Julie & Julia Review

One good thing about injuring yourself (how did I injure myself? Check out yesterday's entry here ) is that you get a lot of time to read.

I've been reading, and getting inspired by, Julie & Julia by Julie Powell.

 Yesterday I finished the book and decided I should write an entry about it since it's inspired a few posts already. You can check them out again here and here.

I can relate to this book in so many ways it's amazing. Julie & Julia is a non-fiction story about a woman named Julie who finds out she has PCOS (would you look at that, me too!). As she contemplates she realizes her life and career are in shambles (I definitely am working on the whole "What am I doing with my life?" theme right now too) and to top it off she's turning 30. (Ok, well I'm not there yet but hey 5 years isn't that long!).

So in order to get some sort of momentum in her life, or "creative outlet" with the help from her husband she decides to try to cook her way through Julia Child's cook book Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. That's 524 recipes in 365 days and write a BLOG about it.

Now this book inspires me in different ways. One of course is using a project to allow yourself to grow. When I read the book I realized that it wasn't really about the cooking. It was about making goals and completing them. It was about going beyond what you think you CAN do and doing it. It was about how the project allowed her to grow as a person and reach her potential. It was about proving to herself that she was worth something and because she wrote a daily blog entry about what she learned she was able to work it out in writing and further develop her writing as well.

Now another thing that inspired me was her commitment to her blog. She quickly got a large support of what she liked to call "bleaders" and how their support helped her keep going. I know first hand how the support of bloggers can help me keep going and how important it is to comment on others entries to help them in return. I have mentioned before how my blogging has kind of slowed down and how my commitment to supporting other weight loss enthusiasts has waned as well. This book really brought to light how important it is to keep going.

Then there's the food. Now I don't think it would be a good idea for me to go through an old french cookbook layered with pounds of butter and etc or go to Italy to try out all their food either (that's a different book that is also inspiring though) but using food and cooking it to inspire relationships and creativity. Trying out new things and learning how to make new dishes seems like an important part of life period. I love food but when it comes to cooking it and spending time making a dish I'm horrible. This book has made me want to go out and CREATE something. Something that I KNOW exactly what went in to it and have the satisfaction that the explosion of flavor that's in my mouth was my own doing. It also reminded me that food can really bring people together. It also brought home the idea that the way to a man's heart is through their stomach. LOL. Mine too! LOL

Now the last thing that really stuck with me was learning that Julie Powell started everything after she left the gynecologists office after learning she has PCOS. I realized the second I read that line that MY journey, MY blog, and MY progress all started with the same thing. Being diagnosed with something is a big eye opener. Being diagnosed with the same thing was interesting. It was interesting to see how someone else who went through the same thing used that knowledge to light a fire in her butt just like it did me.

I also realized that I don't mention PCOS as much as I should. It's a big part of my life but I've gotten so accustomed to dealing with it that it's in the back burner most of the time. I think I'll write an entry about my progress in that soon.

But anyway Julie Powell's story helped me realize that I am not alone in this whole "I have to work on my life and get better" thing. Her self-deprecating humor, her repeated cursing, her insights and her analogies are fun to read. Her exaggeration when she can't do something, her honesty at her success or failures, her love of her husband and her raunchy mindset are fun to read and easy to relate to. She writes like a real person and doesn't seem to make herself seem like a cookie cutter person, or a martyr.

Overall I truly enjoyed the book. It made me conscious of how my weight loss efforts are not in vain, how blogging about it DOES help and how I have the potential of doing more with goals.

Do I recommend it. Sure. It's not about weight loss (She actually gained weight, but I mean who wouldn't?) but it's about a life change. And isn't that what this is all about too?

In the end I didn't think this book would be such a big deal, and even as I finish writing this entry I still don't, but then I realize that I just wrote a school report on it. LOL.

I'm glad this book was here to help me realize a lot of things.

Thank you for sharing your story Julie.

love
-w0rld

Non-Weigh In/ An epic race and familiar faces

Good Morning and Happy Monday! I've had a long eventful week, and at the same time a very lazy week. My numbers show that pretty well this morning.

Measurements:

Hips: 48.75 inches (+0.25 inches)
Waist: 45.25 inches (+0.25 inches)
Arm: 14.75 inches (same)
Thigh: 26 inches (same)
Calf: 17 inches (+0.5 inches)

I am sadly  not surprised at these numbers though I had hoped to maintain just a little more this week.

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Achievement(s): Last week was very lazy food and exercise wise and yet it was very eventful otherwise. My results show that.

Water: I drank over 50 oz of water about 4/7 days the rest of the time I drank enough but I found myself pretty dehydrated.

Calories: I stopped and re-started counting throughout the week, although I tried my best to stay away from grains and try more paleo friendly varieties. I'm trying to slowly wean myself and it's going.. well slowly.

Monday: 1690
Tuesday: 1950
Wednesday: ?
Thursday: 2038
Friday: 1958
Saturday: ?
Sunday: 1683

Although it may seem like I didn't do too badly, the type of food I was eating, and the little things I might have added the days I didn't count pretty much added up. Gotta be more accountable.

Strength Training: The main strength training I might have done is using my muscles on Monday when I finally climbed our climbing tower. It was an amazing day and I definitely felt some muscles I didn't even knew I had. Other than that, on Saturday I decided to walk over to our archery range and practice my form. Let's just say I need a lot of work but it's not bad. My arms however really felt the pull I was giving them. LOL

Cardio: Lazy, lazy week. Most of the cardio I ended up getting was part of work, and very little was on my own.

Monday: I climbed a 60 foot tower.
Tuesday: Short uphill hike
Wednesday: -
Thursday: 3 mile hike and 30 minutes of cardio dancing
Friday: 3.1 mile jog and 1.5 hours of dancing
Saturday: 1 mile hike
Sunday: 2 mile fast walk

On Monday and Tuesday I was still tight and sore from the epic hike I had the weekend before. It limited my activities tremendously. On Wednesday, although no longer sore I had grown accustomed to being lazy and didn't end up doing anything. On Thursday we ended up having our long hike we have with the kids and it felt great. On Friday I FINALLY got off my ass and decided to go for a jog. It was slow and unsteady but it was done and I was glad I did it.

On Saturday I was lazy again but got up long enough to accompany my co-worker to do some trail blazing. He would bring the big loppers and cut branches from an old hiking trail we have near our camp. My job would be to follow him and get rid of all those cut branches. After a while I developed a nice tossing form. We ended up staying out until about dusk and had to figure out how to get off the hill, without a trail, in the dark. Nice!
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On Sunday, oh Sunday, my co-workers had a race in Palm Springs. They were a relay team and it was awesome. I was not part of the relay team but I instantly assigned myself to be the cheerleader/ support group.

We got there right before 7 a.m. The start was there and there were tons and tons of people.

My co-worker who started the race was so fast I didn't get a chance to take a picture of him as he rode off so instead I took a picture of the giant troop of people going around the corner after the start. Crazy!

After the first relay tag exchange I suddenly see someone else zoom by that I recognize. "David, it's David!" An old family friend. I instantly call his wife and she's in Palm Springs too! Just around the corner from me. So I literally RUN to where she is and end up catching up with her as she helps the racers hydrate  in one of the water stations.

small world!

After running around like crazy the race ends and my co-workers won in their division! We wait and lounge in the grass while we wait to receive their first place prize. Here the overall male winner and female winner of the half marathon shake hands. What amazing people!

Although I wasn't running in this race, just being around this event, and meeting people, cheering and running in to old friends (who are an inspiration themselves) really got me pumped up. I will never regret getting off my ass and allowing myself to enter this world. I really love it. I love how happy people seem despite how tired they are. I love seeing how active people are, how healthy people look and how they bring their families with them. I love looking at all the different ages, sizes, and types of people at these events. I get a kick of their outfits and love it when they run with their baby strollers. It's amazing.

Now I have to start training so I can join in the next race; which brings us to....

Goals:  It's time to stop lazying around. I'm going to get stricter in my diet and start training for my 10k in March. I have never run that far. I want to start getting used to it and not kill myself during the race. When I talked to my old friend she reminded me of something, "It's not about the time or winning, it's about having fun and going for it." I completely agree. So I won't be worried about how fast or slow I am. I just want to run in this race and do a good job. I can do this! I have to start now... especially because I really want to do a half marathon in May. LOL

Have a great week!

love
-w0rld

Transformation Road

Yesterday after my morning hike I spent the rest of the day reading my copy of Sean Anderson's Transformation Road 

I really wish I had this book during the Christmas Dress Countdown Challenge since it turned out to be one of the best books I've read in a long time. Sean's recount of his life and how he came to weigh 505 lbs, his struggles and life journey and then finally lose that weight really helped me think about my own life.

 It made me reflect on my actions and how I've led my life. It made me think of how my insecurities and my own mentality are what have kept me back all these years. I can completely relate and empathize with Sean's childhood insecurities and his drive to move up in his career and how his weight had prevented him (or the belief that his weight had prevented him) from getting farther in it. Or even the thought of using self-deprecating humor while inside he hated doing it; all of it felt like he was somehow describing me. All of it gave me drive to continue this journey. It confirmed my belief that I'm not doing this for nothing. That my health IS important and that I AM worth the time.

I understand that self-discipline and resisting temptation as well as needing to stop using food as an instant fix for my problems are things I personally have to fight to continue losing weight and becoming a better, balanced and happy person.

I KNOW that losing the weight isn't going to magically "fix" everything in my life. But I admit a part of me still believes that if I can just reach goal life would be so much better. I have to remember that it's the JOURNEY of getting to my weight goal that will help me become a better me, not just the destination.

If I can conquer my fears, stop underestimating myself, quit procrastinating, give myself a break, and grow confidence not only will I lose weight but my jobs can get better, my relationships can be smoother, my happiness can grow. My self-content will be at an all time high.

Oh how I love the possibilities. Sean's story really motivated me... and made me cry. It's a real story of a real person and it helps that I can just go to his facebook page and leave him a question if I wanted AND know that he'll read it. LOL. That sense of closeness or familiarity also helps a ton.

I really feel like taking some of his actions and trying them myself. It's not the first time I've heard food intake and calories being compared to a bank account/budget. I also like the idea of blogging daily. Not only will it keep me super accountable but it could definitely liven up this blog in general. I think I'll try it. For as long as I can.

I'll write more about it tomorrow during the "Non-Weigh In" post. But I feel like it's something that's definitely do-able.

Thank you Sean for sharing your story. I really suggest this book to anyone who is trying to lose weight and enjoy a good life story.

love
-w0rld