Hello, 2021.

Wow, a lot has happened since I started this blog back in 2007... and honestly, not a lot has happened personally since my last update almost two years ago.  Rather than looking backwards, I'll just write about where I am today.

The weight loss struggles continue, of course.  I am still in constant pain after the car accident over two years ago.  I've now started seeing a neurologist since we know there are damaged nerves involved.  Due to the coronavirus pandemic, my physical therapy stopped entirely in mid-March last year, and partially resumed a few months later (sadly, no more water therapy though, since indoor pools were never re-opened).  I've paused all physical therapy again as of last month due to the spike in cases around here and the lax precautions at the PT location.  I really need to find a new place, but it can wait another month or two until the case volume around here drops down again.  

As for my weight, I've actually lost about 20 pounds during the past year!  I credit it entirely to intermittent fasting.  I strive for a daily 16 hour fast - usually ~8pm-noon.  I've been doing this for just over a year, and started tracking it on Zero almost a year ago.  Looking back through their app right now, I missed the 16 hour mark 20 times last year - usually I still made it to 15 hours.  On my birthday though, I had breakfast. ;)  I've had a couple of 19 hour fasts, and my average is 17.

Honestly, not eating after kiddo goes to bed is a difference maker here.  I'm sure I used to eat several hundred calories after kiddo's bedtime every night.  It's really hard though - I am definitely an emotional eater and would loooooooooove to sit down with a sweet treat when the house is quiet. ;)  I've definitely adjusted to not eating breakfast, and most days I keep fasting for an hour or so after my Zero app tells me I've hit my 16 hour goal.

I do so very much miss my group exercise classes, and I hate that walking still hurts, but hopefully everything will get easier as the year moves along...

My goals for 2021 are to stay healthy, move more and eat healthfully.

post-detox life

Checking in to say hi. ;)

I've been spending a LOT of time working on my U-Jam Fitness instructor next steps, and have sadly neglected the ol' blog here.

It's been interesting seeing how my body is reacting to post-detox life.  I'm definitely even more of a food snob - but still, several birthday celebrations have added some pounds back.  Very frustrating, especially because my husband gained too but already lost it!  Stupid male metabolism ;)

I am feeling, overall, a bit more crappy than I was during the detox.  We've got some things going on this month that keep me from going back on the full detox but I am trying to get back into less-carbs more-fat more-protein in general.  I know I'm not likely to meet most of my goals this month, but that is okay.  Gotta be realistic!

Detox, day 46: finished

OK, that's enough of this for me. ;)  I technically should still do a cow's milk reintroduction and I should retry bread, but I am calling this challenge complete.

Overall, it was definitely an eye-opening experience for me.  I definitely crave sugar and sweets, but I can survive without them.  ;)  I didn't like the total depravation portion, so I don't think I'm going to be doing a Whole30 every month or anything like that.  I do see myself trying to eat along these guidelines for many of my meals though.  I feel like my metabolism has adjusted to this, though, so I need to jump start things and vary it up more often.

I do like that this detox did help accelerate my weight loss for a few weeks - and I'm glad that I've kept that weight off as well.  The true challenge will be to keep it off and lose more over the next year! :D

Detox, day ten

Day 10 done!  Unfortunately, the weight loss has slowed to a crawl - less than a half pound over the past three days combined (compared to over 8 pounds in the first 6), so clearly my body is adjusting. I don’t feel as utterly crappy this week as I did last week. ;) But I am still riddled with cravings and not particularly enjoying much that I do eat. I am so not a nut person, and nuts are a big component of this thing (along with green veggies which I detest).

However, I did get the ultimate blow to the ego today. I was at the gym and asked one of the personal trainers who was just working at a computer if she had a moment to help me do a body fat test. I know they have these handheld devices and it takes just seconds, and she said sure. Well, she didn’t pull out that device and instead got out a caliper (the awesome photo below).

Oh hell no. I was on the gym floor for this (off to the side, but still in plain view), and she first did my tricep (aka, my big floppy batwing), bicep and then went in for the ab measurement. She asked me where my hipbones were and then tried to measure near that (but over my shirt) – I don’t think she had the right spot, and she kept scolding me to “relax” (uh ok), and two or three humiliating minutes later, we were done. She wrote down the numbers (I know there was a 4th place but I can’t remember now) – and looked it up on a chart, and came back with THE SAME NUMBER I GOT EIGHT MONTHS AGO (and 34 pounds ago). Ahem.

That was a huge massive blow to my self-esteem. Was the machine I used last year (where I did see a drop of 6% body fat with a 10 pound weight loss earlier last year) at my old gym completely inaccurate? Did this gal today totally mess up her calculations?

I know to not get wrapped up in the numbers, but I really want the concrete proof that all this work is paying off. It’s a lot of hard work and frankly depravation. I have been frustrated that I haven’t really dropped any pants sizes, but now that I’m into summer clothes, I am noticing that most of my shorts from last year are too big. But I don’t want to buy the size that I fit in right now, so I have picked up some that are the next size down and will likely wear a belt with the older clothes until I can fit in new ones. ;) I am excited that I’m wearing a shirt today that I bought a year or two ago and realized when I got home that it didn’t fit – but now it does!

Just need to keep reminding myself that progress, however small and slow, is still progress...

Detox diet of choice?

Greetings, friends!

My doctor has been strongly encouraging me to go on another limited-time restrictive "detox" diet.  I did a 28 day elimination diet back in 2010 and didn't really learn anything.  I went gluten-free for a month in 2013 and again, no revelations.  So I'm cautious and not thoroughly excited about doing this again. ;)

She wants me to try going no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, no legumes for at least 3 weeks.  Um.  Ugh! ;)

There's a number of plans I've found that are along these lines:

• Eat Fat Get Thin (or the shorter 10 day Detox - which I'd start with and then expand?)
• Whole30
• Hungry No More

I have friends who are going Paleo, but that allows for some sweeteners which I'd rather avoid (in concept, of course - I know I'm going to miss dark chocolate!).

Have you ever done one of these detox diets?  I'm also hoping to bring husband along for the ride, which is going to be a HUGE challenge since I can't get him to give up his Pepsi yet. ;)

Any tips? ;)  

more "Biggest Loser" controversy and how to lose weight

I have a tolerate/hate relationship with weight loss TV shows - especially "Biggest Loser".  I wrote about some of the unrealistic expectations back in 2013 and haven't particularly changed my mind on this.  I detest that the contestants get upset if they "only" lose 5 pounds in a week.  It's insane.

Today, the New York Times published a great article - "After ‘The Biggest Loser,’ Their Bodies Fought to Regain Weight" -  in reference to a new study in Obesity Journal which exploded all over my Facebook feed this morning. ;)  I read both the NYT article and the full article in the Obesity Journal and found it all fascinating - and frankly, depressing on some levels.

The Obesity Journal did a lot of research following most of the contestants from Season 8 of the show, measuring them at the finale and also six years later:

"Of the 16 “Biggest Loser” competitors originally investigated, 14 participated in this follow-up study. Weight loss at the end of the competition was (mean ± SD) 58.3 ± 24.9 kg (P < 0.0001), and RMR decreased by 610 ± 483 kcal/day (P = 0.0004). After 6 years, 41.0 ± 31.3 kg of the lost weight was regained (P = 0.0002), while RMR was 704 ± 427 kcal/day below baseline (P < 0.0001) and metabolic adaptation was −499 ± 207 kcal/day (P < 0.0001). "

In plain English, the contestants saw a dramatic drop in their resting metabolic rate at the end of the show - but shockingly, it was even worse six years later. As the NYTimes article mentions regarding the winner of the show:

"Mr. Cahill was one of the worst off. As he regained more than 100 pounds, his metabolism slowed so much that, just to maintain his current weight of 295 pounds, he now has to eat 800 calories a day less than a typical man his size. Anything more turns to fat."

Stunning.

The one person from this group of 14 to weigh less today than 6 years ago wasn't ever on "the ranch" and did her entire experience from home - so she did this in a more balanced fashion and also did not have as dramatic of a weight loss as the rest of the contestants.  Good for her! ;)  Another contestant had regained 80% of his lost weight and then had gastric bypass, so his net weight gain is not as significant as others (but it is still a big gain).

This hits home for me, since I lost around 80 pounds in about 14 or 15 months, 15 pounds the following year, and then slowly regained a lot of it - and then gained more during my pregnancy.  It's been almost ten years since I started this weight loss journey, and thankfully I am down 68 pounds from where I started - but I still have about 25 pounds to go to just get back to that weight in 2009.  I had another 30 pounds to go from there to hit my "goal" weight (which would be "normal" weight according to the BMI).  I'd hate to think that my relatively rapid weight loss in 2007 (average 1-1.5 pounds a week?) has impacted my resting metabolic rate - but there's no way for me to know without spending a LOT of money on metabolic testing.  Not quite in the budget - and I don't have any baseline numbers either - but honestly, knowing that number wouldn't have a massive impact on my life.

It's interesting about the influx of articles I've seen lately about weight loss in general.  One that jumped out at me was Vox's article - Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight, explained with 60+ studies.  It's a great read - go ahead, read it and come back here. ;)  One of the things I hadn't heard about before was "Energy expenditure might have an upper limit" - there may be a point at which you're over-exercising and not getting the calorie burn benefits you think you are getting.  Joy!  At least I don't feel guilty about getting only one hour in the gym most days. ;)

To wrap this all up, I leave you with the end of that Vox article:

If you embark on a weight-loss journey that involves both adding exercise and cutting calories, Montclair's Diana Thomas warned not to count those calories burned in physical activity toward extra eating. 

"Pretend you didn't exercise at all," she said. "You will most likely compensate anyway so think of exercising just for health improvement but not for weight loss."

This is what I try to do, at least in theory, but I need to get back to religiously journalling everything I eat - and also being very mindful of the inaccurate calorie burn that most tracking apps give you for your exercises. ;)

passing along the wrong genetics

I haven't written a lot about my son on my blog here, since I tend to selfishly focus on my weight loss journey.  My son just turned 4, and at his physical last week, the pediatrician gave us a lecture about nutrition because my son is technically obese.  He's 67%ile in height, 92%ile in weight and 96%ile in BMI.  

This breaks my heart.  I don't think he looks "fat" at all - he's got a little belly on him, but that doesn't seem excessive to me.  He seems tall, compared to his friends, but not apparently to the growth charts. ;)  

As you can guess, I've struggled with my weight my entire life - and this is something I've been hyper-aware about with the little guy.  His nutrition is great.  Only drinks water and one glass of milk a day.  Never any juice.  Lots of proteins and veggies and fruits, and whole grain carbs.  Sweets are a rare treat.  He just loves to eat - a lot.  

Lately we've been talking about which foods are good for your body and which foods you need to only have rarely.  It really helps that I don't keep crap food in our house and that we only eat out maybe twice a month.  (When relatives come to visit though, like they did this month, that number unfortunately goes up.)  

He's very much a homebody though - he loves to read and do puzzles and play with magnatiles and his new marble run and such.  He's happiest to be at home.  So we both need to work on incorporating more movement into our time at home - and also get more activity outside as well!  Luckily the weather is improving and hopefully we'll get out to parks more often.  Hopefully he'll also get interested in his bicycle more than just walking it. ;)

If you have kids, how do you show them a healthy lifestyle?

trying new things

I've only had one chance to get back into a pool since my last post, but I did two lengths of the pool that time.  Progress! ;)

Tonight, the gym had a special event thing going on, where you got a passport and had to get it stamped at six stations.  I did this *after* my 60 minute booty-kicking U-Jam Fitness class, when I was already soaked with sweat.  First station: burpees.  Oh hell no, I said.  The perky trainer showed me a couple of lower-impact variations, and I knocked out ten of them to earn my stamp.  I don't know if I can do one proper burpee, but it was pretty motivating to be able to do 10 of the modified version - and quickly, too.  Other stations included a 30 second plank (I do those at home often), 30 seconds of mountain climbers, 5 hands-overhead-squats, and ten TRX-rope pull-ups (I have no clue if I'm calling it anything near what it actually is...).  The trainers were all super-overly-encouraging, which I appreciate and understand since this really is a selling point for getting you to sign up for personal training. ;)

For me though, it was motivating to try things I don't normally do and to have a small bit of success.  I want to make a goal of trying a new workout each month (starting next month) and start to challenge my body in a different way.  My weight loss is slow right now (thanks to kid's birthday and extended houseguest visits), so I need to get back on track.

Changing it up

I've been feeling less-than-fabulous lately, which lead to a really unpleasant workout on Friday, and then no workouts at all for the next three days.  Tip from my group exercise instructor friend - if you don't feel well and it's all in your head, go ahead and go to class... but if it's lower, skip it.  Lesson I learned: don't even try a cardio exercise class when you're having gastrointestinal issues.  I nearly threw up when trying to do subtle crunches.  Ugh.

Thankfully, I'm feeling a bit better now, and have worked out this morning and the past two nights too (not back to 100%, but better!).

This morning after my cardio workout, I changed into my swimsuit to jump into the hot tub - one of my favorite "rewards" after workouts when I can fit in the time (maybe once or twice a week if I'm lucky).  Today however, I jumped into the lap pool first (only one lane was occupied - the two empty lanes called to me!).  I haven't swum a lap in years - maybe even decades?  I used to do a lot of water aerobics about 11-13 years ago, but that wasn't laps.

Well, uhm.  I did one length of the pool with the traditional forward crawl.  Felt good while I was doing it, and then I touched the wall and stood up for a moment.  Oh my.  I was so out of breath!  I stood there for a few minutes and just was kinda amazed and a bit disappointed in my body's reaction - I had done a 60 minute dance workout less than an hour prior, and have been doing those an average of 5 or 6 days a week.  But one length of the pool and I was ready to keel over!  UGH!

Quite the reminder that you need to change it up to help keep your body healthy - and hopefully next time, I'll get in that full lap. ;)

Still going!

Sorry for the radio silence the past few weeks - can you believe there's only one week left in March?  Time is flying.  Things are still going well over here.  I'm still working out 4-6 times a week, and I'm still (slowly) losing weight.  I need to be careful to not overdo with the cardio exercise - I feel my age is catching up with me and I end up sore afterwards some days. ;)

I am struggling with menu planning lately.  I just haven't had a ton of motivation to cook, and I am often going to the gym around dinner time.  This means I either end up cooking something delicious and running out the door while husband and kiddo eat (and having cold leftovers when I get home), or husband has to make something simple for dinner (and I still have cold leftovers when I get home).    So things are a bit blah on that front, but hopefully I can get some motivation on this soon!  Would love to hear any of your favorite recipes! :)

trends and reality

Oy, so the Super Bowl & birthday party combination did me in on Sunday -- gained 2 1/2 pounds, and five days later, I've only lost half of it.  Frustrating!

However, looking at the trends does help keep things in perspective.  Here's the handy graph from the Hacker Diet's site looking at my weight since January 1 this year:

I love this site. ;)  The little tick marks on the left are for each pound, the white dots are the actual weight that day, and the red line is the trend.  You can see how losing weight pulls the trend line down - and for the most part this year, I've been doing that!  But then you see the jump at the end of the graph with the Super Bowl nonsense and too many treats at an event I attended on Tuesday night. However, as dramatic as the weight gain was, it didn't really ruin the trend.  It just put a stop to it for a couple of days, and now we're slowly pulling that line down again.

I must admit my frustration at the timing however.  My birthday is one week away, and if I had kept up that one-pound-a-week weight loss, I would've hit a big goal on my big day.  Now I'm two pounds away.  Ugh.

Watching shows like "Biggest Loser" make it seem like only losing two pounds in a week is a failure, but for real life, it's not like that.  Weight loss is a continuous struggle, and a two pound weight loss in a week is a thing to celebrate!  I've managed to injure my shoulder/tricep with too much dancing (oops!), so I'm also trying to take a step back from that and add in more rest time than I did last month.  Still aiming for those 20 workouts a month though!

And one last bit of perspective for me: my weight today, even with that Super Bowl bounce, is still lower than it's been in over 4 1/2 years.  PROGRESS!

sloooowly but surely

So.  Currently below pre-pregnancy weight by a half pound - I was under it by a pound and a half before this weekend... doh.  I'm not doing the massive "YAY BIG GOAL MET" dance yet with Thanksgiving lurking two nights away.  ;)  But I am trying to be smart about things, and intend to work out extra on the day before and day after.  I also don't intend to take any leftovers home (if offered)!  I wouldn't mind picking up a turkey (either whole or breast) if I find one on a good sale, but I'm not running to multiple grocery stores before Saturday ;)  (I bought enough to get us through until then earlier this week!)

I'm frustrated because even though I'm down almost 30 pounds from a year ago, I'm still wearing the same jeans!  Shouldn't I be down a size or two?  They do loosen up as the day goes on, but they're snug when I put them on so I haven't tried anything smaller yet.  (And as any fat lady can tell you, I have a ton of jeans in many various sizes...)

Hoping to be down a pound perhaps by the end of the month?  Dream big, my friends! :D

working it out

Still moving down the scale, albeit slowly.  I actually saw my pre-pregnancy weight one day last week, but it was fleeting as Halloween festivities added some of that weight back.  I would love be solidly below that weight before Thanksgiving, but frankly... just making it through the next two months without gaining weight would be a big accomplishment.  I need to be realistic!

I haven't felt well yesterday or today, but I still dragged myself to workouts each day.  I just didn't have my heart in them (and it didn't help that this morning's class was oddly filled with elderly women with no rhythm - though I'm happy for them that they're exercising, I wish they would've gotten together in one area so those of us who actually wanted to dance could've had room!  I was so nervous I was going to kick a great-grandma!).

I'm really struggling with emotional eating these days.  Feeling very stressed, and my usual 'release' for that is to eat, especially things that are high in fat.  I don't get that rush of adrenaline after working out, which everyone says is great when you're stressed.  I didn't want to do the classes yesterday or today, but I know it's better to move than to eat. ;)  It's just frustrating that I really still want to eat, and I have to find better ways to cope with this stuff.  Suggestions welcomed. ;)

Biggest Loser's unrealistic expectations

"Biggest Loser" is airing again right now, and this season has frustrated me like all the past seasons. ;)  I truly hate that the show sets unrealistic expectations for weight loss.  If someone "only" loses 4 pounds in one week, they're considered a failure.  It's awful.  The first week of each season, people lose 20+ pounds, and that just plain doesn't happen.  The producers totally manipulate everything - a "week" on the show is often more than 7 days, and I've always wondered about supplement use on the show.  I wrote a post back in 2009 about a weight loss supplement that one of the trainers, Jillian Michaels, was selling - it was an insane amount of caffeine, amongst other things.

So this week's episode ends with Jillian's team getting a penalty for using unapproved caffeine supplements the prior week.  Interesting!  Caffeine is a great way to speed up your heart rate, but honestly, I've found it can have terrible effects on the rest of your body.  It makes me sad to realize that these contestants are being encouraged to use supplements like that (or, as Jillian claims of the other teams, they're drinking lots of coffee to get that caffeine instead).

Anyone who loses weight should be applauded.  A mere four pound weight loss in a week is HUGE, and should be celebrated.  I wish this show would come clean and be true - actually do the weigh ins every 7 days, show that they are drinking a ton of coffee, explain that they're working out 6 hours a day... it's hard enough to lose weight without having all these unrealistic expectations set on national television.

I much prefer the Chris Powell show "Extreme Weight Loss" - it's about one person over the course of a year.  And they work their asses off - often losing 90 pounds (or more!) in the first 90 days.  And if they've met their various weight loss goals, they get skin removal surgery before their big "reveal" at the end of the year.  I like that this show acknowledges the body changes that happen - and also shows the hard work that goes into this.  Also, almost every person on the show misses one of their goals, so you get to see the realistic side of weight loss - it's not all as simple as "Biggest Loser" makes it seem.  I also really like how supportive Chris Powell is to each of these people (and their families).  There's no berating them (ahem, Jillian!)

and yes, there is an element of jealousy about all of these shows - gee, if only I could take 3 months to focus only on my weight loss, I would TOTALLY lose the pounds!  But that's not going to happen (and happily, I don't qualify for the "Extreme Weight Loss" show as I don't have to lose more than 50% of my body weight).  ;)

catching up

So now we start anew.  My weight has been an issue my whole life, and watching the scale go up as I was pregnant was nervewracking.  I had really hoped to not gain too much - and for most of the pregnancy, I was okay - but I put on 20 pounds in that last trimester, for a total of 31.  The first week after giving birth, I dropped a bunch - woo!  But it's stalled since then, and it's been over two months now.  I have no chance to exercise though (some days I don't even get to shower until my husband gets home from work!), so hopefully things will start to settle down a bit.  I used to walk a *lot*, but that went out the window in the last half of the pregnancy due to pelvic separation issues, and I'm still recovering from that now.  I know I need to put a focus on exercising - and also healthy eating - but it is definitely a whole new struggle with a newborn!

I'm also struggling with going dairy-free now - the baby has reflux and the pediatrician told me to cut out the dairy.  Not fun at all, especially since fat-free Greek yogurt and low-fat string cheese were amongst my go-to easy eats.  It's such a difficulty to eat anything when you've got a baby who cries a lot (due to the reflux), and having to eliminate some of the "easy" foods stinks! If you have any dairy-free tips, I'd love to hear them. ;)

Augh!

I'm such a bad blogger - sorry! I have gotten just so very frustrated with my lack of weight loss. I don't want to update the numbers on the side of my blog here, but safe to say, I'm at my highest weight in 4 years. And I'm hosting a weekend-long party at my house in a couple days, so that number will undoubtedly edge higher. This month was tough with a lot of time visiting relatives out of state, which threw off my workouts and of course the food was not-so-healthy.

August is the month of weight loss, right? Ahem.

Still working out - doing Zumba or other dance classes several times a week. Did a great pilates class today and will go to another at that studio next week. Trying to use my weights at home twice a week as well. I need to figure out good leg-muscle-building exercises, too. I plan to join my local 24 Hour Fitness early next month and then spend a lot of time there. ;) Diet is going to get strict again after this weekend.

Hope all of you out in blog-land are doing well. Say hi some time. ;)

Workin' it out

I made twelve days in a row of hitting up Zumba workouts - go me! On day 13, I took a water fitness class instead, and then yesterday I went for a long walk. Today, I hit up a combo Zumba/kickboxing class that was very fast-paced (my heart rate monitor was sky-high).

I'm loving the Zumba classes and such, but my 30-day trial membership is coming to a close. If anyone out there in blogger-land knows of a way to get a discounted membership to Club One, I'd love to hear it! ;) It kills me that it's so much more expensive than all the other local gyms - there's a deal at Costco for 24 Hour Fitness for $12.50 a month! Are you kidding me?! Even Bally's is under $30. Club One is $90. Ouch. I really want to join, but I can't swing that pricing with my unemployment status. Glarghen.

Working out all that much has got to be good, somehow - even though my weight isn't budging. Grrrr. I'm going to try to cut out wheat for the week and see how it helps things.

still keepin' on

Tiny goal #1 was only met for a day. ;) Oy. My weight, why do you hate me! Good news is that today, a week later, I'm only up 0.6 pounds from there - it had been 3 pounds at one point this weekend.

I was indeed ridiculously sore from that weight class last Wednesday - it hurt like hell to move on Thursday... Friday... Saturday... ;) I did make it the "gentle yoga" class on Thursday which was a good stretch, but then I spent a half hour on a treadmill at a steep incline, because apparently I hate myself. I did my zumba/water fitness combo on Friday and that felt good, even though I lumbered through both of those classes with less grace than normal. ;)

Monday, I did zumba, yesterday I did pilates and then zumba, and today, guess what I'll be doing tonight? ;) Zumba! I am digging it. I'm hoping to catch another zumba tomorrow, and then my zumba/water fitness combo on Friday (a full zumba class then I quickly change into my bathing suit and take a water fitness class).

Hopefully the weight will start to come off with all this cardio! ;)

Woo momentum!

I did make it out on Wednesday to sign up for the 30-day membership at my local gym, and then did a water fitness class. It was surprisingly more intense than the classes I took before my wedding - which is good! Unfortunately I had really beat up my arms & shoulders in pilates the day before, so yesterday was a day of pain. ;)

Today, I woke up early and met my friend for a morning Zumba class - and then I went straight from there to a water fitness class. According to my new heart rate monitor, I burned 684 calories in the Zumba class, and then during the water fitness class, I burned another 478 calories. Not bad for finishing before noon! ;)

Let's see how long this lasts. ;)

Well, that hasn't exactly worked as planned...

So, erm, yeah... at my highest weight in 4 years. Eight pounds gained in the past two weeks alone. What. The. $(#(@#**!

My motivation is out the window. It's ridiculous. A friend suggested I join her for a Zumba class last week, so I did that and it was fun (though my knees were sore and my calves were on fire for a few days!). I'm hoping to join her for another class this week. I'm actually going to try to get my butt out the door to go join my local gym (and a water fitness class in an hour), but gee, it's so much easier to just sit here on my couch and whine on blogger...

Wish something would click and my body would understand that this weight has got to go!

First tiny goal: get back to the weight I was on 5/1: 3.8 pounds less than today

Second tiny goal: get back to the weight I was on my birthday: 8.4 pounds less than 5/1

and then we'll worry about the additional 56 pounds I need to lose...