Oh, these practice marathons have taken their toll on me! I've put on maybe 8 pounds over the winter, and it's all *your* fault!

I used to get up very early to exercise. But to stay in MOYD and keep my practice time up, I've had to put in a lot of time on the bench after 10 p.m. That makes me too tired to get up to exercise in the morning.

It doesn't make me too tired to eat, though, and therein lies the problem.

Making matters worse is that I have taken to practicing with 2 Jolly Ranchers in my mouth. This helps keep my blood sugar up so I don't faint from the exhaustion of trying to learn "Linus and Lucy."

And now I've made exercise a priority over piano again, and I'm so sore I can barely lift my hands to the keyboard. And I have a recital next weekend!

Swim suit season is coming. Thanks a lot, you guys.

Cindy -- thinking she may soon require a duet bench even when she's not playing a duet

The eight pounds consists of muscle mass that you gained in your fingers, hands, and arms from your increased piano practice.

Or, blame SAS for her cookie recipe.

do isometrics while you practice.. it's great for concentration..

hold your leg up for 2 minutes.. (pedal with your left 1/2 the time) Stand up and play.. quite hard, sit on the middle of your thighs... hold your stomach in (re hold at the beginningof every line)

Did you say fat ot fa*t?

That was my secret plan. To get everyone fat by pushing my cookie recipe on you all.

And now the recital clothes won't fit! You're a secret agent for the shopping malls, aren't you, SAS?

I was fat to being with so what the heck!

Actually I have lost 5 lbs since February 1.

Good job mark.

Thanks!

Just another 50 or so left to go!

With all the practicing you do, Mark, I would think you burn a lot of calories!

re: what apple* said--Sometimes I do play while standing up! Although, I never thought to do this to burn extra calories. I do it b/c my tush hurts from sitting too long!!

And, Cindy, stay away from the Jolly Ranchers! I hear they are loaded with calories! Really!

My cover is blown! My superhero identity (Cookie Shopping Girl) has been revealed. Now I'll have to go in to the superhero relocation program.

And just what are your superpowers, SAS? Hopefully not tossing cookies.

Wah, wah, wah,! Where's the tears falling/crybaby graemlin?

oh yes, Linus & Lucy, I do mean to get a version, almost forgot. Cindy, what in the world is a Jolly Rancher?

I've decided that round is a shape..Be proud of yourself and brim with confidence and you will dazzle the crowd.

Everything in balance...work, play, eat, drink, exercise, sleep, play piano, chores, and sometimes...just lay the hell around and do nothing

My superpower is the ability to eat an entire batch of cookies without gaining a pound! I don't know how that helps save mankind, but there you have it.

Evan, you said it, balance!! But that is soooooo hard! It seems I can either exercise every day and play sometimes, or I can play every day and exercise sometimes. If you take a look at my practice log, you'll know which it is!

P.S. Cindy, you crack me up!! If you were not here, this board would be sorely diminished (the opposite of augmented, but that's as far as I can go, someone else can talk about fifths)
Thank you for just being yourself and sharing that with all of us!

How about Cindy *sustains* us?

:groan: All of your jokes are falling flat.

now, now; there's no need for that *sharp* tone in the AB forum. You don't want Phlebas to come after you, do ya?

We don't want Phlebas to go getting *dominant* or anything! Maybe he needs a gin and tonic!

Hey, I'm not trying to cause any treble here.

Groan!!!

Oh, ugh! Markb, I think you need to give us some comedy pointers from your improv class!

ShiroKuro, thanks! Unless I do something, there's gonna be way too much of me to go around!

VintageFingers, here's a jolly rancher. They are 70 calories for 3, but it takes about 15 minutes to eat one while playing the piano. That's a pretty good deal compared to something like chocolate, which takes about 2 minutes to eat and leaves a mysterious brown substance on the white keys:




Cindy -- who likes the grape ones the best

Yes, but Cindy, that's going to rot your teeth!

You can't be sitting swilling your teeth in sugar water for 15 minutes at a time with all your practice, unless you want to buy your dentist a new Beemer!

I like the cherry best and the grape least! You don't like the Em I do, I like Raindrop, you don't! Hmmm, it's amazing we get along so well! But we wouldn't fight over the Jolly Ranchers.

tk[/b], you mention calorie loss due to practice. i have heard this before - and it does make sense scientifically - but does anyone know how many calories are burned by thinking?

in Chang's book, he states that "playing demanding pieces requires about as much energy as a slow jog, at about 4 miles per hour", but i'm not sure that i believe that. i'm not sure i believe a lot of what Chang says, but that's a subject for a different thread

Geez, Joey, how did you dig up this old thread?

Oh, and welcome!

For a 150 lb. person, playing the piano is supposed to burn 26 calories every 15 minutes.

Check out:
http://calorielab.com/burned/index.html?mo=se&gr=10&ti=music+playing&q=&wt=150&un=lb&kg=68