Health | BulgingButtons

May 17, 2015
by BulgingButtons 9 Comments

Countdown to 50

It even looks awful

What have I gotten myself into this time?

I’ve agreed to a challenge in which I will consume one veggie smoothie per week in place of an actual dinner with the thought that I will thereby lose 50 pounds over the course of a year.

You see, this summer I’ll be turning 49, and it would be fantastic to face 50 a little leaner. Ok, maybe not leaner, but with 50 fewer pounds of fat hugging my body.

How did this challenge come about? Well… one of our favorite breakfast places has begun serving smoothies as well as delicious skillets and omlettes. No, we didn’t order one, but it got my sweetheart thinking that if we replace just one meal per week, it could make a big impact. That and cutting down on the chips and dip and Hot Tamales, of course. Before I knew it, I was agreeing to try it. We’ll begin after my summer trip, so that will give us about 50 weeks to drop the 50 pounds. That’s totally reasonable.

Oh man, I’m afraid already. I HATE vegetable smoothies. If you have any recipes that don’t taste exactly like vomit, I’d love to hear from you.

May 16, 2015
by BulgingButtons 7 Comments

What Could You Give Up?

I could probably give this up forever.

My sweetheart went to the grocery store and bought chip dip. It wasn’t the kind in the plastic tub, it came in a glass jar. I was immediately suspicious. I come from the land of chip dip in a plastic tub. You know, the good stuff. Still, it was chip dip. How bad could it be

Surprisingly bad, it turns out. It had a weird taste to it, and a faintly greyish hue. And no, it wasn’t past its expiration date (I checked). Did I eat it? Some of it, but the rest got washed down the drain without a second thought. It was that bad.

I was just thinking about it and thinking to myself, if I never had that particular type of chip dip again I would be very happy. Then I thought about not ever having ANY chip dip again, and I was significantly less sure of my long-term happiness with that particular scenario. People do it, though. They give up all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons. Continue reading →

April 30, 2015
by BulgingButtons 4 Comments

A Night Owl Living in an Early Bird’s World

Once again I sit here at my computer past the hour when I should be in bed. Why? Because I don’t want to go to bed! I don’t like going to bed. Oh sure, I’m perfectly happy once I’m there (most of the time) but the little kid in me still thinks I’m somehow going to miss out on something if I go to sleep.

This thinking, fortunately, doesn’t extend to naps. That’s good news, because by the time the weekend rolls around I usually need one. My sleep debt hits its peak and I have to make up for it somehow.

Back in the day, I used to stay up late reading. Then I went to college. It seems like nothing fun ever began before 11:00 pm, so my natural night owl tendencies were rewarded and strengthened. After college my first real job started late in the day, so I still had no reason not to stay up late. This pattern continued for a while, until I decided to go to graduate school to become a teacher. What a rude awakening that was (I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself).

Student teaching on the far side of town during the winter months of snow and ice required me to get up by 4:30 each morning. It was hell. I was used to just getting home around then. Still, I was motivated, so I adjusted. I also collapsed every day when I got home from school. I remember that time of my life as being sort of zombiesque.

Over the years I’ve managed to function pretty well in the regular world, in spite of my preference for late bedtimes and later wake up times. I’ve even begun waking up at about 7:00 am on the weekends for no good reason, other than it’s better than my weekday time of 5:20. Still, over my breaks from school, I find myself staying up later and later and then sleeping in more and more. At one time I figured I would do best sleeping from about 2:00 to 9:00 each day, but now that I’m older, I’ll say about 1:00 to 8:00. Honestly any seven hours in a row would do me a world of good. Maybe it’s time to get off the computer and go to bed, but then again, I might miss something if I do.

What kind of hours do you keep? Are you an early bird or a night owl? And how much sleep do you typically get each night? I know that sleep patterns change over time; have yours?