One tomato does not make a lunch...
... True ne?
Anyway. I've been very stressed (about work) and bored now that there are no dance classes in August. Combine that with this sticky weather (Hong Kong-esque) I decided to take myself off to the ice rink on Monday. Genius idea. I went really early thinking everyone else would be trying to escape the humid weather, but nope - it was not busy really.
It has been a long while (and several kilos) since i skated last, and while in my own mind I'm channeling my inner Yagudin, i was in truth very rusty. Thank goodness for my abnormally large arse otherwise i'd probably have a broken coccyx or hip (like the old lady i am). But after a while doing silly things, like flailing and falling, i got my backwards cross overs together etc. This was super timing because that's when a gang of kids on a summer holiday activity arrived (none of them were kids i work with thank G). There were only around 10 of them, but i thought i'd be polite and ask the coach if she wanted me to vacate the ice for them. She seemed to want as many bodies around to rein in the kids as possible so she let me stay.
I got very nostalgic watching some of these kids (when i wasn't watching my own feet), i remember that 'lets go as fast as we can until we crash or throw up' game that they all seemed to be playing.
I spoke to the coach at the end and she gave me some tips about getting my own skates (hired skates are never nice just like bowling shoes)and we got talking about conditioning and me being a bit more into skating now I'm older. I'm not saying i'm going to get up at skate every day at stupid o' clock (there should only be one 5 o'clock in the day and that's practically tea time) or that i want to do competitions, i was thinking of more like twice a week for fun or fitness.
Then she tells me how dieting would be essential in my case. Well yeah i kind of knew that having lived in this body for 27 years. She suggested some conditioning books for work out and diet and her final tip, which is really the clincher...
... 'Try eating just one piece of fruit or veg for a meal. Like a tomato for lunch, a cucumber for dinner...'
Um since when is a side order of salad an entire day's food? What quad-jumping Olympians do to get their bodies light enough to jump quads is all well and good for them, but me? I'm not planning on jumping all that much, hell i'm not planning on doing anything that much.
I was so glad the kids had gone by this point, what she said could have been dangerous for an impressionable kid who dreams about competing. But to me it was just stupid. Yes i can stand to lose a lot of weight but i'm not going to starve myself for it and i'm certainly not going to do it for skating which at most is a hobby.
I checked out her suggested conditioning book on Amazon and also picked up Johnny Weir's autobiography too. Weir's book was compelling and illuminating but then the salad reared its ugly head again. In one chapter Weir discusses how his dinner date didn't judge when he ordered a single tomato for dinner. It was like being stalked from the fridge or vegetable patch.
The rest of the autobiography was great and the conditioning book mentioned nothing of the crazy one tomato meal diet, but it did get me thinking. Is that what separates us mortals from champions? Not the ability to subsist on minuscule amounts of fruit, but the amount of sacrifice. I don't think i could sacrifice carbs if that was my life (yes i'm being flippant) the pressure of being a champion would drive me to comfort eating quicker than you can say triple-toe-loop.
I went back to the rink this morning (after a breakfast of cereals and fruit - the horror!), hired skates on, ipod on too and had a nice relaxing time just messy around to some music. That's the way i want to keep it - light in mood if not in body. But i just had to share the tomato story - too crazy!
P.S. The music i was playing was The Red Baron OST (average film but superb soundtrack).
Anyway. I've been very stressed (about work) and bored now that there are no dance classes in August. Combine that with this sticky weather (Hong Kong-esque) I decided to take myself off to the ice rink on Monday. Genius idea. I went really early thinking everyone else would be trying to escape the humid weather, but nope - it was not busy really.
It has been a long while (and several kilos) since i skated last, and while in my own mind I'm channeling my inner Yagudin, i was in truth very rusty. Thank goodness for my abnormally large arse otherwise i'd probably have a broken coccyx or hip (like the old lady i am). But after a while doing silly things, like flailing and falling, i got my backwards cross overs together etc. This was super timing because that's when a gang of kids on a summer holiday activity arrived (none of them were kids i work with thank G). There were only around 10 of them, but i thought i'd be polite and ask the coach if she wanted me to vacate the ice for them. She seemed to want as many bodies around to rein in the kids as possible so she let me stay.
I got very nostalgic watching some of these kids (when i wasn't watching my own feet), i remember that 'lets go as fast as we can until we crash or throw up' game that they all seemed to be playing.
I spoke to the coach at the end and she gave me some tips about getting my own skates (hired skates are never nice just like bowling shoes)and we got talking about conditioning and me being a bit more into skating now I'm older. I'm not saying i'm going to get up at skate every day at stupid o' clock (there should only be one 5 o'clock in the day and that's practically tea time) or that i want to do competitions, i was thinking of more like twice a week for fun or fitness.
Then she tells me how dieting would be essential in my case. Well yeah i kind of knew that having lived in this body for 27 years. She suggested some conditioning books for work out and diet and her final tip, which is really the clincher...
... 'Try eating just one piece of fruit or veg for a meal. Like a tomato for lunch, a cucumber for dinner...'
Um since when is a side order of salad an entire day's food? What quad-jumping Olympians do to get their bodies light enough to jump quads is all well and good for them, but me? I'm not planning on jumping all that much, hell i'm not planning on doing anything that much.
I was so glad the kids had gone by this point, what she said could have been dangerous for an impressionable kid who dreams about competing. But to me it was just stupid. Yes i can stand to lose a lot of weight but i'm not going to starve myself for it and i'm certainly not going to do it for skating which at most is a hobby.
I checked out her suggested conditioning book on Amazon and also picked up Johnny Weir's autobiography too. Weir's book was compelling and illuminating but then the salad reared its ugly head again. In one chapter Weir discusses how his dinner date didn't judge when he ordered a single tomato for dinner. It was like being stalked from the fridge or vegetable patch.
The rest of the autobiography was great and the conditioning book mentioned nothing of the crazy one tomato meal diet, but it did get me thinking. Is that what separates us mortals from champions? Not the ability to subsist on minuscule amounts of fruit, but the amount of sacrifice. I don't think i could sacrifice carbs if that was my life (yes i'm being flippant) the pressure of being a champion would drive me to comfort eating quicker than you can say triple-toe-loop.
I went back to the rink this morning (after a breakfast of cereals and fruit - the horror!), hired skates on, ipod on too and had a nice relaxing time just messy around to some music. That's the way i want to keep it - light in mood if not in body. But i just had to share the tomato story - too crazy!
P.S. The music i was playing was The Red Baron OST (average film but superb soundtrack).