquid only vegetable juices every two hours for one week.

Now, I've done a detox likes this before and it was fantastic, but I did this as a grown adult. Ally is still a growing teenager, and the idea of a teen only drinking vegetable juices for a week doesn't sound wise, at least to me. In a newspaper article, Ally's mom said the motivation for the detox was to help Ally with an arthritis issue and on the show, she said that dropping some pounds would be great too.

Ally wanted to drop some pounds because of the "scrutiny" a teen can face starting a new year as a sophomore in high school, as well as a desire for looking good for the TV show. When I heard that, red flags went up for me because there are other ways a teenager can drop weight that don't involve liquid diets. Ally ended up shedding 11 pounds in that one week, which is an enormous amount of weight in a short period of time. Most of it was most likely water weight and results from colonics. That's another thing, should teens be doing colonics?

Doing detoxes are really a healthy thing to do for your body to help rid you of toxins, and they better serve you if your intention is for detoxification versus weight loss. My question though is the wiseness of having teenagers do a detox process because their young bodies are still growing, and mentally they may not fully understand the difference between detoxing and dieting. As well, many other teenage girls are going to see this on TV and want to do the same thing, drop 11 pounds in one week. This is a bit of a controversial subject, but time for you to weigh-in...

Your Two Cents: Are health detoxes where liquid only diets are involved a wise or beneficial choice for teenagers?

Walk Day #17: Dinners with the ex's (Two of them)

Captain's Log: 03202008 Day #17 of 30 Total Walk Time: 15 minutes

Ok, I only did 15 minutes but 15 is better than zero, no? I woke up in a major funk not just because of the insomnia thing but because I don't know. You know how funk just seems to crawl up on you without you noticing first thing in the morning. You just wake up feeling the funk. You're not depressed, but not happy. You're not sad, but not glad. You don't feel yucky, but you're not tiptop. It's almost like your stuck in a pergatory of beingness. That was my morning.

This week has been a unique flavor. I had dinner with Matt last night and dinner a few nights ago with Mustang (I'll call him that since that was the car he drove when we dated in college). It was kind of ironic because Mustang was my first boyfriend, ever, and he was the one that de-flowered me in the biblical sense. We had a very tumultuous relationship, and we broke up because I basically caught him in bed with one of his co-workers, and he started dating her before he broke up with me, and even took her out with our friends. Oh yes, all the friends knew before me. Yeah. REALLY bad. Consequently, he married that woman and they are still married with a kid.

How we turned all that around and became friends once again really is a story of miracles which I can elaborate on later on. But for now, I'll just say this. People, okay what I really mean is guys, dudes, men, can change and they can express regret, sorrow, and ask for forgiveness and mean it. It took years, but Mustang kept at it and as we both matured and he proved that he genuinely meant it when he told me that I have always been someone important to him. He just didn't know how to do it when he was a stupid mixed 20-something as he put it. It is because of Mustang that I pursued my design career when my folks were trying to pressure me to be a doctor.

Mustang and I ate at this Clay Pot place where you have to literally cook your food at your table. It was actually quite fun although my hair was filled with hibachi smell when we left. Later we hung out and chatted about life, the fond parts of the old days, and I showed him my vision for my blogging business. We met as 20 year olds and here we were now hanging out as 40 year olds. It was a great trip between the past and the present.

Last night, I had dinner with Matt because I had some mail from what used to be our place (he still lives there), so he swung by after work and we ate Japanese. Now, Matt and I share this South Park adolescent kind of sense of humor and when we got to this restaurant we couldn't help giggle like two 13-year-old boys at the name of the place. What we saw was Fuk-U-Ya! So yeah, we have sophomoric humor.

We had a great time, laughing and giggling, and catching up on our daily lives. It felt like the early days when we started dating. I've been wondering if one of the reasons I've been having insomnia is because I really miss being with Matt. I really miss having him in the bed next to me keeping me warm and safe. I always slept soundly with him in the bed.

So, dinner with two ex's within a few days of each other was on one hand really weird, but also really kinda cool. I'm actually friends will all my ex's except for one, which I take as a testament that my relationships with these men, although they did not work out romantically, really were based on a solid foundation of friendship and mutual admiration. Now, I just have to find the one where I can have both that solid foundation and the til death do us part. I really would love that.

Quote on choices

Nosh bites: Nutritional breakdown for Trader Joe's Meatballs and your organic personal care products may have contaminants

Over at Noshtopia, here are some dee-lish tidbits for your healthy noshing pleasure:

• Trader Joe's has 5 kinds of meatballs: Beef, Turkey, Italian, Party Size (Beef + Pork), and Meatless. I give you a chart with the nutritional breakdown for each of the meatballs.

• Your organic personal care products might have cancer causing contaminants. Here's how you can find out.

• Did you know that purple is one of the original colors of the carrot? If you've never seen a purple carrot, it's pretty interesting.

• 10 foods that will help you age healthily.

Weigh-in Wed: #42 "3 months into maintenance mode"

I haven't done a Weigh-In Wed video in awhile, so I thought now would be a good time to give everyone a status as to where I am 3 months into maintenance mode. My apartment is a little messy, but what the heck, I'm giving you a peek into my homey-ness.

My goal is to get to a point where I am no longer consciously in "maintenace mode" but moved into a mental place of where I don't even think about my weight every day anymore because I've created healthy lifestyle habits that keeps my weight stabilized. That would be the ideal!

In today's video, I talk about where I'm at pound wise, what I've been doing for exercise and food, and I talk briefly about my bit with insomnia. I am open to any tips anyone has about alleviating insomnia. (video 3min 56sec)

The difference between "weight loss" and "weight management"

The other day I was thinking more about the difference between "weight loss" and "weight management" after having to classify my blog for one of those blog directory thingies. Under "Health," the typical subcategories are either diets or weight loss, and to me Back in Skinny Jeans is not really either. Yes, I talk about diets, dieting, and weight loss, and offer tips and ideas but I'm not a program nor do I follow one. I'm not about deprivation or restriction, but balance and moderation. I also try to focus more on long term success versus short term gain.

Unlike many diet and weight loss philosophies, I believe in a more holistic approach that includes body, mind, and spirit and how all three influence and affect your weight plus your overall well-being.This I consider more management of one's overall heath because as soon as you start to create a healthier body and lifestyle one of the natural effects is the shedding of unnecessary pounds.

To me the difference between "weight loss" and "weight management" is primarily mindset and perspective, and I think understanding the difference can help you achieve your healthy weight goals and keep the pounds off for good. It definitely has helped me. Here is my two cents on some of the differences between the two:

Weight Loss Mindset

• It's more about image. Primary motivation is to fit into an idealized image of beauty or handsomeness.
• Food plans are primarily based on restriction, deprivation, and short term use to achieve desired image. Restriction triggers body into survival mode like lowering metabolism.
• Tactics are based primarily on fast, short term results. Not much consideration for maintenance afterward, long term lifestyle habits, or state of overall health.
• There is an ending point. Most diet plans are short lived.
• The focus is on numbers: pounds, inches, dress size
• There is an emotional sense of urgency, anxiousness, or self-criticism.
• Pounds yo-yo over time

Weight Management Mindset

• It's more about wellness. Primary motivation is to create a healthy body.
• Food plans are designed for lifelong eating that healthily supports your body, and maintain your desired weight. There is room for flexibility.
  
• Tactics are based primarily on creating lifelong healthy lifestyle habits
• There is no ending point. Creating a healthy lifestyle lasts a lifetime.
• The focus is holistic. How you feel: mind, body, spirit
• There is an emotional sense of well being, vitality, or self-loving.
• Pounds stay off for good.

A quick way to do a gut check is to ask yourself some simple questions like:

This is true commitment to exercise

This is impressive. My Twitter pal @dward was so committed to working on his fitness that on Saint Patrick's Day, even after several pints and feeling a bit sozzled in the Irish way he still went to the gym to spin and stumble walk on the treadmill. He even sent proof.

This gives new meaning to spinning sideways. Good for you man! I'd probably be slumped over on the bike feeling another kind of spin.

Walk Day #16: Who can walk 30 minutes every day for the rest of their life?

Captain's Log: 03172008 Day #16 of 30 Total Walk Time: I think 20-ish minutes

Confession time. The only walking I did yesterday was to my car and through Whole Foods to buy some grub. While there, I took a picture of some purple asparagus called Purple Haize. Cool, huh? If walking around a grocery store counts as walking then I did about 20-ish minutes. On Sunday, I walked for 10 minutes before I decided it was too cold and I was too tired because I have this insomnia thing going on and didn't sleep until 5am. My body was all jacked up the rest of the day because of the sleep deprivation.

Honestly, trying to walk every day for 30 minutes is proving much harder than I thought. When I was working on dropping those 25 lbs, I would workout 5 days a week and take 2 rest days off. I'm discovering now just how much I looked forward to those 2 days off.

So, this notion that the Healthorati say of walking every day for at least 30 minutes for the rest of my life to maintain a healthy weight is not as easy as it sounds. Don't get me wrong, I like walking and think it is really awesome exercise but to walk every day, is a lot, at least to me. If you can do it, more power to you! I applaud you. I like having my 2-3 days of non-exercise. I'll kick ass during my 4-5 workouts a week, as that is working just fine at the moment. I think the issue more than anything is variety. I need to mix it up, and I have a hard time doing the same thing day after day. We can always revisit the walking every day thing.

Coincidentally, the insomnia thing started when I started this Great Walking experiment. But we also had the time change thing a week later, and then I was stressed about getting my post on why I left my tech career finally published. I HAD to publish that post, and I'm so glad I did it because it lifted a huge load, but man-o-man the process of getting it written was like pulling teeth with my psyche.

The Inner Resistance Monster was kicking in big time. He and I duked it out several times, but I won because I told him that it really is in both our interests that I heal this work thing because it is affecting our present and causing money stress. It didn't hurt either to do a WWF Body Slam with the IR Monster to get my point across.

I said I would try and walk for 30 days so I only got 14 days left and I'm going to stick with it. When I do get outside it is fun and relaxing, and I've been having a blast taking pictures. In front of the public City Library where I live are some brick tiles with quotes. This one I thought was really cool.