For those who no longer can

There is something that I think about sometimes when I'm running or otherwise working out and I'm feeling cranky and tired and like I want to give up.  It goes like this:

source

Tonight, in the spin class I was taking, we were almost done.  We were almost done, and I was exhausted, and the final song came on and my (now favorite) instructor said to us, "I'm going to ask you to sprint through a lot of this song.  It's going to hurt and it's not going to be pleasant.  But I'm asking you to do this for all of the people who can no longer do this.  Who lost their lives or their limbs last week and would give anything to be where you are right now.  So let's go."

I have never seen forty people work as hard as I did tonight.  The sweat was flying.  I could hear people gasping for air around me and my own lungs started to wheeze and there were spots on my vision and a lump was still rising in my throat.  Images from last week flashed through my mind as I pushed myself to my very limit in honor of those who no longer can.

I know that this tiny and insignificant gesture and effort does not impact the lives of those affected by the bombing and the ensuing manhunt.  I know that, and yet I still hope that Boston knows that all over the world, little waves of love and support are still being sent and will be for a long, long time.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

One day, last October, I went out for a run.  I had been going for short jaunts for a few weeks at that point and was feeling spry and fit and pumped up.  Look at me go! I remember thinking, as I bounced down our front steps in my newly purchased lightweight Saucony's.  I said I was going to start running, and start I did, and run I do, and here we go!  Gonna just go pound out four miles like it's no big deal because I'm a runner and that's what we DO.  A quarter of a mile later, I was in agony.  The autumn air was newly cold and it seared my throat and lungs like a branding iron.  My legs were leaden, and since I hadn't dressed warmly enough for the fall chill, they refused to warm up.  Filled with my own hubris, I had flown out the door during the peak of morning rush hour in New Haven and the streets were packed with minivans and SUVs of families in the midst of the school drop-off loop.  I cursed the multitude of witnesses to my struggle as I limped around a corner and knew that there was no way I was going to gasp and pant and lead-leg my way through four freaking miles.  I doggedly looped a few more blocks while curse words streamed through my mind and my fingers froze into red popsicles around my phone.  I checked the mileage as I stumbled through the front door, hoping for at least a three.  What I saw instead - 1.8 miles.  I was barely sweating, my lungs were heaving, and I was pissed.  I'll never be a real runner, I thought, as I stepped into the (largely unnecessary) shower.

* * *

I mapped out yesterday's run before I headed out.  I don't usually do this, since I track the mileage on my phone and I just go until I've hit my target for the day (training for a half marathon - at least, when you're a novice like me - is a lot easier with a prefabricated training plan that lays our all your runs for the four months leading up to the race).  But since my phone was low on battery and I figured ten miles would take the better part of two hours, I was fairly confident the battery would quit before I finished and I wanted to have a plan.  I put on my no longer new shoes, the right number of layers, my trusty ear warmer and slipped out the door.  With a lot less bravado than in October, I can assure you.  Well, here goes nothing, I thought as I fell into my long slow stride that always feels too easy until I hit mile seven and then I'm grateful that I didn't go pounding out the door at 5k pace.  

The first two miles were fine, a scenic trot up a barely trafficked road at the base of East Rock mountain that included all the elevation changes I had planned for the day.  (When I planned ten miles, I planned ten flat miles - let's not try to eat the whole elephant today, was my thought.)  Then, the route changed.  My rapidly concocted plan before skipping out the door had picked eight miles of roads that were packed with cars, semi-trucks, and a sidewalk that I could now see disappeared in about fifty feet.  Used car dealerships, boarded up houses, and vacant lots were whipping by on my left while horns blared on my right.  I glanced down in time to sidestep a used syringe and thought, Okay, change of plan.  East Rock loomed next to me and the entrance road was coming up on my right - blocked to cars from October to May.  Fine, I thought, a little vindictively.  Fine, we'll do it this way.  The din from traffic faded rapidly as I headed up the at-first gentle slope into the trees.  Pretty soon, all I could hear were the rustling dry leaves kicked up by squirrels and a few early spring bird calls from above.  Three miles to the top, East Rock is not particularly huge, but rather a long arduous climb that may be a leisurely hike but is certainly a challenging run.  Rounding the last curve at the summit, two sweaty guys passed me on their way about to head down.  "You're still running?!" one asked me, incredulously, and I flashed only a smile in response, too spent for words.  I sprinted the last fifty feet, paused the GPS tracking, and took two minutes to catch my breath at the top.  I looked down at New Haven spread below me, found my house, and smiled.  Two hawks circled lazily at eye level, watching the mountainside beneath them for a careless mouse.  The highway was a dull and faraway roar and I could see halfway across Long Island Sound.  My heartbeat had already slowed and I grinned as I noticed that I wasn't even breathing hard.  I did this, I thought to myself, and something proud and happy pinged inside me like a far off, tiny bell.  "I did this," I whispered to myself, looking down at the mountain I'd just run, the five miles I'd just covered, and looking forward to the next five ahead.

Fine, I thought to myself, with a lot less snark.  So okay, we ate the whole elephant today.  Not only are we running ten miles but we're climbing a mountain in there too.  So what?  Let's get it done.  And I trotted off for my second half.

* * *

Athletes are notorious for never being satisfied.  If we didn't medal, we wanted bronze.  If we got bronze, we should have gotten silver.  And everyone knows that silver only means "not quite good enough to win."  So it didn't surprise me that as I idled under the hot water yesterday, I was lamenting how long those ten miles took me, and chewing on my lip as I thought about running the half in just a few more weeks.  A real runner would be faster.  A real runner would be better.  I rinsed my face and inspected my ankles and feet for swelling.  Hold up.  Last October, you could barely get out the door.  And suddenly, ten miles was enough.  It was plenty.  Because that elephant was just a tasty snack and I'm not getting up from this metaphorical table anytime soon.

When Pilates Attacks

In an effort to avoid "spinning burn-out," Alix and I decided to try a different workout class tonight since I have an exceptionally reasonable work schedule this week that allows for evening class attendance.  Since neither of us was feeling up for any intense cardio action, we decided to try a Pilates class.  Oh my.  I knew so little about Pilates that I actually Googled "what to wear to Pilates" before going.  Turns out you should wear form-fitting comfortable clothes.  Got it.  So I put on my form-fitting comfortable clothes and some sneakers and we headed over, nervously waiting for the yoga class before us to finish so we could follow everyone else into the studio and copy whatever the heck it was they were doing.  Apparently, you need an exceptional amount of equipment for this class: a mat, a mat cover, a block, a Pilates ring, and a towel.  (Turns out Alix should also have grabbed a helmet.  But we're getting to that.)  So we were setting up in about the farthest back corner possible when the instructor - a lovely man named Paul (why is everyone who works at this gym named Paul?) - came to adjust the music and we frantically told him we were new and to please please be gentle with us.  He was very nice and excited to have newcomers. 

The hour-long class went by fairly quickly but if I thought it was going to be easy, I was definitely wrong.  My abs were burning and my legs were shaking about twenty minutes in.  Then catastrophe struck.  We had been told to hold the block sideways between our calves (I know this is hard to picture), sit in a V position, and then rock quickly backwards and then back up to the V, all while maintaining the squeeze position on the block.  Well, Alix lost control of her block.  And no, not in the conveniently upright V position, but in the I'm-upside-down-and-the-block-almost-hit-me-in-the-face position.  Paul very sweetly got her a smaller, lighter block while the two of us tried to contain our giggles as the gentle Eastern-inspired music played on.  Clearly, we were not the class all-stars tonight.  But afterwards, we felt loose and limber and it gave my old cranky hip flexors a good stretch.  Ever since I rowed during college and repeatedly strained both hip flexors, running and walking have caused flare-ups and have reduced my hip flexibility to that of an 80-year-old.  If I keep the Pilates up though, things should be improving in no time.  Barring any more block incidents, we will be returning to Pilates regularly.

Update on my last post: Thank you so much to everyone that read about Sage's project and donated to her cause.  She was featured on the local news tonight and you can read the article here.  She reached her $1,000 goal on the first day and is now aiming for $2,000. 

The Good, The Bad, and the Overly Caffeinated

I am extremely hyped-up on coffee right now. (I thought I had kicked my college addiction but it's back.)  This post will be in bullet form since my brain feels like it needs some Ritalin in order to function at a more coherent pace.

• I hesitate to write anything negative about my job here but I will keep it short and sweet and say nothing that I wouldn't say (or haven't already said) to my bosses' face(s):
• On Saturday night, my boss called to try to change my schedule for this coming week, asking me to give up my day off on Monday when Alix and I had planned to visit another wedding venue.  I apologized and said that no, I couldn't work that day.  She was more than a little annoyed and made no effort to hide it.  Then, she changed my schedule for the rest of the week so that I have to wake up at 4:15 every day now.  Fun.
• My other boss just called me to tell me that he will be half an hour late home tonight....again.  I have not gotten out on time in the past month.  The cab fare that I am given on these nights to compensate for staying late isn't enough to cover the cab fare home.  My solution to this problem is now to politely refuse money at the time, and explain that I will simply save the receipts from all of the cab rides and the total can be added to my pay check at the end of the week.  Sounds good, right?
• Anyway, in other news, Alix and I found a wedding venue!  The place we looked at on Monday is absolutely, unbelievably perfect.  It is exactly the kind of place we envisioned our wedding taking place and the reality of having a venue is making it so much easier to have fun imagining planning the rest of our wedding.  The location is gorgeous and more importantly, the people who will be helping us along the way are wonderful.  We require extensive amounts of hand-holding since we are such wedding know-nothings and they provide exactly that service.  They're also gay, and very much in love, and specialize in gay weddings.  All good things.  We no longer have to worry about any negative or awkward reactions from people because every vendor that these people work with choose to work for a couple that basically run a same-sex wedding business.  This removes a huge source of stress for us and the relief itself is worth every penny we will spend.
• We now have a date, a venue, and a tentative guest list for said wedding.  Scary to have so many plans in place!  The reality is sinking in that not only are we going to be married, but we are having a wedding.  A real one.  In a state where it's legal (Connecticut).  With a license and name changes and joint checking accounts and everything.  Holy shit.
• I have one pair of pants that fit.  I had two, but I tripped on a broken escalator in front of hundreds of people and ripped one of the legs of my jeans so bad that they're essentially unwearable.  It doesn't look chic in that expensively-ripped-jean kind of way, either.  It looks like I tripped and ripped my pants.  So, I have one other pair of pants and you can imagine how dirty they are since I take care of an 11-month-old all day.  I think I need to buy more pants, slash, wash these ones.
• I love the gym.  I feel at peace there because I can stop thinking about the worries buzzing around my brain all day.  It calms me down and the endorphins make me happier and more sane.  Alix and I took to spinning so much that we bought spin shoes.  So worth it!  We feel hard-core and legit, not to mention our workouts have suddenly become way more effective with the correct gear.

Whew.  I think that's it for now.  Any adoring and congratulatory comments on finding a wedding venue are greatly appreciated :-)  I love how many more comments I've been getting lately!  Keep it up everyone.  You have no idea how happy it makes me.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

(Ten points to anyone who can name the musical group responsible for this post's title)

So after a month of working relatively normal work hours every day (7 AM to 5 PM), my boss's rotation has changed and she's back to shift work, which means so am I. This week I'm working almost 60 hours, in addition to the sixteen I'll be working at the bakery over the weekend. This is what a typical day looks and feels like for me these days:

5:25 AM - Wake up to most annoying alarm possible. No charming bell chimes for me. Roll out of bed, weigh self with fingers crossed. Sigh in relief or grimace in annoyance, depending on number. This morning sighed in relief! Pack food for day, put clothes on, rub eyes vigorously, pack clothes for the gym, keep yawning and rubbing eyes, kiss Alix good-bye and run downstairs.

5:45 AM - Trudge to subway station. Realize it's raining and forgot to pack umbrella.

6:00 AM - Catch downtown 1 train, transfer to cross-town L train, walk 20 minutes in freezing rain, arrive at work by 6:50.

7:00 AM-8:00 PM - I'll spare you the blow by blow, but this can be the longest, most boring, and still most fun 13 hours of my life. It consists of diaper changes, feedings, Baby Einstein videos, Toddler Radio on Pandora, naps ("It's time to go to sleep, Monkey." He pops his head up and starts to cry. "It's time to go to sleep, Monkey." Repeat until sleepy enough for me to leave the room to only mild crying. As you can tell, we are still in the beginning phase of "crying it out.") Further activities include playing with toys, more diaper changes, more feedings, a bath, and if we're lucky, an adventure to the grocery store, thrift store, or library.

8:00 PM-8:40 PM - Make groggy commute home but stop at gym before getting there. Change slowly into workout clothes while seriously contemplating skipping the gym just this once.

8:45 PM-9:30 PM - Cardio on Arc Trainer for 45 minutes. Thoughts go something like this: Ok, 45 minutes isn't that long. Here we go with a warm-up. Oh jeez, Lady Gaga on my playlist again. Must update iPod soon. Warm-up over, increase then decrease resistance in five minute increments. Is it 9:30 yet? What if I only do 30 minutes? I'm really sweaty and it says I've burned lots of calories. But oh yeah, I ate those cookies today. Fine, I'll do the whole 45 minutes. Now we're on to Miley Cyrus? I hope no one near me can hear my music. Wait, does that guy come to the bakery sometimes? He does! I wonder if he recognizes me without my apron and bandana. On second thought, definitely not. Ok, last ten minutes. If I increase the resistance every two minutes until the end I'll burn lots of calories. Go. Finally, finally done. After five minutes of core work, I drag myself to the shower, knowing that if I think I'm going to shower when I get home or when I get up in the morning, I'm seriously deluding myself.

10:00 PM - Make it home, kiss Alix hello, brush teeth, fall into bed, and set annoying alarm for tomorrow.

How to Become a NYC Fitness Brat

So, despite my best efforts, the workout dvd craze ran its course and wasn't doing anything for me anymore, either mentally or physically. It occurred to me that the two dvd's I was working on (Cardio Max and Power Sculpt, both from the Biggest Loser enterprise) were designed for people who are very overweight and out of shape. After doing 30 Day Shred, I'm neither one of those, but sadly, still not at my goal. So, Alix and I sucked it up and joined a gym. Less than a week later, we feel we have gained an exclusive look into a club full of aggressive (read: bitchy), hungry New York women who maximize their membership costs by spending as much time and energy as possible at the gym. Here's the process by which it all shakes down:

Step 1: Visit large, shiny, intimidating gym and take tour with overexcited employee named Paul. Paul will laugh loudly and frequently, as he describes the many attributes of said gym while showing you the machines, the classes, the locker rooms, and the Pilates studio that looks like some sort of torture chamber Hitler might have built.

Step 2: Spend 20 minutes discussing in hushed urgent tones whether we have the money for such a shiny (read: expensive) gym and conclude that we need a day to think about it. Sensing impending disaster, Paul brings complimentary water bottles and offers us the equivalent of three months free membership. Deal suddenly becomes too good to pass up. Sign papers. Walk home feeling overwhelmed, excited, and wondering what the hell we've gotten ourselves into.

Step 3: Gather our courage and visit gym the next day for our first workout class. Disappointment ensues, as the class is full of women in spandex, sighing and moaning loudly while stretching into only mildly difficult toning exercises led by an ex-dancer named James while Eastern-inspired music plays loudly in the background.

Step 4: Gather our courage again, and decide to try a different class - this time, spinning. That's right, the quintessential NYC workout that all those hungry bitchy women opt for, often more than seven times a week.

Step 5: Realize extremely quickly into spinning that despite how surreal the experience is (the dark room, the pumping pop-remix music, the man with a microphone on a bike, and the 50 bikes packed into one room), spinning is actually extremely difficult. Alix and I were ready to die (proud of us, Jillian??) and that was after the warm-up. Thankfully, we made it through.

Step 6: Follow spinning with a half hour of an abs class which not only made me want to continue with the slow death that spinning began, but now I also want to vomit.

Step 7: Go home. And go back tomorrow.

Special Note: To the 50ish-year-old woman who was stretching while I walked by, I'm sorry I did an enormous double take and stared at your boobs. It was because you were wearing a Smith sports bra (go Smith!) and it made me so excited I lost control of all social graces. I hope you were flattered instead of freaked-out.

Holy Six Pack

And not the beer kind. The kind that is forming on my abdomen! I have never, ever had abs like these, and truthfully, it wasn't that hard. I mean, yes, the 30 Day Shred is effing ridiculous (and this is coming from someone who took about two months to do 30 days of workouts), but the actual ab exercises were never so impossible that I utterly failed. And now, 9 days into the last 10 days of the workout dvd, I can honestly say, I have the shadowy beginnings of a six pack. I also can't believe that tomorrow will mean I have done Level 3 for ten days (in a total of 15 days - but that included Christmas vacation!). While my last post was pretty much a load of kvetching about how hard it was, nine days later, it's definitely doable. I feel pretty kick-ass getting through the whole workout without needing to modify any of the moves. The last set of cardio includes two moves that originally were so hard I could barely do the modified versions - jump squats and rock star jumps. Now I blaze through them, apologizing in my mind to my downstairs neighbors who must think that for twenty minutes every night, someone is either having extremely vigorous sex or a domestic dispute, minus the shouting.

In other updates: the old apartment, you know, the one we're paying rent on even though we moved into our cheaper apartment to save money (don't worry, I know the irony is just killing all of you) - might actually be leased to someone new soon! They are applying, and have a guarantor, so things are looking good... That apartment (and its astronomical rent that we're still paying) aside, I recalculated and found that I am now spending only twenty-six percent of my income on rent, as opposed to the previous forty percent. This leaves me with much more of my earnings to go towards my small school loan (credit card bill is paid off!) and into my savings.

Last update: Christmas was wonderful this year, full of family, snow, and many unsuccessful attempts to control Rupert in a house full of cats to chase and tall people who kept picking him up. I received some wonderful gifts, including two cookbooks (one vegetarian, the other vegan) which I can't wait to delve into, as well as a book on urban gardening so that I'll be able to figure out how to grow my herbs even without a terrace. Add to that the fabulously exciting immersion blender from one of my brothers, and you'll have to agree that I definitely lucked out with gifts this year.

Also, check out the new pages at the top of the blog under the title. Happy New Year everyone!

Death by Jillian Michaels

So, it turns out...Level 3 is FUCKING HARD. And by that I mean, panting, gasping, sweat-pouring, incapable-of-doing-any-set-completely HARD. I did it for the first time on Thursday, had to take Friday off because everything hurt (including my ribs...inexplicably), and then Alix and I did it together this morning. Alix would like me to point out that she jumped from not working out for at least two weeks to doing Level 3, and she did indeed - as Jillian Michaels instructs us to do - want to die. Let's hope upping the routine brings off those few pounds I gained during our lazy two weeks off. Aside from weight changes, I can definitely see some muscle definition. My abs and arms are stronger and more defined - now to just get the top layer of fat on top off so you can see them and I'll be all set. Next in the series of improved health is either to 1) redo 30 Day Shred for 30 days straight - no breaks, whatsoever, or 2) start Cardio Max dvd (also from the Biggest Loser trainers) which is a 6 week program that includes longer workouts. I'm worried about trying to fit longer workouts into my 14 hour workdays, but we'll do the best we can. Stay tuned for some after-pictures in a few weeks!

Risky Business

Today was an epic day. I. Invented. A. Recipe. This is a big deal. As adept as I may have felt in the kitchen before now, it was always as a result of my faith in the trustworthiness of recipes. I followed them to the letter, and most of the time, I liked the results. But lately, as I've been cooking more and cooking healthier, there have been times where I'll come across a recipe and think, "Hmm, that sounds decent, but adding *blank* or removing *blank* or substituting *blank* for *blank* might make it even better!" The results of my additions and alterations were also generally good and all of this confidence-building led up to tonight, where I decided to make something to go with some leftover polenta.

(Side note: When I was in college, I tasted polenta for the first time and thought it was disgusting. Then, a few weeks ago at the bakery, one of the owners made us polenta for lunch. I originally turned my nose up at it, explaining my hatred for it, only to be cajoled into trying it and discovered that polenta is by no means disgusting, it is FREAKING DELICIOUS. Which then inspired me to make my own polenta, so I pulled out my trusty vegan cookbook and found a recipe for Pesto-Infused Polenta with Portobellos. Then I made that, adding my own flare of balsamic vinegar to the cooking mushrooms and we ended up with a meal of pesto polenta with garlickly, vinegary, tender mushrooms to heap on top. The only hiccup to that meal was that because the floor of our apartment slants, the stove is also slanted, and two of the polenta slices slid off the cookie sheet in the oven, falling through the grates and onto the flaming gas. They were recovered, slightly mangled, but still edible. We ate all the mushrooms that night and so I had some leftover polenta to deal with.)

So we've had a 28 oz can of whole stewed tomatoes with basil in the cupboard for over a year. Because of the basil, I've never used it in a recipe - until now. I was determined. I built a dinner around the jar of freaking tomatoes. It was so easy, I can't wait to make up more recipes. First, I sauteed some garlic and onions in olive oil until the onions were soft (I love this beginning to almost any recipe, especially when there are lots of onions involved. Alix can live with my bad breath, I don't care.). Then, I cut up the tomatoes in irregular chunks and added them to the pot over low heat. I also added a can of white cannellini beans (drained and rinsed), as well as salt, pepper, oregano, and hot pepper flakes. I let it all simmer while I pan-seared the polenta with some cooking spray, and voila - dinner! I grated some parmesan cheese on top of the whole mess and the meal was enjoyed by all.

Because today was my day off, I got super industrious and made two kinds of bread. The one that was more effort, a whole wheat egg bread was less than spectacular. It tasted like dense, healthy challah, and we all know that challah is only good if it is fluffy and bad for you. The other bread was from my vegan book, and it was a quick bread that took less than ten minutes to put together, and an hour to bake. It was flavored with molasses, chopped pecans (the recipe called for walnuts, but we didn't have any), and raisins. The bread was dense, dark, not too sweet, and perfect warm from the oven. I'm so excited by all of the delicious vegan things I'm finding I can make without noticing anything "missing"! Even the dinner tonight would have been vegan if the pesto didn't contain cheese (easy enough to leave out) and we hadn't put cheese on top (also easy to leave out).

In working out news - Alix is studying for finals and so is off the hook for now. I, however, have no such excuse and so am back to the regimen. I sadly gained back the 4-5 pounds I had lost during the Thanksgiving/vacation laziness, but this is the third day in a row that I have Jillian Michaels-ed it all on my own and I'm keeping track of my food again so we'll do a weigh-in at the end of the week and see where I'm at. All in all, I had a wonderful day off. I'm finishing this blog post just in time to watch the season finale of Biggest Loser...where my bestest friend Jillian will be present, hopefully looking as desperately attractive as she always does. No, I don't have a crush on my virtual personal trainer, what are you talking about?!

Third Time's the Charm

Today marks our third day of 30 Day Shred. For those of you counting, technically this is the fourth day since we started, but we didn't work out yesterday due to television obligations. As a side note, Alix and I watch very little tv but we are committed to two shows - Biggest Loser and 16 and Pregnant (or Teen Mom, whichever season is currently showing). Unfortunately, both are on Tuesday nights which equates to an epic three hours of tv since Biggest Loser is on from 8-10 and 16 and Pregnant is on 10-11. Sometimes we miss Biggest Loser depending on how late I get home from work, and it's undeniable that I am extra tired on Wednesday mornings from staying up so late, but I feel fine partaking of this small weekly pleasure. Anyway, I digress. Tonight was workout number three for us and it was surprisingly easy. I can't believe how much easier it has gotten since the first day! There is one strength move that still kills us: static side lunges with arm raises...with five pound hand weights. Ideally, we would own two sets of weights each, one of 3's and one of 5's, but I'm not really willing to shell out the extra cash and energy to go buy them. Besides, my goal is to work up to the static side lunges being easy-peasy with 10 pounds of added weight. So the plan from here on out is:

1. Don't eat dinner before working out. Tonight involved some serious cramping due to the tuna sandwich and tomato soup dinner that preceded it (Mama, you were absolutely right, I should not have eaten dinner first.)
2. Plan meals better during the day. For me, since I work 14 hour days, I need to pack essentially every meal in order to prevent an epic gorge once I get home. Tomorrow's planned meals are grapefruit, baby carrots with peanut butter, and PB&J. Then, come home, work out and eat dinner. Tomorrow's dinner will be pasta with homemade pesto and crumbled goat cheese feta with sliced tomatoes on the side.
3. Drink more water, pre- and post-workout.
4. Stop weighing ourselves obsessively and only do it once a week. Weight fluctuations are normal and may or may not reflect the work we are putting in.
5. Try out some new recipes from our healthier cookbooks. How does fennel, pecan, and watercress salad with orange vinaigrette sound?

Aiz not chewing...Aiz growing muscles.

6. Grocery shop with discipline! This means buying what we need for our planned meals, healthy snacks, calorie-free or low-calorie drinks and THAT'S IT. No more impulse purchases of challah, Nutella, or whatever else it is we chow on that is now off the meal plan.
7. Keep Puffkin (aka, Rupert) away from the hand weights. Apparently, they look like delicious chew toys.

Shred It, cont'd

So, Alix and I bought the hand weights that you're supposed to use with our new workout dvd today and it turns out - brace yourselves - that it's a lot harder with them than without them. We debated between buying 5's or 8's and dear-God-thank-you we bought the 5's. We did Phase 1 of the workout series again tonight and boy, was it hard. Second day workouts are always worse, because you're sore from the day before. Add in the additional ten pounds for every strength move, and we got one tough butt-kicking. We're recovering on the couch with the window wide open, sweaty hair hanging in our faces, and I'm not kidding when I say that it's actually hurting my arms to type. I knew it had been a while since my rowing days as a college athlete (and even longer since Alix's softball days), but I am more out of shape than I realized. We steeled ourselves for the ultimate test: before and after pictures. I desperately don't want to take the before pictures, but I know that if I do it will only motivate me more to finish the plan and be proud of the after pictures. We learned that side pictures are generally more flattering than front pictures.

Further adjustments to our health plan: we are keeping a food diary, and we are going vegetarian for the month (after tonight, because tonight's pre-planned dinner was cabbage rolls). How about you, readers? Anyone ever successfully put into place a weight-loss slash get-fit plan? How did it go? Any words of advice for us as we begin our journey?

Shred It

At long last, the workout/healthy body part of this life plan is being put into effect. After a serious delay due to a scary surprise health problem and a relocation to save our finances, Alix and I were finally ready to start our proposed plan: 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. For those not addicted to the hit tv show The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels is a hard-core, nut-crushing, smoking hot trainer who whips 400 pound people into shape who then made millions of dollars by making dvd's that whip normally flabby people into shape. The workout dvd we now own and started today promises a weight-loss of up to 20 pounds in 30 days. However, we both know that this is marketing at its most improbable and is also not desirable - neither Alix nor I need to lose 20 pounds. So we're determined to actually do the damn thing for 30 days and see where we wind up. Each workout is only 20 minutes and there are three levels. We predict that we'll do Level 1 for a week, Level 2 for a week, and Level 3 for the last two weeks (we're ambitious, competitive, and driven when put to the test but lazy, sloppy, and inert when not). The pressure is on. If I can have abs like Jillian Michaels after 30 days, while also managing to show off some cleavage in a sports bra, then I will be one happy camper. (Can this workout dvd actually give me cleavage too? Because that would be cool.) Additional sources of exercise in our lives include carrying our 32 pound dog up and down 3 flights of stairs every time he needs to use the facilities (yay for a 4th floor walk-up apartment). In my case, I've also taken to carrying my smallest - but rapidly growing - buddy around in a sling instead of putting him in his stroller, which he hates. Monkey loves being hoisted around by his ever-buffer nanny, especially when it's in his cozy little sling nestled up against me. Did I mention he's 20 pounds? Something about this body of mine better be changing with all this effort! Now if I could only stop snacking on cookies while I work at the bakery...but hey, nobody's perfect, right?

Thirty days to look like this? I'll do whatever it takes.

The Beginning

Hi everyone and welcome to our blog!

Here we will be writing about our adventures in New York and our quest to live healthier, happier lives on a budget. While New Yorkers are famous for continuously complaining about how expensive everything is (the rent! the parking! the food!), the truth is that Alix and I (Cait) are living off of one income and a rapidly depleting savings account, paying a rent we can't afford (go figure) and supporting a sulky cat and a dopey dog. This all sounds so much more tragic than the laughter-filled and love-blessed life that we are lucky to have but since we both want to remain healthy and financially viable into our next seven decades, the time has come for us to tighten our belts a little and make some changes.

The last three months since I moved into Alix's studio apartment in Hell's Kitchen, we've been a bit, shall we say, loose with our money. We appreciated the constant availability of take-out and became all too familiar with www.seamlessweb.com. We also spent a large chunk of money transforming the apartment from the haphazard bachelor pad Alix was inhabiting into the cozy and furnished home we now share. Finally, we paid precious little attention to our spending habits at places like Whole Foods, Screme (the most delicious and over-priced gelato joint on the West side), and Unleashed (the boys' favorite holistic pet supply store). Now that we're settling into our respective routines - I work about fifty hours a week as a nanny, while Alix will soon be starting her second year of law school - we've decided to address our growing waistlines and shrinking accounts by changing our spending, eating, and exercise habits. We've designed a budget, sworn off eating out, and are starting a crazy workout plan (more on that later). We'll be doing our best to document our adventures here, in an effort to keep us honest and keep you amused. We invite you to read along and share it with us.