Ramblings: Happiness is not on a meal or on a bottle

Today I found happiness while reading an art magazine. I used to love to draw when I was young. It made the time fly even at the worst of times (when someone died or things were bad). I have abandoned my thrills after a certain age. I no longer go to museums or mix colors or paint or draw. I've been meaning to, but life keeps getting in the way.
But today I decided to read the current issue of an art magazine, and I have kept that grin on my face for most of the day. It was like rediscovering an old flame or reaquainting myself with an old friend. It felt good and comfortable. I want to explore that feeling for a little longer.
Eating has never been something that makes me happy for hours, specially if it was something "bad" for me. Drinking has never had a great effect on me, and pills have never delivered on the promisse of joy I've expected. So maybe the solution is to look for that thing that makes you happy and hold on to it for dear life, specially when life gets in the way.
Keep trying.

Weekly Stats

Weight: 190 LBS.
Height: 5' 3 1/2"
Monday: Walked 3 miles
Wednesday: Walked 3 miles
Thursday: 5 sets 12 reps squats
100 bycep curls/ both sides
100 trycep extensions
This month the dumbell is 3 pounds.
Measurements next week, I promisse
Keep trying.

Motivation: I want to loose weight because...

After many days of exercise, trying to eat right and just taking care of myself, it comes a time when you have to think, why do you want to loose weight. I want to loose weight because I want to look hot in my 40's and beyond. I spent my 20's and 30's thinking I was ugly and fat, even when I was 120 lbs. I wasted so many years caring for what others thought of me. It was a waste, and if I can stop one female from making the same mistake I made, I will be happy.
I don't have any altruistic reason, or any beautiful mind view of what I want to accomplish. All I want is too look young and beautiful. Is there anything wrong with that?

Exercise: The move of the week - remember ballet

I took ballet lessons for a year (maybe two) when I was young. I actually have the pictures to proove it. Anyway, I remember the most important time of the class was the practice in the bar. I had to stand with a semipoint and with the other foot, lift to the front, to the side and to the back. Then turn and do with the other leg. Now I am 40 years old and I work at home. But I have learned to recognize when I can take about two or three minutes, stand up, give my butt a rest and do this. As many times as I can, I get up, use the desk as a ballet bar and I do 10 lifts to each side (total 30 per leg) and then I turn around and do it with the opposite leg. Today I did it three separate times.
The important thing is to add little exercises throught out your leg. You do that for two reasons:
1) you need to give your butt a break at least once an hour (in my job, the brakes are once every two hours, so you need to get creative in order to stand up at least once every hour).
2) every little bit helps. If your butt is sore or your arms feel like you did some lifting the next day, you will see the fruits of your labor.
You have to be patient, you have to be consistent. You need to keep at it if you want to make it. Let's keep working at it.

Nutrition: The trick with vegetables

I discovered recently that any meal can be improved with the addition of a few veggies. Say you have a meal that is 300 calories, out of which 150 are fat. Add two servings of veggies to your meal (200 calories) and your numbers improve. Why? Logic. If you have a 300 calorie meal, fat is 50% of that meal. Adding the vegetables makes this meal 30% fat, which is not so terrible. If the vegetables are uncooked or steamed with no added fat, even better. Plus, vegetables make you feel full, not stuffy.
When you do something like that during lunch time, you end up feeling ready for the rest of the day. If you stuff your face with the regular carbs like pasta or rice, you feel stuffed and the afternoon drags out. You even feel like taking a nap instead of taking on the day.
That is my version of the good thing about vegetables. I realize that I am not teaching you anything but that is not the point. Sometimes we know all the information and we still do the wrong things, specially with our diet. Some times what we need is something that sounds logical, not clinical. If you add vegetables to your diet it does not really matter what the reason is, just that you are doing the right thing.