Insanity!!!

I took my first "insanity" class in Tuesday, and.... Wow! It really did feel a little insane while I was in the class. If you've never done it before, it's a series of not-very-complex calisthenic exercises that you do at full intensity for short bursts of time, interspersed with even shorter bursts of rests. At the end of it, I felt spent! But when I walked outside, the birds all seemed to chirp a little more, the sun seemed to shine brighter, and I realized--I was actually experiencing a workout high. And that actually made it worth the workout!

A smile for the day

So, this has absolutely nothing to do with working out, but I thought I'd capture some of the quirkier things that come out of my toddlers' mouths. 

My 2.5 year old reading the Alphabet: "L, M, N.....zero......P". 

Eye Opening Body Composition Analysis

Omg 

I just had the most eye opening experience today. My gym was running free body composition analysis tests, and yours truly signed up.

I have a body fat percentage of 34%, and according to the printout, could stand to lose about 21 lbs of body fat. Yikes. And this is after I've told you that I've gotten smaller even though the scale hasn't moved. I shudder to think of what my fat percentage would have been before I started going to the gym !

New Year, New You, Not So New Resolution?

Well, I blogged yesterday about getting older and wiser about fitness, but necessarily lighter.  Well, last night, after a great (and, according to my kids, mandatory!) birthday celebration, I felt a little......blah.  Really--I only got a 5 pound weight loss last year after everything that I had tried (a walking half-marathon with a group, joining a gym, blogging....)? 

The thought was very demotivating.  :(.  I mean, double :(.  

But then, I walked into my gym's bollywood class today.  Being the first class of the new year, there were a number of new ladies in the class, which brought back memories of what it felt like for me when I was new (about 3 months ago).  I knew absolutely no-one.  I felt out of place because I was wearing a hastily put-together outfit of an old running t-shirt and sweats. My core was so shot that I looked like a bad-postured-droopy mess in the mirror.  I bumbled through half the steps, sometimes going the wrong way and bumping into the poor schmuckette who was beside me. (Digression:  Yes, I know schmuckette isn't a word, but shouldn't it be????).  Well, I stuck it out, and here, 3 months later, I've gotten to know a few people and instructors at the class, got myself better work-out clothes (and am even buying a belly dancing skirt!) feel like I've gotten improved posture because of classes like this one, and (most importantly for the poor schmuckette,) I can follow the routines more comfortably than before. 

So, progress was made after all. 

Take THAT, weighing scale. :P

Another year older, another year fitter

So, I'm turning 35 today. Eeeep! Feels so old. I almost don't feel like celebrating--I know I can't stop the inevitable, but I sure don't have to acknowledge it! 

Looking back on the past year, I can be happy about a few things. I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to (I've lost about 5 pounds), but as I mentioned, I have gotten smaller, and I am definitely, in a fitness sense, in a better place. 

Maybe it's because my birthday kind of coincides with the new year, but I always make birthday resolutions. I've resolved for this next year to seek help when I need it--in all aspects of life. When talking about weight loss, I think I might benefit from a supervised weight loss program that my gym offers, so I've signed myself up. At this point, I'm going to the gym at least 5 days a week, but I suspect I'm consuming more calories than a thinner me would need. So, I'm going to a program that includes food journaling and supervised group journal discussions. 

I resolve to try and make the best of it. 

Update on this week's resolution--Drinking 8 glasses of water a day

Earlier this week, I resolved to drink 8 glasses of water every day.  Well, I have been doing so, and I noticed that I physically feel better during the workouts to the extent that I don't need to stop and drink water on a regular basis like I used to.  I might actually even start to say that I might not need my energy bar prior to workout (gasp!). 

Scale hasn't moved.....but looking thinner!

Today was a great day! Why? Because a very 'honest' friend, one who hadn't seen me in nearly 4 months, told me I was looking a lot thinner. 

Woohoo!!!

Now, I know I've been whining about how that darn scale hasn't been moving, but, thinking about it now, I have gone down at least two jean sizes since I started blogging (and at least one jean size since my BMI has stagnated around its present mark).

Which brings me to my point--be cautious about measuring your success with a weighing scale (cheesy pun intended!).  If you are working out on a regular basis (as I have been--still going to the gym at least 5 days a week!), then there is a strong possibility that you will trade fat for muscle.  Pound for pound, fat takes up more space than muscle, so, even if you see no movement on the scale (or in some cases, movement in the up direction!), this fat-for-muscle trade can make you look smaller.

Yay! 

So, if you're looking for motivation (specifically, motivation to keep working out when you feel like working out is pointless), look to more than one factor to judge your progress.  Sometimes, you can be getting smaller without a change in the weight scale.