Bros in Yoga and ITGs in Bikinis

Y'all. I cannot even begin to explain how strange I feel right now. I should be exhausted, and my body is definitely tired, but somehow I still have energy to type this blog. I also feel like I should be proud of myself, but am still feeling a bit inadequate. Today has been loooong but wonderful! I went to TWO classes at 2 different gym locations today. Needless to say I have Wednesdays off of work. haha. I spent the time in between sunbathing by a rooftop pool in Dallas. Every time I have days like this where I'm like "Man I never would've been able to do this 2 years ago, or 1 year ago" it is just a really great feeling.

I had my normal wonderful Yoga class this morning. Well, not so normal, actually... Like a minute or two into class, 2 bros walk in. There are like, 5 women plus the instructor in our class so I was like "oook?". Because these are your average dudes who look more ready to play a pickup game of basketball or stare into a mirror while curling than to walk into a yoga class. Youngish 20s, completely average sized, and you can tell they're determined but nervous. They were on the other side of the room so honestly I didn't get to see them much except when we were doing triangle pose, which they seemed to be performing with the same mix of un-comfort and resolve. They were right behind me on our way out so I asked them if they had fun and they both gave me tired smiles and one of them said "I don't sweat that much when I workout!" and the other one was like "Yeah man that was HARD!" I just told them if they kept doing it they would get stronger and it would get easier. =) So that was funny, it'll be interesting to see if they come back next week.

So, I haven't gone swim suit shopping yet, and I think I'm still gonna put it off as long as I can. My swim suit from last year still fits actually, although if I do too much actual swimming it would be too big. But for a decorative-type function it still works and that's what we did today. I actually let my stomach get some sun! So not only is it flatter, but it is also now less pale! haha. I pulled up the tank-top part while it was just my boyfriend and his best friend. I used to be REALLY insecure around his bestie because every SINGLE one of his female friends is like a "7" or hotter. But now that we're actually friends for real and he's gotten used to the fact that he can have a fat female friend(because seriously, none of them are anywhere remotely close to being overweight) I don't really care anymore. So we left for some food, because all the aforementioned hotties were running late, came back and the 3 intimidatingly thin girls I was anticipating were all there in their bikini best... so needless to stay my stomach didn't get anymore sun. haha. But my shoulders look GREAT! =P Anyway, I could probably say truthfully that this is the least-uncomfortable I've been at the pool with 3 hot girls in bikinis. My first inclination was to just leave on my swim cover and risk a farmers tan, but this was my first real summer sun and gosh darnit, I was gonna get it! So I tried to just act as comfortable as I could even when I still felt completely inadequate next to women who probably wear sizes 0/2-6, and it worked and I got over it[kinda]. It's better than it was last summer when we had pool parties with the same girls because then I did my best to stay in the water or hide behind my towel/cover-up/boyfriend. I still really wanted to, but my hiding days are over, even if it is more emotionally exhausting than I'd like to admit.

So all that fun made me slightly late for my agreed spin date with my friend who is in town. We always spin when she's here but I knew we weren't gonna be there in time to get bikes. We ended up going to 45 minutes of the body sculpt class, which KICKED MY ASS. Like literally, I got a cramp in my right glute from all the squats and lunges we were doing within like 15-20 minutes. That was about 5 minutes after I stopped trying to count the squats to see how many I could log for my squat challenge. I think I can safely say I fulfilled today's 185 squats, even leaving 15 minutes early so I could get to church choir. I think we were both not-so-secretly relieved we had to go because our muscles were screaming. I don't think a 5lb dumbbell has ever felt so heavy. I hope it never does again.

Well other than my adventures from today, I think the only other thing of note is I'm going to have to re-arrange my schedule for the next month-ish due to extra choir rehearsals during my previously-scheduled Zumba time! =( So, I'll have to figure that out...I added Liz, the Zumba instructor on facebook so that I can pester her about her teaching schedule for other classes. haha. I hope I can work something out, I've been Zumba-ing for so long now I don't want to go a month without it!! =( Although now might be the time to try out Jazzercise. I can't remember if I told y'all we had a Zumba instructor and a Jazzercise instructor both come in with plantar fasciitis on the same day! I thought it was kinda funny. Anyway, I accidentally let the Z-word slip in front of the Jazzercise instructor and she told me I should try a class because she lost 125 pounds and has kept it off for 15 years doing Jazzercise. I looked at some of the instructive videos on the site and my knee-jerk reaction was "This looks like some white people sh--..." But I also turned to Will and pointed at the girl doing the video and said "See, I would be completely happy if my body looked exactly like hers" sooo... I dunno. I'm still thinking it over. Have any of y'all done Jazzercise? Let me know in the comments! I will keep y'all updated because I'm sure it will be some kind of adventure if I go, although who knows what kind. =) 

Awesomeness is Exhausting.

Seriously. I'm so worn out from being awesome all week. =P haha but really, let me tell you about it!!

Monday I tried a new class!! It's called "body sculpt" and then there's like 10 mins of straight abs at the end. Holy crap it was such a good workout. It was like a super high energy group training session. My balance is apparently awful so some of the stuff was really hard for me, but it was fun.

Tuesday I had an hr with josh (who apparently has a man/trainer crush on my super buff bf) and we did upper body. This translates to arms, chest and back; and then the hardest ab circuit he's ever had me do. It was like 5 diff things and I only did it twice. I felt so accomplished when I was done though. That's always the best feeling. =)

Wednesday I did spin, of course! Unfortunately it was a different instructor bc Nichole was sick, so it took a little getting used to. And then today I did Zumba again!! Both of these I burned less calories than I did last time but it's because Wednesday the teacher was running late, and today I was running late. Haha. So today I was also supposed to train for 30 mins with josh but he had to leave. But instead of going to take a nap like I REALLY wanted to, I went BACK to the gym. I let Will suggest what I did, and then added hips and abs on top of that. I went HAM, as they say. Lol. Here's a pic, actually.

Sooo yeah. I gave myself a really freaking hard ab circuit if you couldn't tell. I'm trying so hard to actually see results next week! And of course, by this summer. But jeez I need to get some sun before then. Maybe now that it's nice I'll actually start doing some of my mileage outside. What a concept, huh?

Saunas Suck, Surprisingly

Hey guys! So, Wednesday spin class was pretty good today. Every week my endurance is up and I can TELL! Gotta love results you can actually feel even if they're not measured. Yesterday I was on the elliptical for 30 mins and I did 2.3 miles so I feel pretty good about that. I burned 850ish calories yesterday and 750ish calories today so I am gonna step it up tomorrow bc I like to have at least one day in the gym a week where I burn around 1200 calories.

Also, tomorrow I'm going to my first Zumba class!! I've been wanting to try it for ages but I didn't want to go by myself and I couldn't find one at a time I liked, but now they offer one tomorrow at the same time as my spin class was today! A few of us were talking after spin and we're going tomorrow so we all have friends to help us laugh at ourselves. =) I'm really excited! And of course I will let you known how it goes. So tomorrow I'm going to Zumba in the morning and then I have a half our with josh in the afternoon, and THEN Friday morning I have an hour small group with Nichole. So basically I'm using this week to go to the gym every day and kick my butt back into gear. I'm gonna be so exhausted. I'm still a bit sore from legs on Monday, but yesterday after I did my ab circuit [ 3 x (20 flat bicycles, 12 leg-extensions/reverse-crunches/whatever-you-call-them, 20 Jesus sit ups)] I decided to try out the sauna. My glutes and quads were still killing me(I was cursing myself for doing those 2 extra sets of leg presses the day before) and I knew that supposedly the sauna helped.

Well, how does one go about getting in the sauna at the gym? Good question! I have NO IDEA. I didn't have a towel with me, other than my already drenched workout hand towel. Even if I did, I wasn't going to strip down and wrap myself up for a post-workout steam. Ok well I have nice thick boy shorts on and a good sports bra and they happen to both be black, so I could just lay there in my underwear...right? Shows you how far I've come that this was actually my initial plan. But do I strip to my skivvies in the locker room and walk over there in my underwear? I'm not ok with this plan anymore. Ok... So maybe I just wait and take off my shirt and shorts once I get in there? Good plan. So I took off my shoes and socks and left them with my keys in a locker. I took my water and my phone with me, and walked barefoot to the sauna(making a mental note to bring my flip flops next time I wanted to do this). So I take a quick glance at the warning posting, make note that I am not pregnant or drunk so I should be good to go but to leave if I feel dizzy or nauseas(duh?). I open the door and walk in and find not just one, but TWO skinny girls laying in there fully dressed with shoes and everything. Well, crap. So at this point, in my mind, I have no socially acceptable choice but to lay there fully dressed in the remaining spot (which is on the lower "shelf", if you will, and slightly more narrow than the upper one). So there I lay with my two very small and very silent sauna companions trying to be as unobtrusive as I can with about 5 inches of my right side hanging off of the ledge that I'm on. Oh by the way, it's 180 degrees Fahrenheit according to the sign outside, and I'm sweating even more than I was while I was just pounding out my last ab circuit to the 2 step remix while trying to ignore the 5-7 young good-looking guys trying to look impressive for themselves and everyone else in the mirrors by the ab mats.

So I lay there for a couple minutes, trying to move as little as possible while trying to figure out what to do with my arms. Skinny girl #1 gets up and leaves, so I wait til she's definitely gone and get up to move to the upper shelf which should just about be wide enough for my Latina hips. I sit there for a minute to decide how I want to situate my self when ANOTHER intimidatingly thin girl comes in and lays down where ITG(intimidatingly thin girl) #1 just was. Well, crap. Now I don't have room to also lay down, which is apparently the ideal position for cooking yourself post-workout. I sit there and try to decide if I should just leave even though I've only been in here for about 5 minutes when skinny woman #2 leaves. yay! So I move to her spot and lay down, even though that puts my feet about a foot and a half away from ITG but she's listening to her music so she can pretend to ignore me and it'll be all good. So I get comfy and lay down and desperately wish I could take off my shirt but ITG is, again, fully clothed with shoes and everything so I figure I can deal for another couple minutes. Which really, is all I can deal with. The heat feels good on my tired muscles but I am warm natured anyway and this is becoming a little too much for me. I stick it out about 4 minutes after ITG's arrival and then I have to bail. My shirt is sticking to my chest and back, which may look good if you belong in a magazine but isn't a good look for me, trust me. Besides I've drained my water and I want some more. So I try to extract myself as un-awkwardly as I can, and pass another magazine-worthy girl about to go in to cook herself. The room-temperature air feels blissfully cool against my skin and I am suddenly more thankful that I am barefoot. Haha. I enjoyed the heat on my muscles and today I feel like it probably did help, but I don't know if it's worth the awkwardness. I really want to try it again tomorrow after Zumba, but if there is more than one other person in there I just don't know if it's worth it.

I'd cut my losses and just get in the hot tub if I had a swim suit that fit, but un/fortunately, I'm fairly certain my one from last summer would fall off of me before consulting me if it was convenient. And the thought of swim suit shopping right now while I'm right between regular and plus size pretty much makes me want to punch someone. Probably an ITG unwarily making things awkward in the sauna.

Bye Bye Miss American Thigh

Traveling for work has been nuts! But I'm home this week and so is my sister for spring break. I'm proud of her, she's lost like 10 lbs since the beginning of the semester. =) we've been doing some of her paleo diet, which is essentially an Atkins-ish diet that has some science behind it. If I knew how to do links I'd give you a few, but you can go search "paleo diet" and I'm sure you'll find lots of interesting stuff. Anyway, Monday and Tuesday I followed her diet, yesterday not so much. Lol. And tonight we're going to have another paleo recipe- carb free pizza. The crust is going to be made out of cauliflower, eggs and cheese. I'm excited to give this a try. The mashed cauliflower I made Tuesday was pretty delicious. But I did make them "loaded" with cheese and bacon to make them more dad-friendly. Lol. Anything is good with cheese and bacon, you don't even need your inner fat kid to tell you that.

Oh I meant to tell y'all, I made Josh re-do my measurements last week and they came out much better. Overall I'm down -1.75 inches from the last measurements. I'm up in the neck, chest, shoulders and calves, I'm exactly the same in the waist and I'm down in arms and thighs. I'd actually lost an inch and a half each in my thighs which made me pretty determined to keep going to spin class. Which is why yesterday I went to 2 classes in a row. "why would you do that?" because I'm crazy apparently. I was so worn out. AND I forgot to wear my heart monitor so idk how many calories I burned. I'm guesstimating somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200. I did the Pilates class with Cynthia for an hour before I did an hour of spin. Luckily in spin 2 of my friends were there so we were all in a row cutting up keeping eachother going. The music Nichole picked also helped a lot. I mean between usher and drake how could I stop? Lol. But the hardest part was the climb set to "American Pie". Aka it lasted as long as the song. I thought I was gonna die! An 8 minute climb?! Usually they're not even half that long. But hey, I did it and I lived to tell the tale.

After all that craziness yesterday I ate (lean cuisine steamed asiago tortellini. Find it! It was amazing!!) and passed out before I went shopping with my sister and 2 of my chronically skinny friends. The long-standing plan was for them to teach me to shop as the skinny do, but since I'm still a solid 16 I was a little apprehensive. So we went to about 3 different department stores and we couldn't find ANYTHING. They were more discouraged than I was, because that is what I'm used to. I told them this is why I've never shopped at department stores, because I tried it once when I was a teenager and decided it wasn't worth the time and hassle and heartache. So after we gave up on that angle I took them to Ross and showed them how I usually do it. "it's ok, we're gonna go in there, I'm gonna find 2-3 dresses that I actually like that are actually in my price range, and then I'll pick the best one. It'll take like 15 minutes." Apparently this boggled their skinny girl minds, because this is exactly how it went down and they seemed shocked. Lol. So I found a cute dress for the wedding this weekend and if I can figure out how I'll post some before/during pics next week.

Tour de Pants

Y'all.... I am so proud of myself. I got myself out of bed, somehow, and went to a spin class BY MYSELF. As in I knew that I wouldn't know anyone there- not even the instructor. This is a new level of dedication for me. Lol this is my 3rd week to go to spin class and I'm really enjoying them. They are getting progressively easier(read:less excrutiating) to get through. Today was a different instructor so I can't tell how much of that was different styles or increase in stamina. I'm gonna say it was both. =) I don't have a whole lot to talk about, just some observations and thoughts I'd like to share since you seem to be interested. Haha.

So remember last time when I told you not to compare yourself to other people in terms of pace? Well spin class is a really good example of that. If you've never been crazy enough to go to a spin cycling class, let me briefly overview. You walk in and see a wide variety of people. You've got the girl in her I-live-here matching outfit, the person in the bike shorts and cycling shoes with legs that have more muscles showing than should be humanly possible, then you have the person who is probably like you- normal looking. So you choose the bike furthest from the mirrors that you can still see the instructor and you notice about 5 different ways to adjust things. Luckily you have a good instructor that takes pity on you and shows you how to adjust the bike so you don't kill your knees or your back. You find that you're not gonna make an easy get away if you wimp out bc your shoes are now strapped in for maximum safety. So you start cycling as you're on your 2nd and 3rd thoughts about giving this a try and class finally starts. For the next hour you have a very enthusiastic instructor telling you exactly where and how much it should be hurting if you're doing it right. 15 mins in you start planning you escape to see exactly how awkward it would be... Gym mascot mom might judge you, but rippling legs probably wont have hard feelings. But after 30 mins you realize you just MIGHT be able to do this. You may not be merely glistening like the pros, but you're still peddling. It's all downhill from there. Well, probably not. You probably have to do at least one more climb at at least an 85% resistance before you can peel yourself off of your bike seat and stretch your tired muscles. You assess the damage and realize that despite waddling everywhere for the next day or two, you're actually invigorated. You just did cardio for an HOUR. How awesome is that?

Pretty awesome. Which is why I'm considering going back tomorrow. But I'm concerned it'll have me limping this wknd and that's not ok. Lol. I'm not ashamed to say I definitely wore 2 pairs of underwear the last 2 times and that seems to help a lot. Haha. I'm working out of town this wk so my afternoon training isn't an option and I need to keep up my calorie burning. I'm actually kinda frustrated bc I've been the same weight for the last 2 wks even though I've been working out A LOT and eating pretty well. It's probably just muscle gain bc I feel like I can see a difference in my legs for sure, but it's still annoying. Just one of those plateaus I've gotta grit my teeth and get thru.

So yeah, soccer calves are making their return! Minus that creepy muscle right below my knee that soccer players always have. Haha. Let's talk about something else annoying. My clown pants. Lol now I'm really glad that I've lost all this weight, but the downside is that NONE OF MY CLOTHES FIT. Everytime I do laundry now I'm like taking a census of what's ok to wear and what's just so big that I can't get away with it anymore. I'm afraid one of my customers is going to tell me to watch what not to wear so I can learn how clothes are supposed to fit. I just need to bite the bullet and buy a couple more pairs of work pants that don't make it so painfully obvious that I used to be so much bigger. I just dont want to waste money on clothes that aren't going to fit me in a couple months. I think I'll just go to goodwill. Or do I have any friends that have 16/18 dress pants that are too big for them now? We should organize a clothes swap. Haha. How awesome would that be? Almost as awesome as burning 900 calories in an hour.

What else? It's HARD to be healthy. And expensive. I'd much rather have a 99cent cheeseburger than grilled chicken whatever. You know what's good tho? The grilled chicken wrap at sonic. If you have good healthy finds at fast food places, you should leave them in the comments!!