Back In The Saddle (Sortof) Again

I have been having so much trouble getting back into my workout routine after the foot injury in July and cataract operation in August. I'm really a big spoiled brat in terms of being fit and strong and thin. Once I hurt my foot in early July, it pretty much made my working out grind to a halt and I've gotten flabbier and put on some weight. I hate hate hate it. Just as I finally got back on my feet (or foot, I guess, both feet were actually affected since my good leg had to take on too much pressure and got sore as a result), I had my cataract surgery. To be sure, this went like a dream, very smoothly and little healing required. Still there were a lot of things I wasn't supposed to do. The incision in my eye had to heal -- no swimming for two weeks right off -- and you couldn't bend down from the waist which puts pressure on your eye. Again, sounds like no big deal but it compromises your ability to workout and makes a lot of your usual exercise routine off limits.

And so with those restrictions, you get a little squirrely. Not able to run and jump and splash in my usual way, I get frustrated. And then there's the sheer time you need to take to work-out. It's not easy.

Two really hopeful and wonderful things came across the radar yesterday. McDonald's has hired Bob Greene -- Oprah's original diet and exercise coach -- to design and promote good healthy meals there. I know most of you without kids probably never go to McDonald's but with my son, I'm often there and now I'll have a way to eat healthy food there and not blow my diet. I've been eating absolute junk lately. People who knowme know I'm mostly pretty good about eating well and sticking to salmon and broccolli and other good things on a daily basis. They would be shocked to see the crap I've been eating lately.

Also good news is Dr. Phil's new diet book and his campaign to get us all thin again. I know, Rageboy, you detest Dr. Phil and have busily been dragging him through the mud over at EGR Weblog all summer, but hell, give the guy a break. If he helps me get thinner and a few million other people do the same, my hats off to him. Here's a link to the book: The Ultimate Weight Solution -- 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom.

So ... here's what I'm doing ... meeting a trainer at the gym today at 10:00 (and don't say, oh, she's got lots of money and that's easy for her -- not so, besides, you don't need a gym, most of my fitness happens on my living room floor with videotapes, a yoga mat, dumbells for weightlifting) but they give you a few free sessions with a trainer and I'm taking them up on the offer.

I'm going to post my weight, height, goals and everything here. I'm going to TELL ALL about the crap I eat and when I fall off the wagon. I'm going public with it.

I think I'm 150 lbs and 5'8" -- thank god I'm tall, I don't know how short women manage to stay slim -- but let's see what they say at the gym when they weigh me in this morning. At 140, I'm slim and healthy. At 130, (to my mind) I'm anorexic. I'm aiming for 140, but expect to drop 10 lbs over the next 3-4 months. I don't think there's anything smart about losing weight fast -- I don't think it works. I want to get back into making good choices about what and when and why I eat.

One choice I usually make but have broken this summer is -- NO EATING AFTER 7PM. I try to eat a lot in the morning, a good lunch and snacks in the afternoon with a very light dinner and no eating after 7 PM, since I go to bed around 9 - 9:30, believe it or not.

The problem's been lots of nice generous folks taking me out to dinner, often business-related, but that will just put on the pounds like nobody's business. I like breakfast meetings and I'll eat like a pig at breakfast, but I know I have the whole day to burn it off.

Also, I haven't been drinking enough water. Gotta fix that.

Also, no alcohol. Just isn't good, although one glass of red wine now and then is okay. Luckily that's not a big problem for me. What really wrecks me is going out to dinner, eating late, drinking wine -- because, big surprise, in the morning, I don't feel like getting up to workout and that can throw my routine off for a few days. If I don't work out for a few days, I don't want to get back into the groove for a week sometimes and then WHEN I get back to it, my strength and fitness has really fallen off and it's a big drag to try to get back to the level you were at.

I'll stop whining and complaining and get on with it. There's one good thing I do to keep fit that always works -- Rageboy, you'd even go for it -- turn on some music and dance. Dance, dance, dance. I'll put on Dancing Girl by ABBA this morning and go shake my moneymaker.