Sometimes I feel like I'm walking in place on a treadmill or worse--trying to succeed at something that keeps knocking me down. I've had plenty of success on Weight Watchers for awhile now, but ever since the holidays came and went, namely the month of November came, my success has been stalled. I think I *might* have lost a few pounds, meaning two, in December, but I have not lost a single pound since then and it's been a month and a half. And I HAVE been trying. It gets frustrating to try and try and try and see no results. And I don't mean by trying that I'm eating on plan and that's it-- I mean I'm eating on plan and exercising a lot and still nothing.
After the holidays came and went, I silently praised myself for only gaining a few pounds during such a hard time. But now I'm silently curing myself for even allowing that to happen. I gained a few pounds at Christmas and then New Years and then I spent ALL of January trying to work off those 4 pounds, and it took all of January to do so. I thought it would come off much faster, but much to my surprise those four little pounds wanted to stick around forever. Too bad I'm not letting them get the best of me.
Two weeks ago I decided I was going to strive to lose a few pounds making me able to hit my 40 lb mark. This seemed like mission impossible because I have been losing about .5 lb a week and I wanted to hit a 2 lb loss. I stuck to the plan perfectly. I ate very clean- only fruit, veggies, meat-- nothing at all processed except a little wine on the weekend. I worked out 3 hrs a day, my usual routine. And I expected to see a great loss from all my hard work, however, what I got was a .5lb Gain. Yes, I said gain. I was beyond pissed off.
The gain after all that hard work made me even more determined to hit my 40lb loss goal. I realized that I probably ate a bit too much fruit that week--those carbs are good in moderation, but I may have overstuffed myself with them when I was hungry instead of eating the usual snacks. I also decided my exercise routine had become a little too routine. I was bored with it.
I've been wanting to try Zumba for awhile now and kept finding reasons not to. I think I was a little scared to try it in a class in front of people, in case I couldn't do it. BUT I finally decided to stop wanting to try it and try it already. I found a place about 15 mins away from me that offers the class 5 days a week--and the best part is that you don't have to belong to a gym (which I don't) to try it. So I decided to go and pay $5 to try the thing I'd been wanting to try forever.
For those of you that don't know, Zumba is a Latin inspired dance exercise routine. It is a lot of hip work. It works your hips, legs, arms and core. You sweat a lot and you feel great doing it. I thought I might feel a little silly shaking my hips in a class full of women, and then I realized they aren't there to size me up, they are there to get an awesome workout in too.
I was hooked after the first song. I couldn't believe how fun it was! Seriously, a work out I actually ENJOYED doing. I signed up for the unlimited package for the month which means I can go anytime I want. And I've been going. I decided to start a little slower-- I went three times last week (and with the snow we got I really couldn't have made it more) and this week I'm aiming for 4 times. For those of you who haven't tried Zumba and are looking for something different, I suggest you try it at least once!
I still have one and a half pounds to lose to hit the 40 pounds lost mark and I'm' hoping Zumba helps me to get there this week.
