Determined To Succeed

If you ever find yourself in New York City head on over to Greenwich Village. Nestled within it’s eclectic streets is a wonderful little Italian restaurant called Palma. It was there I had one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time.

It started with cheesy artichoke appetizers, fried cheese balls, meatballs (the best appetizer of the bunch) and roasted cauliflower. Great tasting but other places have served fried cheese balls before.

But then I had a culinary revelation, the reason I am making this “worth the splurge.” I was next treated to a sampling fresh ravioli pasta stuffed with both butternut squash and Bolognese “gravy.” Each one was out of this world. These little pasta delights (you get about 5 ravioli per plate) is well worth the calories. The tastes of the Bolognese inside the pasta topped off with a cheesier sauce was incredible.

Finally, for dessert (or desert as it as printed on the receipt after) I tasted a creme brûlée made with figs and a ricotta cheesecake. Decadent, amazing and worth every calorie.

Like I’ve said before eating like this is a treat, to be sure. But if you find yourself in an “Empire State of Mind” check out the ravioli at Palma. You won’t regret it.

While I wouldn’t say I fell completely off the bandwagon yesterday I must say I wasn’t the best I could be either.

Yesterday I attended One Day University, a one day series of lectures done by great guest speakers (except for the last guy who was awful) in New York City. I attended because I thought it would be great way to expand knowledge, network a bit and get some wonderful information for the website and my column. And I was right.

But it also led me down a strange food path yesterday and something of a food hangover today.

For starters, when I met people there we all started with breakfast which is weakness number one. Especially when it’s a delicious food buffet filled with french toast, eggs and bacon. I threw in a view grilled veggies (two tomato slices and a few asparagus pieces) to add some “health” to the meal. The positives in this were 1) I didn’t help myself to seconds at the all-you-can-eat buffet which is huge for me (no pun intended) and 2) I didn’t fill my plate up greatly and like I used to.

The days programming went on and it then came time for lunch, for which hundreds (at least) of people all used the same forty minutes (JUST FORTY MINUTES) to cram down lunch and get back to “class.”So sitting at the lunch table we all tried to be healthy and order lighter things. However when we asked the waiter what would be the quickest he said the burgers as the burger cook was moving fast. As there were only 20 minutes left in “lunch” we took him up on it. Grrrrr. Not only did I eat fries and a burger (which I have to say was decent) but I only had two bites of it before rushing back to class which I was almost late for.

It really did feel like college again. On the floor of the next class I finished my burger, wolfing it down in the most collegiate (unhealthy) way.

Dinner was amazing. We all ate at an Italian place in Greenwich Village and it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. It started with cheesy artichoke appetizers, fried cheese balls, meatballs (the best appetizer of the bunch) and roasted cauliflower. Yum. Then I had a sampling fresh ravioli pasta stuffed with both butternut squash and bolognese “gravy.” Out of this world (which will be one of my next “Worth The Splurge” articles).  For dessert (or desert as it was printed on the receipt after) we all split a creme brûlée made with figs and a ricotta cheesecake. Decadent, amazing and worth every calorie.

As I was driving back yesterday I got myself a Coke. To fight off a case of food coma sleepy and  because I was so full I needed to settle my stomach. It was so fun I also had strange dreams best left to someone else’s dream analysis blog

Was I happy when I got on my scale today? Hell no. I gained back two pounds so I am back up to 239.5.  But I will make up for it today with better diet and exercise. You betcha. I will let you guys know what I eat today in tomorrow’s blog.

And even though I ate too much I knew it was too much and that’s the point. KNOWING it’s too much. KNOWING I need to get back to a better, healthier way of eating AND exercise. KNOWING to get back to a routine. That is an awesome feeling. This weight loss journey has changed my life and totally for the better as I now know what to do and when and I carry that with me for the rest of my life.

As I was working out today a few random thoughts came to my head. And not the standard question of the “did I leave the iron on” variety. No, I mean things like…

…ok, I am really sick and tired of the equipment not being repaired in a timely fashion at the gym. I am so sick and tired of having only one elliptical and one treadmill working and wondering 1) when are those going to break down 2) why do I have to pay for equipment that’s broken and 3) when the hell are they going to be fixed.

…hmmmm. These new airport body scanners. I agree we need them for a good long time to come (maybe even more) until we can determine with as close to 100% assurance we are safe in the skies. And no matter whether it happens to me or not, or whether I get pulled over for additional random search, at least it’s happening to others and that makes me feel safer.

…why is “Avatar” making so much money? I guess I don’t see the big deal in this movie but others think it is amazing. It is on a technical level but break it down for story and it leaves me cold. Also, I hope it doesn’t beat “Titanic” at the box office.

…CNN is reporting on a guy who affixes cameras to animals to see things from their point of view and that is getting press. SIgh. I know I’m in PR but sometimes they report on the craziest crap. And how do I get that attention for my website? Do I need to make a viral YouTube video of me doing something nutty while wearing my website t-shirt? And what would that be? Working out on the elliptical outdoors in sub-freezing temps in nothing but basketball shorts and my t-shirt while singing “Empire State of Mind” at the top of my lungs?

Why tell you all of this? Why give you this sneak peak into my mind? Because it’s thoughts like these that help pass the time during a workout. I love it when my mind chews on something so much I don’t think about my exercise goal. I just think about other stuff. Then, before I know it, I’m almost done with (or further past) my goal for the day. I don’t feel winded, or overworked, mentally or physically. I just feel great.

I’ve always said you need some good tunes on your ipod to help give you good motivation during a workout. But no matter whether you use a TV, ipod, book (although I do not know how some people read on a treadmill or other equipment), etc., whatever helps motivate you is cool.

What do you use to help get you going? Do you use certain songs? Or watch a particular TV show? Sometimes I even use negative feelings to fuel a workout. That’s OK, too. It’s better than using them to shove food into my mouth. Take a survey of those around you today. Ask people what things motivate them to action, even an action like simply tapping their feet. It’s interesting, no? I think so anyway.

As we embrace week two of 2010 strive to make (or begin) your weight loss journey something that doesn’t feel like work. Instead try to make it feel like a journey, and there is no better way to start or continue a journey than with company of some sort.

Ugh. I am dragging my butt today. That’s what I get for staying out until 2 AM on New Year’s Eve. I had a blast but I still had to get my lazy butt up to go workout today no matter how late I slept.

As I was getting dressed I kept thinking how nice it would be to see someone (anyone) in the gym working out, too. Just as a motivator. Like “I’m not the only one doing this crazy s$%t on New Year’s Day. But did I see anyone? No. Hell no. If you can imagine the image of a tumbleweed in one of those old west movies blowing across the street in the deserted town. That’s what it was like.

Silent. Empty. Unmotivating.

I felt freaking deflated. I mean, c’mon. Am I the only one working out today? It was enough to make me NOT work out today. But I walked over to the elliptical and got on the damn thing and pressed “start.” Luckily the thing has a TV attached to it so I turned it on and started flipping channels. I landed on Comedy Central because shots of depressing news, Regis and Kelly and stupid reality shows weren’t going to cut it.

But something cool happened. As the Tracy Morgan special ended Comedy Central did me a true favor. It played one of the funniest movies ever – the original “Airplane.” And can I just tell you that watching that movie made the time getting through the usual four miles go so much faster. Before I knew it I got to three miles and almost four by the time of the first commercial. That was awesome.

There are just days harder than others to find motivation to exercise. Thanks to this movie I finished my four miles and laughed my way to do my 100 tummy crunches.

So thank you Paramount Pictures for “Airplane.” You may not know me from Adam but that 30 year old movie (God, is it 30 years old already?) helped me start my new year in a healthy mental empire state of mind.