Tag Archives: balance

Leg Week?

10 Aug

Is leg week a thing? I feel it should be a thing, I can’t be the only person who has done this…granted I did it by accident, but still, I’m not the only one, right?

leg day 1

Last Friday night (it is currently the next Friday) I had leg day at the gym. I hadn’t had one in a while due to scheduling and life and laziness so it was nice to get back to routine. I pushed myself, because what is the point of working out if you don’t push yourself? By the end of the workout I could tell I was going to be feeling the results of that workout for days.

I love that feeling. 🙂

Saturday there was pain, there was using my arms to push me up from a chair, and using arms to take the weight off my legs when I would go to sit, and there was the knowledge I would probably suck at running if I had to run that day. But all that is good, because it is good pain, and it means I worked the muscles hard, the pain will fade, the results will stay.  Saturday is my rest day due to how my work schedule is so I didn’t do anything to really work the legs beyond normal day-to-day things.

Sunday I went for a hike after work, it occurred to me that might suck since my legs still had a noticeable amount of muscle pain but I went anyways. During the hike I noticed my legs started to feel better, stronger, they were benefiting from being worked again, even though I was still feeling the Friday night workout. I think, and I could be wrong, but I think the hike helped clear out some of the built up lactic acid and helped them stretch and basically just helped the muscles in their recovery. Yay for a good hike! The trail has a lot of ups and downs and uneven surfaces so not only did the larger muscles get worked but so did the smaller ones used for stabilizing etc. Also, part way in to the hike I noticed my stride was lengthening, I have a decent stride length but started the hike with a shorter stride due to discomfort, as the pain cleared my stride got longer, and I felt better.

Monday evening I did the Coquitlam Crunch which is like a less evil version of the Grouse Grind…which means nothing to you if you don’t live in Vancouver BC or the surrounding areas lol Basically it is a steep urban trail, with an elevation of 244 meters, that gives you a great and fast workout. So far my best time is one hour and two minutes round trip. My goal is to get that under an hour.

Then Tuesday evening I did a long walk with a friend after work. Which brings us to Wednesday where I did the Coquitlam Crunch with the same friend I walked with Tuesday. I had intended to go to Lynn Valley and hike the trails but that will wait for another day.

So, I inadvertently had, what is that, 5 leg workouts in 6 days? Um, oops? Sorry for neglecting you upper body, I swear I still love ya! lol

Normally I do a much better job of working out all my muscle groups, and its not like I have some driving desire to only work on my legs, they just somehow got all my attention this week.

I think the flaw in my workouts is that it is summer, and that means hiking, and trails, and all those lovely outdoor workouts can be done at any time of day, on any day, without worry about weather cancelling your outing, so I tend to go out on a trail instead of inside to the gym. I mean c’mon, if given the choice wouldn’t you go out on a trail, get some fresh air, see some pretty sights, maybe spot a deer or bear or some other fuzzy critter, rather than be inside the gym where yes, you get a good workout but all you really look at is equipment and yourself in the mirror?

The hiking gives me a chance to either ruminate on something that is bothering me, or clear my mind and enjoy the quiet for a while, whichever I need. I can be alone, with nature, infusing myself with the peace that comes from being surrounded by trees (seriously, what is it with trees that they are so soothing?) or I can go with a friend and enjoy a lovely chat while getting in a workout.

The gym, I love the gym, but to me it is more like work, or an expectation, or I dunno, a thing I schedule. I don’t mind any of that, I really don’t, but sometimes I like the idea of being out on a trail more. I know it isn’t as good of a workout as my gym time, and my muscle definition suffers every summer because of that, but I can’t give up my trail time, I enjoy it too much.

However, my enjoying of my trail time this week has resulted in a lot of leg workouts, and no upper body workouts, until Thursday that is when I was at dragon boat practice.

I’ve really got to take care to balance things a bit better because while Leg Day is a thing, a good thing, a thing to be done often, Leg Week is a teeny bit of over kill and maybe shouldn’t be repeated anytime soon…don’t want my back and arms and shoulders to think I don’t care about them after all! 😉

 

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Random Roundup

13 Dec

I am right this very minute watching Celtic Woman Home For Christmas and loooooving it! This particular concert was filmed in the Helix Theatre in Dublin, *wistful sigh* one of the items on my “List Of Things To Do In Life” is see a Celtic Woman concert in Ireland because the concerts are always so beautiful looking. I saw one here, a couple years ago, and while the beauty of the singers voices brought tears to my eyes the venue left much to be desired. The concert was held where the hockey games are played and that big cube thing that hangs from the ceiling with screens on every side wasn’t sucked up in to the ceiling (nor were the screens used to show a close up view of the stage!) so a lot of people had blocked views. Lame! The concerts that are shown in Ireland though, wow! This one has the main floor of the theatre set up with tables and groups of 4 people are at each table, and one year they performed outside, on a stage in front of a castle! A freakin castle! I think the atmosphere created by such amazing venues would take the show up to that next level, and considering how high of a level they were at when they played here in the hockey arena that’s pretty impressive lol

This first video is all instrumental but the violinist is spectacular! This is one of her tame performances, normally she is leaping all over the stage!

This next video is one of the original ladies of the ensemble. I’m not a religious person but that doesn’t stop this song from being one of my favourite Christmas songs. Most songs are performed by 3-4 women, depending on the season, this just happened to be done solo.

But yeah, so having some trouble concentrating on my writing because I keep looking up at the tv lol

I have some happy happy news! 😀 I was searching for something to wear to work today, all my normal work pants were still damp (I hang my clothes to dry and they hadn’t quite finished drying, the slow pokes! lol) and while digging in my closet I found a pair of pants I put in there months and months ago cause they had gotten too snug. They were doing that thing where they were uncomfie cause (1) I knew they didn’t look good because they no longer fit properly and (2) they were actually physically uncomfie because they didn’t fit. I had half convinced myself I had shrunk them in the wash but instead of getting rid of them I tucked them away cause ya never know right? Well, out of sheer desperation I tried them on today and holy hannah! They fit! They not only fit they fit comfortably, and a little loosely. Not so loose they were falling down or anything but it wasn’t like they “just fit”. They were comfie, and not tight, and just…well…just perfect! 😀 Which meeeeeans I must have lost weight! Awesomeness! Now I kinda wish I had weighed myself at the beginning of this challenge, or measured myself or something so I could say “I lost X amount of pounds/inches” but oh well, I’m just happy to know I lost something lol. I have slightly less worries about being able to fit in to the goal pants which fyi, still hanging on my wall waiting for December 22nd. I’m kind of worried though, what if what I’ve been doing isn’t enough? What if I should be pushing more or eating less? What if? What if? What if?…sigh, I’ve gotta stop stressing about this, I’m doing what I can and have to trust the process buuuuuuut it’s hard! lol 😛

On a sucky note a friend at work was hit by a car this evening while running across the street to catch her bus. 😦 And because I am self-involved and apparently turn everything in to me-me-me I would really like to ask the Universe to stop having bad shit happen on my shifts at work! If I was keeping score, which I may or may not be doing, in the past month I have had 3 falls, 1 death and now a friend hit by a car. *insert scream of frustration here* Luckily I got a phone call from the hospital before my shift ended and it looks like she is going to be fine, she’s still in the process of getting tests but the signs were all good. Phew!

Last night was supposed to be the second part of the German Christmas Market but weather was crap and the three of us decided we’d rather stay in and have a girls night then go to the market and freeze/drown. We all agreed on getting take out and meeting at KS’s place. Luckily I have very UN-judgmental friends and they didn’t make fun of me when my “take out” was a salad and piece of tilapia that I made at home and brought with me lol I figured if I made my own dinner and took it with me I’d know exactly what I was eating nutrition wise aaaaand I’d save money. Win-win! 😀 I might as well confess that I had an itty bitty piece of cake, it was KS’s birthday recently and she had left over cake, it was chocolate orange flavour, Mmm!

I think I have found, well, almost found, a decent balance of following the eating plan and allowing myself to have little treats here and there. I didn’t feel guilty about eating a tiny bit of cake because I’d been eating really well all week and have my food tracker to prove it! I think I’ll use the Lose It! app for the forseeable future, it prevents me from tricking myself in to thinking I ate healthier than I really had which is important because I find when it comes to weight loss the easiest person to lie to is yourself.

Since I am writing about all kinds of things I will share with you a picture of the boots I am currently lusting over, man oh man do I want these boots buuuut not gonna buy em! Why? Well, cause even on sale I can’t afford them (boo!) but that doesn’t stop me from looking at the picture of them and wishing lol

Aren't they so pretty? And warm looking!

Aren’t they so pretty? And warm looking!

Seems like my brain is all over the place today lol hence a sort of “round up” of all kinds of different things I wanted to share with you.

The cat and I wish you all a great evening! 🙂

Nighty night!

Nighty night!

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Different People Different Portions

6 Dec

I find it interesting how who I eat a meal with can affect what I think a proper portion of food is. I know that all food can be measured out and the “real” proper portion size found but that doesn’t usually happen when eating in a restaurant or at a friends place or when a friend is eating at your place…in fact, there are a lot of situations where you can’t actually measure/weigh the food so you have to eyeball it and hope you are sorta right. Usually in those instances I tend to eat less just to be on the safe side, after all, I’d rather go a bit hungry and know I didn’t eat a ridiculous amount of food then feel overly full and wonder just how many calories I consumed…but that is not how everyone approaches food.

I ate lunch out today with three friends, my credit card was very happy that it was considered a “working lunch” so one of the guys paid for everyone so he can write it off in his taxes, go taxes! lol The group of us went for sushi and there I am reading the menu, my eyes being immediately drawn to some of my favourite dishes and trying to decide what to order. My first thought was I’d get some agedashi tofu (spicy of course!), sashimi and a sushi roll. Thank god I didn’t order first! The first person to order got a mango and avocado salad, now, we all know a salad in a sushi restaurant is not like a salad in say, Original Joe’s, her salad was super duper tiny, just some slices of fruit piled on top of each other with some sprouts underneath…not my idea of a salad but oh well. Thing is, when I heard her order that and only that I was all “oh crap, I can’t order three things, I’ll look like a freakin pig!” The next person to order got two sushi rolls and some miso soup, that made me feel a bit better, least she got two things (three technically cause she got two orders of rolls but she got the same kind twice so it doesn’t feel like it should count somehow…) My turn! Big breath, I can do this, I can order without looking like a pig, right??? I got an appetizer sashimi and one sushi roll, phew, that’s not so bad, go me! 🙂 The fourth person ordered two rolls I think…so, except for the person who just got the tiny salad we all got roughly the same amount of food, and of course in the spirit of sushi we all tried each others – don’t you love that about sushi? 😀

Afterwards though it really got me thinking, some friends I know would have looked at what we each individually ordered and been appalled at the lack of food. They would have ordered 3-4 items for themselves and expected everyone else to do the same, and even then they might still order a second round of food later because to them, that is normal portion sizes.

All foods are like this, not just sushi, people have different ideas of what is a “normal” amount of food to order or cook and it can be hard when eating with someone who has a drastically different portion size in mind because either someone ends up feeling starved or someone ends up feeling obligated to eat more then they want…neither is a good spot to be in. You’d think people could just be happy with letting the others at the table eat the amount they are comfortable eating but nope, generally that doesn’t happen…why can’t that happen??? *confused face*

I can actually divide the people in my life via portion sizes ordered/eaten at restaurants. It’s kind of funny, and really indicative of what career path that person has chosen. Everyone I know who acts orders small, just like today at lunch. We are all actors, we all have to think not only what do we look like in real life but on camera and so we all tend to order small. I think actors also tend to be more cautious about what they will eat in front of other actors just because you don’t want to be judged or thought negatively about because you ate too much. Hey, it’s a visual media, it’s just how it goes, shrug. But my friends who don’t act tend to order/cook larger amounts of food. So, when I am with my non acting friends if I am not careful I tend to match how much I eat to how much they eat which in the long term? not a good way to go. In the short term though, sooooooo nice to order a pasta dish and not ask for half of it to be automatically put in a to go box and to get a salad with dressing (even if I do put it on the side lol) I love going out to eat with my friends who aren’t going to look at my plate and judge me because I ate everything on it, or who might raise their eyebrows at me because I ate carbs, or used dressing or whatever. At the same time though, some people I know push food at me and it makes it really hard. If food is pushed at me I tend to eat even less of it because I don’t like having someone trying to force me to eat an amount of food they think is right. If my stomach holds less than yours, or I am less willing to overeat at a meal or eat a meal sized portion of something that is bad for me I don’t want you demanding, forcing, cajoling me in to eating more then what I say I want. Just respect my food limits and maybe I’ll stop judging you for eating what I think is way too much food. 😛

Sorry, this turned in to a bit of a rant and I didn’t mean it to, food is just a sensitive subject with me and since I’ve been trying to get my food balance back lately I’ve been more aware of just how out of whack it got due to the influence of others. Not cool. 😦

I know some people say eat whatever you want as long as you work it off, that is a myth and not a healthy way to live. Stuffing your body is not good for your body, it over taxes your system, you store too much of the food as fat (even if you don’t look fat you can have health issues related to obesity because you are a skinny-fat person…hey, totally a real thing!) and to top it off over eating messes with the chemicals released in your brain and your energy levels and all kinds of things. I know under eating isn’t good either but that’s why I am trying to find my food balance again, I used to have it, in the old apartment, when I had my eating plan and exercise routine all worked out…I’ve really got to get back to that because this up and down way of eating I am doing right now isn’t any better for me then under eating at every meal or over eating at every meal. Man, it sucks that food can be so hard sometimes, sigh.

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Balance

27 Aug

I believe in balance. I don’t always like it, but it’s shown up so many times in my life that I long ago accepted it is there and I have no control over it. 🙂

Nature contains balance, for every predatory animal there is a prey, for every sunny day there is a dark night, for every boom in mosquito population there will be a rise in the dragonfly population and when all those mozzies get eaten by the dragonflies the dragonfly population will decrease.

I think because there is balance in nature it is only natural that there is balance in the lives of humans, after all we are a part of nature (even though we seem to like to forget that). I don’t think everyone notices the balance, or maybe they just don’t connect the different experiences that balance each other out. Or maybe I am just crazy? lol.

Why am I nattering on about balance? Simple, all my good happy lucky woohoo stuff that happened this past week on Wednesday and Thursday got balanced out by a crappy Friday. sigh.

I should have known better then to get all psyched about how things were going last week and I definitely should have known better then to yap on about the good stuff. *rolls eyes* Whenever I really really really want something or am about to get something and am crazy excited about it something happens and I don’t get it. While that sucks all on its own it’s worse if I have told people about what I am psyched about cause then I have people asking how it went and then when I have to say whatever it was that was supposed to happen didn’t happen I have to deal with “the look” and “the tone” – the look and vocal tone being that of pity, ugh, I hate pity.

So how did all the awesome stuff that happened on Wednesday and Thursday get balanced out on Friday? Well! I had the interview with the agent and it went horrible! The guy was totally unprofessional and it was a complete waste of my time! I was so disappointed cause going into the interview I had been so excited but that interview, ugh, nothing good came out of that! So as if that wasn’t bad enough I had to go fill a prescription I got the day before. When I went to the doctors I found out the medication I am normally on is not covered by the new drug plan I am on so the doc prescribed a different drug (that may or may not work) but that is covered by the drug plan. Well, when I got to the pharmacy the pharmacist said that no that drug isn’t covered by my plan it is a different drug that is covered so now I will have to go back to a doctor, get this other drug prescribed to me (that may or may not work) and then get that filled. So now I am unmedicated and can’t get to a doctor for the new prescription till Monday and by then let’s just say things could go verra verra badly. eek!

You may have noticed my “may or may not work” comments? That’s because the drugs that are covered by the plan are lesser versions of the medication I am normally on, so, what I am normally on works perfectly. But can I get that medication? Why no, no I can not. Grr. So I have to take this first drug (the one I don’t have the prescription for yet) for a month, if that one doesn’t work I have to go back to the doctor and they will prescribe me the second drug (which is the one the doctor accidentally prescribed for me this time) and take that for a month and if that doesn’t work then I have to try a third one for a month THEN if that one doesn’t work the doc has to write a special letter saying I have tried all these other drugs and the doc has seen that they do not work for me and only then will my plan cover the drug that does work. Can you believe that?!?! I can potentially be sick for 3 months (if the drugs don’t work) before I can get back on the drugs that work…and once I am on my drug again it’ll of been so long since I was on it it’ll take ages for my body to absorb enough for it to work properly again. ugh.

I hate drug plans. 😦 Grr!

So there ya have it, the interview that was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter of my working life was quite possibly the worst interview I have ever been on and my easy peasy drug refill errand has turned in to prescription drug hell. *rolls eyes*

I was oh so upset yesterday while this was all happening, there were a couple times I wanted to cry but when I called my parents to tell them about the interview (I had promised them a couple days prior I would) my mom got me laughing, she’s good at that. It must be a mom thing, she always makes things better. 🙂

But there is the balance! I was so happy, and so excited, and having such good luck and then karma/the universe/nature whatever you want to call it kicked me in the teeth and brought me back down to earth. And really, that’s fine, it’s life, it’s how things go and no one can be all revved up and psyched all the time, unless their drugged…lol, but I really wish the balance had come in some other way then messing with my interview…

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