20 Weeks

This is the beginning of Week 20 of Challenge #2...and it sure feels like it.  I weighed in Sunday morning at 136.2, for a loss of 0.6 pounds.  I must be slightly dyslexic, because the 136 is really bugging me--I just keep thinking about 163 when I see it.  I started at 163, and when I see 136, for some reason it just feels like I haven't gotten very far because the numbers flip flop around in my head...  Obviously, that's not true--through 19 weeks, I've lost 26.8 pounds for an average of 1.4 pounds per week.  That's a pretty healthy pace, but at this point, it just feels like a slow pace...and it feels like things are getting slower.  I just want to get away from any number with a 3 or a 6 in it!  These last 8.2 pounds are going to be really hard to lose (doesn't everyone always say the last 10 pounds are the hardest?), and I'm trying to keep my spirits up for these last painful weeks.  If I keep up the 1.4-pounds-per-week pace, it's going to take me another 6 weeks to lose that weight...and right now, that feels like an eternity!  Plus, I've got some pretty large stumbling blocks ahead of me in the next 6 weeks, which will make weight loss more difficult--both Alex's and Abby's birthdays fall within those 6 weeks, and you know I'm going to be making some cakes for my kiddos!  That also means I'm going to be eating some birthday cake...  Things tend to get pretty stressful this time of the year as well, with the last few weeks of school for Abby and the activities that entails, Abby's dance recital, her end-of-year gymnastics show, and then the two June birthdays.  My grandmother is also going to be visiting the week after school gets out, so that will mean a few big family meals (lots of delicious, irresistible stuff!).  I looked at the calendar this past week, and figured out that we don't have a free Saturday from now until mid-July!  That's pretty crazy.

I get it...but a little faster, please?

Another stumbling block, besides our busy schedule filled with opportunities to overindulge in less-than-healthy stuff, is that I may not be continuing my aerobics classes after the first week of June after all.  Originally my plan was to go ahead and pay for the next 10-week session and just attend what I could until Dan's new job starts in July--and then switch to the morning spin class for the rest of the session.  That plan is less certain now--I haven't officially chickened out of the spin class, but maybe I've unofficially chickened out...I'm just not sure it's my thing at all, and it's very early in the morning.  We also just scheduled 2 vacations for the summer, so I would miss 2 weeks out of those 10 weeks altogether just by virtue of being out of town.  Dan is taking 3 weeks off work before he starts his new job, so I know I will just want to be doing fun family stuff, and not worrying about trying to get to the aerobics classes...  Summertime just makes everything more difficult--it's harder to stay focused, harder to stay motivated, and really hard to stay on a schedule with a ton of stuff going on.  Another reason I'm considering not signing up for the aerobics classes is that I'm really enjoying swimming laps--I've gone to the pool on the weekends 4 or 5 times now, and it really feels comfortable for me.  I've been thinking that I will try to swing going to the pool in the mornings at least 3 days a week after Dan starts his new job--and there's no reason I can't start as soon as this current aerobics session ends.  I swam a whole mile yesterday during the kids' naptime in about 65 minutes (that's 72 lengths of the 25-yard pool), and it felt awesome!  I won't be able to swim for that long on work days (I'll probably be able to get 30 minutes in the water), but even shorter swims are a great workout.

My name is Jill, and I'm a Zumba addict

The only thing that makes me sad about losing these aerobics classes is the idea of not doing Zumba anymore--I really do feel like I found my exercise niche with those classes!  I'm so surprised at how much I love Zumba--I never anticipated enjoying it so much when I first started these classes, but it's just tons of fun and it doesn't feel like I'm working out even though I'm sweating like crazy.  I happened to run into my favorite Wednesday-evening Zumba instructor at the playground last week, and she told me that she thinks I should become a Zumba instructor because I keep right up with her--she had said something to that effect to Abby when Abby sat in on her class a few weeks ago, but I thought she was just being nice then.  I don't think she would have said it again if she didn't mean it, though, so I thought that was sweet of her--and I think that it must really show that I love the class.  Obviously it's not the right time in my life to be teaching an exercise class--I can't even figure out how to work in my own exercise to my schedule, much less how to fit in teaching classes!  Maybe it's something to consider for the future, though, and that makes me even more sad about the idea of no longer taking Zumba classes--I will get really rusty!  So I've been on the hunt again, desperately trying to figure out how I can keep up with Zumba--because it makes me happy, and it's helping me be healthy.  I discovered a possible class somewhat nearby that I am going to try out at the beginning of June--if I like it and it seems like their Kids Zone will work for my kids (it's free, and in the same room as the class...I definitely need to see it to see how that works!), I'm going to start doing that in lieu of signing up for the classes here again.  I'll be able to do it during the day while Dan is at work, and the kids can come with me--so that's a huge perk.  The classes aren't that much more expensive than the classes I've been taking, and from what I have seen of their routines on YouTube, it looks like a ton of fun!  I'm going to try out the first class without bringing the kids with me, just to get a feel for everything, so I'm just crossing my fingers that it will work for me.

So I'm still slogging along, trying to stay focused on my goals even though life is ready to distract me.  128 is such an arbitrary number--I picked it at the start of this Challenge mostly to give myself something crazy for which to strive, and now it's within reach.  I just need to keep my head down and keep working hard...I'm impatient, but the results will be worth the long haul!