I'm doing a Jacque here, with multiple postings all right after one another. Hope you don't mind. I certainly didn't with Jacque!
Crime girl -- I don't have a recipe that I have tried and the one I have here that involves baking is in a book and I don't want to type it all in when I think these are just as good if not better. I haven't tried them but they sounded good. If you try them let me know. Or, I might get my act together and make it too. It is certainly healthy and colorful and I think just right for me. I usually make curries but I'm sick of them. The French herbs sound enticing!
As for my sign-in name, that is from the French film, "The Red Balloon." When I signed up I was thinking more along the lines of the balloon floating teasingly and playfully through the streets, often out of reach, which to me was the body I longed to have. I have red hair so it's fitting and what's more, the balloon is also the little boy's friend, so it seemed a fitting name for a support forum. The connection between my ballooning body and a balloon didn't elude me either but it wasn't really part of the reason I chose it. Here's a link for those of you who aren't familiar with the film. I remembered it from French classes way back and would like to see it again now that I know I would get a lot more out of it. There's very little dialogue if I remember right. I hadn't known that it won both at Cannes and an Academy award. I just knew it was a classic.
Crime girl - Sorry for not explaining about ratatouille! It's really yummy and oh so good. I suggest you just go and buy a couple of tins of crushed tomatoes, some eggplant, some onions, zuchini (courgette), garlic, and mushrooms (not traditional but good source of iron and I think they fit in well). Anyway place 1tsp of oil in the cold pot with the crushed garlic (i use 2-3 cloves, but I LOVE the stuff). Garlic is best cooked this way as the pot warms, if you put it into hot oil, the flavour is "burned" away. The slow heating releases the aromatic compounds better. Once the pot is hot, sautee the onion. Add teh courgette, aubergine and cook until soft. Then add the tomatoes and any italian stye herbs you want. I suggest using dried as the texture of fresh ones is kind of wasted on this dish. Also add the mushrooms. Then leave to simmer on a low heat (or crock pot it). This is soo good on toast. Sorry for the lack of specific amounts, but I tend to cook from taste and instinct.... I love cooking!!
Red - I am jealous of the ride! I'm going to try and hook one up for this weekend, there is a horse whose owners have said I can ride it when their daughter goes away to uni, but I don't know if she has left yet
What have i been doing this week?
Sunday - 2 hour walk
Monday - Pump Class
Tuesday - 40 mins walk (2 x 20)
Wednesday 40 min walk, pump class
Thursday 50 min walk, 5 min cycle, 15 min run, 5 min walk, 25 min weights, shoulders
Friday - pump class (i hope!)
So overall a good week, but it's the first week I have been this active since before christmas. i have been so lazy with both my food and exercise. Still I had a trainer at the gym I haven't seen in 6 months say yesterday that she thought my arms had toned up heaps and i was looking good, so I guess in the long view picture things are going ok.
Pump class is high rep, high intensity weights. It's a les mills programme www.lesmills.co.nz and it really good for burning fat and changing your body shape.
KJK? Who ever it was that was talking about bringig weights into their work out - that is seriuosly the best thing you can do! It helps create muscle which increases your metabolism - the more muscle mass the more calories your body consumes per day naturally, and also makes you stronger, preventing injury. Don't worry about getting bulky. To create the "bulky" muscle fibres, you need high levels of testosterone, most females and many males do not have sufficient levels of this hormone to create bulky muscles, so all that is going to happen is that you will get toned and long lean muscles (if you include stretching in your work out). That is why body builders need to supplement and the top level ones take 'roids. (YUCK WHAT LOSERS)... anyway this is all a bit disjointed, but check out the ladies who lift thread for more info.
Nicknames - NBK means night blind kiwi.. kiwi is NZ's national bird and also what most NZ'ers call themselves, especially when overseas. The joke is that they are nocturnal and therefore can really only see at night. I used the nickname first on a Blind melon board, where my friend had already taken kiwi as her nickname. My other ones are science queen due to my interest in all things scientific and an ability to recall factoids at the most random time, Snappie which is short for snapper princess. this was given to me by my bf - he too has a fish nick name as he surfs. He's really well known in our town, but most people only know him by his nickname!.the joke is that as a kid my dad would call me among other things tiffany snapper! he he... Umm I have others that are variations on my real name, such as siffter, stiffness, tiff etc...
Today at toastmasters it was sci-fi theme.. I am such a geek, I knew all the programmes and authors people were talking about.. he he.. i hate that, I can't help myself bringing up stupid facts about them either. My cover as a young cool professional is well and truely blown. I have a speech scheduled for next week, and my bf is coming along as my guest... eeek!
well best get on with my friday at work...
Have a good one ladies
Cheers
Tiffany
Ooh ooh the red balloon! It's a story book and a play also. I used to read the book when I went to stay at my grandmothers.. there's also that song 99 red balloons, that is kind of nihilistic. Wow, Red.. when you got to japan, or you go to the more rural areas, do you get people wanting to touch your hair? i have a friend who is 6'1" and she had people stare at her becuase of her red hair and her height all the time in japan and korea when she was teaching english.
oh yeah I am a multiple poster.. I just read the les mills site about pump and it's weights.. while the weights I do aren't big outside the pump class (10 kg for biceps, 25 kg for squats/lunges etc) they are still reasonably big for pump.. he he yeah I am macho but that's something that motivates me, my desire to have the heaviest weights in the class (mind you I am the fattest person in there, so I have to work harder!).. but damn it gives you a good work out, and it really increases your overall body strength *yes i am proselytising
NBK, yes, I remember 99 Luftballoons, the German version is much better than the English and quite different. That was Nena singing! I like the kind, friendly balloon image for me, however, BUT I do remember that song and liked it, well, that is, until I heard it so much it got to me.
Your name is so cool and I love all those fish nicknames. I have never had a nickname (not that I knew of!)
About the Japan thing, when I first came here, in 1982, things were much different, including the fact I guess that I was a lot younger but people did want to touch my hair and this was central Tokyo not the sticks. Drunken men in the trains at night sometimes would ask if they could touch it. Ee gads! But, remember, I had come from India and living in the real countryside, where people were a lot more unabashed and childlike, staring closeup and really making me feel like I was from outer space! In Japan, everyone is much more reserved and would more or less try to hide the fact that they were looking but got more forward when they were drunk, as Japanese often are! But things have really changed and now everyone dyes their hair so you even see redheaded Japanese. Back then everybody's hair was black. But, I'm short, only 157 cm (5ft 1.5 inches) so I didn't have people looking at me for my height. And nowadays you see a lot of tall Japanese.
You're right about the weight training not making bulky muscles. I'm around bodybuilders all the time and it's the fat that makes them look bulky. You have to get lean because the fat over and under the muscles makes you look tons bigger than you are really. A lot of people, women especially, can have a lot more bodyfat but look much smaller. So, it's not the muscle one needs to be afraid of, it's the fat. It is, however, hard to get rid of the fat and you tend to take it off in the areas women want to keep. But, yes, it burns so many calories because it is active, so just sitting there you burn tons more. Of course, you have to maintain it, so overall you're going to be more active.
Hope you get to ride, NBK, riding is such a total body sport. I guess the best correlation is wind surfing, not regular surfing. Do you do that too? I think I would love New Zealand. I will have to get to the Southern Hemisphere someday. The closest I've been is Singapore.
Also, I like the way you wrote up your exercise like that. That really allows you to see exactly what you've been doing and I think could help me be more consistent these days. I will do the same and you are doing so great! You'll have that extra weight knocked off in no time if you keep this up. Just don't pig out. That's what I do and I cancel out all the good work. Still, as long as I am exercising, I can do it, but, like now, I tend to always eat too much. And, I've got all these fat stores I want to kiss goodbye!
Last edited by redballoon; 01-13-2005 at 04:08 PM.
Hi everyone! My log in name is named after my cat stormy. As some of you know he was rescued from a storm drain right before a big thunderstorm. Since we do not have kids our cats tend to be a big part of our lives. On long trips we add our cats names to songs that we jam to on the radio, etc. It is kind of goofy but hey we love our animals.
GH, I think that you asked me this. I just do not like the taste of lettuce. I do like baby leaf spinach which I can use in a salad, but so many places do not offer it.
Red, sounds like you did great at the gym. You are doing so good. Keep it up. Remeber, our competition. Feb 14th is just around the corner. Like you, I gained weight and I knew it but I ignored it and did not weigh myself. I am never going to make that mistake again!
NBK, you have kicked butt this week! I bet you are able to have beautiful walks in New Zealand. You are so lucky!
Jacque, hide the scale and only weigh once a week. So many women get obsesssed with it. Remember muscle weighs more than fat. Also, women have weight fluctuations secondary to hormones, etc
Crime girl, how are you doing today? Do you feel a little bit better today? School is going okay for me. I have just been very busy. I cut my patient load back a little so I can have more time to do school work. So we will be on a very tight budget!
KJK, how was volleyball? Who do you play with? I used to love to play beach volleyball, but now I am landlocked in Nashville.
My workout for this past week:
Sun-Boot camp cardio, weight training abs & legs 1 hr total
Mon-Pilates (20mins), elliptical trainer (20 mins) and weight training for arms (20 mins)l
Tues-boot camp cardio, weigh training abs and legs 1 hr total
Wed-Tae bo 1 hr
Thurs-Cardio boot camp (30 mins), "I want that body" DVD (15 mins abs, 15 mins legs)
I just got on the bike for 10 minutes and worked up a sweat. Only 10 mins! but I was wearing a lot of clothes. I can't tell you how disgusted and upset I am at my weight. You must realize that I haven't been this out of shape in years and the numbers on the scale are unbelievable to me as I haven't seen them in over 20 years and that was when I had tons of muscle. I have lost so much muscle and yet I am at this high weight, which means I have put on tons of fat. It is so discouraging. How could I have done this to myself?! And here I am acting like 10 mins on a bike is an accomplishment. What happened to me? I used to be out the door and at the gym at this hour and doing 10K on the bike and 5K on the treadmill. Oh, I feel I've been defeated by others, work and people screwing with my schedule and workload and it makes me so angry that I have been knocked so low and now that I have to go through all this work to get back to where I was, which was still such a high body weight for me. I suppose the only thing I can do is to think that I have recognized a weakness and realize that I must never ever put myself out for someone to the extent that I was, because I will be the one to suffer!
Red! Don't be so hard on yourself. Getting back in shape takes time.. don't forget it took you a long time to get to where you are, so it will take a long time to get back in shape, and used to getting up and exercising! You are breaking set habits here, ones that are a lot easier than the new habits you are trying to start! 10 mins, with lots of sweat is better than nothing!!
You grew up in india? wow what an exciting life you lead.. i'm sorry but i figured you were an american ex-pat living in japan... I haven't really travelled around asia yet, but hopefully i will one day, in fact with my company's reorganisation the chances are my next posting will be somewhere in asia (although I really really want to go to either oman, New Orleans or the Netherlands)..
Stormy - you are an exercise machine! he he I just walk cos it's easy and yeah, I am really really lucky to have some beautiful places to walk.. that's what I miss most when I am overseas.. is the NZ landscape and lack of population density!
As for treating your cats like kids.. good on you. .i wish i had a cat...
Stormy - volleyball was fine, although I was a bit rusty. I only play in this league now, and it runs January through April. It's a bunch of women, mostly friends of my moms, and it's not competitive at all....mainly just for fun and a bit of exercise. I used to play competitively in high school, but gave that up the bigger I got. I don't like sand, so I don't tend to play beach vball at all!
Jacque - Colorado must be much more expensive than Ohio! My bras at LB are always $28...of course I always buy the same style. But their prices online only range $24-36, so perhaps you should purchase online instead!
NBK & Red - you girls are chatty today! I miss a lot when I'm at work - but I'm glad you girls are here at the same time so that you're not just posting to an empty board!
All right, I'm off for a night of dinner and TV watching....check back later!
NBK, no I didn't grow up in India. I just spent time there. I spent my first 18 years in the U.S. so I consider myself fully American, just with additional input from some very diverse cultures, German, Indian, Japanese. No expat though and I don't wish it either, except for all the money they get. Ex-pats really don't become a part of the local culture, don't really learn too much. They're always on the outside of how the regular person lives and I mean, they live like an ultra-rich Japanese but are just average in their own countries. I think it makes for some big heads and probably a lot of arrogance and difficulties ever going back to how other people like them live if they go back to their own countries. It makes you stupid too I think. I see expats shopping in the import shops. Most of the stuff is the same stuff that can be gotten in a Japanese store for a fraction of the price they're paying. Sure, the imported stuff is fun to get sometimes, that's why I'm there but it's not necessary unless you want to remain inflexible and not learn about and experience what's going on around you.
The thing is, most of these people had no interest in coming here so their companies have to placate them and cater to their every whim. The way I see it, the companies should find people who will live like the locals more or less and pay them a bit more but not give them all this housing allowance. A friend of mine with the Wall Street Journal got a $6,000 a month housing allowance but wasn't allowed to live more cheaply and take home the difference. So they become very isolated. Even I felt a great gap between us because he was living in a palace compare to my place and I felt he started acting like he was so different. Circumstances, understandable, but I don't think a good thing in many ways.
And NBK, I have to be hard on myself. The fact that I took so long to do this, meaning, that I was goofing off for so long is the very thing that makes me so angry. That AND the fact that now I am going to have to take so long to work myself back into shape. Then again, maybe it won't take as long. It could have been a lot worse, right?
kjk, hi there! How are you doing? You didn't walk this morning, did you? Are you going to be up tomorrow?
Yeah the whole Local "plus" idea is what my company is moving towards, outside of the ex-pat thing. For people like me, I don't mind just being on local rates, although coming from NZ where it costs a fortune to fly anywhere else, I would miss the paid for flights home 2x a year.. and the only other thing I would want would be the leave.. I mean in the states you get like 10 days? Here we get 15 soon to be 20 and I know in holland they get 35! he he (not including stats).. but yeah I think for a lot of people an overseas posting is what you make of it. For me its about working in another culture and learing and experiencing as much of local life as I can (i even grew to like herring whilst in holland ha haha).. but for some it is a hardship. They are miles away from family and friends, and I suppose a lot of the compensation systems were put in place years before the internet and email made inter-continental communication so easy! Also if you have children it must make the travelling harder and also the almagamation into other cultures more difficult, as you have to look at the quality of the education they will recieve in relation to the expectations of your home country and also where you will be going next! But in the end, it's probably just like people who travel and complain they don't have the conveniences of home, and other people who travel and make the most of only having 1 squat toilet to share with the other 40 pple in their hostel!
Red - Ok I understand.. but just remember to be like a good parent and say to yourself "i still love you red, but when you do this...... it makes me sad and I don't like that"... remember you are still a worthy and good and intelligent and fun human being.. it's just your actions aren't what you want! Self hate can lead to BAD eating and exercising behaviour.. that's all..
Jacque - have you tried places like Kmart/walmart for bras? I can often find pretty and cheap ones that are reasonably comfy for $10-$12 here...and so can my mum who is a 36?DD...the cheaper stores here seem to stock the larger sizes more often than expensive ones.
Yeah, thanks NBK, I will try to be gentler with myself, while at the same time being strict and clear about what I'm doing, my goals and the fact that certain actions lead me toward them or away from them.
Maybe I should look at the fact that I could have really, really gone haywire over the past few months. OK, to me, it was still major, but in the big picture maybe it wasn't. I was under unbelievable stress and I was suffering physically as well. My legs were going numb and I couldn't run even though I would get on the treadmill and try. I was in a lot of pain, my feet and legs and that was making riding torture, as well as walking. I would push myself to do it anyhow so if I hadn't done that I could have easily put on 14 kgs instead of 4. I was talking to a friend that other day and she said she would bulk up between contests (she's a bodybuilder) and put on 16 kgs. She knows herself, has retired from competition now but is still at the gym riding the exercise bike for an hour every day and hard, not just lulling around like a lot of people do. She says she just knows she has to do it because she gains weight so easily. Again, I guess it all comes down to accepting yourself and the work that it's going to take to keep or get the body you want.
I think this experience may have given me the resolve to really lose the weight this time, not just the 4 kg I've put on but the 10 after that I've wanted to take off for years and haven't.
AND, what's even better!! is that I just got on the scale and I am down nearly 2 lbs over last Sunday's weigh-in. Ok, that was up from the week before but still, I have stopped the ascent! This balloon is losing gas, thank God! And I've been working out so some of that weight will be muscle coming back so I feel optimistic again. I hear gospel music, drum rolls, John Philip Sousa and wedding marches (don't know where that came from?)!!! Sing praises! The scale is reversing its direction!
Last edited by redballoon; 01-13-2005 at 05:59 PM.
of things French. . .
Are you going to do something this evening or is this a day off?
Hallelujah!!!!
