Post 48 - A Buncha Stuff!

Hello, hello!

I have so much to tell you but, to be honest, my arms are killing me (more on that in a minute) so I'm not sure how much writing I'll do tonight.

First things first: was DYAO a nail-biter last night or WHAT? Drama, drama, drama! Was the moon in retrograde or something? Even Joe texted me something during the show that made me make the "oh no he di-in't!" face! One of the most amazing things the contestants had to do this week was run around a high school track wearing odd looking silver vests. After they finished their run, they were told that the vests were weighted with the equivalent of all the weight they've lost over the past six weeks. Talk about an emotional moment when they took off those vests; how symbolic, you know? To be able to remove such a burden and to know that they don't ever, ever have to live like that any longer. I was in tears thinking about how proud I am of each and everyone of them and about how I'm doing the same thing in my own journey. Anyhoo! *wipes eyes*

The dance contest was so fun to watch! LaToya and Adamme can DANCE... their skills are fierce. Corey and Stephanie might not have the experience that the other two do but they are just so stinking adorable and expressive with their moves to say nothing of the dance stories their faces tell... they're simply FUN to watch and I giggle when they're on the floor! And my boy, Michael? What can I say? He just makes me smile when I see the concentration and the pure joy on his face. I love them all dearly but Michael's the one who's got my vote! This week, in a close, close contest, it was the lovely Katie's turn to go home, even though we got to see her sassy hidden domme within (and believe me, she was SPICY HOT!). It's getting harder and harder to watch contestants leave the show - I just want everyone to win; is that so bad??

On the work-out front, be proud of me, fellow fitness/weight loss journeypeople - I went to Zumba at Dance SPA. This was my first Tuesday class and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Joe was going to be there today, too! This was another "hustle on over" day because I get off work at 5:30 and......................Zumba starts at 5:30! So I'm about 15 minutes late but not to worry because I get a 45 minute workout and then, when Zumba's over, it's time for the Ab Lab. Now, let me tell you something about the Ab Lab class. It's only 20 minutes long but it's intense. And it works your arms in addition to your abs. Which is why mine feel like rubber tonight. We did push ups. Wall push ups. Which, normally, you would think "WIMP!" However, Christa told us "I know this sounds easy but I promise, promise, promise you - by the end of this song, you're going to hate me!" Well. I don't hate her. I couldn't! But I think my biceps might just a little bit. They'll get over it when I look like a skinny, sexy diva with toned arms.

Abs.... hm. How do I begin to tell you how difficult the ab exercises were for me? Let's put it this way. I haven't done a sit up in....hm. 16 years? Something like that. So here's how it went down:

[6:30] Song one starts. We do crunches. I think, "okay! not too bad - I can do this!"
[6:35] Song ends, Christa says, "WOOO! Great job, everyone! Now we're gonna do 15 more minutes of that!" I want to kill someone but I'm in too much pain to move.
[6:36] Song two starts. We do some sort of thing where you lie on your back with your legs in the air and scissor kick your legs until they're almost to the floor then scissor kick them back up again. I swear I'm not making this up - each time I moved my legs up and down, my back felt like I was lying on bubble wrap. "kick-pop!pop!pop!-kick-pop!pop!pop!" and so on. I didn't finish that exercise but did crunches while everyone else was scissoring away.
[6:40] Aforementioned wall push-ups. I think, "pfff, THESE I can do. Easy-peasy!" (when will I ever learn?)
[6:43] My arms did, in fact, hate her a little I think.

Here's the really amazing thing about working out so hard, though. Yes, it's exhausting. Yes, my brain and my body argue throughout the ENTIRE class. BUT! When it's all said and done, I actually feel kind of great when I walk out that door. I think to myself, "I did it! I'm doing it! Lookitme, Lookitme, I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" and I look at Joe and think about how proud I am of him because he's doing it too! And, looking around the room at all of these wonderful people who are at so many different levels. They come back week after week and they're doing it, too!

This week, Joe and I signed up for the Dance SPA Zumba Challenge. I wrote about it in an earlier blog post but, for $249, you get unlimited Zumba, Zumba Toning, Ab Labs and Bollywood on the Fly classes plus a whoooooole bunch of other activities, too. I'm really excited about the kick-off party this Sunday at 1pm. A guest consultant will be on hand with some really cool device that measures your water, fat and muscle in your body. I'm also getting weighed in - I haven't had a scale in years and I have absolutely no idea what I weigh. Time to face up to it and see where I'm at in order to find out how far I've got to go, right? I'm ready, scale. Let's do this!

One last thing... when I came online today, I saw the neatest surprise: I won a blogger award! How cool is that?? Look, here it is!



I'm really excited about this and can't wait to pass it forward. There are instructions I need to follow so I'll make sure I post this all correctly tomorrow when I get home from work. Meanwhile, thank you thank you thank you, Chrissie, for this award! By the way, if you're reading my blog and want to check out another phenomenal blogger's weight loss journey, be sure to stop by Chrissie's blog. It's much more colourful than mine and has lots of pictures. You'll like it, I promise!

Speaking of pictures, I leave you with one more photo. Here's what Joe has to say about how we feel toward the end of our Zumba classes (I agree with him):



HAHAHA! Just kidding (mostly)! We love Christa, we love our classmates and we love Zumba, too!


Love and a buncha other good things,

Kelley
xoxo