Shipwrecked & Comatose

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I wanted to do a quick check in since I finished my first phase of The Modern Women's Guide to Strength Training and I'm about to go on a (swimsuit) vacation.  I enjoyed the program so far.  In the past phase there were two strength workouts per week.  Normally I might alternate them to make it three strength sessions in a week, but I decided to experiment and leave it at two (if I did that, the phase would conveniently end right before going to Chincoteague).  I simply added another cardio session or sometimes backed off and did a yoga session.  One time I pulled out my old Piyo DVDs.  My cardio consisted of long walks, medium intensity sessions on the bike or elliptical, and an occasional Zumba program on the Kinect. Gallbraith suggests adding intervals to the end of strength sessions to accelerate fat loss.  Her idea of intervals isn't just getting on a machine and riding faster and slower.  She has users doing some intense but bizarre comb...

I finished The New Rules of Lifting for Women.  As planned I skipped Stage 6.  I was considering going back to it, but I tried one hanging exercise and the pain took over my entire elbow.  I knew I wasn't ready for that yet. The good news is I am back to my pre-surgery strength.  I can do just as many pushups as I did prior to the health issues.  I can deadlift and squat the same amount of weight.  I may not have quite the amount of endurance I had when I was deeply involved with Lean Eating, but I'm getting there. More good news is I am noticing some of my clothes are looser.  I still can't wear some of my skirts or shorts from last year, but some of my tops are looser.  I may have to give some of them away before the summer is over because they have become too big to stay on my torso properly.  The dress Kevin bought me in Hawaii fit fine when we bought it back in February, but now it gaps and saps and shows my bra when I sit.  It ...

Deep Thoughts When I was a child, the nutritional catchphrase tossed around the media was, "You are what you eat."  I thought I knew what the food police were trying to convey to me.  If you eat junk, you are junk.  You are a reflection of what you are eating.  It was slightly insulting and almost too simplistic.  Like most kids, nutritional messages only sank in part way.  I knew what was supposed to be good for me and what was supposed to be bad for me, but when you're young and healthy, you don't care about such things.  Decay and disease are years away and you just want to eat what tastes good. Since those early days, I have actually matured (just a little) and now I understand what, "You are what you eat," really means.  It goes way beyond the idea that junky food will give you a junky body. When you eat, food literally does become a part of you.  It enters your body and is broken down into the most essential elements.  From t...

Comparison is the enemy of self love and the enemy of moving forward. I fell into a few brief moments of deep despair during this past phase and much of it came because I fell down the comparison rabbit hole. My addiction to food and fashion blogs can be a bit disheartening at times.  Why are fashion bloggers almost always thin?  Why are so many of the food bloggers I follow so thin?  Is there anyone out there in the blogosphere who isn't thin? I found myself feeling this weird sense of resentment after reading this pos t on the food and fashion blog Cupcakes and Cashmere (a wonderful blog I otherwise love to peruse).   Here you have this gorgeous, thin woman who has had a baby recently*, and she says she struggles to stay active.  She struggles to stay active and can wear a loose-fitting, spaghetti strap dress with no visible means of support and no saggy or jiggly bits waving in the wind.  Her body is enviable in its ability to wear almost anything...

What do I remember most about my last days on Facebook? I remember looking at a photo of an old friend from college at her wedding shower.  She looked adorably radiant in her hat made of bows.  Although she and I had never been particularly close, we had been in many classes together in college and I was certainly fond of her.  I was thrilled to see her so happy. I realized that if I left Facebook, I would never see her wedding pictures.  I would not be able to wish her well on her wedding day.  I would not see her honeymoon pictures.  She was going to Hawaii - to the same islands Kevin and I visited this winter - and we had corresponded briefly about things to see and do while she was there.  I would never know if she took any of my advice. I still kept the Facebook Messenger app on my iPad in case anyone needed to reach out to me and didn't have my email address.  A week after deactivating my account, I had a message from an old, dear frie...

Out with the old, in with the new. Wait.  That's not quite right.  Old does not have to go out if it's still useful and still looks good.  New doesn't have to take over the old.  Do I have too much old?  Did I buy too much new? I am following several fashion bloggers who talk about creating a "capsule wardrobe".  This is a wardrobe of fairly timeless pieces that best capture your style. At first I thought these sites were going to help me dress perfectly with every piece mixable and into a signature style that screams "Rachel."  No item would be superfluous and everything would work together harmoniously. I have learned in the past few weeks as I transition my wardrobe from the fall/winter closet to the spring/summer closet that trying to get yourself into this mindset can drive you crazy. It is definitely helpful to evaluate your wardrobe periodically.  Sometimes there is a reason why something has been sitting in the back of the closet...