Sunday, February 26, 2006

Ten things you don't know about me: #10


#10: for many years I made my living as a "Plus" model.


I used to get stopped on the streets on a regular basis by modeling agents who thought I should get into the business. The only problem was that when I'd go for the first interview they'd always tell me to lose fifty pounds and then come back. I'm 5'10", so I'm tall enough, but they were asking me to get down to 120 lbs, a weight I was at in fifth sixth grade. If I go below my present weight of 140 lbs I start to look skeletony from the waist up. That big rear just stays put. I just don't have THAT kind of model structure. Now back in those days I did weigh a good fifteen to twenty lbs more than I do now and I still wasn't into wanting to lose it yet. Or rather I was but I wasn't doing it...Then a female agent I had in Firenze suggested I go for the new "plus" sizes since these models were difficult to find. In Europe a plus size model wears a size 12 or 14 (as compared to normal models that wear a size 6) , so this was perfect for me. Since the "real" models didn't want these jobs (considered beneath them and only 'cause they had gained weight) I was happy to take them up since the pay was exactly the same! In my plus modeling stint I worked for Max Mara, Luciano Soprani, Versace, Laura Biagiotti, and my number one moment was a fitting session for Valentino WITH Valentino. Well, actually it was for Valentino, his gorgeous blonde American lover and their four dogs. I was flown down to Rome for the occasion and worked the day at his atelier next to Piazza di Spagna. Unfortunately I wasn't asked back because he thought my rear was too large for his fitting clothes. Oh well, thanks anyway Valentino! The last job I did was in 1993 at the ripe age of 33 (I lasted a long time 'cause I always looked younger than I was) just three months after having given birth to Olivia. If I recall correctly it was catalog work. I brought her with me and breastfed her in between photo shoots. That one job was fun with her but I couldn't see it happening again and in that one moment I was just happy to take the time to be her Mom.
A few months later I started running regularly and got too thin for the "plus" clothes. End of Plus modeling career.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

A First

Yesterday I was huggling with hubby, which is easy to do since in our studio his work area is side-by-side to mine. I just hop off my desk and plop myself in his lap and get myself some hugs and kisses at any time of the day! We've been together almost ten years now, but I still like to ask him useless questions like "Do you still love me?" where he has an obligatory answer. We do it at least twice a week. Cheap fun. So while he was correctly answering all of my silly questions he said, "Just don't lose any more weight".

Now Hubby is a man of very few words. In terms of emotion or expressing how he feels it's like pulling teeth. If he says anything significant to you, you have to take it seriously 'cause he'll only say it once. He's seen me at my low of 137 lbs and my high of 190 lbs. and has never said ANYTHING about either values. NOTHING. Just kept loving me exactly how I was, and for that I am very grateful. So I had to really listen to what he was saying.

"You don't like me like this?"
"No, you look good, just don't lose anymore."
"I thought you liked thinner women?"
(no answer = not necessarily true)
(me puzzled 'cause I thought it was true)
(I've just discovered after ten years that Hubby likes my big butt)
"So, if I stay at this weight it's okay"
"Just don't lose any more. You start to look run down and too thin".

It's true, I did lose the weight for me and I am very pleased that I am happy with myself, but I can't tell you what a mental uplift it was for me to know that THIS is what is attractive to my Husband. What I am right now. I don't have to worry about losing anymore, just maintaining and being happy where I am. I must say that the mental shift has been nice. Last night I went to the fancy gym to train and thought more in terms of firming than losing. Time went faster while I pedaled away for 80 minutes on the bike plus the another twenty running (think marathon training!).

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Sunday Run

I had a fantastic run today. I should say a fantastic long run since it took me two hours and ten minutes to finish. Since I'm lazy and didn't feel like writing myself up a new marathon plan, I just took the one that Hubby had written up for me in the fall and cut and pasted it into spring. Today I had to do:

1h30' + 6 x 1km, rec.2'

I had to get reinforces for this since I had the babysitter come watch Evan and then Shygirl followed me on the bike. With workouts up to one hour I'm fine by myself, anything longer than that I really need to be with someone, otherwise I can talk myself into shortening the kilometres or going slower in no time at all. I did the first ninety minutes at a casual pace. We yabbed and gabbed and gossiped the whole time. We also planned what we wanted to do in New York 'cause Shy girl will be coming with me and running the half marathon. I got to the 6 x 1km and was able to get them all in at 5'20"/km. I am really really pleased with this because I remember running the same workout last fall and I didn't even bother taking the times of the km's since I knew they'd be slow. Yay me!

I also temporarily resolved the maintenance dilema. I'm going to go up to 1800 calories for a few weeks and see how it goes. I may need to increase that to 2000 calories as I get closer to the marathon date. For 1800 calories I'll break it up into 400 at breakfast, 200 snack, 500 lunch, 200 2nd snack and 500 dinner. I choose all healthy foods but allow that the second snack be anything I want (even chocolate!). By the way, when I was limiting myself to 1600 calories dinner and lunch were 400...anyway, this structure seems to work for me right now. I feel comfortable with it for some odd reason. Again, it's what works right now. I've learned in my dieting "career" that this could change - and then I have to find a new trick to pull out of my hat.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Tag

I was reading a post written by DG who quoted reading a post by Nancy which I then went to read and found out it was all about weight maintainence, which is exactly what I'm going through now. Now the positive side to this is that everybody has noticed that I lost some weight. Yep, there's nothing more gratifying than having people notice it in a positive way. Also, my running is so much easier without having to lug around those few last pounds. I run faster and that's satisfying. What's difficult is still learning how much I can eat without gaining it back. Right now it's even more difficult because my period is late and causing me to retain water like crazy. I can go up and down by five lbs in just water weight. Ugh. One thing they did get right in the article from Nancy's site: exercise is something you have to do almost every day. I work out four to five days per week and if I didn't I would surely gain back weight pretty quickly. Speaking of exercise, my trip to the More Marathon in New York City is confirmed so I better get cracking. I also got an all expense paid invite to THIS marathon in Thailand. Whoooeeee!!!!

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Update! Update!

A few weeks ago I started to get this sudden build up of work. People were calling out of nowhere: old clients, new clients, current one's with more referrals. All of this has been coupled with Hubby's new work assignment in Rome. For the next year and a half he will be going to Rome for two to five days per week, which means that I solo it at home with the two kids. I decided that the ONLY way I was going to be able to pack all of this in would be to get up early. Now the trick to getting up early is in going to bed early, something I've always had difficulty doing. This week I really forced myself to do it though, aided with the fact that I was also really tired. It worked! For one week straight I was able to rise at 4.45 a.m. It really works out well because I love the time to myself in the morning when nobody wants/needs me to do anything for them. Plus, I get assignments started and then interrupt to take the kids to school. When I come back home I'm already half way through some work and I can finish it...or go running without feeling guilty since I already have part of the work done anyway. I never really got anything done late at night anyway.

I took a ten day hiatus from running so that I could get over the flu. I started back last week but every time I went for a little forty minute run it felt like hell. Friday I went again and it was better so I felt encourage to go ahead with my plan of running 22 kms on Sunday. Shy Girl and I did it together with a 30' run/5' walk combo and I was surprised that I actually made it with no problems. This morning (the day after), no aches or pains. Now I just hope that I'll be able to continue on with the training. I just need to focus...

Weight is steady at 65 kg...

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Ugly HTML

Yes, I'm better now, thank you.
I've been spending my Sunday working and one of the things I have to do is surf and look for races where we can go and do marathon advertising. My head is dizzy from all the really bad sites I've seen! I mean, html has advanced, but that doesn't seem to have allowed anyone to take web graphic lessons. Here's an example .
My challenge is coming to an end and I am VERY proud of myself for having kept it up for a whole thirty days, or rather twenty-seven 'cause I still have three more days left. I'll be ending it with a few photos since this has not only been a thirty day effort but a whole 2,5 years! You're all just getting the tail end of it.
Then I have to decide whether to close this site...I'll think about it later...

Weight lost so far: 2,6 kg
exercise today: 60' run
water consumed: never enough!
Days left in challenge: 3

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

K.O.

After having taken care of a sick baby for five days, I finally caught his intestinal flu. Fever, nausea and intestinal discomfort have been with me for the past few days. You think that along with eating NOTHING it would be enough to make my weight budge? WRONG!! Seven more days left to the "challenge"...