Day 13

Today was a long day ... I slept a full 8 hours, but still woke up sleepy. Not sure why ... I suppose my body kinda wants a rest, but it doesn't get it quite yet. Suck it up, body. It took a lot of self-control to get my butt outta bed and to the club today.

I did have one of the more ridiculous water aerobics classes yet - we did things with the Noodles like tow each other around the pool, and make bridges for people to duck under, and all sorts of things. The little old ladies loved it - they were cackling, and overbalancing each other, and generally being silly. And in spite of all that, I still got out of the pool feeling thoroughly exercised! I'd never pegged water aerobics being so effective, but it's made probably the biggest difference in my body so far. I also did Pryme Tyme Sculpt again, and did exercises with the Bosu Ball I'd never seen before - things like doing full-body crunches, but passing the ball between my hands and feet between each crunch. It was exhausting, but afterwards I felt pretty good!

Yoga was not so good this afternoon - it was a new instructor, and I really wanted to get a good stretch. This class was harder than the hardest class I'd taken, and hippie-er than the other classes too. It was all about, "practicing Acceptance" and "bringing Awareness to your navel." (I'm not joking, those are direct quotes.) I'm thinking I may get a yoga mat of my own and do some yoga here at home from time to time - only a few of the instructors have done a class styled in a way I like, but I want to be able to work on my strength and flexibility on the off days too.

Food was a little difficult today; breakfast and lunch were fine, but dinner was a new recipe that didn't quite go off right. It was ginger chicken, with steamed snow peas and an Oriental cabbage salad. I never did see the salad - Mom made it, tasted it, and promptly threw it out. The chicken wouldn't have been too bad, except it didn't cook quite right ... it was very dry in places, and the flavor didn't work all the way through. It'd be fine in strips and stir-fried, though ... maybe next time.

So I've turned a corner, craving-wise. My body no longer craves carbs and sugar the way it did the first few days. Case in point: instead of normal JIF peanut butter, we've stocked Simply JIF (very similar, but with all the sugars cut out). The first time I tried the Simply JIF, my body wasn't satisfied; it expected more. Today, Mom opened the Simply JIF jar ... and from all the way across the room, my mouth started watering. My body's making the shift it needs to, and beginning to crave the right stuff! That's not to say I wouldn't cross oceans for a slice of pizza, but it means my body's getting the idea - finally!

I was thinking about my weight lost today, and it occured to me. Weighing in at 219 doesn't seem all that much an improvement, on the surface. I mean, I weighed that in January and I wasn't satisfied with my body at all. I realized that the real difference here is not the number, but the look - I was nowhere near this toned in January. My curves weren't as defined, my muscles weren't as strong, and my face wasn't as clean-lined. I look better to myself right now than I have in years, even at this advanced weight - I've always been fortunate enough to wear excess weight fairly well, and even moreso when I'm making an effort to be fit. I'm really curious to see what I look like at the end of all this ... I haven't been truly fit since high school, and my body was so undeveloped that it wasn't worth mentioning. Being fit now will be a hell of a thing.

Tomorrow's gonna be busy - end-to-end appointments and workouts from 8 am til 3 pm, then an evening workout to round out the day. It'll feel really good to get to bed tomorrow night ...