New (and Renewed) Strategies

Hello all!  Welcome to July! :)  It's hard to believe that 2012 is over halfway through!

Let me fill you in on the past month:
My sweet and loving long-distance husband came to visit, which COMPLETELY threw off my dieting (not his fault!).  Ergo I had gained some weight since my last entry.  "Vacation mode" is an evil way to function because it makes you take less notice of the amount of food/calories you are eating.

Despite this, I remained firm in my resolve to "get it right" and attended my very first Zumba class the Friday after he left.  They were offering a free class at my church and I had heard so many wonderful things about Zumba from friends back home. Let me tell you: Zumba is so much fun!  It's tough work, but you almost forget that you are exercising. I took dance lessons/classes in my childhood and adolescence and have always loved to dance, but you do not need to come to the classes with any pre-existing dance abilities. After getting to know the instructor and some of the girls/women in the class, I decided to take a big step and join a gym here in Baton Rouge.  It's an idea I had entertained for many months now, but couldn't find a gym that fit mine and Kyle's budget, offered Group Exercise classes, and didn't have a long contract.

My instructor teaches 3 Zumba classes a week at a YMCA close to my apartment.  The start-up costs were low, the monthly fee was reasonable, and the contract was month-to-month.  Needless to say, I signed up almost immediately.  So for the past two weeks, I've been keeping track of my Weight Watchers Points Plus values religiously and exercising 3-4 times a week. Here's my current workout schedule:
Mondays: Swim laps for at least 30 minutes at YMCA pool.
Wednesdays: One-hour Zumba class after work.
Fridays: One-hour Zumba class after work.
Saturdays: One-hour Zumba class first thing in the morning, followed by a one-hour Pilates class (with my same instructor; she's the best!)

Since it's summer and the best laid plans always seem to fall apart, I have yet to complete this full schedule for one week.  Last week the gym was closed on Wednesday July 4th, so I didn't have Zumba class, but went and did 30 minutes of cardio on Thursday via treadmill and the elliptical machines.  So I still exercised 4 times, just not the four times I would have preferred.  This week will be a little hinky as well because one of my summer practicum sites has medical records training this Saturday morning (yuck) so I have to miss Zumba AND Pilates (so bummed!).  As a result, I'll probably head for a swim Saturday afternoon for about an hour to compensate (or try to) for the loss of my two awesome group x classes.

The point of my story is that over the last two weeks doing WW and Zumba, I've lost 6 pounds!  I lost 3.8 during Week 1 and 2.2 during Week 2.  As always, it would be nice if it were more, but as for now, I'm stoked with 6. :)

Current weight: 301.8


Maybe by next week I'll be back to Two-terville (in the 200s).  That would be awesome. I must admit I'm a bit nervous about this upcoming week.  Years of dieting/exercising tell me that when you have 1 or 2 good weeks (like 6 pounds total) the third week can get a bit rough in terms of weight loss. I'd love to lose at least 2 more pounds, but we'll see what happens.

Until next time,
BK