We are going back to the office and in-person meetings, and that means it’s time to lose some pandemic weight. I recently bought my first pandemic suit but I refuse to replace my button-down shirts.
So here’s to a summer of getting it together — and more Fiona Apple shirts!
It is hard to believe that I’ve been back in Dallas for an entire year.
The theme of the past year has been resilience — we moved across the country during the height of the pandemic when things were extremely uncertain. Would we get sick? Lose our jobs? Would Dallas be as awesome as we remembered it?
I am a week into my membership at the local Equinox gym, and it added some unexpectedly refreshing structure to my daily routine.
Equinox requires advanced scheduling for both solo workouts and classes, providing me with a solid deadline either to end work and leave for the gym, or a strict bed time (in the case of morning workouts).
Being forced to leave my apartment for an appointment also helps me organize my day, because I cannot allow work to sprawl into the late hours of the evening.
So after I restarted my workout kick, I quickly realized that my apartment building gym would not cut it. The gym is pretty small and my neighbors have no problem packing in the room.
After some hemming and hawing, I decided to join the Equinox gym in the neighborhood. The gym is large and the distancing is pretty decent for Texas. I also like that the membership comes with unlimited classes.
It has been about a week and everything hurts — I forgot that working out means constant soreness. Hopefully, this is just a learning curve and I’ll be less miserable in a week or two. But for now, it’s constant whining and griping.
The good news is that I haven’t quit halfway through a class or puked yet, so that’s a minor victory. And, several of my neighbors are considering joining the gym, so maybe soon my workout misery will have some company. 🏋️
Just prior to shutdown, I was halfway through a modified version of the “75 Hard” exercise fad.
The gist my routine was that I worked out twice a day for a minimum of 45 minutes per session. It was a big commitment, but felt great (most of the time).
I never subscribed to some of the more arbitrary rules of the 75 Hard program — like the requirement that one session has to be outside, or that you can’t make-up missed sessions when work gets crazy. Even I understood that flexibility is needed for thunderstorms and client demands. I also wasn’t going to take 5 minute cold showers every day because that’s clearly nonsense.
The point of this fitness spurt was to train myself to understand that exercise is something to be prioritized. Scheduling two exercise sessions per day instead of just one also makes it very hard to skip working out altogether. In short — I was on a roll.
Gyms recently opened back up in the District for the first time since the lockdown began, but I am not sure when I’ll be back.
After first hearing about Soylent years ago, I finally bought a case from Amazon on a whim.
Soylent is a meal replacement drink that purportedly contains 20% of your nutritional needs in each bottle.
The only good thing to come out of last fall’s Samsung cellphone recall saga was that I received a free Samsung Gear Fit2 with my phone as a pre-order promotion.
I had to give back my Note 2 because of the recall, but Samsung never asked for the watch back. (Could you imagine?)
This was also around the time when my Fitbit died for the second time, so I was in the market for a new watch anyway.
After about six months with the Gear Fit2, I am still happy with it and do not miss my Fitbit at all.
Fall hasn’t quite arrived in Dallas yet – everything is still green and the temperature is way too hot to wear anything but shorts.
However, it is not as if I’m really spending a significant amount of time enjoying the weather – I’m inside working for most of the weekdays, and my weekends are spent freelancing inside neighborhood cafes because it is too hot to sit outside.
Freelancing at OakLawn Coffee
A random I.T. problem knocked out my company’s web applications and email systems for most of the morning, but instead of enjoying the weather at the pool, I took some time to page through this blog.
There is no incidental exercise for me in Dallas.
I work from home. There’s a grocery and liquor store across the street. There are two dog parks in my complex, and 20 gay bars and restaurants within a few blocks of my apartment.
Long dog walks are also tricky.
It is routinely over 100 degrees in Dallas during the day, so I long walks have to happen at 5 a.m. or 10 p.m.
Before Fitbit, I relied solely on smartphone-based apps such as Map My Run. All of these apps were clunky and required me to manually log workouts.
I finally made the leap to wearables after seeing (the one and only) Zachariah Schnaap broadcast his workouts on Twitter and Facebook. It seemed cool, I had an extra $100 to spare…so why not?
I have tried a few other wearable fitness gadgets but the Fitbit Flex remains my favorite for a few reasons:
A screenshot of the Fitbit.com dashboard. The app experience is very similar.
Morbid obesity came around this morning.
Morbid Obesity: “Knock, knock!”
Me: “Who is it?”
Morbid Obesity: “Morbid obesity is a-knocking.”
Me: “I AM NOT HOME!”
Morbid Obesity: “Oh the hell you aren’t! I can hear them jelly rolls jiggling behind the curtains! Precious!”
Me: “Fine. But you are out of my life. Love don’t live here no more!”
Morbid Obesity: “That’s not what your bellah told me.”
Me: “I am working on it!”
Morbid Obesity: “Oh the hell you are! Between the record-breaking heat and the rain, you haven’t done cardio in FOUR DAYS!”
Me: “Today is the day!”
Morbid Obesity: “…for muffin top!”
Me: “GET OFF MY PROPERTY! I AM CALLING THE COPS!”
So to spite morbid obesity, I skated 12 miles around the lakes after work today. Thelakes are fabulous . There were the usual picnickers, swimmers, cute babies, studs, and concerts…
It’s late, I’m sweating, and my deodorant has broken down.
It’s summer, and it’s hot. My freshness is compromised.
Earlier this evening, Justin pointed out that it looks like Niagara Falls sprung from my armpits. I flashed a coy smile and wrung my armpit on his sofa… but my freshness woes are for another post…1
Spring semester ended and I started working full time. Things are changing at the office because all of my 3L friends graduated and moved on to bar prep, and a new set of interns took their place. It is exciting to have new coworkers, especially since new interns tend to overdress. They bring glamour to the cubicles.
The increased work schedule is complimented by my increased workout regimen. I skate around the lakes, got organized about lifting weights, and sometimes bike to work:
I skated around a lakes Cedar, Harriet, and Calhoun after class today. It was my first time around Cedar lake, which is north west of the other lakes.
Cedar lake is only partially surrounded by bike trails, and I found myself in a large park which made me feel like I was in the middle of a forest, despite being only a mile or two away from downtown:
There is also a portion of the trail along an old railroad right-of-way which has view of the city:
After my faux-forest-adventure, I returned to my apartment and ran into the cleaning ladies for the building who were, well, pissed off. Their note explains why:
Note: the “Best Week Ever” (BWE) posts are summaries of the prior week.
The past two weeks whizzed by. I don’t know what to say.
20lbs. In one month.
I decided to go mostly-organic after being mortified by Food Inc, and things are going well.