Thursday, November 12, 2009

Going back to veganism - but just till Christmas morning!

Well, I've just checked out my weigh-ins for the past month and I'm no dummy. Obviously the switch from vegan to non-vegan has had a negative effect on my weight.

Fortunately for me, starting Sunday afternoon (or evening, actually - after Vespers, to be precise), the Eastern Church begins what's called the "Nativity Fast" (also "Philip's Fast").

Basically, you go vegan for most days of the week - giving up red meat, poultry, meat products, eggs, dairy products, fish, oil, and wine - but are allowed to eat fish, wine and oil on Saturdays and Sundays, and certain feast days.

Well, being the rogue Christian that I am, I've decided to arbitrarily add a few more feast days - Monday, December 7 through Friday, December 11th - my last day of employment at PricewaterhouseCoopers! I've been invited to lunch with several people who really, sincerely hate to see me go (mainly 'coz now THEY have to do all my work - nyuk nyuk!).

So I'm just gonna schedule 'em all, every day that week, culminating in what I
fully expect to be the farewell party to end all farewell parties.

Er ... at least, it will be for me, since, like it or not, it'll end all MY farewell parties!

So anyway ... I'm prepared for a pretty shitty weigh-in Saturday morning. But hark! Saturday afternoon, I'm competing in the District 52 Toastmasters "Tall Tales" competition at the fabulous Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Universal City (California, that is!).

And Sunday - after one last meat-and-cheezy lunch - it's back to the vegan - with a few exceptions - till bright and early Christmas morning!

Monday, November 9, 2009

GOING up but not GIVING up!

Didn't go to the Weight Watchers meeting this weekend, as Steve and I traveled to San Diego super-early Saturday morning to sing at a friend's memorial service for his dad.

But I weighed myself at home, on my official Weight Watchers(tm) scale, and am sad to report yet another gain. About another pound. Doesn't sound like much but in the past few weeks I've seen my weight slowly but surely creep up from 180 to what it is now, @ 186.0.

Before anyone suggests it, I did a pregnancy test this morning. Negatory, ol' pal, sorry! Nope, it's just plain ordinary why-aren't-you-exercising-more-Chrissy? fat.

I've decided to try a couple of things, as detailed below:

1. TRACK. I'm supposed to be in Weight Watchers, right? So why not actually do what they tell me to do and track my food every day? Sigh. Well, the reason is I really HATE having to track my food every day. And I got out of the habit of doing it. But I'll try, this week only, and see if there's something I'm missing in my eating habits.

2. MOVE. I did this last week and it didn't seem to have any effect; but I'll continue to do my treadmill workout every other day.

3. RELAX. I have to be careful about this one, because it might sound like I'm just giving myself permission to sit in front of the TV and eat bon-bons all day for the rest of my life. (Mmmmm ... bon-bons!)



That's not it! But perhaps I should relax a little and not worry so much about the numbers on the scale. Because here's the thing:

a. I'm eating good food, for the most part. No more marathon binge junkets between KFC and Popeye's anymore.

b. I do exercise fairly often - I have a nice leisurely walk of about half an hour every morning, from the train station to my office. At my job - which is going to end on December 11th. Which leads to:

c. When my job ends, I have faith that I will not just sit around and watch TV all day. The first week I'll cut myself a little slack, but I plan to work out a schedule that incorporates my online classes, working around the house and the garden, and yes, EXERCISING!

But meantime I'm not going to beat myself up if I get a little nuts about food issues for a while. I'm losing my job, dammit - if eating a Beard Papa Vanilla Cream Puff at Famima's once a week helps me deal with that, then so be it!