100!!

Something I forgot to mention: I hit my 100th work out at Curves on August 11th.

That was a pretty big deal for me. When I first joined, 100 work outs seemed like something far away, especially since I only work out 3 days a week. And some weeks it's only twice and for one week last winter I gave up going all together (but I went back the following week!). So I was pretty stoked to hit 100.

I'm not sure that I've ever stuck to a diet/exercise regime this long before. It's become routine for me. I actually enjoy going (most of the time). Today I learnt that I won 2 prizes from games/contests that the club ran in August. I won a pen from our trivia contest and I won a "100" t-shirt from the 100-150 work outs contest. Awesomeness!!!!! Now I'm slowly inching my way forward to the next goal: 150 workouts.

Despite going to the gym on a regular basis, I haven't actually lost all that much weight. Some is gone and while a few pounds keep coming back, the vast majority of what I've lost has stayed lost. So I'm rather pleased with that. I know why I haven't lost much weight. It's no real mystery, especially when you've been in this game as long as I have been. Simply put, I need to modify my intake. And I'm working on that and will be making some changes in the near future. But I'll share more on that later.

Funny part is that people keep telling me that I look like I've lot weight. Probably because I have better posture now. I sit and stand up straighter. Strengthening your core will do that. I'm also slightly leaner, as I'm redistributed the weight around a bit. So it's small changes but they're changes and they're occurring.

Losing weight is a very funny beast. In theory, it's a simple process: intake fewer calories than you burn. But there's so much more to it than that. It's emotional. It's mental. It's a constant internal battle between side A that screams: Love yourself the way you are. Fuck society and accept yourself the way you are. Everyone's beautiful and side B which simply states: Keep it up and you'll have diabetes by 40 and drop dead of a heart attack by 50. Both sides make some valid points. So I think there's a 3rd option: I love myself and am confident enough in myself to know that I have to change. I don't want to die young or be a burden on my family or society because I have a weight related disease or issue. But at the same time, I have no desire to be skinny. I don't even think that's possible given my bone structure. I personally think curves are sexy and plan to hold onto some of mine. I'd just like to reduce them a bit and give them some more definition.

I'm not perfect. Never have been, never will be and I'm happy about that. If you're perfect, you've got nothing to strive for and that sounds a little boring to me. One little step at a time, except on Curves days, and then it's several big steps for about a half hour.

Good Night!

Sarah

Disappearing Doctor and a Sugarless Surprise

Since I just cleared a world in Candy Crush and I'm currently waiting for 3 friends to send me passes to the next level, I decided I'd kill some time by blogging.

It was an interesting week at work. It was very busy. And not just for me. For a lot of people. Ah, the joy of year end (the fiscal or financial year that is). The ending of this year and getting stuff done for the start of the next one kept me equally busy I'd say. Part of it was my own fault. I requested today off since I had one "use it or lose it" vacation day left and I'm not the type of person to let a perfectly good vacation day go to waste.

My day off was a long and rather interesting one. I've been having problems with my knee for several months now. I very much dislike going to the doctor so I'm a big proponent of "walk it off'". I think it stems from the time when I was 6 and I feel and severely sprained my ankle and broke 2 tiny bones in it and I limped around the house for a day and a half before my mom decided I wasn't faking it and took me to the doctor. So I've been "waking it off" for the last few months, only problem is that it's becoming increasingly more painful to do so. Sigh. Time to see the doctor. Knowing that I had today off, I decided that it would be best to go on my day off so that I didn't miss any additional work. I called the doctor's office on Tuesday and made an appointment for Friday. I asked for the earliest appointment they had. She said "10am". And I said "that's the earliest?" and she said "Yes, the doctor's usually in by then". Sigh. I took it. We had a little bit of freezing rain earlier so I wasn't sure what I was going to encounter on my way to the bus this morning. Thankfully, we didn't get much and it had warmed up already and all the snow we got overnight was starting to melt as well as any of the frozen stuff that feel earlier. I make it to the corner in time to see my bus go by on the other side of the street. Damn thing was 3 minutes early. Sigh. So I wait for the next one and arrive at the doctor's office 5 minutes late (not too bad). I go up to the receptionist, tell her who I am and that I have an appointment with my doctor at 10am and apologize for being late. She just looks at me. And then says "You have an appointment?" Me - Yes. Her - hmmm. Then - the doctor isn't here. And I can't see your appointment in the computer. It looks like it's all blocked off. Me - I called on Tuesday and made an appointment for today. I called at 10:30am. Whoever I spoke to (btw - I know it was her that I spoke to) told me the doctor would be in a 10 and gave me that appointment time. She just looks at me. Then the computer. Then me. Then she says "I don't know where the doctor is. We're expecting him today.". WTF. What kind of doctor just goes MIA?? Beauty part? This isn't the first time this has happened. I told her ask much. She just shrugged at me and gave me a helpless animal type face. Thankfully I don't fall for that kind of BS easily so I just sighed and said "Can I see the other doctor?" And she said "Of Course!" and merrily starts typing away at the computer, gives me back my health card and tells me to take a seat. My doctor is based out of a Walk in clinic so there's always another doctor there except on weekends. Thankfully, the place wasn't busy. I only had to wait about 20 minutes. The walk in doctor was an old dude with a really thick accent that I could hardly understand. He wiggled and twisted my knee all over the place (which hurt) and asked me twice if I had a drug plan (which I do have, thank goodness). He wrote me 3 prescriptions. One is a powerful anti-inflammatory that I have to take twice a day. 2nd one is for a medication to protect my tummy from the anti-inflammatory (it appears to be a drug who's main purpose is to treat ulcers and really bad heartburn). Ok then. The 3rd was the one I asked for, which was just a repeat on my regular meds. Bugger only gave me 3 months worth of that one so I have to go back to see my doctor.  Trying to be good and giving the guy one more chance, I made an appointment for a physical in May. Have to wait and see what happens there.

So after the doctor's office, I went to Curves. It was monthly weigh-in day. I've never been there that early in the day and I'd only eaten breakfast at this point so I'm sure that helped with the weigh in a little bit. Anyhow, it went very well. I'm down 3 inches. I lost a little or stayed the same for every part of my body except my biceps. They increased thanks to the muscle I've built. The best part was what the scale had to say. Down 8.5lbs in the last month. YEEHAW! That's roughly 2lbs a week. The only thing I've changed in my diet is sugar. I've removed it. And apparently that's having some very positive results. I even managed to say no to my biggest temptations yet: The crazy awesome looking and very amazing smelling Ferro Rocher cupcakes that a very awesome co-worked baked for KayD's bday. I was tempted. Boy was I ever. But I held out and the result on the scale today made me very happy about that decision. I know damn well that 1 cupcake wouldn't have an impact on the results I saw today, but it's the principle of my quest that matters. The wonderful photo that appears on tonight's blog are the delightful cupcakes. You'll understand the temptation once you see them. Honestly, they were pretty epic or so I was told by those who ate them :)

After Curves, I celebrated my weight loss by sharing a deep fried snack platter appetizer at lunch with a buddy of mine. It was good. I eventually paid for it (some indigestion this evening...prior to taking the new meds) but it was yummy. This was followed up by a tour of the Canadian History Museum (aka Museum of Civilizations). It used to be my favourite museum in Ottawa but they're currently renovating it and changing a bunch of stuff so a lot of it was closed off to the public which puts a bit of a damper on it. I'm sure it will be awesome once it's done but that's not for another few years. It was still cool to see the Canadian Hall, which is may favourite section. They have re-creations of buildings and homes, schools and churches and they have real artifacts in each area. And some very life-like mannequins that are rather creepy.

By the time we were done at the museum, the fog had really rolled in. That's what happens when warm air hits cold snow and a cold river. And it was pouring rain too. Traffic wasn't too bad and I got dropped off at the mall so that I cold get my prescriptions filled. I remembered to by lottery tickets yet forgot to buy milk. D'oh! Now I don't have milk for my morning tea/coffee. Dammit. Guess I know what I'm doing first thing tomorrow. Either that or I'll be drinking green tea.

All in all, it was a very interesting day and enjoyable for the most part. It would have been nicer if I could have walked the museum rather than limped it, but hopefully these meds help and I can get back to normal. If not, I'll be seeing my doctor (if he shows up) sooner than my planned visit in May.

I should toddle off to bed (aka curl up in bed and read for another half hour or so) as I need to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Another busy week ahead!

Good Night!

Sarah

Amazing, right??!!

Reflecting on Life Lessons and 21 Days Without Sugar!

You know, it's funny how a 20 minute meeting can result in hours and hours and hours of work being assigned to someone. I had that happen this week. Not that it's a bad thing. A good opportunity to get my feet wet with someone new but looking at it yesterday, I had the distinct impression that I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Thankfully a good night's sleep and a fresh perspective this morning, it didn't look nearly as daunting. And it's going to make for a couple interesting weeks. Besides, I have Curves to work out my frustrations should things not go well with the plans! LOL.

I did discover something very cool online today. It's from a blog and it made me stop for a few minutes and really think about things for a few moments. It's called "30 Things to Stop Doing To Yourself" and on the blog Marc and Angel hack life. Every single one of the items is true and completely makes sense. If you like the post, please support their blog and sign up for their newsletter. I did!!

The first one is:

1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.  If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you.  You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot.  Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth.  And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.

OMG, I'm such a proponent of this one. And I think that I've learnt and lived this lesson. My only regret is that I didn't realize it sooner. Looking back on high school, I can think of several people that I would have just cut out and walked away from because they sucked the happiness out of me. Or just used me and never saw me for the awesome person I know that I am. Which leads me directly to points 5 and 6 in the blog:

5.Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you likeeveryone else.  Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

6. Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.

I think I have a pretty good sense of self now. I'm not a party girl. I'm not the type of person who goes out to bars or clubs every Friday and Saturday night. I don't go out drinking  and dancing with the girls. I'm lucky if my eyes are still open at 10pm on a Friday night. I'd rather curl up in my comfy close and read a book than get all dressed up and freeze my ass off waiting in line somewhere and then spend my night in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers. And I'm cool with that. There was a point in my life when I wished I was that girl. The bar star. But that's not who I am and I have no desire to be her either.

I don't like dwelling on the past. Been there, done that. I will occasionally recall something from my past in order to remind myself of the lesson I learnt from it, but that's all. Sadly, I've had a few people in my life who can't seem to get past the past. Which then goes back to point 1 and I don't associate with those people anymore.

I am somewhat guilty of # 15 and 16:

Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others are doing better than you.  Concentrate on beating your own records every day.  Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.
Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own.  Ask yourself this:  “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”

I'm 35, live in a small, kinda crappy apartment (because I can't afford anything nicer)  am still single and have 0 prospects on the horizon. Even if I had an interest in having kids, my chances of doing so would be pretty slim to none at this point. I often day dream about owning my own house with a nice backyard where I can have a lovely garden and a couple of dogs running around. And a husband who's arms I can curl up in on our porch swing and watch fire flies come out at night. Yes, I realize that I sound like I'm 80 but it's what I want. And I don't have it. But I know other people around my same age who do have it. I've learnt to change my thinking. I can't measure my life and successes against others. They're living a different life than I am. They're on a different path than I am. I know that I'll eventually get there, I just am taking a different route.
Same with people at work. I've seen people with less experience than myself getting better jobs. I've seen people who only worked in our office for a short period of time get promoted or find a better job faster than others who have been there longer. I can't begin to compare them all. Everyone is living a different life. I'm thankful for the things that I do have and will continue to strive for the important things that I want (happens to be point 30).

I will admit to being completely guilty of point 28 on the list too (you have to read the list to find out what it is) but I come by it naturally. It runs in the family and I'm fairly certain that I inherited it from my mother, who most likely got it from her mother :) And 29 is a work in progress for me as well. I've taken to doing a bit of positive affirmation after my workout at Curves. There's a stretching routine that you're supposed to follow after your working out to help your muscles. Part of it is done sitting on the floor. During those stretches, I like to close my eyes and think nothing but positive thoughts. I remind myself how strong I am. I remind myself of my goals. I think about why I'm there and what I want to accomplish and how much I love me and I just remind myself to take it one day at a time. Taking little steps towards all my goals are better than taking none at all.

Speaking of goals, I'm at day 21 without sugar :) Just 7 more days and it will have been a full month. I did nearly have a set back this morning when I opened the office fridge at morning break and found myself staring at two half eaten cakes. I grabbed my yogurt and ran before the devil could scramble up on my shoulder.

Good Night!

Sarah

My new Bonsai Tree

Mini Milestones

My day has been a day of some mini milestones which I didn't actually realize until late this afternoon.

For starters, today marks 2 weeks without sugar. I even survived the dessert section of an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet on the weekend. I broke down and bought some sugar free Jello Mousse cups to help with the chocolate cravings. Otherwise, fruit has been satisfying my sweet cravings and I'm feeling pretty darn good.
I'm finding it rather shocking just how much sugar is in things that you don't think have sugar in them or should have sugar in them. The one that surprised me the most are the frozen dinner and the supposed "Healthy" steamer style bowls. They have insane amounts of sugar in them. Talk about buyer be ware.

This evening also marked my 50th workout at Curves. Their computer system keeps track and lets me know how many workouts I've had when I sign in. I'll admit it. I'm a little proud of myself. I've actually kept with it for 5.5 months now. It's become routine for me and I actually enjoy it. Yes. I just said that I enjoy exercise. Some days it is hard to drag my ass there, like tonight. I was really tired after work. I've been tired all week. And it was really grey and blah out. Snow was in the forecast. And I'm reading a really good book right now (Omens by Kelly Armstrong) and all I could think about was going home, curling up and reading. But I didn't. I went to Curves. I was rewarded with my favourite coach being there (She normally works mornings except for Fridays) and I got in a good work out. Beat my target again for the 6th or 7th consecutive work out and it was my 50th workout. Something seems to have clicked. Now if my knee would just cooperate.....

Work is going well. It's been pretty steady so it's keeping me out of trouble. My co-workers are still providing me with a good deal of amusement. I swear, one day I'm going to write a book about my life in that office. I got a piece of good news last week too. I wrote a test on the 10th as part of a hiring process. I got the score back on the 12th and I did a pretty good job, scoring 42 out of 50. I'll take it, especially since I was still recovering from my cold and thanks to my inconsiderate neighbours, I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before the test. Oh yeah, and they tried to blow us up during the test too! (Blasting at the building site behind the test centre). Made for a very interesting day.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Not that you'd know it from looking out the window. We had snow today and there's snow in the forecast again tomorrow. The City of Ottawa set a new record on Monday. It was the coldest St. Patrick's Day in Ottawa's recorded history. Lucky us. Two years ago we had a heat wave and set a record of +25. It got so hot in our office that we got sent home. I'd much prefer that to this. I'm very excited at the prospect of having Spring here soon. It means longer days and more sunlight. It also means that I survived the dark, cold days of winter and I once again triumphed over my demons. I must say, this has been one of the best winter's I've had in a very long time. My seasonal depression really stayed in check and I've had  very few down days. There were a couple weeks between January and February that I found a little rough and had no energy but they were short lived and I bounced back quickly. I honestly think that Curves had a lot to do with the improvement in my mood. They say that exercise is good for more than your physical health. Who knew that they were right? LOL.

Steph and I checked out one of the positive signs of spring 2 weekend's ago: Blowing up the ice on the Rideau River. We got there too late to see the ice being blown up as they were further up the river, but we heard and felt some of the blasts and we did get to see the very beautiful and very frozen Rideau Falls. It was rather interesting to see. I got a lot of amusement out of watching the large ice chunks from up river going over the falls and creating quite the splash at the bottom. It was almost as amusing as watching Steph sniff bread in the grocery store but that's a story for another day. So is staying out to 2:30am, betting on electronic horses at the Casino in Quebec :) LOL.

I can hear my book calling me so I should sign off, go and curl up and read a little before bed. Or a lot.

Good Night!

Sarah

Very Frozen Rideau Falls - Steph took the photo when we stopped to check them out 2 weeks ago. So cold! But so beautiful!!

Guess What? It's Still Cold.

It's been 3 weeks since I last blogged. It's still cold. There's still lots of snow on the ground. The forecast for the week shows more cold and more snow. And the first day of Spring is 18 days away. Someone needs to wake Mother Nature up and remind her of that fact. I'm so done with this weather. I think most people are. According to the weather experts, this is the coldest winter we've had in the last 20 years. I believe it. I'm hanging in there though.

From a mood/mental standpoint, this winter has been pretty good (knock on wood since it isn't over yet). Other than a  couple of days in December and a week in January, I've been doing pretty good. The demons haven't been bugging me. Maybe it's even too cold out for them! The only thing I've done differently this winter than last is Curves. It's become pretty much routine for me now. I haven't missed a session since mid January. I did miss one day in February but that's because they were closed so that wasn't my fault. I think the exercise really has helped. I've been pushing myself to get out more too, be a little more social. That's probably helped too. I'm starting to see the results from Curves. Just small ones. But they make me smile. In numbers, I've lost 6lbs and 10.75 inches. That means I'm trading fat for muscle. I think it's a pretty good swap.

Despite being up late last night, I woke up early-ish this morning and couldn't fall back to sleep. So I hauled my butt out of bed and got moving. I made it to the grocery store and home again by 10:20am. I then had breakfast, watched Police Academy and cleaned my kitchen. Like really cleaned it. I still have the stove/oven and my kitchen table to tackle but the sink and counters are looking pretty good. Took out a whole mess of recycling too. I can't believe how quickly it adds up! I did empty and toss out some expired stuff so that contributed to the recycling mess.

I've decided that I'm going to attempt something this week. It's going to be hard and I'm most likely going to be very cranky but it's worth it. Lent is coming up. And while I'm not Catholic and thus don't normally observes lent, over the last few years I have. For the last 3 years, I've given up chocolate for lent. I've managed to stick to it and then I go hog wild at on Easter. LOL. This year, I'm stepping up my game. I'm going to give up ALL sugar for lent. You see, sugar is my drug. Some people go nuts for chips, for me, it's sugar. Cakes, cookies, squares, chocolate bars, gummies....sugar. And I need to kick that habit. My mid-section needs me to kick that habit. So this should be an adventure. I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not perfect and I'm sure God won't be disappointed in me either but I'm going to hold myself accountable and give this a real try. I've been told that it take 6 weeks to make or break a habit. Lord knows that my "doing dishes every night" habit attempt failed miserably but my making the bed every morning one worked. I bought a bunch of unsweetened apple sauce fruit snack cups to help with the sugar cravings. I just hope I can do this without killing anyone :)

Bed time has arrived so it's time to sign off. I really hate that the Oscars save all the big, fun awards until the end of the show. I guess no one would watch it to the end otherwise. Oh well.

Good Night!

Sarah

Down 2 and Up 10,000

Guess what? At some point in the last week, my lowly little blog cracked 10,000 page views. That's kind of awesome. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I can't believe anyone actually reads my ramblings. I still can't get over how much writing this blog has helped me. It's funny how something so simple can be so effective. I'm truly looking forward to the next 10,000 page views milestone.

Anyhow....It's been a crazy week at the office and it's been a short week too since I had Monday off. For some odd reason, short weeks seem to feel long. I dunno. Maybe it's our desire to get back to the weekend again. I started my new position on Monday. It hasn't been a totally smooth transition as I'm still doing some of the old duties until the new person is fully equipped and up and running. I've been kept rather busy with my new tasks though, so that's good. Keeps me out of trouble that way. My boss reminded me to look into the available training sessions and let him know which ones I'd like to take and if there were any other tools that I feel that I need in order to become an expert with my new position. Sounds like a good idea.

I survived another week of Curves. I even got off my duff and went to the gym on my day odd. Braved the snow/sleet to do so too. I felt pretty great about it when I got home too. As a result of not being at my home club on Monday, we moved my weigh in day to Wednesday. The scale was kind. I lost 2lbs! So I'm down a total of 6.5 in my first 2 weeks. I'm quite happy with those numbers. I just have to keep an eye on the eating plan portion and try not to slide too much. I'm supposed to go out for lunch tomorrow so I'll have to work that into my day. I'm on a quest to find more healthy recipes to try out. Which just gives me a good excuse to kill entire evenings on Pinterest (like I need an excuse). That makes me happy.

While in the grocery store earlier this week, I couldn't help but notice how odd and strange some of the so called "healthy" foods are. I swear to god that I thought they were selling a bag of bird seed in the cereal aisle. I had to actually pick it up and read the label to confirm that it wasn't actually bird seed. It was some sort of muesli or granola. I dunno. It still looked an awful lot like the wild bird seed mix that I get to put on my balcony. It also baffles me as to how expensive 'healthy' food is. For example, 355ml bottles of Pomegranate juice are on 2/$5. Meanwhile, 2L bottles of pop are on 4/$5. Apples are $1.89lb (so maybe 4 apples) where as big bags of photo chips are 2/$3. Sigh. I'm getting low on peanut butter too. I really need that to go on sale soon. The hard part for me is working more vegetables into my meals. I'm kind of a picky eater when it comes to veggies. I only really like a select few: broccoli, cauliflower, raw carrots, mushrooms (cooked), turnip(rutabaga) and brussel sprouts. The turnip that I like is counted as a starch on my meal plan so I can't go hog wild with it. I'm on the fence with cabbage and cucumbers. Some days I like them and some days I don't. I guess the same could be said for celery. I'm not a fan of it cooked though. I'm going to have to get creative.


Maybe while I'm looking for recipes on Pinterest, I'll find some good gift ideas for my parents. I'm struggling to find something to get them and my mother isn't being overly helpful. I ask for a list and my mom gave me 2 items. I told that that didn't count as a list. Sigh. Yes, I know that the spirit and meaning of Christmas isn't about presents and material items. It's just that they give me so much through out the year that I'd like to be able to give them a little something back. To show them how much I love them and appreciate all that they do for me. My Christmas holidays are a month and 6 days away (not that I'm counting).

I need to go and get ready for bed. I work up at 4:21 this morning, got up and went pee, came back to bed and then couldn't sleep. I think I drifted off for about 15 minutes between then and when the alarm went off at 6. It was brutal. I'm hoping that a repeat doesn't occur this evening.

Good Night!

Sarah

Smiling on a sunny day!

Everything From My Butt Down Has Stopped Speaking To Me

My legs aren't speaking to me. And they've convinced my knees to turn against me too. So far my arms are still playing nice but the backs of my shoulders seem a little sore/stiff.

If you haven't already figured it out, I went to Curves again tonight. That marks a back to back workout. Hence why my legs seem rather pissed at me at the moment. It was a fun work out and the time flew by again. After the work out we got to play Yahtzee to win a t-shirt or ballots into a monthly draw. Apparently this is something they do every Friday. That's kind of cool and it was fun.

Work was interesting. More changes were announced today and that didn't go over well with some people. My role change was announced to some of the staff as well. I've had a week to process it and mull it over so I was doing pretty good when it was announced today. I keep reminding myself that change is good and doing something different will be a welcome change. The more skill sets I have, the better chance I'll have of finding a higher level position. Or so the theory goes.

I relaxed tonight, ordered in and watched some scary tv. It was the season premiere of Grimm and the series premiere of Dracula. I quite liked the spin they've put on Dracula. He's cast as a vigilante of sorts and has a rather interesting relationship with Van Helsing too. And it doesn't hurt that the actor playing Dracula is hot, but he speaks without his sexy Irish accent in the show. Oh well. LOL.

I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend. I'm planning on tackling the pile of clothing in my bedroom and re-arranging my closet for Fall/Winter. I also have 2 missions: 1. Buy new running shoes and 2. Buy a decent sports bra.  Mission 2 is going to be much more difficult than mission 1.

But for now, I'm going to go and take some Motrin and head to bed and pray that I can still walk in the morning. If I'm hobbling tomorrow, I'm going to have some choice words for a certain someone....

Good Night!

Sarah

My sexy bowling shoes!

Let's Get Physical

After a somewhat interesting day in the office, thanks to a last minute visit from some higher ups from another office, I escaped slightly later than planned and headed to Curves for my first actual work out.

For those not familiar with how Curves works, it's a circuit of equipment with a fun bouncy "recovery board" in between each machine. The machines are set up to work a different part of your body so that you're not focusing on 1 area for longer than 30 seconds. The recovery board is just that. A spot to recover while keeping your heart rate up.

There were 2 instructors so Steph went off one way with one and I went off in the other direction with the other. She started by taking me to each piece of machinery and showing me how it worked and then got me to try it. Once we were finished that, the real fun began. The idea is simple: go as hard as you can for 30 seconds and then switch. Sounds easy right? Oh hell no.

I can think of very few situations where 30 seconds has felt so long. I'm convinced that the little "change" lady sometimes counts to 45 seconds or even a minute. On some of those machines, I was feeling the burn after 10 seconds. That can't be good. One particular machine is used to do crunches on. You grab these handles and rock forward, using just your abs to move you. I moved maybe 4 inches. Too much stomach and boobs in the way! On another machine, larger busted ladies such as myself get to actually rest our boobs on a padded bar to allow for a better range of motion. Glad to see that someone was thinking.

All in all, I survived (and I think Steph did too) and we managed to get to the bus without falling over. Even though I had a snack before hitting up the gym, I was pretty damn hungry heading home. I almost let out a cheer of joy when I was digging in my purse for my keys and found leftover chocolate from my outing to the movies on Saturday. I'm not going to lie but I'm pretty sure I set a new speed record for downing it. And then, while waiting for the light so I could cross the street, a guy comes and stands beside me, holding a big Wendy's bag. Not only can I see the grease from the fries, I can smell them. OMG. I swear to god, I nearly took him out right then and there on the corner. I think I have a better understanding of how vampires feel now. LOL.

Thankfully, I made it home without harming innocent strangers or chocking on chocolate that I inhaled and proceeded to make dinner. While I am a little sore, I am feeling good about this. The plan is to go back on Thursday. Wish me luck.

Good Night!

Sarah