Trains of thought

A desperate cry for help

I'm putting the finishing touches on the new design, so if it's not live within the next 168 hours, feel free to pelt me with small rocks and bits of porcelain.

Bathing beauty

On The Biggest Loser last week, one of the personal trainers on the show had the contestants work out in the pool. There was kicking and splashing and girls who weigh more than me in bikinis (I think I read somewhere that the show made them wear two-piece suits). So I mentioned to Veronica the pool workout, and she took the idea and ran with it. Bright and early yesterday (can it still be "bright" when the sun hasn't come up yet, or is it just "early"?), Veronica and I, along with Meredith and Tara, the two other girls in my group sessions, met at the pool. We did swimming laps, we did running laps around a section of the "pool" area (more "water park" than pool) with a wave current thingy going, we used the underwater foam weights to get in some upper-body work. all in all, it was a good time. Veronica had us do five minutes of these killer drills where we'd push off a wall as hard as we could and swim back as fast as possible. Afterward, as we did some weight exercises, she asked us if we were feeling challenged. Tara looked at me, with my face matching my bright red swimsuit, and said, "I think so. I mean, look at Julie." I'm the underdog of the group, because although Tara and Meredith are heavier than me, they've been working with Veronica longer and have a little more endurance. It'll come, though. No one wants to be the first one to wimp out forever.

Speaking of Veronica, she's still making me eat fruit before noon. I was starting to slack a bit, so she said I can have other stuff too, as long as I have at least three fruit servings before noon. So I've taken to drinking Naked Juice as a morning snack. A small bottle is two servings, so that takes care of that. Berry Blast is my favorite - I can drink the whole bottle in under a minute. And then I follow it up with some pineapple chunks, which I love but Jason can't stand, and just like that I've held up my end of the bargain.

And between the fruit and my love of reduced-fat Triscuits, the pipes are feeling better, too.