The color of infinity inside an empty glass

So I did something yesterday that it was high time to do (and that I haven't done in, like, a year or more).

I lifted weights

Well, to be fair, I used Weight Machines, but it's a START!

I did six machines (that's all I felt I could do), leg press, leg extensions, leg curls, shoulder press, forward press and lat pulldowns.

By that time, I was sore and a little weak, so I just walked on the treadmill for a while.

Back to the gym today for Cardio only (OK, maybe I'll do some lat pulldowns but ONLY because my shoulders ACHE and i know reexercising a muscle helps relieve the ache for me.)

Still.. feeling very proud of myself. I'm back on the wagon, and with luck can stay there and really lose this weight before Marie gets there and I'm still floundering in the 260s.

And if I get to 260.. I'll be hunting the iTunes Store for the perfect reward (1 album.. whatever album I want.)

Where to begin...

First of all, the diet is.. mostly going. I am still struggling against stress and tiredness (and I did SOMETHING to my back on Sunday I'm getting over.), but... in general, I have more good days than bad. I've decided, for now, to back my weighing in to once a week.

So, I'm still in this, Marie, and I still intend to win! I'm planning on stopping by the gym and take a light workout today. If what I did had to do with the extra-long workout I did on Friday (I walked for 40 minutes instead of 30), some light moving MIGHT be the soup de jour. Perhaps about 30 minutes of 4 or so mph, no slope. Just to get back into things.

K and I had a discussion this morning about dance classes. We agreed that for now, at least, once we get through Freestyle on the 27th (dancing competition), we're going to take it a little easy on the dance classes and space them up. K is missing choir and I'm finding I'm finding the Thursday classes and practices very to too challenging for me.

Plus, somewhere in all this, I need to start studying for my PE I want to take next year.

The job remains.. draining and stressful more often than not. There are days I'm barely getting through. I'm not quite sure what, if anything, I can do to relieve this. I'm just trying to deal with the stress better (going to the gym will help with that.)

K and I are still ticking along best we can. At least there's nothing between the two of us that is stressing us out. Kristen remains a source of compassion and caring and someone who'll at least listen me vent about the daily stresses, and who knows when to back off and let me play my games. In short, things are still fantastic with her.

So.. wish me luck in getting through everything, keeping going, staying on track with the diet, studying for the PE and working through the stress in a relatively healthy way.

So, out of the blue, on.. Friday.. I randomly remembered a little fact from when I was dieting last. It seems that, for reasons I DON'T understand, diet soda seems to not help me lose weight. I remember entirely quitting a little while back, and it DID seem to help with the weight loss.

As of last week, at least while I was at work, I'd typically have 4 12 oz. cans of pop a day, typically. 48 oz. of artificial sweeteners and... whatever else it is that might be somehow interfering with the scale, at the last, being nice to me.

So as of last Friday, I decided to take it easy on the soda. It does seem like it's helped because, seriously, Saturday, Sunday and Today, the weight dropped a bit.

I don't get it, but I also remember the OTHER reason i quit diet sodas was that I had no idea how truly good for me the artificial sweetener was. Say what you want about sugar... it's long and short term effects on the human body are pretty well known.

So... I've continued to eat well, continued to exercise, continued doing well.

As of this morning, I've lost 4.2 lbs. since I started this challenge with Marie. Marie, that's 15.5% of the weight I need to win. I'd be worried if I was you ;)

Current BMI: 32.5.. working my way back down to 29.7 (That's 244, when I beat Marie) and then beyond.

Firstly,

Marie (Salome190) and are challenging each other. The first one of us to lose 10% of our body weight (I have to lose 27 lbs. She needs to lose less.) wins.

Marie and I had a competition of sorts a couple years back where I tried to catch up to her weight (and did), but she did a better job than me of getting back on the wagon before me, but we were both floundering, so hopefully this works to inspire the both of us to work hard to lose the weight.

And, well, if we trash talk each other along the way, it's just in fun.

Speaking of..

Hey Salome, I lost 1.4 lbs. since yesterday (water, I'm sure)
I'm 5.16% there. You should be afeared!

And I went to the gym yesterday and walked half an hour and ate well, despite the dinner of chocolate fondue (which..was OK, but we used a microwave fondue system. If I do this again, I want to try the actual fondue pot next time. The chocolate might stay melted longer.)
Dinner yesterday was a study in portion control :D

*slides leftover chocolate fondue over to Marie*

Now... as for Wii Fit. Well, first of all, let me point out that it's a bloody pain in the touchas to find. We ended up finding a copy at Toys R Us, but... good luck finding one!

So... I got it, unwrapped it, made it work.. and first thing it does is tell me to pick a Wii (I already had one, no prob) and do a Body Test. It measures me, asking how heavy my clothes are (choices are light, 2 lbs. and heavy 4 lbs.) and then proceeds to do two balance/posture tests. It's clear that the game is very hung up on the idea of posture as an indicator of overall health. I can see it some, but it seems like it's just one indicator of many.

Anyways, so I take my test and.. my poor Wii blows up like a balloon, showing I'm obese. Well, THAT'S inspirational :p

Anyways, so I've taken my body test and it tells me that my balance is weak (i knew that) and then to training.

You can train in one of four ways.. Strength Training (Lunges, Pushups, all perfectly legitimate exercises you can do with just your body), Cardio (the unlocked exercises include a hula hoop thing, step aerobics and running in place), Yoga and Balance exercises. Most of the 40-some training games are locked, but you unlock them by spending time training in Wii Fit.

So, I started playing around with each. I decided to start with the balance first and, for me, many of these games are hard, but I DON'T have good balance. One of the games is to move your weight to the left or right to hit soccer balls and that game is TOUGH, at least for me. Another game is a slalom where again you move your weight to the left or right to curve your skier to the left or right to get in between the flags. That one was easier and I enjoyed better. Also, the ski jump which just requires for you to lean your weight forward and straight.

The Yoga I'm excited about because Yoga, to me, equals a good stretch and some flexibility training which I lack, but what bothers me is that many of the moves are in no particular order. I can do the Sun Salutation, but the one before it, the Tree Form.. my balance sucks, so no, I can't balance on one leg. I tried, believe me.
One of the things I DO like, though, is that there's a score, of sorts, on the Yoga. Based on what, you ask? Based on keeping your balance. Basically if your center of balance stays within the preset range, you get points. It gives you something to aim for and probably helps you figure out how to do the move right.

The Strength Training I haven't done much with, mostly because I DO have a gym membership. But like the Yoga, there's a handful of exercises you can do with just your body to build up your muscles.

The Aerobic stuff is pretty amusing. I especially like the running in place. For a short three minute run, you appear to be running around a small island filled with amusing things to see. Dogs playing, people in the park. It was kinda amusing. I SUCKED at the hula hoop stuff, so that frustrated me, but I imagine that's as much form as anything else. The Step Aerobics were kinda amusing, though.

Final Thoughts.
Look, Wii Fit is only a game. I don't think there's anything that can REALLY replace a good workout in a gym, or a Yoga Class or whatever. And everything is in small 1-3 minute bites, which probably isn't ideal for cardio workouts. However, if you're looking to just get active again, or have something to do on your days off from the gym, this can't hurt much. It's amusing, it gives you an aim, and points and it's actually fun. So for that, I'd recommend it. :)