Workout Update

100 Workouts in 100 Days Project

Days: 61
Workouts: 57

So clearly I'm not where I wanted to be at this point, but I'm closer! I have to confess though, that this week has taken it ALL out of me...between lost sleep over the time change and various other life stresses, I am just going to hang on for dear life until Friday!
New projection: will be at 67 workouts on day 66!

You may be wondering, what do said workouts consist of? Well, I have started a 10-month program designed by Alwyn Cosgrove ( ) which consists of 3 full-body strength training workouts per week. On the off days I am doing a smattering of  "cosmetic" training, that is, working on all the stupid little muscles that I'd like to see grow in order to look good, along with taekwondo specific drills for speed and agility. So my weekly schedule looks more or less like this:

M/W/F workout 1: full-body strength
M/W/F workout 2: steady state cardio (usually a triathlon-style brick workout; 45min bike followed immediately by a 15min run)

T/R  workout 1: Agility circuits
T/R workout 2: Arms and shoulders isolation work (chasing after the elusive coconut-shaped delts I covet!)
T/R workout 3: Taekwondo class

Saturday: Sparring class

Sunday: Long outdoor run

Obviously I'm not getting 14 workouts in every week...but that's what I shoot for.

Project Gray-leo

Buy Nothing Month is is over, which means it's time for a new, non-exercise-related project! I've been feeling pretty uninspired in the kitchen lately, so the last time I was aimlessly wandering around Chapters while Shannon was in her music lesson, I picked up a copy of Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo.

 While I am always leery of any diet that excludes entire food groups, I have seen firsthand the benefits of eating the Paleo way (if you aren't familiar with it look here for more details) and I think in many ways it makes a lot of sense: lots of protein, healthy fats, minimal grains, and no sugar or processed junk. Practical Paleo is a gold mine of nutrition information, recipes, tutorials for kitchen basics, meal planning, and how-to's and supplementation for eating to accommodate chronic conditions, athletic performance, and fat loss. There are multiple 30-day meal plans, and big, beautiful pictures of all the recipes...honestly, it is everything you could possibly ask for in a cookbook. And the icing on the cake is that the author has a website (www.balancedbites.com) where you can download all of the grocery lists and other resources. Awesome.

 Following one of these 30-day meal plans seems like a great way to bust out of my food-prep rut, break some bad habits that have been worming their way back into my daily life, and expand my family's horizons.

The children, however, did not share my enthusiasm for trying some new things. They met my proposition with suspicious glares and hairy eyeballs. They wanted to know what kind of new things.

 Fish, I offered, and lamb. I showed them some pictures of the recipes to try and drum up some excitement over this project. When that didn't work, I tried the gross-out reverse psychology trick: liver! Stuffed mushrooms! ROASTED MARROW BONES! Ha ha, yum yum yum!

 Nope. With desperation in their eyes, they asked me what would happen at lunchtimes when Dad's cooking. I played my last card. Fine, I said. You don't have to like everything. But I expect you both to be willing to try everything, and for the love of goats, be polite. 'Cause I'm the BOSS!!

So this weekend, my mission will be to pick up some groceries and get some advance prep done for the week...cause I'm not going to lie, this is a big undertaking. WAY more cooking than I usually do - which is sort of the point for this plan - but I don't know how realistic it is. The other caveat that I foresee from looking ahead at the next 30 days is that it's going to be pricey...but I could be wrong; it's very possible that armed with a meal plan I will spend less than I usually do with my laissez-faire approach to grocery shopping. 

Sunday is day one. Stay tuned...

100 in 100 update: 55 days in, 51 workouts down. Feeling unstoppable, baby! Whooee!

Book Review: The Heavy by Dara-Lynn Weiss

Book Review: The Heavy: A Mother, A Daughter, A Diet

I did it: I went and actually spent money on the book that I was loathe to read. Even the title strikes a nerve and makes me twitch with irritation. A kid on a diet? Come on. And this Mom? Described as a Manhattan socialite who puts her daughter on a diet at age 7, with the promise of a glamorous photo shoot at the end? Nauseating.

A few posts ago, I promised to read this book, written by arguably one of the most publicly hated women of 2012, and then review it here. I was not looking forward to reading it; I fully expected it to make me really, really angry.

It didn't. In fact, to my surprise, I don't disagree with what Dara-Lynn Weiss did. Do I disagree with the details of how she did it? In many cases, yes, but here's the thing: I fully believe that everything she did to help her daughter get to a healthy weight was done lovingly, sensitively, and with her daughter's best interests at heart. She is also the first to admit that she made a lot of mistakes, but under the circumstances she was doing the best she could.

Here's what I think is really interesting: parenting, and mothering in particular, is a competitive sport in our society. Like it or not, we are insanely judgemental of each other where parenting is concerned, and there's no way anyone is going to garner full support from putting unconventional ideas about parenting out there. Especially if you admit to being human: for getting frustrated, acting inappropriately sometimes, for failing here and there along the way. The other big hang-up our society has is weight. It's taboo to talk about, and again you're damned no matter what: if you overeat or have a tendency to overeat you're lazy and weak-minded and permissive. If you resist the giant portions and processed junk in favor of being healthy, you are in danger of being labeled sanctimonious and controlling. So what do you do if you have an overweight kid? There's no end to the character crucifixions that are going to be hurled your way.

 I have to confess, a lot of what the author was up against in her journey with her daughter hit closer to home than I'd like to admit. Like me, she's a working mom with one kid who has a tendency to overeat and one kid who easily self-regulates. Like me, she has lots of her own emotional baggage where weight control is concerned. Her story could be mine except that my older daughter never reached a point where our family doctor needed to step in and demand that something be done about her weight. And that's where my first irritation with the book lies: right at the beginning. 'Cause seriously, how do you let a child get to that point? Who's in charge? But I'll let that go because I think she learned her lesson the hard way.

There are a lot of small aspects of what Dara-Lynn Weiss did to help her daughter lose weight that I don't agree with. What I do agree with though, is the fact that she put it all out there, and I applaud her courage for shining a light on an extremely contentious issue. For making a plan and sticking to it. For wading through a ton of misinformation and making her decisions based on what was right for her daughter and her family in spite of the unabashed judgement of onlookers. For being honest about her mistakes and failures, and for letting her daughter take ownership of what successes they achieved together.

Childhood obesity needs to be talked about, from a more sensitive and understanding standpoint than what we are used to. If nothing else, Dara-Lynn Weiss has opened the door to frank discussion on the subject. Her book is worth a read...and can I just say that I'm very glad I spent the money on it?

Project Update
100 workouts in 100 days: today is day 52, and I'm at 44 workouts. Still on track to be at par by day 60, though it might kill me!

In other news, feet are happy and (wait for it) my left arm is not going to require surgery after all, just a whack of physiotherapy. Whoohoo!