Rather than waking up and attending ballet class like a good little girl, I shut off my alarm clock and continued sleeping. (In my defense, I went to bed at roughly 5:30am and waking up at 7:30am was not a pleasant prospect, nor was my body truly able to do so.) When 11:45 rolled around, I knew I had to get out of bed because I had an appointment at noon. Luckily the place was only up the street, so I pulled on some exercise clothes and hopped in the car. When I arrived I hadn’t expected the friendly girl at the front desk would tell me to get on the mat. (more…)

This morning as I rolled out of bed, I looked at the pile of clothes sitting in the laundry basket and groaned. It was laundry day and garbage day. That meant I needed to roll my garbage bin to the curb and I didn’t want to do it naked. Pulling on slacks or jeans seemed like overkill, so in a fit of desperation, I chanced the drawer once again. Uttering a silent prayer, I yanked out the exercise pants and tugged up with all my might. Something seemed amiss; it was too simple. I opened my eyes fully expecting a ripped pair of capris, but instead, I was pleasantly surprised that they fit no problem.

Now, completely glowing with pride, I’m wondering when exactly I lost all that weight. It doesn’t seem like too long ago that these pants simply were impossible to get on. In any event, today’s adventure is not wasted because it has reminded me that perseverance pays. I still have about 20 pounds left until I reach my goal weight and can once again fit comfortably into a size 10/12 pant (i.e. small/medium) and I’m going for it. The only things I personally have left to lose are my arms and stomach. The rest of my body just needs to be toned.

Let’s recap. On Monday, out of character, I decided to attend a new class in the evening and afterwards, I went to the gym for about an hour and forty-five minutes. On Tuesday, I attended dance class for an hour and a half, as usual, and then went to the gym for another hour and a half. On Wednesday, completely out of character, I attended two dance classes totaling two hours and forty-five minutes, and then went to the gym for another hour and a half.

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When we were on our way home, she mentioned that she needed to go through the Burger King drive through to get the baby some french fries. I told her that was a good idea because I was starting to get hungry and then I told her that I’ll just get the Whopper combo and give my fries and drink to the baby.

My sister looked at me stunned and asked if BK was on my diet and I told her of course it is. She found it odd considering that I refused to get a couple packs of biscuits in Wal-Mart, but I was all about grabbing a bite in a fast food restaurant.

In Wal-Mar, I understood my limitations — I’d never be able to just stop at one or two biscuits and would keep going until the entire package or two was completely empty. With BK, I special order my sandwich and have it cut in half, plus I don’t eat the extras (i.e. fries and drink) because they add on unnecessary points. In that vein, I’m able to easily moderate the BK food by only eating 1/2 the sandwich right away and then save the other half for the next day.

Proper and healthy dieting is all about enjoying good foods in moderation. If you know that you won’t be able to control yourself with certain foods, it’s best just to keep it out of your vicinity all together.

The first week on the Weight Watchers program was convoluted and, quite frankly, a week I’d prefer to forget. To the letter and ounce, I watched my food consumption. Keeping the personal food journal helped me learn a lot about my eating habits: I don’t eat nearly as many fruits or vegetables or drink as much water as I once thought. In fact, I don’t eat nearly as much as I thought I did — and therein lies the problem. (more…)

Moving right along…I asked the folks at the front desk about the program and I also found myself chatting with a few of the other people I saw coming in and out. Before long, I’d struck up a nice conversation with a couple women who eventually convinced me that it would be a good decision. (more…)

Since I discovered that I can only do two “man” push-ups (i.e. not on my knees) and a little arm muscle trying to sprout is being stifled by the layers of cellulite on my arms, I decided that I needed to add more push-ups to my regime. The Perfect Push Up helps a lot.

It provides a nice level of stability when you’re in the down position and actually pushing up. My arms feel much more comfortable and I’ve been feeling the muscles in my back trying to get in on the action. Plus, it kind of forces you to use your core while working out which is a definite bonus.

Now it comes with a little exercise chart, but that’s not something to write home about, although it could be useful. Personally I snagged the “basic” version for about $20 from my local Wal-Mart, but if you’re in the mood to splurge, you can get the “original” version online at Amazon for about $40.

Totally bad. I know. I should have used those situations to learn how to work my life goals into real life, but I just wasn’t up to it. Plus, I think I did pretty good most days sticking with eating healthy whenever the option presented itself.

All in all, I really only cheated twice (pizza both times).

But now that my schedule is getting back to normal, minus one minor annoyance which should be over in a couple days. So, you can expect some additional updates starting Monday and that’s when I will officially start my 30 day health and fitness challenge again. *sigh*

I’m going to do it. No, really I am.