Sucker

I took the Gum Zombie to Repticon today.  We (okay, I) had zero-to-minimal plans of getting anything.

Of course we came home with something.

Meet Slither, the four-month-old anerythristic Kenyan sand boa.  Thankfully the little fellow (all 14.999 grams of him) eats frozen mice.

See subject line.  Yup, that'd be me.

'Tis the Season

Hooray holidays!  Yes, that delightful time of year is approaching that many of us have historically taken as free license to gorge, or at least sneak in a few treats we wouldn't indulge in normally.  Y'all know I'm the queen of moderation; that said, here are a few little... well, "guidelines" really that I find helpful to remember.

• Calories from the candy taken from your child's Halloween stash still count.
• Ditto the candy you bought to give out to the neighborhood kiddies.
• No, just because you "accidentally" overbought the Reese's Snack Size Pumpkins doesn't mean that you personally must ingest them all to avoid wastage.*
• Thanksgiving is one day, people.  One.
• No, not two.  I don't care that Great Aunt Paula brought her butter, cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream and bacon dip that you may never have a chance to eat again before you die.  ONE.
• Despite what the retail establishments would have us believe, Christmas, too, is one day a year.
• No, Grandmother Mercy's famous chocolate pecan marshmallow surprise cookies are not an exception.  
• Yes, I know she baked them special, just for you.
• Fine, just tape them to your ass and be done with it.**

In other words, everything has a caloric toll no matter what the calendar says.  I keep tracking over the holidays because it keeps me honest and I do better with visual confirmation that, yes, I really did eat THAT MUCH yesterday so I need to be sane today.  It's what I found works for me because otherwise... well, that list didn't leap fully formed from a vacuum. 

Have a good one, y'all.  And be smart.

*Not that I, personally, would ever have done this...
**Seriously, you might as well.

In Brief

You know how easily some folks throw out their backs?  I swear, that's how it goes with my knee.  This evening I was engaging in the high-impact activity of sitting down to eat my damn dinner when *crick!*  There it went.

I'm holding out as long as I can before I take up my ortho on his surgery offer, but days like this I start thinking maybe we could work out that whole six weeks of no driving thing...

Guts, I Haz Them!

No, this isn't becoming the Belly Dance Fashions blog.  That, m'dears, is a picture of Yours Truly, mid-graduation dance.  Turns out the old girl has some nerve left in her yet!

Thanks to my oh-so-delightful anxiety, I was planning to just take beginners a third time.  However, on Sunday night, September 23rd, inspiration hit and I figured I'd better grab that sucker before it got away.  So before I went to bed that evening, I had a complete choreography.  Brent videoed me the next night, I tweaked a couple of spots, and rehearsed every spare second I had (and some I didn't) up until the performance on Wednesday night, the 26th.  Nothing like giving yourself 72 hours notice to get the old juices flowing, eh?

And I totally wasn't hiding out in the restroom at work practicing my dance in a 4' x 4' space.  Ahem.  Nope, not me.  Pardon me while I work on perfecting that "I'm totally innocent!" look...

So anyway, I made it into the intermediate class.  Hooray!!!

As Promised

The recital pictures!  I've had to do some severe editing so I don't expose anyone on Teh Intarweebs who'd prefer to stay a teensy bit more anonymous.  I also had a picture "done" so when that comes in I'll post it as well.

Still hanging steady at 135/136, and I think I'm going to hang out here for awhile.  I have enough flexibility to not freak about how my pants are fitting, and it's time to stabilize once again.  I do find it hilarious that last year it took me 16 weeks to drop from just over 141 to right at 135, and this year it took a whopping six weeks, if that.  The only thing I can figure is that last year I'd been bouncing around the upper 140's for awhile and hit 150 before I decided to go into weight loss mode, whereas this year I'd been hanging around 138-142 since after my ablation (135-ish prior), thus giving me a lower starting point.  Eh, it's a theory.

Anyway, to the pictures!

Yes, I was texting well-prior to the performance :P  In fairness, I'm posting this one because it's probably the best shot of my hair and eye makeup.  That dressing room was crowded!

Outdoor shot -- my hip scarf is barely visible primarily because it hangs down in back.

Here's another outdoor shot -- do NOT PANIC over my stomach!  It was the pose (which is another reason why I posted the prior picture before this, because, yipes -- could I suck in any further???)

And at last, on stage!  This is definitely a better shot of the hip scarf, too.

We really had a blast performing, and everyone did a marvelous job.  We didn't get to see the professionals and more advanced classes/ individuals/ duets perform at the recital since we were backstage, but we saw their acts at the run-through and they were all fabulous. 

Now I just need to get over this anxiety and do my graduation dance to get into intermediate, because seriously y'all, I can only do this dance so many times before I go stark raving mad.

Have an awesome weekend!

Insert Cute Title Here

Well y'all, I've hit 136 enough days recently that I feel comfortable actually posting it. Once is water, twice is maybe? But third time's the charm. I am trying not to care if the scale stays in this neighborhood rather than continuing its downward trend. Honestly though, I'd like to wave at 130 even if it's just a fly-by. That was my ultimate goal. On the other hand, even when I was at 133 my pants were all loose and I'm not sure if that's a good look for me anymore.

Besides, I hate belts.

That said, we've got our belly dancing recital coming up this Sunday, so I'm glad things are more on the low end of the scale. I've been practicing like a fiend, and at this point with the choreography it's more about refining the steps for me than learning them and committing them to memory because after the number of times I've done this I don't think I'll ever forget it. I've got a permanent groove worn in my bedroom carpet where I've been hiding out going over and over and over this thing.

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My food intake is appallingly boring. Five days of the week I eat nearly the same thing, because it's just easier. Breakfast is an egg white scramble (sometimes with a yolk, sometimes, not, ALWAYS with lots of white) with a side of vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, tomato) and a side of fruit (berries, apple). Lunch is the infamous "Here's How I Keep Myself Away from Chipotle" salad with greens, chicken breast meat, salsa, guacamole -- I've switched from avocados because those suckers kept rotting on me, and after eyeballing its ingredients list, Wholly Guacamole is acceptable in my world -- reduced fat sour cream and 2% shredded cheddar. Dinner is some sort of lean-to-leanish meat (fish, turkey burger, pork tenderloin) along with more veg, and I do throw a dessert in, generally some variant of frozen yogurt. From my calories, I'm about 80% good to my 20% dessert, and I can live with that.

The other two days a week I kick it up a notch. Sometimes this is the weekend, other times I spread it out during the week just depending on my schedule and all. I might add in more carbs (Chipotle bellows loudly even when I do my best!), or go with a less lean meat choice (pot roast, anyone?). The boys and I went to Yogurt Mountain this past Saturday, which I'll totally cop to counting as breakfast. And I will absolutely admit that Bacon Happens.

Just not often. And not in excess. Because "often" and "excess" are what got me to 200 pounds. I'm not going back there.

Besides, I can't. I got rid of the clothes. Makes it a bit more tricky to scoot up that scale ;)

Have a good one, y'all! If I get any decent pictures of myself at the recital I'll post them afterward. Be warned, makeup will totally be set to Streetwalker.

I'm gonna have fun with this.

I Remember

Requiescat in pacem.

Evolution

Although I've been quiet on the blogging front recently, I've been reading. It's made me think about all the changes to my diet since 2006 when I finally got the big "holy cow, this is not what I want to weigh!" alert.

When the Elder, then age seven, first bellowed my 200-pound weight to the entire grocery store, I went with what I knew. At that time, it was one of those pre-packaged meal systems (I don't link to them, but its initials are NS). Oh god, it was awful. I wish I had some of the labels around because seriously, that is some of the most processed "food but not really" stuff out there.

But I did lose weight on it.

After a couple of months I knew I had to do something different because although the NS stuff was obviously working, I couldn't keep on eating like that. There were a few items that I found along the way that I could live with, but overall the stuff was just foul. I knew I liked Lean Cuisine, so figuring that NS had me on about 1200 calories a day, that's what I decided to do for myself.

I started reading the nutrition information on packages -- yes, it took me until I was thirty-six years old to figure that out -- and made sure my days were right at 1200, with about 30 calories on either side for mathematical issues. I ate Lean Cuisine, I ate South Beach wraps (mostly for breakfast), I ate sugar-free 10-calorie Jello cups, I chewed craploads of sugar-free gum. You know, that stuff does interesting things to your insides if you chow through an entire15-stick pack in a day.

So still more processed stuff. And I lost weight on it.

Then when I got divorced in late 2007/ early 2008, my household had a big drop in income. I couldn't afford all the pre-made food anymore, so I had to figure out what to do with a much smaller budget. I started looking at recipes more, because it's cheaper to cook from scratch.

I lost weight that way too. I got down as low as 133, and have maintained between 138-142 since then.

This past January, when I had my gum surgery, I got it in my head to track how much sodium I was eating. I'd bought some V8 vegetable soups in addition to the godawful Slimfast to get me through the all-liquid days following surgery, and I was absolutely stunned at how much sodium was in those suckers. Holy cow, it was insane!

That's when it finally clicked that cooking my own food was about more than saving money. It was about my health. Food companies don't care about our health; they care about their bottom line which is increased by using as many cheap, processed ingredients as possible.

And all that said, I'm still not a total convert. I love Fiber One brownies, although they're not the crack they used to be. You will pry my Diet Coke out of my cold, dead fingers, although I don't suck down quite as much of it than I used to.

Hmm. Interesting pattern right there.

The thing I see consistently is that my diet has improved over time, just as a natural part of me wanting to be healthy. First the focus was on scraping the weight off, then it became about what I could live with taste-wise, and then it became about eating what was better for me overall. I'm a work in progress. I'm not perfect, and honestly I'm not even trying to be. But I'm sure a hell of a lot better than I was, and I'm certain that process will continue. I work better this way.

I'm doing the best that I can, today. Tomorrow, that best may be better. I'm good with that.

High Anxiety

Still here, y'all -- I've just got some mental craziness I'm having to juggle.

I'm a pretty high-anxiety person in general. I stress to a ridiculous degree, wake up at 3:00 AM and can't get back to sleep worrying about things that I can't do anything about (mostly because it's THREE-FREAKING-A.M.), and endless loops of The Shit That's Gone Wrong Or May Go Wrong play over and over in my head. It's a delight, in the "wouldn't it be nice to function like a normal person? Hah!" sense of the word.

Trying to manage the anxiety is one reason I gained all the weight I did. I was in a very difficult marriage, the details of which I don't discuss too much here out of respect for my children's privacy, and the constant churning feeling in my gut was momentarily calmed by food intake. The worse things got, the more I ate until I finally hit a weight that slammed me between the eyes when I heard it. Then I had to drop the food and in doing so I was forced to deal with what was really going on (the whole "what was eating me" thing)...

Remember my limited coping skills? That would be one aspect. It's not over my marriage anymore, thankfully. Choreboy rocks. But I still have it over other areas of my life, and the big one that's kicking me in the pants right now is the "graduation dance" for bellydancing.

The way things are set up, everyone takes the beginning class twice. After you've taken it twice, you're allowed to choreograph and perform your own "graduation dance" and move up to the intermediate class. Unfortunately, I am not creative. No, don't point to this blog and say I'm creative because nothing here is fictionalized other than my last name and the names of others. Everything else is based firmly in reality. This extends to all areas of my life. I'd love to write fiction, but the best I could manage would be rather stilted fanfic. I can't worldbuild or create my own original characters to save my life. Every MC I create is a total Mary Sue, and I end up throwing in the towel on NaNoWriMo on an annual basis. In the kitchen it's the same. Give me someone else's recipe and I'm golden. I can follow those suckers like a beast. Just don't ask me to create my own because it ain't happening. On those few occasions I've attempted to follow some errant inspiration the results have been less than palatable.

So needless to say, choreography isn't my thing. At all. I can't improvise, I can't choreograph, and even trying it at all in the privacy of my own home has me a shaking mess. Again, I can follow someone else's choreography just fine -- give me practice time and we're set! But to create something on my own, without a specific pattern or anything?

Nope.

So I'm stuck. I can either stay in the beginners class forever or hope that sometime between now and the end of next term (there's no way I'll be able to graduate at the end of this term, less than one month away) I grow a creative bone and somehow make this happen.

We shall see. It's not like this is earth-shattering or anything; it's merely the symptom du jour of a much bigger issue.

Silliness

Yesterday was one of those run-run-run days, with getting the Elder's new school uniform shirts (they're changing the dress code, thus rendering his shirts from the past two years utterly useless), getting pre-first-week-of-school haircuts done for both boys, and shopping for Choreboy's birthday. The most relaxing part of my morning was stopping by the pet store to pick up a ginormous bag of food for the three garbage disposals cats. While we were at the pet store, I also found the perfect shirt for Hound:

Poor dog... hee!

I did make a donation of a flat of cat food to the SPCA while I was there as well. I figured if I could buy a very silly shirt for my dog, the least I could do was make a matching donation to animals who aren't quite as coddled as mine.

Have a great week, all :)

Yeah, About That

How'd Monday morning go?

It didn't.

I went to bed around 9:30 so I could get some decent sleep and wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Or at least semi-conscious. So what went wrong?

I asked myself that at 10:00...

10:30...

11:00...

and 11:30... this pretty much continued until somewhere around 1:30 AM, when I finally fell asleep. Basically, I managed to get so anxiety-ridden about going to sleep promptly because I was getting up early that I got almost no sleep at all. So when 4:45 finally hit, I smacked the daylights out of that alarm and swore I'd do my cardio that night.

Then I torqued my knee at work, scrubbing the bathroom floor behind the toilet. Oh the glamorous life I lead. Y'all, I'll work through muscle pain, but my stupid knee isn't something I trifle with. I baby that sucker, because my orthopedist salivates at the mere mention of that aging joint and I just don't have the sick leave or resources to handle 6 weeks of no driving. So, R.I.C.E. was on for Monday night rather than C.A.R.D.I.O.

On the plus side, my knee wasn't whining as much yesterday so after work I got on my recumbent for 40 minutes. Pounding the pavement wasn't going to work, but pedaling did. I made it 10 miles, which isn't awful considering how long I've been out of the saddle.

I'm aggravated because the only viable* time I have to work out takes away time from my family, and I hate that. I just need to figure out if I hate that more than I hate what lack of exercise does to me.

*Viable as qualifier because working out in the morning appears to be out of the question if Monday's anxiety is to be believed. Good grief. I can't believe that.

Bleeping Cardio

Tomorrow morning at 5:00 AM, I have a date with the great outdoors and my iPod. I've thought about doing this for two weeks, but it turns out thinking doesn't burn as many calories as one might suppose.

Who knew?

So here we go again with the "If I say I'm doing my cardio in a public forum then it has to happen" method. Oh well, I'm fully aware that my genetic propensity has me in the seated and reclined position, with remote/ mouse/ book in hand. Whatever works to get me into a more upright and mobile position is what it's going to have to take.

I'm still doing my resistance, and my food is on point. So is my weight. I just freaking loathe cardio. But it has to be done.

No, I Still Haven't Fallen Off the Wagon!

Still here, kids, still doing what I should do, even though I now have a smart phone which I'm pretty sure can do everything for me instead. There's probably even an ass-wiping app somewhere out there. I need to look for that.

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School is about to start and ladies and gentlemen, I am about to freak. I'm not ready for summer to be over, but in 2.5 short weeks it will be. I hate homework.

I know it's my kids' homework. I still hate it. Even back in the dark ages when I taught, my theory was that my students should be able to finish the lion's share of most assignments in class because, again, I hate homework. I also hate hypocrisy. Ergo, my students won the "anti-homework teacher" lottery.

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Yes, I still weigh the same. No, I have not suddenly (or slowly) ballooned to the size of a small island nation. My post-vacation bloat is gone -- thank goodness, because that was making me cranky -- and I'm still hanging right at 138 - 142. My goal at the moment is to move that more to 136 - 139, so I've changed my midday meal focus more to proteins, good fats (avocado is my friend), and reduced fat dairies rather than fruit, yogurt, and yummy, yummy peanut butter*. At the moment I'm having 4 oz. of chicken breast (I cook it at home in the pressure cooker -- I'm considering trying thighs next week for more moisture) on top of a bed of chopped romaine lettuce, topped with salsa, reduced fat sour cream, 2% cheddar, and avocado. It does not suck.

And as an added bonus, I haven't been to Chipotle since I started my latest lunch obsession. 720 calories for my burrito bowl vs. 330-ish for this salad. That'll do.

On the breakfast side of things, my father is again in prime weight-loss mode. Since I eat breakfast with my folks Monday through Friday, I'm getting a bunch more egg white in my eggs than I was (and less cheese, thank goodness, because the past couple of months Dad's been hitting the shredder HARD), and we're also getting interesting options like ground turkey breast patties. It's not boring, and my hope is that it also contributes to the "let's get Amanda so she's always on the 130's side of things" goal.

It's always a process. It has to be -- for me, stagnation means defeat.

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Now I just have to decide if I'm going to drag the boys to the beach for Labor Day weekend. The hotel Choreboy and I stayed at for our little mini-vacation has openings still, and the boys haven't quite stopped grousing about how they haven't been to the beach in years (true), so it's on my radar. We'll see. Considering I barely got my ankles into the ocean on Choreboy's and my trip, I'm not exactly the biggest beach fan but it could work.

At any rate, all hail Wednesday! Halfway to the weekend, y'all. Have a good one :)


*We were having a slight peanut butter consumption problem, so it had to go away for awhile.

Tech Geekery

From this post back in 2007:


There is no more "wanting". I was using a Pocket PC phone when the iPhone first came out, and I knew I needed to hold off so I behaved (even though I thought the iPhone was really, really pretty). Then there was a significant change in my financial circumstances which resulted in me downgrading to a basic flip phone which possessed the grudgingly redeeming features of flipping open in both portrait and landscape modes along with a full QWERTY keyboard while in landscape. I had no data plan, used no internet access, had the minimum number of monthly minutes I could get away with -- it was time for austerity measures, and it worked. And I've continued to use that phone for over four years, much to the distress of my cellular service provider.

But times change, and Choreboy and I decided that after nearly three years of marriage it was about time we combined our cellular plans. So now we're both the proud owners of smartphones: his is, lamentably, a Droid, and mine is the vastly superior iPhone*. Yes, I know they're about to release the new iPhone, but my iPad is first generation (the iPad 2 came out less than 3 months after I got mine) so I'm pretty used to being at less than the bleeding-edge of Apple technology anyway. Plus I hear they're changing the docking configuration this time around, and it will be easier for me to keep track of devices that all can share the same cord.

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

But seriously... iPhone, yay! I'm definitely a happy camper.

*Yes, this is a joke. He loves his Droid and it is the right phone for him and his needs. Plus with his extended work hours, the amazing battery life of his phone is a must. He's a happy boy, and I'm confident we can manage to navigate the hurdles of a mixed-phone marriage :P

And We Have Yet More Progress!

I just got my bloodwork back from re-testing my Vitamin D and B12 levels. Vitamin D is up from 12.2 to 27.2, which is pretty impressive. Now granted, I'm still low. The threshold for "adequate" is 30.0 ng/mL and I'm not quite there yet, but it's a definite improvement! And my B12 is up from 300-something to 517 pg/mL. So again, we've seen a definite increase.

The plan now is to keep on supplementing and see what shows up at my next annual checkup in March. I just need to get more Vitamin D pills, because I'm about out. For the B12, I'm working more on upping my meat intake rather than supplementing, because the Niacin flush on me presents as horrific itching on both my palms and the soles of my feet. Hate!

Also, I went and cancelled my gym membership. I have to admit I was freaking out worrying about it because the press on trying to cancel a membership with LA Fitness is abysmal, but it was pretty simple for me. I don't know if that's indicative of a change in overall corporate culture or if it's due to the fact that mine was a buyout contract anyway, but I'll take it. I'll just have to watch my bank account at the end of this month and August to make sure the cancellation went through.

So LA Fitness, if you're Googling yourself, Mike at one of your recent buyout properties in Central Florida is awesome.

Anyway, all that means we're back to working out at home (no commute, yay!) and I'll be checking out the Y to see what they have to offer for the boys. Also, Choreboy measured his waist circumference recently and muttered about what his AARP newsletter said it should be versus his own measurements so at least a family Y membership would offer him the ability to go work out there if he wanted rather than having to add to an existing gym membership. Definitely a win.

Bellydancing starts back up Wednesday. Hilariously, one of the people at the hafla videoed us and posted it on YouTube, so here for your viewing pleasure is our VERY newbie bellydancing class in our first public-ish peformance:



I know, I'm still a bit broad across the beam. It's genetic. I got down to 108 back when I was 16 after a nasty bout of pneumonia. I was hollow-cheeked, flat-chested, and STILL I had these saddlebags! My torso is freaking amazing, though :P

Have a great week, all!

Results Not Typical

I am not a fan of change.  It's not just my age, although that's not helping.  It's simply hardwired into my system.  And I know that people as a whole kind of tend to resist change, but I would posit that my resistance is less like the resistance of a reed to the wind, and more like that of a concrete block wall.

This whole "sale of the gym/ loss of the trainer" thing has thrown me for a way bigger loop than the situation merits.  I totally get that.  But I also get that within my own little tiny brain, it's bigger than I can handle*.  So I'm definitely cancelling the membership at now - L.A. Fitness.  We likely will join the Y in a bit, although I'm thinking I'll move back to exercising at home for awhile.  I've got some new lower body moves I've found I can do thanks to my exposure to both of my trainers, and the immense amount of time my gym sessions would take away from my family was just a bit much for a long-term activity plan.

It makes me sad, but perhaps this is all for the best.  I need to focus on the people in my life, not on how many reps I'm doing.  Those two things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but with my schedule and the way I tend to pursue things it was becoming that way for me.

I'll figure something out.  I always do.  I just need to get my act together food-wise (we will NOT discuss the Fourth of July and my Heluvagood Dip consumption) before my ever-widening ass gets to the beach.

*I know, it's freaking ridiculous.  And with some situations I would find a way to deal and adapt.  But with this particular situation, I'm bailing.  Because I can.  Because there are enough things out there that require my limited adaptation skills, and I'm not going to waste them on the freaking gym.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Debby can leave any time now.  At first I was pretty relaxed about the rain, winds, and so forth.  In fact, overall I'm a fan of wild weather which is probably a good thing considering I live in Florida and made it through the 2004 hurricane season where my area of the state was pummeled by three (count 'em, three -- Charley, Frances, and Jeanne) hurricanes within 6 weeks.

I also literally rode out Opal in 1995 up in Alabama in one of the city's patrol cars (back in my reserve police days), and the next morning I got the call from our Lt. after about 4 hours sleep to come in for damage surveying.  It was a long 36+ hours.  But I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

All that said, I never personally suffered major damage from any of these storms.  Sure, a cracked window there, a roof vent flying off here... but nothing major.

And still, thus far it's nothing major, but I draw the line at freaking water spots on my bedroom ceiling.

This storm has gone on about a day too long.  Or two.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I covered my bed (new mattress *headdesk*) and the floor in plastic before leaving for work today, and I'm praying the leaks don't spread.  I don't have much hope on that end, though, because there were only two spots when I went to bed last night and by the time I woke up there was a third.

Murphy clearly isn't listening.

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Speaking of Murphy, the new trainer seems decent.  She's not my original trainer, but we got along fine, she was able to push me, and she's not scary-uber-cutesie even though she's all of five-foot nothing.  Bless her.  Our plan is to see out this week with the training schedule, and then look at what the switchover to L.A. Fitness brings.  They'll either refund my money for my training sessions, or let me continue with her (assuming they keep her on).

So it's still frustrating, but at least we have a workable solution for the moment.  Sadly, that "moment" ends July 1st.

Oh well, onward and upward!

Progress!

New trainer alert!  Thank goodness.  And yes, it's taken this long.  Good grief.

I meet with her tonight, so I'll let you know how it goes.  We spoke on the phone last night and she seemed pleasant enough, so here's hoping.

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After an unfortunate run-in with Pizza Hut (emotional eating -- I really shouldn't be shocked) and the resultant sodium bloat, I'm back down where I'm supposed to be, weight-wise.  Whew.  Dodged that bullet.  But just because I dodged it this time doesn't give me a free pass to go loony on the processed gunk, so it's back to normal eating for me.

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The belly dance group had its hafla this past Wednesday, and our beginners' class had its first public performance.  Yipes!  Fortunately it was very informal and I appear to have survived.  I even plastered a smile on my face for the entire duration of the choreography:

As I said, VERY informal!  I'm wearing yoga pants, a coin scarf, and my "Shut Up and Shimmy" tank, along with enough makeup to out-whore any whore in Whoreville.  September will bring the school's annual recital, which means not only will we be in full costume (although don't expect to see me in a bra top -- my upper arms still aren't quite ready for primetime :P ), I'm going to have to set my makeup phasers past "call girl" and well into "streetwalker" for stage-level performance.  That should be entertaining.

Sorry I'm so brief -- it's a workday and I'm taking shameless advantage of a break in production to crank this out.  More later, once I have a better bead on this trainer.

Murphy, You May Leave Now...

Dang I'm bummed.

Remember my way-awesome trainer? Well, she remained awesome but unfortunately it appears our gym is being sold to another company and when that became official, my trainer resigned. I can't say I blame her. Google L.A. Fitness buyouts if you're interested -- it's not pretty (specifically the Minnesota and Atlanta area buyouts), so I'm more than a little concerned myself.

Unfortunately I still have 6 sessions left on my contract. And although I was told I'd hear from the facility manager on that, I still haven't and it's several days later. So now I'm not just bummed, but I'm also stressing. It may be over nothing; I'm sure there's a ton of stress over on their end as well, but I'd like to know how we're going to handle my remaining training contract.

I'm just so annoyed! I finally get to re-join the gym after a decade hiatus, find a great trainer, and whammo. She's gone. Bleah.

Well, this could be a sign I should just resign my gym membership and go ahead and join the Y. I've had a great crash course in re-learning how to use the weight equipment and I've got some excellent workout routines, so it may be that the frou-frou gym's time has passed. Besides, we can get an entire family membership at the Y for less than 2 full memberships at the current gym... plus a discount on gymnastics classes for The Gum Zombie. So really, it could all work out to our advantage in the long run.

But still... dang!

Sigh.

Present!

Still here, workout schedule still holds.

In fact, this week I had an extra workout. My little sister was down from NYC and we abandoned our children (she is the mother of The Divine Miss M) to take a walk.

More like the Bataan Death March. Anyway, 6+ miles in 90+ degree heat and two bum hips later we made it home. Yes, apparently my hips are also joining in the "Amanda's Aging, Ha Ha Ha!" -fest. About four miles in and they were actually burning, in the hip sockets.

This isn't the first time that's happened to me either. Back in 2010 when we went to Glacier I had the same burning-hip-joints thing happen to me on the Loop portion of the trail following our Highline hike. It was only due to sheer force of will and a stubborn refusal to be airlifted out that I made it off that damned mountain under my own steam (okay, Choreboy helped. Like, alot). But that was 11.4 miles with over 2000 ft of descent mere months after I recovered from bilateral stress fractures, not just some 5-or-so mile walk over relatively level/ slightly rolling terrain when I am theoretically in great shape!

Good grief.

I guess I'll add that to the list of fun stuff I'm going to ask my doctor about. Yippie? Well, we'd better figure out how to fix it because we're heading back to Glacier in 2013 and I want to do the Highline again.

If I am confined to Hidden Lake, I'm gonna be bummed.

Anyway, must shut down so I can race home, feed the boys, and get my aching joints to the gym -- later, y'all!