Category Archives: health & fitness

A narrative of my journeys with diet, exercise, and various healthcare professionals

weight loss 6 Comments

Tired Of This

Several years ago: New Year’s Eve at Aaron’s apartment on Enterprise in BG. After a long evening of adult beverages, food, and video games, I find myself lying on Aaron’s bed, with the room spinning around me. “I don’t want to be drunk anymore,” I say, as rationally as possible. Aaron patiently puts me to bed to sleep it off.

Last week: Bronchitis. The first case I can remember having — or at least, having officially diagnosed (I couldn’t remember back when I had it at age one). One week after being diagnosed and getting prescription meds, I find myself still hacking and coughing and not yet at 100%. “I don’t want to be sick anymore,” I say, between coughs, knowing full well that only time and meds will cure what ails me.

Now. Overweight. Still, after years of struggling (sometimes all-out, sometimes admittedly half-assed). I see myself in a video, full-length, doing aikido, looking frumpy and out of shape and unattractive. And it hits me: “I don’t want to be fat anymore,” I say to myself.

I’m steadily losing a pound and a half per week, and have been doing so since January. I’ve lost nine pounds, give or take. If I keep going at this rate, I could potentially be at my “ideal” weight by the end of August. I’m just so sick of looking and feeling the way I do, and so frustrated with the amount of time (and willpower and planning) it’s going to take to do it right.

I guess all I can do is keep doing what I’m doing. Keep moving in the right direction, one step at a time, and eventually I’ll get there. I’m still curious to see what I’ll look like in thirty pounds. It’s just… damn. I’m sick of being fat.

weight loss

The Challenge: Week #5

Diana James
Week 1: 0.5% 1.5%
Week 2: 1.6% 2.3%
Week 3: 3.8% 2.3%
Week 4: 3.8% 3.5%
Week 5: 4.2% ???

As you may recall, I had a really fun case of bronchitis last week. I’m still getting over said bronchitis — I still have another day and a half of antibiotics to go — but I at least met my week’s goal of maintaining my weight and diminishing the nasty rattle in my chest.

Highlights of the week include me skipping aikido on Wednesday and Saturday, due to a nasty and persistent cough; eating a deliberate all-out cheat meal on Saturday at Famous Dave’s with Aaron, Mark and Rocky; and caving to my own desire for Chinese at lunch on Sunday. Other than that, my week involved going to work, not walking much (probably a poor idea to walk outside in sub-freezing temps with bronchitis), and being miserable and annoyed with my breathing difficulties.

However. Now that the nasty hacking cough has diminished to a mere occasional rattle, it’s time to step things back up. Last night, I did some upper body work: three supersets of dumbbell chest presses with bent over rows, and three supersets of concentration curls with tricep extensions (12 reps per set). This evening, I can feel mild but noticeable soreness in my pecs, my upper back / shoulders, and my biceps. I think that workout’s a keeper.

Tomorrow, I plan to go to Aikido for the first time since my test. How I feel during and afterward will determine whether I attempt to go on Saturday morning or not.

As an aside? Watching the video of kyu testing made me realize how frumpy I look in real life. It almost made me not want to go back to aikido at all. I was so embarrassed — I look sluggish and dumpy, especially compared to others (even others of my same rank). Anytime I feel my will for weight loss fading, all I need to do is watch the thirty seconds of my close-up; THAT should scare me back into line.

I feel like President Skroob: “Why didn’t somebody TELL me my ass was so big?!”

Anyway. Plan of attack for the coming week. Exercise, and lots of it. Daily lunchtime walks are a given, but I need to add in strength training in the evenings. I’m planning to do some abs tonight (after I work on the Toledo Zen Center’s podcast), then tomorrow is Aikido, then I’ll probably rinse and repeat with the upper body thing I did yesterday. (Aikido is not only a decent cardio workout, but the falling down and standing back up for an hour is a great leg workout, too.)

If I stick to my diet and ramp up the exercise, I see no reason why I shouldn’t reach my 5% goal this week. Maintaining said goal for seven consecutive days? That’s the next challenge.

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Highlights from Kyu Testing

The especially good parts:

0:24 to 0:40 – Check me out with my shomenuchi ikkyo omote osai. OMG, does my gi make me look fat? 😉
2:00 to 2:25 – Parts of Rich’s test. He really had the energy happening. Fun to watch.
3:30 to 3:52 – Part of Andy’s test. This part involves some fun hip-throws and breakfalls.
4:28 to end – More of Andy’s test, starting with jo (staff) work and ending with randori (multiple attackers).

Andy was on his third round of randori by this point, and these were the black belts (yudansha) coming at him for his final test. If he looks a little exhausted… that’s because he is. 🙂

And that’s what I did on Saturday the 26th. If it looks like fun, maybe you should give it a go.

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Rankless No More

Saturday the 26th was the long-awaited day: the day I tested for my rank of rokyu (6th kyu, the lowest actual rank) in Aikido.

The day started with a Basics Seminar from 9am to noon, wherein we spent the first two hours learning kneeling techniques. I was already familiar with most of the techniques we reviewed, although we did manage to go into more detail than I ever had previously. I also became familiar with techniques that I won’t have to know for another few ranks yet, which was fun.

After the morning session, I asked one of my classmates to help me with my rolls for a few minutes. He did so gladly, and even pulled out one of the tumbling mats for some extra cushion. With his guidance, I finally managed to figure out where I was going wrong with my rolls, although I could tell it would take some time before I could consistently fix the problem. (For those of you keeping score: I was turning myself just before my shoulder hit the mat, so my forward roll turned into more of a sideways roll. The key is to keep forward momentum and think about looking at the knot of my belt.)

The entire dojo usually goes out to lunch together after the morning session; to a local buffet, either Indian or Chinese. I ended up passing on lunch with the dojo, and instead drove home and had a light lunch with my sick hubby. Then, per Sensei’s instructions, I laid down on the couch and just chilled out for a while, letting my sore muscles rest. Once it came time to go back to the dojo for testing, Aaron actually seemed well enough to go along to watch me test. So, after running past Kroger to pick up a veggie tray for the post-testing potluck, the two of us headed over to the dojo just before 3pm.

The first half hour or so was used as a loosening-up period; we paired off and took some rolls, did some basic techniques, and Sensei answered specific technique questions from people who would be testing. Then, after a short break, formal testing began.

The five mukyu (those of us with no rank) went first. I beelined for the side of the mat closest to Aaron and furthest away from Sensei — not so Sensei wouldn’t see me, but so Aaron would. Five volunteer uke presented themselves, we made our formal bows to begin the testing, and so it began. The ten techniques I’d been so worried about flew by in a matter of minutes, and before I knew it, it was time to take my ten rolls. After the first three or four, I felt like I started to understand how forward rolls are supposed to feel, and I got into a bit of a rhythm.

(Unbeknownst to me, several people in the dojo were specifically watching me to see if my rolls had improved. From their comments after the test, it sounds like I have indeed improved. I still need to watch the video for myself, though…)

We formally ended our 6th kyu test with bows to the front of the dojo (the shomen) and to Sensei, and we were done. We returned to our places with the applause of the dojo.

Every other level of testing only had one aikidoka at a time — it just happened to work out that way. Highlights, for me, included Rich’s test for… fourth kyu? Third? I forget. At any rate, I enjoyed watching him really get into his technique. Plus, he got his glasses knocked off halfway through his test. ^_^

The real highlight of the day, though, was Andy’s test for ikkyu — first kyu, brown belt, just one step down from black belt. Not only did we get to watch Andy do sword (bokken) and staff (jo) work, but we also got to watch him perform randori, or fending off three attackers at once. I hope Sensei posts the video to YouTube; if he does, I’ll embed it here for your viewing pleasure. Because it was indeed a pleasure to watch.

After the formal end of testing, there was much congratulations by all. Then there was much food and drink, and some live music provided by members of the dojo (including Sensei, of course).

Thanks go out to Rich and Chelsea for helping me out with my forward rolls, and to Robert for volunteering to take ukemi for my testing. Thanks also to Aaron for coming to watch and cheer me on! That really meant a lot to me.

Maybe I’ll post a photo of me in my fancy hakama pants (not to be confused with Hammer pants) once I get them. ^_^

weight loss

The Challenge: Week #4

Diana James
Week 1: 0.5% 1.5%
Week 2: 1.6% 2.3%
Week 3: 3.8% 2.3%
Week 4: 3.8% 3.5%

Over the course of the week, I gained and lost three pounds, ending up today where I was at the last weigh-in: 204.5. Considering that I’ve been sick with bronchitis since Saturday evening, I’m OK with that result.

I focused my sights this week on Saturday’s Aikido test (which I still need to document), attending class on Monday and Wednesday, and the Basic Seminar on Saturday morning. I was surprised when that didn’t bolster my weight loss, and I gained weight instead. It’s possible my muscles were retaining fluid while they were trying to heal (isn’t that how it works?).

Another thing that may have hampered my weight loss was a lack of meal planning. In weeks past, I’ve had brown rice pre-made for every lunch, just waiting for some ground turkey or canned chicken or tuna and whatever healthy goodness goes with my protein of choice. This week, though, it’s been mainly fruit and ready-to-eat foods like low-sugar yogurt, or a pita with hummus. Still not bad for me, but not as protein-rich and fiber-full as my lunches should have been.

Last week’s goal of “Early To Bed, Early To Rise” didn’t work out so well. Actually, it didn’t work at all. I’m hoping that this week, in trying to get myself healthy again, I end up getting to bed earlier and sleeping more. I don’t think I’m going to set any other goal for myself this week, honestly. Get the rattle out of my chest. Maintain my weight as well as I can. Take care of myself. Pamper myself. Be gentle, and not go for walks out in the sub-freezing temperatures (probably not so good for bronchitis). Stretch out my still-stiff muscles. Pass on Aikido until I feel truly healthy again.

James has almost caught up to me this week, after having his own sick time during Week 3. It’s still anyone’s game.