Monday Morning Muse

Extreme Makeover

I don't know what got in to me. Maybe it was the fact that I've been working my butt off (figuratively speaking, that is) doing product surveys, interviewing students and parents for a charter school (my cool stay at home job), and clipping coupons to save $150.00 a week on groceries, and I feel that I am finally earning/saving enough dough to take the plunge into organized exercise, but I decided to do it.

When we first bought our house some six years ago, I would walk the kids down to Baskin Robbins for icecream. In the same little mini plaza, the Exotic Image Total Fat Loss sign would always catch my attention. What the heck did they do in there, I wondered. I was still carrying a good extra twenty pounds from my last pregnancy so I decided to call and see what it was all about. I talked to Ramin, the owner, and he explained that his program consists of a daily workout from 9:15 in the morning to 11:15, or in the afternoon if preferred, and a strict diet coupled with supplements. He told me the cost, but it just wasn't feasable for me at that time, especially since I didn't have a babysitter. I went on Jenny Craig instead and was doing pretty good. I quit Jenny Craig and slowly gained back all of the weight that I had lost and then some extra!!!!!

I tried walking twenty miles up hills per week and cycling 20 miles a week, low carb diets, low fat diets yadda yadda yadda. Nothing was effective.

Well now that all of the kiddies are at the same school, and on the same schedule, and I am earning a little bit of cash, I decided to give it a whirl.

Here's a sampling of what goes on in there for any of you who are wondering:

9:15 arrive to gym, weigh in, and drink Ramin's coffee which is fortified with tumeric and black pepper to get your juices gurgling.

9:30 jog one and a half miles around the block

10:00 do one hour lunges

11:00 finish up with super sets for the arms, or 500 crunches.

9 AM to 11 AM chat with all of the other former fatties about how much weight they've lost, what they ate for dinner last night, and whatever is playing on The View that morning.

I've completed three weeks and lost about 6 pounds. I was hoping for much more dramatic results, but I know it's unrealistic. Ramin told me that I am behind schedule on the weight loss portion but am ahead of schedule on the work out portion. Most people take a month to build up to one hour lunges. That made me feel pretty good. I haven't noticed that my clothes fit any differently yet but I am not going to give up. I have a lot invested. I'm religiously taking my Co-Q-10 and NADH, and Selenium and the daily pack of multi vitamins and minerals, and rarely cheat on my diet of red meat, eggs, and cream cheese. I've given up my coffee habit (except for the cup at the gym) and my daily diet soda. But I do cheat with a low carb candy bar when I just gotta have something. I survived the Disneyland experience without gaining extra weight and also two birthdays. It sure is easier to stay on a diet when you can see the weight coming off. I'm entering my fourth week so wish me luck. And if you decide to give it a whirl,be sure to tell Ramin that Jewel from the Muse referred you. It will save me on my membership. Look for before and after photos to be posted when I have something to show you. Just think.... Halloween is approaching!

** Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them.

** If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos...then you probably haven't completely understood
the seriousness of the situation.

** Doing a job RIGHT the first time gets the job done.
Doing the job WRONG fourteen times gives you job security.

** Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

** Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity

** A person who smiles in the face of adversity...probably has a scapegoat.

** If at first you don't succeed, try management.

** Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether.

** TEAMWORK...means never having to take all the blame yourself.

** The beatings will continue until morale improves.

** Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.

** We waste time, so you don't have to.

** Hang in there, retirement is only thirty years away!

** Go the extra mile. It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker.

** A snooze button is a poor substitute for no alarm clock at all.

** When the going gets tough, the tough take a coffee break.

** INDECISION is the key to FLEXIBILITY.

** Succeed in spite of management.

** Aim Low, Reach Your Goals, Avoid Disappointment

The bird of paradise alights only on the hand that does not grasp.
- John Berry

Do you prefer that you be right, or that you be happy?
- A Course in Miracles

When you are deluded, you are used by your body. When you are enlightened, you use your body.
-Bunan

The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller

Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.
- Will Rogers

At a time when people are so conscious of maintaining their physical health by controlling their diets, exercising and so forth, it makes sense to try to cultivate the corresponding positive mental attitudes too.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1963

Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do.
- Albert Gray

A baby enters the world with hands clenched, as if to say, "The world is mine; I shall grab it." A man leaves with hands open, as if to say, "I can take nothing with me."
- Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:14

You can't be afraid of stepping on toes if you want to go dancing.
- Lewis Freedman

When faced with a challenge, look for a way, not a way out.
- David L. Weatherford

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow".
- Anonymous