Weighty Matters

The technician arrived at 8 a.m. today to hook me up with my new cable and Internet service.  Woot!  I’m once more done with the dial-up and can effectively cruise around online at home.  This afternoon I called the previous service to cancel.  I had to laugh at the conversation.  I used to have Dish Network.  After the woman asked me why I was cancelling and if there was anything she could do, she began to talk me through the process.  She asked where the satellite dish is located — in the yard or on the roof.  When I told her it’s on the corner of the roof she told me that they didn’t expect me to go up and disconnect it.

You think?  It never entered my mind that they’d do anything other than send a tech to do that work.  With that knotty problem out of the way, she then took several minutes to explain that they’d send me a box to ship back the DVR, that I should leave in the data card (Like I’d know how to remove it?), and that they’d need to have it back within 70 days or there would be a charge.  I assured her that I would return the equipment as soon as I received the box.  She explained a few more things and then we were finished.

If they’d been that thorough in their customer service before, I might have considered staying with them awhile longer — or at least until the next few bad rainstorms reminded me why I wanted to switch from a satellite service.

On to other things.

I’ve done pretty well the last couple of days sticking to the plan to treat my stomach with more kindness.  I’ve consumed mostly smoothies, Greek yogurt with fruit and soup yesterday and today.  I limited my caffeinated tea to one cup in the morning and had only green tea a few other times.  I already feel better than I did on Wednesday and believe I’ll stay with this routine for the weekend.  That should straighten out my system the rest of the way.

Tomorrow I’m planning on my regular Tai Chi class first thing in the morning.  As an extra treat, I’m going to leave by 10:15 and zip over to a Zumba class.  Yes, I really do continue this a treat.  I was at that conference earlier this week on the evening when I would normally do my Zumba class.  I miss it when I don’t do it, so picking up a Saturday class feels right.  Added to this determination is the realization that it has rained so much the last two days that I haven’t been able to take walks with the dogs.  With the exception of Wednesday night’s Tai Chi class and the treadmill routines that I did while away, I haven’t gotten in my usual amount of exercise.  I need to move!

Did I share that I caved on an infomercial and bought a home Pilates machine?  I know I’ve shared that I wanted to try Pilates but, to be honest, I just have not been able to figure out when I could fit the classes into my already packed schedule.  I saw a long presentation on this machine and ended up ordering it.  The equipment arrived shortly before I left town, so I only had a chance to use it once with some quick exercises.  This is no cheap, wimpy apparatus, I was happy to discover.  There are some basic exercises that I can’t do yet, but others that I think will provide the extra toning that I wanted.

The deal included multiple DVDs.  I’m going to make a point of checking out the basic starter one this weekend and see how I do.  Yes, I will report back to all of you.

Earlier today, I had a sudden memory of a quick exchange that took place at the conference I attended.  Although I’d seen some of the people in January so my weight loss was already known to them, we spent more time together over the course of a few days.  One morning, I shared a table with a couple of women I know.  There was a buffet breakfast served.  I walked back to the table with two crisp strips of bacon, a bran muffin and a slice of pineapple on my plate.  One of the women looked at my plate and said, “That’s all you’re eating?  No wonder you’re doing so great with your weight loss.”

This was a good lesson in perspective.   To me that was a full meal.  In fact, even though I knew that I wouldn’t finish the entire muffin, I was worried that I’d overloaded my plate.  To the other people, it was a light breakfast.  I’d left behind the eggs, potatoes and sausage links.  I hadn’t taken a bagel or bread.    (For the record, occasionally eating bacon does not mean I’m totally screwing with my food plan.  It means I’m being normal and letting myself have something I really enjoy.  I’d had eggs the morning before, so I wanted to go for some variety.)Oh what a difference a year and a half makes.  It was a mini-aha moment, for sure.

I still have a lot of times when my eyes are bigger than my stomach.  I’ll eat something on impulse that fills my stomach more than I should.  However, I have many more times when I successfully design my portions.  I continue to train myself to not overeat.  The evening before this breakfast, we’d gone out to enjoy some of the local restaurants.  I accompanied others to a trattoria that served up absolutely delicious food.  At that meal, I skipped having an appetizer and went with a smaller, lighter, fresh pasta dish over a complete, larger entrée.  Even then, I shared and really brought my dinner into the right portion size by giving away a couple of the ravioli.

The trick is to recognize these successes and have more of them.  More good planning and appropriate choices over the snatch and grab of compulsive eating.  All one day, one meal at a time.

A good weekend is ahead to enjoy.  What’s on your schedule?

I’m at a business-related conference.  It’s been an action-packed, intensive day that started with a breakfast meeting and a high-energy, motivational speech by Pat Croce.  Pat started his career physical therapy, specializing in sports medicine when that was a concentration in its infancy.  He worked his way up through the ranks of the NBA organization the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers.  (Go, Sixers!)  He eventually became a part-owner and, I think, served as its General Manager.  He knows what it was like to take the team from one of the league’s worst to champ status.

In a horrible motorcycle accident, he nearly lost a foot but underwent multiple surgeries and made a full recovery.  His has an intense interest in pirates and pirate history.  Over the years he’s amassed an incredible collection of pirate artifacts.  Several years ago, he opened a pirate museum in Key West, Florida which he moved to St. Augustine a few years ago.  That still bums me out.  I loved that museum.

Anyway, this man has enough spirit and energy for half a dozen people.   He is a big believer in pursuing your dreams with the complete conviction that you can make them a reality.  His talk was a super way to begin this day.  My brain is buzzing from ideas and info triggered by the sessions and roundtables that I attended today.  I’m heading for bed because tomorrow is going to be just as busy.

I wanted to share some of the things Pat said that were my takeaways from the talk.

It’s only impossible until it works.

It’s our choice.

Persistence has no time limit.

I.Q. is not as important as I will.

Unleash the will of the soul.  (That’s from a poem but I cannot for the life of me remember the poet or poem name tonight.  I’m going to ask one of Pat’s colleagues tomorrow.)

Finally, from Emerson, a great reminder:

You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know when it will be too late.

I don’t usually go up and ask people if I can take a picture, but since my family and I are fans of Philly sports teams, I wanted this shot to send to my brother and nephews.  I think we look good together.  🙂

I’m old enough to remember when fast food restaurant chains were a novelty instead of a staple in many daily food plans. The first time Mom took us to the first McD’s restaurant to open in our area, we stared through the window at the metal conveyor belt moving out its line of burger patties. The French fries tasted out of this world to our uncultured taste buds.

Little did I know that this experience was the equivalent of drug dealers hanging around schools to seed new users.

Gagillions of calories, fat grams and sodium mgs later, I look at the chains with the same kind of aversion I used to quit smoking. Twenty six and a half years ago when I enrolled in a smoking cessation program they taught us to not just foster a desire to quit, but to also develop a disgust and loathing for cigarettes.

It helps a lot to approach those well-branded, familiar buildings and think, “Ewww gross.” It’s easier for me to support my aversion since the last time I ran into one when I was starving, the plain burger didn’t slide well into my stomach. I had to throw it up. Gross for sure but it strengthened my resolve.

That’s a long way from the days of driving up, placing an order and asking for two sodas so the people would think I was getting a meal for more than just me.

I’m better off not going in at all but finding other choices if I get caught in a situation where I couldn’t travel with my food. As a last resort, there are a few places where I can find food items that will meet my needs, won’t trash my plan, will give me at least something close to quality, and won’t make me feel like hurling after I eat.

Because I don’t usually go into quick serve chains, I only recently discovered that Subway now offers chopped salads. Any meat or meat and cheese combo available in a sandwich can be mixed into a salad made with exactly my choice of veggies. There are also lower fat dressing options.

Tonight was one of those nights. I leave on a business trip tomorrow so there aren’t many fresh food supplies in the house. It was convenient to run into Subway and have them assemble a salad for me. I made good protein and dressing choices over lettuce, raw spinach, onions and peppers. I feel like the end result was a good balance of nutrition and taste.

Granted, I can eat less than half of the total meal, but that’s okay. I can pack the rest into my travel cooler and have it for lunch tomorrow.