Exercise – Lisa Holcomb

Around the House, Everywhere But Home, Exercise, My Own Personal Weirdness, Parenting, Television & Film, What I Love, Writing

This week isn’t going how I thought it would

Tuesday, I got up and was so hopeful. Sure, I had my Spiritual Practices class that evening, but I had all day to write, so it was going to be great!

Nope. Due to some not-quite-disclosable things that are in the works, I got caught up in not one, but two different side projects. One is writing adjacent and in the end won’t require as much of my time as some of the things I’m doing now, but there was a wrapping up of one set of things in order to hand them off to someone else so I’d be ready for the next thing. I know how vague that sounds, but that’s the way life is sometimes, right?

The other thing is not writing adjacent, except in that I am writing up minutes for a group that I had thought I wasn’t taking part in any more. So there was catching up for that group’s information and making sure I still had access to all the notebooks and cloud storage that I need to do that work.

By the time I completed both things, it was time to hit the gym. On Friday, I rejoined the one that is walking distance from my house, instead of the one that I only go near on the way back from taking kids to school in the morning (which isn’t a good time for me to write, due to my ADHD meds timing). I went and learned where all the new stuff was, which machines I could still comfortably use, and which ones are still out of my happiness zone. It was a good workout, and I felt better for having done it.

The rest of the night zoomed by (literally haha!). Wednesday I had two meetings scheduled, so I knew I’d have to make the most of my in-between times for writing. Unfortunately, by the time I’d gotten home from the first one and eaten lunch, a problem had sprung up.

My kids school had a potential shooting threat. They informed parents right at the same time the 504 coordinator called to ask me if we could postpone our meeting for that afternoon. Because of the way our high school sends out alerts (first in the form of a phone call from the school’s main phone line wherein a computer voice reads the entire body of the message, including the URL’s – letter by letter; then almost immediately as an identical text message, an identical email, and then as a link to an identical letter in our district app), and the fact that 90% of the more than five a week they send are either about buying football tickets or that the PTA is selling Chik-fil-a at lunch on Friday, I have stopped answering calls from the school. So I missed that phone call and drove directly to the school. It was a madhouse. Literally hundreds of parents had driven there to take their kids out of school. Since there’s only one way in and out not on lockdown, they were all in the same foyer I needed to check into in order to get to my appointment on time. I was speaking to the woman guarding the door about my having an appointment “Honey, everyone is saying that,” when the 504 coordinator called me again. Since I was already there and the coordinator was meeting me at the inner door, I was ushered right inside. I heard the scoop on everything potentially threatening that was going on, had my kids 504 meeting, and offered to take the kids home anyways, even though it sounded like there was nothing actually going on other than the parental mayhem out front. Both my kids declined. One didn’t want an unexcused absence and the other wanted to go to Writing Club (oh my heart!).

They both wanted me to keep close “on standby,” so I ended up hitting the nearby stores and doing some early Christmas shopping to keep busy, since I had no computers or iPad on me to write with in the parking lot (the notebook I’d brought for the meeting literally had two pages left and I used them during the meeting). Scooped up the first kid out, then sat in the car waiting for the second kid for almost an hour.

I was exhausted, physically and mentally, by the time I got home. I ate dinner and was just heading to bed, when a kid -the one that has never in his life sat still for a movie – begged me to watch a silly Disney movie (Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge) with them. Of course I had to.

Today was an early-to-school day for the kiddos, but I had all the chores I hadn’t gotten done Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to get to work on, plus grocery shopping, so I did those things first. Then I had critiques to do for the Pineywoods Critique Group (which has a new website with a forum and blog here), along with hitting the gym again so I don’t turn into a stiff blob like I was all last year). I also needed to finish one last bit of an old transcribing project that I had promised someone ages and ages ago.

All of this is a long way of saying: it’s late Thursday and I’m still at 684 words for NaNoWriMo. *sigh*

Exercise, health, Lifelong learning, My Own Personal Weirdness

I joined a gym

To enjoy the glow of good health, you must exercise.
-Gene Tunney

After a month of pros & cons lists, visiting local gyms either via online tours or in person, and asking lots of people lots of questions about their exercising and health efforts, I have finally joined a gym. (I see you out there looking shocked. You may close your mouths now. 😉 )

I know it’s taken me some time, but I’m finally ready to get back on the health bandwagon. Some may be amused that I’m starting so near to the Feast of Tabernacles, but I am all about starting now that I’m ready, rather than waiting until some nebulous “perfect time” that never will come.

Fitness plans (this week and next)

I’m already taking a daily walk with the dog. Started that just this week. It calms us both down and makes us happy. Win!
I joined the gym. I learned the machines this morning, but there will be someone there every day, every hour they are open to answer my silly questions. This was a big deal to me. I forget how to do a lot of things (like brushing my teeth. how can you forget that? My mind is a seriously weird place.).
Tomorrow I will be resting from this week’s craziness. Resting is a goodness.
Sunday, I will find my FLEX, charge it, and then I might go to the gym. I forgot to ask their hours. Oh wait, they may be in the stack of papers the trainer handed me. I dumped them in my inbox and forgot about them. Hmm.
Monday, I will go back to the gym and try out the circuit. It will be good because I tried the machines today and only one made me want to cry. The trainer said that was the machine everyone hates the most. Well, yay for that machine. That night I will look at my stats on the computer because they should be available by then.
Tuesday I am trying out Zumba for the first time. They promised not to laugh at me. I am glad about that. I am not terribly coordinated when it comes to watching someone do something and then doing it myself. I hope I don’t hurt anyone.
Wednesday, I am taking a break. My trainer said I should have a couple in there during the week to let my muscles rest. Woo hoo! (Also, I have Bible Study Fellowship on Wednesday mornings.)
Thursday, I am either doing more Zumba or the circuit again. It depends on whether I broke myself and/or others doing Zumba on Tuesday.
Friday, I will go do the circuit again. I will check my stats again and I will be happy that I finished out the week. 🙂

Cross-posted at The Thousand Teeth

Everywhere But Home, What I Love, Writing

What I’m doing this year

People are asking, so here we go:

I didn’t “quit” the PTA, despite how gleeful I might be about stepping down from President-status. I’m still going to Student Health Advisory Committee meetings and am acting as a Council Delegate for at least the middle school PTA (and I’ve offered to do the same for the elementary school, since I’m already going to be there and be writing up reports, may as well kill two birds with one stone, right?). I’m still on the Staff/Teacher Appreciation committees and bringing food up for those days and also doing the Flex Day and 93 and Up Party at the middle school, and heck, I’ll probably even chaperon some field trips and dances while I’m at it. But I’m not on any Executive Board this year and really, that is a lot of work/time/mental stress I’m “skipping out” on.
What am I doing? To sum it up quickly: writing and exercising and organizing.
Oh, you want details? Okay, here goes:
1. Writing: I have a few novels that are nearing the end of Draft One that I’d like to see actually finish Draft One and move on into Draft Two and Ready for Human Consumption/Editing sometime this year. Also a dozen or so poems that are probably finished, but need Eyes and Sending Off.
2. Exercising: I’m trying to lose about 90 pounds (a number which I find horrifying). I’m a stress eater/drinker. Boy, have the last few years been full of stress. (Joy, too, but still a lot of stress.) Plus I have been taking multiple medicines that have been shown to cause weight gain as a side effect. So I’m starting with restorative yoga one day a week, strength training a couple days, aerobics a couple days, and a couple days off because I can’t keep it up if I don’t take time off for rest.
3. Organizing: I’m a pseudo-hoarder. I occasionally watch those shows on TV and think “Oh, thank God I’m not THAT bad!” while I have boxes and boxes of things carefully labelled and awaiting sorting/filing/recycling. I love labeling things, but throwing things out or recycling them? AIE. I’d rather die. What if I need something out of that pile?!?!? No, really, I’d rather scrapbook them and move on, but barring time and energy to complete those tasks, I’ve labelled and boxed things up and now my house is impressively full. So my plan is to start going through the boxes and start tossing/recycling things that no longer have meaning to my family. Once that part is done, I’d like to get back into scrapbooking things again. I like scrapbooking; it’s just time consuming and I have been far too busy with working for money and working for the good of our schools and our church to get that kind of thing done. So part of my time this year will be catching up on that.
4. Extras: singing in the church choir & ladies ensemble, helping out on the kitchen crew one weekend a month, playing with the church ensemble and playing piano/clarinet solos/duets for Special Music or Offertory, helping out with kids crafts/social time at church, maybe starting up a book club again, helping out with Cub scouts and Boy scouts, helping people figure out their computers and smart phones, writing blog posts, and updating Facebook. You know, the usual. 🙂

health, My Own Personal Weirdness

Day 8: Food, Fitness, and Faith

Happy Mother’s Day!

Since it’s Mother’s Day, I didn’t get up and do my exercising right away. I got up, threw on clothes, and took my family over to wish my mom a happy day & give her our presents (a book full of prompts for her life story and a pink bromeliad). She suggested that we go to Einstein’s Bros. for bagels, so we took her up on it. I had a whole wheat bagel with onion & chive schmear and a cup of coffee (450 calories).

After we played a while in the backyard, we had lunch: leftover pizza (380 calories for 2 slices, I didn’t finish my entire portion, though).

Nick had to work today, so the kids and I played in the backyard a while, then did some shopping for my mother’s day gift (jewelry from the $1 jewelry store), and watched Battle for Terra on Netflix. We had a little snack: sweet tarts and Reese’s mini eggs. I had a small serving (8 sweet tarts= 60 calories and 1 Reese’s mini egg = 21 calories).

Then Nick came back and took the kids to the grocery store while I did my exercising. Today I didn’t follow a video. I got some medium strength tube bands and did 10 reps each of the chest/arm exercises. After they came back, a friend of David’s showed up unexpectedly, so I took another walk (I don’t get why D’s friends keep appearing out of nowhere uninvited) to calm down, about 30 minutes.

Dinner was beef & barley soup, bread, and a bit of cheese, with some wine for the grown-ups. I don’t have calorie totals for this particular meal, but based on some internet research of similar soups, I’d guess it was around 250 calories for the soup, another 100 for the wine, 100 for the bread, and about 50 for the cheese. After dinner I had a tiny little serving (measured on our food scale) of ice cream for another 250 calories.

So all in all, I was a bit high today, but I did do 2 bouts of exercise instead of one (that “calm down” walk was a planned one, just made more frenetic by my lack-of-calmness.)

health, I Really Do Cook, My Own Personal Weirdness

Day 7: Food, Fitness, & Faith

Day 7 fell on the Sabbath and my parents were in town. We got up, walked over there (the short way), and had what passes as breakfast at my mom’s house: store bought sweet rolls. Checked the calorie count and ate just one (220 calories). Also had a banana and a cup of coffee.

Took a long walk with my mom just before lunch, slower than I’d have liked, but still we were out and about. Lunch was a turkey bacon, cheddar, and toast sandwich (total calories: 350).

Snack at church was a glass of artificially sweetened lemonade (0 calorie), a handful of popcorn (55 calories), and a devilled egg (approximately 65, which is pleasantly low).

Dinner after a long day of walking around doing hospitality (putting out snacks, cleaning tables, sweeping floors, washing, drying, and putting away dishes, etc) and waiting for kids to finish filming their program was pizza & salad & more 0-cal lemonade. I ate two full pieces of pizza (380 calories) and a small salad (50 calories) and a mini cupcake (80 calories) and a mini brownie (100 calories). (Most calorie amounts approximated from Calorie King.)

I felt like I’d indulged a bit, but looking at the numbers I am very cheered. So actually, all in all, not a bad day at all.

health, I Really Do Cook, My Own Personal Weirdness

Day 6: Food, Fitness, & Faith

Day 6 I got up and tried to do my 10 minute Dance Solutions video. I have several problems with it: 1) There’s no instruction, just dancing. 2) I am trying to lose weight, which means that I cannot see all my muscles, so I have no idea which ones are moving. 3) I can’t dance. So after several minutes I gave up trying to figure out what she was doing and spent the remainder of my time bouncing around energetically whichever way I could. I figured that cardio was cardio at this point. My heart was beating super fast, my arms & legs were flailing around, it was all good. I also ended up walking back and forth to my parents house a few times (and mostly took the long way ’round).

Food: I had another one of my less-than-inspiring-at-this-point breakfasts. Skipped morning snack because I knew I was meeting my parents for lunch. Lunch was at a place called The Purple Pig. I should have realized that this would mean less-than-stellarly-healthy, but I did expect there to be some sort of salad option. Alas, no. Even the safe-sounding new potatoes turned out to be cooked mush with a pound of butter in it. I ate the brisket sandwich (surprisingly small compared to my parents food) and some of the broccoli rice casserole (I farmed out the rest under the flag of “You don’t have any of this, try some!”) and since everyone agreed the potatoes were bad, I didn’t feel bad leaving them on the plate. So I didn’t really do too terribly badly. Skipped afternoon snack as well, since we were doing Mother’s Day Celebration dinner.

We went out to BJ’s Brewhouse and Grill. Even though I’d declared it my “cheat” night, I still wanted to not go too overboard, so I chose off the “under 575 calories” menu and had a yummy chicken pesto flatbread with a side salad. After dinner I had a Klondike bar (only 220 calories, much less than regular ice cream, strangely).

health, I Really Do Cook, My Own Personal Weirdness

Day Five: Food, Fitness, & Faith

Day five was when I fell apart.

I got up, couldn’t find the exercise video I wanted, so had to do a different one. It was for the balance ball, an upper body workout, and really, it did go okay, but my head was down towards the ground a lot, which made my headache (day 5 of headaches, day 5 of fitness. a coincidence?) so much worse. Surprisingly, as the day wore on what I missed the most of my workout was the cardio part.

Breakfast was fine: another variation of oatmeal, fruit, and tea. Snack was unexpectedly a mini muffin at Greg’s MDO (muffins for moms, whee). Lunch was a small portion of a low-calorie version of mac-&-cheese with some yummy herbed zucchini. Dinner was pasta & sauce leftovers.

Everything was all right to that point, but after the crazy day I had (nothing went right. nothing. And then the kids brought other kids home, which I’d forgotten entirely) I really wanted a beer after dinner. So I had one. And then I wanted just a few Reece’s Pieces, so I had some of those, too. And then another high calorie bit of junk before bed. Like I said, after days of denial of things I really wanted, I caved.

I was going to allow myself a cheat night for Mother’s Day and I’ll just have to think of this one as this week’s cheat and Mother’s Day as next week’s cheat come a bit early, right? Tomorrow is, as they say, another day, so I’ll just have to start over and be good again.

health, I Really Do Cook, My Own Personal Weirdness

Day Four: Food, Fitness, & Faith

Day Four was my last day of the week with my Nancy Marmorat video. Today’s focused on the "butt-ox" (I can’t help but giggle when she says it like that; it sounds like some ugly beast, silly, but true). I like to refer to it as the "booty" instead. 😉

Foodwise: breakfast was at my friend’s house and she’d made yummy sausage rolls. I had two of those, some grapes, and half a banana, encompassing both breakfast and snack times (we were there all morning). Lunch was leftover sausage & polenta & green beans. After-school snack was pistachio pudding (oh, and I was wrong earlier this week: we use 1% milk, so it’s even fewer calories). Dinner was beans & cornbread & pickles (Wednesday night is vegetarian night at our house).

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I usually drink black tea at breakfast, green tea at lunch, then water at all other times. Sometimes I drink extra tea, but my rule is that I have to drink another half glass of water with my tea to rule out any dehydration that might come from it. (And that’s what keeps me from drinking too much tea)

health, I Really Do Cook, My Own Personal Weirdness

around the house

If you come to my house this week, you’ll see a whole lot of little blue post-it notes around on the walls like this:

If you are a guest here, please ignore these signs, as they are for family only.

Nick and the kids have been asking for things they could do that would help me out, but by the time they ask, I’m usually in that lost-from-words state of exhaustion and frustration where I literally cannot think of a single thing that they could do for me. So one day when I was alone, I got to thinking “Wouldn’t it be great if they could ask me right now? I could come up with an awesome list!” So I started putting up notes right where activities could be done, so when we’re in the kitchen and Nick wants to know how to help, I can point at the wall and he’ll take out the compost or when the kids are in their room looking for a “help mama” chore to complete their lists they can look to their closets (which normally need things tidied up before they can close).

(I noticed last night that there were bizarre things in the sink from the dinner Nick had made, but I was too tired to mention them. By the time I got up this morning they were out of there. From my list to an empty sink. WHOOP!)

health, I Really Do Cook, My Own Personal Weirdness

Day Three: Food, Fitness, & Faith

Day Three I had the same kid-in-my-bed situation, so I put off exercising until that small window of time between taking big kids to school & Greg to MDO. Greg burst in on me at some point with a "What are you doing that for?!" The look on his face was priceless.

I got in some extra exercise today as well, in the form of walking up and down all the bleachers three times fast and walking to the car and back (at the very end of the parking lot from the stadium) a few times. I also had to dig some holes for the azaleas we got from church (I dug the 3 easy ones; Nick did the harder ones later).

Food-wise: Breakfast was a different oatmeal, a different fruit, and a different kind of turkey bacon (did you know they make one that tastes just like regular Canadian bacon?! I was so happy to find that out.) Lunch was very difficult, as I was stuck at Track & Field Day over at the Rose Stadium…without cash. I don’t know where it went, I just know I didn’t have it. A very nice family brought me a meal, unexpectedly, so I ate it: hamburger, fries, and a coke. So yummy. Fortunately I’d skipped morning snack (no time for that lately) and then skipped afternoon snack as well to make up for all those calories. Dinner was sausage, polenta, & green beans, all of which I ate reasonable sized portions of (double the green beans in proportion to the polenta).