Jonahgirl’s BodyBlog

Luckily, (for me) Gustav will be west of Mobile, Alabama where I live. It is still so surreal to see the weather channel forecast as rainy and windy until you see the wind speed at 40 -60 mph. That is all we are expecting here (besides torrential rain and possible tornadoes). I say that is all for wind since Katrina and Ivan (at 90+) makes is all relative.

Hurricanes make a good excuse to load up on junk food and snack your way through a storm. There isn’t much else to do. You watch tv until the power goes out then switch to other things (like reading or sleeping) all the while eating. Instead of soda, chips, brownies etc. I have fruit, yogurt, tuna, and water.
For obvious reason I won’t be able to make it to the gym tomorrow. Depending on the power issue Tuesday may be doubtful. Otherwise, I am all ready with supplies. Hurricanes always make for an interesting week.

I couldn’t resist posting this. I thought this was hilarious .

That is the title of the presentation on living a healthy and fit lifestyle I am doing Wednesday evening at a Women’s Bible Study at my church. I will tell a little of my story and spend the rest of my 30 minutes talking about nutrition. The following Wednesday we are taking a field trip to the gym.

Mondays can go either way. They can be bad or good. But when they go bad it tends to be epic bad. First off, heavy, heavy rain all night. Get up around 3:30am to back pump the pool to keep it from over flowing. Second, over sleep and running about 45 minutes late for work. Thirdly, phone call as I am leaving (late) for work to inform me that Voice Mail isn’t working at work.
Arrive at work and fix voicemail. Data entry calls to tell me she can’t scan checks into her computer using the check scanner because it is jammed.
Head down to remove ancient check scanner and explain she will have to input the checks manually. After a brief exorcist like moment from the data entry clerk I head back to my office to a ringing phone. Head graphic artist computer won’t boot. Quickly followed by a call from an assistant who uses a small database program that needs updated today….asap.
It is 6pm and the database is updated, the part is ordered for the check scanner, and the graphic artist is up and running as I type.
I will miss my workout today as I am just starting my work I need to finish today.
The silver lining today…a coworker stopped me about an hour ago and told me her son’s friend (22) was looking at her facebook friends and asked, "Who is this Melanie?" Can I meet her? She told me, "I drew a blank. I couldn’t think of a Melanie I knew in her twenties. I realized he was talking about you! He didn’t believe me when I said you were my age."
At least I can go home albeit much later than usual with a smile on my face.

Fay is paying a visit this weekend (or what is left of her). Hard to believe since it was so beautiful today. You have to love the weather forecast; rain and windy. It was exactly the same forecast when we got Katrina. No kidding.
I’ll go to the gym early tomorrow then curl up with a book for the weekend.

That is the name I have given my Fantasy Football Team..let the bloodbath begin.

We all have them…my current one is a Fantasy Football Team. Yes, it is that time of year FINALLY! Our work league held the draft last night. I was number 6 so I was shocked that I was able to score both Randy Moss and Terrell Owens in the first two rounds.
I am so ready for watching football on Sunday afternoons while just killing the men at work I play against. I’ve come in second the past two years. Now I just need to come up a killer team name.
My team:

Randy Moss WR
Terrell Owes WR
Eli Manning QB
TJ Houshmanzadeh WR
Willis Magahee RB
Tony Gonzales TE
Brandon Jacobs RB
Fred Taylor RB (former elem. school student of mine)

San Diego Defense

S. Gostkowski (kicker)

Edgerrin James RB
Jake Delhomme QB
Benjamin Watson TE
Reggie Williams WR
Deuce McAllister RB

Are the rest of you inspired by watching the Olympics? I haven’t watched the Olympics since the days of Kerri Strug (1996). I am so amazed at the bodies of the athletes - more six packs than the beer isle at Walmart. And the legs of the Weight Lifters…wow.

Halfway through my South Florida vacation I arranged with my two friends to meet at the Cheesecake Factory at CityPlace. They are both teachers and had a meeting near there. Several other teachers I had known for years would be there and they would also be joining us for lunch. (I was a teacher for 17 years before going into I.T.)
Neither of my friends told any of the others I would be there just that someone would get a large table. There I sat at a table for 10 (which grew to 18 by the end) watching my old friends trickle in. Not a single one recognized me at first. There was a lot of screaming, Oh My Gods, and general mayhem. I was able to talk to most of them albeit briefly and catch up.
Many asked how I lost weight and got so "fit looking" so I got to share a bit of my story.
And finally, no, I didn’t have any cheesecake…LOL

I’ve been in South Florida for three days now. I spent the first two visiting my best friend. It was a sort of trial for me as she was my "eating buddy" when I lived here. We would go out a couple of times a week to discover new places to eat. I had no reason for concern about falling into old habits. She had started Jenny Craig the week before. She said I inspired her to lose weight with my visit last month. I am really hoping she sticks to it for more than a few weeks. My friend is the type to jump on every new "diet" that comes around including some of the ones that were way out there. At least this has her eating six times a day and smaller portions. Unfortunately, since she is 100+ pounds overweight exercising is difficult and she has knee and feet issues due to her weight. I went with her to her appointment on Sunday. She had lost nearly five pounds the first week.
I talked to a few of the other ladies in there while I was waiting and shared I had lost 57 pounds (but not on Jenny Craig). I got lots of questions about what I eat and didn’t eat. I think they were mostly shocked by the lifting weights part.
My other best friend (the one who said, What the @#$% happened to you? during my visit last month) told me she was also working to lose weight. She also has about 100 pounds to go but she is going the Weight Watchers route. We are meeting on Wednesday specifically to discuss diet and exercise.
Inspiring others to make a change is the greatest compliment ever.