Cupcake Challenge: Day 3

So far so good. I have resisted temptation at every turn, and have had to be a little creative in my circumvention. Last night for instance, I decided to eat some mandarin oranges (in their own juice, not syrup, cause that would be cheatin), but they weren't sweet enough, plus I was having a hard time eating them with the coffee stirrer (didn't have a fork) so I dumped them in a glass of diet sprite, and muddled them up a bit for a frothy, orangey treat. Probably sounds kinda gross, and would have been more fun with some alcohol, but gimmee a break, i was working with the limited resources of my hotel room.

Which brings me to the topic of exercise on the road. Not an easy thing. Especially if you despise treadmills like I do. In the milder months of the year, there's usually enough sunlight for me to run outside after I teach, but in the winter, I never see sunlight, and I'm not too crazy about running in the dark in a strange city or on a treadmill, so I have to be creative. And in lieu of running I will focus on strength training which I often times ignore when I'm at home. I have found a great resource for strength training pilates-type exercises on the Washington Post website. They've got tons of picture demos, for free! Kind of like having a virtual personal trainer. Many of these exercises you can do without equipment right on your hotel room floor (eww). Nice because the fitness centers at most 3 star and under hotels leave a lot to be desired.

So give it a shot! And I recommend one of those big balls for home workouts- they're a lot of fun (especially if you have cats...)

Cranky Pants

I don't know what happened to me. I used to be a friendly, patient, tolerant person. At least so I thought. Yeah, not so much anymore. I've turned into a cranky, don't-touch-me!, old lady. I am frighteningly close to becoming a crazy cat lady hermit. How did this happen?

I think it started when I worked as a bartender, and I routinely saw the worst in people. Alcohol does really ugly things to our personalities, even when we think we're the most charming thing since Cary Grant. Trust me, from a bartenders perspective (a sober one that is), you are not charming. You are a slobbering, babbling child. And after a while, the only way to cope with these children is to join them in their drunken bubble. Which is what I did. Then I snapped out of it and got the hell out of that damn bubble. Now, I admit, it was the most fun job I ever had, and I met some fantastic people, made some lifelong friends, but it did help to tarnish my previously naive shiny perception of people. Part of it might just be growing older and less tolerant of irritating people, but wherever it came from isn't so much the point now. I gotta figure out how to get up with people again.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately because of my travel. I think I have disproportionate reactions to the annoying habits of complete strangers. Take last night for example; I was sitting at the gate in the Austin airport waiting for my plane to board, and a few seats down from me there was a gentleman who was breathing too loud. He did not appear to be sick, disabled, or obese, or anything like that, he just made too much noise when he breathed. But it was so annoying to me that I actually got up and moved to another seat. It wasn't like he was snoring loud or doing that really-annoying-snot-clearing-in-the-back-of-the-throat thing. He was just breathing for fucks sake!

I also get squirrelly on the plane when my seat mate's elbow touches me. And when someone stands too close behind me in line. Or when on the moving sidewalk, people who are clearly capable of walking, stand and don't walk. Is walking really that exhausting!? It's a moving sideWALK people! Shit! Move the fuck out of my goddamn way!

See what I mean? I'm a total Miss Cranky Pants.

Maybe it's a sign that I need a break from all this traveling and being around people. Maybe I should go stay at one of those monk retreats for awhile. Maybe I just need a vacation from airports and hotels.

Or maybe I should just get the fuck over myself and remember that I am not perfect either, and try to be more like Jesus or Buddha. It's so hard though! People are such a pain in the ass.

I just noticed that I used "fuck" and "Jesus" and "Buddha" in the same sentence, so in one fell swoop, I probably managed to offend most everyone, plus I am SO going to hell.

*********

Anyway, thought I'd just get that off my chest. In the meantime, to help me deal with my crankypants mood, I'm going on a seven mile run today as a kick in the pants, since I've hit a bit of a running plateau. I've gotten into a kind of comfortable groove of running four milers a few times a week, with a six miler as my long run. I haven't gone beyond six miles in part cause I'm skeered, but also because I took the half marathon off the schedule for Thanksgiving, and I haven't actually decided on a replacement, so I'm not actively training for one right now. I was considering Austin, but my schedule isn't looking good for that race. I may do one in May/June instead, and maybe I can convince my siblings and stepmom to run one with me. I know my sister will be itchin to work off the whole two pounds of her bebeh weight. And maybe Erin and Katy will be ready by next year to run that distance...(whatchoo think missies? :)

No major bike plans for the weekend. I opted out of a bike camping trip this weekend with ECT because they're goin all primitive and shit to the hot springs (damn!), since I'm more of a girly kinda camper. But I will probably go for a ride by myself tomorrow.

And as far as eatin news, I had some good eats in Austin this week, including two cupcakes (i totally get the craze now), but no BBQ or Tex-Mex. I know, it's a crime, but it just didn't work out this time.

And now that I'm back in my hood, I am anxious after my run to hit a newly opened bagel shop nearby that apparently makes real New York bagels (like boiled, ya know). Like BBQ, it is very dificult to find good bagels here in Portland, so I can't wait to find out if these are the bagels I've been missing. Hopefully it won't be necessary after all to open up my bagel joint, which I was planning to call Shiksas Bagels, but I'll let you know after I try one of theirs...

How much does my gas weigh?

Seriously though, I'm amazed that I go to bed one weight and in the morning, I've lost 5 pounds! Apparently it has everything to do with water retention, but that still baffles me; I know I didn't pee 5 pounds worth of water last night. Whatever. I'm pretty sure it's because yesterday I made a concerted effort to drink more water than usual (funny how in order to lose the water weight, you have to drink more water, I think it's something to do with cell osmosis, or somethin...), which seems to have done the trick today, for I am down another couple of pounds. Excellent...

I'm astounded though cause recently I seem to have crossed some clothing size threshold even though I haven't lost that many pounds, and I'm now a comfortable (maybe even a bit loose) size 12. Yesterday I went to Nordstrom Rack (the outlet store for all the pootzy last season clothes) and bought some new threads, including a cute Ann Taylor suit for under 100.00, and I practically hooted with joy in the dressing room as I tried it on. Not something I would normally do in a dressing room. Weep, perhaps, but not hoot.

So, today I decided to go through clothes in my own closet (shudder) and see what treasures I could find that haven't seen the light for several years. Let me tell you: I can now fit into every single article in that closet (except for one anthropologie dress that was purchased way too small because it was on sale and so cute) , even some of my Star Bar days vintage dresses that, I don't care what Stacey and Clinton say, I will not get rid of. Yippee!!!!

So I guess countin' points is workin. By the way, B lost three more this week, so we're pretty stoked. Here is a lunchtime favorite I've been making when I'm in town and a sandwich doesn't sound appealing (I've included point values for WW folks that might stumble in here):

7 Point Lavash Pepperoni Pizza
This is a single serving extra thin cracker-crust pizza- great when craving a 'bad' pizza

• 1/2 Trader Joe's lavash (2 pt) sprayed lightly with olive oil and broiled until starts to turn brown.
• Flip lavash upside down (oil side down- this helps keep it firm rather than soggy)
• Thinly spread favorite tomato sauce (I like Newman's Own Sockarooni - 1 pt)
• Add turkey pepperoni (and/or whatever veggies you like- 10 slices of the pepperoni is 2 pt. I add garlic, red pepper flakes, and onions)
• Sprinkle 1/4 cup of 2% mozzerella cheese (2 pt- if you like a bit more, add 1 more pt)
• Place under broiler until cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.
• Enjoy!
  

My New Favorite Thing

Haagen-dazs fat free raspberry sorbet vanilla yogurt bars. 100 calories, zero fat, and only 2 points.

It's the best thing ever.

The Popcorn Incident

So, I promised I'd post about the Popcorn Incident of 2007, an event in the continuing saga of the not-so-savvy traveler, yours truly. Although it's really not so much an illustration of poor travel choices, but rather a demonstration of how cranky I get when I try to diet. But first a little background...

I began counting Weight Watcher points last week in an effort to finally once and for all get down to my drivers license weight. I had naively thought that running alone would do it, but I had reached a plateau since losing the 20 post-quit-smoking pounds. So B and I decided that if we can quit smoking together, then surely we can lose weight together (especially since we're still living together as roommates, and often eating together), so now we're in this together, which makes it sooo much easier. Especially since I don't go to the meetings, which engenders accountability and support, but can be really annoying. In the (almost) three years that we've lived with each other, I have attempted to diet approximately 12 times, and not to place blame on B, but my efforts have always been easily derailed by the innocent bag of cheese puffs lying on his desk, or the "hey, you wanna make some chili-cheese dip?" Very tough to resist. So imagine my delight (and surprise) when B (after seeing a shirtless picture of himself), decided to make a concerted effort to diet with me.

For those of you unfamiliar with the points system, it's Weight Watcher's proprietary method for calculating daily food limits- it combines calories, fat, and fiber to develop a point value for any given food item. And based on a chart of weight ranges, you are assigned a daily points target (mine is 24). Many have found it's actually more effective than just counting calories.

So we started last Sunday, and my first big test was in Los Angeles. So before departing, I stocked up on 100 calorie snack packs, fruit, instant oatmeal, and mini bags of low fat Kettle Corn popcorn (only 2 points per bag!). The popcorn being the most significant item, in case you haven't figured it out already. So my second night at the ghetto hotel, I got the munchies. And normally, I'd have plugged some change into one of the vending machines (part of the reason I can't seem to lose weight. go figure), but I remembered I'd packed a delicious low point treat: microwave popcorn! But, alas! No microwave in the room. So, I called down to the front desk to see if there were any microwaves in the building, and they told me the restaurant kitchen was the only place with microwaves, so I bopped down to the restaurant (it was after the dinner rush at this point), and asked one of the staff if there was any way they would be kind enough to pop my bag for 1 minute/thirty seconds. "We don't have no microwaves" (Huh?) "But, the front desk...", "We got a microwave in the employee lounge, but it's off limits to guests" (umm, thinking at this point, I'm paying 150.00 a night, and you won't let me use your damn microwave?) "Listen, I'm on a special diet and I'd really appreciate it if you could help me out here", "Well...okay, I get Tony to go up there for you", "Hey Tony!" So, Tony takes my bag (with a look that suggests he'd rather be text-messaging his pals, instead of helping this crazy chic) and nods his head when I say "just a minute and a half is all it takes, and thank you so much!" So, 5 minutes later (do you see where this is going?) he returns, sheepishly, with a bag that looks vaguely like mine, only if it had been torched to a crisp. He apologizes for burning my popcorn, but they will be happy to give me a bag of chips in return. I shake my head no, and take my shriveled, smelly bag out to the lobby and stuff it into the garbage, and trudge back to my room, fighting back tears (I'm telling you, the first week of a diet is hell on my emotions). I call B in a fit of rage and rant about the damn popcorn, and probably scare him a little. After I get off the phone, I dig through my stores, and wait! here's another bag! So, I head out to my rental, drive up to the 7-eleven, and pop my popcorn in their microwave, drive back to the hotel, and eat my damn popcorn. Looking back on it now, I see clearly that I am a crazy person. But dammit! It shouldn't be that hard to pop a damn bag of popcorn!

And yes, from now on I plan on requesting a microwave in my hotel rooms.

*****

And in case you're wondering - in a week I have lost two pounds and B has lost four. So unfair.