Burn Those Potluck Calories!

Did someone say sauna? As the heat peaked at about 1:30 on Monday afternoon with 100 degree plus, heat stroke inducing, temperatures outside and no cooling breeze, but a cooler 96 degrees indoors, I stayed in for a treadmill run. An artificial wind was created by pointing an electric fan against the front of the treadmill. Away I go as slowly as I can, trudging along while reading the newspaper, taking care not to splash my perspiration on it as much as possible. Helping along was an out-of-fashion tennis headband to keep the stinging sweat off my eyes. Upon completion of an hour, an additional 25 minutes of recovery walking was tacked on to burn off the excess calories consumed during a surprise potluck birthday party at work for 2 colleagues. The fare consisted of the usual greasy and fattening pizza, hot wings, meatballs, chips with extra hot homemade salsa, two different kinds of cakes, cheese cake, and bread pudding. The one hour and twenty five minute workout was a first step in taking care of those calories. A newly acquired book/magazine holder for the treadmill/stationary bike/elliptical machine was put into good use. A good, sweaty, calorie burning workout on a sweltering day. Summer at fall is here. It’s good to run again!

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National Running Day Sentimentality

Running on a treadmill on National Running Day (Wednesday) was not the most ideal way to celebrate it especially when it was not part of my workout schedule, but rather just had to do it to be sentimental. It was something I should have at least done outdoors since it was a beautiful day. Instead I did a token run on the treadmill for thirty minutes plus another thirty minutes on the elliptical machine and twenty minutes on the stationary bike.

                Why all the activity, you ask? Well, National Running Day fell on my birthday and my coworkers threw a potluck party for me at work on the night shift. You know what that means: another bout of overeating. Thus, there was a need afterwards to balance things out by burning those calories. That was the reason for the extended workout. I normally don’t do any aerobic exercise past an hour, but with all the eating we did, I felt the need to do something extra. Even though the slow treadmill run added to the calorie burn, my ankles did not appreciate not being given the extra day off from the activity. Maybe next year I will arrange my schedule better so I can fit in a run day on that date.

As a result, Thursday’s scheduled run became a slog of sorts. Even though I planned for an easy run/walk, my tired legs made for a slower than usual pace and sore than usual ankles. I’ll chalk it up to the previous day’s workout and the junk food induced malaise from the potluck party.

Oh well, such is life. It can’t feel good all the time. Running due to pure sentimentality didn’t help either. I promise to do better next year.

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Oh No! Not Another Potluck!

Another night and another birthday potluck at work. Damn, that makes it three for the month of February alone, and thank goodness, it’s a short month and it’s over! I hope that nobody has a birthday on the night shift in March so our veins and arteries can recover from the cholesterol onslaught they’ve been subjected to.

When I eat too much unhealthy food, I can feel the difference in my body. As if unhealthy food wasn’t a problem, we tend to eat more of it thus exacerbating the problem. No wonder I’m steadily gaining weight and struggling to rein it back in. These potlucks are becoming an exercise in gluttony. Too much food are being bought or brought. The taste buds in the mouth say “more, more” even when the stomach is saying “no mas, no mas”. Being the single person in the group, it is me who gets to take home the leftovers with permission from the other potluckers, and I’m good for the next few days without having to cook or buy anything. It’s hard to see food go to waste but I’ll have to start declining the offers to take them home.

It is time to put everybody’s collective feet down and agree that we would only do one potluck a month to celebrate everyone who has a birthday for that particular month. I’ll be the first one to volunteer my foot.

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