Julie and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

Well, it is Monday. The evil-ist of days. Although, working in retail, there is no such thing as a "real weekend", as we retailers WORK most weekends.

I had this past weekend off. With Brian in MA until Tuesday, John & I took the time to run around the house butt-ass naked enjoying the married life go out and have some real time together doing couple-things!

Saturday we went to the White Sox @ Rays baseball game. Very enjoyable, since the Rays stadium is a DOME. Convenient for a pale sun-burn-prone mess like myself. On the way up we enjoyed a nice lunch together, and the drive was nice as we listened to a podcast and I read some of my book. Leisurely.

Sunday we went back to Tampa to visit the Dali Museum. It was fantastic, as always. I've only been one other time, and a few of Dali's works were lent out to other museums, while a few were brought in on lend from some, too. It was refreshing, and my eyes welled with tears when I stepped into the gallery, just like the did the first time I went. Dali is by far my favorite artist, although I'm no biographer of his; I do enjoy what people think of his works and how they interpret what they see in them.

John had a lot of fun, although Dali's more "religious" paintings were not his cup of tea, he loved Dali's earlier works of still life and of Dali's preferred "home": Cadaqués, Spain.

A new edition to the museum on loan was Santiago El Grande, on loan from a Spanish musuem... and it was breathtaking! It was just about 2 stories tall, and was just a splendor to stand in front of. Yup, I love me some Dali.

To stand before this painting, even someone who is not religious, is to awaken something deep within. A feeling that you are but a small grain of sand on this Earth and that no matter what anyone tells you, you will always have to follow your heart above all else.

When reality came a-knocking this morning, I wanted to slam the door in its face and go back to bed. But, responsible adult that I am, I went to work. I was "attacked" by a toddler (he drew blood), and threatened by his mother because I asked them to not let their child hit me again. It was a simple and nice request, and I was nice to the kid (not like I flicked him off the box like a bug, I was gentle and patient while he frustratedly tried to open the box again) and felt I was in the right to ask the grandmother to watch the kid more carefully (said in the most professional of ways, mind you.).

People just frustrate me. John still has no idea why I'm such a glutton for punishment by continuing to work there, and neither do I, really. I like working in retail, or at least I did. A few of my friends suggested I try out for a waitressing job... something part time to get the feel for it. They say my charisma will totally bank me in tips.

Maybe instead of a fitness goal I should make a weekly goal of applying for a new job. That sounds like a good idea. Done! :)

So, today was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. (Oh, I also got out an hour late from my shift because we have hardly any staff and got yelled at for it..... yay!) but my weekend was awesome. I guess it all balances out in the end????

Thoughts - Revisited 6/26

So, this past week we read about Metabolism and Nutrition for my Anatomy & Physiology class. It was eye-opening.

On top of the food journal he asked us to keep, Dr. D said two things that hit home, and that finally made sense (he would call it an "AH-HA!" moment)

1. YOUR BODY IS A

PERFECT MACHINE.

See? AH-HA! It has never occurred to me to think of my body as a machine. The misconception that I actually have some control over my body is just my brain playing tricks on me. You see, I am a perfect machine. Without all of my body working together, I would not have the skeletal movement to type these words. I would not have the capacity to digest food and create energy.

We often go through our lives thinking we have the ultimate control over our bodies. The only thing we can control is what we put in it, and the maintenance on it. After that, my friends, perfection happens on its own.

I must admit that my food journal was not as accurate as it should have been, but for one very important reason: this past weekend was NOT a normal one. We went and saw a movie (a rare occurrence), and we had a cookout for John & Jeanette's birthdays (again, not a normal thing). It was the first time I've had steak in quite a while... months at least. But the other things I ate, breakfast and lunch, were semi-normal, and not very good for me.

I'm going to look into the government's MyPlate.Gov website and see if I can maybe create more balance in my meals. We always have salad with dinner, but the problem is that it hardly ever gets touched because we eat the main course first, because it gets loaded to our plate right from the pan. We need to change that. If it means bringing salad bowls out to ensure a nice clean salad before my meal, then that is what I shall do. I only have one body, and it's perfect, now I just have to keep it that way.

As for my second revelation, it's more of a statement of fact rather than a new discovery.

Ever hear your friends say they have to "kickstart their metabolism"?? They talk about their metabolism as if it is a process that begins only when you eat something. Well, let me let you in on a little secret...

2. Your metabolism is a

SUM of ALL PROCESSES

within your body!

....... and it NEVER STOPS!

There is no such thing as a "kick-start" to your metabolism. It is constantly going. Your metabolism is the SUM of all processes within the body, so it's not just about your digestion and conversion of food to energy. It's your urinary system, your cardiac rhythm, your lung function, brain function... metabolism is ALL OF THESE THINGS!

So what exactly does someone mean when they want to "kick-start" their metabolism? Well, when I've said it in the past, I was referring to eating every few hours to keep my body from creating more fat. And there's truth to that process. If you continually eat (not constantly, but every 2-4 hours like my doctor recommends), then your body will have no need to store any of the fat it's converting from your food into your body. If you eat every 5, 6, or even 7 hours, your body isn't sure where its next meal is coming from, and so it stores some of the intake for future use.

Will eating every 2/3 hours get rid of the fat you already have? No, but exercise will. If your body is continually using the energy from your often-eaten food, it can then begin to burn that excess you have when you add in some exercise.

For the rest of this week, I am going to write down what time I eat, although not what I am eating. I want to see if there is any improvement to be made in keeping my body from storing food.

Happy eating everyone!






6/26/13 - update

I didn't write down my eating times, but I know that most times there was at least 5 hours between meals.

It's the most difficult at work because I'll be working an 8-hour shift and only be able to get away from the front for my 30-minute lunch, which usually occurs about halfway through. I'd like to start asking my managers for 5-minutes about 2 hours in, then about 2 hours after my lunch so I can get a banana down, or a handful of almonds and a bottle of water. We'll see how that goes.

Someone suggested to me to get a cheap kitchen timer to clip to my belt/wherever and use a 2-hour timer to ensure I eat. This sounds like a good idea. And also I'm thinking I'll look ridiculous! Maybe there is a watch out there that has a count-down function and not just a stopwatch function? HMMMM....

Happy Eating!

BTW- Passed my anatomy & physiology final, so I'll be back to blogging probably this week! (I don't count this!) :-P