I gave up jogging.

This week I was busy slacking off. Yay!! Only went to the gym once, and that was Monday. Walked at least 5 miles every day though to make up for it, (almost 7 miles on Thursday and all that was at work). Had grrreat intentions to make it to Pilates but that didn't happen. *gasp* I know, I'm surprised too! I received an email from S1P telling me that I could pick up my postural video, so I'm excited about that! Very excited not to post it on youtube, this will be my own private torture. Ha! If you wanna see me walk you are going to just have to stalk me in person, stop being so lazy! Bahaha!

I'm using lots of exclamation marks today, must be all that coffee I've consumed. Woke up in a panic thinking that I had overslept. Checked the bedside clock and discovered it was 11:52 p.m. I had been asleep for maybe thirty minutes. My heart was racing, and it took me a long time to settle down enough to drift off to sleep again.

A balanced diet is a cookie in both hands

Saturday I finished my last session of the Pilates bootcamp. I was down almost 2" on my waist, sweet!! I was amazed, because I really didn't think much would change since I was still eating lots o' crap.

Horrifying to watch my postural video. HORRIFYING I tell you. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt. Wow, I really had stopped paying attention to what I looked like. I knew I was not where I wanted to be physically, but watching myself walk. /shudders.

The instructor who was showing me the video tried to help me out with the "ewwww!" factor and told me to just imagine the person walking was a stranger. (Which wasn't far from the truth, I was still reeling from the shock). When I looked objectively, it was obvious that doing pilates for the two weeks had really made a visible change in my body. More length through my spine, my shoulders were no longer hunched forward, my stride was less choppy. Very cool! I requested a copy or an email of the video, figuring if I watched it at least once a week it would help keep me on track. Sunday shared her video reaction story with me and left me with some inspiring words, that even if this is the worst she (or me) has looked, it's not that bad. And it'll only get better if I continue with taking better care of my body.

I've also signed up to do the Body-for-Life challenge. How many times have I said I was going to do this, and not followed through past the first 2 days? At least 6 times. Ha! I feel like I am moving in a positive direction. Working on being mindful of what I'm doing. Physically, mentally, emotionally. It's good to have a goal, something to work towards.

So what does this all mean? I'm going to continue working out (Pilates, cardio, lifting weights) like I have been doing the past two weeks. And I'm going to have to learn how to cook.

Eeee gads!

This will be fun!

Eat Drink and Be Merry, for tomorrow we DIET

After getting off work around 6:30 last night I rushed home to ditch my scrubs and feed the animals so I could walk a few blocks over to Therese's house for Melissa's SUPRISE 35th birthday party.

I haven't laughed so hard, for so many hours, in ... years! Therese was successful in keeping the party a surprise from Melissa and GP. They arrived about 30 minutes later than planned, and the group of us was hiding in the kitchen. I don't even remember the last time I went to a surprise party, it was a blast. (CRS syndrome strikes again! Soon I'll need to have to get tested for Alzheimers if I keep this up)

Mostly we sat around in the kitchen and shot the breeze, and then ate nummy homemade lasagna, salad, garlic bread, birthday cake, and WINE. I must have had at least 4 glasses. Woooooo! I was trashed, and loud, and boisterous. But I didn't get kicked out, and no table dancing happened, so I think we're all good.

It was great to let my hair down, to socialize. Mostly I'm an introspective person, maybe a bit standoffish until ya get to know me. After that, watch out! I'm a bit embarrassed by some of the comments that I remember saying, but that's part of the fun too.

Gotta say that I admire Melissa so much, she is an incredible person. I'm so happy that I got to share her birthday with her this year. Mark surely has great taste in friends (Melissa is one of his bestest friends, if not at the top spot). I've wanted to hang out with her more often, and now I'm going to make it a priority, coz she rocks!

I won't even talk about how I completely blew my calorie range last night. /sigh. On the bright side, I did walk 6 miles yesterday so I can be happy about that. Today is another day, after all.

"It's never too late to be who you might have been"
--George Eliot

Food for thought

So this is where I've been going wrong! Duh!

Pilates

Pilates: a series of strenuous exercises which help convert fats, sugars, and starches into aches, pains, and cramps.

I must state, for the record. Pilates is kicking my ass! I absolutely love love love Studio One Pilates, and despise them at the same time for making my muscles ache so much! Just one more class to go for my bootcamp, and then I've decided that I'm going to sign up for the unlimited membership so I can take as many classes as I can stomach each month.

Really I have to sing praises to S1P, they are incredibly friendly. The studio is clean, the instructors are ahhhhmazing. My third bootcamp session, Paul Van Alstine (the owner) came in and helped instruct; he is charasmatic and well-spoken. During the break he offered to help those who needed a little extra attention, and believe you me, I jumped on that offer. I explained some of my low back issues, as well as that I had started Rolfing sessions from one of his employees. Awesome guy that he is, he did a free mini-rolfing session on my back. First time in 15 years that I have been able to flex my back enough that I could touch my toes. Paul is my new hero!

Last night in class, I was reflecting (after collapsing from doing hip-rolls) about my instructor, Sunday S. She has such a soothing, lilting voice even. Oddly enough I couldn't stop thinking "she is so evil! Kegel, breathe, kegel, arrrrgh! She needs to be called Mistress Sunday, and wear lots of shiny black latex. So evil!!" I've been too easy (uh well, I suppose so) on my body. Not kicking it's ass, ya know? So trying new exercises has my muscles twitching, trembling, ready to pack up and move on out. I also reflected on the inventor of Pilates, and how he came up with this method as a prisoner in a concentration camp. Didn't he have enough torture going on in his life already?! Geeeez!

If you haven't guessed yet, I believe that I am the Whiney One in the class. Always looking for questions to ask, to hold off on the next torturous exercise. And yet I love it. I have been getting a new awareness of my body, in a positive way. My posture has improved dramatically, I am noticing less neck and back strain. I know I have to keep this up, and better yet I am excited to keep going.

On Saturday we'll get re-measured and our walk video-recorded again. I'm excited to see if there have been any changes. I'll be surprised if there really are any significant changes in the measurements since I didn't follow my plan for eating. (Easter candy seems to be my kryptonite).

Today I'm planning on hitting the gym, or at least hijacking a treadmill at work to get some cardio in. I'm happy about yesterday, great workout and I stuck to my eating plan. Keep up the good work MJ! :)


Physical fitness can neither be achieved by wishful thinking nor outright purchase.
- Joseph Pilate

Still waiting for the magic to happen!

Day ten of my "new lifestyle". Which oddly enough looks a whole lot like my old lifestyle. Perhaps with the exception of going to Pilates class 3 times a week, and hitting the gym with my honey at least once a week.

Awesome, right!? Indeed! Except for the part where I didn't keep track of what I was eating for 4 days. And by "not keeping track" I completely mean that I ate everything in sight, as long as it was full of sugar and yummy-ness.

First day back at work, and I nimbly hopped onto the scale. (Coz that's easy to do when it's what, two inches off the ground). Grimacing as I waited for the final readout.

Hmmmm. Scratch my head, remove my shoes.

Interesting. .. Remove my cell phone and my pedometer.

Look around to see if anybody is watching. Probably not a good idea to strip out of my scrubs to weigh in. I'll just have to trust the number.

Crap! Yes, the numbers did not *magically* change. Still where I started at. Which is not exactly where I want to be "ten" days into my lifestyle changes.

I am proud of myself for getting off my duff and into pilates class and the gym. I realize that what I need to work on most though, is what I consume. I have 2 more pilates classes left on my "Beach Body Boot Camp" and then I get to decide if I want to pay for an unlimited membership. I feel like it would be worth the money, if I actually use it. Who else has the sneaky habit of buying exercise equipment and then using it as a clothes hanger?

I know my treadmill works, because everytime I hang my pants on it they get smaller!

Finally! Some Zoe birthday Pictures

I am struggling with the picture posting. I see all these amazing blogs with multiple pictures and they look great When I try to post pictures they are all skeewampus. Yes, that's right. Skeeewampus! So what the heck, I'll post anyway. And my 5 readers will just have to deal. :) Love ya!

My sweet Zoe girl turned 4 on March 23. I can hardly believe that she will be a kindergartner before I know it. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. Where did my baby go?

Zoe loves to dress up. She would wear a dress every day, if we had enough tights to go with it. When we get home at the end of the day, chances are that she will either put on a princess dress, or dress up her barbies.

Emerald picked out the blue dress for Z's birthday, and she immediately had to put it on. The white dress with flowers is one of the many sundresses she got from her dad for her birthday.

I seriously need to get more warm-ish tights so she can wear her dresses so there will be less fighting in the morning as we get ready to head out for the day.

Don't pay attention to the christmas wrapping paper. Too be politically-correct at Christmas we tallied up all the presents to make sure that none of the girls received more presents than the others. A few of Zoe's presents went back into my closet until her birthday rolled around. I was too busy (ahem, lazy) to re-wrap with the barbie princess wrapping paper. This is okay, riiiight?

I think Eme was almost as excited as Zoe about the dress. You'd never guess that she likes to ham it up in front of the camera! Does anybody else think she could dress up as Gov. Palin for Halloween? Although I don't think that will be a wildly popular costume choice like it was last year.