It's been a fun year....so long!

As this blog wraps up, I've been thinking about my goals for the year. I made some great progress as a runner, training and running my first half marathon, and even lost a little weight along the way (about 10 pounds!). I still remember how emotional I felt on race day, how I could feel all that hard work paying off and how happy I was to get through that last mile and cross the finish line. Thanks to everyone who left comments and emailed me words of encouragement and running tips. Having your support really made a difference.

Over the spring and summer, I took on the 100-day burpee challenge with my husband and we both lived to tell the tale. It was a tough challenge and there were many days toward the end when I threatened to quit. One great benefit of blogging about it: I was held accountable and kept going. By day 100, I felt stronger and a little leaner.

The fall has been hard because I managed to catch a couple bad colds, but I'm getting back into my groove now. It was frustrating to lose momentum on running and to have to rebuild some strength after taking more days to rest than I'd like.

But I'm still working and my running has gotten easier again. I've decided to sign up for Charlotte RaceFest again this year and have even recruited a friend to run the half with me. So it should be a busy winter of running for me. I'm going to keep working on my goal of being able to do a pull up. I didn't quite make it this year but that gives me something to work on in 2012.


Good luck with your fitness goals for the New Year!
Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Wrapping up a year of pounding away

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I want to thank everyone who's been supportive and encouraging this year on our blog.

I've lost about ten pounds, not what I'd planned, but better than nothing.

I've learned that tracking calories helps me stop eating at the end of the day, and not graze while reading or watching a movie.

I also confirmed that having an event goal (5K, sprint triathlon), or making a date to exercise with someone, both keep me motivated.

Thanks for being a part of my journey.

Onward.

I've changed what I eat

One of the things I wanted to work on this year was being more careful about what I eat. To me, that meant making sure I was eating well-balanced meals that made my body feel good but also that I was eating more foods that came from local and organic sources.

We've added a lot more fruits and vegetables to meals at my house and have gotten in the habit of eating only vegetarian meals three to four times a week. Some of that has to do with the cost of meat and some of it has to do with the simplicity of preparing a meat-free meal. We also got used to eating less meat, and it just feels right. Instead, we're eating way more veggies, beans and other legumes. Soups and stews have played a big role in this change as have big salads, sauteed kale with tomatoes and eggs. One thing we tried not to do was replace meat with carbs.

It's gone really well and my husband and I both feel a lot better when we eat healthily. We do notice a difference.

I've also been working on cutting out the occasional diet soda (my afternoon source of caffeine) and drinking water instead, which also feels much better.

The biggest and most time consuming change we've made is I've started to bake all of our bread. When we do eat carbs, it often is in the form of toast. I wanted to buy fresh whole wheat bread but found that it was pretty expensive. Over the last couple of months, I've been baking a loaf of whole wheat bread about every other week. It takes a little more than three hours because the bread rises twice before it's baked, but it's totally worth it. We get to eat freshly baked bread and it doesn't have any preservatives or other stuff added to it and it's much less expensive - it just requires a little time. Added bonus: it makes our house smell wonderful!

I know one day, we may not have as much time for things like baking bread. We don't have kids right now so it's just right for the two of us.

Just in case you were wondering, I have been slowly getting back to running after being sick on and off this fall. More on that Friday.
Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Auf wiedersehen

The year is all but gone, and this is my final post on this blog. I dropped (and kept off) 12 of the 15 pounds I hoped to lose. Now my goal for 2012 is to convince myself that the ancient Mayan calendar is accurate and Armageddon is around the corner, so it won't make any difference if I eat cakes by the carload. No, wait -- I mean, to lose 10 more pounds. Yeah, that's it. Ten pounds.

Thanks to all of you who made comments or wrote me personally. I was grateful for the supportive folks and willing to let the trolls have their say; my skin is thick, and I know insecure people need to put others down to feel better about themselves.

What did I learn? That I feel better if I exercise at least 30 minutes a day and break a sweat. (In fact, that I feel incomplete if I don't. Who knew?) That I don't have to eat a substantial dessert every day. That "full" means "satisfied," not "stuffed." That it's OK to leave food uneaten on a restaurant plate; I now carry wax paper and aluminum foil in my car to take leftovers home, because they're better for the environment than styrofoam boxes.


Best of all, I learned that it's never to do late do something positive about your body. Fifty-plus years of laziness can't be eradicated by one year of exercise, but I've got decades ahead of me (I hope)
to improve my habits. And as I've said, if I can drag my butt onto a treadmill every weekday morning and push away the occasional cookie, anyone can do it. Best of luck with your own quests, my friends.

Perverse Christmas carols

Lawrence Toppman

When you are losing weight -- or NOT losing it, though I seem to be making progress just now -- everything seems connected to your trials. If you quit the office just before the holiday party spread goes down, as I did yesterday, self-satisfaction makes the rest of your day a little brighter. (I've tried not to let it swell into smugness.)

When Christmas music plays on an intercom while you're grabbing dinner before a movie, the lyrics reshape themselves in your head. Burl Ives might be singing "Have a Chubby, Tubby Christmas."  Dean Martin croons, "O Come, Grab a Plateful."  Bing Crosby chimes in with "Do You Eat What I Eat?"


You look around at the people swarming around malls and noshing on popcorn and lattes and ice cream as they go and wonder how they can eat all day long. (Forgetting, of course, that YOU were once capable of the exact same behavior.) It's not obsession with eating habits, exactly -- at least, I hope it isn't -- but you reflect on food at least once every day.

As long as this behavior doesn't become compulsive, I suppose it's healthy. I tightened all my belts this year from the third to the fourth holes, and today one actually fit into the fifth hole -- not comfortably, as I had to suck in my gut, but it did go (before I loosened it again). I must be headed in the proper direction.

Learning to breathe

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Mental health is part of fitness, too. I did a quick exercise in class yesterday about how to breathe into your belly, and how to exhale for a long count, and the spookiest part of all: leaving a small space after you exhale, before starting to breathe in again. That little place is scary at first, but then exhilarating in a way I cannot describe. I think it is different for each of us.

I did the breathing thing because when I asked the students to choose a virtue to work on in themselves, several mentioned anger and patience. Learning how to lower our blood pressure and heart rate helps alleviate some of those issues.

Dr. Andrew Weil's 4-7-8 breathing exercise is here, along with some other breathing exercises: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html

Be well.

Mr. In-Between

Lawrence Toppman

I tipped the scale at 182 today, 2.5 pounds short of my goal, and I'm in that weird place where my pants are a little too large. If I let them hang down, I look like an elderly white hip-hop artist; if I cinch my belt tight and tuck my stomach underneath, I look like a farmer out for his first big night on the town since the election of Bill Clinton.

I can strive harder and drop a few more pounds, thus getting into the next smaller size. Or I can buy new pants of the same size I have now and hope that a good long baking in the dryer brings them down where I need them to be. (I tried this with a sweater once and ended up with a garment that would have been form-fitting for a dachshund.)

I suppose I could always go the dashiki route. One of my college roommates bought one in order to disguise a burgeoning belly and told me that, with a dashiki, no one could tell you needed to lose weight. I was too polite to point out that anyone who saw you in a dashiki automatically assumed you wore it BECAUSE you were hiding a paunch. (Later, when we fell out, I spitefully made this clear to him.)

I believe I'm going to slump around with slightly overlarge clothes until I slowly get down to a size 36 waist and make sure I can stay there. The main advantage to this plan is that people always say, "My, you've lost weight" when they see a gap 'twixt gut and jeans. If you wear clothes that fit properly, you miss out on those compliments.

Fitness gift list

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Items to consider for the fitness-lover in your life:

Light therapy box - it's dark now in the evenings, and harder to get time in the sun. A few minutes a day with one of these babies helps some folks stave off the blues. Best to check with a doctor first.

Weights - most of us should have these at home to work with while we watch TV.

Jump rope - you can't get much more cardio for the money and real estate.

Gift certificate to a good running store - Good shoes can cost a hundred bucks, so help a friend get partway with a gift certificate. I'm a fan of Run For Your Life.

All kinds of Wii fitness games - I only have the original Wii Fit and I like it a lot, but there are dance games and all kinds of activities now. Hmm. Since I'll be at home and no one can see, maybe I'll ask Santa for one of those dance games myself.

Onward!

Say it ain't so!

Lawrence Toppman:

A friend responded to my post about being stalled in my weight-dropping quest by suggesting my body had found its "right weight:" It had lost the 10 or 11 pounds it should never have gained, and now it was determined to fight me the rest of the way. I would be healthy as long as I kept exercising and ate intelligently, but I wouldn't  lose more weight unless I made an enormous effort to cut out starches, sweets, etc. My body was simply where it wanted to be.

Well, &^%$#@!

This is it? Unless I cut out desserts and step up my walking program dramatically, I'm going to hover where I am now? Good-bye to the tuxedo I hope to wear next summer? Farewell to dreams of a 36-inch waist at the age of 60?

All year, I've learned to be moderate in my intake: not to live abstemiously, but to live sensibly. (Did you know "abstemiously" is one of two words in English that utilize all six vowels in the order they appear in the alphabet?) I do want to lose another six or seven pounds, but not at the expense of every gastronomic pleasure. This will require thinking about for 2012, I see.

Oh, the other one is "facetiously."

Festivus for the rest of us

Ellyn Ritterskamp

We are getting down to the end of the year, and the measuring of how we did on our goals. Will it fall under The Airing of Grievances, or The Feats of Strength?

I'll put mine somewhere in between. I like that I have made progress, but would like to have made more. I started the year at 257 lbs and am at 247 now.

My high, just before last January, was 260, over which I swear I will never go. My end goal is 190, though that may take a while. I would love to be there in July when we go to Hawaii. I'll have a little less work this year, in a good way, so there will be more time for gym trips and exercise. So it could happen.

It was good to be writing here, to be accountable to somebody, even if we never met. Many of you have sent emails or been supportive in other ways. That helped, a lot. Thanks.

Onward.

Sisyphus knew

Lawrence Toppman:

I have checked my calendar, and I see the only holiday observed today is Ashura, which marks the climax of the remembrance of Muharram. (It's commemorated by Shia Muslims as a day of mourning for Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, on the 10th of Muharram in the year 680.) So I believe we could name this National Sisyphus Day, too.

Readers of Greek mythology will recall Sisyphus as the first king of Corinth and an all-around scuzball. He seduced his niece, slew travelers, tried to whack his brother and thought he was more clever than Zeus, who consigned him to a terrible task in Hades: Sisyphus had to roll a boulder uphill for eternity. Each time he reached the top, the stone rolled back down to the bottom (over him, some sources say).

This could be a metaphor for losing weight. I was back up to 184 pounds today, partly because of a condition I don't wish to describe here. Despite relatively careful eating, the stone has slipped from my grasp and rolled partway -- though not all the way -- down that hill.

Fortunately, I have learned persistence this year and did not dance up and down on the scale in a mad rage. (When I do that, it adds half a pound, anyhow.) I'm obviously not a hare, so I'll have to be a patient tortoise throughout this process.

There is no resisting Russian tea

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Resistance is futile.

I made up a batch of Russian tea: Tang, sugar, powdered tea/lemonade, ground cinnamon and ground cloves. Three teaspoons of that with a cup of hot water is just pure heaven. There is a good bit of sludge on the bottom of the cup, to remind me that the whole endeavor is pretty much just sugar, and to only have one of these a day as a treat.

But it is super-hard to resist. Without a reasonably strong will, I could drink four of these on a night at home when I'm not at work.


I guess the lesson is that I should work more.

Onward.

Death WITH chocolate

Lawrence Toppman

Not Death BY Chocolate, a dessert enjoyed by those whom the gods have blessed. This is a long-held dream of my father's: To find out that he has a fatal disease with a modestly long run-up, say six months.

His doctor will say, "Mr. Toppman, you are fatally ill but will not experience discomfort for quite a while, and your appetite will remain good. Feel free to eat anything you like with no anxiety about harm to yourself."

Now, Dad realizes that any such disease will probably have side effects that prevent him from appreciating the stream of cakes, pies, donuts and cheesecakes scheduled to go down his gullet. But he has lofty ambitions.

I'm not commenting on the validity of his dreams: I think he still vaguely hopes I'll attend law school, and we see how THAT turned out. But with that kind of guilt-free mass consumption held up as an ideal, is it any wonder that I was a stout youngster? Food became not just a reward for me but something that assumed an unusually high prominence in life. That's the feeling I've been trying to jettison for the last 11 months.

Rounding out the fitness plan

Ellyn Ritterskamp

It's not always fun to do stuff we're not good at. But if we only stick with the activities we're great at, we don't grow so much.

That's what a friend told me a few years ago when I started a fitness journey. I like to lift weights, and she said that's great, but I can't only do that, or my body will get used to it, and plateau.

I have to swim and run and play basketball and do stuff like that, that I'm not so good at. Like in school, where we have to take classes in some subjects we may not be so good at. That's how we get to be well-rounded people.

And though rounding is hardly the goal in fitness, in the larger view, it still fits.

So, today I will swim. Tomorrow, shoot some hoops.

Onward.

Soup

Lawrence Toppman

One of the few predictable things about weight loss is soup. It's nutritional (unless you melt ice cream and pour in a little chocolate sauce and call that "consomme"). It warms you on a cold day, but you can also eat it in summer. And unless it's loaded with butter and cream, it fills you without packing on the calories.

Soup has been my fallback, as it was on Thanksgiving Day this year. My main course was squash and potato soup (with a whole-milk base, a luxury at my house) and an apple cut up in yogurt on the side. We didn't go overboard with side dishes this year, and of course turkey-slaying is a thing of the distant past for us vegetarians. For dessert, I had a piece of zucchini bread.

To my surprise, I didn't miss either the bulk or the hoopla. Why should holidays -- a time for sharing love, plans, memories and dreams -- have turned into a time for sharing gluttonous behavior? Are we expressing our fondness for the cook by stuffing ourselves? Are we "giving thanks" for prosperity by cramming our maws with food?

That doesn't make sense to me. So I think future Thanksgivings may be marked more by meditation than munching, if my wife goes along with this. It's actually easier to think about things that matter to you on a not-quite-full stomach.

The antidote to Black Friday

Ellyn Ritterskamp:

There is not much like bicep curls to make you feel powerful. Those, and some shoulder lifts and then squats.

The warmup: vacuuming the house.

The payoff: not going outside into the Black Friday madness. I hate this day anyway because the nickname comes from people jumping out of their office windows. So staying inside is about mental health, and lifting weights is about physical health.

Onward.

Turkey Trots are the other Thanksgiving tradition

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

This year I'm planning on fully enjoying my family's big Thanksgiving Day meal.

But I'm also starting a new tradition.

I am going to join 8,000 other runners and walkers in Charlotte for this year's Turkey Trot in SouthPark.

I'm planning on running the 8K tomorrow morning, and I've recruited some of my family members to walk the 5K. I'm looking forward to running another race and to getting a little exercise on one of the most indulgent days of the year.

I also hope this becomes a family tradition. I am thankful for my loved ones and would like to look out for their health as well as mine.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope I see you out there.

Slow and steady wins the race

Ellyn Ritterskamp:

I had cause recently to check in on my goals - someone asked what my weight-loss goal had been for this year of blogging, and I said I have a long-term goal, but had not made a short-term target.

I started the year at 257, and my end goal is 190.

I am at 247 now, so it's been a pound a month. Slower than it could be, certainly, but I like the steadiness of it. They always say it took a long time to add the weight so it should take a while to come off, to not do it all at once and freak out your body.

Seems like 3-4 pounds a month would be OK, though. Will work on this.

Onward.

Pre-Thanksgiving thoughts

Lawrence Toppman

To be honest, my first thought is that one of America's biggest eating holidays won't be much fun with a UTI. I didn't think men were supposed to get those, but this appears to be my second in three years: Same appetite drop, same other symptoms I'm too polite to discuss here, same ingestion of pure cranberry juice (which, on the "I don't like it, so it must be healthy" scale, rates about a 5 out of 10).

And, of course, my SECOND thought as a weight-loss blogger is, I bet this helps me got closer to my goal. Yay! I needed a boost!

But what I've really meant to say is that the Thanksgiving season makes me grateful I'm in pretty good shape; I can afford to focus on knocking off another eight or 10 pounds, rather than on one of the health catastrophes that often affect men approaching 60.

That ranks pretty high on the list of things I'm grateful for, behind my remarkable wife and my funky but loving family and the opportunity to do the job I was destined to have. My blessings are many, right down to the fact that I can afford to buy nutritious food to stay on my weight-loss kick. So many people can't, you know, and the holiday season is especially tough on them. That's always worth keeping in mind.

Muscling up

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I saw a school friend I hadn't seen in a year or so, and he said "You look like you've lost weight!" I said I'd lost some, but some of it was acting like it was going to creep back. He said, "Well, then, you must be muscling up!"

I had totally forgotten about that, about how we can gain muscle and have that be better for us even though we are not technically losing weight.

It is all about how the pants fit, and they still fit better, so there it is.

Onward.

Occupying the Gym

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I love how Occupying is the new verb.

It started with Occupying Wall Street, to express frustration at a small few having control of much of the nation's money.

Then other cities got folks Occupying city hall property.

Down the street from my house is a church with a sign out front saying OCCUPY CHURCH, which is awesome.

Just now, I read a recap of last night's Dancing With the Stars results show, in which the writer said if JR Martinez was to be eliminated, she was going to Occupy her living room. He was safe, so we don't have to clean up a tent city in her house.

So I'm going to see about Occupying the Gym for a few days.

Not really. But I have written down OCCUPY GYM on the calendar for several days, which I haven't been doing too well. It's fun, and when we make stuff fun, we're more likely to do it.

Onward.

Breakdown (Slight Return)

Lawrence Toppman

Once a year, a friend named Katya Lezin throws a dessert party, filling her dining room and kitchen with handmade goodies that would make a supermodel behave like the winner of a pie-eating contest. And, as anyone who reads our South Mecklenburg News section might know, she's recovering from cancer this year and has reason to celebrate. (All signs are positive, I'm told.)

Now, how was I gonna NOT attend that fat-inducing function?

I ate lightly during the day. That had a positive effect, because I ingested fewer calories, and a negative effect: It's always a bad idea to be hungry when you creep toward a table laden with desserts.

Final tally: One mint chocolate grasshopper brownie. Two bites each of apricot cheesecake, bundt cake and pear/walnut tart. Two cookies of small to medium girth. And -- in a moment I'm still regretting -- I refused to take a dessert plate home! (Katya, if you read this: Send something via Tupperware.)

So I got through the year's biggest temptation with minimal damage. Thanksgiving and Christmas loom but now hold no terrors for Mr. Moderation.

Success by half

Ellyn Ritterskamp

As someone who does not really run (breathing issues), I enjoy walking, but stuff takes longer.

Today I completed the Thunder Road half marathon, in 4 hours and 35 minutes. That was the last time on the list, and I am surprised it made the results, since the race has a three-hour time limit. The organizers were also very kind to give me a medal, which I did not expect after 3 hours. I guess they knew nobody would cheat on the course with such a time.

My parents helped me a great deal with supplies, and with Mom riding her bike ahead of me to give me a goal every block or mile, to catch up to her.

I am in awe of the runners who went so fast on all three of the races. Congrats to them, and to all of you who ran or walked, and especially to those who cheered from yards and down the finishing stretch. There was always enough cowbell.

Make some noise Saturday

Ellyn Ritterskamp

The sun'll come out tomorrow. No rain in the forecast for the Thunder Road Marathon, half-Marathon and 5K.

Maps and info are here so you can avoid intersections with delays, or if you are free to cheer, figure out where you can root for runners: http://www.runcharlotte.com/. There is also a story and map on page 4 of Friday's Local section of The Charlotte Observer.

I cheered for a friend in last year's New York City marathon, and she said the encouragement of strangers along the route made it possible for her to finish. NYC has a lot more runners than we do, and a lot more fans, but still. If you live on the route and are free to stand in your front yard and clap for a few minutes on Saturday, you will make it easier for someone to keep going.

Maybe me, but I will be coming through much later than the pack. I still haven't learned how to run for very long before I have to mouth-breath and then I get a headache from locking my jaw open. But doing 13 miles and change is just about willpower when you are walking or running very slowly. My folks will be walking some with me. So if you see old people out there on the course after they have cleaned it up, that'll be us. I just want to finish, even if the time is outrageous.

Thanks for tolerating some street closings tomorrow. The police will let you through the intersections as soon as they can. Just maybe check out that map, and go another way if you can. Or stay home and make some noise for the runners who could use your support.

Onward.

One must eat a free lunch, yes?

Lawrence Toppman

I'm going to speak to high school students about journalism this afternoon, and my reward (aside from their rapt attention) is the free box lunch from Jimmy John's that I'm eating right now: a veggie sub, a pickle, a bag of potato chips and a dilemma.

The last item is a chocolate chunk cookie. A big cookie. A cookie whose chips -- I am not making this up -- seem to be formed in the arc of a smile aimed at me. My lips say no, no, but my pleasure centers say yes, yes.

Now, like most kids raised in the late '50s and early '60s, I was taught never to throw food away. Kids were starving in Asia and would be glad to get the food at which I turned up my nose, etc., etc. (I never understood how my failure to eat lima beans would affect them.)

I suppose I could give this to a co-worker, but I earned it, dammit! Or I'm about to. Why aren't THEY making speeches to high school kids if they want giant cookies? And...er...wouldn't I be doing evil if they happened to be on diets and were tempted to eat this wagon wheel of sugar and chocolate? As I said, it's a dilemma. I'll let this sit on my desk for a while....

Cars, please stop before the crosswalk

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I know that everyone reading this is considerate, and careful when they drive, to watch out for legitimate walkers who follow the rules.

But just in case it finds its way to someone who isn't sure of the rules, here's the deal: the zebra crossing is for walkers. When the light is red, the cars need to not be in that area. Those extra couple of feet edging forward won't help when the light turns green, toward getting anyone to their destination faster, and they can hinder those of us who are trying to cross the street in the only safe place we have.

In North Carolina (and I presume most states), many intersections have a wide solid line indicating where cars should stop, then a gap, then the zebra crossing, which is the striped area designated for walkers and wheelchairs. It's unsafe when cars creep up into that area, because then we have to work around them, and it slows us down, and then we can't get out of the intersection on time.

The line is there for a reason. There is nothing for motorists up there beyond it. Nothing to be gained, and much to be lost.

I've had to walk behind cars that were so far forward that it was safer to go behind them than in front. And for no reason except a driver's impatience. I suggest leaving a minute earlier, to get that time back.

I get it when a driver is trying to edge forward to be able to see if a right turn on red is available. I am willing to grant right-of-way there most times. But in the straight-ahead and left-turn lanes, there is no reason to be forward of the solid line.

There are two kinds of rules in the world: the kind that benefit the rule-maker, and the kind that are about safety. This one is about safety, yours and mine. Thanks for setting a good example.

I'm working on getting back into shape

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

The last few weeks have not gone as planned. I was doing really well with my new routine (running plus extra DVD workouts). Then I caught a cold. And then a second cold. And I'm still working on bouncing back.

I've been surprised how long it's taken to get my energy back. I'm young and, thankfully, not sick very often, so when I am sick I never know how much to rest in order to shorten my recovery time. These colds hit me hard, so I feel like I'm starting over in some ways.

I know I can run; I just need my legs to catch up.

I'm on vacation this week, which does not help in terms of re-establishing a routine, but I'm hopeful it won't be long before running gets easier.

Clueless

Lawrence Toppman: So I weighed myself today for the first time in almost three weeks, doing that balancing thing where you try to be enough on the scale to satisfy your conscience but hang off a little in hopes that a pound or two won't be counted. (Does that even work?) And I weighed exactly 181 pounds, the lowest on this quest and just 1.5 pounds from my original goal.



Then I did that other kind of weighing, where you clomp on the scale confidently and lead-footedly and confirm the first reading with a light heart. It fuddled around 182 for a while but decided 181 had been correct after all.

But why? I'm exercising steadily but not maniacally. I'm eating rationally but remembering to go downstairs before bed for a consolatory cookie or two. My happy Monday baffles me as much as all the Mondays where I weighed MORE than I thought I would and got cranky.

My mom used to tell me not to look gift horses in the mouths. But gift horses also have a way of throwing you once you think you're comfortable in the saddle, so I'm not cocky. I could just as easily turn into a puffer fish on short notice.

Couch to 5K program

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I had heard about this Couch to 5K program before, but just recently ran across it again. It is meant to be, for me to start it. After next weekend's half-marathon.

The goal is to turn non-runners into 5K runners in about nine weeks. They are very insistent on not getting ahead of the program, and letting your body ease into running. If you aren't ready to move on, you just repeat that week.

I read about one woman who weighed over 300 lbs., and she started the program, and just stuck with it, repeating weeks until she could do the goals, and then moving on.

It's 20-30 minutes, 3 times a week, a very reasonable goal.

I have in the past few long walks, felt like I was getting into an actual running rhythm, not fast at all, but it was running. I will need to do this for hours next Saturday, to finish anywhere near the time limit on the race.

But then after this event, the only next event is next summer's triathlon with Mom. I did 2 miles in 37 minutes our first time, and I want to get that down to 30 minutes, anyway. Learning how to run/jog efficiently should shave some time off that.

Really, the most inspiring thing about this is the vision of the 300-lb. lady (not so much larger than me at my most) chipping away at it and succeeding. Good for her, and good for all of us for trying.

Onward.

The tuxedo, part 2

Lawrence Toppman

My father owns two tuxedos, a fat one and a skinnier one. (This is not uncommon for folks whose weight has gone up and down since Truman was president.) He realized that, at 83, he didn't need both of them and mailed me the skinnier one. And I am so close to fitting into both halves.

The shoulders don't cling; the jacket waist doesn't pinch. My butt doesn't emerge from the split back like a manta ray cleaving the waters of a Hawaiian lagoon. (Though it's snugger than I'd like back there.)

The pants? Well, the pants "fit" in the sense of "closing without the prospect of losing snaps or buttons, as long as the wearer doesn't insist on drawing a normal breath." So I'm going to have to drop poundage to get into those.

I know millions of people losing weight do so to climb into unworn clothes, and I have happily spent four decades as an adult with minimal need for a tuxedo. But it's cool to know I could wear it if I felt James Bondish, and I'm determined to fit into it someday. Someday soon.

Time to say goodbye (to capri pants, for a few months)

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Rewards confuse me. I am not big on rewards for weight loss, but this experience was simply about having enough clothes that fit and looked good.

I treated myself to a new pair of jeans and a new sweater, partly because they had a big sale at my favorite big-girls store, but also because I was short on pants that fit. I have lots of capri-style pansts for summer, but they have to go away for a few months now. I've also saved a bunch of size 16 and 18 jeans for down the road, but we're not there yet.

I tried on three pairs of jeans at the store, and somehow, the most expensive one looked and fit the best. Maybe this is one of those products where you get what you pay for, to a point.

Those size 18s will down from the closet shelf by next fall.

Onward.

Halloweenie

Lawrence Toppman:

When you're losing weight, you're faced with a dilemma: Do you buy a sack of Halloween candy you hate, so you won't be tempted to eat pots of it if nobody comes to the front door? (That happens to us every year: We live on a safe, walkable street in a quiet, well-kept urban neighborhood. And I bet we don't get a dozen trick-or-treaters a year. What's happened to America?)

Or do you buy really good candy to impress your neighbors and, when few of them ask for it, stare at the bucket of uneaten chocolates until you drool or bring it to work? We solved the problem this year by purchasing trash only a middle-schooler would consume -- and, let's be honest, I would have consumed in middle school -- with the idea that my wife's students will be the beneficiaries of corn syrup-filled leftovers.

On the other hand, I did grab a homemade chocolate cupcake at the office today and tucked it into Tupperware to take home, so I'd have one small but delicious indulgence. Hmmm...I wonder if it's big enough for two? Nah, I guess not. Sure hope my wife doesn't see this.

Going the distance

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I did complete my nine-mile walk/run Wednesday. The first seven miles went awesome, and then the final two kind of sucked. I made it up a long mild hill because the right song showed up on my iPod: the totally cheesy "Go the Distance" by Michael Bolton (from the movie "Hercules").

Several years ago, my mom completed the Disney 15K called "Women Run the World," an event for women only. She got a medal the size of a saucer. While she was training, I made her a playlist of running songs like the Pointer Sister's "Jump," some fun stuff from the 60s, and I included that insidious Bolton song.

She said when she was doing the event, she didn't remember most of the words except, "I can go the distance," and the trumpets that go with it. And that got her through it.

Wednesday when I saw that hill and that song came on, I felt connected to her, and it became easy. There's even a line about an uphill slope that made me smile, because I was ON it.

I see now why people run for causes, to raise money for issues to help people they know. It makes it mean more than just movement.

I know every mile will be worth my while.

Half a &^%$#@! ounce?

Lawrence Toppman

I made Pumpkin Pie for Dummies yesterday, using a can of pre-spiced pumpkin pie filling and a pie shell too battered to be reassembled for a quiche. I wanted to disguise this culinary Quasimodo before presenting it to my wife, so I stopped by the supermarket for whipping cream.

The label on the half-pint said it should be good for 16 servings. This meant that, after whipping it into froth, I was supposed to spread the eight ounces over 16 pieces of pie. Say what?

Who would eat these minuscule segments, mice? Nursing infants? Now that I think of it, the can of pumpkin pie filling suggested a round, 9-inch pie pan should supply either 10 or 12 servings, I forget which. I guess those would be four pieces for adult humans and six or eight for the brownies who clean my house while I'm asleep.

Maybe that's why so many of us get careless about calories: We see that a "serving" of whipped cream has only 100 calories, think a half-pint yields 6 or 8 servings, then gasp when we get on the scale. I know the responsibility for vigilance (and basic math) lies with the eater, but couldn't labels could be more realistic?

The ice bath, adapted

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I had forgotten from last year's try at the Thunder Road marathon, that the book I used recommended sitting in ice after a long run (mine are walks, but still).

I tried it last week after a long walk, and I'm going to compromise. My feet love the ice, but sitting in it is a bit much. So I dump the ice in the tub with cold water about 4 inches deep, and sit on the edge for as long as I can stand that. Then I get in the shower and do the hot water all over and keep my feet in the ice until it melts, which is longer than I thought it would be.

The ice and ibuprofen treatment immediately on returning home seems to prevent the worst of the whining the next day.

Today is 10 miles, tomorrow 4. Next week is 11 and 5, then 12 and 6, and then the half-marathon on Nov. 12. They moved it up a month from early December, which makes me way happy.

Onward.

Fat vegetarians

Lawrence Toppman:

A reader intimated this weekend that a vegetarian shouldn't have much of a problem keeping weight off: After all, we eat nothing but salads and fruit, right?

I wish! (Actually, I don't wish, as that would be the full menu of the Hades Cafeteria and Grill.) But US Airways used to have the same misconception: Whenever I ordered a vegetarian meal -- not vegan, which was in a separate category -- I used to get a limp salad without dressing, carrot sticks for dessert and a box of raisins. What gave the dietitians the idea that sugar and fats were anathema to vegetarians?

We like starches. We eat ethnic foods where the base materials are rice, pasta and potatoes. (In fact, we eat more of those than the average person.) We like cakes and pies and muffins and ice cream and pudding. And we're likely to feel, after a meal of rabbit food, that we deserve those desserts as compensation!

Vegetarians don't experience the thousand natural shocks the flesh-eaters are heir to, to paraphrase "Hamlet." But we have no trouble sinning with self-indulgence in our own patch.

A successful but idiotic experiment

Lawrence Toppman

I felt the first big shameless lapse of the year coming on -- there had to be one, right? -- so I decided to give in completely as an experiment.

What would happen if I slacked off in every way? If I didn't exercise regularly for at least a week? (Let's be honest, more like 10 days.) If I ate whatever I wanted? If I decided that zucchini bread didn't really count as a dessert and topped it with a couple of cookies?

Would my theoretically retrained body (and/or conscience) refuse to let me make a fool of myself? Would I gain weight right away and notice a change?

Sadly, the answers were no and yes, respectively. I put back 2.5 pounds and felt just a little snugger fit when I tightened my belt. Man, the penalty for sinning comes quickly.

Well, now I know. I have 72 more days to the end of the year -- seven weeks -- and I'm at 184.5, five pounds heavier than I want to be on New Year's Eve. So I have to lose half a pound every week. Even a slacker like myself can do that.

Plugging away almost as good as pounding away

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I am not pounding away, as I have gotten one of this year's two scheduled colds. I used to get one a year until I had my tonsils out, now two.

But I am plugging away, still counting calories, and losing very small amounts each weigh-in (about 2 per week). Today: 248.4, from January's starting point of 257. It's all happened in the past 9 weeks on the My Fitness Pal website, in which I enter everything I eat and stop when I get to 2000 calories. At some point we will lower that target.

So, likely no long walk today, with the sniffles, but just a short one. Saving my strength for the half-marathon in a few weeks.

Onward.

Workout DVD getting me back on track

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Now that I've gotten through a second cold this season, I'm working on getting my workouts back on track - and staying healthy for more than a week or two in a row.

I had to stop working out for a few days when I got sick, just as I was starting to make some progress. Then we had company come into town, so I really got off track.

This morning I got back to work. I started week three of my Jillian Michael's workout DVD this morning.

The week two workout was definitely more challenging than week one. I found myself feeling very happy when I knew the workout was almost over, which is always a good sign that I'm working hard. The second workout involves a lot of plank holds with movement and pushups. Both are exercises that are challenging for me.

The week three workout I started this morning was also challenging but in different ways. It paired strength with balance moves and seemed to focus a little more on lower body muscles.

What was great about my workout this morning was how good I felt afterward. I have really missed feeling healthy enough to workout and have probably been missing the positive endorphins and stress-relief I get each time I exercise.

Tonight, I'm planning on going for a long run. It feels good to be back.

A chubby guy's mind at work

Lawrence Toppman

I saw a man my age, maybe a little older (perhaps 60) in Harris-Teeter Sunday. He was wearing a muscle-T and tight pants and looked trim and hearty, though grizzled. If you have never been overweight, perhaps you'd be curious to know the thoughts that run through the brain of someone who has. They go like this:

"Man, if I were 60, I'd dress my age. Even if I were fit, I wouldn't flaunt it."

"Hmmm...he keeps in shape physically. But does he do the same mentally? Hey, skinny dude, come over here and talk to me about metaphysics."

"Who knows? He's probably miserable in some other way. Maybe his wife doesn't love him any more."

And lastly, "Better not buy any of those individual servings of ice cream this week."

Yes, I went through the shades of envy from denial to competitiveness to false rationalization to the only healthy outcome: a desire to improve myself. Not pretty, but there it is. Mental changes have to accompany the physical ones, and they'll undoubtedly take longer.

Key West eats

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Vacation eating is a study in contrasts: we eat more expensive (and in theory, better quality) food, but less of it. I do, anyway. I just spent four days in Key West. We ate two real meals a day, with a snack, and it all seems to have worked out calorie-wise.

We made an effort to visit several very nice restaurants, but only two a day instead of three.

La Trattatoria - lasagna bolognese
Cafe Marquesa - vegetarian feast
Pepe's - omelette with mild chiles and Jack cheese
Sloppy Joe's - OK, this is not on the Fine Dining list, but it's a major landmark. We had some kind of nice cornmeal sandwiches with salsa.

How did it work to only eat twice a day? Naps. If I could build a nap into every day, I could manage with fewer meals, for sure. Must work on this.

Onward.

Regularity (no, the other kind)

Lawrence Toppman

One thing I have learned while writing this blog is that habits matter. I can lose weight and keep it off as long as I have a regular pattern of eating and exercise (and self-denial, but that's another story).

Right now, with Opera Carolina's "Il Trovatore" opening tonight, my schedule has been thrown into chaos: I come home buzzed and excited, have to take my second shower of the day (because the costumes feel like they were last cleaned during the Spanish-American War) and sit around the house waiting to relax enough to go to sleep. Then I sleep late, get up and go straight to work without exercising.

I may not be gaining weight, partly because I sweat so much every night under the layers of wool that make up this oppressive series of rags on my back. (And fleas probably suck out a few milliliters of blood, too.) But I'm not exercising, and I may pay a price for that change the next time I step on the scale.

I'm waiting to do that until normal conditions get restored next week and I can get back on the treadmill. And to speak frankly, the OTHER kind of regularity is -- oops, I'm out of space this week.

Food porn

Lawrence Toppman:

What I think we really need is a fantasy blog about weight loss, a vicarious pleasure for people who dream of eating coma-inducing amounts of sugar and fat but dare not do so, especially if they're trying to lose weight.

It would have pictures of multi-layered cakes, pies with fruit spilling over a sugared crust, cookies the size of the wheels on a 2006 Toyota Prius. Nothing healthy, nothing in moderation, nothing whose ingestion would result in longevity or improve fitness.

It would also have photos of guys with six-pack abs and lissome women, to accompany essays about indulging in gluttony every day. (This would fulfill the average person's fantasy that we can gobble anything we want without consequences.) No hymns to the glory of asparagus or the benefits of broccoli, just paeans to pork rinds.

Maybe a technocrat could figure out a way to release the scent of the desired objects as soon as we clicked on photos of them. I predict well-earned riches for anyone who makes such a breakthrough, and I'll be the first to subscribe to his pay site.

Cheat Days don't always work out

Ellyn Ritterskamp

It's been a revelation that when I stay below a reasonable calorie intake each day, on the occasional day when I go over by a lot, my body rebels. I knew this in my head, that once we have adjusted the cravings/addictions/tendencies toward overeating/sugars/whatever, our bodies don't want those overages anymore.

I've been on 2000 calories a day for eight weeks, which is very doable, but often means I don't eat certain things anymore. Some plans allow one cheat day a week when you can eat anything, but folks say that after six days of eating things that are good for them, they don't want to go crazy with foods that are more toxic.

I ate one slice too many of cheese pizza the other night, on top of very good spaghetti earlier in the day. That was an eye-opening overload about which I'll be more careful from now on.

Even the cheat day idea has limitations. Onward.

No-news news

Lawrence Toppman

I have realized, nine months after starting this blog, that it's simply not possible to have news about my diet twice a week. Yet it's been...er...suggested (by a boss, and you know what kind of suggestion THAT is) that I don't miss a Monday or Thursday, unless I'm on vacation or in the hospital.

Now, a columnist with a massive ego would consider that every food-related event, every stale saltine with brownish cheddar cheese on top (snarfed down to clean out the fridge) would be worthy of an essay about American eating habits. My ego's big enough, but it's not the size of Lake Michigan.

So today we have no news. I proceed cautiously, I do at least 30 minutes each weekday on the treadmill (no matter how much my 57-year-old legs beg me to shower without exercising); I parcel out the Greek cookies I love so much. And so I move slowly toward the 36-inch waist that's my true goal, much more than actual lost poundage.

I promise to come up with something stimulating Monday....

Feeling funny about a flu shot

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I will be getting a flu shot tomorrow, even though I don't want to. It's not a fear of needles or anything like that. I read a couple of years ago about how the pharmaceutical companies had made too much vaccine, and they got the CDC to convince everyone they should get a shot, so they could use up all the product. That was a big turnoff.

Also, I've never had the flu. I did have strep throat once, and would go a long way to avoid THAT again.

I finally got a flu shot last year when someone convinced me it was a good idea since I interact with lots of students at UNCC, to help keep them safe.

I still wonder if some of it is about profit and product, though. The vaccines are tailored each year to the most common strains of that season, but there have got to be other strains still out there.

It is minimal inconvenience (a little reaction to the shot) for potentially good reward, so I'll do it. But it still feels funny.

Onward.

Getting through a plateau takes extra effort

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

One week into my new workout routine and I've finally lost a little bit of weight (about 1.4 pounds) after a couple weeks of making no progress.

I must say it feels good to see that number go down ever so slightly. It also feels good to feel more sore than usual by the end of the week and know that I'm building muscle. That was one of my goals for this year, after all.

It took extra effort to make this progress. That's something I'll have to remember. I'm not always good about pushing myself to work harder, and that's an important part of becoming at better athlete.

I'm going to start week two of my workout DVD this week and keep to my usual running schedule. Paired with eating right and cutting down on carbs, I hope to see more success next week.

How to lose 10 ugly pounds right away!

Lawrence Toppman:

The answer, as third-graders across America know: Cut off your head. (Although that really only results in the loss of six pounds or so, I'm told. And life.)

I thought of that joke this weekend, when I leafed through weight-loss ads in our own paper and glossy magazines. They all promised to knock weight off fast Fast FAST! None advertised gradual, long-lasting results, the kind that might stay with you.

We're an impatient society, we Americans. We think in days or weeks at most. When we don't reach goals promptly -- preferably, without much sacrifice -- we decide they're not worth pursuing. That's why so many people quit diets so quickly. (It may also be why they don't want to believe in global warming or the depletion of fossil fuels; those problems can't be solved quickly and conveniently.)

Weight loss doesn't work that way. I've dropped another pound since Thursday: I'm at 181.5, 13 pounds below my starting weight. But I'll go up again from time to time, and I'm inching toward my goal. I may reach it slowly, but even glaciers get where they're going at last.

That dreaded P word

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

A few weeks ago, I was feeling a little discouraged about my progress. I did really well for a while, exercising regularly, watching what I ate, but then I started to plateau.

At first I thought I could correct this by limiting snacks, which are traditionally a source of danger for me. If I were really strict about what I ate, I thought, I can get through this.

But it didn't work. And I was often hungry and cranky.

So I've come up with a plan. I decided to buy a workout DVD and add a few short workouts each week in addition to my weekly cardio routine. The benefit of a DVD is that I can do it at home, whenever I want, which is key to carving out more time for fitness. My theory is, if it fits into my schedule, I'll actually do it.

I went with Jillian Michaels' "Ripped in 30" because it got good reviews online, has four short workouts, fit my budget and didn't require equipment I don't already own. The workouts mix strength exercises, cardio and ab work.

I've done the first workout three times this week and have watched what I'm eating. The workouts make me sweat and I was pretty sore after the first day. I wasn't sure how challenging it would be, and so far there is a mix of exercises that are challenging and exercises that are moderately challenging. There are things I don't like about it, like Michaels' banter, but overall it's about what I expected.

And I'm down a little more than a pound. It feels good to make a little progress again.

Does anyone else workout at home? What do you do? I'd love to hear from you.

The 20-mile mark

Lawrence Toppman

If I think of this weight-loss project as a marathon, where am I now? Somewhere between mile markers 19 and 20, three-quarters of the way through the year. Or a little more than three-quarters: I take at least a week of vacation at Christmas, so my last blog entry will come before I leave work. (There's no point in risking weight gain when we drop in on my sister-in-law, whose cooking tempts overindulgence. It's a Dickensian Christmas feast.)

So where am I? I've lost and kept off 12 pounds as of this morning, which is 80 percent of my initial goal (15 pounds) but 60 per cent of my revised goal (20 pounds). I'm willing to let the revised goal drag on into the next year -- this is a life-changing run, not a sprint -- but I'd like to get closer before Thanksgiving, which I think of as the big hill that seems to rise near the end of every marathon, before the runners finish on the straightaway.

I do notice that I have more stamina, that I feel a bit lighter on my feet, that my singing is freer and easier. (It's a myth that you have to be Pavarotti-fat to produce a large, resonant sound. It's NOT a myth that, if you are Pavarotti-fat, your back and knees will crumple in old age, as his began to do. And he died a little before his time.)

So the big push to the finish started today, with a treadmill session and a bowl of cereal made up of ancient grains (spelt, quinoa, etc.) and not the smallest cookie as a reward. See you along the way....

Passing another small milestone

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I had been stuck at a weight for several weeks, and today the digital scale crept below that number by four tenths of a point.

In the nine months we've been doing this, I have not lost very much weight overall, but I do feel like lately I've been going in the right direction.

I'll be cranking up the long walks/runs for the half marathon these next few weeks, and I hope to see that number dip even more.

It really always does come down to eating less and getting more exercise. We all know that. But seeing it working is a new feeling that I haven't had in years.

249.6, if you were curious. Still a long way to go, but that visual was nice to have.

Onward.

High school reunion, part 2

Lawrence Toppman

A friend categorizes high school reunions this way:

The 10th reunion is for telling classmates, "Look what a great job I have." The 20th is "Check out my kids!" The 30th is "Yeah, this Mercedes is my second car." The 40th is "See? I didn't get fat!" (Hmmm...that's this year. Too bad I can't go.) The 50th is "Wow! I am livin' high in retirement."

He didn't specify a theme for the 60th, but I suppose it would be, "Hey, I'm not dead!"

So what's the idea common to all of these? I have to impress people, especially if they thought they'd never BE impressed with a schlub like me. But why should that matter?

He's probably a shade too cynical: Some of us go to reunions simply out of curiosity, to see what became of cronies with whom we haven't kept up. But self-image hangs over most of us like the sword of Damocles, and we do spend a lot of time wondering what other people think of us, especially our outside appearances.

I should be past that at 57 -- and I am, mostly -- but that's a hard thing to ignore completely, unless you're a saint or an ascetic. I mean, the elderly Gandhi probably never worried about whether he'd gotten too thin. But I bet his former classmates were saying, "Mohandas, man -- that dude's a stick."

Making lemonade

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I ran across a forum at My Fitness Pal about folks drinking hot water in the morning with the juice of half a lemon in it. They claim increased energy, weight loss and umm, regularity.

I thought I'd try it, but rather than buying a bunch of lemons, we bought a thing of lemon juice, at a quarter of the price or less. The math got too complicated, but this is a much better deal.

I use the Keurig coffee machine to run 8 oz of hot water into a mug with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. It is drinkable, though I haven't developed a craving for it like some of the message board folks.

Maybe this will turn out to be one of those folk remedies that has some benefit. I am not down with the gin-soaked raisins yet, but if it feels good, do it!

Onward.