Category Archives: Appearances

Kicking the Sumo Diet

Posted in Appearances, Food, Health by

Sometime last summer, I can’t pin-point a date exactly, I decided to get healthier. I bucked up and joined a gym and decided to watch what I eat more carefully.

I’m not talking about calorie counting, but just eating food less often. I found that during university, I’d graze throughout the day all while still eating breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, plus a giant bedtime “snack.” (Think lunch-size leftovers, frozen dinners, etc.) I now like to call that my Sumo Wrestler Diet, because after eating huge meals, sumo wrestlers have naps. Apparently that’s how they kept all that weight on.

Add my Sumo Diet to my new lack of exercise due to no longer playing soccer, I suppose I wasn’t burning all those glorious calories I was so happily consuming. After five years of post-secondary education and studying at night while eating garbage food, it added up. I think I gained around 10 pounds, which seemed to gather in my stomach area.

After staring at my gut in the mirror one day, I finally had enough and decided I needed to change my habits. I joined the gym and try to go two or three times a week, doing cardio once or twice and weight-training once a week. I (almost completely) stopped eating huge amounts of food between dinner and bedtime. I’ll have an orange, some yogurt or a small bowl of cereal instead. It takes a whole hell of a lot of willpower, but I do it! Right now, as I write this post, I’m really craving tortilla chips with salsa and loads of sour cream, but I’m resisting! I have a wonderful sample of Kashi cereal I’m going to try instead :)

I still eat all the foods I love in the same portion sizes I’ve always had if I just adjusted everything else I did. I’m proud of my accomplishments and I’ve noticed that I have more energy these days. I can take my dogs for a walk and not die at the top of a hill. I just feel good. I don’t weigh the same as I did in high school, I don’t think I ever will, but just feeling better about myself is all that matters.

WTF Friday 1.0

Posted in Appearances, Health, Workouts, WTF Friday by

I opted out of Friday Food for this week to bring you WTF Friday. I’ve noticed something this week at the gym that has just made me go “WTF??” and really, I have no excited foody adventures. Unless you count my orange attacking me today, I got nothing.

SO …

*Image removed*

I don’t particularly like to give shout-outs to specific places of business, but I was at the gym that has a catchy little song and dance about it, and I noticed that there are generally two types of people who go to the gym. There’s the people who want to work out and actually get in shape and the people who go just because it’s the “cool” thing to do.

The “cool” people, I’ve noticed, are constantly texting, are always there with one or two friends and are always fixing their hair. They never break a sweat and walk slower than my Grandma (who actually doesn’t walk slow at all).

This Tuesday, for example, I’m clinging onto dear life as I sweat it out on the elliptical machine and this young girl (she must’ve been about 15) hops on the machine beside me. She maybe used it for 10 minutes before getting off and leaving. I watched her leave and her ass crack was nearly showing. WTF? This a a gym, with sweaty old men with hairy backs, not a high school basketball game filled wall to wall with acne-ridden boys and bad Bieber-like hair. *barf*

I’m a person who goes to the gym to get good and sweaty and feel great anyway. I’m all for the people who genuinely want to get in shape, not search for their next Friday night date. I could care less about how red my face is or how much sweat is all over me. I’m not a “pretty” gym-goer, to say the least, but I love it.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t feel that I need to look drop-dead gorgeous while I’m working out. I wear what’s comfy, I wear what works, and I don’t mind getting my sweat on.

So, if/when you go to the gym or are working out, are you more concerned about how you look or how you feel? Be honest now …

Slow down, there’s more life to live

Posted in Appearances, Growing Up, Life, Reflections by

I was in the changing room at the gym, getting frustrated as usual because the floor was soaking wet because the little girls in there were running around soaking wet after getting out of the pool. (I have a thing with wet socks, okay?) I nearly slipped and broke my neck because of my non-slip friendly footwear when I heard these little girls singing Justin Timberlake’s “Sexy Back”. Err, wha?

It made me wonder, do these girls even know what sexy means? They couldn’t have been any older than 9 and here they’re singing a song that came out when they were 5. When I was their age I was still watching Sailor Moon and music hadn’t even struck my interest yet. (That would be grade 5, when I fell in love with the Backstreet Boys)

I have seen kids younger than 9 with coloured streaks in their hair. I’ve seen 11-year-olds with mascara on. I’d probably pass out if I saw a 12-year old with a septum piercing. Christ, I’ve heard kids who look that age talk about sex. Whaa? I’m pretty sure I didn’t even know what a (pardon my rudeness but -) blow job was until well into Grade 7. Okay, I was the same age as those kids, but I wasn’t freaking trading techniques during recess.

My question is – are kids these days growing up too fast? Every movie appealing to a younger audience revolves around sex, drugs and well, rock and roll. (Okay, maybe not rock and roll, but you know) My 16 year old cousin (well, kinda cousin) claims she loves a guy after they were dating for a week. Young girls are wearing make-up and revealing clothing … it’s sad really. Whatever happened to being young and innocent? Is society putting too much pressure on kids to grow up and act like adults?

I may sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but when I was 12, I didn’t have a cell phone, Facebook, or even high speed Internet. I never felt pressured to be more grown up. Sometimes I just want to ask these kids, “What the hell? Can’t you see that there’s more to life than appearances and being popular?”

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s not.