Circuit Torture...er Training, Week 5

It was cardio week, which meant I sweat enough to power a water bender.

If you have not seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, then DO IT!

 And speaking of water, I started the next phase of my health regimen--drinking a gallon of water a day.  Basically, that means that between the jumping exercises and the drinking, I'm hitting the bathroom every 20 minutes.  My Professional Torturer laughs.

And, just to entertain my blog readers, this week I tried drugs.  Not those kind!  GNC was giving out some weight loss "supplements" as free samples.  Frankly, this is not something I would ever do in the long run and don't recommend, but for a week, why not?

The first one I tried is called Ripped Freak and has "green tea extract."  As near as I can tell, they've extracted somewhere between 10 cups and a tea shop's worth of caffeine.

Caffeine!  Yeah, baby!

When I was in college, I could drink pots of coffee until the wee hours of the morning and sleep like a log.  Now that I am a middle aged woman, I've put away youthful things--including my tolerance to caffeine.  So in retrospect, taking it at 4:30 in the afternoon was not the smartest idea.  However, after tossing and turning until 1 am, I did get smart and succumb to the inevitable.  In the next three hours, I cleaned a few rooms in the house, thought up several new scenes for Mind Over All, and read an entire book on St. Kolbe, whom I was able to write about the next morning after two hours' sleep.

The other pills are called Cellulor Super HD and CLK.  They, however come in 2- or 3-pill a day packages.  I was smarter and only took one a day.

However, the Ripped Freak came in a sample of two.  You know the saying, "Fool me one, shame on you, fool me twice, it makes a great blog?"  I took the second one on the morning of the 15th.  It makes a BIG difference to take them in the morning!  I'm writing this at 11 am, and the only thing I've noticed is I've gone through a gallon of water without noticing.

Anyway, with the sweating, the water and the chemical boost, I lost 3.6 pounds this week.  However, I gained .8 percent body fat,  and nearly 3 inches in the waist/abs area.  This just goes to show that even drugs cannot defeat the double-whammy of Fat Tuesday and Valentine's Day!

Anyway, I must say I recommend the water, but not the supplements.

First Rule of Telepathy: Use it Wisely

Rob is home for mid-tour leave, so I'm filling this month with some of my favorite guest posts.  This one is from the Mind Over Mind book tour of Aug 2011.  It was on my mind, since I've just finished the revisions to the second in the trilogy, Mind Over Psyche. Incidentally, if you've not read it, consider doing so!  http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Karina-L-Fabian/dp/1897492367

 

First Rule of Telepathy:  Use it Wisely

By Karina Fabian

Did you ever see Friday the 13th: The New Blood?  I haven't, but my husband likes to tell me about the scene he most despises:  Jason is chasing the psychic girl, and as she flees, she mentally knocks things in his path, throws a tractor at him, does everything she can to stop him…  Except the one thing that makes sense.

"If she can pick up a tractor, why can't she pick him up?"  Rob demanded even a decade later.  "Just hold him at a distance; or, if she doesn’t think she can concentrate that long, slam him against the trees."

This illustrates to me the key to writing convincing telepathy--or magic, or science fiction:  If you are going to establish a power, then think about the logical uses and consequences! 

I had to give this a lot of thought in my novel, Mind Over Mind.  What did telepathy mean to my character Deryl.  He could read minds--what about emotions?  What about memories?  Could he project as well as receive; and if so, how "real" could he make his illusions and for how long?  What did all this cost him in terms of energy and concentration?  Most importantly, how and how well could he control his abilities?

Whatever "power" you use in your story--psychic, magic, or technological--you need to establish overarching rules--what can the person do or not do with the power?  What are its limits and why?  What does the power cost?  The easiest way to answer these questions is to explore what others have done and to keep asking yourself questions:  What if this?  How does that work?  When does this fail?  When you get an answer, follow-up with why.

As it turns out for poor Deryl, he had little control over what he received and the confusion led him to attempt suicide and get committed--good luck convincing the psychiatric staff that the voices in your head are real.  Mind Over Mind, the first book in the trilogy, he basically comes to terms with his ability.  In the second book, he'll learn what he's meant to do with those powers.

I promise:  If he's ever being chased by a madman, he'll either know better than to toss a tractor--or his buddy will call him on it.

A Mundane/Faerie Valentine's Day

Rob is coming home today!  Only for 2 weeks, but what a great Valentine's Day present!  I'm trying to not do anything online for those weeks, so today, I present you with a re-run of a Valentine's Day flash story I wrote.  Incidentally, if you think it's funny, check out my story about a blind date with Coyote the Trickster, "Perfect Ten".

Pandarus' Valentine's Day Massacre

 

Los Lagos, CO--Thoughts of romance turned to terror today as what shoppers thought was a store display cupid came to life and started shooting mall patrons. Pandarus, a Faerie cupid, was subdued by mall security personnel and has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, and distribution of a magically psychoactive substance.

Pandarus had apparently been hanging around the display window of Isabella's Secret at the Los Lagos Mall, unnoticed by the staff or patrons eager to shop for an extra surprise for their holiday celebrations. "I thought he was just part of the One Hour-My Spicy Valentine sale display," said assistant manager Dana Kline, as she rubbed her arm, where one of the heart-shaped arrowheads struck her, and leaned against her husband Jed Kline, an employee of Pretzelmakers across the hall.

At 6:45, as the store swelled with anxious shoppers flipping through lacy underthings and squabbling over the last Size 14 babydoll nightie, Pandarus is said to have positioned his bow, shouted, "Let Love In!" and pelted patrons with arrows.

The screams and subsequent stampede alerted Roy Alberts, mall guard and his partner Katie Robbins. They subdued Pandarus after a brief altercation.

"Roy caught him. He was so brave!" Robbins said, with a heavy sigh. Alberts, blushing, insisted he could not have snagged the cupid by his ankles if Robbins hadn't distracted the archer at just the right moment.

"And she took a shot. For me! We're such a great team," he said.

Although at least ten patrons--including Robbins and Alberts--claimed to have been hit by cupid's arrows, none needed medical attention, and in fact refused medical care in order to return home to their spouses, or left with another patron, lacy underthings forgotten.

"I have done a good thing here!" Pandarus is said to have shouted as he was carried off. "You will thank me!  I have brought you a happy Valentine's Day!"

Pandarus was on his way back to Faerie Greece after a being filming a commercial for the Venus and Eros online dating service. He is being held without bail.

***

POLICE BLOTTER:   Jed Kline, 25, and Dana Kline, 24, were arrested and charged with indecent exposure at Isabella's Secret changing room. Mrs. Kline was found under the influence of a cupid's arrow and declared not guilty, but Mr. Kline, who was not struck, was fined $150 dollars.

ENGAGEMENTS:

Robbins and Alberts: Katheryn (Katie) Marie Robbins and Roy Manuel Alberts announce their engagement and summer 2013 wedding plans. Robins is the daughter of Rae and George Robbins of Raleigh, NC.  

Great Weight Write-Off Winner--Sherry Antonetti

This weeks' winner is Sherry Antonetti!  Sherry lost 3.7 pounds this week, after a valiant but unfortunate battle with brownies last week.

Sherry has a book coming out in May, The Book of Helen

"Everyone talks about the Trojan war like they know it, but no one ever bothered to ask me." --Helen of Troy.   

I'm pretty certain I heard her pitch it at the MuseOnline conference.  Sounds like a fun book, especially if you like Greek history and mythology.

Ironically, Sherry's blog is called Chocolate For Your Brain!  A sometimes silly, sometimes reflective blog that works as both a means for me to find out what I'm thinking and preserve in internet amber, some of the more memorable moments of raising these ten children.  Also a soapbox for when the political itch in me needs to be scratched.  Calorie free sweetness all for free, all for you, truth covered with humor because no one wants to eat a bar of pure nougat. 

sherryantonettiwrites.blogspot.com

 Drop by her blog and congratulate her this week--and let her know if you are interested in the book.  I'm sure she'd be glad to e-mail you when it comes out!

BTW, overall, the group lost 5.2 pounds, 1.9 percent body fat, and 3.4 inches.  Several of us have had medical issues, though, from injury and surgery to colds. We're all feeling pretty good about our progress and working together.  If you are having problems keeping on your new health routine, consider joining forces with some friends.

Circuit Torture--er, Training. Real world weight loss

Here we are at the one-month mark of my new circuit training routine, so I thought I'd give you an overall view of my progress, more than anything to show how a normal person loses weight.  This is me a month ago:

 

My body seems to enjoy 160-170, which I have been at for a decade now.  I am 5'3", so in theory, I'm on the border of overweight and obese:

Excuse me while I take this with a big grain of salt.

I'm large--a size 12-14--and I don't like my belly (or as Amber calls it, "the food baby") but obese?  Still, I am not happy with my shape or that I'm so weak, which is why I'm making some changes.

First, know that I am not dieting.  I have tried this in the past and I inevitably lose 5 pounds in the first week or two, then never lose again, give up after two months and gain it back. Also, I'm not interested in giving up sweets and such for a life of veggies and free-range chicken.  So I've cut down on the bad stuff.  Sodas are a once or twice a week, dessert on rare occasions, eating out once in a while.

However (as you know), I am exercising six days a week on a really intense routine that incorparates cardio and weights.  Here's me after a month:

Not the most flattering of pictures, true, but the point is to see what progress I made.  I'm trying to use the same outfit for photos and measurements each time.

It doesn't look like a lot, but I m toning up. I can go up the stairs without losing my breath, and I can carry more.  Also, my jeans fit better.  Here are my stats:

	15-Jan	8-Feb		loss
weight	169	165		4lb dec
body fat	38.5	35.3		3.2 dec
chest	38.7	36.9		1.8 dec
bust	41.1	39.6		.5 dec
waist	39	35		4.0 dec
hips	42.8	40.5		2.3 dec
abs	42	39.5		2.5 dec
thigh	22	23.9		1.9 inc
calf	15	15.1		.1 inc
bicep	11.6	11.8		.2 inc
forearm	10	9.8		.2 dec
neck	15	14.5		.5 dec

I'm not happy about how little weight I've lost, but Ryion, my Personal Torturer...er...trainer, said people often gain at first because fat is converting to muscle.  Plus, as I said, my body seems to settle into a comfortable weight and stay there regardless.  If I can shape my body better, I'll be satisfied.  Something else you can't see in the photo btw, is that I've established a better routine of exfoliating my face and for the dark circles under my eyes.  (My mother-in-law bought me some stuff for the circles.)

My next step is to drink more water. I'm supposed to drink 84 ounces a day.  The formula is half your weight in ounces.  I saw on Dr. Oz that lemon water is supposed to help, so I'm doing that.  I also want to add a multi-vitamin.  I'm bad about taking these regularly.

Toupee Mice by Karl Erickson

All Ian wanted to do was sing in the church choir.

However, he is a mouse, not a human. The choir members were not too happy to hear him—or see him! Join Ian and Pierre, along with their “big-boned” dwarf-hamster friend, Fred, as they disguise themselves to hide from Ludwig, the house cat afraid of dust bunnies. Along the way the determined and witty friends learn about Saint Cecilia and the importance of singing praise to God. 

Link to site:  http://rafkapress.com/children-s-books/toupee-mice.html