Monday, January 24, 2011

A little late for Happy New Year

But I do hope your year is going swimmingly. If swimming is something you like to do!

Okay, enough sentence fragments and unspoken apologies for neglecting the blog this long. The fact is that - except for 4 days of being SNOWED IN this month, I have made it to the gym at least five days a week, and never missed more than one day in a row. I'm enjoying it! Nobody bothers me, which is all that this Fat Mother of the Bride ever wants. No cheery "Welcome back! How are you today?" or "Looking good, there!" or the dreaded "Ahem, let me show you how that machine is supposed to work."

I'm fairly technologically naive, but I am educable, and I've been working hard on that. I have a video iPod, which I bought refurbished about 4 years ago, and have recently had to have refurbished again. I've only used it for audiobooks and some music, and when my grandchildren were here I had downloaded some Sesame Street video podcasts. But it occurred to me that this thing had great potential.

I used iTunes to purchase the first season (6 episodes) of AMC's The Walking Dead which people wouldn't shut up about. It was only $10, so I figured it was worth a try. I enjoyed the series (nothing spectacular, but it was fun. (My "insider" son tells me the whole writing staff was replaced for next season so expect greater things. Okay.) Anyway, I only watch videos on the 2-inch screen while I'm on the treadmill, bike or elliptical, and wow, can a 45-minute workout fly by when you're engaged in a Zombie Soap Opera!

I ran out of episodes in about a week, and I knew that iTunes purchases weren't really in my budget, so I turned to my vast collection of DVDs I never watch. When I had a job I was a real sucker for Dollar Store movies and TV series, and I'll even pay money for anything that has a monster in it. But I am always so far behind watching "real" television, especially since le bon dieu and AT&T have blessed us with a DVR, that I never watch those movies. I even bought the first 2 seasons of Lost on DVD.

So, from a Luddite perspective, transferring DVDs to iPod sounds like a piece of cake (umm, I'd love a piece of cake). Not so fast, fattie! I couldn't find any but the most obtuse instructions on the web, and a call to my Apple savvy son lent me a groan and a sigh, and "It can't really be done..."

After following said obtuse instructions (one set directly from Apple) and downloading a total of SIX freeware programs, I determined that it couldn't be done. At least, not for free (the only way my son does anything). I downloaded a charming little program called, wait for it, 1ClickDVDtoiPod and got 3 free uses out of it. Can you say dream come true? It should be called One-freaking-click-we-mean-it!!! I readily coughed up $40 for the whole program and now have the entire first season of Lost on my 30gig iPod. I watched two while doing 20 miles on the recumbent bike yesterday! I had forgotten a lot of the early stuff on Lost!

Have I lost any weight? I'm not sure. I weighed myself once at the gym when I first started, but it's a dial-type scale and I'm not sure to the pound how it read. I also drank at least a litre of water before I got on it. I weighed myself again the other day, and think it was down about 4 pounds, and I was again full of water. Anyway, it wasn't UP.

My endurance has increased phenomenally, although that's still in flux. I come home and flop on the couch and can't move for another 12 hours, so I'm hoping I'll get beyond that. As of this writing I have not injured myself, and that's a big YAY, but there are certain things I still can't do at all (e.g. any weight machines involving the knees). I'm concentrating on 3 types of aerobic machines: recumbent bike, elliptical and treadmill, and weight machines that target abs, lats and triceps. I'll add more.

Oh, and guess what: in only one month of regular exercise, I have been able to STOP taking blood pressure medication!! Lacking health insurance of any kind, I've been purchasing generic propanolol from an overseas outlet for about 8 years. I don't take very much, but without my BP was running in the 145/95 range. I forgot to take it a couple of days ago and checked my BP without it: 122/90. I took it again the following day and it was about the same. So I stopped taking the pills! Yay, me!! Yay, exercise!

Now, what was I saying about cake...?

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