State of the Union

February was a busy month for us.

We got a lot done at the old house.  We had movers, for only a few hours, but I worked to make the most of it.  We also had the floors put in.  Outstanding is sheet rock repair and painting, and getting the rest of our junk out.  My goal is to have it ready to go on the market by the end of March.

We also, and partially as a result, got a lot done on the new house.  Continuing to unpack and settle in.  I have a ton of boxes in the garage to go through, but I'm satisfied to do that slowly.  The movers mean that the furniture situation has filled out nicely - in fact, when I sat down to write this, I was really pleased with how far the place has come in a month.  I finally (FINALLY) selected a color for the master bed/bath.  They shall be: Rhino and Pensive Sky.  Heh.  Z's room finally has curtains!  All of the books/DVDs/CDs are either unpacked or stacked in closets for longer term storage!  We have a guest bed now!  And a desk!  It is really coming along.

In terms of diet/exercise, I've also had a pretty satisfying month.  Weight loss - well, I'm still bouncing around a little.  Frankly I think I'm in the 137's, but the official weight on the first was 138.6.  (Grr, weekends, undoing all my progress!)   Even more importantly, I only missed FOUR days of exercise this month!  Annnnnnd, I'm really starting to feel the progress.  I'm feeling stronger in my core, and that's where I love to feel it.  So even though those numbers are dropping only ever so slowly, I am pleased with where I'm headed and how I'm getting there. 

I got another bomb dropped on me at work, and frankly, there I've really been struggling.  I have to look right now to my kid, my lovely new house, my exercise, and everything I'm accomplishing to keep me going right now.  And I am.  And it is working.

Goals for March:
Keep exercising!  Booty Barre will end, so it'll be time to start pole dancing. ;-)  I've got one more week in this P90X3 cycle, then a "rest" week, then a new cycle, so I'm looking forward to all of that! 
Get the old house on the market.
Keep working on the new house.
Get the tax info together (BOOO).

Slow and Steady

I'm another pound down.  138.6.  I briefly flirted with the 137's at the end of last week and I was pretty excited about it, but no matter... it'll come eventually.

I'm thinking I've reached the first plateau, which was expected.  I know my body was responding to the sheer shock of daily exercise and restricted calories.  Now is when the real work begins.

As for last week's exercise, it looked like this, starting Sunday:
Tae Bo
P90X: Arms & Shoulders
Tae Bo
Bike
Tae Bo
Booty Barre
Saturday I was nicely sore and I did a ton of work on both the old house and new, so no exercise.
Sunday was a true day of rest.

This week I'm going to try to add a few double days, on Tuesday and Thursday... we'll see if that takes it up a notch!  I am not doing My Fit Foods this week, and actually for the past 2 days I haven't done prepackaged foods at all, but I am counting.

I can already see a slight difference in my clothes.  Most of my work pants had become uncomfortably tight.  They still aren't loose, but they are far more wearable now, which is really the goal.

I can also feel the difference.  I don't know if I said it in this blog, but back when I started in 2007, I can remember after a few weeks, walking down the hallway at work and feeling different.  I felt like there was a cobra in my belly, coiled and ready to strike.  It is a very vivid memory for me - the day I found my power.  I am beginning to feel that way again.  And I love it.

Real Life

In the past 8 days since we've spoken, I've biked 4 times and done Booty Barre (still OUCH) another time.  I'm not exactly thrilled and proud of this, BUT I'm not ashamed, either.  It isn't what I want it to be, but it isn't nothing.  It is something, it is a start, and I will continue trying to improve.

This morning was an improvement.  Yesterday morning I was totally knocked out.  Slept in.  Skipped my workout.  This morning I got up and got on the bike.  Baby steps.

Also, I may be CRAZY.  Oh, heck, I know I'm totally cray cray, because I signed up for the Awesome 80's 5K on the 25th.  I haven't run since October.  Oh yeah.  This is gonna hurt!  But it looks like fun and there is a (supposedly DARTH VADER!!!) finisher's medal and I can even go with Z in the stroller and Grasshopper (who is really more like Master now that she's running Halfs (!!So proud!!) and I'm whining about a 5K) is going to be there.  So, yeah.  It's gonna hurt but I'm totally looking forward to it!

Booty Barre

I went to my first "fun" thing of the year last Friday - Booty Barre.

My belly got all upset like this was a race.  It was odd in a way - I was surprised by it even though I shouldn't have been.  My nervousness entering any new situation is completely hardwired into my gut.  I should know that by now.

So I left really early and found the place fairly easily.  I allowed a huge cushion for my classic direction screw-ups, but other than really having to hunt around in the parking lot for it, I had no issues.  I was so early that I sat in my car for another 15 minutes or so listening to my audiobook and when I went in I was still 30 minutes early.

I went in, filled out a questionnaire, got my gear off, and went up to the room.  I was only the second person there, so I became a little copy cat, sitting on the floor until more people arrived.  I divined that I was supposed to grab hand weights, I chose 3 pounders not knowing how hard things would be, and grabbed a complimentary bottle of water.

Eventually the instructor arrived.  She asked if it was anyone's first time, and sort of hinted that I might want to downsize to 2 lb weights when she found out I was a newbie.  My reaction was twofold.  I don't like being addressed individually in groups - I get super embarrassed, so there was no way I was gonna walk to the front of the room to get new weights.  The second part of me was all: no way, I do P90X with 5-8 lb weights, I'll be fine with these dinky 3s.

So we start with some classic ballet warm up moves.  I think I need to take a ballet class.  I miss it.
 
Then we come to the center of the room for some more warm-up squat-type moves and some stretching.  This got a little rough, but I hung in.

Then we got our weights for the "arm series".  Holy. Shit.  I hung with her while she massacred every single muscle in my arm, over and over again without mercy.  I hung with til the very very end when I finally called uncle and dropped a few reps.  The chick right next to me did the same, so I felt ok, but instructor totally zeroed in on us and told us we could lighten the weight.  Screw that - we were almost done!  So I toughed it out and finished reducing my arms to quivering jelly.

Then it was back to the barre for leg torture.  Yes, I said it, TORTURE.

Then there was leg torture with a ball.

Then there were push-ups and planks.

Then there was a bit of stretching.

Then I quivered my way home to paint.

I've already made my reservation for next Saturday.  Bring it!