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The Interview and Biggest Loser

Yesterday was my interview with the WW regional manager. It was actually a group interview, me plus another prospective leader, and also a prospective receptionist.  The interviewer kept apologizing for asking us “dumb and boring questions” which seemed like not a very helpful or professional thing to say, but whatever. I thought it was actually kind of interesting. She’d ask a question and then I’d answer, then person B, then person C. She kept looking at the clock and towards the end started saying, “OK, answer in ONE WORD.” I was like… okay. I think she just wanted to make sure we were not total psychopaths or idiots. Then she had me and the other wannabe leader get up and use the flip chart to talk about the 4 points of the Momentum program. Then we had to pick our favorite WW product and try to sell it to them.

I picked the magazine. Partly because I am a magazine junkie, and partly because I am not familiar with or a huge fan of many of the other products. I think I did OK. She kept saying, “Perfect! Perfect!”

The receptionist person seemed very unhappy. When the interviewer asked us to “What one word would your co-workers use to describe you?” I said, “Enthusiastic.” The other woman said, “Serious.” You’re not kidding, lady. She looked like she was about to get up and throttle someone. The other woman was extremely calm, professional, responsible seeming. She reminded me of Michelle Obama, very cool and unflappable, yet friendly. I felt a little scattered in comparison, but I did have the Enthusiasm thing going for me.

They said they’d get back to me in a week.

I’m finding it all interesting and somewhat amusing. I recently found a blog that detailed the horrible compensation/pay/conditions that WW employees have to endure. That’s no surprise. It’s basically a few millimeters up from a volunteer job. I’m just… curious. I will wait and see how it all pans out. Meanwhile, I think I am going to not tag or categorize these posts regarding this topic. I have the feeling that the Powers That Be over there would not be totally jazzed about me blogging my experiences.

I wore one of my new dresses from The Shopping Spree on the interview. (btw, some of the things I bought on that shopping trip are now too big!) I was feeling all trim and pretty. When I got home, I asked my daughter to take some pics of me. I was stunned that the photos looked NOTHING like what I thought I looked like in the mirror. Not particularly trim and maybe only marginally pretty. Hmph. This whole camera/mirror/real life thing is confusing. What DO I look like? I have no idea.

On to Biggest Loser. I started blogging when the (3 hour!) show came on. I was going to go on and on about how this season of the Biggest Loser has felt so personal to me, because they started when I did, and here we all are, blah blah blah. Of course they all began much heavier than me, and many of them are wayyyyy fitter than me. I have generally cried during each episode of this season.

But as the episode wore on (yawwwwwwwn) I realized that it was boring the poo out of me. It was really nothing more than a 3 hour weigh-in. Blech. I realized that one of the things I love most about BL is watching them do their workouts and challenges. Those things inspire me so much. The weigh-ins and dramatic game stuff, not so much. Ugh.

I was appalled when I saw Helen. She looked so good when they last were on the ranch, wearing this skinny little black outfit. Now she looks emaciated. I was horrified. I read somewhere that she is only one pound over being in the BMI “underweight” category. That seems so wrong. I also read that earlier seasons of the BL calculated winners based on a combo formula of pounds lost/fat percentage lost, but they are now doing strictly pounds. WRONG.

I was so disappointed. I have been such a loyal fan of this show, in spite of its many flaws and mistakes and stupid ideas, but I felt really let down last night. The healthiest, fittest people were not rewarded.  And that seems wrong. Ugh.

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How Much Does that Food Weigh?

I never, ever thought I would buy or use a food scale. I had many reasons for this: the scale seemed expensive, it seemed like an excessive/obsessive thing to do, I was afraid that the scale would tell me I needed to eat much, much less than I wanted to, and so on.

But this week I got to the point where I was actually curious. About what my food weighed. And I felt like this was a reasonable reason to go ahead and buy a scale.

I used it for the first time tonight. We were having flank steak. To stay within my points range for the day, I was allotting myself 3 ounces of steak. First, I eyeballed it, using the visual “deck of cards” estimated size. Then I set up the scale and weighed. Hah. My portion weighed FOUR ounces. I was all, “How about that.” It looked like a very small amount. I was not upset, but I was surprised. Hmph. No wonder.  I started substituting and taking away until it read 3.0 oz. What I ended up with was two strips of steak.  Normally I can easily put away eight strips, no problem. So yeah. Portion control has definitely been my Achilles heel.

But my dinner was great. I had the steak, plus an extremely delicious mache salad with blush wine vinaigrette and slivered almonds and feta crumbles. Mache is a very delicate, round-leafed lettuce, almost like clover. It’s delicious.  I also had a fancy-shmancy shrimp and avocado cocktail that I got from Biggest Loser trainer Jillian’s book. It was yummy. All very yummy. And in the end I was quite satisfied, almost fullish.

How about THAT. I actually used a food scale, and the world did not come to an end.

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Bad Day/Good Day

Yesterday was just one of those super funky days.  Today has been a very good day. The difference? E-X-E-R-C-I-S-E.

So yesterday I got up with good intentions. I put on my workout clothes.  Drove my daughter to school.  My plan was to come back, eat breakfast, charge up my iPod, work out on the erg machine, then shower and go to work. (luckily, or unluckily, I have a VERY flexible schedule and boss)

I had been thinking that maybe I ought to add back some “good carbs” into my eating. I’ve been eating more eggs than I can count, mostly egg whites.  So I thought to change things up I’d have a little oatmeal. Now, I am not a huge fan of oatmeal. I loooove “smooth” hot cereals like Malt O Meal but not sure how it compares health wise. I remembered seeing an ad for Starbucks “Perfect Oatmeal.” I got the oatmeal and was quite charmed by the tiny little packets of brown sugar, chopped nuts and dried fruit. I passed on the sugar, and added about 1/2 packet each of the nuts and fruit. Then I ran into someone I knew and chatted for a while. MISTAKE. When I got to my car, there was a bright green $45 parking ticket. BOOOOOO.

I came home. I was upset. I added up my points for the oatmeal etc and was mad when I realized it was more than I’d anticipated/wanted. I went into a funk. I started fooling around on Twitter/Facebook and before I knew it, hours had passed. I kept saying, “I ought to go exercise” but I didn’t. Then I started feeling HUNGRY and that made me even madder. Damn that oatmeal!!

I ended up not exercising at all. I had to go somewhere and didn’t have time to exercise AND shower, and I really needed to shower. I was in a funk. For some bizarro reason I had the weirdest, strongest craving for HOT DOGS all day. Really? Hot dogs? Why crave what is basically a NON food but really a piece of garbage? I don’t know. But I could not get hot dogs out of my mind.  My brain was crawling with hot dogs.

Fortunately, I practiced some deep breathing and managed to get through the day without eating any hot dogs. I was in a big rush. I ordered Indian food takeout. I ate much much much too quickly although did not eat any naan or rice. It was good but I probably ate too much. (note to self: buy food scale next time at WW) Went out to see a friend’s performance. Bought a bottle of water at intermission. Went to bed vowing to have a better day today.

TODAY, I woke up and after driving girl to school, went straight to my trainer. He was fa-bu-lo-so. He gave me a great Biggest Loser type workout. I felt like Sione. He kept hooting and yelling, GIRL, you are really BRINGING IT! I was happy and sweaty.

I have been having some hip muscle pain for the past couple months -first the inside of my hip (groin) and then it migrated to the outside. My trainer’s bodyworker came in and he so very generously GAVE ME half of his time with her. She had just done this workshop on hips and she was eager to try out all her new tricks. I was so excited!! She worked on me for 30 mins and when I hopped off the table I felt like a million bucks. Seriously. It was sooooooooo good. (note to self: schedule more bodywork)

Then I had a pre-existing appointment to go to this chair massage place (yeah! another bodywork) with a friend. We each got mini 15-minute chair massages which was great since this one focused mostly on my neck and shoulders. YAY. Then we had lunch and I had a very satisfying/modest bean soup, Mediterranean salad and a few steamed clams. All good.

I feel sooooooooooooo much better today.  It’s like a different universe.  I have to remember this every single day. If I don’t get my dose of endorphins, I feel awful. If I do, everything is easier.

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