I Could Get Used to This

For the past week, while I have been "recovering" from my surgery, my doting fiance' has done (literally) all of the housework.
I have not so much as folded a piece of laundry (although I did carry some downstairs), washed a dish, or lifted any object weighing more than 16 ounces.

The best part: he's actually secretly VERY GOOD at housework.
This is the man who puts his dirty clothes on the floor IN FRONT OF the laundry basket, and occasionally ONTOP of a basket of clean clothes, and leaves piles of dishes in the sink (to do "later") and considers Roomba a valid substitute for vacuuming (its not. Roomba always dies mid floor sweep. And in random, hard to find places, too.)

So I was just tickled this morning to have this conversation:

Him: Are those your clothes on the bathroom floor?

Me: Probably. What would you like me to do with them?

Him: Well, if they're dirty, you should pick them up and put them in the laundry basket where they belong.

(the clothes were on the floor in front of the basket)

It was the moment when our experience of living together had finally come full circle.


All of that aside, I couldn't ask for a better partner in crime. He really has been comforting and helpful (I can't even hook my own bras) and just all around incredible. I am the luckiest girl there is (named Becky. In Philadelphia.)

Even though his secret domesticity is out, I have a sinking feeling this reversal of roles is all too fleeting.

I may have to drag out this injury a little longer...

One Armed Blogging

You have no idea how long it took me to write this, bloggies.

I am officially a gimp, one armed, helpless human being. I hadz my surgery last week and leave it to me to be the one person who goes in for outpatient surgery (in and out, they say) and ends up staying the night in the hospital. Which sucks, btw. Not only did I miss GLEE (thank you drug induced dizzy haze), but I got woken up every hour to have my "vitals" taken. Dude. I came in for elbow surgery. The anasthesia made me puke a lot. But aside from being overly sensitive to fun drugs and embarrassed that my ability (or inability) to pee was not up to standards, I was not dead. There was really no reason to even think that I would be.

Side note: my doctor told me when I came out of surgery I was telling everyone that I was a rockstar. Not sure where I got THAT idea.

So here is my post. I'm too tired to write more. This took long enough already.
Later, gators.

Weightless

Jill sent me the link a blog this week and I am so impressed by it, I have to pass it on.

Weightless

"Weightless is about well-being, not weight; about fostering body image, regardless of your size. It’s about exposing women’s magazines, other mediums and so-called experts, when they’re touting unhealthy tips and promoting restrictive standards.

The goal of Weightless is to help women develop a better body image and work toward accepting themselves as they are, while being healthy and happy (fad diets and skinny-mini standards prohibited!); and to become sharp consumers, who can pick apart a commercial or magazine article and know which advice is helpful or harmful."

This is the kind of blogging I can get behind.

What say you?

Does it Matter?

Today I read this article about counting calories and how "it doesn't matter."

I'm kind of conflicted by it, actually.

I get what the author is saying, in a way. But I also feel like the article is misleading in that its directed at people who are interested in maintaining their weight, not losing.

I think counting calories DOES matter. I have tried every weight loss gimmick on the market and the only thing that has EVER worked for me was counting calories eaten vs. burned.

Working at a calorie deficit works. Its science. And the thing of it is, is that is doesn't necessarily mean working out every day for hours. A friend from high school and I both used this method differently, with similar results. We both counted calories we ate and calories we burned. I did about 30-40 minutes of cardio every day with very little weight lifting and lost 20 pounds. She walked her dog twice a day for an hour or more and lost the same. She didn't go to the gym once. She chose to do longer, lower impact things to keep her moving and I chose shorter high impact workouts and they both worked.
Being mindful of calories is what we both did the same.

When you are trying to lose weight, calories DO matter. I'm not suggesting you kill yourself to account for every sip and bite. But (I think) having a nonchalant attitude about calories is what resulted in me putting back on the 10 pounds I had already lost. A daily calorie surplus of 250 calories each day will result in the gaining of half a pound in a week. I'm not making this stuff up. 250 calories a day may sound like a lot, but its only a small non fat latte with no whip cream.

I am not suggesting restricting anything. As a former eating disordered person, I know that restriction leads people down dark and dangerous pathways, many times without them even knowing it.
I'm suggesting working the things you love into your daily calorie goals. Its a give and take and you can do it without over eating. I remember there was one night where I was just hankering for a soda. I never have cravings for soda but when it didn't go away for three days, I decided to give in. All I did was take the half and half out of my coffee that morning and skipped the feta cheese on my salad. I got to have what I wanted and I didn't blow my day by tacking on extra calories.

Just to be clear, I do not advocate counting calories for a lifetime. (Who even has TIME for that?) But while you are losing, it is the most effective way (I've found) to get results. (Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I am just a regular old person trying to lose weight safely and effectively.)

Once you are in maintenance, then you can adopt the "it doesn't matter mentality" that the article refers to. That's just my opinion but this is my blog, so deal.
Although I am always interested to hear what y'all think, too. :-)

Surgery is a total bummer, yo

Today is November, which means the holiday season is officially upon us.

I love Christmas music and things that smell like cinnamon and pumpkin and all that good stuff. I love the holiday season.

And for the past few holiday seasons, I have managed to not turn into a total cow through the cunning use of exercising whilst enjoying all the tasty treats of the season.

But, this year, on December 2, I'm having surgery. Which means exercising is going to be out of the picture for at least a week. I know I sound totally psycho, but I seriously cannot go more than 3 days without exercise. Its a mental health thing, really. I'm not "too" worried about that one week of total rest, as I fully intend to spend it in bed completely hopped up on Vicodin. I'll probably feel more like sleeping and chatting about my drug induced dreams instead of eating, if past experience is any indicator. ( I had a similar injury circa 2003).

Its the several weeks after that one week that I'm panicking about. Because I know I'm not going to be able to just hop on the treadmill and take off, good as new. I'm looking at months of physical therapy and I'm TOTALLY bugging out about it.
Especially with all that delicious food/wine/beer/general merriment everywhere!!

Sooooo I'm in the market for some good post-op workout ideas. I am sure that walking will be a large part of it. But if anyone has any other suggestions on how to burn some calories without there being any weird jerking motions that could mess up my good 'ol 'bow (elbow)....please let me know.
Because, by the time that surgery happens, it will be t minus 5 months until my wedding and I really can't afford to buy a bigger dress.

I know it is going to take a lot of energy to stay positive and eat as cleanly as possible post-op. But I am committed not only to that dress fitting, but to not blowing all of my hard work away on a pity party for myself. I will just remind myself that when I'm all better, I'll be able to lift even more than a could before, since my elbow will no longer be as messed up as it is now.

Injuries definitely suck. Surgeries are a total bummer.

For People Who Are Far Busier Than I Am

Now you can subscribe to this blog via RSS feed!

The fancy technology thing will send you new posts in your e-mail so you don't have to keep coming here (and being disappointed at the lack of posting I'm doing).

Just click on the "Subscribe" thingy over on the right.

A shout out to Andrew for helping me with this. I am so far from tech savvy, its just embarrassing.

I Fought the Law

Okay, not the law.

The PPA.

For those of you not from around these parts, that's the Philadelphia Parking Authority. You may have seen them featured on a terrible show called "Parking Wars" on A&E.

They're dicks. There is no other (polite) way to put it. They take absolute pride in issuing tickets to meters that have expired only seconds before. They find insane joy in booting cars (sometimes even in front of the person's own home-ahem). They LOOOOVE to tow cars to the impound lot and then stare blankly at you when you provide 5 types of proof that your car was parked legally.

They are notoriously nasty, cruel, indifferent, miserable human beings. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. Ask anyone who lives in Philly.

So a couple weeks ago, when I had to drive to an appointment in the rain, I brought 3 dollars in quarters with me for an hour appointment (note: in this particular part of the city I was in, 1 hour of parking equals one dollar. But its different everywhere. Another reason the PPA sucks.).

Anywhooo, I park at a meter and put in my first quarter. The meter reads 15 minutes. I put in my second quarter. Nothing. I put in my third quarter. Nothing. I put in my 4th quarter, it gives me 15 more minutes! I put in my 5th quarter. Nothing.
So it goes on like this. I put my ENTIRE 3 dollars of quarters into the damn meter and ended up with a little less than 1 hour (after I had wasted 6 minutes or so fussing with quarters).

So I write a note to the PPA man and leave it on the windshield. It reads " Dear PPA Man, I just put 3 dollars in quarters into this machine and it only gave me an hour of time. Time now 4:15, back in 1 hour.
I then return 1 hour and 4 minutes later and on my windshield, right under the note, is (you guessed it!) a TICKET!
I said every curse word I could think of and got in my car (pissed as all hell) and drove home.

But instead of just paying it like I would have maybe 3 years ago, I called the damn PPA to report a broken meter. The woman on the phone advised me not to pay the ticket. She said they would send someone out to investigate my claim and let me know of their decision in writing.

I was about 98% sure I was effed. Because, really, these people are evil and it would be totally easy (and like them) to just tell me that the meter works fine. But then, about two weeks later, I got this:

THEY AGREED WITH ME! I WON!!
It was pretty much the most exciting day ever.

It can be done, folks. At least the administrative side of the PPA is honest.

But I still HATE the stupid PPA ticket writers. They are total jerks.