The Next Hundred Pounds

EXERCISE: OF FREE SPEECH; ARTISTIC; ATHLETIC

Business first: a couple of days ago there was some kind of odd glitch with Typepad, and some comments that were meant to be posted in response to this post got posted under this post instead. Typepad Customer Service had this to say:

Hi Cindy,

Thanks for the note. It looks like the comments from Cindy and
SmartRunner were added to the "The Long Haul' post but they are
referencing the "This is not a Running Blog" post.

At this time there isn't an easy way to move comments from one post to
another. The best workaround would be to recreate the comment by
copy/pasting the content from the incorrect post as a new comment on
the correct post - using the original author's name and URL.

We hope this helps. Please let us know if there is anything else we
can do for you.

Thanks,
Zalary

I had already done this, so that's that. However, the OP was quite incensed and thought I had censored her comments; she may or may not ever get this message. It seems like a good time to explain my policy on comments: I delete spam, and I delete incivility (but only after giving the poster an opportunity to reword; and this has only happened once in the entire time this blog has run). I do not delete civilly-worded criticisms or disagreements, even if they say negative things about me. And that's about all I have to say about that.

The concert was beautiful fun. You take a bunch of pro singers and instrumentalists, many of whom know each other well and really enjoy performing together, you let them pick the music they want to sing, and you invite all your friends to come hear ... you get a concert that lasts well over two hours, and everyone stays for every last drop. You get something that isn't perfect but it doesn't matter, because it is artistic and gorgeous and everyone is having a great time. Music making should be like this all the time.

I also had a little artistic revelation, while I was rehearsing singing "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix", which for you opera civilians out there is a tres sexy aria sung by a naughty naughty girl. I've sung this piece for a long time, but I wanted to take it to a new artistic place, so to speak. As I was working out the blocking (aka how you plan to move on stage, civvies), I found myself worrying how it would look to do X or Y or Z. And it suddenly occurred to me that Dalila (yes, that Dalila, the Biblical beautician known for shearing off her boyfriend's locks) wouldn't have to think about how she moved and certainly wouldn't worry about whether it was sexy or not. It would be sexy just because she did it. So I stopped worrying, and did whatever I felt like doing, and pretty soon I hope to have a video clip to post so you can judge for yourself whether it worked or not. I'll tell you this, though: without the weight loss, I would not have had the confidence to go to this place, artistically. I wouldn't have had the confidence to just let go and try it.

The bad news: with all the performance-related extras this week, and a midnight mini medical emergency that meant very little sleep last night (everything's fine now), exercise and eating pretty much went to hell. I did all my Couch to 5K training, and we walked the 3-mile loop several times this week, but I don't think I did elliptical training once. And there was a lot of eating out. I'm scared to get on the scale!

However, I'm no longer scared of blowing it entirely. A few bad days aren't going to make me fat overnight; I always nip it in the bud, and I will this time, too. But it is definitely time to review what and how much I'm eating, and kick up the workouts again. Every week, I do a sort of mental check-in, and I keep hearing the same thing: this isn't over yet. But I think if I want to lose significant weight again, something has to change a lot. A lot more exercise, a lot fewer calories. I like the way I'm eating now, even though I think perhaps I've let bigger servings and more fat creep in (pulls on stompin' boots to stomp that behavior right out), so the alternative is to really step up the exercise. And to do that, I am going to have to get very serious about time management.

Also, I miss my wonderful trainer, Doris. I miss her a lot. I've been trying to figure out if there's a way I can get back to working with her on a regular basis. I need to vary my workout more, and I'm not very good about doing that and sticking with it. I need to find something besides running that I will actually DO on a regular basis.

I shall ponder on it.

COMMENT RESPONSES

Turns out that, thanks to some updates at Typepad, some users are currently unable to respond to comments, and that includes yours truly. So, until it's fixed, I'm going to respond to them here. Rather than making a new post each time, I'll just add to this one in reverse chronological order.

January 1: Auf Wiedersehen, 2008

Annette and Kelley: Thanks, ladies! I am bewildered and excited by my newfound ability/desire to jog. I have never liked running. I have never had the body for it. But I am a firm believer in listening to what my body wants, and it keeps saying, "Let's RUN!". It's also saying, "Let's whack that punching bag some more!" I'd love to find a kickbox cardio class. It is very satisfying to kick the crap out of that bag!

MizFit, as to what is left for this year ... plenty! I've got thirty pounds to lose and after that, I want to see how fit and lean I can get. I'm also looking at applying the Beck techniques to a couple of other areas of my life; but I'm not quite ready to talk about that yet. :)

December 30: Transitioning Out of the Holidays

Sop2Mezzo: Thanks for the tip. I saw that silver art clay when researching the stamping materials, and it looks intriguing. Do you have to have special equipment to fire it?

Dec. 28 post re: Complete Beck Diet for Life:

Liz Turtle: love your blog! It's going on my to-read list. Re: calorie intake. It's a big mistake to start a diet with the smallest number of calories you think you can get away with. Instead, you should start with the MOST. The reason is that as you continue to lose, you must constantly trick your metabolism with changes in exercise and diet. At some point, you are going to have to cut calories (actually, if you're engaged in longterm major weight loss, you will have to do it more than once). At some point you really can't go any lower, physically or psychologically. So you want to have as many calories to work with as possible. You'll be shaving off 100-200 calories each time you need to readjust, and that means shaving treats off your daily intake, which can be very tough to deal with. Don't worry; even if the number seems high at first, if you stick to that and exercise, you WILL lose.  You can always cut calories as needed, but you can't really add them back in and expect to keep losing, unless you radically increase your level of exercise.

Theresa K --- I have not seen the workbook that goes along with CBDFL, but I did buy the one that went with BDS. It's sort of BDS Lite, repeating a lot of the same information but with places you can write in your responses and makes lists and so on. It could be convenient if you like having it all laid out for you, but I'm an artsy craftsy type who gets more out of creating my own tools and making them all sparkly and pretty and individual. :)