ZUMBA

I made it to Zumba last night, and unfortunately I didn't manage to take any pictures. I was too busy trying to keep up with the steps. Despite my lack of coordination, Zumba was actually fun and it definitely was a good workout. It also improved my mood, substantially--it's pretty hard to feel like a failure after you've sweated through an hour long aerobics class:) My gym only offers Zumba once a week (Wednesday evenings) but there is a gym in the Fan area of Richmond that offers the class on Saturday mornings, so I think I'm going to try to go to that class as well. I'm trying to develop an exercise routine that I like so that I can stick with it. I've grown a little bored of the elliptical, so maybe trying some classes would be a good idea? There's also a class called Body Pump, which I might decide to take, but the name freaks me out. It makes me think of body builders, which I most certainly don't want to become. However, I met a girl named Tanya in my Zumba class and she said it was a fun workout, so maybe I'll give it a try. The class meets on Monday evenings.

Balancing exercising and eating right is not always so simple. Sometimes, I get a bit lazy and think that if I just restrict my calories the pounds will fall off. After all, you lose weight when you consume less calories than you burn. But it's hard for me to keep motivated to eat well when I don't exercise. So I need to fight the urge to be lazy, and exercise more regularly which will (a) help me eat better, (b) help me lose weight, and (c) tone my body. I'm thinking that 4 times a week is a good goal, so if I go to Zumba twice a week, and Body Pump once a week, and then hit the machines (elliptical, treadmill, bike) once a week, I'll get in pretty good shape. I've never developed an exercise plan like this, but this one seems pretty reasonable.

On other news, I weigh in officially today and I sincerely hope that I have not gained a true 5.7 pounds. But if I did, I'll just move on and get back on the program. I've talked to everyone about my weight gain--from my parents to my friends and coworkers--and everyone has reassured me that slip-ups happen and that, "No, it is not possible to gain 5.7 real pounds in 3 days." However, my mom mentioned that my huge loss last week of 4 pounds might not have been real either. So, for the time being I'm going to take the scale with a grain of salt (of course I will continue to weigh in) and get back on plan with eating within my points and exercising consistently. I don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that eating healthy + exercising more will eventually lead to a weight loss.

Anyway, I have to get back to work. Wish me luck on the scale and I'll be sure to let you know what the verdict is.