Podfitness.com

I've always felt a little out of place when trying to lift weights at the gym. I see a lot of guys pumping iron, looking like they, too, have no idea what they're doing but by dangit! they're going to pump iron because that's what guys do! So I think that the majority of iron pumpers at the gym are either faking it or looking ridiculous (or both).

Enter podfitness.com. I downloaded a free trial the other day. It's basically a "plugin" to iTunes. You fill out a fitness profile which includes your goals, desired workout time, weight, etc. From this profile you select from a list of workout routines from America's top trainers that typically last anywhere from 8-16 weeks, 2-6 days a week. Each workout routine builds upon the last and you use the songs in your iTunes playlists (except for those pesky copyright encoded songs).

In the 5 days that I've been using this program I've had the most intense workouts of my life! It truly is like a personal trainer, pushing me and instructing me each step of the way. Of course, there are a few things that I'm not able to do - but I just modify it so I can do it and it's still difficult for me. I'm alternating cardio and weight training workouts. No longer do I look like a freak in the gym (no comments, Buckley!).

There are a few bugs in the program - after all, it's new. The guy who I've been corresponding with at podfitness ensures me that their programmers are working around the clock (literally) to work out the bugs. Another drawback is its $19.95/month price tag - a little pricey for a buggy program (however much cheaper than a personal trainer). But I got a pretty good raise today so I'm indulging myself. For all who are interested, the free 3-day trial code is "3JPX2".

Moderate workouts burn more fat and other crazy theories

I'm no exercise physiologist, but I usually put a lot of thought into things that relate to my body. I've heard many theories reiterated recently about exercise and nutrition and some things just don't add up for me. First theory: Keeping your heart rate between 120 and 150 is the best way to burn fat. While this may be inherently correct, I think it's deceptive.

Workinig out at a moderate intensity may cause your body to burn more fat percentage than glucose percentage, but common sense tells me that if you workout harder you'll eventually burn your glucose stores and then move right on to burning fat. So, in essence, you're probably burning the same amount of fat or more as a moderate workout but you're burning more glucose, plus your metabolism is going to be moving faster as the day progresses. Once your body runs out of glucose it's going to move on to something else. It HAS to. I'm sure it burns some muscle in addition to fat, but I haven't seen any studies that show your body will burn more muscle if you work out at a higher intensity. And adding weight training into the mix ensures that you'll keep your muscles and therefore your metabolism, which means more fat burning.

Now I can understand that working out at TOO high of an intensity can cause problems. But I don't buy having to cut back how intense you work (and for a longer time period) in the name of burning only fat stores. You'll burn it now or you'll burn it later.

I'm so happy to be banded!

I had an experience today that I won't soon forget: I buy my protein shakes from a lady whose husband had a gastric surgery 20 years ago where most of his stomach was removed. He would have died 19 years ago but his wife has learned everything she could get her hands on about medicine and has miraculously kept him alive on protein shakes and other tasteless food. Well today his intestines finally stopped absorbing food altogether (she says) and nothing is working. They are afraid he's going to die. I was mortified for them. He's such a wonderful man - what a terrible loss if he dies. But I realized how grateful I was that I chose an option that didn't involve risks like that one. I heard a statistic that 1 in 100 people die from the gastric bypass. What odds!

Really, losing 55 pounds has done SO MUCH for me already. I never felt like I was low energy, but now I'm really feeling a difference! I ran the other day. RAN! I fit in airplane seatbelts without the extender and I have ROOM TO SPARE! I can shop in the Newport News catalog and buy hella cute clothes. People are nicer to me... no, really! Men open doors for me now and some even strike up a conversation! My skin is clearer. I can exercise for an hour at an intense pace EVERY DAY! I can plan an adventure trip to Guatamala and not worry that I won't be able to do the zipline or horseback riding because I'm too heavy! I'm more confident in everyday conversation. I fit easily in all the rides at Disneyland. I don't worry all the time that food won't be available to me where I go. I don't choose my vacations based off the food choices. Etc. Etc. Etc.

This is just what I could think of in the 80 seconds that I wrote the above paragraph. There really are so many things that make me grateful to have this band. I think it's the second best choice I've ever made in my life!

Feeling blue

I'm a little sick of my life being so chaotic all the time. I feel like I'm about 6 months behind in my life right now. Part of it is with work. I think I'm a little blue today because of what the dean said to my new boss when introducing me... When introducing me to the new director, the dean says, "Here's Georgia. She's our webmaster. Our web pages are not where we want them to be, but we're working on it." I shot him a look as if to say, "Did you REALLY just say that?!!" And then the new guy (who probably saw the look) said, "Well, I can imagine web pages are never where you want them to be. They're always changing." I could tell the new director thought I was uncomfortable from the dean's comments. He was right. How could he say something like that? Now I've gone from underappreciated to disgruntled. On top of that, another director wanted to have a meeting today about his concern that our websites are out of date. OF COURSE they're out of date if the liaison for each program doesn't tell me there's an update that needs to be made. I'm feeling slightly attacked here for busting my butt for an organization that could care less about me or my efforts.

I honestly don't know what more I can do for them. I go to work, come home and learn new technology for work, go to bed, wake up, go back to work, blah blah blah. All this puts me behind on finishing wedding videos, which leads to that whole state of being in perpertual catch up mode. I can't win. I give up. Maybe I'm not what they need. Actually, they need me and then another programmer and another designer and then they could maybe catch up to the big guys. I recently got back from the UCEA conference. We're further ahead in our websites than most of the other CE's in this country. Does the dean not recognize this?

At any rate, I'm going to try to feel better about this. But today's events have just made me think twice about whether I want to stay or not. Maybe I'll stay just long enough to finish my Master's degree (and get the educational discount).