The "Mother" of All Diets

I write this, sitting in bed drinking coffee, NOT up exercising like I should. Do you think it counts that at least I am writing about exercising? Actually, I think it is foretelling that I can't even spell exercising on the 1st try and always have to rewrite it. It is as if I'm phobic.

Anyway, July 1st is coming up and that will make a month on this diet. I started on June 1st...but was still drinking for 3 days, it wasn't until the following Monday that I really committed. Then of course came Father's Day. All in all I think I did pretty good, I stayed on my diet essentially (literally 2 small bites of the decadent, rich, luscious Yorkshire Pudding and only 2 very tiny bites of the dense, moist, warm whiskey cake) focusing on the meat and veggies of the meal. The wine was really really hard. As a extended family, we drink A LOT of wine, and good wine at that. If it had been Yellow Tail (Sorry Yellow Tail, but you know you aren't making legendary wines so you feel me right?), I could have said no, but when the good stuff comes out, well...it's my cryptonite. Needless to say, I drank the equivalent of several glasses of wine; started as innocent tiny sips, but the sips did get bigger, I'm not gonna lie, but I was surprisingly better than it could have been.

I have to stop and offer an apology for using the word "moist" in the above description. I know there are people out there that hate the word 'moist' and find reading or hearing "moist", physically disturbing. But lets face it, a cake is crap unless it is MOIST! Hahahahaha...

OK back to my diet. I didn't feel bad about Father's Day because I also went for a run that morning which I believe set me even to the drinking, maybe wobbling slowly for 2 miles doesn't make up for the calories in all that wine, but I choose to think it does. Needless to say, I jumped back into the non-drinking mode and made it another successful week...ok, almost a week.

My job at our winery is to taste and create wine notes, to which I did while spitting. This is outrageously difficult when the new wines are so delectable and the urge to sit and enjoy each one, like watching your child graduate from college, is undeniably strong. Yes, I did pat myself on the back for managing to avoid temptation. Another aspect of my job is to talk to potential businesses about partnering in various ways, for events or in a grander, more long term fashion, all of which are better if we sit and discuss over a glass of wine. Having a glass of wine puts people at ease and doing so together instantly makes you friends rather than the sticky issues of a strict business meeting full of numbers and bottom lines. Lectures, wine classes, staff training, wine analysis, sales...it ALL requires a sip of wine or more, yet I held back. Honestly it was a freaking miracle! Until Friday.

Ever have one of those (personal or work related) things that you have been working on or toward, nurturing, investing in and then have it come time to make it truly happen, it could be the beginning of something huge, or slip through your finger tips? Well, I had 2 in 1 day.  The success of back to back, very important aspects to our business and me personally, caused extreme endorphins to course through my body and scream WE NEED TO CELEBRATE!

In a moment of weakness, I gave in. And in, and in, and in. By the next morning, with a raging hangover, I assessed the damage. I did great on the food portion of the day, but I literally lost count on the wine portion. Bad! Bad! Bad!

I reluctantly told my diet guru. I also came to terms with my possible sabotage of all the hard work I'd put in and more importantly, saw that it is the day AFTER excessive drinking that is the real killer. All I wanted was a giant cheeseburger and fries...and a milkshake...and more wine. Getting back on track that day is what is keeping me good now, it was brutal! And watching my husband eat and drink whatever he wanted did not help.

Lets stop for a moment and have a little aside. It is so not fair that men can burn so many more calories! Given my husband is training for a off road 1/2 marathon so he is running a lot, but it seems so much easier for him. He asked why I couldn't simply eat less, why the extreme diet (we see anything that asks you not to drink daily as 'extreme'), to which I informed him I had been trying that. Well except for the 2 months in Colombia where I ate wheat and drank beer of course. But I'm 40 and my body isn't responding the way it used to. I'm recovering from a brain tumor that caused hormones to rage out of control (man those hormones are MFs) so my body needs a shock to get it jump-started again. This discrepancy between my husband and I with wight loss makes every pound he losses, while eating green chile and cheese smothered hashbrowns, and every step on the scale where I have not lost a pound while sipping protein shakes and fasting, all that more painful. I literally want to stomp my feet and pout.

Little kid temper-tantrum done, I am dedicated to getting back to my pre-tumor weight. After I had my son, I actually couldn't help but have the weight fall off, it was even difficult to keep from being too skinny while I ate anything I wanted! I know, I hate me too right now. Maybe the only truly perfect diet is breastfeeding. Is there some way I can arrange milk production without a pregnancy? I've heard stories of how in extreme cases, people can lactate! This IS an extreme case people, I think extreme measures are needed.

OK, no more procrastination, I've got work to do. In order to get this body in shape, I evidently will need to find a breast pump. Amazon, here I come!

* this post is brought to you by the wines that I celebrated with, thank you for the party: Vivac Abbott Estate Cabernet Franc, Vivac Abbott Estate Merlot, Vivac Rose of Sangiovese, and some non Vivac wines (yes we drink wines from everywhere...that's how we know just how fantastic ours are).

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

The Good, The Bad & The Fatty

Well, it has been 4 months exactly since we got back from Colombia. The 2 months there seemed to ooze in a sweet slow way. Life in Colombia was like submerging yourself under water in a pool; everything goes quiet and you become weightless. By the same right, being back home is like that inevitable moment when you finally have to come back up for air and the noise of the poolside chaos jarringly hits you as you break the surface. Since being back, everything seems to be on fast forward, I'm unable to keep up and I long for that cool, calm of deep water. I even dream about it each night.

But reality is, we gotta work! And, my waistline seriously can't be on vacation permanently. As all of you that follow this blog know, I had some "health issues" (to put it mildly) over the last few years and had uncontrollable weight gain. As I got healthier, weight fell off, then stopped. In an attempt to 'love myself the way I am' and be grateful for my improving health, regardless of the train-wreck that was left in its wake, I turned the other cheek to that mean voice in my head. And by "turn the other cheek", evidently I mean go ahead and let my big ass just stay big. Finally I had had it and decided to stop being 'cheeky' and do something about it.

Now if you recall, another fun thing I got from the 'health issue' was compromised ligaments and tendons. So when I jumped off a sailboat and landed on a docking cleat (1 year ago), I literally blew out my ankle (full rupture of 2 ligaments and badly tearing 2 tendons with a high ankle sprain), ya, no bueno. Then, in a series of unfortunate events, kinda like the popular show/ movie/ books by that name, tragic yet funny, I dislocated my shoulder...2 days later. I told you my sh*t was compromised! Anyway, it has taken a year to get my ankle to the point where I can now do some low impact exercise. Being that I had turned into a delicate marionette with my fragile ligaments and tendons, I actually listened to the doctors and have been very very careful. Now, full of fear, it is time to start to test my body. Ahhhh...my "Fueled by Vivac" fans, you are starting to see where this is going aren't you? Yes my dears, I am going to start complaining about running again! Woohoo!

My adventures in Colombia may have been full of thrills, but nothing will be as momentous as hauling my giant ass down the road on a wobbly ankle. And with hardly any physical activity over the last year combined with drinking beer and eating wheat while I was traveling, I now have to try to get back in shape while going through wheat withdrawals. Oh, didn't you know? Yep, I am also one of those annoying people that don't eat wheat. To add insult to injury (no pun intended...ok, maybe it was intended) I'm going to attempt a diet plan that requires me to give up my one true passion in life, wine (GASP!). Nothing should set up complaining like the lack of wine and wheat mixed with making me run. God save my husband and child, this could be scary.

So sit back, relax, open a bottle of wine for me and enjoy the impending doom.

* This blog is sponsored by 'the wines I want to be drinking so freaking bad!': Vivac Abbott Estate Merlot & Vivac Abbott Cab Franc. Oh and Vivac Rose of Sangiovese & Vivac Chardonnay. Oh and also Vivac Tempranillo and Vivac Club Select.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com