Ease on down the road

So today I see an article that a small company in India has developed a car that runs on air. On AIR! True - compressed air. But this thing is inexpensive and can either fill up at an official compressed air refilling station for $2 or be plugged into electricity for 4 hours. Um... hello? Are you serious?? That is awesome!

But here's the catch. It will never sell here. Why? Well, there aren't any airbags. Yup. And no side restraints. Or crumple zones. All the things that make us "safe". And here is where I'm torn. Mama wants her ABS and side air bags, but at the same time I feel that in a freaking free-will market economy I should be able to legally choose between roll over safety and zero emissions. Right now I can choose to spend $40K on a Prius with all the bells and whistles, or I can pay $2K for some crap car that was built in the 70's with no safety features and sucks gas like it's like the Quick Bunny downing chocolate milk. Why, as a red-blooded American consumer, why can't I choose my own features? Sure - charge me more for insurance. Fine. But the fact that it can't even legally be a choice just kinda bugs me. Obviously.

And then there is the electric Reva which actually does have lots of safety features (side impact beams, dent proof body panels, steel frame) and is being driven all over Europe. I read somewhere that it costs about $5K! True, the EU said it's not a car, it's a quadricycle. But folks can still drive it on open roads! Are we in the US just missing out on these opportunities because we don't have a real category for something with 3 or 4 wheels that is somewhere between a bike and a car?

Well, at least we have Phoenix Motorcars. They had the smart idea of buying a "car" made on the cheap in Korea - but told them to hold the whole engine thing. Then they just stick in their nifty battery & electric engine. Presto! Instant electric car! And get this - this California based company is starting out w/ trucks and SUVs! The big buyers initially are big companies who are replacing their fleets. As much as it kinda bugs me that we can't immediately get our hands on them, this really is the best ecological solution as these fleets are on the roads FAR more than someone like me.

Sigh... I think it's time to put another dollar in my "I want a Prius" jar.

Weighting for change: Part 2

So. I checked.

Since May 8th, according to my stupid scale, I've lost 1 pound.

But I'm not mad at the scale. Can't hurt the messenger. I'm definitely not happy with myself.

And for the record - 232. That's where I am right now. So, based on this handy dandy BMI Calculator, that means I have a BMI of 41.1. Overweight is 25-29.9. 30 and over is officially obese. I'm a full 10 over obese. Nice.

Weighting for change

I weighed myself today. I don't know why I did it. I hadn't even noticed that the scale was sitting there in the bathroom. Last time I weighed myself it was at K's insistence as she had just realized that she'd lost some weight and was sure that I had too. That was about a month ago. Prior to that it had been... ???? 6 months to a year? Who knows? It would have been last time I "found" the scale and wanted to see if the batteries still worked.

K is going to go back and check - but she thinks I lost a pound. I really though I'd gained a pound or two. Neither result would surprise me. Neither result will mean much to me. Because either way - it's proof that I haven't been doing enough. K's job has her moving around all day. My daily strain is walking 10 feet for a printer - and I maybe do that once a day. She was an athlete for much of her life is much more "in shape" than I am in what she's able to do at the gym even though our weight is similar. Let's just say that my fat has had more time to get comfortable. My biggest sport is bowling and even that is only done a few times a year.

I am going to have to work 2-3 times harder than K to get similar results. But at the same time, I'm going to have to accept that we'll never really have similar results. I'm not a competitive person in sports and games, but if I feel like I'm "losing" it's not hard for me to lose my motivation completely. This is going to be hard.

This blog is my motivation. I need to be aware of what I'm doing. I need to be honest with myself. And I need to be able to remember that the same person who wrote with such hope about the future is the same person who later writes about how hard things are and how the future looks dim. It's then my job to decide which road to follow.

I'm contemplating posting before and after pictures (Before I was socially fat and after Taco Bell had her way with me), height/weight stats, and possibly even pulling out the measuring tape. It may not be pretty - but if there is a chance that it can help me, or anyone else that happens to read it, it could be worth it. At the same time - that's a big band-aid to rip off and expose to the world.

In an effort to be completely full circle, I tried to find a calculator out there that would measure how much gas I would save at a more ideal weight. Don't we all know that having less weight in the car saves gas (For that and other gas saving tips...)! I didn't find a calculator, but I did find this. It brought me a bit of comfort and a bit of humor - which were both exactly what I needed.

Today's nemesis: The Buffet

Oh, today started good enough. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Got pulled into a group car wash in my front yard which I went for because hey - sharing water is good for the environment! Working a bit on organizing the garage and recycling far too many empty boxes that were sitting there. And then it all took a dramatic turn in the wrong direction. K wanted Golden Corral. Her Aunt also loves Golden Corral. So, off we went. To a gigantic buffet. With less than 2% of it being "healthy" and that stuff just didn't look as good. So, I screwed that all up. But it was rather tasty. Until I had that - uh oh - moment where you realize you have eaten FAR too much. We finished with some goofy-golf which was nice. Helped to walk off a little bit of that buffet - but I'd have to be out there for the next several days solid to really make a dent in that meal. Ah well. Better than sitting on my sofa.

Baby steps, right? Dang I hope so.

Rubbing away the stress

I'm getting a massage today. I am SO freaking excited. It's a freebie 15 minute massage offered by my client, who's office I work out of right now. This is something they offer once a month and all employees can sign up for about 10 open spots. Apparently there was some extra time because she came over and asked me if I wanted one. WOO HOO!

Massages are healthy. I've never had a "real" massage. I grew up with a mom that would do back massages all the time. I knew it was cool and all, but didn't realize how much it really made a difference until they weren't around anymore. I'm stiff all the time. Not in an obvious way, but when folks grab my shoulders or something they'll comment on it sometimes. It's worse in my lower back, but folks don't normally touch there to even notice. Once before the office masseur had an extra 5 min in her schedule and gave me a quickie massage here at the office. She commented on it. She almost sounded worried.

Keeping all that tension/crap/stress all built up in your back is - say it with me class - NOT HEALTHY! Exactly. It makes working out harder. I get all sorts of extra pain for no good reason. And then there is that whole thing about how stress takes years off your life.

So, I may not be willing to plunk down the bucks to get an hour massage yet, but today I'll be getting a very happy 15 minutes. Maybe it will inspire me to be better about this area of health. Maybe I'll just have to go arrange some time to go visit my mom.

Aren't I supposed to see a physician first?

Years and years ago (don't make me think about how many years ago it was), I asked my Dr. what he would recommend in dealing with my weight.

That was an exceptionally hard question to ask. And I know I'm not alone. I'm sure there are lots of folks who would rather talk about hemorrhoids, STDs or persistent halitosis than say to their Dr "I'm fat."

My Dr's response was not what I needed. He looked kind of awkward. He looked kind of sheepish. He fidgeted and said "um" and "uh" more often than normal. After his stammering, ya know what he said? It's really just about eating less calories than you burn. Yea Dr. I get that. I'm not a stupid person. We all KNOW that. It doesn't suddenly make it easy to do something about it. Then - he suggested that I do something active, like running. Here's where I realized that he was pretty much repeating a speech. I'd seen this doctor for years and he knew that I had arthritis which cropped up often in my knees and hips. You would never suggest running to me if you knew my medical history. I had to remind him. After reminding him of my medical history (Since I wasn't just asking his advice at a cocktail party - I was sitting in his office on an examination table.) he said that the best thing for me would be swimming. I should definitely start swimming. Rather than mention my lack of pool, and that 2 of the gyms I'd belonged to didn't include pools, I decided to push the uncomfortable discussion just a bit further to ask about specific diets to help get me started. He said that from what he'd read Weight Watchers was a great option.

Aren't you supposed to get better advice from your Dr. than from the Internet? That Dr. retired later that year and since then I've had 2 different doctors. My weight has continued to rise but I haven't bothered to mention it to either of them. They don't know me as well as he did, and I got a cereal box suggestion from him.

Right now here's what I know. More Vegetables. Less ice cream. More grilled meat. Less fried meat. More organic. Less processed. More portion control. Less super sizing. And the hardest one - More cooking at home. Less eating out.

I'm not good at this yet. I'm not even decent at it. I am one of 3 adults in my house right now and I have the least control over the kitchen. And the least skills in the kitchen. And I get home last. But I can't keep leaning on this truth as an crutch. It just means I'm going to need to work harder. That is a bit scary. But (deep breath) less scary than the prospects of what my ever expanding waistline will look like in another 5-10 years.

The research begins. Recipes. Diets. Food plans. I'm open for it all. I'll try anything that will get me healthy. Healthy or bust.

My ecological footprint as of today

I knew this wasn't going to be good, but it still stung a bit to see it.

CATEGORY - ACRES
FOOD - 6.9
MOBILITY - 1.5
SHELTER - 8.6
GOODS/SERVICES - 9.1
TOTAL FOOTPRINT - 26
IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 5.9 PLANETS.

Ouch huh? It's not a pretty picture. For a question about flying I there were two options - about 3 hours a year or No flying at all. Well, I'd love to fly more honestly - but I never go on vacation! Unfortunately I can't blame it all on that. Feel free to go here to check out your own footprint. There are no bonuses for recycling (which I do), wearing hemp (ok, only have one shirt) or organic cotton (not like I have any yet) or buying organic produce (which I do all the time). And what about not using plastic bags! Ok, I'm still using them, but I'm buying canvas bags shortly and there wasn't even a question about it! I'm guessing that's because those are the little things we do to make ourselves feel better - like we're making an impact. And while there certainly is some impact there, it's not quite the same impact as riding a bike to work. Or driving a Prius. Dang I want a Prius. Sigh...

Heck of a day 1

I had such great plans. Go home from work. Healthy dinner of grilled meat tacos with lots of veggies followed up by a quick trip to the YMCA for a good 45 minutes of cardio.

And then life happened. It happened ALL over my night. I didn't leave work until 7 when I normally get out at 5. I was SO hungry since I hadn't eaten since 11:30. K was curled up in a ball on our sofa with cramps which meant both that she had no interest in going to the gym and she wanted some comfort food. So my night became Drive through at KFC, Boneless chicken wings, fries and a root beer for dinner. And watching 3 hour long shows from our DVR.

What the heck happened? I found myself thinking about that as I was in line at KFC. I had such plans. Unhealthy dinner followed by almost 3 hours (we fast-forward commercials of course) of sitting on the sofa. I did sit on the floor and stretch for awhile. But nothing big.

Positive thoughts and Lessons for the day? Of 3 meals, only 1 was unhealthy. Actually ate 3 meals and 1 healthy snack. Not too bad. I didn't eat late at night. I brought home my tuna can, salad container, yogurt container and 2 paper bags from things I did/ate at work to go into my recycle can.

How can I be better? I need to find healthier options at our favorite food places because if I'm going to give in to temptation, at least it should be for the lesser of all evils on the menu. I need to find things I can do, by myself, at the house to work out. Try to find those old work out videos or decide if I feel comfortable walking around the neighborhood alone.

Let the healthiness begin!

I'm sick of not being healthy. Not that I'm running to see the Dr every week - but my body isn't healthy. I need to change it. I've been saying I'd do it on and off for years, but this time I have to make it stick.

I'm also pretty disgusted with how unhealthy the world is around me. I'm not planning to tie myself to a tree any time soon, but I bought those good light-bulbs and joined the email newsletter of Ideal Bite where I learned more small steps that I could actually, practically do. And I'm trying to do them.

So do I have a specific plan? Nope. No particular diet. No current exercise plan. And no plan to move off the grid or give up my car. But I've got to get healthy. One step at a time. One plan at a time. And this - this journal will allow me to track it all. Accountable to no one but myself - and the world.