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.

40th reunion, part 1

Lawrence Toppman:

My 40th high school reunion comes around the last weekend of this month, and I was briefly tempted to go. I can't, because I'll be in the middle of rehearsals for "Il Trovatore," but I had a momentary flash where I walked around in a new sports jacket and waited for people to say, "You're looking better these days. You've lost weight."

Then I realized how pathetic that was.

In the first place, I haven't seen most of those folks since Richard Nixon was president. In the second place, it would mean some part of me still defined himself as the paunchy dweeb too timid to ask for a date all through high school. That guy wanted to wipe the slate clean and start over, implanting a new image in the minds of old classmates.

Of course, that alone would be a dweeby thing to do. So I'm lucky my Opera Carolina responsibilities prevent me from giving in to that impulse.

I suppose all but the most emotionally secure among us are still stuck in high school psychologically, harboring some tiny desire to show people we turned out well. Maybe that's why Hollywood makes an incessant stream of movies about the sexual and romantic needs of 17-year-olds: Those same teenagers still dwell in our adult souls, suppressed but full of adolescent longings.

The fruit harvest never really ends

Ellyn Ritterskamp

My friend says I can't stand prosperity. I didn't understand at first, and he explained that as soon as I get a little money in my pocket, I spend it. That isn't always true, but I see the pattern.

I've come to realize this applies in some ways to food: when we get certain foods at the grocery store and bring them home, I want to eat on them as much as possible, and they never last more than a few days. It's like my child mind thinks someone is going to take the good food away, so I should eat it quickly.

Most fruits, and treats like beef bologna, are in this category.

I guess if we just keep buying lots of fruit, my child mind will realize it's always there, and doesn't have to be used up quickly.

Cooler weather is breath of fresh air

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Despite my best efforts at getting over last week's cold quickly, I am still sick.

I've been bummed about that the past week because it has meant no running when the weather has suddenly started to feel more fall-like, perfect for running outside again.

During the summer, I do most of my running inside on a treadmill. I know many runners would rather sweat it out outdoors in the early morning or evening hours of a summer's day than run on a treadmill, but for me it's just too hot.

So I have been anticipating cooler weather for weeks. I love the feeling of a cool breeze as I run through my neighborhood. After the long summer, it feels great not to break a sweat as soon as I step outside. I find that my steps are lighter and I can go farther when the weather is cooler.

I should be feeling well enough for a run later this week. I hope the weather cooperates.

OCD slacker

Lawrence Toppman

I decided not to weigh myself this week. Not because I've been hiding from the treadmill -- I'm hitting it four weekdays out of five for 30 to 45 minutes -- and DEFINITELY not because I ate two desserts Saturday night. (I ordered something called a "pikilia," a sampler of three desserts, at Ilios Noche. I expected tiny portions and didn't get them. I saved one for later, but the other two wouldn't travel; they came with ice cream, so I had to eat 'em there. Then I looked over to the next table and saw right-sized colleague Ron Green Jr., our golf writer. My conscience had a twinge.)

No, I've let the scale gather dust today as a sign of mental health.

I have weighed myself every week since January 1 because of this blog, and I vowed at the start that it would reflect the behavior of a lazy guy who was trying to use moderation and common sense in adjusting his lifestyle. And what reasonably healthy person of almost-normal size weighs himself every week?

Someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, I guess. I have a mild case of that, but I'm trying not to indulge that mental quirk as I enter my late 50s. Or someone who lives in fear. I'm serious about losing weight gradually, but I'm not going to castigate myself because I went up a pound on any given Monday morning.

On the other hand, I'm eating unadorned Grape-Nuts and an apple for lunch. I don't have to weigh myself to know that extravagance requires atonement.

Strange fruit

Lawrence Toppnman:

It's a well-known fact that guys will eat anything they have bought. We'll finish food in a restaurant -- even other peoples' portions -- with zest, and nothing that enters our refrigerators ever finds its way to the trash can. (One exception: Eggs that were so old they refused to slide out of the shell when I cracked them. You just can't eat year-old eggs.)

This impolse must come from the days we hunted with spears and were afraid we would never find another mastodon, once the last one had been picked clean. It doesn't help with dieting, however.

Those English muffins at the bottom of the bread drawer say "Eat me," even if they're starting to turn psychedelic colors. That leftover pasta in Tupperware cries for attention, though it was cooked when azaleas first bloomed. I don't need those calories, but some primeval hoarding instinct tells me to consume them.

I thought of that just now, because the peach I brought to work was flaccid and mealy. It dared me to throw it away, but I didn't take the dare; I'm a guy, so I snarfed it down with my nose closed to avoid tasting it.

This would really be a problem if my fridge held a bunch of old baked goods more fitted to the garbage can than my gullet. But at my house, those don't get a chance to grow old.

Counting calories is so simple, it's working

Ellyn Ritterskamp:

I sweated off another pound yesterday. The classrooms at school were too hot.

Either that, or the counting calories thing is just so simple that it's working. I don't graze at the end of the day anymore, and I'm getting better about budgeting calories for small servings of iced tea or soda (4-6 oz. often is enough).

I read Lawrence's entry about breakfast with interest. I get up at noon, and my first meal is rarely before 1:30 or so, and tends to be very lunchy in content. The rest of the day varies depending on whether I'm working, but that constant first meal is pretty stable.

But I sympathize with the position of not wanting to eat heavy right away. I can't imagine eating meat during that first 45 minutes to an hour. It's just gross to me. But a lot of this stuff is not necessarily good or bad; it's just what we get used to.

Onward.

When a cold hits, soup is my remedy

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Over the weekend, I caught a cold. Since then, I've been taking it easy, foregoing my normal workouts for extra sleep in the morning.

The bad news is that I don't feel good. The good news is I am not at all tempted to snack. The only food I've really wanted to eat the last couple days is soup or soup-like meals, anything with vegetables and broth.

When I was growing up, the cure for a cold was chicken noodle soup. It still works, in a pinch. But the past couple of days, I've tried some healthier homemade options.

Last night I sauteed some garlic and red pepper flakes in a little olive oil, added chopped kale, fire-roasted tomatoes, broth and cannellini beans. The result was a salty, spicy soup-like dish that helped clear my stuffy nose and soothed my sore throat.

I've also been making another soup with whatever summer vegetables I have at home. Lately that's meant squash, tomatoes, carrots, onion, celery and kale in vegetable broth with some beans and cooked orzo thrown in toward the end.

These recipes aren't fancy, but they are comforting and fairly quick to make. And I feel good about sneaking some veggies into my meals - and all the good, healing vitamins they contain - even when I'm sick.

Who needs breakfast?

Lawrence Toppman:

I'm sure dietitians are rushing to their keyboards to call me a dunderhead, but I have never willingly eaten breakfast.

When I was a kid, I had to choke something down to satisfy my mother before catching the school bus. In college, I usually scheduled a course or two before my first meal break. (In fact, I mainly scheduled classes around "Jeopardy!," but that's another story.) Now that I set my own hours, I find it impossible to eat in the morning.

In the first place, doing so would deprive me of 15 minutes of sleep. In the second, I have a routine that works for me: I get up, feed the cats, exercise immediately -- because I won't do it at all, if I don't do it then -- shower and get in the car. I take some fruit, pick up a sandwich and coffee along the way and eat them about 1 p.m., three to four hours after getting up.

I don't know if this helps or hurts weight loss. (I'm stuck at 183 just now, going neither up nor down at the moment.) But I know I feel my day is following the proper pattern if I do it.

Now, I can accept the idea that it's better to eat multiple small meals than one or two huge ones, spacing calories out through the day. That's why I'm trying to eat more lightly at any given time and have my last little something about 10:30. (I go to bed between 2 and 3 a.m., so it gets digested.) I just have to be careful that my last small "meal" isn't two eclairs.

Does getting mad burn calories?

Ellyn Ritterskamp

I got upset at something at work yesterday, and dropped a pound since my last weigh-in. Wouldn't it be nice if our stronger emotions were good for something, like burning calories?

I won't stay mad. I just don't (life is too short). But we need to get on this, figuring out how to harness that energy toward something useful.

This is when having a punching bag handy would be great. Maybe even one of those little speed bags, in the closet ... hmmm. That is almost doable.

Onward.

Mini-sins

Lawrence Toppman

The average guy in his late 50s who's trying to lose weight (that would be me) just isn't going to abandon sweets. He doesn't have to snarf cheesecake, but he needs some safe, sugary carbs to get him through the long hours after dinner.

So my new best friend, dessert-wise, are koulourakia, those twisted Greek cookies made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, ouzo (upon occasion) and sesame seeds (which are optional, too). I get mine at Coffee Central (located where Central meets Louise) whenever I'm in the neighborhood, and they provide a sweet break with little guilt attached.

Unfortunately, like gateway drugs, they can lead to bigger sins: baklava, galaktoboureco and other delicacies. But like all incipient addicts, I'm pretty sure I can control my habit and stay at a low, relatively safe level of indulgence.

And there are no calories to speak of in cappuccino, right? Just sleep-denying caffeine and a buzz that gets me over the hump of a dull workday. As transgressions go, these are pretty modest ones. And abstinence is never gonna work for me!

Catch that magic moment

Ellyn Ritterskamp

Music is a huge motivator for me during longer walks/runs. Sometimes I am dragging, and then just the right song comes along to get me moving again.

It can be the musicality of it (the beat) or the lyrics themselves. The king on this second list is Van Halen's "Right Now," which says don't wait until tomorrow, get off your butt today.

I am always looking for new tunes to add to the list, so if you have recommendations, please send them along. Thanks.

Yoga is good for me

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

When I first started running, six years ago, I would attend weekly yoga sessions on Sunday afternoons. I found that yoga was a great way for me to stretch, relax and recover each week. It seemed to help my muscles heal a little faster and made me feel really good.

Then I went to grad school and my regular workout routine went out the window. I still ran but not as much as I wanted to, and getting to a yoga class was too hard to fit in around classes, assignments, internships and interviews.

I've been out of grad school for a couple of years now, but I still hadn't made the time to attend a class until last week, when I randomly found myself with a free afternoon. Yoga had been on my mind for weeks, but I just couldn't seem to squeeze in another workout.

Now I am so glad I did. I went to a vinyasa yoga class at my local Y and left feeling amazing. Despite the stretching I do after runs, my legs, shoulders and back were really stiff. After an hour of poses, I felt great - more relaxed than I'd felt in days, taller and looser. The next day my run felt awesome, too. I had an extra spring in my step.

The lesson from all this is I should make time to do the things I know are good for me. And yoga is among them. Even as an adult, this is hard to put into practice. But I'm going to do my best to follow through with this one.

$10 a pound

Lawrence Toppman

A guy needs short-term goals in a weight-loss program, as well as long-term objectives. And I see now that I'm not going to make one of mine, which was to fit into a tuxedo I own by September 18.

I'm going to be master of ceremonies for "Serenade to Autumn," the Opera Carolina chorus fundraiser at Booth Playhouse. I wanted to wear the dark gray wedding suit in which I was married, but the organizers asked me to don a tux. I last wore mine during the first Bush administration (the dad, not the son) and realized yesterday it has a size 35 waist. There's a chance I'll use it someday, if I lose all 20 pounds I hope to drop. But the 12 I've lost so far won't be enough.

(There may be a curse on this tuxedo, anyway. A wrathful, soon-to-be-ex-wife whose husband had cheated on her surprised me with it one afternoon, when I came by the house to say hello. I asked if her spouse realized she was giving away his clothes or might want to take them during the divorce. "Who gives a *&^$@!" she replied. My conscience troubled me, so this was all I took. And nothing else of his seemed to fit.)

Anyhow, this is the first time I have been able to put a dollar figure on this weight-loss project. If I were 10 pounds lighter, I could get into this tux, saving Opera Carolina the cost of a $100 rental. Well, maybe they'll let me use the gray suit, after all....