Saturday, April 24, 2010

Day 19 - Broken Windows and Crazylegs

Diet tip of the day: The next time you're tempted to stop at a fast food place for something quick to eat, stop at a grocery store instead. Most places have pre-made deli sandwiches that are a lot healthier than anything you'd get at a drive-thru. Skip the soda and grab a personal skim milk, apple juice, or water. It might take you a few extra minutes, but it will save your body in the long run.

I drive a Saturn that was made in the late 90's. It's a good car, or at least it hasn't broken down on me, yet. There's only one problem: the driver's side door. The inside panel is missing, and the window is extremely problematic. It will go down 1/3 of the way, then make a terrible racket like you're putting a pen into a pencil sharpener, then you have to push it down by hand, and it will go down another third of the way and do the same thing. I'm always too afraid that it will stay down and I'll be caught in the rain with my window wide open. It's a little inconvenient, but I can't tell you how many times it has saved me from going through the drive-thru to get food. I really can't remember a time where it hasn't stopped me. And then, I have to reevaluate... do I want to go in, spend money, even though my back hurts from working all day? Or do I want to go home and make something in my jeans? I always end up picking the latter, sometimes not because it's healthier, but just because I'd rather wear jeans than my work pants and relax on the couch while I eat my dinner.

There's a race going on outside my apartment. It's called the Crazylegs race, and it happens every year around our campus. It seems like it rains every single year on the day of the Crazylegs race, and this year is no exception. I always feel so bad for those people, walking for miles on the cold, wet streets of what is usually a quite beautiful city. But today, as I was driving home from work (earlier than I expected), I thought to myself, "Why should I feel sorry for them?" They looked happy. They looked healthy. And they looked like they were having a really great time sharing a great experience with their friends and family. I should be feeling sorry for myself, not in the melodramatic, mopey kind of way, but in the sense that I know I couldn't do what they're doing.

I'd like to change that, and I am changing that! I'm down 15 pounds, and I'm on a mission. I know I can get in shape and walk a Crazylegs race of my own. Even though I won't be in this city next year, I'm sure I can find a race to participate in. I think it would be a great way to celebrate my weight loss when I've reached my goal. So I'm going to plan on participating in a charity walk next spring. There's always a walk for breast cancer in my hometown and it's a big enough city to even start up a walk. What if I could get enough people together to have a walk to prevent childhood obesity or even just to raise awareness about obesity in America. I'll have to look into it and see if something like that already exists, but I think it would be a great project to work on. Think of all the groups that could get involved! Weight Watchers groups, the Diabetes associations, the American Heart Association... obesity causes so many health problems. I'm sure a lot of groups would want to get involved.

But how about an exercise for today? You know how much I hate my underarm jiggle. Here's another exercise for that. Get down on your hands and knees. Put a small weight (1, 2, or 3 pounds depending on what you feel comfortable with) in your right hand. Support yourself with your left hand and your legs, and pull your right arm to your side so that it forms a right angle, with your upper arm horizontal and your forearm vertical. Extended your arm backwards, straightening it out so that your whole arm is parallel to the ground. Let it down slowly, then repeat. Do this 10-15 times, then switch to the left arm. That should work the backs of your arms, and you can alternate with the couch exercise and the behind the head exercise I added in a previous comment. Good luck! Make sure you give me your feedback about my more recent posts.

2 comments:

  1. Taking a negative - like a temperamental driver's side window - and seeing the positive (keeping you away from drive-thru's and the lack of nutrition found there - is a real sign of positive mental adjustment! You're not looking at the bug on the windshield; you're looking at the positive things still down the road. Looking forward to your next observation!

    Yours in the struggle to make less of ourselves,

    Career Weightloss Yo-yo

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  2. Great positive spin on a frustrating issue! I bet you'll be running that race one of these days. I have "broken window" issues of my own and I'm going to try to find the positive in them.

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