DivaInPink’s BodyBlog

Ever seen those folks? They can be male or female because it don’t matter. I saw one the other day. This guy I kid you not walked around the gym about 30 minutes talking on his cell phone. Didn’t do a single exercise.  Would walk in the most open centered area and just stand there talking. In the way of foot traffic standing there talking. I was on the elliptical and watched him the whole time as he would stand in the middle of the area and talk. Then walk around the gym floor still talking. And I’m thinking why do people bring their cell phones to the gym floor? What is that nonsense about.  For those who are not aware this looks silly. It does not look cool. It does not make a person look important. It does not make a person the center of attention. It makes a person look like today is the second day the have ever stepped foot in the gym.

Then there is the flex prima donna. This is the one who spends more time walking from the weight section to the water fountain on the OTHER side of the gym then actually in the weight area. I see folks do this and I don’t get it. They never sweat so they ain’t working out too hard. And they never go the water fountain near the weight area. Now maybe they need a walk break but when I see the same person over and over and over again as I’m on the elliptical I got to wonder.

Then there is the “skin is in” crowd. These are mostly women. The ones who wear nothing but the sports bra and no other top when it’s 30 degrees COLD outside.  When I see women in nothing but a sports bra in JANUARY then I’m questioning their motives. And forgive me being judgmental but if your body ain’t tight then wearing nothing but the sports bra ain’t pretty.  Reminds me of a woman I saw earlier in the evening. She was wearing this backless dress and a regular bra. Yes her bra strap in the back was just as obvious as a person with three eyes. Some things are just not pretty.

I was reading the blog of BodySpace member Tride26 and he created a parody of how people convince themselves they are working out and eating healthy (when they really are not) and then confused when they don’t drop the weight. I like the part after a person punks out *cough cough* I mean works out and then goes to dinner. He writes in his parody “for dinner: i’ll have the kahuna grande platter with a side of sour cream and a dinner salad”.

I was laughing at the kahuna grande platter. That was funny to me. That brings me to a thought I was having this morning. Portion size at restaurants. Now I do believe in getting the most for my money no matter what I spend my money on but when it comes to eating out having much more food on my plate than any human should eat at one sitting does not excite me. When enough food comes on my plate to shock me by its size I have to wonder about the sheer volume of food we get when we eat out. Here are my thoughts.

1. No menu item should have the words grande, super, mega, double, triple, large or grand slam in the title and most definitely not multiple said words together. Example: Super Nachos Grande.  Who needs that much food at one sitting?  Think about it. When was the last time you saw a menu item that said super salad or double grilled chicken breast? Ever been to a grand slam fruit buffet? Me neither.
2. Instead of having the “heart healthy” dishes marked on the menu with some cute symbol how about marking all the UN-healthy menu items with a cute symbol. Yep, just mark up the whole menu. Put at the bottom of the menu that the symbol represents menu items that are not deemed healthy for your heart.
3. When you read a review for a restaurant the words “homestyle” or “blue plate specials” or “finger lickin” should send up red flags. Homestyle is a code word for “floured-n-fried”. Blue plates usually contain heavy sauces. Finger lickin means grease a la grande.

By the way if today is your cheat day disregard this memo and get you a grande homestyle blueplate special but forgo the finger lickin grand slam side items.

I belong to the fitness club LaFitness and once you join you can visit any of the fitness centers you like. Even though I have my favorite one that I workout regularly I like to “gym hop” every now and then just for a change of scenery and to see new faces.  One of the centers is close to my house so I go there on the weekends and decided the other week to check it out on a Monday night. I’ve never been there during the weeknights so I wanted to see what the crowd would be like. Can you say “Club LaFitness” as in “party up in here”?  I walked into that gym and I’ve NEVER been in a gym that crowded. Now crowded I can work with but being crowded by people NOT working out is just insane. People were sitting on the gym equipment like they were benches. Folks leaning on the machines talking to the people sitting on the benches. Folks at the smoothie bar getting their chat on like it’s a REAL bar. Now LaFitness normally plays dance music anyways (which actually has a great tempo for exercising) but when you add that music to the atmosphere that night. You had Club LaFitness.

Now I’ll be the first person to admit I like to look goooood when I hit the gym. I’m usually in a pink and black workout get up with matching pink and black sneakers or maybe my green and white outfit with the matching green and white sneakers. But when I leave the gym I’m sweaty as I work out hard. “Workout hard and look good while doing it” is my motto. That Monday night people were dressed in some serious workout fashions and everybody looked good but few were working out!  Oh wait. Let me rephrase. People were moving the parts of the machine as they were chit chatting but it’s like the folks in the gym who are walking on the treadmill AND on their cell phones. The mouth getting more of a workout than the legs sort of folks. That’s what I was seeing that Monday night. The gym social crowd faded out by 8:00 p.m. and I was able to really get my workout going at that point.  If you like a social hour at the gym then this place on a Monday night is THE spot. If you want to get in a serious workout then you might need to skip this spot on Monday night.

I’ll go back every now and then as Monday’s are my cardio only nights and the social scene is great for the entertainment but on the days I need to hit the weights I’ll will be at another gym.

Didn’t’ go to the gym today as I rested my body after three days in the gym. I am doing a 95% job of maintaining my healthy six meals a day without veering off. Tonight, I fixed my veggies with tofu and had this HUGE craving for carbs. Not sure why though as I had just a few hours earlier a bowl of oatmeal with a banana and dates. Plenty of complex healthy carbs in that bowl and should have been my last carb meal for the day. But tonight my body wanted carbs. I had some multi grain crackers in the cabinet and I munched on a few of those with my stir fry veggies and tofu. I didn’t feel bad as I feel like my body needed it. In hindsight I should have just ate a piece of fruit. But when that carb craving hits you don’t think straight!

Been looking at a lot of BodySpace profiles and blogs and I’m really encouraged and inspired by all the success stories I see. So many people have overcome their personal challenges to being fit and healthy to not only loose weight but to sculpt their bodies and for some even enter into competitions. All these stories keep me hyped about being on track with my own development and weight management. I look forward to one day posting pictures of myself at my idea body size!

It’s 11:00 at night and I’m thinking about the obesity epidemic in America. I just feel this strong need to somehow make a difference and help in a way. Dropping my weight is just a start. I want to help people get fit and active and vibrant in life. So many people walk around in this dopey state of existence and I know it is due to their poor health. I know for a fact it is hard to get people active but I know there has to be something I can do to help people in America get back in shape. The success of this country depends on our state of health.

You can’t please a person all the time and I’m realizing that trying to do so is causing me to loose my focus. So the best thing for me to do is to work on bettering me and that’s what I do every day I’m in that gym. I’m working on a better me and I realized years ago that when you improve yourself in one area it has an impact on the rest of your life. If you work on your body to loose weight and to improve your body’s definition then feeling better about the way you look and feeling better in terms of health will impact other areas of your life. That’s one reason why working out to me is vital like breathing. It builds my confidence and that’s HIGHLY important in this life. People can suck the life out of your confidence if you let them.  So I have to constantly build up my confidence in order to keep an ample supply ready for my life.

I was talking to someone about the concept of uplifting others in life and that person was giving all types of excuses on why he found it hard to uplift.  And all his excuses were about the other person. If this person did this or that differently then he could uplift them. And I began to realize that the issue was not the other person but this man. You are suppose to uplift a person where they are in life not wait until they are where you want them to be and THEN get supportive. I also realized that if you lack confidence or self-respect then you can never uplift others. If you are up in life then you can reach down to pull up another but if you are down then all you will do is pull down the other person. Misery really does love company. And I think this man is not happy.

Success breeds success. And when I’m successful in my body development then that will spring board into successes in other areas of my life.  I have to be successful for me and if that attracts the attention of others or a special man for me life than that’s a bonus.  So I’m getting a bit selfish these days and focusing on what works out best for me. Getting back into my hobbies and interests getting back on my mental track. We either lead or follow in this world.

 DivaInPink