greenamethyst’s BodyBlog

I watched most of a documentary on the TLC channel last night called “I eat 33,000 calories a day.  It profiled 4 different people, 2 men and 2 women, who were food addicts and morbidly obese.

Their food intake was documented and tallied and a couple of them ate around 15,000 calories a day, but one man had eaten up to 36,000 calories in a single day.

Yikes!  So sad.

They said one man was eating around 700 grams of fat vs. the recommended 70, and talked about the addictive nature of fat.   No mention of carbohydrate addiction or the amount of carbohydrate they were consuming though, which to my mind is much more  relevant.

I hope someone will give these individuals some help and good advice:.the program was a little disturbing because they seemed to be treating them like sideshow acts and I didn’t see them offering any help:perhaps that was at the end of the program and I missed it.

Anyway, I have done my upper body workout this morning and feel I’m getting stronger.
Hopefully I’ll see some real gains during the next couple of weeks.  I plan to take more photos after week 4 and see if it is evident.

It’s Sunday and I slept till 8 AM, which is late for me.  Thankfully my sleep patterns are getting better.  This is supposed to be "free day" so I’m not exercising, but since I had various treats throughout the week such as milkshakes, white wine, and prime rib (that was last night), I’m going to try to eat clean.   And stay that way until next Sunday.

After coffee, I had my breakfast, consisting of the usual concoction:

8 oz. carton fat free sugar free vanilla yogurt. (I like the Food Lion brand)
2 scoops Betagen (the little scoop that comes in the jar)
1 large scoop  whey protein
1 tsp. powdered Vit. C
1 heaping tbspoon glutamine
Mix it all up … et voila!   I don’t like the texture of whey when mixed with milk, but with yogurt  it’s good.

I was just reading this week that creatine (one of the Betagen ingredients) lowers cholesterol.  I didn’t know that…  but, should be a good additional benefit as my last cholesterol reading, at a health fair at my workplace, was 309.

This is my first week on Body for Life ..  Truly I have done pretty well with the workouts….  however it turned out to be one of the most stressful weeks I had had in a long time.  I ended up in the drive thru at Cook Out getting a strawberry milkshake last night.  I don’t think it put me back too far, but my lack of sleep all week probably did.

Tuesday night was the worst - I did not sleep at ALL.  I found myself up at 3:00 AM watching an infomercial selling a male enhancement product.  It was pretty hilarious and distracted me briefly from my stress.  It was like a fake talk show format where the hosts (a man & a woman) interviewed couples and single women about how important size really was….  Hey Guys, you know those relationships that didn’t work out and the girl broke up with you, but you never really knew WHY?  It was because you were too small to satisfy her, but she didn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you so.  NOT TO WORRY - all you have to do is order this product, it won’t happen again.

Have a great weekend everyone…

of Body for Life…   doing all right so far.   I took my photos as required.  I have not skipped any exercise day yet!  I have aerobics tomorrow and then Lower Body on Friday (my photos helped clarify that that’s where I need work the most!)

Diet is the most difficult part…. I’m eating all the protein and drinking all the water I need, & taking my supplements, but the problem is I always add in extra snacks.  I’m wondering how many people really stick to the nutrition (1 portion protein & 1 portion carbs, 6 times a day), because that’s not that many calories.  I’m thinking if I can keep the calories under 2500 I will be in good shape.  I know in the past I lost weight on 2000 calories with zero exercise. 

Onward and Upward!

The Body Mass Index has been in the news more of late, with schools considering sending home student’s BMI numbers to help educate families on fitness and obesity.

There is a lot of controversy about the suggestion, part of which comes from criticism of the precision of the index.   Some say it leads to confusion.

“The index also isn’t a particularly precise measurement tool. Muscles, which weigh more than fat, can push up a B.M.I., labeling even a young athlete as physically unfit. (Jodi Kantor … New York Times)

My opinion:
Let’s face it.  Athletes and bodybuilders are not in the majority. Why do many children and adults in the United States have a high BMI?  Because they have too much fat.

Those who have a higher BMI because they have a lot of muscle KNOW WHO THEY ARE. 

In fact, if the BMI is imprecise, it may be imprecise in the opposite direction. 

Personal example:  I am 5′5 and 130 pounds.  This makes my BMI (calculated from the Centers for Disease Control website) 21.6.  Normal range. 

However, according to the guidelines, I’m not considered overweight until my BMI is 25.  If  I weighed 149 pounds, my BMI would be 24.8, still in the normal range.

But you know what?  If I weighed 149 pounds, I would be 19 pounds overweight.  That’s my opinion.  What do you think?

I was in CVS this fall after Halloween wandering around the aisles.  There was a woman who was heavyset with a bandaged foot and a cane.  She was peering at some of the items on the shelves and asking her daughter (who was probably around 12 or 13) to read the prices for her.  Just from the foot problems and vision problems I kind of guessed she was diabetic.

When I was in the checkout line they were behind me.  There was a big bin of Halloween candy on sale for 90% off.  When this particular lady noticed it she started going crazy. "90% off! I have to get some of this…"  Then she stood with another lady who happened to be there, trying to figure out how much the actual price would be.  They finally figured out it would be 15 cents a bag & she started loading bags in her cart.  All the while, her daughter was behind her going "Mama, no!  What about your diabetes! Mama! Put that candy back!"  And the woman completely ignored her…

Sigh…addiction is a trip, isn’t it?

No sugar for me today.

This coming Monday (Jan 22nd) is not only the day I officially start Body for Life, but also the debut of a new episode of Prison Break.  Happy Day!

I have given some thought as to why these type of dramas have a big draw.  One major reason may be that, especially when we are going through troubles, we like to watch others go through something worse.  Then we can (on some level) feel relieved.  So, the basic premise of Prison Break (a man falsely accused of murder, on Death Row) is a great one.  Add in the violence and everything else one is subjected to in prison…  probably most of the audience can feel that they are in a better situation than the protagonists.  And they look so damn good, even when they are dodging bullets and being framed!

This is on my mind today because it’s one of those difficult days where I have to deal with a difficult person.  I got up and did my high intensity aerobics though…and I plan on taking my first photos tomorrow.  And I plan to look good!  Maybe not quite as good as the Hollywood types…  : )   But that’s okay.

Hoping that everyone can keep their focus this weekend and that nobody is on the run from the law!

One day at a time…

Friday morning.  I’m starting Body for Life officially next Monday.  I started the training this week, really.  The diet, not so much.

I’m feeling a little bit wired and edgy, a little bit of that overtraining anxiety.  Not that I’ve been training that hard, but obviously my body and brain are still getting used to it.  I woke up at 4 a.m. (hungry!), stayed up for a while, went back to sleep, and had a bizarre dream about going to a scary amusement park in Niagara Falls.

In the dream, some of my ex - in laws (actually strangers, but in the dream, they were identified as my ex in laws, in that dream reality kind of a way) had invited me and my kids to go to Niagara Falls.  But I didn’t know about it and was totally unprepared.  When we got there, there was a huge amusement park type place.  My kids were immediately separated from me and I was trying to find them for the rest of the dream.  Then I ended  up in a line of people who were being shuffled from one ride to the next and forced to participate.  One I remember was a bungee jumping type thing where you had to put a harness on and jump.  But there were no directions for putting on the harness on and no body to assist.  It was clear that once you jumped the harness would fall off and you would be in real trouble.

Disturbing! The only thing that would have made it worse is if my ex husband had been in the dream!

Any interpretations?  P.S. Yes, I do have stress and uncertainty in my life.

Hoping everyone has a good day today and sweet dreams tonight!  I’m going to drink some Sobe Adrenaline Rush and go do my upper body workout.

I was in the dermatologist’s office last month getting a new prescription. He also happens to provide services such as Botox, Restylane, etc. 

I was people-watching in the waiting room and three other women got into a conversation about what they were having done. 

One had had some type of facial work, maybe Thermage.  She was fairly overweight (although still nice looking).  The other two women were really way too skinny (in my opinion) and were getting their lips plumped up.  They came out of the back office holding icepacks against their mouths.

Anyway, neither of the three women looked like they did a bit of exercise.  At least not weights.  I’m being judgemental maybe, but why not work out a little and make a major improvement in the way you look? 

Getting botox etc is not cheap.  I’ve never had it, but I’m not against it. Just think if you take the time and money to get it done, why wouldn’t you do something that’s free (or low cost with a gym membership) that could improve you more? 

What do you think?????

We had snow and sleet here in the early a.m. and I took the day off from working out after hitting it hard Mon, Tues, and Weds.