Just because I can....

Sometimes we do things just because we can. And so it was on Friday when I reinvented myself from the neck up and got hair extensions. My hair has long been something I wished I could do something about -- I inherited my mother's fine, thin hair and no amount of any special product could make it look more than thin and fine. Growing it long was an exercise in futility, especially in the winter when the static monster took over!

So I did it. Such that it is. It's longer than I thought I would have it, but it's rather neat right now. I may cut it a bit more later, but for now I'll just play with it and see what happens.

As for the Biggest Loser contest, I'm still losing. I'm down another 8/10ths of a pound for a total in two weeks of 2.5 lbs. I haven't weighed in back at the gym yet because we had one of the granddaughters on the weekend, and between that and getting my hair done, I just didn't get there.

However, I earned 30 activity points last week! One solid hour of Zumba is worth 11 points, but I only count 10 because I'm not really going full-bore for the entire 60 minutes that I'm teaching. I used up some of my weekly extra points last week, but still had plenty to spare by the end of Sunday.

This week's goal is to make it to the gym at least twice, on top of my two Zumba classes. We'll see how that goes -- it's the week before report card marks are due and there are comments to be submitted. But I should be able to squeeze an hour or two extra just for me!

The Biggest Loser -- one week in...

...And I'm doing okay. Well, mostly okay now that I'm getting over the nasty chest/head/sinus cold thing that came back for round two just over a week ago. 'Tis the season...

In spite of the nasty little bug invading my body, I still managed to teach two hours of Zumba. I had no new students this week, so it was go-go-go all the way through! When it came time to record the activity on the WW site, I had to do a little skulking around online to find out how many points an hour of Zumba is worth! Everything I found said to record it as high intensity -- makes sense to me, judging by the amount of water that leaves my body during that hour! So, I recorded each session as 55 minutes of high intensity activity, and I was shocked to see that I'd earned 10 activity points for each! Wow! I could go on a real pigout! Or, maybe not...

Several people on the WW forums say they use all their weekly points (49 'extra' points a week to use as you will) and their activity points every week. I don't think I've every used all my weekly points any time I was actually following the plan. But it's nice to know I have them in case we go out for dinner or something like that.

I saw Brett on Wednesday and she went through the program Craig built for me. As I was still feeling pretty cruddy, we didn't do anything too strenuous, so I didn't bother recording any extra activity points. There were a few things we had to get Craig to demo for us -- it's that yoga thing of his. I may be a pretzel by the end of this! One program is all 'push' movements and the other is 'pull.' In addition, I have 3 sets of core exercises every time I work out, and I'm supposed to do another 20 - 30 minutes of cardio, but I think that two hours of Zumba each week ought to take care of the cardio end of thing! I also plan to sign up for TRX/bike class at the end of the month and that always ends up being major cardio, especially if we're on the bikes!

I went to the gym this morning and hopped on the scale just to see how it compares to my scale at home. My home scale says I'm down about two pounds, and my body fat percentage is down -- according to my scale. On the scale at the gym, I'm also down about two pounds this first week, but I needed to make sure I've been eating enough to cause my body to burn fat, not muscle. Yay! Body fat percentage is down too! But, I realized I need to start recording the body fat each week too, so I know exactly what is going on.

After confirming that yes, indeed, I did lose a couple pounds in the past week, I tackled the first workout. The first round is a set of four different exercises, all done for one minute each, one after the other. I'm supposed to do two to three sets this first week, but I managed two. then I went to the next round of exercises. I don't read very well. Craig had written down the number of reps for each exercise, but I did each for a minute because...well, because I'm a creature of habit -- and I don't read well! Then again, when I really read the program and saw that he wanted me to do 100 leg extensions, and my quads were crying by the end of a minute... I think I'll be doing some 'building' towards that 100 reps!

I'll have to play around for a couple sessions to figure out which fitness ball will be the best so that I don't put too much strain on my back (those Zumba booty circles did a number on me!), but none of the exercises are crazy stupid. I also know my own body well enough that if I need to modify, I can -- and I will! As the 'boss' keeps telling us, we're in this for ourselves -- and yes, I am. I'll do what I need to do to lose the weight I want to lose -- safely. I have a closet full of clothes waiting to be worn again!

Another January, another round of Weightwatchers

Here I am again. Getting older does nothing for the ability to keep the pounds at bay. Especially for someone who loves food, especially food that goes straight to my butt. Or now, my belly. Okay, so we're back where we were two years ago, with about 25 pounds to lose.

Two years ago, I kept up my motivation by taking part in a "Biggest Loser" competition at school. I won the first round, and more or less kept the weight off for almost a year. But then I changed schools, and slowly, ever so slowly, started eating things that weren't being worn off by my visits to the gym, or by my new-found interest in Zumba. I hate to think what my weight would be like if I hadn't been doing weights once a week and teaching Zumba twice a week, along with taking part in a spin and TRX class.

So...motivation works for me. Well, competition is motivation for me. Realizing that, I've joined the Biggest Loser competition at the local gym. I spent money to enter this thing, but it's not the money that's the motivator. I want to win, dammit!!!! The contest runs until the end of April, with the top 5 losers continuing on until early June. We get three different training programs from three different trainers, weigh-ins every two weeks, and a few other perks (like a coupon for smoothies at the local juice bar, and before and after photos!).

I met with the first trainer, Craig, yesterday. My bodyfat percentage was 41% -- ugh. My water was also low. I know -- I struggle with getting enough fluids into me, especially at school. I'm going to have to focus on that. My schedule is so crazy during the week, though, he's going to give my program to my usual trainer, Brett, so she can go over it with me during our regular session on Wednesday. She is one of the three trainers in the contest, but I don't work with her until the third section. My goal is to get to the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and once on the weekends. I'll also be teaching Zumba at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I might throw in a spin or TRX class later too, depending on the schedule.

As for the food, well, like the title of this post says, it's back to Weightwatchers. I use the online program because I really hate going to meetings. It's a time thing more than anything. I can track all my food and activity online, as well as my weight. I know the program, and it works for me, as long as I stick to it.

Tomorrow is start day. Besides the weigh-in I did at the gym yesterday, I will weigh myself first thing in the morning to record my start for the WW record. Today is grocery shopping day. I will try to get to the gym tomorrow after work, but that will depend on how this wretched head/chest cold is doing. However, there is Zumba to be taught on Tuesday, and I will be there!

Here we go!