{"id":322,"date":"2024-01-16T20:34:02","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T04:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harpistanneroos.com\/blog\/?p=322"},"modified":"2026-01-04T02:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T10:04:48","slug":"keeping-up-appearances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harpistanneroos.com\/blog\/keeping-up-appearances\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Up Appearances"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regardless of whether I\u2019m sitting behind my harp or not, I\u2019m not allowed to have a \u201cbad hair day\u201d.<\/strong> I\u2019ve got to look simply mahvelous, dahling, whenever I walk out the front door.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t look out-of-sorts even when I\u2019m puttering around town grocery shopping, visiting the bank, and running other mundane errands. Am I paranoid? Not for a musician whose career often depends upon referrals by people I might just bump into while out-and-about.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll go into hiding when I\u2019m ill\u2014You won\u2019t find me posting sad selfies while I\u2019m sitting in the waiting room at the doctor\u2019s office. After all, in this digital age, it only takes one sneaky cell phone photo or video shot to make a mess of a well-manicured reputation. Yikes!<\/p>\n

\"dressmaker's
I skipped the alterations for my formal harp performance gowns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So a few years ago, when I could not longer squeeze into my expensive performance wardrobe, I panicked. By allowing the pounds to sneak up on me, a financial emergency emerged\u2014I could not afford to have formal dresses and ball gowns altered and could not pay many hundreds of dollars (or more) to buy a new wardrobe in\u00a0 larger sizes.<\/p>\n

I went to work.<\/strong> The transformation was gradual. You won\u2019t see me posting any before and after pictures, and you won\u2019t see any poses of me flexing my biceps. I proudly dropped dress sizes without notice on social media.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my not-so-secret secret:<\/strong> quality calories burned vs. quality calories eaten. The word \u201cquality\u201d means I can\u2019t eat a jar of peanut butter for my day\u2019s worth of calories (I LOVE nut butters) and then do the most grueling weight lifting possible to get rid of the guilt. I could never sustain that kind of diet.<\/p>\n

This eating and exercise plan became a way of life, not just a temporary fix for losing weight. It involves:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Empty Cardio<\/strong>\u2014This is the term that my trainer at a local gym, Jeff Miller, once coined. It means to do exercise before breakfast. No food (water okay). Jeff explained that workouts before breakfast speed up metabolism and prevent injuries during the day. And he should know\u2014Jeff was once obese, followed this regimen (plus specific workouts), and transformed himself into an award-winning body builder.<\/p>\n

Winning trophies as a body builder is definitely not my goal, and I don\u2019t bother with the gym scene anymore\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Harpist
Lifting my 10 lb. carbon fiber harp with one hand!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Workout at Home<\/strong>\u2014When I spend time getting dressed, putting on make-up to look presentable, and driving over to the gym, I\u2019m starving for breakfast by the time I park my car and walk through the front doors. So, I cancelled the gym membership.<\/p>\n

Now I roll out of bed and get it done right away. I formed a habit to just do it and not think about it. By the time I\u2019m finished, I\u2019m hungry for breakfast, and I enjoy my meal without guilt. But I do workouts that specifically result in weight loss\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Weight Resistance<\/strong>\u2014The treadmill at the gym never worked for me. Nor did classes with instructors who didn\u2019t know how to modify the routines so that my puffy body could keep up with the rest of the class.<\/p>\n

\"treadmills\"<\/a>
No treadmills for me (Photo by Justyn Warner on Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I experimented with a few exercise DVD programs, but I got bored. So, I signed up for an online workout program called Daily Burn.<\/p>\n

After buying a few small dumbbells, I settled on an intense, 90-day workout program called \u201cLive to Fail<\/span><\/a>\u201d, which focuses on slowly lifting weights to build muscle and burn fat. It\u2019s not spot reducing (there\u2019s no such thing).<\/p>\n

When I started seeing results after 90 days, I hit the \u201crestart the program\u201d button, and I\u2019ve continued on this program for several years, supplementing with other online workouts from Apple Fitness and GoodVibesWellness.com<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

But just taking 30-50 minutes out every morning to workout is not enough\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. A Body in Motion Stays in Motion<\/strong>\u2014Newton’s Law<\/span><\/a> can be applied to getting trim, too. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve heard those scary reports that sitting on our rear ends all day long will send us to an early grave. The Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN)<\/span><\/em> <\/a>concluded that just two minutes of walking every hour is linked to a thirty-three percent drop in risk of death.<\/p>\n

As far as I\u2019m concerned, non-movement could also lead to an early death of my career, because I\u2019m convinced that no one wants to hire a blubbery-looking harpist. But blubber is okay for a walrus:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n