Mishmash Musings

After a year and a half of working out at the gym three times a week and watching what I eat (to a certain extent), I’m still not able to lose weight and keep it off. To be sure, I’m not looking to shed massive pounds here. I’m currently 120, and want to lose another 3-5 pounds — and keep it off this time. My frame is on the small side (I’m just 5′4″), so even a couple extra pounds is definitely noticeable in terms of how my clothes fit and whatnot. Believe me, I’m not aiming for the Calista Flockhart look; I just want to get rid of the paunch that’s developing out front here!

Anyway, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my workout routine. I do both cardio and weights when I hit the gym, so I think that’s fine. And my muscles are definitely getting toned — especially my arms and legs.

I think the real problem comes from how I eat. I’m totally addicted to junk food, which is makes trying to lose weight without the help of any top diet pills pure hell! If I deprive myself, I’m sure to binge later. And limiting portions doesn’t help much, since the tiny handful of Doritos or three squares of Hershey’s chocolate in the recommended serving size don’t do anything to satisfy my cravings!

So now I’m going for a bit of a different approach. Instead of just counting calories, I’m going to limit my fat intake. For instance, before, I thought that eating a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonald’s was no problem, as it’s “just” 510 calories. If I had only the sandwich for lunch, I could still hit my calorie goals for the day.

But the QPC has a whopping 26 grams of fat, which would likely serve to put me well over my limit for the day. By looking at the fat content instead of calories, I’ll hopefully end up eating better.

For the past week, I’ve been limiting myself to 40-45 grams of fat per day. It’s been hard, but doable. Let’s hope doing this for a month or two gets me the results I’m looking for!

So the new glass balconies at the Sears Tower are finally open to the public. There were some pictures online today, and let me tell you, my palms started sweating just from seeing these kids play around on the ledges! I am totally scared of heights, and even though I know in the rational portion of my brain that the glass balconies are strong enough to support 1.5 tons, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to step on them. I’m just not that brave!

(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

There’s not much going on around here today. I’ve been stuck doing some chores that I’ve been putting off for as long as possible. These include scrubbing the kitchen backsplash tiles (the ones behind the stove, which are hopelessly splattered with grease), dragging the area rugs out to the backyard to beat the dust out of them and let the sunshine kill some germs, and scrubbing down all the floors with bleach instead of just mopping them with soapy water.

It hasn’t been fun, but luckily I don’t have to do this stuff very often. Also, this was a good day to take care of chores because I got A LOT of freelance work done over the weekend and am all caught up now, so I was able to switch the computer off for most of the day for a change. Yes, I’m back online now, but being away from my desk for several hours in the middle of the day was rather liberating!

I was just surfing BlogExplosion the other day when I noticed that I was getting .75 credits for every site I visited, instead of the usual .5. I think that’s great, because obviously it’s now even easier to rack up credits for reciprocal visits.

The only thing I’m confused about is when/why they policy was changed. Was this announced anywhere? Is this a temporary measure or is it permanent? I have no idea where to find the answers to my questions because I haven’t received any communication from BE staff in ages. So if any of you other surfers happen to know what the deal is with the credits, please pass on the 411!

Wow, Michael Jackson’s death has turned into an all-out media circus! I seriously had no idea that it would be considered this big a deal by mainstream media. I certainly expected VH1, MTV, the tabloids, and the gossip sites to go crazy, but we’re talking CNN, all the network news channels, and the Yahoo front page as well. Furthermore, Jackson is scheduled to appear on the cover of special “rushed” editions of Time and TV Guide.

This is absolutely nuts!! Most of the coverage has been very respectful and has focused on Jackson’s musical contributions rather than on his bizarre behavior and legal problems. If the world at large had shown him this much respect when he was alive, instead of treating him like a clown, maybe he wouldn’t have acted half as wacky as he did.

After watching a lot of tribute specials on TV, I’ve been wondering: what the hell happened to Jackson? It seems like he used to be pretty normal, but after the Thriller album and the worldwide fame, he started with the plastic surgery and the skin color thing.

Then came the allegations of child molestation. Even though there was NEVER enough evidence to sustain criminal charges, Jackson’s insurance company pressed him to reach out-of-court settlements with the claimants, most notably, Jordan Chandler. This led a lot of people, including me, to assume Jackson was guilty. But although there’s no question his behavior around young boys was not what’s considered normal, almost all the evidence shows that it was likely innocent.

After the Chandler lawsuit, Jackson just seemed to drop deeper and deeper into his reclusive, weird, debt-ridden existence. Reading all of this stuff has made me kind of sad for him….

My favorite part of the day is 5:30 in the morning, when I head out for my 40-minute walk. I’ve been doing this for a couple months now, as part of my overall fitness regime. I’m trying to be a bit more active on days I don’t go to the gym, and figured shooting for 10,000 steps per day would be a good start.

Anyway, what started out as a chore has now turned into something I look forward to. I love waking up before anyone else in the house, grabbing my iPod, and listening to a great audiobook or my favorite music as I cruise through my usual route around the neighborhood. It’s so very relaxing, and I enjoy being out there when few other people are around.

The only thing that would make my morning walk better is if I had some decent shoes. I currently use some cross-trainers that are about 5 years old. Not only are they pretty beat up, but they’re rather bulky and heavy as well. I really need a new pair — and would love to try MBT shoes, the ones with the curved soles that are supposed to help you burn extra calories just from walking (it has something to do with working harder to maintain your balance). I’ve been trying to save for a pair, but something else always comes up that depletes my little store of money before I can make the purchase.

Why do I take my walk so early in the day? For several reasons. 1) I’m a morning person and have far more energy in the morning than at any other time of day. 2) It’s a lot cooler at 5:30am than at other times, and I don’t want to use the weather as an excuse to stay in. And 3) There’s less traffic that early in the morning, making my walk a lot more comfortable as far as noise and safety go.

Celeb deaths, that is. First, Ed McMahon, Johnny Carson’s former sidekick, died a couple days ago. Then today, we learned that Farrah Fawcett finally succumbed to her two-year battle with cancer. That death, while extremely saddening, wasn’t entirely unexpected or shocking.

But then, to top it all off, TMZ broke the news that Michael Jackson died from apparent cardiac arrest today. The story has since been confirmed by the L.A.Times and also CBS news. Jackson was just 50 years old, making his death probably the most shocking out of the three.

There seems to be nothing but bad news everywhere I turn. From the upheavals in Iran to the continued saber-rattling by North Korea and the bleak financial, job, and housing markets in the U.S. — when will all this crap end???

What the hell is with all these politicians and their extramarital affairs? Is it just me, or do pols engage in this activity disproportionately to other high-profile people? It seems like we don’t even hear about as many incidents among professional athletes or Hollywood celebs. Governors, senators, representatives, and even presidents commit more than their fair share of adultery.

But this latest scandal, which involves Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, is one of the strangest I’ve read about. Apparently, Sanford just disappeared for an entire week, without even telling his wife or staff where he was going. A spokesperson for his office said that the governor was hiking the Appalachian Trail by himself, which would have been odd enough.

But it turns out that Sanford was in Argentina — visiting his mistress, a woman he had known for 8 years. Sanford claims that their relationship turned sexual only a year ago and that they’d only been together 5 times or something, and that now it’s over.

Today Sanford had a press conference during which he confessed to his sins.

I didn’t see the conference, but in reading the transcript, I thought he came off like a big ol’ selfish jerk. He wasn’t really taking the blame so much as he was trying to justify his actions or brush it off as a huge mistake.

Republican or Democrat, governor or congressman, these politicians are all slimy as hell.

So I logged onto Twitter this afternoon, and all anyone seems to be talking about is some altercation that apparently occurred between Perez Hilton and Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas. Hilton posted on his Twitter that Will.i.am “assaulted” him, which prompted Will.i.am to create his own Twitter account to set the record straight. Will even posted a video explaining his side of the story.

I then went to Hilton’s website to try to find out what his side of the story was, but couldn’t get past the slow-loading ads and the utter crap that was on the first page.

I had never been to Perez Hilton’s website before. What the hell is this guy famous for??? Those juvenile-ass doodles on pictures of celebs??? WTF! I don’t get it!!

Who knows who’s right in this, but TMZ also posted a video that clearly shows Hilton saying, “You’re a fucking faggot” to Will.i.am. Classy. Imagine if the tables were turned there? Hilton would be all over that, pretending to be the victim of a hate crime or something.