Fat Nerd Fit

If you follow me on twitter ( @fatnerdfit )you already know this, but I made good on my deal with the internet and got my butt to the gym today. It was my first visit to this location of the chain I'm a member of (and by member I mean I pay every month and then don't ever go) so I kept my glasses on so I could actually see what was going on while I did my thing. I found the locker room no problem and made sure to check out the showers and sauna for future visits then hit the floor. Man is my butt out of shape. I started out on the stationary bike. I chose the upright one, not the fully seated one, because I'm curious about trying a cycling class. I did two miles and my quads were throbbing. I did have it on level 7, but I'm making no excuses. After the bike I did 100 crunches on a crunch machine of sorts. It gives you a rung to drape your legs over so you can't use your quads to help you, which was awesome. I did have to mess with my form a bit to keep...

I was very hopeful that my plantar fasciitis was going to clear up by now. It continues to noticeably improve, but it's still not healed to a place where I can get out and actively exercise. It's easy to sit here and swear that I'd totally be hitting the gym and/or the road if only I could be out there, but I feel like I'd at least would have made two or three workouts in the last two weeks if I'd be able to. That's still not the every other day I've got my eyes set on and it's certainly not the every day my subconscious ego swears it would be, but two or three times in two weeks is a true estimation of what I've lost out on. It's still a win for me, though. Not very long ago I would be quite happy sitting on the couch for two weeks with my feet up. I'd have a six pack of beer, a pizza delivery on its way and be planning on wine and Chinese take away tomorrow. I'm actually kind of proud of myself that I am anxious to get out there. ...

After a crazy holiday season logging overtime on my feet at the store I developed Plantar Fasciitis. To quote the Mayo Clinic "Plantar fasciitis (PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) is one of the most common causes of heel pain. It involves inflammation of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of your foot and connects your heel bone to your toes (plantar fascia). Plantar fasciitis commonly causes stabbing pain that usually occurs with your first steps in the morning. As you get up and move more, the pain normally decreases, but it might return after long periods of standing or after rising from sitting." It was most likely caused, in my case, from prolonged standing at work and wearing old shoes. Like when it happened last time, when I get up in the morning I hobble like an old person and it takes about half an hour of old person hobbling to work my way back to a normal stride. It sucks, it hurts like hell, and I had to keep going to work and being on my feet for ten ho...

I done did it, y'all. I got my scale out this morning. I can't say that I'm surprised, but I can say that I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Two hundred and freaking forty six pounds. It was a bit of a gut punch. I'm not happy. I know that I have lost weight since our move. I can see it in the mirror. I can tell by the way my clothes fit. But, as it stands this morning I have an official number. 246 Gross. Have I been heavier? Yes. Earlier this year. Have I (as an adult) been lighter? Yes... also earlier this year. Was I heavier when I got my ass in gear a few months ago? Yes. Can I do better? Also, yes. Am I going to be better? HELL YES!!! It's easy to pick a start date that is "later." You screw up on your new diet on Wednesday and decide to start over on Monday, or the first of the month, or the first of the year. Well, guess what? The first of the year is tomorrow. I'm not giving myself "one last night...

Sorry I've been MIA for the last week. I got the flu right after Thanksgiving and promptly went down for the count. I've talked before about several of the Facebook groups I'm part of and am a member of a couple others as well. I really like all the positive attitudes and inspirational stories that I see every time I log in. There is also another weird side effect of those stories. I don't feel like I'm good enough, or something enough when I think about how awesome everyone else is doing. This member runs at a 9 minute mile and thinks they're slow. This member has lost 70 pounds so far this year. This member has been taken off their diabetes medication due to their hard work. I know that it's all about hard work and these people were all once someone who thought "Dude, I need to fix this." I can't help comparing myself to what people have already done and not allowing myself the time to get there. No one did it overnight, and whi...

When I started running several years ago, I joined a local running class though Run On!, a local running store. I started out in the 5K group in January and by the end of the year I was running 13.1. After I got injured and stopped running I missed it terribly. I just never was able to get back into the swing of it. I missed the fun of a group, but didn't have the money to sign up for classes, and didn't feel enough like a "real" runner to meet up with the local hobby clubs. So, I basically stopped running. I still had running friends on Facebook and I followed them and their races/training/adventures with a ping of guilt. One day Facebook's big brother algorithm spybot saw fit to suggest the Hogwarts Running Club to me. Being a big Harry Pottery fan, I checked it out of curiosity and was hooked in a matter of seconds. I joined immediately, got myself sorted into Ravenclaw and haven't looked back. Within a couple of weeks of me joining HRC the brillian...

In a world that loves the "Super Food" of the week, I tend to take in the fads with a grain of salt. Everything is healthier than everything else and what is amazingly healthy for you today is poison tomorrow. There's so much back and forth its hard to keep up. I do not pretend to have any sort of medical training, unless you count my First Aid badge I earned in the Girl Scouts, but I know what has been helpful to me and what I like. I tend to subscribe to the common sense theory for dieting. Alfredo sauce is never the healthy option, water is better for you than sodas, and when faced with the option between potato chips and carrot sticks the healthy choice is obvious. Every now and again I find a fad that I end up really liking and I incorporate it into my kitchen. One of these fads is chia seeds. Yes, as in ChiaPet. But these little seeds pack a nutritional punch. These little guys are a good source of fiber, protein, omaga-3 fats, calcium, and also cont...